The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-07-27

the right of the ledge.
we may learn more by keeping quiet.
They will not continue shooting these
things all day"
Again tiny arrow Travelled toward
them in a graceful parabola. This one
fell short. Missing the tarpaulin, it al
most dropped on the girls outstretched
hand. She picked it up. The fish bone
point had snapped by contact with the
found the small tip.
"See,': she said. ut seems to have
been dipped in something. 1t is quite
discolored."
jerks frowned peculiarly. A star
Ting explanation had suggested itself
to him. Fragments of forgotten lore
were taking cohesion in his mind.
Put it down. Quick!' he cried.
Iris obeyed him, with wonder in her
eyes. He spilled a teaspoonful of cham
payne into small hollow of the rock
and stepped one Of the fish bones in the
liquid. Within few seconds the cham
payne assumed a greenish tinge and
the bone became white Then he knew.
Good heavens" he exclaimed, "these
are poisoned arrows shot through a
blowpipe! l have never before seen
one, but have often read about them.
The bamboos the Dyaks carried were
sumpitans. These fish bones have been
STEPPED in the juice Of the upas tree.
Iris, my dear girl if one of them had
so much as scratched your finger moth
ing on earth could save you" .
She paled and drew back in sudden
horror. Another tap sounded on their
thrice welcome covering. Evidently
the Dyaks would persist in their efforts
to get one of those poisoned darts
home.
jerks debated silently whether it
would be better to create commotion,
thus inducing the savages to believe
they had succeeded in inf1icting NOR
tai wound, OF to wait until the next ar
row fell, rush out and try conclusions
with dumdum bullets against the sum-
pitan blowers.
He decided in favor of the latter
course. He wished to dishearten his
assailants, to cram down their threats
the belief that he was invulnerable
and could visit their every effort with
deadly reprisal.
Iris, of course, protested when he ex-
planned his project. But the fighting
spirit prevailed. Their love idyll must
yield to the needs of the hour.
He had not long to wait The last
arrow fell, and he sprang to the ex-
IRENE right of the ledge. First he
looked through that invaluable screen
of grass. Three Dyaks were on the
ground and a fourth in the fork Of a
blowpipe. He in the tree was just fit
ting an arrow into the bamboo tube
The others were watching him.
jerks raised his rifle, fired, and the
warrior in the tree pitched headlong to
the ground. A second shot stretched
companion on top of him. One man
Jumped into the bushes and got away.
but the fourth tripped over his unwieldy
sumpitan, and a bullet tore a large
section from his skull The sailor then
amused himself with breaking the bam-
Doos by firing at them. He came back
to the white faced girl.
81 fancy that further practice with
blowpipes will be at a discount on
Rainbow island," he cried cheerfullv.
But Iris was anxious and distract
ut is very sad," she said, 'sthat we
are obliged to secure our own safety
by the ceaseless slaughter of human
beings. Is there no offer we can make
them, no promise of future gain, to
tempt them to abandon hostilities?"