The Washington times., 1936-09-29

an order as we'll as Briant? After
all, it's only a question of taking
us across the lake"
He'll have to obey, that's all, -
IF we have to transport all our
material by land it will never end.
I don't believe the cart would be
able to get through the forest.
We must use the yawl."
And if they refuse to give us
! the yaWl?" insisted Webb.
"Refuse!" cried Ooniphan, "and
who would refuse?"
"Briant! Isn't he chief of the
colony?"
"Briant refuse?" repeated Doni-
phan. Does this boat belong to
him more than to us? If. Briant
refuses"
Doniphan did not complete the
sentence. but one could feel that
neither on this point nor on any
other would the imperious boy
submit to the orders of his rival!
Moreover, both moral and phySi'
cal strength we're lacking. So long
had they been left to themselves
that after having thought, per
hapS, that they were men, they
seemed to feel that they were
children again, in the presence
of the first human beings whom
they had met since the wreck of
the Slough, and that the sea had
thrown up in the shape of corpses! !!
At last, cool and calm again,
they understood their duty. At
daylight they would return to the
edge of the beach, dig grave in
the sand, and bury the two casta-
ways, after saying a prayer for
the rest of their souls.
How interminable that night
appeared to be! It seemed that
dawn would never come to diSpel
it horrors.
Finally the first white light of
the morning was outlined in the
east. The storm was still raging.
But first it was necessary to
render the last services to the
castaways. They crept towards
the beach while battling the
storm.
The boat was wrecked near a
slight rise in the sand, where the
tide, pushed by the wind, had
swept over it.
AS for the two bodies, they were
there no longer!
Nothing! Not even a footprint
on the sand, which, moreover, the
tide certainly would have erased!
''The poor wretcheS," cried Will
cox, II wonder if they were still
alive and able to get up!"
Where are they?" asked Cross.
Where are they?" said Doni-
phan pointing towards the sea.
There, where the going-out tide
has probably taken them!"
Domiphan crept to the edge of
the reefs and looked over the sur
face of the ocean with his tele-
scope. Not a floating body!
The bodies of the castawayS
had been carried away!
Doniphan rejoined Wilcox, Cross
and Webb, who had remained
close to the boat.
Perhaps there were some sur
vivorS of this tragedy in it!
But the boat was empty!
1t was a life boat of the mer-
chant marine, decked in front, the
keel about 80 feet. It was no
longer in a state to navigate. It's
boarding was ruined by the shock
of the wreck. A piece of mast,
broken close to the deck, a few
ShredS of sail, and bits of cordage
were all that remained of it's
rigging. There were no provisions,
utensils or arms in the chest. At
the back two names indicated to
which ship it had belonged and
it's port of departure:
"SeVern"-San Francisco.
San Francisco! One of the ports
on the California coast! The ship
was of American nationality!
But only the sea limited the
horizon on that part of the coast
on which the shipwreck of the
Severn" had been thrown during
the storm.
After Doniphan, Webb, Cross
and Wilcox left French Den the
life of the other colonists became
very sad. They sorrowed over the
separation. Briant certainly had
nothing to reproach himself with,
and yet he was the most affected
since he was the unfortunate
cause of the breech.
Vainly Gordon tried to cheer
him up by saying:
(TO Be COntinued)
Translation from the original "Deux
Ans de Vacances," copyright 1895, by
King FeatureS Syndicate. Ina