“Nay,” I assured him, “have no fear. Rain is near. It will come from the westward as it has come to many islands which for a year have been eaten up with drought and hunger like this land of Nukutavake. Have no fear, I say. Wind and much heavy rain will soon come from the west.”
Then I wrote a few lines to the skipper.
“Send this letter to the ship by my boat,” I said to Teveiva, “and the captain will fill the boat with food. It is the ship's gift to the people.”
And then for the first time since the island had been smitten, the poor women and children laughed joyously, and the men sprang to their feet, and with loud shouts ran to the boat with the messenger who carried the letter.
“Come, old friend,” I said to the teacher, “walk with me round the island. I would once more look upon the lagoon and sit with you a little while as we have sat many times before, under the great toa tree that grows upon the point on the weather side.”
And so we two passed out of the mission house, and hand in hand, like children, went into the quiet village and along the sandy path that wound through the vista of serried, grey-boled palms, till we came to the white, inner beach of the calm lagoon, which shone and glistened like burnished silver. On the beach were some canoes.
Half a cable length from the shore, a tiny, palm-clad islet floated on that shining lake, and the drooping fronds of the palms cast their shadows upon the crystal water. Between the red-brown boles of the trees there showed something white. The old man pointed to it and said:—
“Wilt come and look at the white man's grave? 'Tis well kept—as we promised his mother should be done.”
Teveiva launched a canoe and we paddled gently over to the isle, which was barely half an acre in extent. From the beach there ran a narrow path, neatly gravelled and bordered with many-hued crotons; it led to a low square enclosure of coral stone cemented with lime. Within the walls bright crotons grew thickly, and in the centre stood a plain slab of marble on which was carved:—
Walter Tallis,
boat-steerer of the ship asia.
Died, December 25, 1869, aged 21.
Erected by his Mother.