The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1900-06-26

should tire Of roasted and broiled lac, 4
Surnet, the ships cook, contrlyed 70 /
Doli some pieces Of goat in its owr
sEin, stretched upon sticks, with a FIRE (
underneath. salt for spice, and slleea /
pumpkin for vegetables.
Or the HONS. when carefully scraped
and cleaned, We made very efficient /
drinking cups, In which our rum.
duly mixed with water, was doled out .
to US BY Hlslop, the keeper Of our pro-
vision store.
The eggs OF the sea birds we're
constant object Of search, and being
an expert climber. / frequently collect
Cd great Numbers Of those laid in the
ereyices Of the rocks by the sea gull
and storm-fnch.
Our life was one Of perpetual expos-
ure and daily activity. Though over
poWeringly hot at noon, the atmos-
phere Of the morning and evening was
delightful, and, as these portions Of
the day we're spent in hunting for
food, the time passed rapidly, but His
Tops chief fear was that If we were
not taken of by some ship before the
rainy season set in, our discomfort and
danger from agues would become very
great.
By the time we had been fourteen
days on the island he was recovered
so far as to be able to Join me in
making an exploration Of it. or rather
in walking all around it.
The circumference Of the largest isle
is only four leagues. but its shores are
SO steep and rocky in some places that
trayersing them proved a most ardu-
GUS task.
On the eastern side we found a great
cascade pouring from a brow of rock
upon the beach. The latter was COW
cred almost everywhere by a broad
leaved seaweed, the dark and Shiny
tendrils Of which we're several yards
in length and were termed by Hislop
"the gigantic fucus."
So day after day passed, and, amid
our various means of procuring food,
we never failed to keep a keen lookout
to seward for a passing sail; but
/ none came near that lonely islet Of the
I southern sea.
One morning I found there had
drifted ashore near our hut a mass Of
that mysterious substance, the origin
Of which has puzzled so many natural
ists-ambergris. It must have weigh
ed more than a hundred pounds. and
when We threw some Of it into the fire
it melted and difused around a most
agreeable perfume. This marine pro-
duction, which is only to be found in
the seas or on the shores Of Africa
and Brazil. is alleged by some to be a
coneretion formed in the stomach OF
the spermacei whale.
On the fifteenth morning after our
landing a seaman named Henry War.
ren, who went to milk our goats
which had been tethered to a large
tree near the hut, returned in haste
to announce that the ropes which had
secured them were cut. apparently BY
a sharp instrumental. clean through
and that the goats. the capture o.
which had cost US so much labor, wer,
gone.
"Cut? BY whom" asked every one
Before we had time TO consider this
Hislop came out o. the hut, and stateC
that one Of our three bread bags hac
also been cut open. by a slash from I
knife, apparently, and that severa
pounds Of biscuits had been distracted
The strange alarm, and what wa
worse, the doubt Of each other, whicl
1 these discoveries excited. were painful
d and bewildering.
j We examined the place where tn
= goats had been tethered, but could dis
cover no traces Of feet, and nothin
it remained but the ends Of the rope
Il Cthe long boat sheets and halliards
II tied to the stem OF a tree.
n (To be continued)