Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-12-14

At ASd0ls anu a. Adob5 4 was On ln'
=, sea, nor had l returned thence emp
5 ty-handed. There lay the schooner
3 clear at last from buccaneers anG
ready for our own men to board anC
get to sea again. / had nothing near
er my fancy than to get home to the
stockade and boast of my achieve
| ments. Possibly, l might be blamed
a bit for my truantry, but the recap
ture of the Hispaniola was a clineh-
ing answer, and l hoped that even
Captain Smollett would confess 1 had
not lost my time.
So thinking, and in famous spirits,
began to set my face homeward for
the block-house and my companions.
remembered that the most easter
ly of the rivers which drain into
Captain Kidd's anchorage ran from
the two-peaked hill upon my left I;
and bent my course in that direc-
ton that l might pass the stream
while it was small. The wood was
pretty open, and keeping along the
lower spurs, l had soon turned the
corner of that hill, and not long af-
ter waded to the mid-calf across the
| water-course.
L
had encountered Ben Gum, the ma
room, and l walked more circum-
specify, keeping an eye on every side.
The dusk had come nigh hand COM
pletely, and, as l opened out the
cIett between the two peaks, l be-
came aware of waVering glow
against the sky, where, as l judged,
the man of the island was cooking
his supper before a roaring fire. And
yet | wondered, in my heart, that he
should show himself so careless. For
If l could see this radiance, might
it not reach the eye of Silver him
self where he camped upon the shore
among the marshes?
Gradually the night fell blacker;
it was all l could do to guide myself
even roughly toward my destination;
the double hill behind me and the
Spy-glass on my right hand doomed
faint and fainter, the stars were
few and pale, and in the low ground |
where l wandered l kept tripping
among bushes and rolling into sandy |
pits.
Suddenly a kind of brightness fell
about me. 1 looked up; a pale glim- !
mer of moOnbeams had alighted on |
the summit of the Spy-glass, and
soon after l saw something broad and
silvery moving low down behind the
trees, and knew the moon had risen.
With this to help me, l passed
rapidly over what remained to me
of my journey; and sometimes walk
ing, sometimes running impatiently
drew near to the stockade. Yet, as
l began to tread the grove that lies
before it, l was not so thoughtless
but that 1 Stacked my pace and went
a trifle warily. 1t would have been a
poor end of my adventures to get
shot down by my own party in mis-
take.
The moon was climbing higher
and higher; its light began to fall
here and there in masses through the
more open districts of the wood, and
right in front of me glow of a diff
ferent color appeared among the
trees. 1t was red and hot, and now H
and again it was little blackened-
as it were the embers of a bonfire
For the life of me l could not think
what it might be.
At last 1 came right down upon ]
The borders of the clearing. The
western end was already STEPPED in
nOonshine; the rest, and the block
house it self, still lay in a black shad- !
wv, checkered with long, silvery !
freaks of light. On the other side of
he house an immense fire had !
burned itself into clear embers, and
he'd a steady, red reverberation, con-
rasting strongly with the mellow
81, Of hn II, Or
. soul stirring, nor a sound beside
he noises of the breeze.
l stopped, with much wonder in :
ny heart, and perhaps a little terror
lso. 1t had not been our way to
'uild great fires; we were, indeed, ,
" the captains orders, somewhat :
iggardly of firewood, and 1 began :
o fear that something had gone
wrong while l was absent. :
l stole round by the eastern end, !.
eeping close in shadow, and at :
onvenient place, where the darkness :
1as thickest, crossed the palisade. -
To make assurance surer, l got
pom my hands and knees, and
without a sound, toward u
he corner of the house. AS 1 drew l
carer, my heart was suddenly and n
realty lightened. 1t was not
leasant noise in itself, and / have
ften complained of it at other times, p
ut Just then it was like music to L
ear my friends snoring so loud and W
eaceful in their sleep. The sea-cry
f the watch, that beautiful "Alls
ELL" never fell more reassuringly q,
n my ear. la
In the meantime there was no
oubt of one thing: they kept an in
smous bad watch. If it had been al
liver and his lads that were now .
in on them, not a soul 9.
ould have seen daybreak. That
as what it was, thought I, to have
lie captain wounded; and again !.
famed myself sharply for leaving Srl
lem in that danger with so few to =
cunt guard. a.
By this time I had got to the door "
Id stood up. All was dark within, a,
that l could distinguish nothing u s
? the eye AS for sounds, there was DC
e steady drone of the snorers, and
small occasional noise, a Pickering
pecking that I could in no way ae- OF
unit for. VI
With my arms before me I walked
eadily in. ! should lie down in
=. o,,-r n1aoa IT thouphf with q ST. wi