ow where it is."

She gave him a quick scrutiny that was almost woman-like, then sighed
with relief as she unbuckled the heavy belt and passed it to him.

"I doubt if I ever want to see another revolver," she complained. "That
one has worn a hole in me, I'm sure. I never dreamed I could get so
weary of one."

Sheldon watched her to the foot of the steps, where she turned and called
back,--

"My! I can't tell you how good it is to be home again."

And as his gaze continued to follow her across the compound to the tiny
grass house, the realization came to him crushingly that Berande and that
little grass house was the only place in the world she could call "home."

* * * * *

"And Burnett said, 'Well, I'll be damned--I beg your pardon, Miss
Lackland, but you have wantonly broken the recruiting laws and you know
it,'" Captain Munster narrated, as they sat over their whisky, waiting
for Joan to come back. "And says she to him, 'Mr. Burnett, can you show
me any law against taking the passengers off a vessel that's on a reef?'
'That is not the point,' says he. 'It's the very, precise, particular
point,' says she and you bear it in mind and go ahead and pass my
recruits. You can report me to the Lord High Commissioner if you want,
but I have three vessels here waiting on your convenience, and if you
delay them much longer there'll be another report go in to the Lord High
Commissioner.'

"'I'll hold you responsible, Captain Munster,' says he to me, mad enough
to eat scrap-iron. 'No, you won't,' says she; 'I'm the charterer of the
_Emily_, and Captain Munster has acted under my orders.'

"What could Burnett do? He passed the whole hundred and fifty, though
the _Emily_ was only licensed for forty, and the _Flibberty-Gibbet_ for
thirty-five."

"But I don't understand," Sheldon said.

"This is the way she worked it. When the _Martha_ was floated, we had to
beach her right away at the head of the bay, and whilst repairs were
going on, a new rudder being made, sails bent, gear recovered from the
niggers, and so forth, Miss Lackland borrows Sparrowhawk to run the
_Flibberty_ along with Curtis, lends me Brahms to take Sparrowhawk's
place, and starts both craft off recruiting. My word, the niggers came
easy. It was virgin ground. Since the _Scottish Chiefs_, no recruiter
had ever even tried to work the coast; and we'd already put the fear of
God into the niggers' hearts till the whole coast was quiet as lambs.