Auburn High School - Arrow Yearbook (Auburn, NY)

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THE ARROW ANNUAL--1927 the neck and hustled back to his chamber. 'Tis a lucky thing, he thought as he passed from hall to hall, that I know my home so well. What if I had never played about the halls with the pages? I would be lost now and would never be able to reach the banquet room. Softly he stole across the foyer and slipped into the huge hall unnoticed. This chamber was a magnificent place gaily decked with trappings and tapestries and lighted with a huge candelabra of at least a hundred lights. He crept along unnoticed keeping close to the wall until he reached an obscure corner. All eyes were turned upon a man who was just rising to speak. He was a burly fellow with cruel, sly, crafty green eyes which now were glitte1'ing at the thoughts of what was soon to be his. Slowly he gained his feet and began to speak. My friends, said he, I am very glad you have helped me carry out my plan. 'Tis indeed gloriously well done and you will all be rewarded for your help. When your master, my half-brother, returns he will have a pleasant surprise wait- ing for him, will he not? We have rid ourselves of those who remained faithful to him and when he arrives, he and his cavalcade, spent and weary, 'twill be an easy matter to put them out of the way and seize this castle. No more will you have to be at his beck and call. I shall let down the bars a little and you shall eat and drink to your hearts content. Well do I know that his enemies are many and powerful and that thine are several men who will stir up his warriors to rebellion. 1 put them there myself. What few do remain faithful will go clown before the onslaught of the foe as wheat goes down before the scythe of the reaper. Then shall I reign and you shall do my bidding. - A look of stark terror spread over the boy's face as he listened and but one thought kept pounding in his brain, Tell Daddy! Tell Daddy! Tell Daddy l The wind had grown to be a very gale now, the lightning was followed more quickly by a clap of thunder and, in the flickering candle light he managed to crawl out unnoticed. Once in the hall, he sped from place to place looking here and there for some- one. As he rounded a corner, he forcibly encountered something and he and the something went down in a heap. He heard a slight tinkling of bells and as they seemed to come from the something, he knew it to be the jester when he put out his hand to make sure, it was seized violently and he was crushed passionately to a heaving breast. God be praised, said the jester. I thought they had killed you. I went to your room and you were gone and the good Lord knows what that beast will do if he gets his belly full of wine. Where have you been? Oh, Nolo, I know not what to do. They are all in there drinking and I crawled in and they didn't see me an-an he got up to speak and he said that he was going to kill daddy when he came home and he was going to take the castle away from him an-an everything. You mean that he expects to rule as king in your place? Oh, the good saints help us if he does. l've never seen a more cruel man in my life, Peter,

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.14-1 --QQ-9 fi- ,--f .,,-11 ,,.,.,-i-- 11,1 n li 1 1 ,...i.i ,HM-3-3-.13 or - N 'X tl! W , -----1:- - t i, . ly :'.T:': :---- :Z---T715-:1 f ii V Z---ling-if-lj1g........ 'A V' . I T:.g..:.: . -e - -or ':, 4:31.- ll t ':.:::-- 1 f,',I.II. -l:..--- -+ , :.'::... L..-. 5 W, ::::-.,---'f 1 '.L 1--..a, 1 .. ef' m - it A f?: 7 t X V :',':..:.. .:T ' -ff Z'----- ' - NM H E - 1. X ' -in ' ' ' o I 1 , , Retribution Senior Prize Story The wind howled threateningly around the great towers which guarded the castle of Feu de Mer, and the distant growl of thunder, intermingled with the ever-increasing sharpness of the lightning, gave an unmistakable proof of a com- ing storm. The sentinel dozing at his post, was rudely awakened by the clang of a closing door somewhere within the walls. ln the short time that it was open. the shouts of ribald laughter which reached his ears gave him an idea of the mer- riment within. A dog barked in a kennel on the other side of the castle and in a moment the sound, taken up by the other mastiffs, made the earth tremble. So great was the tumult that it penetrated the walls of the western tower and brought little Peter to his feet with a start. He was merely a child, hardly more than nine or ten, with soft curly hair and a merry rosebud mouth that was now puckered up into a sulky little pout. Why do I have to stay locked up in this terrible, gloomy place, when all the rest are enjoying themselves downstairs ? He crossed over and pounded with all his puny strength on the great door that barred his way. Things were not this way when my father was home, he thought. Just because he has gone away for a while to tight a battle is no reason for my being shut up in this place all the time. He sighed deeply, tried to open the huge door once more, and then went back to his couch. He sat thinking for a while and as he pondered, with pudgy hand on his chin, the curious happenings of the last few days, a mighty gust of wind entered like a giant, Hung the window sash to the floor, rushed across the room, tore open the door and lost itself in the spacious halls of the castle. Slowly Peter crept down the stairs fearing each moment to be grasped by

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AUBURN ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOGL and there is no telling what he will do. I must reach your father, I must. I am the only one left and'I'll have to leave you. I'll put you in your room so they will suspect nothing and then I shall go for your father. Quickly he took the boy to the tower and placed him safely in bed. Then racing through the courtyard he saddled a horse, drove a pair of spurs which he had put on, deep into the animal's Hanks and Hed away into the night and into the storm. The clouds continued to pile up mountain high, the wind rose to such a fury that it was nigh impossible to stand against it and still the laughter and the shout- ing and the drinking went on in the spacious hall. Once more the brute, who called himself a man, rose to speak. Hear the wind and rain and thunder, my friends. See the lightning flash. And he is out in it all, curse him! Not even God, Himself, can harm us here. See how the walls stand against the force in the elements. But why talk about such things when there is wine to be drunk and songs to be sung? What care we for God's elements. What care we for God Himself. In my opinion there is no G--. A sudden Hash then silence and with a terrible crackling and grinding the roof trembled then crashed on the heads of those within the hall. The screams of the dying and the crashing of the walls intermingled with the awful rumblings of the thunder. God's elements had taken their toll and seeming to be well satisfied began to pass. The lightning grew less and less and the thunder dwindled to a dull sullen roar. Then all was still and the sun coming to give its light the following day saw the wreck of what was once a beautiful dining hall. - The next guard watching the huge ball of fire mount to the sky saw its rays glint upon the shining steel atop of the distant mountain, thought that the enemy id in truth conquered his master and had come to claim the castle as the spoils of war. As the cavalcade paused on the crest of the mountain, the plumes bowing he- fore the wind and the shining armor hurling back the fire of the sun, the old king, turning to the misshapen thing whose clothing bore the unmistakable mark of a fool but whose keen clear eyes failed to bear out the falicy, spoke thus: Have no fear, Nolo, my men were much too loyal to listen to the vain prat- tlings of those hirelings and they stood for none of it. They hang on trees as a reminder of the fact. But let us hurry, I am anxious to learn of the fate of my son. . V The long train burst into a gallop and soon drew rein at the castle gate. A tiny head was thrust over the huge stones of the battlements and a small voice piped joyfully, Hello Daddy. The gate was let down, the portcullis raised and in solemn state the king entered. He surveyed the wreck of the dining hall with a calm brow and said: Here shall we build a chapel to the I.ord our God, in honor of the things He .-Q