Newspapers / Brevard News (Brevard, N.C.) / March 27, 1908, edition 1 / Page 3
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BROAD STREET SKATING RINK OPEN FOR. THE SEASON FRICES Tia JULY 1$t } Skating "”lO CenS Service of instructors free to beginners. UnilDQ* ^ Afternoons. nUUriui \ 8;00 to 10:30 Evenings. W. M. BRADLEY, Manager GENERAL FIRE AND LIFE INSURANCE Oftice-Rooms 8 and 9, McMInn Building 14 good, strong Fire Insurance Companies One of the strongest Life Insurance Companies. One of the standard Accident Ins. Companies. WELCH GALLOWAY, Manager The Mystery Bb STEWART EDWARD WHITE And SAMUEL HOPKINS ADAMS COPYRIGHT. 1 907. BY McCLURE. PHILLIPS CO. Synopsis of Preceding Chapters Chapter I—The officers of the U. S. ship Wolverine, cruisinj? in the Pa- cilic, are mystified by a strange radi ance which appsars suddenly on the /ace of the sea and vanishes as sud denly. The officers discuss the stran<je disappearance, two years previously, of the schooner Lauj^hing Lass, char tered by Dr. Schermerhorn.a scientist, i II—The Wolverine picks up the' Lauo-hing Lass, with everything ship shape save that there is no living thing aboard. III—Ensign Edwards is sent aboard the Laughing Lass w'ith a prize crew. IV—Wolverine sees the strange liijht again. In a volcanic mist the Laughing Lass drifts away and is found again with no one on board and her boats untouched. V—A second prize crew is sent abord the schooner. The mysterions light is seen again, and the Wolverine dis covers a volcano in full eruption. The Laughing Lass vanishes again. VI—The Wolverine picks up a dory belonging to the Laughing Lass. It ■contains Ralph Slade, a journalist known to have been wiuh Schernaer- horn, and the corpse of the Wolver ine’s bo’s’n’s mate, who had gone with Edwards. Slade is in very bad con dition from fever, thirst and exposure. VII—Slade recovers and directs the Wolverine’s course toward the vol canic island, on which he declare’s a man named Darrow is marooned. Slade begins to tell his story to the officei's of the Wolverine. VIII—Slade’s story. He ships un der the name of Egan, as mate aboard the Laughing La-^s, Captain Selover commander, after the scnooner had been engaged by Schemerhorn for two years, her destination being unknown, ilie doctor displays extraordinary care in taking aboard a heavy brass- bound chest. IX—Slade makes the acquaintance of Handy Solomon, a piratical look ing seaman with a steel hook in place of a right hand, and his four mates, ■rhe crew shows an unusual interest in a book on alchemy. The Laugh- in;r '^ass leaves Sa,n Francisco. _ X—Slade discovers a collection of arms m the captain’s cabin. Both) Captain Stjlovei- and Doi*row, Scher- ir.erhorn’s a,ssistant, are ignorant of the schooner's destination. XT—The crow believes that the doc tor is in sea,r(;h of treasure. X*if—Captain Selover overawes the crew. Slade and a negro sailor over hear Sclierraerhorn tell Darrow he has the secret of the transmntation of met- ajb locked up in his brass bound box. The negro tells the crew. Captain Sehner is indifferent to the men’s I'lotiiiig, but gives Slade a revolver. XI n—Landing is made on an un charted island, with a volcano in par tial action. The wreck of the Golden is discov^’ed. Darrow picks out a small valley in which he and the l)roi'essoi’ are to stay. XIV and XV—A laboratory, guarded by a stockade, is built for the professor. The captain puts the cr-ew to work cleaning ship and stripping the v/reck in order to keep them employed. Alter seven weeks there is nothing left for them to do, and he becomes afraid of them. CHAPTER XV—Continued lie told his stories in a half amused, detached manner, ■which imposed con fidence more readily than any amount of earnest asseveration. The mere fact of his own belief in what he said came to matter little. He was the vehicle by which was brought ac curate knbw’ledge. He had read all these things and now reported them as he had read. Each man could de cide for himself as to their cz’edibilltj. At last the donkey engine was clear ed and reinstalled atop the clifiC. The nigger built under her a fire of black walnut. Captain Selover handed out grog all around, and we started her up v. ith a cheer just to see the wheels re volve. Next we half burled some long hatches, end up, to serve as bitts for the lines, hitched our cables to them and joyfully commenced the task of nulling the Golden Horn piece by piece up the side of the cliff. The stores weie badly damaged by the wet, and there was no liquor, for which I was sincerely grateful. We broke into the boxes and arrayed our selves in various garments—which speedily fell to pieces—and appropri ated gimcracks of all sorts. There were some arms, but the ammunition had gone bad. Perdosa out of fortj' or fifty misfires got one feeble sputter and a tremendous bang which blew up his piece, leaving only the stock in his hand. A few tinned goods were edible, but all the rest was destroyed. A lot of hard woods, a thousand feet of chain cable and a fairly good an chor might be considered as prizes. As for the rest, it was foolishness, but we hauled it up just the same until nothing at all remained. Then we shut off the donlcey engine and put on dry clothes. We had been quite hap- P3’ for the eight months. It w'as now w’ell along toward spring. The winter had been like summer, and with the exception of a few rains of a week or so we had enjoyed beauti ful skies. The seals had thinned out considerably, but w^ere now returning iu vast numbers ready for their an nual domestic arrangements. Our Sundays we had mostly spent in resting or in fishing. There were many deep sea' fish to be had, of great palatability, but small gameness. They came like so many leaden weights, A few of us had climbed some of the hills in a half hearted curiosity, but from their summits saw nothing to tempt weariness. Practically we knew nothing beyond the mile or so of beach on whrch we lived. Captain Selover had made a habit of coming ashore at least once during the day. He had contented himself w^ith standing aloof, but I took pains to seem to confer with him, so that the men might suppose that I, as mate, was engaged in carrjung out his di- recticns. The dread of him was my most potent influence over them. During the last few days of our wrecking Captain Selover had omitted his daily visit. The fact made me un easy, so that at my first opportunity I sculled myself out to the schooner, I found him, moist eyed as usual, lean ing against the mainmast doing noth ing, “We’ve finished, sir,” said. I. He looked at me. “Vrill you come ashore and have a look, sir?” I inquired. “I ain’t going ashore again,” he mut tered thickly. “Vv'hat!” I cried. “I ain’t going ashore again,” he re peated obstinately, “and that’s all there is to it It’s too much of a strain on any man. Suit yourself. You run them. I shipped as captain of a ves sel, I’m no dock •wallci)€r, I won’t do it—for no man I” I gasped with dismay at the man’s complete moral collapse. It seemed incredible. I caught myself wonder ing whether he w'ould recover tone were he again to put to sea. “Man, you must!” I cried at last. “I won’t, and that’s flat,” said he and turned deliberately on his heel and disappeared in the cabin. I went ashore thoughtful and a little scared. But on reflection 1 regained a great part of my ease of mind, Yoli see, I had been with these men now* eight months, during which they had been as orderly as so many primary schoolboys. They had worked hard, without grumbling, and had even ap proached a sort of friendliness about the campfire. My first Impression was overlaid. As I looked back on the voyage with what I took to be a clear er vision I could not but admit that the Incidents were in themselves triv ial enough—a natural excitement by I gasped with dismay at the man's col lapse. a superstitious negro, a little tall talk ^^hat meant nothing. It must have been the glamour of the adventure that had deceived me — that aud the unusual stage setting and costuming. Certain ly few men would work hard for eight months without a murmur, without a chance to look about them. In that of course I was deceived by my Inexperience. I realized later the wonderful effect Captain Selover threw away with his empty brandy bottles. The crew’ might grumble and plot dur ing the w’atch below, but w’hen Cap tain Ezra Selover said work they worked. He had been saying work for eight months. Thej* had from force of experience obeyed him. It was all very simple. CHAPTER XVI. O there I w^as at once deprived of mj^ chief support. Although no danger seemed imminent, nevertheless the necessity of acting on my own initiative aud re sponsibility oppressed me somewhat. Truth to tell, after the first I was more relieved than disma3’od at the captain’s resolution to stay aboard. His drinking habit w’as growing on him, and alloat or ashore he v.*as now little more than a figurehead, so that my chief asset as far as he was con cerned was rather his reputation than his direct infiuence. In contact with the men I dreaded lest sooner or later he do something to lessen or destroy the awe iu which they held him. Of course Dr. Schermerhora had been mistaken in his man. A 'real captain of men would have risen to circumstances wherever he found them. But who could have foretold? Captain Selover had been a rascal al ways, but a successful and courageous rascal. He had run desperate chances, dominated desperate crews. Who could know’ that a crumble of island beach and six months ashore would turn him into what he bad become? Yet I believe such cases are not un common in other Avalks of life. A man and his work combine to mean something, yet both maj’ be absolute- I3* useless when separated. It was the weak link, I put in some time praying earnestly that the eyes of the crew might be blinded and that the doctor would finish his experiments before the cal dron could boil up again. My first act as real commander was to announce holidaj”. My idea was that the island would keep the men busy for awhile. Then I would as sign them more work to do. They proposed at once a tour into the In terior, We started up the west coast. Aft er three or four miles along a mesa formation where often we had to cir cle long detours to avoid tlie gullies we came upon another short beach aud beyond it a series of ledges on which basked several hundred seals.’ They did not seem alarmed. In fact, one old bull, scarred by mimy battles, made tow'ard us, Vv’e left him, scaled the cli.T and turned up a broad, pleasant valley to ward the interior. There the later lava flow had been deflected. All that showed of the original eruption were occasional red outcropping rocks. Soil and grass had overlaid the mineral. Scattered trees were planted throughout the flat. Cacti and semitroplcal bushes mingled with brush on the rounded side hills, A number of brilliant birds fluttered at our approach. Suddenly Handy Solomon, w’ho was in i.dvance, stopped and pointed to the crest of the hill. A file of animals moved along the sky line. “Mutton,” said he, “or the devil’s at preacher!” “Sheep!” cried Thrackles. “Where did they come from?” “Golden Horn,” I suggested. “Re member that wide, empty deck for ward? They carried sheep there.” The men separated, intending fresh meat The affair was ridiculous. These sheep had become wild as deer. Our surrounding party with its silly bared knives could only look after them open mouthed as they skipped nimbly between its members. “Get a gun off the old man. Mr. Eagen,” suggested Pulz, “and we’ll have somethhig besides salt horse and fish.” I nodded. We continued. The island was like this as far as we went. When we climbed a ridge we found ourselves looking down on a spider web of other valleys and canyons of the same na ture, all diverging to broad downs and a jump into the sea, all converging to the outworks that guarded the vol cano with Its canopy of vapor. On our way home we cut across the higher country and the heads of the canyons until we found ourselves look ing down on the valley and Dr. Scher- merhom’s camp. The steam from the volcanic blowholes swayed below us. Through its rifts we saw the tops of the buildings. Presently we made out Percy Darrow, dressed in overalls, his sleeves rolled back and carrying a re tort. He walked, very preoccupied, to one of the miniature craters, where he knelt and wont through some opera tion indistinguishable at the distance. I looked around to see my companions staring at him fascinated, their necks craned out, their bodies drawn back into hiding. In a moment he had fin ished aud carried the retort carefully into the laboratory. The men sighed and stood erect, once more themselves. As we turned away Perdosa voiced what must have been in the minds of all. “A man could climb down there,” said he, “Why should he w’ant to?” I de manded sharply. “Qulen sabe?” shrugged he. We turned in silence toward the beach. Each brooded his thoughts. The sight of that man dressed in over alls, carrj’ing on some mysterious busi ness, brought home to each of us the fact that our expedition had an ob ject as yet unknown to us. The thought had of late dropped into the background. For my part I had been •?o immersed in the adventure and the labor and the insistent need of the hour that I had forgotten why I had come. Dr, Scbermerhorn’s purpose was as Inscrutable to me as at first. What had,I accomplished? The men, too, seemed struck with Bome such idea. There w’ere no yarns about the campfire that night. Percy Darrow did not appear, for w’hich I was sincerely sorry. His presence might have created a diversion. For some unknown reason all my old ap prehensions, my sense of impending disaster, had returned to me strength ened. In the firelight the nigger’s sullen face looked sinister. Puls’s nerv ous w'hlte countenance looked vicious. Thrackles’ heavy, bulldog expression w’as threatening, Perdosa’s Mexican cast fit for knife work In the back. And Handy Solomon, stretched out. leaning on his elbow, with his red headgear, his snaky hair, his hook nose, his restless eye and his glitter ing steel claw—the glow’ w’rote across his aura the names of Kidd, Morgan, Blackbeard, They sat smoking, staring into the fire with mesmerized eyes. The si lence got on mj’ nerves, I arose im patiently and walked down the pale beach, where the stars glimmered in splashes along the wettest sands. The black silhouette of the hills against the dark blue of the night sky, the white of breakers athw^art the indis tinct heave of the ocean, a faint light marking the position of the Laughing Lass—that was everything in the world, I made out some object roll ed about in the edge of the wash. At the cost of wet feet I rescued it. It was an empty brandy bottle. T CHAPTER XVII. HE next day we continued our explorations by land and so for a week after that. I thought it best not to relin quish all authority, so I organized reg ular expeditions and ordered their di rection, The men did not object. It was all good enough fun to them. The net results were that we found a resting place of sea birds—too late in the season for eggs—a hot spring near enough camp to be useful, and that W’as about all. The sheep were the only animals on the island, al though there w’ere several sorts of birds. In general the country was as I have described It—either volcanic or overlaid with fertile earth. In any case it was canyon and hill. We soon grew’ tired of climbing aud turned our attention to the sea. With the surfboat we skirted the coast. It was impregnable except in three places—our own beach, that near the seal rookery and on the south side of the Island, We landed at each one of these places. But returning close to the coast we happened upon a cave mouth more or less guarded by an outlying rock. The day w^as calm, so we ventured in. At first I thought it merely a gorge in the rock, but even while peer ing for the end wall we slipped under the archway and found ourselves in a vast room. Our eyes were dazzled so we could make out little at first. But through the still, clear vrater the light filtered freely from below, showning the bottom as through a sea glass. We saw the fish near the entrance and coral and sea growths of marvelous vividness. They waved slowly as in a draft of air. The medium in which they floated was absolutely invisible, for of course there were no reflections from its sur face. We seemed to be suspended in midair, and only when the dipping oars made rings could we realize that anything sustained us. Suddenly the place let loose in pan demonium. The most fiendish cries, groans, shrieks broke out, confusing themselves so thoroughly with their own echoes that the volume of sound was continuous. Heavy splashes shook the water. The boat rocked. The in visible surface was broken into facets. We shrank, terrified. From all about us glowed hundreds of eyes like coals of fire—on a level with us, above us, almost over our heads. Two by two the coals were extinguished. Continued on pagre 6 Lame Shoulder. Whether resultinj? from a sprain or from rheumatic pains, there is nothing so good for a lame shoulder as Chamberlain’s Pain Balm. Ap ply it freely and rub thep erts vig orously at each application and a quick cure is certain. For sale by O. L. Erwin, Rosman, N. C. A Superb Animal. During a fierce charge of Confeder ate cavalry at Murfreesboro an officer was killed and the cavalry driven back. The horse the officer had ridden w’as a magnificent animal, and he had not been taught to retreat. 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Brevard News (Brevard, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 27, 1908, edition 1
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