第115章 THE KING OF APEMAMA(2)

I have already denied myself the use of so much excellent matter from the same source,that I begin to think it time to reward good resolution;and his account of Tembinatake agrees so well with the king's,that it may very well be (what I hope it is)the record of a fact,and not (what I suspect)the pleasing exercise of an imagination more than sailorly.A.,for so I had perhaps better call him,was walking up the island after dusk,when he came on a lighted village of some size,was directed to the chief's house,and asked leave to rest and smoke a pipe.'You will sit down,and smoke a pipe,and wash,and eat,and sleep,'replied the chief,'and to-morrow you will go again.'Food was brought,prayers were held (for this was in the brief day of Christianity),and the chief himself prayed with eloquence and seeming sincerity.All evening A.sat and admired the man by the firelight.He was six feet high,lean,with the appearance of many years,and an extraordinary air of breeding and command.'He looked like a man who would kill you laughing,'said A.,in singular echo of one of the king's expressions.And again:'I had been reading the Musketeer books,and he reminded me of Aramis.'Such is the portrait of Tembinatake,drawn by an expert romancer.

We had heard many tales of 'my patha';never a word of my uncle till two days before we left.As the time approached for our departure Tembinok'became greatly changed;a softer,a more melancholy,and,in particular,a more confidential man appeared in his stead.To my wife he contrived laboriously to explain that though he knew he must lose his father in the course of nature,he had not minded nor realised it till the moment came;and that now he was to lose us he repeated the experience.We showed fireworks one evening on the terrace.It was a heavy business;the sense of separation was in all our minds,and the talk languished.The king was specially affected,sat disconsolate on his mat,and often sighed.Of a sudden one of the wives stepped forth from a cluster,came and kissed him in silence,and silently went again.It was just such a caress as we might give to a disconsolate child,and the king received it with a child's simplicity.Presently after we said good-night and withdrew;but Tembinok'detained Mr.Osbourne,patting the mat by his side and saying:'Sit down.I feel bad,Ilike talk.'Osbourne sat down by him.'You like some beer?'said he;and one of the wives produced a bottle.The king did not partake,but sat sighing and smoking a meerschaum pipe.'I very sorry you go,'he said at last.'Miss Stlevens he good man,woman he good man,boy he good man;all good man.Woman he smart all the same man.My woman'(glancing towards his wives)'he good woman,no very smart.I think Miss Stlevens he is chiep all the same cap'n man-o-wa'.I think Miss Stlevens he rich man all the same me.All go schoona.I very sorry.My patha he go,my uncle he go,my cutcheons he go,Miss Stlevens he go:all go.You no see king cry before.King all the same man:feel bad,he cry.I very sorry.'

In the morning it was the common topic in the village that the king had wept.To me he said:'Last night I no can 'peak:too much here,'laying his hand upon his bosom.'Now you go away all the same my pamily.My brothers,my uncle go away.All the same.'

This was said with a dejection almost passionate.And it was the first time I had heard him name his uncle,or indeed employ the word.The same day he sent me a present of two corselets,made in the island fashion of plaited fibre,heavy and strong.One had been worn by Tenkoruti,one by Tembaitake;and the gift being gratefully received,he sent me,on the return of his messengers,a third -that of Tembinatake.My curiosity was roused;I begged for information as to the three wearers;and the king entered with gusto into the details already given.Here was a strange thing,that he should have talked so much of his family,and not once mentioned that relative of whom he was plainly the most proud.

Nay,more:he had hitherto boasted of his father;thenceforth he had little to say of him;and the qualities for which he had praised him in the past were now attributed where they were due,-to the uncle.A confusion might be natural enough among islanders,who call all the sons of their grandfather by the common name of father.But this was not the case with Tembinok'.Now the ice was broken the word uncle was perpetually in his mouth;he who had been so ready to confound was now careful to distinguish;and the father sank gradually into a self-complacent ordinary man,while the uncle rose to his true stature as the hero and founder of the race.

The more I heard and the more I considered,the more this mystery of Tembinok's behaviour puzzled and attracted me.And the explanation,when it came,was one to strike the imagination of a dramatist.Tembinok'had two brothers.One,detected in private trading,was banished,then forgiven,lives to this day in the island,and is the father of the heir-apparent,Paul.The other fell beyond forgiveness.I have heard it was a love-affair with one of the king's wives,and the thing is highly possible in that romantic archipelago.War was attempted to be levied;but Tembinok'was too swift for the rebels,and the guilty brother escaped in a canoe.He did not go alone.Tembinatake had a hand in the rebellion,and the man who had gained a kingdom for a weakling brother was banished by that brother's son.The fugitives came to shore in other islands,but Tembinok'remains to this day ignorant of their fate.

So far history.And now a moment for conjecture.Tembinok'confused habitually,not only the attributes and merits of his father and his uncle,but their diverse personal appearance.

Before he had even spoken,or thought to speak,of Tembinatake,he had told me often of a tall,lean father,skilled in war,and his own schoolmaster in genealogy and island arts.How if both were fathers,one natural,one adoptive?How if the heir of Tembaitake,like the heir of Tembinok'himself,were not a son,but an adopted nephew?How if the founder of the monarchy,while he worked for his brother,worked at the same time for the child of his loins?

How if on the death of Tembaitake,the two stronger natures,father and son,king and kingmaker,clashed,and Tembinok',when he drove out his uncle,drove out the author of his days?Here is at least a tragedy four-square.

The king took us on board in his own gig,dressed for the occasion in the naval uniform.He had little to say,he refused refreshments,shook us briefly by the hand,and went ashore again.

That night the palm-tops of Apemama had dipped behind the sea,and the schooner sailed solitary under the stars.