The Three Sirens Read Online Free PDF

of the tribe.”
    Courtney offered his hand and I shook it. Moreturi did not offer his hand, but only a forbidding aspect.
    A brief smile was on Courtney’s face, no doubt at the astonishment unsuppressed upon my own. I asked myself then, and for a short time later, what a naked American, garmented in such a fashion, was doing on an island called The Three Sirens, which existed on no map? Even as the puzzle teased me, I could definitely distinguish the two men now.
    Moreturi was the younger, no more than thirty years of age, and possibly an inch shy of six feet in height. We know that Polynesians are light-skinned enough to tan, but he appeared to be a dark white man who had tanned. His hair was black and wavy, but his entire body was devoid of any hair at all. His face was broader and more handsome, with its straight and correct features, than Courtney’s face. All that indicated “native” was the slight slant of his eyes and fullness of his lips. His chest was powerful, his bicep muscles enormous, all tapering down sharply to slender hips and legs.
    Courtney was, as I have said, the older of the pair. I should guess nearly forty years of age, but of superb condition and physique. I estimated him to be six feet two inches in height, with sandy, uncombed hair not recently barbered. His face was longer, more angular than that of his Polynesian friend, with deep-set brown eyes, a nose that appeared to have once been broken and imperfectly set, narrower lips and wider mouth. He was the leaner of the two, but rangy and also muscular, with moderate hair on his chest and legs.
    My descriptions of these persons may not be completely accurate, for all this I observed in short seconds, and only supplemented later when there was darkness and scrutiny was more difficult.
    I was aware that Courtney was addressing me. “Captain Rasmussen is, in effect, our ambassador and lifeline to the outside world. He has, as best he could, told us something of you, Professor, and of your assignment for Intra-Oceanic Flights.” His voice was low, well-modulated, and his speech cultivated, indicating that he was an educated man. “You are the first stranger to come here since my own arrival, several years ago. The chief and villagers will be quite concerned. Strangers are held tabu.”
    “You are an American, not one of them,” I said boldly. “Why are you tolerated?”
    “I came by accident,” said Courtney, “I remained by the grace of the Chief. Now I am one of them. No one else would be welcomed. The privacy of the village and islands is holy.”
    “I saw no village when we flew over the islands,” I said.
    Courtney nodded. “That’s right, you saw no village. But it exists, and there is a population of over two hundred, the survivors of both white and brown forebears.”
    “Descendants of the Bounty mutineers?” I inquired.
    “No. This all came about quite differently. There is no time for further explanation. I think it would be wise, Professor Easterday, if you left here at once and forgot that you ever laid eyes upon us or the islands. The fact is, your arrival has imperiled the entire population. If your disappearance did not endanger Captain Rasmussen’s position in Tahiti, I am sure Moreturi would not let you leave at all. As it is, you can depart unharmed.”
    Unnerved though I was, I determined to stand my ground. The speech was less ominous coming from an American turned native than from a Polynesian. “This plateau is a perfect airstrip,” I said. “It is my duty to report it to Canberra.”
    Moreturi stirred, but Courtney touched his arm without looking at him. “Professor Easterday,” Courtney said softly, “you have no idea what you are doing. This seemingly inaccessible, rarely visited island, uninhabited to the eye, has remained impervious to outsiders—the corruptions of modern civilization—since 1796, when the present village was built and the present culture begun.”
    I think, Dr. Hayden, it was his