smooth as butter, 'do put down that
club!'

"''AMMOND!' she fairly hollers. Then she went through the most
blood-curdling pantomime ever was, I reckon. First she comes up to me
and taps me on the chest and says, ''Edge.' Then she goes creeping round
the room on tiptoe, p'inting out of the winder all the time as much as
to say she was pertending to walk through the woods. Then she p'ints to
one of the stumps we used for chairs and screeches 'AMMOND!' and fetches
the stump an awful bang with the club. Then she comes over to me and
kinder snuggles up and smiles, and says, ''Edge,' and tried to put the
club in my hand.

"My topnot riz up on my head. 'Good Lord!' thinks I, 'she's making love
to me so's to get me to take that club and go and thump Hammond with
it!'

"I was scared stiff, but Lobelia was between me and the door, so I kept
smiling and backing away.

"'Now, Lobelia,' says I, 'don't be--'

"''Ammond!' says she.

"'Now, Miss 'Ankins, d-o-n't be hasty, I--'

"''AMMOND!

"Well, I backed faster and faster, and she follered me right up till at
last I begun to run. Round and round the place we went, me scart for my
life and she fairly frothing with rage. Finally I bust through the door
and put for the woods at a rate that beat Hammond's going all holler.
I never stopped till I got close to the palm tree. Then I whistled and
Hammond answered.

"When I told him about the rumpus, he set and laughed like an idiot.

"''Ow d'you like Miss 'Ankin's love-making?' he says.

"'You'll like it less'n I do,' I says, 'if she gets up here with that
club!'

"That kind of sobered him down again, and we got to planning. After a
spell, we decided that our only chance was to sneak down to the schooner
in the dark and put to sea, leaving Lobelia alone in her glory.

"Well, we waited till twelve o'clock or so and then we crept down to the
beach, tiptoeing past the shanty for fear of waking Lobelia. We got on
the schooner all right, hauled up anchor, h'isted sail and stood out of
the lagoon with a fair wind. When we was fairly to sea we shook hands.

"'Lawd!' says Hammond, drawing a long breath, 'I never was so 'appy in
my life. This 'ere lady-killing business ain't in my line.'

"He felt so good that he set by the wheel and sung, 'Good-by, sweet'art,
good-by,' for an hour or more.

"In the morning we was in sight of another small island, and, out on a
p'int, was a passel of folks jumping up and down and waving a signal.