Lumi's Lagoon.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 234, 30 September 1908, Page 11

Lumi's Lagoon.

By OWEN HALL.

CHAPTER V. IS THE EARLY DAWN. -What? Who is it?" I asked breathi«slv I lw d been d »* amin S> and for a '„•' t the touch and the voice seemed fToarts of the dream. When I sat m. the touch had left my cheek, but I Mt it on my shoulder now, and the soft yet finn pressure brought things back to m y mind. ''Lumi," the voice whispered again— -Lumi, here. Comet " I hesitated for an instant; but the nre=siire of the hand was urgent, and there was a n anxious friendliness in the tone of the whispered word "Come! " I felt without asking, that the word mea nt haste, while the whisper was a warnin" to he cautious, and I rose from „c mats as quietly as I could My . TC - were growing accustomed to the darkness and I could see the shadow of Lumi like a darker bit of shadow, close beside mc. His head was bent, as if listening for something, but he reached out and caught mc by the arm; and so we left the hut together. I remembered things better now, but still I was P uzzled to understand it. I felt sure danger of some kind was threatened- hut I could f omi no clear idea of what it could be. And then: where was Bill? I hadn't thought of that before, but now it came back: where could Bill be all this time? If Bill were only here we needn't run away. If he were here be -would know what to do. Then I remembered he had gone to talk with the white chief—how was it he hadn't come back as he promised? The face, the roean cunning, cruel face of the white chief'seemed to look at mc out of the darkness, and I stopped. Lumi's hand ui-ired mc forward. "Bill" I said anxiously, bending nearer my companion. "Bill! Where Bill gone?" "Bill all rightly. Bill along Alawa: tou come Lumi." Again I yielded blindly to the hand that°led mc, though I was far from satisfied for why hadn't Bill come as he said he would? That face looked at mc out of the darkness again, and I shuddered. It was dark outside the hut, but not so dark as it had been inside. I could make out the shape of the hut and the shapes of the palm trees that moved with a sound like whispering waters in the night breeze. I was afraid, but somehow I "think my curiosity about it all waa even stronger than my fear. I felt as if something new and strange might happen any moment, and I was eager to know more about it. Lumi could tell mc; but Lumi wouldn't speak, he only bent nearly double and tried to hurry mc on. Was it only mc; or was Bill in danger too? But after all, I couldn't think that really. What could any of these little black-felow T 3 do to harm Bill? We went straight from the hut to the edge of the scrub. It wasn't far, and when we got there Lumi stood upright again; then he listened. I listened, too, but I could hear nothing but the whisper of the great leaves overhead. Lumi put shoulder and 'wfcisp^S:^" |ljoy come along I hesitated for a moment as I thought that perhaps Bill might want mc; theu I whispered back again: "Yes, white boy come." He took his hand off my shoulder and once more the word " Come. " reached my ear as he turned away. I followed him like a shadow. After a minute or two he tinned into a path among the scrub, and I could hardly see anything .only I was able to touch the bushes on each side, and so to keep on the track. Lumi didn't say a word, and I was afraid to speak; besides that I had quite enough to do trying to see him as he went before mcWe seemed to have been walking for a long time, when suddenly we came out of the scrub, and I saw in an instant tint we were on the beach. There were the shadows of the moving palm trees that swayed and murmured in the breeze, and there was something that looked like a white fringe of sand just beyond them. A Jong low sound like the noise made by the rollers on the reef sunk into a whisper, filled the air, while close at hand the soft lap, lap of the ripples seemed to loss the shore. It was lighter, too, fpr though the sea looked blar-k the little binge of silver sand gave out a dim light of its own. Lumi had stopped, and was looking orer tbe dark water as if he was thinking what he should do next. I had a hundred questions to ask him, and yet, somehow—l don't know why—l seemed afraid to ask them then. For two or three minutes he stood quite still; then M turned to mc suddenly, as if he had Just made up his mind. He touched my arm, and once more whispered " Come! " Be walked fast, hut I kept close behind him. He went along the beach, and as he went on and on, I wondered wore and more where he was taking mc. He neither spoke nor looked behind him, and I didn't like to ask any questions —no, I would wait and see. At last he stopped just where a clump of tall bushes mame down to the very edge of the sand. Then for the first time, he turned and faced mc. "What Lumi do now?" He took two or three steps into the Wge of the scrub, and laid his hand on something. I followed his example, and aj fingers closed on what felt like tbe ed ?e of a small canoe. Lumi looker at j° c - "You come? You no 'fraid come?" h e said in a doubtful tone as he began 1° frag it ou t 0 f the busnes in which it ** been hid. I nodded my head positively. "Yes, a L-J° me '" * said ' wondering" why he =ked the question, as there didn't seem W be much to frighten anybody, unless was the darkness; and even that was ** tha n it had been, for the sky in the t w * as growing lighter, and I could see snot r W ° Uld 600n be daylight. As 1 out V i! eDt a hand t0 dra S the canoe lan > bus bes, and in a minute we oft. °? tbe slo P in S white beach. AnJ? ' m ! nutG and it lay afloat on the Z °°™-:dark water. Lumi motioned mc tatS " I, T^ d for a sin ? le moment I hesiWd tod t ♦ cu " osit y s ot the u pp er " antl I stepped into the canoe. Win* LUml g ° ? " l aSked ' lookin g at -ftL tlle , m «easing light. He stepping wiiiV7 ghtl - r ' P*cking up the paddle. «»*-I now noticed lay in the bottom 01 we canoe. asbP'tl 6 l '°' T Eee '" he answei *ed quietly, g We paddle as he spoke to shove tte canoe . The push was so sudden moV? ,f Tm S that I staggered and alciourimT- W ' th the sudden i erk " 1 a few m the botlom . w hile Lumi, with Winv ?S?S ° f the P add] e. sent the *W7■? forward into the darkness, jS* w rfit knew its way. ! _ " r «H I didn't quite like it. Here

we were rushing away in the dark, leaving Bill behind, and I neither knew what [ was running away from nor where 1 was going. Yet somehow I believed in Lumi. I looked at him as he sat there paddling, and even in the dim, shadowy light I thought he looked desperately in earnest. "Lumi," I said at last, as steadily as I could, "What for you go? He didn't answer for a minute, though he seemed to paddle harder than before, then he looked up, and said slowly. "Lumi no like white boy kill." "Who kill white boy?" I asked hastily, startled as mu«i by his way of saying it as by what he said. "Alawa kill. Alawa no want white man; no want chief all some Alawa; better kill." "But Lumi chief too," I exclaimed, grasping at what seemed the one hope of escape both for Bill and myself. 1 could see that he drew himself up proudly as he returned my look. "Yes," he said, after a pause, "Yes, Lumi chief. Alawa no like Lumi. Alawa strong; Alawa bad; steal Lumi tribe." Just for a moment I felt as if I could have cried for Lumi. I seemed to understand now. Yes, Lumi was the real chief; but Alawa—-that horrible ugly wretch Bob—had stolen away his people from him when he was only a child, and now he hated him. But why did he not kill Lumi, I wondered. Then 1 remembered the night before, and how the black fellows had looked at Lumi, and the voices that had shouted his name. Were the ones that shouted all he had left him for friends? If they really were all what could he do? Thoughts like these, and I dont know how many more besides, followed one another through my head, and all the time the long sweeps of Lumi's paddle were driving the canoe along through the dim half-light of the breaking dawn. 1 I sat listening to the ripple of the parting | „.Qior nnrl wntF.liiiiFF tho chorion--.- n,lm.

trees that lined the shore. I didn't think ' very clearly about anything, for my . ideas seemed to come and go, hazy and indistinct. Sometimes I wondered where we were going; sometimes what would become of mc; and again it was Bill; where was he, and what was he doing? ' At last I looked up. My eyes were a little dim, I think, but 1 could see Lumi's face, and I thought he looked sorry. 1 turned away quickly, and looked ahead, ' and there, right in front of mc, like a picture in a silvery graj' frame—-was the round hill 1 had seen from the whaleboat. It had been far away then, but now it looked almost close at hand, with the white sky behind it. Lumi stopped paddling. The canoe went skimming on for a minute or two; then it slowed; at last it stopped. CHAPTEB VI. THE SHADOW OF MAUWI. It was a strange place. 1 had scarcely noticed it at first, but now that we had stopped, and 1 had time to look at it, 1 thought I had never seen one quite so curious. • 2- . -.. - . VYe had jeached||jie end of the reef, and right ahea» the rarund lull stood out in I the ocean. "Although it was a good deal lighter, I could only just see where it ran out in a high bluff, but 1 could hear the heavy wash of the rollers as they struck against its face. The white beach I we had been coasting had come to an end, too, and instead the shore seemed to be only heaped up rocks that looked black in the iaint light. 1 stared till 1 wanted to rub my eyes; the whole thing looked so strange, and then, what had we come to a place like this for I Right opposite us there was one great rock. It was higher, 1 thought, and blacker than the others, but when i looked at it 1 noticed something else about it, too. It looked as if it had been bored through in the very middle, and 1 thought 1 could even see a faint light on the farther side. There must surely be a passage. Was this what Lumi had come for? I turned to look at him, and then I saw that he was staring at the strange tunnel in the rock, too. " Lumi! " 1 exI claimed, " suppose canoe go in hole, Alawa no find." _ Lumi stared at mc in astonishment. i " You "o ? " he asked. " You no 'fraid go?" I laughed. " 'Fraid, Lumi? No, mc no I 'fraid." I He stared at mc for a moment without i speaking, and I wondered what the I strange, half-terrified look in his eyes could mean. Then he grasped the paddle and, with two or three long sweeping strokes, sent the canoe straight for the hole in the wall of rock. " You no 'fraid," he exclaimed, as he did so. " Come! " In another moment we were in the dark passage. I had said I wasn't afraid partly because I thought Lumi was, but we hadn't gone many yards before I didn't feel quite sure about it. The canoe shot into the passage with a rush, and for a moment 1 thought we were going to be dashed against the rock. I threw myseli forward ,and put out a hand to keep her off, but at the same moment she swerved aside and cleared it- ~ Then I looked over the side, and even in that dim light I could see the water whirling past in a hundred eddies and little whirlpools. Then 1 understood. The tide was running in. It was rather'creepy amongst the shadows in the narrow passage, but it took only a few minutes after all. Little by little the light seemed to stretch out and reach us as our canoe went gliding in little sweeps and rushes through the dark channel, till at last, with a sudden dash, we came into daylight in a moment. The light was not very strong, even now, but for the first few moments it certainly looked bright by contrast. Lumi hadn't said a word, and I had been too much excited even to think as we came through the passage. I don't know what I had expected to find when we got to the other side, but I supposed there would be some sort of beach where we could land, and I hoped there would be cocoa-nuts, for I was beginning to feel hungry. When I looked round, however, I could see no beach at all. The place looked like a long narrow pond skirting the foot of the round hill, and on both sides black rocks rose out of the water, throwing dark shadows along the edge. Higher up the hillside there were some trees but near the lagoon itself there seemed to be nothing on which a tree could "row. I thought it looked lighter at the farthest end, and I looked eagerly ahead hoping there might be some change, because if not we had only got ourselves into a worse place than ever by coming here. . I had stared all round for a minute ot two without thinking of Lumi, but when I turned back end faced him I knew he had been waiting to see what I thought oi it.

" Lumi here before? " was the question ' I asked, but I knew before I asked it what the answer must be. His eyes wandered round the place before he answered in a low, cautious voice, as if he were telling mc a secret, " Plenty time Lumi come." "What for Lumi 'fraid*! " I asked, looking at his solemn face and remembering his reluctance to turn the canoe into the channel till I had almost dared him to do it. His large eyes seemed to grow bigger as he glanced around; then he answered in a whisper, " Mauwi here! Lumi 'fraid Manwi! " "Lumi 'fraid? What for Lumi come?" I said. " Lumi no come. Long time, water bring Lumi." I began to understand. He had been carried in by the tide, perhaps when he was too small to resist it; but, then, if he didn't like it why did he come back again ? I looked round, and I thought I could guess. The place was creepy and terrible, it was true; but there was a fascination about it too; I felt it myself. "Who Mauwi?" I asked suddenly. His eyes wandered anxiously over the dark landscape before he answered mc by another question: "You like see Mauwi?" Then without waiting for a reply he dipped Jiis paddle carefully into the water, almost as if he was afraid of being heard, and at each stroke I could see his eyes glance from side to side, as if he expected something to show itself. I looked too, but I saw nothing except that I I thought I could make out the tops of palm trees at the end of the lagoon. The i sight reminded mc that I was hungry. I I pointed ahead as I looked over my shoulder at Lumi. i "Nuts, Lumi," I said. "Mc hungry; like get nuts." He returned my look for a moment, and shook his head. " Nut belong Mauwi, you no afraid?" "Mauwi; Who Mauwi?" I said impatiently, staring him in the face as if 1 meant to force him to tell mc. He took his right hand from the paddle and pointed over my head. " You like see Mauwi? Mauwi here! " I started and turned round. Yes, he was there.

We were near the end of the lagoon, and just in front of us it made a sharp bend and seemed to come to an end. We had come to the bend since I turned to face Lumi, and now I was face to face with Mauwi himself. He stood on a piece of level ground a good deal higher than the lagoon, but close to it, too. A narrow beach of black sand sloped steeply upwards from tha water, and above it there was abank rough with rocks and stnnes, with here and there a lew Dusnes, and behind the bank there was Mauwi himself, bendiDg a little forward as if to look at us. It was a huge figure of a man cut out of some kind of rock that was almost black, but glittered here and there aa the light from the eastern sky fell behind I it. I sat for a minute or two staring at it till I got over my first surprise, and then the tops of the palm trees beyond reminded mc that I was hungry. Mauwi had been a surprise, and for the first minute or two he had startled mc a good deal; but the feeling of hunger, and the sight of the means of satisfying it, very quickly brought mc back to practical --things, j Lumi had stopped paddling, and t sat gazing at the huge figure., with a 4©t|k that was half solemn ■ when I looked back, I conhl hardly help laughing at the expression of his face. I pointed to the trees, as I answered what he had last said with a laugh. I " Mauwi no eat nuts. You and mo hungry. Cornel " Astonishment and horror struggled for the mastery in Lumi's face as my mean- I ,ing dawned upon him. I " No," lie said, with a kind of a gasp; "white boy hungry; white boy get nuts, i Mauwi no angry white boy." "All right, Lumi," I said, feeling tlie compliment paid to my colour. " Fire away! Mc get nuts. Mauwi 'fraid hurt white boy; you see! " He dropped his paddle suddenly into the water, and without a word swept the canoe towards the little beach. "Lumi no come?" I asked, standing up in the canoe as we neared the shore. He shook his head, and in a moment 1 had jumped out. Lumi shoved her off, and sat watching mc with the paddle in his hand. I laughed as I sprang across the narrow strip of beach and climbed the bank. It only took a minute to get to the top; then I stopped. Maugi stood before mc, not fifty yards away. The sun was just beginning to rise behind the shoulder of the. hill, and he stood directly between it and mc. The light gathered round his head like a golden crown, and shone round him like a shining cloak. He was even bigger than I had thought; and now 1 could see that he was horribly ugly. I had never seen such an ugly face before, and his eyes seemed to glisten in the light, and to follow mc wherever I moved. I Then I remembered — he was only a stone. Even Lumi thought he couldn't

hurt white people. I would let Lumi see he couldn't frighten mc. I turned, though I didn't quite like turning my back to those wicked glittering eyes that were watching mc. Lumi was sittinfi ji»t as he had been when I left him, staring at mc, as if he was i waiting for something to happen. 1\ I waved my hand to him and shouted: "Lumi, come! Mauwi no hurt. Mauwi onl stone." For a moment I thought he looked doubtful, and I added: "Lumi no stay. Lumi come, get nuts." He hesitated just for another minute; then j with a sudden plunge he dropped his paddle in the water. • "No! " he shouted, as he headed the canoe for the entrance of the lagoon once more. "No! Lumi fetch big white man. Alawa no kill. Lumi come plenty soon." J Before I had time to think what it meant, the canoe had swept round the i bend, and I was left alone. | (To be continued daily.) I b