The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-12-20

He gave an ordgr. Search the ship,
he said.
The ship was searched. and with
in the next quarter Of an hour ihea
and the Brute, each in the Gluten o.
many powerful men, came into We"
ON deck.
Lock the woman in cabin, com'
manded Neal, "and keep guard upon
her day and night"
All night he lay, chained heavily
| solitary, in the lazarette, working gu.
his own salvation-not eternal, put
material And he always came TO one
conclusion-"I'll beat them yet"
| All night the pilot puzzled his head
over his compass.
| AS dawn broke, in the crows nest
aloft, the lookout shaded his eyes WIN
his hand-then with the same hand
shaded his mouth.
Land ho!" he cried, land no.!
Neal heard him and hurried to the
pilots side. Cant be Lost Isle, ne
exclaimed.
Must be-" said the pilot, we're
headed straight for her-straight as
the crow flies, sir. But can't under
stand it, either-blest If i
The sentence was unfinished. WIN
a terrific shock the vessel crashed into
an unseen reef-an unknown reef' lot
they had ventured into uncharted seas
I Neal understood the danger. The
shock was too terrific to be ignored
1t meant a wreck-it would be mat
ter of minutes only before she filed
Man the boats" he cried, order
all on deck Make haste"
He rushed in person to Annette S
door and threw it open. In person ne
lifted Annette and her mother into
the first boat. Inez also was Included
1t was lowered safely. Neal turned to
his crew. "Get the lazarette prisoner
he commanded, drag him into this
boat here. Be about it now.
Hernandez, in frenzy of fear, had
been beating with his chains upon the
barred door of the lazarette. Ihey
dragged him forth, his face working
with fear and rage, and bundled MN
into the second boat-the Brute leap
ing in behind. Half way down the side
something happened-the gear broke.
The boat dropped-its one end still
! held to the tackle-and plunged It's
human burden into the sea beneath.
e Hernandez, heavy with his irons,
chung to the Brute. The Brute was
p still paragon of strength. With both
Hernandez hands upon his brawny
v shoulders-with the dragging weight
g of Hernandez irons upon him, he
swan, with even, steady strokes
:, toward the shore-swam for an hour
i tirelessly, like some huge dog.
t Suddenly his feet touched sand. :.
8 Neal and Annette stood upon strir
Of beach, staring all about them
This" said Annette, must be Los'
Q Isle-and the admiral was right-it Ii
l. deserted. Unless we find Robinson
Crusoe -possibly-my father"
l. Neal shook his head. I'm not SURE
g it's Lost Isle," he commented, "ant
q I'm not sure it's deserted. See tina
turn in the short line-let's round thu
corner and have a better look
Around the corner, some three-quar
tiers of a mile away, group of nake'
l. natives clustered greedily about fire
e Above the fire something-horribl.
II gruesome-turned and turned upon {
d slowly-revolving spit, Scattered abou
d upon the ground, were human
n One Of the natives held up his arms
uttering cultural sounds and pointe
10 off the shore. The whole crowd brok
y into a run-reached the shore an
a. waited.
Two men staggered from the waite
IS toward the beach.
1T The group of natives set up ye
le of triumph here, then, wer
,e two more human skulls-two NOR
1t gruesome forms to be turned upon
spit over a hot fire. Yes. Mariner
le were quite rignt. These were indeed
uncharted seas-Hernandez and til
n Brute were pioneers.
10 The Brute looked st.aight aheat
81 He placed his arm about his master
e. quivering shoulders and stepped u
out of the sea, straight into that di
q. bolical group Of twentieth-centur
anthropophagi. The Brute knew 4
u fear. The black brutes reached fort
m clutching hands and touched him
IN seized Hernandez. The Brut
stretched forth a hand, seized sa
y" age by the neck, and whirled hi
round and round about his head, stri
d. ing the black men right ar
H. left.
Then he tossed his captive in
m the sea, leaving him to struggle O
III as best he might.
no There was wild cry among the n
tives-then suddenly, they prostrat,
no themselves before the Brute.
He has white face-white beard
ei they told each other, down, down
IN your faces. He is god-our god"
ei' (TO BE CONTINUED)