Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-02-08

floor of the ledge. She sought for and
found the small tip.
Sec" she said. 1T seems TO have
been dipped in something. 1t is quite
discolored
jerks frowncd peculiarly. A star
Ting explanation had suggested itself
TO him. Fragments of forgotten lore
were taking cohesion in his mind
Put IL down. Quick be cried
Iris oheNcd him. with wonder in her
/ eyes. He spilled Il teaspoouful of cham.
| pGgnc into small hollow Of the rocl,
and stepped one of the fish bones in the
liquid. Within Il few seconds the cham
| payne assumed grccniSh tinge and
| the bone became white. Then he knew.
Good heavens he exclaimed. these
are poisoned arrows shot through n
/ bloWpipc, | have never before seen
one. hnt 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 palol and drew back in sudden
! horror. Another tap sounded on their
thrice welcome covering. Evidently
the pyak> would persist III their efforts
TO get one Of those poisoned darts
( home
jerks debated silently whether It
would I've better To create II commotion.
thus inducing the sarages to believe
they had succeeded in inhicting NOR
tai wound, or to wait until the next ar
row fell. rush out and try conclusions
with dumdum bullets against the sum-
pitan blowers.
Tie decided in favor Of the latter
course He wished to diShcarton his
aSSnilants to cram down their throats
the belief that hc was invulnernblc
and could visit their every effort with
Il deadly rcprisai.
Iris Of COURSE. protested when he cy-
planned his project But the lighting
spirit prevailed. Their love idyll must
yield to thc needs of the hour
lie had not long to wait. The last
arrow fell and he sprang to the on
IRENE right of the ledge. First he
looked through that Invaluable screen
of grass. Three Dyaks were on tho
ground and n fourth in the fork Of Il
tree. They were each armed with Il
hlownpe. Tie in the tree was Just fit
ting an arrow into the hamho, tube
The others were watching him.
jerks raised his rife. fred. and the
warrior in tn" tree pitched headlong to
the ground. \ second shot stretched
companion on top of him One man
jumped into the bushes and got away.
but the fourth trippcd over his unwieldy
s,mpitan. and bullet tore n large
section from his skull The sailor then
amused himself with breaking the BAN.
boos by firing Mt them. He came back
t. the white faced girl
Il fancy that further practice with
hlowpipcs will bc ut a discount on
Rainbow island he cried chcerfully.
But Iris was anxious and distract.
at is very sad" She said. that we
are obliged t. secure our own safety
by tho ceaSelCsa slaughter Of human
beings. Is there no offer we can make
them, no promise of future gain 10
tempt them TO abandon hostilities:"
"None whatever These Rorneo Dy.
AXIS are bred from infancy to prey on
their fellow creatures TO be strangers
and defenSelesS is TO court pilucc and
massacre ut their hands ! think no
more of shooting them than OF smash
ing clay pigeon. Killing mad doc
is perhaps a better smile"
But. Robert i9ar, how long can we
hold OUT
What! Arc you growing tired of
me Already"
lie hoped 10 divert her thoughts from
this constantly recurring topic. Twice
within the hour had il been broachcd
and dismissed, bu, Iris would not per-
NIT him to shirk it again. She made
no reply, simply regarding him with
wistfu smile
SO jerks sat down by her side and
rehcarsed the hopes and fears which
perploXed him. He determined that
there should Ice no further cnncrnlment
between them. If they failed 10 secure
water that night, if the Dynks main
tanned n strict siege of the rock
throughout tic whole of next day. well
they might survive il was profile
matiral. Best leave matters in Gods
hands.
With feminine pcrSistency she clune
TO tho subject, detecting his unwiling-
ness to discuss a possible final stage in
their sulfcringS.