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Show - f 4 Adventurers' "The Tree That Came Alive'1 By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter PHIL EEILLY of New York city has had a flock of adventures adven-tures since that day forty odd years ago when he left home, a boy of fifteen, to make his way in the world. He was in East St. Louis on the day in 1886 when the cyclone struck the town. He was a passenger on a train out West that was held up by bandits in good old Western style. He was chased through a patch of woods by a hungry wildcat, and he's been in several explosions, storms at sea and the likes. Once he lived through a South American revolution revolu-tion and he saw plenty of adventuring there. But the biggest adventure adven-ture he ever had in his life was the day in January, 1903, when he climbed a tree. Men have climbed trees from time immemorial without thinking anything of it. But when an old-time adventurer like Phil Eeilly climbs a tree well it's Adventure with a capital A. "This is what you call a LITTLE adventure," Phil writes. "It's a little experience with little things." But boy, oh boy, what a BIG difference those little things made to Phil. It Was on Old Providence Island. Phil's yarn deals with Old Providence island, down in the Caribbean Carib-bean sea. Phil says it's about two-hundred and fifty miles north northwest north-west of Colon in the Canal Zone, and a hundred and twenty miles off the east coast of Nicaragua. It belongs to the Republic of Colombia, Co-lombia, and was once the headquarters of pirates and buccaneers under the' leadership of Henry Morgan. "Many people believe," says Phil, "that there is a private treasure still hidden on that island, but I lived there over a year and never discovered any gold or jewels." But it was while Phil liyed there that he discovered "The Tree That Came Alive." On Old Providence island is a mountain called Bowden Peak that few of the inhabitants have ever climbed. People said the top was almost inaccessible because of the thick brush and tropical vegetation that grew on its slopes. At least that's what they told Phil, and telling an Irishman he can't do something is one sure way to get him to try it Phil's answer was, "The H ye say," and then he was telling the world he was going to climb that mountain. Hard Climb Up the Mountain. On top of the mountain stood the tree an old dead . one, visible all over the landscape. Phil said when he got up there he'd tie a signal flag to that tree, just to show he got up there. He started early one morning, accompanied by two native boys. All of them carried machetes to cut the brush, and Phil had a three-foot Swarms of Ants Attacked Phil. square canvas for a flag. They cut through a swamp, and then started up the mountainside. About six-hundred feet up the brush was so thick that they had to crawl on their hands and knees. And the farther they went the thicker the brush became. It was late in the afternoon when they reached the summit, their clothes torn and their bodies scratched by thorns and brambles. Then Phil started to climb that tree. On the way up, Phil noticed that the tree was hollow honeycombed with small holes. He didn't realize then that they were the holes of red ants tropical red ants the little stinging biting devils of a variety unknown to us up here in the North. Phil didn't notice them on the way up. He got to the top and tied his flag to the upper branches of the tree. But on the way down that was a different story. Attacked by a Myriad of Ants. Says Phil: "I must have disturbed those ants in the middle of their siesta. They came swarming out of their nests by the thousand. I wore only a pair of torn cotton trousers, a shirt and a pair of shoes. They got into my shoes first then up the legs of my trousers and inside my shirt. "I made the mistake of stopping now and then to brush them off. I should have climbed down out of that tree while I still had the chance. They began crawling up through my collar. In a minute my face, hands and neck were covered with the stinging, biting creatures. They got into my nostrils. They got Into my eyes. And oh how they could bite. I had to shut my eyes tightly to keep them from stinging my eyeballs." And there Phil was in the worst predicament of all his life. I've heard of armies of ants that have eaten up African water buffaloes inside of a few hours and Phil was being eaten in the same way. And what could he do about it? He was high up in a tree, his eyes tight shut. He couldn't get down blind and if he opened his eyes, he'd be blinded and no mistake by those stinging ants. He Had to Make a Long Drop. Says Phil: "I stuck it out until it was impossible to stand the torture any longer. I was still twenty feet up in that tree, but I knew I couldn't stay there. I'd have to make the drop, long one though it was. I called down to the native boys told them to try and catch me as I fell. Then I let go." Down Phil went. The native boys tried to catch him, but they weren't very successful. All three of them landed together in a heap, in a bunch of rocks at the bottom of the tree. Phil got up bruised and shaken. Both his ankles were sprained. And on top of that it took him half an hour to rid his body and clothing of the ants ferocious little demons that were still biting, and kept right on biting to the last. It was dusk when they started down the mountain again. Darkness fell while they were still fighting their way back through the tangled brush. Halfway down they -were met by a number of natives who had come out to search for them when they didn't return. By the time they all got home it was nearly midnight. "I was laid up for a few days after I got back," Phil says, but my signal flag was waving in the breeze on top of that old dead tree." And with those ants up there on guard, Phil, I'll bet it still is. WNU Service. |