Litchfield enquirer., 1872-07-04
IF srns and exclamations of iay

l < asss l gv BeG da"lSy on niS ls1aAu, Ie alnlsd Miss Pedder, musingly ssNext foK yfn to marry the pretended widow. Ihenfor me to rescue the prisoner and mar l ry hin. And finally for you and me to kappy, you in your way and in mine i sou with Clara in New York, and with Will. in Australia. You comprehend the whole project clearly?"
 From the first step to the last. There's but just one possibility of failure "And that one?" ~.4=4 "A refusal on Hawley's part to accept I the post offered him-a refusal based up | on his marriage"
 Miss Pedder turned pale at the thought. aButhe won't refuse, she soon declared, recovering her equanimity. ssHe has long been wanting just such a place. Married or single, he can't neglect his bread and butter"
 'sWell said, Ruth. I think we can count upon him. The post he came here to ask me for is now vacant, and will ac- eordingly have it offered to him, just as if nothing had happened. ''
 Exactly You needn't speak of his marriage, or seem to know anything about it. You can simply offer him the post in question, in accordance with the old un- derstanding. And he will accept it. He can't possibly have any suspicion of any thing wrong. Outwardly and apparently we are all on good terms with one an other, and will remain so. Let the wages offered him be liberal. Possibly he may object to leaving his young bride so soon, but the next voyage after this one-''
 Pedder interrupted the remark by gesture of impatience. He was all eager ness now-an determination.
 'sThat next voyage after this one will not answer he declared ''Hawley shall accompany me on my very next trip. To make all sure on this point, I will have him engaged this very day. Infact, will see to this n0aC. He seized his hat and gloves, addressed few words to his sister, and quietly took his departure down town. The last giances the couple exchanged at the door were full of iubilant wickedness.
 The next three or four hours passed slowly to Miss Pedder. She was begin ming to fear that the whole project had mlscarrled at its very commencement, and was fretting herself into fever, when Pedder suddenly made his appearance. One glance at his vivid fushes, at his dancing eyes, at his airy manner, was sufficient
 
 ing herself into his arms for the first time in years. ..L
 Completely! I saw my owners on the subject, and they sent for Hawley. He at first offered some objections, as was nat ural, but the high wages, the great step upward, the kindly interest we all mani fested, soon brought him to a grateful &C., ceptance!'
 ..Splendid!' murmured Miss Pedder. with rippling laugh. ''I knew the thing was feasible. And so in two weeks more our fond bridegroom will be blowing the sea again" ln two weeks more, Ruth? We shall be off i'll six or eight days. The cafgo is fairly tumbling aboard the Flying Chil1- ers. to say nothing of a fair list of pas- sengers. The honeymoon of our loving doves will be abridged to six short days more. you may be certain
 CHAPTER II. &k A GREAT STEP TAKEN. In the midst of the Antarctic ocean, 8 little off the route from New York to Aus tralia, there lies @ large island named kerguelen's Land, or-as Capt Cook called it. the Island of Dissolution It was discovered just one hundred years ago, tin 1772,) by the French naval officer whose name it bears. It was un- inhabited then, and is to-day as desrted as ever.
 The smallest school-boy among our readers can find it upon his map of the world, about midway between the south end of Africa and Australia we'll LID to- ward the South Pole.
 1t IS a hundred miles in length by fifty ln breadth, and is consequently three or four times as large as Rhode Island.
 It's coasts are so wild and dangerous that its discoverer, during the two expe- dltions that he made to 1t, did not once bring his ships to anchor in any of it's bays and harbors.
 Its shape is very irregular, but some thing like that of an hour-glass, it being nearly cut in two by couple of large bays; but these two divisions are unequal in size, the northern peninsula being much larger than the southern.
 Its coast line is wildly broken and iag- ged, it's -innumerable gulfs being long and narrow, and its promontories are cores pondingly sharp and slender, reaching out into the ocean like fingers.
 The body of the island indeed resembles that of some huge monster of the antedi- luvian world, even as it's capes and head lands resemble such a monsters unsight- 1y limbs and claws.
 A more terrific solitude than this isle of Desolation does not exist upon our wreck ed planet.
 Neither the snows of Himalaya nor the sands of Sahara can outvie its terrors.
 No inhabitant is there, not even say age-no house, no tree, no shrub, no fence nor road, no field nor garden, no horse, no dOg-not even snake or wolf. Lone, blasted and barren, it looks like the skeleton of land that has perished. It may indeed be that Desolation is the relic-the surviving fragment of a conti- nent that went down here countless ages ago, with hosts of inhabitants. in some vast convulsion of nature.
 It has certainly undergone dreadful yis- ltations been rent by earthquakes, pull verized by frosts, lashed and wasted by fierce tempests.
 Its mountains are only of moderate height, but are capped eternally with snow. It's vegetation Is limited to few dwarf ish plants, including some mosses, a spe- cies of hchen, course grass, a plant re- sembhng a small cabbage, and a sort of cress.
 It's winds are raw and piercing, it's sum- nefs cold and frosty, it's winters those of the Polar Circles t-- -
 The interior of the island is occupied by immense boggy swamps, where the ground sinks at every step.
 The rains in Desolation are almost in- cessant, in their season, and the island is accordingly yeined with numerous tor rents of fresh water, some of which have worn out of the solid rock tremendous cavities and gullies. The only other sea- son than that of the rains is one of almost constant snow.
 The fogs of that ghastly region are well worthy of the rains, being of cloud like density. and lowering almost contia- ually over the whole face of the island
 The sun of Desolatiion is usually hid den by a canopy of lead colored clouds, and appears, on rare occasions when 1t is visible, scarcely brighter than the moon in other latitudes. As to the moon itself, and the stars, the clouds and fogs rarely I~~0 l. L- | IL l-