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She had propped over my head her verdant taa-taa without which the natives never swim for fear of the tropical sun, and I think I must have dozed off for I was suddenly roused by a hoarse Klaxon-bellow "Kaaraschaa-gha!" which told me all too plainly that I was in the most hideous peril. "Wak-wak!" I barked, and all my past life began to unfold before me. It was a horrid sight the wak-wak, I mean.
A blind ecstasy seized me I awoke again to humanity, and fiercely clasping the tree, shook and tore at it, in the blind hope of bringing nearer to me the magic beauties above: for I knew that I was in the famous land of Wak-Wak, from which the Eastern merchants used to pluck those flower-born beauties, and bring them home to fill the harems of the Indian kings.
The wak-wak has a mouth like a subway entrance and I was told that so great was his appetite for human flesh that when, as occasionally happened, some unfortunate swimmer had been eaten by a shark, a wak-wak was sure to come rushing up and bolt shark, man and all. Consequently I did most of my swimming in the lagoon.
"Wak-wak," I had said when she first proposed the expedition, but she had laughed gaily and nodded her head to indicate that there was not the slightest danger, and, shamed into it, we had set forth and made an excellent crossing. On the return trip, midway between the two islands, I was floating lazily, supported by a girdle of inflated dew-fish bladders and towed by Kippy.
Flying at an immense height, in battle formation, they began laying eggs with marvelous precision. The first two struck the wak-wak square on the nose and he screamed with pain. The third, landing corner-wise, put out his right eye and he began to thrash in helpless circles. The fourth was a direct hit on my left temple.
Kippy was towing me shoreward at a speed which caused the sea to foam about my bladders but the wak-wak still pursued us. A second time my dauntless mate rose to the occasion. With amazing buoyancy she lifted herself to a half-seated position on the surface of the water and poured forth the most astounding imitation of the motherhood cry of the fatu-liva. "Biloo-ow-ow-ow-ow-zing-aaa!"
The people do not make offerings to this bird, neither do they regard it as a spirit, but rather as a messenger from the spirit world. The old men were certain that anyone who molested one of these birds would die. Another bird known as wak-wak "which looks like a crow but is larger and only calls at night" foretells ill-fortune.
I remonstrated, when I saw Tilaana advancing toward me, fluttering her taa-taa in the same menacing way in which Kippy had attacked the wak-wak. "I beg your pardon," I said. "I was wrong. I apologize." We stood in a circle and chinned each other until peace was restored. The view from the summit was, as authors say, indescribable.
The fatu-liva bird and its curious gift. My adventure with the wak-wak. Saved! I shall never forget a day when my bride and I sat on the edge of the lagoon after our matinal dip in its pellucid waters. It was a perfect September morn. So was she. "My dear," I said suddenly, "Hatiaa Kappa eppe taue." It sounds like a college fraternity but really means, "My woodlark, what is your name?"
The wak-wak is without exception the most outrageous creature that ploughs the deep in fishy guise. For man-eating qualities he had the shark skinned a nautical mile. Whinney made a true remark to me one night, one of the few he ever made. The ocean was particularly audible that evening. There was something about the unfamiliar appearance of Dr.
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