El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-10
By Jack London
CHAPTER II.
SOMETHING Is DONE.

was no doubt, and there were
other symptoms that were unfavOrable.
He began his rounds looking for
trouble He wanted trouble. In full
health the strained situation would
have been serious enough; but as it
was, himself growing helpless, some
thing had to be done. The blacks
were getting more sullen and defiant,
and the appearance of the men the
previous night on his veranda-one Of
the gravest Of offences on Berande-
was ominOus. Sooner or later they
would get him, if he did not get them
first, if he did not once again scar on
their dark souls the flaming mastery
Of the white man.
He returned to the house disappOint-
ed. No opportunity had presented it
self Of making an example Of insolence
or insubordination-s as had &C
Cured on every other day since the
sickness smote Berande. The fact that
none had offended was in itself sus-
picious. They were growing crafty.
1t was one man against two hundred,
and he was horribly afraid Of his
sickness OverpOwering him and leay-
ing him at their mercy. He saw Vi
sions Of the blacks taking charge Of
the plantation, lOOting the store, burn
ing the buildings and escaping to Ma
laita. Also one grewsome vision he
caught Of his own head, sun dried and
smoke cured, ornamenting the canoe
house Of a cannibaI village. Either
the Jessie would have to arrive or
he would have to do something.
The bell had hardly rung, sending
the Iaborers into the fields, when Shell
don had a visitor. Forty men, armed
with spears, bows and arrows and
war clubs, gathered outside the gate
Of the compound, but only one enter
ed. They knew the law Of Berande,
as every native knew the law Of every
white mans compound in all the thou
sand miles of the far flung SOlomOns.
The one man who came up the path
Sheldon recognized as Seelee, the chief
Of Balesuna village. The savage did
not mount the steps, but stood be
meath and talked to the white lord
above.
Seelee was more intelligent than the
average OF his kind, but his inteli-
gence only emphasized the lOwness Of
that kind. His eyes, close together and
small, advertised cruelty and crafti-
ness. A gee string and a cartridge
belt were all the clothes he wore
As he talked, or listened, he made
grimaces like a monkey. He said yes
BY dropping his eyeHds and thrusting
his chin forward. He spoke with
childish arrogance strangely at vari-
ance with the subservient position he
occupied beneath the veranda. He,
with his many followers, was lord and
master Of BalesUna village. But the
white man, without followers, was
lord and master Of Berande-ay. and
on occasion, single handed, had made
himself lord and master Of Balesuna
village as well. Seelee did not like to
remember that episode. 1t had Oc-
cured in the course Of learning the
nature Of white men and Of learning
to abominate them. He had once been
guilty Of sheltering three Funaways
from Berande.
Unfortunately, he was ignorant of
the ways Of white men. This particu-
lar white man educated him by arriv-
ing at his grass house in the gray Of
dawn. In the first moment he had felt
amused. He was so perfectly safe in
the midst Of his village. But Il . next
moment. and before he could cry out,
a pair Of handouts on the white mans
knuekles had landed on his mouth,
knocking the cry Of alarm back down
his throat. Also, the white mans other
fist had caught him under the ear and
left him without further interest in
what was happening. When he came
to he found himself in the white mans
whalebOat on the way to Berande.
When his tribe had returned the three
runRways, he was given his freedom.
And finally, the terrible white man
had fined him and Balesuna village
ten thousand cOcOanuts. After that he
had sheltered no more runaway Ma
laita men. Instead, he had gone into
the business Of catching them. It was
safer Besides, he was paid one case
Of tobacco per head. But If he ever
got a chance at that white man, if he
ever caught him sick or stood at his
back when he stumbled and fell on q
bush trail-weI, there would be a head
that would fetch a price in Mala-
tia.
Sheldon was pleased with what See
lee told him. The seventh man Of the
last batch Of runaways had been
caught and was even then at the gate.
He was brought in, heavy featured
and defiant, his arms bound with CO.
coanut sennit, the dry blood still on
his body from the struggle with his
captors.
me savvee you good fella, Seelee,"
Sheldon said, as the chief gulped down
quarter tumbler Of raw trade gin.
''Fella boy belong me you catch short