The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-01

! to make the passage. But this would
be risking all on a frightful uncer-
| tainty, and the accidental discovery OF
| the eagles's nest had given him new
hope. Here he could make a deter
mined and prolonged stand, and in the
| end help must come. So he dismissed
the navigation project, and devoted
himself wholly to the perfecting of the
natural fortress in the rock.
| That night they finished the rope
| ladder. Indeed. jerks was determined
in stu; he did not care to try sec
ond time to carry Iris to that elevat-
| ed perch, and it may be remarked that
thenceforth the girl, before going to
sleep, simply changed one ragged dress
for another.
One of the first things he contem-
| plated was the destruction, If possible.
of the point on the opposite cliff which
commanded the ledge. This, however
was utterly impracticable with the APP
| planes at his command. The TOP of
the rock slOped slightly towards the
west, and nothing short of dynamite or
regular quarrying operations would
render it untenable by hostile marks
men.
During the day his Lee Metfords, at
ninety yards range, might be trusted
to keep the place clear of intruders.
But at night-that was the difficulty.
He partially solved it by fixing Cwo
rests on the ledge to support a rife in
exact line with the center of the one
my's supposed position, and as a va
RANT, on the outer rest he marked lines
which correspondent with other sections
of the entire front available to the foe.
Even then he was not satisfied.
When time permitted he made many
experiments with ropes reeved through
the pulley and attached to a rifle ac-
ton. He might have succeeded In his
main object had not his thoughts
taken a new line. His aim was to
achieve some method of opening and
closing the breech block by means of
two ropes. The difficulty was to Sc
cure the preliminary and final lateral
movement of the lever bolt, but it
suddenly occurred to him that if he
could manage to convey the impress
sion that Iris and he had left the
island. the Dyaks would go away after
fruitless search. The existence of
ropes along the face of the rock-an
essential TO his mechanical scheme
would betray their whereabouts. or at
any rate excite dangerous curiosity. So
he reluctantly abandoned his original
design, though not wholly, as will be
seen in due course
In pursuance of his latest idea ne
sedulously removed from the foot of
the cliff all traces of the clearance eff
fected on the ledge, and, although he
provided supports for the tarpaulin
covering, he did not adjust it. Iris
and he might lie perdu there for days
without being found out This
development suggested the necessity of
hiding their spare stores and ammuni-
ton, and what spot could be more
suitable than the cave?
So jerks began to dig once more in
the interior, labOring manfully with
pick and shovel in the locality of the
fault with its vein of anthony 1t was
thus that he Numbered upon the sec
ond great event of his life.
Rainbow island had given him the
one thing a man prizes above all else
"a pure yet passionate love for wo-
man beautiful alike in body and mind
And now it was to endow him with
riches that might stir the pulse of even
p South African magnate. For :he