id,--

"I don't think I care to visit the head-hunters any more. It's
adventure, I know; but there is such a thing as having too much of a good
thing. Riding around the plantation will henceforth be good enough for
me, or perhaps salving another _Martha_; but the bushmen of Guadalcanar
need never worry for fear that I shall visit them again. I shall have
nightmares for months to come, I know I shall. Ugh!--the horrid beasts!"

That night found them back in camp with Tudor, who, while improved, would
still have to be carried down on a stretcher. The swelling of the Poonga-
Poonga man's shoulder was going down slowly, but Arahu still limped on
his thorn-poisoned foot.

Two days later they rejoined the boats at Carli; and at high noon of the
third day, travelling with the current and shooting the rapids, the
expedition arrived at Berande. Joan, with a sigh, unbuckled her revolver-
belt and hung it on the nail in the living-room, while Sheldon, who had
been lurking about for the sheer joy of seeing her perform that
particular home-coming act, sighed, too, with satisfaction. But the home-
coming was not all joy to him, for Joan set about nursing Tudor, and
spent much time on the veranda where he lay in the hammock under the
mosquito-netting.

CHAPTER XXVI--BURNING DAYLIGHT

The ten days of Tudor's convalescence that followed were peaceful days on
Berande. The work of the plantation went on like clock-work. With the
crushing of the premature outbreak of Gogoomy and his following, all
insubordination seemed to have vanished. Twenty more of the old-time
boys, their term of service up, were carried away by the _Martha_, and
the fresh stock of labour, treated fairly, was proving of excellent
quality. As Sheldon rode about the plantation, acknowledging to himself
the comfort and convenience of a horse and wondering why he had not
thought of getting one himself, he pondered the various improvements for
which Joan was responsible--the splendid Poonga-Poonga recruits; the
fruits and vegetables; the _Martha_ herself, snatched from the sea for a
song and earning money hand over fist despite old Kinross's slow and safe
method of running her; and Berande, once more financially secure,
approaching each day nearer the dividend-paying time, and growing each
day as the black toilers cleared the bush, cut the cane-grass, and
planted more cocoanut palms.

In these and a thousand ways Sheldon was made aware of how much