The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1907-01-31
How could sne, poor thing?"

hoNO DCSi1 AhhhAhS hCi PAoAo. = " uy
did she select Vibart's boat, when
there were two others? Why did she
allow him to wrap her up in tarpaul
ms, and generally fuss round her!
She belonged to Williamson the
Co., and ought to have gone with the
Lascars, if she had any sense of Ell.
uuette. She dropped into Vibart's arms
quite naturally, however, and allowed
him to carry her to the shore Then
she collapsed"
Didn't he rather enjoy it," ques.
toned Kitty.
"Vibart has never expressed himself
to me fully on the point" l said.
Anyway, there they were on a
strange shore, under pitchy sky, wet
through and through-unarmed, and
with a crowd of uncouth brown men
gibbering round about them In all,
a bakers dozen of white people-as
against so Lascars. Those were anx.
icus moments"
Terrible"
so why did Robinetta make them
worse by collapsing? 1 pause for re-
ply; and finding none, declare, unhes-
itatingly that Robinetta did it on pur-
pose to put poor old Wharf in false
position. He had to comfort her, and
keep his arm about the wretched tar
paulins in which she was wrapped"
and in the r,ornins?"
"They found themselves on an
island. A mere coral reef of the NAL
dives. Plenty of vegetation--and ants.
But nothing else"
"And Robinetta?'
within ten minutes had become
the despotic ruler Of the whole COM
pany. There were three other women,
but Robinetta didn't give them time
to think. She saw that Wharf was
going to be boss, and so annexed him.
They moved their belongings to the
shore. and started to build :; camp.
But how could they build camp
when there was only vegetation?"
"They broke up the Kaiser-i-hind,
and used her timbers for the frame.
work Of their several huts. The CO
coanut trees"
Palms, Reggie"
Thank you. The palms did the
rest. By nightfall very presentable
native village had been created. The
best hut was Robinetta's. 1t had a
toilette table and a looking glass; a
brush, comb-and curling tongs. vi
bart had dived into her cabin, which
was partly submerged, to rescue these
feminine essentials-little dreaming
that they were going to be treacher-
ously used against him"
But didn't Robinetta love Mr..
Williams, them"
Il don't think she loved anybody
for the first day Or two on that island.
When ones hair is all in tails, and
ones clothes are a mass of creaseS
and mud-one's attention is largely
occupied with home affairs. But we
must proceed After a week of it,
the island became too small to hold
the whites and the Lascars. So vi
bart decided that one or the other
must 60 He took q reading of the
sun, and loudly consulted the ships
chart. Then he called the company
together, and announced that they
were on one of the least freQuented
atolls in the Maldive archipelago"
"Atolls, Reggie?"
"Atolls-islandS It's the correct
word. The Maldives are sometimes
styled the Thousand Isles They are
ruled by sultan. This sultan
journeys to Colombo every year
to pay tribute He is NOLAN.
medan, and wears a fez, and resides
at Male, the chief village in the chief
island. The exports of the Maldives
are breadfruit, cocoanuts-'
Thank you, Reggie. May I ask"
you may not. | shall never get
along at this rate-and had much to
say concerning the iniquities of Rob-
meta. Wharf suggested that the Las
cars should take two of the boats, and
attempt to reach Male. Then they
were to tell the sultan of the plight
of the rest"
why didn't the whites go, and leave
the Lascars?"
"Ah, why didn't they? Can't you
guess that Robinetta had decided, al:
that? She wouldn't go in the boats
any more. One night of it had been
ample. She said she had rather die.
She made Wharf export the Lascars
for sundrv reasons. For one thing