Chapter II--Something is Done

by Jack London

　　In the morning David Sheldon decided that he was worse. That hewas appreciably weaker there was no doubt, and there were othersymptoms that were unfavourable. He began his rounds looking fortrouble. He wanted trouble. In full health, the strainedsituation would have been serious enough; but as it was, himselfgrowing helpless, something had to be done. The blacks weregetting more sullen and defiant, and the appearance of the men theprevious night on his veranda--one of the gravest of offences onBerande--was ominous. Sooner or later they would get him, if hedid not get them first, if he did not once again sear on their darksouls the flaming mastery of the white man.

　　He returned to the house disappointed. No opportunity hadpresented itself of making an example of insolence orinsubordination--such as had occurred on every other day since thesickness smote Berande. The fact that none had offended was initself suspicious. They were growing crafty. He regretted that hehad not waited the night before until the prowlers had entered.Then he might have shot one or two and given the rest a new lesson,writ in red, for them to con. It was one man against two hundred,and he was horribly afraid of his sickness overpowering him andleaving him at their mercy. He saw visions of the blacks takingcharge of the plantation, looting the store, burning the buildings,and escaping to Malaita. Also, one gruesome vision he caught ofhis own head, sun-dried and smoke-cured, ornamenting the canoehouse of a cannibal village. Either the Jessie would have toarrive, or he would have to do something.

　　The bell had hardly rung, sending the labourers into the fields,when Sheldon had a visitor. He had had the couch taken out on theveranda, and he was lying on it when the canoes paddled in andhauled out on the beach. Forty men, armed with spears, bows andarrows, and war-clubs, gathered outside the gate of the compound,but only one entered. They knew the law of Berande, as everynative knew the law of every white man's compound in all thethousand miles of the far-flung Solomons. The one man who came upthe path, Sheldon recognized as Seelee, the chief of Balesunavillage. The savage did not mount the steps, but stood beneath andtalked to the white lord above.

　　Seelee was more intelligent than the average of his kind, but hisintelligence only emphasized the lowness of that kind. His eyes,close together and small, advertised cruelty and craftiness. Agee-string and a cartridge-belt were all the clothes he wore. Thecarved pearl-shell ornament that hung from nose to chin and impededspeech was purely ornamental, as were the holes in his ears mereutilities for carrying pipe and tobacco. His broken-fanged teethwere stained black by betel-nut, the juice of which he spat uponthe ground.

　　As he talked or listened, he made grimaces like a monkey. He saidyes by dropping his eyelids and thrusting his chin forward. Hespoke with childish arrogance strangely at variance with thesubservient position he occupied beneath the veranda. He, with hismany followers, was lord and master of Balesuna village. But thewhite man, without followers, was lord and master of Berande--ay,and on occasion, single-handed, had made himself lord and master ofBalesuna village as well. Seelee did not like to remember thatepisode. It had occurred in the course of learning the nature ofwhite men and of learning to abominate them. He had once beenguilty of sheltering three runaways from Berande. They had givenhim all they possessed in return for the shelter and for promisedaid in getting away to Malaita. This had given him a glimpse of aprofitable future, in which his village would serve as the onedepot on the underground railway between Berande and Malaita.

　　Unfortunately, he was ignorant of the ways of white men. Thisparticular white man educated him by arriving at his grass house inthe gray of dawn. In the first moment he had felt amused. He wasso perfectly safe in the midst of his village. But the nextmoment, and before he could cry out, a pair of handcuffs on thewhite man's knuckles had landed on his mouth, knocking the cry ofalarm back down his throat. Also, the white man's other fist hadcaught him under the ear and left him without further interest inwhat was happening. When he came to, he found himself in the whiteman's whale-boat on the way to Berande. At Berande he had beentreated as one of no consequence, with handcuffs on hands and feet,to say nothing of chains. When his tribe had returned the threerunaways, he was given his freedom. And finally, the terriblewhite man had fined him and Balesuna village ten thousandcocoanuts. After that he had sheltered no more runaway Malaitamen. Instead, he had gone into the business of catching them. Itwas safer. Besides, he was paid one case of tobacco per head. Butif he ever got a chance at that white man, if he ever caught himsick or stood at his back when he stumbled and fell on a bush-trail--well, there would be a head that would fetch a price inMalaita.

　　Sheldon was pleased with what Seelee told him. The seventh man ofthe last batch of runaways had been caught and was even then at thegate. He was brought in, heavy-featured and defiant, his armsbound with cocoanut sennit, the dry blood still on his body fromthe struggle with his captors.

　　"Me savvee you good fella, Seelee," Sheldon said, as the chiefgulped down a quarter-tumbler of raw trade-gin. "Fella boy belongme you catch short time little bit. This fella boy strong fellatoo much. I give you fella one case tobacco--my word, one casetobacco. Then, you good fella along me, I give you three fathomcalico, one fella knife big fella too much."

　　The tobacco and trade goods were brought from the store-room by twohouse-boys and turned over to the chief of Balesuna village, whoaccepted the additional reward with a non-committal grunt and wentaway down the path to his canoes. Under Sheldon's directions thehouse-boys handcuffed the prisoner, by hands and feet, around oneof the pile supports of the house. At eleven o'clock, when thelabourers came in from the field, Sheldon had them assembled in thecompound before the veranda. Every able man was there, includingthose who were helping about the hospital. Even the women and theseveral pickaninnies of the plantation were lined up with the rest,two deep--a horde of naked savages a trifle under two hundredstrong. In addition to their ornaments of bead and shell and bone,their pierced ears and nostrils were burdened with safety-pins,wire nails, metal hair-pins, rusty iron handles of cookingutensils, and the patent keys for opening corned beef tins. Somewore penknives clasped on their kinky locks for safety. On thechest of one a china door-knob was suspended, on the chest ofanother the brass wheel of an alarm clock.

　　Facing them, clinging to the railing of the veranda for support,stood the sick white man. Any one of them could have knocked himover with the blow of a little finger. Despite his firearms, thegang could have rushed him and delivered that blow, when his headand the plantation would have been theirs. Hatred and murder andlust for revenge they possessed to overflowing. But one thing theylacked, the thing that he possessed, the flame of mastery thatwould not quench, that burned fiercely as ever in the disease-wasted body, and that was ever ready to flare forth and scorch andsinge them with its ire.

　　"Narada! Billy!" Sheldon called sharply.

　　Two men slunk unwillingly forward and waited.

　　Sheldon gave the keys of the handcuffs to a house-boy, who wentunder the house and loosed the prisoner.

　　"You fella Narada, you fella Billy, take um this fella boy alongtree and make fast, hands high up," was Sheldon's command.

　　While this was being done, slowly, amidst mutterings andrestlessness on the part of the onlookers, one of the house-boysfetched a heavy-handled, heavy-lashed whip. Sheldon began aspeech.

　　"This fella Arunga, me cross along him too much. I no steal thisfella Arunga. I no gammon. I say, 'All right, you come along meBerande, work three fella year.' He say, 'All right, me come alongyou work three fella year.' He come. He catch plenty good fellakai-kai, plenty good fella money. What name he run away? Metoo much cross along him. I knock what name outa him fella. I paySeelee, big fella master along Balesuna, one case tobacco catchthat fella Arunga. All right. Arunga pay that fella case tobacco.Six pounds that fella Arunga pay. Alle same one year more thatfella Arunga work Berande. All right. Now he catch ten fella whipthree times. You fella Billy catch whip, give that fella Arungaten fella three times. All fella boys look see, all fella Maryslook see; bime bye, they like run away they think strong fellatoo much, no run away. Billy, strong fella too much ten fellathree times."

　　The house-boy extended the whip to him, but Billy did not take it.Sheldon waited quietly. The eyes of all the cannibals were fixedupon him in doubt and fear and eagerness. It was the moment oftest, whereby the lone white man was to live or be lost.

　　"Ten fella three times, Billy," Sheldon said encouragingly, thoughthere was a certain metallic rasp in his voice.

　　Billy scowled, looked up and looked down, but did not move.

　　"Billy!"

　　Sheldon's voice exploded like a pistol shot. The savage startedphysically. Grins overspread the grotesque features of theaudience, and there was a sound of tittering.

　　"S'pose you like too much lash that fella Arunga, you take himfella Tulagi," Billy said. "One fella government agent make plentylash. That um fella law. Me savvee um fella law."

　　It was the law, and Sheldon knew it. But he wanted to live thisday and the next day and not to die waiting for the law to operatethe next week or the week after.

　　"Too much talk along you!" he cried angrily. "What name eh? Whatname?"

　　"Me savvee law," the savage repeated stubbornly.

　　"Astoa!"

　　Another man stepped forward in almost a sprightly way and glancedinsolently up. Sheldon was selecting the worst characters for thelesson.

　　"You fella Astoa, you fella Narada, tie up that fella Billyalongside other fella same fella way."

　　"Strong fella tie," he cautioned them.

　　"You fella Astoa take that fella whip. Plenty strong big fella toomuch ten fella three times. Savvee!"

　　"No," Astoa grunted.

　　Sheldon picked up the rifle that had leaned against the rail, andcocked it.

　　"I know you, Astoa," he said calmly. "You work along Queenslandsix years."

　　"Me fella missionary," the black interrupted with deliberateinsolence.

　　"Queensland you stop jail one fella year. White fella master damnfool no hang you. You too much bad fella. Queensland you stopjail six months two fella time. Two fella time you steal. Allright, you missionary. You savvee one fella prayer?"

　　"Yes, me savvee prayer," was the reply.

　　"All right, then you pray now, short time little bit. You say onefella prayer damn quick, then me kill you."

　　Sheldon held the rifle on him and waited. The black glanced aroundat his fellows, but none moved to aid him. They were intent uponthe coming spectacle, staring fascinated at the white man withdeath in his hands who stood alone on the great veranda. Sheldonhas won, and he knew it. Astoa changed his weight irresolutelyfrom one foot to the other. He looked at the white man, and sawhis eyes gleaming level along the sights.

　　"Astoa," Sheldon said, seizing the psychological moment, "I countthree fella time. Then I shoot you fella dead, good-bye, allfinish you."

　　And Sheldon knew that when he had counted three he would drop himin his tracks. The black knew it, too. That was why Sheldon didnot have to do it, for when he had counted one, Astoa reached outhis hand and took the whip. And right well Astoa laid on the whip,angered at his fellows for not supporting him and venting his angerwith every stroke. From the veranda Sheldon egged him on to strikewith strength, till the two triced savages screamed and howledwhile the blood oozed down their backs. The lesson was being wellwritten in red.

　　When the last of the gang, including the two howling culprits, hadpassed out through the compound gate, Sheldon sank down half-fainting on his couch.

　　"You're a sick man," he groaned. "A sick man."

　　"But you can sleep at ease to-night," he added, half an hour later.