The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-08-15
CHAPTER XVII.
AT POINT SEBASTIAN.

AT POINT SEBASTIAN.
Now that the great rambling wooden
hotel in which Miss Elsie Kildare was
staying under care of her friends. the
Van Liews, though on the end OF tele-
graph wire and within easy days steam
OF a railroad, was not particularly far
In crows flight from that uncharted
river where the Port Edes lay stranded
on sand bar. The hotel. in fact,
backed upon the Everglades and faced
the blue crisping waters of the Mex
lean gulf. At one side of It was a plan
tation OF sisal hemp, and beyond that
thickets Of sawgrass, and beyond again
cypress trees and cabbage palms
sprouting from ON underground which
was bound into an impenetrable cheval
de frise with wait-a-bit thorn. At the
other side were newly planted umbrella
trees, two decrepit orange bushes with
out fruit, twenty iuxuriant clumps Of
elephants ears, and then straggles of
palmetto scrub, right down to the soft
white banks OF gulf sand. Beyond was
clear blue water with a rickety wood
en- wharf straddling a mile out into
1t ike some uncouth gray legged cent?
pede. And beneath the water dented,
rusty food cans grew intimate with the
coral polyp. t ==
In winter time Point Sebastian was
a resting place for nabobs of the north,
and a congregation spot for those de-
lightful American women who leave q
convenient husband at work elsewhere
on the dollar mill. But in the warmer
months these worthy people did their
pleasure living at the seabeaches Of the
north or the hotels OF the Alleghanies,
and the resthouse at Point Sebastian
locked and covered most OF its glories.
The Floridian who stays in Florida all
summer does so usually because of
tightness in the exchequer, and for the
few OF him who came to dissipate a
small but hardly scraped UP hoard In a
spell of standardization a tenth of the
available rooms made ample lodging
place. . g.. ....@ =
Still there was a summer season of
sorts at Point Sebastian, which was
merry enough In its way. Most nights
on the parquet of the hall a CHEEKY
score danced under the glare OF cleo
| trio lights to the Tilt Of Heuton flddles,
| and in the cool gloom Of the p.azzas
outside, II straitened means did pre-
vent the actual drafting OF marriage
contracts, even penury undisguised
could enjoy the dallyings Of the weeks
| Irritation. Mr.. Kent Williams and his
tribe were entertaining fellows enough
to meet for q limited time, and maid
ems, come into the hotel for an annual
| outing, basked in the odor of their
pretty sayings and frankly prepared
themselves for nothing beyond tenn
| porary amusement. .. ....
Patrick Cambel met at least five men
there he knew, which shows the great
| advantage of being a university man.
| because since at Oxford and Cambridge
they most successfully refrain from
teaching anything that Is Of CONNER
| cial use To anyone except a parson, or
a doctor, or a schoolmaster, II naturally
| follows that many men from those
seats OF learning fair to make living
at home and drift across the seas.
He did not make the smallest secret
about his advent. AS the newspapers
had told them already, he had been on
the unlucky Port Edes when she came
to grief. but had managed to get ashore
4 by q marvellous streak of luck and
! found himself at spot where less than
a year ago he had been wandering
about on shooting expedition. Thence
he had made his way In a dugout,
bought from Seminole. to the hotel
on Point Sebastian. VOLTA tout. There
was nothing surprising about It. He
thad had several opportunities for
drowning before that, but none Of them
had ever come off. So he supposed that
the Parcae marked him out to live.
And-what would they have? His
shout.
At that period Mr.. Patrick cambel
was feeling extremely pleased with
j he had been engaged. as any man must
i hate being mixed with swindle. be II
/ great or small. And the end seemed
near; the end conJoined to full sue
i cess.
He had had q struggle for II, be-
il cause once more Captain Kettle had
felt Inclined to FIGHT for his own hand
rather than do all things for mere sna-