Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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12 keepers had just started a meal, when they were alarmed by something, and had got up in a hurry and rushed outside. Several chairs had been knocked over and the big, heavy door, usually kept securely fastened, was wide open. Apart from this, the searchers could find nothing that would suggest the whereabouts of the keepers, or even what had happened to them. Some people still believe that a sea monster lives under Flannan Island and that it suddenly decided that it would like two or three human beings for dinner, in place of its usual diet of fish. Perhaps this is as good an explanation as any other. J. S. OUTERBRIDGE, Form 6A. Bedlam Have you ever taken care of a house, and the only child, when the family has gone out for the day? If not, read this little article before attempting such a task. One day the family, with which I was staying, had to go out for the day, so they left me in charge of the house and of their four-year-old boy. Horrible. When they left the kid was still asleep, so I decided to sit down and read awhile. I was buried in the middle of the most interesting part when suddenly, without warning, it happened. An arrow with a rubber sucker on the tip struck me on the head. I raced through the door to catch the brat but a load of books that had been balanced on the door came down on top of me and, by the time I had extricated myself, the Indian had disappeared. Finally I gave up the search and set about preparing dinner. I had just put on the soup when I heard a noise in the dining room. I dashed through the kitchen door, tripped over a chair and ran up the stairway to be greeted with the business end of a water pistol. I managed to corner the brat in the bedroom, but he slipped under the bed and from thence out of the door. I raced after him, slipped on a roller skate at the top of the staircase, almost broke my neck and upset a china cabinet. Then I smelt something from the kitchen. I hurried in there to find that the soup had boiled over and that a bottle of red pepper sauce had been poured into the stew. Suddenly there was a loud report in the oven. I opened the door to find the roast in ruins. The little beggar had stuck a firecracker in it.

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11 sharper — we hope that those who have been fortunate to share in this drill will give of their best as the Instructor ' s lot is surely not a serene one .... The Band has been at work, for the most part on its own, and we feel that when Founder ' s Day arrives a good account of this work will be available for all to see and hear. Our thanks to Mr. Weedon for his valuable assistance in the past especially in the instruction of recruits, who are rapidly assuming cadetship. F.L.S. An Unsolved Mystery Though three men dwell on Flannan Isle To keep the lamp alight As we steered under the lee, we caught No glimmer through the night. A passing ship at dawn had brought The news; and quickly we set sail, To find out what strange things might ail The keepers of the deep-sea light. North-west of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland lie the Flannan Islands. The coast is rocky and very dangerous, and so, to keep ships off the shore, a lighthouse has been built on one of the islands. The work of the keepers of the light is very lonely, for there are no other inhabitants, and only a few ships pass by. Another disadvantage is that very often, for long periods, the sea is so rough that no boats can reach the island and consequently the keepers have to stay on the island for months at a time with very little fresh food. It was on one of these occasions, when the keepers had been on the island for some considerable time, that a ship passing early in the morning noticed that there was no light burning. Other ships confirmed this, and a relief boat was ordered out, as soon as the weather would permit, to discover what was the matter. Considerable time and effort were spent in trying to get a few men ashore, but at last a small party succeeded in landing. The men called to the keepers and, receiving no reply, embarked on a thorough search of the island. But they could find scarcely a clue. The keepers had completely disappeared, and with them the secret of what had happened. In the lighthouse the table was set and a half-eaten meal was lying neglected. It looked as though the

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13 I started to search the house, this time with a fishing net and a clothes line for emergencies. I looked out of the front door, received a bag of vacuum-cleaner sweepings on my head from above, raced upstairs again and, after getting tangled up in the net and being practically hung with the rope, I managed to lock the little devil in a closet until his parents came home. There are my experiences, in a nutshell. Do you still want to try babysitting? D. C. OUTERBRIDGE, Form 6A. Heads or Tails It was about ten years ago, on a rainy afternoon, when I received a telegram telling me of the death of my uncle. I was not quite sure what to do. The telegram declined to state whether he had left his affairs in order or whether I would have to pay a large sum in cash to cancel his debts. At this time I was with a Repertory Company in Toronto. 1 could not just up and leave but neither could I stay. I spoke to my producer and was given the next two weeks off. As I drove up the drive-way of my uncle ' s house in Lexington, Kentucky, I was very much surprised, and relieved, to see that my late uncle was not bankrupt by any stretch of the imagination. The house was huge, and was surrounded by a gold painted fence which shone in the sun. After the reading of the will I was in no mood for the steak dinner which my aunt offered me. My dear old uncle had left me something that would turn anyone ' s appetite for many a year, a collection of 169 shrunken heads! I was about to return to the company in Canada when Pearl Harbour was bombed. Within fourteen weeks I had my O.F.C. in the Air Force. During the war I was wounded in Germany and sent back to the States. In 1948 I was discharged from the Jackson Memorial Hospital. I could have returned to Canada, as my producer had sent me a letter offering me good roles in a tour to Bermuda. Somehow, though, I thought that I would return to my uncle ' s estate and help my aunt. I should be able to live on my Air Force pension. Three years passed peacefully and then it happened. On a summer afternoon I was looking through the attic and I found them. The Heads! As though they were an intoxicating drink, I took to them. I dusted them and combed their hair.