St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-05-18

now {! ne SAID, looking at the DlfQ
'That amt like pal" he repeated.
The bird remained silent. He fancied
reproach in its beadlike eyes. They
seemed to bore into him. And you
such a small chap, too!' he muttered.
Then he turned his back on the island
and with head resting on his elbow
uttered no further complaint.
That second day on the raft seemed
much longer than the first, the Sec
ond night Of infinitely greater duration
than the preceding one, but dawn re-
vealed the island very near-so near,
indeed, the bird made up it's mind to
try to reach it. 1t looked at the man
for a moment and then flew away.
Long he watched it, a little dark spot
now that he could no longer see the
ruby on its breast. At length it was
lost to sight, swallowed up by the
green blur.
The small winged creature gone, the
man missed it. "'Peared like twas
glad to leave such a pal," he thought
regretfully. The floating timbers be-
came well nigh intolerable. He kept
asking himself if he could swim to
land; but, knowing his weakness from
long fasting, he curbed his impatience.
His eyes grew tired with staring at
the longed for spot. He suffered the
torrents of Tantalus and finally could
endure them no longer, so, making his
clothes into a bundle, he tied them
around his neck and slipped into the
water.
Half an hour later found him prone
and exhausted on the yellow sands.
Nearby tall and stately trees nodded
at him. Close at hand a great crab
regarded him with reflective interest,
hesitating between prudence and car
ton to sample the goods the gods had
provided prevailed over caution. 1t
moved quickly forward, when what it
had considered only an unexpected
and welcome piece de resistance alb
ruptly got up. The tables were turn
ed. That which came to dine was
dined upon. crushing blow demon
strated the law Of the survival Of the
f1ttest. The weaker adorned the board.
The man tore it to bits-ate it like the
famished animal he was.
For a week nothing of moment in
terrupted the even tenor of his ex-
istence. He led the life Of a savage
and found it to his liking. bounced
upon turtles and cooked them, kept
his fire going because he had but few
matches. One day a box was washed
ashore. a message from the civilized
centers to the field Of primitive man!
On its cover were the words, "Via
Sailing Vessel Lord Nelson followed
by the address. The convict pried the
boards apart and gave a shout. Rum,
and plenty of it-bottle after bottle
in an overcoat Of straw, nesting low
mgly one upon another! The man
licked his lips, knocked off a neck,
drank deep, and then. stopping many
times, carried his treasure to his bow
er.
Day after day turned its page, merg-
ed into the past; sometimes. perforce,
he got up, and, not a pleasant thing
to look at. staggered to the beach
with his club. There he would STAY
some crawling thing from the sea,
return with his prize to mingle eating
with drinking until, stated with both.
he would fall back unconscious among
the flowers. But the prolonged in
diligence began to have a marked eff
feet on his store. Bottle after bottle
was tossed off, the empty shells flung
aside to the daisies. At length the
day came when only two bottles re-
manned in the case, one full pair, sole
survivors of the lot The man took
them out, set them up and regarded
af icoc
of imminent tragedy, shivered through
his dulled consciousness. He reached
for the bottles and fondled them,
started to knock the head from one
and put it down. Resisting desire. he
told himself he would have a look at
the beach; the ocean had generously
cast one box of well primed bottles at
his feet; perhaps it would repeat its
hospitable action and make him once
more the recipient of its bounty. The
thought buoyed him to the shore; the
sea Tapped the sand with Lydian whis-
pers, and there, beyond the edge of
the soft singing ripples. he saw some
thing that made him rub his dazed
eyes.
A box, big box, box as tall as he
was! NO pdiCry OoZeA VI LWo ILLS
time! Perhaps there was whisky, too,
and the bubbling stuff the long necked
lords had sometimes pressed upon him
in the past when he had ''ousted' his
man and put guilds in their pockets or
some of that fiery vin-something he
had once INDUCED in with Johnny
Frenchman before he took to the tun-
mel when he had been free to swagger
through old Leicester square. Any |