



Produced by Col Choat.  HTML version by Al Haines.









By Reef and Palm


by

Louis Becke





CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION
  CHALLIS THE DOUBTER
  "'TIS IN THE BLOOD"
  THE REVENGE OF MACY O'SHEA
  THE RANGERS OF TIA KAU
  PALLOU'S TALOI
  A BASKET OF BREAD-FRUIT
  ENDERBY'S COURTSHIP
  LONG CHARLEY'S GOOD LITTLE WIFE
  THE METHODICAL MR BURR OF MAJURU
  A TRULY GREAT MAN
  THE DOCTOR'S WIFE
  THE FATE OF THE ALIDA
  THE CHILIAN BLUEJACKET
  BRANTLEY OF VAHITAHI




INTRODUCTION


When in October, 1870, I sailed into the harbour of Apia, Samoa, in the
ill-fated ALBATROSS, Mr Louis Becke was gaining his first experiences
of island life as a trader on his own account by running a cutter
between Apia and Savai'i.

It was rather a notable moment in Apia, for two reasons. In the first
place, the German traders were shaking in their shoes for fear of what
the French squadron might do to them, and we were the bearers of the
good news from Tahiti that the chivalrous Admiral Clouet, with a very
proper magnanimity, had decided not to molest them; and, secondly, the
beach was still seething with excitement over the departure on the
previous day of the pirate Pease, carrying with him the yet more
illustrious "Bully" Hayes.

It happened in this wise. A month or two before our arrival, Hayes had
dropped anchor in Apia, and some ugly stories of recent irregularities
in the labour trade had come to the ears of Mr Williams, the English
Consul. Mr Williams, with the assistance of the natives, very cleverly
seized his vessel in the night, and ran her ashore, and detained Mr
Hayes pending the arrival of an English man-of-war to which he could be
given in charge. But in those happy days there were no prisons