Atolls of the Sun

by Frederick O'Brien

“I leaped in, and swam straight down. The foreigner was on the bottom, lying on his face. I raised his body, light as a shell in that depth. There was a great rip in the front of the coat. The air rushed from it, but there was no motion of his body. The knife in his hand had been used to destroy himself. He had seen the work of the thief and had cut open the coat. The devil of despair had done that with him.

“A diver thinks quickly. I could not bring him to the top unless Mauraii aided. I signaled by the rope. There was no reply. The air was not being pumped. It had stopped as I lifted him. Mauraii had left his duty. I had one chance. I might unscrew the heavy helmet, and cut the leads and carry him, with the aid of the line, to the surface. He might not be dead yet. I seized the helmet, cut the hose, and began to turn the metal helmet. As I did so, I saw a shadow over my head, and laid hold of my knife. It was not a shark. It was Mauraii. He was dancing and smiling, dancing and smiling, as in the Cocoanut House in Papeete. He slowly settled down in the water. He took hold of me as I twisted at the helmet, and he smiled at me, and danced on a ledge of coral. Below this, I saw one of those giant pahua. Aue! Marite! This pair was as long as I am, and as deep as my legs. The great animal in it had opened his doors to eat, and as Mauraii leaped about in his mad dancing from rock to rock, he stepped into the jaws of the pahua. Aue! They closed as the jaws of the turtle upon the fish, and held the fool as if he was buried. He was fast to the knees, and fell over upon me as I worked at the helmet, his head hanging down by my feet.

“My lungs were bursting, my heart beating my breast. I had been more than three minutes a hundred feet below the air. I had been using my strength. I pushed the fool away. Suddenly I felt my leg seized, and the grip of teeth upon my flesh. I sprang up, pulling at the rope to give me force, and calling on Adam for help.

“Minutes it was before I could crawl into the boat. I lay there many minutes before I could stand up. The blood was upon my leg, and the marks of teeth. They were not the teeth of a fish, but of a man. I prayed for guidance. The Taote was dead, and Mauraii, too. What could I do for them? Nothing! Yet I heard a whisper in my ear to go down. I slipped into the water and swam to the bottom. I never touched the sand. I saw the bodies of the Taote and Mauraii fought over by a dozen sharks. I had prayed, and I had a knife in my hand. Even a shark fears a bold man. I struck at them right and left and reached the ledge where the Taote lay. I slashed at the coat and cut away the pocket. The water was red with blood about me, but I shot up past the sharks with the purse, and reached the boat. I took the oars and rowed as fast as I could to shore. There I knelt and thanked Adam and Ietu Kirito for my life.

“I ran across the reef and swam to the cutter. I cut away the anchor and raised the sail and left the abode of the demon. Fakaina I reached in two days; and, with a Takaroa man who was there, I put the cutter about and sailed for home.

“What does the Book say? In the midst of life we are in death. I had stayed under too long in the lagoon of Pukapuka. Like a thunderbolt came on me the diver’s sickness—and I am as I am.”

Lying Bill had been awake for several minutes.

“You did mighty well,” he commented. “You saved the pearl and the Doc’s money for yourself. There’s three men et up by sharks. You sold the pearl to Woronick for twenty-five thousand francs.... And by the bloody star of Mars, you’ve drunk all the rum while I’ve been asleep! Come on, O’Brien! Let’s get the bloomin’ ’ell out of ’ere to the schooner! We’ve got to sail at sun-up for the Marquesas.”

Tepeva a Tepeva, the man stricken by the bends, was still squatting on the floor immersed in his pregnant memories when I shook his hand, and went to bid good-by to my friends of the atolls where life is harder but simpler and sweeter than elsewhere in the world. Mapuhi and Nohea rubbed my back, and commended me to God. The wind was fluttering wildly the fronds of the cocoanut-trees, and the surf was heavy as we rowed through the passage and moat and struck the breakers on the outer reef. From the sea for a few minutes the lanterns in the houses were like fireflies in the cane, but soon the darkness hid them, and I saw only the black shadow of the motus, and the gleam of the foaming crests of the waves in the faint starlight. I lay down on a mat by the steering-wheel of the Fetia Taiao, and dreamed of the Taote and the dancing Mauraii in the trap of the giant pahua.

I awoke with the cries of the sailors raising the mainsail, and the motion of the vessel through the water. We were off with a fair wind for the Land of the War Fleet.