This page has been validated.
LEFT IN CHARGE
63

"Faint heart never won half a pint of little things like these," Chester replied, squinting at one of the precious objects in the light. "I hate like the deuce to disappoint you, sis, but I certainly am not going to give it up yet."

Keith was thoughtfully biting on the stem of a pipe.

"I don't see any real reason," he observed slowly, "why you should not do the best you can with the plantation and at the same time try out the pearl fishing."

"I may not be a trained business woman," Joan said, "but I do know one cannot fiddle about with two things at once and do either of them properly. Perhaps if one had a white foreman, instead of Taleile—"

"I've got it," exclaimed Chester suddenly. "Keith, you're not in a hurry to get away from here, are you?"

"Why—no," said Keith.

"Then I'll make a suggestion. These niggers need constant watching, and driving, or else they won't earn their salt. You take them in hand for a while. That will leave me free to give a thorough trial to the other business. What do you say?"

There was nothing on earth that would have appealed more to the man from the Four Winds than to stay on the island. He glanced at Joan and for