The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-08-15

the dropping Drlm OF MS palm-ledi
hat failed to hide his exultant ex-
preston.
Come on!" he called. 1--WE
struck It. Well be over in half
an hour"
Flows that?" asked Win
thrope.
Bar" answered Blake, hurry
ing forward. How about the
nuts "
Here they are. Three strings;
all that l fancied we could carry
explained Winthrope.
IAN right. The big one is mine.
suppose. I'll take two. Well
leave the other. Lean on me, If
your ankle is still weak"
Thanks; | can make 1t alone. "
Blake's impotence discouraged
inquiries. He had turned as he
spoke, and the others followed
him. Blake skirted around in the
open until they came to the sea-
shore. The tide was at its lowest
and he waved his club towards a
long sand spit.
Presently the party came to the
end of the spit, where the river
water rippled over the sand with
the last feeble out-suck of the
ebb. Blake halted at the edge of
the water, and half turned.
"Close up" he said. "It's shall
low enough; but do you see those
logs over on the mud-bank? Those
are alligators."
"Mercy!-and you expect me to
wade among such creatures?"
cried Miss Leslie.
Il went almost across an hour
ago, and they didn't bother me
any. There's wind in that cloud
out seward. Inside half an hour
the surf'll be rolling up on this
bar like all Niagara" and Blake
splashed out in the water.
The others followed within
arm s-length, nervously conscious
of the rows of motionless reptiles
on the mud-flat, not a hundred
yards distant. A few minutes later
they waded out upon a stretch of
clean sand.
Winthrope instantly squatted
down to nurse his ankle.
II say, Blake" he said, cant
you find me some kind of a
crutch? 1t is only few yards
around to those trees"
Good Heavens! you haven't
been fool enough to overstrain
that ankle Yes, you have. Darn
it! why couldn't you tell me be-
fore?"
at did not feel SO painful in
the water"
Look at that cloud" growled
Blake. Were in for squall.
Here!"
He handed the girl the smaller
string of cocoanuts, flung the
other up the beach, and stopped
for Winthrope to mount his back.
He then started off along the
beach at a sharp trot. Miss Leslie
followed as best she could.
The wind was coming faster
than Blake had calculated. Be-
fore they had run two hundred
PAGES the squall struck them.
Blake slackened his pace to a
walk. and plodded sullenly along
beneath the driving downpour.
The rain storm was at it's height
when they reached the foot of the
cliffs. The gray rock lowered
above them, thirty or forty feet
high. Blake deposited Winthrope
upon a wet ledge, and grunted
with disgust.
I'D take a fire ladder to get
up this side." he said. well
have to try the other, II we can
get around the point. I'm going
on ahead. You can follow, after
WINTHROP has rested his ankle"
He started off at his sharpest
pace. Beneath the cliff the sand
beach was succeeded by talus OF
rocky debris. Blake picked his
way quickly over the smaller
stones near the top of the slope,
now and then bending to snatch
up a fragment that seemed to diff
fer from the others. Finding
nothing but limestone, he soon
turned his attention solely to the
passage around the headland.
Another hundred PAGES brought
Blake tn the second corner of the
cliff, which jutted out in a little
point. Within the last few min
utes the squall had blown over,
and the sun. bursting through the
clouds, told that the storm was
past.
Along the south side of the
cliff the sea extended in twice as
far az on the north. From the
end of the talus the coast trended
off four or five miles to the
southwest I'm a shallowy blight,
whose southern extremity was
bounded by a second limestone
headland. This ridge ran inland
parallel to the first.
Between the two ridges lay a
plain, open along the shore. The
end OF the storm was proclaimed
by a deafening chorus of squawks
and screams along the higher
lodges OF the cliff. Staring up
ward. Blake for the first time OBJ
served that the face Of the cliff
swarmed with seafowl.
That's luck!" he muttered.
Guess | haven't forgot how to
rob nests. Bet our fine lady'll shy
at sucking them raw! Ali the