The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-12-27

, They clustered round her, danced
about her-touched her.
Down on the beach, two merry men
leaped out of lifeboat and drew
her well upon the shore.
"The gang" began the mate. Iheh
he stopped With wild yell he Dart
ed up the beach. Neal by his side. :,
whats happened" stammered
Neal, where are"
He said no more. By this time they
were standing on the blackened EN-
bers of a scattered fire-by the rude
hut shattered and broken-and by two
or three red splotches that stained the
white sand and soaked it.
Neal, his face gone white with ter
TOR, clutched the mate by the arm
Blood" he gasped. blood. whose
blood? You tell me that"
Then the two men-cnly two-still
side by side, sped on toward the Jun
gle. The footprints led that way. Al
the grove of palms they stopped. They
glanced about uncertainty
Here" cried Neal, darting forward,
"a bit of Annette's dress. Come on
1t was easy now, following this trail.
But ever and anon Neal glanced at his
comrade.
Whose blood?" he demanded. tell
me that"
And the two men-only two-went
on.
At last, guided now by shouts and
cries Of triumph, they reached the
clearing and peered across it.
my God" cried Neal aloud, "look-
look"
Two savages-two at first and then
a dozen-had seized the long pole and
had begun to swing it out across the
fire. Upon it, limp, unconscious, tight.
ly bound, lay the form of Annette.
Neal was across the clearing in a
bound.
Like a maniac, Neal charged into
the group of warriors who held one
end of the long pole and stripped them
from it. With the same fearful energy
he charged into the gang at the other
end and knocked them down. Then,
bestriding the PROSTATE form of An
nette-and he knew not whether she
was alive or dead-he squared himself
and howled defiance.
"Come on" he cried, "the whole
bunch of you. Come on"
Over in a hut, crouched and cover
ing, was Inez Castro-watching with
eyes wide with fear.
Hernandez" she shrieked Her
nandez-here."
Hernandez crept toward her. "You
are right, Senorita," he said, his breath
coming and going, his heart beating
like a trip hammer with excitement,
you are right. 1t is not in our hands.
Now is our good time. Let US get
away"
Horrible" cried Inez.
"Therefore-away," went on Her.
nandez leading her by the hand
away from here-and to our fortune,
Lost ISLE"
Horrible" repeated Inez. holding
her han1 across her face.
"Ah," said Hernandez, now dragging
her with him, bit roughly. but they
are all accounted for-except the boat.
And the boat is on the sands. Come
you come with me-"
Almost lifting her from the ground
he darted with her across the open
space, unnOted by any of the savage
crew and safely reached the jungle
trail. Reaching it, he put his hand
upon his lips.
Careful" he said, I'VE know not
whom we may meet. Careful. Come.
We're SAFE"
Back before the fire, two men fought,
back to back. One was Neal-and one
the mate. They fought like tigers
for moment, but not more. Twenty
to one the man-eaters hurled them.
selves upon two white men and bore
them, senseless, to the ground.
The Brute meanwhile, was gazing
wildly all about him-looking for his
master and looking in vain. Suddenly.
ne OF all men, saw the exit of Her.
nandez-saw him steal away. At first
he may have been impelled to follow
for he started off. But a close OBJ.
server might have noted an expression
OF relief cross his countenance. for he
sank back once more upon his seat
and watched the fight
He even laughed-to him it seemed
like a new game. A fight was child's
play to the Brute. But when the nm.
conscious forms Of Neal and the mate
were borne away, he seemed alarmed.
He started once more to his feet.
Eye-yah," cried the chief to his fol.
lowers, the white god hungers On
with the feast"
once more the bearers seized An.
nette-still dashed firmly tc the pole.
Then for the first time the Brute real.
lied that something was wrong-that
here was horror.
He darted into the midst of the war.
riors and swung his arms.
Mono" he cried
But the mere word of a god could
never stop them now. They were hun.
gry-they had fought for spoils and
the spoils were theirs. They Shout.
dered him aside. and went on.
They didn't get far. The Brute was
fresh-he had been resting. With one
fell swocp he once more charged upon
them, and tore them-hroke tbar, r,;,,,