第86章

"I did not like him, I have told you he was not sympathetic to me, butas I walked slowly down to Taravao I could not prevent an unwilling admiration for the stoical courage which enabled him to bear perhaps the most dreadful of human afflictions.When Tane left me I told him I would send some medicine that might be of service; but my hope was small that Strickland would consent to take it, and even smaller that, if he did, it would do him good.I gave the boy a message for Ata that I would come whenever she sent for me.Life is hard, and Nature takes sometimes a terrible delight in torturing her children.It was with a heavy heart that I drove back to my comfortable home in Papeete."For a long time none of us spoke.

"But Ata did not send for me," the doctor went on, at last, "and it chanced that I did not go to that part of the island for a long time.I had no news of Strickland.Once or twice I heard that Ata had been to Papeete to buy painting materials, but I did not happen to see her.More than two years passed before I went to Taravao again, and then it was once more to see the old chiefess.I asked them whether they had heard anything of Strickland.By now it was known everywhere that he had leprosy.First Tane, the boy, had left the house, and then, a little time afterwards, the old woman and her grandchild.Strickland and Ata were left alone with their babies.No one went near the plantation, for, as you know, the natives have a very lively horror of the disease, and in the old days when it was discovered the sufferer was killed; but sometimes, when the village boys were scrambling about the hills, they would catch sight of the white man, with his great red beard, wandering about.They fled in terror.Sometimes Ata would come down to the village at night and arouse the trader, so that he might sell her various things of which she stood in need.She knew that the natives looked upon her with the same horrified aversion as they looked upon Strickland, and she kept out of their way.Once some women, venturing nearer than usual to the plantation, saw her washing clothes in the brook, and they threw stones at her.After that the trader was told to give her the message that if she used the brook again men would come and burn down her house.""Brutes," I said.

", men are always the same.Fearmakes them cruel....I decided to see Strickland, and when I had finished with the chiefess asked for a boy to show me the way.But none would accompany me, and I was forced to find it alone."When Dr.Coutras arrived at the plantation he was seized with a feeling of uneasiness.Though he was hot from walking, he shivered.There was something hostile in the air which made him hesitate, and he felt that invisible forces barred his way.Unseen hands seemed to draw him back.No one would go near now to gather the cocoa-nuts, and they lay rotting on the ground.Everywhere was desolation.The bush was encroaching, and it looked as though very soon the primeval forest would regain possession of that strip of land which had been snatched from it at the cost of so much labour.He had the sensation that here was the abode of pain.As he approached the house he was struck by the unearthly silence, and at first he thought it was deserted.Then he saw Ata.She was sitting on her haunches in the lean-to that served her as kitchen, watching some mess cooking in a pot.Near her a small boy was playing silently in the dirt. She did not smile when she saw him.

"I have come to see Strickland," he said."I will go and tell him."She went to the house, ascended the few steps that led to the verandah, and entered.Dr.Coutras followed her, but waited outside in obedience to her gesture.As she opened the door he smelt the sickly sweet smell which makes the neighbourhood of the leper nauseous.He heard her speak, and then he heard Strickland's answer, but he did not recognise the voice.It had become hoarse and indistinct.Dr.Coutras raised his eyebrows.He judged that the disease had already attacked the vocal chords. Then Ata came out again.

"He will not see you.You must go away."

Dr.Coutras insisted, but she would not let him pass.Dr.Coutras shrugged his shoulders, and after a moment's rejection turned away.She walked with him. He felt that she too wanted to be rid of him.

"Is there nothing I can do at all?" he asked.

"You can send him some paints," she said."There is nothing else he wants.""Can he paint still?"

"He is painting the walls of the house."

"This is a terrible life for you, my poor child."Then at last she smiled, and there was in her eyes a look of superhuman love.Dr.Coutras was startled by it, and amazed.And he was awed. He found nothing to say.

"He is my man," she said.

"Where is your other child?" he asked."When I was here last you had two.""Yes; it died.We buried it under the mango."When Ata had gone with him a little way she said she must turn back.Dr.Coutras surmised she was afraid to go farther in case she met any of the people from the village.He told her again that if she wanted him she had only to send and he would come at once.