MEHITABEL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10066, 6 February 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEHITABEL.

(Pr Balph Bergengren.)

_ „in May, 1825, or thereabout, an« « ti.»ical island, conveniently out ol «? ' nI J» of navigation, ten sleepy pi- ** „,i* in a tow in front of a stout »f ";„' f„rt. Each had a comfortable ** to to sit in. The Tender Polly '"w to the mistaken enthusiasm of her S rail w..«itlr held np and approshipload of fnrniture, clothing, S J .ithtT necessaries sent oat by a New STrland missionary society to its workers Kh° Sandwich Islands. Kach pirate £l thus become possessed of a nice ret! frh,.* chair which some of the more fasimproved by the addition of •'^hitt .Im. **.""* lin the """' ,le;: - "**> venture Thev were alt smoking 5 1 t-iIt.TV hali-noart.-d fashion, and 10 * for rife" rust fortnight, there had I ££.'*> vrir-l ..n Xonsuch Island, the L ~f tb-ir ten pipes floated motionless S f"l'air under the tall palms that tjn'ir the fort like a half-dozen Kir tired feather dusters stuck upright ?S'he sand till the next sweeping day. Havin r nothinn particular to do. the tmpintes all wore carpet slippers They t mn-icjnl-- - 6 - avi: " tor the monotonous movement'of their ten rocking chairs bnt n„ w and then one of tnem crossedhi* legs. n-sa.-d them again in the opposite direc►;„n and vawucd extensively. to Si™°- £*i <* ttle ' ] •'"* them forPPr--1,,™ an hour and conversation was apXitlv exhausted. Bnt humanity aoJj s ii s -r«- as nature is said to atmor a !acnW and th- ten pirates were very (raman N'ow "tie of them, alter an un- °_. r v nrotrarted vawn. stretched arms common.j ,„.i f e <~ simultaneously and ejaculated: "Herho. Hut I wish I knew how _to Za~ fte w.-l- :i burly caricature of a !Li"with a large, rouml nose projecting Hie an island from a sea of red hair, neatlv plaited into a number of spiky ems/which, started high np on his cheeks and rul I'"d l "' nlore jocular anions his companions to christen him Red Whisker F» hid a n-nr..- black eye which matched it ™;* i. ■! rovic ■ Kaox ,ii.-;ji->itio;i. both fell wit a a row. . . r jmt now hc-atad "v an «ti«,:e menia. weariness- At- one side of him sat a comrule in a tittered blue shirt—sun. wind, and win. hail made it a delicate baby blue —who r.r,.n.:<i small eves like a pics and closed them again sleepily whenever any- ,,„,, «80!t... On the other side ot him a ™blL.^ys, r >p,r of a fellow with long mllow dmii!sM> hes. the enrls ot which were in curl papers, moodily tickled a mosquito bite on his ankle with the sharp point of f,i„ cutlass- Pirates, you understand, led such an active life that a bored mrate was an especially piteous object. Presentlv a fourth pirate, noteworthy, for a l»ni. horse-like jaw, above which.' his small nondescript nose seemed hardly eiiaal to supporting the targe brass noserin.r that it. relit his. pipe and stated vacantly over the tlat. unmterestinf surface of the ocean. "Funny, amt it. but I was inst a-think-in' o' the same thing. Whisker.'' he remarked in a drab sort of tone. -Here be we—ten of ns—all alone on this confounded uninhabited island." He used sevenl adjectives to describe the island, bnt 'Voafoumied'* may perhaps serve to epitomise them. '"We can't always be _aifrjaHa and a-gamblin', and a-caronsin" jamfl'a that young jackass" —and here fie Indicated by a cock of his thumb the very itat recruit, a brown-visaged youth who nt miserably by himself rocking lKick and iortli m his cane-seated roefcer—"same's tint mutton-headed idjit thought we ms Tito he left his happy home and jined the company. We can't always be apnm* ot the seas and a-barryin' of treasure: and when we roes ashore its gettin' mii'v tiresome dodgin' the revenue. tVsen I »a» a kid," he added, "I didn't feao«aae in schoolin'; no sense vvhatimerer' And here I be a-sittin' in a fceiNMlar. red paint an" varnish rockL'iair and nothin' to do. but smoke my pipe and blink my peeper at that blame all ocean." Ami "he spat discrnstedly as far ,is possibto towards the ho;, white bntfi. I A fifth pirate uncrossed fiis legs, them again, and wriggled bis toes until the carpet slipper of his left foot hong suspended on the larger of them, and the place where the beet of bis stocking needed darning w;i£ instrnetivelv visible. weary note of Red Whisker from force of example. "And to think of all them good books that we've had to heave overboar d."' That set them all thinking about books for a few moments; but it was in a doll wav. and the conversation soon lan"iiished. as needs must when none of them had ever read one. They relapsed again into moody reverie, broken by no sound mote interesting than the steady creaking of ten of rockers *m the hard sand. ' It was all veiv solemn and unexciting-, and a pirate's life seemed to each of them the most monotonous of existences; but what uinld a fellow do without educa- ■ tionT

Grriflnsly enough, nnt one of these pirates ha<t the slightest education whatever. Sime i;t them hid been born pirates anil had nevr had any educational advantiiissx the f>-ltow with the ringed nose hiul ran atrav to sea voting, become a cabin boy and drifted into the profession, very mii'-h. as nowadays a man drifts into literature: Pig-Eye and Yellow Moustaches were nf Kuropean oriain. whose parent! themselves" quite illiterate, had emi*ntaF to America. ;ind settled on farms inconranientty distant from schoolhouses : ~i &s ycuro st of the ten just happened be tile son nf a pessimistic old widower --o <iiiln't h.'Sieve in education, anyway. .'. Ufcen all in all thev were far from ■air stupid fellows ; they could sail by • - snn an.i stars, and knew a great ■ -it tfain;rs not set down in text-books : • 1 they were wise enough to bury their ' eusure, ex c nt such ready money as. they » irht lay hunts on. because they knew ■6 the sharpers whom they dealt with ashore n-eu!r| _et the better of them *n" My bargain involving arithmetic. (This, hy the way, is perhaps why pirates in ■.. n-ral buried so much of their : treasure, although, of course, some pirates were much [>.-it.-r educated than those in this Btury.) And they were also clever enough to hare remained profitably in business tome rime after many older "and better known pirate had retired, and the newspapers »ere congratulating themselves editorially on_ having entirely extirpated piracy. . So they rucked "back and forth methodically, m«vin' their chairs oecasionaliv to bsp in the shuU- of the palm trees. "Red Whisker lii.-.i> f -; f nodded and nodded, and finally went sound asleep. It seemed as if_ the 1.-LK- ■...-,, r ,| had 1 been spoken and sobaiy would .ver trv to hunt np another.- hut after a iv : hile the youngest Uinta br.iio- the silence. "I want. ii to ,4i to school." he said. "out father wouldn't let me." Theoth-rt opened their eyes and peered * him in. redid.iuslv out of the corners ; »ey were too bored even to take the '"able ~f turning their heads. "Listen to him." '.'rumbled Pin-Eye sar«utically. --father wouldn't" let me!' "iy. in—ev—whv. tinder the sun didn't JwkiU father and go to school anyway?" "Id .i--made him walk the plank—l would." growled a seventh comrade who **i not y,.-t irokea. He was a fat pirate «d prot.cte.i hia bald head- from the sun with a pink parasol, once the property of a tine ladv who had no more use for h. •■[ ) rat ,-. .- . ovt , r you 0 _ f a ther.' |«1 a said : and then off" to the schoolReuse with mv hooks in a little leather strap. \\„ Vm." he added bitterlv. 'with their little, innenent faces a'll ■'|<ie.l i:p. shineyiike. of their "ttlt, bonks. Just so happy an" contented." And he. f. -i. relapsed into moody abstrae''on, aftt-r first moving an extra chair *Here h.- could put hie feet on it. ther.* was another loner silence. A white cloud at first hardly larger than a "■Ma hand, appeared on the distant hori- »»- _ At length Yellow Muutaches rose kngiiidly. twirling his cnrl papers: he at the white cloud : then he moist«ne.. his hrurvr and held it up in the still Mr. "Hang- it. my merry ntenH he cried. ?» winds a-rising. What's the matter °t cmisirT north an' capturin' a schoo!fflaaa? F.h? If a three-year-old kid can {earn to read, what's the matter of us ~? rn « , . r ? We've got plenty o' time, an" ~} we needs is somebody what knows a 6l ' nlo re than we do to start ns goink"' .ine optimistic words struck fire, xbo ™ other pirates leaped to their feet w ™ alacrity. Thev were practical men Md here was a practical snieestion: they tl°r 1 t. luve ch «*red it to the echo onlv mat they remembered in time that on

Nonesuch Island there was no echo. They had no council, and made no definite plan—time enough, for that on the broad ocean; but they kicked off their slippers, j got into their boots, and sped back and f forth like ants between the fort and the . cove that concealed the Tender Polly, t their rakish schooner. They carried proe visions, arms, ammunition, liquor, and ,- the other accessories of voyage and adr venture: and as they worked they sang a . savage ditty in their rough, discordant voices: : "The good old man, he walks the plank. . His step is firm but slow. [ Ho. boys : ho! He hits the ocean with a spank. His wife and little daughter, They march above the water. And in, kerplunk! thev «■<■. Ho. boys: ho! Ami in. kerplunk! they go." The wind was rising, and half an hour later it softly rocked ten empty rockingchairs on Nonesuch Island, while far out to sea the Tender Polly drove northward under every stitch and darn of canvas. CHAPTER 11.

M.-hitabel Perkins taught school at the Four Corners down on the Cape. She was the only child of .Tosh, or Joshua S-. Perkins, whose yearly income from his cranberry farm would hardly have supported them except for the help of Mehitabel's modest stipend. Secretly the old man often thought of his daughter's marriage as the Golden Road to an assistant who should help make the large but poorly managed farm more profitable. Hut- he was a kind as well as an indecisive parent, and, as the pretty schoolteacher had remained free and nnromanticallv h:tppy in her chosen duties., he mad-.- no effort to force her inclinations. Indeed, it seemed likely that he would have also to force the inclinations of the much-desired suitor, and for this task the old man lacked both courage and diplomacy. (•"or Mehitabei was pretty only in the chivalrous sense that prescribes the term tor all Xew Kugland school-teachers. A. "lain, honest girl, with a rectangular fcure and a talent for authority (inherited it may be guessed, from her dead mother), she took life in a matter-of-fact way and thought little of love except as a "handy verb to conjugate. To he sure, she rarely lacked a boy to cany her books for her. But this devotion regularly faded away after the big hoy graduated, and left Joshua S. Perkins shaking his head in secret disappointment. The Four Corners was a lonely but convenient place for a schoolhouse."being the central point of the large, sparsely settled district that supplied its handful of scholars. Four roads met there, and Mehitabel's way to school lay along the lonliest of them. It ran through woods, with here and there a peep of the wide ocean : or, it followed the curve of the shore through sandy, tree-less spaces, turning inland at last to reach the schoolhouse. On this road stood an inn, the ""Maid and Bottle," which bore an unpleasant reputation, and which Mehitabei often made a little detour to avoid on her. way to and from her dnties. Queer characters resorted there sometimes to discuss the landlord's brown ale or stronger spirits, and theso discussions often became animated to the point of physical violence. The "Maid and Bottle," in short, was a resort for the idle-minded of the whole country, and its landlord, Simon, throve cheerfully in a down-at-tlie-heel sort of fashion. At about ten o'clock on this, morning Simon was unusually busy. He had brought out all his chairs to afford comfort to a number of wayfarers, all of whom were quite new to his experience. Although they were inconspicuously clad in s*»mbre black (such raiment, in fact, as was thin worn by foreign missionaries on dres B - occasions), and conducted themselves with an almost exaggerated decree of decorum, there was about them an inexplicable air of freedom and gallantry. The various angles; at which they wore their shiny black hats hinted, for example, ntii'nmilt.in'tv with the best clerical tradition. And as they had approached the inn their raffing steps and fanned faces suggested that"these i lerical visitors had but recently come on shore after a long voyage on deep water. Their speech, too. betrayed a. noticeable indifference to the ordinary restraints »f grammar, although in addressing each other they graciously used the title: "Reverend." The leader of these strangers, called i.y his companions "The l!ev< rend Mr Williams." lictspoke the landlord and ordered ten glasses of rum and water. He w.-is a large man, with a round, purple nose, and wore his tall hat titled .-jo far forward that his red whiskers seemed to grow from under the very brim of it : in fact, he presents! the curious optical illusion of being a man witft his head on backward. "Hum and water!" he repeated with marked emphasis. "An" mostly rum! Stiffen her. you long, lank, good-for-no-tiiin" son of an easv-goin' mermaid—" ..!• .i.„.T.,' i>... „,i \i, -v:>

•"Easy, easy there, Iteverend Mr Ailliams." interposed a companioti wlio wore his hat very much on otic side and absently twirled the ends of a long flaxen moustache. Ife turned to the indignant landlord and explained suavely: "It's hi? jolly little way of spcakin' to the oniegenerato heathen, that is. Xevor you mind Itira. nephew, but pipe all hands and hurry the crockery. Prcac-hiruv is dry work." he added and .-pun n shining piece of monev dexterouslv on the rough w<"tlen table. The landlord of the "-Maid and P.ottle" needed no further incentive. He "piped all hands."—a freckled boy, an old stableman, and a couple of untidy wenches from the kitchen —and together they set ten chairs in a row tinder the spreading chestnut tree, their peculiar guests watching these preparations with deep and undivided interest. Then they settled themselves comfortably, and the Rov. Mr Williams raised his" own "lass of rum and water. "Xow. boys, a song-," he commanded jovially, and" several of the company, after first clearing their throats by a swal]ow_of the tempting leverage, started in merrily "The good old man. he walks the p'.auk.'" they sang, "His step is firm bnt slow. Ho. Ihivs ; ho ! He hits the ocean with a—" The reverend gentleman with the flaxen moustaches interrupted this ditty, which seemed to annoy him. "Stow the hymn, brethren." he cried; and with that he .trove his elbow sharply into the ribs of his next- neighbor—a person whose sombre garb was somewhat incongruously relieved by a shininj brass nose lias- The movement passed along the line and the hymn stopped suddenly. In the foliage of the chestnut tree a robin niped cheerily and a number of swallows irurnled slomr the row of now solemn reverends. The man -who had interrupted turned to the landlord. "'Hark ye." he said earnestly, '"what's the sailin'" direct ions to the nearest schoolhouse?'' Simon looked puzzled and the reverend nerson with the brass nose-ring came to his assistance. "Here be we," he said, making a oenerallv inclusive gesture. "And there be you.'"" pointin" at the puzzled landlord of the -'Maid and Bottle." "And what we be a-askin" of you is this: Uow be we to ct from von to the nearest schoolhouse;" "We loves to see the little kidlets at their tKjoks. bless Vm," explained another, takinu oil his hat and mopping his bald forehead with a delicate lace handkerchief about which still lingered a faint odonr of violet perfumery. "We love to see 'em on their way to school with their little boks in an in'neTcent leather strap, bless 'em." "Crazy,'" thought Simon to himself. ""Crazy "loons—the whole ten of 'em, but their money's as good as another's." And with this sage conclusion, which he naturally kept to himself, he directed the travellers to the Four Corners. The afternoon dragged lazily, as afternoons will in Jnne, and Mehitabel Perkins, having at last finished the final example for the arithmetic class and proved conclusively that a certain James, in dividing his"onK- apple with a certain John ami Mary, -was generous with an almost repnlsive mathematical exactness, closed her desk while the scholars trooped out into the Funshine. Each scholar carried his or her books and slate in a neat leather strap; but the inevitable big boy lin-

i/cred behind on the doorstep. There Me- : hit<tl>el joined him and stood for a moment methodically making up her mind that everything had heen locked up securely. Her own road, like the others, turned immediately into deep woodland and lost itself in sun-flecked shadow, and, as she looked forward blithely to the homeward walk, she wondered if she should again see the black schooner that had aroused her morning curiosity in a cove just beyond the "Maid and Kottle."' She gave the door a final shake and turned toward her escort. Suddenly the-*- both stood quite still and gazed at each other in the surprised way of persons who have simultaneously received a nervous shock. A child's cry ransf out from the woods at the left, followed by protracted.weeping; a like note was repeated from the woods at the right, and then from the forest in front of them. A dozen children be<ran crying piteously all at once in different parts of the woods, and no one person could have decided which way to rim to their assistance. The sounds had something of fear in them; something of anger ; "and something, too, of the long-drawn I'll-tell-my-father motif of a youngster attacked by "an older person. Then the cries died away in the distance ;ind silence once more settled

over the siin-fiecked woodland roads. But Mehitabel instinctively squeezed the big boy's hand. and he in turn, mingled feelings of happiness and trepidation, squeezed Mehitabel's. At this moment tour men came into the clearing, each from one of the four roads. They wore dressed in black, and were, in short, no other than the Reverend Mr Williams and three of his fellow travellers. The Reverend Williams, as he approached Mehitabel. politely raised his hat. "M'am,'' he said, "be you the schoolteacher ':" "Be,"' said Mehitabel gravely, "is a lamentable failure of grammar. I am the the school teacher." The Rev. Mr Williams wit apparently overjoyed to be corrected. "She am !" he shouted exultingly : and he grabbed Mehitabel about the waist, lifting her bodily from the ground. The poor girl, thus suddenly embraced, experienced a mingled sense of t;ir and offended modesty. She wriggled vigorously, and the boy pounded an indignant tattoo with his fists on the stalwart back of the Reverend Williams. It was a useless effort. One of Mr Williams' companions grasped the big boy by the legs and pulled these necessary supports from under him ; another sat on his stomach; and the third calmly robbed him of his strapful of books. Then they tied his hands and let neatly together and stood him up against the side of the schoolhouse. Meantime from the four roads appeared six other men in black. Their arms were full of school books, and they all surounded Mehitabel, wlio stiil wriggled in a determined but now discouraged manner. The Reverend Mr Williams, somewhat flushed from his exertions, set her again on her feet, but he hooked one large forefinger into her waistband in .1 manner that made escape out 01 the question : Mehitabel was made fast, so to speak, and stood still with calm dignity, but without attempting to conceal her contempt for her captor. To the wretched big boy. trussed up against the side of the schoolhouse, the ten abductors seemed to be holding a. serious discussion, but Mehitabel's wriggles had taken tliein out of earshot. Finally two of' them separated from the rest, and. having broken one of the schoolhouse windows, disappeared into that little temple of learning. They were gone only a moment, and then climbed back, carrying the teacher's chair between them. They put it on the ground, and altogether they compelled Mehitabel to sit down in it: there they fastened her with stout ro"es. Then one of them grasped the chair at the back, two others grasped it each by one ot the front legs, and together they lifted her, swinging very much as if suspended in a hammock. So they started on a smart trot down the road, and the other seven, their arms full <>f text-bonks, trot- 1 ted cheerfully after. The sun-flecked wood closed behind < them. And as the big boy stood stiiily 1 trussed up against the wall, the echo of a i song came back to him, growing rapidly | fainter and fainter : 1 1 "His wife and little daughter. t They inarch across the water. ; And in. kerpluk ! tliey go. i Ho. boys: ho!" CHAPTER 111. 1 They built Mehitabel a small, comfort- r able two-room house of her own just ; outside the fort. Mehitabel herself ' chose-the site, and superintended this operation, her native talent for authority * soon asserting itself after site bad been * satisfied that the ten pirates meditated no ' personal violence; and this assurance * came easier because she was neither con- j ceited nor romantic. Except for that one '

wild embrace of Red Whisker —an ebullition which, he later explained, was due rather to the abstract excitement of grasping instruction in person than to anyless enobling passion—her captors had so far treated her with respect, consideration, and even a touch of awe 03- no means unpleasnmt to a serious-minded young woman. Thev had been unquestionably surprised, for example, when Mehitabel expressed an objection to their habitual profanity; vet they had considerably striven to change, in her presence, a habit which they now saw was inconsistent with the calmer moods of scholarship. She had even persuaded them (although unfortunately there w.io no soap on the island) to wash their faces, a custom which they had come to think rather unnecessary because they often went swimming in a deep cove just north of the fort ; from her own little house Mehitabel could sometimes hear them, of a hot summer afternoon, laughing and splashing each other with the cold, salt water. She had been about two months domiciled on Xonesueh Island. Often, as she watched the red sun go down into the copper-tinted ocean, she thought pensively how with each day the long summer vacation on the Cape was drawing nearer its end, and wondered practically who would take her place at the Four Corners schoolhouse. Sometimes she laughed, a little cruelty perhaps, at the memory of the big boy's expression as he stood stifHy against the schoolhouse wall looking after her as she rode away into the woodland with the reverend strangers for company. Concerning her father, patiently tending liis cranberry farm, she thought more poignantly. Vet after all Mehitabel was not only young but an enthusiastic schoolteacher ; now that she had got used to her strange pupils they greatly interested her: and she was no longer afraid of them, although her attitude toward Rod Whisker remained pointed and discriminating. Pirates, like the rest of us, however, are only human. During the fust month they had thought of little but the serious side of their studies—and the alphabet, if one takes it seriously, is an absorbing topic even to persons so highly educated as the philologists. Thou, too, the ten pirates, although not of the aTtistic temperament or training, had undoubtedly been calmed- emotionally by the same characteristics in Mehitabel that had tempered the admiration of a succession of big boys. For the purposes of unhampered devotion to study they could hardly have chosen better, although the choice, as we have seen, have been more or less accidental. Hut the good living of .-vonesuch Island—far different from, tne pork and pie traditionally devoured by Joshua S. Perkins and his dutiful daughter—were combining with fresh air and unlimited sunsliine to change Mehitabel. , Although she took long walks over the island, the. corners were beginning to disappear from her rectangular figure. Mehitabel (to put the fact plainly before the indulgent reader) was getting fat; and this accretion, so often fatal to female beauty, was in her case distinctly becoming. What should happen if it. went too far is, of course, quite another matter, but Mehitabel was a tall, large-boned young woman, and could, csthetically speaking, afford to cany more weight than most. Her cheeks, too, were turning temptingly pink under her tan. And' in one of them when she smiled, as she did frequently at the mistakes of her pupils, there had lately appeared a little indentation which might perhaps be best described as a baby dimple. To .complete this description, and at the same time answer a natural question that the feminine reader may already be ask-

- ing, Mehitabel was better than. - at any other time in her life. The bald--1 headed pirate had gallantly handed over - to her the pink parasol, and with it a , large trunk which had fallen to his share 1 of the booty in a now forgotten episode , of hie .professional labors. For the most i part the contents of this trunk, which had. belonged, to a lady of evident good taste as well as considerable means, had . been of slight service to him. Mehitabel, although not without shedding tears of sympathy over the pretty garments (until she suddenly realised that they might spot), had gratefully accepted them. She had, therefore, dresses for all occasions and lacked, only the occasions. But of the general effect of these changes Mehitabel knew nothing. There was only one mirror on the island, and that was a pocket one carried by the tall pirate with the long flaxen .moustaches, which he now wore in curl papers only when he was asleep. In the two months that had passed since the disappearance of Mehitabel from the Four Cornells the ten pirates had progressed in their studies with surprising rapidity. They had mastered the alphabet, after considerable violent discussion of the foolishness of having each letter come in two sizes. They knew the multiplication table as far as the fives. And thev were beginning to read short selections from their First Readers. Within restricted limits the educational experiment was already a success —but, alas! this very access of knowledge had a peculiar effect on their individual characters; Mehitabel seemed more human, more normal, less awe-inspiring. Red Whisker, for example, proudly enunciating. "I see a cat and a rat. Can the cat see the rat:" was beginning to look at his teacher with such an expression as might fairly have served to illustrate the cat's attitude of mind in this familiar conjunction. Pig-Eye, thoughtfully trying to decide what an imaginary John would do with one apple and four younger brothers, felt instinctively that if he, Pig-Eye, had that apple he would drop any number of younger brothers overboard and give the whole of it to the teacher. A similar softening influence affected all of them ; it was the beginning of the tender passion, although, as such, lack of experience kept any of them from recognising it. But Mehitabel, comfortably secure in the belief that she was still a plain, honest-looking girl with a rectangular figure, paid no heed to symptoms. She was pleased in a motherly sort of way to note iiow much more regularly theten pirates washed their hands and faces; and it was only when she had succeeded in introducing grammar into the curriculum that the smoke showed (ire beneath it. Un the very day when she started her ten pupils conjugating the verb "to love" the hidden flames came near to bursting out tumultuously. Two days afterward there were 011I3' nine pirates, and the tenth rocking-chair stood empty. The evening before Yellow Moustaches and Bald Head had gone walking together: Bald Head, as was reported by "Yellow Moustaches, had fallen ucuidenta'lly overboard : and just before : the accident the two had been heard conjugating the verb in loud, angry voices. Mehitabel accepted the accident sorrowfully, for she had a kindly feeling for the vanished pirate on account of the ' dresses, and then innocently proceeded with the morning lessons. The nine surviving jnratcs now conjugated with hardly repressed passion. "I love, thou lovest, he (or she) loves," ■ they shouted in their harsh, discordant voices, and each out of the corner of his . eye glared suspiciously at the others. Mehitabel, realising that something was , wrong, could attribute it only to the possibility that her charges had again been j drinking, a habit she had done her best to discourage by precept and admonition, j Between the nine pirates, however, there was now little hope of long delaying the ; real issue, yet each felt the necessity of 1 concealment. Any way they looked at it, i the affair stood one man against eight; \ and each in his own simple mind discuss- ; ed the relations existing between Mehitabel and the others. Red Whisker, it j went without saying, was the least "popu- £ lar with her. Xose-Ring? Had she not ,- once expressed tender solicitude for the pain he must have suffered when that t ornament was inserted? Bald Head? But he, fortunately, was well out of the mat- c ter: the shellfish had him. Jonathan, the i youngest pirate? But where was Jonathan? ' t It is not to be supposed that the pirates - reached this vital question at the same ] moment. They reached it separately, and i as they did so each disappeared, one after ; another, until nobody remained in the 1 enclosed front yard of the fort but Red ', Whisker, sitting sentimentally on an empty beer keg; owing to Mehitahei's 1. successful crusade they were two empty .n beer kegs together. i laving given him- c self over to sentiment, it was character- ' istic of lied Whisker that the pointed ab- I horretice of the beloved object had no u part in bis meditations; he thought rather

of a 'sun-flecked wood far to the north, svnd laughed sarcastically as he remembered the big boy and his indignant attempt at rescue. Then he looked up, and, finding himself alone, lie cursed himself for a procrastinating pirate, drew his cutlas, and disappeared after the others. Meantime Jonathan walked with Mehitabel. They had walked often together after school hours, for in Jonathan's studious disposition, which had run fairly riot 6ince lie had actually been going to school, Mehitabel found a sincere and thoughtful pleasure. He was indeed her prize pupil, having already reached words of two syllables and secretly mastered the multiplication tables as far as the eights : he had, moreover, a knowledge of farming, such having been his previous occupation, that afforded her much interest and enjoyment, and she felt sure that some of his ideas would be valuable to her father. Insensibly, too, for they were nearly of the same age, their conversations had passed from education and agriculture to more . intimate and lighter topics: they had told each other much of their past histories: and Mehitabel had listened with a readier interest than she had ever given to similar narratives on the lips of the big boys. Hut to-day Jonathan acted ijueerly as they turned together into a path they had themselves discovered ; a high cliff shaded it on the one side, while on the other it wandered not far from the ocean. He was the only one of the pirates, in the sudden tumult of emotion following the grammar lesson, who had thought nothing whatever about the others and much about Mehitabel. Now, as he walked beside her, he seemed self-conscTous and nervous: and suddenly he turned to her desperately. "Mehitabel," he cried, "I iove—" and the poor boy could get. no further. He stood tongue-tied, looking down at his own feet. •"Thou lovest," nrompted .Mehitabel. "He (or she) loves," continued Jonathan in blushing confusion. "We love. You love. They love." "That's right," said Mehitabel. And then silence fell between them, broken only by the idle sonnd of .the sea, its little waves kissing the shore of the island. Presently they found a sheltered nook where the deep water flowed in under overhanging shrubbery, and there they sat down together, the young woman oil a fallen log projecting over the water, the youth leaning against a tree at a higher elevation. The water lay deep and gently' agitated at. their very feet, and Jonathan, in his gay pirate trappings, looked picturesque and even handsome. Mehitabel, as she looked up at him,, found herself wondering if Romeo . hadn't presented somewhat the same appearance; nor did it occur to her that Borneo was an Italian and probably had no freckles. HeT right hand, in .what was certainly a tempt- ■ ing and coquettish' fashion, lay on, the log toward 1 Jonathan. ■ • _. Jonathan saw it, and the temptation affected him. "Mehitabel," he cried again, "I have to say it, I can't help saying it. I love—yon." And he reached down and grasped her hand timidly. Mehitabel frowned. "Thou, Jonathan," she corrected, "I' love. Thou lovest. He or she —" And then she looked up to see Red Whisker peering at them through the thicket. He, on his part, was not-looking at Mehitabel; he was looking at Jonathan, examining iris broad back carefully, with the cold eye of a connoisseur, as if to locate a, particularly vital spot; and in his 'hand, drawn back to strike, was his glittering cutlass. Even as she gaaed the cutlass moved outward like the tongue of a, serpent.

l Bat Mehitabel was quicker. Her hand ■ closed over Jonathan's and she gave a. • quick, excited swing and pull all in one , movement. She was a strong girl, the ; bank was st-eep, and Jonathan followed : with his mouth still open. What he meant, to say was nnfinished. There .was a big, rotary .splash as he struck the water: and hardly had his heels vanished when Red. Whisker, 'losing his balance with the.vigor of his unresisted thrust, shot unreservedly after him. He followed so quickly that they both, disappeared -under the water.. Jonathan was out first. He scrambled back on the bank sturdily, visibly annoyed at having been interrupted, but seeing _ a head rising from the. water he took in the situation and made a movement as if to drag, his own cutlass from his soaking waistband. But Mehitabel stopped him. "Come away from that horrid man. Jonathan," she commanded; and, seizing him again by the 'hand, she dragged' him back to the path. They had' hardly reached it when another figure became visible, dashing toward them with drawn cutlass; it was still some distance away, but Mehitabel recognised Nose-Ring and could even see how he grasped that ornament in his teeth to keep it from striking him in the face as he came onward with long savage leacs. ,\s he leaped forward, Nose-Ring swore terribly; and an echo seemed to answer him. Mehitabel and Jonathan, looking toward the top of the cliff, saw Yellow Moustaches. He was busily dropping hand over hand from ledge to .ledge, ana just over the edge above him peered two other faces, distorted with anger and jealousy. "They've been drinking again," breathed Mehitabel. "Run, Jonathan." -And still holding hands, Mehitabel and Jonathan took to their heels in good earnest; up hill they went and then down again, and ever nearer sounded the footsteps of their pursuers, uneeononvically wasting breath in wicked and unprintable expressions of rage and determination. Eight distinct and different kinds of profanity told Mehitabel and Jonathan that the entire band, was behind them. Their hands clung together and their feet kept step with automatic precision (indeed, they seemed to have been made for each other) as they crossed the clearing to the open door of the fort. Then they"reached it, and, pushing together, swung the heavy door to even as Vellow Moustaches drove the point of his catias into the stout panels. So deep be drove it in that it broke off when he tried to withdraw it, and that made him swear worse than ever. CHAPTER IV. An angrier lot of pirates than now gathered at the door of the fort it would be difficult ior any writer 01 picturesque tictiou to imagine. tineu had they boasted among t'lemselves that the tort was impregnate, and now that they found themselves in the position of having to break into it there was not a pirate among them I hat tacitly admitted that the thingwas impossible. Sov under the circumstances did it seem wise to begin kicking each other. Hue after another draggen pistols irom belt and emptied powder and indicts into the closed and unrespousixe entrance—but even this was an unwise and foolish exhibition 01 temper, lor (as they immediately remembered) all the rest of their ammunition was inside with .Jonathan. .Somewhat calmed, howe\er, l>y tins otherwise silly outburst, the eight pirates withdrew to the beach where they sat down in a moody hall-circle, the sand was warm under them and suited well with their own tempers, but they tooic no comfort in this harmonious betting. From where they sat they could see the top of their chimney just rising auove the walls of the forr, ami tile chimney began presently to smoke violently. "They re a-makin' of a iire," growled Nose-Ring. "Wast in" good UinclJin' as we've took turns a-choppin'. Who'd ever have thought as we who built that lort would ever he a-seltiu here outside 01 it a-wonderin' howsomever we're to get in.' "The next time 1 builds a fort,'' remarked Red Whisker bitterly, ••there'll be some place in it as nobody but me knows about—" "Listen at him." .exclaimed i'ig-Kyo contemptuously. "Mini build' a fort!" Red Whisker started and laid hand ou aulas, lie turned a sparkling eye upon bis fellow freebooter. "Mebbe you built that fort," he insinuated politely. "Mebbe you did, l'iggy . —but if you had, i guess we wouldn't have any trouble to .speak of gcttin' into it. Who thought of plantiu' the thorny papalapsus all round the wall to Keep air.body from gcttin" nigh with a ladder. ; That's the conundrum I'm askin'?' i "1 thought 1 did," mildly hazarded an- 1 other pirate. "Rut I guess 1 didn't.' he i added quickly as Red Whisker turned his ( cio fiercely' toward the interruption, t "Come to think of it. Whisker, 1 reinem- ; bc-r as how you put it into" my head first t oil. I cculdn't have thought o"f it.' t "And it's lucky you couldn't, answered 1 R< d Whisker hotly. ".\s I was savin', me c next, time 1 builds a. tort—' f

There was a row in the atmosphere, and' c the other pirates sat up and began tu take ;i notice It made them feel more natural, 1 more like themselves, but Yellow Mous- 1 taehes brought them back suddenly to a 1 ■ realisation of actual conditions. \ "Aw, shut up," he said wearily. "Aw, t shut up. you tellers, Jonathan dassn't I ,:r,,ae out and we can't get in. How long's t it goiu' to last'.' That's what's en tin' t me." t The word "eating" disturbed them aH \ mightily. It aroused unpleasantly attrac- ( tive memories and took the light completely out of tied' Whisker and Pig-Eye. r "Eatiiv," echoed Ked . Whisker drearily, t "Eatin', say ye? I miess that's about all t the eatin's likely to be done on this pic- r nic. That Jonathans \ got all the eats." f "An' the guns,'' grumbled another. 1 "An' the nshin' tackle." j "An' the First Headers an' Grammars." s "An'—an' the girl, too." e As the last pirate added this item to c tne inventory there followed a thin grind- v ing noise running from one pirate to an- i other. The eight ground their teeih in t unison. It was a habit, when exasperated, 1 that had given them exceptionally sharp e teeth, but at this moment it only empha- v sised the need of something more nourish- <] ing than anger on which to grind them. c Meantime night was. approaching. The i smoke from the chimney had diminished r to occasional puffs and spirals. An ap- s petising smell of roast goat and onions t mingled tranquilly with the piquant odor of the blossoming hedge of the thorny t palapsus. Fond as these bad men all were r. of onions, the memory of their lost domes- r ticity made their eyes and mouth water t simultaneously. The hot disc of the sun I: dropped steadily toward the horizon; the 1 shadows of their squatting figures '• t stretched farther and farther along the s sand, almost to the edge of the forest, now all a-twitter with the good-night a chirpings of hundreds of little birds. A t wistful melancholy stole .'over the eight s pirates. From the 'ocean a light, cool c breeze stirred their long hair in a.vexa- t tiously tickling fashion and. chilled them i with a premonition of the drop 'in the £ temperature that often follows a tropical £ sunset: Flesh and blood in short, could stand it < no longer, lied Whisker got up stiffly, : tied a dirty handkerchief to the.blade of '1 his cutlas and approached the fort. The i others watched him without comment. '. "M'aih ! eTacher!" he called plaintive- ! "M'am! Teacher!" he'called plaintive- ■ had instinctively given Mehitabel. when she first came to the island, and lie re- 1 peated it pathetically several times in sue- ; cession. From the edge of the forest a sleepy, imitative parrot. squawked back :' J "Teach—er ! M'am Perkins !'' ; Presently the ' young woman appeared on the rampart. Her sleeves were rolled* up and her hands covered with flour; she | had tied. a'coat round her waist for an i apron,, and she looked prettier than ever, < 1 although the discouraged and hungry .1 pirate had now ho eye for prettinees. He i raised his big 'fist and .twittered his.tstubby fingers as Mehitabel had taught him was i ; the polite way of attracting her atten- ] . tion. ;..', "We're awful sorry, M'am," he said 1 humbly. "Ain't we goin' to get any din- < ner?" . . ' 'You don't deserve any dinner," replied the young woman severely, "acting the..'" way you have. You are a very bad lot of i pirates." "Bad pirates have stomachs just like . anybody else, M'am," said the pirate mournfully. ."And ours is pious empty."

1 The childish, ungrammatical sentence i touched Mehitabel. She knew that she i shouldi never again bo able, to trust these > pirates, but her New England conscience I rebelled at the thought of allowing them i to go hungry when there was food on her ; own table. " i "Gome to the front door one at a time,'' . she said after thinking a moment. "And i we'll see what we can do for you," and she disappeared into" the fort to consult . with Jonathan. At this welcome assurance Red Whisker could hardly repress a chuckle; hardly restrain the impulse to jump up and crack his heels together for pure satisfaction. Once inside ,the fort, he tild himself, and the situation, would take on a very different aspect. He called to the others. As they crowded expectantly round the entrance he softly communicated this hopeful thought to'them, and their spirits rose in proportion to their previous depression. Kaeh tickled his neighbor in the ribs, and.a mere list of the things they delightedly promised to help each other do to Jonathan could only be printed in the Hades "Daily Recorder"; in the whole wretched company there wasn't an ounce of gratitude. In "this happy frame of mind they were preparing to rush the door when Mehitabel again looked down from the rampart. "1 thought as much," she remarked briefly. "1 said one at a time." The eight pirates did their best to seem pleasant and harmless. Kaeh in his own way tried to explain that he was really too* hungry to wait—to say nothing of not wishing to keep Mehitabel and Jonathan waiting. Rut to these polite efforts Mehitabel paid no attention. ""Wretched and ungrateful men," she continued severely, "if you wish any supper at all yon wil'l do exactly as 1 tell you. William"—and here she 'indicated Red Whisker with a matter-of-fact gesture—"may stay where he is; but the rest of you"will get "down the beach as fast a-, your legs will carry you." The pirates saw' that they must make the best of it. They went down the beach obediently as fast as their legs could carry them and" left Red Whisker .standing ahn;e outside the portal. "Far enough!" cried Mehitaiiol sharply, and the seven stopped at a considerable distance. "'As for you, William." she continued, "you get right down Hat on y:iar stomach and wriggle in when the door opens. LCoep your hands at your sides, right down straight, little fingers at the scams of your pantaloons. You will thus be able to propel yourself by digging your toes into the sand, and don't you dare look up till Jonathan tells you." Wrifn-le, indeed! Nothing but the most pressing need of getting into the fort could have made so bold a pirate accept so undignified a. mode of entrance. Rut Red Whisker,had no choice. His seven companions, too far away to hear these directions, stared with surprise at thepeculiar spectacle. The door opened slightly and the ferocious .freebooter wriggled indignantly through the narrow opening. Then the door closed behind him and there were several minutes of anxious silence. "Alonzo J. .Murphy!" called .Mehitabel, for in calling the roll she had always insisted on giving her pupils the nanus by which they would have been known had they remained in civilisation. KoseRing ran forward : like lied Whisker, his companions saw him hesitate, expostulate,,, and then grovel his way into the fori. One after another, as Mehitabel called the roll, the remaining pirates disappeared into the fort until Yellow Moustaches stood alone on the beach. "John Smith!" called Mehitabel. Yellow Moustaches, always dignified, responded with an affectation of leisure, tie stood in front of the fort, culled his moustaches and smiled at .Mehitabel; but the smile was wasted. '■Now, John," said Mehitabel cheerfully, "voti've seen how the others went in. Lie down flat on your face and wriggle. And do hurrv, please, for we're all hungry." Yellow .Moustache's smile tided. lie restrained with difficulty a highly picturesque burst of indignation and confined himself to a single sullen monosyllable. ""Shan't." he said sulkily. "Very well," returned Mehitabel, "if you prefer solitude and personal dignity to companionship and onion soup —" -r ain't never wriggled tor nobody." said the pirate firmly ; ""and I'll he—excuse me, M'am—and I ain't a goin' to." Mehitabel leaned over the rampart and looked straight at the sulky pirate. She threw years of professional experience into a single sentence. "You are going to," she said calmly, "so let's not have any nonsense." And the reluctant pirate, overpowered but unwilling, threw himself-on his stomach and began an uneven approach to the door of the fort. Before bis very no.se the door opened slowly just wide enough to admit him, and "he noticed a thin strand of rope stretched across the aperture, lieyoud the rope, as lie wriggled across it." he saw and recognised Jonathan's boots: then the rope suddenly tightened about'him. binding bis elbows ( (irnilv against his ribs. There was a | quick", businesslike tying of hard knots at file small of his back; a rapid, met hod i (

cal fumbling of fingers about his ankles : a vicious pull upward from behind thni brought him clumsily to the perpendicular, lie tried savagely to leap forward, but his feet were fastened firmly together with about eight inches of freedom, lie tried angrily to grasp his cutlas, biu hi"-" b.innd elbows prevented, and Jonathan quietly removed further temptation, by taking his weapon away from him. In those days a pirate without his cutlas was, figuratively speaking, a pirate without his liver. Mehitabel had ccmc &twn from the rampart. Together she and Jonathan led their captive to the kitchen. When he tried to resist, they both took hold of the rope behind and dragged him along backward. Then the neat young woman carefully washed his "ace at the kitchen sink before taking him into join his fellow pirates in the dining-room. The unhappy seven sat round the dining-room table, each with his hand tied securely in front of him, and the loose end of the halter in which he had been caught firmly anchoring him to his dining-room chair. Mehitabel and Jonathan unfastened their hands, and they set to eating, 'but their elbows being still fast to their sides, they were compelled to feed themselves with quaint and chicken-like motions. Never did eight ferocious freebooters present a. more humorous spectacle, and, as the meal progressed, Jonathan and Mehitabel smiled at each other more than once from the opposite ends of the long table. When the meal was over they dragged their guests one'by one to the front door of the fort and dismissed t hem for the night. Then they sat- a while by the fire talking of their own future, and Mehitabel, after a friendly good night, loosed herself in the attic, while Jonathan retired to the parlor sofa, drawn just inside the door of the fort. But neither went to sleep immediately; for Jonathan anil Mehitabel were now' engaged—Mehitabel had herself suggested it as soon as she found that they were compelled by circumstances to remain together under the same roof tree—and the gentle tumult in their bosoms long precluded the seliish self-absorption of their usual healthy slumber. But'the eight pirates made a bad night of it. They tried to sing, but that was altogether out of the question, and when they "at last slept it was in an uneasy, restless fashion. Morning found them stiff in the joints and weakened in spirit, but they looked grimly determined as they were marched, in to breakfast. "Now, boys," said Mehitabel when the breakfast was over, "I want to ask you just one question, and yon may just as well answer me politely. You know that I don't approve of profanity. How do you Tike being tied l up';" The pirates exchanged 'glances. "We. don't like it," M'am,"'' they growled in unison. "Jonathan and I have been talking it over," continued Mehitabel, ' "and we .thought yon didn't. Of course, it doesn't make very much difference. to us, except for the responsibility .of seeing that' you don't..come undone.'' We have enough' provisions for t\yo years and. a-hal'f, and Jonathan has' only'-just begun his educa-tion,-so we really-have plenty to occupy ouiTselves. . At the same time it has occurred to us that perhaps you would be willing, to sail us back to the Cape " ■'-' The eight again exchanged glances and (jrinned broadly. "Easy done," cried Red Whisker. "Just vou untie these 'ere- painters an', we'll sail vou back to the. Cape immejit." He winked at the others, and the seven drew

e deep breaths of expectation. Flashes of e anticipation drew over their faces and s their fingers twitched nervously. " —without being untied," finished Me--1 hitabel. r The faces of the eight pirates turned bitter and solemn. They shook their heads. ' "It can't he did/' they exclaimed tol gether. "You don't trust us, M'am," addl cd Red Whisker —and he did his, best to ; say it mournfully. "You can sail the Tender Polly with- • out being untied just as easily ns you ■ can eat your dinner.'' And Mehitabel : rose from the table and folded her napkin. "Jonathan and I do not propose to force you in the matter, but it will do no harm for you to think it over. William, will you kindly get if and lead the procession from the fort?" But lied Whisker settled back in his chair as if determined to become a part of it, and the other pirates followed his example. "Shan't go," he remarked doggedly. "Ain't any "of its goin' We've swore it." "Here we be. an' neve we stay." added Nose-King solemnly. "If you an' your Jonathan are goin' to move us, you'll have to haul an' carry every time. An' as time goes one," he added triumphantly, "we'll be irettin' fatter aml fatter." "Very well," said Mehitabel. She nodded brightly at Jonathan and went into the nexF room, whence she appeared presently carrying her hat, as if she had deckle-! to go out for a visit. The pirates watched her with stolid triumph, which turned slowly to apprehension as she removed a hatpin and calmly walked round the table behind I Red Whisker. The pirate looked at her over his shoulder, stirring uneasily. Then he stirred more uneasily, and a look of pain passed over his features ; he tried to get up, hut his bonds held him to the chair; although he had so recently expressed a determination to remain seated indefinitely, its cane-seated bottom seemed to have become unpopular with him. "1 thought von might change your mind. William,"' said Moli'iiahel cheerily. "Lead William out, Jonathan, and if he doesn't go comfortably here is another hatpin. Only don't lose it." she added, "because I, have onlv two of them." That night lied Whisker was caught trving to get into the fort with loosened bonds, and Mehitabel and Jonathan scot him to bed siinperless. This unexpected severity completely cowed his companions, and the next morning found them ready to accept any conditions. That, same afternoon the Tender Polly set sail for the Cape : and. more than that, she drove northward with explicit and conscientious directness. The spunk was entirely out of the eight pirates : far from any longer thinking sentimentally of Mehitabel/they wore only anxious to reach the end of their enforced voyage and seethe last of her. What was really going to happen to Jonathan, they told each other in bitter, exultant whispers, was lav worse and .more lingering than anything they could"'possibly do to him ; ami they hobbled about their tasks with almost cheerful alacrity at the thought of bringing him near it. It was late twilight less than a month afterward when they at last sighted the lights of the Cape, and ten in the eveniiur when Jonathan and Mehitabel floated away from the Tender Polly, their last act aboard being to announce to the pirates, whom they had assembled on the (iiiarterdeck for 'that purpose, that they had hidden a sharp knife somewhere in the cabin. They knew themselves safe from pursuit, even were the knife .discovered sooner than they expected, for they had taken the captain's gig and carefully thrown overboard the oars of all the other small boats. The full moon touched the water with spots of silver and the surf against the distant shore made a shining curve, behind which, as Mehitabel knew with a filling heart, lay her road home from the Echoolhouse. As the last wave lifted them high on the pebbly beach they both looked back by the same impulse. Lights now moved rapidly on the Tender Polly, and they heard the rattling of sails as she came about, faintly mingled with the notes of a rough chorus. Mehitabel echoed it whimsically: "His wife and little daughter, They march above the water ; And in. kerplunk ! they go. Ho.' boys: bo! And in. kerplunk! they go." Then they pulled t..e gig carefully and economically above high-water mark and hand in hand disappeared in the direction of the Perkins farm. Little more remains to be told. Joshua S. Perkins, aided by his new son-in-law. did so well with his cranberries that Mehitabel had no -further need to apply for her old ulnae at the Four Cornel's. Jonathan, soon happily married to Meliilahol, became in a short time the most learned and tiresome farmer in the whole neighborhood. As for the pirates.- they were never again heard of except as Rimon would recount their visit and Alehitaliel's subsequent adventure to infrequent stran- , hers at the "Maid and Pottle." Mehitabel was always inclined to hope that they continued their studies, hut Jonathan , doubted it. at any rate, thev were able

to read their First Headers after a fashion, and emit was certainly better than nothing. _ t