Show FORLORN ISLAND by edison marshall copyright by edison marshall tinh service CHAPTER XIII 20 all night long iong the lost people of the isle mourned their priestess the aliens left them to their grief but the wind brought their eerie cerle cries and lamentations and the firelight showed their dark forms as they danced slowly and solemnly about her bler bier some of the ceremonies were barbarous from erics viewpoint part of the ancient ritual of shamanism but he be only shut his ears and an looked the other way the old men embalmed embalm ed her body according to her priestly station an aleut rite of which roy had heard but which he be thought had passed from the earth and when the tide ran out the hunters carried the bler bier to its place in the sea cares carca when eric had revived he and roy searched for the sacred document handed down from Fire hearts russian ancestor the founder of her dynasty they found it in a seal hide packet written with some native ink on fine homemade home made parchment the ink had faded the white skin darkened by time but the script was still clear why cant translate it eric asked tensely no reason in the world roy ai said like most of these revolutionary coves hes something of a scholar thank god he survived the melee otherwise wed he no better oft off than the aleuts aleuns eric found retrofit roaming the village row nig HIS red passions had cooled and lie he was glad to be of service to his conquerors and make peace at any terms in the flickering light of holtons hortons Hor tons turf house bouse surrounded hy by tense drawn faces he be translated quickly and easily the message front from the past yes it was big medicine tune june 1705 1795 for any of roy my countrymen and faith who come after me my prayers after many years of patient effort I 1 have learned the route across the shoals to egnak island now taboo I 1 have native children and I 1 cannot go but I 1 record it for other castaways casta ways lest it lie be utterly lost it Is shorter than the northern pass through which I 1 drifted the time to go Is in the early fall the currents tire are less strong at this time of year and the days clearer although there Is 19 great danzer danger of sudden storms paddle south for seen hours you will see ahead a line of barrier reefs make to them boldly five abs tbs away you will strike a strong current sweeping southwest do not fight against it but paddle with it for three hours soon you will pass a great arch of rock when you see the light full through its opening turn south again and paddle for your life A mile beyond will find you in the open sea only four hours paddle to egnak harbor barbor be sure the seamans shamans pans prophesy clear weather before you go start well before dawn so that you will find the harbor while the light still lingers it Is a perilous journey but by the blessing of our lady of kazan and saint milchael SIl All chael hael and saint george you may win through adieu paul Goll kor Potro Petr offs irs voice died away lu in the long silence nan saw sair old time strength of purpose low flow back into erics haggard face rut but roy was the first to speak the old chap had more confidence in native weather prop prophets liets than I 1 have it would bould be sweet to get over there on the shoals and strike a fog eric raised his eyes to nans well try it anyhow when wheal it was halt half a whisper halt half a gasp tomorrow night theres usually a week of good weather after a boorga bjorga and all the signs say so lie ile spoke with an echo ot of his old power well go in the two throe hatch kayaks kajaks ret re rolT Chech and myself in one bill big smith and cooky in the other therell be nothing to fear from the men except that they may desert big smith will have to get hack back to find little smith and ill oake terms with the other two L ai they may not be hilll willing g to go norton horton said go it if you promise ilse to forget happened petroff said weve alk al been crazy partly the island mostly San domar and garge barge but were sane now with any luck well be in tion by next full moon erics eyes closed wearily and his blond head dropped on his breast now let me slem lie ile flung down on the fur ru rugs s when he opened his eyes again the sun of his last day on forlorn island was high in the sky preparations were made swiftly these included food and water in the boats and money in erics pocket concealed from his comrades im going to give you a check too for a substantial amount norton horton said in decisive tones it will do wonders toward getting a relief ship here in the quickest possible time erle eric decided to start before midnight to meet the reefs ns as soon as pos oble f after dawn every hour of clear weather was preci precious nw beyond all the cherko in little book so it came that the honeymoon did not hill let for film and ann and only wi md r ire were thick clouds below the southern horizon it would never rise at nil all nan did not return to the broken nest she and eric spent their farewell hour in her fathers hut but her friends had gone to the beach but she was not alone with her lover there were ghosts in every corner watching every move she made ab shadows of file future wraiths of fear her arms nere bound lar thing was changed when eric drew her close she kissed him gently and shook her head to the pleading in his eyes its too late she whispered everything must wait till we get back to earth were just waking up from a long iong dream she smiled smile wistfully you wont blame me uric your tour happiness comes first mine would be a poor love not to concede that lie ile stood back and adored her the lovely rounded contours of her dark head her dusky hair flowing her pointed hazel eyes lustrous in their long black lashes 1 I only wish I 1 had taken you when I 1 had the chance perhaps ill wish so too when y you oil are gone she spoke in low somber w Z r egnak island tones if youre lost out there on the shoals and I 1 never see you again ill always hate myself for a fool and a coward it been cowardice that much Is sure youre the bravest girl ive ever known and you just bear to surrender to forlorn island islan d and so to me lie he kissed her eyes forehead lips im coming back to you nan I 1 faient gone through so much just to drown in the shoals that would be too mean an end to all this cut but if fate did play such a trick id want you to have no regrets Yo youre tie followed your own star no and kept faith and youve justified my life it seemed only a moment later that they were clinging together in farewell the parting at the beach was one of the high moments of the whole adventure weeping openly mother horton clasped eric in her lean arms and her sons voice was hoarse as he said gooday boy wrung his hand and clapped him affectionately on the back marle marie kissed him with gallic fire even the aleuts aleuns were moved lie had finally won their full savage devotion they crowded around him grunting and presenting little tokens colored shells and ivory figures to bring him good luck the five survivors of San domars domar a crew kept to themselves but they shared in the handshaking hand shaking at the last with a tortured breasts breast nan saw eric board his little ship it seemed heartbreaking to have hare him depart at night in the cheerless gleam of the moon with naught to guide him through the dark wastes but it a pocket compass and the far cold glimmer of the stars yet his purpose held already he be was dipping his blade before she found breath to plead with him at least to call him back for fl a last kiss his form was dimming in the shadows soon anon so soon there was nothing IL left ft but the wan glimmer of the paddles in the moonlight and this 9 too faded away goodby Gon dby goodby her friends were shouting into the dark good luckl luck come back safe and back acro across s the water came er erics les voice full and strong goodby gooder cooder y goodby keep a still stiff upper lipf lip I 1 ill 1 be back before you know it then naught daught was left but the night the lapping combers the spectral moon and she and her friends forsaken on the strand e e e eric kept his course the breeze was favorable and the waves wares moderate it was as though his old mother convinced at last of his bis worth had turned gentle an unknown star in the southern sky guided him true hour after hour the paddles dipped while the moon sailed stately overhead the two boats kept pace the only sound was the moaning voices of the sea an occasional water bird starting up with a cry and at long intervals ter vals a few quiet words between the saddlers paddlers padd pa adlers lers the stars began to pale eric bad to trust more and more to the small compass fastened on the walrus hide deck before him at last the dark eyelid of the sky rolled back and her blue iris glimmered through just before sunrise precisely seven hours after they had embarked they heard breakers roaring ahead so paul golikov had written and the voyagers hearts were cheered but it was not easy to beat on toward the tlde tide alps and undertows of the shoals it if they went too far the reefs would make short shift of their flimsy shells but directions bore out again when they were two hundred lards from the rocks five ship lengths of time the paddlers saddlers padd lers began to feel a strong drift to the southwest it was like a river running in in ahe the ocean erics reckoning as a navigator had often been put to naught by uie the mysterious currents around the aleutian islands unexplained save by the meeting of the warm north pacific with icy bering sen sea but he had never met so distinct a stream as this raddin padding din boldly he ran before it fully nine miles an hour they swept along the shoals soon the stream widened and lost power but even when the tide turned it continued to bear them to the south southwest wesL and now grunted and pointed with III his 3 h hand a rid south by southwest they raised a pale blue shadow on the sky line it was not tog foe not a wisp of cloud not a trick of the eyes but surely landfall the furthest furl hest outpost of nans lost world 1 I egnak nak Is island landl 1 Chech muttered deep in his throat eric did not look at him but he knew that his eyes glowed like black pearls home and all that it meant to his childs heart sweet food and strong drink from the trading store the greeting of 0 his hunting mates ills return to his bis old place by the cooking fires and he did not dream that the strong young hunters would now be patriarchs squatting in the dark corners of the turf huts that his firm fleshed round armed squaw had wasted to a stooped and withered crone that his own children would not even remember his name the boats sped on eric began to watch for a natural arch of stone presently he picked it up a great dome looming among shoals with the sea running in its hollow he turned south straight ht across the current and just as golikov had bade them he and his mates paddled for their lives it was an experience to raise even coarse straight hair the breakers roared the reefs rushed to attack fangs bared and snarling only to swerve aside and sweep impotently behind rocking pitching bounding up tip like swordfish sword fish the boats sped far down the current toward the fatal shoals below the pass rut but when the paddlers saddlers padd lers breath was spent and their loins ached they saw the open sea beyond eric cheered them on with a shout their blades hacked backed and gleamed boldly they char charged ed the last rank of the enemy a iong ion line of wild white horses with flowing manes the wicked chop of the seas began to change to a long iong gentle swell davy jones shoal roared in thwarted rage behind them nothing but a sudden gale could stop them now and no cloud was in sight they ate their dried meat passing it from hand to hand drank from the water casks rind and paddled wearily on the bluffs of egnak island began to take form and now eric divined that the great adventure of his life would soon pass fate Is a master playwright and she would provide a quick curtain for this drama of the north As egnak harbor barbor opened before him he be saw what looked like three little black sticks standing in the blue the trading ship was in CHAPTER XIV the skipper of the chelsea chelsca little auxiliary schooner out from seattle to trade with the aleutian and auril islands gave no greeting as the two kayaks kajaks paddled alongside but his eyes opened like etke most sailors his extra senses were keenly developed and even now he be knew that here was a tale to tell fell on lonely decks for the remainder of his big life white faces were not common in these waters the kajaks kayaks were of a primitive type he had never seen before and they came from the direction of davy jones shoal when the boats were fast eric came up the ladder to the deck im ericssen first officer of the intrepid of de wat captain nelson demanded the intrepid eric repeated P patiently 1 I tient ly she was lost early in the summer nelson stared hard bard this was bigger news than he be had bad imagined 1 I hear about her she was suppose to go down wit all hands de papers been full of her captain and nearly half the crew went nent down the are marooned on an island in davy jones shoal erie eric drew a deep breath 1 I want to arrange tor for you to go in and get them but but the old dane stammered and stuttered dares no way to get into davy jones shoal 1 weve been there with the intrepid she draws more water than you the pass pasa from the north Is safe unless you hit a gale of course if you dont want to try it rii ill wireless for a coast guard cutter but the passengers are lo in a hurry and you can name your own figure nelson came of a thrifty race moreover it was his life to poke the chel seas nose into uncharted waters and unknown harbors where the big trumps tramps dared not venture he suggested that eric come to his cabin there over two glasses they talked tersely and to the point TO OE DE CONTINUED |