Tabor Island

“ The arrival of the Scotch yacht at Tabor Island is very uncertain. It may even be that, having arrived several months ago, she has again sailed after having vainly searched for some trace of Ayrton. Will it not then be best to build a ship which, if necessary, could take us either to the Polynesian Archipelago or to New Zealand? What do you think?”
“I think, captain,” answered the sailor; “I think that you are as capable of building a large vessel as a small one. Neither the wood nor the tools are wanting. It is only a question of time.” ”

“ Moreover, it gave the latitude and longitude of Tabor Island correctly, which implied that its author had a more complete knowledge of hydrography than could be expected of a common sailor.
"There is in this, again, something unaccountable," said the engineer, "but we will not urge our companions to speak. When he likes, my friends, then we shall be ready to hear him!"
During the following days the stranger did not speak a word, and did not once leave the precincts of the plateau. He worked away, without losing a moment, without taking a minute's rest, but always in a retired place. ”

“ If our little craft had been caught in any heavy gale of wind during the voyage to Tabor Island, we should have known that land was at no great distance either way; but twelve hundred miles is a pretty long way, and the nearest land is at least that distance!"
"Would you not, in that case, Pencroft, attempt the adventure?" asked the reporter. ”

“ Nevertheless, one chance of rescue existed, which was discussed one day in the first week of April, when the colonists were gathered in the hall of Granite House.
They had been talking of America and of the small hope of ever seeing it again.
“Undoubtedly, there is but one way of leaving the island,” said Spilett, “which is, to build a vessel large enough to make a voyage of some hundreds of miles. It seems to me, that, when one can build a shallop, they can readily build a ship.”
“And that they can as easily go to the Low Archipelago as to Tabor Island,” added Herbert. ”

“ Either he has already returned to Tabor Island, since Ayrton has been with us, that is to say, during the last five months and has left again; or he will not come till later, and it will be time enough in the first fine October days to go to Tabor Island, and leave a notice there."
"We must allow," said Neb, "that it will be very unfortunate if the 'Duncan' has returned to these parts only a few months ago!"
"I hope that it is not so," replied Cyrus Harding, "and that Heaven has not deprived us of the best chance which remains to us." ”

“ Every one munched away at it with a pleasure which may be easily understood.
In the meanwhile, the stranger had not reappeared. Several times Gideon Spilett and Herbert searched the forest in the neighborhood of Granite House, without meeting or finding any trace of him. They became seriously uneasy at this prolonged absence. Certainly, the former savage of Tabor island could not be perplexed how to live in the forest, abounding in game, but was it not to be feared that he had resumed his habits, and that this freedom would revive in him his wild instincts? ”

“ Long grass suits reptiles best, and evidently we shall find them in the Far West.”
“And it’s very lucky, for if they had found the ‘Bonadventure’,” added Herbert, “they would have gone off in her, and we should have been prevented from returning to Tabor Island.”
“Indeed,” remarked the reporter, “it will be important to take a document there which will make known the situation of Lincoln Island, and Ayrton’s new residence, in case the Scotch yacht returns to fetch him.”
“Well, the ‘Bonadventure’ is always there, Mr. Spilett,” answered the sailor. ”

“ Tabor’s lonely cabin on Fryer Hill. When the couple peered through the window, they discovered her prostrate form.
The once proud beauty was dead. Leadville, Denver, Central City and the world reacted immediately, producing a host of memories to round out the details of her extraordinary career. Other reminiscences came from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where she was born, and from Washington, D. C., where she had married Tabor, President Arthur and several members of the cabinet in attendance at the wedding. ”

“ This is a highly dangerous passage, inasmuch as the narrow streak of water, seventy miles in length, with a maximum width of eleven miles, separating the frowning coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, is strewn with menaces, the most formidable of which is Belle Ile, which lies right in the centre of the entrance from the ocean. The island is really a lofty hump of rock, twenty-one miles in circumference, with the shores for the most part dropping precipitously into the water. It is an extremely lonely spot, and, naturally, is feared by the mariner. ”

“ The 21st February, near the Perico islands opposite to Panama, we took another prize from Lavelia, laden with beeves, hogs, fowls, and salt. The 24th we went to the isle of Taboga, six leagues south of Panama. This island is three miles long and two broad, being very rocky and steep all round, except on the north side, where the shore has an easy dope. In the middle of the isle the soil is black and rich, where abundance of plantains and bananas are produced, and near the sea there are cocoa and mammee trees. ”

“ In about an hour stop was made at the equally famous Island of Taboga—the most beautiful place, as seemed to Charley, in the world. It had a white beach; from the beach rose long slopes of green, shaded by bananas, palms, figs, plantains, oranges, limes—every kind of tropical growth. And these slopes were gayly colored with tiers of peak-roofed huts and houses, in pink and yellow and brown and blue and red. Along the beach were scores of white canoes. The people of Taboga, mostly negroes and mixed breeds, appeared to have nothing to do but loaf about and fish and eat and play. ”

“ Taboga Island, the most important of the group, is only one mile and a half long by half a mile broad, but with the adjacent islet of Taboquilla, forms a very convenient crescent-shaped harbour, which unites to a secure haven a tolerably healthy climate, so that during the unhealthy season, when the yellow fever sometimes commits fearful ravages in Panama, many of the inhabitants resort to this island, which, up to the year 1858, had remained entirely free of the scourge. ”

“ The two other islands are to the south. The archipelago is of volcanic formation, Tamara and Factory islands forming part of a ruined crater, with Crawford Island as the cone. The highest point is a knoll, some 450 ft. above sea-level, in Tamara. All the islands are richly clothed with palm trees and flowering underwood. Tamara has a good harbour, and contains the principal settlement. The inhabitants, about 1500, are immigrants of the Baga tribe of Senegambian negroes, whose home is the coast land between the Pongo and Nunez rivers. These are chiefly farmers. ”

“ A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action.
We reached Tabor safely, and considerably in advance of that old iron-clad swindle of a guard. We never saw a human being on the whole route, much less lawless hordes of Bedouins. Tabor stands solitary and alone, a giant sentinel above the Plain of Esdraelon. It rises some fourteen hundred feet above the surrounding level, a green, wooden cone, symmetrical and full of grace—a prominent landmark, and one that is exceedingly pleasant to eyes surfeited with the repulsive monotony of desert Syria. ”

“ They may not want to camp out just at once, and——"
"It's queer, isn't it?" said Peter to the others as they made their way over to the Island, "to think that they've never yet seen the house, though Father is their uncle, and everything!"
"That's because they've always lived so far north," said Robin, "though it isn't as though the Chase is as it used to be, then—in the old days I mean. They'll understand that, though; they must have heard——" he sighed. "It must have been rippingly jolly," he said, "to live here in the old days."
"It is—now," said Jan loyally ”

“ Tabor, the central position, a mountain whose summit is 1500 feet above the plain, is bare and shapeless on the south, but to the north it is steep, and wooded with oaks and thickets in which the fallow-deer finds a home. About three miles west are the springs from which the Kishon first rises, and from this point a chain of pools and springs, fringed with reeds and rushes, marks, even in the dry season, the course of the river. Along this line, at the base of the northern hills, the chariots and horsemen of Sisera fled. ”

“ May the Service always be able to find such men in the time of need.
The men were fine specimens of seamen—cool [117] and brave, with great endurance and excellent physical strength. They were, undoubtedly, those best qualified in the whole party on Ocean Island to perform such a service. Both Lieutenant Talbot and his men had very firm confidence in their boat and looked forward with cheerfulness to the voyage. Such men should be the pride of the Navy, and the news of their death cast a deep gloom over the otherwise cheerful feelings with which the Kilauea was welcomed at Ocean Island. ”

“ Although she epitomized a roistering era and a swashbuckling way of life made possible by the mining frontier of Colorado, the granite gloom of those powerful mountains has forever lowered the curtain on her dramatic period and on the valiant, if mistaken, spirit of Baby Doe Tabor. In relegating both, and their final evaluation, to the pages of history, the lines inscribed on the stage drop of the Tabor Opera House recur, ever again, emphasizing their fatal prophecy:
So fleet the works of men, back to the earth again,
Ancient and holy things fade like a dream. ”

“ Now, if we are to get away, would it not be better if we were to try and build one large enough for the purpose, so that we may quit the island whenever it is thought best?”
“You are right, Oliver,” said Tarbox. “If we can get hold of the carpenter’s tools, and ropes and spars enough, with blocks and sails, we may build a craft out of the wreck, or of the wood we can cut down in the island. It does not take so long to dry as it does in Old England.”
Roger Trew agreed with Tarbox, and so did I, that we ought to make the attempt, and thanked Oliver for his suggestion. ”

“ There was little chance of signalling practice for the rest of that day, for rain came down in buckets as soon as breakfast was over and the mist quite blotted out the Chase from the Islanders. Night must be spent at Island Cottage, there was no doubt about that. "And I do hope it'll be fine to-morrow," said Peter, as the three boys undressed that night in the big attic upstairs. "Dad's to get here early in the morning, and it would be such a——"
Tap! tap! came at their door, and Jan's face appeared; her eyes were bright and her teeth were chattering. ”

“ That was January 27, 1883, and by February 3, he was being sworn in at Washington. I have never seen anyone so delighted and happy as Tabor was, leaving Denver. He was fifty-two years old but you would have thought he was twelve and had been given his first pony. I, too, was joyful and expectant.
“And what a wedding we’ll have, Baby!” he said in parting. “I’ll fix all the details and send for you to be married just before my term is up. If all goes well, you’ll have both a priest and a president at your ceremony! A lover couldn’t do more. ”

“ We carried the wind along with us down the coast until we reached below Talbot Inlet, when we came upon a heavy pack, and held our course for Whale Sound, which I was desirous of exploring. Passing close to the land, I had an excellent opportunity for observing the coast and perfecting the chart, especially of Cadogen and Talbot Inlets, both of which were traced around their entire circuit. The coast is everywhere bristling with glaciers. A large island lies below Talbot Inlet, inside of the Mittie Island of Captain Inglefield, and not before laid down. ”

“ Through Tabor’s prominence in Denver and Leadville, I met and entertained many men interested in politics. The famous beauties, Lily Langtry and Lillian Russell, and other well-known figures of the nineteenth century stage such as Sara Bernhardt, Mme. Modjeska, John Drew, Augustin Daly, William Gillette, Edwin Booth, and Otis Skinner frequently played at the Tabor Opera House, and Tabor and I would entertain them at champagne suppers after their performances. They always seemed to like me and would ask to see me on our fairly frequent visits to New York. ”

“ I could not make him share my belief that Tabor would recoup everything. In my innermost heart, I knew he would. But here was a new kind of man in Colorado who did not look at life the way the first-comers did. Those men were plungers, gay and generous. When they had money, they spent it and when they didn’t, they had the bravery to start out on new ventures and make other fortunes. When a friend was down, they loaned him more than he needed and forgot the loan. That was Tabor. But not these newcomers who were settling and growing prosperous in Colorado. ”

“ Silver had nearly as gorgeous clothes and toys and ponies as Lillie did. But this was not to be for long. However, at that time we had no inkling of what the future held for us. Tabor made frequent business trips East and to his mining properties. Mostly I went with him but sometimes I stayed with the children. His holdings were enormous and he was expanding in many directions that required his personal attention. He bought a yacht in New York 59 City with the idea that when the children were older we would cruise down to Honduras to see his mahogany forests. ”