Watsonville High School - Manzanita Yearbook (Watsonville, CA)

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The second night about twelve o'clock Kay had strolled down the beach for a last breath of air. before retiring. The glory of an island night had always thrilled him with a queer sensation of delight: that night it seemed as if the whole enchanting setting had been placed for some scene of revelry or splendor. He half expected the fairies of his childhood to run out and dance upon the glistening sands. Instead, a white goddess had come tripping toward him. That goddess had been Ula. She had just come from lighting the altar Hres. which burned each night before the altar of the deity that the island people worshiped. As a child she had been educated far beyond the average island women. She knew that there was a great world beyond her small island home. and in her heart there had grown a great longing to know something of those other people and customs so different from her own. With the intent of some day questioning the big stranger who had come to live for a time with her people, she spoke to him. He smiled and answered her in her native tongue, giving the greeting he knew to be customary: then she had passed him swiftly and entered a large hut nearby. That night it seemed to Kay that something new and wonderful had come into his life: the stars seemed brighter and the air more sweet. The next day a messenger had brought him an invitation from Omm. the high priest. to visit him in his hut. Kay went. and was surprised at the beautv and taste with which it was adorned. Woven silks hung from the walls, Fantastically carved tables of rich woods inlaid with ivory and silver. were laden with dainties and sweets. the like of which Kay had never seen before. Omm and Ula received him graciously. They were seated in state. Behind them stood the men in uniform costumes of silk. ready to do their slightest bidding. Around them were seated the lesser priests and officials of the tribe. It was not difficult to see that Omm was the ruler of this kingdom of the South Seas. XVhen Kay left, an hour later. he extended to the priest and his daughter a hearty invitation to visit him: the invitation was accepted the next day. In the days that followed Ula and Kay talked with each other many times. He answered her every question of the world in which he lived. To her, some of his customs seemed queer and foolish: in her simple mind there was no place for the veneer and sham which appeared to her to constitute a great part of the lives of her more civilized sisters, In turn she disclosed to him secrets of the lives of her people. The beauty of the place grew more exquisite as he saw it through the eyes of one who was an integral part of it: as much a part of it she was as the flowers which sprang from its earth, or the palms whose fronds kissed the blue waters which laved their feet. Slowly there grew in Kay a great love for this entrancing island girl. He tried to stifle it, but to stop the rains in their descent from heaven would have been easier, and in the depths of her eyes and the melody of her voice he saw that his love was reciprocated. To Kay this love was a great shame. He could not marry an island girl: he could not take to wife a native. Never! Kay loved Ula, but he Uloved honor more. It would be better for a Thornston to turn traitor to his country than to dishonor his family, a family which could trace its blood back to the time of the crusades. Many a night he had writhed in the mental agony of the combat which was going on within him. Each time it seemed as if he must yield to his longing for the girl. but each time his better nature had conquered, and only the tired look in his eyes and the thin stern line of his lips showed how much he had suffered. With Ula there was no less of conflict. She was the petted idol of her people, the ruling priestess of their religion. To marry any man was forbidden her: to marry this stranger of another land was deathf Ula knew Page Twentuenine

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ffiaarw ULA, daughter of Omm, high priestess of the lsle of Sumba. give ,to thee as a token of my undying affection this flower. The speaker was a woman. Tall and straight she stood under the canopy of a large palm. The beams of a tropical moon sifted through the branches of the tree and touched her unbound hair which fell in loose wavelets to her waist, until it seemed as though her face were surrounded with a mass of living gold. From her shoulders fell a simple white gown, that reached almost to her feet, which were shod in plain white sandals. Catching the garment on either shoulder were two large golden clasps set with immense blood-red stones. On her ankles and arms she wore circlets of beaten silver. Her tapering white fingers were heavy with precious metals and gems carved in queer figures and shapes. In one slender out- stretched hand she held a single flower of four heart-shaped petals, crimson- red and of an exotic brilliance. Her voice was low and sweet, like the murmur of waters, or the tinkle of temple bells. Standing in front of her. his back against the bole of the tree, was a man. He was almost a head taller than the girl. From a broad forehead his hair swept back in crisp brown waves: only at the temples were tiny touches of grey. He was clad in tan riding breeches. leather boots, and a thin silk shirt. His clean-shaven skin was tanned. Around his eyes were tiny wrinkles which exposure to wind and storm had left there. His eyes were bent upon the woman with an expression akin to worship: yet in their steady greyness lingered an emotion of infinite sorrow and sadness. Slowly and in silence he clasped the small white hand in his large brown one. They stood thus for a moment: then, with a sigh that was nearly a sob she turned and fled like a pale wraith down the silvery beach. The man stood staring after her as though he saw in her going the fall of some inevitable tragedy upon the happiness of his life. Tragedy it was, which had changed Kay Thornston from a happy-go-lucky adventurer into a man who knew to the last bitter dregs the sorrow held in the cup of life. Twenty days before. Kay had come to the island in a swift slender yacht. sailed by men who knew the sea as the wild beasts know their native haunts. In this ship Kay had sailed the earth around. met many queer situ- ations and ridden anchor in many strange parts. At last he had come to this island of the South Seas, a paradise on earth. It was covered with a heavy tropical growth, which was brilliant green, and bright with plumage of gaudy birds and the bloom of flowers. There was one village of natives who inhabited the island. ln coloring these people were very differ- ent from any natives Kay had ever before seen. They were blond, with blue eyes and fair complexions. Some scientists, who at one time had visited the island, had it that years before a lovely ship had dashed upon the island in a great storm. and cast upon it a cargo of pilgrims who were seeking homes in those new lands, the Americas. In the simple tenets of their religion, their belief in a single God. and their laws and customs. Kay found much to remind him of the simple faith of the first white men who came to the new world. From the first day on the island Kay had been charmed by the be- witching beauty of everything about him. The natives had been friendly and hospitable from the beginning. Page Twentu -eight

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this. Always between the two there had been complete understanding. Finally they decided that the only alternative was for Kay to leave the island. They alone knew how much this decision would cost them, the heartaches, and dreariness of a future in which they were pledged never again to meet. They had planned one last tryst before the day on which Kay was to leave the island for ever. They had talked together this night for the last time. The great moon had looked down upon them in silent benediction. and the whole wild life of the island seemed to be hushed in the solemness of this parting. She was gone! These words kept ringing through Kay's brain like the tolling of a deathknell. He gazed after the running Hgure as long as he could see it: then slowly his eyes swept to the ground until they fell on a single red blossom lying at his feet. He stooped and picked it up, and turning, he walked with slow tread to his cabin, where he sat the long night, staring with unseeing eyes into the darkness, a tiny flower pressed close in his hand. The next day Kay bade farewell to everything he had grown to love and enjoy during his sojourn on the island. The day was unusually hot. The blueness of the sky was overcast with a dull copperish glare. The breeze was as though it had come from off some giant furnace. Leaving the village behind, he entered the jungle. A narrow twisting path led him to a smooth clearing in the luxuriant growth about him. He thought of the many times Ula and he had followed this same path, and wished himself dead. All at once his eyes were transfixed with horror. Before him in a coiling mass, ready to spring, lay a snake. Its fangs were widespread, and a hissing tongue darted from its mouth. Suddenly a slender white form flashed before him. The snake sprang! But, instead of burying its poison in him, its curved fangs had sunken deep into the white arm of Ula, who had seen Kay, devined his destination, and followed him to give up her life that he might live. That night Kay stood beside Ula, as she lay upon a coffin of carved teak-wood and gold. She had been placed there by her people, who after her death yet paid their homage. Her father, Omm, on hearing of her death. had crumpled like a withered leaf. Three hours later he had regained con- sciousness, and since had remained calm as a carven image. All was silent. Only the eternal lapping of the waves broke the stillness of the night. With a sob that Hed across the gleaming sands like the cry of a lost soul, Kay fell to his knees beside her as she lay white and still in the moonlight. He could endure it no longer. He ran from the hut down to the beach, as though he could escape his thoughts in that way. All night he kept on. When morning came he was standing on a huge cliff. Straight and towering it rose from the deep, dark waters below. ln the east. a great round ball of living fire was rising. lt came with a crash of flaming orange and livid streaks of burning red and yellow, a sunrise of the South Seas. Kay's eyes were upon it. It seemed to fascinate and hold him. He held out his arms and walked toward it. His steps were firm and true: his glance did not falter. When he came to the edge of the cliff his eyes did not move. and as he fell his arms were still raised to the glory before him. It seemed that the very waters opened gently to embrace him, closed placidly, and became calm again: yet, who knows whether in his death there were not before him slender white hands and great dark eyes beckoning him to an eternal peace and happiness? ?EX7ELYN BIDDLE. Page Thzrzu