The Omaha morning bee., 1924-10-29


on the boys shoulder, and discoursed.
Kit distinguished some words appar.
emily meant to be Small fella" and
Belong me-" and gathered that he
was the child's parent. There was
also something about Long way too
NUTS presently followed by
Samoa.
Hear that. Masson?' said Kit,
pricking up his ears. I'VE must be
in Samoa. Lord knows how we ever
got there, but l guess we have. Well
have to go and find the boss.-I want
to see the governor" he told the ma
tive. Governor, you know-chief, big
man. White man, Ingalees" The
other seemed unconvinced, but he
rose and pointed inland.
Kit also got up, stretched himself
and just happened to glance toward
the dory. He saw a number of ma
tives in and about it, poking all over
1t. wait a minute" he said Here,
you, get out of that! L. S. Govern
ment property, you know" He drove
them back, locked the tool box and
put the key in his pocket.
They then followed the elderly man,
attended by almost the entire popu-
lation of the village. They walked
through a settlement of thatched
houses built on piles on gray gravelly
soil under waving palm trees. 1t
smelt periodically of damp sand, flow
ers, cooking and pigs. After a walk
of perhaps three hundred yards they
came within sight of the sea again
and their guide turned to the left and
led them into the gate of wooden
stockade. They found themselves in
an enclosure about three hundred
feet square with some native huts
scattered about in it and, at the fur
ther side, toward the sea, one-story
building of concrete.
Toward this they all walked. Kit
was preparing speech: Sorry TO DIS
turb you so early in the morning,
Mr.. Governor. but :" The door was
open; he walked up the steps and
into a damp. dark. cockroachy hall.
A door at the right was ajar; he en-
tered it found a long bare room with
a desk or two and some dilapidated
chairs, plainly an Office, in spite of its
dirty and uncared-for appearance.
But there's no one here" he said
whats the meaning of this?"
He went across the hall and into
two smaller rooms, both disordered
like the other. There were beds in
them, with the remains of some bed
clothes strewn about, dark and mil
dewed. disgusting.
but I don't understand-have they
eaten the governor? l suppose there
must be another office somewhere.
and they've given up this one
"Uh-huh," said Mason, uninter-
ested.
Kit went back to the office room.
Its windows looked out over the
stockade and through narrow
fringe of palms to the sea. Half a
mile or so out, from one side of the
view to the other, extended the white
barrier reef, almost unbroken. The
southeast breeze blew pleasantly
through the unsashed windows. The
place had evidently been chosen Tor
it's prospect and coolness, and, all in
all, 1t was not a bad place to live
and work in. Why should 1t have
been given up?
He turned from a window. and MS
eye fell on a large map of the south
Pacific hanging on the opposite wall.
It was the most conspicuous object
in the room. and he idly strolled up
to 1t. All at once his eye, as 1t
roamed over it, fell on two printed
words: Fidschi-Inseln." His heart
ouickened: his eye sprang to other
names: Karolinen-Inseln, Austraiien,
Neu.Zeeland-he knew that language.
He understood
.Good God, Masson3' he gasped,
feeling his knees give under him. 1T s
all up! We're on a German island.
II.
Rut there were no Germans in
sight. After wandering around. few
erishly chattering with the Samoa
man and the boy, he made 1t out; the
Germans had gone. Simply gone
Him fella he go out along boatee,
the man said repeatedly. and others
nodded vigorously and pointed sea
ward. Not toward the lagoon. but
seaward. Yes, that was all very well.
but was no one there to take their
places? Hadn't the English come?
Hadn't there been a fight? Were
there no white men on the island?
No. And this wasn't Samoa; he
had been mistaken about that. The
man was merely a Samoan living
here. He escorted Kit to the map,
and after a prolonged search laid
his finger on a little point OF II,
darkened by the prints of other fin.
gers. Idiot. He might have noticed
that before. A tiny dotted line, per.
haps a sixteenth of an inch long,
and by 1t the words "NairawaI.
Nairava: the German w betokened
?. V sound. A small forgotten strand,
abandoned by its owners, worthless 10
everyone. Well, 1t was better than
they should have expected. no doubt.
Better than the open sea. which stood
on tiptoe. paving at them. on the
barrier reef. The sea had laughed,
and flung them from the oblivion OF
death to the oblivion OF desertion. The