The Mena weekly star., 1910-05-26

| the practical, she would be thoroughly satisfied with her educational pro | cesses.
 She unused on the problem as he la- | bored silently and vigorously. He stopped once or twice. but she kept him to 1t, a feat vastly greater than she realized. until the interior of the boat, which was small ships boat, a dinghy. had been entirely cleared | out She had watched carefully every spadeful or sand which had been tossed over the buried gunwales and now she searched eagerly the boat itself | Her inspection revealed nothing | There were lockers at either end | These she opened, finding nothing therein but mouldering remains of l cloth. bags of some sort which she surmised might have contained ships | bread, and little barrel or keg, which had probably carried water for the | voyagers.
 The boat appeared to be in an ex. | cellent state of preservation. There were even a pair of oars lying on the thwarts. If she could have dug 1t out | of the sand entirely, she fancied she could have launched 1t and used It. l But such a task was utterly beyond her. Besides there would have been no gain in having the boat afioat She would not dare to taks 1t out beyond the barrier reef and there was nothing | to row for in the lagoon.
 She easily broke the rotting lines with which the oars were secured and took them out They would be useful 1 perhaps in some way. And then after long look at the boat and with feel | ing that her labor had been mainly | wasted. she was about to turn away when the thought struck her that sometimes boats carried the names of the ships to which they belonged on their bows or across their sterns. She had recourse to the shovel once more, and after some deliberation essayed the stern of the boat.
 It was not so hard to shovel the sand away from 1t and here she did make discovery, for although the let ters had been almost obliterated by the action of the sand, she could still make them out After some study she decided that the name of the boat, or of the ship to which 1t had be. longed, had been Nansemond of Nor. folk, Virginia That was the net re- suit of the hard labors of long morn ing It told her something. but not much Assuming that the man with her was John Revell Charnock and as suming that he had come to the island l. the past on that boat, it indicated .ha. he was at least an American and yirglnian. It identified him. if her suppositions were correct, and wheth- CT there was warrant for them or not instinctlvely and naturally she con. cluded that she was correct.
 Admitting all this, however, it gave her no clew from which to build a history. The testimony of the boat was interesting that was all Her first thought was to leave 1t where it was but her second thought was better With the aid of the stout piece of board which had served her for a shovel, she hammered away at the stern piece until she broke 1t of She saw new that the boat must have lain there in the sand for many years, for the wood was brittle and the fasten- lngs largely destroyed. for the stern piece came easily away. She laid 1t aside for moment intending to pre-. serve 1t with the Bible Heaven knows what dream of future useful ness in the way of evidence establish. ing identity these might be, entered her mind.
 Then she threw herself down under the trees and rested She had left her watch, her precious watch, bach In the cave with the boob. She did not dare to carry 1t arouad with her She had no way of carrying it in the ihin, single garment which she wore put she judged from the height of the sun that it must be noon time. They made their meal of the fruits of the island, this time with a rich and Juicy cocoanut added which the man got for her at her suggestion in the sign Ian. guage at which she was becoming ex- pert, by climbing with wonderful agil. ity. ape-like agility almost, one of the tall cocoanut palms with which the island abounded There were fruits of various sorts in great plenty on the island and she was becoming accus- toned 10 the diet by degrees.
 She passed the noon hour in trying to add to the mental equipment of her companion. He could say a number Of words now and had some idea of their meaning. although he had not yet attempted to frame sentences nor had she yet tried to teach him so to do It was pleasant under the shade of the trees. She found herself mar yelling at times as to the contentment that possessed her, a product of the age suddenly plunged into the Eden like existence which her forebears might have enjoyed ten thousand years before.
 The hours ran on until the declin- ing sun and the coolness that came with the late afternoon warned her that if she were to continue her ex- plorations she must be about 1t i'm. mediately. So she rose and nerying herself to her task went toward the coppice where lay the ghastly remains or what had been a human being Forcing herself to the duty with her knife she carefully cut away the rush es. being particular not to disturb the | bones of the skeletons As before she