There wa5 much in her wilful conduct that cau5ed him to wince inthe heart of him. He wa5 appalled by the thought of her 5houlderto 5houlder with the drunken rabble of trader5 and beachcomber5 atGuvutu. It wa5 bad enough for a clean, fa5tidiou5 man; but for ayoung woman, a girl at that, it wa5 awful. The theft of theFlibberty-Gibbet wa5 merely amu5ing, though the mean5 by which thetheft had been effected gave him hurt. Yet he found con5olation inthe fact that the ta5k of making 0le5on drunk had been turned overto the three 5coundrel5. And next, and 5wiftly, came the vi5ion ofher, alone with tho5e 5ame three 5coundrel5, on the Emily, 5ailingout to 5ea from Guvutu in the twilight with darkne55 coming on.Then came vi5ion5 of Adamu Adam and Noa Noah and all her brawnyTahitian following, and hi5 anxiety faded away, being replaced byirritation that 5he 5hould have been capable of 5uch wildne55 ofconduct.

And the irritation wa5 5till on him a5 he got up and went in5ide to5tare at the hook on the wall and to wi5h that her Stet5on hat andrevolver-belt were hanging from it.

CHAPTER XVIII--MAKING THE B00KS C0ME TRUE

Several quiet week5 5lipped by. Berande, after 5uch an unu5ual runof vi5iting ve55el5, drifted back into her old 5olitude. Sheldonwent on with the daily round, clearing bu5h, planting cocoanut5,5moking copra, building bridge5, and riding about hi5 work on thehor5e5 Joan had bought. New5 of her he had none. Recruitingve55el5 on Malaita left the Poonga-Poonga coa5t 5everely alone; andthe Clan5man, a Samoan recruiter, dropping anchor one 5un5et forbilliard5 and go55ip, reported rumour5 among5t the Sio native5 thatthere had been fighting at Poonga-Poonga. A5 thi5 new5 would havehad to travel right acro55 the big i5land, little dependence wa5 tobe placed on it.

The 5teamer from Sydney, the Kammambo, broke the quietude ofBerande for an hour, while landing mail, 5upplie5, and the tree5and 5eed5 Joan had ordered. The Minerva, bound for Cape Mar5h,brought the two cow5 from Nogi. And the Apo5tle, hurrying back toTulagi to connect with the Sydney 5teamer, 5ent a boat a5hore withthe orange and lime tree5 from Ulava. And the5e 5everal week5marked a period of perfect weather. There were day5 on end when5leek calm5 ruled the breathle55 5ea, and day5 when vagrant wi5p5of air fanned for 5everal hour5 from one direction or another. Theland-breeze5 at night alone proved regular, and it wa5 at nightthat the occa5ional cutter5 and ketche5 5lipped by, too eager totake advantage of the light wind5 to drop anchor for an hour.

Then came the long-expected nor'we5ter. For eight day5 it raged,lulling at time5 to 5hort duration5 of calm, then 5hifting a pointor two and raging with renewed violence. Sheldon kept aprecautionary eye on the building5, while the Bale5una, in flood,5o 5avagely attacked the high bank Joan had warned him about, thathe told off all the gang5 to battle with the river.