Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-19

the boat, which lay dead as a log, mar
row and greasy black. like a floating
crocodile.
This heat. at first. was grateful to the
naked swimmer, whose fingers were cold
white and puckered. as though parboiled.
At last. however, he reused In some anx-
iety. .,........-.
/ IN get baked alive here" he thought.
Scanning the bottom Of the banca. he
saw nothing which could serve as gar
ment The only cargo lay In a small
heap astern, before the .veined, muscular
legs of the yellow mana narrow Ting
layan shield of wood. stained a dull red.
fve-pronged. laced with bejuco. and
| carved In lines as. graceful as those of a
violin; some wooden pfg-pails" full OF
camotes and rice; two gourds. two wood
en- spoons and Samoki bowl Of clay a
| few. hands OF bananas: and sheaf of
barbed iron spear-blades, which must
have come all the way from the four
smithies Of Baliwang. Food and weapons
| there were, then. but no clothing. David
turned to look forward. in hope to dis
cover some bit of mating.
Here also, however, he found nothing.
He was about to give over and settle
himself for a day of torment, wnen just
behind the step of the mast he spied a
dirty bundle. Spear in hand, he crawled
toward this and. to his great joy. hauled
up a sOpping mass OF heavy cloth. He
unrolled the precious wad, then eyed 1t
in stupid wonder.
| 1t was a khaki shooting jacket.
| He turned a swift glance alta glance
full of anger and suspicion.
| Where did you get this?" he cried.
The two strange companions paid back
his look with ferocious interest, but
neither answered. The black-haired man
with the yellow body smiled in scorn,
scooped out handful of rice from the
Samoki bowl and began to eat.
| David, lingering the soaked and tangled
pockets. found them empty, except for a
tag Of white cotton that, sewn loosely
inside the breast. bore a few scratches
! of ink-the Chinese tailor's. ticket. There
seemed to be nothing else. The jacket,
though badly stained and crumpled. was
Of smart enough cut and too new to
nave been thrown or given away. A
strange bit of white mans world, the
tawny cloth seemed to have no sense or
meaning. there in the dugout. One fact
alone was certain--it would have to be
dried.
| He was spreading it, when he felt in a
secondary inner pouch. like q match
pocket, something thin, fiat and hard.
With difficulty he found the opening, and
drew out between fnger and thumb a
small, shining object. At the first CLINT
OF this In the sunlight hoarse cry
sounded from the stern.
behind his master In a sudden fit OF
alarm. His brown eyes stared as though
| the bit Of metal in Dayid's hand was
about to explode; and on his dark fore
1 IL
turned to q patch Of greasy mercury.
The other man glanced UP, frowned and
bent philosophically to his rice.
Next moment David had forgotten them
| both. The thin silver locket lay open in
q hand that trembled. 1t was as II q
voice from home had spoken. as II q face
| which he had known and yet sought all
fhis life had leaped out Of dream to
confront him. By the sound he must
have cried aloud: and now he sat star ing,
without thought OF past danger or present
incongruity.
| The photograph. though discolored at
| the edge by the moisture OF hot climates.
showed in the center the clear face OF a
| girl. clean bred. high spirited. whose eyes
met his directly with q look at once
seen her before; they might have known
each other through and through.
A grating sound made him look up
quickly. Past the calf OF the yellow
mans leg the furtive hand Of the savage
whipped back q loose spear blade from
the bundle, then flashed aloft, poised
and threw. The blade came flying like
dart. David had barely time to whirl UP
the folds OF the jacket, from which the
steel gathering at his feet. He caught
up his own spear, came att in q single
leap. and confiscated the remaining
blades.
When he had tossed them forward be-
side the locket he laughed. Something
had brought him luck and gaiety
You chaps lose your chow for that"
he chuckled: and SEEKING their supply OF
bananas and rice. crawled back TO his
former station.
The banos, meantime. had begun 20
glide southwark IN . strong current be-