The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1912-02-07
A Romance of
The South Seas

ut the time. was lying in stupOr with
fever In late camp five miles away,
the main camp having moved on those
five miles In order to prospect an out
crop of likely quartz. Blnu Charley
was midway between the two camps
when the absence OF the women and
children struck him as suspicious.
"My word" he said. me savvee too
much trouble close up. Me run. My
word, me run
! Tudor. quite unconscious. was slung
down the trail. Here. hiding new trail,
Binu Charley had carried him for a
quarter of mile into the heart of the
deepest jungle and hidden him in big
banyan tree Here and from the direc-
ton of the main camp, he had heard
two rife shots And that was all. He
had never seeI the white men again.
There is only one thing to do" Shell
don said to Joan. I'll start the first
thing in the morning"
We'll start" she corrected. II can
get twice as much out of my Tahitians
MS you can. and. besides. one white
should never be alone under such cir
,umstances."
Sheldon sent for gang boss and
told him 10 bring ten of the biggest.
best and strongest Poonga-Poonga
men.
mot salt water boys" Sheldon eau
toned. but bush boys-leg belong him
strong fella leg. Boy no savvee mus
ket. no good. You bring IN shoot
musket strong fella."
They were ten picked men that filed
M on the veranda and stood in the
glare Of the lanterns. Their heavy.
muscular legs advertised that they
were bushmen. Killing was their nat
ural vocation. not weed cutting; and,
while they would not have ventured
the Guadalcanar bush alone, with
white man like Sheldon behind them,
and white Mary such as they knew
Joan to be. they couId expect a safe
and delightful time. Besides. the great
master had told them that the eight
gigantic Tahitians were going along.
"Plenty strong fella fight" Sheldon
warned them in conclusion.
They grinned and shifted delighted
ly.
"S'pose bushmen kai-iai along you?"
he queried
mo fear" answered their spokes-
man. one Koogoo. a strapping, thick
Tipped Ethiopian looking man. "S'pose
PoOnga-p o0nga boy kai-kai bush boy?"
Sheldon shook his head. laughing
and dismissed them and went to over
haul the dunnage room for small
shelter tent for JOan's use.
1t was quite formidable expedi-
ton that departed from Berande at
break of day next morning in Il feet
of canoes and dingeys. There were
Joan and Sheldon. with Binu Charley
and Lalaperu, the eight Tahitians and
the ten Poonga- Poonga men, each
proud in the possession of a bright and
shining modern rifle.
Binu Charley led the way onward
into the rolling foothills, following the
tidil uidut W L uuoi anu HIS lhth
weeks before. That night they camp
ed well into the hills and deep in the
trOpic jungle. The third day found
them on the runways of the bushmen
harrow paths that compelled single
file and that turned and twisted with
endless convolutions through the dense
underground.
Here. in the midmorning, the first
casualty occurred. Binu Charley had
dropped behind for time and Koogoo,
the Poonga Poonga man who had
boosted that he would eat the bush
men, was in the lead. Joan and Shell
don heard the twanging thrum and
saw Koogoo throw out his arms, at
the same time dropping his rife, STUN
BILE forward and sink down on his
hands and knees. Between his naked
shoulders, low down and to the left,
appeared the bone barbed head Of an
arrow. He had been shot through and
through. Cooked rifles swept the bush
with nervous apprehension. but there
was no rustic. no movement; nothing
but the humid. oppressive silence.
"Bushmen he no STOP" Binu Char
ley called out. the sound OF his voice
startling more than one Of them.
my word Look IN that fella," he
brushing aside the leafy
wall of the runway. and exposing a
bow so massive that no one bushman
could have bent il.
The Binu man traced out the me-
chanics OF the trap and exposed the
hidden fiber in the tangled under
growth that AT contact with Koogoos |
foot had released the taut bow.
They were deep In the primeval for
est Binu Charley took the lead as
they pushed on. and trap after trap
yielded its secret lurking place TO his
keen scrutiny. The way was beset |
with a thousand annoyances. chiefest |
among which were thorns. cunningiy
Ia al..s IA h.. l.aw