Show A lonely thanksgiving Thanks givin some years ago a sailing ship bound from new york to singapore with ft ath oil took fire in the middle of the indian ocean the day before thail realizing that it was imps sible to extinguish the burning oil the captain ordered the nien men to the boats with such provisions as they could carry at short notice the long boat containing the captain second mate and ten men got away all right but was never heard of again the cutter with the first mate and the rest of the crew after drifting about in the darkness for several hours went broadside against a coral reef and was smashed like an eggshell the mate alone sue ceedee in reaching aching r land ian d all the others being dashed to death on the jagged reef points or drowned in the boiling surf daylight showed the survivor that he was marooned on a little island that was not much more than a cluster of rocks rising above the waves it was a half mile wide at the wid est part and about a mile in circumference and was surrounded by a bristling chevaux de frise of reefs over which the billows spouted in foam and thunder beyond the glittering walls of spray was the desolate expanse of 0 the indian ocean with not a sail or a smudge of smoke anywhere in sight the shipwrecked I 1 tt jmatte JM Adte P man remembered it was ing day and the thought of all the good things the folk at home were en increased the pangs ct hun ger and thirst in the for lorit hope of finding water in some rocky arev ice he started to explore the island d and much to his delight found a pool of sweet if tepid water collected in a hollow on the top of a rock which he mounted in the hope of descry descrying in d a ship further on hidden in the coarse grass which the sea wind combed over it he stumbled on a sea fowl fowls s nest full of eggs and was also by good luck able to kill one of the birds with a well aimed stone being a bit of a dandy he carried a silver match box which had kept the matches dry so he was able to light a fire of dry grass and little sticks over which he cooked the seafowl he roasted the eggs in the hot embers and though of an oily flavor they were very palatable to a hungry m man an salt and pepper would have been a great improvement to this Thanks gir ing dinner alone on a rocky islet in the lonely indian ocean but the sauce of a healthy appetite made up for their absence the next day as the shipwrecked sailor was finishing the last of the roast eggs a P 0 steamer sighted his signal of distress and sent a boat to his rescue |