The Monmouth inquirer., 1920-12-30

The agent picked the yellow form
I'D and handed it to Miller.
"And you ask mel don't know. NO
body knows. People been asking that
for good man. more years than am
old"
/ Miller tore the message up. He
glanced around the somnolent office
.Tm not good at riddles ether he
said, f'but if you'nlet me have this one
ri try. You see I'm going there
The agent shuffled uncomfortably
from. one foot to the other.
TITS this way" he said at last. TITS
all talk, but it's been going on. LONG
while, as said, and we understand it
down here. Now you're from the
North. l don't want to make myself
laughing stock"
Miller smiled. Then he recalled the
troubled tone Of Anderson's letter and
lis smile died.
81 promise / won't laugh" he said.
.Of course 1 can guess. Superstition?"
"Thats It." the agent answered.
"The negroes and the fishermen
around Sandrort have given the is
land bad names They won't go near
it if they can help themselves, and
even the people here have got the hall
it of leaving it a wide berth. ! went
down one Sunday with crowd of wild
boys, and Pye never wanted to go
back-not that l saw anything. Don't
think that. But there's clammy,
damp, unhealthy feeling about tile
place. I'll say this much: if there's
such things as ghosts that's the prop
or place to loo for them"
Probably climate. Close TO the
ocean, isn't it?"
''Ycs It's like most of these sea is
lands-marshes on one side an inlet
on the other, across that, rolling sand
dunes for maybe a quarter of mile,
5nd nothing beyond but the everlast-
ing ocean. They say in the old days
il was a hang-out of the buccaneers.
And lonely! l can't tell you bow lonely
tnat place looks Besides it's got q
bad reputation for rattlesnakes-n
worse in the. state that know of, but
that isn't why people stay away"
Superstition, Miller said always
comes out on top. It's funny how
these yarns get started"
mot so funny when you think Of al
that's happened on Captains Island,
the agent answered. Trouble is, ey
erybody knows its history. Guess they
scare the children with it still. They
uid when I was youngster. I've be-
hayed myself many a time because
they said if l didn't old Noyer would
chain me up"
"Old Noyer?"
"a giant of brute from Louisiana,
who laid the island out as plantation
in the thirties to raise sea island cot
ton. They say he carried fifty or six.
1, slaves, and was a big dealer on the
side. Ruins of the quarters are still
there if you've got tie nerve to SO
look 'em over. 1 started, but | didn't
get far. The island was a jungle, and
tell you it didn't feel right to me.
Pm not superstitious, but you're kind
of looking for something all the time
there Anyway, old Meyer was a reg
llar king He ruled that island and
the inlet and that lonely coast, Wasn't
accountable to anybody. When the
law made it crime to import any
more slaves into the country, ne laugh,
ed in his sleeves, and ran raying ship
loads in just the same. He kept the
poor devils prisoners in the quarters
until he could scatter the ones that
didn't die or go stark crazy around the
biggest markets. Those quarters have
got a right to be haunted, / reckon.
Seems a pureblooded Arab girl was
brought over with a shipload of blacks,
They say she was the daughter of
chief, and somebody in Africa had Feas
IONS for getting rid Of her. Even Noy-
Ell didn't dare try to sell her. They say
he took a fancy for her, and by and
by married her He built coquina
house for her about a mile and half
from the plantation"
"a coquina shousei What's ihat?"
"Coquina? It's a shell deposit they
used lot in the old days for building.
lToyer fixed it up in fine style for this
Arab girl She lived there until one
n:ght that giant took it into his head
without reason that he ought to be
jealous of her. He didn't wait 10 find
out he was wrong. He cut beE throat
as she lay in bed. That's the house
here this man, Mr.. Anderson lives
lie man you wanted to send the tele-
gram to-"
Miller started Yet he could aot ac-
Dt the agents story of this ancient
crime in Anderson's house as a credi-
bic explanation of his friends note.
Anderson and Molly were beth normal
End healthy He had been in more
or less constant touch with them since
he had first met Anderson in Paris
ten years before when he had been
on the threshold of manhood During
that time he had seen no display of
abnormality or of any exceptional sur
render to nerves. The question that
troubled principally now was why AM