myself. I am considering you.
It--it is hardly the proper thing, you know. If I were married--if there
were some woman of your own race here--but as it is--"

She threw up her hands in mock despair.

"I cannot follow you," she said. "In one breath you tell me I must go,
and in the next breath you tell me there is no place to go and that you
will not permit me to go. What is a poor girl to do?"

"That's the trouble," he said helplessly.

"And the situation annoys you."

"Only for your sake."

"Then let me save your feelings by telling you that it does not annoy me
at all--except for the row you are making about it. I never allow what
can't be changed to annoy me. There is no use in fighting the
inevitable. Here is the situation. You are here. I am here. I can't
go elsewhere, by your own account. You certainly can't go elsewhere and
leave me here alone with a whole plantation and two hundred woolly
cannibals on my hands. Therefore you stay, and I stay. It is very
simple. Also, it is adventure. And furthermore, you needn't worry for
yourself. I am not matrimonially inclined. I came to the Solomons for a
plantation, not a husband."

Sheldon flushed, but remained silent.

"I know what you are thinking," she laughed gaily. "That if I were a man
you'd wring my neck for me. And I deserve it, too. I'm so sorry. I
ought not to keep on hurting your feelings."

"I'm afraid I rather invite it," he said, relieved by the signs of the
tempest subsiding.

"I have it," she announced. "Lend me a gang of your boys for to-day.
I'll build a grass house for myself over in the far corner of the
compound--on piles, of course. I can move in to-night. I'll be
comfortable and safe. The Tahitians can keep an anchor watch just as
aboard ship. And then I'll study cocoanut planting. In return, I'll run
the kitchen end of your household and give you some decent food to eat.
And finally, I won't listen to any of your protests. I know all that you
are going to say and offer--your giving the bungalow up to me and
building a grass house for yourself. And I won't have it. You may as
well consider everything settled. On the other hand, if you don't agree,
I will go across the river, beyond your jurisdiction, and build a village
for myself and my sailors, whom I shall send in the whale-boat to Guvutu
for provisions. And now I want you to teach me billiards."

CHAPTER VII--A HARD-BITTEN GANG

Joan took hol