But Tagari, just before he reached the bottom step, caught sight of Sheldon.
It was the first horse the fellow had ever seen, and he let out a frightened screech and dashed madly up the steps.

At the same moment the great mass of blacks surged away panic-stricken from Sheldon's vicinity.
The grinning house-boys shouted encouragement and explanation, and the stampede was checked, the new-caught head-hunters huddling closely together and staring dubiously at the fearful monster.
"Hello!" Joan called out.

"What do you mean by frightening all my boys?
Come on up." "What do you think of them ?" she asked, when they had shaken hands.

"And what do you think of her ?"--with a wave of the hand toward the _Martha_.
"I thought you'd deserted the plantation, and that I might as well go ahead and get the men into barracks.

Aren't they beauties?
Do you see that one with the split nose?
He's the only man who doesn't hail from the Poonga-Poonga coast; and they said the Poonga-Poonga natives wouldn't recruit.