Evening star., 1942-10-22

SoOCf GU uOOuL lfLOuSuNu WLtLCS
until they finally reached safety
on an obscure atoH. The nerue-
tingLtng details of this eTtraordi-
nary experience are being related
here as told to Robert TrumbuH,
EPILOGUE-THE ISLAND.
The shack had a good roof over it,
made of woven fibrous material,
apparently coconut, and covered six
or eight inches deep by layers of
coconut leaves laid with the stems
up in a sort of shingle arrange
ment. The framework was formed
OF upright poles tied together by a
fiber that we assumed to be either
coconut or some other native
growth. The building was about
eight feet wide by 10 feet long
Some two and a half feet off the
ground were three poles that ran
the width of the shack. There was
nothing under them. There were
two smaller poles connecting the
uprights. not nailed but lashed with
some sort of native made string
The shack had a ridgepole and arch
beams, as any other house would
have. The walls were of mating
Just overhead were rafters, and
resting on them were three roughly
hewn planks about IL feet long by
eight feet wide. On the floor we
found a pile of coconut mats three
feet wide by eight feet long.
We didn't inspect the shack
closely that night; we were too
weak to pay much attention to our
surroundings Our main trouble
physically, was in trying to balance
ourselves, but by holding onto the
uprights we managed to get about.
However, I had enough strength
left to get those three planks down
from the rafters, to form the frame
work for makeshift bed of mats.
We piled about half the mats on
the planks, and Tony and I slept
there that night. With the rest of
the mats we made a bed on the
ground Tor Gene.
Right outside our shelter there
was dense grove of coconut trees,
and Gene decided to gather some
nuts. When he got outside the wind
was so strong that he couldn't
stand against it, even by using his
stick to lean on, and the coral hurt
his feet, so he had to give up and
come back to the shack. 1t was with
reluctance that we gave up the idea
of food that night, but we thought
the wind would die down by morn
ing.
Rain Blows In.
I spied couple of chickens in
the jungle but of course they fright
ened easily and we were in no con-
dition to attempt chasing them
down.
About a half hour later Gene
saw two men approaching up the
beach, perhaps 300 yards away. He
thought they saw us, but they
turned and went in the other direc-
ton.
BY now the rising wind was blow
Ing gusts of rain into our shelter SO
we rigged one of the coconut mats
to protect us. We didn't know it at
the time, but this heavy wind from
offshore was to develop into hurri-
can the next day.
The wind rose gradually, and it
rained steadily. We spent a miser-
able night. The wind kept blowing
the mats with which we tried to
cover ourselves, and the rough,
woven fiber scratched painfully
against our sunburn. We were
unable to sleep at all.
The next morning early the first
thing I did was to look around the
shack and try to patch it where the
wind during the night had blown off
the siding. In casting about for
materials for this repair. we found
several flShlineS in the rafters, with
poles, but l refused to use them. ]
knew how the natives would feel
about our breaking their lines. which
were probably not easy to obtain in
these parts. Instead, we gathered
up some coconut leaves. Using the
fiber from these, We patched the
mat walls pretty well. The shack
was nell made, but seemed to be
very old. 1t was rotting in places
I thought it must have stood there a
long while. While looking about in
the rafters, found a thick book ir
a strange language. 1t developed
that this was native Bible.
Spies Native.
While we were still working on the
patching job we saw a native coming
toward us from the beach. 1t hao
stopped raining. I grabbed my police
whistle which I had laid on the
ground the night before, and blew q
loud blast. The native stopped anc
looked at us, evidently aghast. II
was obvious that he couldn't under.
stand our being there.
After blew my whistle two OF
three more times he finally gathered
his wits and ran up to see what wa:
going on. We were sitting on the
floor, leaning against the wall where
we had been patching the mats
The native stared, fascinated. VIZ
all pointed to our mouths, trying tt
signify that we were hungry. H,
could see from our emaciated condi.
ton that we were in a bad state. 81
1t didn't take him long to get tht
idea. He held up his hand reassur.
ingly and dashed off into the coco.
nut jungle.
In few n,jn,,taS hn u,ar ho,l-