Williams news., 1922-06-09

a chase of half a mile MT. Gibney led | his cohorts back to the beach.
 Lets build a f1re-not that we
 need 1t, but just for company-and
 sleep till mornin'. By that time my
 imagination'n be in workin' order and
 I'll scheme a breakfast out of this | Godforsaken hole"
 At the first hint of dawn MT. Gib-
 ney, true to his promise, was up and | scouting for breakfast. He found
 some gooneys on a rocky crag and killed half a dozen of them with a | club. On his way back to camp he | discovered a few handfuls of sea salt
 in a crevice between some rocks, and | the syndicate breakfasted an hour | later on roast gooney. It was oily and fshy but an excellent substitute for | nothing at all, and the syndicate was grateful. The breakfast would have been cheerful, in fact, if Captain
 Scraggs had not made repeated ref erence to his excessive thirst. Me Guffey lost patience before the meal
 was over, and cuffed Captain Scraggs,
 who thereupon subsided with tears in
 his eyes. This hurt McGuffey. It was
 like salt in fresh wound, so he pat
 ted the skipper on the back and
 humbly asked his pardon. Captain
 Scraggs forgave him and mur1nured
 something about death making them
 all equal.
 ''The next business before the syn
 dicate," announced MT. Gibney, 'is a
 search of this island for water"
 They searched all forenoon. At in
 tervals they caught glimpses of the two cannibals skullSing behind sand dunes, but they found no water. Toward the center of the island how ever, the soil was less barren, and here a grove of coconut palms lifted their tufted crests invitingly-
 I've will camp in this grove," said the commodore. "and keep guard over these green coconuts. There must be nearly hundred of them and I no- tice little taro root here and there. As those coconuts are full of milk, that insures us life for week or two if we go on a short ration. By bath in several times a day we can keep down our thirst some and perhaps it'll rain"
 'What if it does?" snapped Captain Scraggs bitterly. eve ain't got noth- in but our hats to catch 1t in.''
 "Well, then, Scraggsy, old stick-in- the mud" replied the commodore quizzically, tits a cinch you'll go thirsty. Your hat looks like cul- lender"
 Captain Scraggs choked with rage, and MT. Gibney, springing at the near est palm, skinned to the top of 1t in the most approved sailor fashion. A moment later, instead of coconuts, | rich unctuous curses began to de scend on McGuffey and Scraggs.
 ''Gib, my dear boy" inquired | Scraggs. whatever is the matter of | your"
 That hound Tabu-Tabu's been strippin' our coconut grove." roared | the commodore. "He must have spent half the night up in these trees"
 '"Thank the Lord they didn't take 'em all,'' said McGuffey piously. "Chuck me down nut, Gib," said Captain Scraggs. "I'm famished.'
 In conformity with the commodore's plans, the castaways made camp in the grove For a week they subsist- ed on gooneys, taro root, coconuts and cOconut milk, and a Sea-turtle which Scraggs found wandering on the beach. This suggested turtle eggs to MT. Gibney, and a change of diet resulted. Nevertheless, the un- accustomed food, poorly cooked as it was, and the lack of water, told cru ely on them, and their strength -a1led rapidly.
 At the end of a week, all hands were troubled with indigestion and McGuf- icy developed a low fever. They had ost much flesh and were a white, hag- yard-loOking trio. On the afternoon ,f the tenth day on the island the sky ,louded up and MT. McGuffey predict I'd a williwaw. Captain Scraggs in- Iuired feebly if it was good to eat.
 That night it rafned, and to the Ir. Gibney discovered, in the center of big sandstone rock, a natural reser- vofr that held about ten gallons of wa CT. They drank to repletion and felt | heir strength return thouSand-fold | and the king came into | amp about this tffne, and pleaded for ration of water. MT. Gibney, swear ng horribly at them, granted their re- luest, and the king, in his gratitude, | hrew himself at the commodore's feet | md kissed them. But MT. Gibney was lot to be deceived, and after furnish | ng them with a supply of water in l { o their own side of the island.
 On the eighteenth day the last drop | ( if water was gone, and on the twenty econd day the last of the coconuts The prospects of more ain were not bright. The gooneys were ' 'ecOming shy and distrustful and the yndicate was experiencing more and ( nore difficulty, rot only in killing t hem. but in eating them. McGuffey, l vho had borne up uncOmplainingly f