Evening star., 1961-12-30

IldLlC ulSCOVcTy SlLud'
Erwitt of Magnum. &C
urday Evening Post.
to their problem, and the fear
of disaster was growing among
many of them.
Explore Next Island
1t. Kennedy was restless. To
keep up the morale of the men,
if for no other reason, they
must do something that at
least would give the appear
ance of striving for a way out.
He looked across to Naru Is
land. 1t was only a half-mile
swim. The far side of it faced
Ferguson Passage, but what of
that? No Allied vessels would
be operating there in daylight.
1t. Kennedy had no scheme
into which a visit to Naru
fitted. But more or less on the
spur of the moment he said
to Ross, Let's take look at
this one anyway"
1t. Kennedy and Ross found
the crossing to Naru easy. The
distance across the island is
short, and they reached the
Ferguson shore quickly. Look
ing out from the fringe of
trees, they could see Rendova
Peak in its full outline. 1t was
still nearly 38 miles away, but
across open water and low is
lands it looked eXasperatingly
accessible. Certainly there must
be some way. they thought, for
II men to get to it.
They started along the beach
to their left. On the reef about
a mile or so from the shore
they spied the wreckage of a
small Japanese vessel, which
probably was what the P-40s
had been strafing, and a short
distance farther they came up
on what appeared to be cargo
washed ashore. With the greedy
curiosity of a couple of beach,
combers they ripped open a
rope-bound crate, which to
their delight contained hard
candy in the shape of tear
drops. For a few moments it
was like Christmas morning on
Naru Island.
Sit Beside Canoe
Suddenly they came upon a
dugout canoe that someone had
left in the bushes with a large
tin of rainwater. Without
knowing it. they had come upon
one of the caches the native
scouts had scattered among the
islands. They sat down by the
canoe and sparingly drank
some of the water.
AS Biuku and Eroni neared
the Naru side of Ferguson Pas
sage they too noticed the jap
anese wreckage on the reef and
decided to see whether it con-
tained anything of interest.
Reaching the reef they
anchored their canoe a short
distance away and climbed into
the hulk. While 1t. Kennedy
and Ross were quenching their
thirst with a can of rainwater,
Biuku and Eroni were salts
flying their own curiosity by
poking through the gear, charts
and utensils of one sort and
another that were Strewn about
the deck. The only booty that
interested them was Japanese
rifles. They each took one and
stepped back down on the reef
just as Kennedy and Ross re-
emerged on the beach.
Across a mile of water both
pairs of men instantly spotted
one another. Eroni and Biuku,
terrified that the two on the
beach were japanese stranded
by the wreck and might shoot
them, splaShed along the reef
and tumbled into the cano,
Eroni in his haste dropping his
rifle. Kennedy and Ross, thor
oughly alarmed that they had
been sighted at last by the
Japanese, dived into the bushes.
Eroni and Biuku padded fur
iously away from Naru toward
Blackett Strait. Once they had
rounded the sandbar of Leorava
they were headed in the direc-
ton of Sepo Island and away
from the II Americans. If they
had just kept going. they would
have reached their headquar-
ters several miles away and per-
haps forgotten all about the
two figures on Naru. At that
moment their only interest in
the two men was to get away
from them and their only mis-
sion was to return to Sepo.
Had they kept going as they
were for just a short distance
further, II men on a small
Pacific island might never have
been heard from again.
But at the last moment, they
veered clear off their course
and headed for Olasana Island.
Biuku had become thirsty