The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-25

4ECs CnCA0Ou 4uOCEEuptc0s DUl IL
was according to the formula OF the
rule Of the weak that Packard ruled.
And what was the regult7 i am still
alive Packard is dead He was I'M
swervIngly kind and gentle to his boys,
and his boys waited till one day he was
down with fever. His head is over
on Malatta now. They carried away
two whaleboats as well filed with the
loot of the store. Then there was Cap
tain Mackenzie OF the ketch Minota.
He believed In kindness and paraded
around the deck without even a re-
volver on him He was tomahawked.
His head remains IN Malaita. 1t was
suicide. So was Packard's finish sui
eide You must understand one thing.
Berande. bar none. is by far the worst
plantation In the Sofomons so far as
the labor Is concerned. And how it
came to be 50 proves your point. The
preYious owners OF Berande were not
discreetly kind They were a pair Of
unadutterated brutes. One was q down
east Yankee. as believe they are cali
ed. and the other was guiding Ger
man.
They weEe slnve drivers. 10 begin
with. they bought their labor from
Johnny Be-blowed. the most notorious
recruiter in the eolomons. He is werk-
ing cut q ten years sentence in Fiji
now, for the wanton killing OF q black
boy. During bis last days here he
had made himself so obnoxious that
the natives On Afalaita would have
nothing to do with him. The only way
he could get recruits was by hurrying
to the spot whenever murder or
series OF murders occurred The mur-
derers were usually only too willing TO
Sign on and get away to escape ven
geanee. Down here they can such
escapes pier head Jumps There is
suddenly rear from the beach. and
niger runs down to the water pur-
sued by clouds Of spears and arrows.
OF course. Johnny Be-blowed's whale
boat ~ lying ready to pick him up.
In his last days Johnny got nothing
but pier head jumps
''ARd the first owners OF Berande
bought bis recruits hard bitten gang
OF murderers. They were all Eve year
boys. Well. that's the gang Of murder
ers we've got On our hands now. OF
course, some are dead, some have been
killed, and there are others serving
sentences at Tulagi Very little clear
ing did those first owners do, and less
planting. It was war all the time.
They had one manager killed. One Of
the partners had his shoulder slashed
nearly on By cane knife. The other
was speared on two different occasions.
They were chased away-Hterally
chased away-by their own niggers.
And along came poor Hughie and me,
two new chums, to take hold of that
hard bitten gang. We did not know
the situation, and we had bought
Berande, and there was nothing to do
but hang on and muddie through some
how.
AT first we made the mistake Of In.
discreet kindness. We tried to rule
/ by persuasion and fair treatment. The
niggers concluded that we were afraid
Then came the day when Hughie rep
r1nanded one Of the boys, and was
nearly killed by the gang. The only
thing that saved him was the number
on top of him, which enabled me to
reach the spot in time.
'@Then began the rule Of the strong
hand. It was either that or quit, and
we had sunk about all our money into
the venture, and we could not quit.
And besides, our pride was involved
/ We had started out to do something,
and we were so made that we just had
to go on with it. Do you know, we
have been unable to get white men In.
| We've offered the n1anagership to half
a dozen. won't say they were afraid,
for they were not But they did not
consider it healthy-at least that is
the way it was put by the last one
who declined our offer. So Hughie and
did the managing ourselves"
''And when he idied you were pre-
pared 10 go on all aloner Joan cried,
with shining eyes.
81 thought I'd muddfe through. And
now, Miss Lakeland, please be charit-
able when l seem harsh. and remem-
Der that the situation Is unparalleled
down here. We've got q bad crowd,
and we're making them work
Joan nodded but remained silent She
was too occupied In giimpsing the vi
sion Of the enc lone white man as she
had first seen him. helpless from fever,
q collapsed wrath In steamer chair,
who, up to the hast heart beat, by
some strange alchemy Of race, was
pledged to mastery.
ct is a pity" she sa1d But the
white man has to rule. suppose"
81 don't like It" Sheldon assured
her. "To save my hfe / can't imagine
how I ever came here. But here am,
and caEst run away"
blind destiny CT race" she said,
family smiling. 1--WE whites have
been land robbers and sea robbers from
remotest time. IT is In our blood. i
guess, and we can't get away from it
IT never thought about it so alb
stractIy." he confessed. ''Y've been toe
busy puzxling over why came here