The Measure of Temperance (The Adventures of Ichabod Temperance Book 6) by Ichabod Temperance

bearings of East, West, North, and South. Hello, what’s this? As I push past this lush tropical jungle palm frond, I allow a view to a cleared section of beach.”
    “Lookey there, y’all! There’s a whole passel of little fishing boats!”
    “Yes, Mr. Temperance, and if you will look beyond and inland, you will see a small village.”
    “Just so, Persephone. Deucedly strange how the quaint little hamlet is deserted, though, I say.”
    “Shh! Oye think we woke ’em up! Oye hear the stirrings of voices and movements in the cottages. Oh, Oye’m to be gobbled up boiy ’orrible cannibal natives in dis village of the Damned!”
    “Aye! From all around and all at once, a hundred dark- coloured folk appear at every window and door!”
    “Sacrebleu! What is this? Do we have visitors?”
    “Oui, Jean-Trevour, five delightfully startled white people have stumbled into our little village!”
    “Oui, oui! Oh, happy day! Bonjour, bonjour, Messieurs and Mesdemoiselles !”
    “Let us make them feel at home, everyone say, ‘bonjour’.”
    “Bonjour!”
    “My word, how very nice. What a relief it is to be met with such a charming welcome, I say.”
    “Ha, ha! What is this? You are English speakers? Ho, ho, I beg your pardon! Everybody say, ‘hello’.”
    “Hello!”
    “Aye, please tell me, me festive friends, what is the name of this loovely village?”
    “You are visiting the humble fishing village of São Vinaigrette!”
    “And if ye could joost add in the name o’ this island, eh? Aye, that would be joost grand.”
    “We reside upon the unsurpassed jewel of the Caribbean Sea, Monsieur, the Island of San Monique!”
    “San Monique!”
    “What absolutely divine news you bear my good man, for this is our destination. I do admit, Jean-Trevour, that we were unable to locate this tropical paradise in any travel brochure. Nor were we able to find anyone that possessed an iota of information about your lovely isle without some amount of difficulty. Yes, I say. Tell me kind sir, could you fill in a bit of your island’s history please? Eh, hem?”
    “Oui, but of course, pretty young British girl. This Caribbean isle was originally discovered by a Portuguese armada of conquest in 1547. Several attempts at settlements ended in horror and mystery. Few of the settlers survived the ordeal. They were not prepared to contend with the magical elements of this island. In 1660, the French ship, ‘Bon Homme Atticus’, established a colony here. The ‘Horned Plateau’ that rests between the mountain ranges proved to be a fertile ground for the growing of sugar cane. Slaves from the wild and unchartered continent of Africa brought my forebears to this place. My people’s disposition towards this island’s unusual spirituality more easily adapted to the rigors of living in a place that is in constant struggle between the light and the dark. The overseers abandoned the island to us. The people of San Monique have learned to maintain a balance between these opposing forces. For almost two hundred years, ancient spells intoned by our ancestors have kept this island hidden and safe from the rest of the world. Eight years ago, our earth was visited by the ‘Revelatory Comet’ , oui? Well, it seems that a member of our island’s populace was affected by the passing of the aethereal fireworks. This is a terrible and mean man! He foolishly pursues the dark and evil side of VooDoo practice instead of the good. He has raised the resting dead of this island from their rightful slumber. He entrances the living to do his bidding as well. His power is such that he was able to lift the island’s protective curtain of spells. Utilizing his VooDoo might, this terrible man reached out with his mind to trick an unwary passing ship to dock at the old, abandoned Portuguese port. The ship and crew were captured and fell under his hypnotic spell. The VooDoo mystic was able to leave the island and to spread his odious evil. San Monique remained