Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, December 1956 — page 140: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

I will undoubtedly be cited for my actions during our engagement with a pirate ship off the bay of Tunis. This former news is most welcome as, except for an occa- sional headache, I feel completely fit and ready to be about the task of helping to repair the injuries (some of serious consequence) sus- tained by our ship during the con- flict. — March 5 We must make a port. A storm is brewing and I doubt very seri- ously if H.R.M.S. Corinthian is capable of riding out very heavy seas. March 22 Thank God. I feel that is the only appropriate beginning to this notation. In His infinite mercy He has seen fit to save nine of us from the mercy of the sea—myself, Lt. Benton, Boswain Sykes, five sea- men and, more praise to God, Sur- geon Rowan. ‘We do not know what place this is yet but it seems to be fertile and prolific in nuts, wild fruit and game. If the Almighty has seen fit, _ it is possible that we are not too far off the trading lanes for our signal fires to be seen, which we keep going both day and night. - We have begun construction on a hut to house both officers and men as there is safety in numbers and we do not know yet but that there are wild beasts about. —-138 March 29, ‘We have finished our abode. ad have a spring almost in our back © yard. Lt. Benton, as senior officer, is in command and is going about the task of organization and assign- ment most efficiently. Each day there are four major duties that are assigned: one man is constantly tending our signal fire on the beach, a party of three is assigned to forage for fuel for the signal fire (green branches for the day fire and dry for the night), an- other party runs our traps we have set for small game, and Surgeon Rowan takes a man with him daily into the interior of our little island in search of herbs and bark that might be used for medicinal pur- poses. I say our Ui#tle island affec- tionately, rather than with a knowl- edge of its size, for it has been good to us. I am going to propose that we build a boat capable of navigating about the island for I feel that if there are wild savages on this island we would be better off to espy them from the sea than to run head on into them in the jungle. April 30 | Yesterday we finished our boat. We arose at sunup today and Bo- _ swain Sykes, Seamen Kelly, Craw- ford and myself put to sea to be about exploring the size of our island and to see if there were any signs of human life on the other side. We kept a quarter of a mile ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE COMmMeloewt S.C A JICK