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87 pages

English

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. Despite the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the Aorai handled easily in the light breeze, and her captain ran her well in before he hove to just outside the suck of the surf. The atoll of Hikueru lay low on the water, a circle of pounded coral sand a hundred yards wide, twenty miles in circumference, and from three to five feet above high-water mark. On the bottom of the huge and glassy lagoon was much pearl shell, and from the deck of the schooner, across the slender ring of the atoll, the divers could be seen at work. But the lagoon had no entrance for even a trading schooner. With a favoring breeze cutters could win in through the tortuous and shallow channel, but the schooners lay off and on outside and sent in their small boats.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819930327
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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SOUTH SEA TALES
By Jack London
THE HOUSE OF MAPUHI
Despite the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the Aoraihandled easily in the light breeze, and her captain ran her well inbefore he hove to just outside the suck of the surf. The atoll ofHikueru lay low on the water, a circle of pounded coral sand ahundred yards wide, twenty miles in circumference, and from threeto five feet above high-water mark. On the bottom of the huge andglassy lagoon was much pearl shell, and from the deck of theschooner, across the slender ring of the atoll, the divers could beseen at work. But the lagoon had no entrance for even a tradingschooner. With a favoring breeze cutters could win in through thetortuous and shallow channel, but the schooners lay off and onoutside and sent in their small boats.
The Aorai swung out a boat smartly, into whichsprang half a dozen brown-skinned sailors clad only in scarletloincloths. They took the oars, while in the stern sheets, at thesteering sweep, stood a young man garbed in the tropic white thatmarks the European. The golden strain of Polynesia betrayed itselfin the sun-gilt of his fair skin and cast up golden sheens andlights through the glimmering blue of his eyes. Raoul he was,Alexandre Raoul, youngest son of Marie Raoul, the wealthyquarter-caste, who owned and managed half a dozen trading schoonerssimilar to the Aorai. Across an eddy just outside the entrance, andin and through and over a boiling tide-rip, the boat fought its wayto the mirrored calm of the lagoon. Young Raoul leaped out upon thewhite sand and shook hands with a tall native. The man's chest andshoulders were magnificent, but the stump of a right arm, beyondthe flesh of which the age-whitened bone projected several inches,attested the encounter with a shark that had put an end to hisdiving days and made him a fawner and an intriguer for smallfavors.
“Have you heard, Alec? ” were his first words.“Mapuhi has found a pearl— such a pearl. Never was there one likeit ever fished up in Hikueru, nor in all the Paumotus, nor in allthe world. Buy it from him. He has it now. And remember that I toldyou first. He is a fool and you can get it cheap. Have you anytobacco? ”
Straight up the beach to a shack under a pandanustree Raoul headed. He was his mother's supercargo, and his businesswas to comb all the Paumotus for the wealth of copra, shell, andpearls that they yielded up.
He was a young supercargo, it was his second voyagein such capacity, and he suffered much secret worry from his lackof experience in pricing pearls. But when Mapuhi exposed the pearlto his sight he managed to suppress the startle it gave him, and tomaintain a careless, commercial expression on his face. For thepearl had struck him a blow. It was large as a pigeon egg, aperfect sphere, of a whiteness that reflected opalescent lightsfrom all colors about it. It was alive. Never had he seen anythinglike it. When Mapuhi dropped it into his hand he was surprised bythe weight of it. That showed that it was a good pearl. He examinedit closely, through a pocket magnifying glass. It was without flawor blemish. The purity of it seemed almost to melt into theatmosphere out of his hand. In the shade it was softly luminous,gleaming like a tender moon. So translucently white was it, thatwhen he dropped it into a glass of water he had difficulty infinding it. So straight and swiftly had it sunk to the bottom thathe knew its weight was excellent.
“Well, what do you want for it? ” he asked, with afine assumption of nonchalance.
“I want— ” Mapuhi began, and behind him, framing hisown dark face, the dark faces of two women and a girl noddedconcurrence in what he wanted. Their heads were bent forward, theywere animated by a suppressed eagerness, their eyes flashedavariciously.
“I want a house, ” Mapuhi went on. “It must have aroof of galvanized iron and an octagon-drop-clock. It must be sixfathoms long with a porch all around. A big room must be in thecentre, with a round table in the middle of it and theoctagon-drop-clock on the wall. There must be four bedrooms, two oneach side of the big room, and in each bedroom must be an iron bed,two chairs, and a washstand. And back of the house must be akitchen, a good kitchen, with pots and pans and a stove. And youmust build the house on my island, which is Fakarava. ”
“Is that all? ” Raoul asked incredulously.
“There must be a sewing machine, ” spoke up Tefara,Mapuhi's wife.
“Not forgetting the octagon-drop-clock, ” addedNauri, Mapuhi's mother.
“Yes, that is all, ” said Mapuhi.
Young Raoul laughed. He laughed long and heartily.But while he laughed he secretly performed problems in mentalarithmetic. He had never built a house in his life, and his notionsconcerning house building were hazy. While he laughed, hecalculated the cost of the voyage to Tahiti for materials, of thematerials themselves, of the voyage back again to Fakarava, and thecost of landing the materials and of building the house. It wouldcome to four thousand French dollars, allowing a margin for safety—four thousand French dollars were equivalent to twenty thousandfrancs. It was impossible. How was he to know the value of such apearl? Twenty thousand francs was a lot of money— and of hismother's money at that.
“Mapuhi, ” he said, “you are a big fool. Set a moneyprice. ”
But Mapuhi shook his head, and the three headsbehind him shook with his.
“I want the house, ” he said. “It must be sixfathoms long with a porch all around— ”
“Yes, yes, ” Raoul interrupted. “I know all aboutyour house, but it won't do. I'll give you a thousand Chilidollars. ”
The four heads chorused a silent negative.
“And a hundred Chili dollars in trade. ”
“I want the house, ” Mapuhi began.
“What good will the house do you? ” Raoul demanded.“The first hurricane that comes along will wash it away. You oughtto know. ”
“Captain Raffy says it looks like a hurricane rightnow. ”
“Not on Fakarava, ” said Mapuhi. “The land is muchhigher there. On this island, yes. Any hurricane can sweep Hikueru.I will have the house on Fakarava. It must be six fathoms long witha porch all around— ”
And Raoul listened again to the tale of the house.Several hours he spent in the endeavor to hammer the houseobsession out of Mapuhi's mind; but Mapuhi's mother and wife, andNgakura, Mapuhi's daughter, bolstered him in his resolve for thehouse. Through the open doorway, while he listened for thetwentieth time to the detailed description of the house that waswanted, Raoul saw his schooner's second boat draw up on the beach.The sailors rested on the oars, advertising haste to be gone. Thefirst mate of the Aorai sprang ashore, exchanged a word with theone-armed native, then hurried toward Raoul. The day grew suddenlydark, as a squall obscured the face of the sun. Across the lagoonRaoul could see approaching the ominous line of the puff ofwind.
“Captain Raffy says you've got to get to hell outahere, ” was the mate's greeting. “If there's any shell, we've gotto run the risk of picking it up later on— so he says. Thebarometer's dropped to twenty-nine-seventy. ”
The gust of wind struck the pandanus tree overheadand tore through the palms beyond, flinging half a dozen ripecocoanuts with heavy thuds to the ground. Then came the rain out ofthe distance, advancing with the roar of a gale of wind and causingthe water of the lagoon to smoke in driven windrows. The sharprattle of the first drops was on the leaves when Raoul sprang tohis feet.
“A thousand Chili dollars, cash down, Mapuhi, ” hesaid. “And two hundred Chili dollars in trade. ”
“I want a house— ” the other began.
“Mapuhi! ” Raoul yelled, in order to make himselfheard. “You are a fool! ”
He flung out of the house, and, side by side withthe mate, fought his way down the beach toward the boat. They couldnot see the boat. The tropic rain sheeted about them so that theycould see only the beach under their feet and the spiteful littlewaves from the lagoon that snapped and bit at the sand. A figureappeared through the deluge. It was Huru-Huru, the man with the onearm.
“Did you get the pearl? ” he yelled in Raoul'sear.
“Mapuhi is a fool! ” was the answering yell, and thenext moment they were lost to each other in the descendingwater.
Half an hour later, Huru-Huru, watching from theseaward side of the atoll, saw the two boats hoisted in and theAorai pointing her nose out to sea. And near her, just come in fromthe sea on the wings of the squall, he saw another schooner hove toand dropping a boat into the water. He knew her. It was theOROHENA, owned by Toriki, the half-caste trader, who served as hisown supercargo and who doubtlessly was even then in the sternsheets of the boat. Huru-Huru chuckled. He knew that Mapuhi owedToriki for trade goods advanced the year before.
The squall had passed. The hot sun was blazing down,and the lagoon was once more a mirror. But the air was sticky likemucilage, and the weight of it seemed to burden the lungs and makebreathing difficult.
“Have you heard the news, Toriki? ” Huru-Huru asked.“Mapuhi has found a pearl. Never was there a pearl like it everfished up in Hikueru, nor anywhere in the Paumotus, nor anywhere inall the world. Mapuhi is a fool. Besides, he owes you money.Remember that I told you first. Have you any tobacco? ”
And to the grass shack of Mapuhi went Toriki. He wasa masterful man, withal a fairly stupid one. Carelessly he glancedat the wonderful pearl— glanced for a moment only; and carelesslyhe dropped it into his pocket.
“You are lucky, ” he said. “It is a nice pearl. Iwill give you credit on the books. ”
“I want a house, ” Mapuhi began, in consternation.“It must be six fathoms— ”
“Six fathoms your grandmother! ” was the trader'sretort. “You want to pay up your debts, that's what you want. Youowed me twelve hundred dollars Chili. Very well; you owe them nolonger. The amount is squared. Besides, I will give you credit fortwo hundred Chili. If, when I get to Tahiti, the pearl se