The Island School — page 369: what you’re looking at

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

306 ‘to do you good if I could,'and I’ve found: out some- thing as you ought to know.” | . “ Get along with it.” _.“ Them beggars is in the rear of the castle,” “ We:know that.” . “Blessed if you don’t find out raryThiney They are getting the c cannon inter Doron at this. werry: moment,” ©’ “That we have been expecting. behind a screen of brushwood.” . “Wrong for once,” said Chorker, triumphantly. “That was shoved up asa blind. I heerd ’em talk- ing of it as I lay in aholler tree. The cannon is more to the east, hidden by a pile of stones, all save the muzzle. They guessed»as-you would be looking out of the winders, and they arranged according.” ‘This is news, Chorker,” said Jim, “and I thank you for it.” “But it ain’t all,” continued the now elated Chorker. ?Twixt the spot where the cannon is—I reckon it is ‘there by this time—they’ve been quietly screwing a hole in the wall. A boat came infrom Minorca to-day, bringing in some blasting-powder, and they think they will be able to blow down all the back part of the castle.” ~ Jim knew the full portent of this really terrible news, but his face was as calm as ever. Chorker went on with his story : “TT heerd it all. _ A chap named Vampos and that woman sat down nigh where I was hidden and talked freely. -They said some words I did not understand, but they kept on tumbling into English, so that I got at the sense of it. Vampos said that when the walls had been shaken a bit by the cannon, the blasting- powder would bring the whole of that side down.” “ Wait here, Chorker,” said Jim. “I must see Morse about this.” ‘¢One word, Mister’ Gordon. turn me out again ?” “No; certainly not.” “Then I do my best to make amends pane a sinful past. Ive been’ a skunk, I admitsit—a warmint, I don’t deny it. Next time I goes on the wrong tack ‘you shoot me real.” - “TY assuredly shall do so,’ away. Hie found Morse and Terry both on the ee of the pile of boxes with their heads near the window. They were darkly limned against the tree-tops and the sky. “Come down!” said Jim, quickly. “ You are in peril - there.” . “What is the matter P” asked Morse. “Come down,I say. That screen is all humbug: The cannon is away to'the right. They are Be ee to blow down the walls.” . “That accounts for the gritty, siti gourd we You don’t’ mean to said Jim, as he hurried Tt will ie placed Us. THE ISLAND. SCHOOL. have been listening to,” said Morse, as he slid down. Terry, having uo great yearning for being blown up, quickly followed him. Jim rapidly told them of the coming of Chorker and the tidings he brought with him. ~ » “For once,” he aa i the old.rascal has acted on the square, and it is good enough for us ta forgive him. Of course, if it would have served his purpose better to sell us again, he would have done go, but 1 vote we don’t reckon that.” “TI don’t like this turn of things,” said Morse, “but it. all depends how the wall falls.. It may even, after all, be a barrier to their getting into the castle. Any- way, if they are going to do it, this is not the place for 9 They returned to the hall, where they eouhd Chorker dilating on the pleasure it was to him to be | of help, especially as it give him an opportunity to act against “them warmints’—meaning Lucia di Valo and her band. Jim, Morse, and Terry sat down by the table, and the boys gathered up around and behind them. They were in possession of the news and its portent, and their anxious eyes rested on their leaders: “In the time the. castle was built,” said Morse, “society was divided into two parts, above and below the salt, They all dined at one table, with a huge salt-ceHlar marking the line below which the better class would not sit, and above which the humbler parties dared not go. houses or castle. They were divided into two por- tions. Take this castle, for instance. The back part is only accessible by that kitchen door. Did you | never notice 1t before P” Strange to say, nobody, not even Jim, hae oheenved it. But it was a fact. Right through the centre of the castle ran a thick wall cutting offthetwo upper portions of it effectually from each other. The kitchen-door, or rather the door leading to all the back offices, was the only means of communication, and that was on the ground-floor. | “By blowing down the pase wall,” said Morse, “these fellows will gain access to the inferior part of the castle. But with that way blocked”’—he pointed to the kitchen-door—* they would not be able. to come any further.” Not until they made a hole in the middie call ? suggested Rainstone. “Which they would do in time, or nares bring if down; but there are two towers resting partly upon it, and I do not think they have the means to carry the that work. A hole will do nothing. It will merely open up a way to what £ may call the fighting part of the castle, ’ With the ramparts and courtyard in our possession, it would take more men than they have to get at us. Now I have asaele bie I am going to block the way.” .. > Wats Cc efeye) cS ~ com Te t » ea . Wii ae A amar 4 ble As at the table, so it was with the | (ol @) nN .