The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-03

collected all the old meat tins We could
find about the place, and. as we had
been living on nothing but timed stuff
for the past week, there were plenty. 1
made a fire, and melted the solder out
of the tirs. so that 1 had a number of
strips of clean metal to use as patches.
1t was hard work, l can tell you, lying
on my back in the mud amid the
prickly mangrove stumps, mailing little
bits of tin on each broken place. We
put the children to sleep in the bottom
of the boat, while my wife held the
candle for me. How many hours l toll
ed, 1 don't know, but / thought l would
never have finished. Now and again an
parts-would crawl out of the water to
see what was going on, or perhaps in
search of his supper, but the wife would
wash the light in his face, and he would
go back quicker than he came. 49,
THE first flush of dawn was in the
sky by the time / had finished. was
stiff and sore and worn out, but there
was no time to think about these
things We launched the boat, and she
seemed pretty tight, so l babe the men
bundle the trade boxes into her ard
make ready to shove off, whilst the wife
and / went up to the house to get a
few little personal effects we had not
yet carried down to the beach.
''I remember inst as well as if | could
see it now, scrambling UP the slippery
bank and making our way TO the little
house. We were careless, perhaps, but
we did not anticipate any attack. l
walked straight up to the hut. The
door was closed and 1 was going to
push it open, when my wife, who was
just behind. caught me round the
waist and threw me backward with all
her force. She was a, strong woman.
and / was weak and tired, and rolled
over like baby. At the same instant
she fell, a dozen spears through her
body. the door burst open and a crowd
of naked savages dashed out and made
a rush for the boat. They thought me
dead, or badly wounded, 1 suppose, but
at any rate they did not stop TO look,
they were in such a hurry to get the
goods, and the oversight saved my life.
/ yelled out to the boats crew TO shove
off. and then 1 crawled up to where
my wife was lying. 1t was all over
with her, I could see at a glance, and
all she could whisper was Wave, wave,
run quick and save yourself!'
Perhaps 1 should have stayed. I do
not~know. but at any rate ] had no
time to reason over the matter. There
were the savages coming back from the
beach full of rage and disappointment
at finding the boat out of their reach.
/ crawled to the right and made cir
Gle round to gain the shore. and luckily
1 got away unobserved. The boat was
lying a hundred yards off, fortunately
the men had had the sense to wait and
see if we escaped. 1 swan off to them
and found the children all well, and the
native boys shivering with fear. But
a kick or two soon reused them, and
1 had the boat pulled as close in shore
as / dared.
THE savages were rushing about and
shouting and making a tremendous
row. Evidently they were searching
for me, and they had lit great torches
of dry cocoanut leaves. which showed
them uD as bright as day. This was
just what I wanted, for l emptied my
rifle into the midst of them, and the
boys gave them a volley with theirs
They scattered like magic in every di-
rection. I made a rush up the shore
and carried the wife down, for ] was
beginning by this time to feel Bit
! ashamed of myself for having left heI
so quickly. But what could do? Ny
gun was in the boat, and if had stop
ped should only have been killed. TOO
| and the children would have been left
| without father. l found her lying in
the same spot, but she was dead, anc