Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1917-10-20
CHAPTER |.
PaulVitch and an ADO,

TIME Marjorie WIS long bont was
VI floating down the broad Ugnmbi
with cbb tide and current Her
crew were laZily enjoying this respite
from the arduous labor of rowing up
stream. Three miles below them lay
tho Marjorie w. herself, quite rendy to
sail so soon rs they should have clam
bercd aboard and swung the long boat
to its davits.
presently the attention OF every man
was drawn from his dreaming or his
gossiping to the northern bank of the
river There, screaming at them In n
cracked falsetto, and with skinny arms
outstretched, stood strange apparition
~ "w ' '''''' in tn"nf 'r~ calculated one of
tho crew.
az white man!' muttcred tho mate;
ma then: Man tho oars, boys, and
iie
Wits.
When thu. 49,. me shore
Tho, saw an cmnciat Ted creature Y. .tn
scnnt white locks, tangled md matted.
The thin, bent body was naked snvo
for loin cloth. Tears were rolling
down the sunkcn, pockmarkcd cheeks
The man jabbercd at them In strange
tongue.
"Rooshun," haZarlcd the mate
"Savyy English!" he called to the man.
The scarccrow did, and IN that tongue,
brokcnly and haltingly, as though 1t
had been many years since he had used
1t, he begged them to take him with
them away from this awful country
Once OH board the Marjorie w. tho
stranger told his rcscuers ptiful talo
of privation, hardships and torture, ex-
tending over period OF ten years
How he happened to have come to
Africa he did not tell them, leaving
them to assume that no had forgotten
the Incidents Of his life prior to the
frlghtfnl ordeals that had wrecked him
mentally and physically. His name he
said was Alexis paulvitch.
a few scraggly. ycllow-whlte locks
had supplantcd the thick dark hair that
had once covered his head His limbs
were bent and twisted; he walked with
a shuflimg, unsteady gait. his body
doubled forward. His teeth were gone
knocked out by his savage masters.
Even his mentality was but n sorry
mockery OF what it once had been.
They took him aboard the Marjorie
W., and there they fed and nursed him.
lilo gained little in strength, but his
appearance never altered for tho bet
ter--a human derelict, battered and
wrecked, they had found him; Il human
derelict, battered and wrecked, he
would remain until death claimed him.
Alexis Paulvitch could easily have
passed for eighty.
The Marjorie w. had been chartered
by syndicate of wealthy manufac-
turcrs, equipped with n laboratory and
a staff Of scientists and sent out to
search for some natural product which
the manufacturers who footed tho bills
had been importing from South Amer
lea at an enormous cost What the
product was none on board tho Mar
joric W. knew except tho scientists;
nor Is 1t Of any moment to us, other
than that it led the ship to certain
island off the coast OF Africa after
Alexis Paulvitch had been taken
aboard.
The ship lay at anchor off the coast
for several weeks. The monotony Of
life aboard h'r became trying for tho
crew. They went often ashore, and
finally Paulvitch asked to accompany
them--he too, WAS firing OF the blight.
ing samcncss of existence upon tho
ship.
The island was heavily timbcrcd
Dense jungle raj, down almost to tho
beach. The S dentists were far inland
prosecuting their search for the vnlu-
able commodity that native rumor
upon tho mainland had led them to be-
lieve might be found here In market
able quantity.
The ships company fished. hunted
and explored. paulvitch shuhlcd up
and down the beach or lay IN the shade
OF tho great trees that skirted It.