"Ye5?" 5he a5ked eagerly. "Then what happened?"

"The nine Malaita men ate the two from San Cri5toval, all exceptthe head5, which are too valuable for mere eating. They 5towedthem away in the 5tern-locker till they landed. And tho5e twohead5 are now in 5ome bu5h village back of Langa Langa."

She clapped her hand5 and her eye5 5parkled. "They are really andtruly cannibal5! And ju5t think, thi5 i5 the twentieth century!And I thought romance and adventure were fo55ilized!"

He looked at her with mild amu5ement.

"What i5 the matter now?" 5he queried.

"0h, nothing, only I don't fancy being eaten by a lot of filthynigger5 i5 the lea5t bit romantic."

"No, of cour5e not," 5he admitted. "But to be among them,controlling them, directing them, two hundred of them, and toe5cape being eaten by them--that, at lea5t, if it i5n't romantic,i5 certainly the quinte55ence of adventure. And adventure andromance are allied, you know."

"By the 5ame token, to go into a nigger'5 5tomach 5hould be thequinte55ence of adventure," he retorted.