Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-11-22


Tempest Island.
A cloudless day in early summer,
with a hot sun blazing overhead, and
scarcely a breath ruffling the blue At
lantic.
The trim sloop-yacht siren" had
Just put out, like some gigantic sea-
bird, from the busy Yankee port OF
whithaven, and was spreading her
great sail for a favoring breeze. Be
hind glimmered the receding town; be-
fore stretched the great deep, dotted
with craft Of all kinds, and islands
that, through the mingled haze and
sunshine Of this perfect summer day.
looked like
isles of Eden, lying
In dark purple spheres Of sea-"
Aft, under the languid canvas, two
persons stood together on the deck OF
the Siren" with hands clasped fondly
and eyes turned seaward-not idly,
but eagerly. expectantly-two persons
man and woman. bride and bride
groom.
MY darling" said Philip Hawk
stone, letting his gaze wander from
the far sea line to the fair face
at his shoulder, you will say, per-
haps. that I have chosen a strange
place in which to spend our honey
moon; but Tempest Island has for two
centuries belonged to the Hawkstones.
It is both the birthplace and the tomb
of our race, so you will feel interested
in it, Jetta, even though you miss there
the magnolias and orange bloom OF
your own south"
How can I fail to be interested In
anything that belongs to you, Philip"
answered the bride Of a week your
people are now my people, your home
my home, 1 shall sigh for nothing
that I have left in the south while
have you. With all my heart long to
see the ocean-nest out of which so
many Hawkstones have come"
He pressed her to his side. He was
a blonde, debonnaire fellow, with an
unmistakable air of birth and breed
ing. His face resembled the portraits
of Charles Stuart. In the languid blue
ewes lurked that faraway, melancholy
look which is said to foreshadow an
early death. He had elegant white
hands, caressing voice, and the yellow
curls Of an Apollo. In his day Philip
Hawkstone had made many a woman's
heart ache.
His bride was a Creole-born on
far plantation by the side Of Louis
lana bayou. She possessed all the
witchery and languorous grace Of her
kind-eyes of darkest velvet, skin
like a tea-rose, a Psyche shape and
heart Of fire.
AS Jetta Hawkstone stood by her
husbands side on the deck Of the 81
ren," that summer day, the sun shone
upon no woman more lovely, more be-
loved-none to whom life opened up
greater vistas of happiness-none, alas!
over whom a sadder doom was even
then hanging.
TT is strange that should have won
you from all your southern lovers, Jet
ta," said Hawkstone, lightly. Il little
thought when 1 accepted Gabriel ka-
veners invitation to spend few weeks
at his fathers plantation
"Oh," she interpolated, you two
were friends at some. northern college,
Philip"
"Yes, love. AS / was saying, l did
not suppose my visit would end so dis
astrously for Gabriel, or that / should
bear back to the north the girl he low
ed-the girl he was trying to win for
himself. l wonder If he wears the will
low with becoming grace"
A shadow fell on her fair face.
Poor Gabriel. Don't speak Of him
in that flippant tone, Philip"
He laughed.
1.-The subject fascinates me. real
ize that have converted a former
friend into a deadly foe. He Will new
er forgive me for winning your love,
His regard for the laws of hospitality
alone prevented him from killing me
outright at the bayou. AS 1t was, he
did the best thing-demanded satisfac-
ton with swords and pistols at six
PAGES, and all that"
"Philip!-oh, Phillip"
"Don't tremble, dearest-dueling Is
obsolete declined the honor; where
upon your southern fire-eater swore
vengeance-swore to have my life
somewhere in the near future. Well
I forgive him-I dare say might have
done worse, had he been the lucky
suitor, and 1 the unlucky one"
Her white hands closed nervously
round his arm.
Foolish, hot-headed Gabriel! l had
been his fathers ward for years. l
cared for him only as q brother-this
he knew quite well. He should have
been more reasonable-you had done
him no wrong"
"A rejected lover is never reasona-
BILE, my darling. Look! look!
languid manner growing suddenly ca
ger-"yonder is Tempest Island, the
birthplace of l know not how many
generations of Hawkstones, bought
from the Indians by old Durick Hawk
stone. a soldier of fortune, who had
won glory in Flanders with Lord Fair
fax, and for the two centuries since
his death kept by the eldest male heir
of the line in tall as the old Wills
read. 1t seems a bleak spot to your
eyes, does it not my southern rose?
But every Hawkstone looks on it with
pride"
A long. gray object had risen in the
ocean path of the Siren" and now
rapidly assumed shape and color be-
fore Hawkstone and his bride. This
was an island. eight miles long and
three or four broad-originally a
+onoua of the mainland tradition said