Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-02-18


law of the jungle to decide the terms
of conquest.
That morning, of course, ne had not
been able to visit Summit Rock until
after his cautious survey OF the
island. Once there, however, he no
ticed that the gale two nights carrier
had loosened two of the supports OF
his sky sign. 1t was not difficult or
long Job to repair the damage. With
the invaluable axe he cut several
wedges and soon made all secure.
| Now, during each of the two daily
examinations of the horizon which he
never omitted, he minutely scrutinized
! the sea between Rainbow Island and
the distant group. 1t was, perhaps,
needless precaution. The Dyaks would
come at night. With favorable wind
they need not set sail until dusk, and
| their fleet sampans would easily cover
the intervening forty miles IN flVe
| hours.
He could not be positive that they
were actual inhabitants OF the ISLANDS
to the south The China Sea sWarms
with wandering pirates, and the tribe
whose luminosity he had earned might
| be equally noxiOuS to some peaceaDle
| fishing community on the coast. Again
and again he debated the ACCESSIBILITY
of constructing a seaworthy raft and
endeayoring to make the passage. But
this would be risking all on fright
! FIJI uncertainty and the accidental dis
| covery of the Eagles Nest had given
| him new hope Here he could make
determined stand and in the end help
must come. So he dismissed the nav
! igation project, and devoted himself
wholly to the perfecting of the natur-
al fortress in the rock.
| That night they finished the rope
| ladder Indeed, jerks was determined
not to retire to rest until it was
placed in stu; he did not care to try
a second time to carry Iris to that ele-
waited perch, and it may be remarked
that thenceforth the girl, before go
! ing to sleep, simply changed one
ragged dress for another.
One of the first things he contem-
| plated was the destruction, If possible,
| of the point on the opposite cliff which
commanded the ledge. This, however,
was utterly impracticable with the ap-
pliances at his command. The top OF
| the rock sloped slightly towards the
west, and nothing short of dynamite
or regular quarrying operations would
render it untenable by hostile marks
men.
During the day his Lee-MetfordS,
at ninety yards range, might be trusted
| to keep the place clear OF 1ntruders.
But at night-that was the difficulty.
He partially solved it by fixing two
rests on the ledge to support rifle
in exact line with the center OF the
enemys position, and as a variant, on
| the outer rest he marked lines which
correspondent with other sections OF
| the entire front available to the foe.
! Even then he was not satisfied.
When time permitted he made expert
ments with ropes reeved through the
pulley and attached to rifle action.
/ He might have succeeded in his main
object had not his thoughts taken
new line His aim was to achleVe
some method of opening and closing
| the breech-lock by means of two ropes
The difficulty was to secure the pre-
liminary and final lateral movement
! of the lever bolt but it suddenly oc-
Cured to him that if he could manage
to convey the impression that Iris ana
| he had life the island, the DyaKs
would go away after frultless search.
| The existence of ropes along the lace
| of the rock-an essential to his me-
chanical Scheme-Would Detfay thelr
whereabouts, or at any rate excite
dangerous curiosity. So he reluctant
| ly abandoned his original design,
| though not wholly as will be seen IN
| due course.
| In pursuance of his latest idea he
sedulously removed from the foot o.
the cliff all traces of the clearance
effected on the ledge, and, although
! he provided supports for the tarpaui-
in covering, he did not ADJUST IT, Iris
and he might lie perdu there for days
without their retreat being found out.
This development suggested the ne
cessity OF hiding their surplus stores
and ammunition and what spot could
be more suitable than the cave?
So jerks began to dig once more IN
the interior, laboring manfully with
pick and shovel in the locality OF the
| fault with it's vein of anthony. 1t was
thus that he blundered upon the sec
ond great event of his life.
Rainbow Island had given him the
one thing a man prizes above all else
"a pure yet passionate love for
woman beautiful alike in body ana
mind And now it was to endow him
with riches that might stir the pulse
of even a South African magnate. For
the sailor, unmindful of purpose other
than providing the requisite cache,
shoveling and delving with the ener7
gy peculiar to all his actions, sudden
ly struck a deep vein of almost vlr-
gin gold.
To facilitate the disposal at dis
lance of the disturbed debris, he threw
each shovelful on to a canvas sheet,
which he subsequently dragged among
the trees in order to dislodge its con-
tents. After doing this four times he
noticed certain metallic specks in the
fifth load which recalled the presence
of the antimony. But the appearance
of the sixth cargo was so remarkable
<