The Ordway new era., 1922-01-13
CHAPTER V.
The captain,s Leaaey.

When in my tender years l was
taken TO the matinee. usually the most
drilling feature of the spectacle to
me was the scene depicted on the
Grou-curralu. Directly l was seated
-iu the body-aud had had my hat
rakeu of and been told not TO wrig-
gle. 1 vaulted airily over the uncon-
Scious audience, over an orchestra en-
eugel in tuning up, and was lost in
tile marvellous landscape of the drop
curtain The adventures which l had
there put TO shame any which the
raising Of the curtain permitted to
oe 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 foli-
age, the gushing springs, the gor-
geous flowers of that enchanted land.
And here were the soft and intoxicat-
ing perfumes that 1 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
10 height Of nearly three thousand
feet. Al 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-
pices straight into the sea.
All the plateau and much of the
peak are clothed with woods, beau
phire of sea and sky. High above all
other growth wave the feathery tops
Of the cocoa-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. Guavas,
oranges and lemons grew here, too,
and many beautiful banana-palms.
At the side of the clearing toward
tie stream stood a hut, built of cocoa
palm logs. Its roof of palm-thatch
had been scattered by storms. Near
or the stream on bench were an old
decaying washub and a 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. l was excited at first,
and fancied we had come upon the
dwelling of a marooned pirate. With
-.l I.. 81 fa
opinion. Mr. Shaw explained to Cuth-
bert Vane that a copra gatherer had
once lived here, and that the place
must have yielded such a profit that
he was only surprised to find it de-
serted now. Behind this cool. en-
phatic speech sensed an ironlc zest
in the destruction of my pirate.
After their thrilling experience of
being ferried from the Rufus Smith
to the island, my aunt and Miss
Browne had been easily persuaded to
dispose themselves for maps.
The boats of the Rufus Smith had
departed from the island. and our re-
lations with humanity; were severed.
The thought of our isolation awed and
4d-cindltu me hs SAT HHeullallNely
upon a keg of nails watching the mir
acle Of the tropic dawn. The men
I We're hard at work with bales and
boxes, except Mr.. Tubbs, who gave
4 advice. 1t must have been valuable
! advice, for he assured everybody that
| a word from his lips had invariably
| been enough TO make Wall Street sit
up and take notice. But it is a far
cry from Wall Street to Leeward
island. Mr.. Tubbs. ignored, sought
refuge with me at last, and pointed
out the beauties of Aroarer as she
rose from the embrace OF Neptune.
"Aroarer Borealis. to be accurate. y