Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-09-04


"Yes, Moko; just as soon as we have
seen whether or not there is any land To
the east OF the island"
Meanwhile the yawl was moving smooth
| ly along at the rate of about mile an
hour. The banks Of the stream were much
! higher than those OF the Zealand aud the
river itself not 50 wide-its breadth no.
where exceeding thirty feet--which ac-
counts for the swiftness of its current:
and Brian greatly feared that they might
encounter rapids or whrlpools which
would prevent them from reaching its
| mouth.
THE shores were covered with n dense
forest, similar In many respects to the Trap
! Woods, though there were more liyc-OIks
and pines.
! Though less versed In botany than Cor
! don, Brian perceived a tree Of which he
! had seen several specimens IN New Xca-
! land--a tree whose branches spread ont
! Ike parasol about sixty feet from the
| ground, and were laden with couical
| fruits four or five inches long, pointed at
| the end aud covered with shining scale,
"That must be stone-pine." exclaimed
Brian
"lf you think 80, Master Brinu we had
! better stop and see" replied Moko. at
would be well worth our while"
A few strokes Of the oar sent the boat
- ~" I-t. t--i. nr'-- .:;1 -. .,,,.,,,
ashore, returning few minutes later WIN
m ample supply Of the cones, which con
tanned an oval nut incased In n thin she'll
and not unlike hazelnut in flavor. A
valuable discovery for the gour.nands OF
the little colony; the more so. too, from
the fact that IN excellent oil can he eX-
tracted from the nuts
IL was equally important to ascertain
II this forest was rs well stocked with
game M the forests lying to the west of
Family Lake; ana this seemed to be the
cnse, for as the boat glded along l}rinn
caught u glimpse OF u Dock Of o,tr cDrs,
plenty OF rabbits, and even n coupe Of
llnmas that fled with marvellous bwItCurss.
40 rcgulqia fcathcrcd game, Donovan
would have had abundant chahcr 10 dis
play hts sl.Il bu Brian nbsta Ic.I from "A
useless expenditure OF am,.u.,liJu, Us
they had nm ample supply of provision with
them.
About eleven O'Clock they noticed that
the forest was becoming much less dense,
and that the Dir was impre4nalcd with n
saline Odor that Indicated the close PROV
Unity Of the sea, and few minutes later
on passing elump Of superb liyc.oaks,
they behcld n BLUSH line IN the horizon
The current wns stil bearing them on,
nnaided, though less swiftly, for the
stream was now much wider, measuring
Mt least forty or fifty feet; nevertheless
they soon reached the coast, which differ
al widely I'm aspect from that on the west
side Of the island Here, too WINS n large,
deep bay II Is true, but instead Of u broad
belt of sand bordcred by, on one side, u
line of reefs and on The other by an nj
most perpendicular elf, they behcld huge
piles Of immense rocks on which, as Brian
soon proved TO his entire satisfaction,
they could find twenty grottoes instead
of one.
The const, consequently, was cminently
hahItabe and If the "Slough' had been
wrecked upon this shore. they could have
sheltered it in n little cove Mt the mouth
Of the river, where there would have been
water even at low tide,
In vain Brinn's gnzo roved over the i'm
menso bay In search of u sail, Now, as
ever, probably this body OF water which,
from It's size well deserved the name of
BHll, was ttAtIlt'l wv sui WIS NlNlblt
nor any sign Of n continent or island
Even Moko, who was accustomed to dis
tinEuish the vague outlines Of far-otf
shores through the fog and hue, could
discover no sign of nnd, even with the aid
of his glass. Chairman Island seemed to
he ~ isolated upon It's eastern as upon It's
western side, and this was doubtless the
reason that the Frenchmans map had in
Dictated no land in this direction.
10 say that Brian was greatly disap-
pointed would be an exaggcration, He
hid expected this; 80 he merely bestowed
the name of Deception Bay upon the large
body of water sparkling In the sunlight
before him, and remarked, gravely--
evidently IL Is not from this coast that
we shall start on our way homeward"
ooh, we'll Mnstr" Brian, we shall get
there sometime, 10y some route or other"
responded MOko chocrfuliy. "ln the
meantime | think we had better have
something TO eat, "
every we'll; but we must be quick about
It How long before we must start up the
riverPn
'"lf we want to take advantage OF the
tide, we ought to start immediately"
"But that ia quite out of the question,
MokO for am particularly anyious to
Inspect the horizon under the most favor
able conditions, and from the top Of some
rock chat commands an extended view"
"lut IN that ease, Master Brian, we shall
be obliged to wait for the next tide, and
that will not make Itself felt In the river
before ten this evening"
"But won't you he afraid to make the
return trip after nighty" asked Brian,
mo; | can do It without the slightest
danger, for we shall have a full moon; be-
sides, the course of the stream Is SO
straight that there is little or no difficulty
in guiding the boat while the tide lasts.
when the tide begins TO turn, we viii try
to pull against It, and il II proves too
strong for u.s. we will anchor unlil day
break "
so be II, MolSo; and as we have nearly
twelve hours at our disposal, let MS use
them in completing our explorations.
The est of the day was devoted to n
careful examination of the coast. which
was densely wooded to the very foot of the
rocks As for game, that seemed quite as
abundant MS In the vicinity of the French
Cave, ~nd Brian allowed himself the priv
ilege of shooting u few partridges for their
evening meal
The distinctive feature of this coast was