Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-03-11

| dtleIlptcu i SuIpIlst anu hhouS oii the moment they were discovered. Tomor row or next day they will swarm round the ship In hundreds and fire at us with rifles, bows and slings. They dc most harm with the slings and arrows as they hold the gun away from the shoulder, but they can cast heavy pebble from a sling quite as far and almost as straight as revolver car shoot"
 How do they know the ship will no sail at once" demanded Courtenay.
 Suarez laughed hysterically with tht mirth which is akin to tears when tht query was explained to him. He look ed bizarre enough under ordinary con ditions, but laughter converted him in to fair semblance of one of those bloodcurdling demons which Japa nese artist loves to depict. Evidently he depended on makeup to supplement his powers as conjurer.
 Tt is as much as a canoe can manage fin fine weather to reach the island out there, which they call Seal island," he cried, pointing toward the locality of White Horse island. Even. the In dians were astonished to see so big a ship anchored here safely. They have watched plenty of wrecks outside, and hardly anything comes ashore. At any rate, they are quite sure you cannot go back"
 It would be idle to deny that the Spaniard's words sent chill of ap. prehension down the spines of some of those present, but the captain said i quietly:
 Where a ship is concerned, if she can enter on the flood she can go out on the ebb. How came you to escape tonight?"
 I Tears stood again in Suarez's eyes as he replied:
 When heard their plan imagined they would be driven off, provided a watch were kept. I resolved to risk all in the attempt to reach the company of civilized men once more. do not care what the outcome may be. If can help you to overcome them, am ready to do so; if not, I will die by your side. Tonight followed in ca noe unseen. When I heard the shoot ing l leaped overheard and swan to the ship. It was lucky for me some one seized the canoe which I found there. The men in her had to swim to other canoes, and two were wounded, I heard them say. This caused some confusion. and I had something to grasp when I reached the ship; other wiseI must have been drowned, as the water was very cold"
 "Can you speak the Alaculos lan- guageT
 "Is that what you call them? Their own name for the tribe is the 'Feath- cred People, because all their chief men and heads of families wear these things" and he touched his headdress. "Yes, I know nearly all their words. They don't use great many. One word may have several meanings, &C., cording to the pitch of the voice."
 Suddenly his voee failed him. Though the words came fluently, his long disused vocal chords were un- equal to the strain of measured speech. He asked hoarsely for some hot wa ter. When Courtenay next came across him in the salon he was asleep and changed so greatly by the removal of pigments from his face that it was difficult to regard him as the same be- ing.
 His story was unquestionably true. Tollemache, who had fought an off, shoot tribe of these same Indians; Christobal, who vouched for the Ar genuine accent. and Elsie, who seemed to have read such rare books of travel as dealt with that little known part of the world, bore out the reasona bleness of his statements. The only individual on board who regarded him with sus- picion was Joey, and even Joey was satisfied when Suarez had washed him. self.
 It was daylight again. a dawn of dense mist. without wind or hail, ere any member of the ships company thought of sleep. Then Elsie went to her cabin and dreamed of a river of molten gold, down which she was com pelled to sail in a cockleshell boat, while fantastic monsters swan around : and eyed her suspiciously. i When at last she awoke after few hours of less exciting slumber she came out on deck to find the sun shin ing on a fairyland of green and blue and diamond white. with gaunt gray rocks and groves of copper beeches to frame the picture. There was no pill lar of smoke on the lower hills to bear silent testimony to the presence of the Indians. but the canoe lying alongside told her that the previous nights events were no part of her dreams. and man whom she did not recognize -a man with closely cropped gray hair and a deeply lined. weather tan ned face from which a pair of sunken. flashing eyes looked kindly at her said fin Spanish:
 Good morning. senorita. I hope did not startle you when came aboard. And I said things I should not have said In the presence of q lady. But. believe me. senorita, was drunk with delight"