Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1911-11-21

un"uulteIdteu DfuteS. One was a down
east Yankee, as believe they are call.
ed and the other was a guzzling dor
man.
"They were slave drivers. To begin
with, they bought their labor from,
johnny Be-blowed. the most notorous
recruiter in the Solomons. He is work.
ing out a ten years sentence in Fiji
now Tor the wanton killing of black
boy. During his last DAYS here he
mad made himself so obnoxious that
the natives on Malaita would have
nothing to do with him. The only wav
ne could get recruits was bv hnrrving
to the spot whenever murder or
series or murders occurred. The mur-
derers were usually only too willing TO
sign on and get away to escape ven.
geance. Down here they call such
escapes pier head jumps There is
suddenly roar from the beach, and
a nlgger runs down to the water pur.
sued by clouds of spears and arrows.
Of course, Johnny Be-bIoweds whale
boat is lying ready to pick him IN.
In his last days Johnny got nothing
but pier head jumps.
Sand the first owners of Berande
bought his recruits-a hard bitten gang
of murderers. They were all five wear
boys. Well, that's the gang of murder
ers we've got on our hands now. or
course. some are dead, some have been
killed, and there are others serving
sentences at Tulagi. Very little clear-
Ing did those first owners do. and less
planting. 1t was war all the time.
They had one manager killed. One of
the partners had his shoulder slashed
nearly off by cane knife. The other
was speared on two different occasions.
They were chased away-literalIy
chased away-by their ow1 niggers.
And along came poor saugnre ana me,
two new chums, to take hold of that
hard bitten gang. We did not know
the situation, and we had bought
Berande, and there was nothing TO do
but hang ON and muddle through some
how.
"At first we made the mistake of in
discreet kindness. We tried to rule
by persuasion and fair treatment. The
niggers concluded that we were afraid
Then came the day when Hughie rep
rimanded one of the boys, and was
nearly killed by the gang. The only
thing that saved him was the number
on top of him, which enabled me to
reach the spot DIN time.
"'Then began the rule Of the strong
hand. 1t was either that or quit, and
we had sunk abOut all ,Our money into
the venture, and We could not quit
And besides, 'our pride was involved
We had started ,Out to do something,
and we were SO madett that we just had
to go en with 1T. do you know, we
have been unable to get white men in.
We've Offered the managership to half
"a dozen. / won't say they were afraid,
for they were mot. But they did not
consider it heaIthy-at least that Is
the way it WAS put by the last one
who declined eur offer, So Hughie and
|
/ did the managing ourselves"
And when he died you were pre-
pared to go OH all .aloneI" Joan cried,
with shining eyes.
81 thought Id muddle through. And
now, Miss Laokland, please be charit-
able when seem harsh, and remem-
ber that the situation is unparalleled
down here. We've got bad crowd.
and were making them work
Joan nodded but remained silent. She
was too occupied in .glimpsing the vi
sion of the one lone white man as she
had frst seen elim, helpless from fever,
collapsed wEaith in "A steamer chair,
who, up to the last heart beat. by
some strange alchemy of race, was
pledged to mastery.
1T is a pity she said. But the
white man has TO rule. suppose"
Il don't like it, Sheldon assured
her. ITO save my life can't imagine
how ever came here. But here am
and I can't run away"
~BIind destiny of race" she said'
family smiling. I'VE whites have
been land robbers and sea robbers from
remotest time. 1t is in our blood l
guess. and we can't get away from It,"
.T never thought about 1T so abb
stractIy." he confessed. 1--WE been TOO
busy puzzling over why l came here"
. rnrIaH.ra VIII