Soul Flag.

Otago Witness, Issue 879, 3 October 1868, Page 15

Soul Flag.

BT {^EtABIdBS . JtE^nE .AND, D*ON, BoUOICAtJLT. , CHAPTEE-XXXV.^ j *,{'','' \ Hjazeii waited and listened..' So.' did Helen, and her breath came iast; for in the stilly night she. heard-, light but mysterious Bounds. .Something was-mioving-on t^e. saud.,very.slawly',i.acnd.'s'oftlyji'-bu* nearer- and nearer. Her 'heart began leaps i iShe put out her hand instinctivelyto clutch Mr Hazel; but he was' too. 'far off. z She had the presence of mind 'and the aelf-deniai to disguise her • feaTS ; for she knew he would come headlong. to herassistance. ■ - She. said in a quavering whisper;' " I'm not frightened ; only ,v— very* c— curious." And,, now* shejjecame conscious that not only .one but 'severabthings were creeping abouj,. ■ • " . ,!'•- Presently the. .creeping .ceased, and wasfollowed by a louder, and more mysterious noise, 1 In • that silent night it sounded like raking and digging; Three or four mysterious. visitants seemed to be making graves. . ' ■ • This is too much ; especially coming as it did after talk about the primeval dead. Her "desire to scream was; so strongs and she was so'.afraicl" Hazel would, break his neckif she relieved her mind in'f.hat w ay, that -she actually took her handkerchief and bit it hard. But this situation was cut short by a beneficent luminary. .The sun .rose with a magnificent bound— it was his .way in that latitude — and everything unpleasant winced that moment ; .the fog shivered in its turn, and appeared to open in furrows, as great javelins of • golden light shot through it. from .the swiftly rising orb. Soon, ../those golden • darts increased to streams of portable fire, that burst the fog and illumined the wet sands ; and Helen burst out laughing like chanticleer, for this first break of day revealed the sextons that had scared her — three ponderous turtles, crawling, slow and clumsy, back,to sea. Hazel joined her, and they soon .found what these evil spirits of' the \ island had,been a% poor wretches. ■ They had each buried a dozen eggs in the sand, one dozen of- which were soon set boiling. At first, indeed,- Helen objected that they had no shells, but Haael told her she might as well "complain of a rose without a thorn. He assured her turtles' eggs were, a known delicacy, aad very superior to birds? eggs 4 and so. she found them ; they were eaten with the keenest relish.

" And now," said Eelen^ " for my discoveries. First, here are my English leaves,, only bigger. I found them on a large tree."

" English leaves !"- cried Hazel, with rapture. " Why it is the caoutchouc."

"Oh, dear," said Helen, disappointed ; "I took it for the india-rubber tree."

"It is the india-rubber tree ; and I have, been hunting for it all over the island in vain, and using wretchedly inferior gums" for want of it "

"I'm so glad," said Helen. "And now I have something else to show you ; something that curdled my blood. But I dare say I was very foolish." She then took him half across the sand and pointed out to him a number of stones dotted over the sand in. a sort of oval. These stones, streaked with sea grass, and encrusted with small shells, were not at equal distances, but yet, allowing for gaps, they formed a decided figure. Their outline resembled a great fish wanting the tail. •

" Can this be chance V asked Helen ; " oh, if it should be what I fear, and that is — Savages !"

Hazel considered it attentively a long time. "Too far at sea for living savages, "' said he. " And yet it cannot be chance. What, on earth is it ? It looks Druidical: But how can that be ? The island was smaller when these •wexe placed here than it is now. " He went nearer and -examined one of the stones ; then he scraped away the sand from its base, and found it was not shaped liked a stone, but more like a whale's rib. He became excited ; went on his knees, and tore the sand up with his hands. Then he rose up agitated, and traced the outline again. ' ' Great Heaven !" said he, " why it is a ship !"

"Ashipr " Ay," said he, standing in the middle of it, ,Vaere, beneath our feet, lies man, with his work, and his treasures. This carcase has been here for many a long year ; jjot so very long neither ; she is too big for the 16th century, and yet she must have been sunk, when the island was smaller, I take it. to , be, a .Spanish or Portugese ship; probably, one of those treasure- ships ou.r commodores, and chartered pirates, and the American buccaneers, used, to .chase about these seas. Here lie her bones, and the bones of her crew. Your question was soon answered. All that we can say-has been said ; can do has been done ; can suffer has "been suffered." They were silent, and the sunk ship's

bones 'mbved^Hem : 's4*aiigely» Ul Ifr'thei^ 1 d^ep isolation^ f rom'ihe htanan' ra£ej , e^j}ii.' thd pr^Senceof tnd dea'dbroughirhumkniifcy .someE6w'Weafe t rt6 f m&n'..~' '. °" r(; ' n l ' -"they ''thougntfully " away 4 anS-' ima#e •aer6ss^he'' t aan'ds<' < foi: telegraph iPomt: . - ji '- : ' v :-i - • ;- :' v :\,^\;; i ,„ Beforfe^hey'gothb'me, Srel¥n ; siifggested tliat perhaps;' if' l h4 Werji'Ho dig . i6l' : tlae ship, r he might-ln^sbmeMng i'lseftii:^' V*, ■• He* «hook' d his head. ■ '%< Impossible ! The iron has air. melted awij' r li^e'Vugar s long before "this. I Nothing can haye 4 surj, viyed but gold arid silver,, and,' they/ 'are' •not worth picking up, much less ? digging' for; my time is too precious. r Np^ you have" found two' buried treasures'to-day-turtles' eggs', and a 'ship, "freighted/ as, I think,' with what men call the' pr^cipiis metals. Well, the eggs , are gpjd,\ : '£n<J the gold is a 1 drug— there it wl&'lle'fpr me." . ' ■; ■■■ .--'■■'■- Both discoveries ' bore' fruits."' Tlie, ship : — Hazel made a vow that never again should' any poor 1 ! ship lay her ribs on this 1 island for want of warning. " He , buoyed the reefs; He ran ; out 'to ( White f Water Island, and . wrote an 'earnest warning on the black reef, and this time he wrote with white on black. ' He, wrote a similar warning, with black oh white, at the western extremity of . Godsend Island. ' ' " .' The eggs :— Hazel watched for the the turtles at daybreak ; turned one now and then ; and fed Helen © 1 the meat or its eggs morn, noon, and night. For some time she had been advancing in health afid strength. "But now she was all day ( in the air she got. the full benefit of the wonderful climate, and her health, appetite, and muscular' vigour became truly ' astonisliing ; ' especially under what Hazel called the turtle cure, though, indeed she was cured before. She ate three good 'meals a d.ay, and needed them ; for she was up with the, sun, and her hands and feet were never idle till he set. Four months on the' inland had' done this. ' But four months had not shown! those straining eyes the white 'speck on the horizon ; thesail so looked and longed for. • " Hazel often walked the island by himself; not to "explore, for he knew the 'place well by this time, but he went his rounds to see that all his signals were in working order. He went to Mount Look-out one. day with this view. ' It was about an hour before noon. Long before he got to the mountain he had scanned the horizon' carefully, as a matter of course ; but not a speck. So, when he got there, he did not look seaward, but just saw that his flagstaff was all right, and was about' to turn away and go home, when "he happened to glance at the water ; and there, underneath him, he saw — a ship, "standing towards the island.