The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-08-05
CHAPTER V.
The Captains legacy.


Wien in my tender years was
thrilling feature of the spectacle to
me was the scene depicted on the
drop-curtain. Directly / was seated
lin the body-and had had my hat
taken off and been told moi to wrig-
gle, i vaulted airily over the uncon-
scious audience, over an orchestra en-
gagged in tuning up, and was lost in
the marvellous landscape of the drop
curtain. The adventures which had
there put to shame any which the
raising of the curtain permitted to
be seen upon the stage.
had never hoped to recover in this
prosaic world my long-lost paradise
Of the drop-curtain, but morning re
vealed it to me here on Leeward
island. Here was the feathery foil
age, the gushing springs, the gor-
geous flowers of that enchanted land.
And here were the soft and intoxieat-
Ing perfumes that / had imagined in
my curtain landscape
Leeward island measures roughly
four miles across from east to west
by three from north to south. The
core of the island is the peak, rising
to a height of nearly three thousand
feet. At its base on three sides lies
a plateau, its edges gnawed away by
the sea to the underlying rocky skele-
ton. On the southeastern quarter the
peak drops by a series of great preci-
pieces straight into the sea-
All the plateau and much of the
peak are clothed with woods, a beau
tiful bright green against the sap
phire Of sea and sky. High above all
other growth wave the feathery tops
of the eocoa-palms, which flourish here
luxuriantly.
The palms were nowhere more
abundant than in the hollow by the
cove where our camp was made, and
their size and the regularity of their
order spoke of cultivation. Guayas,
oranges and lemons grew here, too,
and many beautiful banana-paims.
At the side of the clearing toward
the stream stood hut, built of cocoa.
palm logs. Its roof of palm-thatch
had been scattered by storms. Near
er the stream on bench were an old
decaFing washtub and board. A
broken frying pan and a rusty ak
head lay in the grass.
In the hut itself were a rude bed
stead, a small table and a cupboard
made of boxes / was excited at first
and fancied we had come upon the
dwelling of a marooned pirate With
out taking the trouble to combat this
opinion. Mr.. Shaw explained TO Cuth
bert Vane that a copra gatherer had
once lived here, and that the place
must have yielded such profit thai
he was only surprised to find 1T de
serted now Behind this cool, EN-
phatic speech / sensed an ironic zes
In the destruction of my pirate.
After their thrilling experience Of
being ferried from the Rufus Smitf
to the island. my aunt and Miss
Browne had been easily persuaded Il
dispose themselves for maps.
The boats of the Rufus Smith hat
departed from the island. and our re
Iations with humanity were severed
The thought of our isolation awed ant
fascinated me as / sat meditativel!
upon a key of nails watching the mir
acle of the tropic dawn. The mel
were hard at work with bales ant
boxes. except Mr. Tubbs. who CAV,
advice 1t must have been valuable
advice, for he assured everybody tina
q word from his lips had invariabl!
been enough to make Wall Street ST
up and take notice But ii is a IA
cry from Wall Street to Leewart
island Mr.. Tubbs, ignored, sough
refuge with me at last, and pointet
out the beauties of Aroarer as shi
rose from the embrace of Neptune.
'.Aroarer BoreaIis. to be accurate
he explained, but they didn't us
parties surnames much in classi
times :"
The glad cry Of breakfast put al