Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-11-10


over in the far corner of the com
pound-on piles. Of course. can
move in tonight. I'll be comfortable
and safe. The Tahitians can keep IN
anchor watch just as aboard ship
And then I'll study cOcoanut planting
In return. Ill run the kitchen end OF
your household and give. you some
decent food to eat. And finally.
won't listen to any OF your protests
On the other hand. ii you don't agree
l will go across the river. beyond your
jurisdiction. and build a village for
myself and my sailors. whom l shall
send In the whaleboat to Guvutu FOL
provisions. And now want you to
teach me billiards.
Joan took hold of the household with
no uncertain grip. revolutionizfne
things till Sheldon hardly recognized
the place. For the first time the bun
galow was clean and orderly. No
longer the house boys loafed and did
as little as they could; while the cook
complained that head belong him
walk about too much" from the siren
nous course in cookery which she put
him through. Nor did Sheldon escape
being roundly lectured for his lazi-
ness in eating nothing but timed pro-
visions. She called him muddler
and a SLOUGH, and other invidious
names. for his slackness and his dis
regard of healthful food.
She sent her whaleboat down the
coast twenty miles for lines and or
anges, and wanted to know scathingly
why said fruits had not long since
been planted at Berande, while be was
beneath contempt because there was
no kitchen garden. Mummy apples.
which he had regarded as weeds.
under her guidance appeared as appe-
tizing breakfast fruit. and, at dinner.
were metamorphosed into buildings
that elected his unqualified admira-
ton. She or her sailors dynamited
fish daily. while the Balesuna natives
were paid tobacco for bringing in
oysters from the mangr0ve swamps.
Among other things, she burned the
pestilential hospital. quarreled with
Sheldon over the deed and In anger
set her own men to work building a
new and what she called a decent hos
pital. She robbed the windows of their
lawn and muslin curtains. replacing
them with gaudy calico from the trade
store and made herself several gowns.
When she wrote out a list Of goods
and clothing for herself. to be sent
down to Sydney by the first steamer.
Sheldon wondered how long she had
made up her mind to stay.
She was certainly unlike any woman
he had ever known or dreamed Of. 50
far as he was concerned. she was not
a woman at all. She neither languished
nor blandished. No feminine lures
were wasted on him. He might have
been her brother, or she his brother.
for all sex had to do with the strange
situation. Despite his warnings about
crocodiles and sharks. she persisted in
swimming in deep water of the
beach. nor could he persuade her.
when she was in the boat. to let one OF
the sailors throw the dynamite when
shooting fish. She argued that she was
at least little bit more intelligent
than they and that. therefore. there
was less liability Of an accident If she
did the shooting. She was to him the
most masculine and at the same time
the most feminine woman he had ever
met.
A source of continual trouble between
them was the disagreement ovel
methods Of handling the black boys
She ruled by stern kindness. rarely
rewarding./ never Furnishing. and hi
had to confess that her own sailors
worshipped her. while the house boys
were her slaves and did three times
as much work for her as he had eve'
got out of them. She quickly saw thu
unrest of the contract laborers and
was not blind to the danger, always
imminent. that both she and Sheldon
ran. Neither Of them ever ventureG
out without q revolver, and the sailor: