Williams news., 1922-06-02

|
 under cabbage leaf, communfn' with potato bugs?"
 | "Not for a minute" replied the con- modore. "Why. I got a dozen matched pearls here that's fit for a queen. Big, | red, pear shaped boys-regular bleed | in hearts There's ten thousand each | in them alone.'
 Well, ru-Pn brew some grog,'' gasped Captain Scraggs, and departed forthwith to the galley. Fifteen min utes later he returned with a kettle of his favorite nepenthe and all three | adventurers drank to a bon voyage home. At the conclusion of the toast MT. McGuffey set down his glass. wiped his mouth with the back of his hairy hand, and thus addressed the syndicate.
 "In leavin' this paradise of the South Pacific" he began, i've find that we have accumulated other wealth besides the loot below decks. I refer to his royal highness, the king of Kandavu. and his prime minister, Tabu-Tabu. When these two outlaws. was first cap- tured, informed the syndicate that would scheme out a punishment be- f1ttin' their crime, to-w1I-Inurderin an eatin' you two boys. It's been big job and it's taken some time, me not bein' blessed with quite as fine an ina gination as our friend, Glib. How ever, I pride myself that hard work al ways brings success, and am ready to announce what disposition shall be made of these two interestin' speci- mems of aboriginal life. I beg to an- nounce. gentlemen, that I have invent ed a punishment fittin' the crime.''
 Impossible" said Captain Scraggs.
 
 modore Gibney "Out with it, Mac. Whats the program"
 ''I move you, members of the syndi- cate, that the schooner Maggie II pro- ceed to some barren, uninhabfted island, and that upon arrival there this savage king and his still more savage subject be taken ashore in small boat. I also move you, gentle men of the syndicate, that inaSmuch as the two aggrieved parties, A. F. Gibney and P. Scraggs, having in a sperrt of mercy refrained from layin' their hands on said prisoners for fear of invalidin' them at a time when their services was of importance to the ex- petition, be given an opportunity to take out their grudge on the persons of said savages. Now, I notice that the king is a miserable. skimpy. sawed
  all the rules of the prize ring he's in Scraggsy's class" (Here Mir. McGuf- fey flashed lightning wink to the commodore. It was an appeal for MT. Gibney's moral support in the engi- neer's scheme to put up job on Cap tain ScraggS, and thus relieve the tedium of the homeward trip. MT. Gibney instantly telegraphed his ap- probation, and McGuffey continued) 'sI notice also that if I was 10 hunt the universe over, I couldn't find a better match for Glib than Tabu-Tabu- And as we are all agreed that the white race is superior to any race on earth, and it'll do US all good to see a fine mill before we leave the country, I move you, gentlemen of the syndicate, that we pull off a finish fight between Scraggsy and the king, and Glib and Tabu-Tabu. I'll referee both contests and at the conclusion of the mixup we'll leave these two murderers ma rooned on the island and then
 Rats" snapped Captain Scraggs. That ain't no business at all. You shouldn't consider nothin' short of capital punishment. Why, that's only a petty larceny form of-'
 Quit buttfn' in on my prerogatfves," roared McGuffey. That ain't the fin ish by no means
 What is the finish, then?''
 ''Why, these two cannibals, bein left alone on the desert island, naturally bumps up agin the old question of the survival of the fittest. They get scrap pin among themselves, and one eats the other up.''
 By the toe-nafIs of Moses" nut tered MT. Gibney in genuine admira- tion, "but you have got an gina ton after all, Mac. The point is well taken and the program will go through as outlined. Scraggs, you'll fight the king. No buckin' and grumblin' You'll fight the king You're outvoted two to one, the things been done regular and you can't kick. I'll fight Tabu-Tabu, so you see you're not gettin' any the worst of it. We'll proceed to an island in the Friendly group called Tuvana- tholO It lies right in our homeward course, and there afn't enough grub on the confounded island to last two men water there. So, now that that matter is all settled, we will proceed to heave the anchor and scoot for home Mac tune up your engines and we'll get out of here a-whoopin' and a-fyin'."
 It was an eight-hundred-mile run up to Tuvana- -tholo, but the weather held good and the trade-winds never slack ened. Ten days from the date of leav- ing Kandavu they hove to off the island. IL was a long. low. sandy atou with few coconut-palms growing in the center of it and with the ayceDtfop