The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-01
armed them in a whisper.

Inere was no panic 1n the sOuuu, Auc runway now became a deeply worn path. rising so steeply that several times the party paused for breath.
 "One man with a rife could hold it against a thousand" Sheldon whisper ed to Joan. And twenty men could hold it with spears and arrows"
 They came out on the village, sit uated on a small, upland plateau, grass covered and with only occasional trees. There was a wild chorus of warning cries from the women, and spears and arrows began to fall among the in- vaders. At Sheldon's command the Tahitians and Poonga-P Poonga men got into action with their rifles The spears and arrows ceased. the last bushmen disappeared, and the fight was over ai- most as soon as it had begun. On their own side no one had been hurt. while half dozen bushmen had been killed
 "Poor brutes." Joan said They act only according to their natures. To eat their kind and take heads is good morality for them"
 "But they should be taught not to take white mems heads" Sheldon ar gued
 She nodded approval and said: "If
 we find one head we'll burn the v1l- lage Hey, you. Charley! What fella place head he stop"
 ''S'pose he stop along devildevI house." was the answer. That big fella house, he devil-devil."
 It was the largest house in the will Iage. Into it they went Crouched be- fore slow smoking fire, in the filtered ashes of a thousand fires, was an old man who blinked apathetically at the invaders. His task, it seemed, was to tend the fire, and, hung in the smoke. they found the object of their search. Joan turned and stumbled out hastily, deathly sick, reeling into the sunshine and clutching at the air for support
 "See if all are there," she called back faintly and tottered aimlessly on for a
 few steps. breathing the air in great drafts and trying to forget the sight
 she had seen
 Upon Sheldon fell the unpleasant
 task of tallying the heads. They were all there, nine of them, white mems heads, the faces of which he had been familiar with when their owners had camped in Berande compound and set up the polling boats Binu Charley, hugely interested, lent a hand, turn
 ing the heads around for identification,
 noting the hatchet strokes and remark ing the distorted expressions.
 Other heads, thoroughly sun dried and smoke cured. were found in abun-
 dance. but, with two exceptions, they
 were the heads of blacks.
 "Me savvee black Mary, me savvee white Mary" quoth Binu Charley.
 'Me no savvee that fella Mary. What
 name belong him?"
 Sheldon looked. Ancient and with
 cred. blackened by many years of the
 smoke of the devil-devil house, never.
 theless the shrunken. mummylike face
 was unmistakabiy Chinese. How ii had come there was the mystery. n
 was woman's head, and he had never heard of a-Chinese woman in the hiS- tory of the SolomonS. From the ears hung two inch long earrings. and al Sheldon's direction the Blnu man rubbed away the accretions of smoke and dirt and from under his fingers appeared the polished green of jade the sheen of pearl and the warm red of oriental gold. The other head equally ancient. was a white mans,
 and Sheldon wondered what forgotten | beche-der-mer fisherman or sandalwood trader had gone to furnish that ghast- ly trophy.
 Telling Binu Charley to remove the
 earrings and directing the Poonga. Poonga men to carry out the old fire tender, Sheldon cleared the devil-devil house and set fire to it Soon every
 house was blazing merrily, while the l ancient fire tender sat upright in the sunshine, blinking at the destruction of his village. Every member of Tu' dor's expedition was accounted for
 and it was long. dark way out of the head hunters country. Releasing theil two prisoners. who leaped away like startled deer, they plunged down the steep path into the steaming jungle. That night found them back in camp with Tudor, and at high noon of the third day, travelling with the current
 and shooting the rapids, the expedi-
 ton arrived at Berande. Joan, with
 sigh. unbuckled her revolver belt and hung it on the nail in the living room, while Sheldon, who had been lurking l about for the sheer joy of seeing her perform that particular homecoming act, sighed, too. with satisfaction. But the homecoming was not all joy to him. for Joan set about nursing Tudor l and spent much time on the veranda | when he lay in the hammock under the
 mosquito netting.
 The ten days of Tudor's, convales-
 cence that followed were peaceful
 days on Berande. The work of the
 plantation went on like clockwork.
 With the crushing of the premature
 outbreak of Gogoomy and his follow
 Ing all characterization seemed to have
 vanished. Twenty more of the old
 time boys. their term of service up,
 were carried away by the Martha,
 and the fresh stock of labor, treated
 fairly, was proving of excellent qual
 1ty. As Sheldon rode about the plan-
 tat1on acknowledging to himself the l comfort and convenience of a horse
 and wondering why he had not thought
 of getting one himself, he pondered
 the various improvements for which Joan was responsible.
 1 Thoro vpro tiroc r,hoy, ho xv,ec <3fr1v