Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/59

Rh Here it is described to me. “I black man, he white man, but I think shame to do thing like that. You no speak, you no see that man. He speak black man, but no good for gentleman.” How tickled I was at this idea of even a native thinking about whom I should know and whom I should not, and their own idea that what was good enough for a black man was not good enough for a white one. They are all chaperoning me. I know only the ones Captain Thompson and Mrs. M‘Nulty decree I should know. She deplores the absence of the Resident, Mr. [afterwards Sir John] Douglas, and explains to me I am not seeing society properly in his absence. I am very good, and do just as they wish me.

All these mingled natives get rather rowdy at night time, and the one policeman of the island has his work cut out for him; and I must tell you about that policeman, who is another of my friends.

One night I was sitting out in the dark on the sand at the edge of the sea, in front of the hotel for the coolness. Some one came along in the dark and said, “Please, sir, may I speak to you?”

“Certainly,” I said; “what is it?”

It turned out to be the policeman. He told me he was so sad and lonely; that he never had any one to speak to, because he could not be friendly with them, as he had to look after them, keep his authority over them, and continually interfere with them when they got drunk or troublesome, which was very frequently. Hence he had to keep entirely to himself, and he did feel so solitary and lonely. But I was only a visitor, and going away soon, and he did want to come and speak to me.

“Sit down right away,” I said, “and tell me