London South Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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L. S. C. II. ORACLE A yellow fish! Would he ever see a yellow fish and be able to forget Tama, Tama with her shining head turned from him, bowed over the tiny fire, her smooth golden arms extended, holding something on a forked stick- a yellow fish! When he came out of the canebrake behind her, she had stood up and faced him, her brown eyes unwavering. She had not been afraid nor even startled at the sight of the white man in the torn grey sleeping suit. As she had never seen a white man before, her shy acceptance of him had never been clear to him until to- day when he was leaving forever his life on that cursed island. Useless to try to forget! He could see her still between shut eyes, just as she had stood then, her red and white striped skirt soaked with the sea water, ,her green bodice splashed from the flapping of the fish in her net. That half-cooked catch she shared with him had been the best food he had eaten for weeks. The canned delica- cies of the Santa Lucia cabin had never tasted as good, and during those first three days wandering on Koh-ring, he had only dared to eat small shore shrimps and an unwary oyster which he had wedged open with one of the captain's sovereigns. The tropical fruit, tempting and abundant, was strange, perhaps poisonous. As he had crouched by the fire gulping thebonyfish,Tamahadstudiedhimquiet- ly. She had appeared to compare him intently with something she held crum- pled in the palm of her left hand. He caught her doing this many times during the succeeding weeks. At first this had puzzled and annoyed him: it was like being identified with the past he had escaped. Then he realized that her hand was deformed, and overlooked the odd habit. Since these two had had no common tongue, he had been long learning her name, but by signs he had shown her he wanted a boat to get to the main- land. She had no boat. This was perplexing. How had she come there? She seemed to be well stocked with rice-jars, and lived in a conventional native hut. She was certainly no castaway. Jim had wondered about that as he 25 worked over his hand-made boat, flring the inside from a great stem, shaping the barky sides, rigging a crude bam- boo mast and braiding ropes of reed fibre. He nearly wore out Tama's knife carving himself a stout paddle, MP but when he showed her the twisted blade, she only laughed and, uncovering a bamboo pole in her rush-carpeted fioor, she pointed to a number of not- ches. It was evident that she expected supplies at a future date and jim was still more puzzled. As days and weeks passed over, jim came to the stubborn realization that he did not want to leave this isle-not alone. Hitherto he had, as his need had arisen, broken unflinchingly every tie with man and race. But now he had found strange companionship in the quiet Tama. She was kind, she did many little things to serve him and yet in each he caught a hint of super- stition. She would lend him her knife but she always washed the handle in sea-water first. This he thought must be to ward off evil spirits. At last his boat was done and lay moored like a dead thing upon the sulky tide. Jim had provisioned it as best he could, water in the skin bottles Tama had taught him to sew from the hides of the little rabbit-like creatures he caught in snares. Then he asked Tama to go with him. There must, he thought, be settlements even in these heathen lands where a missionary or French priest could be found to marry them. But when he offered to lift her into the boat, Tama ran up the beach, tripped and

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24 L. S. C. I. ORACLE . .,,. M. A Y ,, , ,M - j e . 4- E. 1 Sp zwllfl . 5391 1 ' 0 55- ' KA 555, V 5:-I I Department Editor, K. MILLIGAN Eclitor's Comment The winners in the Short Story Con- test:-1, Annie Dodds, V B, 2, Norman Farrow, IV C, 3, Frank White, IV B. We wish to extend our congratula- tions to Annie Dodds, who has won the cash prize so kindly donated cy Trustee Mrs. John Rose. All who submitted stories did exceptionally good work and it is hoped that some of our future authors are to be found in this group. We deeply appreciate the fine judg- ing of Miss Clendenan, Miss Taylor and Mrs. Carr-Harris. Finally, we wish to thank everybody who helped in the work and to hope for even better stories next year. -BOB FORD, IV C. THE NEW DESTINY A Sequel to The Secret Sharer FIRST PRIZE STORY By ANNIE VALHALLA DoDDs IM cautiously swung the tiny, rude sail with the guy-rope and l waited. No wind! Notabreath in all the sleepy bay of indigo waters! Behind him the low shore, an abrupt, rising cape of Koh-ring, shut off the jungle-green of river delta, where he had launched the craft. How long had he been making her? Months, perhaps years, he could have said. Time was best meas- ured by his beard which had grown long and heavy since his landing on that broken beach. As he stretched himself carefully under the narrow palm-thatch and Short Stories, BOB FORD waited, Jim remembered the sharp ecstasy he had first felt in the warmth of sand beneath his feet after his weeks of enforced hiding aboard the Santo Lucia. How strange firm land had seemed that night, he had slipped from the sail-locker port and swum clear, leaving the fioppy panama hat to mark the place of parting. How had he controlled himself till the ship was gone before raising his voice against the dark rocks, shouting after those long brooding weeks of silence and whispered confidence in the young captain's quarters? jim dared to remember even farther back in that secret experience aboard the Santa Lucia. He remembered his Cap- tain of the Sephora who had come aboard looking for him, the escaped homicide. Well, that young captain had certainly put old Archibald off tack. Now, England was behind him forever. Nobody would..ever recog- nize him with his browned body, his beard and long hair matted about his shoulders. No one could ever con- vince a jury of tradesmen that this wild-looking native had ever been the smart first-mate of the Sephora on that terrible voyage. Still no breeze to stir the sail of rush- mat! Irritably Jim thrust his head out of the shelter. Beneath in the tinged crystal-bright, fish winn.owed ceaselessly, great red and gold beauties, others purple blotched with quick- silver sides, some with grotesque round bodies and horrid mouths. There were shoals of yellow ones. Oh! was there no escape from memory? Jim pulled his head out of the sunlight.

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26 fell sobbing on the sand. jim had never seen her cry before. Then as he bent over her he saw the strange look on her face. She loved him and was afraid, afraid for him lest he should touch her, for slowly she opened the numb fingers of her left hand and held it up before her. Jim swayed a little as he looked, for like the beating of a far- off surf, words of his English tongue echoed. in his ears whiter than lep- rosy-leprosy-leprosy. He with- drew his eyes from the stricken girl who still held up that shining diseased hand as if to ward off a blow. With numb fingers jim unbound from his belt the worn white handker- chief and dropped it in her lap. It contained the three sovereigns the captain had given him before he left the Santa Lucia. After that he left blindly, paddled quickly around the point, set his sail and tried to forget. As afternoon wore on, he agonized under the palm-thatch. No wind came, but a gradual shifting current caught the boat and carried it farther seaward. As he felt the dull movement Jim stirred, rose and sud- denly came fully conscious. ' With swift action he turned the canoe to- ward Koh-ring and in spite of the blazing sun on his uncovered head began his return. For an hour he worked against the current, for another and yet another hour he paddled, making little headway. He was coming back to Tama-Tama who had been so careful to wash the knife before he used it. As- if the sea and sky had guessed his purpose a black cloud rose upon his left, black that ate up the day and took the sun at one gulp. A strange strumming, and a harsh wail reached him out of the rising blackness, a sound like that of the great circular saw that bites into a fresh bolt.' And then twenty feet from his boat, the cyclone struck. The sea rose to meet it, sucked up like a gigantic sheaf of wheat with a froth of foam at the top. Far back on the sheltered shore beneath a palm tree Tama- was still weeping over the three sovereigns in her lap. ' T L. s. c. 1. ORACLE CHRISTMAS The world in solemn wonder stood, A deep hush fell, When suddenly its people heard The Christmas bell. Long, long ago o'er lonely stall, A glowing star Appeared and drew the shepherds there From hills afar. All silently those rude men knelt In manger small, Beheld with awe God's Son and Heir And heard His call. -Jean Watt. J x 5' Y rigs 'Q Sai ' l lJ5?ii55i'f fX PX X X ELSIE flhb. THE WHITE MANTLE The soft white snow is falling, The world 'is turning white, And the storm king rides among us In his beauty and his might. He covers the earth with a blanket, The ground is no longer seen, And until the springtime opens It will lie in its sleep serene. The trees were bare and forbidding, Not so many hours ago, But now they are white and lovely With blossoms of flaky snow. It is God Who doth these wonders, He maketh the white snow to fall, . The grass to turn green in the springtime, And the leaves to turn scarlet all. He is closer to us in the winter Than in springtime, summer or fall,- For when His voice through the snow is sounding, 4 We all listen to His call. H --O. Littleford. i