Hawaii - James Michener [52]
So the three plotters waited, and when Three-in-a-Row was well up into the heavens it became self-evident that the canoe was far, far north of the course to Nuku Hiva and was thus committed to an unknown ocean with no opportunity to replenish stores. It was therefore a solemn group that went aft to report to the king: "The storm has carried us even more swiftly than Teroro imagined."
The king's face showed his distress. "Are we lost?"
Uncle Tupuna replied, "We are far from Nuku Hiva and will see no land we know."
"Then we are lost?" the king pressed.
"No, nephew, we are not," Tupuna said carefully. "It is true that we have been carried into far regions, but they are not off our course. We seek lands which lie beneath the Seven Little Eyes, and we are nearer to them tonight than we had a right to expect. If we do not eat too much . . ."
Even though Tamatoa had given permission to keep the sails aloft, and even though he had known that the canoe thus ran the risk of missing Nuku Hiva, he had nevertheless hoped that they would stumble upon that known island, and perhaps find it congenial, and possibly establish homes there. Now he was committed to the greater journey, and he was fearful.
"We could still alter course and find Nuku Hiva," he suggested.
Teroro remained silent and allowed old Tupuna to carry the argument: "No, we are well on our way."
"But to where?"
Tupuna repeated the only chant he had ever memorized for sailing to the north. In effect it said: "Keep the canoe headed with the storm until the winds cease completely. Then turn into the dead sea where bones rot with heat and no wind blows. Paddle to the new star, and when winds strike from the east, ride with them westward until land beneath the Seven Little Eyes is found."
The king, himself an adequate astronomer, pointed due north and asked, "Then the lands we seek are there?"
"Yes," Tupuna agreed.
"But we go this way?" and he pointed eastward, where the winds of the dying storm were driving them.
"Yes."
The course seemed so improbable, to head for a promised land by fleeing it, that the king cried, "Can we be sure that this is the way?"
"No," the old man confessed, "we cannot be sure."
"Then why . . ."
"Because the only knowledge we have says that this is the way to do it."
The king, ever mindful of the fact that fifty-seven people were in his care, grasped Tupuna by the shoulders and asked bluntly, "What do you honestly think about the land that is supposed to be under the Little Eyes?"
The old man replied, "I think that many canoes have left these waters, some blown by storms, others like us in exile, and no man has ever returned. Whether these canoes reached land or not, we do not know. But some man, with a vision of what might be, composed that chant."
"Then we are sailing with a dream for our guide?" Tamatoa asked.
"Yes," the priest answered.
Gloom was not allowed to capture the canoe, for the reappearance of the stars had excited the paddlers and the women, so that even while the astronomers were consulting, shark-faced Pa had handed his paddle to another and had grabbed a length of tapa which he had wrapped around his shoulders, masking his head. Now imitating a very fat man, he pranced up and down the platform, shouting, "Who am I?"
"He's the headless king of Bora Bora!" Mato cried.
"Look at fat Tatai coming to be our king, with his head knocked off!"
In wild burlesque, Pa ridiculed the coronation of the headless would-be king. Paddlers stopped and began to beat rhythms on the canoe, and a woman produced a little drum with a high, almost metallic sound, and the night's revelry was launched.
"What is this new dance?" Tamatoa inquired.
"I've never seen it before," Tupuna replied.
"Do you know what he's doing?" the king asked Teroro.
"Yes," the younger man said hesitantly. "Pa is ... Well, Tamatoa, some of us heard that fat Tatai was to be king after we left . . . and . . ."
Tamatoa looked at the headless dancer and asked, "So you sneaked over to Havaiki . .