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"But the soldiers," Ieremia objected. "I'll take care of them. They haven't been paid for two months. Besides, Uiliami is the queen's brother. Don't have too much on your shelves at a time. As soon as the soldiers show up with paper, stop selling." "Then will they burn the stores," said Ieremia. "Let them. King Tulifau will pay for it if they do." "Will he pay for my shirt?" Willie Smee demanded.
Tell them to take the paper and see that they be paid to-morrow." "Why trouble?" Uiliami objected. "The king remains happily drunk. There is much money in the treasury. And I am content. In my house are two cases of gin and much goods from Hawkins's store." "Excellent pig, O my brother!" Sepeli erupted. "Has not Davida spoken? Have you no ears?
But this was not unusual for Polynesian "chief stock." Sepeli, his queen, was six feet three inches and weighed two hundred and sixty, while her brother, Uiliami, who commanded the army in the intervals of resignation from the premiership, topped her by an inch and notched her an even half-hundredweight. Tui Tulifau was a merry soul, a great feaster and drinker.
He is easy to beat when he is in drink." She doubled up her fist, and such were her Amazonian proportions and the determination in her face that Grief knew the council would be called. So akin was the Fitu-Ivan tongue to the Samoan that he spoke it like a native. "And you, Uiliami," he said, "have pointed out that the soldiers have demanded coin and refused the paper Fulualea has offered them.
And that all was due to the strange money of Fulualea was the firm conviction of the elders in the village councils assembled. Uiliami spoke for the army. His men were discontented and mutinous. Though by royal decree the traders were bidden accept the money, yet did they refuse it. He would not say, but it looked as if the strange money of Fulualea had something to do with it.
'Tis all fair, an' no injustice done Justice, the bright, particular star at whose shining altar Cornelius Deasy or Fulualea, 'tis the same thing ever worships. Get thee gone, Mr. Trader, or I'll set the palace guards on you. Uiliami, 'tis a desperate character, this trader man. Call the guards." Uiliami blew the whistle suspended on his broad bare chest by a cord of cocoanut sennit.
At first there had been much selling from the sparse shelves of the traders. But when the soldiers appeared, their patronage was declined and they were told to go to Fulualea for coin. "Says it not so on the face of the paper," the traders demanded, "that for the asking the coin will be given in exchange?" Only the strong authority of Uiliami had prevented the burning of the traders' houses.
"Since when has Fitu-Iva come to be run by a Levuka beachcomber? He says my schooner has been seized. Is it true?" "It is true," Uiliami boomed from his deep chest. "Have you any more silk shirts like Willie Smee's? Tui Tulifau would like such a shirt. He has heard of it." "'Tis all the same," Fulualea interrupted. "Shirts or schooners, the king shall have them."
The vessel's seized." Grief turned back on him in the half-belief still that he was joking. Fulualea again retreated in alarm. The form of a large man loomed beside him in the darkness. "Is it you, Uiliami?" Fulualea crooned. "Here is another sea pirate. Stand by me with the strength of thy arm, O Herculean brother." "Greeting, Uiliami," Grief said.
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