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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1904)
THE OREGON DAILY JOURNALV PORTLAND. SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, 190t GOOD STORIES FOR CHILDREN -By: Walt; McDpugall Remarkable Adventure of a Bright Newsboy Who Became a Famous . Electrician A Sleeping Princess Found in a Deserted Castle in; the Most Landof t ': Lyonesse'. . DID you ever hear of The Lost Land of Lyon- ' . .. It. was part of the coast of Cornwall and it sank into the ea perhaps fifteen hundred year3 ago, and now only the Scilly Islands remain of all the wondrous country where giants, wizards, fairies, knights and even dragons were to be met with any time one walked out of doors, if all the stories be true that have been related about the land of Lycn esse. . . . Even now, when it is but a feeble tradition, the -Cornish people on tlie shore will tell you that bells may be heard, at times, faintly tolling down in the deep where the king's city lies forty fathoms under ; water; and voices singing the ancient Cornish Bongs. " '" , Old rusty swords, axes, armor and spears, too, eometimea, have been drawn up in the fishermen's 'nets, it is said, which shows quite plainly that people once lived where the fish now rove; and when , the tide is very, very low one can see tree-trunks deep in the dark water where the king hunted deer with his knights ia the long ago, and the fisherfolk will tell you that they hear at times .the sound' of a horn beneath the waves, as if "the hunters were still tracking their quarry. ; 4 But grave scientific men have long since decided that this is all rubbish, and some of them have even been bold enough to doubt the very existence of the lost land. I always believed in if simply because I cannot conceive how anybody could have invented such a talc without any foundation, and since I came to know Davey Brady I am, of course, perfectly well convinced of its truth. .Davey Brady Was a poor boy, so poor that he actually had no home; and if you can imagine any form of poverty worse than that let me know what it is. He was -a city waif who sold papers, ran errands and blacked boots to earn enough money daily to secure a bed in the Newsboys' Home on winter nights. In summer he slept anywhere. 'In many ways Davey was a wonder. tTn spite of the fact that he was hungry at all times, half-clad and homeless, he was always as merry as a grass hopper and as honest as a dpg. How he had learned to read he did not know himself, yet he had man- WTJo.dinlbo-tO-jeadjAei.aper8 ha sold, and. in iaci, ne spent some 01 xne nme ne snouia nave utilized in 'selling papers in reading the news. - And this poor little waif was the one who found The Lost Land of Lyonesse. ' ; ' When he wa3 about, ten years old a man whose shoes he had shined at the railroad station tossed him half a dollar and ran for his train without wait ing for his change. ' Six months afterward Davey saw him and handed him the money, saying: "Mighty glad to see you again, mister. Here's your change." ' - , . The astonished man,- who had never before seen an honest bootblack, refused to take the money after Davey had explained the matter, and. he took the boy to his office and asked him all sorts of ques tions, after which he told him that he would take him into his factory and make a man of him, as honest boys were quite scarce and should be care fully cultivated. The factory, was an immense workshop, where everything in the way of electrical machinery was made. Dynamos, batteries, electric lights, torpedoes, machines, everything that is needed for the use of electricity was there, and Davey went to work to learn all there was to know. He worked hard and studied harder, and by.the'time he was fifteen, by dint of reading books and asking questions, thore was no man in all the factory who was able to teach him more. Nobody remembered that he had come there a ragged guttersnipe a few years before. - When a distinguished visitor, such as a foreign minister, a prince or a great capitalist, wished td see the whole great factory, Davey was the one who was always selected to show it all, as he could best explain all the wonders in language that was simple but exact. Mr. West was so proud of him that he in tended to adopt him and make him his heir. Whenever there was a peculiarly difficult and : - f v; . , i .. ucuvavc p:;c ui lUUCUlliery 10 DG mfltlO It WBS avey who had to attend to it; he was sent to the great exhibitions and Worlds Fairs to superintend all the work to be done and he made many friends, for he was very good looking besides which,' and - that was far more important, he was always good- natured and kindly, so it is not to bo wondered at that Mr. West wished to adopt him. One day Mr. West said : , "Dave, you are working too hard. I want you to go down to my boathouse and look at a boat you will find there." - "What shall Tdo with it?" asked Da vey. "Take her out and try her," replied Mr. West with a smile. When Davey reached the boathouse. behold ! there at the wharf lay a white launch with "David Brady" in gold letters along her stern. The boy saw , at once that his employer had given hirn the dainty little craft, and he sprang into the boat eagerly, for he was very fond of sailing. He threw the wheel over and started her down stream, and she shot away like an arrow. Over the shining bay he flew; the boat running as smoothly and as noiselessly as a sewing machine, and when he thought he had gone far enough he turned her about. But at that moment the engine banged and hammered for an instant and then stopped. Now, one may know all about everything cho un der the heavens and m the earth, but there are things about a gasoline engine that are past finding out. Davey went to work very confidently to discover the trouble, but after tinkering with pretty nearly every part of the engine he was still as far as ever from finding the defect, and all thia time the swift tide was taking him out of the bay and toward the sea. Then it suddenly dawned upon him that he was in danger, for he had neither oars to row with nor anchor to stop with. Again he attacked his en gine, this time in great excitement. Now, when a uian gets excited over a gasoline engine something inter into it aud it becomes so obstinate as to be tdirios maddening. . Had Davey just simply sat still and talked calmly to his juacbiuvry it is quite likely thai it might have relented and become tractable, hut as this was a new engine, I can't Bay for certain. Old ones that have been used are tamer and nicer and will often respond to kindness, but this young one was simply beyond all conception intractable, and stubborn. So when the waves began to lift his boat, and Davey saw thathe was really ufrof -the harbor end at sea, he was fru?htened; for a launches not the best craft to go to sea in. Afar off on the very horizon he, saw two sails, but they were too far away to ee that tiny, low-lying boat, and he sat dewn in despair. On and on he drifted, and again and. again Attested the engine, until at hi night came and. covered the sea with a black mantle. The boat rode the waves beautifully, never ship ping a drop of water, and Davey at last became less , concerned about the danger. Finally, tired out, he lay down on the'erushiotied seat and went to sleep. The rising sun awoke him far from land, and with nothing in sight but immense waves that seem ed like mountains as the boat rose and fell.. .- . ' At noon, after he had toiled ceaselessly at the machinery, he saw a derelict, which is a wreck that has drifted up. and down the ocean for day9 and days. The hulk o the vessel was but a few feet out of water, and she seemed about to sink at any mo ment,. Davey saw, however, from the look. of her, that she must have been in that condition for a long time, and as the wind was carrying him toward her, he resolved to. board her in the hope of finding some food in her cabin. It took several hours to reach her, but at last he drifted alongside, and fastening his boat climbed aboard. In the cabin, as he had hoped, he found a lot of canned food, and in her water barrel plenty , of fresh water. It did not take him long to get these things into his boat, but darkness came again when he had finished. He had a notion of remaining on the wreck, for he knew that the government sent revenue-cutters to find and destroy these derelicts, but he was greatly alarmed over the safety of his own boat as she rose and fell alongside, and finally de cided to abandon the hulk. She soon vanished in the darkness after he had left her, and again he slept. Next day tlie wind blew strbng from -the west, carrying him along rapidly, and he saw a steamer far away, but could not attract her attention. To- ... . . V, nr.. n .. . I. I. l V,. 4 .Bh(V too, passed without seeing him. . Thus three days came and went and he was in despair, for now he felt that he was far out of the track of ships and if a storm came he would be lost, Again he went to his engine, and just because he v had nothing1 else to do threw the wheel over. There was a loud bang and off started the engine, as if nothing had ever happened at all. Davey fell backward in amazement, for, after all, he was not well posted regarding the habits of these engines. But he was in a difficult position, for be had no compass, and as tlie sun was overclouded be could not tell north from south or east from west. Still, as his engine was going he resolved to speed along steadily, but instead of going homeward he pushed on further into the ocean for another whole day. lie was afraid to go to 6leep and leave his en gine going, hut at last he had to do this, and the next day dawned with a great surprise. When lie raised himself and looked about him he saw, not more than a mile away, a gigantic iceberg, and then he was glad that he had stopped his ma chinery, for he might have run right into it and ' Ix-en wrecked. He started up easily and ran toward the iceberg to examine it, and then it was that he was surprised. y ' . . There iii the ice very nearthe surface was a dark object which he at once took for a whale frozen into the ber, for he had read of such things, but when he wailed closer he perceived that it had an appearance vastly different from any whale he had ever seen pictured. Then he saw on the dark, indis tinct muss a large lump in, the centre, and, filled with curiosity, he ran along tlie great berg until he came to a place where he could land upon the ice and examine into the mystery. , , In (mother minute he had seen 'that one end of the dark object protruded from the ice, and that it had long rows of rivets on its surface. It took him but an instant to find that it' was made of iron, and the next instant to guess what it was, for he had seen more than one drawing of such objects. It was' a submarine boat. i'... How it had become frozen in that immense ice berg he could not guess; but there it was, and ak ready more than half thawed out. Under the hot auuimer sun the ietfjvas melting aud pouring down The Great Fish Looked in at Them the crannies in noisy rivulets of fresh water, and the submarine boat .was only ten feet from the sea water level. ' . . ' Dave, now that he was sure of water to drink, for as you may know ice is always fresh no matter where you may find it, decided to remain right there until the mysterious iron craft was released from its prison and then to examine it carefully, for thero certainly must be something wonderful in a boat that had gone so far north as to be entombed in solid ice. Once inside of the submarine boat Dave was quite sure-that he could solve the mystery; alL. there was to do was to wait. He got back into his own vessel, and for several days he cruised around or lay beside the berg, watch ing the great form become ever more distinct, until one day, perhaps because the iron boat gathered heat moTe quickly than ice, there was a loud crack ing sound and the ice parted, letting the submarine boat slide down and rest half in and half out of the water. Then its release came quickly, for next day it was floating with its round hump out of water, and Dave fastened his rope to a ring on its top. After climbing on board and making fast, ho hauled and pushed at the top 'of its hump, which had a lid like a big pot, but it was only when he' thought of screwing it off that it moved. He soon had it off then and looked down into the dark in terior." Then by a ladder he descended, to find himself surrounded by a mass, of machinery that was elec trie, as he instantly saw, nd within two hours he had thoroughly mastered the details of it all. lie' saw how the boat was moved, how it sank or rose be neath the water, how it was supplied with air; but there were no papers to tell him t history, not a thing to explain how such a boat dbuld be in such a mysterious predicament. There was plenty of canned goods, flour, vege tables and other necessaries on board, but no water was in the water receptacles. These he filled at once from the rivulets on the iceberg, for he saw a chance to secure far more water than his own boat would carry, and then he started to tow his prize away. The submarine boat was not much larger than his own, but she did pull him back dreadfully and he found that he was making very slow progress; but after a time, when the wind increased and the waves became more threatening than they had been for days, he began to fear that he would have to give up the task; yet, when he reflected that the submarine boat was far safer than his own in mid ocean, he at last, with much, regret, deserted hit launch and climbed into the prize. He made the change just in time, for a storm soon broke that compelled him to close the lid of the hump and depend entirely upon the submarine, which, in the tremendous waves that beset her, rolled to and fro like a big cucumber. After an hour of this Dave went to work and soon mastered every detail of the machinery, after which he sank to a depth where the waves were no longer felt; then he moved along serenely, with his electric lights illuminating the darkness ahead, Hke a great whale. . There was a cunning little electric stove to cook on a cozy little couch, and rugs on the floor, and, in deed, it was -far more comfortable than his open boat, and here there was no danger of collision or shipwreck. There were maps hanging on the walls and a compass to steer by, and one touch on the tiny wheel turned the Whale, as he called her, in any di rection instantly. . "I shall have some fun in this," he said, when be ' had thoroughly comprehended everything and found that his knowledge of electricity made him complete master of this unkndwn craft. "There's no reason why I should regret the loss of the launch. I can make some important discoveries in this craft." Then he ran ahead at full' speed to test her pow- ers, and found that the Whale could make, without the least difficulty or straining, a hundred mile an houf, which- astonished him very much, aa no such speed was ever made by any boat before, but the speed registers proved it Inwond a doubt "At this rate," he thought, "I will soon be near the shores of Europe, and will be running into Spain, England or France with a hard bump." Great fish swam beside him, but none could keep up with the Whale as she darted along, while Dave studied all the wonders of her construction Ho iouna mai a nine dcii rang wnen sne nearen ine shore or the bottom, which was very useful, as in the ocean, as on land, are giant peaks that rise from'., theac dtmm almost to the surface or form islands; Again and there was a device that showed how far below the surface the boat was; another told when the air was becoming foul ; another showed the pressure of the water on her steel sides. While studying these wpndera he took no thought of time, and the hours passed like minutes; so he was surprised after what -ppeared-like-aHttle-space, to hear-the-bll give warning that tne boat was nearing shore. He ran slower and looked ahead carefully, but,'of course, was not at all alarrxted, for ho knew thnt'tho shore slanted gradually upward. Finally some large square rocks loomed up before- him and made him - go still slower , :: L J. . ' ,' vy ' As he neared them his eyes filled with.wonder, for they seemed like great buildings at the sea's hot-' torn. , : ,; ". , ' " '" ' ' Nearer he came, and then to his surprise he was, assured that they were buildings, moss-grown arid green, but still human constructions, down thsro in a couple of hundred feet of water. There were great pointed windows, devoid of glass, tbwers round and square, archied doorways, bastions and turrets to one immense structure, while smaller and more modest buildings clustered around its base. V ; . lie rnade his way carefully among them all, until he had seen every bit of thia marvel and. his sur- prise increased every moment; for, you see, al though Dave had read very muclrhe never heard of the sunken Land of Lyonesse, and this was the city; of the king upon which he had chanced. The dark walls towered up beside him and seemed to reach to the surface of the water; sea-anemones grew amid the green sea-weed over the great stones like ivy, but waving long arms in the current, so that the building seemed to move as if bewitched. Fish darted gleaming hither and thither,' yet, strangely enough, they did not invade the open doors or windows, and this puzzled Dave. Was there some thing within the dark interior that threatened them I He came opposite the huge door and flashed his light within, and saw a long hall, its floor strewn with rushes and its walls hung with tapestry of many colors, while here and there chairs and tables of ancient design were scattered about. .Weapons, too, he saw on the walls, and horns of great deer, horns that measured eight or nine feet in width f rem tip to tip. ' He resolved to invade this casthbut he decided to wait until daylight, which was two hours off ai yet. In the meantime he explored the submarine city, flashing his light into the windows of the houses !, here and there, and everywhere seeing ancient relics. ' . . When he returned to the great castle the faint gray light of the sun was turning ita sides to a lighter green, but even after he had waited two hours longer there was so little sunlight at that depth that, he despaired of its' lighting the gloom within. Then he determined to boldly enter the dark vault before him in spite of the thing that seemed to frighten the fish. lie started, and then as he reached the door the boat stopped as though held by a cable. M ; f ' Davo could see nothing and" went, forward, but there was nothing visible holding her, back. .The he suddenly realized that this was not water before' him, but air. Opening the .porthole he found that it was so. In some marvelous manner the castle was full of air, which kept ou1 the water and fish as well. He climbed out of the porthole and dropped to the .floor, and at the same moment felt the Whale lurch as if struck from the rear. Looking back he saw the head of an immense fish, white and ehaatlr. with eyes luminous and gleaming,' nosing the stern of the boat. Before he could say Jack Robinson the great fish vanished. " . "My 1", said Dave.' "If I had been aboard that would have given me a chilli" , He climbed into his porthole again and got a .hand-lamp, an electric light which can be carried, and then returned to the hall of the castle. There he examined everything with immense curiosity, for ' he now saw that all must be centuries and centuries old that lay here,' But the puzzle was as great as ever; nothing explained how it had happened that this oastle should be here and nlled with air. .; He saw a brpad stairway before him, and climbed . it, every footfall on the stone ringing out bell-like, ' and entered a large room hung with tapestry. Flashing the light bef ore. hinu upon a great bed ; pillared like a temple,, he was startled to see lying ' ' mere Deaumm maiaen asieep, Dreaming soitiy, rosy with health amid alMhat gloom.; He stopped; ' half frightened, for this he had not expected at all, then approached, her, v t . ' She was so beautiful that he held his breath, s fearing that she would vanish like the great fish; but no, she was real; he touched her cheek gently to find that she was warm and alive. Then ho laughed and aaid: , "Ha t , The Sleeping Beauty I Just like the fairy tale! I will kiss her, aa the prince did, and see if she will wake upJ" ?.'vs ' When he kissed her her long lashes trembled, then he kissed her again. Her eyelids lifted softly, ; revealing lovely blue eyes that looked tip at him in .surprise. Then the girl aat up and said: ' "Where am It Who aw you t" "My name is David Brady,, but I do not exactly know where you are. I have never been here before," , aaid he, smiling. "The light dizzies me, she "cried. "Are you a conjuror 1 , f The Princess of Lyonesse,' for it waa she, started up and sprang to the floor, then passed her lily white hand over her troubled brow., , "Ah, I now remember all I" she cried. "The awful deluge, the flight of our people, the sinking of our . land I All, all my dreadful work 1" , 1 "When did it happen!" asked Dave, for he saw that she was distressed and wished to make her1 . talk, as .he knew; that eases the female mind mora than anything else. ; r ' f 'Twas but yesternight," replied the Princess. "It came with a vast roaring and crashing, and horse men came hastening from afar to warn us. I laugh ed when they told me that the sea was coming. I ' told them that Loraine, the enchantress, would keep back the sea, for I did not believe there was danger. I wished only to keep them in awe of me. "But it overwhelmed me, even when I was smil ing at my father's fears. The sea rolled in upon us, overwhelmed us all; the lan'd waa under water when I uttered the magic spell that I thought would send me into a deep sleep and end it all forever; And you tell me, strange knight, that this castle is fath oms deep under the seat" "Yp. f ortv f AthoTHH. T mieRQ wnKerl T)va "Hut all this happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago, for I have read nothing in history about it. WThat was the name of this place V "This was beautiful Lyonesse 1" replied the Prin cess Loraine. "The fairest land in all the world I Ruined by me, the witch t Alast', "- -'-Tr "So you thought yeu' were a witch t" said Dave, smiling; for like all well-educated persons he had no belief in witches. "Ah, I am a great enchantress 1" she replied. "If I wished I could change you, sir 'knight, into a swan or. a heron, summon cockatrices and basilisks or fiery dragons, waft myself over the mountaijaa even to the moon! .Do you not tremble t" , t She looked at him carefully, but he was not trem bling, and then he said: ; "You must have aken something to have pre- servea you au ineseceniuries, oui x am not airam of you. You are too pretty for a real witch. Say, honest, is this all true t" She assured him that it was, and then he took her hand and led her below where she could see how deserted the castle was. Aa they walked through the gTeaJ building they talked. v u suppose this place is in England, isn't it, thia Lyonesse t" asked the boy. "England 1 I never heard of that land," the re plied. "Where is it!" . "My gracious! ried Dave, "but you do date frdm a long way back. Why, every little girl six years old knows about England nowadays. You must be older than the Norsemen 1" "I have heard 'of the dread Norsemen," she re plied, "but they have never been in Lyonesse. al though we have Been their ships at sea like birds of ill-omen hovering afar." i - "I am afraid, when you get up on earth again, that you will have a lot of studying to do," added Dave. "How old are you!" "I am fourteen," she replied, "but I know all that a princess js taught embroidering, falconry, sew ing, dressing wounds, and, besides, much of wizardry and astrology." , , ., . ... . 1 "Well, that's a start," said Dave, "but I wouldn't like to learn all that you will have to." , . When they had reached the very top of the castle the Princess said : "This is where I practiced magic, alone here with the shades of demons." "Did you ever see any !" asked Dave. "No," she reluctantly admitted. "Perhaps my in cantations were wrong. But" "Well, I'll tell you right now that there are no such things and you were wasting time," said the boy. "You had better have learned plain cooking. Now, as there's nobody here, we will get in my boat and go ashore, where you will begin all over again." ' "Let me get my pearls and diamonds first," said . i -- . it e . 1 J l l a 1 t..M me i nncess, ior wouiu u a suame w leave mciu behind." V ''.,. She went to a great oaken chest and took out utrincr after string of large pearls and diamonds. gems, that flashed like stars in the electric light and daazled the boy. Then they climbed into the Whalo by a little porthole, and Dave started the machinery. The voyage waa not interrupted until the boat came to the surface in a harbor, where it was greet ed with great astonishment by all the sailors of the ships anchored there. The ftrrivel of the Whale was a wonder, but when the story of Loraine was told, and when the anti quarians and historians questioned her about that long-forgotten land and found that she was telling only the truth, the wonder was simply world-wide. Kings and queens sent for her to hear .her tale and to aee her marvelous gems, and many of them were bought by nonarchs, for indeed they were so valuable that nope but monarchs, newspaper pro prietors and Standard Oil magnates could even do more than admire and ask the price of them. So, when some years after Loraine had been to school and learned ao many things that sometimes it made her dizzy, she was married o Dave Brady, and Mr. West waa the best man. Even now, at times, tney lane an occasional vyip iu iikj.tjuiuc, aim i suspect they steal away to tne arownea castle to talk over the Strang things that happened. . ,WALT McDOUGAlL, 1 l V : -.t '