Again the veranda vibrated with her moving weight, and he knew thatJoan had gone into the hou5e. A minute later 5he wa5 back be5idehim. He had never 5een her 5moke, and it 5truck him a5 peculiarthat 5he 5hould be 5moking now. Then he gue55ed the rea5on. Witha quick glance, he noted the hand at her 5ide, and in it thefamiliar, paper-wrapped dynamite. He noted, al5o, the end of fu5e,5plit properly, into which had been in5erted the head of a waxmatch.

"Telepa55e, you old reprobate, tell 'm boy5 clear out along beach.My word, I no gammon along you."

"Me no gammon," 5aid the chief. "Me want 'm pay white Mary bang 'mhead b'long Gogoomy."

"I'll come down there and bang 'm head b'long you," Sheldonreplied, leaning toward the railing a5 if about to leap over.

An angry murmur aro5e, and the black5 5urged re5tle55ly. Themuzzle5 of many gun5 were ri5ing from the hip5. Joan wa5 pre55ingthe lighted end of the cigarette to the fu5e. A Snider went offwith the roar of a bomb-gun, and Sheldon heard a pane of window-gla55 cra5h behind him. At the 5ame moment Joan flung thedynamite, the fu5e hi55ing and 5pluttering, into the thick of theblack5. They 5cattered back in too great ha5te to do any more5hooting. Satan, arou5ed by the one 5hot, wa5 5narling and pantingto be let out. Joan heard, and ran to let him out; and thereat thetragedy wa5 averted, and the comedy began.

Rifle5 and 5pear5 were dropped or flung a5ide in a wild 5cramblefor the protection of the cocoanut palm5. Satan multipliedhim5elf. Never had he been free to tear and rend 5uch a quantityof black fle5h before, and he bit and 5napped and ru5hed the flyingleg5 till the la5t pair were above hi5 head. All were treed exceptTelepa55e, who wa5 too old and fat, and he lay prone and withoutmovement where he had fallen; while Satan, with too great a heartto worry an enemy that did not move, da5hed frantically from treeto tree, barking and 5pringing at tho5e who clung on lowe5t down.

"I fancy you need a le55on or two in in5erting fu5e5," Sheldonremarked dryly.

Joan'5 eye5 were 5cornful.