Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-11-26

SNAAOOeAAoSNSA
was to take the place temporarily of
the regular teacher, who had broken
his leg. Wat shifted impudently and
would have walked past but Jan de
Jough put out hand to stop him-put
1t out with diffidence, hesitatingly, al
most as an inferior might do.
at is time for school, Master
Thoms," said he.
Il am not going to school today"
"And tomorrow
mot tomorrow"
"May 1 know why?"
Wat looked to one side and another,
rather abashed, and then insolently at
the young schoolmaster.
white men," said he, SHOULD not
be taught by-by black men,"
He ran away and did not see the
flush of anger and sorrow that red
dened De Jough's olive cheeks. The
schoolmaster looked after him for
second and then slowly proceeded to
open the school.
This happened in Natal, where are
many men of different races-English,
Dutch descendants, Portuguese, Ma
lays, descendants of the coolies
brought in old times from the East In
dies as plantation workers, and KAT
frs. So there are many social ranks
and grades. Wat was an English boy,
brought out to the colony when baby,
and as the English rank highest in the
country and never would think of
mingling intimately with the other
races Wat, being only twelve years
old, had rather exaggerated idea Of
his own and his peoples worth.
Jan de Jough was not black man,
though his skin was dark, like most
Italians. He was the descendant Of
Dutch and Portuguese ancestors, who
long, long ago had owned the country
before the Englishmen took it as the
spoil Of war, just as America today
has come into possession Of the Phil
ippines.
Mr.. de Jough was downhearted.
Most Of the boys were of English par
entage, and If Wat, their leader, re-
belled he foresaw falling off in at
tendance and the consequent loss of
his first position, his first stepping
stone. He was right. The boys, small
as they were, were impudent and I'M
ruly, and Jan dismissed the school de-
spondently.
Meantime Wat, for sufficient reason,
did not go straight home. He doubted
his reception by his mother might not
be altogether cordial and appreciative.
1t was hot, as it usually is on the coast
of the Indian ocean. One advantage
the heat brings to the boys is that one
can go swimming any day almost all
the year round. Wat, wandering along
by the surf, soon felt the sun Cypress
i've, and when he came to a cove
which he and his chums knew well as
swimming place where the surf did
not break too violently he naturally
came to the conclusion that bath
would be good thing to break the
lonely monotony of the morning. He
was, like most boys in warm countries,
first rate swimmer, and he had no
hesitation in plunging into the huge
Indian ocean even when quite alone.
He left his clothes on the beach near
some rocks without fear of pilfering
wanderers, for the cove was some dis
lance from the town and spot where
few ever wandered. He ran in with q
dash, paused to catch an incoming
breaker Just at the right moment be-
fore it broke, Owed beneath its crest,
swan vigorously under water for a
minute and came up putting and blow
ing on the glorious swell of the waves,
with the sun glowing down upon him
in warm hearted approval.
Wat turned on his back and let him
self be rocked luxuriously. One mo-
ment he would be lifted up SO that he
could look far out to sea or inland at
the vast extent of greenery, and the
next he was down in great hollow,
with nothing before his eyes but the
cloudless blue above and the CLASSY
waters reaching up at his sides like
precipitous mountains.
"Poof-oof- cried the boy. "This
is better than stuffy schoolroom, with
low burgher making you study the
idiotic history Of the country. He had
cheek to think he could teach Eng
fish boys. l wish he was here, and I'd
teach him to swim. Wouldn't duck
him? Oh, no! Certainly not"
He was like fish. He reveled and
played in the sea like one of its own
inhabitants. A home bred boy of a
colder climate, used to one or two
months swimming in the summer holi-
days, would not have believed
twelve-year-old youngster could be SO
much at ease on the breast Of the faith
omless ocean. Wat struck out to deep
er water with bold. swift side stroke
and soon was standing, monarch Of all
he surveyed, on a great black rock
which broke the force of the waves as
they strove to dash, with headlong
strength, into the quiet cove.
AS he stood there, with joyous eyes,
facing the ocean defiantly, as his
races eyes have done for centuries and
do today, sudden interest increased
their wide brightness. A quarter mile
out from the beach of the little bay,
Dut only half that distance from me
rock on which he stood, lay on reef
the dark timbers of recent wreck.
Wat remembered hearing Of little
bark rushing on the reef in a gale a
month ago. but school and cricket had
prevented his going out to the cove
until now. At once he was flied with
the desire to explore, and without
moments hesitation he plunged into
the deeper outside waters and swan
for the hulk. 1t did NOT take him lono
to cover the 200 or 300 yards to the
wreck. When the vessel was wrecked,
monster waves, driven in by a land
ward gale, had broken over the reef,
but now the sea about the dead ship
was comparatively quiet, and on the
lee side Wat had no difficulty in climb
ing aboard.
Here were new and exhilarating de-
lights of the rarest sort. To explore
strange corners, to stand waist deep
now the tide was out-in the skipper's
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