The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-09-25
NARROWED
ON AN ISLAND
By M. QUAD
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1914, by Associated Lit
erary Press.

you. you would see that Wake island
is a bit Of Il dot in the Pacific ocean
lying Il little south of the regular sail
Ing route between Honolulu and iOkO-
hama. Now and hen it is sighted 10y
steamer or sailing vessel making the
passage. but the great majority pass it
by 200 miles to the north.
In the year 1861 the bark Restless
sailed out of San Francisco on u vOy-
age to Japan. and a fate befelI her
which reals like any fiction Of the
sea. James Westall was'a landsnlan,
knowing nothing of ships and sailors.
and it TRANSFERRED that the captain he
selected was a thoroughly bad man.
while the mate was Il little better. 1t
was probably the captains idea from
the outset to get possession or the snip.
but Westall's suspicious were not
aroused until after they had called at
Honolulu and resumed the vOynge
Then he overheard observations among
the crew which alarmed him. and he
went to the captain with his state
montS. He was told without any beat
inc around the bush that the bark
WAS to change hands. He was to be
mar"oned on Wake island. and she
WAS to pursue her voyage as captain
and crew decided. 1t was n man
against fifteen. and of curse he was
helpless Not a pound Of provisions
or an extra article of clothing was to
,, with him Hn uroS nnt avon tn
have the means of kindling Il fire.
Rendered desperate by the situation.
he made a fight for it. but was Soon
knockrd SenSeleSS by n blow Of a
cap>tan bar and while in that cOndi-
ton WAS rowpd ashore and dumped on
the beach
He tried for days and days to pro-
duce fire by rubbing dry sticks tOgeth-
er. but he never succeeded. He ron
strurted Il hut i'm the woods. but his
food consisted Of ShellfiSh. roots and
wild fruits. and there was nc way to
replace his clothing. He soon found
fresh water. and he also made the dis
covery that the spot seemed accursed
of all living things except the land
, crabs. They were gigantic in size. and
his only way Of escaping them was to
climb a tree. He built a platform
among the limbs ten feet from the
earth. and every night during his long
stay he resorted to it.
+ You will wonder how a man could
have lived for a month as Westall
lived for three years. During his sec.
ond veal had he thought to erect some
sort of signal as q sailor would have
made he probably would have been
rescued, as two or three traders came
in for water. but be did not even heap
up stones or set up a bush to attract
attention. He had existed On the is.
land three years and two weeks when
the American whaling ship Jonathan
touched there for water. ! was In the
boat first sent ashore. and while wait
ing for the water casks to arrive !
followed a path up into the woods and
discovered Westall asleep On his plat.
form. | believed him at drst to be al
most black: his hair vas long and mat
ted. and he was without clothing. As
he came tumbIing down ! ran away
and gave the alarm. That frightened
aim, and sever men Of US spent Il halt
4 day in his. capture. He fought us
With the greatest ferocity. and for .
long time We could not make ont his
nationality. He chartered a queer jar.
o or suIked. and We had put in at a
japanese port before We could keeL
clothing on him.
: ] was one OF the apprentice boys on
the ship. and as the wild man bad tax
en- q great liking to me and ] seemed
to be the only n who could control
him the American consul advised that
1 be left behind with the man while
the ship made a three months circuit.
I put up q blackboard and turned
schoolmaster. | chalked down the let.
ters Of the alphabet. made figures. drew
pictures and tried to start bis memory
to work. For a month ! had no inck
The mans mind was rs blank as night
He tried hard enough. and he used t.
weep almost daily. but be could no,
had almost given mp all hope wher
one day as ] was going through the
usual performance memory came back
to him like 4 fash. He suddenly ut
tered a shout and sprang to his feet.
and as ! turned on him it was to fnC
4 new look on his face and to hear
him shout:
1T has come! 1t has come! My name
is James Westall, and | can remember
everything!''
So It turned out, but the shock Of re
covery brought about an illness that
confined him to his bed for weeks
When he could relate his story the
consul went to work to find out what
had become Of the Restless. !nqni
ries were made at all ports o! China
and Japan. but no news was obtained
The search was still being prosecuted
when a sandalwood trader from one
Of the Philippines brought the consUI
some wreckage picked up three years
BET re which proved that the bark had
gone to the bottom in a gale
tered soon after sailing from Wake