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the new importation and Ronnie decided that the gods had indeed been kind to him, and calling up all his well-worn stock-in-trade of charm, boyishness, impudence and romantic technique had confidently advanced to conquer.
    But alas for high hopes! H.M.S. Sapphire and Lieutenant Nicholas Tarrent had between them effectively ruined the merry season of Christmas as far as Mr Purvis was concerned. And since he was not accustomed to competition, the spectacle of Nick Tarrent cheerfully monopolizing the new importation had done much toward souring his otherwise cheerful disposition: though little towards lowering his self-esteem, and Copper found herself parrying his ardent advances throughout the meal, while one half of her mind was engaged in actively disliking Ruby Stock and wondering what she could be saying to Nick that necessitated her draping herself across one of his shoulders?

5
    â€˜â€¦ Jarawas,’ said Mr Hurridge.
    â€˜I beg your pardon?’ said Copper, suddenly realizing that the Deputy Commissioner was once again in full spate.
    â€˜Jarawas,’ repeated Mr Hurridge impressively. ‘I do not think you fully realize the fact that we are all actually sitting in Jarawa country at this very moment.’
    He observed Copper’s look of blank incomprehension and said in a slightly injured tone: ‘I do not believe you have been listening to one word that I have said, Miss Randal.’
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ apologized Copper. ‘I’m afraid I was thinking of something else. What were you saying?’
    â€˜I was speaking of the Jarawas,’ said Mr Hurridge with dignity. ‘They are a tribe of aborigines that inhabit parts of these islands.’
    â€˜I thought they were called Andamanese,’ said Copper brightly.
    â€˜No, no. The Jarawas are entirely distinct from the Andamanese: they are quite untameable little people who live in the forests, and no one has ever managed to learn their language or become friendly with them. They use bows and arrows and shoot on sight, and they are as wild today as they were when Marco Polo first wrote of the Islands.’
    Mr Hurridge, now well away, launched into a long and pompous account of raids made on outlying settlements and lonely forest outposts by the savage little men, and of the impossibility of successful expeditions against them owing to the denseness of the wild jungle in which they lived. Mount Harriet itself, said Mr Hurridge, was well inside Jarawa country, and a dozen paces beyond the far edge of that smooth lawn would take one into the Jarawa jungles ____
    â€˜We could all be murdered at any minute,’ said Amabel Withers with automatic pessimism: ‘It just goes to show, doesn’t it?’
    â€˜Don’t let ’em scare you, Copper,’ cut in Ronnie Purvis. ‘The Jarawas have hardly ever been known to come near this end of the island. And anyway they only kill for food or iron, or water in dry years; never for fun.’
    â€˜If that’s supposed to cheer me up,’ said Copper with a shiver, ‘it doesn’t. I thought this place was supposed to be nice and peaceful; no wild animals, not many snakes, and nice friendly Andamanese. Now I shall have heart failure whenever I hear a twig snap. Come and hold my hand, Mr Norton: I’m going to peer over the hedge at this Jarawa country, and I feel I should like some police protection.’
    The tea party broke up and wandered across the lawn, and presently Valerie had taken Copper into the house and shown her a sight that was to remain clear in her memory for the rest of her life. They had mounted the staircase side by side and turned into a wide, glassed-in verandah that ran round three sides of the top storey of the house, where Valerie had pushed open a window and said, ‘There ____ !’ And Copper had found herself gazing down at what must surely be one of the loveliest views in the world.
    Far below her the Islands