Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 203, 28 May 1891 — A ROMANCE. THE PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC, OR THE DEVIL'S KULEANA. [ARTICLE]

A ROMANCE.

THE PARADISE OF THE PACIFIC, OR THE DEVIL'S KULEANA.

(CoNTIXUEI>.) Soon tbe throb ofthe engines was felt and thejar ofmachinery. The vessel was moving. The stench of three hundre<.l reeking and not j overly elean -bo<lios sooq heeame] unbearable. The heat was i ntense. | After a while the ship becan to ! roll and pitch and toss She stood 1 first on one end a-nd thcn on the other. Then she woukl take a roll as if she had fully made ut> her mind to make a complete revolution. The passengers were t6ssed from side to side. Nyama insistēd on their sitting or lying down so as not to tfamp on and smother the sick the floor. Though they had been seasoned as to sea sickness, many now began to reach and vomit —over the floor and over eaeh other. The smell, the heat and the bad air, were more . than any mortal cou]d bear. Nyama sat down on the filthy floor and supported Faza's head on his lap. He fougbt awny the half naked bodies of men that crowded upon them. Thev had no idea how long the journey was to last; they would have dispaired had they known. So, for two days they lay, almost dead, without food or water. It is true water was passed in buckets, but it was mostly spilled and lost, wetting the wretched voyagers, and boiled rice was distribu|ed whieh they could not eat. Every minute was long and slow with its load of i distress and misery, and the twoi days seemed an age. At last, when they had all but i dispaired, the jar of machinery i ceased, the anchors went over the i side with a great rattle and splash. The door in the vessers side was opened, and at last they felt the fresh air again. A boat was; alpng. side and the immigrants crowded in as iast as ;they could. It took two or three hours to unload the human freight. Nyama and Faza secured a seat in one of the boats after sometime, and were rowed to land. The sky was dark witlv rain clouds. Oreat Sweeping waves rolled in to the shore and there exploded iu cascades of white spray and black sand\ The boat was tossed about ; like a e«rk on the heavy sea. Four np.tive pulled wilh a force that made * the long oars bend like whipa. Tlirongh the mist and flying spray they saw a j long, low* black beach with a fringe of vegetation, and desultory grouos |of cocoanut trees with their green | tassels swinging at the top of their | lofty. slender Btems. Fara turned [ away her eyes frotu the angrv, vicious waters and elung to her huBband with a sense of faith and | comfort as gre&t and as enexplicabh : as the eoneolaiion many people derive from religious worship. | Soon the b«at was alongside a | low weather stained, sea*beaten i building standing out into the bay on a skeleton } stringy structare of iri>n bars and hraces. The violence of the waves was so greut that it iwa» only aft«r |epeated eftbrts that the boat was! made fast to the wharf lt still rose and fellao fsir and so rapidly that the nervous Hcared and ,exhausted freight was not able to unloai it«elf.

Butagreat black giant in a p>Hre» n.m'e uniform oame dc«'n the &fcairway the level oI the boat a& it BWang by on eaeh mcoming wave. Holding by oiie hand to the railiag. he Btretched oat his long arogt and seized one of the Japs, by arm -or neek, clothes or hair, and yanked hiro on 10 the wharL They all got out in a marvellously short time without coinprehending exactly how. Nyaniawaited to the lafit and then liited Faza up to the grim ex-savage, wl:o $eeiug -her prettv jrirlish face and j?l!ffht figure loosened his ?io!d. $h tlie rail and carried 'hcr up the Bteps and put her down carefuily on a p;le of grain sacke. Nyama foUowed, and Baid. "thank you, M to the polieeman who was ?ta!iding looking at Faza who had sunk »11 iimp aiitl h-Ip. r ess 011 the floor and reyteil her liead uu the pileof sacks. M That vou wahine ?" asf;ed the giant turning to Nyama, Xyama aesented. "I think just now mueh siek," eontin»ed fhe native. "Ye-»," said ]Syama, "ean you show us a plaee to rest and get something to eat?" " No;" was the reply, ■"Jap no go outside , all stop here; bvnmby go Hardrow." "Where is Hararov.;? llow far ?s it ?' ? " Oh, mavbe, about ten mile. plaee you eome just now, Jt thing." "How do we go ? We cannot walk ten miles," . "You walk, a;id the giant laughed t4 Ple.nty mud; too niueh rain jus' now." "Well, where is theboss, I want to speak to him," continued Nyama. ''Ok, me aw same boss jus' now, what you want ? '* t4 We want something to eat f»rst and aplaee to rest. We waut to get our things off the steamer," replit J Syama. <l Japanese noeatjus' now. Suppose vou got money, I go along show you one plaee stop eat." 4t All right" said Nyama g!adly. And raising his wife to her encouraged her to be strong and try to walk" She was very sick and weak but leaning on her husband's arm sLc managed to get along. They followed the tall polieeman out of the crowd of Japanese and on t$ tiie solid ground. They passed aeveral stems of cocoanut trees their heads out of sight away np īn the misty atmosphere } some dismembered fenoes>, and ugly vellow building labeled s*Costom li«use—Post Office r " then tuev eame to a row ol rusty, blaek, slimy rotten wocden buildings of all sizes and shapes and conditions of decay and di--1« edation. • On the corner was a wide, loew one storied house with ashed or porch extending on two sides of it so near the sidewalk as to give it an air of a sullen man wīth a bad conscienoe who pulled his hat away down over hia eyea. By the door was a blackbo&rd bearing in ehalk the inscription, c *Allegator pea»s for sale here." next was a ; two story building with & slend«r veran[da in front nigher ihau the side walk, iand lookmg as if it were in the last j stages of consamption. Their guide ascended the two broken etep«, and thev ioll wed him into a narrow dingy IiUW room with oounter on one side but 110thiug dispiayed bnhind it bnt the proprietor himself, a Ohinaman tn Kuropean clothee, his queue hid under & broad-brimmed straw hat o\-er one ear with a siumy s\vaggering air. Nj-ama told him what they «nanted. He turned leisnrally to n door behind and i»hout«d at the top of his some order or direction to whnt was probabiy ihe kitchea and ite occupant. Tlien he motioned his quests inlo a emall side room where they founda taUe and a chairs. Thetable w»s eovered witn elolh that seemed <m«» to have had an ambition tobe white bm h«d iallen lar ehort of its ide«i; for it H-aa now bec)wU«r«d with of eggs, brown of cof!b*» mi of b«ets, and {treat* and fing«r marks Tlie man fmm Om kilehen loatk\i with di&h«s whkh he eanl o*ie afier the other upon the table with a nourifh. Thev were )ooking at as- - of when ihe tajl tfoire ofthe polieeman ohwniml the light ol the iU»r, H« taok*UtHUgtuutt> %t Wah-«M*»a- tah," he eKct4im«dL Yon thiak «U day I piek «p Ja}vmee> I no like e«t ? Wlmt for 1 eome up iK'W»?*' (To be CotiiiQU«<l.)