IN SEARCH OF TREASURE ISLAND.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16822, 21 August 1920, Page 3

IN SEARCH OF TREASURE ISLAND.

All the world knows, or should know, that Treasure Island is situated somewhere out in the vast expanse of Take Erie. Nine-year-old Merwin Daso, of Lakeside, Michigan, was confident he could find it. His adoring. 11-year-old cousin, Violet Sperry, was equally sure, she could, and so was his brother Dick, six years old. Therefore they decided to take brother Bob, aged three, with them in a row-boat Merwin had requisitioned, and bring back a chest filled with pirate gold. They set out on their adventure on Saturday morning. When, 27 hours later, the steamer City of Toledo sighted the cockleshell craft, its little occupants were very near to the Never, Never Land. Fifteen hundred passengers cheered as the exhausted children were lifted aboard, and women cried hysterically over them. During their voyage the boat, in .which one broken oar and two sticks were found as means of propulsion, had drifted 30 miles from shore. Violet and Dick had in succession fallen overboard while dozing, and been rescued by “Captain” Merwin, who went into the water after them. Merwin’s body was covered with blisters, burned by the sun. He had taken off his shirt to tie to a stick as a distress signal. Baby Bob who had been tied to the bottom of the boat for safety, was unconscious. For the whole 27 hours the children had been without food or drink. In spite of her sufferings, Violet’s faith in Merwin was unshaken, and she defended him stoutly. “He’s a groat sailor,” ahe affirmed; “yes, that hods, and a great hero, too.”