The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1900-07-03
|OICK RODNEY;
Or. The Adventures of
An Eton Boy.
I RY JAMES GRANT.

RY JAMES GRANT.

-~~~>-~-~~~~~~~~~~~1 II
Iss &SG eGES GGs GGe es&eS
was heard by them, and at the same
instant both saw flock OF petrels
and storm finches rise up in the moon
nght from the face Of the bluff, where
they revolved above the breakers, like
a swarm OF knats IN a sunbeam.
SO If Ned and the carpenter were !
mistaken in the sound, the birds were
also reused and alarmed
Mark Hislop ridculed their story,bu
he was considerably bewildered, and |
so were we all when two days after
ward seaman named Hugh Chute
when rambling in the woods, found
one OF our goats, which we knew by
the fragment OF rope still tied round
its neck, lying dead, with bullet in its
throat
He brought it to the hut, where the
wound was cut open and the bullet
extracted. 1t was small, and had evil
IDENTIFY been fired from pistol; this
event caused the most exciting specu-
lations, amid which the carcass was
hastily buried, as none Of us would eat
of it.
What or who could this person be?
were the prevailing questions; and
what was mis- reason for concealing
himself from US. in the thick woods OF
the island!
In the thorough exploration Of the
latter. caused by these episodes, our
people fortunately discovered fine
grove OF banana trees, and returned
laden with their yellow and luscious
fruit.
At the same time Tattooed Tom
found some letters Gin a foreign lingo"
as he said cut on the face Of steep
rock, oyerhanging the river, which
formed the cascade at the beach. To
this rock he conducted Hislop and me
the next day, and after tearing aside
some masses Of creepers and scraping
off a rich coating Of moss, we found
this old legend on the smoothed face oil
the basalt:
Eel Noble Caballero, D. Alphonso de
Albuquerque;
A. D. 1906.
Rvgven a Dios por el."
"The year of the discovery of the Is
r landi" said Hislop.
"Have other eyes ever seen this In
: scription SINGER" added l.
ut is very doubtful. This Alphons'
also discovered the Albuquerque Rays
as he named the three islets which Ii
, off the Mosquito shore in the Cario
: bean sea-"
> Hislop copied the inscription in t
his notebook, and just as we turned t
Z leave the spot a large stone, aoou
sixty pounds in weight, came crashin
, down the cliff, hurled, apparently, frol
n it's summit, and, if so, by no inexpe'
hand. for it struck the rock of II
/ legend within foot of where Hlsie
II stood. and was shivered into hui
q dred pieces, covering him over vii
4. dust.
- Had it struck him instead, he b;
AZ been slain and mangled on the spc
"A Had a fragment broken any OF d
!, limbs. in how miserable plight Wou
na he have been on that desolate islam
without proper shelter or surgical al
90 Looking up to the summit OF t
l. cliff. which was about hundred al
nc fifty feet in height, l perceived amol
n the dense fringe Of wild gourds, shru'
- leaves and plantain trees, then waVl
in the wind. something like hum
Nv face. that, after peering over at US W
ar suddenly withdrawn.
'' "Tbat stone was never dislodg'
,u either by goats or by accident" s.
1r, uislop; there is not vestige OF CT
'A' mon the fragments-besides, all
saoo ~ the cliff is smooth and so
IRIS rock!" did ,
~ "And it is the only place we ana !
-. overhaul yesterday, Master Elsio
said Tom Lambourne
lry "rben there must be the thlei
or 49,. biscuits-of our goats
not our stun'sail boom and my
IN .ov Let us have all hal
- turned up for hunt again. e'
NV Tom. .o+ had seer
cad "a man,-do you think 1t w@
. ~ mans head?" t,s,on" !
$ IN &c 81 can not be certain Hislop,
anne 7. cit seemed face OF SONIC A'nN'
card q very hairy one, too" .,
oats 1T might be an old pump& ,ds4 :
vosted Tom, in his matter-of-fact
our "or a goat--at all events e, ua,d II =
S to NO mo, no; there is no sucn an,
b.reab cal, Master Rodney req
Tom. -. ~ devil. '
ook- overhaul the place this very a
ions' U UOo exclaimed Hislop, with ihci Inc,
we're, ing energy, and anger o 'a,on ms %
Oh sball return with all e1peui'io" -
hut.
e i'm. CHAPTER XxXH;
ne OF The Mystery Solved.
boat in o;r had been unus'