The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-11-13
Copyright. 1912. by Cyrus townsend Brad,


20 descend the wall to the valley were
L not for the fact that the same peo
pie who built the stairs that gave nc
cess to the wall from the sea had built
! similar fight which led to the valley
Before we esSayed the descent of the
stairs we drank our fill Of the beauty
and mysterious charm of it all. In
deed, there was no sound that came to
rs except the twittpring Of the birds
Of which there were many. brilliantly
plumaged tlittering in the trees All
slse was still lonely. deserted oppres
sively so in fact
What think you of this?' My lady
broke the silence rs it not like the
rrater OF a volcano|
No" said | these are coral rocks.
and there is no sign OF iava about
pearance, especially that hattened hill
lock in the center"
l have since talked with many men
and studied the writings of the most
learned geologists They have fan
cied that perhaps the rocky projection
in the middle of the valley, where we
saw the great altar of sacrifice with its
attendant idols later on. was the orig
inal island, which was once surround
ed by a coral reef, which was now be
come a wall, and that some great up
heaval had lifted the whole up out of
the water in ages gone by and that
the barrier reef over which we had
passed was the second attempt of the
busy little insects to surround the Is
land again.
"What Is to be done now?' asked my
little mistress
Il hardly know" answered What
is exercising me most now is. first of
all. what is going on in that same mu-
tinous ship. and. next. how we shall
finally get away from here"
you are impatient" returned my
lady, smiling
Impatient for you, madam" inter
rupted, checking myself from further
self revealing speech just in time.
zone thing at a time" she continued
by the favor of God we have escaped
from the murderers and mutineers
We shall not starve upon this island
and | have no doubt that sooner or
later you will devise some means Of
our escape"
1t was past noon by this time |
made sure Of it by looking at the sun
and confirming 1t by my watch, which
| most carefully kept running during
all our sojourn on the island, which
indicated close on two bells, ! o'clock
Our talk Of the ship recalled me to my
self
II think" said l. that we had bet
ter postpone the exploration of the is
land until another day and go back
to our landing place If | know the
men on that ship they will guess that
We have escaped to this island and
they will bring her round to this side.
where we may have them under view
and they us"
Think you that they can come at
us?" she asked, in sudden alarm
81 think not" | answered confident
ly. but still to make sure | should
like to have them under observation. "
Well. to make long story short. We
retraced our steps over the broken
the other side. The descent of them
was much easier than the ascent. and
by Of the clock we stepped ON the
sand again. There before us In the
Offing was the ship. We saw them
quite plainly. and | doubt not they
caught siget OF us Immediately also
They were scarcely quarter Of a
mile away from the reef, perilously
near, thought. and we could mark
them crowding the rail and staring
Iandward. We could see them bran
dishing their weapons and we could
imagine the yells which must have
arisen from the decks when they
caught sight of MS.
The ruffians aboard the ship did not
content themselves with simply star
ing at US, for presently they assem-
bled on the port quarter-the ship was
under all plain sail on the starboard
tack at the time, the wind having fall
en- to a gentle breeze during the day
and clambered into the cutter, swing
ing at the davits. AS she was lowered
into the water. FULLY manned. Mistress
Lucy drew closer to my side. seizing
my arm with both hands.
Let US fly! They are coming to
take usP she cried in great alarm
But they are on a vain Grand"
reassured her
But why? How can you know
that2 Oh. Master Hampton, let US
hasten away"
I'VE have protector" | answered
confidently enough
"God?" asked she
His handiwork." replied as in
dicated with gesture the barrier reef
over which the Wages were breaking.