Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-11-17
Adventure
A Romance of
The South Seas
Copyriait. 1910. by Street. 6 Smith
Copyright. 1914, By the Macmillan ConPan
BY
JACK LONDON

/ ume ID Joan's company and thereby
| increasing the dislike Sheldon had
| taken to him. He went swimming
with her, in point of rashness exceed
| ing her, and dynamited fish with her,
diving among the hungry ground
sharks and contesdng with them for
possession of the stunned prey, until
| be earned the approval of the whole
I Tahitian crew. Arahu challenged MIN
to tear a fish from a sharks jaws. Ieav-
ing half TO the shark and bringing the
other half himself 10 the surface. and
Tudor performed the feat. flip from
the sandpaper hide OF the astonished
shark scraping several inches of skin
from his shoulder. And Joan was de
lighted. while Sheldon. looking on. re-
allied that here was the hero of her
adventure dreams coming true. She
did not care for love but he felt that
II ever she did love. il would be that
sort of q mana man who exhibited,
was his way Of putting it.
He felt himself handicapped in the
presence of Tudor. who had the gift OF
making a show of all his qualities.
Sheldon knew himself FOR q brave man.
of the fact Life pulsed steadily and
deep in him. and ii was not his nature
needleSsly TO agitate the surface so
that the world could see the splash be
was making And the effect of the
others amazing exhibitions was 10
make him retreat more deeply within
himself and wrap himself more thick
~ than ever in the nerveless, stoical
calm of his race.
You are so stupid the last few days."
Joan complained TO him "You don't
seem 10 have an idea in your head
above black labor and cocoanutS. What
is the natter"
Sheldon smiled and beat a further
retreat within himself. listening the
while TO Joan and Tudor propounding
the theory OF the strong arm by which
tine white man ordered life amoug the
lesser breeds. As ne listened Sheldon
realized. as by revelation. that thar
was precisely what ne was doing.
While they philosophical about il he
was living it But why talk about it?
1t was sufficient TO DO IL and be done
with il.
He said as much, dryly and quietly,
and found himself involved in a dis
cussion. with Joan and Tudor siding
against him.
The Yankees talk lot about what
they do and have DONE" Tudor said.
and are looked down upon by the
English as ragSnrts. But the Yankee
IS only q child He does not know eff
fectuaIly how to brag. He talks about
IL. you see But the Englishman goes
him one better by not talking about it.
The Englishman's proverbial tack OF
Dragging is Il subtler form of brag.
after all"
II never thought of 1t before" Joan
cried. "Of course. An Englishman
performs some terrincally heroic ex-
plot and Is very modest and reserved,
refuses to talk about it at all, and
the effect is that by his silence he as
much as says: 1 do things like this
every day 1t is as easy as rolling of
a log. You ought to see the really
heroic things 1 could do If they ever
came my way Confess. Mr.. Sheldon.
don't you feel proud down inside when
you've done something daring or coura-
geous?"
Sheldon nodded
Then she pressed home the point,
isn't Disgusting that pride under a
mask OF careless indifference equiva-
lent to telling a lie?''
Yes. it is he admitted. But we
tell similar lies every day. It is mat
ter OF training. and the English are
better trained. that is all Your coun-
trymen will be trained as well in time
AS Mr.. Tudor said. the Yankees are
young. Certainly we are proud inside
OF the things we do and have done