I know all that you
are going to say and offer--your giving the bungalow up to me and
building a grass house for yourself. And I won't have it. You may as
well consider everything settled. On the other hand, if you don't agree,
I will go across the river, beyond your jurisdiction, and build a village
for myself and my sailors, whom I shall send in the whale-boat to Guvutu
for provisions. And now I want you to teach me billiards."
CHAPTER VII--A HARD-BITTEN GANG
Joan took hold of the household with no uncertain grip, revolutionizing
things till Sheldon hardly recognized the place. For the first time the
bungalow was clean and orderly. No longer the house-boys loafed and did
as little as they could; while the cook complained that "head belong him
walk about too much," from the strenuous course in cookery which she put
him through. Nor did Sheldon escape being roundly lectured for his
laziness in eating nothing but tinned provisions. She called him a
muddler and a slouch, and other invidious names, for his slackness and
his disregard of healthful food.
She sent her whale-boat down the coast twenty miles for limes and
oranges, and wanted to know scathingly why said fruits had not long since
been planted at Berande, while he was beneath contempt because there was
no kitchen garden.
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