Evening star., 1924-09-08
THE OWLS HOUSE]
A Thrilling Adventure Story Il
By Crosbie Garstin
Upright. 1924. by Frederick A. Stokes ca

tents greedily. 1t was oyerproof
Oporto wine and went to their uf3r
accustomed heads in no time TeraG~
imbibing in her wholesale fsshfua.
was among the first to feel the effects.
She began to sing. She sang "Prithee
Jack. prithee Tom, pass the can
around" and a selection of scottish
ditties which had found favor in
Portsmouth taverns, suiting her 40
tions to the words. From swinging
she passed to dancing. uttering sharp
ai-ees" and "ah-has' and waving
and humping her detached shoe as
though 1t were tambourne. She
infected the others. They sang the
first thing that came into their
heads and postured and staggered in
an endeavor to initiate her. hoarse-
throated men dripping with sea
water, shrill young women, gnarled
beldames dribbling at the mouth,
loose-jointed striplings, crack-voiced
ancients contracted with rheumatism,
squeaky boys and girls. Drink in
spired them to strange cries. eXtrava-
giant steps and gesticulations. They
capered round the barrel, dipping as
they passed, drank and capered again,
each according to his or her own
fashion. Teresa, the presiding genius,
lolled over the cask, painting, Shrek
ing with laughter, whooping her vic
tins on to fresh excesses. They
hoped and staggered round and
round, chanting and shouting, sway
ing in the wind. which swelled their
smocks with Erotesque protuberances,
tore the women's hair loose and set
their blue cloaks Tapping. Some
tumbled and rose again, others lay
where they fell. They danced in a
mist Of flying spindrift and sand, with
the black cliffs for background. the
blazing wreckage for hight, the flies
and drums of the s;;le for orchestra.
1t might have been scene from an
Internal ballet, a dance of witches
and devils, fire-lit, clamorous, aban-
'doned
The eight drowned seamen, pro-
viders of this good cheer, lay in row
apart, their dog nosing miserably
from one to the other. wondering
why they were SO Indifferent when
all this merriment was toward, and
barking at any one who approached
them.
When the Preventive men arrived
with dawn they thought al first 1t
was not single ship that had
foundered, but a fleet, so thick was
the beach with barrel slaves and
bodies, but even as they stared some
corpses revived, sat up, rose un-
steadily and made snake tracks for
the cottages They were merely the
victims of Teresa's bounty. Teresa
herself was fast asleep behind rock
when the Preventive came, but she
woke up as he sun rose in her eyes
and spent a pleasant hour watching
their fruitle;,s hunt for liquor and
offering helpful suggestions.
Hunger gns wing her, she whlstled
her two sons as if they had been
dogs and made for home. tacking
from side to side of the path like a
ship beating to windward and cursins
her Maker every time she stumbled.
The frightened boys kept so yards In
rear.
In return for Teresa's insults the
Preventives paid Bosula a visit later
in the day Teresa. refreshed by
some hours sleep, followed the
searchers round the steading, jeerlng
at them while they prodded sticks
into haystacks and patches of newly
dug ground or raped floors ana
walls for hollow places. She knew
they would never find those kegs.
They were half a mile away, sunk IN
a muddy pool further obscured py
willows. Bohemia had walked the
horses upstream and down so that
there should be no telltale tracks
The Preventives were drawing a
blank cover 1t entertained Teresa TO
see them getting angrier and angrler
She was prodigal with gibes and per-
sonalities The riding officer retired
at dusk, informing the widow that
it would give him great pleasure 10
tear her tongue out and fry 1t tor
breakfast Teresa was highly
amused Her good humor recovered
and that evening she broached a cask'
a dance
the kitchen.