South Sea Tales | Page 5

"Mapuhi!" Raoul yelled, in order to make himself heard. "You are a
fool!"
He flung out of the house, and, side by side with the mate, fought his
way down the beach toward the boat. They could not see the boat. The
tropic rain sheeted about them so that they could see only the beach
under their feet and the spiteful little waves from the lagoon that
snapped and bit at the sand. A figure appeared through the deluge. It
was Huru-Huru, the man with the one arm.
"Did you get the pearl?" he yelled in Raoul's ear.
"Mapuhi is a fool!" was the answering yell, and the next moment they
were lost to each other in the descending water.
Half an hour later, Huru-Huru, watching from the seaward side of the
atoll, saw the two boats hoisted in and the Aorai pointing her nose out
to sea. And near her, just come in from the sea on the wings of the
squall, he saw another schooner hove to and dropping a boat into the
water. He knew her. It was the OROHENA, owned by Toriki, the
half-caste trader, who served as his own supercargo and who
doubtlessly was even then in the stern sheets of the boat. Huru-Huru
chuckled. He knew that Mapuhi owed Toriki for trade goods advanced
the year before.
The squall had passed. The hot sun was blazing down, and the lagoon
was once more a mirror. But the air was sticky like mucilage, and the
weight of it seemed to burden the lungs and make breathing difficult.

"Have you heard the news, Toriki?" Huru-Huru asked. "Mapuhi has
found a pearl. Never was there a pearl like it ever fished up in Hikueru,
nor anywhere in the Paumotus, nor anywhere in all the world. Mapuhi
is a fool. Besides, he owes you money. Remember that I told you first.
Have you any tobacco?"
And to the grass shack of Mapuhi went Toriki. He was a masterful man,
withal a fairly stupid one. Carelessly he glanced at the wonderful
pearl--glanced for a moment only; and carelessly he dropped it into his
pocket.
"You are lucky," he said. "It is a nice pearl. I will give you credit on the
books."
"I want a house," Mapuhi began, in consternation. "It must be six
fathoms--"
"Six fathoms your grandmother!" was the trader's retort. "You want to
pay up your debts, that's what you want. You owed me twelve hundred
dollars Chili. Very well; you owe them no longer. The amount is
squared. Besides, I will give you credit for two hundred Chili. If, when
I get to Tahiti, the pearl sells well, I will give you credit for another
hundred--that will make three hundred. But mind, only if the pearl sells
well. I may even lose money on it."
Mapuhi folded his arms in sorrow and sat with bowed head. He had
been robbed of his pearl. In place of the house, he had paid a debt.
There was nothing to show for the pearl.
"You are a fool," said Tefara.
"You are a fool," said Nauri, his mother. "Why did you let the pearl
into his hand?"
"What was I to do?" Mapuhi protested. "I owed him the money. He
knew I had the pearl. You heard him yourself ask to see it. I had not
told him. He knew. Somebody else told him. And I owed him the
money."

"Mapuhi is a fool," mimicked Ngakura.
She was twelve years old and did not know any better. Mapuhi relieved
his feelings by sending her reeling from a box on the ear; while Tefara
and Nauri burst into tears and continued to upbraid him after the
manner of women.
Huru-Huru, watching on the beach, saw a third schooner that he knew
heave to outside the entrance and drop a boat. It was the Hira, well
named, for she was owned by Levy, the German Jew, the greatest pearl
buyer of them all, and, as was well known, Hira was the Tahitian god
of fishermen and thieves.
"Have you heard the news?" Huru-Huru asked, as Levy, a fat man with
massive asymmetrical features, stepped out upon the beach. "Mapuhi
has found a pearl. There was never a pearl like it in Hikueru, in all the
Paumotus, in all the world. Mapuhi is a fool. He has sold it to Toriki for
fourteen hundred Chili--I listened outside and heard. Toriki is likewise
a fool. You can buy it from him cheap. Remember that I told you first.
Have you any tobacco?"
"Where is Toriki?"
"In the house of Captain Lynch, drinking absinthe. He has been there
an hour."
And while Levy and Toriki drank absinthe and chaffered over the pearl,
Huru-Huru listened and heard the stupendous price of twenty-five
thousand francs agreed upon.