THE ENCHANTED ISLAND

Southland Times, Issue 23852, 24 June 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE ENCHANTED ISLAND

Part HI Hardly had the last scrap been cleared away and the last vessel scrubbed out with sand, when Sir George gave the order for all to retire. The yawns for the past hour had outchorused the waves upon the shore.

Back from the beach, beyond danger of the tide, a whole village of palmetto-leaf shelters had been constructed. Inside them it was cosy and dark. Kit lay next to his father on a mattress of. fragrant cedar boughs and saw through gaps in the thatch a few last red embers, the white gleam of the sand, and the blackness with creaming edges which Was the cruel ocean he had escaped.

Strange noises awoke him. Noises of people stirring in the huts, frightened whispers, the dog barking frantically. Then, mingled with the wailing wind, Kit heard harsh, deep grunts and groans and strange alarming squeaks and squeals. “Alas, I fear this is a haunted place,” whispered his frightened mother, and Kit himself shook so with cold and terror that his teeth chattered. But his father put an arm round each, covered them with his cloak, and bade ; them lie still and unafraid. "No harm can come to God-fearing Christian folk,” he said.

Not a person dared to stir from his hut. And at last the noises

were hushed. The company of the Sea Venture, worn out with their long adventures, turned wearily to sleep again. Kit woke up in the early morning and gazed out through the entrance to his shelter. Quickly he blinked his eyes shut as dazzling beach, turquoise water, purple reef, and dark blue sea wavered in stripes before him. He crawled carefully from his resting place, ran

down to the edge of the beach, and dashed the clear green water on his face and hands. Soon the whole encampment was awake and bustling. On this sparkling morning it was hard to believe that anyone could have beeri terrified in the night by strange sounds. Yet they had all heard them. Many of the more timid crowded round the Admiral and Sir Thomas Gates, demanding that they be removed to a safer place at once.

The leaders could not deriy that something strange had happened during the night. However, out on the purple reef the Sea Venture was rapidly breaking apart. Enchantments or no enchantments, said Sir George, here they were and here they would have to stay until such time as they could build new ships to continue the voyage. Luckily there seemed to be a supply of good cedar wood on the island; caulking for the seams could be mixed from lime and turtle oil, sails and cables had been rescued from the wreck. It would be a long, hard task to complete vessels large enough to hold them all, but it was not impossible.

Kit crept away from the crowd which had gathered, to listen to the Admiral. He filled his pockets with pebbles, took up his slingshot,' and hastened off to explore the woods for food, since the beach had yielded him none. This time he would bring back something worth finding. Shaggy palmettos and cedars closed in round him, cedars with trunks which leaned away from the sea and arms so twisted from fight-, ing the sea wind that they looked tortured from the struggle. But still the cedar , branches groaned, and the wind filled the wood with a sighing like that of. a distant sea. Kit clutched his slingshot and chewed on a cedar berry. Once more he was hungry. He-picked a red fruit, shaped like a pear and covered with prickly spines.. He dared not eat it, but: it was a trophy to carry back at least. He had been gone a goodly time when, in the loneliness of the groves, he heard the weird noises again. Before he. could retreat, the shubbery was pushed aside and he found himself staring at a wild sow with a huge barrel body, wicked little red eyes, and ferocious tusks. Grunting furiously, she charged to protect the crew of squealing piglets trailing after her. Kit dropped his prickly pear and ran. The sow sniffled at the -pear, pricked her snout, and became even angrier. For such a : heavy old body, she was remarkably.quick:on her feet. With her outraged grunts drawing closer, Kit swung himself up a stout

cedar tree which stood in his path and crouched uncomfortably on a branch, just out of reach. The sow stared back at him from below, eye to eye, grunting angrily. All the little pigs squealed a chorus. Kit’s knees and arms and neck ached with strain by the time the old fat mother grew tired of waiting for this fruit to drop. She poked her. snout into the ground, looking for other things of interest, rooted out some, palmetto berries; and gradually wandered away;, followed by the squealers. Only one little pink fellow was too lazy to keep up with' his brothers,, and his mother did hot notice his desertion. ’• ■ Kit aimed his - slingshot and let fly. His pebble hit the pig right in its side; the little creature rolled on its back, kicking with all four pink legs, and then lay still. Kit looked round carefully to be sure that the mother was surely out of sight. He climbed from his refuge and knelt to examine his victim. It was only stunned, for its • fat sides still pumped up and down with its heavy breathing. "How glad I am,” thought Kit. He had not wanted

to kill such a helpless little beast, but he did want to show it to the Admiral. He tucked the sausage body firmly under his arm and staked back. The pig came to life with a convulsive wriggle so that Kit all but dropped it. Embracing his captive then with both arms, Kit struggled home to the encampment. ■ Mistress Carroll, who had been worried at his absence, was on the watch for him. '“Mercy on. us, Christopher,” she cried. “What have you got there—a baby?” .. “’Pis a—’tis a pig,” Kit gasped. “I shot it with my sling, over there in the wood.” :: '

From all parts of the camp, ; from all their morning tasks, people came swarming to look at this new trophy. Many rubbed their hands and licked their : lips. “There ,is nothing more delicious ■ than roast pig!” . “You- shall npt, have ■ him!” • Kit cried. “I captured him and will protect him!” ’• • . - • '. The • Admiralsoon spied; the crowd and-strode over to see what was: the cause or so much excitement. Kit held the squealing piglet high for him to see. Sir George stared, and listened ' with amazement to the shrill squealing, then threw back his head and laughed as he had not done since first the storm wind, had begun 'to blow. “Those sounds have a familiar ring to them! If I mistake not, my lad,

What you have captured is one of , those very spirits which so plagued us yesternight. What is your judgment, Master Carroll?” ." ' Kit’s father chuckled. “Now that I . think of it, the evil spirits did sound remarkably like wild swine.” “My faith, yes!” laughed Sir George. “They were paying their respects, no doubt, to the English cousins we had tethered close by. And we were foolish enough and fearful enough, in the strange darkness, to mistake them for something not of this world.” Kit scratched his piglet's head thoughtfully. “But where did they come from, sir? Are pigs natives here, like the birds and turtles?” “No, I. believe not,” the Admiral answered. “Freebooters are apt to make such difficult and lonely spots their anchorages, and they may well have brought with them the swine from which the wild ones grew. Since Juan de Bermudez first sighted the islands, many sailofs’have been shipwrecked here, but none have dared to stay for fear of those very noises that we heard last night.” "But we are going to stay,” said Kit with satisfaction, “aren’t we?”

Sir George, Somers shook his head a little sadly; “Alas, my boy, I fear not., I too have fallen in love with this-pleasant land, but we were sent from England to-join the good people of Jamestown; they even now expect us, ahd we must make shift to reach Virginia as soon as we tan build new ships to take us there.”, ' “Then;” said. Kit sturdily, "I want ■to,take my pig there with me. May I, Sir George.?” ;■ , ? <. i - Again Sir George “If he has not grown too big, indeed you may, as proof of what we found here. For when we .tell of these enchanted islands, of how rich the provender is, and how wholesome the climate, I have no doubt but that our monarch will hasten to acclaim them for the Crown. Then it will be to you, Christopher Carroll, that England is indebted for removing the curse and the fear of evil spirits that has hung over this place for so long. You are the best adventurer of us all.” {The End.)