to see, the kind of pneumatic pump that was used for the compressed

air affair, and then a lot of chaps and girls came in and danced

about me something disgraceful. It's extraordinary the different ways

different people have of showing respect. If I'd had a hatchet handy

I'd have gone for the lot of them--they made me feel that wild.

All this time I sat as stiff as company, not knowing anything better

to do. And at last, when nightfall came, and the wattle joss-house

place got a bit too shadowy for their taste--all these here savages

are afraid of the dark, you know--and I started a sort of 'Moo' noise,

they built big bonfires outside and left me alone in peace in the

darkness of my hut, free to unscrew my windows a bit and think

things over, and feel just as bad as I liked. And, Lord! I was sick.



"I was weak and hungry, and my mind kept on behaving like a beetle

on a pin, tremendous activity and nothing done at the end of it.

Come round just where it was before. There was sorrowing for the other

chaps, beastly drunkards certainly, but not deserving such a fate,

and young Sanders with the spear through his neck wouldn't go out

of my mind. There was the treasure down there in the Ocean Pioneer,

and how one might get it and hide it somewhere safer, and get away

and come back for it. And there was the puzzle where to get anything

to eat. I tell you I was fair rambling. I was afraid to ask by signs

for food, for fear of behaving too human, and so there I sat and

hungered until very near the dawn. Then the village got a bit quiet,

and I couldn't stand it any longer, and I went out and got some stuff

like artichokes in a bowl and some sour milk. What was left of these

I put away among the other offerings, just to give them a hint

of my tastes. And in the morning they came to worship, and found

me sitting up stiff and respectable on their previous god, just as

they'd left me overnight. I'd got my back against the central pillar

of the hut, and, practically, I was asleep. And that's how I became

a god among the heathen--a false god no doubt, and blasphemous,

but one can't always pick and choose.



"Now, I don't want to crack myself up as a god beyond my merits,

but I must confess that while I was god to these people they was

extraordinary successful. I don't say there's anything in it,

mind you. They won a battle with another tribe--I got a lot of

offerings I didn't want through it--they had wonderful fishing,

and their crop of pourra was exceptional fine. And they counted

the capture of the brig among the benefits I brought 'em. I must

say I don't think that was a poor record for a perfectly new hand.

And, though perhaps you'd scarcely credit it, I was the tribal god

of those beastly savages for pretty nearly four months. . . .



"What else could I do, man? But I didn't wear that diving-dress

all the time. I made 'em rig me up a sort of holy of holies, and

a deuce of a time I had too, making them understand what it was

I wanted them to do. That indeed was the great difficulty--making

them understand my wishes. I couldn't let myself down by talking their



<< previous page | next page >>

Jump to page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 | 123 | 124 | 125 | 126 | 127 | 128 | 129 | 130 | 131 | 132 | 133 | 134 | 135 | 136 | 137 | 138 | 139 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 | 148 | 149 | 150 | 151 | 152 | 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 | 160 | 161 |