第38章 THE ISLE OF VOICES.(2)

"That is not the question,"replied the sorcerer."Being here,we have matter in our hands,and that we must attend to.Go,while Irecover my breath,into the borders of the wood,and bring me the leaves of such and such a herb,and such and such a tree,which you will find to grow there plentifully -three handfuls of each.And be speedy.We must be home again before the steamer comes;it would seem strange if we had disappeared."And he sat on the sand and panted.

Keola went up the beach,which was of shining sand and coral,strewn with singular shells;and he thought in his heart -"How do I not know this beach?I will come here again and gather shells."In front of him was a line of palms against the sky;not like the palms of the Eight Islands,but tall and fresh and beautiful,and hanging out withered fans like gold among the green,and he thought in his heart -"It is strange I should not have found this grove.I will come here again,when it is warm,to sleep."And he thought,"How warm it has grown suddenly!"For it was winter in Hawaii,and the day had been chill.And he thought also,"Where are the grey mountains?And where is the high cliff with the hanging forest and the wheeling birds?"And the more he considered,the less he might conceive in what quarter of the islands he was fallen.

In the border of the grove,where it met the beach,the herb was growing,but the tree further back.Now,as Keola went toward the tree,he was aware of a young woman who had nothing on her body but a belt of leaves.

"Well!"thought Keola,"they are not very particular about their dress in this part of the country."And he paused,supposing she would observe him and escape;and seeing that she still looked before her,stood and hummed aloud.Up she leaped at the sound.

Her face was ashen;she looked this way and that,and her mouth gaped with the terror of her soul.But it was a strange thing that her eyes did not rest upon Keola.

"Good day,"said he."You need not be so frightened;I will not eat you."And he had scarce opened his mouth before the young woman fled into the bush.

"These are strange manners,"thought Keola.And,not thinking what he did,ran after her.

As she ran,the girl kept crying in some speech that was not practised in Hawaii,yet some of the words were the same,and he knew she kept calling and warning others.And presently he saw more people running -men,women and children,one with another,all running and crying like people at a fire.And with that he began to grow afraid himself,and returned to Kalamake bringing the leaves.Him he told what he had seen.

"You must pay no heed,"said Kalamake."All this is like a dream and shadows.All will disappear and be forgotten.""It seemed none saw me,"said Keola.

"And none did,"replied the sorcerer."We walk here in the broad sun invisible by reason of these charms.Yet they hear us;and therefore it is well to speak softly,as I do."With that he made a circle round the mat with stones,and in the midst he set the leaves.

"It will be your part,"said he,"to keep the leaves alight,and feed the fire slowly.While they blaze (which is but for a little moment)I must do my errand;and before the ashes blacken,the same power that brought us carries us away.Be ready now with the match;and do you call me in good time lest the flames burn out and I be left."As soon as the leaves caught,the sorcerer leaped like a deer out of the circle,and began to race along the beach like a hound that has been bathing.As he ran,he kept stooping to snatch shells;and it seemed to Keola that they glittered as he took them.The leaves blazed with a clear flame that consumed them swiftly;and presently Keola had but a handful left,and the sorcerer was far off,running and stopping.

"Back!"cried Keola."Back!The leaves are near done."At that Kalamake turned,and if he had run before,now he flew.

But fast as he ran,the leaves burned faster.The flame was ready to expire when,with a great leap,he bounded on the mat.The wind of his leaping blew it out;and with that the beach was gone,and the sun and the sea,and they stood once more in the dimness of the shuttered parlour,and were once more shaken and blinded;and on the mat betwixt them lay a pile of shining dollars.Keola ran to the shutters;and there was the steamer tossing in the swell close in.

The same night Kalamake took his son-in-law apart,and gave him five dollars in his hand.

"Keola,"said he,"if you are a wise man (which I am doubtful of)you will think you slept this afternoon on the verandah,and dreamed as you were sleeping.I am a man of few words,and I have for my helpers people of short memories."Never a word more said Kalamake,nor referred again to that affair.

But it ran all the while in Keola's head -if he were lazy before,he would now do nothing.

"Why should I work,"thought he,"when I have a father-in-law who makes dollars of sea-shells?"Presently his share was spent.He spent it all upon fine clothes.

And then he was sorry:

"For,"thought he,"I had done better to have bought a concertina,with which I might have entertained myself all day long."And then he began to grow vexed with Kalamake.

"This man has the soul of a dog,"thought he."He can gather dollars when he pleases on the beach,and he leaves me to pine for a concertina!Let him beware:I am no child,I am as cunning as he,and hold his secret."With that he spoke to his wife Lehua,and complained of her father's manners.

"I would let my father be,"said Lehua."He is a dangerous man to cross.""I care that for him!"cried Keola;and snapped his fingers."Ihave him by the nose.I can make him do what I please."And he told Lehua the story.

But she shook her head.