“But what is Miss Lackland intending to do?”
Captain Auckland grinned.
“She’s going to try to get the Martha
off, I should say. Or else why did she pay fifty-five
quid for her? And if she fails, she’ll
try to get her money back by saving the gear—spars,
you know, and patent steering-gear, and winches,
and such things. At least that’s what I’d
do if I was in her place. When I sailed, the
little girl had chartered the Emily—’I’m
going recruiting,’ says Munster—he’s
the skipper and owner now. ‘And how much
will you net on the cruise?’ asks she.
’Oh, fifty quid,’ says he. ‘Good,’
says she; ’you bring your Emily along
with me and you’ll get seventy-five.’
You know that big ship’s anchor and chain piled
up behind the coal-sheds? She was just buying
that when I left. She’s certainly a hustler,
that little girl of yours.”
“She is my partner,” Sheldon corrected.
“Well, she’s a good one, that’s
all, and a cool one. My word! a white woman
on Malaita, and at Poonga-Poonga of all places!
Oh, I forgot to tell you—she palavered
Burnett into lending her eight rifles for her men,
and three cases of dynamite. You’d laugh
to see the way she makes that Guvutu gang stand around.
And to see them being polite and trying to give advice!
Lord, Lord, man, that little girl’s a wonder,
a marvel, a—a—a catastrophe.
That’s what she is, a catastrophe. She’s
gone through Guvutu and Tulagi like a hurricane; every
last swine of them in love with her—except
Raff. He’s sore over the auction, and he
sprang his recruiting contract with Munster on her.
And what does she do but thank him, and read it over,
and point out that while Munster was pledged to deliver
all recruits to Morgan and Raff, there was no clause
in the document forbidding him from chartering the
Emily.
“‘There’s your contract,’
says she, passing it back. ’And a very
good contract it is. The next time you draw
one up, insert a clause that will fit emergencies
like the present one.’ And, Lord, Lord,
she had him, too.
“But there’s the breeze, and I’m
off. Good-bye, old man. Hope the little
girl succeeds. The Martha’s a whacking
fine boat, and she’d take the place of the Jessie.”
The next morning Sheldon came in from the plantation
to breakfast, to find the mission ketch, Apostle,
at anchor, her crew swimming two mares and a filly
ashore. Sheldon recognized the animals as belonging
to the Resident Commissioner, and he immediately wondered
if Joan had bought them. She was certainly living
up to her threat of rattling the dry bones of the
Solomons, and he was prepared for anything.
“Miss Lackland sent them,” said Welshmere,
the missionary doctor, stepping ashore and shaking
hands with him. “There’s also a box
of saddles on board. And this letter from her.
And the skipper of the Flibberty-Gibbet.”
