Gardnerville record. (Gardnerville, Nev.) 1898-1902, 1901-05-23
a FIND ON
THE: BEACH
S>- BY ~. QUAD.
Copyright. 1901. by c. b. Lewis.

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The Palawan islands, in the China
sea, are To the north of Borneo and
form a part Of the Philippine group
They stretch ont for distance of 700
miles and number nearly thousand
In the year lSs2 ! was landed on one
of The Palawans from II Singapore
trader TO get UP aud run eopra plant
| mad with me four Chinese, and the
trader landed provisions for year
After had the shed up aud tile work
going had plenty Of time for fishing
hunting and visiting the other islands
Nothing OF special interest occurred
until | had been on the island three
months. Then one morning as / went
down TO the boat TO put out on a fishing
trip I was amazed To find tracks of
woman's bare feet on the wet sands.
The tide WAS out. and she bad wander
cd along The beach for half mile,
probably Just before daylight. II need
ed only a glance to tell me that the
person who had left the tracks was
white woman, but 10 make sure Of II
/ called 10 the Chlnamcn. They at
once agreed with me. There was a
trail leading ont Of the water at one
spot and another trail leading back at
another spot. bur none 10 show that the
strange visitor 10 the island had scout
cd inland at all We were on one of
the outer. or scaward. islands. with
nothing hrfNeen as ard the Cochin
China coast There WIS small and
almost barren island three miles 10 the
north aud similar one about the same
distance to the south, but had visited
both and found no people.
Whoever had visited our island In
the darkness had come up out of the
depths of the sea. No boat or raft had
landed on ihe shore. The footprints
were as plain as plaster east. and we
were Immediately interested and more
or less excited. After thinking the
maiter over | decided that The woman
must have come from one of the is
lands in SOME way and determined TO
gige both a close search. | set off TO
the north and In the course of an hour
made landing This island had an
area Of not more than five acres. Here
and there n patch of soil covered the
rocks. and young cocoaunt trees were
struggling for life. but the ground was
easy of search. went over II care
fully and made the Circuit of the island
IN my boat. but not a living thing did
see aside from the birds. There were
no wild fruits to sustain life nor was
able to find any fresh water
II WAS noon when got back 10 my
own island, and after dinner ! set ont
10 search the other As this one had
more vegetation | took with me the
boy. who was about H. years of age
and named Whang As the wind was
light aud current against us we were
two hours In gaining the island. ! was
strong IN the belief that some woman
had been east away and was shifting
for herself, and that she had not made
herself known To us simply proved that
she had lost her reason under the
strain of the hardshlps or took us for
natives who would modest her. II was
near sunset when we put oil after n
vain search, aud when we reached the
reef surrounding our island and half a
mile out from the beach the evening
breeze died out TO fiat calm, and we
lay like log. Before taking to the
oar TO scull us in to the shore | sat
quiet for a minute listening TO the
whispers of the sea Whang leaned
over the rail of the boat and watched
the sharks darting to and fro and leav-
ing trails of fire behind them. aud
things We're so still that ! could hear
the ticking of my watch when there
came n strange interruption. 1t was
the voice of "a woman in laughter. and
ii sounded close by. We both sprang
up nj the sound, wondering II our ears
had deceived us. and as we stood lis
tenlug the sounds came again. When
they had died away, the boy turned 10
me and whispered:
master, for Gods sake let us get
ashore at once! There Is n witch of
the sea close by, and she win drag us
DOWN.
| waited ten minutes, and, hearing
nothing more. picked up the oar and
sculed In to the landing. There |
found the three Cinnamon waiting for
z--. aga they we-e :; -- ---