



Produced by David Widger





"OLD MARY"

By Louis Becke

T. Fisher Unwin, 1901




I

Early one morning, just as the trade wind began to lift the white
mountain mist which enveloped the dark valleys and mountain <DW72>s of
the island, Denison, the supercargo of the trading schooner _Palestine_,
put off from her side and was pulled ashore to the house of the
one white trader. The man's name was Handle, and as he heard the
supercargo's footstep he came to the door and bade him good morning.

"How are you, Randle?" said the young man, shaking hands with the
quiet-voiced, white-haired old trader, and following him inside. "I'm
going for a day's shooting while I have the chance. Can you come?"

Randle shook his head. "Would like to, but can't spare the time to-day;
but Harry and the girls will be delighted to go with you. Wait a minute,
and have a cup of coffee first. They'll be here presently."

Denison put down his gun and took a seat in the cool,
comfortable-looking sitting-room, and in a few minutes Hester and Kate
Randle and their brother came in. The two girls were both over twenty
years of age. Hester, the elder, was remarkably handsome, and much
resembled her father in voice and manner. Kate was of much smaller
build, full of vivacity, and her big, merry brown eyes matched the
dimples on her soft, sun-tanned cheeks. Harry, who was Randle's youngest
child, was a heavily-built, somewhat sullen-faced youth of eighteen, and
the native blood in his veins showed much more strongly than it did with
his sisters. They were all pleased to see the supercargo, and at once
set about making preparations, Harry getting their guns ready and the
two girls packing a basket with cold food.

"You'll get any amount of pigeons about two miles from here," said the
old trader, "and very likely a pig or two. The girls know the way, and
if two of you take the right branch of the river and two the left you'll
have some fine sport."

"Father," said the elder girl, in her pretty, halting English, as she
picked up her gun, "don' you think Mr. Denison would like to see ol'
Mary? We hav' been tell him so much about her. Don' you think we might
stop there and let Mr. Denison have some talk with her?"

"Ay, ay, my girl. Yes; go and see the poor old thing. I'm sure she'll be
delighted. You'll like her, Mr. Denison. She's as fine an old woman as
ever breathed. But don't take that basket of food with you, Kate. She'd
feel awfully insulted if you did not eat in her house."

The girls obeyed, much to their brother's satisfaction, inasmuch as the
basket was rather heavy, and also awkward to carry through the mountain
forest. In a few minutes the four started, and Hester, as she stepped
out beside Denison, said that she was glad he was visiting old Mary.
"You see," she said, "she hav' not good eyesight now, and so she cannot
now come an' see us as she do plenty times before."

"I'm glad I shall see her," said the young man; "she must be a good old
soul."

"Oh, yes," broke in Kate, "she _is_ good and brave, an' we all love her.
Every one _mus_' love her. She hav' known us since we were born, and
when our mother died in Samoa ten years ago old Mary was jus' like a
second mother to us. An' my father tried so hard to get her to come and
live with us; but no, she would not, not even fo' us. So she went back
to her house in the mountain, because she says she wants to die there.
Ah, you will like her... and she will tell you how she saved the ship
when her husband was killed, and about many, many things."

*****

Two hours later Denison and his friends emerged out upon cultivated
ground at the foot of the mountain, on which stood three or four native
houses, all neatly enclosed by low stone walls formed of coral slabs.
In front of the village a crystal stream poured swiftly and noisily over
its rocky bed on its way seaward, and on each thickly wooded bank the
stately boles of some scores of graceful coco-palms rose high above the
surrounding foliage. Except for the hum of the brawling stream and the
cries of birds, the silence was unbroken, and only two or three small
children, who were playing under the shade of a breadfruit-tree, were
visible. But these, as they heard the sound of the visitors' voices,
came towards them shouting out to their elders within the huts that
"four white people with guns" had come. In a moment some grown people of
both sexes came out and shook hands with the party.

"This is Mary's house," said Hester to Denison, pointing out the
largest; "let us go there at once. Ah, see, there she is at the door
waiting for us."

"Come, come inside," cried the old woman in a firm yet pleasant voice,
and Denison, looking to the right, saw that "Mary," in spite of her
years and blindness, was still robust and active-looking. She was
dressed in a blue print gown and blouse, and her grey hair was neatly
dressed in the island fashion. In her smooth, brown right hand she
grasped the handle of a polished walking-stick, her left arm she held
across her bosom--the hand was missing from the wrist.

"How do you do, sir?" she said in clear English, as, giving her stick to
Kate Randle, she held out her hand to the supercargo. "I am so