Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-02
CHAPTER TX.
The Secret of the Cave,

CHAPTER TX.
The Secret Of the Cave.
The sailor went after those monkeys In a
| mood of relentless severity. Thus far. the
regular denizens of Rainbow Island had
dwelt together in peace and mutual good
will. but each diminutive wou-wou must be
taught not to pull any strings he found
tied promiscuously to trees or stakes. As
a preliminary essay, jerks resolved to try
force combined with artifce. Failing COM
plete success, he would endeavor to kill
every monkey in the place, though he had
In full measure the inherent dislike of
Anglo-India to the Staying Of the tree
people.
This, them is what he did. After filling
biscuit tin with gOOd-sized pebbles he
doomed Dyak hat, blouse and belt, rubbed
earth over his face and hands, and pro-
ceeded to pelt the wou-wous mercilessly.
For more than an hour he made their lives
miserable, until at the mere sight Of him
they fed shriek hy., and gnrglIns like
structed several Dyak scarecrows and
erected one to guard each of his alarm
guns. The device was thoroughly effective.
ThencefOrth, when some adventurous mon
key. swinging with hands or tail among
the treetops in the morning search for ap-
petizing nut or luscious plantain, saw one
OF those fearsome bogies, he raised such a
hastily from the confines of the wood to the
inner Businesses.
In contriving these same .scarecrows-
which. by the way, he had vaguely in
tended at first to erect on the beach in
order to frighten the invaders and induce
them to fire warning volley-the sailor
paid closer heed to the spells gathered from
the fallen. One at least of the belts was
made of human hair, and some among its
long strands could have come only from the
flaxen-haired head Of a European child
This fact, though CHASTITY enough, con-
firmed him in his theory that 1t was impos-
sible to think Of temporizing with these
human fiends. Unhappily, such savage
virtues as they possess do not include
fenseless strangers. There was nothing
for it but fight to finish, with the law
of the jungle to decide the terms of con-
quest.
able to visit Summit Rock until after his
cautious survey of the island. Once there,
however he noticed that the gale two
nights earlier had loosened two of the sup
ports of his sky sign. 1t was not a diff
cult or long job to repair the damage.
With the invaluable ak he cut several
wedges and soon made all secure.
Now, during each of the two daily exami-
nations of the horizon which he never omit
ted, he minutely scrutiniZed the sea be-
tween Rainbow Island and the distant
group. It was, perhaps, a needless preeau-
ton. The Dyaks would come at night.
With a favorable wind they need not set
sail until dusk, and their feet sampans
would easily cover the intervening forty
miles in five hours.
He could not be positive that they were
actual Inhabitants of the islands to the
south. The China sea swarms with wan
dering pirates, and the tribe whose ami
mostly he had earned might be equally
noxious to some peaceable fishing COM
munity on the coast. Again and again he
debated the ACCESSIBILITY of constructing
O. seaworthy raft and endeavoring to
l. l.
risking all on a frightful uncertainty and
the accidental discovery of the Eagles
Nest had given him new hope. Here he
could make a determined and prolonged
stand, and in the end help must come. So
he dismissed the navigation project and
devoted himself wholly to the perfecting
OF the natural fortress in the rock.
That night they finished the rope lad
der Indeed, jerks was determined not to
retire to rest until it was placed in stu;
he did not care to try second time to
carry Iris to that elevated perch, and it
may be remarked that thenceforth the
girl, before going to sleep, simply chang
ed one ragged dress for another.
One of the first things he contemplated
was the destruction, If possible, of the
point on the opposite cliff which COM
manded the ledge. This, however, was
utterly impracticable with the appliances
at his command. The top of the rock
sloped slightly toward the. west, and
nothing short of dynamite or regular
tenabIe by hostile marksmen.
During the day his Lee Metfords, at
ninety yards range, might be trusted to
keep the place clear of intruders But at
night-that was the difficulty He par
TALLY solved it by fixing two rests on the
ledge to support a rife in exact line with
the center of the enemy's supposed posi-
ton, and as variant, on the outer rest
he marked lines which correspOnded with
other sections of the entire front avail
able to the foe.
Even then he was not satisfied When
time permitted he made many expert
mentS with ropes reeVed through the
pulley and attached to rifle action. He
might have succeeded in his main object
had not his thoughts taken a new line.
His aim was to achieve some method of
opening and closing the breech block by
means of two ropes. The difficulty was to
secure the preliminary and final lateral
movement of the lever bolt, but it sud-
denly occurred to him that if he could
manage to convey the impression that
Iris and he had left the island the Dyaks
would go away after fruitless search.
The existence of ropes along the face of
the rock-an essential to his mechanical
or, at any rate, excite dangerous Curl
osity So he reluctantly abandoned his
original design, though not wholly, as
will be seen in due course
In pursuance of his latest idea he sedu-
lousy removed from the foot of the cliff
all traces of the clearance effected on
the ledge, and. although he provided
supports for the tarpaulin covering he
did not adjust it. Iris and he might
lie perdu there for days without their
retreat being found out This develop
ment suggested the necessity of hid
ing their surplus stores and ammuni-
ton. and what spot would be more suitable
than the cave?
So jerks began to dig once more in the
interior. laboring manfully with pick and
shovel in the locality of the fault with its
vein of anthony 1t was thus that he
Numbered upon the second great event of
his life.
Rainbow Island had given him the one
thing a man prizes above all else-a pure
yet passionate love for woman, beautiful
alike in body and mind. And now it was
to endow him with riches that might stir
the pulse of even a South African mag
nate For the sailor unmndful of purpose
other than providing the requisite cache,
shoveling and delving with the energy Pc
cuiar to all his actions, suddenly struck
deep vein of almost virgin gold.
To facilitate the disposal at distance of
the disturbed debris, he threw each shovel
full onto canvas sheet, which he subse-
quently dragged among the trees in order
to dislodge its contents. After doing this
fo,lr times noticed certain meta lilo