The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-12-11
Last Cruise Of
the Minfa Canto


ner to keep from freezing and burst.
ing, and as | drew my chair up closer
and gazed into the light wooe fire,
memories of good old summer time"
came to me. And | naturally recalled
Lowell's poetic question: What is SC
rare as a day in June?" Especially one
day last June which / recalled with
feelings mixed with gladness and sor-
row. On that June day went with a
picnic party to the shady banks of
| the River Red.
The crowd went in two hacks. One
Of my boy friends and | were first to
| start with one of the hacks around
| from house to house TO gather up all
! our passengers. When our hack was
| filled away we went to catch up with
| the Others. Each boy tried to get a
seat by his favorte girl. One of the
young men in our hack declared he
mad to smoke, but the young ladies
! protested so strongly that he was COM
| PEELED to get out of our hack and into
| the other, When he came back to
our hack his bitter rival" had taken
the seat by his best girl" and MIR.
! Smoker had to take a seat where he
| could MID it. This made him mad
and he declared that ne would not
| pay his part of the hack hire And
/ besides, he found a can of axle OF
that the stableman had left in tbs
! hack and commenced a row by at
tempting to besmear certain creamy.
pink faces They tried to make him
| throw the can away, but he vowed
he would not, and placed it in his
coat pocket saying, to the dismay OF
the girls, that he would find use fol-
1t later in the day.
After an hours drive we reached
the river at the mouth of the Village
| creek.
After dinner our party scattered.
Some went driving some boating
Some rambling and some courting!"
The Zest of the trip was waning
when a couple of boys who had been
up the river came rushing back to the
camp wild-eyed with astonis Ament, to
report the wonderful discovery they
| had made.
| IT'S a real caravel of the sixteenth
century," said the one that knew
| enough to name it. The other, said
| he did not know what to call it, but
| 1t was a mighty curious old boat
| half buried in the bank of the river
only about 400 yards from where We
Were'
We all made a dash for the point
| of the discovery, all the time hall
believing that the story was de-
ception on the part of the two for
their amusement in watching US race
! through the brambles
But sure it was not. Half of the
vessel, the stern end, extended out
over the water The two masts al
this end were decayed almost dowr
to the deck, while the two masts al
/ the bow end, which was under earth
each stood erect, very much resem
bling the dead, barren trunks OF
straight, slender trees Between the
two was a companion, real, live
! growing cottonwood. This resem.
blance perhaps had disguised their
identity and prevented the discovery
of the buried ship, for it was evident
that the entire body of the caravel
was until the recent spring floods COM
| pletely covered with earth, on which
grew a carpet Of grass.
1t seemed dangerous to venture out
upon thu double-decked stern of the
| rotten hulk; with the least weight the
| old timbers might give way and pre-.
| cipitate the venturer into the water
below. But there was the old hatch
way open, showing that the hold had
never been filed by the river sands,
or else, if ever filled. was now washed
out.
And what might be found below
: deck in this boat of the sixteenth
century? We must go below. The boy
that had in the early morning persisted
| III SIHOhAuS anu odL w LAG
opening, which was like an entrance
to a subterranean caye-all below
was dark and damp.
We could not 60 below without q
light. This we did not have, except q
few matches. These would not suffice
II we took any other light 1t would
have to be borrowed at the nearest
farmhouse, which was over mile
distant. 1t was now that Mr.. Smok
er's genius came into play. He took
from his coat pocket the despised can
of axle oil and tearing his handker.
chief into strips, rolled a wick. which
he placed in the can and lighted
on the style OF the Esquimau lamp.
This answered Our purpose fine and
soon we were below The cabin in
time had been filled with sand. but
this had recently been washed out.
Our lamp revealed to us only few
recog nizable objects. Lying upon a
dais in the end of the cabin was a