South Sea Adventure by Willard Price

Author:Willard Price [Price, Willard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Desert island

Omo stirred and groaned. A wrinkle of pain went across his forehead; He opened Ms eyes. He looked up at Hal and Roger. Slowly he remembered what had happened.

‘Sorry I passed out on you.’ He tried to get up but sank back, making a wry face.

‘Better lie still,’ Hal said. Omo managed a grin. ‘What’s been going on while I’ve been snoozing? Have I missed something?’ ‘Not much. We’ve just been saying goodbye to Kaggs.’ ‘Goodbye?’

‘He’s gone - with the boat. To Ponape to get a lugger and divers.’

Now Omo’s eyes opened wide. ‘No! He must be bluffing - just trying to scare yon into making a deal with him. He’ll be back before night. He wouldn’t leave us on this reef.’

‘Wish I could think so.’

‘But it would take him at least three days to get to Ponape. He might have to stay there a week or even two before he could get a lugger and divers - they’re hard to come by. Then three or four days to come back. Does he realize what could happen to us in three weeks?’

‘I think he does. But that doesn’t worry him.’

‘Or even one week,’ said Omo, looking about at the desolation of white rocks under the blinding sun. ‘Do you know why this island is uninhabited?’

‘No - why?’

‘Because men can’t live here. Or, at least, none have been willing to try. There could never have been enough to support life here - and what little there was was smashed by the hurricane. Even the birds have no use for the place. I haven’t seen any fish in the lagoon. Roger called it Starvation Island. That’s a good name for it. Or Dead Man’s Reef.’

He closed his eyes and wrestled for a while with pain. Then he looked up and smiled.

‘I shouldn’t talk that way. Guess it was just because I felt weak. Of course we can make a go of it - somehow. But there’s a lot to do. I can’t lie here taking my ease.’ He struggled to a sitting position.

‘You lie down!’ said Hal sharply. ‘Now see what you’ve done - started it bleeding again. And we don’t have any medicine.’

‘Luckily that’s where you’re wrong,’ Omo said weakly. ‘This is a medicine chest that I have my head on.’ His head rested on a palm log.

‘What can we do with that?’

‘Take your knife, Hal, and scrape the bark. Scrape it fine so as to make a powder. Then put it on. It’s astringent. It will stop the bleeding.’

‘But is it antiseptic?’

‘Oh yes. The sun has sterilized it.’

Hal had often heard of the skilful use the Polynesians make of herbs, grasses, roots, and trees for medical purposes, but had not expected to find a medicine chest under his patient’s head.

He scraped until he had a plentiful supply of the powdered bark of the coconut palm and then applied it to the wound, binding it in place with a strip torn from his shirt which was serving as a tourniquet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.