As they went in to breakfast he became aware that Munster and Sparrowhawk
had received a similar shock. All their air of _camaraderie_ was
dissipated, and they had become abruptly and immensely respectful.
"I've opened up a new field," she said, as she began pouring the coffee.
"Old Kina-Kina will never forget me, I'm sure, and I can recruit there
whenever I want. I saw Morgan at Guvutu. He's willing to contract for a
thousand boys at forty shillings per head. Did I tell you that I'd taken
out a recruiting license for the _Martha_? I did, and the _Martha_ can
sign eighty boys every trip."
Sheldon smiled a trifle bitterly to himself. The wonderful woman who had
tripped across the compound in her Sydney clothes was gone, and he was
listening to the boy come back again.
CHAPTER XIX--THE LOST TOY
"Well," Joan said with a sigh, "I've shown you hustling American methods
that succeed and get somewhere, and here you are beginning your muddling
again."
Five days had passed, and she and Sheldon were standing on the veranda
watching the _Martha_, close-hauled on the wind, laying a tack off shore.
During those five days Joan had never once broached the desire of her
heart, though Sheldon, in this particular instance reading her like a
book, had watched her lead up to the question a score of times in the
hope that he would himself suggest her taking charge of the _Martha_.
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