 Section 10 of Loop Karoo. This is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Loop Karoo by Idin Philpots. The Ruby Hummingbird Chapter 1 Like a bright gem set in tarny gold and velvety green lies Vila Caprice on the outskirts of St George, Granada. Among the many beautiful West Indian homes which nestle upon the noble hillsides of this island, which peep out with white roofs and twinkle of glass under the tropic sunshine or retreat within the purple shadows of mango and palm, none enjoy a happier position and more extensive view of mountain and blue sea beyond than Vila Caprice. And certain it is that no private entertainments equal in splendor and delight those with which the master of the mansion regales his many friends. Upon a day now far past, Dr. McDonald rose at an early hour and put final touches to his preparations for great penting diversions at Vila Caprice. A pride of dawn, shower had fallen, sweetening the fresh morning air and filling the doctor's brilliant garden with liquid diamonds that flashed on flaming crotons and in the cups of the flowers. But now the raindrops shrank and died visibly under a blazing maintenance sun. At one point, tall trelliswork supported a great scented screen of Stefanotus at another, a naked-footed negro, buzzied himself in a bed of ferns and eucrus lilies hard-buy under the shade of orange and lemon, carefully treasured and rebaying the attention with good store of blossom stood half a dozen English roses, sweetening the air with memories of home. All about the garden and around it rose starving palms with undergrowth of nutmegs and a cocoa plant or two for ornament. While at the gate, which opened upon the road without, stood a flamboyant, a gorgeous tree with foliage akin to the mimosa and brilliant crimson blossoms that hung like fiery bells against the deep blue sky above. Another still mightier tree stood over against the flamboyant. It was glad in blossoms of purple hue and gemmed with tiny hummingbirds that hung on trembling wings before the flowers. Dr. McDonald and his black attendants had just proved that a little fountain was in good order. It bubbled upwards in a tinkling column of light and fell with murmuring shower of silver and gold upon the broad green leaves and pink blossom of water lilies below. Then they began hanging the lower branches of palmetto and orange with bright Chinese lanterns. They also dotted little lamps, emit the flowerbeds and ferns after approved modern fashion. Next the doctor swung a net hammock or two and began dragging out great cane, easy chairs from a little summer house which was full of them. Then he grows fussed around in their amiable, idiotic way. They chatted and laughed and directed each other and left all the real work to Dr. McDonald. He loved work and was never tired of it. They did not love work and would always take an hour of trouble to escape ten minutes labour. The doctor, in fact, was an ideal master. From Kashi's point of view, he liked to do everything himself. Twenty years in the tropics had not killed his energy, but it is a fact that Scotchmen generally stand a West Indian climate better than their English brothers. Dr. McDonald was glad in snowy white with a great panama hat on his head and a big cigar between his teeth. With his grey eyes, big whiskers and comical laughing mouth was perhaps better known and better loved than any in Grenada. He had been a fortunate, happy man, people said, but nobody grudged him his priming measures of the things which make life sweet for he and his wife and his only child never veered in well-doing and in efforts to bring brightness to unlovely lives that lacked it. They considered that Ethiopians possessed like claims on God Almighty with themselves and a place in creation as noble as their own, a most astounding and unusual view for West Indians to take off the black man. Dr. McDonald, having ordered matters to his satisfaction, went indoors, drank a cocktail and then saw out his wife and daughter. They assisted by sentry-black maidens, were full of business in the kitchen and bit the head of the house pecan for he began to steal and nibble at their dainty fare like a big school boy. Then he gress giggled, the doctor roared with love to run with true. An hour later, breakfast was served in an ideal West Indian room, lofty and airy and decorated in pale, cool shades of grey and green. Then the buggy arrived and Dr. McDonald drove away down the hill to his consulting room and surgery in town. Before nine o'clock he was hard at work and by noon had finished his professional labours for the day. End of Section 10. Recording by Harshuta. Section 11 of Loop Karoo. This is a Leap Vox recording. All Leap Vox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LeapVox.org. Loop Karoo by Eden Furpots. The Ruby Humming Bird. Chapter 2 Amongst the guests invited to the festivities at Villacapri's were two young men, both important personages in their different ways at Granada. And each gentleman rightly deemed that the coming afternoon and evening would embrace the most tremendous moment in his life. M. Achille Garda, a wealthy, talented Frenchman of brilliant exterior and pleasing manners, approached the ordeal with considerable confidence. James Winter, a broad-shouldered, heavy-limbed youth, with faint hint of the tar brush in his big brown eyes and shallow skin, and nothing but his full pocket to particularly recommend him, came in fear and trembling. A strange, almost comic contrast the men presented. They were, in fact, alike only in their regard for Dr. McDonald's daughter, Dulcy. Nor could the analyst have proved great similarity here, for they loved with and altogether a different sort of affection. Garda was little prince in Granada. He could ride splendidly, sing divinely, dance superbly. Men admired him. Women were said to be pliable as river rushes beneath the fire of his eyes. This young gentleman found it impossible to remain blind to the worship his handsome presence and wealth and accomplishments commanded. But he had a certain modicum of modesty. He frankly admitted, even to himself, that Dulcy McDonald was worthy of him. It would, he contended, have been sure affection to pretend that any girl living was too good. Men say such things and they sound well and humble when talking to a girl. But they are only said, never meant. So, Ashil Garda argued. He was not ignorant of the fact that Ms. McDonald took some delight in his society. Many folks knew that too. Amongst small islands, the business of friends and acquaintances and other people generally secures no little attention. Perhaps, indeed, stupid, blundering Jim Winter was about the only individual in Granada who did not wait in hourly expectation of hearing a great engagement announced. It happened that these two men met on the road to Vila Caprice with the same intention they both came somewhat early. Garda, in noble holiday attire, with a smart little brown horse beneath him and a big white cotton umbrella over his head, laughed as he saw Jim Winter's broad back and linty legs. He was riding too, a gaunt animal of good qualities and well equal to his weight. Ms. Garda laughed again when, overtaking the other, he observed his clumsy efforts in dress, the great bright flower in his buttonhole, the gaudy tie round his neck. A killing neck cloth, my friend, you will have the girls around you in a galaxy of beauty. Yes, it is rather swell, isn't it? I hate finery, you know? But we must launch out at parties or people think you peculiar. You can get another like this at Johnson's store if you admire it. Truly, it is divine. And Garda cast a little contemptuous glance of conscious superiority at his companion. Mr. Winter, however, missed that. Then the Frenchman proceeded. Why? You will cut us all out with DM. Who can tell? The other started, and his big round face drew hot and dark while a broad hand clenched over his whip. I know you men here call Ms. McDonald DM because she's famous and the Queen of Grenada, he said quietly. But it seems to me rather a vulgar thing to do. It is lacking in respect to her. And Garda frowned, looked extremely fierce and then laughed. Are you also among her champions? He asked. It is lacking in respect to her. Repeated winter slowly and not answering the question. Then they dismounted for the gate of Villacapri's was before them and by it stood their host without stretched hands and welcome in his voice. The first, positively the very first, come along in Alfred, you black demon, where are you? A negro came grinning out from the garden to take charge of the horses while Dr. McDonald led his guests indoors. Mr. Winter recalled universal opinion when he called Dulcy McDonald the Queen of Grenada. Nobody questioned her right to that proud title. Her beauty was of the regal salt that changed the eyes and challenges the attention that makes women talk and men keep silent. She was fair and tall with a fine carriage and stately figure. In her expression centered a lasting, haunting charm and her eyes seemed to reflect the blue waters that surrounded her home and the blue sky above it. Dulcy was 18 and had only within the past few months returned from Scotland with her she had been sent for educational purposes. The girl possessed some cleverness and rare natural taste and delicacy of feeling inherited from her parents. She played the piano well and was generally considered by males to accompany masculine voices upon that instrument. Better than anybody in the West Indies Ms. McDonald liked gentlemen's society and saw no harm in admitting the fact. She was a strange mixture of shyness and reserve from which would burst forth at times fits of extreme frankness in presence of kindred spirits. She had a clever, watchful mother which is the best thing a pretty girl can have in the West Indies or for that matter anywhere. Another young woman was constrained to answer a couple of somewhat exciting questions. To the first she replied in tones of soft sympathy and delicate tat to the second with beating heart and the mist of joyful tears in her blue eyes. End of section 11 Recording by Harshatha Section 12 of Loop Guru This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Loop Guru by Eden Philpots The Ruby Hummingbird Chapter 3 Mr. Winter's opportunity came sooner than he expected. So soon that he felt wholly unprepared and found his usual taciturn nature reduced to almost absolute silence as he walked round the garden with Dulcy. He made himself speak from time to time with customary, compress modes of expression but he preferred to keep quiet to listen to the music of her laughter beside him. Dulcy was dressed in a gown of clinging silver grey with a great pale pink rose in her belt and delicate ornaments of coral that matched the flower at her wrist and throat. A sort of Albert Morse study she seemed with just one bright flash of gold beeping from under the sun bonnet and a touch of crimson where her lips sparted. She felt it was a happy circumstance to be so healthy and so very much alive. She also dimly suspected the secret in that huge quiet man's heart as he walked beside her had occasion to say no once or twice already. It was sad to do so, not in the least difficult. She knew her father thought highly of Mr. Winter. She therefore doubted not that he must be a worthy man but he was strangely dull, strangely unaccomplished, strangely ignorant of what things young girls loved. So different too to some people. Her talk had reference to further festivities. Are you going to the masquerade ball next week, Mr. Winter? She asked. I was not, Miss MacDonald. Out of my line, you know. Do go, she said lightly. But I fear it is useless you're putting on a mask or fancy dress for purpose of concealment, that is. You must be ever so much the tallest man in Granada. I should think, and I believe I am the tallest girl. I am horribly tall for a woman. Don't you think so? You seem a very little lady to me. Dalsey loved. Do you know what I'm going as? I should like to know. Well, it's really a great secret. But I'm sure you'll never tell if I ask you not to. I'm going as the African goddess of the Grand Itang. You know the lake is sacred? Oh yes, all the niggers think the mother of rain lives in it. Yes, and as the mother of rain, I go to the masquerade. Such a lovely dress, like a great shower of silver. But I want one thing so badly. I wonder now if you could get it for me. I should be very glad if you will let me. I will, with great pleasure, she said, laughing. But the question is, can you? It's a ruby hummingbird. They are rare here, but I do want one for my want so much. And I have seen them round the Grand Itang sometimes. Jim Winton knew what Miss McDonald did not. That there was a heavy penalty for destroying hummingbirds. But that hardly struck him as in the least important just then. He said, I'll get you one tomorrow. How good of you, how very good. And Delty smiled straight into his brown face with frank dancing eyes that might have told him the answer to his coming question before he asked it. But he could not read them. He only knew they made his slow brains flash fire. He only felt he would give the wide world. And all the hummingbirds in there to fall down and kiss the silver buckle on her little grey shoe. He only felt that here, centered in this maid, was everything life had to give him. He strangled the thought of his manifold deficiencies. He put away the vision of his own gigantic person and brown skin. He just fought to find words that he might let her know the secret. And so either end his torment or change the nature of it. Mr. Winter's pace grew slower. Then he suddenly stopped under a great tree fern and spoke in the pathetic sing-song accents of the West Indian with a voice full of a curious, hesitating tremble that sounded strange. Ms. McDonald, I want to say a thing to you. I won't get another chance today. It's just a few words or so and you need only answer one. I, I love you, Ms. McDonald, and that's about all. Do you think there could be just a glimmer of hope? I'm not worthy, I know a man like me, but I've got to speak it now. There's nothing I can say for myself to make me look a better figure in your eyes. But, but, oh, Dulcey, Dulcey, my Jewel, my dear, God knows how I love you, God knows. Something in his voice and the extreme humility with which he urged his plea touched the girl. Nobody had ever proposed quite like that before. He meant every clumsy word of it. His great, brown hand was hurting her little white one terribly that he did not know that. She rather liked to feel him hurting her. It seemed fair. She would have to hurt him in a moment. For the first time in her life, Dulcey felt a little frightened at herself for the possession of this strange power, this quality of hers which could make even great masculine creatures like Jim Winter shiver and shake and gasp and choke in their speech and lose their self-control and pluck out their hearts for her. I believe you love me, she said at last, taking her hand away, and it makes me very proud and very unhappy too, dear Mr. Winter. I shall never forget that you have offered me the greatest honour a man can offer to a woman, but it cannot be we forgive me. I dropped it very quietly. I should not have dared. Her blue eyes were clouded, her heart was sore for him. She would like to have said more, but feared to do so. She trembled, lest he should ask another question. One generally is supposed to be put by rejected lovers, but she did not know Jim Winter. He was not the man to press for reasons. Excess might have knocked him off his balance. Perhaps defeat did not do so. He expected failure and came prepared for it, but he never guessed that Dulce McDonald really liked him and admired his simple, genuine nature too, in a way. There was, however, something with a black moustache and divine eyes and many accomplishments which filled Dulce's soul quite to the prime just then. A moment later they saw the favoured being through the trees surrounded by a little crowd. The doctor's guests were fast arriving now. You will keep my secret, Miss McDonald? He asked. It is sacred, Mr. Winter. She answered gravely and the words seemed to comfort him. He knew not why. End of section 12. Recording by Harshatha Section 13 of Loop Guru. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Loop Guru by Eden Philpots. The Ruby Hummingbird. Chapter 4 Of Monshaugh, Kaada, it need only be said that his lucky star shone brightly that night. In the evening after some music with Miss McDonald and at the Blue Vivaan or two in which he had figured successfully as something mythological and divine, Ashil found himself in the garden where great red lanterns splashed the foliage with light and the mummering fountain seemed to throw a shower of precious stones up into the darkness. Little tree frogs filled the air above with crisp nocturnal turbings. Dancing fireflies spangled the night while by our accomplished Kaada walked Miss McDonald. Ashil found a pleasant resting place under the step notice, threw away his cigar after it was finished and flung himself down in an artistic attitude. Beside him sat Dulcy with the red light on her silver dress and a warm little heart thumping briskly beneath it. Then her favoured one began his version of the old story. Love is blind and has no difficulty in imparting his blindness to the victim. M. Kaada's protestations of eternal affection might not have convinced everybody. There were two words for himself and one for Dulcy from start to finish. He magnified his great significance in Granada, dwelt with unpleasing self complacency on his past achievements and future ambitions, mentioned sundry efforts in the direction of local charities, predicted splendid possibilities for himself in times to come, but admitted that with Dulcy to share in them his spending triumphs would be sweeter than ever. It was a long, winding, well-worded effort with a quotation or two from a French poet thrown in with a happy, original phrase here and there and a general air of careful preparation not to say rehearsal. When he had made an end of it the young man put his arm round Dulcy's waist and his big mustache close to her little mouth and poured great flow of burning glances from his black eyes into her priming blue ones. Then the tree frogs sang bravely and the fireflies twinkled a merry measure and the red lamps waved where a soft breeze sighed through the night and Dulcy was in heaven. Some hours later the lamps were out and the visitors had departed when the fountain had vanished in silence and the great day was at an end. Dulcy cried happy tears upon her mother's bosom and gave it as her most fixed opinion that never since the old world began to spin through space had such a glorious god of a man as her Achille appeared thereon and her mother wept also thinking she trusted that it might be so. Meantime the glorious god drank whiskey with his prospective father-in-law and Dr. McDonald was well pleased with the business holding his daughter's happiness a matter next to his heart. Achille went home, duly elated looked at himself in a glass before retiring found the sight as convincing as usual and then withdrew beneath his mosquito curtains to sleep as became a conqueror. Dulcy too slept but as it sometimes happens her dreams were occupied with trivial matters instead of the great concerns of the immediate past. She only saw a big brown man and heard once more the words he had spoken. Jim Winter did not sleep he walked under his coconut palms up and down until grey dawn he woke in the east then the morning found dusty weary eyed haggard youth with his head bent down with a dead flower in his buttonhole and a ridiculous brilliant necktie that had escaped from bondage and worked up under his ear. This is a LibriWalks recording All LibriWalks recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriWalks.org When the morning had brightened the sun ascended and the soft clouds upon the mountains were blushing with rose and gold an old negro came from Jim Winter's house and was astounded to see his master walking in the coconut avenue Day Lord Sir, you go to and fro all night? Winter started and smiled at the man Why? Yes, John I reckon I have and I'm about tired of it but there's lots to keep one's brains on the rack nowadays You know, gave the intellect a chance Sir, going to and fro all night? declared John gravely Maybe not Maybe haven't got enough to hurt You trot straight in and get my bath ready Anyhow, there's a good boy The old man disappeared and the smile on his master's face died out again He was just proceeding to the house when a black speck went dancing down through the air between the coconut palms It flashed for a second in the sunshine and vanished but Jim had seen the hummingbird and the current of his thoughts was changed I promised her I must get it There can be no harm in that he said to himself Then going indoors he took from over his mantelpiece a light gun which hung there and next he buzzed himself with some empty cartridge cases These to the number of a dozen he loaded and filled with dust shot After which, shouldering his weapon he strode away up the valley to the hills He remembered that Dulcy had seen ruby hummingbirds on the margin of the Grandie Tang and accordingly walked in that direction Presently he stood at the brink of the little lake and gazed long into its dark depths The man had poetry hidden away in him He wished that his love was indeed the mother of rain and dwelt beneath these waters Then he had leapt down into the lake and been at peace A bright wheel of gauzy mist hung over the shore but it was fast fading and the tropical forest began to grow clear through curtains of film Around him silent mountains rose tear on tear fringed and outlined with palms lighted by sunshine and the fiery crimson spikes of the coral trees while at hand from a tangle of tourney foliage starry blossoms of frangipani breathed incense to the morning Winter was a good shot and several of the little fowls he sought had presently fallen before him but they all proved to be of emerald hue Narirubi rested hummingbird could he secure Then where two roads met and where a mighty cactus stood its prickly arms hung with the delicate drippers of a white convolveless The sportsman saw what he wanted hanging like a star before the flowers trotting from one to another barring its long bill in their snowy chalices Other folks were abroad that morning too all alone on the road behind the cactus a trim figure in a brown harland riding habit was trotting briskly along over the turf at the edge of the road sunlight sparkled in her eyes her lips were parted drinking in the sweet air and at her heart nestled an unuttered prayer a wordless song of praise for the sweet blessings that kind heaven had poured into her young life As dim winter pulled trigger Dalcy's brown pony cantered proudly round the corner of the cactus there was a flash and a puff of smoke a little ruby hummingbird fell dead a woman screamed with agony and dropped from her saddle to the ground and a pony taking fright tore away down the road with great clatter and confusion and cloud of dust it was all over in a second and Jim kneeling by the unconscious girl groaned aloud to God End of section 14 Recording by Harshatha Section 15 of Loop Guru This is a Leap Revox recording All Leap Revox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LeapRevox.org Loop Guru by Eden Philpots The Ruby Hummingbird Chapter 6 Sir the priming cup is snatched as with trembling joy we raise it to taste and 6 weeks after Dalcy McDonald's accident her father knew that his queen of Granada would never see the light again the dust shot had terribly torn her little face and dimmed her blue eyes forever heaven relented somewhat in this matter for the unhappy girl only knew that she was blind but never guessed how much of her beauty had vanished too Tim Winter did not cut his throat or go out of his senses or alone knew how nearly both circumstances overtook him he lived on in a dazed crushed condition while from time to time uninvited Dr. McDonald went down to comfort the poor wretch and assure him of his victims forgiveness and bitter sorrow that he of all men should have brought her harm Face your life my boy said the old doctor stopped to think that won't mend it work like a demon and do good it might have been even worse you know what I mean my precious girls got some brightness in her life yet thank god there is a shield but though Dr. McDonald did not know it Granada pitied Mr. Winter a good deal more than it pitied a shield for M. Garda had not imported himself to the entire satisfaction of his fellow men of late nor had he shown under misfortune as might have been hoped it created little less than a scandal when the French man challenged Jim Winter to fight a duel and asserted that his accident was not as fortuitous as it appeared but Jim refused to fight when he heard of Garda's position the challenge and the news of a shield's engagement reached him through the same source at the same time and though just then he might not have minded a ready means of exit to oblivion or eternity the second tremendous fragment of intelligence made any acceptance of the first impossible time hurried forward and M. Garda discovered some curious facts as Tulsi grew stronger again he found out that love is a condition largely influenced by circumstances and that the quality of it varies very much in different hearts he took it for granted that his own passion had been the true sacred file and was accordingly pained to find that love depends much more upon mere external and superficial trifles than he imagined Tulsi once said you promised to think for me Achille now you will have to see for me too I am happy in that for you find so much more beauty in beautiful things than I used to had she been able to note the look on her lover's face just then the girl might have said more he was thinking that beauty is an enormous factor perhaps the first in love he was reflecting that the world holds no more beautiful sight than a face which has been beautiful and is so no longer he felt her parents did her a wrong and him too in not mentioning the change it was cruel to hide it from her he almost wished she could know it then at least Tulsi would feel that what was a satisfactory engagement before now amounted to rather a noble sacrifice on his part it aggravated his position that the girl clung to him so closely now and that even her parents did not seem to understand upon what a man's love naturally depended but Achille was humane and honourable he visited Villa Caprice with regularity and determined to raise no questions of the future until opportunity should offer and Miss McDonald be quite strong and well again then as they sat one day where he had quoted French and explained what a glorious thing man's love can be when the heart is big and true Tulsi settled the question for him at any rate he considered that she did so I sometimes wonder my dearest whether you feel quite the same to me as you did before I was blind you see I cannot look up into your eyes and read all they might tell me I am going to see a terrible thing Achille such a terrible thing that I don't think I could say it if I wasn't quite certain what the answer would be my plucks all gone now but I will say it I shall be happier put your arm round me love press me quite close while I speak even to think the words frightens me more than the great darkness did at first he put his arm about her and we did for her words with an expression of painful interest on his handsome face there now I am close to your heart it's this my dearest one I can only be a dead weight round your neck through the years to come I can never help your ambitions and hopes and achievements now I can only listen and love to hear and glory in them but but it isn't fair to you it's blotting your life at the very outset of it I could only be certain and come friends now she waited a moment but he did not speak then with trembling his to get the words spoken and finished she hurried on so I release you I must say it it is right and just I should only right and just if if you want your doll see now you must ask her all over again she put one little hand over the arm round her waist as if to hold it there and smiled at him but Emgata did not kiss the scarred upturned face he glanced from it away to the fountain before him a gleam of rainbow flashed in it and liberty seemed shadowed there beckoning to do him justice he fell the position acutely the girl herself he reflected now saw the difficulty too though her stupid parents were unable to do so of course the love of a father and mother is so different to them doubtless she was as beautiful as ever then he spoke he failed to make a neat job of it but he succeeded in rendering his meaning clear so clear that presently he had to dip his scented silk handkerchief in the fountain and bathe Delcy's forehead then he led her in to her mother and rode away suffering considerably End of Section 15 Recording by Harshatha Section 16 of Loop Karoo This is a LibriWalks recording or LibriWalks recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriWalks.org Loop Karoo by Eden Philpoth The Ruby Humming Bird Chapter 7 This past since M. Garda left Granada People were very sentimental and illogical about his affair with Miss McDonald There was an unreasonable tendency to view the matter from blind Delcy's standpoint rather than his own So he shook the dust off the island from his yellow boots and went elsewhere for a time until reason should reassert its sway and a half it was for Delcy McDonald and her parents also then dawned an Indian summer of happiness for the blind girl A chastened joy heartfelt and real enough but pathetic as the dim afterglow of tropical sunset fraught with such sadness as the sight of sweet flowers on the coffin of youth Jim Winter took Dr. McDonald's advice and worked like a man for other men It pleased Delcy to hear of him and presently it pleased her to be with him But it was not until her mother wrote and asked him to come and see them sometimes Not until nearly a year after Ashil Garda's departure from Granada that Jim set hesitating foot on the threshold of Willa Caprice Then he would talk to her and read to her and worship her like a great humble dog While Delcy by slow degrees began to find that his voice brightened the darkness a little In the sober light of her bitter sorrow and suffering this man did not seem so heavy or dull She felt he was real and she knew he loved her still She also knew that no words on that subject would ever pass his lips again But one day they were sitting by the same little fountain where such great joys and griefs had fallen on Delcy Jim had been reading and only shut his book when he saw that her eyes were closed She was however wide awake thinking and when he stopped still remained silent with lowered eyelids She heard him put down the book and was looking at her looking at his handiwork presently he leaned over her and so remained very quiet for a long time Then a solitary splash like a drop of thunder rain fell on Delcy's hand It worked sleeping memories and the echo of words spoken in the past still there was no sound only the fountain made murmuring music But this man had said once but would not again the words came floating back Delcy Delcy my jewel my dear God knows how I love you God knows Then she opened her eyes and smiled and stretched out her arms to him and he understood End of section 16 Recording by Harshatha Section 17 of Loop Garoo This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Loop Garoo by Eden Philpots The Obi-Man Hidden in the heart of a tropical tangle of palmetto and mango plantain and palm Perched on the lonely apex of a lofty hill overlooking the Caribbean sea stands a hut beside a scanty patch of cleared land The hut is thatched with dried cane tops and the broad leaves of the palm The sky is very blue above hot air dances and shimmers against the baking earth in the dark green and orange tawny of the forest beyond A narrow strip of thorny cactus hedge fences the cultivated land Here a tamarin tree or two rear their heads Here a clump of bananas, their broad leaves all frayed and tattered by sea breezes, bend beneath giant clusters of fruit A goat is tethered to a little pomegranate tree in the garden Over the cleared soil itself grows vines of the sweet potato This lonely habitation situate on a mountain side in Tobago belongs to a time-worn fragment of Ethiopian humanity A disciple of mystery A priest of Obia Glanced twice at his secluded ragged hut and signs of exceptional character and significance become instantly apparent It lies very far removed from all other dwellings for no black man would care to pitch his own home within sight or sound of it The situation is silent and mysterious The spot is adorned with strange fragments of things dead Two eyeless bullock skulls ornament the entrance of the obimans dwelling and his land is fenced with a fantastic ribbon whereon hang empty bottles bright feathers and fragments of gaudy rag Within this weird zone no man may enter uninvited and certain it is no man would do so for Obia is a real terrible business still a creed beyond the power of missionary to shatter or destroy and a negro would no more speak disrespectfully of it than of his own grandparents Enter this hut and look round it gradually observing the monstrous matters hidden in the gloom as your eyes become accustomed to the darkness Dried mummies of beasts and men surround the place hang against its walls and sit propped in corners with a loathsome semblance of living about them festoons of bird's eggs and curious seeds and empty bottles hang across the roof skins of animals and birds litter the floor strange malodorous smells greet the nostrils there is a piece of red glass in the roof blind flaming eye of light the illumination centers upon a little three-legged table scattered over which lie strange uncanny-looking fragments filth mystery and darkness blend and grim combination here across one angle of the hut hangs a curtain which hides arcanum the chamber of horrors or holy of holies whichever your attitude towards Obia inclines you to call it Jesse the mystic himself was in his garden a great snake gourd trailed and twined over a pile of rubbish at one corner of the property and here hidden under the shadows of citron and lemon trees the obi-man worked he appeared very ancient his old ribs made a gridiron of his lean breast his limbs were skin and bone his scanty wool was gray a tangled network of furrows and deep lines scarred and seemed his face in every direction and curiously wide apart on either side of a flat Ethiopian nose the man's eyes gleamed from his withered headpiece like the eyes of a toad Jesse was an extreme undress that afternoon only a few fragments of a pair of trousers covered his loins and a band of red cloth circled his weasened throat despite his evident age no little physical strength remained to him indeed his present task sufficiently proclaimed the fact for it was no simple agricultural operation in fact the chance observer would have said that Jesse must be digging a grave under the shadow of his citron and amongst the roots of his great snake gourd as he worked getting deeper and deeper ramming the broad wooden spade home with his horny feet ramming the pile of earth at his side Jesse sang to himself in a piping old man's treble with the usual plaintive West Indian wine a bluebird sighed on a thorn and put his head upon one side to hear the song a green lizard with eyes as bright as Jesse's own wrestled out from under the cactus fence and stopped with palpitating tremulous motion of his front paws to listen also then the bird flew and the reptile fled for neither enjoyed the song over much this is what Jesse sang low him lie, low him lie in the light of the moon and a twinkling sky but only the root of the snake guard know how he come to the hole so black and low albeit die, albeit, albeit do albeit die, albeit, albeit do low him lie, low him lie under the light of the moony sky but nobody see why the snake guard grow twining him root far down below albeit die, albeit, albeit do albeit die, albeit, albeit do low him lie, low him lie where the worms they crawl in the white man's eye but only the snake guard and Jesse know where him sleep so still in the hole so low albeit die, albeit, albeit do albeit die, albeit, albeit do albeit die, albeit do the song rose and sank and seemed to hang in the trees and creep about like a live thing while its last penetrating notes were answered by the crisp chirp chirp of great winged crickets Jesse's uncanny melody truly fitted the place, the man and his task he worked on steadily only stopping once like Shakespeare's grave digger to address a fragment he suddenly exhumed that browed negro skull with low receding forehead and Jesse set it before him on the grave's edge and spoke to it Who was you, Sarr, he asked and gravely waited for a reply you know answer, Sarr didn't you most rude and parent young fellow whereupon he playfully smacked the empty brain pan before him with his spade and laughed a cracked horrible chuckle which greatly frightened the goat tethered at hand then the obi man grew suddenly sober and spoke to his skull again you laugh too, eh? you laugh? me guard I don't know what you laugh for use Jepsen that's you, I remember Jepsen Massiford he want Jepsen rub out and send him with message to Jesse and now he want white man rub out while Jesse, him very great use to Massiford he labored in silence and dug on until his pit extended five feet underground his next task was to conceal every sign of the aperture and he set about hiding all traces of it with most artistic neatness he buried the pile of damp earth under dead palm leaves broken wood and rubbish then he trailed over it a scraggling chute or two from the snake gourd after that he covered the hole with thin planks and piled earth upon these until the entire concerned looked to be nothing but a newly turned furrow in the aforesaid patch of sweet potatoes having made an end of the business Jesse sought his outer gate and posting himself there screened his face from the glare of the sunshine and looked out with his bright toad's eyes down the steep hill before him a magnificent tropical panorama of savage distant snowy beach and wonderful sea spread below and winding up through the woods struggling as it were with difficulty through dense undergrowth and narrow places full of thorny cacti and trailing weeds there ascended a bridle path flanked by bewildering tangles of foliage and mighty tree in volcanic boulder here and there the flaming flowers of Bois Immortal lighted the woods with crimson brightness and other points all festooned and linked together with twining and climbing parasites or gray curtains of lace-like lichens arose palmetto and palm and notable forest giants some gleaming with wondrous blossoms some bending under great wealth of varied fruits and through the mingling draperies of green and brown, olive and gold under the feathery crown of the bamboo amongst the little green blossoms of the mango or hovering before more brilliant flowers flying like liquid gems in the prodigious glare of sunlight did hummingbirds with breast of emerald and ruby flash and dance every step or terrace in the steep aclivities of the hills was crowned with lofty trees or cabbage palms and from point to point arose the gaunt-bleached limbs of some arboreal corpse to lower its dead limbs and blotted out from the great living hillside far below glimmered a white beach and through the woods all silent in the great heat arose a sigh of surf-breaking surf that even from this elevation could be seen lying like a band of silver between the gorgeous mini-tinted sea in the pale shore far away on the western side of the hills extended long undulating fields of bright green vegetation in their midst arose a building with metal roof flashing under the sun and a tall black chimney it was the pelican sugar-estate an important and prosperous concern that stood like an oasis in a great desert of stagnation for Tobago was a languishing island just then and not a few different factors combined to depress and trouble the place there was but little money moving while black labor became harder and harder to command sugar-culture indeed threatened to grow a played out futile industry as had cotton growing before it and folks spoke hopelessly of the island's future unless some new enterprises should soon be hit upon in capital from fresh sources speedily flow in but John Ford, overseer of the pelican estate laughed at this universal lamentation and pointed to his concerns as a standing refutation of the accepted fact that no good thing could now come out of Tobago touching this man and for the better understanding of what follows a brief word must be spoken he had labored here twenty long years on behalf of his uncle one William Ford merchant of Thames street London he had toiled zealously made handsome profits for his relation gained that old man's good will and won from him a promise that when the said merchant should depart this life and leave his goods to other hands the pelican sugar estate would be bequeathed to the present able overseer of it upon the strength of which promise John Ford married a creole girl begot a long family and prayed his uncle would make an end of living as soon as possible time rolled on the states prospered and their owner instead of passing away turned his London business into a company and wrote informing his nephew that he designed to spend a portion of the coming winter in the West Indies John Ford a man honest because he deemed honesty the best policy and for that reason only awaited his wealthy relations advent with some interest and discovered when he presently arrived in Tobago William Ford was a pompous and powerful bachelor hail and mind and body sound at every point clearly without any immediate intention of joining his ancestors uncle and nephew were extremely friendly however the elder man highly commended his overseers conduct of affairs and repeated his assurance that the pelican estate should in the future become the property of him and his heirs forever John Ford returned thanks with humble gratitude and lavished upon the old man such West Indian hospitality as Tobago is justly noted for but privately the overseer grew glum and grim he yearned for the green plantations he was tired of making money for other people he desired to send his growing lads home and give them the benefit of English educations these things grew further off than ever now his uncle cared nothing for growing lads indeed the old man proved to have distinctly miserly instinct he even desired to cut down expenses on the estate at one or two points and John Ford felt that uncle William was a decidedly undesirable individual a man whose decease must unquestionably tend to better the prospects of the entire community he also recollected that life the tropics is an uncertain matter and prevailed on Mr. Ford Sr. to extend his visit but when May came the old man found that the West Indies were getting too hot to hold him and upon the afternoon of this narrative only two days further sojourned remained of his stay in Tobago then the Royal Mail Company's packets so long would sail for Barbados and William Ford was going in her about which time his nephew began to feel that desperate troubles need equally desperate remedies Jesse saw no sign of man or beast approaching his lonely den he left the gate therefore went into his gruesome hut and proceeded with preparations for coming guests his own attire appeared to be the main and most important matter disappearing behind the curtain which screened his sanctum the obi man entered upon the most weird bizarre unlovely toilet it is possible to imagine on his head he placed a fur cap with long black horns between which hung tinkling trophies of empty medicine bottles and beads over his lean body and legs he drew hairy garments coarsely painted with dobs of crimson and white these things were girt upon him with a waist belt of feathers his arms remained bare but upon wrists and ankles he tied links of snakeskin and elaborate bracelets of red and black crab-eye seeds about his neck he festooned a chain of human teeth and upon his breast he fastened a loathsome amulet a shriveled up human fetus the hideous ghost of a thing that had never lived he next painted sundry blue hieroglyphics over his wrinkled face and then gazed at the general effect in a scrap of looking-glass the sight evidently gave him unqualified pleasure yes Obi somebody to stay he said to his goat if he looked unearthly in his own dim dwelling-house Jesse's appearance under the sun's fierce eye was not less so the brilliant scraps of cloth and dobs of paint now gleamed like fire the glass bottles on his crest danced and jingled and flashed a thousand fantastic trifles amidst his accruements not before visible now became painfully apparent he had secured strange bribes from sailor clients in the past civilization in the shape of a big jackknife and a little brass-bound bible hung around his neck probably the word of God never dangled in such strange company before the horrid thing on his breast is stuck in its head and now they glimmered with a sort of life whilst its shriveled little arms clung about its master and hugged him then down in the hot haze of the distance partially hidden mid-trees and rocks our monsters saw indications of a small calvocade struggling up the hill a row of horsemen in single file were wrestling with the slippery torturous path and Jesse could catch glimpses and brown horses and hear the thud of hooves and the sounds of human voices raised in laugh or oath as one or another slipped and stumbled or sat secure and watched others in trouble then again entering his home he did all that remained to be done he stooped low routed amid debris in a corner and from a box hidden beneath it removed a second smaller box which was carefully wrapped up in paper it contained a thick glutinous gray substance about the consistency of bird-lime taking some of the stuff upon a skewer Jesse pulled back the ball of his left hand middle finger until the space was left beneath the nail into this he carefully plastered his compound from the box all his nails were particularly long and dirty so this strangely anointed middle finger was not calculated to attract the least attention then he polished up the edges of the nail hid away the box again and disappearing behind his curtain sat quietly down and waited for the coming party presently the horsemen arrived and drew up before Jesse's gate there were three of them a lad, a man in his prime and an elderly gentleman the last very hot and very exhausted I fear he's out said the adult looking about him it was John Ford a tall brown individual dressed in white with a Panama hat on the back of his head twenty years of tropic sunshine had tanned him dark had streaked his black hair with gray had killed his conscience but thanks to his own temperate habits and fine constitution had left his liver sound as a bell the lad was John's son and the elderly personage his uncle Jesse, Jesse called out John Ford and Jesse who knew his visitors had arrived and only waited their summons now appeared in bowed low while his finery made wild music by Jove we're lucky exclaimed the overseer I told you that you should see an obi doctor uncle but I never thought he would have all this war paint on tell him to get out of sight while I dismount answered the old man no horse alive could stand a thing like that give you good day, Massa Ford and give you good day, Massa Jack and give you very good day too, sir said Jesse bowing again and again this is my uncle, Mr. William Ford owner of the Pelican plantations, Jesse the obi man bent respectfully wonderful estate, Massa wonderful cane on the Pelican land, sir come in, Jimman I was proud to see you in this place they dismounted tethered their horses and followed them into his hut Jesse brought fruit in a bottle of rum and directed master Jack Ford with whom he was on great terms of friendship to get some calabashes from a corner wish I'd known of this visit, sirs then Jesse had had things ready he said Mr. Ford seniors sat and mopped his brow and breathed heavily his climb in the hot sunlight had exhausted him a good deal the overseer ate an orange then lighted a cigar and began to talk he was wonderfully cool for the time of day you've got to thank Jesse I can tell you, Uncle William, he said why he's been worth pounds and pounds to you at one time a tremendous deal of sugar cane was stolen here the black thieves came by night he he, black thieves come by night echoed Jesse and simply took tons of stuff continued John Ford I placed the matter in the hands of the parson and the police but they could do no good then I came to Jesse and he had things right in no time, tings right in no time said the old Negro you see Jesse put your lands under Obia, Uncle William of course I don't believe in all that rubbish any more than you do but Obia is a real terrible thing to the niggers our friend here just threw a spell over the place and hung red rags and empty bottles about on the skirts of the plantations and devil another cane went devil another cane go he he sniggered Jesse presently it transpired that this was William Ford's last excursion in Tobago he and his nephew and the boy Jack had ridden up from the Pelican estate below to see Jesse one of the greatest curiosities in the island having spent half an hour in his company to go down to the beach and enjoy a bath before returning to Scarborough the seaport town John Ford knew Jesse pretty well perhaps better even than people supposed curious things had happened in Tobago once or twice and recalcitrant colored gentlemen from the Pelican estate had been unaccountably missed but of course individual Ethiopian lives did not command much attention and because a man disappeared it by no means followed that ill must have befallen him there was plenty of room on the island seen any turtle on the beach lately asked Jack plenty turtles are I take walk on moony nights and see the sand all live with turtles and the sea with sharks eh laughed John Ford we're going for a dip before dusk he added but not in the open water there's a little natural bathing place below hemmed in with rocks I've had the sea hedgehogs cleared out of it and now it's perfect you know it Jack Mr. William Ford presently declared that he felt much better and completely rested then the entire party walked round Jesse's garden and he showed them the objects of interest that snake guard masa and them creepy guards like snakes they grow live at night and crawl about and that treedar him silk cotton tree the obi a tree star and Luguru put him skin under when he go out a Luguru is a sort of vampire explained Jack he's a terrible chap Jesse isn't he all hem terrible bad fellows are admitted the obi man presently our visitors having seen all Jesse's wonders were preparing to depart as they proceeded to his gate their hosts stopped suddenly with evident dismay gentlemen he exclaimed why you no drink with me then we certainly will do so answered the elder Ford good natured Lee and this he said because as they ascended the hill his nephew had casually mentioned that to refuse liquid refreshment from the mystery man was a terrible affront in his eyes they returned to the hut for a moment and Jesse directed Jack to rinse out four split calabash bowls while he drew the cork from a stone bottle of rum make master Jack's very weak please said the overseer then the Negro endeavoring to get a look of cheery hospitality into his bright toad's eyes poured out four bowls of refreshment he handed one to each guest and reserved the fourth for himself a very acute observer might have noticed that the long bony metal finger of Jesse's left hand rested for a brief while in one of those calabashes that destined for Mr. William Ford the boy draining his weak rum and water went out to the horses and a minute later his father followed him uncle has changed his mind about the bath Jack he said the old gentleman is going to rest a little longer and then follow us we have arranged to meet at the gate of the estate and ride home together I'm not sorry he's given up the idea come along and in the meanwhile Ford senior had drunk half his rum and water and then suddenly fallen forward at Jesse's feet where's my nephew he asked feebly there's something wrong with me I cannot see Massa Ford back in a moment sour hot sun sour damn hot sun drinks are quick Jesse put you right he handed the old man his calabash of spirit and water and again a long black finger touched the liquid in it then the obi man went out and looked down the hill Jack's boyish laughter echoed away in the woods presently it grew faint and ceased there was no further sound save Mr. William Ford's horse tethered at the gate sometimes it stamped its hoof or dragged at its bridle to reach fresh grass while with unceasing swish swish swish from side to side its tail kept the flies off then the day drew to a close and the glorious gold and crimson sunset flamed over the hillside and painted the sea below while Jesse took off his insignia of office Don scanty remains of a pair of trousers again and busied himself with sundry matters John Ford and his merry boy enjoyed their dip in the Caribbean and afterwards rode as arranged to the entrance of the Pelican estate there to meet the owner thereof but he did not come the hour growing late in the scant twilight having nearly sped they suspected their relation tired of waiting had proceeded alone towards Scarborough his road lies straight before him he cannot miss it we will hurry to overtake him said John Ford but father and son overtook nobody and were in some consternation on reaching home to find that Uncle William had not arrived Jack was instantly sent off to rouse the authorities while John Ford with a friend or two rode back to the Obi-man's hut it was a trying matter struggling up the hill in darkness but they managed it the tree frogs raised their little voices in the palms bigger bitrachians boomed from the marshes fireflies spangled the darkness strange sounds and rustlings of nocturnal life were audible everywhere but to West Indians such concerns appeared no more remarkable than the gleam of a gas lamp or the rattle of a cab and deserted nocturnal streets at home the only thought in their minds was to reach Jesse's hut with all possible speed and this they presently did Massa don't come while Jesse walked down to hill with him he went ever so soon after you Massa Ford he said he catch you and go bathe he make up his mind to bathe, sir bathe to heaven he didn't said the overseer uneasily there's only one safe spot on the beach where I went with Jack his friends soothed his alarm they append that an old man of sixty at least would hardly be likely to have gone bathing alone but time proved John Ford's fears to be well grounded and showed that Jesse had told the truth no sign of Uncle William appeared that night at dawn upon the following morning a brown horse was found tethered to a coconut palm on the shore and near the animal lay a pile of clothes Uncle William had taken the wrong turn and evidently making up his mind to enjoy a bathe at all cost had done so it was a wonderful performance even for such a hail hardy man doubtless the Tobago Sharks could tell the sequel to it his watch was in his pocket his money also nothing had been touched indications of footprints ran down over the dry soft sand to the edge of the water that was all John Ford appeared to be terribly prostrated the fact that the Pelican estate presently became his own property and that his younger sons would now be able to enjoy English educations gave him very little pleasure he blamed himself bitterly and would not be comforted either by his wife or his friends for nearly six months then he cheered up a little old Jesse continued to be a great institution at Tobago he tended his garden and his snake gourd as of yore and sometimes sang snatches of that curious song in the piping voice of extreme age lo him lie lo him lie where the worms they crawled and the white man's eye but only the snake guard and Jesse know where him sleep so still and a hole so low oh be a die oh be a oh be a do oh be a die oh be a oh be a do the end end of section 17 section 18 of Luke Ru this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jim Neenaber Luke Ru by Eden Philpots Pete and Pete chapter 1 they sat together forward under scant shadows while the star of Bethlehem a dirty little coasting schooner lay nearly becalmed in the Caribbean her sails flapped idly hot air danced over the deck and along the bulwarks away in the port bow extended a scattered panorama of the Grenadines each little islet shone dotted gray or golden against the deep sapphire of the sea and silver surges twinkled at the lonely ramparts of them here and there a board a spar creaked lazily or a block went chip chip as the star of Bethlehem laid in heavily rolled on a swell blazed over the four-yeared arm the heat was tremendous but Pete and Pete bashed in it and loved it neither saw a necessity for a straw of head covering indeed Pete the greater wore no clothes at all he sat watching Pete the less a non he put forth a small black hand for a banana then with forehead puckered into a world of wrinkles and furrows he inspected his namesake's work and later, tired of squatting in the sun hopped on to the bulwark and upped them as enshrouds Pete the greater was a brown monkey the treasured property of the skipper and Pete the less now cleaning some flying fish for the cook was a negro boy the treasured property of nobody a small lad with tattered trousers from beneath which stuck clumsy naked toes a lean body more of which appeared then was hidden by the rags of his shirt and great black eyes like a dog's he was in fact a very dog-like boy when the men cursed him as mostly happened he cowered and hung his head and sunk away sometimes showing a canine tooth when they were in merry mood he too frisked and fond and went mad with delight but the chance seldom offered he had a grim master and an awful responsibility in the shape of Pete the greater for a ship's monkey in the tropics commands a deal of attention this active beast under God and the skipper was Pete's quote-unquote boss the sailor said that he always touched his will to it and everybody knew that he talked to it for hours at a time when the lad first came aboard skipper Spicer put the matter in a nutshell see here nigg you're a pigeon you've just got to watch it and feed it and think of it all the time and bear in mind as he's a darned sight more valuable than anything else aboard this ship so keep your weather eye lifting and remember there'll be a merry hell round here if any harm comes to Pete eyes called Pete too, Massa the boy had answered grinning at what struck him as a grand choke are you well you'll sing second sonny and you'll wish you'd never been born oftener than you draw breath in a day if you don't get pals with Pete number one there he is sitting on the hatch and you've got to watch him all the time all the time mind then the negro went in fear to make friends with the monkey and succeeded beyond his expectations but apes are capricious and Pete the less found his pigeon aboard the star of Bethlehem no bed of roses for that matter the rest of the hands suffered too Skipper Spicer was a bald-headed old fellow with a temper like a demon a man blighted by sorrow and affliction impossible to please very bad to sail with the mate of the ship had known as captain in past years when the sun shone on him Dick Bent some philosophy with a forcible way of putting facts and when therefore the rest of the little crew grumble that their old man explained the position from his former knowledge it's like this year nature filled the old sweep with a milk a human kindness then she up and sent a thunderstorm of troubles and turned it sour I've sailed on and off with him these past ten years he ignored when he kept his foot in his temper and were a very tidy member of seafaring society but after his mrs. died and his kid died then he would have married old and was wrapped up in the woman and the child as came to him in his age why then he cast off all holds and chucked religion and wished he could see the wide world in hell and done his little best to help send it there it's that way when things turn contrary wise skipper'll die in a tent or my judge one of them black wines as wriggles in his forehead when his danders up will go pop some day not but what there's good hid in him too but Bent's shipmates three mongrel negroes and two Englishmen failed to find the buried treasure skipper Spicer was always the same with painful monotony the man Bent and the monkey Pete could pull with him the rest of the crew suffered variously for the captain though no longer young was tough and very powerful he had outbursts of passion that presented a sorry sight for gods a painful spectacle for men such paroxysms as his mate prophesied seem likely enough to end life for him some day and just as likely to end life for another body the negro boy scraped out his flying fish and cut off their tails and wings then he peeled a panic and of sweet potatoes and talked to his charge mass of Pete he said gravely use a damn lucky gem and sir the most lucky gem I'm a bow to star Bethlehem you friends whip captain just a ways he never shop a few never but he that shop with me sir that I saw all over the back all the time I think you might say a word to captain for me mass of Pete was mighty good nigga to you sir the monkey was chewing another banana it stripped off the rind with quick black fingers filled its mouth stuffed its cheeks and then munched and munched and looked at Pete with that horrible glimmering dawn of conscious intelligence which lights of the ape it held its head on one side as though thinking and weighing each word and Pete felt quite convinced that it understood him the boy himself was ten years old he had entered the world undesired and knew little of it save that sugar cane was sweet in the mouth but hard to come by honestly the greater lived in the master's cabin and Pete the less often heard the skipper talking to him if the captain could exchange ideas with his monkey surely a nigger might do so and it comforted the boy to chatter out his miseries and empty his small heart to the beast certainly no one else on board had time or inclination to attend to him so Pete talked to Pete I just wish you was me and me was you sir for I has very bad time a boat this boat but you has all banana and no work and and don't be so prime as a Pete as the monkey went capering aloft one day you run long them spas too often and fallen to see to my shock then what to boss do with me it happened that Bent was lying full sprawl behind a hatchway smoking and grinning as he listened to these remarks now he popped up a funny small head with big eyes and a red beard it skin you and then throw you after the monkey he answered I guess he would sir so keep alive why you might as well steal the old man's watch is let that animal there get adrift the skipper came on deck at this moment and both Pete saw him at the same moment one touched his wool and ambled forward to the galley the other came down the rat lines head first and leapt chattering to the captain's shoulder a favorite perch his master had owned the monkey five years it belonged once to his malatris wife and when she was dying she specially mentioned it and made it over to him that and his old turnip watch were the only treasures he had in the world with his brown wife and the little home in tomato the man had been happy even God fearing but the first baby killed its mother and dying also left a wrecked life behind Spicer cared for nothing now and consequently feared nothing it is their interest on earth not the stake in eternity that makes intelligent men cowards and of section 18 section 19 of loop guru this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jim Neenaber loop guru by Eden Philpots Pete and Pete chapter 2 the star of Bethlehem delayed by light winds was some days overdue with Trinidad and the skipper exploded in successive volcanoes from dawn till dusk he was always in a rage and as Bent observed if this sight of energy and cussing and swearing and to-helling the ship's company was only shoved into the atmosphere I judge we'd had a half a gala wind by now the old man will bust his baler sure as death for he's done with it but the winds kept baffling and swearing did not mend them nor yet blows nor yet occasional football with Pete the boy there is no reason to suppose that skipper Spicer disliked Pete over much not more than he hated any boy but he was old fashioned and altogether brutal and needed something to kick at times moreover a kick does not show on a negro and many imagine that it is the only way of hurting him or explaining that you disagree with him once the mate ventured to intercede by virtue of his long acquaintance we're old pals captain he said and mean a no disrespect it's like this here you're killin' that little black devil he's small and you do welt that art it don't show if it did maybe you'd feel sorta struck to find how you've rubbed it in it's cause he's a good boy I mention it if he was a badden then I'd say lather on and I'd help but he minds his pigeon which you'd better do likewise growled the skipper alright boss sorry I spoke mean a no offense only it's generally allowed now by them as I studied the subject that niggs is human same as us and has workin' souls also drivelin' wrought I don't have none of that twaddle aboard this ship balderdash all of it to frighten women and get the money out of men I know nobody better than me cause I was a psalm singer myself among the best in what's come of it ain't no god in these latitudes anyway else why did he play it so low down on me there's any man or a god at all he killed my wife and my child for fun and I don't take no stock in a god as it do that I'll rip forward my own way now till he calls for my checks which he's quite welcome to any time, damn him you might have joined that poor lady in the hint fence somewheres if you'd gone on bankin' reward aloft same as you did for they was took as to heaven, said the skipper that's no mighty catch if there is such a place I never did fancy bawling shanties to a harp on a golden shore forever, not even in the old days appears to me that's a job as it get deep on the nerves after a century or two bent sniffed the same idea had struck him maybe it's dull skipper but it's reckoned the hijinks of a place alongside the biddly always a loon of to this ship's company there's a golden strand you bet and that's the point askin' partin' again nigs'll get a show up there same as us not them if there is a golden strand as I don't believe they won't make no market beach of it anyhow niggers ain't got souls and if they have it's only enough to take them to hell and chance it so I was like them's lucky to go anywhere bent thought of the late Mrs Spicer but to have hinted that black blood flowed in her veins had been a dangerous venture only he scratched his red beard and raised a terrific mental problem if white folks had souls and black folks had none what sort of eternity awaited the millions of mongrel people that filled the world nobody's got a soul no more than my monkey so there's the end of the argument said Spicer soul or none he's a deal of sense for Sarton the mate amazing deal of sense and he takes kind to Tother Pete if he could talk now I'd say to give the boy a chance to get a whole skin over his bones for a change which if he did answered the other I should say to him same as I do to you to mind his own business but the men were friends in twenty four hours for that night a fair wind came up the star of Bethlehem skipped along in a very creditable fashion and Spicer thawed during the old tub she makes some of the newfangled boats look silly yet he said complacently to Bent as a day later they lumbered through the dragon's teeth to port of Spain after leaving Trinidad the little coaster proceeded to Tobago for a cargo of coconuts and the crew viewed that circumstance with gratification and the most heavy-witted amongst them never failed to notice how a visit to his former home softened the old man on this occasion as upon past trips the palm-crowned mountains of Tobago brought a measure of peace into the skipper's heart whilst a fair wind and a good cargo tended to improve that blissful condition all hands reaped benefit and to Dick Bent the captain grew absolutely communicative they walked the deck together one morning on the homeward passage to Barbados and Spicer lifted a corner of the curtain hiding his past then it was good to live like but when my missus chucked it and took the baby along with her life changed color now there's only two things in all creation I care a red scent about one's a beast tether an old gold watch pretty mean goods to set your heart on but all as I've got in the whole world it's a mighty fine watch said Bent it is and chain two for that matter I was looking at him in my cab on only half an hour past he brightened as he thought of the trinket and continued I doubt there's many better than me would fancy that chain across their bellies but she, Lord Deliveress look aft sang out the mate suddenly interrupting and pointing to the hatch of the companion Spicer's monkey had just hopped up on the deck and from his black paw hung the skipper's watch in chain Pete the greater ambled along towards the bulwark and a sweat burst from his master's face as he called the brute in a strange voice but Pete was perverse he reached the bulwark and the skipper's nerve died in him but all Bent dared not take a step towards hastening the pending catastrophe or identifying himself therewith it was a trying moment as the monkey made for his favorite perch on the mizzen rigging and while he careered forward on all fours the watch bumped against the ship's side the sound brought the blood with the rush to skipper Spicer's head patience was no virtue of his at best forward with a smothering curse the man had his hand within six inches of the watch when Pete squeaked and dropped it into the sea there was a splash a gleam of gold and the treasure sank flashing and twinkling down through the blue dwindling to a bright submerged snake then vanishing forever a great gust of passion shook the man and tied his tongue he tried to swear but could only hiss and growl like an angry beast then he seized the monkey by the scruff of the neck as it jumped for his shoulder shook it and flung it overboard with a hurtling shower of oaths a red light blinded him he felt his temples bursting and he reeled away below not stopping to see a small brown head rise from the foam of the splash where Pete had fallen the monkey fought for it as one might see a rat driven off ship-board into deep water two terrified eyes gazed upwards at his home while the star of Bethlehem swept by him his red mouth opened with a yell and his black paws began beating the water hard as he fell astern presently Pete sank for the first time then he came up again slowly and went on fighting but the skipper saw nothing he only felt the hot blood surging through his head as he flung himself on his bunk face downwards for a moment he thought death had gripped him but the threatened evil past and his consciousness did not depart then thoughts came and flooded his brains with abomination of desolation he lay with his bald head on his arms and turned his mind back into the past to the smart stone cottage under palms at Tobago he remembered so much and every shaft of memory brought him back with a round turn to the present there was the lemon tree with Pete's perch on it his wife had loved the monkey he could see her now kissing its little nose and she had died with a gold watch ticking under her head her wedding ring was upon the chain of it she put it on his little finger before she went but it would not get over the second joint so she had slipped it upon the watch chain now God in heaven alone could tell what loathsome fish was nosing it under the sea and her monkey her last gift to him a live meal for a shark now the wide world remained to him empty save for the thought of what he had done no educated being can realize the blank or the bitterness in that man's mind just then he himself never guessed a quarter of what his vanished treasures had really been to him never until now when they were gone and the poison and the sting of it lay in conviction that his own demonic temper was responsible for everything one mad moment which he would have given his soul to recall had brought him to this pass he lay heedless of time for nearly three hours then he sat up and looked round the cabin a worn aged man as he did so the door opened bent small head peeped in and the mate spoke fit as a fiddle, boss only a flea or two missing the man shut the cabin door again but he left something behind peat the grater chattered and jumped to his perch in the corner and from there on to his master's birth he was dry, warm and much as usual apparently and he bore no malice whatever Spicer glared and his breath caught in his throat then he grabbed the brute to him till it squeaked while its owner began to snuffle where grateful oaths a tear or something like it dropped upon the flat nose of his friend but peat the grater had suffered enough from saltwater for one day there was only one soul aboard the star of Bethlehem who would have gone into a shark haunted sea to save a monkey but that soul did not think twice about it he came on deck too late to see the catastrophe though in time to note peat the grater in the jaws of death had he known how the monkey came into the Caribbean he might have doubted the propriety of attempting a rescue but he did not know and so he joined it the boy could swim like a duck and as bent lured a boat smartly and the sharks stayed upon their maker's business elsewhere it was not long before peat and peat came aboard together but meantime their master on his bunk did not even know that the ship had been hoped to they emptied the water out of peat the monkey and gave peat the negro some rum both were jolly in an hour and it is recorded that skipper spicer chose to take peculiar views of the gravity of the incident it seems certain at least that he seldom kicked his cabin boy again which fact alone argued a considerable increase of prosperity for peat the less end of section 19