I awoke as the morning sun was starting to peep through the trees, and I rubbed my eyes to make sure that this wasn't all some wonderful dream.

I could still seem to hear the pounding of the seas ringing in my ears. When was it that I'd hit that beach? The day before yesterday? Last week? What did I care; I could just stretch out here on the soft silk sheets and snore off again.

Then all of a sudden I remembered that today I was to pick out a pony-team of delightful damsels all for myself. This jolted me wide awake and out of the bed with a leap and a bound, and I hurried off to the shower.

As I was shuffling on my way I smelt coffee, and while I was cheerfully splashing about a gong sounded so I hopped out, dried myself and, arrayed in sarong and sandals, went in search of breakfast.

It was a pleasant unhurried meal in the course of which it was decided that, as Wendy had a lot to do around the house, and Pop had his construction business to attend to, Malua should conduct me on the shopping expedition to select my team.

"But, though she knows a fast one when she sees it, Jimmy," Pop said, pushing his cup over to Mrs. Saunders for more coffee, "you decide for yourself. If you can't spot a winning outfit for speed, you can at least get a good-looking one - and points for that add up." Then, leaning back, called out loudly - "Teena!"

There was a scampering outside on the verandah and a pretty, dark-haired girl of about 14 came into the room, tripping merrily along, high on tiptoe, her waist pinched into vanishing point by a little corset, or very wide belt, or whatever you like to call it. Anyway, all the grooms wear one.

There was a cheerful "good morning" all round from everyone, and then Pop asked for his gig to be brought round in five minutes.

"And mine, too, please, Teena," said Malua. "And just tell Jane to remind them that if there's any more of this bolting business today, there's going to be trouble. They've got the No. 4 harness on, I hope," and as Teena nodded, "Good. Just let them know that it's not there for fun. After yesterday's performance, we won't be able to get a decent bet on anywhere."

As merrily as she had come, Teena departed to get the teams while we finished our coffee and got ready for the day's work - if you could call mine work - and then, as I pushed my stool back to get up, I noticed Malua's feet.

They were literally a mass of jewels flashing and blazing with all the colors of the rainbow. I just gaped.

Malua's eyes twinkled. "Like them, Jimmy?" She asked, and obligingly raising one foot, pressed the tip of that slender, tapering heel against my knee as a pivot while she turned it this way and that for my inspection.

For quite some time I did not notice the thin straps, which held the thing on her foot, so perfectly did they match the skin, and so terrific and diverting was the sparkle of the jewels. It just looked like a foot with jewel-studded toes, which had somehow grown six inches of flashing lightning for a heel.

Finally, I got my breath back, took this lovely thing in my hands, bent over and, starting at the big one, kissed each toe - which seemed the logical thing to do. As soon as I had finished, Malua took the foot away but quickly replaced it with the other one.

"You can't have me limping, darling," she murmured. "One foot all covered in kisses and the other one quite bare." So, I gave this one a double dose, and pointed that out to Malua, which meant I had to even things up on the other foot again. We had quite a time.

When I eventually got out on the verandah, Pop was just clambering into his gig, while Teena stood stiffly at attention, looking awfully important, holding the bridle rein of the near side "steed" - a gorgeous girl, with blue-black hair in two thick plaits hanging down to her knees.

Her harness was black, shining like patent leather, but the brow band, instead of being plumed, was set off by a large front piece of shining black leather, the rim softened by a fringe of short, bright red feathers, and in the center a jewel-studded gold emblem – the sign of the chief.

The off-sider was to all intents and purposes her twin, but the center one was different. Her hair -dressed in the same manner - was an absolute white, and her harness was white, the leather so highly polished that it reflected the sun like a mirror. Their bodies, a beautiful golden tan, shone as if lacquered, and they stood absolutely motionless, stiffly erect on tiptoe, eyes shining with delight but looking straight ahead.

"Now, there's a well-disciplined team," Malua said quietly in my ear. "Not like my rambunctious monkeys - even if mine can run rings around them any day."

"Doesn't Pop worry about winning a race?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh, yes, with his racing team," Malua answered. "As the chief he's allowed two. This is his working one. They're not fast but there's hardly another one on the whole island that can wear them down over distance. You ought to see them in their fancy rig, they're really something to look at then."

Further comment was interrupted by a cheerful "G'bye," and a click of the tongue from Pop, which sent the ponies springing off in perfect unison, to be running in a few seconds at what to me seemed an incredible speed as they disappeared into the riot of colors of the winding street, gay with its fruit and flower stalls and the awnings of the other little shops.

Then Malua's team was led forward by another pretty little groom and though I at once noticed that the harness was different from the one I had seen before, it didn't seem to me to have any particularly unusual or forbidding features. Certainly a stiff wooden bar, instead of a light leather strap joining the bit rings of the ponies meant that if one turned her head all must turn; but that in itself seemed no great threat.

The rig presumably meant something to the ponies, however, because though they smiled a greeting, they held their heads erect and steady, only glancing at me out of the corners of their eyes, alive with twinkling mischief. This look in their eyes did not escape Malua, for she paused as she was climbing into the gig and looking at the backs of the team said, "Just to show you I mean business, my beauties, I think I'll take in those bearing reins -a couple of holes. Here, Jimmy, you hold the reins while I fix things." Then, stepping over the traces, she went from pony to pony tightening a strap which I now saw went from the bridle at the top of the head down to the back strap, dragging back the ponies' heads in the process - not right back, but just enough to make the control felt.

I lit a cigarette and watched the proceedings with interest. With this harness, each girl's hands were secured to her sides by a wrist strap attached to the wide, leather waist belt and, just above each elbow, there was another leather strap, these two elbow straps being connected by a light, round-linked chain. In addition to this, a snap-hook dangled from the strap round the right elbow.

As Malua went from pony to pony, tightening the bearing rein, she also shortened this elbow chain by the simple process of forcing the ponies' elbows closer together and then taking up the stack in the chain by the snap hook, which now, of course, became part of the chain itself.

When she had finished, each pony was standing very stiffly erect, head and shoulders well back, held in that position by the harness and quite unable to relax or ease the strain for an instant.

Satisfied with her work, she climbed in beside me and took the reins. The groom stood clear and with a crack of the whip we were off, my companion holding the team in check with a tight rein.

The loose links of the elbow chain, which dangled down now that it had been shortened, jingled away merrily to the rhythm of the flying feet and I decided there and then to put bells all over my outfit.

The sun shone, the birds sang and everything everywhere was beautiful in the best of all beautiful worlds.

It seemed that we were going extremely fast, but that it must have been slow for the ponies was evident by the high-stepping stride they adopted. How they managed to run at all, trussed up as they were, I couldn't fathom and I mentioned it to Malua.

"Oh I didn't tighten the harness up as much as I might have done," she said. "I've just taken up a couple of links to remind them what they've got on. If you want to make them feel it, and you can, you tighten all the straps and that chain to the limit. The bit they've got in their mouths today can also be pretty vicious."

This immediately became evident by muffled squawks and twitching shoulders as Malua tugged the team sharply to the right to overtake another gig.

"I'll drive them like this as far as Tatts," continued Malua, "and then loosen the harness again. We've probably got a long haul ahead of us and I don't want to tire them out."

"I don't quite understand," I said. "I thought the place was quite near."

"Tatts is, yes," said Malua, pulling the team with difficulty to a walk to avoid a traffic congestion, "but we may not be able to find anything good at the Sale. If that happens there are a couple of girls I've had my eye on for some time who won't be on the market, but we may be able to do a trade of some sort." Then, to the ponies who were fretting and straining at their harness. "Steady there, steady."

"Their owners may be in town with them today, but I don't want to take any chances in case we have to go out to their homes."

The obvious impatience of the team now occupied all Malua's attention - but once clear of the traffic she gave them their heads again, as much as the bearing rein would allow, anyway, and once more we were off at high speed.

"Do your ponies ever tire?" I queried. "Gosh, they move so easily and so darn gracefully that they just seem to be floating." And then I had to duck quickly to avoid being hit in the face by another of those enormous "Cupid" butterflies, which blundered around and then hovered, its glorious wings fluttering, over our heads.

"Oh, not again," gasped Malua, her eyes shining. "Thank heavens I've got this harness on these monkeys. They'd bolt right up the middle of the main street if they could turn their heads and see what's going on." I was chuckling to myself, remembering what had happened before and wondering how Malua would cope with a similar situation today. I watched the lovely flying legs in front of us, but they never missed a beat in their steady flying rhythm. I looked at the plumed heads, the hair in a tight coil at the nape of the neck, but they never turned - they could not. The bit bars and bearing reins held them too firmly steady. There was no way for the ponies to sense the tension in the driver's seat behind them. Neither of us spoke while old faithful continued to flap around. But at last he apparently decided that it would be more fun to go off and ravish some captive flower than to play tag with two humans, and obligingly fluttered off.

I heard Malua give a big sigh of relief, and she relaxed her hold on the reins, which had been so tight that I thought it would pull the team's heads off. From then on we drove easily without further incident for about a mile, until I saw by the number of teams and the crowd that we must be getting near our goal.

"Here we are," said Matua, guiding the team cleverly through the crush. "This is Tattersalls, the pony market! They tell me it's called after some similar place in 'The O.W.,' is that right?"

"Could be," I answered, grinning at the thought of the difference there would be in the attendance if the same sort of fillies were put up at Tatts as we had here.

We wheeled in through wide swing gates and Malua brought the team to a halt, whereupon a smartly attired little groom came forward and took the heads of the ponies, holding them while we got down.

"All right, Jojo," said Malua, "take them away and loosen that harness," and then to the team, "and just let that sink into your pretty heads. Any fancy running today and it goes back on, hard!"

The ponies, of course, could make no movement to show that they understood, but I was perfectly certain that I could see no sign of penitence in those twinkling up-turned eyes. In fact, I doubted if the severest and cruelest harness could quiet those imps for long. They were too thoroughly full of the joy of living.

Jojo led the team away to the cool shade of some enormous poinciana trees under whose flaming canopy other ponies were already grouped, still in harness but free from their gigs. With the bits out of their mouths, they were chatting merrily to each other - a chattering and laughter which increased when they saw Malua's team in their rigid harness.

The grounds of Tattersalls were like a formal garden, the hard baked walks winding through beautifully kept lawns and flower beds in full bloom. The whole place seemed to be a mass of color in constant motion, with the gay sarongs, the wide-brimmed hats, the flowers in the hair of those who didn't wear hats, and every now and again the flash of jewelled sandals denoting, as I told you before, that the fair wearer had once been in a winning team as a pony.

Everyone was in a cheerful mood and we exchanged greetings with all and sundry as we walked over to the "Sales ring." This was a small circular space, almost completely enclosed, by two long shaded huts. Around one side were the "stalls," about which people were milling, and on the other side the "Sales Pavilion," a fair-sized hut with tiers of seats for the buyers.

"Come to think of it, Jimmy," Malua said, her hand resting against my arm as she steered me toward the nearest end of the stalls, "You're pretty lucky. This is the last market day before the races. As I said just now, I don't suppose we'll find anything good, but we'll have a look around."

When I got nearer, I saw that in actual fact the stalls were not really a hut insofar as structure went. They were composed entirely of Bougainvillea, from a light vermilion color down to the deepest crimson. It must have taken years of careful training to grow, for the uprights holding up the "roof" were the solid stem from which the vine-like branches spread, so interwoven and covered with foliage and blossoms that they formed a perfect covering.

Also, by some trick, the shelter seemed to trap the perfume of the frangipani trees which screened the far side, and whose fallen petals formed a mosaic with the smooth brick-red tiles, which comprised the floor.

And then I saw the ponies! Oh, my revered Uncle - Oh, me, Oh, my! There were about 50 of them!

I've already told you that any girl here would win a beauty contest in the Outside World, any time, hands down, so there's no need to reiterate and go into details. All I will say is that I began to wonder why it was that I felt "that way" about Malua and how long the feeling would last.

All of them were naturally in their birthday suits, except for a little tasselled "G" string arrangement, and there they stood in a row which followed the curve of the shed, on tiptoe, their wrists crossed and tied behind their backs with cord.

They were tethered by a halter round their necks which was attached to a ring above their heads on a long pole that ran the full length of the place. By each ring was a slot for a card with the girl's name on it.

Some were, of course, taller than others; some had blue eyes, some had green, gray, brown and what-have-you. All had red, inviting lips, tinted with various shades of the same red dye which all the women here use for lipstick and also to enlarge the nipples of their breasts.

Some had dark hair, some fair, in all shades and all lengths from the shoulders down; the really long tresses being held in check by a ribbon at the nape of the neck.

Most of them were up for "trade" for some reason or another, but there were one or two "fillies" who had never been in a team before, and for whom this was "presentation day."

They all knew Malua was well satisfied with her team but I was a very, very newcomer, obviously in the market and so, though the ponies just smiled and returned Malua's greeting as she appraised them with the eye of an expert, the looks they gave me were quite different - and quite disturbingly inviting.

I've never been ogled by so many lovely, laughing eyes in my life. The little imps that lurked behind that dark mist of lashes, giving me the come-hither until my head was spinning and I could no more concentrate on the good or bad points of each "steed" than fly to the moon - at least until we came to Su-hanee.

She was about three-quarters of the way along the line, and there was quite a group of traders gathered around her. In fact, at first all we saw was the group and heard the hum of conversation.

We eased our way in and then I saw a blaze of color and light which at last resolved itself into a head of hair - long, waving, curling hair that flashed a different color at every turn of the head. Now a blazing crimson, then maybe a sudden change to misty, greenish blue, then copper or gold, or green or yellow.

I stood staring in amazement, but I felt Malua's hand and she whispered, "Another Radiance - and what a beauty."

"That," I whispered back, "is for me - just what the doctor ordered, but I suppose I won't be in the hunt, everyone will want her."

"Oh, no," Malua answered, shaking her head. "Probably no one will want her at all, and she's no good for you either. She's never been in a team before, she's never been tried out, and so no one knows whether she's fast or not."

She paused, studying the girl intently, then continued. "The trouble with a Radiance, which is what we call ponies with hair like that, is that they're either very good or no good at all. There's no half way. There's only one other of pony age on the island at the moment and she's not only no good at all, but very, very bad. Almost any child can beat her over just a quarter mile."

"Well, O.K." said I, "I'll remember Pop's advice and get this one for her looks. What's the name on the tag there? Suhanee!"

Malua frowned. "It won't work out, Jimmy. For show, you have to have at least a two-pony team, just one isn't allowed. If you had two Radiances, I'll agree that it would be almost certainly a winner, but that only other Radiance just won't parade. Several people have tried, but she always does something to spoil it."

"Then we'll forget her and I'll match this filly up with a couple of blondes. How's that? She'd look good in the middle."

But still Malua shook her head. "Look. You see the way her arms are also tied at the elbow," she said.

"Yes," I answered, "I'd noticed that." Along the line there had been one or two others who, like Su-hanee, had their elbows drawn right back and tied, obviously tightly, as well as their wrists. "What's the idea? It certainly makes them hold themselves very erect, with their chests stuck out in a most attractive manner."

"Oh, it's not for looks," said Matua. "It means she's a wriggler, that is, she's pretty clever at getting her hands free. With her elbows tied back like that, she cannot move her wrists enough to wriggle them loose. She's all fire, is that one, and you'd have one big job keeping a harness on her. She'd be just more trouble than a barrel of monkeys. Come on, let's find something more reliable."

But I wasn't convinced, and anyway I thought I'd like something on the wild side.

I took another look at Su-hanee. Her eyes caught mine, and there was a message in them, if ever I saw one, which said as clear as day: "I'm untried, but buy me and you'll find I'm a flier."

I felt Malua tugging my arm, but I stayed rooted to the spot. It was only a hunch, but I felt like playing hunches today - so I put my finger alongside m' nose and gave a wink, at which Su-hanee tossed her head merrily. As far as I was concerned, the deal was complete.

Turning to Malua, I said: "I've made up my mind, oh Wise One, I want Su-hanee."

"But you can't, Jimmy," she answered. "Listen, you've got to have a team which is really fast, proved fast! You can't tell whether Su-hanee can run until you've seen her in a race."

"And that will be too late," I cut in. "Look here, you've got a wizard team, so the only chance l've got to beat you is to try the unknown. I’m only playing a hunch, but I've been pretty lucky these last few days and I believe in following it up. Let's get her. How do I go about it?"

We argued away for a few minutes, but at last Malua said, "O.K., you're the boss. The sale starts in about half an hour. We'll look around for the rest of your team and then we'll have a spot before the bidding starts. Blondes you wanted, didn't you?"

As we began to move down the line, I turned my head and noticed two or three other buyers studying Su-hanee carefully, and then Su-hanee looked at me, her eyes pleading, and her fingers twisting and turning in an obviously useless effort to get free. So I again held up a finger and nodded, at which her face became all smiles once more. I thought I saw her wink, and then it seemed to me that she deliberately slumped for an instant, and lowered her heels to the ground.

Malua, who had caught sight of the movement, gasped. "Oh, Jimmy," she said. "Oh, no! What a pity! That's the worst sign."

"What's the worst sign?" I asked, puzzled.

"Lowering the heel," she answered. "That only happens when there's a weakness in the instep which can't be controlled. Then it happens any time."

"Couldn't she do it on purpose to rest her feet?" I queried.

"Good heavens, no!" Malua exclaimed. "She knows that if she did, no one would want her. No one! So she just wouldn't! She can never be a pony. Oh, what a pity, she's so lovely."

I could hear the murmur in the group and saw them moving away, including one old codger who previously had been showing marked interest.

I caught Su-hanee's eye again, and again she lowered her heels, raised them again without effort, and this time there was no mistaking it. She gave me a dirty big wink, which no one else saw - and then the idea came to me.

Two Radiances would be a knock-out team for looks. Here was one - a monkey, if ever I saw one - deliberately (I was certain it was done deliberately) doing the one thing which would ruin her prospects of ever becoming a pony, and so put everyone else off, just to be in my team. And the other, one whom no one could train - no one could discipline. Well, maybe I could find the right technique. Even if I wasn't successful, the experience would certainly be interesting. But somehow I felt I was going to be successful. I felt sure my luck would hold.

Come on," I said to Malua, putting my arm on her waist. "I'm not going to bother about looking at the other ponies. Let's go and have a drink." Malua gaped at me in astonishment. "A good long drink," I went on. "I'm going to buy Su-hanee."

Malua's mouth opened wider and wider in speechless amazement and then I thought her jaw would drop right off, for I said: "And after the sale you're going to drive me out to get that other Radiance - the one that you say is no good either!"