Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-27

| They will pick us of few at time, Just
as they picked OF Miller and Swenson,
| Theriere and Byrne We ought to tell Ward
| about Il and call this foolish battle OF !"
Now you're talkin'," cried Bony Saw
| yer. I'm not n goin' to squat up here any
longer with my friends shootln' at me
| from below an a lot Of Wild heathen creep
| ing down on me from above to cut off my
| bloomin' head"
Same here !" chlfned in Red Sanders
Blanco looked toward Wilson. For his
| own part the negro would not have been
| averse to returning TO the fold could the
| thing be accomplished without danger of
reprisal on the part of Skipper Simms
and SduIneEye Ward but he knew the men
so well that he feared to trust them even
should they seemingly acquiesce to such a
proposal.
on the other hand, he reasoned II would
be as much to their advantage to have the
deserters return to them as it would to the
deserters themselves, for when they had
heard the story told by Red Sanders and
Wilson of the murder OF the others of the
party they too, would realize the neces-
slty for maintaining the strength and in
tegrity of the little company to It's fullest.
II don't see that we're gon' to gain
nothin' by ngutin 'em" said Wilson
There aint nothin' in It any more nohow
for nobody since the girls gorn. Let's
chuck It an see wot terms we can make
with SquintEye"
We'll" grumbled the negro, "I can't
fight 'em alone. What yo' don' dere
Bony7"
During the conversatlon Bony Sawyer
had been busy with n stick and a piece of
rag. and now he turned toward his COM
panions once more they saw that he had
rugged a white flag of surrender.
None interfered he raised IL above the
edge of the breastwork
Immediately there was hail from be-
low. II was Wards voice.
"surrenderin', eh? Comm to your
Senses are your he shouted
Divine, feeling that immediate danger
from bullets was past, raised his head
above the edge OF the earthwork.
"We have something to communicate, Mr..
Ward" he called.
spit It out, then; I'm a llstenin'," called
back the mate.
Miss Harding Mr.. Theriere, Byrne,
Miller and Swenson have been captured
and killed by natives" said Divine
Wards eyes went wide, and he blew
out his cheeks in surprise. Then his face
went black with anger.
You see what you done now, you
blltherin' fools, you!" he cried. You gone
an killed the goose what laid the golden
eggs. Thought you'd get It all. didn't you?
And now nobody won't get nothin'. unless
It's the halter. Nice lot o. numskulls you
be, an whimperin' round now expectin' us
to take you back Well. I reckon not
not on your measly lives!" And with that
he raised his revolver to fire again at Dl-
vine.
Tho society man toppled over backward
into the pit behind the breastwork before
Ward had n chance to pull the trigger.
"Hol on thore, mate !" cried Bony Saw
yer: there amt no call now for gettin'
excited Wait until you hear all we gotta
say. You can't blame us pore sallormen.
II was this here fool dude and that
scoundrel Therero that put us up TO It.
''They told us that you and Skipper
Simms was fixin to double-cross us all,
an leave us here to starve on this Gawd-
forsaken islam. Theriere said that he was
with you when you planned 1t. That you
wanted to get rid of as many of us you
could so that you'd have more of the ran.
som to divide. So all we done was in self
defense, as 1t were
why not let bygones be bygones. an
all of US join forces ag'in' these murdern'
heathen? There won't be any too many of
us at best-Red an Wilson seen more'n two
thousan' of the man-eatin' devils. They're
n crecpin' UP on us from benin right this
minute, an you can lay to that. The
chances are that they got some special kind
o. route into that there cove, an maybe
they're watchin' of you right now!''
Ward turned an apprehensive glance to