Atolls of the Sun

by Frederick O'Brien

“‘No more shell?’ he said quietly. ‘You are lying! You are lying! You are trying to cheat me. Look out! Look out! Ask Mauraii what I did to—but the shell are there. I can see them with the glass. Come, we will get the diving-machine.’

“He cursed me, and said I was trying to steal his wealth. What he saw through the titea mata was the gleam of the pahua, the great shell the priests use for holy water. I said no more, and with Mauraii went to the beach. It was night when we had brought the machine to the boat, and we returned to the cutter for food. I shall not forget that night. The foreigner could not sleep, and he talked to me. He talked as if he had a fever. He said he had tried for years to find out what made pearls in oysters, and to do the work of God. While others had made small ones that clung to the shell, he alone had found the way to put in the shells large beginnings for the oysters to cover. He had chosen Pukapuka because it had a lagoon without a pass, and so free from currents, and because it was closed to diving and no one lived there. No one knew of it, he said—no one but himself and Mauraii.

“I thought of Patasy, of the Potii Taaha. Of what Mauraii had told me when in rum. Of his going away with Patasy and coming back to Tahiti, there to drink and dance in the Cocoanut House.

“But I said nothing, for I was afraid. Mauraii had slept ashore. In the morning we found him praying and singing by the lagoon. We went out in the boat, and set up the diving-machine, and the Taote told me to put on the dress.

“‘I and Mauraii will work the pump,’ he said. ‘You stay down ten minutes at least, and search the bottom all about there. Maybe we were mistaken in the exact spot.’ He spoke like a good friend, now.

“I had said nothing about the anchor, because I was afraid. I sank down to the bottom, and first looked that the air came freely and that I was not entangled. Then I walked about and saw that a diver had been there. The whole bank had been gathered. The one shell had escaped merely because the thief had so willed it. I sat down and waited for the ten minutes to go, and I wished I was in Takaroa. Pukapuka Lagoon had many sharks. In the years that had passed since the last diving season they had grown big. When I was still, they came by me, and through the glasses I saw their ugly faces staring at me. I frightened them away with the air from my wrist, or I clapped my hands in a diver’s way. I had my back to the rock bank. At last a signal came on the rope, and I had to let them pull me up.”

Tepeva a Tepeva’s voice was weak. He poured himself the last drink of rum. Kopcke had gone to attend to the loading and Lying Bill was snoring on the floor.

“Slowly they lifted me, but it seemed to me like a second.

“What look the Taote had, I do not know. I did not turn to him until my helmet was unscrewed, and I had taken off the coat. Without meeting his eyes, I said, ‘No shells.’

“‘No shells! My God!’ he said. ‘Are you blind? Did you not the first time bring up this? Mauraii knows well there are a hundred and six more. Is not that true, Mauraii?’ he said, coaxingly.