Читать книгу Men Against the Sea – Book Set. The Greatest Maritime Adventure Novels: The Bounty Trilogy, Lost Island, The Hurricane, Botany Bay, The Far Lands, Tales of the South Seas… онлайн

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One evening late in February, Minarii and Moetua, his wife, came to Brown’s house. The native set down a heavy basket, and his grim face relaxed as he took Brown’s hand.

“We have been down over the southern cliffs,” Moetua told Jenny. “The birds are beginning to lay. Here are eggs of the kaveka and oio, which nest on the face of the cliff. You will find them good. Minarii made a rope fast at the top and we clambered down. Fasto came as well.”

“Thank them,” Brown put in to Jenny. “I shudder to think of any man, to say nothing of women, taking such risks!”

Minarii turned to his wife. “Go and eat, you two, while I prepare our part.”

While Brown went to fetch some wild yams, Minarii kindled a fire, heated several stones, and dropped them into a calabash of water, which began to boil at once. Eggs were then dropped in till the calabash was full, and the yams hastily scraped and roasted on the coals. The two men made a hearty meal.

The moon came up presently and the visitors rose to leave. When they were gone, Jenny spread a mat before the doorstep and sat down to enjoy the beauty of the night. She patted the mat beside her, and Brown stretched himself out, with his head on her knee. The night was windless; the moonlight softened the outlines of the house and lay in pools of silver on the little clearing. Smoothing Brown’s hair absently, Jenny recounted the gossip of the settlement.