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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Minarii shook his head gravely. “Little good can come to godless men. It would be well if we were alone here with our women. The ways of these whites are as strange to us as our ways to them.”

“There are good men among them,” said Tetahiti.

“Aye, but not all. Some yearn for Maori slaves.”

“Martin, you mean? Tihé! He is slave-born!”

“It is not Martin alone,” Minarii remarked, gravely. “Humble folk like your man Te Moa and my Hu rely upon us to protect them, and yet already Quintal and Williams and Mills treat them as little better than slaves. We want no bad blood here. We must be patient for the good of all, but the day may come ...” He broke off, gazing sombrely before him.

“Christian knows nothing of this,” said Tetahiti. “Shall I open his eyes?”

“It would be well if he knew, but these things he must learn for himself. We must wait and say nothing.”

For a month or more after the burial of Fasto, Williams had seen nothing of Hutia. The girl was fond of him, in her way, and was wise enough to bide her time. Strive as he might, the blacksmith could not rid his mind of the thought that Fasto had learned of the intrigue, and that in her chagrin she had thrown herself from the cliffs. Though rough and forthright, he was by no means an unkindly man. For a time he had gone about his work in silence, without a glance at Hutia when she passed, but little by little his remorse was dulled, and the old desire for the girl overpowered him. Once more their meetings in the bush had begun, conducted, on her part at least, with greater discretion than at first.