The Island School — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

4 Te ‘i e ean ; ‘Jim had good eyes, Ss Waved po ne 2 ts out, just above the curiously cramped writing of ‘the ad- 2 dus, the Mincrea post-mark, - CHAPTER IT. JIM GORDON SEES THE RED LIGHT “GROW shies any AND SEEMEP LEE MORE THREATENING. —TBA-TIME. =~ = T was more than an ordinary _. shock to Jim Gordon to see the schoolmaster so palpably overcome with either grief or terror. It was not easy to tell which it was while his face was hidden from view. A full, minute elapsed ere he raised his head, and then | Jim saw that it was the lat- eee emotion that troubled him most. Shivering, he unfolded and smoothed out the letter—it was ina crumpled condition—and once more read it through. The communication must have been of a short vi eee for it was soon scanned. Jim would have liked to ask him what 1t was about, but that he knew could not be done. Up to that time there was nothing confidential in the relations of master and pupil as far: as they were individually eoncerned. Presently Mr. Nap Farrell got upon his feet, and _ paced to and fro in the style of an ordinary man troubled by his affairs, All the ae Pama Z Peart had vanished. _ Eventually he turned towards Ji im, piel the evident pi aa of leaving his retreat, and the youngster, with a light footstep, sped up the narrow path, which, - Aprning here and there, speedily hid him from view. Climbing on for five minutes or so, he came to the - deserted castle of Espelmador. It was a grandly massive building of the type one sees in pictures of ancient Spain. These castles, though unoccupied in this more civilised time, were, in the days gone by, the homes of mighty men who _. culed the country around them with a rod of i Iron, now and then supplemented with fire and sword. And no-doubt this particular stronghold had been at one time the retreat of some marauder, a pirate of the sea, perhaps, where he held high revel after one of his excursions in search of plunder. The walls were of a very massive description, and Hi *~ towersroundand square still reared theirheads towards _ the clouds, hoary with age, and broken on the summit by the action of wind and storm. To one of modern tastes the look of it was some- ih x a“ what bi Bony and» forbidding. The only visible aM entra nee ye ae Q iy t aliqiee was bya gate that nt 4 4 ‘} irs 4h ; es i i “4. v ee © es Ie 4 Vy ath: : Vj y “* 7 rit ] - * Y 4d oe! as a Fotki ak a . i sl ai? Al at ane bite fe: i my fi US ms TANK % bbe tt yet A\ is ri P ¢ OM Bh. fe “ é oy, i¢ y" gould Set be reached by crossing a stroug stone ie A aries ‘bridge just wide enough for two men to pass abreast. a _ For under that bridge there was a moat of con- s sider depth, dug out of the solid rock. It was kept . filled, more or less, by the draining of water from the 9 higher land and woods in the rear, and a small channel on the right carried off the overflow, when — ie there was any, down to the lower ground 1 in the form “ of a small cascada. | | The moat bordered the castle on three sides, and in the front the sterile rock gave little hold for tree or bush. Thus an open space of — i ue some twenty yards or so was there. But in ae rear the sombre wood of pine grew almost to the — very verge of the moat. And it extended far back ic into the heart of the island, rising and falling with Re fh the undulations of the ed | Ne In that wood, hidden away, the wild boar roamed a in security, at intervals showing his brawny form in hi the region of the castle. There was a legend, too, io ey i Ee Pare *- among the boys that the wolf was no stranger there, but nothing certain was known on that point. Neue The castle was the declared limit of the peregrina ee tions of the boys. % Jim Gordon sat down on the ae parapet of ches ane | bridge, and, putting aside all thoughts concerning the a schoolmaster for a spell, proceeded to read his letters | “f from home. Oss They were not of a nature to concern the reader— sh at present, anyway—and we will skip the twenty ae minutes he devoted to the task. The letters read, he sat thinking for awhile, and then moved on to the gate 1 of the castle, which stood open. Mi “ One hinge was gone, and the massive woodwork was ee : propped against the wall. The interior was gloomy, Nt forin the room just beyond there were no windows, ” ih | and the huge doors on the opposite side were closed. Jim carefully scanned the leaves and dust soe ay by the wind in the doorway. The inspection appeared to be satisfactory, for he smiled, as he murmured: | ‘Neither man nor beast has entered here since yesterday.” On the right of the room, where ae old men doubt- ci less were on guard night and day, was the entrance to a narrow, winding staircase. Jim crossed over to _it and climbed the darkened way. : It wound about twenty times or more ere it prdualty Ny him to the battlements, emerging from a tower that rose up thirty feet or more over his head. é But he was high enough to have a magnificent view of the land below and the distant sea, | At his feet were the schoolhouse and + OrEaT ee | dwarfed to the eye. A little more ahead the lagoon glistened in the light of the departing sun, beyond it the flow 2r-crowned natural rockery, spine then to the— Homaon ote but ihe sea. i 1 Oe we Oh Ag —>\t 7 ; : wd . + . a HEL 4 b ie f en uy Nee vy iy : Y a } 1 hy hahey m ae ‘i i t ih mi bs MW \ wih) i ‘