The Island School — page 310: what you’re looking at

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

44 i. rey i BY pat eb PES BF oe wp. Se “ ; ' A rs AS walt PRION y = Se PD an OAS o TA {Ai ep pate on ay 0) es Re ae ie. bie we ae a) ay gO ee ort ners son Re A sale sy, vies a Gr *, ig es . 2 é x Aer ORG bb * ~ ~ : 2 ‘ Cm Bee” oS you don’t give usa ae surprise ‘ every time.” a : zt Pe ty: have merely improved on “dhe old-fashioned ae CHAPTER-CXEL.” (7 "rocket, > modestly answered Morse. ‘‘T had better THE BITTERNESS OF DEFEAT.—THE BURIED CANNON. ag - give fer. another. It will Suu aus the work of a De arnt: ” | ‘UCIA DI VALO + was” Ss :) Amid the breathless silence of the lookers-on, he lying in her tent, : <3 _ survived retreated. | something out of the are “ “Some of them,” said Morse, “will not complain. common had happened. | ' i The rest will have to travel a long way round to Bet Springing to her fect, to a spot where they can descend.” she hastened out of the — | va “ How's that °” asked Martin. ! tent, and found all the at “T reckon,” replied Morse, “that they had fixed up | men there were astir. ; 4 : gear to go up and down by themselves as well as to | “ What is the cause of that report ?” she asked one, : hoist the cannon. I will undertake to say that all | as he ran up to her. + ; that gear is hopelessly wrecked, and buried under the “Tt came from the cliff, senorita,” he suisnenecl s and a __ | débris of the projecting part of the cliff.” there has been a rushing down of the soil.” oe ae aT “What explosive did you use?” asked Jim, won- ‘Then something serious has happened 2” a ) deringly. | “ Anearthquake.” ie _ “Dynamite,” said Morse. “as strong as it can be “You fool!” she said, curtly. “An earthquake made. It has a downward action, you will remem- | would have been fe/é more than heard.” © ber. It will not have failed in its mission to blow The men made way for her as she stepped quickly - isp away the soft soil by the bushes. That bit of ground | out of the shadows of the tent into the open. They — had to go.” | followed her, and were in the nick of time to witness t In the gloom of night they could not verify this | the second explosion. : a assertion, but he was generally so very carefulin | The avalanche of stones and earth that followed. 1 what he said, never considering a thing done until he | rattled portentously in their ears, and the cries of the had worked it out in figures or seen it, that they | men above sounded ominously. ae could not doubt him. Two men, who had been engaged in hoisting at the mM “Tt is a marvellous feat,” said Terry, breathing base of the cliff, came tearing towards Lucia, their aN ee hard. faces, though dimly seen, startling in their expression. | oat placed.the second rocket in the tube. The cries were still to be heard from the cliff, and a murmuring from lower down. tube had not been shifted, he discharged it with as ae good an aim as the first. Then, after assuring himself that the The outery continued, dying away as those who And that was ee opinion of them all. _“The works are closed for the night,” said Morse, ‘grimly, ‘so now all that are inclined may go to bed.” The lights had vanished from the cliff, the cries had died away. Truly the work and the lives of five of the foe had come to anend. Three lay buried under the fallen soil, the other two were on their backs on the verge of a huge ragged rent in the ground, with -. their sightless eyes fixed blankly on the misty sky. Among the survivors there was a panic, and acting on the first impulse they fled towards the chine. It was a sorry tale they had to tell to their leader, _ @ woman whose passionate nature could not endure dreamily smoking a * cigarette, when the if first rocket was fired by Morse. In the deep resonance of the Doe she read the fact that of alarm. i “Senorita,” they cried, “a star from heaven fell and rent the earth above. As it descended Peitro. was buried alive. We had but a narrow escape.” “Stars do not fall from heaven,” said Lucia, con- temptuously. imps of the castle. they rent up yonder path? position ?” The cannon—is it In. Tt is something from those daring Have you forgotten already a , ‘i ya ‘¢ We hoisted it up, five of us,” was the reply, a and ay: c we two, with Peitro, then sent two of our number: i ‘They were near iy aloft to help with the work there. the summit when the explosion came.’ Sar ie the thought of being foiled by enemies, who were but “ And they fell?” groaned Lucia. “It is to be feared so, senorita.” boys. ‘You are not sure ?” “No, for a confusion fell upon us.’ “JT wish I had a hundred women instead of you ra eh ah re THAN US Meat LH _ men,’ 7 erent aes shee ‘You have: no more er Vy A vis it ’ Win OR 2 ae nal iN, wb a Fe a , i Lng com @ © DO! 0