both escaped out of my hands. They did not fall alone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds, and plunged head first into the water.

Treasure Island..

1. The "I" of the story was only a boy. While the crew were fighting ashore with the pirates, he undertook to save the ship, which was adrift with two drunken pirates aboard. He rowed out to it in time to see Hands slay his fellow pirate in a brawl. Then the lad plays his part.

2. Prove from the selection that the hero is only a boy. How do you know that there had been a fight previously on the ship? 3. What is the climax of the story? What does the boy do or fail to do that keeps your interest held?

4. Treasure Island is a book worthy of a place on your library shelves. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) wrote other books, too, with which you should become acquainted. The Master of Ballantrae and Kidnapped are fine tales of adventure.

POCAHONTAS

BY WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY

EARIED arm and broken sword

WEA

Wage in vain the desperate fight;
Round him press a countless horde;
He is but a single knight.

Hark! A cry of triumph shrill

Through the wilderness resounds,
As with twenty bleeding wounds,
Sinks the warrior, fighting still.

Now they heap the fatal pyre,

And the torch of death they light;
Ah! 'tis hard to die by fire!

Who will shield the captive knight?

Round the stake, with fiendish cry,
Wheel and dance the savage crowd;
Cold the victim's mien and proud,
And his breast is bared to die.

Who will shield the fearless heart?
Who avert the murderous blade?
From the throng, with sudden start,
See, there springs an Indian maid.
Quick she stands before the knight
"Loose the chain, unbind the ring,
I am daughter of the king,
And I claim the Indian right!"

Dauntlessly aside she flings

Lifted ax and thirsty knife;
Fondly to his heart she clings
And her bosom guards his life!
In the woods of Powhatan,
Still 'tis told by Indian fires,
How a daughter of their sires

Saved the captive Englishman.

1. Who was "the captive Englishman"? How is he connected with early American history?

2. Read aloud the lines that tell how he was captured. What did the Indians intend to do with him?

3. You probably know from history that Pocahontas married John Rolfe, and that there are many descendants of the family now living.

THE SUNKEN TREASURE

BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS was a poor man's son who was

born in the province of Maine, where he used to tend sheep upon the hills in his boyhood and youth. Until he had grown to be a man, he did not even know how to read and write. Tired of tending sheep, he next apprenticed s himself to a ship carpenter and spent about four years in hewing the crooked limbs of oak trees into knees for vessels.

In 1673, when he was twenty-two years old, he came to Boston and soon afterwards was married to a widow lady, who had property enough to set him up in business. It was 10 not long, however, before he lost all the money that he had acquired by his marriage and became a poor man again. Still he was not discouraged. He often told his wife that some time or other he should be very rich and would build a "fair brick house" in the Green Lane of Boston.

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Several years passed away and William Phips had not yet gained the riches which he promised to himself. During this time he had begun to follow the sea for a living. In the year 1684 he happened to hear of a Spanish ship which had been cast away near the Bahama Islands and 20 which was supposed to contain a great deal of gold and silver. Phips went to the place in a small vessel, hoping that he should be able to recover some of the treasure from the wreck. He did not succeed, however, in fishing up gold and silver enough to pay the expenses of his voyage.

But before he returned he was told of another Spanish

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ship, or galleon, which had been cast away near Porto de la Plata. She had now lain as much as fifty years beneath the waves. This old ship had been laden with immense wealth, and hitherto nobody had thought of the possibility 5 of recovering any part of it from the deep sea which was rolling and tossing it about. But though it was now an old story and the most aged people had almost forgotten that such a vessel had been wrecked, William Phips resolved that the sunken treasure should again be brought to light.

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He went to London and obtained admittance to King James, who had not yet been driven from his throne. He told the king of the vast wealth that was lying at the bottom of the sea. King James listened with attention and thought this a fine opportunity to fill his treasury with Spanish gold. He appointed William Phips to be captain of a vessel called the Rose Algier, carrying eighteen guns and ninety-five men. So now he was Captain Phips of the English navy.

Captain Phips sailed from England in the Rose Algier and cruised for nearly two years in the West Indies, endeavoring to find the wreck of the Spanish ship. But the sea is so wide and deep that it is no easy matter to discover the exact spot where a sunken vessel lies. The prospect 25 of success seemed very small, and most people would have thought that Captain Phips was as far from having money enough to build a "fair brick house" as he was while he tended sheep.

The seamen of the Rose Algier became discouraged and 30 gave up all hope of making their fortunes by discovering the Spanish wreck. They wanted to compel Captain Phips to turn pirate. There was a much better prospect, they

thought, of growing rich by plundering vessels which still sailed in the sea than by seeking for a ship that had lain beneath the waves full half a century. They broke out in open mutiny, but were finally mastered by Phips and compelled to obey his orders. It would have been danger- 5 ous, however, to continue much longer at sea with such a crew of mutinous sailors; and besides, the Rose Algier was leaky and unseaworthy. So Captain Phips judged it best to return to England.

Before leaving the West Indies he met with a Spaniard, 1 an old man, who remembered the wreck of the Spanish ship and gave him directions how to find the very spot. It was on a reef of rocks, a few leagues from Porto de la Plata.

IC

On his arrival in England, therefore, Captain Phips 15 begged the king to let him have another vessel and send him back again to the West Indies. But King James, who had probably expected that the Rose Algier would return laden with gold, refused to have anything more to do with the affair. Phips might never have been able to 20 renew the search if the duke of Albemarle and some other noblemen had not lent their assistance. They fitted out a ship and gave the command to Captain Phips. He sailed from England and arrived safely at Porto de la Plata, where he took an adze and assisted his men to build a boat. 25 The boat was intended for the purpose of going closer to the reef of rocks than a large vessel could safely venture. When it was finished the captain sent several men in it to examine the spot where the Spanish ship was said to have been wrecked. They were accompanied by some 30 Indians, who were skillful divers and could go down a great way into the depths of the sea.