The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-03-10
The GREEN PEA ": rs: :
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BY PETER KYNE @
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his eyes. This hurt McGuffey. 1t 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 murmured
something about death making them
all equal
THE next business before the syn
dicate," announced Mr.. Gibney, sis a
search of this island for water"
They searched all forenoon. At In
tervals they caught glimpses of the
two cannibals skulking behind sand
dunes, but they found no water.
Toward the center of the island, how
ever, the soil was less barren, and
here grove of coconut palms lifted
their tufted crests invitingly.
1--WE will camp in this grove" said
the commodore. "and keep guard over
these green coconuts. There must be
nearly hundred of them and 1 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 short ration. BY bath
in several times day we can keep
down our thirst some and perhaps
! it'll rain"
what if it does? snapped Captain
Scraggs bitterly. "We amt got moth
in but our hats to catch it in"
"Well, then, Scraggsy, old stick-in-
| the mud" replied the commodore
quizzically, sits cinch you'll go
| thirsty. Your hat looks like a Gull
| lender"
Captain Scraggs choked with rage,
and Mr.. Gibney, springing at the near
est palm, Skinned to the top of it 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" reared
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, Glib" said
Captain Scraggs. "Fm famished."
In conformity with the commodore's
plans, the castaways made camp in
the grove. For 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 Mr.. Gibney, and 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
failed rapidly.
AT the end of a week, all hands were
troubled with indigestion and McGuf-
fey developed a low fever. They had
lost much flesh and were white, hag-
gard-looking trio. On the afternoon
Of the tenth day on the island the sky
clouded up and Mr.. McGuffey predict
ed a williwaw. Captain Scraggs in
quired feebly If 1t was good to eat.
That night it rained, and to the
great joy of the marooned mariners
Mr.. Gibney discovered, in the center of
a big sandstone rock, a natural reser-
voir that held about ten gallons of wa
ter. They drank to repletion and felt
their strength return a thousand-fold.
Tabu-Tabu and the king came into
camp about this time, and pleaded for
ration of water. Mr.. Gibney, swear
ND of nto hot
quest, and the king, in his gratitude,
threw himself at the commodore's feet
and kissed them. But Mr.. Gibney was
not to be deceived, and after furnish
ing them with supply of water in
coconut calabashes, he ordered them
to their own side of the island.
On the eighteenth day the last drop
of water was gone, and on the twenty
second day the last of the coconuts
disappeared. The prospects of more
rain were not bright. The gooneys were
becoming shy and distrustful and the
syndicate was experiencing more and
more difficulty, not only in killing
them, but in eating them. McGuffey,
who had borne up uncomplainingly.
| was shaking with fever and hardly
able to stagger down the beach to look
| for turtle eggs. The syndicate was
sick, weak and emaciated almost be-
yond recognition, and on the twenty
fifth day Captain Scraggs tainted
| twice. On the twenty-sixth day Nc
! Guffey crawled into the shadow of
stunted mimosa bush and started to
pray!
1t was the finish. The commodore
knew it, and sat with bowed head in
his gaunt arms, wondering. wondering.
Slowly his body began to sway; he
muttered something, slid forward on
his face, and lay still. And as he lay
there on the threshold of the unknown
he dreamed that the Maggie III came
into view around the headland, bone
in her teeth and every stitch Of canvas
flying. He saw her luff up into the
wind and hang there shivering; mo-
! ment later her sails came down by the
run, and he saw little splash under
her port bow as her hook took bottom.
There was commotion on decks, and
then to Mr.. Gibney's dying ears came
family the shouts and songs of the
black boys as whaleboat shot into
the breakers and pulled swiftly toward
the beach. Mr.. Gibney dreamed that
white man sat in the stern sheets of
this whaleboat, and as the boat
touched the beach it seemed to Mr..
Gibney that this man sprang ashore
and ran swiftly toward him. And
Mr.. Gibney twisted his suffering lips
into a wry smile as he realized the
oddities of this mirage-it seemed to
him that This visionary white man