The Mena weekly star., 1909-02-04

thoughts and her hands.
 At first every ascent of the cliff was embittered by a painful consciousness of the cairn over the north edge For tunately 1t was not in sight from the direct path to the headland, and, as she refrained from visiting 1t, the new happenings of her wild life soon thrust Winthrope and his death out of the foreground of her thoughts Each day she had to nerve herself to meet the beaks and wings of the despoiled nest owners; each day she looked with greater hope for the expected rescue ship. only to be increasingly disap- 1 pointed.
 But the hours she spent on the cliff crest after gathering the days supply of eggs were not spent merely in watching and longing. The inconvsn- fences of carrying the eggs in hand kerchief or in one of the heavy jars suggested a renewal of her attempt at basket-making. Memory, perssver- ance and a trace of inventiveness en- abled her to produce . small but serviceable hamper of split bamboo.
 Encouraged by this success she gathered quantity of tough, wiry grass, Sand wove a hat to take the | place of the flmsy palm-leaf make shift. The result was by no means | satisfactory with regard to style, its shape being intermediate between . l Mexican sombrero and funnel but aside from It's appearance, she could | box xxrfch fa~ | fortable head-covsr. Before showing it to Blake, she wovs . second one for him, so that they were able to cast aside the grotesque, palm-lsaf affairs ! at the same time.
 The following morning Blake ap- 1 peared in an outfit to match her leopard-skin dress. He had singed off | the hair of the bide out of which he | had made his moccasins. and his hyena-skin trousers quite matched the l bristling stubble on his face. Hey. Miss Jenny," he hailed; what q you think of this for fancy | needlework?"
 "Splendidl You're the very picture | of an Argentine vaquero."
 "Greaser ?-ugh Let me get back | to the Weary Willy pants!" | 'T mean you are very picturesque" That's 1t, is 1t? Glad I've got something to call your leopardine gown that won't make you huffy."
 we can at least call our costumes serviceable, and mine has proved much cooler than I expected" But our new hats beat all for that regular sunshades. What do you say?--there's a good breeze-- Lets take hske."
 Not to the river! The very thought | of that dreadful snake"
 No; just the other way. I've been | thinking for some time that we ought to run down to that south headland | and take squint at the coast be- yond. Ten to one it's another stretch of swamps, but"
 You think there is . chance we may find a town?"
 About one chance in million, even for a native village. The slave trade wiped the niggers of this coast. and I guess those that hit out up country ran 80 hard they haven't been able to get back yet"
 But 1t has been years since the slave trade was forbidden"
 And they don't sell beer in Kansas --oh. no. I'll bet the dhows still slip over from Madagascar when the moon is in the right quarter. At any rate. niggers are mighty scarce or mighty shy around here. I've kept . watch for smoke, and haven't seen sus- picion of it anywhere. Maybe the swamps swing around inland and cut of this strip of coast. It looked that way to me when made that trip along the ridge But there's chance 1t used to be inhabited, and we may run across an abandoned village"
 q do not see that the discovery would do us any good"
 How about the chance of grain or bananas still growing! But that's all guess. We're going because we need a change"
 She nodded and hastened to pre- pare breakfast, while he packed . skin bag with food and examined the slen- der tips of his arrows. As matter of precaution, he had been keeping them in the cigarette case. where the points would be certain of . coat of the sticky poison and at the same time guarded against innicting a chance wound. But as he was now about to set out on a Journey he fitted tips into the heads of his two straightest shafts.
 The morning was still fresh when they closed the barricade behind them and descended to the pool. There was no game in sight. but Blake had no wish to hunt at the commencement of the trip. The steady southwest wind had blown the sky clear of its malarial haze and gave promise of a day which should know nothing of sutry calm-a day on which game would be hard to stalk. but one per fectly suited for long tramp.
 Mindful of ticks. Blake headed ob- liquely across to the beach, Once on the smooth, hard sand, they swung along at a brisk pace, lighthearted md keen with the spirit of adventure. Never had they felt more compan- lonable. Miss Leslie laughed and chatted and sang snatches of songs. while Blake beat time with his club. or sought to whistle grand opera-he