Casca #17: The Warrior

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Casca has signed up on a ship sailing the Pacific Ocean, taking supplies to the South Sea Islands. They endure a big storm and pull over to an island they find to repair the damaged ship. The island, Navola Levu, is peopled by two villages, each a rival of the other. Casca and the crew are made welcome and after a feast take a woman each. The following day they are witnesses to a horrific ceremony in which a massive boat is moved from the jungle to the water over the bodies of the women the men had slept with. Casca helps the villagers defeat their rivals by killing the enemy war chief, and is made war chief himself for that act. the jubilant villagers feast on the body of the slain man. including the non-plussed europeans. Casca is left behind when the boat sails and he soon finds himself drawn into the hierarchy of the tribe and is chosen by one of the more important women to live with her. When news comes of a slaving ship sailing the waters nearby it is decided to buy guns to defend themselves with. The only way they can do this is to have some of the villagers sell themselves into slavery. One of the chiefs sails off with volunteers and returns a few days later with muskets, whisky and no powder. After drinking whisky the villagers get very drunk and one or two are killed in a drunken fight. The following day the chief responsible walks off in disgrace. Casca however finds a powder substitute from the natural deposits from the volcanic island and manages to get the muskets to work. When the slavers turn up they are defeated. Casca finds himself elevated to virtual chief and then helps in restoring an old totem pole. He is buried by the villagers in it as he is seen as a great power and will help the island prosper. A few days later an earthquake frees him and he returns to the village determined to leave. He stores supplies on a boat he has acquired and then stumbles across the disgraced chief, persuading him to return to the village. Casca then sails off into the ocean, bound for further adventures.

A different story, focusing on cannibals from their perspective. Again, it is another story-in-one, rather than part of the journey through the ages style that characterized the earlier books. Sadler's cynicism over the political situation with labor in Australia surfaces here, but it is accurate. Dating the story is a little difficult but the first part of the book does refer to Casca fighting for the South in the US Civil War (1861-1865) and his subsequent employment with a railroad company building from east to west. I would hazard a guess at 1867 or 1868. Those of a squeamish disposition had better not read about the feasting after a victorious battle, although Casca's enforced eating of the victim's penis is hilarious. We are left wondering where Casca goes in his boat. I would like to think its back to California just in time for the gold rush (the Comstock Lode strike occurred about then). After that he is in America until 1898 when we know he sets sail for the Far East and Hong Kong in time to be recruited into the British Army in China for the next story.

To see where this falls in Casca's life story click HERE for a Timeline check