The Island School — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Vay ah’ Jal St ant EEN : " dae Ko ih Yay ys ‘e Sa 4 a ee ae wile wh ee ee eve, at 4 My ’ ey Yan si Ree? fs Bs ie ois Nie ane HB occa + ae i Alt , ty ; seh ’ age" as ai Ain im could mot eaderes this Le ‘He was The re school was paraded as mourners, with ~ a oe "beginning to see very clearly that the Napoleonic | the Council of Ten at its head, followi ing the rough — o é rg element i in the schoolmaster was practically confined | bier on which Martin and the other men had placed — sy - tohisname. He eas called attention to the real | the coffin. They carried it to the grave that had been | eee ine read the burial : service. A Ned on without me.’ ! obj ect of his coming. Ah! just 50, said Mr. Farrell. ‘Choose a spot on the slope going up to the castle, and tell Sleery and Wattle to dig the grave. The funeral will take place at five o’clock to-morrow, and Mr. Groby will I shall not be able to attend.” Once more Jim stared at him in surprise. Mrs. Farrell uttered an exclamation of astonishment and _/ deprecation. | ae “My dear Nap!” she said. “Tt is not expedient, said the schoolmaster, hur- riedly. service to the poor fellow now. The ceremony can Jim merely replied, “ Very well, sir,” and left the _ xroom. The bearing of Mr. Farrell was most puzzling, but Jim decided in his own mind not to make mention of it to anyone for the present. _ He saw Martin and the other working-men, and gave them their instructions. Mr. Groby, on hearing the part he was to play in the sad ceremony, ex- pressed his wonderment, and said: “It is Mr. Farrell's _ place to be there and read the service.” / “But he can’t come,” returned Jim, drily. Until then he had made no attempt to read the Mi: letter he picked up from the floor of the study; but on leaving Mr. Groby he sauntered to a quiet spot away from the house, and perused it. The epistle was of a totally different nature to what he expected. The writing was neat, but somewhat cramped, and wok) the wording as follows; ap? | “TO THE SAD SENOR WHO WALKS MUCH ALONE,— ly i Does the memory of the woman you have seen once on the island remain with you? You are chivalrous—noble— and will help one in distress. Say, then, if you will not come to the spot where you see her. Whatis age to me? I am young—thou art grey; but shall I not love you for your heart? Come, then, when the sun peeps above the Bea in the morning, “ Loucia.” « Now, what am I to faalee of this?” thought Jim, as he folded the letter and put it back into He pocket. ‘No strange woman has ever been seen on the island, and yet one has been here and making love to poor old Stebbing. For what? To take his life, it seems—unless it was some jealous lover of the - woman who slew him. The writing is hardly a - -woman’s hand, either. A man wrote it, [ will swear, but who is he ?” Jim was more and more puzzled the more he thought the matter over, and he had eventually to Be a abandon further consideration of it. oh a0 | At oui sae nA vine on thet morrow the th ‘cn y, a iii mh a) ia fea aat me fis) . rang oF “TI do not feel that I can be of any great -_eussing, as well they might, the mystery of the whole e iy i ee : " rf i fy" >: 4 (ah FNiny ( ee Ae hie 7 nt y es . , a 7 - ‘ ; vas ‘a lv Fi i h } 4 ; H x ane Tae Nn ne iy make ant ty nt ” ” ihe ue ein | Mena eye? ey ALM 119 fF Se Dhoky ray abe | \ , yy" eae ee PN Pres mt dug on the slope under an acacia-tree, the band playing the “ Dead March” with solemn effect. = ie The boys walked bareheaded and silent, impressed e by the untimely end of the under-master, and them fact that it was the first funeral that had in, their nee time taken place on the island. Riess: They laid the coffin in the grave, and Mr. Groby, th who was on most intimate terms with the murdered ‘a 3 man, read the service in a voice broken by emotion. — Before dismissing the assembled mourners, he ad- dressed a few words to them. 4 “My dear boys,” he said, “I need not tell you Weep 4 Hig keenly I feel the loss of one who was my friend, — i t especially under circumstances so shrouded in mystery es and filled with horror. It would have been bad a "1 enough to have lost him any way, but it is terrible that he should haye been removed from us by the oon hand of an assassin. Who that assassin is I cannot i even guess, : bi whom I can point and say: $ Thou didst it.’ “Whether ~ By others among us are in peril of our lives or not ne i cannot tell. Time will reveal. But it is neccesary for us to be wary. You must none of you wander | alone, but in parties, and do not go far from Hone | “I will confer with Mr. Farrell on the subject of doing | Hah something to bring the murderer to justice. To-— ie morrow you may hear something of the SNES) we My have arrived at. Disperse.” : mS The circle of boys and men who had formed round ea the grave broke quietly away and returned to the aig oy schoolhouse, where they gathered in groups, dis- iy thing. : Jim, with the majority of the school Council « of Ten, stood by the closed door of the blacksmith’s a iy Mi shop. There was the thoughtfulness of men upon their faces, } Avi i. . “Tt seems to me like a dream,” said Lawrence Terry. ay “Tt is real enough,” said Adam Steene; “but a re mystery of mysteries. All the time we have been on ~ this island—I have been here a year—we have never — seen a living person outside ourselves.” i “ Why was not Nap at the funeral?” asked Dave BS Felton. %, a “He is too much unnerved to do anything,” an- rae swered Jim. “It is a fact that he is horribly shaken — a | up; but whether by this affair alone, or by others in ‘ Ms conjunction, I can’t say. Anyway, we have an enemy ~ who at present doesn’t show in the open. Suppose — we hold a meeting to-morrow in the old place—say : at half-past seven, after we have had our morning dip in the sea?” _ | oe nicboo Lay f } ‘ - . Phy! ‘CO (ato) a