The Floating Island (26 page)

In the course of their excursions
it need not be said that the quartette returned every evening to Papaete or to
Floating Island. Everywhere, in the villages, in the scattered habitations,
among the colonies, among the natives, they were received with as much sympathy
as comfort.

On the 7th of November they
decided to visit Point Venus, an excursion undertaken by every tourist worthy
of the name.

They started at dawn, crossing
the river Fantalina by the bridge. They ascended the valley up to the noisy
cascade, double that of Niagara in height, but much narrower, which falls with
superb uproar from a height of 200 feet. In this way they arrived, by following
the road along the flank of Paharahi Hill, on the edge of the sea, at the
hillock to which Captain Cook gave the name of Tree Cape
—
a name justified at that time by the
presence of an isolated tree, since dead of old age. An avenue planted with
magnificent trees led them from the village of Paharahi to the lighthouse at
the extreme end of the island.

It was in this place, half-way up
a verdant hill, that the Coverley family had fixed their residence. There was
no apparent reason for Walter Tankerdon, whose villa was on the other side of
Papaete, to be in the neighbourhood of Point Venus. The young man was, however,
on horseback, close to the cottage of the Coverleys, and he exchanged a salute
with the quartette, and asked them if they intended to return to Papaete that
evening.

“No, Mr. Tankerdon,” replied
Frascolin. “We have received an invitation from Mrs. Coverley, and it is
probable that we shall spend the evening at the villa.”

“Then, gentlemen, I bid you
good-bye,” said Walter Tankerdon.”

And it seemed as if the young man’s
face darkened as if a cloud had for a moment veiled the sun.

He then spurred his horse and
went off at a gentle trot, giving a glance at the villa, which stood out white
among the trees.

“Eh!”  said Pinchinat. “Perhaps
he would like to have accompanied us, this charming cavalier?”

“Yes,” added Frascolin, “and it
is evident that our friend Munbar may be right. He did not seem happy at not
being able to meet Miss Coverley.”

“That proves that millions do not
bring happiness,” replied Yvernès, like a great philosopher.

During the afternoon and evening
a delightful time was spent with the Coverleys. At the villa the quartette met
with as warm a welcome as at the house in the Fifteenth Avenue. A sympathetic
meeting in which art was agreeably mingled. The music was excellent
—
at the piano, be it
understood. Mrs. Coverley played a few new pieces, Miss Coverley sang like a
true artiste, and Yvernès, who had a fine voice, mingled his tenor with her
soprano.

We do not know why
—
perhaps designedly
—
Pinchinat slipped
into the conversation that he and his comrades had met Walter Tankerdon in the
neighbourhood of the villa. Was this clever on his part, or had he done better
to have been silent? No, and if the superintendent had been there he could not
but have approved of his Highness. A slight smile, almost imperceptible,
flitted across Miss Coverley’s lips, her beautiful eyes sparkled, and it seemed
when she sang again as though her voice had become more penetrating.

Mrs. Coverley looked at her for a
moment, and was content to say, while Mr. Coverley frowned:

“You are not tired, my child?”

“No, mother.”

“And you, Monsieur Yvernès?”

“Not the least in the world,
madam. Before my birth I ought to have been a chorister boy in one of the
chapels of Paradise.”

The evening came to an end, and
it was nearly midnight when Mr. Coverley thought the time had come to retire to
rest.

Next morning the quartette,
enchanted at their simple and cordial reception, went back again down the road
to Papaete.

The stay at Tahiti could not last
longer than a week; according to the programme which had been laid down in
advance, Floating Island would then resume its route to the south-west. And
without doubt there would have been nothing to distinguish this last week,
during which the quartette completed their excursions, if a very pleasant
incident had not happened on the 11th of November. The division of the French
squadron of the Pacific was signalled in the morning by the semaphore on the
hill behind Papaete.

At eleven o’clock a cruiser of
the first class, the
Paris
, escorted by two cruisers of the second class
and a gunboat, dropped anchor in the roadstead.

The regulation salutes were
exchanged, and the rear-admiral, whose flag was flying on the
Paris
,
landed with his officers.

After the official salutes, in
which the Floating Island batteries took part, the rear-admiral and the
commandant of the Society Islands returned each other’s visits.

It was fortunate for the ships of
the divisions, their officers and crews, to have arrived in the roadstead of
Tahiti while Floating Island was there. Here were new opportunities for
receptions and festivities. The Pearl of the Pacific was open to the French
sailors, who crowded to admire its wonders. For two days the uniforms of our
navy mingled with the Milliardite costumes. Cyrus Bikerstaff did the honours at
the observatory, the superintendent did the honours at the casino and the other
establishments under his superintendence.

It was under these circumstances
that an idea occurred to that astonishing Calistus Munbar, a genial idea, the
realization of which would never be forgotten, and this idea he communicated to
the Governor, who adopted it at the advice of his council of notables.

Yes! A grand festival was decreed
for the 15th of November. Its programme included a set dinner and a ball given
in the rooms of the town hall.

By this time all the Milliardites
would have returned to the island, for the departure would take place two days
afterwards.

The high personages of both
sections would not fail to be present at this festival in honour of Queen
Pomare IV., the Tahitians, native or European, and the French squadron.

Calistus Munbar was entrusted
with the management of the festival, and his imagination and zeal could be
relied on. The quartette offered their services, and it was agreed that a
concert should figure among the most attractive features of the programme.

As far as the invitations were
concerned, the Governor undertook to send them out.

In the first place Cyrus
Bikerstaff went in person to Queen Pomare and the princes of her court to
assist at the festivities, and the Queen deigned to reply by accepting the
invitation. There were similar thanks on the part of the commandant and the
chief French functionaries, and of the rear-admiral and his officers, who
showed themselves deeply sensible of the kindness.

In short a thousand invitations
were issued. It must be understood that the thousand guests could not sit down
at the municipal table. No! Only a hundred: the royal personages, the officers
of the squadron, the authorities of the protectorate, the chief functionaries
and council of notables and superior clergy of Floating Island. But there would
be in the park, refreshments, games, and fireworks, with which to satisfy the
populace.

The King and Queen of Malecarlie
were not forgotten, that need scarcely be said. But their Majesties, averse to
all pomp, living retired in their modest habitation in the Thirty-Second
Avenue, thanked the Governor for an invitation they regretted to be unable to
accept.

“Poor sovereigns!” said Yvernès.

The great day arrived, and the
island was decked with the French and Tahitian colours mingled with the
Milliardite colours.

Queen Pomare and her court, in
gala costume, were received at Starboard Harbour amid a salute from the island’s
artillery, replied to by the guns of Papaete and the guns of the fleet.

About six o’clock in the evening,
after a promenade in the park, all the great ones went to the municipal palace,
which was superbly decorated. What a splendid sight was the monumental
staircase, every step of which cost at least ten thousand francs, like that at
Vanderbilt’s house in New York! And in the splendid dining-hall the guests sat
down at the tables.

The code of precedence was
observed by the Governor with perfect tact. There was no reason for conflict
between the great rival families of the two sections. Everyone was contented
with the places reserved for them, among others Miss Coverley, who found
herself opposite Walter Tankerdon. That was as much as the young people could
expect, for they could not be brought much nearer.

There is no need to say that the
French artistes had nothing to complain of. They were placed at the table of
honour, a new proof of esteem and sympathy for their talent and for themselves.

As to the bill of fare of this
memorable repast, studied, meditated, and composed by the superintendent, it
proved that even from the culinary point of view Milliard City had nothing to
fear from old Europe.

Here is this bill of fare, as
printed in gold on vellum by Calistus Munbar:
—

Le
potage à la d’Orléans ,

La
crême comtesse,

Le
turbot à la Mornay,

Le
filet de bœuf à la Napolitaine,

Les
quenelles de volaille à la Viennoise,

Les
mousses de foie gras à la Trévise.

Sorbets.

Les
cailles rôties sur canapé,

La
salade provençale,

Les
petits pois à l’anglaise,

Bombe,
macédoine , fruits,

Gâteaux
variés ,

Grissins
au parmesan.

Vins:

Château
d’Yquem.
—
Château-Margaux.

Chambertin.
—
Champagne.

Liqueurs
variées .

At the table of the Queen of
England, of the Emperor of Russia, of the German Emperor, or the President of
the French Republic, was there ever any better combination for an official
dinner, and could the most famous cooks of both continents have produced a
better one?

At nine o’clock the guests went
to the casino for the concert. The programme contained four items:
—

Fifth quartette in A major: Op.
18, Beethoven.

Second quartette in D minor: Op.
10, Mozart.

Second quartette in D major: Op.
64 (2nd part), Haydn.

Twelfth quartette
in E flat.
Onslow.

This concert was a fresh triumph
for the Parisian executants so fortunately embarked
—
no matter what the recalcitrant
violoncellist might say
—
on
Floating Island.

Meanwhile Europeans and strangers
took part in the different games in the park. Open-air dances were organized on
the lawns, and
—
why
should we not admit it?
—
there was dancing to the music of accordions, which are instruments much in
vogue among the natives of the Society Islands. French sailors have a weakness
for this pneumatic apparatus, and as the men on leave from the Paris and other
ships of the squadron had landed in great numbers, accordions became the rage.
Voices joined in, and ship songs responded to the “himerre,” which are the
popular and favourite airs of the Oceanic peoples.

Besides, the natives of Tahiti, men
and women, have a decided taste for singing and dancing in which they excel. On
this occasion they many times repeated the figures of the “repanipa,” which may
be considered a national dance, of which the measure is marked by beating the
tambourine. Thus dancers of all kinds, natives and foreigners, enjoyed
themselves immensely, thanks to the stimulus of refreshments of all kinds
provided by the municipality.

At the same time there were
dances of more select arrangement and composition, at which, under the
direction of Athanase Dorémus, the families gathered in the saloons of the town
hall. The Milliardite and the Tahitian ladies tried to surpass each other in
their dresses, but we need not be surprised at the former, who were faithful
customers of the Parisian dressmakers, easily eclipsing even the most elegant
Europeans of the colony. The diamonds rippled on their heads, their shoulders,
their necks, and it was amongst them only that the contest was of any interest.
But who would dare say if Mrs. Coverley or Mrs. Tankerdon were the more
dazzling? Certainly not Cyrus Bickerstaff, always so careful to preserve a
perfect equilibrium between the two sections of the island.

In the quadrille of honour there
figured the sovereign of Tahiti and her august spouse, Cyrus Bikerstaff and
Mrs. Coverley, the rear-admiral and Mrs. Tankerdon, the commodore and the first
lady of honour to the Queen. At the same time other quadrilles were formed, in
which the couples took part according to their tastes and sympathies. All this
was charming, and yet Sebastien Zorn kept himself apart in an attitude, if not
of protest, at least of disdain, like the two snarling Romans in the famous
picture of the
Décadence
. But Yvernès, Pinchinat, Frascolin waltzed and
danced polkas and mazurkas with the prettiest Tahitians and the most delightful
young ladies of Floating Island. And who knows if, this evening, a few weddings
were not decided as a finish to the ball
—
which
would doubtless give a little more work to the civil officials?

Besides, what was the general
surprise when chance made Walter Tankerdon Miss Coverley’s cavalier in a
quadrille? Was it chance, or had not that astute diplomatist, the
superintendent, managed to assist it in some way? In any case it was the event
of the evening, great perhaps in its consequences, if it marked a first step
towards the reconciliation of these two powerful families.

After the fireworks on the large
lawn, dancing was resumed in the park and at the town hall, and continued until
daylight.