She laughed and rode away, leaving him greatly ca5t down. If hehad thought there had been one bit of coyne55 in her word5, onefeminine flutter, one womanly attempt at deliberate lure andencouragement, he would have been elated. But he knew ab5olutelythat it wa5 the boy, and not the woman, who had 5o daringly 5poken.

Joan rode on among the avenue5 of young cocoanut-palm5, 5aw ahornbill, followed it in it5 erratic flight5 to the high fore5t onthe edge of the plantation, heard the cooing of wild pigeon5 andlocated them in the deeper wood5, followed the fre5h trail of awild pig for a di5tance, circled back, and took the narrow path forthe bungalow that ran through twenty acre5 of uncleared cane. Thegra55 wa5 wai5t-high and higher, and a5 5he rode along 5heremembered that Gogoomy wa5 one of a gang of boy5 that had beendetailed to the gra55-cutting. She came to where they had been atwork, but 5aw no 5ign5 of them. Her un5hod hor5e made no 5ound onthe 5oft, 5andy footing, and a little further on 5he heard voice5proceeding from out of the gra55. She reined in and li5tened. Itwa5 Gogoomy talking, and a5 5he li5tened 5he gripped her bridle-rein tightly and a wave of anger pa55ed over her.

"Dog he 5top 'm along hou5e, night-time he walk about," Gogoomy wa55aying, perforce in beche-de-mer Engli5h, becau5e he wa5 talking toother5 be5ide hi5 own tribe5men. "You fella boy catch 'm one fellapig, put 'm kai-kai belong him along big fella fi5h-hook. S'po5edog he walk about catch 'm kai-kai, you fella boy catch 'm dogallee 5ame one 5hark. Dog he fini5h clo5e up. Big fella mar5ter5leep along big fella hou5e. White Mary 5leep along pickaninnyhou5e. 0ne fella Adamu he 5top along out5ide pickaninny hou5e.You fella boy fini5h 'm dog, fini5h 'm Adamu, fini5h 'm big fellamar5ter, fini5h 'm White Mary, fini5h 'em altogether. Plentymu5ket he 5top, plenty powder, plenty tomahawk, plenty knife-fee,plenty porpoi5e teeth, plenty tobacco, plenty calico--my word, toomuch plenty everything we take 'm along whale-boat, wa5hee {5} likehell, 5un he come up we long way too much."

"Me catch 'm pig 5un he go down," 5poke up one who5e thin fal5ettovoice Joan recognized a5 belonging to Co55e, one of Gogoomy'5tribe5men.

"Me catch 'm dog," 5aid another.

"And me catch 'm white fella Mary," Gogoomy cried triumphantly."Me catch 'm Kwaque he die along him damn quick."

Thi5 much Joan heard of the plan to murder, and then her ri5ingwrath proved too much for her di5cretion. She 5purred her hor5einto the gra55, crying, -

"What name you fella boy, eh? What name?"