Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-20

ever on the rocks. ono of the divers
reported with a troubled COuntenance
that we had already stripped off 40
feet of copper sheeting from our bot
tom. and that by these activities of
ours We're now loosening all the cop
per that remained.
Meanwhile the tide was falling and
we began Canting over at an alarm
ing angle. The fact that we We're
sitting on the most beautiful coral
laceWork in the world did not in the
least mitigate our feeling of regret at
being there.
=. - = =
TIE only Thing To do was to empty
everything out Of the steamer and
trust that with 4 liGhteued load we
might Il" lifted off the reef at the next
high tide. We let down our two small
boats and faced the prospect of load
ing them with everything We had on
board and rowing across 10 the near
est island. The sun was by this time
almost uncomfortable. Not a breath Of
air stirred in the bay. That reef on
top of the equator. in the terrific
slar" Of the CLASSY sea. was simply
inferno.
All hands were ordered to work and
soon the boys We're sweating across
with load after load to the little island.
4 flat mud bank, with only few
palms growing along the shore. Had
we not been stranded at food tide. at
the very full of the moon we might
have been afraid that the island itself
would be submerged by the next high
water.
The beach had been deserted early
in the morning. but as the day wore
on groups of natives began clustering
al, hA CT, - l.
he'd been visited by no Government
of'CialS for a very long time. and that
in the interim the only possible visit
ori 10 the island would have been
traders in search of recruits. Traders
do not always leave behind them the
odOr of sanCtity.
The sudden appearance Of a lot Of
SavageS at this particular time and
place rather perturbed US. TnCer-
tai2 IS to whether they were hostile
~ fTi2 ndly. We decided to consider the
cCrIition OF our armory and see what
We could do in the emergency of an
attack.
Three bold musketeerS. we went
down to the cabin TO investigate the
chest containing the captains fowling-
pieces. 1t was empty. Hill called his
boy down and angrily demanded an
explanation. Whereat the boy sheep
ishly admitted that. when last ashore,
he had taken the guns with him TO
clean and had forgotten to restore
them to the boat. we now rushed
around TO find out just what arms
the police boys could muster.
Our search revealed eight military
iities, unprovided with bullets, and
TWO cases of bullets of the caliber OF
nothing on the boat. BY some in
eNcusable oversight the ammunition
for the police boys rifles had never
been loaded on the boat 1t is surpris-
ing how unsafe you feel in a tight
hole If YOU have both ammunition and
rife, but they do not fit.
Meanwhile canoe loads of natives
We're cirCling round and round. sCru-
tinizing the boat at long distance and
evidently trying to make out just what
our situation was.
We assumed the greatest unconcern
and did our best to demonstrate to
them that we had perched on the reef
of our own accord. Yet somehow their
every little action now seemed to have
a suspicious character If a man
stood up in boat, we suppressed an
instinct to dodge a spear.
The natives on shore. it seemed to
us, were taking altogether too much
interest in the supplies which were
Icing landed from the boats As each
boatload of goods was deposited they
clustered round intensely curious
about the contents of all the boxes
Finally one or two of them actually
began to snatch at things that took
their fancy. We knew that at all
costs we had to avoid a conflict. be-
cause in the event of one the natives
would Immediately discover that we
had no ammunition.
Yet the moment had come when we
had to take some sort of stand We
sent four somewhat unwilling police
boys ashore, without ammunition, to
put up a firm front and keep guard
over our possessions. When the in
creased fussing of the natives and the
danger to our stores gave us genuine
cause for worry we decided that there
was nothing else to do but to take
turns in going across to the island
with boats, thus putting up u pre-
tense of preserving the peace.
THE work of unloading dragged
slowly on. Apart from the mat
ter of the heat, which was really very
trying, our boys were not accustomed
to loading. They were police BOYS, who
considered any hard physical labor
beneath their dignity. And the boats
carried the smallest of cargoes.
AS darkness began to fall the boys
worked less and less well. One tide
had passed without any change in our
position on the reef-and it had risen
only about half as high as the tide
which had left us there. The realiza-
ton was borne in on us that now the
coal had to be emptied out. 1t was
really the heaviest portion of the
cargo, and also the most difficult to
handle and the dirtiest 1t was not
bagged, and we could do nothing with
it, when we had got it over to the is
land, except dump it on the beach.
We worked all night long with the
lights turned on, wondering what the
outcome of our misadventure was to
be. We were jolly well nearing the
end of our resources. Sooner or later
the natives would provoke a clash
and find out that we could not fire.
What then?
The full tide was scheduled for