Chapter 27

In Which The Past History Op The Parki Is Concluded

Still days, days, days sped by; and steering now this way, now that,
to avoid the green treacherous shores, which frequently rose into
view, the Parki went to and fro in the sea; till at last, it seemed
hard to tell, in what watery world she floated. Well knowing the
risks they ran, Samoa desponded. But blessed be ignorance. For in the
day of his despondency, the lively old lass his wife bade him be of
stout heart, cheer up, and steer away manfully for the setting sun;
following which, they must inevitably arrive at her own dear native
island, where all their cares would be over. So squaring their yards,
away they glided; far sloping down the liquid sphere.

Upon the afternoon of the day we caught sight of them in our boat,
they had sighted a cluster of low islands, which put them in no small
panic, because of their resemblance to those where the massacre had
taken place. Whereas, they must have been full five hundred leagues
from that fearful vicinity. However, they altered their course to
avoid it; and a little before sunset, dropping the islands astern,
resumed their previous track. But very soon after, they espied our
little sea-goat, bounding over the billows from afar.

This they took for a canoe giving chase to them. It renewed and
augmented their alarm.

And when at last they perceived that the strange object was a boat,
their fears, instead of being allayed, only so much the more
increased. For their wild superstitions led them to conclude,
that a white man's craft coming upon them so suddenly, upon the open
sea, and by night, could be naught but a phantom. Furthermore,
marking two of us in the Chamois, they fancied us the ghosts of the
Cholos. A conceit which effectually damped Samoa's courage, like my
Viking's, only proof against things tangible. So seeing us bent upon
boarding the brigantine; after a hurried over-turning of their
chattels, with a view of carrying the most valuable aloft for safe
keeping, they secreted what they could; and together made for the
fore-top; the man with a musket, the woman with a bag of beads. Their
endeavoring to secure these treasures against ghostly appropriation
originated in no real fear, that otherwise they would be stolen: it
was simply incidental to the vacant panic into which they were
thrown. No reproach this, to Belisarius' heart of game; for the most
intrepid Feegee warrior, he who has slain his hecatombs, will not go
ten yards in the dark alone, for fear of ghosts.

Their purpose was to remain in the top until daylight; by which time,
they counted upon the withdrawal of their visitants; who, sure
enough, at last sprang on board, thus verifying their worst
apprehensions.