The Island School — page 198: what you’re looking at

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

DISTURBING THE EMPTY NEST. Then he turned his thoughts to Jim Gordon, and recognised in him the romantic and more genial ele- ment that would keep him from falling into the track of his father. “Science-is good,” he said, “but it will not do to _ give. one’s whole self to it.” He looked up at the stars, never brighter than at that hour, each a wonder and lasting marvel to ‘the thinking student. He asked himself if ever he would know more of them than the telescope and calculation could tell? What a glorious thing it would be to wander from one to the other and look upon new scenes, new laws of life, new everything! ‘And then he was brought back to the things around him by the report of a rifle. Tt came from below, not far from the schoolhouse, and, rising to that height, it was not very loud to the ear, but the nature of it could not be mistaken. It was followed by a glimmer of light, right away beyond - the main pool of the lagoon, and, as he judged, in the region of that paradise of flowers growing on the picturesque borderland. Here was something he could not comprehend, but ‘he had no time to dwell upon it, for the first sound of the rifles was followed by another and another, and finally a fusillade. “The fools,” chuckled Morse, ‘ they have no ink- ling of ourbeing here. They think we are still boxed up in that in that old barn of a place. they been, and what have they been doing that they have no information of our movements? Butthen,” he added, “it would never occur to them that we ‘should flit up here. Jim was right when he said that it was a move that would flabbergast them.” Jim had said 4s much. He was almost certain that the Spaniards had retreated to the chine, or to some ‘spot too far away for them to be in a position to -observe the movements of the occupants of the school. His opinion was confirmed by this firing at an empty house. It continued for a time, and then there was silence. No movement in the castle indicated that the sleepers had been disturbed. The light on the outer shore of the lagoon, after blazing up and gathering strength, was soon extin- ‘guished. It must have been intentionally done, for Morse saw it scattered about as if some persons were kicking it about with the object of extinguishing it, “T should like to be below,” thought Morse, “ and give those fellows one of my patent shocks.” But it would not be prudent for his own safety or that of his friends to leave the castle. So he aban- -doned the idea, and waited and watched. For half an hour, it might have been a little more, there was no renewal of the firing, but at length the stiliness was broken by a series of soft, dumb sounds, Where have | 163 which Morse, after listening intently, judged were blows dealt by some heavy instrument on wood-work. “They are at the door again,” he muttered, and a smile ht up his face. There was something almost humorous in the Spaniards taking so much trouble to open a door that had only been closed, not locked. Presently the sounds ceased, and another stillness followed, only to give place to a faint shouting. The attacking party had discovered thatthe house was empty. Well, there was nothing but the heavy furni- ture, and that none of the best, for them to wreak their vengeance upon, and Morse enjoyed the joke so hugely that he laughed aloud. And all this time the sleepers in the castle slept on, unconscious of the wrecking of the schoolhouse that was being carried on. Morse expected they would set it on fire. It would be the natural climax to their work, and he was not deceived. Scon the flickering of the flame was seen, and it rose higher and higher, until he could see the men capering about the beach, well out of the reach of the fire. And they had cunningly taken up a position with the sea to the rear, so that they were safe from attack. If the late occupants of the schoolhouse ven- tured upon assailing them, they would have to advance in the full glare of the conflagration, and thus be in a position to be shot at. Morse could not clearly count the men, but there were not less than fifty still, and they were all of the type they had met with on the other side of the island. He understood the nature of the precaution they had taken, and smiled again. There was no likeli- hood of a sortie being made from the castle, even if the occupants awoke. But they all slept on. Higher and higher rose the fire, for the building, having so much wood about it, burned merrily. It seemed to Morse that it illumined the whole of the island on that side, and the sea as far as the horizon. He could see the shimmer of it on the waves miles away. And, looking up at the great towers of the castle, he saw they were tinged with red,and stood out boldly against the cloudless sky. To the right and the left the light penetrated the woods and tinged the trunks of trees and the rocks with the prevailing hue, and it would have been difficult to conceive 2 more beauti- ful picture. It had an unearthly look. It was a huge transformation scene, such as never has been shown even in part upon the stage. As the flames rose and fell, the shadows took fan- tastic forms, that the vivid imagination of Morse shaped into woodland satyrs and elves, capering about in the unholy glee of a witches’ midnight. Once there was a sudden darkness, owing to the (@{ 0) an @ eYoye) 455 (E(@) mn