Page 42 of Maliea's Hero
As the days passed, she despaired of ever finding the ship and Redbeard, the pirate.
The little girl grew older and taller, learning how to sail with the wind, going further and further from the shore. One of her village elders taught her how to navigate by the stars. When Kanani was older and strong enough, she left her village, climbed into her canoe with a sail she’d fashioned herself and set off to find the ship with the hawk’s bow and the treasure Redbeard had taken from her people.
Her first stop was the Garden Island. Years had passed since the pirate ship had sailed away from the Gathering Place. She talked with many people, describing the ship, the night and the captain. One after another, they shook their heads. They hadn’t seen a ship but remembered the ferocity of the storm that had flattened homes and swept their canoes out to sea.
About to give up, a woman stopped her. “Go. Speak with Old Man Rangi, the man on the hill. He sees everything.”
Kanani climbed the hill overlooking the windward side of the island. There, she found an old man weaving a basket made of palm fronds as he stared out to sea.
“Old Man Rangi, do you remember the night of the big storm so many years ago?”
The old man nodded. “I lost my wife to the sea that night.”
“I’m so very sorry,” Kanani said. “Did you see a ship pass in the night during that terrible storm?”
Old Man Rangi’s eyes narrowed as he looked out at the calm waters. “The night my wife was swept away, I saw something in the distance. As she disappeared beneath the waves, a flash of lightning lit the sky. A ghost ship appeared with huge white sails and a carving on the bow in the shape of a bird’s beak.” He turned to look at Kanani. “As I live and breathe, I swear the ship had come to claim my sweet Noelani, to carry her away to the land beyond.”
Kanani was sure the old man had seen Redbeard’s ship. “Did the ship land on the Garden Isle?”
The old man shook his head. “The storm tossed the ship, sending it on toward the Forbidden Isle. Recovery from the storm was delayed by another storm the next night. Though my people tried to stop me, I paddled my canoe to the island a few days later, hoping to find the ship and my Noelani.”
Kanani touched the old man’s shoulder. “And did you find them?”
His fingers stopped their weaving motion. “The people of Niihau refused to talk to me and threatened to throw me off the island if I didn’t leave on my own.”
“Did you leave?” Kanani asked.
The old man stared down at his motionless hands. “I couldn’t leave until I knew the truth. I asked one more man if he knew what happened to the ship. He was so angry that he and several others carried me to my canoe and tossed me in. As they pushed me out to sea, a small girl swam out to me carrying a pineapple to give me strength for the journey home. As she clung to the side of my canoe, she whispered, ‘The ship ran up on the rocks in the storm. Everyone on the ship was swept out to sea.’”
“No survivors?” Kanani asked.
The old man shook his head. “She didn’t say. I assumed none.”
“And the ship?” Kanini asked.
He shrugged. “I didn’t see it. I assume it was swept out to sea with the storm that hit a day later.”
A sound pulled Reid out of the storybook. He glanced up to find Maliea standing in the doorway of the bathroom, her damp hair combed smoothly back from her forehead.
“Did Nani wake?” she asked in a whisper.
He nodded. “I read more of your father’s story to her.” Reid’s lips twitched on the corners. “I admit, I got caught up in it and kept reading after she fell asleep. Your father was quite the storyteller.”
Maliea nodded. “He liked to incorporate his research in the stories he told Nani. I told him he should write books and publish them. Other children might love the stories as much as Nani.”
“This story is obviously based on the pirate Redbeard and the treasures he stole from Oahu.” Reid frowned down at the handmade book in his hand. “Do you think all of the story was based on his research?”
“Sure. I’d bet some of it is based on his research. It’s a fact that he interviewed people whose ancestors had passed down the legend of the theft on Oahu and the big storm that caused so much damage.”
“And the sighting of the ship passing Kauai in the night?” Reid asked.
Maliea’s brow furrowed. “Yes.”
Reid pulled his cell phone from his pocket and searched the internet for Kanani Akamu. The name appeared in an article written by Joe Akamu, who claimed to be the great-great-grandson of Kanani, a woman who’d lived through the pirate raid of Honolulu and the great storm that had almost wiped Honolulu off the map around the same time.
Reid shook his head.
“What?” Maliea came to stand near him.