Well, is that all? I asked, when a pause came.
Come along, says he, mopping his face; Ill tell you outside.
Do you mean they wont take the taboo off? I cried.
Its something queer, said he. Ill tell you outside. Better come away.
I wont take it at their hands, cried I. I aint that kind of a man. You dont find me turn my back on a parcel of Kanakas.
Youd better, said Case.
He looked at me with a signal in his eye; and the five chiefs looked at me civilly enough, but kind of pointed; and the people looked at me and craned and jostled. I remembered the folks that watched my house, and how the pastor had jumped in his pulpit at the bare sight of me; and the whole business seemed so out of the way that I rose and followed Case. The crowd opened again to let us through, but wider than before, the children on the skirts running and singing out, and as we two white men walked away they all stood and watched us.
And now, said I, what is all this about?
The truth is I cant rightly make it out myself. They have a down on you, says Case.
Taboo a man because they have a down on him! I cried. I never heard the like.
Its worse than that, you see, said Case. You aint tabooed I told you that couldnt be. The people wont go near you, Wiltshire, and theres where it is.
They wont go near me? What do you mean by that? Why wont they go near me? I cried.
Case hesitated. Seems theyre frightened, says he, in a low, voice.
I stopped dead short. Frightened? I repeated. Are you gone crazy, Case? What are they frightened of?
I wish I could make out, Case answered, shaking his head. Appears like one of their tomfool superstitions. Thats what I dont cotton to, he said. Its like the business about Vigours.
Id like to know what you mean by that, and Ill trouble you to tell me, says I.
Well, you know, Vigours lit out and left all standing, said he. It was some superstition business I never got the hang of it but it began to look bad before the end.
Ive heard a different story about that, said I, and I had better tell you so. I heard he ran away because of you.
O! well, I suppose he was ashamed to tell the truth, says Case; I guess he thought it silly. And its a fact that I packed him off. What would you do, old man? says he. Get, says I, and not think twice about it. I was the gladdest kind of man to see him clear away. It aint my notion to turn my back on a mate when hes in a tight place, but there was that much trouble in the village that I couldnt see where it might likely end. I was a fool to be so much about with Vigours. They cast it up to me to-day. Didnt you hear Maea thats the young chief, the big one ripping out about Vika? That was him they were after. They dont seem to forget it, somehow.
This is all very well, said I, but it dont tell me whats wrong; it dont tell me what theyre afraid of what their idea is.
Well, I wish I knew, said Case. I cant say fairer than that.
You might have asked, I think, says I.
And so I did, says he. But you must have seen for yourself, unless youre blind, that the asking got the other way. Ill go as far as I dare for another white man; but when I find Im in the scrape myself, I think first of my own bacon. The loss of me is Im too good-natured. And Ill take the freedom of telling you you show a queer kind of gratitude to a man whos got into all this mess along of your affairs.
Theres a thing I am thinking of, said I. You were a fool to be so much about with Vigours. One comfort, you havent been much about with me. I notice youve never been inside my house. Own up now; you had word of this before?
Its a fact I havent been, said he. It was an oversight, and I am sorry for it, Wiltshire. But about coming now, Ill be quite plain.
You mean you wont? I asked.
Awfully sorry, old man, but thats the size of it, says Case.
In short, youre afraid? says I.
In short, Im afraid, says he.
And Im still to be tabooed for nothing? I asked
I tell you youre not tabooed, said he. The Kanakas wont go near you, thats all. And whos to make em? We traders have a lot of gall, I must say; we make these poor Kanakas take back their laws, and take up their taboos, and that, whenever it happens to suit us. But you dont mean to say you expect a law obliging people to deal in your store whether they want to or not? You dont mean to tell me youve got the gall for that? And if you had, it would be a queer thing to propose to me. I would just like to point out to you, Wiltshire, that Im a trader myself.
I dont think I would talk of gall if I was you, said I. Heres about what it comes to, as well as I can make out: None of the people are to trade with me, and theyre all to trade with you. Youre to have the copra, and Im to go to the devil and shake myself. And I dont know any native, and youre the only man here worth mention that speaks English, and you have the gall to up and hint to me my lifes in danger, and all youve got to tell me is you dont know why!
Well, it is all I have to tell you, said he. I dont know I wish I did.
And so you turn your back and leave me to myself! Is that the position? says I.
If you like to put it nasty, says he. I dont put it so. I say merely, Im going to keep clear of you; or, if I dont, Ill get in danger for myself.
Well, says I, youre a nice kind of a white man!
O, I understand; youre riled, said he. I would be myself. I can make excuses.
All right, I said, go and make excuses somewhere else. Heres my way, theres yours!
With that we parted, and I went straight home, in a hot temper, and found Uma trying on a lot of trade goods like a baby.
Here, I said, you quit that foolery! Heres a pretty mess to have made, as if I wasnt bothered enough anyway! And I thought I told you to get dinner!
And then I believe I gave her a bit of the rough side of my tongue, as she deserved. She stood up at once, like a sentry to his officer; for I must say she was always well brought up, and had a great respect for whites.
And now, says I, you belong round here, youre bound to understand this. What am I tabooed for, anyway? Or, if I aint tabooed, what makes the folks afraid of me?
She stood and looked at me with eyes like saucers.
You no savvy? she gasps at last.
No, said I. How would you expect me to? We dont have any such craziness where I come from.
Ese no tell you? she asked again.
(Ese was the name the natives had for Case; it may mean foreign, or extraordinary; or it might mean a mummy apple; but most like it was only his own name misheard and put in a Kanaka spelling.)
Not much, said I.
D-n Ese! she cried.
You might think it funny to hear this Kanaka girl come out with a big swear. No such thing. There was no swearing in her no, nor anger; she was beyond anger, and meant the word simple and serious. She stood there straight as she said it. I cannot justly say that I ever saw a woman look like that before or after, and it struck me mum. Then she made a kind of an obeisance, but it was the proudest kind, and threw her hands out open.