White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-10-11
CHAPTER xvI-continued

was In tight hole. / must strike
blow for my comrades out there on
Mopelia. The elements had to work
upon lay In the fact that the diary
which had been found mentioned mere
iy that we had put stores aboard at
Mopelia and told Of the capture Of the
Manila and said nothing Of the fact
that we had sunk that ship. Then,
also, the truth is rarely believed. l
proceeded to skate very near the
truth.
1.-THE seeadler." replied, "was
lost"
GLOW was It lost?"
ave got on the coral reef at Mo.
pelia. We tried our best to get off,
put our stores ashore to tighten the
ship. But 1t was no use"
"What did you do then7"
ave went aboard the Manila"
"The four-masted schooner Manila?"
ayes, we captured her and took her
along with u.s."
"Where is the Manila now?"
"She Is waiting for me of Mopelia.
My men are having good vacation
on the island until come back"
II say, Count, we Japanese are not
such fools. You had the four-master
Manila, and you sailed from Mopelia
to the Fills In small boat"
eyes," replied. "There was not
room enough for all of us aboard the
Manila" ..~~.
The admiral looked at me with a
sly Oriental smile.
Fine, l thought. had figured out
their minds correctly. They had not
set straight out for Mopelia, In spite
of their knowing that we had landed
stores there, because 1t seemed wildly
impossible that with my FIVE men
had sailed from Mopelia to the Fills
In an open boat.
"Count," exclaimed the admiral, II
will tell you where your crew Is. You
did not leave four-masted schooner
and sail twenty-three hundred miles
in lifeboat. You sailed here In the
Manila, and, having got here, you put
out In your lifeboat to capture an
other ship in nearby harbor. You
tell me your crew is at Mopelia, hop
ing will get up steam Immediately,
go hurrying away for few thousand
miles on wild-goose chase, and leave
them In peace. The Manila Is in these
waters. In four days your crew will
be my prisoners"
He respected me too much to think
that ! would ever give my crew away
He knew would try to throw him of
the scent. His object was to outwit
me, to get my story and read between
the lines.
"Very good, admiral" l thought, "let
use see how 1t will work out"
We parted the best of friends. He
was an excellent fellow. Our meet.
Ing had been one of mutual deceit with
lies that no gentleman would tell In
ordinary times. Now they were quite
respectable, as ruses of war.
The ironical thing was that my men,
who under the command Of Lieutenant
Killing were still living like lords at
Mopelia, were destined to have much
better luck In getting ship than my
little party had had through all our
terrible hardships
They caught wireless message one
day telling of our capture. So, fear
Ing that their own whereabouts might
soon be discovered, they hastily began
to build boat to sail away In, but,
with the materials at their disposal,
they were unable to construct any.
thing like q seaworthy craft, capable
of carrying that whole crowd Then
Dame Fortune smiled on them.
A French square-rigged schooner
sighted the island and the wreck Of
the Seeadler.
"By joe" exclaimed the captain,
I'VE passed here six months ago and
there was no wreck herel We may
find castaways on the island 1t looks
ns though we may find good profit,
too"
You see, captain gets third Of
the value of any wreck, ship, or cargo,
that he saves. The schooner quickly
yeered toward the island.
It was Sunday morning. On the
island the men were sitting around,
washing clothes, writing diaries, and
so on. The chef was shooting snipe
for dinner. Then the cry:
"ShIp ahoy."
King took out a lifeboat with q
boarding party, the strongest men be
had, some of them the champion
wrestlers. AS they approached the
schooner. the captain leaned over the
rail and shouted down to them:
")on't row SO hard. boys. We will
come for you"
Our sailors swarrned aboard. Pts
tolls out.
s"Hnnds upl"
The Frenrhmen recognized the Ger
man uniform
"Niop Dieu-des AllemandS. ! turr
off my course to save castaways and
am captured by the Bochesl Nor
DIeu!"
The schooner was not big enough
nor had aboard provisions enough. fol
both the Germans and the prisoners
King decided to leave the prisoners
Including the crew Of the schooner on
the Island. where they would be com
fortuhe enough When he was week