Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-04-18

fortune, and that the favor shown me by
the queen was beginning to excite jealousy
and might make me enemies. Be that as
1t may, waltzing became the fashion. All
wanted to learn the step at once, and had
very nearly as many invitations to dance
as there were young women in the room.
Ihey voted ME dancing master by acclama-
ton, and for the remainder of the night we
old nothing in the world but waltz.
| we are infinitely obliged to you," said
the queen, as took my leave early In the
morning. You have given us new pleas
ure"
He has, indeedr' chorused twenty
voices. we are all infinitely obliged to
him."
"Waltzing is simply diviner, she CON-
tlnued- I'VE will have another ball-yes.
the night after tomorrow. All who ara
here consider yourselves invited, and per-
haps Mr. Erie will kindly teach us some
thing else.n
With this request I was, of course. onlv
too glad to comply. 1 taught them the
polka and schottische. and we had a try at
the lancers with ali of which the queen
and her guests were greatly delighted: and
Field told me that if went on as | had
begun, should soon be the most popular
person in Fair Island.
was, moreover, often consulted by the
queen about the books she was reading.
| She found in them so many things that
were strange to her, so many illusions
which she did not understand, that she
/ required almost continual instruction, and
/ became actually, if not officially. the
director of her studies and the superintend-
| ent of her new education-for that she
called it, and that in fact it was
ALI this augured well for the success of
my scheme. / could hardly think that af-
ter had done so much for her she would
refuse me the favor l intended to ask.
Nevertheless, hesitated and procrastin-
ated, missing more than one seemingly
| good opportunity OF preferring my request.
| Why, can hardly say; partly, perhaps,
because something told me that it was
still too soon-that the propitious moment
had not yet arrived: partly because the
Fair Islanders improved on acquaintance,
and that the more / saw OF them and their
country the less liked the idea of leaving
chem.
! As Tor the anonymous letter, had come
to the conclusion that it was either poor
joke or piece of stupid spite, and THOUGH
1 kept the missive in my pocket, it very
soon passed out of my mind.
CHAPTER XXII.-A FLASH OF LIGHTNING
And so things went on. For two or three
weeks there occurred nothing to disturb
the even tenor of my life. In the company
of Field and Amyas Fame and some others,
and once with a party organized by the
queen, / visited several estates and saw
something of the interior of the island.
All the piebald whites and most of the de-
scendants of the former Carib chiefs owned
plantations which they cultivated, with
the help of slaves; for land was so plentt
full and the soil so fertile that very few of
the aborigines would labor for hire. So
far as / could see, the slaves, though not
ill-treated, were very hard wrought, for in
the absence of horses they had to do horses
work. They were, however, comfortably
lodged and well fed, and as, according to
a law laid down by Denzl Fame, no bonds
man could be sold without his own con-
sent, there were presumably none of those
cruel separations of families which are u.s.
ually among the worst features of the sys-
tenn. INSTRUMENTATION was, however, Sc
verely punished, rebellious slaves being
hanged without ceremony, and, as Field
! one day confided to me, the two races were
really at bitter enmity. There had been
several partial risings repressed, and. as l
gathered, not without difficulty.
'The Calibans are our greatest trouble"
he said. "They are increasing at such
rate that they will soon be more numerous
| than ourselves, add if a rising should
happen to coincide with an invasion of the
Cariberoes, it would be a serious matter"
THE Cariberoes?"
THE people whom Dcnzil Fame and his
men helped to repulse when they first
came to the island. The Ca!lbans are
| their descendants, aud they are very strong
and brave, and would make desperate