"
Noa Noah was her head sailor, who had been boatswain of the _Miele_.
"Where are you going?" Sheldon asked in surprise.--"Vlaburi! You stop."
"To Guvutu--immediately," was her reply.
"But I won't permit it."
"That is why I am going. You said it once before, and it is something I
cannot brook."
"What?" He was bewildered by her sudden anger. "If I have offended in
any way--"
"Viaburi, you fetch 'm one fella Noa Noah along me," she commanded.
The black boy started to obey.
"Viaburi! You no stop I break 'm head belong you. And now, Miss
Lackland, I insist--you must explain. What have I said or done to merit
this?"
"You have presumed, you have dared--"
She choked and swallowed, and could not go on.
Sheldon looked the picture of despair.
"I confess my head is going around with it all," he said. "If you could
only be explicit."
"As explicit as you were when you told me that you would not permit me to
go to Guvutu?"
"But what's wrong with that?"
"But you have no right--no man has the right--to tell me what he will
permit or not permit. I'm too old to have a guardian, nor did I sail all
the way to the Solomons to find one."
"A gentleman is every woman's guardian."
"Well, I'm not every woman--that's all.
Pages:
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74