White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-08-30

the perfume Of vanilla. Mingled with
1t comes the scent of hyacinth, or
child. mayflower, and heliotrope.
Sweet-smelling breezes blow, and
above is the tropical sky with its clus-
tered flashing stars and gorgeous
Milky Way. Hanging above the hori-
zon is the far-famed Southern Cross
In the middle of the camp we made
a sort of plaza. The Seeadler's bat.
teries furnished electric light for It,
and there we gathered every night.
We still had plenty of champagne and
cognac left from the capture of the
champagne ship. So, in the cool OF
the evening, we sat out there on the
edge of this equatorial Potsdammer
Platz slipping drinks out of wine and
brandy glasses, just as we might have
at the Adlon In Berlin. There was
plenty Of pipe tobacco, and Doctor
Pietsch had taken care to rescue from
the wreck a store of his endless ci-
CARS. The wind blew. the stars shone,
and the orchestra alternately played
German classics from the operas and
American rag-time melodies. All, yes,
this last bit Of the once glorious over
seas German empire wasn't such bad
little paradise at all. We castaways
out there In the solitude of the South
Seas felt as though we were the only
people left In the world, like Noah and
his family on Mount Ararat.
But after about three weeks of this
Garden of en-without-an-Ev exist
ence, the monotony of 1t began to get
on our nerves. OF course, there was
the "wife" of the officer of the :.
but she was far too busy to be inter-
ested in the rest of us. We hadn't
been sent out to colonize the South
Seas and take life easy. So we cast
about for way to go buccaneering
again.
Our first need was for ship to
take the place of our unfortunate
three master impaled out there on the
coral reef. The Kanakas told US that
a French sailing vessel visited the is-
land every year to take away turtle
meat. The best guess that they could
make was that it would be another SIX
months or so before she arrived. Well,
after six months, we would have
ship. We could always fall back on
that. But, by Joe, six months was
long time to wait. The war might be
won or lost by then. And 1t was high
ly unlikely that any other ship would
stray into those waters for heaven
knows how long. We all grew impa-
tient. Few sailors are keen about re-
naming cast away on tropical Isle
for long, and especially on an atoll
as small as Mopelia. We felt the itch
to get out to sea again. l was par
ticularly anxious to set something
stirring. Before long the tropical sun
and lazy life would sap my mems vi
tally, and all they would be good for
would be to loll around.
We still had our lifeboats, and the
hurricane season was not on. So why
not put to sea in one Of them? We
devised rigging and sails for our best
lifeboat, mast, jib boom, main boom.
gaff, stays, and back stays. We
scraped, caulked, and painted her
She was not In any too good condi-
ton, and despite our labor she con-
tinued to leak a bit and needed con
slant battling. Even in calm weather
we had to bail forty pals day. We
loaded her with provisions for half a
dozen men over long voyage. She
was eighteen feet In length and only
about fourteen inches above water
amldship Into this small space we
stored water, bareback, machine guns.
rifles, hand grenades. and pistols. The
only luxuries we allowed ourselves
we're few tins Of pemmican, q side
of bacon, and an accordion. The mu.
sic of the squealer was to be our SOL
ace during q cruise the length of
which none could foretell. The great
question was, could our tiny craft sur.
vive storm? at any rate, she could
sail, and that was something. We
christened her the Kronprinzessin
Cecilie-without, however, painting
her name on the stern.
OF course, everybody wanted to go,
but there could be only six of Us at
the most. So picked the men who
seemed to be In the most vigorous
health at the time, Mate Leudemann
Lieutenant Kirchelss, Engineer Krauss
Boatswain Parmien, and Yoeman Erd.
mann This left the colony on the
otolI IN tho hands Of T,fputpnont King
(TO BE CONTINUED)