Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-11-16


| sent the echoes Gathering, and one
more round shot whistled through
the air. 1t was the last of the can
nOnade.
l lay for some time watching the
hustle which succeeded the attack.
Men were demolishing something
with axes on the beach near the
| stockade-the poor iolly-boat, ! af-
terward discovered. Away, near the
mouth of the river, a great fire was
glowing among the trees, and be-
tween that point and the ship one
of the gigs kept coming and going,
the men, whom / had seen so gloomy,
shouting at the oars like children.
But there was sound in their voices
which suggested rum.
At length l thought l might re-
turn toward the stOckade. l was
pretty far down on the low, sandy
spit that incloses the anchorage to
the east, and is joined at half-water
to Skeleton Island; and now, as II
rose to my feet, / saw, some distance
farther down the spit, and rising
from among the low bushes, an iso-
lated rock pretty high, and peculiar
ly white in G. lor. 1t occurred to me
that this might be the white rock of
which Ben Gum had spoken, and
that some day or other a boat might
be wanted, and / should know where |
to look for one.
Then | skirted among the woods |
until | had regained the rear, shore |
ward side, of the stockade, and was |
soon warmly welcomed by the faith
full party,
bod coon fOId NV starry and he
gan to look about me. The log |
house was made of unspared trunks |
of pine-rOOf, walls, and floor. The |
latter stood in several places as much /
as a foot or a foot and a half above |
the surface of the sand. There was
a porch at the door, and under this
porch the little spring welled up in
to an artificial basin of a rather odd
kind-no other than a great ships
kettle of iron, with the bottom /
knocked out, and sunk ito her bear
ings," as the captain said, among
the sand.
Little had been left beside the
framework of the house, but in one
corner there was a stone slab laid
down by way of hearth, and an old
rusty iron basket to contain the fire.
Inc 6lbpeo VI TIC hhbAA anu I'LL
he inside of the stockade had been
cleared of timber to build the house,
and we could see by the stumps what
a fine and lofty grove had been de-
5troyed. Most of the soil had been
washed away or buried in drift after
the removal of the trees; only where
the streamlet ran down from the
kettle a thick bed of moss and some
FERNS and little creeping bushes were
still green among the sand. Very
close around the stockade-too close
for defense, all of fir on the land
side, but toward the sea with a large
ldmixture of live-oaks.
The cold evening breeze, Of which
have spoken, whistled through
every chink of the rude building,
and sprinkled the floor with a con
.inual rain Of fine sand. There wac
sand in our eyes, sand in our teeth,
sand in our suppers, sand dancing in
The spring at the bottom of the ket-
lie, for all the world like porridge
beginning to boil. Our chimney was
a square hole in the roof; it was
lut a little part Of the smoke that
ound it's way out, and the rest ed
lied about the house, and kept us
coughing and wiping the eye.
Add to this that Gray, the new
nan, had his face tied up in a band
zee for a cut he had got in breaking |
way from the mutineers; and that
,oor old Tom Redruth, still unburied
ay along the wall, stiff and stark
lnder the Union Jack.
If we had been allowed to sit idle
We should all have fallen in the
,lues, but Captain Smollett was
ever the man for that All hands
we're called up before him, and he
iyided us into watches. The doc
or, and Gray, and / for one; the
quire Hunter, and Joyce upon the
Their. Tired as we were, two were
ent out for firewood, two more were
ent to dig a grave for Redruth, the
octor was named cook, / was put
entry at the door, and the captain
imself went from one to another,
eeping up our spirits and lending
hand wherever it was wanted.
From time to time the doctor came
, the door for a little air and to rest
is eyes, which were almost smoked r
ut of his he'd, and whenever he did
0, he had word for me.
''That man SmOllett," he said once,
is a better man than | am. And d
yhen say that it means a deal S
i'm" f
Another time he came and was 81 {
ent for awhile. Then he put his 0.
cad on one side, and looked at me h
rs this Ben Gum MANI" he d
sked. v
81 do not know, sir" said 1. 81 h
m not very sure whether he's sane. 2
"If there's any doubt about the
latter, he is," returned the doctor 8
A man who has been three years
iting his nails on a desert island, n
i'm, can't expect to appear as sane o
on or me. It doesn't lie in human 81
allure. Was it cheese you said he 81
ad fancy for?" n
Eyes, sir, cheese" l answered. s,
"Wen, JIM" says he, "just see h
he good that comes of being dainty d
j your food. You've seen my snuff v
OK, haven't you? And you never il
iw me take snuff; the reason being "
nat in my snuff-box ! carry a piece a
{ Parmesan cheese-a cheese made
/ Italy. very nutritious. Well, that's u
IT Ben Gunn!" 81