A Prowler Of The Night

A NOTE from Rarotonga:— Women visiting the Cook Islands should - provide themselves with a water pistol. Firearms are not permitted here otherwise we would advise them to come armed to the teeth. Still, the sight of a stout water pistol may be suffi cient to strike terror to the breast of the gentle savage who is at present causing alarm among the European community of one island. When, on one of his noc turnal prowls, he enters a lady’s bedroom in the dead of night he probably will not distinguish a water pistol from the dangerous variety, and if it is filled with ammonia the weapon should prove effective in putting a stop to his career— provided the lady is a straight shot and gets him fairly in the eye.

The guests at a hotel in the Cook Is lands are fast qualifying for entrance to a mental institution, owing to the visitations of a prowling native whose intentions can only be guessed at. On each occasion, however, the woman con cerned has wakened in the nick of time and emitted a series of ear-splitting shrieks. The prowler vanishes as silently as he appeared, leaving no clue to his identity.

He has been seen plainly—he has not always waited for lights to be put out before boldlv entering a room—but probably he knows that it is a very diffi cult matter for a European woman— especially a stranger—to recognise him in a crowd, as among a population of sev eral thousand natives there probably are hundreds who look exactly alike.

In each case, the woman concerned has been a nervous wreck for a time, especially as there is the fear of a re currence while the lunatic remains at large. So far, however, none of his

victims has received a second visit.