Charlevoix county herald., 1916-05-26

and steered boldly into 1t.
The little "river" as Mcdonald had
described ii was not more than fifty
feet wide at the mouth, and in less
than two hundred feet inland narrow
ed TO thirty feet.
To George who was in the bow of
the schooner acting as pilot while his
brother took the wheel, it appeared
as though the inlet ended right ahead
of them and that the schooner would
run aground in less than three min
utes.
what are these fools thinking of
TO bring us into this swimming tank
he muttered. He was on the point of
yelling to Hemenway to stop the
launch when suddenly the tender bore
off to starboard and rounded a sharp
bend in the river. An instant later
George saw a lagoon opening up fifty
feet ahead.
lizard aport!" he yelled.
Hard aport," repeated Jim and
the yacht swung to starboard around
the bend and was soon in little pear
shaped body of water of not more
than four hundred feet at its greatest
width.
McDonald's "river" was like the
crooked stem of the pear. The motor
boat shut off power and the two yes.
sells floated for a while in the most
intense quietness any of the persons
on board ever experienced.
In the middle of the lagoon they
dropped anchor in about three faith
oms of water.
Can you beat it," shouted Hemen-
way from the launch.
They all took a good look around.
| The lagoon was completely encirclcd
by a growth of palms and underbrush
| Owing to the bend in the river" the
ocean was hidden from view.
There was no sign of habitation.
No on appeared to welcome them,
nor was there any one to demand their
| business and order them away. II was
4 good guess the island was deserted.
No breeze ruffled the surface of the
lagoon. II suddenly occurred to ev-
body that the weather was Internally
hot.
Il move we explore this place RICH;
away" declared Jim. II see some
planks stacked on the beach over
there and that's where we Will land
Forthwith they tumbled into the
launch and ran it up on the beach.
| There were a dozen long two inclt
boards of hardwood piled up behind
which were four boxlike affairs. In
| the end of these were fastened two
by four uprights with holes bored near
the top. Four iron bars about the size
of crowbars and a pile of stones COM
pleted the outfit. Jim examined it
critically.
"Now l know what this is" he
said. 1T is portable wharf. Some
body lives here or has lived here, else
why should there be this wharf. A
| tidy person evidently. Everything
piled up shipshape. If the landing
place was here there must be a path
or road leading from it. All. here we
have it," and Jim led the, way to
| path through the bushes.
The winding path led on rising
ground and as the brush only fringed
| the lagoon they were soon through il.
Coming out into the open they saw,
not more than four hundred feet away
in the center of the grove of red
white coco palms, long, low house.
| The five men FASTENED toward it.
A broad porch extended around
| three sides of the house which faced
| the east. Windows and doors were
closed. The men rushed on the porch
Hold on, let's be polite" said Hem
enway. He strobe to the door and
knocked. No answer. He tried the
door. 1t opened and they all wen;
in. They entered a large bare room,
| the only article of furniture visible
being a big table in the center of the
room. On it were several well thumb
| ed American magazines whose dates
showed they were more than year
old.
There was only one room in the
| house, but there wat a little extension
in the rear which was used as kitCb
en-. II contained a stove, and over III
one corner was a pump with chute
leading outside through hole sawed
| through the boards. They tried the
pump, but it only sucked air.
Needs printing" said George.
bring a bucket. Bring broom too.
| This place looks good to me"
They threw open all the windows
and looked around some more. Above.
on the rafters were piled half dozen
single folding cots and the same NUM-
Der of reclining chairs made of light
wood, and a strip of canvas. Hemen.
way jumped on the table and passed
| them down.
81 told you this place was made to
order for us. Now aren't you glad
you followed my advice?" he chirped.
81 tell you we five men are the luck
lest five men outside of Jail"
More nosing around failed to bring
anything else worthy of note to light
except this: Tackled to the inside of
the front door were two sheets of