But I didn't 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."
"But where was she during the nor'wester?" Sheldon asked.
"At 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, she's a wonder, that girl, a perfect wonder."
Munster refilled his glass, and while Sheldon glanced across at Joan's
house, anxious for her coming, Sparrowhawk took up the tale.
"Gritty! She's the grittiest thing, man or woman, that ever blew into
the Solomons. You should have seen Poonga-Poonga the morning we
arrived--Sniders popping on the beach and in the mangroves, war-drums
booming in the bush, and signal-smokes raising everywhere. 'It's all
up,' says Captain Munster."
"Yes, that's what I said," declared that mariner.
"Of course it was all up. You could see it with half an eye and hear it
with one ear."
"'Up your granny,' she says to him," Sparrowhawk went on. "'Why, we
haven't arrived yet, much less got started.
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