Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1921-11-24


Friday Ladies'. amt one that's in
} cllned to boast, but jest want to
warn you not to be too astonlshed
when H. H. makes acquaintance with
Bill Halllwell's tombstone, which I'm
willin' to lay he does yet"
swell, good luck to you" said the
grim Scot, "and let me likewise warn
all hands not to be too astOnished If
we find that the treasure is not in the
cave. But I'll admit it is as good a
place as any for beginning the search"
The cave which was now the center
Of our hopes-I say our, because some
how or other found myself hoping
and fearing along with the rest,
though carefully concealing tran
under the point at Its farther end.
The distance was about sixty feet
from mouth to mouth and back of
this transverse passage great
vaulted chamber stretched far under
the land. The walls of the chamber
rose sheer to height Of fifteen feet
or more, when a broad ledge broke
1
sea flooded the cavern to its farthest
extremity and beat upon the walls.
Now and again, 1t was to prove, even
the water-worn pavement between the
two archways was left bare, and one
could walk dry-shod along the rocks
under the high land of the point from
the beach to the cave. But this was
at the very bottom of the ebb. Most
ly the lower end of the cave was
flooded, and the explorers went back
and forth in the boat.
A certain drawback to boating in
our island waters was. the presence
Of hungry hordes of sharks. You
might forget them for a moment and
sit happily trailing your fingers over
board, and then huge moving shadow
would darken the water, and you saw
the ripple cut by darting fin and
the fash Of livid belly as the mon
ster rolled over, ready for his mouth
| full.
What with the genius of Cookie and
the fruitfulness of our island, not to
speak of supplies from the Army and
Navy stores, we lived like sybarites.
There were fish from stream and sea,
coconuts and bananas and oranges
from the trees in the clearing. l had
hopes of yams and breadfruit also, but
! If they grew on Leeward none of
us had a speaking acquaintance with
| them. Cookie did wonders with the
pigs that were shot and brought in
to him, though never could sit down
with appetite to massacred infant
served up on a platter. which is just
what little pigs look like.
"Jes' yo cas- yo' eye on dis we're In
nahcent," Cookie would request, as he
placed the sucking before Mr. Tubbs.
''Tendah as new'bo'n babe, he am.
Jes' lax he been tucked up to sleep by
his nanny. ShO now, how yo' got
de heart to stick de knife in him, Mis-
tab Tubbs|
1t was significant that Mr.. Tubbs,
after occupying for day or two an
undistinguished middle place at the
board, had somehow slid into the
carver's post at the head of the table.
Thanking him were the, two ladies.
Everybody else had a sense of sit
ting In outer darkness, particularly l,
whom fate had placed opposite Cap
tain Magnus. Since landing on the
island, Captain Magnus had for
sworn the effeminacy of forks. Load
ed to the hilt his knife would APP
proach his cavernous mouth and dis
appear in it. Yet when it emerged
Captain Magnus was alive. Where
did lit go2 This was a question that
agitated me daily.
The history Of Captain Magnus was !
obscure. 1t was certain that he had ,
his captains papers, though how he
had mastered the science of navigation |
sufficiently to obtain them was a prob
lem. Though he held a British navi- |
gator's license, he did not appear to
be an Englishman.
The captain, as Mr.. Vane had re-
marked, was Miss Brownies own find. |
Before the objections of Mr. Shaw
evidently a Negative Influence from
the beginning caused her to
abandon the scheme, Miss Browne had
planned to charter a vessel in New
York and sail around the Horn to
the island. While nursing this prof.
ect she had formed an extensive ac-
quaintance with persons frequenting
the New York waterfront, among
whom was Captain Magnus. As |
heard her remark, he was the one
nautical character whom she found
sympathetic, by which judge that
the others we're skeptical and rude.
Being sympathetic, Captain Magnus
found 1t an easy matter to attach HIM
self to the expedltion--or perhaps it
was Violet who annexed him, ! don't
know which.