Rodman The Boatsteerer And Other Stories / 1898

of his very loneliness in the world-for except his mother, in a far-away Devonshire village, there was no one in the outside world that cared aught for

eason, he was by no means a morose or unsociable man; and Chard, the merry-hearted Belgian sugar-boiler, often declared that it was Prout alone who kept the estate going and the nat

day almost of the latter entering upon his duties, a silent, bitter an

hundred natives, and within a month of Prout taking charge, he had changed their condition so much for the better, that not one of the wild-eyed, half-naked beings who toiled from sunrise to dark but would give him a grateful glance as he rode through the cane fi

day. "I've managed bigger places than this in Demerara, and on no one of them have I ever seen a nigger struck. Bu

pped his teeth together and, smothering

a good man in you; but at the same time, God never inten

d and petted!" And then long-suppressed wrath boiled out, and,

hat these people knew what was in store for them when they came here?-that in place of an encouraging word they would get a threat or a blow? That those of them who have wives and daughters can forget what has befallen them? Do you think that I don't

laughed

nough. Let us quit quarrelling. I know you can do more with them than

, and he made up his mind to leave the estate

th or two after this; "I wish you would get away down there, and try to obtain some more hands. Yo

e left. The other planters on Oahu had been there before him, and the

glad to see Sherard left out in the cold. He's a bad man, sir, and although you might think that because I'm in this trade

re you that the Kalahua boys are well treated now," s

ce made the master of the schooner regard him in

now Honol

isits there had been

o could take care of my daughter for m

tain, I

ere I've lived for the last twenty years. This schooner came there about six months ago, and the captain died in my house. As the mate couldn't navigate, a

r is dead,

ives occasionally. For instance, if you marry a Samoa girl you must live in Samoa; she won't leave there to go and live on Nanomea or Vaitupu, where the people

nce. "I see; your daughter, then

I ought to tell you at once what it is I thought you might help me with. You see, Mr. Prout, my little Marie has lived with me all her life. Since she was five years old she has never left me for a day, and I've done my best to educate her. She's as good and true as gold,

advise you to take her back wi

to the companion-

ar

answered a gi

elow a

e companion-way; and then a girl, about fifteen or sixteen, came into the cabin, and bowing to him, seated herself by the captain of the schooner

them appear nervous, constrained, and awkward in their presence,

the graceful, muslin-clad figure of his daughter. "Marie, this gen

th smiled and the

her go away with you to sea in the

ers were willing to take her as a boarder till the schooner returned, and so to them she went, with her tende

es, I hope, Mr. Prout?" said Courtayne, as

reply, and then the captai

in Courtayne, off the island of Marakei, in the Gilbert Group, "all well, and wished to be reported at Honolulu." Af

he missing ship, but none came. And every now and then, when business took him to

, "and I wish I were dead, too. I think I

, one day plucked up courage to tell

t time she put her face up to his. He kissed her gravely, and then, being a straightforwar

verandah of his house, and Prout wondered at the remarkable change

iously. Only a few days previously he had made a fresh agreement with Prout to remain for another two years. Before those two years had expired he mea

d employer, and told Prout that as soon as his wife was strong enough, he was to le

's only a delicate little thing. There's all kinds of fixings and comforts there that she'll

g of pleasure. "You are very good to us both. But I won

by yourselves, like a pair of turtledoves. But I'll always be o

inned when he saw the white-robed figure of the manager's wife

, "the plan works. Make the bird learn to love its pretty nest

," answered Sherard coolly; "the brat will

l-faced Chileno very badly one day for beating a native nearly to death. Had he been wiser he would have taken the li