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Adventure-Part14_JACK LONDON(1876-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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"My, how cheap labour does mount up! Thirty-six hundred pounds,

eighteen thousand dollars, just for a lot of cannibals! Yet the



place is good security. You could go down to Sydney and raise the

money."



He shook his head.

"You can't get them to look at plantations down there. They've



been taken in too often. But I do hate to give the place up--more

for Hughie's sake, I swear, than my own. He was bound up in it.



You see, he was a persistent chap, and hated to acknowledge defeat.

It--it makes me uncomfortable to think of it myself. We were



running slowly behind, but with the Jessie we hoped to muddle

through in some fashion."



"You were muddlers, the pair of you, without doubt. But you

needn't sell to Morgan and Raff. I shall go down to Sydney on the



next steamer, and I'll come back in a second-handschooner. I

should be able to buy one for five or six thousand dollars--"



He held up his hand in protest, but she waved it aside.

"I may manage to freight a cargo back as well. At any rate, the



schooner will take over the Jessie's business. You can make your

arrangements accordingly, and have plenty of work for her when I



get back. I'm going to become a partner in Berande to the extent

of my bag of sovereigns--I've got over fifteen hundred of them, you



know. We'll draw up an agreement right now--that is, with your

permission, and I know you won't refuse it."



He looked at her with good-natured amusement.

"You know I sailed here all the way from Tahiti in order to become



a planter," she insisted. "You know what my plans were. Now I've

changed them, that's all. I'd rather be a part owner of Berande



and get my returns in three years, than break ground on Pari-Sulay

and wait seven years."



"And this--er--this schooner. . . . " Sheldon changed his mind and

stopped.



"Yes, go on."

"You won't be angry?" he queried.



"No, no; this is business. Go on."

"You--er--you would run her yourself?--be the captain, in short?--



and go recruiting on Malaita?"

"Certainly. We would save the cost of a skipper. Under an



agreement you would be credited with a manager's salary, and I with

a captain's. It's quite simple. Besides, if you won't let me be



your partner, I shall buy Pari-Sulay, get a much smaller vessel,

and run her myself. So what is the difference?"



"The difference?--why, all the difference in the world. In the

case of Pari-Sulay you would be on an independent venture. You



could turn cannibal for all I could interfere in the matter. But

on Berande, you would be my partner, and then I would be



responsible. And of course I couldn't permit you, as my partner,

to be skipper of a recruiter. I tell you, the thing is what I



would not permit any sister or wife of mine--"

"But I'm not going to be your wife, thank goodness--only your



partner."

"Besides, it's all ridiculous," he held on steadily. "Think of the



situation. A man and a woman, both young, partners on an isolated

plantation. Why, the only practical way out would be that I'd have



to marry you--"

"Mine was a business proposition, not a marriage proposal," she



interrupted, coldly angry. "I wonder if somewhere in this world

there is one man who could accept me for a comrade."



"But you are a woman just the same," he began, "and there are

certain conventions, certain decencies--"



She sprang up and stamped her foot.

"Do you know what I'd like to say?" she demanded.



"Yes," he smiled, "you'd like to say, 'Damn petticoats!'"

She nodded her head ruefully.



"That's what I wanted to say, but it sounds different on your lips.

It sounds as though you meant it yourself, and that you meant it



because of me."

"Well, I am going to bed. But do, please, think over my



proposition, and let me know in the morning. There's no use in my

discussing it now. You make me so angry. You are cowardly, you



know, and very egotistic. You are afraid of what other fools will

say. No matter how honest your motives, if others criticized your



actions your feelings would be hurt. And you think more about your

own wretched feelings than you do about mine. And then, being a



coward--all men are at heart cowards--you disguise your cowardice




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