And you know I am a navigator."
"But being my partner," he said coolly, "makes you none the less a lady."
"Thank you for telling me that my contemplated conduct is unladylike."
She arose, tears of anger and mortification in her eyes, and went over to
the phonograph.
"I wonder if all men are as ridiculous as you?" she said.
He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Discussion was useless--he had
learned that; and he was resolved to keep his temper. And before the day
was out she capitulated. She was to go to Sydney on the first steamer,
purchase the schooner, and sail back with an island skipper on board. And
then she inveigled Sheldon into agreeing that she could take occasional
cruises in the islands, though he was adamant when it came to a
recruiting trip on Malaita. That was the one thing barred.
And after it was all over, and a terse and business-like agreement (by
her urging) drawn up and signed, Sheldon paced up and down for a full
hour, meditating upon how many different kinds of a fool he had made of
himself. It was an impossible situation, and yet no more impossible than
the previous one, and no more impossible than the one that would have
obtained had she gone off on her own and bought Pari-Sulay. He had never
seen a more independent woman who stood more in need of a protector than
this boy-minded girl who had landed on his beach with eight picturesque
savages, a long-barrelled revolver, a bag of gold, and a gaudy
merchandise of imagined romance and adventure.
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