The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-08-14

"a maj WTru then oaNN IulQ INF
The girl. with seven Others was swept
overboard. the parents saw Der lift-
ed on the top Of a huge u claspine
a lie p~teserIers The next instant the
boat Hfted higher atthe Dir and
the giEf mseppsed under
roller
Attsr four day Q fighting tine boat
containing he Parents reached one
ofthe Belep IsfaTds on New Galedos
MIA, and the mainilnd was made in
safety.
Cast Upon afssaeh-
How long she was In he water the
girl does not know. She only remem-
.bers struggling to keep her mead above.
the waves, then she lost Consciousness.
she was aroused by the shock as a
wave threw herSupon a beach. AS the
wave retreated she felt It Juggling at
her and slowly dragging her back from
the land. with the strength of de-
SPAR she struggled and fought to re
tain her foothold. Finally she secnr-
ed a hrm grip. dragged herself up upon
the beach and sank upon the sand ex-
hausted.
She was aroused by tie feeling OF
something warm upon her face, and
starting up in alarm, surrounded by
darkness, found that 1t was apet lion
named Mons licking her face. The
animal had been washed ashore and.
one Of his legs was injured. The
weary girl lay down beside the Grip
pied lion and slept. She had no idea
where she was, except that the island
upon which she had been cast was a
mere speck in the ocean. The little
portion Of land upon which she had
landed vas one of the minute islands
Inorthward of the Be1loHa reefs, to;
ward the Chesterfield Islands. On
the south side she could distinguish
palm trees growing on another island
Exploring Her Island.
The next day the girl started out to
explore the country. 1t took her but a
short time. to learn that it was a small,
utterly isolated island, entirely unin-
habited and with not a shelter upon it.
Through the prospect was not en-
~couragtng, she did not give up hope
entirely, for there was a chance that
her parents might find her yet, as it
was possible that their boat might
nave been cast upon the neighboring
island.
On her tour Of exploration she found
"a chicken coop filed with drowned
fowls, two tins of sea biscuit, some
drfftwood and a few bits of rigging
from the foundered vessel. These she
dragged upon the beach out of the
reach of the waves. She retained her
presence of mind enough to realize
that she must attract attention in case
of a passing vessel, SO she planted a
piece of driftwood upon the highest
point of the island and tackled a piece
of cloth to it to serve as 9 distress
signal,
Finding a little pond in the center
of a small clump of palms, she began
TO build shelter. She planted pieces
of drfftwood upright, piled sand and
stones against them and stretched
over the top a piece of sail from the
wreck. She had no tools and small
experience, but she managed to rig
up a sort of shelter which should serve
as a home for her and the lion. To
this place she carried everything that
drifted ashore.
Her first activity over, the reaction
came, and a fit Of hopelessness and
despair settled down upon her, She
realized that she was a girl alone,on a
bit of land in the middle Of a vast
probably far from the track of
even cruising vessels. She was prac-
ticalIy without food or shelter. Her
only companion vas the lion cub.
This period of despair lasted for a
week, while she subsisted on the fowls
and sea biscuit. Then she applied her
self together, quieted her nerves. and
realizing that she was young and full
OF health dSclueu IneTS was yet hCp~
and that she must live in any case
she began to set a for turtles
that lined the beach. From the cor
dage washed ashore she knotted to-
gether a rough net to catch the fish
she could see in the shallow lagoon
Letween The island and the reef out
side. From pins and hairplns she
fashioned rough hooks, which she bait
ed and e for seaguils.
For three weeks she lived on raw
food, as she was without fire. She
had heard Of savages making fire by
rubbing sticks together, but her eff
forts to produce flame by this means
were in vain. Then she began to
IJ.-.J TO- z4arar which