Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-03-20
PART III.
TN III.
MY SHORE ADVENTURE.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW j BEGAN NY SHORE ADNIN

HOW BEGAN N SHORE ADNI,N-
TURE,.
The appearance of the island when /
name on deck next morning was al
together changed. Although the
breeze had now utterly failed, we had
made a great deal of Way during the
night, and were now lying becalmed
s!3oat half q mile to the southwest of
The low eastern coast Ciray-colored
woods covered large part Of the sur
face. This even tint was indeed
broken up by streaks Of yellow sand
break In the lower lands, and by many
tall trees of the pine family, some in
dumps; but the general coloring was
aniform ard sad. Tie hills ran up
-lear above the vegetation in spires Of
naked rock. An We're strangely
shaped, and the spy-glass, which was
by 300 or 400 feet the tallest on the
aonfiguratien, running up sheer from
almost every side, and then suddenly
cut off at the top Ike a pedestal 10 put
q statue on.
The "Hispaniola" was rolling acup-
pers under in the ocean swell. The
booms We're tearing at the blocks, the
rtidder WAS banging to and fro, and
the whole ship creaking, groaning, and
jumping like q nlanufactory. ] had to
wo.Id turned giddily before my eyes;
for though / was a good enough sailor
whom there WAS way OH, this standing
still and being rolled about like a bot
tie was a thing | never learned to stand
without q qtain or So above all in the
morning on an empty stomach.
Perhaps il was this perhaps it was
the look of the island. with it's gray,
melancholy woods, and Wild stone
spires, and the surf chat we could both
see and hear foaming and laundering
on the steep beach--lt Least, although
the sun sh9ne bright and hot, and the
shore birds We're fishing and crying all
around US, and you would have thought
anyone would have been glad to get to
land after being so long at sea, my
heart sank, as the saying is, into my
boots; and from that first look onward,
j hated the very thought of Treasure
Island.
We had q dreary mornings work be-
fore US, for there was no sign of any
wind, and the boats had to be got out
and manned, and the ship warped three
or four miles around the corner Of the
island and up the narrow passage to
the haven behind Skeleton island. /
volunteered for one of the boats, where
I had, OF course, no business. The
heat was sweltering and the men
grumbled Hereby over their work. AM
derson was in command of my boat
and instead of keeping the crew in or
der, he grumbled as loud as the worst
Well" he said, with an oath, Its
not forever"
I thought this was a very bad sign;
/ for up to that day, the men had gone
briskly and willingly about their bust
: hess; but the very sight of the islam
had relaxed the cords of discipline.
All the way in, Long John stood by
the steersman and conned the ship
He knew the passage like the palm OF
his hand; and though the man in the
chains got everywhere more water
than was down in the chart, John new
er hesitated once.
There's strong scour with the
cbb,' he said and this here passage
has been dug out. in manner OF
speaking, with a spade"
We brought up just where the an
Choir was in the chart about third OF
q mile from either shore, the mainland
on one side, and Skeleton island on the
other. The bottom was clean sand
The plunge of our anchor sent ur
clouds of birds wheeling and crying
ger the woods but in less than a.plin-
ute they We're all down again, and all
was once more silent
The place was entirely lapd-locked
buried In woods, the trees coming right
down to high water mark, the shores
mostly fat, and the hilltops standing