The Lake County times., 1908-04-11

ferrous twist of the blades when within
a cables length of the ship and then
circled slowly round her. The four
men jabbered in astonishingly loud
voices. Suarez, who gathered the pur-
port OF their talk. explained that they
were discussing the best method of at
tack
''The three younger men belong to
the tribe I lived with" he said. 1.-THE
old man sitting between the women is
stranger. 1 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 a road?'
asked Courtenay when he learned what
Suarez was saying.
HE would arrive in a canoe" was
the answer. 1.-THE Indians venture out
to sea In very bad weather. He prob
ably passed the ship late last night,
and, now / come to think of it, the ca
noe which you captured is not familiar
to me, whereas I know by sight every
craft owned by the Feathered People"
How many do they possessY'
"Twenty-three."
These statements were digconcerting.
Not only was it possible for the ma
tives to surround the Kansas with a
whole swarm of men, but the mere
number of their boats would render 1t
exceedingly difficult to repel a COM
bined assault. And nothing could be
more truculent than the demeanor Of
the seminude warriors. They pointed
at each person they saw on the decks
and made a tremendous row when
they passed the canoe fastened along
side. Despite their keen sight, they
who now wore cap and a suit of
clothes taken from the locker of one of
the missing stewards.
The impudence Of the Indians exas-
perated Courtenay. The sheer size of
the Kansas should have awed them,
he thought.
At that moment the rowers permit
ted the canoe to swing round with the
tide. One Of the men stood up, and
Elsie, who seized the chance of snap
Shooting the party, ran to the upper
deck, SO she did not overhear Courte-
nays smothered ejaculation. He was
scrHtinizing the savages through his
glasses, and he had distinctly seen the
ships name painted on a small wa
ter cask on which the Indian had been
sitting. Tollemache made the same
dramatic discovery.
"Out of one of the ships lifeboats, I
suppose?" he said in a low tone to the
captain.
Eyes. Did you see the numberY'
mo. 8, think"
81 agree with you. That was the
first lifeboat which got away"
Christobal, startled out Of his won't
ed sang froid, whispered In his turn:
do you mean to say that one of the
boats has fallen into the hands OF
these fiends?'
81 am afraid so," replied Courtenay.
"Of course that particular keg may
have drifted ashore. In any case, it
tells the fate of one section of the
mutineers. Either the boat is swamp
cd or the crew is now on the island
and we know what that signifies"
| "Is there no chance of bribing these
people into friendliness or at least into
temporary truceT
'Tt is hard to decide. Tollemache
and Suarez are best able to form ar
opinion. What do you say, Tolle
mache?"
Not bit of use. They are insatia.
BILE. The more you give the more they
want. The only way to deal with
those rotters is to stir them up with q
Gatling or a twelve FOUNDER"
Suarez when appealed to shook his
head.
You might as well try to fondle 8
hungry puma. / am the only man they
have ever spared, and they spared me
solely because they thought I gave
them power over their enemies. II
you had q cannon you might drive
them off. AS 1t is, we shall be com
PEELED to fight for our lives. They arc
brave enough in their own way"
The experience Of the miner from
Argentina was not to be gainsaid
Courtenay glanced up at Elsie. Il
aught were needed to complete the
contrast between civilization and say
agery it was given by the comparison
which the girl offered to the women II
the canoe. The hot sun and the alb
sence of wind had changed the tenn
perature from winter to summer. Aft
er breakfast Elsie had donned a mus
lin dress and broad brimmed straw
hat. Exposure to the weather hat
bronzed her skin to a delightful tint
Her nut brown hair framed a sweetll
pretty face, and her clear blue eye