Evening star., 1907-11-18
CHAPTER XII.
Condolences.


changed its course with dexterous twist
of The blades when within a cable 5
length o. the ship, and then circled slowly
round her. The four men jabbered in as
tonishingly loud voices. Suarez. who
gathered the purport of their talk, ex-
planned that they were discussing the
best method of attack.
THE three younger men belong to the
tribe which 1 lived with ID said. The
old man sitting between the women Is a
stranger. | think he must have come
from the north of the island with some
of his friends, attracted by the smoke
signals
From the north? Is there road?'
asked Courtenay, when he learnt what
SuareZ was saying.
He would arrive in a canoe, was the
answer. The Indians venture out to sea
in very bad weather He probably passed
the ship late last night, and. now / come
to think of it, the canoe which you cap
tured is not familiar to me. whereas
know by sight every craft owned by the
Feathered People"
How many do they poss So?
"Twenty-t three"
These statements were disconcarting.
Not only was it possible for the natives
to surround the Kansas with a whole
swarm of men, bat the mere number OF
their boats would render it exceedingly
nothing could be more truculent than the
demeanor of the semi-nude warriors.
They pointed at each person they saw on
the decks, and made a tremendous row
when they passed the canoe fastened
alongside. Despite their keen sight. they
evidently did not recognize Suarez. who
now wore a cap and suit o. clothes
taken from the locker of one of the miss
ing stewards, while his appearance was
SO altered otherwise that even the people
Il, I
as the misunderstanding wizard whom
they had dragged out of the water some
twelve hours earlier.
The impudance of the Indians exasper-
ated Courtenay. The sheer size OF the
Kansas should have awed them. he
thought.
Il wish they had left their omen be-
hind" he muttered. IF the m.n were
alone. an ounce or two of buckshot would
soon teach them to keep their distance
perhaps they are aware of the danger
of boarding a ship which stands SO high
above the SEA as the Kansas" said
Christobal why not fire couple of
rounds of blank cartridge at them
Worst thing YOU can do" said Tolle-
mache.
But why?'
They would be sure then you could
not hurt them. If YOU shoot. shoot
straight, with the heaviest shot you pos
SesS.
A that moment the rowers permitted
the canoe to swing round with the tide.
One o. the men stood up, and Elsie, who
seized the chance of snapshottng the
party, ran to the upper deck, so she did
not overhear CJurtenay's smothered
ejacu !ation He was scrutiniZing the saw
ages through his glasses and he had dis
tinctly seen the ships name painted OH d
small water cask on which the India II
had been sitting. Tollemacha made the
sa me dramatic discovery.
'Out OF one of the ships lifeboats. l
SUPPOSE he said, in a low tone TO the
captain.
Yes. Did you see the number?"
mo. g. l think
i agree with you. That was the first
lifeboat which got away
InriStobal, startled out of his wonted
sangfroid whispered In his turn:
do you mean to say that one of the
boats has fallen into the hands of these
fends?'
Il am afraid So replied Courtenay.
of course. that particular keg may have
drifted ashore. In any case, it tells the
fate o. one section of the mutineers.
Either the boat is sWamped. or the crew
are now on the island. and we know what
that signifies.
rs there no chance of bribng these
people into friendliness, or, at least into
a temporary truce?'
1T is hard to decide. Tollemache and
Suarez are best able to form an opinion
What do you say. Tollemache?"
Not bit Of use; they are Unsuitable.
The more you give the more they want
The only way to deal with those rotters
is to stir them up with a gatling or
tWelve-pounder."
Suarez, when appealed to, shook his
head.
Last winter" he said. the man sitting
aft. he with the single albatross feather
sticking in his hair, seized his own son.
aged six. and dashed his brains out on the
rocks because the little fellow dropped
basket of sea eggs he was carrying. The
woman nearest to him is his wife and she
raised no protest. You might as we'll try
to fonde hungry puma. l am the only
man they have ever spared and they
spared me solely because they thought
gave them power over their enemies. If
You had cannon, you might drive them
off. AS it is we shall be compelled to
fight for our lives; they are brave enough
in their own way"
The experience of the miner from Ar
gentina was not to be gainsaid The
predicament of the giant Kansas-inert
immovable, lying in that peaceful bay at
the mercy of horde of painted savages
was one of the strange facts almost be-
yond credence which men encounter at
times in the byways of life. 1t reminded
Courtenay of visit he paid to the croco-
die tank at karachi when he was mid
Shipman on the BOadicea. He noticed that
some of the huge saurians eighteen feet
in length and covered with scale armor
off which a bullet would glance. were
squirming uneasily, and the Hindu at
tendant told him that they had been bit
ten by mosquitoes!
He laughed quietly, but his mirth had
a curious ring in it which bodice ill fo2
certain unknown members of the Alacuof
tribe when the threatened tussle came
to close quarters. Elsie heard him. Lean
ing over the rails of the spar deck, she
asked cheerfully:
What is the joke, Capt. Courtenay?
And why don't the Indians come near-r?
Are they timid? They don't look it."
He glanced up at her If aught were
needed to complete the contrast between
civilization and savagery it was given by
the comparison which the girl offered to
the women ih~the canoe. The hot sun
and the absence of wind had changed the
temperature from winter to summer.
After breakfast Elsie had donned mus
lin dress and broad -brimmed straw hat.
Exposure to the weather had bronZed her
skin to a delightful tint. Her nut-brcwn
hair framed a sweety pretty Iace. and
her clear blue eyes and red lips, slightly
parted. smiled bewitchinSly at the men
beneath. The camera in her hands added
a holiday aspect to her appearance. an
aspect which was unutterably disquieting
in its relation to the muttered forebodings
she had broken in on.
But Courtenay's voice gave no hint of
the tumult in his breast. though some
malign spirit seemed to whisper the
asonizing question: ''Win you permit her
to fall into the hands of the ghouls wait
ing Without
Il find the get-up of our visitors dis
tinCtly humorous he said land | hone
they are a bit scared of US. We would
,.Tfo tl,1s,- hi.