The Irish standard., 1903-03-28
CHAPTER NVII.
THE IlI,RR1cANE

mittee do to-day?" asked Mr.. Kent,
next morning as he pushed his chair
back from the breakfast table and
bit the end from cigar. Morton" !"
he said, as he finished the last Of
his coffee, ''those venison chops
were fine. Nature must have hesi-
tated a long while before she de-
clded whether to make you a finan-
cler or u cook. J. am not sure that
she did not make a mistake. Come
on, Hammond, you cannot find out
where we are by studying that map.
Let's get busy"
II do not care to be otficious," said
Sidney, but L wish some of you
gentlemen would give our committee
your assistance for day or two.
The work | have in mind properly
belongs to the housekeeping COM
mittee anyway. The park as we
| call it, is our game and fruit pre-
serve. In an hour any one can shoot
grouse, quail, pheasants, or deer, and
can pick all the bananas we need.
The trouble is to get there, and to
bring back these table luxuries. The
trail along the brook is almost i'm
passable. Two men with axes can
put it in good shape in day. I
would like to explore the east shore
of the island with Mr.. Kent. Mr..
Rockwell, you are President of the
Social Island Colony. 1 suggest
that you detail members to do this
work on the trail"
"Certainly," answered the mag
nate. "Mr. Morton and l will put
the trail in good shape. Mr.. Car
mody is working on his plans for a
boat, and will not need assistance
for day or two. How far is it
from here to the 'park?'
"About mile, / should say" said
Sidney. "Follow the brook until
you come to the reservoir. 1 would
take gun along. You may meet
one of Mr.. Kent's painter friends"
This being settled, Sidney prepared
to start across the bay. Mr.. Vim
cent expressed wish to help on
the work of exploration, and it was
decided that matters could be ex-
pedited by forming two parties
one to explore the coast north Of
the gateway of the bay, and the
other to work along the south shore.
1t was therefore agreed that Mr..
Pence and Mr.. Vincent should take
the south shore and Mr.. Hammond
and Mr.. Kent the north shore. Mr..
Pence protested vigorously against
doing any more exploring, but Mr..
IL. nr,t Ii, e,1,, I11
him that he was under military dis
cipline.
''In cases like this" he said, "it is
always customary to shoot those
who disobey orders. I have always
been your friend, Pence, as you
know, but if the chairman of the
committee on exploration ordered
me to shoot you l would do it with
cheerful promptness."
Mr.. Kent examined his rifle criti-
cally and looked serious. Mr.. Pence
said he was only joking, and would
be glad to go. Each member of the
expedition provided himself with a
luncheon, and at eight o'clock they
got on board the raft and padded
across the bay. The sun was not
warm and shone through peculiar
saffron haze. The air was motion
less. 1t was decided that Pence and
Vincent should be landed first, and
that Hammond and Kent should re-
turn for them with the raft not
later than five o'clock in the after
noon. All We're provided with ri
fles and ammunition.
They soon reached the shore at a
point where it was possible to scale
the rocks overlooking the ocean.
Mr.. Pence and Mr.. Vincent left the
raft and it was agreed that they
should return at about five o'clock.
They climbed the rocks and disap-
pcarcd in the forest. Sidney and
Mr.. Kent pushed away from shore
and headed the raft for the inlet.
There were no clouds in the sky,
but the sun was almost obscured in
Il golden haze. They noted an un-
usual number of birds flying past,
seemingly coming in from the ocean.
There was not breath of air STIR
ring.
II believe storm is brewing" ("
said Sidney.
at is not in sight yet" replied his
companion, us he speared ineffect-
ually Mt passing fish. 81 am going
to come out here tomorrow and
catch some of these fellows. won
der what we can use for bait?"
"The brook is full of minnows,"
said Sidney. II noticed dip net
among the things in the storeroom.
Grubs, worms, or almost anything
will do for bait"
eve might try mosquitoes" said
Mr.. Kent. "Some of them are large
enough"
ITO Be Continued