The Island School — page 372: what you’re looking at

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

és ight. Pe _-went there, too. 7 rap : iL f —. pee Br: ‘ would be able to light i in the castle without more fuel aN iad " / Dy ; : af, la + a a mat a My) y fi) awe : Meets ay # “He Te eis : gone,” ehguebe Morse, are a if “thine Fe is ) Perhaps it would have been better if we all | Somebody i is camping on the rocks, | ‘and those beggars have found it out. Perhaps it is - | ‘only those niggers—that will be had enough—bjit should it be Eveline, the lookout is very serious.” He returned te the ramparts aad there kept watch until nightfall. Neither Jim nor any living being ayggenna ele in sight. Faraway in the offing in a westerly direction he saw a small trading-boat seemingly bearing down upon the island. That was nothing. The boat might, like many others he had seen at different times, be beating up against ‘the wind, and be on the shoreward tack. Itcould not have. any of the absent ones on board, or it would be ives the other way. _ Morse was very uneasy, and the seating was general -among those with him. They talked the matter over and the more they talked the less ehey liked it. sf Suppose it is Eveline and so on,” said Trimmer, “what can Jim do to help them? It will be giving his life for nothing, and we can’t spare him.” Ve: ae he is gone,” said Dibble. “ That we can’t get over.” ‘Morse went over to where the fire—the last. they ' —was burning on the hearth, and sat down to think. ‘So he remained for half an nese or more, undisturbed by the movement and chatter about him. | Then he looked up and said, “ I know what we must ‘do at any cost. then I will tell you what it is.’ | - CHAPTER CLXIX. __- JIM’S QUEST.— CROSSING THE WATER.—A CLOSE SHAVE. ITH many doubts and fears in his usually calm breast, Jim Gordon went on his errand of discovery. Plunging into the wood as already recorded, he a considerable dis- tance between himself and the castle, his aM - object being to avoid his enemies. It was not personal fear of them that. deeelovatod ise movements, although he had the natural regard or his own safety. It was one of those he hoped yet ed end, on n the bn sh the lagoon that ire, toa avoid a ato ane Me ¥ ‘ yrs i \ . Eis ‘ f E i, T: A ESA ede (3 ? ONG ; . ‘ ’ pee Ce - ¢ “ >» t . , Let us Hee, an early supper, and , meant to cross, he must start at once. lost no time in putting | parcel about six inches thick. This he bound with — ee sea. yn i) i < — : atl = ~— ps 68 Sarge TS . . r) ae Fadl he sieuded to bake ‘a was practically that a which Chorker had travelled on a previous cena i But, beyond the rent in the earth where that rather — ; foolish old man had hidden his blackmailing property 5 acquired from the schoolmasters, only to lose it again, — a Jim had no knowledge of the route, save that ‘it, ens tailed a crossing of water to get to his destination. When Chorker crossed, the sea was very low, much lower than ordinary, owing to the wind and the tides. 4 Jim could hardly expect to find matters so eo | now. 4 And, in addition, the season had changed fee | sultry autumn to a Mediterranean winter. The cold was not severe—it rarely is in that latitude—but the water would be chilly, and he must, if he swam across, re remain in his wet clothes. Again, there was the — % ammunition he had brought with him; that must be aK kept dry. All these things he had to think of as she P trudged along. ‘ang _ Down by the wood to the level below. Then on nba a westerly direction, until he struck the undulating — | ground. After that, to the east again. By moving in this way, he made a detour clear of the scene of contest, and late in the afternoon he struck the rift we as referred to. mT i) He would have journeyed in its depths as a further } precaution, but was surprised and not a little diss mayed to find it nearly full of water. From this it ‘ was evident that the sea was unusually high, : | There was a poor prospect ahead of him, but he ye ‘trudged on, determined to overcome all obstacles. — Anon he arrived at the hilly ground, beyond which — was the water dividing the main island from the rocks | “ that formed a breakwater to the lagoon. — ir: A glance sufficed to show him that he would have’ a task to get across. It was very different from the day when Chorker came over in quest of food. Then he had more land than water in view. Now the only land visible in the seething sea between was here and there a jutting head of stone, and it was at Jeast: a quarter of a mile across. Jim did not pause to estimate the peril of aes passage. He had very little daylight left, and if he If overtaken by darkness, he would have a poor chance of escaping from drowning. | i: ‘ The ammunition was packed in a broad, square — ‘ by ; his sash tightly to his head. Under the sash, and on i top of the parcel, he inserted his revolvers. What else he had about him did not matter much. a Holding his rifle over his head with one hand, hel slipped quietly into the water and struck out for. the opposite side. Ere he had made half a dozen strokes” he became aware that the water was moving towards 7 | Aa Ae vA (ee y ‘ Pa A ay we ih PT Hh A i. | op : “a4 | re ead mt ert P Tana) a, = 4 | ah rane “ia \p o nn