"English?" I said, swinging my fingers from my lips, feigning a speaking motion. "Does anyone here speak English?"
The chief paused for a moment, then motioned to one of the tribesmen to fetch someone from one of the huts overlooking the square. A few minutes later, he returned with a native woman walking a few paces behind.
The chief mentioned something about iglisi to the woman, then he jerked his head in my direction.
"Do you speak English?" she said, looking at me.
"Yes, thank God," I sighed. "I mean you no harm. I'm here alone—"
The chief yelled something at the woman and she turned back to face me.
"What are you doing here?" the woman asked. "How did you get on this island?"
"I came on a chartered cruise from New Zealand. When our crew stopped to visit your island, I got lost and they left without me. I've been here alone for the last week or so."
The chief shook the adze angrily as he shouted at the woman.
“O fea na mua!” he repeated.
"Where did you get this axe?" the woman said. "It looks like one of ours."
I paused as I peered at the chief unsteadily. I wasn't sure how much I should disclose about my knowledge of the other tribe with so much tension brewing between the two clans.
"I met a native girl from the other side of the island," I said. "She taught me how to use it."
The woman said something to the chief, then he looked at me suspiciously, trying to discern my intentions.
"Oe sakina mo latou?" he said.
"Were you spying for them just now?" the woman translated.
"No," I lied. "I was returning from my camp when I got lost. I meant you no harm—"
The woman repeated what I said to the chief and he paused for a long moment, studying my face. I knew my story sounded improbable, but I hoped that he would find a naked Western woman carrying a stone axe as no threat.
He reached down and ran his hands over my head, rubbing his fingers through my hair. Then he leaned over and caressed my face, running his hands over my shoulders onto the front of my chest. Suddenly I felt less afraid and more embarrassed with so many male eyes ogling my naked figure. The chief cupped my breasts and squeezed them with his hands.
"Fata masali!" he shouted, peering around the campfire at his fellow tribesmen. They all laughed as he continued running his hands down my body. When he reached my shorts, he paused, feeling an unusual object under the cloth. He reached into my right pocket and pulled out the spiral unicorn shell that I'd found on the beach with Teuila.
"That's mine!", I shouted, reaching out to take it back.
The chief peered up at the translator, and when she told him what I'd said, he scoffed and threw the shell far to the other side of the sandy courtyard. Then he motioned for the two guards who'd carried me down the hill to tie me to a large pole standing in the middle of the square. As they lashed my hands tightly behind my back around the pole, I squirmed, screaming at the top of my lungs.
"What are you doing with me?" I cried. "I'm innocent! I don't have anything to do with the other tribe. Let me go!"
As the tribesmen reassembled around the fire laughing amongst themselves, the native woman paused, looking at me.
"Why are you doing this?" I said to the woman. "Can't you see I mean you no harm?"
"You're aligned with the other tribe. Our chief will keep you here until our grievance with them is settled. It's best that you don't resist. It will just make things more difficult for you."
As she walked back to her hut, I glanced at the group of tribesmen leering at my bare breasts. I had no idea what they intended to do with me, but the look on their faces gave me a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't sure which would be a worse—being burned at the stake or getting raped by these savages.
As I dropped my head to my chest in resignation, I caught a glimmer of light reflecting off the sand near the edge of the fire pit. It was my unicorn shell.
"I'm sorry Te'," I said, realizing she'd have no way of finding me if she managed to get herself free. "I wanted to be with you. Hold close my love if I never see you again."
24