The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1919-10-24

luilA vi a aAiail StUnc cctL.,l, .~oA.Eoa
and indescribably swallowed up in the
pitiless scrub. And then, near by, l
deserted another such ruin, and still
another-all, as 1t were, sunk in the
terrible gloom Of the vegetation, az
sometimes, at low tide, one can dis
Germ the walls Of q ruined village at
the bottom Of the sea.
Evidently l had come upon a long
abandoned settlement. and presently.
on some slightly higher ground to the
left, l thought l could make out the
half-submerged walls OF a much more
ambitious edifice. Looking closer, l
noted, with a thrill Of surprise. the
beginning Of a very narrow path. not
more than a foot wide, leading up
through the scrub In its direction.
Narrow as it was, it had clearly been
kept open by the nOt-infreqUpnt pas
sage of feet. With a certain eerie feel.
ing, / edged my way into it, AID, after
following 1t for n hundred yards or so,
found myself close to the r~oofless ruin
OF a spacious stone house with some-
thing of the appearance of an old Eng
fish manor house. Mullioned windows,
finely masoned, opened in the shat
tered wall, n a elaborate stone
staircase, In the interstices Of which
stout shrubs were growing, gave or
once had given. an entrance through
an arched doorway-an entrance now
stoutly disputed by the glistening
trunk Of a gum-elemi tree and endless
matted rOpelike roots Of giant vines
and creepers that writhed like SCRIP
ents over the whole edifice. Forcing
my way up this staircase, l found N.Y.
self in a stone hall some sixty feet
long. at one end of which yawned a
huge fireplace. it's flue mounting up
through a finely carved chimney, still
standing firmly at the top Of the
southern gable.
How had this almost baronial mag
nificence come to be in this far-away
corner Of a desert island? At first l
concluded that here was a relic Of the
brief colonial prosperity OF the Ba-
hamas, when its cotton lords lived
like princes, with a slave population
for retainers-dayS when even the
bootblacks in Nassau played pitch.
and-toss with gold pieces; hut as !
considered further, it seemed to me
that the style Of the architecture and
the age Of the building suggested an
earlier date. Could it be that this had
been he home Of II Of those early
eighteenth century pirates who DOL
pride in Haunting the luxury and pOmp
Of princes, and who had perhaps made
this his headquarters and stronghold
for the storage of his loot on the re.
turn from his forays on the Spanish
Main? This, as the more spirited con.
lecture, l naturally preferred. and. in
default of exact information, decided
to accept.
The more l pondered upon this
fancy and remarked the extent of the
ruins including several subsidiary
OuthOuses-and noted, too, one or two
choked stone staircases that seemed
to descend into the bowels Of the
earth, the more plausible it seemed.
In n or two places where 1 sus.
pected underground cellars-dungeons
for unhappy captives belize, or strong
vaults for the storage Uf the treasure
Il tested the floors by dropping heavy
stones, and they seemed Enthusiastically
to r~everberate with q hollow rumbline
sound but l could find no present way
OF getting down into them. AS I said,
n staircases that promised an en-.
trance into them were chOked with
debris. But l promised myself to
come some other day. with pick and
shovel, and make an attempt ut explor.
ing them.
Meanwhile, after noking about In a.
much OF the ruins as l could penetrate,
| stepped out through q gap in one
of the walls and found myself again
on the path by which / had entered.
I noticed hat it still ran on farther
north. as having a destination beyond.
So leaving the haunted ruins behind
! pushed on and had gone but q short
distance when the path began to de-
scend slightly from the ridge on which
the ruins stood: and there, in q broad
square hollow before me, was the vel.
come living green of a flourishing plan.
tatiOn Of cOcOnut palms! 1t wal evi.
IDENTIFY OF considerable extent-a quar-.
ter Of a mile or SO. I judged-and the
palms were very thick and planted
close together. To my surprise. too. ]
observed, as at length the path brought |
me to them after a sharp descent. that
they were fenced in by a high bam-
boo stOckade, for the most part In |
good condition, but here and there
broken down with decay.
Through a Of these gaps / pres.
emily made my way and found myself !
among the soaring columns Of the
palms, hung aloft with clusters Of the
great green nuts. Fallen palm fronds
made a carpet for my feet-very pleas
ant after the rough and tangled way I