, there's my hand."

He held out his hand. She hesitated, then gripped it heartily, and
smiled through her tears.

"I wish--" she faltered, "I wish, instead of that black Mary, you'd given
me somebody to swear for me."

And with this enigmatic utterance she turned away.

CHAPTER XXI--CONTRABAND

Sheldon did not mention the subject again, nor did his conduct change
from what it had always been. There was nothing of the pining lover, nor
of the lover at all, in his demeanour. Nor was there any awkwardness
between them. They were as frank and friendly in their relations as
ever. He had wondered if his belligerent love declaration might have
aroused some womanly self-consciousness in Joan, but he looked in vain
for any sign of it. She appeared as unchanged as he; and while he knew
that he hid his real feelings, he was firm in his belief that she hid
nothing. And yet the germ he had implanted must be at work; he was
confident of that, though he was without confidence as to the result.
There was no forecasting this strange girl's processes. She might
awaken, it was true; and on the other hand, and with equal chance, he
might be the wrong man for her, and his declaration of love might only
more firmly set her in her views on single blessedness.

While he devoted more and more of his time to the plantation itself, she
took over the house and its multitudinous affairs; and she took hold
firmly, in sailor fashion, revolutionizing the system and discipline. The
labour situation on Berande was improving. The _Martha_ had carried away
fifty of the blacks whose time was up, and they had been among the worst
on the plantation--five-year men recruited by Billy Be-blowed, men who
had gone through the old days of terrorism when the original owners of
Berande had been driven away. The new recruits, being broken in under
the new regime, gave better promise. Joan had joined with Sheldon from
the start in the programme that they must be gripped with the strong
hand, and at the same time be treated with absolute justice, if they were
to escape being contaminated by the older boys that still remained.

"I think it would be a good idea to put all the gangs at work close to
the house this afternoon," she announced one day at breakfast. "I've
cleaned up the house, and you ought to clean up the barracks. There is
too much stealing going on."

"A good idea," Sheldon agreed. "Their boxes should be searched. I've
just