The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1916-02-16

Lock the woman in cabin" COM
manded Neal, land keep guard upon
her day and night
! All night he lay, chained heavily.
solitary, in the lazarette. working out
his own salvation-not eternal. but
material. And he always came to one
conclusion-'Ill beat them yet"
| !. All night the pilot puzzled his head
over his compass. ~
AS dawn broke. in the crows nest
ploft, the lookout shaded his eyes with
his hand-then with the same hand
shaded his mouth.
I Land ho!n he cried, land ho!"
Neal heard him and hurried to the
pilots side. Cant be Lost Isle," he
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 il l."
| The sentence was unfinished. With
a terrific shock the vessel crashed into
! an unseen reef-an unknown reef, for
they had ventured into uncharted seas.
Neal understood the danger. The
shock was too terrific to be ignored.
It meant a wreck-it would be a mat
ter of minutes only before she filled.
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 he
lifted Annette and her mother into
the first boat. Inez also was included.
4 It 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. They
i dragged him forth, his face working
with fear and rage, and bundled him
into the second boat-the Brute leap
ling 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 its
human burden into the sea beneath.
Hernandez, heavy with his irons,
fclung to the Brute. The Brute was
. still paragon of strength. With both
Hernandez hands upon his brawny
shoulders-with the dragging weight
Of Hernandez irons ~upon him, he
swan. with even, steady strokes.
toward the shore-swam for an hour,
tirelessly, like some huge dog.
Suddenly his feet touched sand. :.
/ Neal and Annette stood upon strip
of beach, staring all about them.
|"This," said Annette, must be Lost
Islc-and the admiral was>right-itii is
deserted. Unless we find Robinson
i Crusoe -possibly-m father"
i Neal shook his head. I'm not sure
it's Lost Isle,' he commented, and
I'm not sure it's deserted. Sec that
turn in the short line-let's round the
I corner and have better look
(, Around the corner, some three-quar-
ters Of a mile away group of naked
natives clustered greedily about fire.
Above the fire something-horribly
gruesome-turned and turned upon a
slowly-revolving spit. Scattered about
4 upon the ground, were human
1 One of the natives held up his arms,
uttering cultural sounds and pointed
off the shore. The whole crowd broke
+ into a run-reached the shore and
waited.
4 Two men staggered from the water
howard the beach.
The group OF natives set up a yell
of triumph here, then, were
4; two moro human skulls-two more
gruesome forms to be turned upon q
spit over hot fire. Yes. Mariners
were quite right. These were indeed
uncharted seas-H fernandez and the
Brute were pioneers.
4 The Brute looked straight ahead
He placed his arm about his masters
!. quivering shoulders and stepped VI
out of the sea, straight into that dia
, bolical group of twentieth,centur,
antl,ropophagi. The Brute knew nc
}. fear. The black brutes reached forth
clutching hands and touched him
II seized Hernandez. The Brute
! stretched forth q hA,d, seized a say
. age by the neck, and whirled hin
round and round about his head, strik
/. ing the black men right ant
left.
\ Then he tossed his captive init
the sea, leaving him to struggle on
as best he might.
!" There was wild cry among the ma
tives-then suddenly, they prostrate'
!. themselves before the Brute.
!, He has q white face-white beard,
4 they told each other, down, down o.
" your faces. He is colour god.
(TO BE CONTINUED)