to find out what was wrong. After nearly ten minutes’ work they all came up, and their disappointed faces told the tale. It was no good, the anchor was completely jammed, and in spite of all their efforts these good fellows could do nothing. To save the yacht from grounding the chain had to be cut, and shortly after that the yacht rode out {68} of the bay clear of the rocks, amid the cheers of the natives. Jamming of anchors in these parts is not an uncommon experience, and to avoid losing them many skippers carry a charge of dynamite about with them, which they slide down the anchor chain at the end of a piece of slack rope. If the charge is timed properly and all goes well, the coral, between which the anchor is fixed, is blown to smithereens. Some skippers, however, have had any but pleasant results from this experiment, and have not only lost their anchor but considerably damaged their boats. {69} PART II THE SOLOMON ISLANDS {71} CHAPTER VII South Sea traders good and bad; their ups and downs—Nicolas the Greek—The Mambare river massacre—Some queer creatures with queerer ways—A fitting end to a wasted life. There is a grim uncertainty about the life of a South Sea trader. To-day he is alive and the centre of a crowd of cringing natives who bow down before him, offering their goods in exchange for others, obeying his every word, for he is their lord and they are his slaves. But to-morrow may alter everything, and find that all that is left of the once boastful trader is a mangled corpse. He may curse the Papuan, he may cheat him and rob him of his wives up to a certain point, then the worm turns, and one dark night, when the trader is lying unsuspectingly in his lonely hut, murder steals through the jungle in the shape of a naked savage whose eyes gleam with revenge. Yes, there are no half-measures with these savages, {72} no gentle stabbing, no single shot, but absolute mangling in a ghastly form. Sooner or later death has come to nine-tenths of the traders; sometimes it has been unjust, but more often richly deserved. The remaining one in ten lives free from all trouble and in harmony with his men, and he prospers and enjoys his life.