Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-05-23

| think l would rather not touch the treas
ure; for Sybll says that so long as it re-
mains on the island the commonwealth
will endure. / don't quite believe all she
| says; but she is a wise woman, and nobody
| ever neglects her warnings with impunity."
1.-THE pearls will do quite as well, though
1t does seem pity to let all that money lie
idle. Properly invested, it would produce
large income. However, you are perhaps
right. You have everything you need, and
enough is as good as a feast. But what
| will Field and the others say TO your idea
of making trip to England 1t was only
| the other day that the mere suggestion
Mortified them beyond measure"
'Well, if it came to contest of wills,
| think mine would prevail. And you don't
know what a change recent events have
wrought in their ideas. You are the most
| popular man in the island. They think
| you were sent purposely to save the COM
monwealth; and the fact of your having
survived so many dangers is regarded as
| proof of the Divine favor-for our people,
! though, as you may think, rather super
stitious, are essentially religious. They
| have often urged me to marry, and our mar
rage and your undertaking TO become one
of US would reconcile them TO anything.
Anu we Gall COHCelsO 81 ldI W IuSIE
| dices and the injunctions of my ancestor
Of sacred memory as to bring no strangers
back with US and keep secret the where
abouts Of the island"
| A few weeks later we were quietly mar
ried by the queens chaplain, lineal de-
scendant of the chaplain of his Britannia
Majesty's ship 'Hecate," and the next day
we left Fairhaven on our way to England.
Having ascertained the exact position of
the island, we had no difficulty in shaping
| the "Sunf1ower's'' course for not very
distant port, where, as I knew, we could
obtain a passage to London or Southamp-
ton. Old Tom went with US, but merely
as sailing-master; he liked the island so
| we'll that he had determined to settle there
| for life. Our crew consisted of half doz-
! en- fishermen, whose faces were so bronzed
| by exposure to sun and wind that the pc
culiarity of their compilations was not like
ly to be remarked, especially as the port
whittier we were bound possessed mixed
and many-colored population.
| The 'Sunf1ower'' was to take back
| cargo of horses; and I arranged with Boil
| soyer to meet US on our return from Eng
| land, the date Of which we fixed approx
| mate1y beforehand.
As | anticipated, we had not long to wait
! for homeward-bound steamer. Our voy-
age to the Thames was unmarked by any
incident of Importance. A high-f1tting
dress, and a foulard carefully adjusted
and continually worn, prevented the pecul-
| lar color of Mab's neck from being much
noticed. But her tall stature, splendid
| proportions, and powerful face, and, am
bound to add, her somewhat imperious
| - IL.
owing to the acuteness of her senses she
often overheard remarks, complimentary
and the reverse, which gave her more an
noyance than amusement. For this rea-
son. and for others which will suggest
themselves to the reader, l decided to
leave her in London while I went to Liv-
erpool to see my mother and inform her of
what had happened to me. But on my
arrival thither found, to my great grief,
that she had died few weeks previously,
| 1t was, however, consolation to know
| that her death was in no way connected
| with my absence; it arose from an organic
! complaint of long standing, and up to the
last moment of her life she had cherished
| the hope of seeing me again.
After settling her affairs and calling on
poor Mrs Peyton, i rejoined my wife, and
we left London Immediately. Although
the great city interested her much, she
found life there intolerable, and was be-
ginning to suffer seriously in health The
never-ceasing din distressed her beyond
measure; she could hear voices through an
ordinary wall as distinctly as | could hear
them through a paper partition; hear
| cough in the attic, ticking watch in the
basement In the hotels at which we
stayed had to engage the rooms both
above and below ours and on either side
| of them, in order that they might be unoc-
cupted. But could neither suppress the
noises outside, nor purify the air inside;
and the queens sense of smell being as
acute as her other senses, she suffered even
more from the evil odors of London than
It's 1ncessant racket. So for the short re-
mainder of our stay in England 1 took a
furnished villa near Penmaenmawr, where
the only sounds which Nab was compelled
to near were the murmur of the waves,
the soughing of the wind, and the singing
OF birds, and where the air, though less
balmy, was as pure as that of Fair Island
itself.
Before leaving London I sold some fifty
thousand pounds worth of pearls, and pur-
chased such things as Nab thought her
people most required.
To the managing owners of the "Diana,"
RENTED bank draft for the declared
value of her cargo, with no other explana-
ton than that, although the ship herself
had become total wreck, I had been so
fortunate as to dispose of the cargo for an
amount that, l was glad to think would
recoup the underwriters the greater part
of the claims for which they were liable.
To one friend only-an old school-fellow
whom [ accidentally met in London-did |
introduce my wife and tell my story. To |
this gentleman, moreover, my book. If |
may call it mine, will owe its existence. |
Himself pressman and writer of stories, |
he was good enough to say that my per-
sonal narrative, put into proper shape" |
might make a readable book; and he Of |
fered, if | would give him the necessary |
particulars, to act as its literary sponsor, |
and see the work through the press. Nab |
and |, after some hesitation, agreed to this |
proposal making it, however, an impera- |
tive condition that the precise whereabouts |
OF the island should on no account be dis
closed-for the present
The first and greater part Of my nara
tive was then taken down in shorthand;
the remainder have written on the voy-
age out; and as l add these lines, Bolsover
is waiting with the ''Sunfower'' to convey !
US and second consignment of horses to
Fair Island.
In the not distant future l hope that Nab !
and l may have so far overcome her peo-
pies prejudice against strangers, and their
love of isolation, that we shall be permit
ted to say where we are, and in some fu-
ture edition of ga Queer Race invite