Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-09-13
CHATTER yII-tContinn.dl

IRIS would not be satisfied until she un-
L derstood the meaning OF the Hlndustani
phrases. mastered the nasal pronunciation
OF 'hainya." and placed the artificial accent
on phant and 10 in the second line of the
chorus
Jenks was concluding the last verse when
there came, hurting through the air the
weird cries of the singing beetle, returning
perchance, from successful foray on Palm
tree Rock. This second advent OF the in
sect put an end to the concert Within n
quarter Of an hour they were asleep
Thenceforth for ten days they labored
increasingly, starting work at daybreak and
stopping only when the light failed. finding
the long hours of sunshine all too short for
the manifold tasks demanded OF them yet
thankful that the night brought rest
The sailor made out a program to which
he rigidly adhered. In the first place, he
completed the house. which had two COM
partments an inner room In which Iris
slept, and an outer, which served as a
shelter for their meals and provided n bed
room for the man.
Then he constructed gigantic sky sign
on Summit Rock, the small cluster of
boulders on top of the cliff His chief diff
ficulty was to hoist into place the tall
poles he needed. and for this purpose he
had TO again visit Palm-tree Rock in order
TO secure the pulley BY exercising much
ingenuity in devsing shear-legs. he at last
succeeded in lifting the masts into their
allotted receptacles, where they were firm
ly secured. Finally he was able to swing
into air. high above the tops Of the neigh
boring trees, the loftest OF which he feled
In order to clear the view on all Sides
the name of the ship Sirdar fashioned in
slx-foot letters nailed and splced together
In sections and made from the timbers of
that Inflated vessel.
Meanwhile he taught Iris how to weave
net out OF the strands of unraveled cord.
age. With this. weighted by bullets. he
contrlved a casting net and caught a lot
Of small fish I'm the lagoon At first they
were unable to decide which varieties were
edible, until n happy expedent occurred
to the girl.
The scabirds can tell u.s." she said
Let us spread out our haul on the sands
and leave them By observing those speci-
mems seized by the birds and those they
reject we should not go far wrong"
Though her reasoning was not infalible
It certainly proved to be a reliable guide
| in this Instance. Among the fish selected
| by the feathered connoisseurs they hit pom
two species which most resembled whiting
and haddock, and these turned out to be
very palatable and wholesome.
From the rusty rifles on the reef jerks
brought away the bayonets and secured all
| the screws bolts and other small odds
| and ends which might be serv1ceable. From
the barrels he built handy CRATE to IA
cilitate Iris's cooking operations. and a
careful search each morning amid the
ashes Of any burnt wreckage accumulated
| a store of useful nails.
The pressing need for safe yet ac-
cessible bathing place led him and the
girl to devote one afternoon to a COM
| plete survey of the coast lihe By this time
they had given names to all the chief To-
| calites, The northerly promontory was
naturally chrlstened North Cape the west
| ern, Europa Point: the portion of the reef
between their habitation and Palm-tree
Rock became Filey Brig the other section
| Northwest Reef.
The fiat sandy passage across the island,
| containing the cave. house and well. was
| named Prospect Park: and the extensive
| stretch of sand on the southeast, with its
! guard of broken reefs. was at once dubbed
| Turtle Beach when JenKs discovered that
an immense number of green turtles were