Evening Star Newspaper, September 11, 1927, Page 78

BY HUBERT WORK. Secretary of the Interior. 0 _ONE_would argue that the T War Department should edu- cate the children of New York i City, supervise the and health of the town, and anitation | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. D. €. SEPTEMBER 11, 1927—PART 5. Secretary Work Describes Conditions in Territories Under American Control, Recently the Subject of Suggestions by President Coolidge—Importance of Education, Commerce and Irrigation to Prosperity of People. Question of Soldier or Civilian Rule in'U. S. Possessions Arises the 5202 53 in the popylation from five to twenty years of age only 39 per cent attended school in 192 The fliiteracy among persons 10 years of age and over is per cent. Whi conditions in the rural zones are im. proving, there remains much to he done to provide an adequate educa- B . e {tional “svstem for the children ot o sivategie Spot. from @ milltars | ister the affairs of a dependent, ture, which meets biennially, are sub- of races found nowhere else in the 1901 when a Governor General, ap. scaool afe. point of view. | people with a view to their advance: | ject to approval of the Congress of the world, Americans, English, Germans, | pointed by the President of the United | The Virgin Tslands, under the furis- 4 No one would contend that the|ment—teaching them, where neces.|,. . Stat Norwegians, Portuguese, French,|States, was made the chief executiv diction of the v Department, were Navy Department should similarly | sary, the arts and customs of civiliza- | United States. South Sea Islanders, Chinese, Japan:|" The aim of the American Govern:|added to our insular area in 1917 hy gupervise the affairs of the people in | tion, directing them toward economic | For the last 43 vears the Interior ese, Fillpinos, Porto " Ricans and|ment was to nccord xelf-ule A% rap- | purchase from Denmark. Their prox- the Puget Sound country. just be- | independence and granting them au-| Department has administered the pub- Hawalians live together peaceably. |idly as warranted. = The organic act |imity to the Panama Canal mak AU here is emendously im- | tonomy to the extent their capacity. | ¥ . _ 57 The government consists of a gov-|of 1902 declared the inhabitants to be | them a valuable acces: %o ctuse there is a tremendously im-|tonomy to the extent of their capasits; | ic tands in the Territory, supervised Srace. appointed by the Presidant of | citizens ot the Philippine Islands aad|yeited. Staie e e Tegic imporiance. under ‘certain mili. | control in areas at peace among them. | the development of its mineral re-| the United States. and a Territorial | extended to them most of the consil- | people i English, despite tary conditions, might be vital | selves and the outside world does not | sources, operated the Alaska raflroad | D T D of | S deraiittey 10 Lhe protection ot Danlatij raiy . Whas Hktiival | re- Nor have I ever heard the point [make for ultimate home rule or|and attended to the education and l:m lslfin b l'h\" e l’;\.alilandi Gttty yl,:n’dv:;x:(n:\. X over | 0UTCeS Of the more than 30 islands made that the people of the District | Provincial pride, so necessary to in-|health of its native population. . e citizens and natives as|the islndi educationsl focilies for. | 2re meager and. Only eight of. them of Columbia, who have no vote, should | dependent initiative and intelligent What has transpired during those| “j’lfl'! ma‘_h"’ n D o tar haivar el ot ’:m S ni«h"atrns:'lmnl !.W.n-}fl,, inhabited. be ruled by the military branches of | Self-government. Authority may well| vears? What advance has been made MoHt ot toamenties e R vided | tor Tonly & small. favoreq | These islands have passed thronzh the Government hecause it contains | be lodged with powers best able to|How has the Department of the Inte-| D o il i i o e rolE &jsall, fayored] many vicisMNQIGIR thi 200 ‘years the Capitol and the headquarters of | eXcrcise it, but responsibility should |rior guided the development of the| e Bty o O oo | e eraa e e m L e [ Wsle rossigtie. Mmofy. Once & f ail the armed forces of the Govern.|De decentralized. The native Ha |country. the education of natives to o o N o e T e it ichotie ot ohce enn i | DEveDerous <aRISRRUIAL dolony’ of ey | waiians are a_ patent exhibit of | Citizenship? { oFth from. (6. FOVArNOL. @Gy other | ot (i nut. Into oreration pube| Denmark, a havinifor tie budcaneers Yet this is the position ocenpled by | AN American plan of development.| When the work of the Bureau of| :’x"um,n nMrlfi]ngnm ‘transmitted to| lic schools complete from primary | ©f the Spanish Ma and an fhipor. most of o territorial possessfons, | Though maintaining an independent | Equcation of the Interior Department| e Ie) Rastlia AT TateRHTONE Of nae | geud st (o o bAMEw ¥ tant port of call for sels bound The Philippine Islands and Porto | EoVernment, thev have come into full | was started in Alaska, 40 vears ago, tlonal policy connected with the Terrl- | © But what of the future development | for South America and the West In- Rico are under the jurisdiction of the | Citizenship, on equality with citizens | the aborigines were in absolutely prim- tore and mak dations 1o | of the slands and their peoples (an | di*€, their economic progress was r i jcan ' Of Other nations. |itive conditions. In southern Alaska ory and makes recommendations tofof the isiands and their peopl AN alted by & W et eatinda, . Sincé War Department, while American °f.° s | Coppreia, alout lopteistion Gseliig ¢his B4 accampilalied Datter by Kooy d by a variety of causes. Sin Samoa. Guam and the Virgin Islands | NOW: it would appear that territorlal | and in the interior the natives lived in with the Territor |ing them under the jurisdiction of the | 1835 the population has decreagsd 40 are under the Navy Department | administration might well be under|small, filthy hovels with little light 4 i dashonc ob & et | et o by trav forring | per cent. and’ théte were'onlff 26,081 # e > the jurisdiction of the department best | and no ventilation. Along the shores ecause he adoption o N ITU% | inbabitants in 1917, when the last nevolent national policy toward the|them to the supervision of the De- ot I o m the la As a matter of fact, Hawaii, one of the activities organized to emphasiz of the Bering Sea and the Arctic Hawaiian Islands, the Territory has | partment of the Interior? This future census was taken. our most vital strategic spots ' " v e g ot Ve *fa | which should be of greater concern to | Ocean_their Winter habitations were experienced a remarkable growth dur- | development is a work of civil con.| The abolition of slavery in 1343 in- not ruled by either the War o Navy | these dependencies for generations to | semisubterranean huts. - When the ing the last 25 years. Its commerce |struction and not of military regula-|Jured the sugar industry. which o raled bY pither the War of Navy | come—education, commerce, irrigated | warmer daya of Summer thawed the oD axpandoll lis ALOGAGHAG RAYS Tns | thon. . Carefiil werlogioal Suieye. ave | could 1o longer compte Withproduc- of the Interior, as is A NP e g s 15 Rl D L L TR L SR creased many fold, its finances and |needed to determine the mineral re. |tion in adjacent islands, and the in-* makes our closest contact physically | (iations and domestic development on | ground hovels uninhabitable, their business have been developed and its | sources and point the way for their | troduction of steamship communica- Amerfcan lines. shelters were skin-covered tents along popujation has more than doubled. | exploitation. = Scientific study of the |tion destroyed its former monopoly as with Soviet Russia, and 1 have heard no suggestion the military status of the country suffers in the slight- est degree because of that fact. On v, these two terri- benefit considerably, The functions of the Interior De- partment, embracing the public lands, irrigation, education, geology, national parks, the American Indians and terri- tories, qualify it to handle the develop- ment of alien peoples. the coast and the rivers. The Kski- mos still used rude implements of stone, ivory and hone, and consumed much of their seal and walrus meat raw. Lamps filled with whale or seal oil and with dried moss as a wick were | In 1900, when the islands became a part of the United States, the inhahi- tants numbered 154,001. Today the population is 323,444, This expansion of growth of Hawaii is due principally te the policy of uni- forests—how o increase their useful- ness and production and provide for their conservation—should be made. The full utilization of the many splen- did harbors and methods of increasing the shipping trade constitute a part of a maritime center of the West Indies, Then prohibition wrecked the market for the rum for which St. Croix was long famous. ‘The sugar plantations have suffer. ed frequently from droughts, and tha havin rather % £ . AT At mm,_'fl‘;";"‘l Io\i‘rl‘.‘:i:n::g‘l:::.géiooni““::: ;;y;}: ls):’l‘l'le:med for heating and cooking pur- versal education, w'l;k)-l\ has prevailed | the forward;lnnklng brogram. Belter | United States, by the introduction of Sri OHCHcAL THat CRttlas T extra a1 pos , were early s T for many years and has received en-|methods of interisland and intraisland | irrigated agricuiture, might be ! would n.n:“u.l:h‘:‘:.lmp;‘nm.l\;‘nu'.‘-e:m:; placed under the administration of the | With the steady advance of the Bu couragement from the United States. | communication must be provided. to restore some measure of the fo possessions and dependencios. courd | Interior Department. as coming natu- | reau bt Education system and other There is a public school in every| The people have shown that they |mer prosper: they also have civil instead of army | | within ' the. functions -of the | clvilizing agencles, these primitive hamlet. are capable of a high degree of ed Neither the Constitution nor tha or navy government. AT | branch of the government which since | conditions have gradually disappeared, Sugar_raising, for many yvears the |cation and respond prompily and gen- [laws of the United States have hoen Historically and administratively, | 1575, has nurtured each of the infant | except ||'v‘ anl;ue of t):‘o. remnle!'l'"‘(flb principal industry of the islands, has |erously to efforts made in that direc- |extended to the islands of Guam and the Departinent of the Titerior i the | o matag e i 4 R s n s o e been supplanted by the pineapple indus- | tion. "A fully adequate school system | Samoa. These isiands are controlled appropriate” branch of ‘the Govern- | Siicy Piatesfo/the tullisisterticon GE1EERY R e N el nad by try. American enterprise disgovered |that will eventually make them much | by the Navy Department, throuzh ment to manage the affairs of the | StAe™ P o "" iR Baliesa [PM oty the possibilities of growing pineapples, | of a unit linguistically and make the | military governors. Ameriean Samoa territorial possessions of the United | Jndian reservations, which are de- | %% ~“,° ‘"fh' "' bt ki and millions of cans of pineapple are | most of the mental wealth in these | has a native population of about 8,100, States. Resporiding to the present | Pendencies of the United States, are | O sellsupporting, self-respecting na: now shipped annually to the United | people must he accomplished. They are a high type of the Polyne. tendency toward centralized govern. |10 under the jurisdiction of the De. | tives, thousands of whom are emplove States. i S alan Tace::. The Tslghd. & Gliam mental control, it is natural that | PRYtment of the Interior, as are the y the great canneries of sou e";‘ Property values in the Territory other tiny possession of the 1 Fresident XConlidae = SHouIa - Miact: Lt | 161 Javgs dracts of. and-+wihin the|HRSEA, Whost.aunuAL peoduct s val; have increased at a rapid rate during | PDORTO RICO, the other territory |States in the Pacific. The 13 ntic D6 ned of enityins. oo | continentsl | vegiet mots thalt 140,900,099, e E under the jurisdiction of the | habitants are of Malay origin and not tention to the need of unifying, un- der the Department of the Interior, the diverse systems that prevail in handling territorial affairs, which are now divided among three depart- ments of government. The Canal Zone should not be considered probably in the proposed been set aside as national parks. When Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867 it was under military rule, but 10 years later the War De- partment relinquished its supervision to the Trlasury Department, which in turn was succeeded by the Navy De- partment. There was no organized ited States which have | The fleets of powerboats owned and operated by the natives are of great | service in transporting fish from the fishing grounds to the canneries. Many natives are employed in the mines, whose output has totaled more than $500,000,000 since 1880. Others are pilots, storekeepers, loggers or system has been éstablished. The trade of the Territory has undergone a tremendous growth, exports and im- ports during 1925 totaling $188,465,000. LR F the other territorial possessions of the United States now under War Department, was ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898, and re- mained under American military au- thority until it was gi a full terri- torial status and a civil government in 1900. By the Foraker act in that year all its people were declared citi- yet eligible for United States citizen. ship. In general, with the possible excep- tion of Alaska and Guam, the outlve ing possessions of the United States offer attractive possibilities for the development of their agricultural re- sources through irrigation. In p change, since it is principally an engi- . > ivory carvers. hecring project and has practicale g | civil administration by. the Federal | 'V (W0 1 tivew are included in the jurisdiction of the War and Navy zens of Porto Rico. The governor [tically all of these countries the r: ative population under United States | Government until 1884, when the o- |14 55,000 persons living in the Terri- Departments, the Philippine Islands |and the upper house of the legis- | fall is either so irregular or so meager Jurisdiction, called organic act was passed by Con- | ¢4 “"Split up into groups of 30 to are the largest in area. The 7,083 |lature are appointed by the President | that artificial irrigation is essential if of the United States, and the lower |the hest possible results are to he Under the authority vested in the gress. Since then, Alaska has been under the Interior Department. 400 persons, the natives live in scores |of villages scattered along the thou- SECRETARY HUBERT WORK. islands have an estimated area of 114,400 square miles, or about that of house is elected by the qualified vot- obtained. The Department of the In- President by the different acts of Con- gress, he can, by executive order, shift L sands of miles of coast and the great ____From & Drawing by Leonebs! Jacobn | Nevada. Their population, of some- | ers. terior now has in the Bureau of 1t the supervision of these insular posse: 4 / ¥ rivers. Some of the villages on re- thing more than 10,000,000 people, is | The 1.418,000 inhabitants, unlike [lamation a trained force of experts sions to the head of any executive de. || HE Governor of Alaska is appointed | jpote *jslands or heside the frozen| Hawalii, “the cross roads of the Pn~’lng for a thousand miles across the|of Malayan stock. In the beginning | most of those in the West Indies, are | along engineering and economic lines, partment. Indeed, Porto Rico was hy the President and confirmed by | ocean are brought into touch with the |cific,” is the other Territory under |mid-Pacific, was annexed by the|the Philippines were placed under |largely white. They have a high |capable of expansion as the needs of transferred from the Interior Depart- He is vested | outside world. only once or twice a|the jurisdiction of the Secretary of |United States and created into a|sirictly military government. but in |standard of living hecause of their | the work develop, who would be espe- ment to the War Department a num- rs ber of y ago by this method. the United States Senate. with executive power over the Terri- The spirit of America is to admin- tory, and laws passed by the Legisla- year. But the Bureau of Education of the Interior Department has ex- the Interior. Ever since the archi-| Territory in 1900, it has been under pelago of nine inhabited islands and |its present supervision, tended its work to 95 of these villages. | a number of uninhabited ones, stretch- The inhabitants comprise a mixture 1900 A commission of five civilians was appointed to assist the military gov- ernor. The military regime ended in natural resources. FEducation i= un- der a Department of Education and is cially qualified to hapdle the details the largest item in the budget. Of of any proposed irrigation or eoloni- zation development. Perpendicular Walls Form Prison After Dangerous Tumble In an article published last week the author described how with a companion he drove a motor cycle over the edge of a cliff in the dark- ness. Recovering from the shock of the fall, they found no exit to the deep pit into which they had plunged, and the only water they could find was brine. In a plucky effort to escape they decided to dis- mantle the motor of their machine and drag the parts up to be reas- sembled in the desert for a forlorn dash to a water hole. BY JOHN EDWIN HOGG. HE task of dragging the motor rounded the pool, dispelling any doubt that the water might be drinkable. ‘We had apparently failed to discover it, owing to the.fact that the water hole was situated in a crevice in the main wall, completely screened from the floor of the gulch by an almost im- penetrable growth of bush. Running along the margin of the cliff, I reached the crevice ahout the spring, and in another minute was dropping down from ledge to ledge, half falling, half sliding at times in my haste to get to it. In ]10 minutes I was down the cliff and flattened out on the rocks like a horned toad, eag- erly gulping down the water. Then 1 yelled, “Hey, Jack! Fletcher! the edge of the cliff and pushed out until the trunk protruded over the wall for a_distance of about four feet directly above the ledge on which I had left my injured companion. Then T began piling the biggest rock T could carry onto the -branches of the tree until I had the inner end securely weighted down with fully half a ton of rock. This part of the work completed, T went to the side car, got out the 150- foot rope we carried, and hung it over the end of the tree trunk to dangle into the guich. To one end of the rope L tied a heavy canvas sea bag that we used to carry our bedding in, tying it 50 as to leave one side of the mouth motor, and we were roaring across the desert in the direction .of Owl Hole! It was nearly. three ¢'¢lock in the afternoon when we feft the edge of the gulch that had come so near to being our tomb, but from the hour until sundown I pever once had the motor throttle complétely closed. 1 drove over the rough ‘ghound. with Fletcher bouncing about In thé side- car like a bag of meal. . Occasionally he groaned until T could hear him above the roar of the motor. 1 knew that the ridge was iindoubtedly caus- ing him untold agony, but there was nothing to do but push on, and just as’ the last rays of daylight{ faded away we pulled up at Owl Hole. But for the fact ‘that our head- ts up the face of the Cliff | 1've found waier! and fired my pistoi oy e noP emall feat for moun- | four times in quick succession. 1 Then T went down the wall and se.| lights had been smashed when the cured the other end of the rope to| machine plunged over the cliff. I taineering. It took us three full hours to get the wheels, motor frame and motor up into the desert to the point where we decided to reassemble the machine again, and those three hours were an eternity of torture from heat, thirst and back- breaking labor, 1 failed completely in my effort to stood there with my hands cupped be- hind my ears awaiting his reply, but no sound came from the gulch. Where was Jack? Why didn't he answer? In another instant I was bounding like a wild antelope along the floor of the guich toward the base of the cliff where we had made our way out. Reaching the foot of the cliff we had Fleacher's body, taking the rope around under his thighs so as to form a sort of a seat, and tying him again under the arms so there could be no possibility of his dropping off. With this crude hoisting rig set up, I climbed to the top of the cliff to begin carrying out the desperate plan should have pushed on to Paradis Spring that night. The pangs of hunger gave me ample reasom for wanting to reach the first outpost ¢ civilization at the earliest possihle moment, but without headlizhts attempting to travel would probably only take us into new troubles. There was nothing to_do but camp for the et up the cliff with the motor, and | climbed. 1 was still yelling *Jack! that I knew must terminate éither in | W b d e had to leave it on a ledge about | Jack! Jack!” when I rounded a huge success or in & failure that meant in-| MENt With only coffee to partially half way up. After getting the other (rock and all but stumbled over the stant death for my companion on the ! '® {ewl my mr‘nl‘r;_z l’mh{dm.]_r o parts up, we lowered a rope, and with | prostrate form of my companion. jagged rocks at the base of the preci-| . AS T Was boiling the coffee-p. pice. T began gathering rocke fram | Fletcher scented the aroma in the both of us on the ledge above we managed to hoist it. By the time we got back to camp our lips were parched and swollen and our mouths and throats so dry that neither of us could speak above a whisper. Reluctant as we were to drink the little water we had left, we could get no relief from the torture of thirst sufficient to enable further work" until *h He was lying face downward with head in a pool of blood between two jagged boulders—and to all ap- pearances he was dead. It was as much as I could do to lift his 225 pounds of brawn and muscle from be- tween the rocks and drag him out to a flat place where I could stretch him on his back. Then I tore open the front of his shirt and pressed my ear to his heart. the size of a goose egg to the size of a man’s head and piled them into the sea. bag. The rope tightened on TFletcher's body and as I continued to pile rocks into the bag I could hear him groan. This was the psychological moment for me to make a success of the job, and with feverish haste I dumped ad- ditional rocks into the bag. Presently air, began to talk more rationally than at any time since meeting with his injury, and declared that he thought he could drink some of the beverage. 1 poured out a tin cup full of it for him, and after drinking it he.seemed to be tremendously im- proved. * ok ok x N the morning we had more coffee, we had consumed fully a quart each. | Jt was beating, although somewhat the rope slipped a little over the trunk and the light stimulant of it Then, after eating a square of hard- | feeble and weak. 1 rolled back his of the mesquite tree, and as I.added | .., e to augment Jack's strength tack apiece, we decided to lug out one more load of motor parts before giving up the task for the day. After getting this last load out, we returned to camp burning up with thirst, out heads buzzing from the heat and fagged in body and spirit. evelid and touched his eyeball, and it moved. He was alive, and it was up to me to keep him alive if it was with- in my power. A glance up the face of the cliff con- vinced me that he had lost his footing in making the descent—probably only one more big rock to the collection already in the bag Fletcher’'s pros- trate form swung clear of the cliff. ‘The weight of the rocks in the bag just a little more than counter-bal- anced ther weight of ‘the man, but was scarcely enough to overcome the friction of the rope against the tree. to a point where he was able to stand without my holding on te him. Later, when we were ready to move he appeared to be quite rational again and managed to get into the sidecar unaided. Best of all, T moted from An inventory of our water supply » el i » ' | a féw minutes after leaving me—and, 0 after taking a last drink for the day | falling on to the rocks below, he had P : A i ) X : 1 save & pull on the end of the rope | feeling his forehead that his fever revealed that we had only six quarts| izined injuries that might be fatal WITH A SINGLE TERRIFFIC HEAVE,-1 PULLED FLETCHER-CLEAR OF THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF. rom which Fletcher was dangling, | had almost entirely subsided. of water left—so little that we were and, very slowly, up he came, while | With Paradise Spring a 120 miles virtually convinced all our labors had been in vain, for death was due to overtake us before we could ever as- semble the machine again, much less make the dash across the desert to Owl Hole. When T discussed this with Fletcher, he =aid in his characteristic way: “Oh, well. what are the odds? We've got to die some day. 1 didn't expect to B0 quite so soon, but in a hundred years from now—who'll ever know the difference?” L HE next morning Fletcher shoul- dered the side car hody, like an In- | taging a canoe, and with me | rving the few remaining parts of | the machine we made our way out of the chasm. The side car body was an fmpossible load to get up the cliffs| witn, so afier getting the rest of the outfit to the top we hoisted it up with | the rope, as we had done with the motar. It was then agreed that T should be- ‘I RAN or otherwise. Fortunately I possed a fair knowledge of surgical first aid, and immediately stripped off the pros- | trate man’s clothing for the purpose of determining the extent of his in- juries, The pool of blood about his head, T found, was fiom an ugly scalp wound that was undoubtedly painful, but not serious. I examined him from head to foot for broken bones, but could find none except under a terrible bruise on his side, where I decided that he had | three broken ribs. * Kk ok to camp and returned with our box of first aid requisites. Fletcher began to show signs of life when I started to dress his wounds. With a ball of lint at the end of a twig, 1 began pagnting his injuries with' iodine. When I touched his cuts with the chemical he groaned aloud, and just as 1 put the last six stitched in’the wound on his head he opened his eyes. For the next half hour 1 feared that spirits, but only to face new troubles when I found Fletcher raving in the delirium of fever. He had lost every vestige of reason, and but for his weakened condition 1 should have been powerless to handle him. With the discovery of water, the danger of im- pending death from thirst had van- ished. but we had scarcely food enough to last another day, and there was no telling when I would be able to get Fletcher up the wall of the cliff. | * ok ok ox I iOF course, with the newly discovered source of water supply and the possibility of shooting more rabbits and quail, we might have lived in the chasm indefinitely, but with the ex- tent of Fletcher's injuries not definite- Iy determined, I felt that the necessity of getting him out was of paramount importance. It was in attempting to move Fletcher onto his bed, after he had | rolled clear of it in his delirium, that 1 discovered what our short rations condition by giving it a tvial run. The | trip down the cliff and filled all. our | ting Fletcher out. | motor could not have worked better, and, returning to the spot where I had assembled it, I made one more empty canteens. Then I packed the outfit and went Into the gulch to begin my task of get- It took me nearly half an hour to arouse him to the point of attempting to get on his feet. This was accompanied largely by pleading and persuasfon, but partly by pushing and prodding. When he did get on his feet, his mind was so un- certain, and his limbs so wobbly, that 1 knew any attempt to get him up the cliff by his own efforts would prob- ably result in his taking another fall. ‘Therefore, 1 got in front of him, took hold of his arms, tumbled him onto my back, and began carrying him “wounded soldier” fashion. \ His weight was a load for me in my weakened condition, under which I could barely stagger, and I knew that hefore I got to the top of the cliff the task was going to be well nigh im- possible, even if I did not topple off the wall with my dead-weigh* burden long before I could get there. For the mext half hour 1 struggled up the wall, moving anly a few inches | at a time hefore being compelled to drop onte convenient projecting tedges down went the hag of stones, In an- | other two minutes his shoulders were | touching the trunk of the mesquite tree, and I faced the difficult problem of getting him over the edge of the cliff safely and at the same time get- ting. rid of the bag of stones, which now dangled in midair. * ok ok % ITH this much of the task safely accomplished, I didn’t propose to take any chances of letting my plans go wrong. The slightest miscarriage meant letting Fletcher fall over the face of the cliff—something that T had |, taken careful precautions to avoid. I had previously secured a short length ! of rope to a large branch of the mes- | quite tree, and as soon as his shoul- | ders touched the trunk I lashed the | free end of this line under his arms to prevent the possibility of his fall-| ing back into the hole. | 1 should have to lift him from the end of the tree:trunk on to the solid | rock of the cliff—an operation that I | could not hope to accomplish with one | away, and the desert village of B tow ‘only 32 miles beyond, 1 drove across the desert that morning. de- termined to reach that outpost of civilization that day 1f it were humanly possible to do so. I drove all forenoon without a stop, and on into the middle of the afternoon, until my strength began to wane to the point where it seemed that [ could not hang on to the handle-bars another minute. » The desire to sleep almost over- came me, and several times I was all but jolted off the machine as we dropped into cross-washes ahd deey sand at moments when I believe was on the verge of dozing "o Realizing that my condition eas lia ble to lead us into disaster Again and knowing that we were “in no condition to face it, I was compéiled to slow down somewhat. - Accord- ingly, it was nearly six o’clack evening before we reached Parac Spring, where a distinet surprise as in store for us. Paradise Spring is located in a decn gin the work of assembling the ma / d had permanent- v ehine while Fletcher went back 10| Gy 1o R e for e talked 1ike | of food and water had done to my fo rest and recover my breath. It was | hand, while slashing the rope with the | canvon between two ranges of Aol bring out our provi CamDIng ] yirsaaiman. " 2 strength, Ordinarily 1 should have {only the ruggedness of the cliff at this|other. Accordingly, I had a different | canic hills, and any vehicles approach- itinmact i Bianlkste a E‘\:lll\ll|’|],\' 1 had all his injuries little difficulty in lifting a_ weight of gz):‘r{‘tnza:t :v'l‘nbled me to make any |!:‘lxn sli:read\-l to nlule]nzg 4I|‘)‘I‘:lnllnn<||m: it from the surrounding desert e whe the motor frame S two or three hundred pounds, but now 3 3 'rom the motoreycle T had withdrawn ( yinst come down the bottons of :he 1 set the wheels in the motor frame, | 3,045ed and bandaged, and by that 2 The toe holds in the rock were|a cupful of gasoline, and as Fletcher .":.‘,,,,,,_ With the'iitoe ,‘,,,',,.M'“, - onr put on the side car chassis and then | began the work of installing the mo- tor. I worked so intently that I took | no account of time or even the fact| that I was thirsty, until suddenly it dawned upon me that Fletcher was time he became a little more rational. But he was practically helpless so far as doing anything for himself was concerned, and the problem of effect- ing our escape was complicated by his condition. it was as much as 1 could do to| move him. | With this reminder of my waning | strength I felt my face, and was al-| | most startled to feel how hollow my | cheeks were, how the bones stuck out, | and how my eves had sunk back in fairly numerous, otherwise 1 could not have moved upward a single foot with- out the use of my arms, which were fully engaged in holding the injured man on my back. Eventually I reached the large projecting ledge shoulders came against the tree-trunk, | I poured the motor fuel down tope over the end from which da the bag of stones. igled a_death-grip upon the rope-ends about | i haste to get to the spring and: on 1o the | Bargtow, we eame rattling downsth »n and around the face of the wall n ide the water-hole to come wupon & be: Then I applied a lighted match, 100k |y kneeling there filling a canteen. He had much the appearanceof a scasres everdue. " - o ’ | I returned to camp, and moved the | ;, o which Fletcher and T had viously | Fletch body, braced 1t for the . sl > their @sockets. . Then I e previou: etcher’s body, braced myself for the | 4. o . . Jete e B T entire outft back to where he was, 1| ey i ey s et at named the “haitway point,” and with |strain, and waiied for the line to burn 1 e T et LA % b | then went to the water hole I had dis- | y. . i the perspiration pouring off me in|through. 1= St d = e & “h:‘:‘tar:":;u:‘: covered, came back with a pail of :fl;‘ghéo:fi' é;"n?','i.’.n:’:"n'.e'f.‘e‘.fiffi . streams, my throat and mouth almost | In that strained position I waited as | 1 k:(',;“;(:;;'_,f":t"d‘ "?,’ T 4 Dol BOhe e | water and bade Kletcher drink all he Yy parched and my legs quivering, I[the slowly-passing seconds lengthened |’ A, Thew ke dw‘)‘;“m“‘"l‘;‘_"”‘;’;‘,9'“ | set, powerful man with whom I had T felt the heat |MeNt Sometling must have happened to| 2 s s wanted. In his‘bewildered. condition, 2 dropped my burden to snatch a bit of |into a_full minute. tm! started .out fr : g : o' ey Y hereupon T reached for my field| ] Pelieve to this day that he almost osa e"\-.m'":"i e 4l I rest. Above this point the wall was|from the fire, and was almost suffo- A 'an down the canvon like & Jasses amd went to. the edga of the | thouBht he was “seeing things” When | minishing Jarder a meal that was prod. | nex{ to perpendicular, with scarcely |cated with the fumes of the burning | [faUie: of ane who had seen a coupls fm','m For fully 10 minutes I combed | I Prousht the water. igal in extravagance. Fletcher could a projecting rock or crevice to offer a {motor fuel that came directly un into il m';' its, shouting at the top the rocks and brush at the bottom of | For several moments he saf there|eat nothing, and without the extra finger or toe hold. my face. 1 waited and waited until| "N L e the chasm without catching sight of | ®taring into the pail. Then he felt the | youh to feed, I ate the heavy meal P Was almost to the point of thinking |, heyse wl him. water, smelt it, and at last shoved his head into the bucket, and drank unti] I had prepared. hoping that it would ROPING about for some plan of that fire was a useless agent in de-, stroying a manila rope—and then, I was just wondering if he was mad ‘ ' ’ | when a dozen men came running up ! the canyon—and I recognized the one |in the lead as Mark Williamson, the president of the Los Angeles Motor give me strength. For breakfast I ate the last bit of solid food we possessed and drank sev- eral cups of strong coffee. 1 continued to scan the gulch with the powerful lenses, and as I swung them around, searching the floor of suddenly, the line parted! The bag of stones crashed on to the floor of the gulch below, and with a action, I left Fletcher on the ledge after placing a large, flat rock against I feared he would injur¢ himself. Toward the middle of the afternoon T went up the cliff and spent the rest the chasm, a sight came into my fleld of vision which well nigh made me plunge over the edge of the cliff with Jov. There at the base of the ledge, less than 600 yards away, was a stream of olear, sparkling water trickling out of a crack in the solid rock of the wall into a tiny pool! It was invisible to of the daylight assembling the ma- chine. With all the water I needed to drink, the work progressed much more rapidly than before, and by sun. down I had the motor installed, and the machine set up with the execep- tion of putting in a miscellaneous lot of parts that could easily be accom- the naked eye, but in plain view with the glasses. A luxuriant grawth @f agas eus plished during the foremoon of the day to come. 1 returned te our new camp in high ‘When I shouldered our entire outfit, including the blankets which composed Fletcher's bed, und started up the cliff with them, he muttered incoherent | protests, staring at me ¥n open- mouthed amazement. He was appar- ently at a Joss to understand what T was about. After getting up the cliff, 1 spent two hours completing the work of assembling the machine, and satis- fled myself that it was in serviceable HIS WEIGHT WAS A LOAD FOR ME, IN MY WEAKENED CONDI- TION, UNDER WHICH I COULD BARELY STAGGER. - him to keep him from rolling off into the gulch again, and climbed up to where I had left the machine. Here I investigated the feasibility of hoist- ing the prostrate man up the face of the cliff with a rope, using the force of gravity to pull up Fletcher's help- less bulk. With our camp ax I cut down a mesquite tree with a trunk about a foot in diameter. This 1 dragged to single terrific heave that all but un- balanced me, I threw Fletcher clear of the edge of the cliff and landed him in | quite tree. We were clear of our death-trap at last, and with the full| realization of it I shouted for jov as I struck the ropes off my companion with my: hunting-knife. minute I had bustled him into th sidecar, pressed the starter of ti is to find you alive! for dead In another | combed this desert over, gave yvolt up for lost, and were on our way home.’ forward “Good heavens' men, what a jo We gave you three days ago! (Conyright. 1927.) Cycle Club. With them was my wife., § Williamson came dashing a heap in the branches of the mes-and, grabbing Fletcher and me b hand, exclaimed: