“Is it as bad as that?” asked Von Blix.

“The interior of Guadalcanar has never been explored,” Sheldon explained.  “The bushmen are as wild men as are to be found anywhere in the world to-day.  I have never seen one.  I have never seen a man who has seen one.  They never come down to the coast, though their scouting parties occasionally eat a coast native who has wandered too far inland.  Nobody knows anything about them.  They don’t even use tobacco—­have never learned its use.  The Austrian expedition—­scientists, you know—­got part way in before it was cut to pieces.  The monument is up the beach there several miles.  Only one man got back to the coast to tell the tale.  And now you have all I or any other man knows of the inside of Guadalcanar.”

“But gold—­have you heard of gold?” Tudor asked impatiently.  “Do you know anything about gold?”

Sheldon smiled, while the two visitors hung eagerly upon his words.

“You can go two miles up the Balesuna and wash colours from the gravel.  I’ve done it often.  There is gold undoubtedly back in the mountains.”

Tudor and Von Blix looked triumphantly at each other.

“Old Wheatsheaf’s yarn was true, then,” Tudor said, and Von Blix nodded.  “And if Malaita turns out as well—­”

Tudor broke off and looked at Joan.

“It was the tale of this old beachcomber that brought us here,” he explained.  “Von Blix befriended him and was told the secret.”  He turned and addressed Sheldon.  “I think we shall prove that white men have been through the heart of Guadalcanar long before the time of the Austrian expedition.”

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders.

“We have never heard of it down here,” he said simply.  Then he addressed Von Blix.  “As to the boys, you couldn’t use them farther than Binu, and I’ll lend you as many as you want as far as that.  How many of your party are going, and how soon will you start?”

“Ten,” said Tudor; “nine men and myself.”

“And you should be able to start day after to-morrow,” Von Blix said to him.  “The boats should practically be knocked together this afternoon.  To-morrow should see the outfit portioned and packed.  As for the Martha, Mr. Sheldon, we’ll rush the stuff ashore this afternoon and sail by sundown.”

As the two men returned down the path to their boat, Sheldon regarded Joan quizzically.

“There’s romance for you,” he said, “and adventure—­gold-hunting among the cannibals.”

“A title for a book,” she cried.  “Or, better yet, ’Gold-Hunting Among the Head-Hunters.’  My! wouldn’t it sell!”

“And now aren’t you sorry you became a cocoanut planter?” he teased.  “Think of investing in such an adventure.”

“If I did,” she retorted, “Von Blix wouldn’t be finicky about my joining in the cruise to Malaita.”

“I don’t doubt but what he would jump at it.”