Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/206

196 the spot for them. They were thus taught the small value of a sailor's life, and encouraged to treat castaways with contempt and cruelty. Holden and his companions feared that their ugly temper would find vent in the torture or death of themselves, but did not meddle to attempt any explanation.

However there now came a change. This was for the worse. The sailors were divided off to masters and set to work. But at the same time instead of more food to keep up their strength, less was given them; it was barely enough to sustain life. Holden's work was assisting his master pull a boat in fishing at night, and in working the taro patches. This latter was very laborious, especially making new pits. The taro is grown in soft muddy ground, which must be prepared by digging pits out of the rock, and then filling the cavity with earth, and leading in water. The rock is broken up with hardened wooden pikes, from the already partly decomposed coral rocks, and then the pieces must be lifted and thrown or carried outside. Under a broiling sun, and in pits sunk six feet deep, such work is heavy, even with the best of food. But on the low and insufficient diet allowed him, it was slow death.

He worked away, however, stolidly if not patiently, feeling a certain hardening and listlessness as his life was reduced and the probability of escape or rescue seemed passing away. The sight of a ship no longer meant rescue, as even if another hove in sight, it was by no means certain that he could induce the natives to let him reach it, or that the ship itself would be brought within hail.

One day, however, he met with a menace of death