A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

A QUEER RACE. 128 that ever lived. We have to thank him for all our hap- piness and prosperity; and there was nothing he more insisted upon than the necessity of preserving our inde- pendence; and so long as we maintain our isolation and keep the existence, or, at any rate, the whereabouts of Fair Island secret, we shall be safe from molestation. In his time he would let nobody leave the island, except perhaps for a sail round the coast, on any pretext what- ever; and the rule has been enforced eversince. I ought rather to say that nobody has ever so much as expressed a desire to break it. (Mr. Fane was wise in his genera- tion. The visit of a British man-of-war might have been rather awkward for him and some of his compan- ions.) You may judge, then, what a sensation Mab’s declaration of a wish to visit England—which she could not well do without quitting the island—must needs create.” ‘7 think I understand the great Denzil’s motives for laying down such a rule,” I said. ‘*‘ But how about strangers who come here by accident, like Bolsover and myself, for instance? Are they not allowed to leave?” ‘<The contingency does not seem to have been contem- plated. All that Denzil said—yonu will find it in his val- edictory address, written a few months before his decease —all that he said was: ‘ Resist hostile strangers to the: death, but friendly strangers welcome, and give them of your best.’ ” “Nothing about letting them go?” ‘‘Nothing; from which I infer that he did not desire to lay down any general rule on the subject, but rather that his successors should deal with any case that might arise strictly on its merits.” «‘So my fate depends on Queen Mab. Suppose, now, that after awhile—I am in no particular hurry—suppose I desire to leave the island, how shal! I carry my purpose into effect—how get away? Assuming, of course, that the queen makes no objection.” ‘‘In that big ship of yours. How else?” ‘‘Tf our chance of returning to England depends on Bolsover and me getting the Diana past the Painted Rocks and through the mist, to say nothing of navigat-. ing her across the Atlantic, | am afraid we shall have to EOomMmIcboo CS (€(0) m