San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-06-11

"Young man., he said, 'you have told me
that you do not like work, but you are fond
of lots Of money. You shall have Just what
you want, and hope you will enjoy it,"
After he had spoken he made another sign
to the three in red, and again they took hold
of him and carried him away. None of them
ever spoke to him. They continued their
walk quietly, but at a good pace At last
they arrived at broad river, where they
found boat moored. The three men car
ried Robert into the boat; then they pushed
Off and in few moments were gliding over
the waters
"Where are you taking me to r. inquired
the young man Of the three mysterious look
ing boatmen, but they did not take the
slightest notice of his question. They con-
tinued rowing as If they had not heard any
thing.
"If you do not tell me where we are going
will jump into the water and drown my
self" shouted Robert, and he got up to get
ready for leap into the river, but before he
could accomplish anything one of the oars
men caught him by the neck, threw him into
the bottom of the boat and tied him to one
of the seats. He realized now that he had
fate About half an hour elapsed, when sud-
denly the boat stopped The three men pulled
their oars into the boat One Of them I'M
loosened Robert, then the three took hold Of
him and lifted him out of the boat on to
shore. The next minute they pushed Off
again and Robert was left alone.
He looked around and found that he was
standing on solid gold At first he could
kar l., h,l;a D.
and examined the ground True enoughl"
he exclaimed. "All pure goldl"
Then he went along to see whether it was
everywhere the same. The result of his in
vestigation proved this: Robert was on an
island about two miles square, composed Of
solid gold The surface was as smooth as a
table. Not tree grew anywhere. In fact
Robert saw nothing but the sky above him,
gold beneath him. He walked somewhat
farther into the island when he came to a
house, which was built of golden coins of all
the countries of the world He noticed the
corner beams were all made out of $50 gold
pieces. The walls were made OF English SOW
ereigns, the window stills of German 20 mark
pieces and the sashes of 10 and 20 francs. The
roof consisted of golden shingles and the
panes in the windows were of transparent
gold. Robert was amazed. He opened the
door of the house. In the first room he found
a table, chairs and sofa, all made out of gol-
den coins from Russia, Spain and Italy.
Then he walked into another room Here
was a table of gold again, covered with the
most delicious viands, venison, vegetables, in
fact anything to please the most dainty pal
ate. Wines and other liquors of various
kinds and brands were there, from ginger ale
to the best champagne. All these things
were real There was no gold on them, al
though they were on golden dishes
well, now" cried Robert, this is not so
bad | guess will try these things"
Then he sat down and enjoyed himself in
true epicurean style. When he was thor
oughly satisfied he got up and examined the
rest of the house. He found gold every
where; in every room and cupboard nothing
but gold. Even the bed was golden, and he
found it pretty hard to lie on
Robert, for a day or two, thought he was
in paradise. He had plenty to eat-and good
things to eat-and he had loads of money.
What else did he want'
After a week. however, he became already
tired of his life. He had nobody to talk to.
He had nothing to spend the time with, and
eating he could not always be at. To occupy
himself he began one day to walk around the
island and see how many steps it would take.
But that soon became monotonous, too. Then
he remained in his house. He now counted
how many gold coins there We're in each cor
ner beam of the house. But that did not take
him long, and again he had nothing to do
He racked his brains to think of something to
occupy himself with. At night, while lying
On the hard bed, he could not sleep because
he had eaten too much. In the morning he
got up wretched and miserable After a
month he was almost crazy, and he resolved
to jump into the water which surrounded the
island So he did But as soon as he made a
jump into the water the waves receded, and
Robert lit with his back on the hard bottom
of the sea- He hurt himself awfully, and as
he could not drown himself he went limping
back to his golden house.
"Oh, that | were back home again." he
cried one day II would work with my
father on the farm as hard as any laboring
man"
No sooner had he said so than thesboatman
If the lake stood before him.
"WeIl, how do you like life of ease with
lots of money! | suppose you are happy
now?"
"No; not at ALL" replied Robert. 81 wish
had something to do to spend my time
do not care a fig for all the gold in the
world >
"All right, my fine man; come along Win
me and | will give you a job"
He took the young man back to the river,
where boat awaited them. They rowed
back to the country where the boatman lived.
Arrived there he said to Robert
"Now, | will see whether you are really
fond of work. If you are | will reward you
well Come along. We have had battle