Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-02-24
CHAPTER XIII.
Mr.. Tubbs Interrupts.

to show q logged industry in the mat
ter of the Island Queen. 1t would take
me long while to get down through
the sand to the chest, but resolved to
accomplish it, and borrowed of Cookie,
without his knowledge, a large iron
spoon which I thought 1 could WELD
more easily than heavy spade.
But that afternoon I was tired and
hOt-it really called for a grimmer
resolve than mine to shovel sand
through the languor of a Leeward
island afternoon. Instead, slept In
my hammock, and dreamed that was
queen of a 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 had to restore
the spoon to free Crusoe Of the charge
of having stolen it. I said had want
ed to dig with 1t. But of course it oc-
Cured to no one that it was the treas
ure 1 had expected to dig up with
Cookies spoon.
A more serious obstacle to my ex-
plorations on the Island Queen pre-
scented 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 little at the
recountal of 1t. You saw the little
boat threading it's way among the
reefs; tossed like seaweed by the
white teeth Of gnawing waves,
screamed at by angry gulls 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 a 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 I had to re-
nounce all thoughts Of visiting the
sloop. [ should not have dared to go
there anyway, with Mr.. Shaw and the
captain able more or less to overlook
my motions from the beach, for I 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
n1o+ 70 oh
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 large
boat instead of the whole Of a 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, / swung placidly in my ham
mock, and nearby sat the beautiful
youth with his thumb carried tenderly
in bandage. Was it merely my be-
ing so distract, or was it quite another
reason that led him to open up SO
suddenly about his Kentish home?
Strange to say, instead of painting foE
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 1 was surprised
at Cuthbert's views, for had always
thought that If there we're a 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, / adored it. It
is mostly Jacobean, but with an an
cient Tudor wing, and it has chapel
and a ghost and a secret staircase
and frightfully beautiful and wicked
ancestress hanging in the hall mean
d portrait of her-and quantities OF
oak paneling quite black with age,
and silver that was hidden in the fam
fly tombs when CromwelIs soldiers
came, and a chamber where Elizabeth
once slept, and other romantic details
too numerous to mention. 1t 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 govt and sat with his foot on
a cushion exactly like all the elderly
aristocrats you ever heard of, only
when I inquired If his lordship cursed
his valet and flung plates at the foot
men when his foot hurt him, his son
was much shocked and panied. He
did not realize so we'll as from an
extensive course Of novel-reading-
that such is the usual behavior Of IT,
tied persons.
1t was delightful, there in the hot
stiffness of the island, with the palms
rustling family overhead, to hear of
that cool, messy, ancient place.
asked eager questions repeated
gloatingly fragments of description
I wondered enviously what it would
be like to have anything so old and