The Fifth Brother – Installment 3
The Ledsome house was a short walk from the Valhalla. Tobia had originally lived at the boarding house but found he couldn’t sleep at night. He was always preoccupied with what was going on in the bar on the first floor. Every sound had him up and running to see who was fighting and what was broke. If it was quiet, he would be sure that there must be something sinister going on and would prowl the hallways smelling for smoke and looking for masked robbers (and hoping he didn’t find any). His already frazzled nerves became worse with the lack of sleep. With the construction of his modest house, his life was much better. He still worried about the Valhalla, but had vowed not to go to it in the evenings unless sent for. Which had only happened once, when a man had been killed in a fight over a card game. Everything else could wait until morning. His staff was mature and loyal, grateful for the employment and protective of their frantic, well-meaning boss.
Dinner was simple but pleasant. As they ate, Tobia explained how his niece had come to live with him. Tobia’s brother-in-law, Richard, had brought her with him on a visit. Richard had helped fund Tobia’s Valhalla, as well as a small lumber operation to the North. He had brought his daughter as a means to show her the strength of their family and to broaden her understanding of the world before they returned to Liverpool. Her time as a single young lady was coming to an end, and she would have to marry soon. He wanted her to understand the family business and her own worth in it before the suitors started coming around. Maggie, who had a full dose of the families adventurous spirit had enjoyed the trip immensely.
The great adventure took a life-changing turn when they had visited the lumber camp. While at the lumber camp there had been a disagreement over the death of one of the native laborers. It had appeared to be an accident on the job, but many of the natives claimed it was done on purpose. A few of the white workers had ended up beating up some men from the local tribe over the disagreement. The next day a dozen men from the tribe showed up and attacked the lumber camp. Fourteen men were wounded and two killed. Her father had been the first one slain when he had run forward to try and talk to the enraged men. He had been unarmed, with his hands raised when he came up to them. They hadn’t hesitated, but ran him through and proceeded to attack the camp. The tribe ended up losing one of their own as well. Maggie had watched it all from inside the foreman’s cabin, where her father had locked her away. Oddly enough that was the end of it. Some of the men who had attacked even returned to work at the lumber yard the next day.
“It is called utu and seems perfectly normal to them,” said Maggie. “It is hard to explain, but it is about keeping balance in relationships. Sometimes it is about giving gifts, other times, like this one, it can be about avenging death. Since not only had a man died, but there had been a beating they had formed a taua which is a vengeance expedition. Because the deaths and violence had equaled out somehow, to them it was all good and things could return to normal. At least, that is how one of their older ladies had tried to explain it to me.”
“I am deeply sorry, Ms. Woolrey,” said Ezekiel. “I had no idea such tragedy had happened here. I heard nothing of it.”
“Oh, they are common enough,” said Tobia. “Ten or fifteen years ago the tribes had a grand time with the new muskets. Mostly killing each other. Seeing the guns as a means to get things back in balance rapidly. What a mess! They were battling all over the place with them. I do believe these men really enjoy fighting, something of the wild beast in them just adores it.”
“You are very brave, Ms. Woolrey. To look at you, I would never expect that you had recently been through such a tragedy. My hat is off to you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Stone. Like you, my strength is in the Lord. I miss my father, but he was a Godly man, and I know paradise is his reward. He was able to travel so much because of his faith in the Lord’s protection and providence. My faith has been tried by these circumstances, but the peace of God rests on me and helps me to still find joy in His creation. I mourned, Mr. Stone, and it still hurts at times, but the best way to worship God is to live life fully, I believe.”
“Yes, yes. She must be about living! She can’t do that here. No, this place is for work and hard men. Men like you and I Mr. Stone. No, my niece will be heading back to England. There is packet heading back to our old home in nine months, and I have already secured her passage on it. She can get back to her mother and sisters and share in a proper life.”
“Enough about my affairs, please, gentlemen. Mr. Stone, what were your plans here? What were you told to do once you arrived?”
Ezekiel explained his own plans for reaching the indigenous of the island. He used many of the same terms as when he explained it all to Captain Shaw. He left out that no one from the Missionary Society had expressly commissioned him to do so or that it was mostly of his own desire that he spoke.
“There seem to be quite a lot of the natives living and working in town. It would seem the work of reaching this group is already done.”
“Oh, they are a good lot, for the most part,” said Tobia. “They saw pretty quick how good our life was compared to theirs. The understood trade and power already, and when they saw that the Good Lord had given it in abundance to us, they were willing to do what they could to join us. They are a quick study of language. The all seem to be able to speak our tongue with no real issue. It is not necessarily the most pristine of the royal language since they learned most of it from the sailors they work with, but it suffices. I even have a couple that help at the boarding house from time to time.”
“Where must I go to find those still lost? Those are the ones I wish to reach. Aren’t there any missions in the interior that you know of?”
“Mr. Sharp and I did not talk a lot, I am afraid. Most of the mission stations are in the small settlements along the coast, but even then, there are only a few. Unless you mean the widow Clark.”
“Agatha Clark? Uncle, isn’t she dead?”
“No, she isn’t! I was as surprised as you when Mr. Sharp mentioned her. He had actually gone and seen her. She is still working at the same station her husband built. He told her that she was simply wasting her time, trying to continue such work alone. He mentioned that she was pretty feisty and hard to deal with. She refused to come into Dunedin, but told he could stay help or send more help to her if he was too scared! He seemed to still be angry about it when he told me. Ha!”
“Do you think that was what was in the letter then? That he wanted me to head out to this widows place?”
“He didn’t talk to me like he planned on supporting her request. Maybe he changed his mind? I really can’t tell you, Mr. Stone. It seems unlikely to me.”
“Not to me. Of course, you are supposed to go out there! It sounds just like what you were talking about, doesn’t it? It is just too perfect of a fit to be a coincidence.”
Ezekiel like the look of assurance on Maggie’s face. He felt something stir when he thought that she was confident in him. It made him feel bolder.
“I guess it is settled then. We can use the next couple days to plan my route to her. It is nice to know where I am going, I must say. Thank you both very much, I am very much in your debt.”
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I was just dusk when Ezekiel began walking towards the boarding house. The road was muddy, but there were wooden planks alongside most of the buildings to allow people to stay out of it. Even in the waning hour of daylight, the street was still busy. Ezekiel enjoyed watching the people move about in small groups of rough and ready men who seemed at ease in the company of their peers. Most were European, but there were natives dispersed among them, readily part of these groups of men.
The Maori, as the natives were called, were frequently hired as crew for the whaling and sealing ships. They often became prized members, being both excellent sailors and courageous hunters. Their boldness and relaxed manliness made them quick friends among the crews, who treated them as equals, for the most part. Some private and cultural areas would be off limits, but since this was a working port far from Europe, those lines were rarely if ever seen, much less forced to be crossed.
Ezekiel was watching a small group of sailors with two rather tall and muscular Maori among them. They had tattoos on their faces, black against their brown skin. The tattoos were in swirling designs and covered them from forehead to chin. It would have looked alien and fierce but for the way they walked joked with their European counterparts. The entire group was walking with the same self-assured rolling gate of the sailor, as they talked and laughed. Ezekiel thought it remarkable that social mixing of races was taken as just a matter of course here.
He was crossing by a narrow alleyway between two building, his eyes still on the sailors when a rough hand grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows. He was held by both shoulders by a large shadow, the light from the far side of the alley showing it to be much taller than his modest height. The shadow was staring down at him silently, a mane of wild dark hair obscuring the shape of the face. It was the wild, dark curly hair typical of the Maori.
“Take you stinking hands off me,” said Ezekiel, calmly. “If you are looking for money, I have none, but if you are looking for a fight, I can deliver that.”
The shadow snorted a contemptuous chuckle. Its sound made Ezekiel curios. Then it spoke, and he was sure.
“They know why you are here, white god man,” said the large woman. “They will let you stay here, in town. You leave, and they will hunt you and destroy you. They will rip you apart as a warning to the rest. Stay away from the faithful people, or you will never see the light of day again!”
She shoved him back towards the street. She was strong, and the push sent him windmilling his arms, trying to catch his balance, but failing when his feet sunk into the soft mud. He fell with a splash onto his back. He quickly sat up and was just able to see the large form move down the alley blending into the shadows and disappearing.
He noticed eyes on him and felt his face flush with embarrassment and anger. He got to his feet as fast as he could and tried to brush the mud off of his clothes. The alley was empty, and he felt foolish. The woman, the word ‘lady’ had come to his mind, and he rejected it, must have been some sort of drunk. He knew his face was still red and it angered him all the more. Even if she had grabbed him in the middle of the road, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything. She was still a woman, and a man couldn’t go striking a woman. Not that he had been given a chance, he scolded himself.
He stomped back onto the wooden walkway and continued towards the boarding house. He kept his head down, not wanting to glare openly at anyone. He tried to calm himself. He was there to be a messenger of God, he reminded himself. He was willing to give up his life to preach the gospel, he should be willing to sacrifice some pride too. That was one big woman.
The last thought made him smile to himself. It really was too ridiculous a situation to stay angry about.