Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-03-08

those most useful dish covers.
He called to her, led her wondering
to the track and pointed out the fatal
quarry, but in such wise that she could
not look inside 1t.
.You remember that round hole we
saw from the summit rock?" he said.
"Wcll, it is full of carbonic acid gas, to
breathe Which means Inconsistencies
and death. 1t gives no warning to the
inexperienced 1t is rather pleasant
than otherwise. Promise me you will
never come near this place again"
Now, Iris, too, had been thinking
deeply. Robert jerks bullied large in
her day dreams. Her nerves were not
yet quite normal. There was catch
in her throat as she answered:
81 don't want to die. OF course l
will keep away. What horrid island
this is! Yet it might be a paradise"
She bit her lip to suppress her tears;
but, being the Eve in this garden, she
continued:
GLOW did you find out? Iss there
anything-nasty-in thcre?"
Eyes. the remains of animals and
other things. would not have told
you were it not imperative"
"Are you keeping other secrets from
mc?'
ooh, quite a number"
He managed to coniure up smile,
and the ruse was effective. She ap-
piled the words to his past history.
81 hope they will not be revealed SO
dramatically" she said.
"You never can tell" he answered.
They We're in prophetic vein that
morning. They returned in silence to
the cave.
AZ wish to go inside with a lamp
May II" he asked.
"NIny / come too?" she demanded.
He assented, with an explanation OF
his design. When the lamp was in or
der he held it close to the wall ant
| conducted Il systematic survey. Tht
geological fault which favored the con
structlon of the tunnel seemed to di
verge to the left at the farther end
The "face" Of the rock exhibited the
marks of persistent labor. The stone
had been hewn away by main force
when the dislocation of strata ceased
| to be helpful.
| HIS knowledge was limited on the
subject, vet jerks believed that the
| material here was a hard limestone
rather than the external basalt Search
ing each inch with the feeble light, he
paused once, with an exclamation.
"W'hat is it?" cried Iris.
II cannot be certain" he said doubt
fully. Would you mind holding the
lamp while l use crowbar?"
In the stone was visible. il thin vein
blush white in color. He managed tt
break off fair sized lump containing
well defined specimen of the foreigl
metal.
They hurried into the open air ant
examined the fragment with curiou.
eyes The sailor picked 1t with hi.
| knife, and the substance in the weir
came or in Eliminated layers, small
brittle scales.
SIS it silver?' Iris was almost ex
cited.
81 do not think so. am no expert
but have vague idca-I have seem
He wrinklcd his hrows md pressed
away the ftrrows '-!!a his hand, tina
physical habit OF his Wien pcrplexed.
81 have It." he cried at is anti
mony"
Miss Dcane pursed her lips in dig
dain Anthony. What was anti.
mony?
$50 much fuss for nothing" she spin
at is used In alloys and medicines.
he explained. ITO lis Il is uselces.'
He threw the piece of rock contcn,r
tuously among the b;3shcs. But !it
ing thorough in all that he undertook
he returned to tie cave and agai.
conducted an inquls:tion. The silye
hued vein became more strongly mari;
ed at the point where 1t disappeare,
downward into collection of rubhi.
and sand. That was all. Did mel
give their toll, their lives, for this? 81
1T would appear. BE that as 1t might
he had more pressing work If th,
cave still held secret 1t must remail
there.
Iris had gone back to her Sage knead
ing. Shouldering the AK, he walked t,
the beach. Much debris from the steam
er was lying high and dry. 1t was ~
easy task for an athletic man to reacl
the palm tree, yet the sailor hesitate(
with almost imperceptible qualms.
"a baited rat trap" he muttered
Then he Qulckened his pace. With tn,
first active spring from rock to rocl
his unacknowledged doubts vanished
He might find stores of priceless util
ity. The reflection inspired him
Jumping and climbing like a cat, ii
two minutes he was near the tree.
He could now see the true explana
ton of its growth in seemingly i'm
possible place. Here the bed of tn
sea bulged upward in small SAINT
cay, which silted round the base of ;
limestone rock so different in color ant
formation from the coral reef. Ma
ture, whose engineering contrivance
can force springs to mountain tops
managed to deliver to this isolated ref
uge a sufficient supply of water t,
nourish the palm, and the roots, firml,
lodged in deep creyices, were we'll pro
tected from the waves.
Between the sailor and the tree In
telvened small stretch of shallow wa
ter. Landward this submerged saddl
shelved stcep!y into the lagoon. al
though the water in the cove was TWEEN
ty fathoms In depth, its crystal clear
ness was remarkable. The bottom
composed of marvelously white SAM
and broken coral, rendered other oil
jccts conspicuous. He could see plent
of fish, but not single shark, Will
on the inner slope of the reef wa
plainly visible the destroyed fore par
Of the Sirdar, which had struck be
yond the tree, relatively to his presen
standpoint. He lad wondered why n
boats were cast ashore. Now he say
the reason. Three of them were still
fastened to the davits and Carrie
down with the hull.
Seward the water was not SO cleal
The waves created patches of foam
and long submarine DlantS Ewoynd nor