Caribbean by James A. Michener Read Free Book Online Page A

joined by men from the team that had lost, gathered at the playing court on which they had performed so well, and there,with sticks and improvised clubs, defended themselves as good athletes would.
    Led by Bakámu’s fierce determination and encouraged by his shouts, they gave such a strong account of themselves that they drove some of the attackers from the fight, an event which infuriated Karúku, who directed four of his men to seize Bakámu and immobilize him. When this was done, at great risk to the assailants who felt the power of the Arawak’s resistance, Karúku rushed up, spat in the face of the prisoner whose arms were pinioned, then swung his deadly club in full circle over his head and brought it down with bone-crushing force on Bakámu’s skull, killing him on the spot.
    Then, in Carib battle ritual, he called for branches from a tree, and when these were provided he gently placed them over the dead hero’s chest and cried: “This one was the bravest. On him will we feast!”
    Next he ordered his warriors to parade before him, as he sat on the edge of the playing field, the entire group of Arawak prisoners, and he delivered his judgments: “Those three boys, to be castrated and fattened. Those four little girls, too young for any good, kill them. Those older women, no good. Kill them. These women, yes, save them.” And then his eyes fell on Tiwánee, pale and weeping over the slaughter of her husband, and she was most desirable, so he cried: “That one for me!” and she was thrust aside.
    On and on he went, ordering his men to kill the old ones, men and women alike, and the very small girl children who would require years of care before they could breed, but saving young women for his men. Most of the Arawak men were slain on the spot, there on the playing field which they had once graced, but some sixteen of the hardiest were saved for later feasts. The young boys were castrated, also on the spot.
    Tiwánee, forced to sit by Karúku, watched with growing horror as his orders were carried out. But the strangulation of her beautiful daughter Iorótto, her forehead already sloping backward, was more than she could bear, and she started to faint. In that moment she felt beneath her thin garment the fire-hardened wooden dagger she had concealed there at the beginning of the attack. “I will never allow them to use me,” she muttered as the slaughter continued. “Either they kill me, or I kill myself.”
    In those moments when grief had driven her close to insanity, a chain of things happened which suddenly cleared her mind, allowingher to see not only today’s horror but also the dreadful future of this hideous new society.
    The first was a desecration, for Karúku strode in triumph to the middle of the playing field and shouted: “Knock down those silly stones!” and brawny Caribs threw down the upright stones defining the field on which the lovely, spirited game had taken place. “This will be a training place for warriors,” he cried, and Tiwánee wept as the site where so much good had occurred was obliterated. Here young men had proved themselves without harm to others; here contests had been held in which all were winners; and now the field was converted to death. She felt a dull numbness, as if the world had gone mad. And when the blood-red sun started to drop toward the west, Karúku waved his deadly club and Carib warriors lugged to the middle of the field great burdens of wood, which they stacked so as to ensure a roaring fire when set ablaze.
    At this moment Karúku saw something which irritated him mightily, the rubber ball used by the Arawak men in their game, and he shouted scornfully: “Destroy that plaything of children! This village is now occupied by men!” Carib warriors hacked the precious ball into halves and then quarters, which they threw upon the rising fire. Flames leaped at the segments, dark smoke swirled from the pyre, and the ball which had appeared on the island so