Jackson High School - Jacksonian Yearbook (Jackson, CA)

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Dkgg THE SPIRIT OF THE LAKE NELLIE BALL 30 Honorable Mention One evening last summer I chanced to find a secluded spot by the side of a tlny mountain lake It was hidden an ay IH the mountain tops where the tall trees bent over the water as if striving to see their own images in the clear depths There was an early moon that night It was just creeping over the hor17on All was still except the restless little waves As I sat there dreamlly feeling all the beauty and silence around me I slowly became conscious of a disturbance ln the water The tiny waves as I watched them became larger and larger They lapped louder and more persistently on the rocks at my feet As I glanced toward the water I saw something which seemed full of life trying to lift itself out of the water It was nothing I had ever seen before However I suspected that it was something I had heard of all my life but merely thought of as superstition or Indian lore With a splash a great black object reared ltself from the now turbulent water The little lake became a furious mass of wave and foam as the Spirit of the Lake after glancing around slowly swam toward me sitting petrified on the rocky shore I was strangely fascinated as he drew nearer and nearer his large green eves fixed upon me The moon was rising higher and seemed to be peering light As he drew himself out of the water and up on the rocks his form seemed to change vaguely and sulely Then something seemed to draws my eves away for a while The water returned to its peaceful state When I looked again I saw reclining on the cliff where the monster had been an Indian of a tribe of long ago His lank swarthy body stretched there serpent like showed smoothly flowing muscles strong and quiet His long black hair gllstened IH the silvery moonlight For a long time he lay there but at last he commenced to speak His ex es mournful though filled with hidden fire were fixed upon the water Thls is the mght of all nights when I may come forth ln my own form This mght the Great Spirit has decreed that I the Spirit of the Lake may come back to the old hunting grounds the home of my fathers But where are the old hunting grounds? Where are my people? They are gone to far away hunting grounds and I am the sole remnant of my people here The White Man has heard of the Spirit of the Lake He believes lt not but he the all wise knows not all I am present 1n this lake always and I am here to avenge mv people Many times I have reached upward with my mighty hand and snatched the White Man idling in his boat down into 21 7 t N K . . . , I 1 x A ' , L 9 ' 1 . G , . 9 K 1 . 4 . ' , I 4 . I S x A , 1 I A1 ' A 7 1 . . , . 7 , down on us. I was not able to distinguish exactly his shape in the uncertain I x I su, 'sw , ' ' . I, .1 , K. y - . , A, . , K, , ' 4. s ' - I - ' ,Y 1 , : H .i . . 1 . . . . ' . . , . . I , In n I . , l H . . . 1 . . 3 a ' ' l a ' U A 9 l . W I . l , . . . . , .