The daily morning Alaskan., 1902-10-30
SlGHESSlR 10 IHE .IILE
lconrrIrhl. ll1s. by .. D. LewIl.l


 man on her of the nomo of Burch, who said that he and his partner had taken n man of the name of Henderson Co one of the New Guinea islands where they left hlm to live a Crusoe life. Re turning. an on Che slUop had died eX rcpt Burch.
 When Burch's story was made known, lt was believed that young Henderson must be the Lord of Bur leigh, but by the time a Melbourne so- lcltor had been empowered to send out a searching expedition a full year had elapsed. There was a walt Co And the right sort of craft and another for the bad weather season Co pass, and when the search was finally entered upon Henderson had been playing Robinson Crusoe for over two years As l was mate of the craft am speaking by the card in giving you all these particulars.
 You will figure that it was a very easy thing to steer for the Coral sea and have Burch point out the Island on which Henderson had taken up his abode but we found difficulties from the very outset Henderson had a chart of the Coral sea, but he had not allowed Burch to Inspect it. The latter therefore could not say what islands had first been sighted. He could not be certain oe the course stecred after ward. Our only way was to visit and search every one unless we happened to fan in with natives or @ trader who could give us definite information.
 When we had finished with the Lou islado archipelago. wo steercd to the northeast and picked up island after Island without scoring point At the Woodlark group, however, We came across a trading schooner which gave us a bit of information. Her captain reported that he had attempted to land on a small island about sixty miles ,o the east to rcplenlsh his water casks. but had been fired upon by some one concealed in the bushes and driven or. That was eighteen months previously. Ills description of the island tailed pretty well with Burchs, and we ot once set out to search. One day tn searching an island which Burch was almost sure was the one Henderson had been left on I ran across an old camp which hod previously been occu- pied by several men for some days or weeks. They had built rude shelters cut down many small trees for fire wood. and there were many relies of their stay. I found some things which at once added a very serious face Co our further search. ! picked mp three books which had doubtless been Of tho number carried out by Henderson and also found some seeds, three or four pieces ot crockery and a hand mirror. As soon as Burch had landed he was sure he had never set foot in that place before. We explored the Island from side to side and from end to end, and lt was found Co be anything but Che one the sailor had lived on for a week or ten days.
 We now feared the worst On an tho inhabited islands of the Coral sea is a class Of men called "beach combcrs. ." They are sailors, traders. wrcckcrs, thieves and worse 1T these men had discovered Henderson on his island home. they would not hesitate at mur der in order Co secure bis possessions. The relies found in the old camp seemed to prove robbery at least Hen. derson had no boat and could not leave his Island. IT any one had visited h.m. be would not have presented them with hls books, as the uncut leaves proved he had not yet perused them himself It was almost without hope that We continued the search.
 On the fourth day after we struck the right island at last The schooner was obliged to cast anchor about half a mile off the beach. and | then went ashore with the men. A heavy growth of trees and bushes came right down to high water mark. We set out Co cross to the south side, and we had made our way for about half a mile when we caught sight of a goat and also heard a rooster crow. A few minutes later a dog parked. and then We knew for cer. tain the hiding place Of the missing heir. The dog presently appeared to view, but he looked wild and half starved. and with an our coaXing we could not bring him nearer.
 We first moved down to the house. lt contained only one room, and Che floor was Uttered with books. bottles, seeds and various other things Boxes had been broken open and their contents empued. but amid an the confusion it could be seen that nothing of real val. ue was left In and about the door was a score of bullet holes.
 "Wc shall find lt down here" aid the captain as he pointed to the rocks. and we followed him. The dog made a great fuss as we drew uear and we knew why. He was guarding thc body of hls master. No; it was not dead body. but rather a skeleton.
 Twenty rods Co the south. i'm the edge of a thicket. we found two more skele tons. These men belonged t0 the party making the attack. How long he had stood them or no one could say. but be had made a good fight of it before being struck down.
 When we left the island, we took with us the skeleton and everything bearing on the case. We then spent six weeks cruising about in search of a clew to the murderers. We ran across a trader who had seen six bench comb. n.- Ir . .rnfL Ir Ihn nnIrLI. .nrLnnI nI