The Lamar register., 1919-09-10

abandoned settlement, and presently.
on some slightly higher ground to the
left, thought could make out the
half-submsrged walls of Il much more
ambitious edince. Looking closer. 1
noted. with n thrill of surprise. the
beginning Of h very narrow path. moi
more than . foot wide. leading up
through the scrub In Its direction.
Narrow as It was. II had clearly been
Kept open by the not-infr-Quent pas
sage Of feet. With q certain eerie feel
Ing, l edged my way into II. and. after
following II for 4 hundred yards or so.
found myself close to the roofiess ruin
OF spacious stone house with some
thing OF the appearance of an old Eng
lish manor house. Mullioned windows.
nneiy nasoned. opened In the shat
tered wall. and mn elaborate stone
staircase. In the interstic-s of which
stout shrubs were growing. gave, or
once had given. IN entrance through
AZ arched doOrway-nu entrance now
stoutly disputed by the glistening
trunk Of = gum-el-mi tree and endless
matted rop"iike roots Of giant vines
and creepers that wrlthed like serp-
ents over the whole editce. Forcing
my way up this staircase. / found my
self In II stone hall some sixty feet
long. ut one end Of which yawned u
huge fireplace. Its Hue mounting up
through hnely carved chimney, still
stnndins firmly at the top u the
southern gable.
How had this almost buroninI mag
niiicence come to be IN this far-awsy
corner Of u desert Island; At first l
concluded that here WAS n relic Of the
brief colonial prosperity Of the Ba-
lImas. when Its cotton lords lived
Ike princes. with slave population
for r'iainers-days when even the
bootblncks In Nassau played pitch
considered further. It seemed to me
that the style Of the architecture aud
the age Of the building rugg.sted an
enrlier date. Could II be that this had
been the home Of one OF those early
century pirates who took
pride Ia Haunting the luxury and pomp
of princes. and who had perhaps mad.
this his headquarters and stronghold
for the storage of his loot Oh the re-
turn from his forays on the Spanish
Main7 This. as the more spirited con.
lecture. 1 naturally preferred. and. In
default Of exact Information. decided
I" accept.
The more l pondsred upon this
fancy and remarked the extent of the
ruins - Including several subsidiary
noted. too. one or two
choked stone staircsses that seemed
TO descend into the bowels Of the
eurth. the more plausible Il seemed
In one or two places where I sus-
pected underground ceiiar-dungeons
for unhappy captives belize. or strong
vaults for the storage u the treasure
i tested the floors by dropping heavy
stones. and they seemed unmistakably
10 reverbernte with . hollow rumbline
sound: but | could nnd NO present way
u getting down into them. As 1 said,
the staircases that promised an en-
trance into them were choked with
debris. But I promised myself 10
rome some other day. with pick and
shovel. and make I'm attempt at explOr.
Ing them.
Meanwhile. after poking about In a.
much Of the ruins as could penetrate
| stepped out through Q gap In one
of the walls and found myself again
on the path By which I had entered
| noticed that II still ran on farther
north. ns having Q destination beyond.
SO leaving the haunted ruins behind
! pushed ON and had gone but . ahOrt
distance when the path began to de
scend slightly from the ridge on which
the ruins stood and there. In q bread
square hollow before me. was the vel.
come living green OF nourishing plan
tation Of coconut palmsi II was evi.
IDENTIFY OF considerable sxtent-a quar-
ter NJ II mile or so. l judged-and the
palms were vsry thick and planted
rlose together. To my surprise. too. I
as at length the path brought
IN. TO them after q sharp descent. that
they were fenced In By q high BAN
boo stocksds. for the most part In
good condition. but here and there
broken down with decay.
Through ons Of these Gaps I pres
entity made my way and f0vsd myself
among the soaring columns Of the
palms. hung sioft with clusters q the
great green nuts. Fallen palm frOads
made . carpet for my fset-veFy plsas
1 nt after the rsuah and II sls.d WAY I