“Jakara, we wish to exterminate the people of the Two Brothers. Their Maid-le are clever men, with doctrines at various points not harmonizing with ours of the Bomai-Malu; also they are a warlike people and ambitious. They have interfered, and cleverly plan to interfere still further with our trade-canoes coming north from Spirit Island and the canoes coming from far south up the coast of the Great South Land. Also, in speedy fighting-canoes, they are beginning to intercept our heavily laden canoes that carry trade and payment to the south. Now, during a recent voyage Bogo sailed round the Two Brothers, so that you could see it closely. You remember! From the sea he pointed out to you the nature of their land, their principal fighting hills, and the approximate position of their villages. Your eyes have always had a keenness for an unexpected landing-place: we know that your brain sees differently from ours and can therefore plan forms of attack wholly unforeseen by Island peoples. We trust in you for a plan to cripple our enemies, if not to wipe them out with one blow. And – the Au-gud wants heads, many heads, for the monsoonal ceremonies so nearly due.”
A chill crept upon Jakara.
“Kebisu will now give you all information,” continued the deep persuasive voice; “then we will command the silence in which your plan will be born.”
Kebisu gripped Jakara’s shoulder. With expressive eyes and nods of emphasis, and an occasional broad smile, he spoke eagerly and rapidly, his voice booming in the quiet of the Zogo-house.
“You have seen the place, Jakara, and know how its teeth can be drawn. We can quickly muster a thousand men; everything except the fall of the blow is planned and ready-canoes, men, water, all waiting to be collected as we sail. Winds are propitious: everyone is lusting for a fight. Show me, Jakara, exactly where I must strike to shatter these people into the sea.”
Jakara leaned back, and the brooding face of the Au-gud stared down into his. As brutal as the certainty of destiny, that face yet wore an almost wistful smile, as if wearied of the puny arrogance of man. It held an expression of life, that huge mottled face, a frightening expression of quiet, living thought. The very mummies round the walls seemed to be listening in the silence. Wonderful how he could think: on these occasions! His brain cleared and worked smoothly into coherent thought, free of all effort. He felt that around him were waves of brain-force coming out to him, which, with but the indrawing of the breath, he blended perfectly with the essence of his own thought. He seized the opportunity, for intermixed with the planning of the raid came an inspiration which he hoped would please C’Zarcke and gain a little of his friendship. The minutes passed as if in that atmosphere time were non-existent.
Jakara sighed. As if tired, he stroked the back of his head. A Maid-le stepped from the shadows and placed before him a white square of bark and a charcoal pencil. C’Zarcke looked on silently; Kebisu and the Mamooses leaned eagerly forward. Jakara spoke in a droning voice, mapping the bark and explaining his plan clearly and in detail. The night wore on, until Kebisu laughed. The spell was broken, for when Kebisu laughed the hills heard it, and, if he was in a house, the walls boomed. His great hands thumped Jakara’s shoulders, his fine black eyes were rolling in unholy glee. The Mamooses joined in congratulation, while Maros pulled Jakara’s hair in bovine play. Jakara, flushed with the praise and the creation of a plan which was excellent in every detail, smiled up at C’Zarcke, and immediately remembered. Every man present, except C’Zarcke and Jakara, arose and quietly left the Zogo-house. Jakara uneasily realized that C’Zarcke had read his mind, and that a secret sign of the Bomai-Malu had dismissed the others.
“You have something to ask of me, something to give,” insinuated C’Zarcke softly.
Jakara stared, and then leaned forward impressively: “I should waste words in talk with you, C’Zarcke, who can read my very thoughts. I will just say that I crave something of you, and in return I will give you my greatest treasure. I will bring it now, and then you can judge. Afterwards, I pray you to grant me my wish.”
He hurried from the Zogo-house, away through the chilly Wongai grove, then up a hill-side path toward his Lookout. As he climbed, the revelry from the villages fringing the island shores came singing up to him – most of the villages of Mer were right on the sea-shore. Many pandanus torches twinkled deep down among the coco-palms. As he climbed higher still, the voices became indistinct and were lost as the path wound through the dark jungle where flashed and vanished and flashed again blue and yellow diamonds within the gloom. Out on the forest patches the night was open and beautiful: the moon, and clusters of God’s lovely stars: the air sweet and cool and whispering over the grassy slopes: the sea dark and peaceful.
Jakara walked more slowly, for he was about to part with the companion of years. It had shown him the ships of his countrymen; he had drawn a comradeship through the distance until they dimmed away. He remembered the agonized hours of hope while a ship drew slowly near, only to glide by. Several had actually anchored, but the hand of the all seeing C’Zarcke had reached between him and rescue. This sea-battered telescope had been his chief friend. Countless hours had he spent here with his mind abstracted from the island below. Of these passing ships, two had sailed so close that he had actually distinguished their white crew – white men, white men, white men! Jakara sighed; for nothing of value is gained without sacrifice.
C’Zarcke was waiting in the shadows outside the Zogo-house. And Jakara spoke: “C’Zarcke, you know the stars in their courses, you study the heavens, continually seeking guidance of the weather as affecting the fishing-season and the crops. This, my present, will help you. It will show you wonders invisible to our naked eyes-wonders on the sea and upon the land. Much more, this is the eye of a god which will show you worlds in the highest skies.”
He trained the telescope on a cloud whose edges were brightening with molten light.
“There, C’Zarcke, watch the moon as it peeps from behind that cloud. Hold the telescope so. No, this way! Why, I believe you are trembling! Ah, that is right! Now move these ‘tubes,’ as we call them, in or out, like this, until your eye sees perfectly.”
The moon peeped, then rose from the clouds all burnished silver. Majestically it glided up across the sky. Still C’Zarcke gazed on, and Jakara grew impatient. Besides, his fear had given place to a satisfying certainty. He spoke. He spoke again! C’Zarcke took not the slightest notice. Jakara spoke loudly, then with a curious thrill touched one of the big muscles. C’Zarcke might have been a mummy, except that his arm felt warm and firm. Jakara touched the telescope. Instantly he was thrown to the ground, with C’Zarcke’s weight crushing him and the dreadful face glaring into his. Jakara was a powerful man, but the chief priest of the Bomai-Malu simply twisted Jakara’s windpipe; he snarled like a bear as Jakara struggled to gouge his eyes.
Suddenly C’Zarcke’s face changed into something pathetically human, he whimpered like a child, and, running into the Zogo-house, laid Jakara upon the mats. He touched the Au-gud, and a long blue flame shot above the fainting man. Jakara struggled to consciousness with his head pillowed upon C’Zarcke’s arm. Big eyes gazed into his with almost a mother’s anxiety for her child.
“Forgive, Jakara,” he whispered, urgently. “I thought you were going to take the wonderful thing away. But it is mine – and are all its powers intact?” There was a pitiful questioning in his eyes.
Jakara nodded weakly. C’Zarcke sighed, and then smiled warmly. “I was a fool, Jakara, but I knew not what I did. Tell me your wish; it is already granted.”
A great fear slipped from Jakara. He looked up and managed to whisper: “I – want – Eyes of the Sea.” C’Zarcke gazed astounded, then his big head went back and he laughed until the Zogo-house vibrated and the Wongai-trees echoed back the voice and threw it down the little hill-sides. On the beaches below the dancing people halted, amazed. It was the only time in its history that Mer had heard C’Zarcke laugh! He shook Jakara’s shoulders as a playing child shakes a doll; then, sobered: “She is yours,” he said with a smile. “Take her! If you want her to wife, I will marry you now.”
Jakara sat up, coughing but smiling. He grasped C’Zarcke’s hands. “Thanks with all my heart, C’Zarcke! But I must woo her first. We are both Lamars, you know, and it is our custom. Afterwards