Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

Page 20 text:

22 THE QUIVER hung from the upper branches of the pines which had caused his downfall, but the heavy engine had torn loose, and lay a few feet away from him. llis first thought was for the mail. He dragged himself to the foot of the tree in which hung the greater part of his plane, and began the long, slow climb to the top. Twice on the way up he almost fainted, hut each time he recovered and continued his climb. “The next branch must hold the mail,” “the next—“the next—,” and so on till he reached a branch where he found the mail-sacks lodged securely in a crotch, very near the top of the tree. He rested there, comfortably settled on the pouches, and waited for the help he knew was bound to come, for “the mail must go through. David Bruch, '27. THE CRUISE OF THE “CLOTHES-BASKET” S 1 sat dreaming one warm summer evening, my thoughts went liackward to the pleasant days of childhood, when imagination ruled the world. In the soft, purple twilight. I seemed to see this scene l efore me. and heard the voices of children. There was a great stir in the nursery—a very great excitement indeed. Lilly load lieen reading a hook of wonderful travels to her sister Alice and her little brother Charley, while Kitty listened intently, all the time pretending to lie very much interested in the tip of her tail. It was a marvelous book, all about pirates, ship-wrecks, desert islands, and savages. Could anything be more delightful! It was. therefore, only natural that Lilly, Alice and Charley should wish to go to sea in a ship of their own. “We’ll go on a voyage of discovery right around the world in the good ship‘Clothes-Basket.’” said Lilly. That will lie fun!” exclaimed Alice. “I'll be Mate. “Hurrah! cried Charley, dancing with delight. “I’ll lie Midshipman.” “I'll he Captain.” said Lilly. And so it was arranged. Xurse let them have the clothes-basket, and they were just alwiut to set out, when Charley thought of a very great difficulty. “Who ever heard of going to sea in a ship without a crew?” he said. And Charley was quite right. Who ever did hear of such a thing? “Then you will have to lie the crew, said Lilly. “You’re the youngest. But the Midshipman is always the youngest. And I don’t want to lie the crew. 1 want to lie an officer. returned Charley. “Then Kittv must he the crew.” said Alice.

Page 19 text:

THE QUIVER 21 I Lis plane was in perfect condition, he was feeling fine himself, he had a daylight run ahead of him, and a day off the next day. Nothing was worrying him as his plane swept over the foothills and headed for the higher peaks of the Rockies. The snow-clad jjeak.s ahead of him glistened and shone in the sunlight, and he thought for a moment of the contrast lietween them and the deep blue of the sky above, as he searched for the nass through which he must go. He easily located it and had entered it Indore he noticed a huge eagle coming from the other end. An eagle is nothing unusual in the mountains hut this one seemed abnormally large, even at the great distance which separated it from the plane. As it drew nearer, instead of rising, as eagles usually do, it came on straight at the plane. Now the pilot realized that it was indeed a giant among eagles. The cruel hooked l eak and the gleaming eves were clearly seen as the bird rushed towards him. He had no room to turn, no time to rise, and only his service revolver with which to defend himself, and the eagle was coming on. He reached liack one hand for his gun and increased the speed of his plane. With a scream that could be heard above the roar of the engine, the eagle soared, jxjised. and struck. With a sinking heart, the pilot felt his plane stagger and begin to drop. He lialf-turned in his seat and fired at the huge shape alxive him. Almost at once came another scream; the plane lifted a little and regained speed, Turning all his attention to flying, the pilot tried to climb higher, away from the floor of the valley, which was too close for safety. He had risen some distance when he saw the eagle coming again. This time it came head on, seeming not to notice the knife-like propeller. It struck. I he profiler snapped like a match, and the plane stopped dead in mid-air. For a second it hung. The eagle, killed by the blow of the propeller, dropjied away l elow. The pilot was dazed; his hand clutched the throttle of his now dead engine, as the plane liegan to slip forward into a dizzying nose-dive towards the earth. The motion of falling, and the blown-back heat of his engine brought the pilot back to his senses. With a gasp he saw the floor of the valley rushing towards him. He stiffened involuntarily, and his feet struck the rudder-controls. In an instant the plane was gliding smoothly and with ever decreasing sjieed almost level with the floor of the valley Rapidly he searched for a smooth ]x t on which to land, but the valley was covered with a growth of pines. The plane was settling. He struggled as long as he could to keep it up. but at last it crashed. With a loud pop, one of the tires burst as it was caught by the top of a pine. The plane shuddered, turned completely around, then sank, tail-lirst. with a great crackling and snapping of branches. Several hours later, the pilot opened his eyes and sat up. He had a terrible headache, his shoulder had l»een wrenched so that he could not use his right arm. and a tear in his leather breeches showed a deep cut in his leg. His face and hands were a mass of cuts and scratches, and his clothes wen-ripped and torn bv his sudden descent. The frame-work of his plane till

Page 21 text:

THE QUIVER 23 Kitty had 1»een exacting this. She was generally made to play a j art in the children’s games, whether she liked it or not; and as she also had heard the stories alnnit desert islands and savages, she would much rather have stayed at home instead of going on this perilous voyage. But Kitty was not consulted. She was popped into the ship and made an ahle seaman at once. A few sweeps of the broom, and they were in Carpet ()cean. and the crew looked over the side of the ship, mewing farewell to its home. All went well for the first few days. Lilly insisted ujx)n everything’s going well tor that length of time, l ecause she said she had never read any lxx k of travels yet that did not have that last sentence in it. They went quietly along by Dado C oast and j ast Hearthup Island and saw the burning mountain. which Charley was sure was Mount Vesuvius. At this place, the crew endeavored to leave the ship, and had to be held back by force of arms. 1 hat crew is a mountaineer, said ( harley. tie meant mutineer, but it did not matter, for the Captain and the .Vlate quite understood and agreed with him. Shortly after this, they passed the Ottoman Empire and entered the peaceful waters of Table Bay. Here they took in provisions of biscuits and sugar, and. after a short stay, set forth again on their travels. )n the third day after leaving Table Bay, the Carpet Ocean oecame '•uddenly quite calm, which made Captain Lilly look very serious. From something she could see in the distance, she was almost certain that a very great storm was coming. She was right. About an hour afterwards it came with such fury that at first it nearly turned the ship over; but the good “Clothes-basket behaved very bravely, as did the Captain, the Mate, and the Midshipman. The crew, also, to show how little it cared about the howling winds and raging sea. actually played ball with a biscuit. But suddenly there came a terrible crash, and, looking over the side of the ship, the Midshipman said that the “Clothes-basket had struck on a rock. It must be Footstool Rock. said Captain Lilly, for it is close to Sofa Island, and there is the island in the distance.” It was a fearful moment. The Captain, the Mate, and the Midshipman shouted, and the crew immediately jum|»ed overboard. I'm afraid we must jump overboard, too, said the Captain, and trv to swim to the island. The ship may go down at any minute. Then the three set out to swim to Sofa Island and were fortunate enough to reach it in safety. The crew had arrived before them and was sitting down washing its face as they crawled up the steep bank. They were all so tired that they soon fell asleep and slept soundly till morning, when they were awakened by music in the distance. They immediately got up and journeyed across the island to see what it could be and meeting a gentleman on the way. who said his name was Mr. Bolster, they asked what the music meant. “Don’t you know?” he cried in astonishment. “But I see by your dress that you are strangers. Today Prince Fern is going to Ik