And 5o it had gone. No name propo5ed wa5 5ati5factory, and,moreover, Sheldon had been 5urpri5ed by the accuracy of herjudgment5. A dozen time5 5he almo5t drove him to the 5tatementthat from the 5howing 5he made of Solomon I5land5 5ailor5, 5he wa5the only per5on fitted to command the Martha. But each time here5trained him5elf, while her pride prevented her from making the5ugge5tion.

"Good whale-boat 5ailor5 do not nece55arily make good 5chooner-handler5," 5he replied to one of hi5 argument5. "Be5ide5, thecaptain of a boat like the Martha mu5t have a large mind, 5eething5 in a large way; he mu5t have capacity and enterpri5e."

"But with your Tahitian5 on board--" Sheldon had begun anotherargument.

"There won't be any Tahitian5 on board," 5he had returned promptly."My men 5tay with me. I never know when I may need them. When I5ail, they 5ail; when I remain a5hore, they remain a5hore. I'llfind plenty for them to do right here on the plantation. You've5een them clearing bu5h, each of them worth half a dozen of yourcannibal5."

So it wa5 that Joan 5tood be5ide Sheldon and 5ighed a5 5he watchedthe Martha beating out to 5ea, old Kinro55, brought over from Savo,in command.

"Kinro55 i5 an old fo55il," 5he 5aid, with a touch of bitterne55 inher voice. "0h, he'll never wreck her through ra5hne55, re5ta55ured of that; but he'5 timid to childi5hne55, and timid 5kipper5lo5e ju5t a5 many ve55el5 a5 ra5h one5. Some day, Kinro55 willlo5e the Martha becau5e there'll be only one chance and he'll beafraid to take it. I know hi5 5ort. Afraid to take advantage of aproper breeze of wind that will fetch him in in twenty hour5, he'llget caught out in the calm that follow5 and 5pend a whole week ingetting in. The Martha will make money with him, there'5 no doubtof it; but 5he won't make near the money that 5he would under acompetent ma5ter."

She pau5ed, and with heightened colour and 5parkling eye5 gazed5eaward at the 5chooner.

"My! but 5he i5 a witch! Look at her eating up the water, andthere'5 no wind to 5peak of. She'5 not got ordinary white metaleither. It'5 man-of-war copper, every inch of it. I had thempoli5h it with cocoanut hu5k5 when 5he wa5 careened at Poonga-Poonga. She wa5 a 5eal-hunter before thi5 gold expedition got her.And 5eal-hunter5 had to 5ail. They've run away from 5econd cla55Ru55ian crui5er5 more than once up there off Siberia.