The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-03-01

icllVlLy. Designer CrOWnlnSl1clu mas
carry out his promise. Two gangs of
the work of rigging the Lawson boat, /
are all endways, and p'r'aps I've been
mistook.'
y" Very we'll, then,' says I, it's rust
ed round shot mixed up with 'uman
skeleton
81 thought So he returns, with sigh
of relief. But since this island is moo
born baby. in manner O speakin'. it
ticks me 'ow them things come there
'Pr'aps,' says l, after thinkin' ard
for some moments, they were born with
the bloomin' baby
j "'You're fool, Pagett,' says he, 'and
you'd better go and fall in with the
rest
: Now: as l was carrying my wounded
feelin's back to my comrades, it suddenly
struck me that the dawn wasn't breakin'
as quickly as it usually does in those lati-
foods. The black patch over the days
eye had covered the entire face of the
eastern sky, and was spreadin' to the
zenith faster than the daylight itself.
lin, that a tropical thunderstorm was
comm up with the sun. and you may
take my word for it that bare rock in
midocean amt the safest place to see
one from.
1.-THE detachment 'ad already undressed
and were bein' mustered by the color ser
geant. so l slipped off my clothes and
joined them.
before the muster was over the
mornin' 'ad grown much darker than the
night had ever been, and the sky above
US was like great; velvet pail with its
borders trailin' in the sea. Long zigzag
rents were torn in the pail about once
every second, nor was there any interval
in the 'orrible din O. the thunder. Luck
lily we escaped the rainfall, but we could
ear it hissin' on the sea a mile away like
forty thousand locomotives blowin' off
steam.
LAS it was too dark to battle, and too
dangerous to 20 into the tent where the
arms were, Jannaway fell US in two
deep in the rear Of it. Before very long.
gan to lift, and a streak of crimson sky
appeared beneath it. Then the streak
widened; orange showed above the red,
primrose above the orange, till presently
we could see the bright blue O. the zenith.
The velvet pail had rolled away as quick
ly as it 'ad spread"
MI Pagett removed the pipe from his
you've been in the tropics yourself,
sir?" he observed, looking into the fire.
nodded.
photographs p
''I'y heard of them,'' 1 admitted eau
tiously. 1T is said that they cannot yet
be accounted for by science, though they
Il saw one that mornin' on the island"
he mused; 1.-THE fash over the Tor just
now minded me Of it.
1.-The first thing we noticed after Jan
naway dismissed US and we'd moved
away from the tent was the double line
of our shadows still fixed upon the cur
tain, where it 'ad been thrown by the
lightnin'.'
yes" I admitted. "that was quite
possible
'Quite possible. But 'ow about this?
The drummer. who was starin' at the
phenomenon from the front of the group,
suddenly turns round.
81 thought he sQuaked, that. count
in, Mr.; Jannaway, we were thirty-three
Then, for once in your sinful young
life says the corpril' you thought right,
"'Well,' said the boy, edgin' into the
middle o the crowd. 'ow do you account
for there bein' thirty-four shadows on
the bloomin' tent?
Nobody attempted to account for it;
nobody even wanted to account for it.
What everybody did want, 'owever, was
to get off that cursed island without an
other minutes delay. Like one man the
pinnace in which we 'ad landed, and
which was moored a few yards from the
beach. 1t was the stampede of the pre-
vious afternoon over again, with the diff
ference that this time me, an the color
sergeant, an Jannaway were in it as
well.
I'VE splashed through the water,
Skinned over the gunnel O. the big boat,
got out the oars and gave way like
hundred yards between us and the Blank
Files shadow on the tent before the sea
began to bubble about the pinnace like
water round an egg in a saucepan.
For the Lords sake cries one o. the
men, layin' on:his oar, look at the bloom
in island!' -:
''Then we saw. a most curious thing.
The island was gradually CROWN small
our eyes! Presently only the tops q the
tents and the jackstaff We're visible
above the water. and then only the Union
Jack itself. When that 'omely bit o.
buntn' 'ad gone,: too, the drummer burst
/" IAny'ow,' says the' :corpril, cheerily;
mat transporting: blank Fne's gone
"fAye.' chimes in the Dismal Jimmy
of the detachment, but We shall: be un-
der stoppages o pay until them arms and
accoutrements are made good. I said at
the time he continued, ':tlat;it was no
earthly bell a-tollin'-'. -,..::
Z - Take that. mans name for disobedi-
ence of orders,' roars out ;Jannaway.
: 'Ow dare You make my flesh creep he
says, when 'aven't got stitch O cloth
r. 3ny . =.
There's the Dutch flagship in the Of
IA Just off the port beam, SIR sings out
g. her. zT. =. =. +. =. II:
Then 'ope to goodness says Jan
"a by, casting an anxious eye over the
IS Id forms before him, that the adj
18 'asn't brought no ladies with him
t lie the moo islandv !
n hour later we clambered one by
Of up rhe steep sides O. the Dutchman.
a were served out with pair O. baggy
tt bers apiece. IL there were any Ia
al on board they must ave been sent
Be- before we got alongside, and the
orf BIB and men didn' { matter. Mr.. jan
m 81 told the admiral that We were