Su'u, Van Horn went below and roughly shook the mate awake. Until both
returned, Jerry held the deck alone. But for the fact that the white-
gods were there below and were certain to be back at any moment, not many
moments would Jerry have held the deck, for every lessened mile between
the return boys and Malaita contributed a rising of their spirits, and
under the imminence of their old-time independence, Lerumie, as an
instance of many of them, with strong gustatory sensations and a positive
drooling at the mouth, regarded Jerry in terms of food and vengeance that
were identical.

Flat-hauled on the crisp breeze, the _Arangi_ closed in rapidly with the
land. Jerry peered through the barbed wire, sniffing the air, Skipper
beside him and giving orders to the mate and helmsman. The heap of trade-
boxes was now unlashed, and the boys began opening and shutting them.
What gave them particular delight was the ringing of the bell with which
each box was equipped and which rang whenever a lid was raised. Their
pleasure in the toy-like contrivance was that of children, and each went
back again and again to unlock his own box and make the bell ring.

Fifteen of the boys were to be landed at Su'u and with wild
gesticulations and cries they began to recognize and point out the
infinitesimal details of the landfall of the only spot they had known on
earth prior to the day, three years before, when they had been sold into
slavery by their fathers, uncles, and chiefs.

A narrow neck of water, scarcely a hundred yards across, gave entrance to
a long and tiny bay. The shore was massed with mangroves and dense,
tropical vegetation. There was no sign of houses nor of human occupancy,
although Van Horn, staring at the dense jungle so close at hand, knew as
a matter of course that scores, and perhaps hundreds, of pairs of human
eyes were looking at him.

"Smell 'm, Jerry, smell 'm," he encouraged.

And Jerry's hair bristled as he barked at the mangrove wall, for truly
his keen scent informed him of lurking niggers.

"If I could smell like him," the captain said to the mate, "there
wouldn't be any risk at all of my ever losing my head."

But Borckman made no reply and sullenly went about his work. There was
little wind in the bay, and the _Arangi_ slowly forged in and dropped
anchor in thirty fathoms. So steep was the slope of the harbour bed from
the beach that even in such excessive depth the _Arangi's_ stern swung in
wit