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

THE Marjorie WIS long boat was
I'll floating down the broad Ugambl
with ebb 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 ready to
sail SO soon rs they should have clam.
bercd aboard and swung tho 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 q
cracked falsetto, and with skinny arms
outstretchcd, stood strange apparition
"w e'n in thumb r~ calculated one Of
"a white man u muttered the mate;
and then; Man the oars, boys, and
.,.. .s q lie
h 0.4..s.' ".a. II 1aE1
When tho - -, inc shore
they saw an emaclated creature with
scant white locks, tangled and matted.
The thin, bent body was naked save
FOR a loin cloth. Tears were rolling
down the sunken, pockmarlkcd cheeks.
The man jabbercd ut them in strange
tongue.
"Rooshun," haZarded the mate.
"Savvy DnglishS" he called to tho man.
The scarecrow did, and in that tongue,
brokenly 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 on board tho Marjorie W. the
stranger told his rescucrs a pitiful tale
of Drivation, 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 he had forgotten
the Incidents Of his lifc prior to the
fr1ghtful ordeals that had wrecked him
mentally and physically. His name, he
said was Alexis Paulvitch.
A few scraggly. yellow-white locks
had supplantcd the thick dark hair that
had once covered his head His limbs
were bent and twisted; he walked with
shufiling, unsteady gait. his body
doubled forward. His teeth were gone
knocked out by his savage masters.
Even his mentality was but sorry
mockery Of what it once had been.
They took him aboard the Marjorie
W., and there they fed and nursed him.
He gained little in strength, but his
appearance never altered for tho bet
ter-a human derelict, battered and
wrecked, they had found him; a human
derel1ct, battered and wrecked, he
would remain until death claimed him.
Alexis Paulyitch could easily have
passed for eighty.
The Marjorie W. had been chartered
by syndicate Of wealthy mannfac-
turers, equipped with n laboratory and
q 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 Mt an enormous cost What the
product was none on board the Mar
1orte w. knew except tho scientists;
nor Is 1t of any moment to us, other
than that it led the ship to a 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 her became trying for the
crew. They went often ashore, and
finally Paulvitch asked to accompany
them-he, too, was firing Of tho blight.
Ing sameness Of existence upon the
ship.
The island was heavily timbered.
Dense jungle ran down almost to tho
beach. The dentists were far inland
prosecuting their search for the val,l-
able commodity that native rumor
upon the mainland had led them to be.
lieve might be found here in market.
able quantity.
Tho ships company flshed, hunted
and explored. Paulvitch shuGled up
and down the beach or lay In the shade
Of the great trees that skirted 1t.