Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-11-02

] anu the Opy-SldSS, winch MEiS D
three or four hundred feet the tall
est on the island, was likewise tn,
| strangest in CONFORMATION, running
up sheer from almost every side anC
then suddenly cut OFF at the top like
a pedestal to put a statue on.
The Hispaniola was rolling soup.
pers under in the ocean swell. The
booms were tearing at the blocks
the rudder was banging to and fro
and the whole ship creaking, groan-
ing, and jumping like a mandatory
had to cling tight to the backstay
and the world turned giddily before
my eyes, for though l was good
enough sailor when there was way
on, this standing still and being
rolled about like bottle was a
thing l never learned to stand with
out qualm or so, above all in the
morning, on an empty stomach.
Perhaps il was this-perhaps It
was the look of the island, with its
gay, melancholy woods, and wild
stone spires, and the surf that we
could both see and hear fOaming and
laundering on the steep beach-at
least although the sun shone bright
and hot, and the shore birds were
fishing and crying all around us and
you would have thought anyone
would have been glad to get to land
after being so long at sea, my heart
sunk, as the saying is, into my
boots, and from that first look on
ward l hated the very thought of
Treasure Island
We had a dreary mornings work
before us, for there was no sign OF
any wind and the boats had to be
got out and manned and the shin
warped three or four miles round
the corner of the island and up the
narrow passage to the haven behind
Skeleton Island. l volunteered for
one of the boats, where had Of
course no business. The heat was
sweltering and the men grumbled
fercely over their work. Anderson
was in command of my boat, and in |
stead of keeping the crew in order
ne grumbled as loud as the worst
Well" he said, with an oath,
tits not forever"
I thought this was a very bad sign
for, up TO that day, the men had |
gone briskly and willingly about |
their business, but the very sight of |
the island had relaxed the cords of |
All the way in, Long John stood by |
The steersman and conned the ship. |
He knew the passage like the palm |
Of his hand; and though the man in |
The chains got everywhere more |
water than was down in the chart, |
John never hesitated once.
There's a strong scour with the
sbb,' he said, "and this here passage
has been dug out, in a manner of
speaking, with a spade"
We brought up just where the
anchor was in the chart, about a
-hird of a mile from either shore,
he mainland on one side and Skele-
on Island on the other The bot
ON was clean sand. The plunge of
'ur anchor sent up clouds of birds
and crying over the woods,
tut in less than a minute they were
I'll down again, and all was once
more silent. The place was entirely
buried in woods, the
rees coming right down to high
water mark, the shores mostly flat,
nd the hill-tops standing round at
distance in a sort of amphitheater,
me here, one there. Two little riV-
RS, or rather two swamps, emptied
ut into this pond, as you might call
t; and the foliage round that part
f the shore had a kind of poisonous
brightness. From the ship we could
ee nothing of the house or stockade,
or they were quite buried among
rees; and if it had not been for the
hart on the companion, we might
ave been the first that had ever an
hored there since the islands arose
ut of the seas.
There was not a breath of air
loving, nor sound but that of the
urf booming half mile away along
he beaches and against the rocks I
inside. A peculiar stagnant smell /
ung over the Anchorage smell of
odden leaves and rotten tree-trunks. {
observed the doctor shifting and /
hitting, like someone tasting a bad
gg. q
II don't know about treasure" I
aid he, "but I'll stake my wig
here's fever here" ]
If the conduct of the men had /
cen alarming in the boat, it became I
ruly threatening when they had q
lme aboard They lay about the 1
eek, growing together in talk. The {
ightest order was received with a
lack look, and grudgingly and care /
'ssly obeyed. Even the honest hands
ust have caught the infection, for o
lere was not one man aboard to Il
end another. Mutiny, it was plain,
ing over us like a thunder-cloud. e
And it was not only we of the cab e
party who perceived the danger
ong John was hard at work going {
ON group to group, spending him g
If in good advice, and as for ex- s
nple no man could have shown a a
stter. He fairly outstripped him b
If in willingness and ciVility; he c
as all smiles to everyone. If an o
der were given, John would be on 81
s crutch in an instant, with the g
leeriest aye, aye, sir" in the r
orld; and when there was nothing r.
Sc TO do, he kept up one song af- e.
T another, as if to conceal the dis v
intent of the rest. "
OF all the gloomy features of that &
oomy afternoon, this obvious anx- 4
ty on the part of Long John ap-
AIRED the worst 81
We held a council in the cabin. a
Sir" said the captain, 'if l risk a
other order, the whole ship'll come "
fsHH# 4. la