IT was an easier task when all was over to set the littleAmazons on their horses than to keep them there, for by thetime we had perched one on her saddle, or pad rather, andadjusted her with the greatest nicety, another whom we hadjust left would lose her balance and fall with a scream tothe ground. It was almost as difficult as packing mules onthe prairie. For my part it must be confessed that I leftthe completion of the job to others. Curious andentertaining as the feast was, my whole attention was centredand absorbed in Arakeeta, which that artful littleenchantress had the gift to know, and lashed me accordinglywith her eyes more cruelly than she had done with her whip.
I had got so far, you see, as to learn her name, the firstinstalment of an intimacy which my demolished heart wasstaked on perfecting. I noticed that she refused the KAVAwith real or affected repugnance; and when the passage ofarms, and legs, began, she slipped away, caught her animal,and with a parting laugh at me, started off for home. Therewas not the faintest shadow of encouragement in her saucylooks to follow her. Still, she was a year older thanJuliet, who was nearly fourteen; so, who could say what thoselooks might veil? Besides:
Das Naturell der FrauenIst so nah mit Kunst verwandt,that one might easily be mistaken. Anyhow, flight provokedpursuit; I jumped on to my horse, and raced along the plainlike mad. She saw me coming, and flogged the more, but beingthe better mounted of the two, by degrees I overhauled her.
As I ranged alongside, neither slackened speed; and reachingout to catch her bridle, my knee hooked under the hollow ofhers, twisted her clean off her pad, and in a moment she laysenseless on the ground. I flung myself from my horse, andlaid her head upon my lap. Good God! had I broken her neck!
She did not stir; her eyes were closed, but she breathed, andher heart beat quickly. I was wild with terror and remorse.
I looked back for aid, but the others had not started; wewere still a mile or more from Honolulu. I knew not what todo. I kissed her forehead, I called her by her name. Butshe lay like a child asleep. Presently her dazed eyes openedand stared with wonderment, and then she smiled. The tears,I think, were on my cheeks, and seeing them, she put her armsaround my neck and - forgave me.
She had fallen on her head and had been stunned. I caughtthe horses while she sat still, and we walked them slowlyhome. When we got within sight of her hut on the outskirtsof the town, she would not let me go further. There wassadness in her look when we parted. I made her understand (Ihad picked up two or three words) that I would return to seeher. She at once shook her head with an expression ofsomething akin to fear. I too felt sorrowful, and worse thansorrowful, jealous.
When the night fell I sought her hut. It was one of thebetter kind, built like others mainly with matting; no doorsor windows, but with an extensive verandah which protectedthe inner part from rain and sun. Now and again I caughtglimpses of Arakeeta's fairy form flitting in, or obscuring,the lamplight. I could see two other women and two men. Whoand what were they? Was one of those dark forms an Othello,ready to smother his Desdemona? Or were either of them aValentine between my Marguerite and me? Though there was nomoon, I dared not venture within the lamp's rays, for hersake; for my own, I was reckless now - I would have thankedeither of them to brain me with his hoe. But Arakeeta camenot.
In the day-time I roamed about the district, about the TAROfields, in case she might be working there. Every eveningbefore sundown, many of the women and some of the well-to-domen, and a few whites, used to ride on the plain thatstretches along the shore between the fringe of palm grovesand the mountain spurs. I had seen Arakeeta amongst thembefore the LOOHOU feast. She had given this up now, and why?
Night after night I hovered about the hut. When she was inthe verandah I whispered her name. She started and peeredinto the dark, hesitated, then fled. Again the same thinghappened. She had heard me, she knew that I was there, butshe came not; no, wiser than I, she came not. And though Isighed:
What is worthThe rest of Heaven, the rest of earth?
the shrewd little wench doubtless told herself: 'A quietlife, without the fear of the broomstick.'
Fred was impatient to be off, I had already trespassed toolong on the kind hospitality of General Miller, neither of ushad heard from England for more than a year, and theopportunities of trading vessels to California seldomoffered. A rare chance came - a fast-sailing brig, the'Corsair,' was to leave in a few days for San Francisco. Thecaptain was an Englishman, and had the repute of being a booncompanion and a good caterer. We - I, passively - settled togo. Samson decided to remain. He wanted to visit Owyhee.
He came on board with us, however; and, with a parting bumperof champagne, we said 'Good-bye.' That was the last I eversaw of him. The hardships had broken him down. He died notlong after.
The light breeze carried us slowly away - for the first timefor many long months with our faces to the east. But it wasnot 'merry' England that filled my juvenile fancies. Ileaned upon the taffrail and watched this lovely land of the'flowery food' fade slowly from my sight. I had eaten of theLotus, and knew no wish but to linger on, to roam no more, toreturn no more, to any home that was not Arakeeta's.
This sort of feeling is not very uncommon in early life. And'out of sight, out of mind,' is also a known experience.
Long before we reached San Fr'isco I was again eager foradventure.
How magnificent is the bay! One cannot see across it. Howimpatient we were to land! Everything new. Bearded dirtyheterogeneous crowds busy in all directions, - some runningup wooden and zinc houses, some paving the streets withplanks, some housing over ships beached for temporarydwellings. The sandy hills behind the infant town are beinglevelled and the foreshore filled up. A 'water surface' offorty feet square is worth 5,000 dollars. So that here andthere the shop-fronts are ships' broadsides. Already thereis a theatre. But the chief feature is the gambling saloons,open night and day. These large rooms are always filled withfrom 300 to 400 people of every description - from 'judges'
and 'colonels' (every man is one or the other, who is nothingelse) to Parisian cocottes, and escaped convicts of allnationalities. At one end of the saloon is a bar, at theother a band. Dozens of tables are ranged around. Monte,faro, rouge-et-noir, are the games. A large proportion ofthe players are diggers in shirt-sleeves and butcher-boots,belts round their waists for bowie knife and 'five shooters,'
which have to be surrendered on admittance. They come withtheir bags of nuggets or 'dust,' which is duly weighed,stamped, and sealed by officials for the purpose.
1 have still several specimens of the precious metal which Icaptured, varying in size from a grain of wheat to a mustardseed.
The tables win enormously, and so do the ladies of pleasure;but the winnings of these go back again to the tables. Fourtimes, while we were here, differences of opinion aroseconcerning points of 'honour,' and were summarily decided byrevolvers. Two of the four were subsequently referred toJudge 'Lynch.'
Wishing to see the 'diggings,' Fred and I went to Sacramento- about 150 miles up the river of that name. This was but apocket edition of San Francisco, or scarcely that. Wetherefore moved to Marysville, which, from its vicinity tothe various branches of the Sacramento river, was the chiefdepot for the miners of the 'wet diggin's' in NorthernCalifornia. Here we were received by a Mr. Massett - acurious specimen of the waifs and strays that turn up allover the world in odd places, and whom one would be sure tofind in the moon if ever one went there. He owned a littleone-roomed cabin, over the door of which was painted 'Officesof the Marysville Herald.' He was his own contributor and'correspondent,' editor and printer, (the press was in acorner of the room). Amongst other avocations he was aconcert-giver, a comic reader, a tragic actor, and anauctioneer. He had the good temper and sanguine dispositionof a Mark Tapley. After the golden days of California hespent his life wandering about the globe; giving'entertainments' in China, Japan, India, Australia. Whereverthe English language is spoken, Stephen Massett had manyfriends and no enemies.
Fred slept on the table, I under it, and next morning wehired horses and star............