Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-03-29
A QUEER RACE.
By WILLIAM WESTEL.

one OF the maidens whom we had seen on
the veranda appeared at the threshold.
Order a rejection to be served for these
gentlemen an hour hence" said this queer
queen Of a queer race. Now, Mr.. Erie,
pray begin; and. If possible, make your tale
last until the rejection is ready"
obeyed; and when ] saw how much the
account of my voyage interested my listen
ers-above all the queen, who never took
her eyes off me, and ] am sure missed not
world told it in full from start to fin
fish. and as / warmed to my work / think
/ told it effectively, keeping back nothing
save the incident Of the captains manu-
script, which, as thought, belonged rath-
er to Toms story than mine.
Once or twice the two men made as II
they would have interrupted me; but
Queen Nab stopped them with an imperi-
Gus gesture Until ! had finished she
would not suffer word to be spoken, and
then was simply overwhelmed with ques-
tons.
What did mean by an auxiliary screw
and getting up steami How could a ship
move when there was no wind; were
among the first.
tried to explain; but, as they wore alb
solutely ignorant Of the properties Of
steam, had difficulty in making my ex-
PLANTATION clear Nab, / could see, fully
believed me; but when ! spoke of railways,
locomotives, steam-engines, and the rest,
Field and Fame smiled incredulously. On
this bright thought struck me.
go with me on board the DIANA" l
said, land win ship the screw and start
the engine There is coal enough In the
bunker for run round the bay. When
that Is done we must fire up with wood"
"BY all means" exclaimed Nab. Eyes,
will 90 on board, and then you can show
me all these wonders. Only TO think that
ships can be made TO move and carriages to
run simply by boiling waterl 1t seems al
most"
"Impossiblcr' put in Fame.
mo, not impossible; am sure Mr. Erie
tells the truth. Say, rather, incomprehens-
ible, and most passing strange. We have
no right TO disbelieye things merely be-
cause they are new and startling. But
pray tell me, Mr.. Erie, whether there are
any books on the Diana""
Yes good many. Two or three hun
dred volumes, / should think"
1.-TWO or three hundred y0lumesI Oh,
how glad you make mcp' she exclaimed,
fairly chipping her hands with joy Books
are better than steam engines; and we
have 50 few books, and those we have are
almost In pieces. See this copy Of 'Shak-
spearep "-holding up the volume she had
been rending-'st will hardly hold togeth-
er: my 'pIutarch's Lives and Paradise
LOST are in the same evil casc. and Door
Robinson Crusoe, has almost ceased 10
exist We have several work, m MANN
script, and am having more copied but
paper is not plentiful in Fair Island. Think
you there Is any on the DianaY"
"SOme, certainly: perhaps a great deal
Our cargo II miscellaneous. and paper il
hrgely exported from England"
"FurlandI All shall want To know
much npauf ENGLAND. Mr. Erie | shaU
tire YOU with nv questions: | am surc I
shall. But here Is Marian. to say the re-
lection is served: and after so much talking
Won cannot fail to he hungry"
As Nab spoke she rose from her chair.
rose also. aud offered her nvarm which.
after Il momentary hesitation, she took.
guessed. from her manner and the looks of
the two picbald gentlemen. thntI had done
something unusual But as it did not seem
TINT Nab took the attention amiss, | could
easily dispense with their approval
The rejection was set out in the next
room on n table which, like everything
else about the place, was evidcntlyof home
manufacture The pottery was equally
rude. the display of glass scanty, and of
ancient fashion and shape. The forks were
wooden handled and twopronEed; the
knives bore Il stronD resemblance TO butch
ers' wbittIrs. but strange ia sov. the plates
were Of silver and we drank our Adams
winc-Qurcn Nab offered US nothing
strouger-out of goblets of gold. The
vian,ls were abundant and well cooked
We had soup, fish and fowl, vans aud 20
tntoes. savory pirs and swcrtmeats. with
fruit In great variety and abundance: but
neither beef mutton nor pork orr host
ess toolx1hr head of tl,e table. sat ut her
rftht hand Field nj her left and old Tom
sat oppusite youur Fame The boatswain
did not s4pr, ia I,n ruinyip,r bimsrlf much
H., was NOT usrd ia i,,girs, sorirty moor
fellow and tletestrd cold wafer lam sure
he would h,ye preferred a meal of lob
scn1r.,, aud rlum duu AN hoord the obi
ana - washer, down with q GLASS of half
water t,rn., +, thr finest raf,.,.tinn ,f,yhodv
conf. al baf,r. hin, Thc Orrep fri, "A m
vaip t,.sat hin, at I,is ,oso ,,,d INV him
ont She ontv snrc,eBad IN ovar,,vipr
III, p,tsh, ,no1,. on,, NOR, ,.tr,,t
"Iy,n,t ,.n,, t,l.,, M. ,,.,,,,,a NJ p,lso-
very,,. sbn s,i1 olrori,,, hin, n,o with hor