The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-23

j. VIII 80 across the river DeyOn0 your
Jurisdiction. and build q village for
myself and my sailors. whom shall
send in the whaleboat TO Guvuru for
provisions. And now / want you to
teach nee billiards.
Joan took hold Of the household with
no uncertain grip. revolutionizing
things till Sheldon hardly recognized
the place. For the 6rst time the bun
gaiow 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 a muddler
and a SLOUGH, and other invidious
names. for his siackness 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 ne had regarded az weeds.
under her guidance appeared as appe-
thing breakfast fruit. and. at dinner.
were mefamorphosed into buildings
that elected his unqualified admira-
tfon. She or her sailors dynamited
hgh daily. while the Baiesuna natives
were paid tobacco for bringing in
oysters from the mangrove swamps.
Among other things. she burned the
pegt1lential hospital. quaTreled with
Sheldon over the deed and In anger
set her own men to work building a
new and what she called 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 70 stay.
She was certainly unlike any woman
be had ever known or dreamed Of. So
far as he was concerned. she was not
woman at all. She Getther languished
nor biandished. NJ 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 dsh. She argued that she was
at least a little bic 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 over
methods Of handling the black boys
She ruled by stern kindness. rarely
rewarding. never furnishing. and be
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 ever
got out Of them. She quickly saw the
unrest Of the contract Iaborers and
was not blind to the danger. always
imminent. that both she and Sheldon
ran. Neither OF them ever ventured
ont without a revolver. and the sailors
who stood the night watches by Joan's
grass house were armed with rides.
But Joan inisted that this reign OF ter
rOr had been caused By the reign OF
fear practised by the white men. She
had been brought up with the gentle
Hawaiians. who never were iiltreated
nor roughly handled, and she general
lied that the Solomon islanders. un-
der kind treatment. would grow gentle.
One evening terrific uproar arose
in the barracks, and Sheldon. aided
by Joan's sailors, succeeded In res
cuing two women whom the blacks
were beating 10 death. To save them
from the vengeance of the blacks they
were guarded in the cook house for
the night. They were the two women
who did the cooking for the iabOrers.
and their ofEense had consisted of one
Of them taking bath in the big cal
dron In which the potatoes were boiled.
The blacks were not outraged from the
standpoint Of cleanliness: they often
took baths in the caIdrons themselves.
The trouble lay in that the bather had
been = low. degraded. wretched female.
for to the Solomon islanders all fe-
males are low, degraded and wretched.