Charlevoix county herald., 1916-05-26
CHAPTER XIV
Wrecked on the Reef

piano trying an opening chorus he
had dreamed out during the long voy-
age from San Francisco.
Snoring ceased at once and from
four cots came muffled protests. Hem
enway sat on the edge of his bed and
rubbed his eyes.
"You certainly can punish that pi-
ano in true artistic style, Jim, but Is
this to be the program every morn
ing?"
"Why not?" replied Jim. "All hands
on deck at five o'clock and finish
breakfast at six. Then George and
will keep busy with our work and you
fellows can amuse yourselves as you
see fit.'
After breakfast Hemenway, Lent,
and Mcdonald started along the beach
to make circuit of the island. In
doing so they discovered why John
Morgan called it Little North Amer
lea. The island was regular vest
pocket edition of its big namesake-if
one cut out Hudson Bay, cut Panama
at the canal and bent the end close
around to Florida.
The lagoon in the little island rep
resented the Gulf of Mexico and the
little river was Florida Straights
The island was in truth a little North
America upside down; that is to say.
what was north in the real North
America was south in the little imita-
ton of il.
The three men walked around the
island, starting from the narrow beach
that lay not four hundred feet to the
east of their house. Palms grew al
most to the waters edge. They fig
ured the island to be less than a mile
in circumference.
In the cool of the evening they
brought buckets from the yacht and
carried out enough water to fill the
tank of the vessel. 1t was well to be
prepared for any emergency.
That night Hemenway moved his
cot to the porch and announced his
intention of sleeping in the open air.
When the others were sound asleep he
his sneakers and trousers, and noise
lessly made his way to the lagoon.
He launched the dingy and silently
padded out to the yacht. He worked
steadily all night, making two trips
to the shore and being careful to make
no noise. 1t was evident he did not
want his companions to know what he
was doing. AS dawn was breaking
he slipped back to his cot.
The twins were busy with their
opera as the days passed. Lent and
Mcdonald developed mania for crib
bage and the gum shoe man sat for
hours opposite his erstwhile prey.
Hemenway soon grew tired of fishing.
It was too easy. 1t was no trick at
all to catch in ten minutes time
enough fish for dozen meals.
He spent long hours in the neigh
borhood of the reefs, watching the
surf break increasingly over the black
and Jagged coral. All day long,
whether the ocean was as smooth as
glass or whether the trade wind ~uf-
fled the surface of the water, tie ele-
ment boiled and churned among the
reefs.
The whole thing had fascination
for Hemenway. There in the sha .e
of the palms he developed plans for
TIE disposal of his stolen riches
But why dispose of ready cash?
Hemenway had figured all that out.
While he was as safe where he was
as though he were in another world,
he knew the authorities were moving
heaven and earth to run down the per-
petrator of such a gigantic robbery.
His plan was to cover up: to sell
lis gold for a commodity, and sell the
commodity for other gold. Being in
experienced in South Sea trading he
Injured he would lose by the trans
action, but he decided he could afford
to stand the loss.
Two weeks passed. One afternoon
Hen enway slowly retraced his steps
along the stretch of beach that sepa-
rated the bungalow from the reefs.
The twins had the big table out on
the porch and were making furry lit
tie dots and lines and curlicues on
sheets of ruled music paper. Lent and
Mcdonald separated by a box of
canned goods sat facing each other
with a deck of cards and an impro
vised cribbage board.
A gentle breeze blew from the
southeast. Not a cloud obscured the
sky. Hemenway drew a chair near
the card players. The labor of the
twins was unintelligible to him. Nc
Donald pegged out, threw up his arms
and yawned.
you're easy Joe. Five straight;
enough crib for today. Anybody max
ing any other proposition?"
Jim coughed gently.
"Ahem," he remarked "Since you
urge me, Dennis, I'll just sing you
little song George and I have Just
finished for our masterpiece. Profes.