The Ordway new era., 1922-03-24
CHAPTER XIII.
Mr.. ruhba Interrupts.

i had determined as an oHSel 10 my
pusillanimous behavior about the cave
to show a dogged industry in the mat
\ ter of the Island Queen. II would take
me long while TO get down through
the sand to the chest, but l resolved to
accomplish it, and borrowed of Cookie,
without his knowledge, large iron
spoon which l thought l could WELD
more easily than heavy spade.
But that afternoon l was tired and
hot-it really called for grimmer
resolve than mine to shovel sand
through the languor of Leeward
island afternoon. Instead, | slept in
my hammock. and dreamed that | was
queen of cannibal island, draped in
necklaces made of the doubloons now
hidden under the sand in the cabin of
the derelict.
Later. the wailing OF Cookie was
heard In the land. and l had TO restore
the spoon to free Crusoe OF the charge
of having stolen it. said had want
ed to dig with it. But OF course it oc-
Cured to no one that il was the treas
ure l had expected TO dig up with
Cookies spoon.
n more serious obstacle to my ex-
plorations on the Island Queen pre-
sented itself next day. Instead of put
ting to sea, Mr.. Shaw and Captain
Magnus hauled the boat up on the
beach and set to work to repair it.
The preceding day had been filled
with hardship and danger-so much
so that my heart sank a little at the
recountal of it. You saw the little
boat threading its way among the
reefs, tossed like Seaweed by the
white teeth of gnawing waves
screamed at by angry gulIs whose
homes were those clefts and caves
which the boat invaded. And all this,
poor little boat, on a hopeless quest
for no reward but peril and wounds.
Cuthbert Vane had sprained thumb
which could not be ignored, and on
the strength Of which he was dis
missed from the boat-repairing con-
tingent, and thrown on my hands to
entertain. So Of course / had to re-
nounce all thoughts of visiting the
sloop. / should not have dared to go
there anyway, wita Mr.. Shaw and the
captain able more or less to overlook
my motions from the beach, for was
quite morbidly afraid of attracting at
tention to the derelict. 1t seemed to
me a happy miracle that no one but
myself had taken any interest in her,
or been inspired to ask by what chance
so small a boat had come to be
wrecked upon these desoIate shores.
Fortunately in her position in the
shadow of the cliff she was incon-
spicuous, so that she might easily
have been taken for the half of a large
boat instead of the whole of small
one, or she must before this have
drawn the questioning notice of the
Scotchman. AS to the captain, his at
tention was all set on the effort to
discover the cave, and his intelligence
was not lively enough to start on an
entirely new tack by itself And the
Honorable Cuthbert viewed derelicts
as he viewed the planetary bodies;
somehow in the course Of nature they
happened.
SO, assembling my excitements and
anxieties, l swung placidly in my ham,
mock, and nearby sat the beautiful
youth VAIN MS ltnuerlE
In bandage. Was it merely my be-
Ing so distrait, or was it quite another
reason that led him to open up so
suddenly about his Kentish home?
Strange to say. instead of painting for
the title. Cuthbert wanted his broth
er to go on living, though there was
something queer about his spine, poor
fellow, and the doctors said he couldn't
possibly OF course / was surprised
at Cuthbert's views, for had always
thought that If there were title in
your family your sentiments toward
those who kept you out of 1t were
necessarily murderous, and your tears
crocodile when you pretended to weep
over their biers. But Cuthbert's feel
ings were so human that / mentally
apologized to the nobility. AS to
High Staunton manor, l adored 1t. 1t
is mostly Jacobean, but with an an
Client Tudor wing, and 1t has a chapel
and ghost and secret staircase
and frightfully beautiful and wicked
ancestress hanging in the hall mean
portrait of her-and quantities of
oak paneling quite black with age,
and silver that was hidden in the fam
lily tombs when Cromwell's soldiers
came. and a chamber where Elizabeth
once slept and other romantic details
too numerous to mention. It is little
bit run down and shabby, for lack of
money to keep it up, and Of course on
that account all the more enhancing.
The present Lord Grasmere lived up
to his position so completely that he
had the gout and sat with his foot on
a cushion exactly like all the elderly
aristocrats you ever heard of, only
when l inquired II his lordship cursed
his valet and flung plates at the foot
men when his foot hurt him, his son
WAS much shaaI<ad ..aI-a