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Show DAILY I SHORT STORY j ; TUS CASTAWAYS. . Onc upon a time a ship foundered In the per sea naif-way between two small, uninhabited Wanda. The entire crew were drowned, but It chanced that the wind carried six passengers to one of the Island, while a current bore the me number to the other Island. In one case the half-docen . aurvlvori were men, tn the other they were women. Now, these Islands were just too far apart to be visible one from the other, and both were far out of the ordinary course of vessels. The castaways accordingly ac-cordingly lived for a long time, with no hope of rescue, those on the other island, of course, unaware of the existence exist-ence of the others. Neither party found difficulty in maintaining Itself, since food was plentiful plen-tiful and shelter unnecessary, beyond that afforded by the spreading boughs of the trees. Of the women it must be confessed that they got on 111 enough in some ways. They soon fell out, and bickerings bicker-ings and bard words were common. It was the constant practice almost every day for two of them to strike a truce; the pair would then spend the hours gossiping about the others, who were doing precisely the same thing. fn the end they would quarrel and the next day form new alliances. As for the men. It can be said that usually they got on much more pleasantly. pleas-antly. They lived together in one place, and- were, as a rule, on good terms with one another. It would happen frequently, however, that two of them would disagree on some subject, when they would fall to and fight viciously, the others looking on with interest. Just before they killed each other they would be separated, and after they had recovered sufficient to stand they would shake hands and become friends again. In the course of time another ship was wrecked as the first had been, and In the same place; all therein perished except ex-cept a young man and a young woman. By strange chance the young man was thrown, half dead, on the women's island. Instantly they forgot their differences dif-ferences and flocked 'round him. They bore him to a sheltered place and finally final-ly nursed him back to life. When he realized the circumstances he took It all as a matter of course, and pointed out several things which they could do for him. In fact, he kept them busy waiting on blm until he was quite recovered. He proved to be a .handsome fellow. . One day the women approached him, and one who had been appointed to apeak for aU said: "As you know, we are upon an Island where we can never hope for rescue. We have accordingly decided that it is meet you marry one of us. True, there iajio priest to perform the usual ceremony, cere-mony, but the situation Is so extraordinary extraordi-nary that It certainly Justifies a union by mutual consent under the great law of nature. Arise, then, and make choice among us." The man smiled complacently and rolled his eyes about at the women in a superior manner. Then he said: "Your plan Is good as far as It goes, but It does not go far enough. The situation sit-uation Is so extraordinary that it certainly cer-tainly Justifies plurality in wives, and, under the law of nature, I, by these oral presents, do hereby marry the six of you." He rose with the Intention of sealing the wholesale proceedings with a half-dozen half-dozen kisses; but the women, being good women, fled, nor stopped till they had bidden themselves in a remote part of the Island. Here, being truly and deeply in love with the man, each died of a broken heart The man promptly relapsed into solitary barbarism. It happened when the second wreck occurred that the surviving young woman wo-man was cast unconscious upon the island inhabited by the men. , They found her, and though giving one another some black looks, carried her to a safe place, built her a comfortable com-fortable shelter and nursed her much more gently than you might have expected, ex-pected, knowing what you do about them. She gained slowly, but at laat she was fully recovered, and she was certainly a very beautiful woman Indeed. The men by this time were upon very ill terms among themselves, and the energy en-ergy with which each glared at his com-panlons com-panlons was only equaled by the industry indus-try which he showed in smiling at the woman. It wag finally seen that something must be done, so they retired to a secluded se-cluded spot ,to talk it over amicably, each casually, and as Jf by accident, taking along a big club. The conference being declared open, one of the men, who chanced to be the smallest, but a handsome and pleasant fellow, said: "I am sure we are agreed that this young woman should marry, and I, for one, feel certain that she will not be found averse to the plan. Now, what I propose Is that we go to her and let her make choice of a husband among us." At this the largest of the men sneered and said: "This la not my notion at all. This conference, in fact, is air poppycock. I have known from the first what Is going go-ing to happen, and I came out here, sim- rtlv tn Tnalr a nnnnim T Bhall on hflrlr to the woman and offer myself to her. When she has refused me, something which I don't think will happen, it will be time enough for you fellows to put yourselves on the counter." As the large man said this be brandished brand-ished his club. But In his excitement he did not notice that one of hi companions com-panions stood a little behind him. This man promptly raised his own club and struck the big man a mighty blow on the head, and instantly they all plunged into a general fight, the end of which found not one of them alive. On learning of this the young woman fell into very low spirits and began dragging out an unhappy existence. So matters stood for a long time, till one day the young woman, while fishing from a raft which the men had left, was carried out to sea by the wind and finally final-ly landed on a very small and almost barren Island. On the same day, by a strange surprising sur-prising chance, and one which might not occur again, the young man on the other island, under precisely the same circumstances, was carried by the currents cur-rents to the identical rocky isle which the young woman had Just reached. They found each other immediately on landing, and fell in love Instantly on meeting. The situation was so extraordinary extraor-dinary that It cleatly admitted of a marriage by mutual consent under the great law of nature; after which they turned to and constructed a house and home. The island was so barren that It took much labor to procure a livlng,-but they worked with the Utmost cheerfulness, and ever after were happy and contented. content-ed. AU of which shows us how wonderfully wonder-fully lucky It is that the number of men and women in the world is so nearly equal, making it possible, as the homely proverb hath It, that every Jack may have his JU1 and every Jill may be possessed pos-sessed of her Jack. Illustrated Bits. |