Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-01-02
CHAPTER XI
MIR. MORGAN AND MR., RAFT.


He's an old warhorse when he gets
started. See him banging the boys.
They don't pull fast enough for him"
"And now what's to be done2" she
asked. you've treed your game. but
you cunt keep 1t freed"
mo. but can teach them a lesson" )"
Sheldon walked over to the big bell.
ut is all right" he replied to her
gesture Of protest MY boys are prac.
tcally all bushmen. while these chaps
are salt water men. and there's no love
lost between them You watch the
fun
He rang a general call. and by the
time the 200 iaborers trooped into the
compound Satan was once more
penned In the living room. complaining
to high heaven at his abOmlnable
treatment The plantation hands were
dancing war dances around the base
Of every tree and filling the air with
abuse and vituperatiOn OF their heredi
tary enemies The skipper of the
Flibberty Gibbet arrived in the thick
Of It. In the first throes Of oncomine
fever. staggering as he walked and
shivering so severely that he could
scarcely hold the rife he carried Hls
face was CHASTITY blue. his teeth clicked
and chattered. and the violent sun
shine through which he walked could
not warm him.
"Pll s-s-it down and k-k-keeb q
guard on EN-" he chartered. "D-d.dast
It all. ! always g-get f-fever when
there's any excitement. W-w-wh-whal
are you going to do?"
Gather up the guns 6rst Of ALL"
Under SheldOn's direction the house
boys and gang bosses collected the
scattered arms and piled them In 8
heap on the veranda The modern
rifles. stolen from Lunga. Sheldon sci
aside. the Sniders he smashed into
fragments. the pile OF spears. clubs
and tomahawks he presented to Joan
Down on the beach be built bon
6re out of the contents Of the canoes
his blacks smashing. breaking and
looting everything they laid bands on
The canoes themselves. splintered and
broken. filled with sand and cora
powders. were tOwed out to ten faith
oms of water and sunk.
"Ten fathoms will be- deep enough
for them to work In" Sheldon said as
they walked back to the compound.
Here q saturnalia had broken loose
The war SONGS and dances were more
unrestrained. and from abuse the plan
tation blacks had turned TO peltins
their helpless foes with pieces OF wood
handfuls OF pebbles and chunks OF
coral rock And the seventy-6 iustJ
cannibals chung stoically to their tret
perches, enduring the rain OF missiles
and snarling down promises OF venge
ance.
'There'll be wars for forty years OF
Malaita on account Of this" SheIdor
laughed But fancy old Telepasst
will never again attempt 10 rush g
plantation.
"Eh, you old scoundrel." he added
turning to the old chief. who sat glib
bering In tmpotent rage at the foo'
Of the steps. Nov head belong you
bang m too. Come on. Miss Lack
land. bang IN just once. 1t will be the
crowning indignity."
ugh. he's too dirty. I'd rather give
him bath. Here you. Adamu Adam
give this devil wash. Soap and
water! FIJI that washtub. Orntiri. rur
and fetch IN scrub brush"
The Tahitians. back from their fish
ing and grlnning at the bedlam OF the
compound. entered into the joke.
"rambo! Tambor' shrieked the can
nibals from the trees. appalled, at sc
awful desecration. as they saw theiI
chief tumbled into the tub and the
sacred dirt rubbed and soused from
bis body.
Joan. who had gone into the Dunga
low. tossed down a strip OF white
calico, in which old Telepasse was
promptly wrapped. and he stood forth
resplendent and purified. withai be
still spat and strangied from the soap
suds with which Noa Noah had gargled
bis throat
The house boys were directed to fetch
handouts. and. one by one. the Lunga
runaways were hauled down out OF
their trees and made fast. Sheldon
lroned them In pairs and ran a steel
chain through the links Of the Irons.
Gogoomy was given q lecture for bis
mutInous conduct and locked up for the
afternoon. Then Sheldon rewarded the
plantation hands with an afternoon
holiday. and when they had with
drawn from the compound permitted
the Port Adams men to descend from
the trees And all afternoon he and
Joan loafed In the cool Of the veranda
and watched them diving down and
emptying their sunken canoes OF the
sand and rocks. II was twilight when
they embarked and padded away Will
a few broken paddles. A. breeze had
sprung up. and the Flibberty Gibbet
had already sailed for Lunga to return
the runaways.
Sheldon was back In the plantation
superintending the building Of bridge
when the schooner Malakula ran In
close and dropped anchor. Joan watch
ed the taking In Of sail and the swing
Ing out OF the boat with sailors inter
est, and herself met the two men who
came ashore.
They seemed awkward and constrain'
ed In her precence. and she caught nrst
one aud then the other looking at bel
With secret curiosity. She felt that
they wers weighing her. appraising her
and for the first time the anomaIou'
position she occupied OH Berande SAM
sharply home to her. On the othe
hand, they puzzled her.
The elder one. Morgan. was . hug
man, bronzed and mustached, with
deep bass voice and an almost gutsera
speech, and the other. Ran. was align