Qiu Nai rowed to the dark sea.The child didn't seem to realize that he was taken away from his parents by a stranger and still slept soundly.
Is this child guilty? !Even in the name of revenge, an innocent child cannot be killed.
The cold sea breeze brought Qiu Nai back to his senses, he felt very guilty, and began to sympathize with the child's situation.
Now how to do?
The child should be sent home immediately.
Qiu Nai was originally a person who liked children, so he pulled back the towel to see the child's appearance.
The sun rises and the stars fade away.A white ray of dawn illuminated the canoe.Qiu Nai suddenly showed a surprised expression.
"No, it's not Beresford's boy," he said to himself.
This wasn't Beresford's kid. He looked five years old, with dark hair, amber skin, and a lovely plump double chin.This is a child of the yellow race!Qiu Nai was surprised by this unexpected discovery.In the rickety canoe, he picked up the child.
"oops."
The child opened his round and bright eyes. He didn't understand his situation for a while, but just looked around blankly, but after a while, he began to sob and cry.
"Uncle, this is not Jack's home."
"Yes, but uncle will take you home right away. Where is your home, little friend?"
"My dad gives people click click click."
"Crack, click?! You mean the barber. Where were you born, kid?"
"Sydney. My mother died in Sydney last year. Dad was in the army helping people, and those military uncles brought us here. But Dad died of malaria last Saturday. My name is Haba."
This child lost all his relatives in the wild land when he was only five years old, his sensibleness made Qiu Nai feel heartbroken.The child also told Qiu Nai that after his father died, he moved into Beresford's house and became Jack's playmate.Beresford's child, Jack, was sleeping next to the wall, and it was Qiu Nai who carried it by mistake.But in any case, the child must be sent back.
"Uncle, I want to pee."
As he spoke, Ah Ba began to twist his buttocks.
"Jack said you can't pee in the sea, or the little penis will be bitten off by the wood shark."
Qiu Nai had no choice but to hold Ah Ba's waist so that he could pee.Then his hand trembled suddenly, because he saw a Union Jack rising slowly in the distance in the central mountains.It's over, there is no way to send the child back.The sound of getting up horns was heard in the distance, and now Qiu Nai didn't know what to do.
He didn't even have a place to settle down, Qiu Nai didn't know how to settle Ah Ba.The Beresfords must be in disarray. They may have begun searching the island.Staying here is not an option, sooner or later he will be caught.
But where to go next?
The surroundings are either British or American. In short, a German staying here is a dead end.Not an inch of land here is safe, which makes Qiu Nai feel extremely depressed.At this moment, Ah Ba suddenly said:
"Uncle, where are you going by boat? Can you go to Hachi's hometown?"
"Yes you can."
Hearing what he said, Ah Ba's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Hachi, don't you want to go back to Jack?"
"Well, but Jack always puts on airs. He always makes me the bad guy when he plays, and he plays the hero who fights pirates. If I can go home, I won't be bullied by him."
It is so pitiful that such a young child knows homesickness.Qiu Nai didn't want to go home, but he didn't say anything, he just hugged Ah Ba tightly and burst into tears.
"Okay. Boy, let's go home together."
The two embarked on a journey home, but first they had to find a place to hide.There is an inaccessible cape "Nord Malekula" at the northernmost tip of New Guinea. The nearby rocks and reefs are in disorder, and ships cannot approach it.The road to get there by land is through the "Niningo" wetlands. The road is so bad that even black people who live in the mountains will not rush to it.But there was only one way right now, and the two went upstream along the Queen Augusta River.
On both sides of the river is the Papuan tropical rainforest, and there are seven or eight heavy rains in this area every day.When it rains, lightning flashes and thunder thunders, and the rain waters the forest into a turbid sea.
Kunai sailed through the ferns in a canoe. The Queen Augusta River is very dangerous. Not only are there crocodiles in the river, but there is also a small shark called "Ragh" lurking in the mud.
There are almost no mammals in New Guinea, which is dominated by poisonous insects and reptiles.Qiu Nai pulled a vine to the shore with the paddle, and then started to cross the wetland with Ah Ba on his back.
The vegetation in the dense forest is luxuriant, and the land is not exposed to the sun, and it has become a sticky swamp.The fern is as big as a small tree, and its branches are covered with poisonous wood thorns.The ivy's fat leaves that seem to be poisonous and tendrils as thick as small snakes grow wildly everywhere.The morning glory disk was as big as a human head, and parrots and morpho butterflies flitted in front of them.From nowhere came the cry of the Bird of Paradise.They drove away centipedes and avoided poisonous snakes all the way, and walked for a long time before they got out of the wetland.
A dead swamp half a foot wide blocked their way.Disgusting yellow mineral residues floated on the water, looking a lot like scabs on human skin.Not to mention water lilies in this kind of place, there is not even a blade of grass.Paddles are of no use here either.
"Son, do you want to take a shit?"
"Uncle, you want to catch a mud turtle, right? I can't pull it out."
Human feces are used as bait to catch mud turtles, and these days they rely on mud turtles to satisfy their hunger.The problem now is that they can't cross the Dead Marsh.After thinking about it, I can only go to the small black tribe "Matanavat" in the Central Mountains for help.They had been stuck here for almost an hour, and Qiu Nai felt very hopeless.
At this time, Qiu Nai heard something slapping in the dead marsh, which sounded like a person smacking his lips.
Every time the thing rang, a bird wailed in danger.
Qiu Nai clapped his hands and said, "I remember, there is a giant pitcher plant in New Guinea. We can use it to cross the swamp."
Although the vines protruding from the pitcher plant are slender but extremely resilient, it is said that a single vine can bear a weight of one hundred catties.As long as the bird is entangled by the vines, no matter how hard it struggles, it can't break free, and it can only be dragged into the cage by the pitcher plant for digestion.
Qiu Nai found some longer branches to hook the vines of the pitcher plant, and then tied them to form a natural pontoon bridge.It didn't take long for the two to rely on this grass bridge to cross the dangerous dead swamp.
The destination "Nord Malekula" is in front of you.
"Son, let's live here for now."
"Uncle, is this my home?"
"No, but this is the place to go home. Just sleep here for a few nights, and a boat will come to pick us up."
Qiu Nai and Ah Ba finally found a place to stay. There are plenty of fruits and fish here, so they don't have to worry about eating and drinking, just wait patiently.
The stone in Qiu Nai's heart finally fell to the ground.
The two spent the day peacefully, but... the next morning, when Qiu Nai was looking for fruit, he suddenly saw a reddish shadow in the bushes.
"Ah, what is that? Come here, kid!"
The red shadow ran and hid in the flowers.Qiu Nai grabbed the creature and pulled him out of the begonia bushes.
"Ah!" he couldn't help shouting.
It was a human being, and it was a young girl, that was tightly grasped by both hands.
"Papalangi! Papalangi!" cried the girl desperately.
"Papalangi" means white people in Samoan.Qiu Nai began to look at the girl, and saw that her limbs were well-proportioned and strong, her rosy skin was like a ripe peach, she was a true native of Samoa.Qiu Nai couldn't help admiring secretly: "The girls on Samoa Island are really like the rumors, they are fleshy corals on land."
"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Why are you alone in Malekula? Are you from Samoa? Why do Samoan girls come to such a place?"
Seeing that there is such a cute child as Ah Ba beside Qiu Nai, the girl is no longer afraid.The girl was called "Naea/Naya", and she began to tell her own experience.
"I am the granddaughter of King Tamase of Samoa. The Germans intended to cut off the royal blood of Tamase, so they sent my grandfather to Berlin thirty years ago. After several twists and turns, he was finally sent to the terrible land of Guinea. "
"Why is the Tamasai dynasty so unfortunate? My father is alcoholic, and even my elder brother is addicted to alcohol and sex. They hand over all state affairs to the German consul. Although I am still young, I can't just sit idly by. So I appealed to my father and elder brother, hoping that they could reorganize the government. When the German consul found out about this, he secretly caught me and threw me on a cargo ship, and abandoned me on this rock.”
Even the German Qiu Nai couldn't help being furious after hearing this atrocity.Naya cried and said that she would be killed as long as she returned to the country, but it would be better to die than let her live here for the rest of her life, not to mention that Nord Malekula is not a place where she can settle down for a long time.
"During this year, I was often attacked by huge waves. When the big waves came, I could only climb up the tree and tremble with fright. The huge waves would also roll up the fruit completely. Children, you and uncle still How about three sisters to find a safe island to live together?"
So, the three left Nord Malekula.They took fruits and dried turtle meat, sat in canoes and sailed to the sea.But this time they didn't have a clear destination, they only planned to find a food-rich Changchun Island in the vast ocean to settle down.
Notes:
Notes: