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In his younger days this Kaibuka had acquired an evil reputation for being the instigator and leader of cutting-off attacks on whaleships and trading vessels, and his performances had gained him such kudos and respect from his savage associates that now in his old age he was the most influential of the three principal head men of the whole lagoon.
During this time the young Kaibuka and the interpreter the white man from Temana had become quite friendly, and that evening, whilst the young women were still on board, he came on shore alone, and calling Kaibuka aside from the other natives, said he wanted to speak to him privately.
For some minutes I smoked in silence and took the opportunity of looking at my hosts. They were all either middle-aged or old men, and were all known to me personally, especially one old bald-headed fellow named Kaibuka "The Ship."
And then suddenly, and almost without a sound, thirty or more stalwart savages, led by the young Kaibuka and his uncle, leapt on the unsuspecting white men, who in a few seconds were clubbed to death before even they could utter a cry.
That was the first of eight or ten very pleasant days we spent together, it taking us all that time to complete our preparations; for after the sails were finished I had to rig the boat anew, caulk her decks, and make a proper cabin amidships for the two women. This would have taken me more than another week had it not been for a couple of native boatbuilders, whom old Kaibuka had sent to me.
I handed old Kaibuka letters to be given to the supercargo of the firm's next vessel, presented him and his colleagues with a new musket each, together with powder and bullets, and a small case of tobacco, and then we all went outside, and I locked the door formally, and handed him the key.
The story was told to her by old Kaibuka, who himself had participated in the massacre, which had been planned and executed under the direct supervision of his father, his uncle, and himself. And it was not the only such affair in which he had been concerned not on Tarawa alone, but on the neighbouring lagoon of Maiana.
Niâbon imagined that this particular case of cutting-off occurred about forty or fifty years previously, for Kaibuka told her that although he was young at the time, he was yet a full-grown man; but as he could not even guess at his present age, she had no very reliable data.
"Kaibuka and the head men will buy the other boat, I think." "How do you know?" I said in surprise, for I had never even been approached on the subject of selling my boat. "I will ask them to buy it," she replied, with a smile. "I will go to them now, if you wish. How much money do you want?" "The boat is worth two hundred dollars, but I will take one hundred.
This, with the two hundred dollars I had received from old Kaibuka, would make seven hundred dollars something better than poor little Mrs. Krause's twenty, I thought with a smile. And I meant that she if we succeeded in reaching Guam should land there with five hundred American dollars, not Chili or Bolivian half-iron rubbish, but good honest silver. At noon Mrs.
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