Concerning "Bully" Hayes: From "The Strange Adventure of James Shervinton, and Other Stories" - 1902 — John Shaqi
Concerning "Bully" Hayes: From "The Strange Adventure of James Shervinton, and Other Stories" - 1902Becke, Louis
History
Concerning "Bully" Hayes: From "The Strange Adventure of James Shervinton, and Other Stories" - 1902
Becke, Louis
Adventure stories, Australian; Pacific Area -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Sea stories
After a while, however, Hayes and the white traders began to quarrel,
and dreadful bloodshed would have followed; for the Pleasant Islanders,
who were all devotedly attached to their white masters and were all
armed with Snider rifles and cutlasses, were eager for their white men
to make an assault upon Hayes and the crew of the _Leonora_. One night
they gathered in front of their houses and danced a war-dance, but their
white leaders discreetly kept in the background when Hayes appeared
coming over toward them. He walked through the throng of natives, and in
a very few minutes, although he was unarmed, picked out the biggest man
of the lot and gave him a bad mauling about in the presence of every one
in the village. One of the traders, a young American of thirty or
so, named "Harry," at once declared that he was not going back on
the captain, and would stand by him to the last, whereupon the others
sullenly withdrew to their respective houses, and the trouble ended for
the time.
This "Harry" was formerly a boat steerer on an American whaleship, from
which he had deserted, and had been living on Pleasant Island for some
years. He had four wives, whom he described as "the three Graces, with
another chucked in," and though a rough, dare-devil fellow, he was, with
the exception of old Harry Terry, the only one of the lot that was not a
hopeless drunkard and ruffian. By one of his wives, a native of Sikaiana
or Stewart's Island, he had two children, both girls. They were then
about eight and ten years of age respectively, and were, I often
thought, the loveliest specimens of childish beauty imaginable, and at
the moment when their father stepped out from among the other traders
and declared his intention of standing by Captain Hayes, each had a
heavy navy revolver which their father had given them to carry in case
he needed the weapons.
In the course of a month or so I had a serious disagreement with
Captain Hayes over his treatment of a deputation of Strong's Islanders,
and I left the settlement at Utwe, and removed to Leasse, the village
at Coquille Harbour. The principal man in the place was a native named
Kusis, with whom, and his wife Tulpe and daughter Kinie, I lived
during the remainder of my stay on the island. And, although more than
twenty-five years have passed and gone since then, I can never forget
the kindness, warm-hearted hospitality, and amiability that filled their
simple hearts to overflowing.
IV
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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