Âmona; The Child; And The Beast; And Others

Âmona; The Child; And The Beast; And Others - From "The Strange Adventure of James Shervinton, and Other Stories" - 1902

mona was, as his master so frequently told himaccentuating the remark with a blow or a kickonly a miserable kanaka. Of his miserableness there was no doubt, for Denison, who lived in the same house as he did, was a daily witness of itand his happiness. Also, he was a kanakaa native of Niu, in the South Pacific; Savage Island it is called by the traders and is named on the charts, though its five thousand sturdy, brown-skinned inhabitants have been civilised, Christianised, and have lived fairly cleanly for the past thirty years. mona and Denison had the distinction of being employed by Armitage, one of the most unmitigated blackguards in the Pacific. He was a shipowner, planter, merchant, and speculator; was looked upon by a good many people as not a bad sort of a fellow, you knowand the soul of hospitality. In addition, he was an incorrigible drunken bully, and broke his wifes heart within four years after she married him. mona was his cook. Denison was one of his supercargoes, and (when a long boat of drunkenness made him see weird visions of impossible creatures) manager of the business on shore, overseer, accountant, and Jack-of-all-trades. How he managed to stay on with such a brute I dont know. He certainly paid him well enough, but he (Denison) could have got another berth from other people in Samoa, Fiji, or Tonga had he wanted it. And, although Armitage was always painfully civil to Denisonwho tried to keep his business from going to the dogsthe man hated him as much as he despised mona, and would have liked to have kicked him, as he would have liked to have kicked or strangled any one who knew the secret of his wifes death and his childs lameness. And three people in Samoa did know itmona, the Niu cook, Dr. Eckhardt, and Denison. Armitage has been dead now these five-and-twenty yearsdied, as he deserved to die, alone and friendless in an Australian bush hospital out in the God-forsaken Never-Never country, and when Denison heard of his death, he looked at the gentle wifes dim, faded photograph, and wondered if the Beast saw her sweet, sad face in his dying moments. He trusted not; for in her eyes would have shown only the holy light of love and forgivenessthings which a man like Armitage could not have understoodeven then. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 24952
Author: Becke, Louis
Release Date: Mar 29, 2008
Format: eBook
Language: English