HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1928.
PAGE FIVE
MB HAIR.
AND
BLUE SEA
STANLEY R. OSBORN
UAU5TRAHONS BY HENRY JAY LEE
OOFXXIOHT BY CHAITJW SCBJBHBKS SONS
WHAT HAPPENED BEFOftB
Palmyra Tree, aboard the vm-ht ntn
bow, is startled by seeing a hand thrust
through the port of her cabin. She
makes a secret investigation and dis
covers a stowaway. She is disappoint
ed in nis idiiq appearance and tells him
so. Obeying his command to glance at
me aoor sne sees a nuge, nerce, cop
per-hued man with a ten-Inch knife
neia oetween grinning lips! Burke,
the stowaway, explains that It Is a Joke.
But Palmyra Is shaken. Next day Burke
and the brown man go up on deck. The
stowaway entertains them with wild
tales ol adventuresome life which his
listeners refuse to believe!
Palmyra spends more and more time
with the stowaways to avoid van and
John, but when the stowaways are put
ashore at Honolulu she decides she
loves Van. The night the engagement
Is announced the Rainbow hits a reef.
In the excitement which follows John
rescues both Van and Palmyra but
Palmyra thinks it is Van who saved her.
After three days spent on the unin
habited island, a ship is sighted. It
proves to be Ponape Burke! Burke
contrives to get Palmyra on board his
boat alone and the boat Is under way
before anything can be done. Thurston
Is frantic and plans to save Palmyra,
aunougn mere seems no poasiDie wa;
Meanwhile Ponape tells Palmyra he :
going to the Isle of Tauna with her.
now read on
CHAPTER VI
For two days she had had a knife.
Now, in the mid-hours of the third
night, she was again lying In the
cabin awake.
She ws thinking of a remark of
Burkes several times repeated,
which had assumed the significance
of a threat. "Better volunteer that
kiss while the volunteering'- easy,'
he had warned, his grim good hu-
mor In the last hour or two, as she
felt, growing a little thin. "For
can tell y'thls: There won't be no
evading the draft once she clamps
down."
What had he meant?
When Palmyra came on deck on
this, the fourth day of her captivi
ty, she saw that Ponape Burke was
In an ugly moos.
The man greeted her with alco
holic leer, his Infantile features
shocking In their age-old depravity.
When she shrank back Into the
companion he was amused. "Come,
come, Queenle," he roared. "Are
y'ready with that kiss?" He bel
lowed with laughter. Then, when
she did not advance, he changed
to the thick anger of Intoxication.
"Have It yer way, Miss Tree Miss
Palm Tree," he said thickly. "But
'twon't be long before you're down
on yer shins a-praylng the Lord
t'take the dam' kiss and you sick
with fear I won't want It"
Ponape rolled aft to the girl.
"Sweetheart," he said, I'm going
t part with you.
She did not understand.
"Dam" them Japs!" he exploded,
, his temper taking a new direction.
"'Twas their man-o-war we sighted
last midwatch."
So that had been the cause of the
alert watch, with Its brief but real
excitement
The man's suggestion of parting
with her, the possibility of Japan
ese Intervention, had brought the
color of hope to her cheeks.
But he, returning now, struck at
that hope with malicious percep
tion. "Oh, safe enough In three or
four days," he reassured. "They'll
be gone then for a good six months.
It's only in the meantime we got
flay low. But In the meantime
ruin everything you t'be caught
aboard."
8he trle,d to fathom his purpose.
"I'm going t'jettison you. Y'shall
stop ashore."
She stared at him. Incredulous
hope roused again, only to fall be
fore his expression. He had not
the slightest thought of relinquish
ing her.
Burke was amused. "TIs a bon
ny isle," he said, "and you'll have
naught t'do but sit and think o' me."
The girl's spirits rose. She did
not question that this would be
some depot of his, a place of servile
natives. But, even so, her position
would be bettered. Surely, among
them all, must be those to under
stand, to respond to her plea for
protection.
She was eager to go. But she
thought it wise to seem Indifferent.
She waited until Burke turned
. away, then scanned the sea.
As the day wore on toward its
close she worked herself into a pas
sion of suspense, apprehension.
Burke was still drinking: what If
night should find her aboard?
And then, when It seemed she
could stand no more, she discovered
that the man, Olive, grinning enthu
siastically, was putting water, ship's
biscuit and some other stores into a
boat
In surprise, she swept the sea
again and found It blank. "Why,
when do we get there?" she asked
of Burke.
Ha smiled sardonically. "We're
there now," he answered.
She was completely at a loss.
He handed her his binoculars.
"Hard a-starboard," he directed.
Presently she made out, through
the glasses, that which might be
the crest of palms. The island seem
ed far distant
But the Pigeon of Noah had held
to her course for no great time
when her master gave the order
to heave to, and lower away the
boat
"But it's so far," she hesitated.
Burke winked at Olive, already
at the oars, then dropped over the
side without reply. Palmyra, dis
daining his proffered hand, follow
ed. The savage bent to his work
and they were away, under the
stare of the crew.
All too soon the girl saw why she
had thought the island distant. As
with each stroke of the oars it rose
in Its stark meagorness, her heart
sank. So small, so flat, Its four
cocoa-palmB so stunted, It was well
nigh invisible to the novice.
The moment her feet touched the
sand she hurled herself at the white
man.
"Belay there, sweetheart," he
laughed retreating. "Steady does it
Didn't I tell y' you'd have plenty
o'time t'slt and think o'me?
"Y'got water and stores for six
weeks or so and housekeeping'!! be
easy-like," grinned her despot "Y'
just set in the shade and munch
yer biscuit and think o' me."
"And then, sometime, maybe
you'll sight the old Pigeon loafing
by. And If you re tired o yer own
company, y'can hist yer hanky for
a signal. And perhaps I'll be such
a good kind gent as flay y aboard
again, me understanding what
you're after is t'rush up and give
me that kiss."
She clenched her teeth behind her
closed clips.
He turned as If to go. Then, cas
ually in a well-considered effect, he
called Olive to fetch that of which
the girl had not thought in days,
a pink silk parasol.
With a flourish Ponape Burke
presented this gay trifle which,
alone of all the world that she had
known, had escaped the deluge.
"For my queen,' he said with mock
ceremony. "Fresh complected folks
has a tender skin. If queenie should
show up offering a kiss all blistered
like a biled lobster why, maybe
that kiss wouldn't be so much want
ed. And, remember: 'tis a kiss, free
given and free taken, pays a pass
age from this reef."
He sprang upon the stooping back
of his fellow to be carried to the
boat He rode high, his legs, on
either side of the brown torso, doub
led, and supported by Olive's hand,
under each shin, as a stirrup.
When the boat had cleared the
reef, Ponape Burke rose to wave
her a Jaunty adieu.
When they were half way to the
schooner, the girl uttered a sob and,
flinging down the parasol, ran after
them until she stood in the surf.
Then, slowly,, she turned and came
back to the palms and threw her
self upon the sand prone.
And, oddly enough, as she lay, It
was not the white man's cruel hu
mor that revolted her so much as
the brown man's mirth. For Burke
had a purpose, but Olive's was a
mere savage delight in pain.
She had said that in the whole
world she alone was alive. Now,
however, across the coral clinkers a
something was coming, moving ec
centrically, yet approaching at an
alarming speed. A something alive?
It was gay with red polka-dots; it
ran with the exaggeration of a toy,
seeming about to stumble at each
step, yet zig-zagging over the clink
ers In an astonishing ease and rapidity.
Unexpectedly, the girl laughed.
This nursery beast would presum
ably be no more than a land crab.
Somewhat Intimidated, however,
she backed a step further up her
palm. The intruder on her Island
or was she not rather the Intruder?
hastened toward her, claws al
ready half-extended, as a hostess
with hands out to greet a belated
guest .
The polka-dotted crab went "pol-
kadoddering" on Its way. It had
kept her mind, for the moment
from the fact that the sun was sink
ing at a frightful speed.
And then, there flashed back into
her mind a word Burke had taught
her, a native name for the mon
strous robber crab. It was unga po
the night crab! In fright she
sprang up, stared around. The very
fact she had seen the one, presup
posed presence of the other. To
realize that her polka-dotted ab
surdity might now be blundering
near in search of prey was suffl-
lently disquieting; proximity of its
fierce cousin legitimately alarming.
For, with claws more than a foot
long, it could snap the strongest
bonito line like a thread, crush the
bones of a man's fingers, cripple for
life the wrist of a well grown youth?.
Horror returned upon her. She
truggled back to her observation
post She must sight a ship Instant
lynow, now! now!!
By day the lowness of the land
had brought the skyline closer than
she had ever Imagined.
She had thought of herself as the
only living being in the whole
world. Now she seemed the only
living being In all the universe
with the eyes of that universe cen
tered upon her.
But, suddenly, from out the dark
ness, there came a hoarse cry.
The girl doubled into a ball, auto
matically, as sometimes, one awak
ened by a crash of thunder.
An Interval; then she sat up and
laughed jangling but with a good
courage. It had been only a bird.
As Palmyra had been caught un
awares by the approach of night,
so now, with the eastern skies
aglow with the coming day, she
was again unawares, lying deep In
slumber.
The sun, at his setting, had paus
ed to Implant upon her cheek a
goodnight kiss. And it was not
now until he had stolen clear round
the world to bestow an awakening
kiss upon the other cheek, had sur
mounted the Chinese wall of vapor
raised against him by the morning
bank, that her eyes opened.
As the girl stood watching the
everchanglng panorama, she be-
camo aware that the waters abound
ed In life.
That bit of water upon which her
gaze chanced to be fixed rose up
Into a peak and there appeared a
dark round object which resembled
head.
For a long minute she covered
her eyes with her hands. Then she
gathered courage at last to look.
Tbe head, bobbing up and down
like a cork, was coming as fast as a
boat Presently, as she stared It
reached the suif at a narrow open
ing of the reef. A few more strokes
of arms, thick and brown, and the
head of an islander rose dripping
from the water.
And then it was that Palmyra ut
tered another cry. For she saw a
copper face with great square teeth
clamped on a knife a knife that
did not hide the ferocious grin
which had haunted her since she
first saw it thus under her spot
light: the face of the brown man
Olive!
When the face of the savage Olive
materialized to her view, the voice
of the surf drowned that wail with
which Palmyra Tree cowered back
behind her screen.
The swimmer, rising from the
brine, paused knee-deep to shake
himself like a dog. Then he plucked
the knife from between his teeth,
thrust It Into the leather sheath on
his belt and came splashnig ashore,
He did not hesitate, but made direct
for her hiding place, the only cover.
The girl sprang away in flight
The brown man, beaming terrific
ally, followed. She ran, stumbling
now and again on the coral clinkers,
until she reached land's end, and
then on, as far as she could, along
the reef a-wash. Seizing from the
water a broken knob of coral, she
laced the savage. When he reached
the edge of the sand, she hurled it
at him. Then her hand rose toward
her dress where her own knife
waited.
Olive, at the missile, grinned none
the less. Indeed, he seemed un
aware of it though it passed within
a foot of his head. But It did, nev
ertheless, have an effect one quite
unexpected. For he sat down, cross
legged, on the sand. He broke into
the animation of speech.
He stood up and the girl's hand
flew back toward her weapon. But
he came no nearer. To her sur-
prise, he turned and went stru tti ng
LESSON No. 19
Question: Why is emul
sified cod-liver oil so won
derful a food -tonic for
young girls and women ?
Answer: Because it
abounds in nourishing (ac
tors that are particularly
beneficial to people prone
to anemia and other con
ditions due to malnutrition.
Keep your system vitamin
nourianed take
SCOTT'S EMULSION
away toward the clump of palms,
There he beckoned her u. follow.
First, the savage pulled two of
the half-grown cocoanuts. With his
knife he cut through the two-inch
green husk of one and exposed the
lower end of the shell. From this,
with three taps of the blade, he
knocked a round cap. He took a
big draft of the liquid within cool,
sligntly acid clear as war. Then
he opened the second nut, brought
It half way toward ner, left It up
right in the sand, bhe was, it seem
ed, invited to drink.
Turning to the clump of pandan
us, he hacked out a short slim pole.
This he next with cord from her
stores, lashed cross the top of his
uprights. Then he marched away
toward the reef and, reaching out
as one might pick a kitten up by the
neck, snatched a fish from a pocket
in the coral. This fish, flopping
vigorously, he bound to the cross
bar of his dwarfed football goal,
The girl had been watching these
moves breathlessly, wonder for the
moment getting the better of fear.
Not until he fetched the fish did
she have any theory. Then it flash
ed into her mind that barbarous
peoples always propitiated their dei
ties with food offerings. Could this
be a sort of altar. Did the savage
so seek to further his purpose?
But Olive gave no sign. With the
last turn of the cord about the
struggling fish, he strode away to
the shade of the palms, and, throw
ing himself down on his back, was
almost instantly asleep.
Palmyra, crouching in the sun,
stared at that figure. She was aston
ished. How was it physically pos
sible for him thus to fall into slum
ber?
Whence had this man come, and
why? Could Ponape Burke have
sent him to terrorize her? Or had
the savage. . , .
She gave a snui'der.
She snatched the knife from her
dress. She gripped its handle; she
began to crawl toward that terrible
figure.
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Eut presently Bhe hesitated, stop
ped. With a groan she sank down.
She dropped the knife, buried her
face in her hands. In resistance
she could have fought like a tiger.
But thus to creep upon a sleeping
man?
For a time there seemed no al
ternative. Then she roused at the
realization that, if she could not
murder a s'eeping man, she could
at least disarm him. With Olive
deprived of that knife, and her own
retained, who could tell? She might
have some shred of chance.
She put the blade Into her dress
and began again to crawl forward,
one had got within a dozen feet of
the savage, moving with caution,
when unexpectedly, easily, nlrnost
as it seemed automatically, he open
ed his eyes and sat up. It was as
if he had not been asleep at all;
had, from the beginning, been wait
ing for her to do Just this thing.
The firl shrank back. Olive fixed
her with his stiane eyes. Then he
smiled expansively, as if it were a
Joke. He settled down once more,
instantly returned to slumber.
Sudden, startling In that place of
solitude, chere came a sound. It had
not been Olive Sh sprvng up, cir
cled land and water in quick scru
tiny. (Continued next week.)
WANTED Hear from owner of
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particulars. D. F. Bush, Minneap
olis, Minn. 52-3
WANTED Used 500 gal. water
tank. State condition and price.
Troy Bogard, Eight Mile, Ore. 1
M. R. Morgan, prominent resi
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If you smoke
for pleasure
Q1
here it is taste, rich
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Camels
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Jot Economical Transportation.
9 '
This Car
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IV Motor
MOP
v Radiator
v Rear Axle
V Transmission
v Starting
V Lighting
V Ignition
V Battery
v Tires
vUpholstery
vTop
V Fenders
v Finish
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