The Pulaskian., 1919-11-14

pitiless scrub. And then, near by. I deserted another such ruin, and still another-all, as it were, sunk in the terrible gloom of the vegetation. as sometimes, at low tide, one can dis cern 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 tn left, thought I could make out the half-submerged walls of a much more ambitious edifice Looking closer, I noted, with a thrill of surprise, the beginning of very narrow path. not more than a foot wide, leading up through the scrub in it's direction Narrow as it was, it had clearly been kept open hg the Sot-infrequent pas sage of feet. With a certain eerie feel ing, l edged my way into it, and, after following it 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,
 
 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 ereepers that writhed like serp- ents over the whole edifice. Forcing my way up this staircase, I found my self in stone hall some sixty feet long, at one end of which yawned 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 concluded that here was a relic of the brief colonial prosperity of the Ba. hamas, when it's cotton lords lived | like princes, with slave population for retainers-days when even the bootblacks in Nassau played pitch and-toss with gold pieces; but as l 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 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 tue Spanish Main? This, as the more spirited con. 1 lecture, l 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-an noted, too. one or two choked stone staircs ses that seemed to descend into the bowels Of the earth, the more plausible it seemed. In one or two places where I sus- pected underground cellars-dungeons for unhappy captives belike, or strong vaults for the storage of the treasure -I tested the floors by dropping heavy stones, and they seemed unmistakably to reverberate with a hollow rumbling sound; but could find no present way of getting down into them As said, the 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 at explor- ing them.
 Meanwhile, after poking about in as much Of the ruins as l could penetrate, l stepped out through a gap in one of the walls and found myself again on the path by which l had entered 1 noticed that it still ran on farther north, as Having a destination beyond. So leaving the haunted ruins behind l pushed on and had gone but 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 vel come living green of a fourishing plan- tation of coconut palms It was evi-
 
 dently 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, observed, as at length the path brought me to them after q sharp 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 I pres eGtly 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 carpet for my feet-very pleas ant after the rough and tangled way I had travelled, and now and again one of the coco nuts would fall down with