Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1919-08-21

ruin of small stone cottage, rOofless,
and indescribably swallowed up In the
pitiless scrub. And then, near by, I
deserted another such ruin, and still
another-all, as 1t were, sunk In the
terrible gloom Of the vegetation, as
sometimes, ut low tide, one can dis
Germ the walls Of ruined village at
the bottom of the sea.
Evidently had come upon a long
abandoned settlement, and presently,
on some slightly higher ground to the
left, thought could make out the
half-submerged walls of much more
ambitious edifce. Looking closer, I
noted, with thrill of surprise, the
beginning Of very narrow path, not
more than foot wide, leading up
through the scrub in its direction.
Narrow as it was, it had clearly been
kept open by the not-infrequent pas
sage of feet. With a certain eerie feel
ing, edged my way into it, and, after
following 1t for hundred yards or SO,
found myself close to the roofless ruin
OF 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, and an 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 ediflce. Forcing
my way up this staircase, found my
self In a stone hall some sixty feet
long, at one end Of which yawned q
huge fireplace, its flue mounting up
through finely carved chimney, still
standing firmly at the top of the
southern gable.
How had this almost baronial mag
nifcence come to be in this far-away
corner Of desert island? At first /
concluded that here was relic of the
brief colonial prosperity of the Ba-
hamas, when it's 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; but as I
considered further, it seemed to me
that the style of the architecture and
the age of the building suggested an
earlier date. Could 1t be that this had
been the home of one Of those early
eighteenth century pirates who took
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, naturally preferred, and, in
default Of exact information, decided
| to accept.
The more 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 tile
earth, the more plausible 1t seemed.
In one or two places where I sus-
pected underground cellars-dungeons
for unhappy captives belize, or strong
vaults for the storage of the treasure
IL tested the floors by dropping heavy
stones, and they seemed Enthusiastically
to reverberate with a hollow rumbling
sound but could find no present way
of getting down into them. As I said,
the staircases that promised an en-
trance into them were choked with
debris. But promised myself to
come some other day, with pick and
| shovel. and make an attempt at explor-
ing them.
Meanwhile, after poking about in as
much Of the ruins as could penetrate,
stepped out through gap in one
OF the walls and found myself again
on the path by which I had entered.
noticed that it still ran on farther
north, as having destination beyond.
So leaving the haunted ruins behind
pushed on and had gone but a short
distance when the path began to de-
scend slightly from the ridge on which
the ruins stood; and there, in broad
square hollow before me, was the well
come living green Of flourishing plan
tation Of coconut palmsl 1t was evil
IDENTIFY of considerable extent-a quar-
ter Of mile or SO, I Judged and the
palms were very thick and planted
close together. To my surprise, too, I
observed, as at length the path brought
me to them after sharn descent. that.
they were fenced in by high bam-
boo stockade, for the most part in
good condition, but here and there
broken down with decay.
Through one, Of these gaps pres.
emily made my way and found myself
among the soaring columns Of the
palms. hung aloft with clusters Of the