as well--"

Tudor broke off and looked at Joan.

"It was the tale of this old beachcomber that brought us here," he
explained. "Von Blix befriended him and was told the secret." He turned
and addressed Sheldon. "I think we shall prove that white men have been
through the heart of Guadalcanar long before the time of the Austrian
expedition."

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders.

"We have never heard of it down here," he said simply. Then he addressed
Von Blix. "As to the boys, you couldn't use them farther than Binu, and
I'll lend you as many as you want as far as that. How many of your party
are going, and how soon will you start?"

"Ten," said Tudor; "nine men and myself."

"And you should be able to start day after to-morrow," Von Blix said to
him. "The boats should practically be knocked together this afternoon.
To-morrow should see the outfit portioned and packed. As for the
_Martha_, Mr. Sheldon, we'll rush the stuff ashore this afternoon and
sail by sundown."

As the two men returned down the path to their boat, Sheldon regarded
Joan quizzically.

"There's romance for you," he said, "and adventure--gold-hunting among
the cannibals."

"A title for a book," she cried. "Or, better yet, 'Gold-Hunting Among
the Head-Hunters.' My! wouldn't it sell!"

"And now aren't you sorry you became a cocoanut planter?" he teased.
"Think of investing in such an adventure."

"If I did," she retorted, "Von Blix wouldn't be finicky about my joining
in the cruise to Malaita."

"I don't doubt but what he would jump at it."

"What do you think of them?" she asked.

"Oh, old Von Blix is all right, a solid sort of chap in his fashion; but
Tudor is fly-away--too much on the surface, you know. If it came to
being wrecked on a desert island, I'd prefer Von Blix."

"I don't quite understand," Joan objected. "What have you against
Tudor?"

"You remember Browning's 'Last Duchess'?"

She nodded.

"Well, Tudor reminds me of her--"

"But she was delightful."

"So she was. But she was a woman. One expects something different from
a man--more control, you know, more restraint, more deliberation. A man
must be more solid, more solid and steady-going and less effervescent. A
man of Tudor's type gets on my nerves. One demands more repose from a
man."

Joan felt that she did not quite agree with his judgment; and, somehow,
Sheldon caught her feeling and was disturbed. He remembered noting how
her eyes had brigh