The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1917-02-22

q oahui III Wiuu-suSiltitu NUN pS-
4 tween two rocks, he saw the imprint
Of a naked foot.
Jerry went back to the cave, and
here his second surprise waited him.
1t sent the blood coursing tumultuous-
/ ly through his veins. 1t made him
want to shout in ecstasy.
No savage, but white man, or, at
least, civilized man, had tenanted
those shores. Within the cave were
] packing cases, containing a supply of
food which must be sufficient for two
years He saw canned beef, biscuit of
the army kind, piled from the sandy
floor to the rocky roof; jams, dalnties,
rations, which must have been carried
there for a party of scientific explOr-
ers rather than ships crews or set
tiers.
lie gaped in amazement at the con-
densed milk, the sugar, the flour, tea,
coffee, matches. Near by were scat
tered some rusty instruments resem-
bling theodolites.
He thought he understood. This is
land was not unknown, then. A party
from some observatory had come here,
probably to watch a solar eclipse.
But there was food enough to last
a whole party six months and more.
And there was a pile Of empty cans
behind him, where the cave narrowed
TO a foX-hOle.
He could not understand. He left
the cave and paced the sands, trying
to solve the problem. Who had been
here, and why had they brought food
in such quantity?
It was then that the third surprise
afforded him an answer to his ques-
tiOns.
Stretched out upon the sand was
whitened skeleton-a mans, Jerry
thought, and an old mans, for the
spine was curved at the region Of the
shoulders, and the teeth, which had
not all gone from the jaws, were worn
and crooked.
Yet still he did not understand.
He sat there, puzzling. He paced
the strip of sand once more until, feel
ing the pangs of hunger rise as his
strength returned, he went back into
the cave to procure food.
In a large packing case which had
been opened he found some rusty i'm
plements of aluminium saucepan, a
teakettle, frying pan. Searching
about he came on some stores of
compressed peat, used for fuel. 1t
was nearly all gone, evidently the
dead man had lived a long time on
the island
He made meal and ate as sparlng-
/ ly as his ravenOuS appetite would per-
nit Afterward he stretched himself
I in the sun to sleep. His hands CROPPED
idly in the sand.
The left hand closed upon a bottle,
buried there by the wind-drlfts. Idly
he picked it up. Within 1t was a manu-
script.
Jerry was wide awake in an instant.
He knew that this was the clue, the
answer to his perplexities.
AS he drew out the roll his eyes fell
upon the name written at the bottom.
1t was Joseph Dexter! And now
everything was made clear.
ledge, the almost unknown islet in the
South Atlantic, to find which he had
| fitted out the schooner, the place
where Morgan, the buccaneer had hid
den his treasure hoard. The skeleton
was that of Dexter.
Feverishly he unrolled the manu-
script and began to read:
ITO Whom 1t May Concern: Be 1t
known that here on the Ledge of
Ravengar, there are two treasures
one of gold, the other of far more
value. The first 1 have found-it is
that of Sir Henry Morgan, buccaneer;
the other 1 have made. Here in my
dead hand you will find it-three black
pellets. To the finder they mean pow
er beyond all dreams of men"
Jerry laid down the manuscript and
fastened to the skeleton. There,
clutched in the bony fingers, he found
the pellets which old Dexter had held
grasped tightly, even In death.
Jerry picked them up and started
back to the cave. Suddenly, out of the
rising tide, a snakelike arm protruded,
sought him, and grasped him about
| the leg.
Another and another followed.
Struggling, shouting, Jerry felt himself
being dragged into the water. And
now, held fast in the fleshy, clinging
tenacles, he looked, waist-deep in the
sea, into the cruel eyes and parrotlike
beak of huge octopus.
Unnerved but desperate, he thrust
his fists into the creatures face. He
fought with all the fury of his despair.
1t was the irony Of fate that at this
moment, when life, which had taken
all away had restored more than she
took, death in such hideous form
should have beset him.
But the creature, squlrming on the
sandy bottom, moved toward the deep
water. The ocean level reached Jer-
RVS shoulders, the little shore waves
Tapped his neck, they closed over his
mouth For an instant he fought free