The Island School — page 397: what you’re looking at

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

v start ape ly ; y tess fy " mee ai) fis ae Ad A iy v ae my é gum eit. Lines ah 3 “ (si ‘So am I,” cried Dibble. fe “That will suffice,’ said Jim, “we cannot spare a fey of our workers.” _.. The preliminaries were then arranged. The trio were to start on the morrow and travel by the beach ‘is far as three miles beyond Silver Bay, and then tum inward and work their way home by the chine. a If no signs of the missing men were discovered, a | - ) -oute would be selected for the next day, and so on, : He ‘ora week. If no clue to the fate of the men was iy, 0 obtained, the search was then to be given up. +. £69 CHAPTER CLXXXI. aia ‘y hee sOUSE-EUILDING. THE PARTY IN SEARCH FOR | MISSING MEN. THE VERY busy time was now begun. Morse hastened on the work of clearing away the ruins of the castle wall, and having willing assistants, in two daysavast amount of work was got through with. The stones were of - various sizes, some not more than six inches square, others two or . ie even three feet in length. Be, ‘They Ae to have been quarried by independent 5 workers who had shaped the stone according to a their individual fancy. | a _ The did-time builders, however, succeeded in fitting | a aaa together with considerable judgment and Bs. picturesque effect, and so they had remained until _ Morse, with his explosives, dislodged them. _ He was, moreover, engaged in making a lime-kiln a near a piece of chalky ground, about a mile away, in a the direction of the chine. With his keen eyes ever on the watch for things of interest, he had noted it __. long before, and conceived that it might one day be 7 a turned to ‘account. 1 That day had now come, and so far he ranked as 3 a a prophet. But he did not arrogate to himself that i | age gift which enables a few—a very few—to diveinto af v o> ee! _ the future. hen there was the spot tobe selected for their oly - house the plans mapped out, and the foundations dug. Morse was responsible for the plans, and the 3 carrying out would devolve on Martin and Sleery as foremen, and the boys as workers. _ Simplicity was the main feature of the plan Morse _had in his mind. The principal building was to be _ sixty feet long and one storey high. In front, two 2 . Zo ta “hes, FA, a We z \ | PHE~ ISLAND souon. zi | | | them with. | way the castle had been supplied with water, he re= | continual supply, and the surplusage be carried off by. | said Miss Elegantine. | man. renih gt Merv Re a Monga me ot Moe open to the Slt sede when closed witt te ae shutters, for at present they had no glass to glaze The back, which would look out upon the wood, | Was: to be pierced for shooting, but with no other opening. whatever. The roof to Be first covered with rough. planking, and then over that with clay, into which asort of thatch,made out of fibre of the trailing, ¢ plants, was to be fixed. | WAN Around the whole he proposed to put up a Pico. ade, twenty feet from the main building. _ uM Nor did his plan stop here. Keeping in mind the: 2 solved to search for the pipe that led the water from. the spring, and shift it so as to bring water to a room in the big Long House, as the building was to be named. There it would fall into a tank, keep up a a a simple arrangement of a drainthat wouldrun under. the stockade, and so bear the water away. ‘eae All these things he rapidly sketched out, ou exhibited to his approving companions. The spot. chosen was in a direct line just behind the castle.. There the soil appeared to be sandy and light, easily | worked, and healthy to live upon. Most of the- trees in front were to be cleared away, leaving pash a fringe on the border of the wood. Nothing was done towards the suggested residence for Mr. Farrell, schoolmaster no more. It was. decided to leave that until he was in a condition of © body to. look about for himself, and in a mind that. would enable him to make a judicious selection. _ Working parties were appointed, each and all to: his duty, with others or by himself, and thus the days went swiftly by until the better part of the week had passed. By that time Morse had his amateur lime-kiln going: with a promise of great success, and the founda-— ~ tions were dug for the stone walls. pe ih One of the pleasures—they were very few—in the lives of the women-folk was for them to come out in. the afternoon and watch the boys at work. i Jim was here, there, and everywhere, but he some- times found time to explain what was being done,. and was rewarded with their unqualified approval. “Tt is the most romantic thing I ever heard of,” “JT wish I had been born a: « > ear —< LD) “You would have been a boy first,” said her: nephew, who was standing by. There had been a time, and it was not. long ago, when she would have turned upon him and taken exception to the remark, either by word or deed, but since her stay upon the rocky shore, outside the. lagoon, she had been a Lee woman, | STO Hy ; eee ne Sts it fe Pana RRA ke - ie [com boc 2 : a aw! ) my ’ 4 Ga ft ¥' ” fh ‘% = ne Pe DS AN i a Mined Se Sy oe » _—