The newspaper., 1909-07-30
CONTINUED from page threel

PCT ne IOund occasion 10 Spend some
little time among the bamboos.
When at sunset Miss Leslie with
drew into the baobab. Winthrope
somewhat officiously insisted upon
helping her set up her screen in the
entrance. AS he did SO, he took the
opportunity to hand her a bamboo
knife, and to draw her attention to
several double pointed bamboo stakes
which he had hidden under the litter.
What is it?" she asked. troubled by
his furtive glance back at Blake.
Merely precaution. you know" he
whispered The ground in there Is
quite soft. 1t will be no trouble. I
fancy. to put up the stakes. with their
points inclined toward the entrance"
But why"
Not SO loud, Miss Genevieve! It
struck me that IL any one should seek
to enter in the night. he would find
these stakes deucedly unpleasant. Be
careful how you handle them. AS you
see, the sharper points. which are to
be set uppermost, run of into razor
edge. Pat them up now. before 1t
grows too dark. You know how nine
pins are set-that shape. Goodnight!
You see, with these to guard the en-
trance, you need not be afraid to go to
sleep at once"
Thank you," she whispered. and
began to thrust the stakes into the
ground as he had directed.
He had not been mistaken. The
vague doubts and fears which she al
ready entertained would have kept her
awake throughout the night. but
thanks to the sense of security af-
forded by the sword bayonets of her
silent little sentries, the girl was
soon able TO calm herself. and was
fast asleep long before Blake wakened
Winthrope.
Immediately after breakfast, Blake
who had spent his watch in grind
Ing the edges from a stone and ex-
perimenting with split and bent
twigszput Winthropes keys in the
fire, and began an attempt to shape
them into knife-blade. To heat the
steel to the required temperature. he
used a bamboo blowpipe. with his
lungs for bellows.
Winthrope turned away with an in
different bearing; but Miss Leslie
found herself compelled to stop and
admire his dexterous use of his rude
tools
One after another. the keys were
welded together. end to end. in a mar
row ribbon of steel. The thinnest
one. however, was not fastened to the
tip until II had been used to burn a
groove in the edge of rib. selected
from among the bones which Miss
Leslie had thrown out of the baobab.
The last key was then fastened to the
others: the blade ground sharp. tenn
pered, and inserted in the groove.
Finally. pieces OF the keyring were fit-
ted in bands around the bone. through
notches cut in the ends of the steel
blade. The result was a bone-handled.
bone backed knife. with a narrow cut
ting edge of fine steel.
Long before 1t was finished Miss
Leslie had been forced away by the
requirements of her own work. In
fact, Blake did not complete his task
until late in the afternoon. At the
end. he spent more than an hour
grinding the handle into shape When
he came to show the completed knife
to Miss Leslie. he was fairly aglow with
justifable pride.
"How's that for an Eskimo job?" he
demanded Bunch of keys and
bone. eh?"
You are certainly very ingenious.
Nr Blake,"
Milky, There's little of the inventor
in my top piece-only some hustle
and a good memory. ! was up In
Alaska, you know Saw a sight OF
Eskimo work"
"St.ll. II is very skilfully done"
That may be Look out for the
edge. It'd do to shave. No more
bamboo splinters for me-dull when
you hit piece OF bone. I'm ready
now to skin a rhinoceros."
III you can catch one!"
Guess we could find enough OF
them around here, all right. But
we'll start In on some OF Wins sheep
and cattle"
"Oh. do! One grows tired OF eggs.
and all these sea-birds are SO tough
and fshy, no matter how ! cook them
Wen sneak down to the pool. and
make a try with the bows this eve
ming I'll give odds. though. that we
draw a blank. Wins got the aim. but
no drive; I've got the erive. but no
aim. Even II hit an antelope. don't
think bamboo-pointed arrow would
I<s L. n.