Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-03-22
PART III.
MY SHORE
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW BEGAN MY SHORE ADVEN-
TJJRE,

!. TURE.
The appearance of the island when /
rame on deck next morning was al
together changed. Although the
breeze had now utterly failed, we had
made 4 great deal of way during the
night, and were now lying becalmed
about half u mile to the southwest Of
the low eastern coast. G~ray-colored
woods covered q 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
clumps; but the general coloring was
uniform and sad. The hills ran up
clear above the vegetation in spires of
naked rock, All were strangely
shaped, and the spy-glass, which was
by 300 or 400 feet the tallest on the
island, was likewise the strangest in
configuration, running up sheer from
almost every side, and then suddenly
cut off at the top like a pedestal to put
a statue on.
The "Hispaniola'' was rolling acup-
pers under in the ocean swell. The
booms We're tearing at the blocks, the
rudder was banging to n fro, and
the whole ship creaking. grooming, and
jumping like a mandatory. / had to
cling tight to the ~backstay, and the
world turned giddily before my eyes;
for though l was a good enough sailor
when there was way on, this standing
still and being rolled about like a bot
tie was a thing | never learned to stand
without a qualm or so, above all in the
morning, on an empty stomach.
Perhaps 1t was this-perhaps 1t was
the look Of the island, with it's gray,
melancholy woods, and wild stone
spires, and the surf that We could both
see II hear foaming and laundering
on the steep beach-at least, although
the sun shone 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, NV
heart sank, as the saying is, into NV
boots; and from that first look onward
hated the very thought of Treasure
Island.
We had a dreary mornings work be-
fore us, for there was no sign of any
wind, n 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
h haven behind Skeleton island. 1
volunteered for n of the boats. where
i had, OF course, no business. The
heat was sweltering and the men
grumbled fercely yer their work. An
derson was in command Of my boat,
and instead Of keeping the crew in or
der, he grum bled as loud as the worst.
Well" he said, with an oath, tits
not forever"
L 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 islani
had relaxed the cords OF discipline.
All the way in, Long John stood by
the steersman and conned the shin.
He knew the passage like the palm of
his hand; and though the man in the
chains got everywhere more water
han was down in the chart, John new
er hesitated once.
There's a strong scour with the
ebb," he said, and his here passage
has been dug out, in a manner of
speaking, with q spade"
We brought up just where the an
chor was in the chart, about a 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 UP
clouds Of birds wheeling and crying
ever TIE woods; but in less than a min
ute they were all down again, and all
was once more silent.
The place was entirely land-lQeked,
buried In woods, the trees coming right
down To high water mark, the shores
mostly fiat, and the hilltops standing