Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR 7 skeleton walking along the shore among the rocks. There wasn't a bright light, but a kind of a lowing, dickering, bluish light, something sim- ilar to phosphorus. It gave me the creeps” and in almost no time my back was all gooseflesh and I guess Bill went through the same experience. But as 1 said be- fore Bill knows a lot more than I do and lie quickly shot twice at the thing, but with appar- ently no effects and Bill is a dead shot with a re- volver. The whole affair was getting uncanny, but my hair stood in bristles when the figure stopped and .gave the most weird shriek that I ever heard. Then it began to groan. Ugh, but it sounded .awful across the water. This was enough for Bill. He crawled to the anchor chain on his hands and knees, while I started the engine and we headed for the open sea. We cruised about until the sun rose the next morning, then we got courage enough to come back to the island. It bothered me so much that I could scarcely eat breakfast. Bill’s courage was rising again and he concluded that he would get to the bottom of the mystery or die looking for it. Accordingly, we went ashore, though rather unsteadily and proceeded up the liill. ‘ 'Hie stump was in place again and nobody would surmise that anything was amiss, but the stump went down as before and the death’s head came, but this didn’t bother us now, as we had got kind of used to it. But scarcely had the head appeared when Bill threw his hatchet and clove the skull, it disappearing immediately. We had brought a pick and shovel with us and we started to dig to the root of the mystery, but scarcely had we stood over the hole, when it caved in with us. as if there was a trap door under- neath the soil. Lucky for us we landed on our feet, and after juickly looking around found ourselves in a long, low cavern, but apparently empty as far as a skeleton was concerned. Bill drew his automatic, and we started to look through the cave of mystery. We went from the big cave toward a smaller one. where we saw a light, and as we approached it. we hear a low chuckle and again Bill and T shivered. We hesitated, but then the voice said in a high-pitched tone. ‘‘Ye needn't be afraid o’ me T wunt hurt ye. c’mon in. We hesitated again and then took a step for- ward and in the dim light, we could see the figure of an old man with white hair, flowing over his stooped shoulders. Bill and I both heaved sighs that would have knocked the old man down had he been directly in front of us, so relieved were we. We entered the cavern and found it full of all sorts of seaman’s things, while over in one cor- ner stood the inevitable skeleton with its grue- some death’s head grinning at us. As we entered, the old man piped out, Did 1 sceer ye eny byes? What d’ye think o’ my leetle skeleton? Giv’ ye a bit o' a sceer didn’t he?’’ Bill had pretty hard work to control himself, when he thought of how lie had been frightened blue by a harmless old man and a skeleton. But Bill wishing to appear as brave as possible an- swered calmly, Well, he did frighten us just a bit, but that was only for a minute. I asked the old man how lie managed the skel- eton that night down on the shore. He motioned for us to be seated, then he squeaked out, Wal, I jes' tuk a leetle sulphur an’ rubbed it over the bones. It’s jes like if ye take a match in a dark- place an' rub the sulphur on ycr hair an’ it makes it kind o’ glow. Then 1 held it out at arm’s length an’ walked along the shore. 11 ain't that an easy way to sceer fellers? Bill burst out laughing, when he thought of how he had crawled on his hands and knees to pull up the anchor, merely because an old man had such a skeleton on the shore. Then the old gentleman, at Bill's request, told us the story of his life, which was as follows: W hen 1 was a young lad. 1 allcrs wanted to go to sea. but my father wouldn't let me, but jes same. I went. I knocked about quite a bit on sailin' vess'ls. but I never went 'board one o’ them noo tangled steam-boats. Wal, arter a while I got command o’ a brig, which I arterward bought. ’Bout five year ago. I war sailin’ offen this here coast, in my brig, when (lurin’ a storm, my old boat war wrecked. Here lie paused and shook his head, heaving a sigh at the same time. Then he continued: It was right offen the here island an’ in the mornin’ arter the storm. I foun’ myself in a cave with some old wreckage near me. The ole tub itself war lyin’ on the rocks, off shore jes’ to the lee of where yer boat is now. I went out there an’ tuk some stuff »ff an’ brot it in here. Ye know there’s an openin’ from the bay in a big hole in the cliff down there, where ye kin git a boat in when the tide is up an’ ye kin walk out

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6 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR Cbe Sailor-Dermit of tbe Hslanb J8x TRoscoe Elliott, 16 36 ILL BRYCE and myself, were unde- cided where to go when the Acad- emy closed for the summer. We had always gone up on Lake Winni- pesaukce. camping, but we were tired of going to the same place every summer, and thought that an island off the coast of Maine would suit us exactly. Accordingly, one bright day in the middle of July. Bill and I sailed out of Boston Harbor, in my uncle’s big sixty-foot cruiser, for our island. The name of the island was llarachan. 'Hie fishermen of the vicinity have always been afraid to go on it. because one of their number. Jeremiah Higgins, by name, was almost frightened to death by the skeletons and ghosts which he had seen on it. We were warned to take heed and keep out of danger, but Bill and I thought that there wasn’t a ghost in the country that could scare us. and speaking of skeletons, that made us laugh, be- cause we had handled one in school to such an extent that we had to settle with the principal, so ghosts and skeletons didn’t bother us. We had a tent big enough to keep both of 11s under cover, an abundance of supplies, an automatic Colt revolver apiece, and plenty of fishing tackle, so we had enough for excitement. Moreover Bar Harbor was not very far distant, and if we wanted a change, we could spend a few days in that resort. After we had been on llarachan Island for a week. Bill and I thought we would explore. We knew that the place was uninhabited except for the ghosts and skeletons, so we were safe from trespassing. There are three large hills on the island and we decided to climb the largest one first. We were half-way up the hill, when we sat down to rest at the edge of a clearing. While we were resting. Bill remarked that a certain stump in the open- ing didn't look quite natural and he hardly got the words out of his mouth when we saw the stump sink down into the ground. If we hadn’t had on our caps. I think our hair would have stood on end. Bill’s teeth were chattering and my knees were knocking. There was no doubt about it. Bill and T were scared blue, but we soon lay down on the ground and gazed at the end of the stump. Just then the stump disappeared and we saw a death’s head take its place. It glistened in the sunlight and grinned like an ape. Believe me! Bill and I thought that the fish- ermen were right, and I guess we had a good rea- son to think so. The head stayed there just a minute and went down into the hole again and the stump came back up. This seemed ages to us and it must have been five minutes before we dared to look around again, but it took us just about five min- utes more to reach camp. That night. Bill thought for our welfare that we should sleep in the snug little cabin of our cruiser, which was anchored in the cove, just a little off-shore. Bill and 1 couldn’t sleep that night. We could still see that glistening death’s- head as it grinned at us. In the morning Bill said to me. “Henry, you and I have just got to stop this. I've just been thinking this thing over and I’ve come to the con- clusion that we re big scared babies. Now I’m going to get at the bottom of this thing. What do you say?” I had said hardly a word since the night be- fore. but I agreed with Bill and asked him what was his plan. He said that we had better go back there in the morning and see if the same thing would hap- pen again. Therefore, in the morning we jogged up the hill, took oud old positions and. as before, saw exactly the same sights. Only this time Bill took out his Colt automatic and pumped three shots into the death’s head. It stayed there just a minute, then disappeared, but the stump didn't go back into place again. Bill knows a lot more than I do. and whatever he says goes, and now he suggested that we go back to camp and come back the next day to see if matters had changed any. Again we decided to sleep on board the cruiser, but as we were not very sleepy that night, we brought out some chairs on deck and talked. We could barely see the outline of the shore, it being a rather cloudy night. As I looked to- ward shore. I thought I saw some light near our camp, and I called Bill’s attention to it: he saw it too. Very soon the light came a little nearer and n a second or two, we saw the whole figure of a-

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8 SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL RADIATOR v)ii the beach when the tide was out. There war only one boat lc’ from the wreck an’ I got that clown in the other cave. 1 got kind o' tired o’ pcple cnywav, so I thot Pd live here alone an if cm of them fisher-fellers come up here. I'd scecr 'em blue an’ I did.” Wal,” lie continued. “I’d lived down in the lower cave ’bout a week, then I foun' this place, which leads up from the lower one. 1 guess the place must 'a been a pirate’s headquarters, cuz the place here had been lived in by some ensses, who lef a lot of stuff, murdered a feller, then went off. Ye see that’s how I got the skeleton. The way I live here is easy, I slip out o’ the place in the boat some night an’ get up to Bar Harbor in the morning an’ git my supplies, then I comes back at night, so the lisher-fcllers wunt see me. W’al. that's how I live an’ it suits me jes' right, s’longs nobuddv bothers me. I didn’t mind you fellers cuz I liked yer looks a heap bet- ter than them fisher-fellers, but I kind o’ scccred ye, didn’t I?” Then the old fellow chuckled and rubbed his chin. Bill asked him if he was ever married. Xaw.” lie piped, I hain’t got no use fer the women, the only good one that I knowed war my mother. Say.” he asked. What you fellers' names an’ where d’ye live? We told him and he put them down on a pad that he had on a shelf. I looked at my watch and suggested to Bill that we go back to camp, so the old man led us back to where the stump had been, and we started to go up tbc ladder. By observation, we saw that the stump was operated by pulleys, and that the death’s head had been lifted up by a stick. We said good bye to him and went down the hill toward camp. That afternoon. Bill and 1 went to Bar Harbor after the mail. He received a letter from his father saying that his mother was very sick and that he had better come home. So the next morning we broke camp and went home—it taking us forty-eight hours to get back to Boston. Bill’s mother was very sick, but she recovered, and we decided to cruise around the Massachusetts coast, instead of going back to the island. We often recalled what the old sailor-hermit had told us about the pirates, and it occurred to us that there might be hidden treasure up there, but gradually we dismissed the thought from our minds with the arrival of school and the football season. s During the mid-winter vacation, when Bill and I were home from school, I received a letter from a lawyer in Bar Harbor. Bill happened to be over to my house at the time and we read the letter together. The lawyer said that an old sea captain, named William Frazer, had made his will in his office about a month before this and had left to William Bryce and Henry Lcverett (myself), the sum of $100,00(1 which was then deposited in the bank at Bar Harbor, and that he also left to us in the will, a letter, which the lawyer hadn’t opened. It seems that the body of Captain Frazer was found in his boat by some fishermen, just a little way out from the island of Harachan, he having died of heart failure. Bill and I were even more startled than when we had seen the sulphur skeleton on the island,, and it took us about five minutes to recollect who Captain Frazer was. But we remembered our old friend, the hermit of the island, who had given us some lively scares. The lawyer had enclosed the letter which the captain had left us and it read as follows: Deer boyes having’ no children an nobuddy to levc my muny to i decided thet i wod leve it al to yu, it is sum thet i dug up in the cave wen i ferst com here i haini got no uther frends excep yu an the loir wo wil giv yu this wen i go. vour frend (sined) ' W.M. FRAZER.” This was another surprise to Bill and myself and it almost took us off our feet. We were at loss to know what to do with our money, but as we had taken a liking to the island, we decided to buy it. Now. on either end of Harachan Island are the summer residences of Bill and myself, where we had enjoyed a few adventures with the old sailor- hermit of the island, and where with our friends we enjoy exploring the pirates’ caves from which we got our wealth in such a spookish manner. --------------------.. ---------------- Morton S. Fnslin, 1915-B, has recently been operated on for appendicitis and is now in the Somerville Hospital. 11 is class hopes for a speedy recovery and awaits his return to school.