The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-05-29

! when the radish walls were thicK
around them did they venture to con-
! time their downward path.
At last one day. when Catty was
| leading as usual. he again struck MS
pick through the radish wall. he VI
tered cry of dismay, fearing Sec
ond thrush of the sea But instead
| light ard fresh air flowed in. grateful
indeed 10 those who had lived SO long
IN radsh-steeIed atmosphere.
we have arrived" cried Catty
raspins his companions hands.
This is the end.
Eagerly they enlarged the aperture.
md crawled cautiously out. Behold,
On every hand was the sea. The rad
i.h root had emerged somewhere to
he south OF India, and they were rest
:ng on little island of radish in the
midst of the Indian ocean. At first
they We're terrified, but Catty encour
, a@od them.
We can remain here little time
.e said No doubt a ship will come
TO take US off. .
His words were brave, but the sus.
peLse was great. The radish tip at.
foYdod but a slippery resting place;
HEY We're in considerable fear of the
sharks. which they could see some
times through the clear waters: and
Ne radsh here and there, enfeebled
by the borines, clum6led, and they
@ large bits Of il swept off by the
waves. One day the piece on which
Emmanuel Catty was standing broke.
III, comrades only seized him just in
time TO prevent his being washed
away.
What shall we do" they cried
Pow can we support life here9"
Emmanuel lcant forward suddenly,
nearly falling into the water again.
4 san" he cried. "A sail. We are
SAY d! !"
As a matter of fact, II was trail Of
smoke, but il issued from the tunnels
Of British steamer, and the captain
took them off He was Scotsman
and his name was Macallister, and he
utttr ly declined to believe in Catty's
story
= radish." cried Macalister, point.
ine TO the root contemptuously. I'm.
possible. Ii is an island and ! shall
take possession Of it in the name of
the British empire" And he hois,ed
the union jack accordingly.
Meantime, in America a close watch
had been kept at the mouth Of the
mine. Five thousand seven hundred
and eigh'Stwo reporters were contin-
ually on the watch for news of the
bold adyenturer. Catty. When word
came Of the action of Captain Mac.
allister the excitement was intense.
The radish had been planted in Amer.
lean earth; il had drawn its nutriment
IRON America, IL was Americas by
all The sacred laws of ownership. The
English said that might be as il
would; but they claimed the radish
tip by right of discovery. II had been
found and seized upon by Captain
Macalister. and was irrcvocably Eng.
lish
Passion on both sides ran high
The newspapers rang with denuncia.
ton OF American greed and English
treachery The American ambassador
was directed to withdraw from Lon
don. when the news spread that the
radish tip had disappeared. A Brit
ish trading vessel, cruising near the
place marked on the chart. could find
no trace Of IT,
The excitement grew tcnfold. Spe
cial commissions sent out from Eng
land and America only confirmed the
fact of the disappearance. For mo
ment both excited parties were In
'lihed to turn to Germany. and de
clare that she must have been quilts
OF some diabolical plot for the destruc
ton of the radish.
But meantime Emmanuel Catty hat
directed the attention OF various sci
entists to the matter. and a little In
vestigation showed that the disap
pearance was perfectly natural. Tn,
great heat through which the radisl
had passed, the tunneling through II,
heart. the action Of the sea, had beef
altogether too much for 1t: II was fad
ing and whitening away. In a fey
months the only traces left Of the phe
nomenon were the enormous mimi,
wOrks-the largest In the worlds,
complete was the decay OF Emmanue
Catty's radish.
There was a considerable deman,
for Catty's manure: but the cost q
Ito manufacture was 90 great that
could not be sold at q profit. Perhap
II was just as we'll.