The Pearl Fishers

ing and the coffee heating before the sun had

and some unbroken crockery ware from the Tonga

make all the difference when one comes to food

rs and to share a knife in common

had collected some plantains; they went into the frying pan to help the pork. She had also ga

maybe because of the gull guano. We'll want all the[Pg 45] native-grown food we can get here, if things turn out as I expect, for we'll have to feed the labor we bring, and natives aren't happy without the stuff they are used to. Corned beef and spuds are all

d yesterday a big rain pond in the coral; it must have been cut out by natives some time or another. The funny thing about these ponds is that the wa

ck on, and the lagoon is full. Yes,

eep an eye out for ships. At the sight of a sail anywhere on the sea she was to light the fire and make a smoke with green wood, and she had

ng her watching them, a so

be a bit lonel

e, and she has lots to do between washing up and keeping a look

people as if they wer

ied Schumer-"animals d

trange make-up of Schumer's mind. Here was a man of keen intelligence, a quoter of Scheffel, an appreciator of beauty

some knowledge of Schumer, and he was to gain more knowledge of b

ivers, and the dredge did its work fairly well. They agreed to take the diving business in half-hour tricks, one remaining in the boat with a view t

at floating like a balloon above him showed a tinge of rose; passing scraps of focus were all[Pg 47] spangled and sparkled over as though powdered with jewel dust; his arm, newly

and whisk off, fry would pass like a flight of silver needles, and great jellyfis

ge was almost useless at first; it had to be taken up and altered, then, as it was dragged along, he followed it, helping it, picking up loose oysters and putting them in the bag. He could only work for less than half a mi

his absolutely impossible; before the end of the first twenty m

limited means at their disposal, enough to sink the boat a strake or two and give them an ho

he trees. At sundown they had completed their day's work, an

d overd

day's work, using the dredge as much as they could, the work had nearly

ed the reason of

nstead of a whole day's. We are fools. We didn't want to strip the lagoon; we were only aft

amp and found Isbel wait

eir spirits jumped up as though under the influence of alcohol. Prolonged strain in diving produces thes

lked, and Floyd built castles and furn

rike it rich-very rich-wha

asn't a big pearl, but it was a pearl. I sold it for thirty marks. But one thing is sure, it's only in tropical and subtropical waters that you find pearls of any account or to any account. It's only in the tropics and subtropics you find color and stuff that's rich and worth having. The north-pah! What does it give us? Iron and tin, wood, copper. It's the south where the gold is, where the pearls are. Why, the very earth in the south hides color and riches! Where are the diamond mines? In Africa and Brazil. The ruby and emerald min

u buy i

p on land[Pg 50] you have power. Nothing else gives you so much power; funny, that, isn't it? Money, you would say, gives power. It only gives the power to buy or to meddle in other people's affairs

d. "There's a lot of t

things may

d time to look around him. I want to be able to buy things. I want to dress decently and to marry some time or another and settle down. I'm fond of horses, though I've never had the chan

more. It's the sense of it, the feeling 'I am the stronger man,' that gives the mind freedom and ease to enjoy

ny spot on earth that a man may be really free in that's not under the union Jack or the Stars and Stripes? Take the German colonies, the Dutch; haven't you always some pesky official shoving his nose into your affairs? Take the very port officers and customs, and it's the same all through the country as well as on the coast. You can't breathe in these place

er la

free natives are ready to rise in their

oyd. "Men don't cut the thr

er ya

pressing against India rubber-t

ndifferent subjects, and then turne

me of the sky from sea edge to sea edge. The Milky Way, like a vast band of white smoke cut by the terr

, was seated a figure. It was Isbel. She had not yet turned into whatever haunt she had in the bush,

of the vast sea, an atom in fac