The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1897-05-14

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Pilgrim OF air, cried, could I but borrow
I'd dy away from every careful sorrow
E%T And find my rest. 5s@-.s e.
t=,"F. II, ><
But when the dusk flmys veil was weav-
Back came the dove to seek her nest.
Deep IN the forest where her mate was
There was true rest.
Peace, heart OF mine! no longer sigh to
Lose not thy life in fruttless quest,
There are no happy islands over yOnder;
Come home ana rest
THE WHITE WOMAN Of MhDUR0.
A group of four men were seated upon
a traders veranda, at Maduro, one of the
and talking about old times. The night
was brilliantly moonlight, and the hull
and spars of little white-painted brig
that lay anchored in the lagoon about a
mile distant from. the traders house stood
out as clearly and distinct as if she We're
but fifty yards away from where they
sat. Three of the men present We're
visitors-Ned Packenham, the captain;
Harvey, the mate, and Denison, the su-
percargo Of the Indiana; the fourth was
| the trader himself-a grizzled old wan
derer of past 60, with a skin like unto
dark leather and a frame that, old as he
was, showed that he was still as active
and vigorous as when he had first landed
| on Maduro atoll thirty years before.
1t was long past midnight, and the old
traders numerous half-caste family had
The strange, wondrous beauty of the
night and the pleasure of listening to old
Charlie Walters talk of the early days
in the Marshalls, when every white man
lived like a prince, and died in his boots
from a bullet or a spear, had tempted
the visitors to send their boat back to
the ship and accept Charles invitation
so happened that the old man had just
been talking about a stalwart son of his
who had died few months previously,
and Packenham and Denison, to whom
the lad had been we'll known, asked his
father where the boy had been buried.
ing to a small: white-walled enclosure
about stones throw from where they
were sitting. "There's a good many
graves there now. Let me see; there is
Dawney, the skipper of the Maid of
Samoa, and three of his crew; Peter
son, the Dutchman, him that got bull
let into him for fooling around too much
with pistol in his hand and challenging
natives to fight when he was drunk;
wanted to be buried in my boneyard, be-
cause they thought to make me some re-
turn for keeping their families after they
were dead; my boy Tom; and the white
woman
6>~sD ,x-hsk 10
Yes" answered the trader, ''but it's
so long ago that | have almost forgotten
came here in 20 or Al. wei. think it
was some time about '4S or 40"
''Who was she?"
"Old Waller shrugged his shoulders.
''That 1 can't tell. l only know that she
where did she come from?" asked
"That 1 can't tell you either, gentle
men. But RI tell you all I do know,
and - queer yarn it. is, too. In
| those days / was about the only white
man here. | had come here about six
years before from Ebon. about 400 miles
from here, and, as had learnt the Ian
| guagc, got on very well with the ma
| tives, and was doing big business.
There were not many whaleships here
then, but every ten months or so YES
sci came here from Sydney; and, as |
had the sole run Of the whole lagoon, l
generally filled her up with cocOanut oil,
and was making money hand over fist.
THE house in which l then lived was,
like this one, built of coral lime, but
stood further away toward the point, in
rather clearer spot than this, for the
cocoanut trees were not growing thickly
together around it. You can see the
place from here, and also see that a
| hOuSe, n1inp in Snch nOSitiOn would
be visible not only from all parts of
the inside beaches of the lagoon, but
from the sea as well. 1t used to be a
regular landing mark for all the canoes
sailing over here from ArhnuEa low-ly-
ing coral atoll, densely populated. twenty
stood out very clearly even at night
| time.
"Well it was a pretty lonely life in
those days, only seeing a ship once a
year; but l was making money, as l
said, hand over fist, and didn't worry
you know-was BONN island half-breed
Portuguese woman, and as she generally
talked to me in :English, and had no ma
tive ways to speak of, we used to sit
outside in the evenings. pretty often and
watch our kids and the village people
dancing and otherwise amusing them,
selves on the beach. Rotau, the head
chief of this lagoon, was very chummy
with me, and sometimes he and his
wives would come TIP of ali evening and
join u.s.
'Onc night he told lis that canoe
had come from: Mill IAN island about
three days sail to the leeward Of Wal:
passed quite close to their island about
Il week before. At first thought it was
my vessel coming up from Sydney, but
Rotau said it was not a brig. but three
masted ship, with yards on all her masts.
Well, ut first I thought it was whaler,
four months too late in the year for a
| blubber hunter to be around. Then it
| occurred to me that it might be some
| coal-laden ship going to China or the
| East Indies from the colonies: but won
dered why she was beating to the east
ward if that were the case:
"Well, after we had sat talking for a
while, my wife called the children in and
put them to sleep, and ROtau and l and
his wives sat outside a bit longer smok.
ing. All the rest of the natives had gone
away, and the beach was deserted. 1t
was moonlight night, almost as bright
as it is tonight, and the sea was is
smooth as mill pond; so smooth, in
fact, that there was not even a break
upon the reef, and the trade wind having
died away, there was not the sound of
only just Iip-lap, lip-lap' of the water
in the lagoon as it swished up the sandy
beach.
1--WE had been sitting like this for about
half an hour, when Nora, my wife, Just
as she was coming out of the door to join
us, gave cry.
''Te Kaibuke! Look at the shipr'
II jumped up and looked, and there
sure enough, was big ship Just showing
round the point, and close in-at least
not more than q mile away from the reef
She showed up 50 plainly ON the surface
of the water that / could see that she
was under all canvas-except her royals
and such.
For moment was bit scared, re-
Wondering that there was not a breath OF
wind, and yet seeing her moving; then
remembered the current, and knew that
she must have run up to the land from the
westward before dark. perhaps, and that
as soon as the breeze had died away the
current, which runs about four knots of
the weather side of the island, had caught
her and MAS now moving her along