The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1910-11-04

It's affairs. He came armed with letters of in
PRODUCTION that opened the most exclusive
homes Of the aristocratic English families to
him. Among the many young girls that he
met was the village belle, the afianced of the
young Scotch-American. 1t was another varfa-
ton OF that old triangle, the woman and two
men. From the first the friends OF young Thomp-
son could see that his cause tas hopeless. His
afilanced wife and the young stranger spent more
and more OF their time together. Little rumors
began to find their way about the village The
gossips, ever ready in small town, were soon
busy Thompson. moody and hurt by her sys-
temattc neglect, was the last to hear and the last
to countenance the whispered talk that was 60
Ing the round OF the village loaing places.
There was a great hue and cry along the
quiet old streets one summer morning. Thomp-
sons bride to be had disappeared Her mother
had gone to her room to awaken her and found
her gone. She had gone with the young man.
ager Of Albion's latest business house, and from
that day to this neither Of them have been heard
from
Young Thompson changed in day from a
cheerful, happy lad to a grim-faced man He
became moody and silent. He neglected his work
and never went near the home to which he had
expected to lead his bride. Less than month
after the fight of the clippers there was more
excitement In Albion 1t was reported that Ed.
ward Thompson had disappeared. The strain and
the shame OF living In a town where every man,
woman and child knew the story of his fitting
had proven too much for his sensitive. hgh.strune
nature.
While life flowed on in the same uneven cur.
rent in the village of his nativity he was wander.
Ing here and there among the emerald islands.
the lagoons and the coral reefs Of the seas that
behold the Southern Cross.
All the islands that lie off the familiar track
or the steamers knew him first and last in the
three OF four years that he spent with the traders
and copra buyers. The Philippines, the Ladrones,
the solomons and a dozen other island groups of
the southern Pacific were visited by him In the
epic years Of his Odyssey. )Finally he and his
trading companions touched at the island Of Maj.
keVa In the Fills. One Of the eternal civil wars
that are always disrupting the peace Of the little
Island Kingdoms was brewing in Naiknva when
the tramp schooner dropped anchor inside the reef
OF coral that formed the harbor breakwater. A
new claimant had risen for the throne and he
and his followers were demanding the scepter
and the head Of the old king.
Thompson had left Illinois, had put the states
behind him to escape the constant reminder Of
his lost love that he saw in every woman The
wandering life Of three or four years had cleansed
MS heart or but little bitterness against woman
kind, He had put the old life behind him and
dreamed only of adventure and never of bright
eyes and loving lips. 1t was mixed crew of
kanakas, Malaysians and halfcastes aboard the
little trading schooner They cared but little for
the kings and chieftains of the islands, but Il
was part of their policy to be polite to the ma
tive rulers An audience was arranged with the
native sovereign and a part of the ships company
attended laden with calicoes, mirrors and brass
rods as gifts. 1t was in the royal hut Thomson
hrSt SOW the Princess Lakanita. She stood at the
side of her fathers throne when the white mon
entered the palm hat for their talk with the old
king
Some indefinite attraction seemed TO draw.+ha
white adventurer and the brownskinned princess
to each other. They met many times while the
schooner was taking on It's load of native prod.
ucts. There was more than little Snanish
blood in the veins of the old kings daughter Her
mother was hafcaste Spanish woman and
much of the languorous beauty of the maids Of
old CASTLE was the heritage of this barbaric
princess of the remote Isle of Naikeya In the
half twilight OF the cocoanut groves he heard her