Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-11-30
sea Night fell and Norton took in sail so that w,

should not overrun the spot in darkness
It was noon when the Mariana weathered ths
to leeward. Here the islet bore a different aspect.
1t was still rocky, but small indentation in tq
narrow beach. The color of the water showed
that there was plenty of depth clear up under the
cliff -, No holding ground there, the skipper said.
Wen send boat ashore"
With no more words a boat was cleared away and
into it Norton, Gertrude, and got with couple
OF hands As we pulled away from the Mariana.
which had been Our home for SO long, l felt sud-
den distaste for the whole affair
1t was calm in the lee Of islet and quickly
made the blight and the little slender shore Va
were startled to see man standing on the edge Of
the water evidently trying to launch some sort u
boat
beard and clothes to speak Of a spindle shanked,
deep-rbbed fellow, with short-sighted eyes That
that little shore leaving his queer or what
ever it to in the edge of the gentle surf.
Only Gertrude knew that it was Jenkins. She gazed
at him with all her eyes, quivering. And he said,
Did you get my message|
Il came as / could" she said
Norton broke in here with his hoarse tones. Are
you the professor? What have you had to eat on
this God-forsaken fvck?"
Jenkins shook his head. There wasn't any way
Well, that was about the gist of it, The great
romance dwindled into tragedy; years without a.
shverng in the chill deenseless, houseless, solitary.
he had existed from season to season. scratching his
bFet messages on spnters of shell which he tied y
lived.
On the Mariana we fitted him out with clothes
that helped his sight Then Gertrude came to him
and asked coldy, us there anything the island
Nothing he told her. Nothing at all. What is
the longitude and latitude?"
Norton figured it for him and the result was what
is embroidered my handkerchief Pm glad to
know that, the professor said gently. Il tried for
three years to figure it out but having instru-
ments couldn't even approximate it."
1t seems that Jenkins (from his story had been
abandoned the leaking Haledkala and sticking %
the water-logged craft had finally come ashore On
forsaken island where his most careful investis
CATION failed to discover any signs OF human habita.
ton The cook who had stayed with him, died from
eating some poisonous fish. Jenkins decided that he
could move on, having poor, ramshacke small
boat left him on the now derelict schooner Instead
headed south, feeling that his sole hope lay in reach
ing the nesting place OF the Phaeton rubricauda and
thence sending messages till one was received 1t
to find the island where we had come upon him He
had sailed in the small boat from reef to island and
him, Strange, barbarous people had fed him and
tried to keep him with them. He had sailed on, in
canoes, on RATS. floating logs, always south,
always in the direction from which he the
hedgling tropic birds come. So ne finally to cut
nterminable story short. reached this rocky iset.
There he stayed. daily trying to catch another bird
to which to attX the sage he had scratched
shell; eating flesh, devouring raw eggs, sleeping
should be able to return
All this he told very simply and briefly that
night as the Mariana headed north with the trades
in the belly of her sails, And when he had finished
Gertrude leaned forward and said softly, Iom didn't
you know | would Gomez;
No" he answered quietly.
But you sent me a mcssage-rnes sages Didn't
you think | would answer them and come
He seemed hugely embarrassed Il did. IL
know know you would come, Mss-Gcrtrude' 1'''''
She seemed appalled, at the outcome Of her quest.
f So %a s s bs9 ten ES1 o a'ns the on she
islct by almost miraculous effort and tcnacity. And
he told her he didn't know she would come
"Nhat you going to do, professor" she in
CURED quietly. III nobody came and found you
lie rose. oh, had built boat ! was coming
back" he said. Il worked MY little all
Back whcre;' she demanded. "Ard how? How
could YOU get back? Its more than TWO thousand
u was coming back the way came" he answered
eravely. 1T took me several years reach the
island hoped to get back in two"
But why did you keep after the schooner
went ashore and The men had deserted you? Why
didn't you try to come back to civilization instead
Of running deeper into an unchartcd ocean,
tensity in his voice. Have you iorgottcn;'
She seemed to waken at the tone. Forgotten
what: she demanded huSkily
That ! couldn't ask you to be my wife till had
succeeded That was the promise ! made. It was
the condition which your father gave me tie
schooner. couldn't go back, for ! should have
Won came on--a thousand milcs-years-all
aoneF she whispered, An that you could ask
TO marry y0u:'
That is true he said gently. "And when l had
succeeded | was trying to start back-for you
She answered him never a word while she thought
brght-eyed, finger on lip. What did she think about?
| suppose she in fancy this gaunt, haggard lean
scientist, deserted by drunken crew, a rotten
schooner broken up under his feet. still pushing
across an unknown and desolatc sea padding HIM
self in topping under brolng suns, battling
for life in the weller of tempe tdriven tides, always
looking up for the crimson fash OF the bird whose
nesting place he must find.
When she spoke again she said haltingy, And
you didn't know would come"
He shook his head. You sent me no message.
you didn't tell you cared"
She broke out in cry OF understanding. Il could
have sent you message! And didn't know
OF course what must you have thought but
you coming back"
Yes he answered But you sent no word by
the birds for watched them each season and |
knew some OF them had been in Honolulu and seen
you, and yet none OF them bore any message"
OF course it true If the Phaethon rubrcauda
went one way, It would return the other Ridiculous.
wasn't it, that it never occurred TO us? But she was
satisfied Tom she whispered Il never thought
Of it. So came myself are you sorry? 49,.
As, rejoined Norton by the wheel thought