' - Thursday, Harcli 21, 1913.. '
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By CULLEN BRYANT SNELU
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OE Murray and - Wilbur Howard pushed
awav from the landing and hoisted their sail
, sail to the warm morning breeze.
They exchange laughing ; good-bys and
cood wishes with a little srrouD of friends on
"i- the landing, and shouted back a promise to
return for the Fourth and share in the big celebra
tion, vi i.. i i-',. v.';..;-'.
Their trim little boat was soon sailing briskly
over the bright waters of the lake, one of Amer
ica's great inland seas, and headed straight for
Oak Island. ' ' " ,
"Joe, this is simply immense," cried Will, after
they had settled themselves comfortably, "We've
actually started on our camping trip, after talking
of it all winter at school.""" ....(.
"Mighty glad your folks let you come, Will. I'll
show yon one of the prettiest camping spots you
ever saw,' and we'll have a bully time 'these two
weeks.".;."; ! '!;."; . -
Will had much to tell of scenes in bis home
state, farther west, especially of Indian life, of
wigwams, birch canoes, buckskin clothing and moc
casins, and much else that appealed to Joe's imagi
nation. . . .. . ' '
They proposed to live like Indians during these
two weeks; but any real Indian would have been
astonished to find his wigwam filled with the stock
of choice provisions and modern camp conveniences
which Joe had provided for this trip. -
Shifting ' winds delayed them, and it was mid
afternoon when they finally ran the boat on the
little sand beach.
"Here we are," cried Joe. "Haul up the boat
and let's get out what stuff we need for the night;
it's so late the rest will have to wait till morning."
They were soon lugging their first load up the
hill When they broke through a thicket into an
opc-.i .-"-co set with grand trees, Will looked around
at liio LC-utiful natural lawn, the little spring Cf
i clear water, the distant views toward the main
land and out upon the great I-ke, and exclaimed,
I "Well, this it the finest camping place I ever saw."
His enthusiasm led him to say much more that was
ery -gratifying to Joe, ;who was delighted to find
that his chosen camping site was appreciated.
By the time they had brought a second load from
the boat; had pitched the roomy welled tent, pre
pared their bunks and cooked supper, they were
hungry and tired. That first camp supper did taste
i good. .They lingered long over it and then leaving
the dish-washing till morning, stretched out in their
bunks. ' , " ' '"' ' -V ' ' -
' Through the open tent flaps "they watched the
moon. She had been beaming on the n from a clear
heaven; now she peeked through a f.-cked sky which
conveyed no warning to the Larry campers. They
were not weather prophets. ' - r '
For -a time they talked. The pauses became
longer and numerous; the crackle and flare of the
camp firq grew softer and softer; the call of the
whip-poor-will and hum of insect voices grew in
distinct, and then, two healthy, growing boys
breathed deeply and slowly the sweet night air.
There is no steep like that of the camp! ...
"What was that!" cried Joe and Will the samo
Instatt, both sitting bolt upright in the black dark
ness, t Their breath was held as they turned their
heads to listen. Moments passed in utter stillness,
one, two, then a dazzling blaze, a roaring thunder
crash, and a staggering rush of wind. r . " -,
"Quick, Joe, light the lantern. Jerk the goods
Into the. tent It'll pour guns in a minute!"
"Find that ax, Will, hustle! Drive the tcntstakes
in farther or she'U never hold up in such a gale.
There, I told you. Sht's pulling loose. Here, quick,
grab this line. Pull her down. Don't let the wind
get under, we never could hold her. Drive this stake
fcere, drive It, I say There, now that next rope, I
can fasten it Drive the other stakes. All down, are
they? Here, quick, get inside; grab this flap, I
can't hold it; pull her over, pull, Howard, pull,
here, I've got her fast. Whew!" '
The tent was shaking' in the blasts of wind and
torrents of rain; incessant lightnings and thunders
tent the ai. The scant clothing on the. boys was
drenched. They hurried into dry clothes and squght
the shelter and comfort of their bunks; but got no
more sleep for an hour, when the storm had blown
ever, and all was again calm and silent, save for
the chirping of insects, and the drip, drip, drip of
water from the trees. 1
A few hours later they looked out on a perfect
summer morning, but were startled to see a great
tree that had stood near-by now a fallen and shat
tered wreck. . It was that lightning stroke that had
trashed upon their sleep and roused them from
their bunks. .'
Their fears during the storm for the safety of
the goods left in the boat drove them now, before
'breakfast, down the hillside to the beach. Together
they rushed out of the bushes on to the sand and
there stopped in sad dismay. f The boat itself, -was
gone! ' -;
The beach had been swept from end to end by
great waves which were cut in two by the south
western point of the Island, and which had then
aced pas U opposite aides. Hurriedly titt twe
campers went along the upper shore in the vain
hope of finding the boat, but it was gone, com
pletely gone, and with it their main supply of pro
visions, some clothing and many parts of their camp ,
equipment. They were left with their tent, sufficient
clothing for warm weather, their guns, a little am- ,
munition and a very few articles of food, enough
only for two or three days.
The day was not a cheerful one for them but
the gravity of their situation was not fully realized
till later. At first they felt that somehow they
would get safely off the island but soon it dawned
on them that visitors there were very rare indeed
and few boats passed within hailing distance." -
On the first afternoon they did see a small fishing-boat-
sail by beyond ear-shot, and made earn
est efforts to beckon the Occupants' to the island ;
but the three fishermen merely waved their hands
in reply and passed on. ' ' ' ' '
On the second day the boys wandered aimlessly
about and watched for passing boats but none ap
' peared. On the third day they talked long and
solemnly. Their food would .not last over two days
even with the scant allowance agreed upon for each
meal; they must use even less, very much less. They
had coffee enough for a 1 month and matches in
plenty. The only oil was in the lantern and that must
be saved for making night signals if a boat passed
-close by. : . ,. :- ; ; ;.
They must hunt for game, though there prob
ably was none on the island; and they must try
. to catch fish, though all the fishing-tackle was lost
with the boat v. -.v: ,-.- vf, v.. , . .-, .
On the fourth day they were hungry and irritable,
but Will shot a mud-hen swimming near the shore,,
and no mallard duck or Thanksgiving turkey ever
tasted so good. ' '. ..,
On the fifth day an excursion boat steamed by,
just close enough for the boys to hear the ' music
of the band. They frantically beckoned and shouted
and waved a sheet fastened on a pole. They saw
a hundred handkerchiefs flutter a laughing response
as the steamer moved swiftly on thinking that some
jolly; campers were "saluting" her.
Their condition on the sixth day was pitiable.
They had lost heart, and felt faint from hunger,
and could think of no possible source of relief. A
be unable to carry out their plan. They gazed con
stantly in the direction of home, watching, watching
during what seemed an interminable time. An hour
after dark Joe rose up shotting: "There she goes;
, there's the boys. See that light?" and miles across
the water there flared ever larger and brighter the
great annual Fourth of July bonfire in which all the
boys and young men of the town took such delight.
The bonfire was roaring gloriously on the hilltop
behind the town. At least fifty young patriots sur
rounded it and added to the glory of the fire by a
constant discharge of fire-crackers and rockets.
"Henry where's Joe?" called a lusty voice. "Yes,
; where's Joe? Where's Joe?" repeated a dozen voices.
"Give it up," said Henry. "He said he'd sail back
; and spend the day with us, sure. He went camping
i on Oak Island yon know, with that school-chum
of his." ..
Everybody knew this and all eyes turned instinc
tively toward that far-off bit of land. ;
"Heigh-ho; what's that? See there; Joe's answer
ing," cried a aoisy chorus. i
And sure enough, 'way out across the water an
answering flame - was seen, then another, another,
; and yet others. The watchers were all agog. Why
, so many bonfires? Joe was lavish in his celebration.
' But the fires grew and spread and seemed to run
together in long thin lines.
' "Why, there's a letter E," shouted a voice.-.
"And there's another letter, and another and an-i
other, it spells H-.E-L-P," yelled the excited crowd;
and then for a moment in astonished silence, they
' gazed across the water at that tragic bonfire, that
message written in flaming letters, each many feet
. in length, which the starving campers had worked so
' hard to prepare, v ' ' - .
"Joe's in trouble," called a leader. "Come on
fellows,; let's give him a signal." A town caretaker
' was standing near, holding the great flag he had re
moved from the hilltop flag-staff. Taking the flag,
two of the tallest fellows held it up so as to hide the
fire from the view of the boys on the island. It was
then dropped and the signal repeated several times.
! A rush for the town had already begun; Mr. Murray
was notified, a small steam-launch was pressed into
service, and. Joe's anxious father and a number of
, friends were soop.' speeding toward the island, won
: dering "what the-trouble might be. , '
, 1 It was midqight when the launch returned.
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few idays more and their danger would be extreme,
as it even now was very real. As they ate their
tantalizing little supper and drank each an extra cup
of black coffee to keep up their nerve, they could
' scarcely keep from blubbering outright as the weight
of homesickness and sense of danger pressed on
them anew. . .. .
They, felt i especially discouraged because of the
1 complete failure that day of their attempts to catch
' fish with bent pins for hooks. There were no fish
near enough to the shore, or they might have had,
better hick. '' ' !
That night their sleep was very broken.' Joe
lay awake for hours, thinking desperately. At day
break he suddenly yelled out: "Wake up, Will, wake
v, up. I've got i. I believe I've got it, sure."
V "Got what?" cried Will. "Got some grub?"
"No, got an idea. .To-morrow is the Fourth;
we'll call for help." .
"What do you mean, Joe? Are you out of your
head?" asked Will in alarm.
Joe assured him he was not out of his head, and
soon explained his scheme. It meant a lot oi hard
work, and it might fail; but it must be tried.
They took their guns at once to hunt in the early
morning.
Their plans raised their spirits and gave them
new strength, and by great caution and persever
ance they succeeded in shooting another mudhen
and several small song-birds. They ate all if these
as soon as cooked, and felt as If they had eaten al
most a full meal, though several times the amount
wtmld quickly have disappeared had it been at hand.
Then they fell to work.
They were exhausted at nightfall but worked
desperately all throui! the next day, the Fourth,
and used the last of their food, only a few mouthfuls
to sustain their energy.-
As the day passed their steps lagged more and
more and they frequently sst down to rest ' But the '
work must he finished before dark, and at sunset
they declared it done. There was net a bite to eat,
bivt they drank some cold coffee they had brought
. from camp and "threw themselves down on the hill-
side to rest. They were tired, oh, so tired: every
bone snd muscle ached; they could scarcely raise
their heads; their plan might not work after all.
, Nevertheless, they must keep awake, though it cost
sham Very painful effort to do so, or they would
Anxious friends had Ion a- been waitinsr at the
landing, and had provided a carriage and even a
stretcher, thinking that one of the boys mil.t be
seriously, injured.'-They felt greatly relieved when
they heard, 'AH safe: nobody's hurt; we've got them
both," called cheerfully across the water by Mr.
Murray.
"Hold on, hold on," Joe exclaimed, two minutes
after landing.- "I can't answer so many questions
at once. . The storm on that first night carried off
our boat with nearly all our provisions and other
truck left on, board.- But tell me first, boys, could
you read my printing easily at that dijtance?"
"Yes, it was plain, J0e. That was a great idea of
yours; but how in the world did you do it? Where
did yon get the stuff for all those fires?"
"I knew that steep, rocky hillside on the island
could be seen from our hilltop, here at home," re
plied Joe,'"and that 'you fellows would be up there
after dark at the bonfire, and could probably read
our signal if we could only make it large enough.
To do it was the biggest day's work we ever did. I
don't think we'd have succeeded if we had not found
a quantity of hay that Dan McLeod cut on the marsh "
fiacre ' his little logging camp on the island last
winter. Luckily for us he didn't use it all. We had
to carry h in our blankets quite a distance to the
hillside, where we spread It in long windrows to
form the letters. The hillside was bare rock, so '
there was nothing else there to burn and so destroy
the shape of the letters when you saw them. Then
we cut hemlock bougs, and all the small dead wood
within easy reach, and gathered in our blankets all
the dry ruhhish we could find In the woods and piled
it all over the hay to make the letters last Innirer.
"When we saw your fire we did some hustling
to light the big letters in fifty or more places at one
Then we saw you hide your fire a half dozen limes ? -,
f we didn't fee! sure our scheme had tueeeeded
till we saw the lights of the launch approaching-.
We were happy just then, I tell xm.
"But now, good-niitht, hot. We hsven't had a ,
square meal for six day, wn'esi you count a small
box of crackers ws wmd on the laurtth. We are
awfully 'stiff t'M tre besides, and must get home.
Yes, thasJf ytm, we'll use the carriage; It was mihtv
rocs' fn you to think of it. I'm thankful we don't
1 the stretcher. Good-night, fellows, good
night"
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TRAGEDY
f TO
BY DORIS WEBB
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This is the short, sweet, sorrowful tale i '
Of Jessica Jenkins Jones;
She planted a packet of seeds with pride
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- And thought, "She's burying bones."
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When Jessica left, he dug like mad
In search of the luscious bones.
So Jessica's garden it does n't grow.
And Jessica's dog is cross, and so
Is Jessica Jenkins Jones.
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THE GARDEN
UY KATE HUDSON
In sun-kissed islands, leagues and leagues away, This matchless table does a basket hold - '
There lies a garden bright with flowers gay, Fashioned oi rubies set in ruddy gold
And in the garden grows a stately tree " And fastened with a diamond-studded key;
Beneath the tree's green branches widely spread And if you turn the key, and. open wide
And bearing flowers, white, pink and red,
- An arbor stands built of carved ivory ;
And in the arbqr there 's table, made
'Of fragrant sandalwood and all Inlaid
With rings and curlicues of ebony;
The golden casket, you will find inside
A parchment scroll, on which these word
; you '11 see: . , '
1
" Oh, boy or girl, whate'er your name may b
Vincent or Rupert, Maude or Marjorie,
Be truthful, fwthful, helpful lull of (lee;
Be kind, be food and you will happy be. "
-TV.