The Island School — page 88: what you’re looking at

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

a vie yy Mt “Mo spec dat de. yar folks miss 1 ‘me > at Hoga aa iS “ Dey got ae do all de work now, and lay dere i own - sports, Goridledum t it serb dem right; sais anyway.” «Why do you state nei nonsense ?” asked Terry ; “you are a grown man, Why don’t you rebel ?” Vets had too much fiddlerum piratety,’” answered _ Romeo. Too much what : ee Pena Terry, aghast. ‘ He means filial piety,” quietly explained Morse. oe “ You got him right, cee said Romeo; “but de | ie oder ting near nuf for me.” iad So the time passed, until it was considered time to i turn in, and Romeo made up the last fire for the night. Personally, he meant to sleep near the tent, but inthe open air. He explained that he did a lot a LO. OF that sort of thing at home—" when he went out b | might-fishing.” ; Hote So he stretched himself across the opening of the 4 hy ats and the boys, with the greater part of their i me clothing removed, covered themselves up with the sgh light rugs they had brought, and, barring Jim, were ; Bie - goon asleep. ey ie through the tree-tops he could see the bright stars a _ twinkling. Jim felt most unaccountably sad as his thoughts wandered homeward. He called to mind his natural tendency to be an idle boy, and take to the wood and river, rather than to scholastic work, and how it had culminated in his being sent, after much reproof, from a kindly father, to the island school to cure him of his gipsy-like pro- _ pensities, | But had the island school effected the desired cure ? __He was afraid, or, rather, he was glad, it had not. ” te He felt certain, although he would like to see mt _ the dear faces at home again and again, that the life ae there would henceforth be distasteful to him. , ee a. - And when. he had arrived at this conviction a 4 pleasant calm came over him, and he fell asleep. ‘a Nia ‘And they all slept soundly, none awakening until tae the dawn had come, and a new form of wood-life made iH ‘a apparent tothem. , he Around the camping party, perched on the tree- _ tops, were innumerable grey parrots, which seemed to have found the wanderers out, and were discussing - them with forcible freedom. At first there was little sequence or meaning in their chatterimg apparent, but, by dint of listening i iaipsdly, Morse declared that some were uttering words ae in the Spanish tongue, and he had reason to believe i. We that many of them were more florid than polite. if ieee ii “Do ‘you mean to tell me,” said Felton, “ that they i ar n ta ik like human beings i No,” answered ede an aes reckon that some of | those bi rds g. ee PD aay, had | eh a bi vant ts i ae vi ns iy Mh : Wi an He lay near the entrance, close to Romeo, and | ua th " hs mi We RCM we , i he Ke ' ion Not Pe now, or even recently, coe 2 parrot often lives to a hundred years, and the words : they are uttering now may have Mia heard by then eat | the better part of a century ago.’ ae ie “ Or they may have learnt them from their grand- “\ fathers and grandmothers,” said ‘Terry, yee miog Ik | gravity. ae “More unlikely things than that,” said ‘Morse, He his dry way. “You learnt your language from you father and mother, and, vay you are a bit, ofa parrot.” { a ica" A general laugh at Terry’s expense Eollemed Morse's | ny ! reply, and at the sound the parrots rose in a body in | * | the air, screaming and whens aloft for awhile prior to flying away. | u ty “It is wonderful that we never saw nor r heard any. thing of parrots or monkeys on the other side of he island,” remarked Ganthony. hy cw eae “They naturally keep out of the reach of man, 7S said Jim, “knowing his propensity to kill. Besides J Sa: should not think that they could live half so well in our district, if [may so callit. And again, they 1 ma ay only visit. here occasionally, migrating to the other — islands round here.” ‘ ia re | “De monkeys,” said Romeo, as he rolled oe Wi tent, “ onen come ober to de school in de night, | To oo radi g AOD see ’em.’ aie it iN ‘And you never Canna it,” exclaimed omy, ae “What de good ob my being branded as a. lia: ie Massa Terry? When a pusson hab lorse hi i i character for trufe, he berrer be buried out of de way.” And Romeo shook his head as if he would rather Pata. Jip die a hundred miserable deaths than indulge in - eh i) i form of falsehood, or speak of that which ie as) him to unjustly lose his character for veracity. mee hh ‘ denser parts, now where ire trees ananed but sti i to their great disappointment, through wood, a un cou i nothing but wood, until the morning was almost gone a ie and they were Pane of halting for the noonday rest. Hi 2 _ Then suddenly a wonderful spectacle, unexpected and at is startling in its sudden appearance, burst upon them. — nay They came upon a thick line of bushes, where ‘the We trees had thinned almost to a vanishing point, and Ke y were obliged to force their way ieee them, the barrier extending a long way to the right and left. _ Re: Jim Gordon was the first through, ind the spectaclt i" i that saluted his eyes roused his Gaboundad astonish, | i ment, ts Practically they had arrived at the end of the ai _wood, although not by any means had they come nal “within sight of the sea. As they afterwards learnt, Le ay were even then a good ten miles from the = ; ; 1 ay ‘The ground before them sank into a hollow, fro ne “the: aye of which 1 bane a ue at of stone, and ; | 2 ah ae i ny f i is, Sila ‘Mt eRe Nah Oi AR PABA ONO ce Tu AN tats Ay x i tj eA) hs) Leal . ! 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