The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-12-18

By
JACK LONDON
Copyright. 1919. BY Street 4 Smith
Copyright. 1911 Dy the MacmiflaG
Company
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CHAPTER v.

- HELDON mended rapidly. The
- fever had burned out, and
there was nothing for him to
do but gather strength. Joan
had taken the cook in hand. and
for the first time. as Sheldon remark
ed, the chop at Berande was white
mans chop. With her own hands Joan
prepared the sick mans food, and be-
tween that and the cheer she brought
him he was able after two days to
totter feebly out upon the veranda-
The situation struck him as strange,
and stranger still was the fact that ii
did not seem strange to the girl at all.
She had settled down and taken charge
Of the household as matter Of course.
as II he were her father or brother
or as If she were a man like himself.
ut is just too delightful for any
thing" she assured him. lit is like a
page out of some romance. Here l
come along out of the sea and find a
Recruits" he corrected. Contract
laborers. They serve only three years,
and they are free agents when they
enter upon their contracts"
Eyes. yes" she hurried on; "a sick
man alone with 200 recruits on a can
nibal island-they are cannibals, aren't
they? Or is it all talk?'
"Talkr' he said. with smile. Its
a trifie more than that Most Of my
boys are from the bush, and every
bushman Is a cannibal."
But not after they become recruits?
Surely the boys you have here would
not be guilty.
They'd eat you If the chance afford
ed"
Are you just saying so, on theory.
or do you really known" she asked.
II know"
"Why7 What makes you think so7
Your own men hereT
Eyes, my own men here the very
house boys. the cook that at the present
moment is making such delicious rolls.
thanks to you. Not more than three
months ago eleven Of them sneaked a
whaleboat and ran for Malaita. Nine
Of them belonged to Malaita. Two
were bushmen from San Cristoval.
They were. fools, the two from San
Cristoval. | mean: so would any two
Malaita men be who trusted them
Glves In a boat with nine from San
cristovaI."
"Yes?" she asked eagerly. Then
what happenedT'
1.-The nine Malaita men ate the two
from San Cristoval, all except the
heads, which are too valuable for
mere eating. They slowed them away
in the stern locker until they landed
And those two heads are now in some
bush village back Of Langa Langa."
She clapped her hands and her eyes
sparkled.
''They are really and truly cannibals
| And just think. this is the twentieth
| century! And l thought romance and
adventure were fossilized!'
| He looked at her with mild amuse
ment
What is the matter nowY' she
queried.
"Oh. nothing, only 1 don't fancy be-
ing eaten by a lot Of filthy niggers is
the least DIT rOmanuc.
mo, of course not" she admitted.
But to be among them. controlling
them, directing them. 200 Of them, and
to escape being eaten by them-that.
at least, If it isn't romantic, is certain
| ly the quintesSence of adventure. And
adventure and romance are allied. you
know"
iv1fo n
niggers stomach should be the quin-
tessence Of adventure" he retorted.
Il don't think you have any romance
in you" she exclaimed. You're just
dull and somber and sordid. like the
business men at home. | don't know
why you're here at ALL You should be
at home placidly vegetating as bank
er's clerk or-or''-
"a shopkeeper's assistant, thank
you"
"Yes, that-anything What under
the sun are you doing here on the edge
of thingsT
Earning my bread and butter, try
ing to get on in the world"
"'By the bitter road the youngest soI
must tread ere he win to hearth and
saddle of his own," she quoted. why
if that isn't romantic. then nothing is
romantic. Think of all the younger
sons out over the world. on a myraiC
of adventures, winning to those same
hearths and saddles. And here yor
are in the thick Of 1t. doing it. ant
here am in the thick of it, doing It,"
IL beg pardon be drawled-
'Well, I'm a younger daughter
then" she amended; land l have M
hearth nor saddle haven't anybod,
or anything-and I'm just as far on tn,
edge of things as you are"
lin your case. then, III admit Their,
Is bit OF romance" he confessed.
He could not help but think OF tn
preceding nights and of her sieepin;
in the hammock on the veranda unde
mosquito curtains. her bodyguard o
Tahitian sailors stretched out at tn
far corner Of the veranda within cal
He had been too helpless to resist. bu
now be resolved she should have hi
couch inside while he would take tn
hammock.
You see, / had read and dreame
about romance all my hfe," she wa
saying, but l never In my wildes
fancies thought that l should live II
It was all so unexpected. Two year
ago I thought there was nothing iet
to me but She faltered and mad
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