The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1899-09-28
mates-I'd lay Town my life for our

Tom, that you would; and SO would
we" Pearl took Toms hand, and said,
you foolish. obstinate boy! I'm not
angry with you, but 1 want you to
learn. How can the books be wrong?"
Il didn't say the books and Tom
retained PEARLS hand lovingly in his;
81 said the book. We've only two.
Give them to me, please, Queen Pearl.
Well, then mates, this is how it is.
Here's the two books and they don't
agree. Which do we like best? This?"
He held out the Primer. Cor this?"
He held out cinderella" Which is
the best book of the two. and which is
the book to go by? Who holds up his
hand for 'Cinderella?'"
Every hand was held up.
"And who,' continued Tom, prov
ing himself a rare logician, holds up
his hand for the Primer, as Queen
Pearl calls it?"
Not a hand was raised. Tom
chuckled. 1t was evidently a matter
which he had ~pondered over deeply.
well, them he said, "look AT the
first letter in Cinderella What is it?
O. And the next? N. And the next?
G. And the next? E. There you are,
then. Once, once. Once upon a
time That's how it is. The man that
wrote this Primer made a mistake.
And the man hat wrote cinderella
is the man to go by, and here's three
cheers for him"
Tom raised his voice Justify, and
+hnry oil i0;,ood ~ L1uon Co that
there was no mistake as to the success
of the mutiny. But they raised a
louder cheer when they heard my
voice, and SO discovered me-; and Pearl
herself, reioiced to see me among my
men again, gave in to Tom, and de-
clared that he was right, and that 0
was the first letter in the alphabet.
A few minutes afterward, when I
had shaken hands all round, Pearl,
seated between me and Tom Wren,
read the pretty legend of "Cinderella'
all through. And that also was a SER
mon as good as any ever preached in
a church.
And now I am warned that my story
is in danger of being spun out to too
great a length. So let the history of
the next few years be told in almost as
few lines. Indeed, day was SO like
another, that a record OF them would
be but a repetition of things.
Death came among us. One went;
another followed; and another; and
still another. Before long, we counted
the magic number, seven; and at this
we mercifully remained. Our hair
turned gray and white and we all
thought that our bones would be
buried in this island Of the South Seas.
We got resigned to this, and cared not
for ourselves. Our only concern was
for Pearl, our fairy, our queen. Year
by year she grew fairer and more
beautiful and more beloved. She kept
us in the right path. Her presence
and sweet influence continually hui
manized us. James Bowden had kept
a record of the days from the first,
SO that we knew when the Sabbaths
were, and these, as we'll Is Christmas,
were religiously and lovingly observed.
So Pearl grew into womanhood, and
Tom Wren still searched for his pump
kin, not finding it until n blessed
day when our Island Queen was seven
teen years of age. He came running
toward us with the air of a wild man,
and wore he had seen a ship. We
raced to the hill where u signature
was still burning, and found that he
was right. 1t was a calm and beautiful
day, and there lay the ship that was
to restore US to the world. It was
long before we succeeded in making
our signals seen; but when we did, and
saw the boats putting off for us, we
fell upon our knees.
Pearl nestled close to me, tenderly
and anxiously. 3.
"You don't forget your PROMISE
she said, tearfully. 81 have no one
daddy. / am alone in the world"
"You are my child" I said, as
folded her in my arms, land you anc
l will never part. I could not love
daughter of my own more dearly thar
l love YOU"
Long before this I had told my mate
of the gold Mr.. Druce had left behin'
him, and they had decided that half O
lit was mine, and that the other hal
should be divided among those that re
manned.
OF this part of my story I have 1ittl
more to say. Strange as it may SCUM
= to you, it was not without regret W
left the island where we had found Gu
Pearl; and the last night we passe
, there, in company with our preser yeri
was a night to be forever remembered
Pearl and I brought away with U