The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-01-21


| these stakes deucedly unpleasant. Be
careful how you handle them. As you
see, the sharper points. which are to
| be set uppermost. run off into a razor
! edge. Put them up now, before it
| 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 90 to
| sleep at once"
Thank you" she whispered. and
| began to thrust the stakes into the
ground as he had directed.
lie 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 swordbavonets Of her
silent little sentries, the girl was
| soon able to calm herself, and was
fast asleep long before Blake Weakened
Win,hrope
Immediately after breakfast. blake
who had spent his watch in grind
! ing the edges from a stone and ex-
! perimenting with split and bent
| twigs-put Winthrope's keys in the
! fire, and began an attempt TO shape
| them into a knife-blade. To heat the
! steel to the required temperature. he
used 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 mar
row ribbon Of steel. The thinnest
| one, however. was not fastened to the
tip until it had been used to burn a
| groove in the edge of a 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
| nOtchcs cut in the ends of the steel
| blade. The result was a bone-handled
bone-backed knife, with a narrow cut
ling edge of fine steel.
Long before it 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
10 Miss Leslie, he was fairly aglow with
iusttfable pride
"How's that for an Eskimo iob?" he
| demanded. Bunch of keys and a
! bone. eh2"
You are certainly very ingenious,
| Nj Rlake,'
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"
still, it 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 a piece Of bone I'm ready
aow to skin rhinoceros."
IF you can catch one"
Guess We could find enough of
them around here all right But
Wen 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 I cook them"
Wen sneak down to the pool. and
make a try with the bows this eve
ming III give odds though, that we
draw a blank. Wins got the aim, but
no drive; I've got the drive, but no
aim. Even if hit an antelope | don't
think a pointed arrow would
bother him much"
Don't the sayages kill game with
out iron weapons"
Sure; but a lot have flint points,
and lot of others use poison. I
know that the Apaches and some of
those other southern Indians used to
fix their arrows with rattlesnake
poison"
How HORRIBLE"
We'll, that depends on how you look
at it. ! guess they thought guns more
horrible when they tackled the whites
and got the daylight let through EN-.
At any rate, they snapped arrows for
rifles mighty quick, and anyone who
knows Apaches will tell you it wasn't
because they thought bullets would
do less damage"
yet the thought of poison"
Eyes; but the thought of self-preser-
walton! Sooner than starve, I'd poison
every animal in Africa-and so would
YOU
IL You put it in such a horrible
way. One must consider others, ami
mails as well as people; ard yet"
Survival of the fittest. I've read
some things, and I'm no fool, if | do
say it myself For instance, I'm the
boss here, because I'm the fttest of
our crowd in this environment; but
back in what's called civilized parts,
where the law let's few shrewd fell
lows monopoliZe the means of produc-
ton a man like your father"
Mr.. Blake, it is not my fault If
| papa's position in the business