HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1928.
PAGE THREE
RED HAIK.
AMD
BLUE SEA
STANLEY R. OSBORN
niAJSTRATIONS BY HENRY JAY LEE
COPYRIGHT BY CHAK.UR8 8CKIBNBRS SONS
WHAT HAPPENED BEFOBE
Palmyra Tree, aboard the yacht Rain-
duw, discovers a stowaway. Kne la dis
appointed in his mild aoDeeranca and
tells him bo. Obeying his command to
glance at the door, aha sees a huge,
fierce, copper-hued man with a ten inch
knife between his lips. The stowaway,
Burke, and the brown man, Olive, go
up on deck and tell stories of adventure
which are not believed.
Palmyra decides she loves Van. The
night the engagement is announced the
KainDow nits a reef. John Thurston
rescues both Van and Palmyra but
Palmyra thinks Van saved her.
A sail is sighted after three days on
an island. It la Ponape Burke, the stow
away! Burke abducts Palmyra. Burke
has to put her ashore on an Island, as a
Japanese man-of-war is sighted and it
would be dangerous to have her aboard.
Olive swims to the Island and joins
t-aimyra. tsne is in rear ot the brown
man. Now read on
CHAPTER VII
At snapping tension Palmyra
strained to catch the sound again.
Her eyes sought to weather and to
lea, And then her gaze became fixed.
For there, on the crossbar where
Olive had fastened the fish, sat a
large bird.
It was the sound of the bird's
alighting that Palmyra had caught
The roost was now swaying under
the Impact, the newcomer shooting
In and out its neck In a somewhat
serpent-like concordance. The crea
ture was black, Its feet dispropor
tionately small and the beak, strong
ly hooked at the end, a good five
Inches long.
The bird gazed back at the girl
with some defiance of manner, as if
It thought she might claim the Ash.
Then it lumbered along the pole and
seized the victim, which managed a
final flop.
Could it be that Olive had known
he1 could attract a bird down by
baiting such a lighting place?
News of the arrival had, In some
manner, communicated itself to the
sleeper.
prom his countenance she could
not guess whether he had expected
to find a bird on the cross-bar, or
wHether he was pleased. Nor were
his actions Illuminating. With the
leisured velocity that was so dis
turbing an attribute, he first cut
from a small cane-like growth a
section the length of a finger. Then
he shaved another piece down to a
point. She thought he might Intend
pinning something with it But he
turned to her stores and tore out
some thin package paper. This he
laid on a box. With the knife he
pricked his left forearm so that the
blood come. Then with the blood
and the skewer he began to write,
presumably to make some sort of
hieroglyphics.
While Olive finished his composi
tion the girl watched in a paralyz
ing anxiety. What did he write?
What was In this message that
meant more than life and death to
her? She sprang up once to demand
a sight, then remembered she could
not have understood.
The savage now folded his paper
small, worked It into the hollow
section of cane, closed the opening
with a wad of leaf. He went to
the bird, which seemed not to ob
ject, and tied the missive under one
of Its wings.. Then he lifted It from
the roost and tossed it Into the air.
InBtantly astonishing pinions flash
ed out, a spread of six or eight feet
Burke had said this strange be
ing's purpose was to demonstrate to
al), by his courage, that he could
live down the effeminate name of
Olive.
In despoiling Burke of the red
haired goddess, Olive but reached
the climax of his demonstration.
He had chosen the one thing that
would most enrage the white man;
was, therefore, the most dangerous
to attempt and the most convinc
ing. All too plainly the message the
man-o'-war bird carried could have
but one destination; Olive proclaim
ed his daring; demanded that his
clansmen come to his aid.
The brown man Olive was un
aware of, or unmoved by, Palmy
ra's misery. As soon as he had
launched the bird, he pulled down
its perch. Then, with one of the
uprights, he marched to the lee
beach and began marking on the
tidal sands.
The girl watched tragically. Un
til now there had seemed hardly a
choice as to her fate. If she had,
with the knife, succeeded In elimin
ating Olive, Burke would have re
turned to possess her. Or If disas
ter had eliminated Burke, then ter
rible solitude, with death from
thirst.
But now, that messenger a mere
speck in the sky, the highest thing
as It seemed In the world, Instinct
within her had taken a stand. Beast
that Burke was, he was at least
better than this savage. A man of
her own race, there was always the
chance some appeal might reach
through.
When Olive, having finished his
work, turned toward her, she gath
ered herself for flight But he stop
ped, safely distant, and she divined
that he meant to attempt an ex
change of Ideas.
First, he pointed In the direction
the Lupe-a-Noa had gone. When
Pfelmyra did not understand, he
picked up a piece of tha fabric,
buckram-like, with which nature
binds her palm leaves. He folded
It, Into a form roughly triangular
and smaller end up. He held It out,
blew at It, moved it slowly from him
as he did so. He represented a sail ;
he referred to the schooner Itself.
jNext, Olive, grinning successfully
at her perception, marked a semi
circle on his forehead. She was
puzzled until she recalled the Bear
on Burke's forehead. Again she
nodded.
Once more Olive pointed to the
sdat to Indicate that tha white man
was now the actor. As Burke, he
yawned drowsily, lay down and be
gan to snore. The girl took it that
Ponape had gone to sleep for the
night. The islander next got up,
pointed to the place he had lain as
the white man, and then to six other
places In a row, snoring reinforc
ingly as he made an inclusive ges
ture. All, she saw, had been asleep.
Olive now indicated himself as
the actor, by tapping his breast with
a square forefinger. Cautiously,
peering to this side and that, paus
ing to look back and listen, he tip
toed away. With a final furtive
glance, he raised himself, jumped as
one going over the vessel's side Into
the water, simulated the movements
of a swimmer. Palmyra read that
as soon as Burke and the crew had
turned in last night Olive had elud
ed tne vigilance or the man on duty,
dropped overboard and swam back
to her.
He went on with his drama. Mak
ing again the sign of the scar, he
pretended to awake. He looked
around, said. 'Olive?"; depicted sur
prise, anger. Drawing his knife
ferociously, he kicked the Imagin
ary sleepers into life, bellowed an
order. He blew into his cupped
hand, which was now sufficient to
indicate the sail, performed the evo
lution of coming about; walked to
ward the girl, blowing into his hand
and brandishing the knife.
She held her ground, understand
ing that the enraged pursuit re
turned to her. Olive stopped, point
ed to the sun and then to a spot
somewhat further along In the lu
minary's course. A sweeping ges
ture, a grimace, a stamping of the
foot upon the sand, and he had said
as plain as words, that here Burke
would step within an Interval appal
lingly brief.
A Burke, far away and beyond
call, might seem the lesser of two
evils. But a Burke, rising over the
horizon, as fast as a storm, regained
an nis vile significance.
This much was nlain: here stood
Olive and here, within two hours,
would stand Burke. And that be
ing bo, what about the bird and Its
message !
Again, all was inexplicable. With
the white brute hot upon the heels
of the brown brute, there could be
no such waiting as she had assumed,
while a bird Irresponsibly delivered
Its summons and rescuing tribesmen
came across the sea. Then, why
the message at all?
He had sent that message as a
forlorn hope. Yet he was showing
none of the strain which should
have gone with so desperate a race.
Indeed, his very calm frightened
her. It was unnatural. He must
expect, with a knife, to fight for her
possession against Burke, with the
deadly revolvers, and backed by the
crew. Facing such terrible odds,
no white man could have been so
unemotional.
Could it be that he had come here
to await Burke's arrival and then,
almost within Ponape's grasp, to
plunge the knife Into her breast
and himself die? Was there that in
his dark beliefs, traditions, to make
such an act exquisitely worth the
sacrifice; a supreme manifestation,
say, of hate for his tyrant; a degra
dation in this Island world eternally
to make of the white man a mock?
Olive thrust out the square fore
finger toward the quarter whence
the Pigeon of Noah would descend
upon them, and then toward the
sun to indicate the flight of time.
Following which he crossed to the
beach and stood in the brine. He
beckoned to her. He pointed to
himself and to her, and then off
across the water, with the motions
of one who swims.
The girl stared. For the first
time she was utterly at fault By
his Indication he and she were to
swim away together into the thou
sand miles of ocean. That, how
ever, could not be. He must have
some other meaning.
But the savage made plain he did
mean Just that. He held out his
hand toward her invitingly. He
waved her at once an appeal and
command Into the sea.
Palmyra cowered before Olive.
His meaning was plain, all too plain.
But his purpose? There lay the
terror.
'I tell you I can't swim," she
cried out at last "I can't swim.
Don't you understand? I can't
swim!"
For the first time his features of
fered a readable significance. He
was perplexed. He fetched his co
coanutB. He sat down before her,
indicated that she was the object
of the p!ay. He bound two of the
dry nuts by their thong of husk to
his ankle. Also others, as he show
ed, about his waist And then, she
understood.
The girl saw that Olive thus was
saying "life preserver." He meant
to make her Into a sort of raft.
Her agitation diminished. This
bespoke life, not death. The fan
atic, about to drown one, did not
provide a float
With six of the nuts he buoyed
her hips and with four her shoul
ders. With a length of fibre he
wound hor skirt tight round her
knees. Then he fastened his knife
securely but Immediately at hand,
in the thongs that bound her waist.
For an Interval he left her, lying
with upturned face, hor eyes closed
against the glare. He threw Into
the sea, so It would drift clear or
sink, the food and cask of water,
the several leaves, the opened nuts;
everything that spoke of his activ
ity. Then, pausing for a last care
ful Inspection, his glance lighted on
the pink silk parasol. He examined
it thoughtfully, raised it; offered it,
with pleased look, to the tug of the
wind. Olive had a sail.
Thus did they depart Into the
thousand miles of empty ocean.
Olive swam briskly forward with
her now. Exulting, she discovered
that the sound which had mocked
her, this time at last, was no cruel
deception. It was the trample of
surf upon a reef.
One sharp struggle and those
splendid muscles had carried them,
buffeted and breathless, through a
cauldron of a cleft in the outer bar
rier. They came to rest In a shal
low of spent surf on the reef be
tween its higher rim and the nearby
snore.
At first Palmyra was aware of
nothing beyond the fact that she
was once more on land. That was
all-sufficing. The Island, by reason
of her hours In the water, seemed
to rise and fall as giddily as the
sea itself. But she could cling to
a pandanus and feel safe.
How many, many miles had they
come? She recollected men had
tried to swim the English channel.
Was the channel twelve or twenty
miles across? Something like that
But It was cold northern water and
the swimmers merely European.
Olive must have brought her Infin
itely further.
The island, plainly, was Inhabited.
As Olive had written, why could
not she?
But what of paper? She paused,
confronted by the stonewall of cir
cumstance. No need to cut her hand
as the brown man had done, for
bright drop3 of the pirate gore were
already available. As she sat, the
mosquitoes had been swarming
round her.
While she puzzled, she felt recon
noiteringly for the hostile foliage.
It proved to be a Btiff, sword-like
leaf that thrust at her from the
shadows.
The leaf, she found, was surfaced
by a thin, transparent film.
I he appeal grew with tragic
slowness. The pin work could not
be hurried, the condensation of
wording took thought!
Help! Abducted by Ponape Lupe-
a-Noa, from wrecked Yacht Rain
bow, 4 days sail. His man Olive
now steals me. Whichever gets me
death or worse.
Miss Palmyra Tree,
Boston, U. S. A.
She must make the leaf notice
able. Nothing else at hand, she
drew off one of her wet stockings.
She smiled drearily. Silken hosiery
where hosiery was unknown. That
should attract attention.
With the stocking she bound a
fragment of coral to the leaf. Then,
gazing apprehensively about, she
began to crawl forward. She must
not try to go too far. And at the
slightest sound she must drop the
missive before Olive could see.
Within five or six yards the cov
er ended. Beyond in the moonlight
lay barren sand, foot trampled, a
place in frequent visitation. She
would have liked to go further. But
the danger was tremendous, the
gain uncertain. She paused breath
lessly to listen. Then she flung the
weighted leaf.
From out there a clink of sound
reached back, brazen loud to her
straining senses as a gong. It seem
ed Impossible that Olive should not
hear; should not spring grinning
from the thicket; should not unerr
ingly as a dog, nose up, snatch that
precious message, her only hope.
For an interval she hung on, wait
ing. Then, in the v.uexpe-ti d silence,
body and mind collapsed. She drag
ged herself back to the waiting
place, but she was unaware of It
The sand warmed her, the earth
rocked her as In a cradle, but
she was asleep.
For ages she must have laid in
torpor. Then, suddenly, she awoke
with a cry. She was clasped tight
in a pair of great arms; held close
against a naked breast No noed
for her to see that grinning face.
It was the beast!
Desperately she put all her
strength Into s lunge. So unexpect
ed this effort to get free that suc
cess was hers. Surprisingly, Indeed,
she flung herself quite clear of those
arms and fell, with a strangling
gasp, Into the water that rose above
her bead.
When Palmyra Tree thus flung
herself out of the arms of Olive, the
brown man had been carrying her
again down Into the sea. The strong
arms rescued her, yet she fought
desperately. Ashore, she had been
slow to trust those half seen figures
bout the fires. Having trusted, she
could not bear to be snatched away
before her appeal had been found.
The moon was gone in a down
pour of rain. Sky and sea and land
had lost form dissolved. And yet
In this melting world something had
remained solid, for presently the
girl received a smart bump between
the shoulders. Twisting, she found
an unstable shape that intuition, ra
ther than sight, Identified as a
canoe.
Olive sat her on the canoe, stead
ied her there, pointed. His hand
seemed to fade into nothingness.
He raised her own arm so she could
feel the direction. No need for
Olive to thrust his face close to hers
and make the sign of the scar. It
was the pursuing Burke.
She had just been struggling to
free herself of the brown man, yet
now, when she saw that success
would have thro vn her at once into
the hands of the white, she was
aghast For with Burke present his
timid creatures ceased to offer any
chance; It was again with Olive's
clansmen she felt her hope to lie.
But there was the leaf letter!
She strove to make Olive under
stand they must go back. She
pointed landward, gesticulated.-
It was inevitable he should think
she continued In resistance. He took
her firmly, laid her prone, made her
grip the framework.
With the paddle, strong, noise
less, Olive drove the canoe out into
the world of waters.
Relieved of her apprehension, she
began to patch together the inci
dents of their flight, into a reveal
ing film. When the wind had re
vived to let Ponape Burke beat back
to the first Island in pursuit of
Olive (could It really be little more
than twenty-four hours since the
white man had Imprisoned her
there?) he found the place aban
doned. He had also found her sup
plies gone, a thing Implying a boat
and Olive's forgery of a boat's im
print on the sand, a counterfeit sof
tened into greater verisimilitude by
the placid tide.
Burke must either detect the
fraud, or believe some vessel, al
most certainly the Japanese gun
boat, had sighted her distress sig
nals. In that event, he was free to
assume Olive had drowned in his
effort to reach land, had arrived too
late and then swum away, or had
been taken off with the girl, presum
ably against his will.
She had no knowledge where Ja-
lult lay, or how far. But It was
within reach; her only hope. As
the former German base, there
must yet be four or five white men
and a dozen or so of Japs; and If
this one of the two American mis
sion centers was closed, still native
Christians.
She so wanted to go to Jaluit that
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she could not fail to endow this
savage with the grace of taking her
there. Absurd though the Idea, it
gripped her till she could not, for
the moment believe It true.
After all, though, what could it
serve? She tried to rise for a view
astern, but dared not stand. She
saw no sail, yet knew her letter, the
canoe theft, had made a chase cer
tain. Their flying start would save
them from other canoes but not
from the swift Pigeon of Noah.
Now and then her companion
himself would rouse to stand with
ease on the jumping canoe and scan
the sea for an enemy.
In one of these wakeful intervals
she made, Interrogatively, the sign
of the scar which had come, In their
conversations, to signify the white
man. Passing at once from his
Buddha-like repose Into the anima
tion of discourse, Olive pointed to
the sun and then to a spot consider
ably further on in its line of march.
Pursuit, it seemed, must be expec
ted, out not as yet.
Now followed a long pantomime,
at times unintelligible. The brown
man, in his explanation, was ham
pered by the limit of action possi
ble in a canoe. His story included
himself and Burke, the island, the
knife, what seemed to be a gun
the canoe, the Pigeon of Noah.
Much of it, as it came, was mean
ingless because she did not grasp
other parts upon which the mean
ing depended.
There was a point which baffled
her, where Olive went through the
motions of binding hands and feet,
and forced something, crosswise, in
to his mouth. At first she thought
he himself had been tied and gag
ged, then that it must have been
Burke. But long afterwards, when
the savage had again sunk Into stu
por, the explanation flashed Into
her mind. She could now recon
struct the scene ashore, in part from
what Olive had made clear, in part
from what her intelligence told her
must have occurred.
Ponape Burke, then, had felt that,
if they had not been rescued by
some vessel, they must have a can
oe. And to make sure they should
not get one in the dark hours, he
had had all the canoes on the island
brought together and had set over
these a guard of two men with ri
fles, himself waiting near.
Olive, she surmised, had expected
secretly to obtain a canoe from a
friend and so sail without destroy
ing Burke's possible belief in the
fictitious ship. But the brown man,
to his dismay, had found this im
possible. As daylight must not dis
cover them ashore, he had had no
alternative save to take a canoe by
force.
Under cover of the rain he had
somehow managed to surprise, had
bound the guards and got away
without an alarm. He had hoped to
prevent the chase thus made cer
tain, by cutting rigging on the
schooner; but, for some reason, had
had to desist with little more than
an hour or so of delay ensured.
One detail of Olive's pantomime
explained perhaps why Burke had
trusted the canoes to any guard but
his own. He had been drinking
heavily.
And so it was ahe responded with
a cry when Olive, at last clicking
his tongue in chagrin, pointed as
tern. No need for her eyes to seek out
a tiny something against the sky
to know that the Lupe-a-Noa was
come.
(Continued next week.)
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