The Lamar register., 1913-11-26

did so out fen little heap Of whni
Judged to be precious stones There
were green. red, blue and white oi..-.
among them many pearls sadly dis'"l
ored and vaiueless The stones yiis
tened with an almost living energy
Ny mistress WIS more familiar with
these things than |. and | presented
handful to her
why. they are precious stonesv' she
cried In an awe struck whisper
"Lookr' She held up a diamond as
big as her thumb nail 1t sparkled like
sun In the .nndlelight- And there
is an emerald" she cried. picking up
one of the green stones. This blue
one is sapphire: this a ruby Why"
she exclaimed. here Is a fortune alone.
These Jewels must be Of fabulous val
ne The gold and silver we might
leave behind. but these we can carry
with US
In my heart I was sorry We had
found them, yet I had the grace im-
mediatey to say:
81 am glad for that We must
gather them up. but where shall we
put tbemY'
In the pockets OF your coat for the
present" she answered
Now there were not 30 many of
them-perhaps three or four handouts
not nearly enough to ill the casket.
figured that 1t had been Jewel box
with little trays or drawers and that
the stones bad been wrapped separate
ly. but had all fallen together when
the partitions rotted away. ! easily
found room for them In the capaciOus
side pockets of my coat. and then we
turned back to the outer room. Pass
ing by the hideous altar. we gained the
light II WAS now late In the after
noon. We found to our surprise
We had spent hours over the treas
ure and we had Just time to retrare
our steps and get back to the boat on
the beach and partake OF our evening
meal when night fell AS we sat by
the Gre that night ] made little bags
out Of piece OF canvas taken from
a bread bag and We put the Jewels into
them. dividing them into equal parts.
One bag she wore consta ntly thereaf.
ter on her person and the other She
insisted that the rough and ready divi.
sion we had made was permanent:
that the bag ! carried belonged to me
and the bag she carried belonged to
her But ! refused to hav. II NO In
spite Of her argument. and there We
left IT.
During the next two or three days
we leisurely explored the island. There
was nothing else on II to see which
merits any particular description. We
did not again visit the central hill. nor
did we enter any other cave. We did
not even go near the treasure cave
again On the contrary. We kept to
the open. We chose TO live near the
sea on the beach which was high
above all tides and which was remov-
ed from the charneI spots which made
a mockery Of the sylvan groves with
In the walls The island was well pro-
vided with tropical fruits. many being
good for food. rs ! knew We caught
Dish In the lagoon and turtle on the
sand We lacked nothing to make u
comfortable. even happy. except the
means Of escape
We spent our days In trying to de-
wise some means Of getting across the
reef and back home aRain-that IL.
when ! was not Idly lying at the feet
or following the footsteps OF the wo-
man ] loved didn't want to get
away. sd far rs ! was concerned
didn't care whether we ever got away.
I had wit enough not to let her see.
not to let her suspect that for a mo-
ment however. and ! tried to convince
her by my conduct toward her that my
kissing her on the ship had been but
momentary madness. hut I learned Tat
er that failed Numerically She says
now that baby could see that ! was
dying for her. and ! suppose IL In true.
but Mt least didn't say anything Aft
er that outbreak In the cave ! kept al.
Ience
Late one afternoon we stood at the
head Of the stoirs looking sea ward
We nad come from n long ramble
throughout the cup OF the island. and
as We stood on the top our gnze ~
usual instinctiveIy turned toward the
sen. perhaps seeking for the sail of
some rescung ship The winter was
black with great savage war cnnOes
"Great God" cried: look yonder,''
Il See. ! seet'' she cried In turn.
'Who can they bcT
jewellers frcm tle other islands to
the westward" answsrad