Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-11-24

nited, without actually bursting into
flame.
FIRE THAT NEVER WENT OUT.
GAS the most urgent matter was to
kindle FIRE. began experiments with
my two weapons, striking the steel
tomahawk against the stone one over
heap of fluffy material made by I'M
travelling and teasing piece of blank
ct. Success attended my patient eff
forts this time, and to my inexpress-
ible relief and Joy, I soon had cheer
full fire blszing alongside my impro-
vised shelter-and, what is more, I
took good care never to let it go out
during the whole time I remained o
prisoner on the island. The fire was
always my first thought, and night and
day it was kept at least smoldering by
means Of the New Guinea wood I have
already mentioned, and of which I
found large stock on board. The
ship itself, 1 should mention, provid-
ed with ell the fuel that was required
in the ordinary way, and, moreover, I
was constantly finding pieces of wreck
age along the shore that had been
gathered in by the restless waves.
: ''The days passed slowly by. In
what part of the world I was located 1
had not the remotest idea, but 1 felt
that 1 was altogether out of the beaten
track of ships, and therefore the pros
pect of my being rescued was very re-
mote indeed 49, thoughts that often
caused me kind of dull agony, more
terrible than any mere physical pain.
However, I fixed up flagstaff on
the highest point of the island-poor
island; that was not many inches-and
foated an ensign upside down from
it, in the hope that this signal of dis
tress might be sighted by some stray
vessel, and indicate the presence Of a
castaway to those on board.
CLOTHING IMPOSSIBLE.
ga heavy dew descended at night,
which made the air delightfully."- cool
but in the day it was SO frightfully hot
that I could not bear the weight of
ordinary clothes upon my person, SO I
took to wearing silk shaw instead,
slung loosely round my shoulders and
body, Later, 1 abandoned clothes
altogether. I found that when rent
appeared the sun blazed down through
It and raised painful blister. On
the othor hand, by going perfectly
nude and taking constant sea baths T
suffered scarcely at all from the scorch-
ing tropical SUM-"
De Rougemont then goes on to tell
OF his almost daily visits to the ship
for nine months, until he so stripped
her that she was practically skeleton.
At the same time he had not neglected
a habitation for himself, but had got.
ten enough shells ashore from the
ship to build q couple of parallel walls,
each about seven feet high, three
feet thick and ten feet in length. The
lnterstices OF these walls lie filed with
o puddle Of clayey sand and water,
covered In with with canvas. When the
wet season set il be built a third wall
at one end and erected a sort Of double
awning in front, under which he
always keps his ire burning.
GROWING CORN IN TURTLES BLOOD.
The question of food then began
seriously 10 concern him, for to sub
sist simply on fish was not to. his liking.
Accordingly" he says, IT set my
wits to work, and at length decided
upon an interesting experiment. I
filled large turtle shell with sand
and little clay, and thoroughly wetted
the mixture with turtles blood, then
stirring the mass into q puddle and
planting corn seeds in it.
They quickly sprouted, and -four
ished SO rapidly that within a very
short time I was able to transplant
! them--always, however, nourishine
them with the blood Of turtles. This
most satisfactory result induced me to
extend my operations, and 1 soon had
quaint little crops Of blood-sprinkled
maize and wheat growing in huge tur.
tie shells"
Pelicans kept him well supplied
with fish, as they would come to the
island with the fish for their young
and he would thereupon appropriate
whatever he wanted to his own use.
THESE fish," says De Rougemont,
with bro1led turtle meat and timed
fruits taken from the boat) made
quite sumptuous repast." Continu
ing, he says: Turtles visited the
island IN great numbers, and deposited
their eggs along the shore in the most
convenient manner. They only came
on land during the night, at high tide,
and whenever I wanted special deli.
cacy turned one over on its back till
morning, when L dispatchedit leisurely
with my .tomahawk.
THREATENED WITH MADNESS.
'The great thing was to ward of
the dull agony, the killing depression,
and manias generally. Fortunately ]
was of very active disposition, and
as pastime L took to gymnastics,
even as / had at Montreux. [ be.
came most proficient tumbler and
acrobat, and could turn two or three
somersaults on dashing down from
the sloping roor of my hut. Besides,
became splendid high jumper, with
and without the pole. Another thing
[ interested myself in was the con.
struction Of sundial.
EPut IN a,a;+o 80 Ill 4Lo4 r .1.IJ 4 :