The Washington herald., 1919-07-07

goats running Wild. but without the
firearms and ammunition had
brought from the ship Of what avail
were they to me? So had reason to
be thankful for the good Providence
which held the ship to the shore until
had taken on all that was OF use to
me
There was much to be done il I
were to secure my existence on this
strange island The needful things
I did as best 1 could In turn, but
not always with good fortune attend
ing my efforts In my first planting
OF barley and corn seed. the half
OF all my precious stock was wasted
by reason of being planted in the
very wrong time. 1 spent weary
months in making earthware pots for
holding fresh water; and forty-two
days it took me to hew my first long
plank from a tree trunk. 1 strove
for weeks to fashion a stone mortar
to stamp grain in. only to come at
last to block of hollowed-out wood
Five months 1 labored in telling a
great cedar tree, hewing and shaping
II to the hull of a splendid boat with
which 1 was to escape from the is
land. only to be forced to abandon IL
for want of a means whereby to
launch it into the sea However, every
failure taught me something 1 had
not known before.
For the elements, there were great
winds and rains and earthquakes
But became used in time to all
things. 1 planted and harvested my
crops Of barley and corn; / plucked
my wild grapes and dried them into
nourishing raisins; raised and killed
and smoked and salted my tame goats,
being thus for variety of food not
so badly served. And so through the
twelve years during which l saw no
sign of human existence on the island
other than my own, until that event.
full day on which met with the print
of mans naked foot on the sand
! was then like one thunderstruck-
1 listened. I looked. but could hear
nothing, see nothing. / went up the
shore, down the shore; but there was
only that single Footprint, Terrified
to the last degree. l ran to my habita-
tion like one pursued; and for three
days and nights thereafter 1 did not
stir out.
What a commentary on the fear of
man for man! After twelve years of
pain and labor. twelve years of war
ring against the elements, to be
thrown into terror by the imprint or
a human foot! But so it was
After observation / learned that It
was the habit of cannibals from the
mainland to come to a part of the
island which seldom visited to feast
upon the bodies OF their captured
enemies. One morning from my look
out 1 perceived thirty sayages dancing
around a fire. They had cooked one
victim and had two more ready for
the fire. when descended upon them
with two loaded muskets and my
great sword, and was in time to save
one which they had not yet eaten.
The saved man called Friday, in
honor of the day OF his rescue, and
his was the first voice 1 heard in all
my twenty-five years on the island
he was young. intelligent, = of a
superior race of savages and became
my trusted companion for all the time
1 remained on the island.
What Friday told me of the main
land, after had taught him some
English, decided me to leave the
island. We built boat, this time not
too far from the sea for launching,
and were almost ready to set sail
when twenty-one savages in three
canoes landed on the island with three
prisoners for a feast. One of the
prisoners was a white man, which
enraged me. I double-charged two
fowling pieces, four muskets, two pis-
tolls. and giving Friday a hatchet
and also q great dram Of rum ana
myself my great sword. we descended
and killed all but four OF the savages