Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-05-17
BY GRANT: ALlGN9

tie of the plantain that Felix picked
for her; and at times, toward morning,
she dozed off into an uneasy sleep, from
pure fatigue and excess of WEAKNESS
AS she slept, Felix, bending over her,
with the biggest blade of his knife
open in case of an attack, watched with
profound emotion the rise and fall OF
her bosom, and hesitated with him
self, if the worst should come to the
the worst, as to what he ought to dc
with her.
1t would be impossible to let pure
young English girl like that fall help
lessly into tie hands of such blood
thirsty wretches as he knew the
islanders were almost certain to be.
Who could tell what nameless inuigni-
ties, what incredible tortues they
might wantonly infiict upon her limo
cent soul? Was it right for him to
have let her come ashore at all?
Ought he not rather to have allowed
the more merciful sea to take her life
easily, without the chance Or POSSIBLE
itv of such additional horrors?
And nOw-as she slept-sO calm, and
pure, and maidenly-what was his duty
that minute, just there to her? He
felt the bladerof his knife with his fin
ger cautiously, and almost doubted. If
only she could tell what things might
be in store for her, would she not her.
self, prefer death, an honorable death,
at the friendly hands of tender
hearted fellow-countryman. to the I'M
speakable insults of the man-eating
Polynesians? If only he had the cour-
age to release her by one blow, as she
lay there, from the coming i'll. But he
hadn't; he had't. Even on board the
Australasian he had been vaguely
aware that he was getting very fond
OF that pretty little Miss Ellis. AMI
now that he sat there, after that des-
perate struggle for life with the pound
ing waves mounting guard over her
through the live-long night, his own
heart told him plainly, in tones he
could not disobey, he loved her too
well to dare what he thought best in
the end for her.
Still, even so, he was brave enough
to feel he must never let the very
worst of all befall her. He bethought
him, in his doubt and agony, of how
his uncle, Major Thurstan, during the
great Indian mutiny, had held his
lonely bungalow, with his wife and
daughter by his side, for three long
hours against a bowling mob of native
insurgents; and how, when further re-
sistance was hopeless, and that great
black wave of angry humanity burst in
upon them at last, the brave soldier
had drawn his revolver, shot his wife
and daughter with unerring aim, to
prevent their falling alive into the
hands Of the natives, and then blown
his own brains out with his last re-
naming cartridge. AS his uncle had
done at Jhansi. thirty years before, so
he himself would do on that nameless
Pacific island-fOr he didn't know even
now on what shore he had landed If
the savages bore down upon them with
hostile intent, and threatened Muriel,
he would plunge his knife first into
that innocent Woman's heart: and then
bury it deep in his own, and die be-
side her.
So the long night wore on--Muriel
plllowed on loose cocoanut husk. doz-
ing now and again, and waking with a
start to gaze round her wildly, and
realize once more in what plight she
found herself. Felix crouching by her
feet, and keeping watch with eager
eyes and ears on every side for the
least sign of noiseless, naked foot
fall through the tangled growth CT
that dense tropical underbrsssh. Time
after time he clapped his hand to his
ear, shcll-wise, and listened and
peered, with knitted brow, suspecting
some sudden swoop from an ambush
in the Jungle of creepers be hind the
little plantain patch. Time after time
he grasped his knife hard, and puck
cred his eyebrows resolutely, and
stood with bated breath for fierce,
wild leap upon bis fancied assailant.
But the night wore away by degrees,
a minute at d time, and no man came;
and dawn began to brighten the sea-
line to eastward.
AS the day dawned, Felix could see
more clearly exactly where he was,
and in what surrouns ings. without,
the ocean broke in huge curling bill
lows on the shallow beach of the firing
ing reef with such stupendous force
that Felix wondered how they could
ever have lived Through its pounding
surf and its fiercely retreating undev-
tow. Within, the lagoon spread it's
calm lake-like surface away to the
white coral shore of the central atoll
Between these twowaters, the creates.
and the less, a waving palisade of tails
SLemmou palm UteeS rose On d narrow
ribbon of circular land that formed the,
fringing reef. All night through he.
had felt with a strange eerie misgiv-
ing, the very foundations of the land
thrill under his feet at every dull thud
Of the boom Of the surf on it's restrain
inc barrier. Now that he could see.
that thin belt of shore in it's actual
shape and size, he was not astonishedi
at this constant shock: what surprised
him rather was the fact that such a
speck of land could hold its own at all
against the ceaseless cannonade of that
seemingly irresistible ocean.
He stood up, hatless, in his battered
tweed suit, and surveyed the scene OF
their present and future adventures.
It took but a glance to show him that
the whole ground plan Of the island
was entirely circular. In the midst OF
all rose the central atoll itself, tiny
mountain-peak, just projecting with
its hills and gorges to a few hundred
feet above the surface of the ocean.
Outside it came the lagoon with its
placid ring of CLASSY water surrounding