Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-08-22
CHAPTER XIII-Continued

uHu tfuitS, CucDHulss UuluilHs, liidli
goes. and oranges On the streets OF
the village. with Its matched huts.
we're South sen beauties who wore
wreaths of flowers and had dark. flash
Ing eyes. They gazed with interest
on the foreign sportsmen. the story
of whose cruise on bel had spread
among the natives. We took aboard
what provisions we needed and sci
sail for Aitutakl
The weather turned miserable. by
Joe. II rained overy day. those
drenching tropical dnwnpuurs 0ur
saiiclotb covering was not tight enough
to hold the water out. The sen was
heavy and continually washed into the
boat Often we hnlled ms many a.
Two hundred and fifty pails IN hour
Everything not slowed In the side
tanks got wet.
When the rain stopped for a while
the waves and spray Kept things from
drying. We were soaked to the skin
and never did get dry. Our blankets
and mattresses were dripping wet
When we lay In the sodden bedding
we were freezing cold and could sleep
scarcely at all. Often II was a relief
to be called to go on watch. Then at
least we could tiresh our arms about
and get warm Cooking was almost
impossible now. and we seldom ever
got coffee anything like hot
Once we saw a waterspnut forming
right before our eyes fine, whirline
drizzle close to the water attracted
our eyes Ii rev0ived ever more rap
idly, selling wider masses OF wnter
In the sky was little blnck thunder
cloud extending downward In the
shape of funnel. The whir of spray
on the water ran up swiftly The cone
Of the thunderclnud stretched down r.
meet It. They came together and
united. A roaring and sound of
bursting, tremendous suction Of wa
ter. and sky and sen were connected
by a whIrling column Gyrating ann
swaying. 1t moved In our direction
Our boat lay In a calm. Not breath
of air around us, VIII this wander
Ing giant strike us and break upon
as. deluge aud swamp us? Automat-
ically Lendemann at the rudder tries
to steer us. Without wind our boa
cannot move, much less steer. BuI
the roaring monster collapses with q
deafenine clap. Its mass of water
falls upon the sea, and from II cir
cular swell spreads out. We rock
uncomfortable and thank heaven. Dur
Ing our voyages among the islands
we narrowly escaped several simllaI
spouts.
After three days we found ourselves
steering our way through the mnze
OF reefs. very beautiful but perilous
that extend out In front Of the landing
place al Atutakl. Again there was no
ship In sight, but again one might bp
scheduled to arrive within some rea
sonable time That was our hope. A
crowd of natives gathered 10 watch
us come In, also half dozen white
men. among whom was the British
resident. He was TALL ianky feilnu
who wore glasses. and looked per
feet picture Of President Wilson We
found this resident To he full OF the
same British suspicion. Unlike mis-
colleague AT Atlu. he was In no wise
lost In tropical Incidence, but was
active and shrewd We saw that he
entertained the livellest doubts about
us. Might we not be wandering Ger
mans? OF course. he could not ven
ture any forcble measures to nvesf
gate our case. such rs searching our
boat, for II we really were Germans
we would doubtless he armed to the
teeth. and In that case where would
he be? lie had no force to match
ours. We tried our level best to uuieT
his suspicious by our offhand. natural
behavior. We thought our sporting
voyage explanation and our request
for certificate. such as We had goI
from the resident al Atiu. plausible
enough. II was too bad tllai we could
not use the other residents certificate
but In II we're written our surpassed
Dutch names, and now we were Nor
wegians.
The resident began by saying TO US
that we would 20 doubt be delighted
10 meet fellow countryman of ours
This "countrymun turned OUT to be II
Norwegian carpenter. We surmlsed al
once that he had been Instructed by
the resident to talk with us and see
whether we were really Nnrweglnns
My Norwegian was bnii but kfFctletss
spoke the language like q native.
kept severely out OF the way. and lei
Eircheiss have long, friendly tall
with the carpenter. klrrhelss con
yinced his man that he was as Morse
as the vikings. TIE carpenter was
delighted to meet fellow country
man so jovial and. as klrcheiss repre-
senled, so wealthy He promptly re
ported TO the resident that we were
the tfuesi Norsemen alive and coult
In no wise he Germans.
The resident, With his inscrutnbl
President Wilson face. invited me 4
his house for dinner. accepted
British merchant named Low inyfre'
nv ueutenan, to his house. We. SUE