The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-08-26
A FIND ON
THE BEACH
By M. QUAD
copyright, 1915, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.J

eJ
form a part of the Philippine group
They stretch out for a distance of 700
miles and number nearly a thousand
In the year 1882 1 was landed on one
of the Palawans from a Singapore
trader to get up and run a copra
plant. l had with me four Chinese.
and the trader landed provisions for a
year.
Nothing of special interest occurred
until | had been on the island three
months. Then one morning as l went
down to the boat to go OH a fishing
trip l was amazed to find tracks Of a
woman's bare feet on the wet sands.
Whoever had visited our island In
the darkness had come up out of the
depths of the sea. No boat or raft had
landed on the shore. The footprints
were as plain as a plaster cast, and
we were Immediately interested and
more or less excited. After thinking
the matter over | decided that the
woman must have come from one OF
two islands north and south and de-
termined to give both a search. I
set off to the north and in the course
Of an hour made a landing. This is
land had an area of not more than
five acres. l went over it carefully. but
not a living thing did l find.
1t was noon when I got back to my
own island, and after dinner l set out
to search the other. AS this one had
more vegetation l took with me a
boy, who was about fifteen years OF
age and named Whang.
1t was neal sunset when we put OF
after a vain search, and when we
reached the reef surrounding our Is
land and a half a mile out from the
beach. the evening breeze died out to
a fat calm, and we lay like a log. Be
fore taking to the oar to scull US into
the shore | sat quiet for a minute lis
tening to the whispers of the sea.
Whang leaned over the rail of the boat
n watched the sharks darting to and
fro and leaving trails of fire behind
them. and things were so still that I
could hear the ticking of my watch,
when there came a strange Interrupt
ton. 1t was the voice of a woman in
laughter, and 1t sounded close by. We
both sprang up at the sound, won
dering if our ears had deceived US, and
as we stood listening the sounds came
again. When they had died away the
boy turned to me and whispered:
Master, let us get ashore at oncei
There is a witch of the sea close by.
and she will drag US down."
I waited ten minutes, and, hearing
nothing more, 1 picked up the oar and
sculled in to the landing. There I
found the three Cinnamon waiting for
me, and they were In a state of great
excitement. They had heard the
laughter. and they believed with the
boy that a witch of the sea was hang
ing about and meant to do US harm.
l simply contented myself with say
ing that we would leave some pro-
visions on the beach that night and see
If they were missing In the morning
and with sleeping with one eye open to
see that the frightened fellows did not
steal the boat and make off to some
other island.
We were down on the beach when
daylight came, and there were fresh
tracks again. The oma had circled
about the heap of provisions, but had
touched nothing. The Chinese were
absolutely knocked out with consterna-
ton, and only my promise to watch
the beach that night and capture or
shoot the witch Gained them down. I
remained with them all that day to
prevent them from plotting, and 1t was
not until midnight that 1 took up my
watch on the shore.
1t was low tide at 2 O'Clock. I was
concealed behind a heap of brush, and
it was a starlight night. At that hour
a figure which looked like a human
being came out of the gentle surf and
began to walk up and down the beach.
AS it walked away from me I rose up
and went forward on tiptoe and WAS
within thirty feet Of 1t when it caught
the alarm and fed back to the water
like a shadow. l heard an exclamation
Of alarm and splashes In the water
and saw the wake as the ~" swan
away. | had meant to keep cool, but
the sight of the figure excited me, and
its escape when l figured on capture
ADDED TO 1t, and so, hardly knowing
what 1 did, l drew one OF my revolv-
ers and began firing as the swimmer
moved away. l fired six shots, but I
heard no cry of pain or other sound.
l went back to the Cinnamon and
found them chattering In terror, and IL
they had not been afraid of the witch
they would have made a rush for the
boat and left me alone on the island.
1 sat watching them fill daylight came,
and then we all went down to the
beach. The tide vRs coming In, but
we found tracks az before. While we
were hurrying about, arguing and dis
cussing, the tide brought in the naked
limb and foot of s woman, a white wo-
man. 1t had beeo torn from the body
by the sharks, and it was the foot
which had made fine tracks in the sand.
One of my ShOti mad struck and killed