The Island School — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

Li, eat etd cx ‘ t f Ay ir" iT pad ‘A; he he : . Mas wae situa : rh Ee ee tS Sap : Y eS ae a 3 My, a Y oy) he se * AM, same ey ty F f ; a, b eee ‘" net “ by een r . v NS a) . , x) eal c e. = . ’ A 1 : / : fy ‘ Vig aya Vif . %. -s . a ' * : +h ty, OE iz J, “ - é me - : gh) a . \ . . J ¥ ‘! : is a) AS yan : Nt ty Poy ds ‘ ky . ; r: x i yi Sake df Be ; y, it aA ‘ c “nection with the Caley ee “They ate) ie OEY in the « ‘crops: In season for daily use, OF aes them away for a later season. Ait ae To the north, round a point in the island, was te another spot where a variety of fruit, including the grape, was grown. The climate being favourable, the - labour was Tene but what had to be done was carried out under the direction of Rainstone. | He was the son of a nobleman’s gardener, and from observation and teaching when very young, ae _ knew something of the business of fruit cultivation. Probably the work of both Dawson and Rainstone supply the needs of the school.. It was not pleasant to think of what ens aoahatles happen to them as they went to and _ fro. Almost daily the two young principals made a journey _ to the grounds under their care, sometimes alone, but generally, on what were known as off days, with one or two cpmpanions. - Si Their object then was to gather and bring home __. the produce for daily use. . It was now anoff day with Dawson, and in the afternoon he would have to visit the farm simply to = get a supply of vegetables. - He could not look forward to the task with the % _ pleasure he usually felt. It was a busy day at the school, for Martin had managed at an early hour to pr pare a number of the iron bars ordered by the sch olmaster, and it was _ proposed to put them in their places in the afternoon, >and Jim was invited to assist. | He was unable in the morning to get the interview he desired with Mr. Farrell, and it was not until after dinner, when he opportunely caught him as he was going from the dining-room, where he had occupied the seat lately belonging to the hapless Stephen Stebbings. ety.) “T shall be very glad to gs wag you for a ie minute, sir,” said Jim. i The schoolmaster looked at him haggardly. It was painful to note the change a few days had wrought in his appearance. | - “Nothing bad to report I hope, Gordon P” he said. “No, sir. Lonly want leave to carry out some- thing Morse and I have been talking about.” They entered the study, and there Jim laid the plan of making the forts before the amazed school- master. He was not sucha fool as to think it was a notion founded on pleasure, although Jim tried his best to make it appear so. : “Tt will be a change from the ordinary work, sir,” a : ie said. “I understand there is little to do in the _ shops, and all the boys could be put on the job so as to get it smartly done,” — Ae “Forts are little Boer without soldions,” said Mr. | oto bist se at A . R ws > , ‘Lee hal "Qos of 4 ~ Bt Na rae. bil | ’ av ty +f eVES a i* ; ‘>? ‘ 1 ~~ sibel Se . pe 4 Bey vr : 4 1 nh" ie eo 1) nit irs ee os Le . a, n>. ‘ A c. Ries vt ve a aa Kit " et) (c ©, ' Ms r ¥ 4 ‘ om cy ; mye 4) a wh) ain ee é ye was crude, but it served on that favoured island to ‘say he does it to give us something to do. Farrell in the way of propounding a conundrum. She | : } cpa te ¢ i yh Gee bes . LP) Me at A es ‘red iif it ‘ A “ ‘oh, we intend to play at soldiers, too,” said Jim, i cheerfully. “There arethe Enfields, if you would let — * us have them. They shall be well taken care of.” “T leave it to you,” said the schoolmaster, — Ph irresolutely; “but be careful ae do not get into mischief.” | “There is little harm in firing caps,” said Jim. “ ih will take care of them, too. To-night we shall all be busy writing letters, as the mail goes out to-morrow. I was going to ask another favour, sir. It is, that instead of spending the day looking out for the steamer, I may stay at home and begin on the fort ; work. Chorker could go with the boat.” ii 1 “Very well,” said Mr. Farrell, “it shall be so. e's Excuse me now, as I have some very important letters as to write.” | ws ; Jim having got all he wanted, hastened away, and Ke told Morse, who retired to his laboratory, and spent _ et the afternoon there in the—to him—pleasurable As i Mn i) Li : "ey en vs Se pursuit of manufacturing gunpowder. of a Martin set Jim to work fixing the bars in the q Nae boudoir of Eveline, who was there with her mother, ios one sewing and the other painting. . ARS “Tt seems to me a most ridiculous thing,” said Mrs. Farrell, “making the windows ugly with those he bars. Does'Mr. Farrell think there are any burglars Ma about 2” ab “They won’t do any harm,” said Jim, “ avi I dare- 4 There — ie 5 has been very little work for the blacksmith of late.” a E “T wonderwho killed poor Mr. Stebbing ?” said Mrs. e did not seem to realise the full importance of that — tragic event. Not getting any reply,she went on: __ ‘He was very slow and dull, and not a relative im the world. He hadn’t much to live for.” ey “That is no reason for his being killed,” remarked — D Jim, quietly. ! : The entrance of Mr. Farrell cut short the conversa- _ tion. He walked up to the window and inspected — , Jim’s work, testing the strength of the screws Jim A was using, and measuring the size of the bars with his - finger a thumb. yn Soe “These ought to be strong enough,” he mused. “They are ugly enough, ” remarked Mrs. Farrell, lightly. “My dear Nap, why do you have Bs ic. | ridiculous things put up here P” Mt “Dawson is going on tothe farm,” said the schooled master, ignoring the question; ‘he wants to know, Gordon, if you will accompany him. Romeo can be spared to carry the baskets and help with the retina ney loads.” on “T shall have finished in a few minutes,” said ris" “and then, sir, I can go with him.” | Me It is four o ‘clock, ” said Mr, Farrell, refering to By ae = ¢ an as a=) 3 t, — |