Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-22

crest. Through the valley ran a brook
which ended in little lake. which / sus-
pected had some subterranean connection
with the ocean. AS far as we could see.
and the whole circuit Of the island was
now clearly visible to us. the inclosing
wall was unbrOken. The valley was hlied
with clusters of trees and alternating
stretches Of grassy meadow. Why IT was
not completely Overgrown with trees
could not imagine. Perhaps the ground
was too shallow in places for trees to
grow.
We should have been hard put to it to
descend the wall to the valley were 1t not
for the fact that the same people who
built the stairs that gave access to the
wall from the sea had built similar
flight which led to the valley. Before we
essayed the descent Of the stairs we
drank our fill of the beauty and mys-
FERROUS charm of it all. Indeed, there
! was no sound that came to US except the
twittering of the birds. of which there
were many brilliantly plumaged f1ittering
in the trees. All else was still. lonely. de-
serted, oppressively so, in fact.
I was constrained to think Of our situa-
ton as we scanned the lonely prospect In
silence. A man and a maid cast away
upon an absolutely deserted island rising
from the most unknown and unfrequent-
ed seas the globe, with no chance on
earth Of escape, apparently. The one
possibility of getting away. the Rose OF
Devon, worse than useless to US because
of the evil crew. What were we to do?
What could we expect? Suppose we
found the treasure-Of what value would
it be to us?
1 cursed myself for my weakness in al
lowing my lady to come upon this voyage
of death and disaster. 1 wished that |
had destroyed Sir GeOffrey's letter. And
yet. as my glance fell upon her my
thoughts changed. A man and a maid,
have said. Distinctions Of rank did not
exist in the Garden of Eden. This was
l
my side dependent utterly upon me,
! stOod-Eve. My heart beat my face
famed at the thought Here, II nowhere
else, she might
What think you of this?" my lady
broke the silence, and she broke more
than the silence, for her words recalled
me to my better sense again.
Il do not know answered. shamed in
my soul at my imaginings.
us 1t not like the crater of a volcanO?'
she ventured.
NO" said I. these are coral rocks and
there is no sign of lava about them, yet
it has somewhat of the appearance, espe-
cially that fiattened hillock in the CEN
ter
I have since talked with many men and
studied the writings of the most learned
biologists. and from what l have been
able to say to them and the suggestions
l have been able to give them they have
fancied that perhaps the rocky projection
In the middle of the valley, where We saw
the great altar Of sacrifice with it's at
tendant idols later on. was the original
island, which was once surrounded by a
coral reef, which was now become a
wall, and that some great upheaval had
lifted the whole up out of the water in
ages gone by. and that the barrier reef
over which We haG passed was the second
attempt of the busy little insects to sur
round the island again. And, indeed.
though I know but little about such
things, the Neory may well be true, al
though it ives no solution OF stairs or
ture I'm man, you see. But these things
did not occur to us then.
(To be continued tomorrow