The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-16

at the best of it, let me rather be eaten BY
hobgoblins than by men,. Fare well, !"
said he. and he left her and walked to tho
seaside Of that island.
1t was all bare in the strong sun; there
was no sign of man, only the beach was
trodden: and all about him rs he went the
voices talked and whispered, and the little
fires spraug up and burned down. All
tongues of the earth were spoken there.
the French. the Dutch. the Russian, the
Tamil. the Chinese. Whatever land knew
sorcefy, there were some OF It's peo-
pie whispering in Keola's ear. That
beach was thick as . cried fair.
yet no man was seen, and as he
walked he saw the shells vanish before
him. and no men to pick them up. l
think the devil would have been afraid to
be alone in such = company, but keoia
the hres sprang up he charged for them
like . bull; bodliess voices called to and
fro, unseen hands poured sand upon the
flames. and they were gone from the beach
before he reached them.
"Kalamake is not here" he thought,
''as must have been killed long since"
With that he sat down in the margin of
the wood. for he was tired, and put his
chin upon his hands. The business before
his eyes continued; the beach babbled
with voices, the fires sprang up and sank,
and the shells vanished and were renewed
even while he looked.
ut was q byday when was here before"
he thought, .'for it was nothing to this"
And his head was dizzy with the thought
of these millions and millions Of dollars.
and all these hundreds and hundreds Of
people cuiling them upon the beach and
flying in the air higher and-swifter than
eagles.
"And to think how they have fooled me
with their talk Of mints," says he. land
"a =
clear that all the new coin in all the world
is gathered on these sandsl But I will
know better the next ;ime." said he. And
at last, he knew not very well how or
when, sleep fell on Keola, and he forgot
the island and all his sorrows.
Early tho next day, before the sun was
yet up, hustle woke him. He awoke
caught him Mapping: but it was no such
matter. Only, on the beach in front of
him. the bodiless voices called and shouted
one upon another, and it seemed they all
passed and swept beside him up the coast
of the island.
"What is afoot now ?" thinks Keola:
and it was plain to him that it was some
thing beyond ordinary. For the fires
we're not lighted nor the shells taken. but
the bodiless voices kept posting up the
beach and hailing and dying away and
others following, and by the sound of
them these wizards should be angry.
1T is not me they are angry at, thought
Keola, "for they pass me close" As when
hounds go b., or horses in q race, or city
folk coursing to fire, and all men join
and follow after, so it was now with Keola;
and he knew not what he did, nor why he
did it. but there, 10 and behold! he was
running with the voices!
So ne turned one point of the island, and
this brought him in view Of a second, and
there he remembered the wizard trees to
have been growing by the score together
in q wood. From this point there went up
. hubbub of men crying. not to be de-
scribed; and by the sound of them, those
that he ran with shaped their course for
the same quarter. A little nearer. and
there began to mlngle with tho outcry tho
crash of many axes. And at this a
that the high chief had con-
sented, that the men Of tho trioe had set
to cutting down these trees. that word had
gone about the isle from sorcerer to sOr.
cerer, and these were all now assembling
to defend their trees. Desire of strange
things swept him on. He posted with the
voices. crossed the beach, and came into
the borders of the wood. and stood aston
ished. One tree had fallen: others were
part hewed away. There was the tribe
clustered. They were back to back, and
the bodies Law, and the blood flowed among
their feet. The hue of fear was on all
their faces; their voices went up to heaven
shrill Is q weasel's Cry. Have you seen q
child when he is all alone and has a
wooden sword, and fights, leaping and
hewing with the empty air? Even 80 tho
man-eaters huddied back to back, and
heaved up their axes, and laid on and
screamed as they laid on. And behold
no man to contend with theml Only here
and there Keola saw an AK swinging over
against them without hands, and time and
again . man of the tribe would fall before
it, Glove in twain or burst asunder, and
his soul sped bowling.
For . while keola looked upon this
prodigy like one that dreams, and then
fear took him by the midst as sharp as
death, that he should behold such doings.
Even in that same flash the high chief of
the clan espied him standing, and pointed
and called out his name; thereat the
whole tribe saw him also, and their ewes
flashed and their teeth clashed.
II am too long here" thought Keola:
and ran further out of the wood and down
the beach, not caring whittier.
"keola" said voice close by upon the
empty sand.
'Lehual is that your" he cried, and
gasped and looked in vain for her; but by
the eyesight he was stark alone.
81 saw you pass BEFORE the voice an
swered; ''but you would not hear me.
Quick. get the leaves and the herbs, and
|. let US Hee."
you are there with the mat :" he asked.
Here, at your side," said she, and no
felt her arms about him. Quick! the
leaves and the herbs before my father can
get back!"