The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-10-09
MISS MILNE AND |.


Qul6tcT SpOb WuoIo LII. uuooiC n hicoh-
ings could not reach me.
In the bow, as have said, was DR..
Moore, pacing up and down his little
reserve like Gagged lion. Every now
and then he would halt, and with
frantic gesticulations address the peo-
pie near him; but they, being Chinese,
and entirely ignorant of the English
language, must have appeared to him
remarkably unsympathetic.
Next to the batch of six Cinnamon
sat Mrs. Cox, the widow of the man
who had died the day before, and
around her knees her family of eight
small children clustered. They were
all dressed in mourning, and bore upon
their faces evidences of the privaticn1,
confinement and misery they had I'M
dergone. Opposite Mrs. Cox was a
man named Warren, his wife and four
children, one a baby in arms and one a
child of four, a bright eyed little girl.
Evidently, from the fond way in which
she was playing with her fathers hand,
she was his pet. This Warren played
a conspicuous part in the great quaran-
tine tragedy. He had at this time a
few pustules on his face (six or eight,
perhaps) but they were characteristic,
and quite justified me in pronouncing
him patient. He had a hard, firm
face, typical of the London artisan; he
wore a ragged mouslache, and his chin
days, giving him an appearance of fe-
rocity that was not natural to him, and
that afterward altogether Disappeared.
The stern sheets were crowded with
Europeans and Chinese, patients and
suspects, women and children all hud-
died up together, with barely room to
stand.
1t was 80 a. m. before we reached
the pier that juts out from the quaIan-
tine station on which we were to land.
Those of us who had the strength
peered anxiously through the dark
ness to catch, if possible. glimpse OF
the nature of our prison. BY some
oversight, no information of our COM
ing had been forwarded to the superin-
tendent, and there was therefore no
one to receive us, no light visible, no
information Obtainable as to the hous
ing of the patients and suspects.
l was the first to step on shore and
the garrulous lunatic who had for
gotten his nail brush followed. When
we reached the end of the pier we stood
aside and passively watched (for the
ridiculous regulations would not allow
us to lit a finger in the matter) the
mournful procession, as it filed past
from the launch to the shadow and
shelter of an overhanging rock.
At that moment light was seen at
the back of us, and in few minutes
the ancient, Mr.. Warbler, was in our
midst. He was eighty years of age,
short in stature, very thin and had a
marked stoop. As he leaned on his
stick his long gray hair, blear eyes and
strangely white beard gave him the
exact appearance that one always asso-
ciates with the ancient mariner. The
resemblance was so pronounced that a
few days later, when l had drawn the
attention of the others to it, we re-
chrstened him, and from that day he
was spoken of-and fear often, too
as the Ancient Mariner, or for brevity's
sake, the A. NJ. When, ''like a white
haired shadow" he had wandered
from group to group, vainly endeavor-
ing to grasp the surroundings, he ap-
preached me.
"And who are you, pray?'
81 am DR.. Rigby, late and, Tor all l
know, still government medical officer
You are the superintendent, are you
not?"
81 am"
"Now, Mr.. Warbler" l asked,
"where ale they to 60"
"Do you see that hut yonder?"-
pointing to just visible roof peeping
over the top of steep precipice.
eyes"
"Well, that is the only place where
they can go, and your quarters are
close by"
But how are they to get there?
| Where is the road to it?'
"There is no road; the only way is
to Chamber up the side of the hill"
GOOD God, man, they can never do
it,"
"But they must"
And they did. How even the
healthy among them succeeded in clam
boring up the rugged and treacherous
face of that cliff is to this day a mys-
tey to me. AS for the sick, some, OF
course, died, and others, though they
recovered, had long and painful ill.
nesses as consequence of that terrible
night.
CHAPTER MI.