Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/28

16 She met the creature's eyes squarely and saw something in them that stirred her unpleasantly. Had the Great Dane been there she would have had the man bolting like a rabbit. Baloo, who had never come into direct conflict with the girl before, misjudged her. He wanted tobacco, and knew there was plenty in the store. Moreover, he knew the planter was within neither sight nor hearing. He was a raw native, recruited but a few months before, with almost no ideas on the subject of restraint, and accustomed all his life to the doctrine of right and might being synonymous. Without removing her eyes from him, the girl stepped backward, and unhooked the long, evil-looking whip.

Baloo knew that whip. His introduction to it was effected within a week of his being taken to the island, and the recollection was highly painful.

"Go," the girl cried, gripping the short handle and allowing the pliant lash to wave menacingly.

The black half crouched, but not cringingly. He was getting ready to leap, and as the girl divined this she became aware for the first time in her life of her own physical weakness. Thrashing blacks with a whip is not a woman's work. The mere idea of it was repellent to her, but without dallying further she sent the lash coiling against his shoulders. Baloo, who had anticipated this by the fraction of a second, sprang forward and seized the