Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-01-21

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such thing may happen. Let us trust
in Gods goodness that assistance may
come soon. The island has seemingly
been deserted for many months, and
therein lies our best chance of escape.
But I am obliged to warn you lest you
should be taken unaWareS.
Iris was serious enough now.
"How do you know that such danger
threatens us?" she demanded.
He countered readily. Because |
happen to have read good deal about
the China Sea and its frequenters,
he said. 81 am the last man in the
world to alarm you needlessly. All
I mean to convey is that certain pre-
cautions should be taken against a
risk that IS possible, not probable. No
more"
She could not repress a shudder.
The aspect of nature was so benefcent
that evil deeds seemed to be out of
place in that fair isle. Birds were
singing around them. The sun was
mounting into a cloudless sky. The
gale had passed away into pleasant
breeze, and the sea was now ripping
against the distant reef with peaceful
melody
The sailor wanted to tell her that he
would defend her against host of
savages if he were endowed with
many lives, but he was perforce
tongue-tied. He even reviled himself
for having spoken, but she saw the
anguish in his face, and her woman's
heart acknowledged him as her pro-
tector, her shield.
"Mr. Jenks," she said simply, 1--WE
are in Gods hands. l put my trust in
Him, and in you. I am hopeful, nay
more, confident I thank you for what
you have done, for all that you will
do. If you cannot preserve me from
threatening perils no man could, for
you are as brave and gallant a gentle
man as lives on the earth today"
Now, the strange feature of this ex-
traordinary and unexpected outburst
of pent-up emotion was that the girl
pronounced his name with the slightly
emphasized accentuatiOn of one who
knew it to be a mere disguise. The
man was so taken aback by her dec
laration of faith that the minor incl
dent, though it did not escape him,
was smothered in a tumult of feeling.
He could not trust himself to speak.
He rose hastily and seized the axe to
deliver a murderous assault upon a
sage palm that stood close at hand.
Iris was the first to recover de-
gree of self-possession. For moment
she had barred her soul. With reaction
came a sensitive shrinking. Her Brit
ish temperament, no less than her
delicate nature, disapproved these
sentimental displays. She wanted to
box her own ears.
With innate tact she took keen in
terest in the Telling of the tree.
what do you want it for?" she in
quired, when the sturdy trunk creaked
and fell.
jerks felt better now.
"This is a change of diet" he ex-
planned. mo; we don't boil the leaves
or nibble the bark. When I split this
palm open you will find that the in
terror is full of pith. I will cut it out
for you, and then it will be your task
to knead it with water after well
washing it, pick out all the fiber, and
finally permit the water to evapOrate.
In couple of days the residuum will
become a white powder, which, when
boiled, is sago."
GOOu SIdClOuS! octiu II 10.
"The story sounds unconvincing, but
believe am correct. 1t is worth a
trial"
II should have imagined that sage
grew on a stalk like rice or wheat
COR Topsy!"
She laughed. A difficult situation
had passed without undue effort. I'm
happily the man reopened it. Whilst
using a crowbar as a wedge he en-
deavored to put matters on a straight
forward footing.
"a little while ago." he said, ''you
seemed to imply that I had assumed
the name of jerks"
But Miss Deane's confidential mood
had gone Nothing of the kind" she
said, coldly. II think jerks is an ex-
cellent name"
She regretted the words even as
they fell from her lips. The sailor gave
a mighty wrench with the bar, split
ing the log to it's clustering leaves.
"You are right" he said. "It is dis
tinctive, brief, dogmatic. cling to it
passionately."
Soon afterwards, leaving Iris to the
manufacture of sage, he went to the
leeward side of the island, search
for turtles being his ostensible object.
When the trees hid him he quickened
his pace and turned to the left, in or
der to explore the cavity marked on
the tin with a skull and cross-bones.
To his surprise he hit upon the rem
nants of roadway-that is, line
through the wood where there were
no well-grown trees, where the ground
fV-oo IF hun Nv in Oh q
of a Wrinkled and widowed pair of
Chinese boots, wooden sandal, even
the decayed remains of palki, or lit
ter.
At last he reached the edge of the
pit, and the sight that met his eyes
held him spellbound.
The labor of many hands had torn
chasm, quarry, out of the side of the
hill. Roughly circular in shape, it had
a diameter of perhaps hundred feet,
and at its deepest part, towards the
cliff, it ran to a depth of forty feet.
On the lower side, where the sailor
stood, it descended rapidly for some
fifteen feet.
Grasses, shrubs, plants of every
variety, grew in profusion down the
steep slopes, wherever seeds could
find precarious nurture, until point
was reached about ten or eleven feet
from the bottom. There all vegetation
ceased as ii forbidden to cross magic
circle.
Below this belt the place was a
charnel-house. The bones of men and
animals mingled in weird confusion.
Most were mere skeletons. A few
bOdies-nine the sailor cOunted-yet
preserved some resemblance of hui
manity. These latter were scattered
among the older relics. They wore