Lumi's Lagoon.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 235, 1 October 1908, Page 6

Lumi's Lagoon.

By OWEN HALL.

CHAPTER VII. TEE SECRET OF ILS.UWI. Lumi was gone. It took mc a minute to realise it, but then a strange new ieeling of loneliness eaine over mc that made mc put my hand hastily to my mouth, and shout: "Tumi; Lumi!" The name echoed round and round the lagoon as if every rock repeated it, but that was all. answer came back and though I strained my eyes there was no sign of the canoe coming bade— Lumi had really gone. The silence seemed terrible for the first few minutes, for eveu though Lumi had seemed afraid to speak, it was different now I knew there was nobody there but myself. Xobody? I looked round with an in- j jured feeling that I had been deserted, ! and there, right ahead of me—less than i fiftyyards away —were those wicked eyes, ! and that seowhng face, staring at mc: i at the moment I could almost have sworn they moved. Why did the thing look at ] mc like that? I asked myself indignantly. Of course I knew it was only stone. '■ Even Lumi had known it couldn't hurt ! a white man. The thought that I was ! a white man, or at any rate that I would be one before long—l was a good deal past fourteen, and big for my age, too— seemed to do mc good. I knew better than to mind a great lump of rock that must have been standing there for ages, till the black fellows had forgotten they made that ugly face, or to think it could do anything at aIL I looked at it steadily for a minute or two, and at last it began to look almost funny. It must have been very old. for now that I looked at it carefully I could see that it was worn away in places, and it even seemed to have lines on its face, as if the rain had run down so long it had made little channels. Well, there was nothing to be afraid of at any rate, and there, just a little way beyond him, I could see the trees where Bmni had said there were plenty of vats. I looted back at the dark lagoon, but there was no sign of Lumi coming back, so I might as well see whether he had been right about the nuts. I hadn't quite forgiven him ior going off and leaving mc as he had done, but I began to hope he might fetch BilL If he did that I might forgive him, though he needn't have gone off like that, without any warning either. The trees -weren't far away. They grew on ground a- little .higher than the place where I was, towering up behind the thickets of bush and scrub that grew all round the place where Mauwi stood. The scrub seemed to be so much thicker there than it was farther away that I went round to get to the trees. I hadn't known how hungry I was till I got near enough to see the nuts hanging below the spreading tops of the trees. Lumi had been right when he said there were plenty, for every one of the palms seemed to be loaded with nuts. There were more than twenty trees in a clump, and I had never seen such big ones before; the question was how I should get at the nuts. I pushed my way through the grass and bushes till my foot struck against something. It was a big nut, and when I looked close? I could see that the whole ground was-strewed with nuts in every direc£ion. And even that ■wasn't all. There ■were mounds of what looked like earth, but when I looked closer I could see that they were made up of nuts, or ■what had once been nuts, that had lain where they fell till they turned to earth. Well, at any rate, there was plenty to eat. There were nuts everywhere. Xuts that had broken when they fell, others that had fallen softly and seemed unhurt—everywhere there was plenty to choose from. I wondered, as I sat on a great heap of what had once been nuts, but was now overgrown with grass and bushes, how long it had been since anybody had dared to- take a meal of the nuts of Mauwi. "Hundreds of years at any rate," I said to myself as I looked curiously around at the mounds, and perhaps nobody in all these years had even ventured to go as near to Mauwi himself as I was then. I had eaten enough by the time I began to think of things like that, and I began to think it would be fun to see what the great stone man was like close at hand. It might be a long time before Lumi got back, and though it was pleasant enough to lie under the shade of the trees, it would be tiresome to lie there all day with nothing to do. No, I would see what Mauwi ■was really like when you got near him. I thought lazily about it as I sat there, for the sun had grown hot, and though I had made up my mind to do it there was plenty of time- I must have fallen asleep at last, and slept well too, for wheu I looked up again the sun was shining on the other side from where he had been ■when I saw Tii-m last. I sat up and looked around. If I meant to see what Mauwi was really like I had better do it at once. I looked at the great stone figure, and all my curiosity came back more strongly than ever. I would go and see what he was Jike. I hadn't far to go. From the place ■where I was it was a little down hill, but Mauwi was so tall that he seemed to tower above mc even here. The sun was blazing , on the great figure as I forced my way through £he growth of plants and bushes that had grown into something that was almost a hedge. The nearer I got to him the bigger he seemed to grow, and the uglier too. I had tried to force my way in on the side next tho lagoon because the bushes seemed less thick there, so he was facing mc as 1 came close to him. The face was very old looking, seamed and scored, I suppose by the rains that had trickled over it for hundreds of years, and made ■wrinkles in the cheeks that somehow seemed to make the eyes look more wicked and temble.

I couldn't help looking at those eyes as I got near. The sun was shining on them almost level, making them shine and glitter with a fierce light that was terrible. I didn't wonder Lumi was afraid of them; for though I was white, and knew they couldn't do mc any harm. I was half afraid myself. A black-fellow : was sure to think they must belong to I some bad spirit, and it was no wonder. ! But now I came to look at them, there was something about them that was • even more queer than their ugliness; they were looking at something. When I had seen them first I thought they were looking at mc; but now as I I got nearer I saw that I had been wrong, j He was looking straight before him; ! yes, and he was looking at something on j the ground, not far from his feet. ! The idea got hold of mc as I stood j staring at him . It had been done on ] purpose. Whatever it was he was look- ■ ing at there was some reason for it. Whoever it was that had carved Mauwi, I and set him there, had intended him to I look at the place he had been stelng at ever since. Surely there must be something to stare at. I don't know why it was, but I felt myself tremble with excitement at the thought. What could it be? Might it not be there yet? And : might not I find out what it was? I ; waited a minute or two, and then I I crept a little nearer. 1 had forgotten my fears of those eyes now, but I watched them eagerly at every step I took, to see just where they were looking. I forced my way on, but it seemed to get harder at every step. The scrub was as high as my breast, and so thick and matted that I felt as if I should never get through. But the harder it was the more obstinate I grew. It «mst be worth doing, I thought, or it wouldn't be so hard; and so I struggled on; It took a good while, and it was hot, but I wasn't going to be beaten now I had made up my mind. A harder bit than usual of the scrub had made mc think that, I suppose,, but at last I burst through the mat of creepers, and as I did so I looked up into Mauwi's face. Something flashed suddenly in my eyes, and as I closed them my foot caught on something and I fell. I must have struck my head, for I seemed to fall asleep. When I woke at last with a start, it was dark. No not dark, after all, for the moon was shining overhead, and its white light was shining on the black figure of Mauwi that seemed to be bending over mc as I lay. I was confused, and my head felt sore, so that for a while I was not certain that it -wasn't all a dream. It must have taken mc some time to recover, but gradually things seemed to come back to mc, and I remembered. Then suddenly I thought of Lumi—how was it he hadn't come back with Bill, as he had promised? It did mc good. 1 forgot about the black figure with the terrible eyes in my excitement. I sat up and shouted— "Lumi! Lnmi!" at the top of my voice. There was no answer, not a sound. 1 shouted till I was tired, but nobody heard mc, or at any rate there was no answer. I looked around in the strange white light to see the path by which I had found my. way into that dreadful place. The moon was shining, clear and brightly, on something close beside mc. I stooped to see what it was. It was a stone. It was the stone I had tripped over when I fell. I hadn't thought of it before, but when I saw that stone it came back like a flash. Was that what Mauwi was looking at? I looked up. Yes, Mauwi's eyes were staring at the very spot. In a single moment all my excitement came back, even stronger than it had been before. It was not a fancy, then. I had found something. What could it mean ? It was a stone—a smooth round stone. I went on my knees to examine it better, and then I saw why I had fallen. The stone had sunk into the ground on one side, and it was tilted up a little at the other. I tried to move it. I might as well nave tried to move Mauwi himself. Then I felt with raj fingers all round the edge, till at last 1 found a place where I could get my hand under the stone. Yes, there was a hollow in there, I felt certain. I stopped for a moment, and I felt my hands tremble; then I took courage and felt in the hollow. It could only have taken a few seconds, though it seemed long. My fingers touched something. I looked up. The eyes above mc seemed to flash, and the great stone face was wrinkled into an angry frown, CHAPTER Vm. WHAT HAPPENED TO BILL. When Lumi led mc out of the hut Bill turned to the white chief and said, " Look-ec here, mate, what's the young niggur a-doin' wi' that boy!" " Oh, don't you go to fret yer gizzard over him, Bill," he says. " He's harmless ; he is." Bill looked for a moment doubtfully at Lumi, then he concluded that Bob was right. That was how Bill stayed behind, instead of coming with Lumi and mc. Bob had told Bill that if he would come with him he could tell him how we could get to another island away to the south, where a Queensland labour vessel was sure to pick us up. He said he'd have gone years ago himself if he had had a mate to go with him, and he'd like to go now with us if w£ would take him. Bill believed it, too, because Bob had been mate of the coasting craft where Bill served his time fourteen years before. So Bill thought he might as well be friendly, and hear what Bob had to say. He shouted to mc that he'd come along after a spell, and let Bob take him to his own but. It was a big one, and there were a lot of black fellows and girls there who danced and sang while he and Bob had their talk. It turned out—so Bill toid mc afterwards—that Bob had been left ashore on this island ten years before by the captain of the brig of which he was mate, because they had quarrelled. The chief of the island —he was Lumi's father —saved him from being killed by the natives because he had taken a fancy to him. Two years after that a lot of caaoes had come from the westward islands head-hunting, and Lumi's father was killed in the fight. Lumi was only a child then, and as the black fellows needed a chief who could fight they made Bob chief till Lumi should grow up, because he was the strongest man on the island. Bob said that Lumi had run away mere than three years before we came in a schooner that called, and had only come back again a few months before. He told Bill the black fellows were sorry he had come back at aIL They talked a long while, and then a girl brought them drinks in the half shells of cocoa-nuts. Bill didn't know what it was made of, bat Bob told Bill it would da him bo fcans. He waited till lie saw

Bob drink his, then he thought it must be safe, so he did the same. It wasn't bad to drink, and Bill was thirsty, so he had his nut filled up more than once, and liked it better every time. At last he thought it was time to be going after mc, so he tried to get up off the mats he'd been sitting on. Then he found he couldn't rise. His legs felt as if they were dead. He was very angry with Bob, but he only laughed, and told him he'd be all right by and by. And the girls danced and sang more songs, and after that Bill remembered no more. (To be continued daily.)