Adventure by Jack London (best motivational books of all time .txt) đ
- Author: Jack London
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He shook his head reproachfully, while the laughter died down in his throat to long-drawn chuckles.
âHe was older than Telepasse and dirtier,â she assured Sheldon, âand I am sure much wickeder. But this isnât work. Let us get through with these lists.â
She turned to the waiting black on the steps, -
âOgu, you finish along big marster belong white man, you go Not-Not.âHere you, Tangari, you speak âm along that fella Ogu. He finish he walk about Not-Not. Have you got that, Mr. Munster?â
âBut youâve broken the recruiting laws,â Sheldon said, when the new recruits had marched away to the barracks. âThe licenses for the Flibberty and the Emily donât allow for one hundred and fifty. What did Burnett say?â
âHe passed them, all of them,â she answered. âCaptain Munster will tell you what he saidâsomething about being blowed, or words to that effect. Now I must run and wash up. Did the Sydney orders arrive?â
âYours are in your quarters,â Sheldon said. âHurry, for breakfast is waiting. Let me have your hat and belt. Do, please, allow me. Thereâs only one hook for them, and I know where it is.â
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.
âI doubt if I ever want to see another revolver,â she complained. âThat one has worn a hole in me, Iâm sure. I never dreamed I could get so weary of one.â
Sheldon watched her to the foot of the steps, where she turned and called back, -
âMy! I canât tell you how good it is to be home again.â
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 âhome.â
âAnd Burnett said, âWell, Iâll be damnedâI beg your pardon, Miss Lackland, but you have wantonly broken the recruiting laws and you know it,ââ Captain Munster narrated, as they sat over their whisky, waiting for Joan to come back. âAnd says she to him, âMr. Burnett, can you show me any law against taking the passengers off a vessel thatâs on a reef?â âThat is not the point,â says he. âItâs the very, precise, particular point,â 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 thereâll be another report go in to the Lord High Commissioner.â
ââIâll hold you responsible, Captain Munster,â says he to me, mad enough to eat scrap-iron. âNo, you wonât,â says she; âIâm the charterer of the Emily, and Captain Munster has acted under my orders.â
âWhat 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.â
âBut I donât understand,â Sheldon said.
âThis 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 Sparrowhawkâs 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 weâd already put the fear of God into the niggersâ hearts till the whole coast was quiet as lambs. When we filled up, we came back to see how the Martha was progressing.â
âAnd thinking we was going home with our recruits,â Sparrowhawk slipped in. âLord lumme, that Miss Lackland ainât never satisfied. âIâll take âem on the Martha,â says she, âand you can go back and fill up again.ââ
âBut I told her it couldnât be done,â Munster went on. âI told her the Martha hadnât a license for recruiting. âOh,â she said, âit canât be done, eh?â and she stood and thought a few minutes.â
âAnd Iâd seen her think before,â cried Sparrowhawk, âand I knew at wunst that the thing was as good as done.â
Munster lighted his cigarette and resumed.
ââYou see that spit,â she says to me, âwith the little ripple breaking around it? Thereâs a current sets right across it and on it. And you see them bafflinâ little catâs-paws? Itâs good weather and a falling tide. You just start to beat out, the two of you, and all you have to do is miss stays in the same baffling puff and the current will set you nicely aground.ââ
ââThat little wash of sea wonât more than start a sheet or two of copper,â says she, when Munster kicked,â Sparrowhawk explained. âOh, sheâs no green un, that girl.â
ââThen Iâll rescue your recruits and sail awayâsimple, ainât it?â says she,â Munster continued. ââYou hang up one tide,â says she; âthe next is the big high water. Then you kedge off and go after more recruits. Thereâs no law against recruiting when youâre empty.â âBut there is against starving âem,â I said; âyou know yourself there ainât any kai-kai to speak of aboard of us, and there ainât a crumb on the Martha.ââ
âWeâd all been pretty well on native kai-kai, as it was,â said Sparrowhawk.
ââDonât let the kai-kai worry you, Captain Munster,â says she; âif I can find grub for eighty-four mouths on the Martha, the two of you can do as much by your two vessels. Now go ahead and get aground before a steady breeze comes up and spoils the manoeuvre. Iâll send my boats the moment you strike. And now, good-day, gentlemen.ââ
âAnd we went and did it,â Sparrowhawk said solemnly, and then emitted a series of chuckling noises. âWe laid over, starboard tack, and I pinched the Emily against the spit. âGo about,â Captain Munster yells at me; âgo about, or youâll have me aground!â He yelled other things, much worse. But I didnât mind. I missed stays, pretty as you please, and the Flibberty drifted down on him and fouled him, and we went ashore together in as nice a mess as you ever want to see. Miss Lackland transferred the recruits, and the trick was done.â
âBut where was she during the norâwester?â Sheldon asked.
âAt Langa-Langa. Ran up there as it was coming on, and laid there the whole week and traded for grub with the niggers. When we got to Tulagi, there she was waiting for us and scrapping with Burnett. I tell you, Mr. Sheldon, sheâs a wonder, that girl, a perfect wonder.â
Munster refilled his glass, and while Sheldon glanced across at Joanâs house, anxious for her coming, Sparrowhawk took up the tale.
âGritty! Sheâs the grittiest thing, man or woman, that ever blew into the Solomons. You should have seen Poonga-Poonga the morning we arrivedâSniders popping on the beach and in the mangroves, war-drums booming in the bush, and signal-smokes raising everywhere. âItâs all up,â says Captain Munster.â
âYes, thatâs what I said,â declared that mariner.
âOf course it was all up. You could see it with half an eye and hear it with one ear.â
ââUp your granny,â she says to him,â Sparrowhawk went on. ââWhy, we havenât arrived yet, much less got started. Wait till the anchorâs down before you get afraid.ââ
âThatâs what she said to me,â Munster proclaimed. âAnd of course it made me mad so that I didnât care what happened. We tried to send a boat ashore for a pow-wow, but it was fired upon. And every once and a while some niggerâd take a long shot at us out of the mangroves.â
âThey was only a quarter of a mile off,â Sparrowhawk explained, âand it was damned nasty. âDonât shoot unless they try to board,â was Miss Lacklandâs orders; but the dirty niggers wouldnât board. They just lay off in the bush and plugged away. That night we held a council of war in the Flibbertyâs cabin. âWhat we want,â says Miss Lackland, âis a hostage.ââ
ââThatâs what they do in books,â I said, thinking to laugh her away from her folly,â Munster interrupted. ââTrue,â says she, âand have you never seen the books come true?â I shook my head. âThen youâre not too old to learn,â says she. âIâll tell you one thing right now,â says I, âand that is Iâll be blowed if you catch me ashore in the night-time stealing niggers in a place like this.ââ
âYou didnât say blowed,â Sparrowhawk corrected. âYou said youâd be damned.â
âThatâs what I did, and I meant it, too.â
ââNobody asked you to go ashore,â says she, quick as lightning,â Sparrowhawk grinned. âAnd she said more. She said, âAnd if I catch you going ashore without orders thereâll be troubleâ understand, Captain Munster?ââ
âWho in hellâs telling this, you or me?â the skipper demanded wrathfully.
âWell, she did, didnât she?â insisted the mate.
âYes, she did, if you want to make so sure of it. And while youâre about it, you might as well repeat what she said to you when you said you wouldnât recruit on the Poonga-Poonga coast for twice your screw.â
Sparrowhawkâs sun-reddened face flamed redder, though he tried to pass the situation off by divers laughings and chucklings and face-twistings.
âGo on, go on,â Sheldon urged; and Munster resumed the narrative.
ââWhat we need,â says she, âis the strong hand. Itâs the only way to handle them; and weâve got to take hold firm right at the beginning. Iâm going ashore to-night to fetch Kina-Kina himself on board, and Iâm not asking whoâs game to go for Iâve got every manâs work arranged with me for him. Iâm taking my sailors with me, and one white man.â âOf course, Iâm that white man,â I said; for by that time I was mad enough to go to hell and back again. âOf course youâre not,â says she. âYouâll have charge of the covering boat. Curtis stands by the landing boat. Fowler goes with me. Brahms takes charge of the Flibberty, and Sparrowhawk of the Emily. And we start at one oâclock.â
âMy word, it was a tough job lying there in the covering boat. I never thought doing nothing could be such hard work. We stopped about fifty fathoms off, and watched the other boat go in. It was so dark under the mangroves we couldnât see a thing of it. Dâye know that little, monkey-looking nigger, Sheldon, on the Flibberty- -the cook, I mean? Well, he was cabin-boy twenty years ago on the Scottish Chiefs, and after she was cut off he was a slave there at Poonga-Poonga. And Miss Lackland had discovered the fact. So he was the guide. She gave him half a case of tobacco for that nightâs workââ
âAnd scared him fit to die before she could get him to come along,â Sparrowhawk observed.
âWell, I never saw anything so black as the mangroves. I stared at them till my eyes were ready to burst. And then Iâd
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