The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-05-07
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"A FIND ON
THE BEACH
3D. BY ~. QUAD.
90.
Copyright, 1901, by O B. Lewis
Copyright, 1901, by Q. B. Lewis.

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The Palawan islands, in the China
sea, are to the north of Borneo and
form part of the Philippine group.
They stretch out for distance Of 700
miles and number nearly thousand.
In the year 1882 was landed on one
of the Palawans from a Singapore
trader to get up and run a copra plant.
| had with me four Chinese, and the
trader landed provisions for a year.
After | had the shed up and the 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 l went
down to the boat to put out on fishing
trip | was amazed to find tracks of
woman's bare feet on the wet sands.
The tide was out, and she had wander
ed along the beach for half mile,
probably just before daylight 1t need
ed only a glance to tell me that the
person who had left the tracks was a
white woman, but to make sure of it
l called to the Cinnamon. They at
once agreed with me. There was a
trail leading out of the water at one
spot and another trail leading back at
another spot. but none to show that the
strange visitor to the island had scout
ed inland at ALL We were on one of
the outer, or seward, Islands, with
nothing between us and the Cochin
China coast There was small and
almost barren island three miles to the
north and 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 the shore. The footprints
were as plain as a plaster cast, and we
were Immediately interested and more
or less excited After thinking the
matter over decided that the woman
must have come from one of the Is
lands in some way and determined to
give both a close search. set off to
the north and in the course of an hour
made a landing. This island had an
area of not more than five acres. Here
and there a patch Of soil covered the
rocks, and young cocoanut trees were
struggling for life, but the ground was
easy Of search. | went over it care
fully and made the circuit of the island
In my boat, but not living thing did |
see aside from the birds. There were
no wild fruits to sustain life, nor was
able to find any fresh water.
1t was noon when ! got back to my
own island, and after dinner | set out
to search the other. AS this one had
more vegetation | took with me the
boy, who was about Is years of age
and named Whang. AS the wind was
light and a current against us we were
two hours in gaining the island. | was
strong in the belief that some woman
had been cast 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 hardships or took us for
natives who would modest her. 1t was
near sunset when we put off after
vain search, and when we reached the
reef surrounding our island and half
mile out from the beach the evening
breeze died out to a fiat calm, and we
car to scull us In to the shore l sat
quiet for a minute listening to the
whispers of the sea. Whang leaned
over the rail of the boat and watched
the sharks darling to and fro and leav-
ing trails of fire behind them, and
things were so still that | could hear
the ticking of my watch. when there
came a strange interruption. 1t was
| the voice of woman in laughter. and
it sounded close by. We both sprang
up at the sound, wondering II our ears
had deceived US. and as we stood lis
tening the sounds came again. When
they had died away, the boy turned to
me and whispered:
master, for Gods sake let US get
ashore at once! There is witch Of
! the sea close by. and she will drag us
| DOWN.
/ waited ten minutes, and. hearing
/ nothing more. | picked up the oar and
sculled In to the landing. There
found the three Cinnamon waiting for
me. and they were in state of great
excitement. They had heard the laugh
ter, and they believed with the boy
that witch Of the sea was hanging
about and meant to do us harm. Chi
nese life is made up of legends anG
supefstitions. and it is useless to com,
bat them. While l argued that there
was a woman castaway about, and
they could not dispute the fact of the
tracks in the sand, could not explain
away the laughter. simply contented
myself with saying that we would
leave some provisions on the beacn
that night and see If they were missing
in the morning and with sleeping with
one eve open to see that the frightened
fellows did not steal the boat and make
off to some other Island
We were down on the beach when
daylight came, and there were fresh
tracks again. The woman had circled
about the heap of provisions, but had
touched nothing. There was trail
leading out of the sea and another lead
ing back, and there were 200 imprints
of feet to look at The Chinese were
absolutely knocked out with consterna-
ton, and only my promise to watch the
beach that night and capture or shoot
the witch Gained them down. ! re
NAMED with them all that day to pre-
vent them from plotting, and it was
not until midnight that took up my
watch on the shore. 1 had two re-
yolvers as weapons, but | had no Idea
of shooting. I proposed to capture the
thing, witch or woman, II 1t lay In my
power. 1t was low tide at o'clock.
was concealed behind heap of brush
and it was starlight night. At that
hour a figure which looked like hui
man being came out Of the gentle surf
and began to walk up and down tht
beach. AS it walked away from me
rose up and went forward on tiptot
and was within 80 feet Of 1t when l
caught the alarm and fed back to thu
water like shadow. heard an ex
clamation OF alarm and splashes In thu
water and saw the wake as the IL
swan away. had meant to keep cool
but the sight Of the figure excited me