The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1877-01-26

=
Paynete is small island in the Bay
Of Rio de Janeiro, the second in dimen-
sions Of the seventy that. beneath the
perennial summer OF that region. lie
like emeralds upon its Furnished field,
the Tho do Gobernador, or. as we
should say, Governors Island, being
the largest. The former is about half
= mile in length, while its breadth in
the narrower portions is only few
hundred yards. From the foliage Of
the latter rise the gray turrets OF q
nonassic foundation, and at morning
and evening, and sometimes at mid
night, their bells peal along the water.
To this insular arcadia came once,
Tor week or two Of sen bathing, my
esteemed and venerated friend the Gen
sral, an American gentleman of high
oficial rank resident in Brazil. Aud
hisher | was hidden 10 dinner on GER
tain Christmas not dozen years ago.
As | landed and exchanged saluta-
lions with my entertainers, the sound
Of midday bells came floating across
the water from the direction of the Tho
% Gobernador, and this circumstance
Il may have been which impelled the
General 10 inform me that among
the guests whom be had invited TO din
ner was reverend father OF the mo-
mastery, famed for learning and piety,
whom high honors in the Church were
believed 10 await. Madame General
told me that some peculiar sorrow rot
usual among the restrained and disci-
pinned persons Of his order was thought
% have cast its shadow on his life. Its
only visible effect it was sad was to in
crease his austerities and to pTolong
his devotional vigils, usages not so com
mon among an indolent, tropical priest
hood prone to slumber and indulgence
- to exempt them from attention and
celebration. He wassthe pride of his
order as Sir Galahad was Of that of the
Round Table, and some Of his religious
txeatises were reputed to have been
psrssed with appreciation in Rome and
70 have united in common admiration
two such austere and sustaining pillars
Of the Church as Father Beckx and
Cardinal Antonelli, who, it is well
known, did not always admire the same
things nor the same persons.
After little conversation retired to
make my dinner toilet, and when re-
turned the remaining guests were as
ssmbled. First in arrival, rs in rank,
Was Admiral Amherst, who came in
State, rowed BY eight marines dressed
IN the uniform of the service; Senior
and Senhora Sylvia, neighbors Of the
Island, who, from their adjacent villa,
came through the soft afternoon gloom
II the tamarind trees, and Mr. Carston,
. American banker, long resident in
KiO de Janeiro, who came by the steam
boat from the city Dinner was served
upon the porch, and it CHANGED that
from where | sat, across sandy open
ing in the thicket of trees with which
the island is mainly covered, appeared
the facade Of habitation which bore
strange and ominous look Of ruin and
desertion. Its windows we're vacant;
n porch broken and clambered over
With vines; at one side its r,of seemed
10 have sunken through the rafters,
having rent which the rapid
ogstation Of that region of heat and
moisture Wa striving TO repair. The
object was so near and visible that il
naturally became topic Of converse
ton among the assembled guests.
. 1t belonged to Senior Joao," said
the banker. 1t has not been occu-
pied for a number Of years. BY the
way, this is Christmas. It was on
Christmas night, six years ago, that il
wAs abandoned, and under circum-
stances so mysterious and tragical that,
% timorous and superstitious are peo-
pie hereabouts, IL is not likely ever to
Be occupied again"
Mr.. Carston was unanimously en-
treated to tell us what those circum-
stances were.
Senior Joao," he said, twas for
nerly conspicuous II not an honored
parsonage in the neighboring city.
Something more than twenty years be-
foSe he made his appearance among It's
merchants and at once took place Of
considerable prominence among them.
No one knew his history or from whence
h came, and although curiosity OH
these points was not wanting he seem
"a not al all disposed 10 crafty IL. He
Ms possessed 81 large sums Of money,
which his commercial operations al
most invariably increased. II was ru-
mcred in some quarters that he had
been pirate and in that way acquired
not only the deep transverse scar which
Increased the sinister aspect OF coun-
finance naturally ferocious and forbid
ding, but the great fortune which pro-
cured for him whatever consideration