By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories by Louis Becke
page 44 of 216 (20%)
page 44 of 216 (20%)
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gather over and then ascend from the water, and as we drew near the
islets the occasional thunder of the serf on Motuluga Reef we heard awhile ago changed into a monotonous droning hum. "_Aue_!" said Marèko the _tautai_, with a laugh, as he ceased paddling and laid his paddle athwartships, "'tis like to be a hot day and calm. So much the better for our fishing, for the water will be very clear. Boy, give me a coconut to drink." "Take some whisky with it, Marèko," I said, taking a flask out of my basket. "_Isa_! Shame upon you! How can you say such a thing to me, a minister!" And then he added, with a reproachful look, "and my children here, too." He would have winked, but he dared not do so, for one of his boys had turned his face aft and was facing him. I, however, made him a hurried gesture which he quite understood. Good old Marèko! He was an honest, generous-hearted, broad-minded fellow, but terribly afraid of his tyrannical deacons, who objected to him smoking even in the seclusion of his own curatage, and otherwise bullied and worried him into behaving exactly as they thought he should. By the time we reached the islets the _atuli_ catching had begun, and more than a hundred natives were encircling a considerable area of water with finely-meshed nets and driving the fish shoreward upon a small sandy beach, where they were scooped up in gleaming masses of shining blue and silver by a number of women and children, who tumbled over and pushed each other aside amidst much laughter and merriment. On the larger of the two islets were a few thatched huts with open |
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