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diff --git a/old/cs10w10.txt b/old/cs10w10.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8c472a5..0000000 --- a/old/cs10w10.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,15632 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete -#10 in our series by Charles M. Skinner - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the -copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing -this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. - -This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project -Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the -header without written permission. - -Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the -eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is -important information about your specific rights and restrictions in -how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a -donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** - - -Title: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete - -Author: Charles M. Skinner - -Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6615] -[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] -[This file was first posted on December 31, 2003] - -Edition: 10 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - - - - - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS-LEGENDS, BY SKINNER, ENTIRE *** - - - -This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> - - - - - - MYTHS AND LEGENDS - OF - OUR OWN LAND - - By - Charles M. Skinner - - - - - PREFACE - -It is unthinkingly said and often, that America is not old enough to -have developed a legendary era, for such an era grows backward as a -nation grows forward. No little of the charm of European travel is -ascribed to the glamour that history and fable have flung around old -churches, castles, and the favored haunts of tourists, and the Rhine and -Hudson are frequently compared, to the prejudice of the latter, not -because its scenery lacks in loveliness or grandeur, but that its beauty -has not been humanized by love of chivalry or faerie, as that of the -older stream has been. Yet the record of our country's progress is of -deep import, and as time goes on the figures seen against the morning -twilight of our history will rise to more commanding stature, and the -mists of legend will invest them with a softness or glory that shall -make reverence for them spontaneous and deep. Washington hurling the -stone across the Potomac may live as the Siegfried of some Western saga, -and Franklin invoking the lightnings may be the Loki of our mythology. -The bibliography of American legends is slight, and these tales have -been gathered from sources the most diverse: records, histories, -newspapers, magazines, oral narrative--in every case reconstructed. The -pursuit of them has been so long that a claim may be set forth for some -measure of completeness. - -But, whatever the episodes of our four historic centuries may furnish to -the poet, painter, dramatist, or legend-building idealist of the future, -it is certain that we are not devoid of myth and folk-lore. Some -characters, prosaic enough, perhaps, in daily life, have impinged so -lightly on society before and after perpetrating their one or two great -deeds, that they have already become shadowy and their achievements have -acquired a color of the supernatural. It is where myth and history -combine that legend is most interesting and appeals to our fancy or our -sympathy most strongly; and it is not too early for us to begin the -collation of those quaint happenings and those spoken reports that gain -in picturesqueness with each transmission. An attempt has been made in -this instance to assemble only legends, for, doubtful as some historians -profess to find them, certain occurrences, like the story of Captain -Smith and Pocahontas, and the ride of General Putnam down Breakneck -Stairs, are taught as history; while as to folk-lore, that of the Indian -tribes and of the Southern negro is too copious to be recounted in this -work. It will be noted that traditions do not thrive in brick and -brownstone, and that the stories once rife in the colonial cities have -almost as effectually disappeared as the architectural landmarks of last -century. The field entered by the writer is not untrodden. Hawthorne -and Irving have made paths across it, and it is hoped that others may -deem its farther exploration worthy of their efforts. - - - - - CONTENTS - -THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - -Rip Van Winkle -Catskill Gnomes -The Catskill Witch -The Revenge of Shandaken -Condemned to the Noose -Big Indian -The Baker's Dozen -The Devil's Dance-Chamber -The Culprit Fay -Pokepsie -Dunderberg -Anthony's Nose -Moodua Creek -A Trapper's Ghastly Vengeance -The Vanderdecken of Tappan Zee -The Galloping Hessian -Storm Ship on the Hudson -Why Spuyten Duyvil is so Named -The Ramapo Salamander -Chief Croton -The Retreat from Mahopac -Niagara -The Deformed of Zoar -Horseheads -Kayuta and Waneta -The Drop Star -The Prophet of Palmyra -A Villain's Cremation -The Monster Mosquito -The Green Picture -The Nuns of Carthage -The Skull in the Wall -The Haunted Mill -Old Indian Face -The Division of the Saranacs -An Event in Indian Park -The Indian Plume -Birth of the Water-Lily -Rogers's Slide -The Falls at Cohoes -Francis Woolcott's Night-Riders -Polly's Lover -Crosby, the Patriot Spy -The Lost Grave of Paine -The Rising of Gouverneur Morris - - -THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - -Dolph Heyliger -The Knell at the Wedding -Roistering Dirck Van Dara -The Party from Gibbet Island -Miss Britton's Poker -The Devil's Stepping-Stones -The Springs of Blood and Water -The Crumbling Silver -The Cortelyou Elopement -Van Wempel's Goose -The Weary Watcher -The Rival Fiddlers -Wyandank -Mark of the Spirit Hand -The First Liberal Church - - -ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - -The Phantom Dragoon -Delaware Water Gap -The Phantom Drummer -The Missing Soldier of Valley Forge -The Last Shot at Germantown -A Blow in the Dark -The Tory's Conversion -Lord Percy's Dream -Saved by the Bible -Parricide of the Wissahickon -The Blacksmith at Brandywine -Father and Son -The Envy of Manitou -The Last Revel in Printz Hall -The Two Rings -Flame Scalps of the Chartiers -The Consecration of Washington -Marion - - -TALES OF PURITAN LAND - -Evangeline -The Snoring of Swunksus -The Lewiston Hermit -The Dead Ship of Harpswell -The Schoolmaster had not reached Orrington -Jack Welch's Death Light -Mogg Megone -The Lady Ursula -Father Moody's Black Veil -The Home of Thunder -The Partridge Witch -The Marriage of Mount Katahdin -The Moose of Mount Kineo -The Owl Tree -A Chestnut Log -The Watcher on White Island -Chocorua -Passaconaway's Ride to Heaven -The Ball Game by the Saco -The White Mountains -The Vision on Mount Adams -The Great Carbuncle -Skinner's Cave -Yet they call it Lover's Leap -Salem and other Witchcraft -The Gloucester Leaguers -Satan and his Burial-Place -Peter Rugg, the Missing Man -The Loss of Weetamoo -The Fatal Forget-me-not -The Old Mill at Somerville -Edward Randolph's Portrait -Lady Eleanore's Mantle -Howe's Masquerade -Old Esther Dudley -The Loss of Jacob Hurd -The Hobomak -Berkshire Tories -The Revenge of Josiah Breeze -The May-Pole of Merrymount -The Devil and Tom Walker -The Gray Champion -The Forest Smithy -Wahconah Falls -Knocking at the Tomb -The White Deer of Onota -Wizard's Glen -Balanced Rock -Shonkeek-Moonkeek -The Salem Alchemist -Eliza Wharton -Sale of the Southwicks -The Courtship of Myles Standish -Mother Crewe -Aunt Rachel's Curse -Nix's Mate -The Wild Man of Cape Cod -Newbury's Old Elm -Samuel Sewall's Prophecy -The Shrieking Woman -Agnes Surriage -Skipper Ireson's Ride -Heartbreak Hill -Harry Main: The Treasure and the Cats -The Wessaguscus Hanging -The Unknown Champion -Goody Cole -General Moulton and the Devil -The Skeleton in Armor -Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket -Love and Treason -The Headless Skeleton of Swamptown -The Crow and Cat of Hopkins Hill -The Old Stone Mill -Origin of a Name -Micah Rood Apples -A Dinner and its Consequences -The New Haven Storm Ship -The Windham Frogs -The Lamb of Sacrifice -Moodus Noises -Haddam Enchantments -Block Island and the Palatine -The Buccaneer -Robert Lockwood's Fate -Love and Rum - - - -LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - -The Swim at Indian Head -The Moaning Sisters -A Ride for a Bride -Spooks of the Hiawassee -Lake of the Dismal Swamp -The Barge of Defeat -Natural Bridge -The Silence Broken -Siren of the French Broad -The Hunter of Calawassee -Revenge of the Accabee -Toccoa Falls -Two Lives for One -A Ghostly Avenger -The Wraith Ringer of Atlanta -The Swallowing Earthquake -The Last Stand of the Biloxi -The Sacred Fire of Natchez -Pass Christian -The Under Land - - -THE CENTRAL STATES AND GREAT LAKES - -An Averted Peril -The Obstinacy of Saint Clair -The Hundredth Skull -The Crime of Black Swamp -The House Accursed -Marquette's Man-Eater -Michel de Coucy's Troubles -Wallen's Ridge -The Sky Walker of Huron -The Coffin of Snakes -Mackinack -Lake Superior Water Gods -The Witch of Pictured Rocks -The Origin of White Fish -The Spirit of Cloudy -The Sun Fire at Sault Sainte Marie -The Snake God of Belle Isle -Were-Wolves of Detroit -The Escape of Francois Navarre -The Old Lodger -The Nain Rouge -Two Revenges -Hiawatha -The Indian Messiah -The Vision of Rescue -Devil's Lake -The Keusca Elopement -Pipestone -The Virgins' Feast -Falls of St. Anthony -Flying Shadow and Track Maker -Saved by a Lightning-Stroke -The Killing of Cloudy Sky -Providence Hole -The Scare Cure -Twelfth Night at Cahokia -The Spell of Creve Coeur Lake -How the Crime was Revealed -Banshee of the Bad Lands -Standing Rock -The Salt Witch - - -ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - -Over the Divide -The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass -The River of Lost Souls -Riders of the Desert -The Division of Two Tribes -Besieged by Starvation -A Yellowstone Tragedy -The Broad House -The Death Waltz -The Flood at Santa Fe -Goddess of Salt -The Coming of the Navajos -The Ark on Superstition Mountains -The Pale Faced Lightning -The Weird Sentinel at Squaw Peak -Sacrifice of the Toltecs -Ta-Vwots Conquers the Sun -The Comanche Rider -Horned Toad and Giants -The Spider Tower -The Lost Trail -A Battle in the Air - - -ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE - -The Voyager of the Whulge -Tamanous of Tacoma -The Devil and the Dalles -Cascades of the Columbia -The Death of Umatilla -Hunger Valley -The Wrath of Manitou -The Spook of Misery Hill -The Queen of Death Valley -Bridal Veil Fall -The Governor's Right Eye -The Prisoner in American Shaft - - -AS TO BURIED TREASURE - -Kidd's Treasure -Other Buried Wealth - - -STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS, AND MOUNTAINS - -Monsters and Sea-Serpents -Stone-Throwing Devils -Storied Springs -Lovers' Leaps -God on the Mountains - - - - - - - THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - - - RIP VAN WINKLE - -The story of Rip Van Winkle, told by Irving, dramatized by Boucicault, -acted by Jefferson, pictured by Darley, set to music by Bristow, is the -best known of American legends. Rip was a real personage, and the Van -Winkles are a considerable family at this day. An idle, good-natured, -happy-go-lucky fellow, he lived, presumably, in the village of Catskill, -and began his long sleep in 1769. His wife was a shrew, and to escape -her abuse Rip often took his dog and gun and roamed away to the -Catskills, nine miles westward, where he lounged or hunted, as the humor -seized him. It was on a September evening, during a jaunt on South -Mountain, that he met a stubby, silent man, of goodly girth, his round -head topped with a steeple hat, the skirts of his belted coat and flaps -of his petticoat trousers meeting at the tops of heavy boots, and the -face--ugh!--green and ghastly, with unmoving eyes that glimmered in the -twilight like phosphorus. The dwarf carried a keg, and on receiving an -intimation, in a sign, that he would like Rip to relieve him of it, that -cheerful vagabond shouldered it and marched on up the mountain. - -At nightfall they emerged on a little plateau where a score of men in -the garb of long ago, with faces like that of Rip's guide, and equally -still and speechless, were playing bowls with great solemnity, the balls -sometimes rolling over the plateau's edge and rumbling down the rocks -with a boom like thunder. A cloaked and snowy-bearded figure, watching -aloof, turned like the others, and gazed uncomfortably at the visitor -who now came blundering in among them. Rip was at first for making off, -but the sinister glare in the circle of eyes took the run out of his -legs, and he was not displeased when they signed to him to tap the keg -and join in a draught of the ripest schnapps that ever he had tasted,-- -and he knew the flavor of every brand in Catskill. While these strange -men grew no more genial with passing of the flagons, Rip was pervaded by -a satisfying glow; then, overcome by sleepiness and resting his head on -a stone, he stretched his tired legs out and fell to dreaming. - -Morning. Sunlight and leaf shadow were dappled over the earth when he -awoke, and rising stiffly from his bed, with compunctions in his bones, -he reached for his gun. The already venerable implement was so far gone -with rot and rust that it fell to pieces in his hand, and looking down -at the fragments of it, he saw that his clothes were dropping from his -body in rags and mould, while a white beard flowed over his breast. -Puzzled and alarmed, shaking his head ruefully as he recalled the -carouse of the silent, he hobbled down the mountain as fast as he might -for the grip of the rheumatism on his knees and elbows, and entered his -native village. What! Was this Catskill? Was this the place that he -left yesterday? Had all these houses sprung up overnight, and these -streets been pushed across the meadows in a day? The people, too: where -were his friends? The children who had romped with him, the rotund -topers whom he had left cooling their hot noses in pewter pots at the -tavern door, the dogs that used to bark a welcome, recognizing in him a -kindred spirit of vagrancy: where were they? - -And his wife, whose athletic arm and agile tongue had half disposed him -to linger in the mountains how happened it that she was not awaiting him -at the gate? But gate there was none in the familiar place: an unfenced -yard of weeds and ruined foundation wall were there. Rip's home was -gone. The idlers jeered at his bent, lean form, his snarl of beard and -hair, his disreputable dress, his look of grieved astonishment. He -stopped, instinctively, at the tavern, for he knew that place in spite -of its new sign: an officer in blue regimentals and a cocked hat -replacing the crimson George III. of his recollection, and labelled -"General Washington." There was a quick gathering of ne'er-do-weels, of -tavern-haunters and gaping 'prentices, about him, and though their faces -were strange and their manners rude, he made bold to ask if they knew -such and such of his friends. - -"Nick Vedder? He's dead and gone these eighteen years." "Brom Dutcher? -He joined the army and was killed at Stony Point." "Van Brummel? -He, too, went to the war, and is in Congress now." - -And Rip Van Winkle?" - -"Yes, he's here. That's him yonder." - -And to Rip's utter confusion he saw before him a counterpart of himself, -as young, lazy, ragged, and easy-natured as he remembered himself to be, -yesterday--or, was it yesterday? - -"That's young Rip," continued his informer. "His father was Rip Van -Winkle, too, but he went to the mountains twenty years ago and never -came back. He probably fell over a cliff, or was carried off by -Indians, or eaten by bears." - -Twenty years ago! Truly, it was so. Rip had slept for twenty years -without awaking. He had left a peaceful colonial village; he returned -to a bustling republican town. How he eventually found, among the -oldest inhabitants, some who admitted that they knew him; how he found a -comfortable home with his married daughter and the son who took after -him so kindly; how he recovered from the effect of the tidings that his -wife had died of apoplexy, in a quarrel; how he resumed his seat at the -tavern tap and smoked long pipes and told long yarns for the rest of his -days, were matters of record up to the beginning of this century. - -And a strange story Rip had to tell, for he had served as cup-bearer to -the dead crew of the Half Moon. He had quaffed a cup of Hollands with -no other than Henry Hudson himself. Some say that Hudson's spirit has -made its home amid these hills, that it may look into the lovely valley -that he discovered; but others hold that every twenty years he and his -men assemble for a revel in the mountains that so charmed them when -first seen swelling against the western heavens, and the liquor they -drink on this night has the bane of throwing any mortal who lips it into -a slumber whence nothing can arouse him until the day dawns when the -crew shall meet again. As you climb the east front of the mountains by -the old carriage road, you pass, half-way up the height, the stone that -Rip Van Winkle slept on, and may see that it is slightly hollowed by his -form. The ghostly revellers are due in the Catskills in 1909, and let -all tourists who are among the mountains in September of that year -beware of accepting liquor from strangers. - - - - - CATSKILL GNOMES - -Behind the New Grand Hotel, in the Catskills, is an amphitheatre of -mountain that is held to be the place of which the Mohicans spoke when -they told of people there who worked in metals, and had bushy beards and -eyes like pigs. From the smoke of their forges, in autumn, came the -haze of Indian summer; and when the moon was full, it was their custom -to assemble on the edge of a precipice above the hollow and dance and -caper until the night was nigh worn away. They brewed a liquor that had -the effect of shortening the bodies and swelling the heads of all who -drank it, and when Hudson and his crew visited the mountains, the -pygmies held a carouse in his honor and invited him to drink their -liquor. The crew went away, shrunken and distorted by the magic -distillation, and thus it was that Rip Van Winkle found them on the eve -of his famous sleep. - - - - - THE CATSKILL WITCH - -When the Dutch gave the name of Katzbergs to the mountains west of the -Hudson, by reason of the wild-cats and panthers that ranged there, they -obliterated the beautiful Indian Ontiora, "mountains of the sky." In -one tradition of the red men these hills were bones of a monster that -fed on human beings until the Great Spirit turned it into stone as it -was floundering toward the ocean to bathe. The two lakes near the -summit were its eyes. These peaks were the home of an Indian witch, who -adjusted the weather for the Hudson Valley with the certainty of a -signal service bureau. It was she who let out the day and night in -blessed alternation, holding back the one when the other was at large, -for fear of conflict. Old moons she cut into stars as soon as she had -hung new ones in the sky, and she was often seen perched on Round Top -and North Mountain, spinning clouds and flinging them to the winds. Woe -betide the valley residents if they showed irreverence, for then the -clouds were black and heavy, and through them she poured floods of rain -and launched the lightnings, causing disastrous freshets in the streams -and blasting the wigwams of the mockers. In a frolic humor she would -take the form of a bear or deer and lead the Indian hunters anything but -a merry dance, exposing them to tire and peril, and vanishing or -assuming some terrible shape when they had overtaken her. Sometimes she -would lead them to the cloves and would leap into the air with a mocking -"Ho, ho!" just as they stopped with a shudder at the brink of an abyss. -Garden Rock was a spot where she was often found, and at its foot a lake -once spread. This was held in such awe that an Indian would never -wittingly pursue his quarry there; but once a hunter lost his way and -emerged from the forest at the edge of the pond. Seeing a number of -gourds in crotches of the trees he took one, but fearing the spirit he -turned to leave so quickly that he stumbled and it fell. As it broke, a -spring welled from it in such volume that the unhappy man was gulfed in -its waters, swept to the edge of Kaaterskill clove and dashed on the -rocks two hundred and sixty feet below. Nor did the water ever cease to -run, and in these times the stream born of the witch's revenge is known -as Catskill Creek. - - - - - THE REVENGE OF SHANDAKEN - -On the rock platform where the Catskill Mountain House now stands, -commanding one of the fairest views in the world, old chief Shandaken -set his wigwam,--for it is a mistake to suppose that barbarians are -indifferent to beauty,--and there his daughter, Lotowana, was sought in -marriage by his braves. She, however, kept faith to an early vow -exchanged with a young chief of the Mohawks. A suitor who was -particularly troublesome was Norsereddin, proud, morose, dark-featured, -a stranger to the red man, a descendant, so he claimed, from Egyptian -kings, and who lived by himself on Kaaterskill Creek, appearing among -white settlements but rarely. - -On one of his visits to Catskill, a tavern-lounging Dutchman wagered him -a thousand golden crowns that he could not win Lotowana, and, stung by -avarice as well as inflamed by passion, Norsereddin laid new siege to -her heart. Still the girl refused to listen, and Shandaken counselled -him to be content with the smiles of others, thereby so angering the -Egyptian that he assailed the chief and was driven from the camp with -blows; but on the day of Lotowana's wedding with the Mohawk he returned, -and in a honeyed speech asked leave to give a jewel to the bride to show -that he had stifled jealousy and ill will. The girl took the handsome -box he gave her and drew the cover, when a spring flew forward, driving -into her hand the poisoned tooth of a snake that had been affixed to it. -The venom was strong, and in a few minutes Lotowana lay dead at her -husband's feet. - -Though the Egyptian had disappeared into the forest directly on the -acceptance of his treacherous gift, twenty braves set off in pursuit, -and overtaking him on the Kalkberg, they dragged him back to the rock -where father and husband were bewailing the maid's untimely fate. A -pile of fagots was heaped within a few feet of the precipice edge, and -tying their captive on them, they applied the torch, dancing about with -cries of exultation as the shrieks of the wretch echoed from the cliffs. -The dead girl was buried by the mourning tribe, while the ashes of -Norsereddin were left to be blown abroad. On the day of his revenge -Shandaken left his ancient dwelling-place, and his camp-fires never -glimmered afterward on the front of Ontiora. - - - - - CONDEMNED TO THE NOOSE - -Ralph Sutherland, who, early in the last century, occupied a stone house -a mile from Leeds, in the Catskills, was a man of morose and violent -disposition, whose servant, a Scotch girl, was virtually a slave, -inasmuch as she was bound to work for him without pay until she had -refunded to him her passage-money to this country. Becoming weary of -bondage and of the tempers of her master, the girl ran away. The man -set off in a raging chase, and she had not gone far before Sutherland -overtook her, tied her by the wrists to his horse's tail, and began the -homeward journey. Afterward, he swore that the girl stumbled against -the horse's legs, so frightening the animal that it rushed off madly, -pitching him out of the saddle and dashing the servant to death on rocks -and trees; yet, knowing how ugly-tempered he could be, his neighbors -were better inclined to believe that he had driven the horse into a -gallop, intending to drag the girl for a short distance, as a -punishment, and to rein up before he had done serious mischief. On this -supposition he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to die on the -scaffold. - -The tricks of circumstantial evidence, together with pleas advanced by -influential relatives of the prisoner, induced the court to delay -sentence until the culprit should be ninety-nine years old, but it was -ordered that, while released on his own recognizance, in the interim, he -should keep a hangman's noose about his neck and show himself before the -judges in Catskill once every year, to prove that he wore his badge of -infamy and kept his crime in mind. This sentence he obeyed, and there -were people living recently who claimed to remember him as he went about -with a silken cord knotted at his throat. He was always alone, he -seldom spoke, his rough, imperious manner had departed. Only when -children asked him what the rope was for were his lips seen to quiver, -and then he would hurry away. After dark his house was avoided, for -gossips said that a shrieking woman passed it nightly, tied at the tail -of a giant horse with fiery eyes and smoking nostrils; that a skeleton -in a winding sheet had been found there; that a curious thing, somewhat -like a woman, had been known to sit on his garden wall, with lights -shining from her finger-tips, uttering unearthly laughter; and that -domestic animals reproached the man by groaning and howling beneath his -windows. - -These beliefs he knew, yet he neither grieved, nor scorned, nor answered -when he was told of them. Years sped on. Every year deepened his -reserve and loneliness, and some began to whisper that he would take his -own way out of the world, though others answered that men who were born -to be hanged would never be drowned; but a new republic was created; new -laws were made; new judges sat to minister them; so, on Ralph -Sutherland's ninety-ninth birthday anniversary, there were none who -would accuse him or execute sentence. He lived yet another year, dying -in 1801. But was it from habit, or was it in self-punishment and -remorse, that he never took off the cord? for, when he drew his last -breath, though it was in his own house, his throat was still encircled -by the hangman's rope. - - - - - BIG INDIAN - -Intermarriages between white people and red ones in this country were -not uncommon in the days when our ancestors led as rude a life as the -natives, and several places in the Catskills commemorate this fact. -Mount Utsayantha, for example, is named for an Indian woman whose life, -with that of her baby and her white husband, was lost there. For the -white men early found friends among these mountains. As far back as -1663 they spared Catherine Dubois and her three children, after some -rash spirits had abducted them and carried them to a place on the upper -Walkill, to do them to death; for the captives raised a Huguenot hymn -and the hearts of their captors were softened. - -In Esopus Valley lived Winnisook, whose height was seven feet, and who -was known among the white settlers as "the big Indian." He loved a -white girl of the neighborhood, one Gertrude Molyneux, and had asked for -her hand; but while she was willing, the objections of her family were -too strong to be overcome, and she was teased into marriage with Joseph -Bundy, of her own race, instead. She liked the Indian all the better -after that, however, because Bundy proved to be a bad fellow, and -believing that she could be happier among barbarians than among a people -that approved such marriages, she eloped with Winnisook. For a long -time all trace of the runaway couple was lost, but one day the man -having gone down to the plain to steal cattle, it was alleged, was -discovered by some farmers who knew him, and who gave hot chase, coming -up with him at the place now called Big Indian. - -Foremost in the chase was Bundy. As he came near to the enemy of his -peace he exclaimed, "I think the best way to civilize that yellow -serpent is to let daylight into his heart," and, drawing his rifle to -his shoulder, he fired. Mortally wounded, yet instinctively seeking -refuge, the giant staggered into the hollow of a pine-tree, where the -farmers lost sight of him. There, however, he was found by Gertrude, -bolt upright, yet dead. The unwedded widow brought her dusky children -to the place and spent the remainder of her days near his grave. Until -a few years ago the tree was still pointed out, but a railroad company -has now covered it with an embankment. - - - - - THE BAKER'S DOZEN - -Baas [Boss] Volckert Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam kept a bake-shop in -Albany, and lives in history as the man who invented New Year cakes and -made gingerbread babies in the likeness of his own fat offspring. Good -churchman though he was, the bane of his life was a fear of being -bewitched, and perhaps it was to keep out evil spirits, who might make -one last effort to gain the mastery over him, ere he turned the -customary leaf with the incoming year, that he had primed himself with -an extra glass of spirits on the last night of 1654. His sales had been -brisk, and as he sat in his little shop, meditating comfortably on the -gains he would make when his harmless rivals--the knikkerbakkers (bakers -of marbles)--sent for their usual supply of olie-koeks and mince-pies on -the morrow, he was startled by a sharp rap, and an ugly old woman -entered. "Give me a dozen New Year's cookies!" she cried, in a shrill -voice. - -"Vell, den, you needn' sbeak so loud. I aind teaf, den." - -"A dozen!" she screamed. "Give me a dozen. Here are only twelve." - -"Vell, den, dwalf is a dozen." - -"One more! I want a dozen." - -"Vell, den, if you vant anodder, go to de duyvil and ged it." - -Did the hag take him at his word? She left the shop, and from that time -it seemed as if poor Volckert was bewitched, indeed, for his cakes were -stolen; his bread was so light that it went up the chimney, when it was -not so heavy that it fell through the oven; invisible hands plucked -bricks from that same oven and pelted him until he was blue; his wife -became deaf, his children went unkempt, and his trade went elsewhere. -Thrice the old woman reappeared, and each time was sent anew to the -devil; but at last, in despair, the baker called on Saint Nicolaus to -come and advise him. His call was answered with startling quickness, -for, almost while he was making it, the venerable patron of Dutch feasts -stood before him. The good soul advised the trembling man to be more -generous in his dealings with his fellows, and after a lecture on -charity he vanished, when, lo! the old woman was there in his place. - -She repeated her demand for one more cake, and Volckert Jan Pietersen, -etc., gave it, whereupon she exclaimed, "The spell is broken, and from -this time a dozen is thirteen!" Taking from the counter a gingerbread -effigy of Saint Nicolaus, she made the astonished Dutchman lay his hand -upon it and swear to give more liberal measure in the future. So, until -thirteen new States arose from the ruins of the colonies,--when the -shrewd Yankees restored the original measure,--thirteen made a baker's -dozen. - - - - - THE DEVIL'S DANCE-CHAMBER. - -Most storied of our New World rivers is the Hudson. Historic scenes -have been enacted on its shores, and Indian, Dutchman, Briton, and -American have invested it with romance. It had its source, in the red -man's fancy, in a spring of eternal youth; giants and spirits dwelt in -its woods and hills, and before the river-Shatemuc, king of streams, the -red men called it--had broken through the highlands, those mountains -were a pent for spirits who had rebelled against the Manitou. After the -waters had forced a passage to the sea these evil ones sought shelter in -the glens and valleys that open to right and left along its course, but -in time of tempest, when they hear Manitou riding down the ravine on -wings of storm, dashing thunderbolts against the cliffs, it is the fear -that he will recapture them and force them into lightless caverns to -expiate their revolt, that sends them huddling among the rocks and makes -the hills resound with roars and howls. - -At the Devil's Dance-Chamber, a slight plateau on the west bank, between -Newburg and Crom Elbow, the red men performed semi-religious rites as a -preface to their hunting and fishing trips or ventures on the war-path. -They built a fire, painted themselves, and in that frenzy into which -savages are so readily lashed, and that is so like to the action of mobs -in trousers, they tumbled, leaped, danced, yelled, sang, grimaced, and -gesticulated until the Manitou disclosed himself, either as a harmless -animal or a beast of prey. If he came in the former shape the augury -was favorable, but if he showed himself as a bear or panther, it was a -warning of evil that they seldom dared to disregard. - -The crew of Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, having chanced on one of these -orgies, were so impressed by the fantastic spectacle that they gave the -name Duyvels Dans-Kamer to the spot. Years afterwards, when Stuyvesant -ascended the river, his doughty retainers were horrified, on landing -below the Dans-Kamer, to discover hundreds of painted figures frisking -there in the fire-light. A few surmised that they were but a new -generation of savages holding a powwow, but most of the sailors fancied -that the assemblage was demoniac, and that the figures were spirits of -bad Indians repeating a scalp-dance and revelling in the mysterious -fire-water that they had brought down from the river source in jars and -skins. The spot was at least once profaned with blood, for a young -Dutchman and his wife, of Albany, were captured here by an angry Indian, -and although the young man succeeded in stabbing his captor to death, he -was burned alive on the rock by the friends of the Indian whose wrath he -had provoked. The wife, after being kept in captivity for a time, was -ransomed. - - - - - THE CULPRIT FAY - -The wood-tick's drum convokes the elves at the noon of night on Cro' -Nest top, and, clambering out of their flower-cup beds and hammocks of -cobweb, they fly to the meeting, not to freak about the grass or banquet -at the mushroom table, but to hear sentence passed on the fay who, -forgetting his vestal vow, has loved an earthly maid. From his throne -under a canopy of tulip petals, borne on pillars of shell, the king -commands silence, and with severe eye but softened voice he tells the -culprit that while he has scorned the royal decree he has saved himself -from the extreme penalty, of imprisonment in walnut shells and cobweb -dungeons, by loving a maid who is gentle and pure. So it shall be -enough if he will go down to the Hudson and seize a drop from the bow of -mist that a sturgeon leaves when he makes his leap; and after, to kindle -his darkened flame-wood lamp at a meteor spark. The fairy bows, and -without a word slowly descends the rocky steep, for his wing is soiled -and has lost its power; but once at the river, he tugs amain at a mussel -shell till he has it afloat; then, leaping in, he paddles out with a -strong grass blade till he comes to the spot where the sturgeon swims, -though the watersprites plague him and toss his boat, and the fish and -the leeches bunt and drag; but, suddenly, the sturgeon shoots from the -water, and ere the arch of mist that he tracks through the air has -vanished, the sprite has caught a drop of the spray in a tiny blossom, -and in this he washes clean his wings. - -The water-goblins torment him no longer. They push his boat to the -shore, where, alighting, he kisses his hand, then, even as a bubble, he -flies back to the mountain top, dons his acorn helmet, his corselet of -bee-hide, his shield of lady-bug shell, and grasping his lance, tipped -with wasp sting, he bestrides his fire-fly steed and off he goes like a -flash. The world spreads out and then grows small, but he flies -straight on. The ice-ghosts leer from the topmost clouds, and the mists -surge round, but he shakes his lance and pipes his call, and at last he -comes to the Milky Way, where the sky-sylphs lead him to their queen, -who lies couched in a palace ceiled with stars, its dome held up by -northern lights and the curtains made of the morning's flush. Her -mantle is twilight purple, tied with threads of gold from the eastern -dawn, and her face is as fair as the silver moon. - -She begs the fay to stay with her and taste forever the joys of heaven, -but the knightly elf keeps down the beating of his heart, for he -remembers a face on earth that is fairer than hers, and he begs to go. -With a sigh she fits him a car of cloud, with the fire-fly steed chained -on behind, and he hurries away to the northern sky whence the meteor -comes, with roar and whirl, and as it passes it bursts to flame. He -lights his lamp at a glowing spark, then wheels away to the fairy-land. -His king and his brothers hail him stoutly, with song and shout, and -feast and dance, and the revel is kept till the eastern sky has a ruddy -streak. Then the cock crows shrill and the fays are gone. - - - - - POKEPSIE - -The name of this town has forty-two spellings in old records, and with -singular pertinacity in ill-doing, the inhabitants have fastened on it -the longest and clumsiest of all. It comes from the Mohegan words Apo- -keep-sink, meaning a safe, pleasant harbor. Harbor it might be for -canoes, but for nothing bigger, for it was only the little cove that was -so called between Call Rock and Adder Cliff,--the former indicating -where settlers awaiting passage hailed the masters of vessels from its -top, and the latter taking its name from the snakes that abounded there. - -Hither came a band of Delawares with Pequot captives, among them a young -chief to whom had been offered not only life but leadership if he would -renounce his tribe, receive the mark of the turtle on his breast, and -become a Delaware. On his refusal, he was bound to a tree, and was -about to undergo the torture, when a girl among the listeners sprang to -his side. She, too, was a Pequot, but the turtle totem was on her -bosom, and when she begged his life, because they had been betrothed, -the captors paused to talk of it. She had chosen well the time to -interfere, for a band of Hurons was approaching, and even as the talk -went on their yell was heard in the wood. Instant measures for defence -were taken, and in the fight that followed both chief and maiden were -forgotten; but though she cut the cords that bound him, they were -separated in the confusion, he disappearing, she falling captive to the -Hurons, who, sated with blood, retired from the field. In the fantastic -disguise of a wizard the young Pequot entered their camp soon after, and -on being asked to try his enchantments for the cure of a young woman, he -entered her tent, showing no surprise at finding her to be the maiden of -his choice, who was suffering from nothing worse than nerves, due to the -excitement of the battle. Left alone with his patient, he disclosed his -identity, and planned a way of escape that proved effective on that very -night, for, though pursued by the angry Hurons, the couple reached "safe -harbor," thence making a way to their own country in the east, where -they were married. - - - - - DUNDERBERG - -Dunderberg, "Thunder Mountain," at the southern gate of the Hudson -Highlands, is a wooded eminence, chiefly populated by a crew of imps of -stout circumference, whose leader, the Heer, is a bulbous goblin clad in -the dress worn by Dutch colonists two centuries ago, and carrying a -speaking-trumpet, through which he bawls his orders for the blowing of -winds and the touching off of lightnings. These orders are given in Low -Dutch, and are put into execution by the imps aforesaid, who troop into -the air and tumble about in the mist, sometimes smiting the flag or -topsail of a ship to ribbons, or laying the vessel over before the wind -until she is in peril of going on beam ends. At one time a sloop -passing the Dunderberg had nearly foundered, when the crew discovered -the sugar-loaf hat of the Heer at the mast-head. None dared to climb -for it, and it was not until she had driven past Pollopel's Island--the -limit of the Heer's jurisdiction--that she righted. As she did so the -little hat spun into the air like a top, creating a vortex that drew up -the storm-clouds, and the sloop kept her way prosperously for the rest -of the voyage. The captain had nailed a horse-shoe to the mast. The -"Hat Rogue" of the Devil's Bridge in Switzerland must be a relative of -this gamesome sprite, for his mischief is usually of a harmless sort; -but, to be on the safe side, the Dutchmen who plied along the river -lowered their peaks in homage to the keeper of the mountain, and for -years this was a common practice. Mariners who paid this courtesy to -the Heer of the Donder Berg were never molested by his imps, though -skipper Ouselsticker, of Fishkill,--for all he had a parson on board,-- -was once beset by a heavy squall, and the goblin came out of the mist -and sat astraddle of his bowsprit, seeming to guide his schooner -straight toward the rocks. The dominie chanted the song of Saint -Nicolaus, and the goblin, unable to endure either its spiritual potency -or the worthy parson's singing, shot upward like a ball and rode off on -the gale, carrying with him the nightcap of the parson's wife, which he -hung on the weathercock of Esopus steeple, forty miles away. - - - - - ANTHONY'S NOSE - -The Hudson Highlands are suggestively named Bear Mountain, Sugar Loaf, -Cro' Nest, Storm King, called by the Dutch Boterberg, or Butter Hill, -from its likeness to a pat of butter; Beacon Hill, where the fires -blazed to tell the country that the Revolutionary war was over; -Dunderberg, Mount Taurus, so called because a wild bull that had -terrorized the Highlands was chased out of his haunts on this height, -and was killed by falling from a cliff on an eminence to the northward, -known, in consequence, as Breakneck Hill. These, with Anthony's Nose, -are the principal points of interest in the lovely and impressive -panorama that unfolds before the view as the boats fly onward. - -Concerning the last-named elevation, the aquiline promontory that abuts -on the Hudson opposite Dunderberg, it takes title from no resemblance to -the human feature, but is so named because Anthony Van Corlaer, the -trumpeter, who afterwards left a reason for calling the upper boundary -of Manhattan Island Spuyten Duyvil Creek, killed the first sturgeon ever -eaten at the foot of this mountain. It happened in this wise: By -assiduous devotion to keg and flagon Anthony had begotten a nose that -was the wonder and admiration of all who knew it, for its size was -prodigious; in color it rivalled the carbuncle, and it shone like -polished copper. As Anthony was lounging over the quarter of Peter -Stuyvesant's galley one summer morning this nose caught a ray from the -sun and reflected it hissing into the water, where it killed a sturgeon -that was rising beside the vessel. The fish was pulled aboard, eaten, -and declared good, though the singed place savored of brimstone, and in -commemoration of the event Stuyvesant dubbed the mountain that rose -above his vessel Anthony's Nose. - - - - - MOODUA CREEK - -Moodua is an evolution, through Murdy's and Moodna, from Murderer's -Creek, its present inexpressive name having been given to it by N. P. -Willis. One Murdock lived on its shore with his wife, two sons, and a -daughter; and often in the evening Naoman, a warrior of a neighboring -tribe, came to the cabin, caressed the children, and shared the -woodman's hospitality. One day the little girl found in the forest an -arrow wrapped in snake-skin and tipped with crow's feather; then the boy -found a hatchet hanging by a hair from a bough above the door; then a -glare of evil eyes was caught for an instant in a thicket. Naoman, when -he came, was reserved and stern, finding voice only to warn the family -to fly that night; so, when all was still, the threatened family made -its way softly, but quickly, to the Hudson shore, and embarked for -Fisher's Kill, across the river. - -The wind lagged and their boat drew heavily, and when, from the shade of -Pollopel's Island, a canoe swept out, propelled by twelve men, the -hearts of the people in the boat sank in despair. The wife was about to -leap over, but Murdock drew her back; then, loading and firing as fast -as possible, he laid six of his pursuers low; but the canoe was savagely -urged forward, and in another minute every member of the family was a -helpless captive. When the skiff had been dragged back, the prisoners -were marched through the wood to an open spot where the principal -members of the tribe sat in council. - -The sachem arose, twisted his hands in the woman's golden hair, bared -his knife, and cried, "Tell us what Indian warned you and betrayed his -tribe, or you shall see husband and children bleed before your eyes." -The woman answered never a word, but after a little Naoman arose and -said, "'Twas I;" then drew his blanket about him and knelt for -execution. An axe cleft his skull. Drunk with the sight of blood, the -Indians rushed upon the captives and slew them, one by one. The -prisoners neither shrank nor cried for mercy, but met their end with -hymns upon their lips, and, seeing that they could so meet death, one -member of the band let fall his arm and straight became a Christian. -The cabin was burned, the bodies flung into the stream, and the stain of -blood was seen for many a year in Murderer's Creek. - - - - - A TRAPPER'S GHASTLY VENGEANCE - -About a mile back from the Hudson, at Coxsackie, stood the cabin of Nick -Wolsey, who, in the last century, was known to the river settlements as -a hunter and trapper of correct aim, shrewdness, endurance, and taciturn -habit. For many years he lived in this cabin alone, except for the -company of his dog; but while visiting a camp of Indians in the -wilderness he was struck with the engaging manner of one of the girls of -the tribe; he repeated the visit; he found cause to go to the camp -frequently; he made presents to the father of the maid, and at length -won her consent to be his wife. The simple marriage ceremony of the -tribe was performed, and Wolsey led Minamee to his home; but the wedding -was interrupted in an almost tragic manner, for a surly fellow who had -loved the girl, yet who never had found courage to declare himself, was -wrought to such a jealous fury at the discovery of Wolsey's good fortune -that he sprang at him with a knife, and would have despatched him on the -spot had not the white man's faithful hound leaped at his throat and -borne him to the ground. - -Wolsey disarmed the fellow and kicked and cuffed him to the edge of the -wood, while the whole company shouted with laughter at this ignominious -punishment, and approved it. A year or more passed. Wolsey and his -Indian wife were happy in their free and simple life; happy, too, in -their little babe. Wolsey was seldom absent from his cabin for any -considerable length of time, and usually returned to it before the night -set in. One evening he noticed that the grass and twigs were bent near -his house by some passing foot that, with the keen eye of the woodman, -he saw was not his wife's. - -"Some hunter," he said, "saw the house when he passed here, and as, -belike, he never saw one before, he stopped to look in." For the trail -led to his window, and diverged thence to the forest again. A few days -later, as he was returning, he came on the footprints that were freshly -made, and a shadow crossed his face. On nearing the door he stumbled on -the body of his dog, lying rigid on the ground. "How did this happen, -Minamee?" he cried, as he flung open the door. The wife answered, in a -low voice, "O Hush! you'll wake the child." - -Nick Wolsey entered the cabin and stood as one turned to marble. -Minamee, his wife, sat on the gold hearth, her face and hands cut and -blackened, her dress torn, her eyes glassy, a meaningless smile on her -lips. In her arms she pressed the body of her infant, its dress soaked -with blood, and the head of the little creature lay on the floor beside -her. She crooned softly over the cold clay as if hushing it to sleep, -and when Wolsey at length found words, she only whispered, "Hush! you -will wake him." The night went heavily on; day dawned, and the crooning -became lower and lower; still, through all that day the bereft woman -rocked to and fro upon the floor, and the agonized husband hung about -her, trying in vain to give comfort, to bind her wounds, to get some -explanation of the mystery that confronted him. The second night set -in, and it was evident that it would be the last for Minamee. Her -strength failed until she allowed herself to be placed on a couch of -skins, while the body of her child was gently lifted from her arms. -Then, for a few brief minutes, her reason was restored, and she found -words to tell her husband how the Indian whose murderous attack he had -thwarted at the wedding had come to the cabin, shot the dog that had -rushed out to defend the place, beat the woman back from the door, tore -the baby from its bed, slashed its head off with a knife, and, flinging -the little body into her lap, departed with the words, "This is my -revenge. I am satisfied." Before the sun was in the east again Minamee -was with her baby. - -Wolsey sat for hours in the ruin of his happiness, his breathing alone -proving that he was alive, and when at last he arose and went out of the -house, there were neither tears nor outcry; he saddled his horse and -rode off to the westward. At nightfall he came to the Indian village -where he had won his wife, and relating to the assembled tribe what had -happened, he demanded that the murderer be given up to him. His demand -was readily granted, whereupon the white man advanced on the cowering -wretch, who had confidently expected the protection of his people, and -with the quick fling and jerk of a raw-hide rope bound his arms to his -side. Then casting a noose about his neck and tying the end of it to -his saddle-bow, he set off for the Hudson. All that night he rode, the -Indian walking and running at the horse's heels, and next day he reached -his cabin. Tying his prisoner to a tree, the trapper cut a quantity of -young willows, from which he fashioned a large cradle-like receptacle; -in this he placed the culprit, face upward, and tied so stoutly that he -could not move a finger; then going into his house, he emerged with the -body of Minamee, and laid it, face downward, on the wretch, who could -not repress a groan of horror as the awful burden sank on his breast. -Wolsey bound together the living and the dead, and with a swing of his -powerful arms he flung them on his horse's back, securing them there -with so many turns of rope that nothing could displace them. Now he -began to lash his horse until the poor beast trembled with anger and -pain, when, flinging off the halter, he gave it a final lash, and the -animal plunged, foaming and snorting, into the wilderness. When it had -vanished and the hoof-beats were no longer heard, Nick Wolsey took his -rifle on his arm and left his home forever. And tradition says that the -horse never stopped in its mad career, but that on still nights it can -be heard sweeping through the woods along the Hudson and along the -Mohawk like a whirlwind, and that as the sound goes by a smothered voice -breaks out in cursing, in appeal, then in harsh and dreadful laughter. - - - - -THE VANDERDECKEN OF TAPPAN ZEE - -It is Saturday night; the swell of the Hudson lazily heaves against the -shores of Tappan Zee, the cliff above Tarrytown where the white lady -cries on winter nights is pale in starlight, and crickets chirp in the -boskage. It is so still that the lap of oars can be heard coming across -the water at least a mile away. Some small boat, evidently, but of -heavy build, for it takes a vigorous hand to propel it, and now there is -a grinding of oars on thole-pins. Strange that it is not yet seen, for -the sound is near. Look! Is that a shadow crossing that wrinkle of -starlight in the water? The oars have stopped, and there is no wind to -make that sound of a sigh. - -Ho, Rambout Van Dam! Is it you? Are you still expiating your oath to -pull from Kakiat to Spuyten Duyvil before the dawn of Sabbath, if it -takes you a month of Sundays? Better for you had you passed the night -with your roistering friends at Kakiat, or started homeward earlier, for -Sabbath-breaking is no sin now, and you, poor ghost, will find little -sympathy for your plight. Grant that your month of Sundays, or your -cycle of months of Sundays, be soon up, for it is sad to be reminded -that we may be punished for offences many years forgotten. When the sun -is high to-morrow a score of barges will vex the sea of Tappan, each -crowded with men and maids from New Amsterdam, jigging to profane music -and refreshing themselves with such liquors as you, Rambout, never even -smelled--be thankful for that much. If your shade sits blinking at them -from the wooded buttresses of the Palisades, you must repine, indeed, at -the hardness of your fate. - - - - - THE GALLOPING HESSIAN - -In the flower-gemmed cemetery of Tarrytown, where gentle Irving sleeps, -a Hessian soldier was interred after sustaining misfortune in the loss -of his head in one of the Revolutionary battles. For a long time after -he was buried it was the habit of this gentleman to crawl from his grave -at unseemly hours and gallop about the country, sending shivers through -the frames of many worthy people, who shrank under their blankets when -they heard the rush of hoofs along the unlighted roads. - -In later times there lived in Tarrytown--so named because of the -tarrying habits of Dutch gossips on market days, though some hard-minded -people insist that Tarwe-town means Wheat-towna gaunt schoolmaster, one -Ichabod Crane, who cherished sweet sentiments for Katrina Van Tassell, -the buxom daughter of a farmer, also a famous maker of pies and -doughnuts. Ichabod had been calling late one evening, and, his way home -being long, Katrina's father lent him a horse to make the journey; but -even with this advantage the youth set out with misgivings, for he had -to pass the graveyard. - -As it was near the hour when the Hessian was to ride, he whistled feebly -to keep his courage up, but when he came to the dreaded spot the whistle -died in a gasp, for he heard the tread of a horse. On looking around, -his hair bristled and his heart came up like a plug in his throat to -hinder his breathing, for he saw a headless horseman coming over the -ridge behind him, blackly defined against the starry sky. Setting spurs -to his nag with a hope of being first to reach Sleepy Hollow bridge, -which the spectre never passed, the unhappy man made the best possible -time in that direction, for his follower was surely overtaking him. -Another minute and the bridge would be reached; but, to Ichabod's -horror, the Hessian dashed alongside and, rising in his stirrups, flung -his head full at the fugitive's back. With a squeal of fright the -schoolmaster rolled into a mass of weeds by the wayside, and for some -minutes he remained there, knowing and remembering nothing. - -Next morning farmer Van Tassell's horse was found grazing in a field -near Sleepy Hollow, and a man who lived some miles southward reported -that he had seen Mr. Crane striding as rapidly along the road to New -York as his lean legs could take him, and wearing a pale and serious -face as he kept his march. There were yellow stains on the back of his -coat, and the man who restored the horse found a smashed pumpkin in the -broken bushes beside the road. Ichabod never returned to Tarrytown, and -when Brom Bones, a stout young ploughman and taphaunter, married -Katrina, people made bold to say that he knew more about the galloping -Hessian than any one else, though they believed that he never had reason -to be jealous of Ichabod Crane. - - - - - STORM SHIP OF THE HUDSON - -It was noised about New Amsterdam, two hundred years ago, that a round -and bulky ship flying Dutch colors from her lofty quarter was careering -up the harbor in the teeth of a north wind, through the swift waters of -an ebbing tide, and making for the Hudson. A signal from the Battery to -heave to and account for herself being disregarded, a cannon was trained -upon her, and a ball went whistling through her cloudy and imponderable -mass, for timbers she had none. Some of the sailor-folk talked of -mirages that rose into the air of northern coasts and seas, but the wise -ones put their fingers beside their noses and called to memory the -Flying Dutchman, that wanderer of the seas whose captain, having sworn -that he would round Cape Horn in spite of heaven and hell, has been -beating to and fro along the bleak Fuegian coast and elsewhere for -centuries, being allowed to land but once in seven years, when he can -break the curse if he finds a girl who will love him. Perhaps Captain -Vanderdecken found this maiden of his hopes in some Dutch settlement on -the Hudson, or perhaps he expiated his rashness by prayer and penitence; -howbeit, he never came down again, unless he slipped away to sea in snow -or fog so dense that watchers and boatmen saw nothing of his passing. A -few old settlers declared the vessel to be the Half Moon, and there were -some who testified to seeing that identical ship with Hudson and his -spectre crew on board making for the Catskills to hold carouse. - -This fleeting vision has been confounded with the storm ship that lurks -about the foot of the Palisades and Point-no-Point, cruising through -Tappan Zee at night when a gale is coming up. The Hudson is four miles -wide at Tappan, and squalls have space enough to gather force; hence, -when old skippers saw the misty form of a ship steal out from the -shadows of the western hills, then fly like a gull from shore to shore, -catching the moonlight on her topsails, but showing no lanterns, they -made to windward and dropped anchor, unless their craft were stanch and -their pilot's brains unvexed with liquor. On summer nights, when falls -that curious silence which is ominous of tempest, the storm ship is not -only seen spinning across the mirror surface of the river, but the -voices of the crew are heard as they chant at the braces and halyards in -words devoid of meaning to the listeners. - - - - - WHY SPUYTEN DUYVIL IS SO NAMED - -The tide-water creek that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island -is known to dwellers in tenements round about as "Spittin' Divvle." The -proper name of it is Spuyten Duyvil, and this, in turn, is the -compression of a celebrated boast by Anthony Van Corlaer. This -redoubtable gentleman, famous for fat, long wind, and long whiskers, was -trumpeter for the garrison at New Amsterdam, which his countrymen had -just bought for twenty-four dollars, and he sounded the brass so -sturdily that in the fight between the Dutch and Indians at the Dey -Street peach orchard his blasts struck more terror into the red men's -hearts than did the matchlocks of his comrades. William the Testy vowed -that Anthony and his trumpet were garrison enough for all Manhattan -Island, for he argued that no regiment of Yankees would approach near -enough to be struck with lasting deafness, as must have happened if they -came when Anthony was awake. - -Peter Stuyvesant-Peter the Headstrong--showed his appreciation of -Anthony's worth by making him his esquire, and when he got news of an -English expedition on its way to seize his unoffending colony, he at -once ordered Anthony to rouse the villages along the Hudson with a -trumpet call to war. The esquire took a hurried leave of six or eight -ladies, each of whom delighted to believe that his affections were -lavished on her alone, and bravely started northward, his trumpet -hanging on one side, a stone bottle, much heavier, depending from the -other. It was a stormy evening when he arrived at the upper end of the -island, and there was no ferryman in sight, so, after fuming up and down -the shore, he swallowed a mighty draught of Dutch courage,--for he was -as accomplished a performer on the horn as on the trumpet,--and swore -with ornate and voluminous oaths that he would swim the stream "in spite -of the devil" [En spuyt den Duyvil]. - -He plunged in, and had gone half-way across when the Evil One, not to be -spited, appeared as a huge moss-bunker, vomiting boiling water and -lashing a fiery tail. This dreadful fish seized Anthony by the leg; but -the trumpeter was game, for, raising his instrument to his lips, he -exhaled his last breath through it in a defiant blast that rang through -the woods for miles and made the devil himself let go for a moment. -Then he was dragged below, his nose shining through the water more and -more faintly, until, at last, all sight of him was lost. The failure of -his mission resulted in the downfall of the Dutch in America, for, soon -after, the English won a bloodless victory, and St. George's cross -flaunted from the ramparts where Anthony had so often saluted the -setting sun. But it was years, even then, before he was hushed, for in -stormy weather it was claimed that the shrill of his trumpet could be -heard near the creek that he had named, sounding above the deeper roar -of the blast. - - - - - THE RAMAPO SALAMANDER - -A curious tale of the Rosicrucians runs to the effect that more than two -centuries ago a band of German colonists entered the Ramapo valley and -put up houses of stone, like those they had left in the Hartz Mountains, -and when the Indians saw how they made knives and other wonderful things -out of metal, which they extracted from the rocks by fire, they believed -them to be manitous and went away, not wishing to resist their -possession of the land. There was treasure here, for High Tor, or Torn -Mountain, had been the home of Amasis, youngest of the magi who had -followed the star of Bethlehem. He had found his way, through Asia and -Alaska, to this country, had taken to wife a native woman, by whom he -had a child, and here on the summit he had built a temple. Having -refused the sun worship, when the Indians demanded that he should take -their faith, he was set upon, and would have been killed had not an -earthquake torn the ground at his feet, opening a new channel for the -Hudson and precipitating into it every one but the magus and his -daughter. To him had been revealed in magic vision the secrets of -wealth in the rocks. - -The leader in the German colony, one Hugo, was a man of noble origin, -who had a wife and two children: a boy, named after himself; a girl,-- -Mary. Though it had been the custom in the other country to let out the -forge fires once in seven years, Hugo opposed that practice in the forge -he had built as needless. But his men murmured and talked of the -salamander that once in seven years attains its growth in unquenched -flame and goes forth doing mischief. On the day when that period was -ended the master entered his works and saw the men gazing into the -furnace at a pale form that seemed made from flame, that was nodding and -turning in the fire, occasionally darting its tongue at them or allowing -its tail to fall out and lie along the stone floor. As he came to the -door he, too, was transfixed, and the fire seemed burning his vitals, -until he felt water sprinkled on his face, and saw that his wife, whom -he had left at home too ill to move, stood behind him and was casting -holy water into the furnace, speaking an incantation as she did so. At -that moment a storm arose, and a rain fell that put out the fire; but as -the last glow faded the lady fell dead. - -When her children were to be consecrated, seven years later, those who -stood outside of the church during the ceremony saw a vivid flash, and -the nurse turned from the boy in her fright. She took her hands from -her eyes. The child was gone. Twice seven years had passed and the -daughter remained unspotted by the world, for, on the night when her -father had led her to the top of High Torn Mountain and shown her what -Amasis had seen,--the earth spirits in their caves heaping jewels and -offering to give them if Hugo would speak the word that binds the free -to the earth forces and bars his future for a thousand years,--it was -her prayer that brought him to his senses and made the scene below grow -dim, though the baleful light of the salamander clinging to the rocks at -the bottom of the cave sent a glow into the sky. - -Many nights after that the glow was seen on the height and Hugo was -missing from his home, but for lack of a pure soul to stand as -interpreter he failed to read the words that burned in the triangle on -the salamander's back, and returned in rage and jealousy. A knightly -man had of late appeared in the settlement, and between him and Mary a -tender feeling had arisen, that, however, was unexpressed until, after -saving her from the attack of a panther, he had allowed her to fall into -his arms. She would willingly then have declared her love for him, but -he placed her gently and regretfully from him and said, "When you slept -I came to you and put a crown of gems on your head: that was because I -was in the power of the earth spirit. Then I had power only over the -element of fire, that either consumes or hardens to stone; but now water -and life are mine. Behold! Wear these, for thou art worthy." And -touching the tears that had fallen from her eyes, they turned into -lilies in his hands, and he put them on her brow. - -"Shall we meet again?" asked the girl. - -"I do not know," said he. "I tread the darkness of the universe alone, -and I peril my redemption by yielding to this love of earth. Thou art -redeemed already, but I must make my way back to God through obedience -tested in trial. Know that I am one of those that left heaven for love -of man. We were of that subtle element which is flame, burning and -glowing with love,--and when thy mother came to me with the power of -purity to cast me out of the furnace, I lost my shape of fire and took -that of a human being,--a child. I have been with thee often, and was -rushing to annihilation, because I could not withstand the ordeal of the -senses. Had I yielded, or found thee other than thou art, I should have -become again an earth spirit. I have been led away by wish for power, -such as I have in my grasp, and forgot the mission to the suffering. I -became a wanderer over the earth until I reached this land, the land -that you call new. Here was to be my last trial and here I am to pass -the gate of fire." - -As he spoke voices arose from the settlement. - -"They are coming," said he. The stout form of Hugo was in advance. -With a fierce oath he sprang on the young man. "He has ruined my -household," he cried. "Fling him into the furnace!" The young man -stood waiting, but his brow was serene. He was seized, and in a few -moments had disappeared through the mouth of the burning pit. But Mary, -looking up, saw a shape in robes of silvery light, and it drifted upward -until it vanished in the darkness. The look of horror on her face died -away, and a peace came to it that endured until the end. - - - - - - CHIEF CROTON - -Between the island of Manhattoes and the Catskills the Hudson shores -were plagued with spooks, and even as late as the nineteenth century -Hans Anderson, a man who tilled a farm back of Peekskill, was worried -into his grave by the leaden-face likeness of a British spy whom he had -hanged on General Putnam's orders. "Old Put" doubtless enjoyed immunity -from this vexatious creature, because he was born with few nerves. A -region especially afflicted was the confluence of the Croton and the -Hudson, for the Kitchawan buryingground was here, and the red people -being disturbed by the tramping of white men over their graves, "the -walking sachems of Teller's Point" were nightly to be met on their -errands of protest. - -These Indians had built a palisade on Croton Point, and here they made -their last stand against their enemies from the north. Throughout the -fight old chief Croton stood on the wall with arrows showering around -him, and directed the resistance with the utmost calm. Not until every -one of his men was dead and the fort was going up in flame about him did -he confess defeat. Then standing amid the charring timbers, he used his -last breath in calling down the curse of the Great Spirit against the -foe. As the victorious enemy rushed into the enclosure to secure the -scalps of the dead he fell lifeless into the fire, and their jubilant -yell was lost upon his ears. Yet, he could not rest nor bear to leave -his ancient home, even after death, and often his form, in musing -attitude, was seen moving through the woods. When a manor was built on -the ruins of his fort, he appeared to the master of it, to urge him into -the Continental army, and having seen this behest obeyed and laid a -solemn injointure to keep the freedom of the land forever, he vanished, -and never appeared again. - - - - - THE RETREAT FROM MAHOPAC - -After the English had secured the city of New Amsterdam and had begun -to extend their settlements along the Hudson, the Indians congregated -in large numbers about Lake Mahopac, and rejected all overtures for the -purchase of that region. In their resolution they were sustained by -their young chief Omoyao, who refused to abandonon on any terms the -country where his fathers had solong hunted, fished, and built their -lodges. A half-breed, one Joliper, a member of this tribe, was secretly -in the pay of the English, but the allurements and insinuations that he -put forth on their behalf were as futile as the breathing of wind in the -leaves. At last the white men grew angry. Have the land they would, by -evil course if good ways were refused, and commissioning Joliper to act -for them in a decisive manner, they guaranteed to supply him with forces -if his negotiations fell through. This man never thought it needful to -negotiate. He knew the temper of his tribe and he was too jealous of -his chief to go to him for favors, because he loved Maya, the chosen one -of Omoyao. - -At the door of Maya's tent he entreated her to go with him to the white -settlements, and on her refusal he broke into angry threats, declaring, -in the self-forgetfulness of passion, that he would kill her lover and -lead the English against the tribe. Unknown to both Omoyao had -overheard this interview, and he immediately sent runners to tell all -warriors of his people to meet him at once on the island in the lake. -Though the runners were cautioned to keep their errand secret, it is -probable that Joliper suspected that the alarm had gone forth, and he -resolved to strike at once; so he summoned his renegades, stole into -camp next evening and made toward Maya's wigwam, intending to take her -to a place of safety. Seeing the chief at the door, he shot an arrow at -him, but the shaft went wide and slew the girl's father. Realizing, -upon this assault, that he was outwitted and that his people were -outnumbered, the chief called to Maya to meet him at the island, and -plunged into the brush, after seeing that she had taken flight in an -opposite direction. The vengeful Joliper was close behind him with his -renegades, and the chief was captured; then, that he might not -communicate with his people or delay the operations against them, it was -resolved to put him to death. - -He was tied to a tree, the surrounding wood was set on fire, and he was -abandoned to his fate, his enemies leaving him to destruction in their -haste to reach the place of the council and slay or capture all who were -there. Hardly were they out of hearing ere the plash of a paddle -sounded through the roar of flame and Maya sprang upon the bank, cut her -lover's bonds, and with him made toward the island, which they reached -by a protected way before the assailants had arrived. They told the -story of Joliper's cruelty and treason, and when his boats were seen -coming in to shore they had eyes and hands only for Joliper. He was the -first to land. Hardly had he touched the strand before he was -surrounded by a frenzied crowd and had fallen bleeding from a hundred -gashes. - -The Indians were overpowered after a brief and bloody resistance. They -took safety in flight. Omoyao and Maya, climbing upon the rock above -their "council chamber," found that while most of their people had -escaped their own retreat was cut off, and that it would be impossible -to reach any of the canoes. They preferred death to torture and -captivity, so, hand in hand, they leaped together down the cliff, and -the English claimed the land next day. - - - - - NIAGARA - -The cataract of Niagara (properly pronounced Nee-ah-gah-rah), or -Oniahgarah, is as fatal as it is fascinating, beautiful, sublime, and -the casualties occurring there justify the tradition that "the -Thundering Water asks two victims every year." It was reputed, before -white men looked for the first time on these falls--and what thumping -yarns they told about them!--that two lives were lost here annually, and -this average has been kept up by men and women who fall into the flood -through accident, recklessness or despair, while bloody battles have -been fought on the shores, and vessels have been hurled over the brink, -to be dashed to splinters on the rocks. - -The sound of the cataract was declared to be the voice of a mighty -spirit that dwelt in the waters, and in former centuries the Indians -offered to it a yearly sacrifice. This sacrifice was a maiden of the -tribe, who was sent over in a white canoe, decorated with fruit and -flowers, and the girls contended for this honor, for the brides of -Manitou were objects of a special grace in the happy hunting-grounds. -The last recorded sacrifice was in 1679, when Lelawala, the daughter of -chief Eagle Eye, was chosen, in spite of the urgings and protests of the -chevalier La Salle, who had been trying to restrain the people from -their idolatries by an exposition of the Christian dogma. To his -protests he received the unexpected answer, "Your words witness against -you. Christ, you say, set us an example. We will follow it. Why -should one death be great, while our sacrifice is horrible?" So the -tribe gathered at the bank to watch the sailing of the white canoe. The -chief watched the embarkation with the stoicism usual to the Indian when -he is observed by others, but when the little bark swung out into the -current his affection mastered him, and he leaped into his own canoe and -tried to overtake his daughter. In a moment both were beyond the power -of rescue. After their death they were changed into spirits of pure -strength and goodness, and live in a crystal heaven so far beneath the -fall that its roaring is a music to them: she, the maid of the mist; he, -the ruler of the cataract. Another version of the legend makes a lover -and his mistress the chief actors. Some years later a patriarch of the -tribe and all his sons went over the fall when the white men had seized -their lands, preferring death to flight or war. - -In about the year 200 the Stone Giants waded across the river below the -falls on their northward march. These beings were descended from an -ancient family, and being separated from their stock in the year 150 by -the breaking of a vine bridge across the Mississippi, they left that -region. Indian Pass, in the Adirondacks, bore the names of Otneyarheh, -Stony Giants; Ganosgwah, Giants Clothed in Stone; and Dayohjegago, Place -Where the Storm Clouds Fight the Great Serpent. Giants and serpents -were held to be harmful inventions of the Evil Spirit, and the Lightning -god, catching up clouds as he stood on the crags, broke them open, tore -their lightnings out and hurled them against the monsters. These -cannibals had almost exterminated the Iroquois, for they were of immense -size and had made themselves almost invincible by rolling daily in the -sand until their flesh was like stone. The Holder of the Heavens, -viewing their evil actions from on high, came down disguised as one of -their number--he used often to meditate on Manitou Rock, at the -Whirlpool--and leading them to a valley near Onondaga, on pretence of -guiding them to a fairer country, he stood on a hill above them and -hurled rocks upon their heads until all, save one, who fled into the -north, were dead. Yet, in the fulness of time, new children of the -Stone Giants (mail-clad Europeans?) entered the region again and were -destroyed by the Great Spirit,--oddly enough where the famous fraud -known as the Cardiff giant was alleged to have been found. The -Onondagas believed this statue to be one of their ancient foes. - - - - - THE DEFORMED OF ZOAR - -The valley of Zoar, in western New York, is so surrounded by hills that -its discoverers--a religious people, who gave it a name from Scripture -said, "This is Zoar; it is impregnable. From her we will never go." -And truly, for lack of roads, they found it so hard to get out, having -got in, that they did not leave it. Among the early settlers here were -people of a family named Wright, whose house became a sort of inn for -the infrequent traveller, inasmuch as they were not troubled with piety, -and had no scruples against the selling of drink and the playing of -cards at late hours. A peddler passed through the valley on his way to -Buffalo and stopped at the Wright house for a lodging, but before he -went to bed he incautiously showed a number of golden trinkets from his -pack and drew a considerable quantity of money out of his pocket when he -paid the fee for his lodging. Hardly had he fallen asleep before his -greedy hosts were in the room, searching for his money. Their lack of -caution caused him to awake, and as he found them rifling his pockets -and his pack he sprang up and showed fight. - -A blow sent him to the bottom of the stairs, where his attempt to escape -was intercepted, and the family closed around him and bound his arms and -legs. They showed him the money they had taken and asked where he had -concealed the rest. He vowed that it was all he had. They insisted -that he had more, and seizing a knife from the table the elder Wright -slashed off one of his toes "to make him confess." No result came from -this, and six toes were cut off,--three from each foot; then, in -disgust, the unhappy peddler was knocked on the head and flung through a -trap-door into a shallow cellar. Presently he arose and tried to draw -himself out, but with hatchet and knife they chopped away his fingers -and he fell back. Even the women shared in this work, and leaned -forward to gaze into the cellar to see if he might yet be dead. While -listening, they heard the man invoke the curse of heaven on them: he -asked that they should wear the mark of crime even to the fourth -generation, by coming into the world deformed and mutilated as he was -then. And it was so. The next child born in that house had round, -hoof-like feet, with only two toes, and hands that tapered from the -wrist into a single long finger. And in time there were twenty people -so deformed in the valley: The "crab-clawed Zoarites" they were called. - - - - - HORSEHEADS - -The feeling recently created by an attempt to fasten the stupid names of -Fairport or of North Elmira on the village in central New York that, off -and on for fifty years, had been called Horseheads, caused an inquiry as -to how that singular name chanced to be adopted for a settlement. In -1779, when General Sullivan was retiring toward the base of his supplies -after a destructive campaign against the Indians in Genesee County, he -stopped near this place and rested his troops. The country was then -rude, unbroken, and still beset with enemies, however, and when the -march was resumed it was thought best to gain time over a part of the -way by descending the Chemung River on rafts. - -As there were no appliances for building large floats, and the depth of -the water was not known, the general ordered a destruction of all -impedimenta that could be got rid of, and commanded that the poor and -superfluous horses should be killed. His order was obeyed. As soon as -the troops had gone, the wolves, that were then abundant, came forth and -devoured the carcasses of the steeds, so that the clean-picked bones -were strewn widely over the camp-ground. When the Indians ventured back -into this region, some of them piled the skulls of the horses into -heaps, and these curious monuments were found by white settlers who came -into the valley some years later, and who named their village -Horseheads, in commemoration of these relics. The Indians were -especially loth to leave this region, for their tradition was that it -had been the land of the Senecas from immemorial time, the tribe being -descended from a couple that had a home on a hill near Horseheads. - - - - - KAYUTA AND WANETA - -The Indians loved our lakes. They had eyes for their beauty, and to -them they were abodes of gracious spirits. They used to say of Oneida -Lake, that when the Great Spirit formed the world "his smile rested on -its waters and Frenchman's Island rose to greet it; he laughed and Lotus -Island came up to listen." So they built lodges on their shores and -skimmed their waters in canoes. Much of their history relates to them, -and this is a tale of the Senecas that was revived a few years ago by -the discovery of a deer-skin near Lakes Waneta and Keuka, New York, on -which some facts of the history were rudely drawn, for all Indians are -artists. - -Waneta, daughter of a chief, had plighted her troth to Kayuta, a hunter -of a neighboring tribe with which her people were at war. Their tryst -was held at twilight on the farther shore of the lake from her village, -and it was her gayety and happiness, after these meetings had taken -place, that roused the suspicion and jealousy of Weutha, who had marked -her for his bride against the time when he should have won her father's -consent by some act of bravery. Shadowing the girl as she stole into -the forest one evening, he saw her enter her canoe and row to a densely -wooded spot; he heard a call like the note of a quail, then an answer; -then Kayuta emerged on the shore, lifted the maiden from her little -bark, and the twain sat down beside the water to listen to the lap of -its waves and watch the stars come out. - -Hurrying back to camp, the spy reported that an enemy was near them, and -although Waneta had regained her wigwam by another route before the -company of warriors had reached the lake, Kayuta was seen, pursued, and -only escaped with difficulty. Next evening, not knowing what had -happened after her homeward departure on the previous night--for the -braves deemed it best to keep the knowledge of their military operations -from the women--the girl crept away to the lake again and rowed to the -accustomed place, but while waiting for the quail call a twig dropped on -the water beside her. With a quick instinct that civilization has -spoiled she realized this to be a warning, and remaining perfectly -still, she allowed her boat to drift toward shore, presently discovering -that her lover was standing waist-deep in the water. In a whisper he -told her that they were watched, and bade her row to a dead pine that -towered at the foot of the lake, where he would soon meet her. At that -instant an arrow grazed his side and flew quivering into the canoe. - -Pushing the boat on its course and telling her to hasten, Kayuta sprang -ashore, sounded the warwhoop, and as Weutha rose into sight he clove his -skull with a tomahawk. Two other braves now leaped forward, but, after -a struggle, Kayuta left them dead or senseless, too. He would have -stayed to tear their scalps off had he not heard his name uttered in a -shriek of agony from the end of the lake, and, tired and bleeding though -he was, he bounded along its margin like a deer, for the voice that he -heard was Waneta's. He reached the blasted pine, gave one look, and -sank to the earth. Presently other Indians came, who had heard the -noise of fighting, and burst upon him with yells and brandished weapons, -but something in his look restrained them from a close advance. His -eyes were fixed on a string of beads that lay on the bottom of the lake, -just off shore, and when the meaning of it came to them, the savages -thought no more of killing, but moaned their grief; for Waneta, in -stepping from her canoe to wade ashore, had been caught and swallowed by -a quagmire. All night and all next day Kayuta sat there like a man of -stone. Then, just as the hour fell when he was used to meet his love, -his heart broke, and he joined her in the spiritland. - - - - - THE DROP STAR - -A little maid of three years was missing from her home on the Genesee. -She had gone to gather water-lilies and did not return. Her mother, -almost crazed with grief, searched for days, weeks, months, before she -could resign herself to the thought that her little one--Kayutah, the -Drop Star, the Indians called her--had indeed been drowned. Years went -by. The woman's home was secure against pillage, for it was no longer -the one house of a white family in that region, and the Indians had -retired farther and farther into the wilderness. One day a hunter came -to the woman and said, "I have seen old Skenandoh,--the last of his -tribe, thank God! who bade me say this to you: that the ice is broken, -and he knows of a hill of snow where a red berry grows that shall be -yours if you will claim it." When the meaning of this message came upon -her the woman fainted, but on recovering speech she despatched her -nephew to the hut of the aged chief and passed that night in prayer. - -The young man set off at sunset, and by hard riding, over dim trails, -with only stars for light, he came in the gray of dawn to an upright -timber, colored red and hung with scalps, that had been cut from white -men's heads at the massacre of Wyoming. The place they still call -Painted Post. Without drawing rein he sped along the hills that hem -Lake Seneca, then, striking deeper into the wilds, he reached a smaller -lake, and almost fell from his saddle before a rude tent near the shore. -A new grave had been dug close by, and he shuddered to think that -perhaps he had come too late, but a wrinkled Indian stepped forth at -that moment and waited his word. - -"I come," cried the youth,--to see the berry that springs from snow." - -"You come in time," answered Skenandoh. "No, 'tis not in that grave. -It is my own child that is buried there. She was as a sister to the one -you seek, and she bade me restore the Drop Star to her mother,--the -squaw that we know as the New Moon's Light." - -Stepping into the wigwam, he emerged again, clasping the wrist of a girl -of eighteen, whose robe he tore asunder at the throat, showing the white -breast, and on it a red birth-mark; then, leading her to the young man, -he said,--"And now I must go to the setting sun." He slung a pouch about -him, loaded, not with arms and food, but stones, stepped into his canoe, -and paddled out upon the water, singing as he went a melancholy chant-- -his deathsong. On gaining the middle of the lake he swung his tomahawk -and clove the bottom of the frail boat, so that it filled in a moment -and the chief sank from sight. The young man took his cousin to her -overjoyed mother, helped to win her back to the ways of civilized life, -and eventually married her. She took her Christian name again, but left -to the lake on whose banks she had lived so long her Indian name of Drop -Star--Kayutah. - - - - - THE PROPHET OF PALMYRA - -It was at Palmyra, New York, that the principles of Mormonism were first -enunciated by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found the golden plates -of the Book of Mormon in a hill-side in neighboring Manchester,--the -"Hill of Cumorah,"--to which he was led by angels. The plates were -written in characters similar to the masonic cabala, and he translated -them by divine aid, giving to the world the result of his discovery. -The Hebrew prophet Mormon was the alleged author of the record, and his -son Moroni buried it. The basis of Mormonism was, however, an -unpublished novel, called "The Manuscript Found," that was read to -Sidney Rigdon (afterwards a Mormon elder) by its author, a clergyman, -and that formulated a creed for a hypothetical church. Smith had a -slight local celebrity, for he and his father were operators with the -divining-rod, and when he appropriated this creed a harmless and -beneficent one, for polygamy was a later "inspiration" of Brigham Young ---and began to preach it, in 1844, it gained many converts. His -arrogation of the presidency of the "Church of Latter Day Saints" and -other rash performances won for him the enmity of the Gentiles, who -imprisoned and killed him at Carthage, Missouri, leaving Brigham Young -to lead the people across the deserts to Salt Lake, where they prospered -through thrift and industry. - -It was claimed that in the van of this army, on the march to Utah, was -often seen a venerable man with silver beard, who never spoke, but who -would point the way whenever the pilgrims were faint or discouraged. -When they reached the spot where the temple was afterwards built, he -struck his staff into the earth and vanished. - -At Hydesville, near Palmyra, spiritualism, as it is commonly called, -came into being on March 31, 1849, when certain of the departed -announced themselves by thumping on doors and tables in the house of the -Fox family, the survivors of which confessed the fraud nearly forty -years after. It is of interest to note that the ground whence these new -religions sprang was peopled by the Onondagas, the sacerdotal class of -the Algonquin tribe, who have preserved the ancient religious rites of -that great family until this day. - - - - - A VILLAIN'S CREMATION - -Bramley's Mountain, near the present village of Bloomfield, New York, on -the edge of the Catskill group, was the home of a young couple that had -married with rejoicing and had taken up the duties and pleasures of -housekeeping with enthusiasm. To be sure, in those days housekeeping -was not a thing to be much afraid of, and the servant question had not -come up for discussion. The housewives did the work themselves, and the -husband had no valets. The domicile of this particular pair was merely -a tent of skins stretched around a frame of poles, and their furniture -consisted principally of furs strewn over the earth floor; but they -loved each other truly. The girl was thankful to be taken from her home -to live, because, up to the time of her marriage, she had been -persecuted by a morose and ill-looking fellow of her tribe, who laid -siege to her affection with such vehemence that the more he pleaded the -greater was her dislike; and now she hoped that she had seen the last of -him. But that was not to be. He lurked about the wigwam of the pair, -torturing himself with the sight of their felicity, and awaiting his -chance to prove his hate. This chance came when the husband had gone to -Lake Delaware to fish, for he rowed after and gave battle in the middle -of the pond. Taken by surprise, and being insufficiently armed, the -husband was killed and his body flung into the water. Then, casting an -affectionate leer at the wife who had watched this act of treachery and -malice with speechless horror from the mountain-side, he drove his canoe -ashore and set off in pursuit of her. She retreated so slowly as to -allow him to keep her in sight, and when she entered a cave he pressed -forward eagerly, believing that now her escape was impossible; but she -had purposely trapped him there, for she had already explored a tortuous -passage that led to the upper air, and by this she had left the cavern -in safety while he was groping and calling in the dark. Returning to -the entrance, she loosened, by a jar, a ledge that overhung it, so that -the door was almost blocked; then, gathering light wood from the dry -trees around her, she made a fire and hurled the burning sticks into the -prison where the wretch was howling, until he was dead in smoke and -flame. When his yells and curses had been silenced she told a friend -what she had done, then going back to the lake, she sang her death-song -and cast herself into the water, hoping thus to rejoin her husband. - - - - - THE MONSTER MOSQUITOE - -They have some pretty big mosquitoes in New Jersey and on Long Island, -but, if report of their ancestry is true, they have degenerated in size -and voracity; for the grandfather of all mosquitoes used to live in the -neighborhood of Fort Onondaga, New York, and sallying out whenever he -was hungry, would eat an Indian or two and pick his teeth with their -ribs. The red men had no arms that could prevail against it, but at -last the Holder of the Heavens, hearing their cry for aid, came down and -attacked the insect. Finding that it had met its match, the mosquito -flew away so rapidly that its assailant could hardly keep it in sight. -It flew around the great lake, then turned eastward again. It sought -help vainly of the witches that brooded in the sink-holes, or Green -Lakes (near Janesville, New York), and had reached the salt lake of -Onondaga when its pursuer came up and killed it, the creature piling the -sand into hills in its dying struggles. - -As its blood poured upon the earth it became small mosquitoes, that -gathered about the Holder of the Heavens and stung him so sorely that he -half repented the service that he had done to men. The Tuscaroras say -that this was one of two monsters that stood on opposite banks of the -Seneca River and slew all men that passed. Hiawatha killed the other -one. On their reservation is a stone, marked by the form of the Sky -Holder, that shows where he rested during the chase, while his tracks -were until lately seen south of Syracuse, alternating with footprints of -the mosquito, which were shaped like those of a bird, and twenty inches -long. At Brighton, New York, where these marks appeared, they were -reverentially renewed by the Indians for many years. - - - - THE GREEN PICTURE - -In a cellar in Green Street, Schenectady, there appeared, some years -ago, the silhouette of a human form, painted on the floor in mould. It -was swept and scrubbed away, but presently it was there again, and month -by month, after each removal, it returned: a mass of fluffy mould, -always in the shape of a recumbent man. When it was found that the -house stood on the site of the old Dutch burial ground, the gossips -fitted this and that together and concluded that the mould was planted -by a spirit whose mortal part was put to rest a century and more ago, -on the spot covered by the house, and that the spirit took this way of -apprising people that they were trespassing on its grave. Others held -that foul play had been done, and that a corpse, hastily and shallowly -buried, was yielding itself back to the damp cellar in vegetable form, -before its resolution into simpler elements. But a darker meaning was -that it was the outline of a vampire that vainly strove to leave its -grave, and could not because a virtuous spell had been worked about the -place. - -A vampire is a dead man who walks about seeking for those whose blood he -can suck, for only by supplying new life to its cold limbs can he keep -the privilege of moving about the earth. He fights his way from his -coffin, and those who meet his gray and stiffened shape, with fishy eyes -and blackened mouth, lurking by open windows, biding his time to steal -in and drink up a human life, fly from him in terror and disgust. In -northern Rhode Island those who die of consumption are believed to be -victims of vampires who work by charm, draining the blood by slow -draughts as they lie in their graves. To lay this monster he must be -taken up and burned; at least, his heart must be; and he must be -disinterred in the daytime when he is asleep and unaware. If he died -with blood in his heart he has this power of nightly resurrection. As -late as 1892 the ceremony of heart-burning was performed at Exeter, -Rhode Island, to save the family of a dead woman that was threatened -with the same disease that removed her, namely, consumption. But the -Schenectady vampire has yielded up all his substance, and the green -picture is no more. - - - - - THE NUNS OF CARTHAGE - -At Carthage, New York, where the Black River bends gracefully about a -point, there was a stanch old house, built in the colonial fashion and -designed for the occupancy of some family of hospitality and wealth, but -the family died out or moved away, and for some years it remained -deserted. During the war of 1812 the village gossips were excited by -the appearance of carpenters, painters and upholsterers, and it was -evident that the place was to be restored to its manorial dignities; but -their curiosity was deepened instead of satisfied when, after the house -had been put in order and high walls built around it, the occupants -presented themselves as four young women in the garb of nuns. Were they -daughters of the family? Were they English sympathizers in disguise, -seeking asylum in the days of trouble? Had they registered a vow of -celibacy until their lovers should return from the war? Were they on -a secret and diplomatic errand? None ever knew, at least in Carthage. -The nuns lived in great privacy, but in a luxury before unequalled in -that part of the country. They kept a gardener, they received from New -York wines and delicacies that others could not afford, and when they -took the air, still veiled, it was behind a splendid pair of bays. - -One afternoon, just after the close of the war, a couple of young -American officers went to the convent, and, contrary to all precedent, -were admitted. They remained within all that day, and no one saw them -leave, but a sound of wheels passed through the street that evening. -Next day there were no signs of life about the place, nor the day -following, nor the next. The savage dog was quiet and the garden walks -had gone unswept. Some neighbors climbed over the wall and reported -that the place had been deserted. Why and by whom no one ever knew, but -a cloud remained upon its title until a recent day, for it was thought -that at some time the nuns might return. - - - - - THE SKULL IN THE WALL - -A skull is built into the wall above the door of the court-house at -Goshen, New York. It was taken from a coffin unearthed in 1842, when -the foundation of the building was laid. People said there was no doubt -about it, only Claudius Smith could have worn that skull, and he -deserved to be publicly pilloried in that manner. Before the -Revolutionary war Smith was a farmer in Monroe, New York, and being -prosperous enough to feel the king's taxes no burden, to say nothing of -his jealousy of the advantage that an independent government would be to -the hopes of his poorer neighbors, he declared for the king. After the -declaration of independence had been published, his sympathies were -illustrated in an unpleasantly practical manner by gathering a troop of -other Tories about him, and, emboldened by the absence of most of the -men of his vicinage in the colonial army, he began to harass the country -as grievously in foray as the red-coats were doing in open field. - -He pillaged houses and barns, then burned them; he insulted women, he -drove away cattle and horses, he killed several persons who had -undertaken to defend their property. His "campaigns" were managed with -such secrecy that nobody knew when or whence to look for him. His -murder of Major Nathaniel Strong, of Blooming Grove, roused indignation -to such a point that a united effort was made to catch him, a money -reward for success acting as a stimulus to the vigilance of the hunters, -and at last he was captured on Long Island. He was sent back to Goshen, -tried, convicted, and on January 22, 1779, was hanged, with five of his -band. The bodies of the culprits were buried in the jail-yard, on the -spot where the court-house stands, and old residents identified Smith's -skeleton, when it was accidentally exhumed, by its uncommon size. A -farmer from an adjacent town made off with a thigh bone, and a mason -clapped mortar into the empty skull and cemented it into the wall, where -it long remained. - - - - - THE HAUNTED MILL - -Among the settlers in the Adirondacks, forty or fifty years ago, was -Henry Clymer, from Brooklyn, who went up to Little Black Creek and tried -to make a farm out of the gnarly, stumpy land; but being a green hand at -that sort of thing, he soon gave it up and put up the place near -Northwood, that is locally referred to as the haunted mill. When the -first slab was cut, a big party was on hand to cheer and eat pie in -honor of the Clymers, for Mr. Clymer, who was a dark, hearty, handsome -fellow, and his bright young wife had been liberal in their hospitality. -The couple had made some talk, they were so loving before folks--too -loving to last; and, besides, it was evident that Mrs. Clymer was used -to a better station in life than her husband. It was while the crowd -was laughing and chattering at the picnic-table of new boards from the -mill that Mrs. Clymer stole away to her modest little house, and a -neighbor who had followed her was an accidental witness to a singular -episode. Mrs. Clymer was kneeling beside her bed, crying over the -picture of a child, when Clymer entered unexpectedly and attempted to -take the picture from her. - -She faced him defiantly. "You kept that because it looked like him, I -reckon," he said. "You might run back to him. You know what he'd call -you and where you'd stand with your aristocracy." - -The woman pointed to the door, and the man left without another word, -and so did the listener. Next morning the body of Mrs. Clymer was found -hanging to a beam in the mill. At the inquest the husband owned that he -had "had a few words" with her on the previous day, and thought that she -must have suddenly become insane. The jury took this view. News of the -suicide was printed in some of the city papers, and soon after that the -gossips had another sensation, for a fair-haired man, also from -Brooklyn, arrived at the place and asked where the woman was buried. -When he found the grave he sat beside it for some time, his head resting -on his hand; then he inquired for Clymer, but Clymer, deadly pale, had -gone into the woods as soon as he heard that a stranger had arrived. -The new-comer went to Trenton, where he ordered a gravestone bearing the -single word "Estella" to be placed where the woman's body had been -interred. Clymer quickly sold out and disappeared. The mill never -prospered, and has long been in a ruinous condition. People of the -neighborhood think that the ghost of Mrs. Clymer--was that her name?-- -still troubles it, and they pass the place with quickened steps. - - - - - OLD INDIAN FACE - -On Lower Ausable Pond is a large, ruddy rock showing a huge profile, -with another, resembling a pappoose, below it. When the Tahawi ruled -this region their sachem lived here at "the Dark Cup," as they called -this lake, a man renowned for virtue and remarkable, in his age, for -gentleness. When his children had died and his manly grandson, who was -the old man's hope, had followed them to the land of the cloud -mountains, Adota's heart withered within him, and standing beneath this -rock, he addressed his people, recounting what he had done for them, how -he had swept their enemies from the Lakes of the Clustered Stars (the -Lower Saranac) and Silver Sky (Upper Saranac) to the Lake of Wandah, -gaining a land where they might hunt and fish in peace. The little one, -the Star, had been ravished away to crown the brow of the thunder god, -who, even now, was advancing across the peaks, bending the woods and -lighting the valleys with his jagged torches. - -Life was nothing to him longer; he resigned it. - -As he spoke these words he fell back, and the breath passed out of him. -Then came the thunder god, and with an appalling burst of fire sent the -people cowering. The roar that followed seemed to shake the earth, but -the medicine-man of the tribe stood still, listening to the speech of -the god in the clouds. "Tribe of the Tahawi," he translated, "Adota -treads the star-path to the happy hunting-grounds, and the sun is -shining on his heart. He will never walk among you again, but the god -loves both him and you, and he will set his face on the mountains. -Look!" And, raising their eyes, they beheld the likeness of Adota and -of his beloved child, the Star, graven by lightning-stroke on the cliff. -There they buried the body of Adota and held their solemn festivals -until the white men drove them out of the country. - - - - - THE DIVISION OF THE SARANACS - -In the middle of the last century a large body of Saranac Indians -occupied the forests of the Upper Saranac through which ran the Indian -carrying-place, called by them the Eagle Nest Trail. Whenever they -raided the Tahawi on the slopes of Mount Tahawus (Sky-splitter), there -was a pleasing rivalry between two young athletes, called the Wolf and -the Eagle, as to which would carry off the more scalps, and the tribe -was divided in admiration of them. There was one who did not share this -liking: an old sachem, one of the wizards who had escaped when the Great -Spirit locked these workers of evil in the hollow trees that stood -beside the trail. In their struggles to escape the less fortunate ones -thrust their arms through the closing bark, and they are seen there, as -withered trunks and branches, to this day. Oquarah had not been -softened by this exhibition of danger nor the qualification of mercy -that allowed him still to exist. Rather he was more bitter when he saw, -as he fancied, that the tribe thought more of the daring and powerful -warriors than it did of the bent and malignant-minded counsellor. - -It was in the moon of green leaves that the two young men set off to -hunt the moose, and on the next day the Wolf returned alone. He -explained that in the hunt they had been separated; he had called for -hours for his friend, and had searched so long that he concluded he must -have returned ahead of him. But he was not at the camp. Up rose the -sachem with visage dark. "I hear a forked tongue," he cried. "The Wolf -was jealous of the Eagle and his teeth have cut into his heart." - -"The Wolf cannot lie," answered the young man. - -"Where is the Eagle?" angrily shouted the sachem, clutching his -hatchet. - -"The Wolf has said," replied the other. - -The old sachem advanced upon him, but as he raised his axe to strike, -the wife of the Wolf threw herself before her husband, and the steel -sank into her brain. The sachem fell an instant later with the Wolf's -knife in his heart, and instantly the camp was in turmoil. Before the -day had passed it had been broken up, and the people were divided into -factions, for it was no longer possible to hold it together in peace. -The Wolf, with half of the people, went down the Sounding River to new -hunting-grounds, and the earth that separated the families was reddened -whenever one side met the other. - -Years had passed when, one morning, the upper tribe saw a canoe -advancing across the Lake of the Silver Sky. An old man stepped from -it: he was the Eagle. After the Wolf had left him he had fallen into a -cleft in a rock, and had lain helpless until found by hunters who were -on their way to Canada. He had joined the British against the French, -had married a northern squaw, but had returned to die among the people -of his early love. Deep was his sorrow that his friend should have been -accused of doing him an injury, and that the once happy tribe should -have been divided by that allegation. The warriors and sachems of both -branches were summoned to a council, and in his presence they swore a -peace, so that in the fulness of time he was able to die content. That -peace was always kept. - - - - - AN EVENT IN INDIAN PARK - -It was during the years when the Saranacs were divided that Howling -Wind, one of the young men of Indian Carry, saw and fell in love with a -girl of the family on Tupper Lake. He quickly found a way to tell his -liking, and the couple met often in the woods and on the shore. He made -bold to row her around the quieter bays, and one moonlight evening he -took her to Devil's Rock, or Devil's Pulpit, where he told her the story -of the place. This was to the effect that the fiend had paddled, on -timbers, by means of his tail, to that rock, and had assembled fish and -game about him in large numbers by telling them that he was going to -preach to them, instead of which moral procedure he pounced upon and ate -all that were within his grasp. - -As so often happened in Indian history, the return of these lovers was -seen by a disappointed rival, who had hurried back to camp and secured -the aid of half a dozen men to arrest the favored one as soon as he -should land. The capture was made after a struggle, and Howling Wind -was dragged to the chief's tent for sentence. That sentence was death, -and with a refinement of cruelty that was rare even among the Indians, -the girl was ordered to execute it. She begged and wept to no avail. -An axe was put into her hands, and she was ordered to despatch the -prisoner. She took the weapon; her face grew stern and the tears dried -on her cheeks; her lover, bound to a tree, gazed at her in amazement; -his rival watched, almost in glee. Slowly the girl crossed the open -space to her lover. She raised the tomahawk and at a blow severed the -thongs that held him, then, like a flash, she leaped upon his rival, who -had sprung forward to interfere, and clove his skull with a single -stroke. The lovers fled as only those can fly who run for life. -Happily for them, they met a party from the Carry coming to rescue -Howling Wind from the danger to which his courtship had exposed him, and -it was even said that this party entered the village and by presenting -knives and arrows at the breast of the chief obtained his now -superfluous consent to the union of the fugitives. The pair reached -the Carry in safety and lived a long and happy life together. - - - - - THE INDIAN PLUME - -Brightest flower that grows beside the brooks is the scarlet blossom of -the Indian plume: the blood of Lenawee. Hundreds of years ago she lived -happily among her brother and sister Saranacs beside Stony Creek, the -Stream of the Snake, and was soon to marry the comely youth who, for the -speed of his foot, was called the Arrow. But one summer the Quick Death -came on the people, and as the viewless devil stalked through the -village young and old fell before him. The Arrow was the first to die. -In vain the Prophet smoked the Great Calumet: its smoke ascending took -no shape that he could read. In vain was the white dog killed to take -aloft the people's sins. But at last the Great Spirit himself came down -to the mountain called the Storm Darer, splendid in lightning, awful in -his thunder voice and robe of cloud. "My wrath is against you for your -sins," he cried, "and naught but human blood will appease it." - -In the morning the Prophet told his message, and all sat silent for a -time. Then Lenawee entered the circle. "Lenawee is a blighted flower," -she sobbed. "Let her blood flow for her people." And catching a knife -from the Prophet's belt, she ran with it to the stream on which she and -the Arrow had so often floated in their canoe. In another moment her -blood had bedewed the earth. "Lay me with the Arrow," she murmured, -and, smiling in their sad faces, breathed her last. The demon of the -quick death shrank from the spot, and the Great Spirit smiled once more -on the tribe that could produce such heroism. Lenawee's body was placed -beside her lover's, and next morning, where her blood had spilt, the -ground was pure, and on it grew in slender spires a new flower,--the -Indian plume: the transformed blood of sacrifice. The people loved that -flower in all years after. They decked their hair and dresses with it -and made a feast in its honor. When parents taught their children the -beauty of unselfishness they used as its emblem a stalk of Indian plume. - - - - - BIRTH OF THE WATER-LILY - -Back from his war against the Tahawi comes the Sun, chief of the Lower -Saranacs,--back to the Lake of the Clustered Stars, afterward called, by -dullards, Tupper's Lake. Tall and invincible he comes among his people, -boasting of his victories, Indian fashion, and stirring the scalps that -hang at his breast. "The Eagle screams," he cries. "He greets the -chief, the Blazing Sun. Wayotah has made the Tahawi tremble. They fly -from him. Hooh, hooh! He is the chief." Standing apart with wistful -glance stands Oseetah, the Bird. She loves the strong young chief, but -she knows that another has his promise, and she dares not hope; yet the -chief loves her, and when the feasting is over he follows her footprints -to the shore, where he sees her canoe turning the point of an island. -He silently pursues and comes upon her as she sits waving and moaning. -He tries to embrace her, but she draws apart. He asks her to sing to -him; she bids him begone. - -He takes a more imperious tone and orders her to listen to her chief. -She moves away. He darts toward her. Turning on him a face of sorrow, -she runs to the edge of a steep rock and waves him back. He hastens -after. Then she springs and disappears in the deep water. The Sun -plunges after her and swims with mad strength here and there. He calls. -There is no answer. Slowly he returns to the village and tells the -people what has happened. The Bird's parents are stricken and the Sun -moans in his sleep. At noon a hunter comes in with strange tidings: -flowers are growing on the water! The people go to their canoes and row -to the Island of Elms. There, in a cove, the still water is enamelled -with flowers, some as white as snow, filling the air with perfume, -others strong and yellow, like the lake at sunset. - -"Explain to us," they cry, turning to the old Medicine of his tribe, -"for this was not so yesterday." "It is our daughter," he answered. -"These flowers are the form she takes. The white is her purity, the -yellow her love. You shall see that her heart will close when the sun -sets, and will reopen at his coming." And the young chief went apart -and bowed his head. - - - - - ROGERS'S SLIDE - -The shores of Lakes George and Champlain were ravaged by war. Up and -down those lovely waters swept the barges of French and English, and the -green hills rang to the shrill of bugles, the boom of cannon, and the -yell of savages. Fiction and history have been weft across the woods -and the memory of deeds still echoes among the heights. It was at -Glen's Falls, in the cave on the rock in the middle of the river, that -the brave Uncas held the watch with Hawkeye. Bloody Defile and Bloody -Pond, between there and Lake George, take their names from the "Bloody -morning scout" sent out by Sir William Johnson on a September day in -1755 to check Dieskau until Fort William Henry could be completed. In -the action that ensued, Colonel Williams, founder of Williams College, -and Captain Grant, of the Connecticut line, great-grandfather of the -President who bore that name, were killed. The victims, dead and -wounded alike, having been flung into Bloody Pond, it was thick and red -for days, and tradition said that in after years it resumed its hue of -crimson at sunset and held it until dawn. The captured, who were -delivered to the Indians, had little to hope, for their white allies -could not stay their savagery. Blind Rock was so called because the -Indians brought a white man there, and tearing his eyes out, flung them -into embers at the foot of the stone. Captives were habitually -tortured, blazing splinters of pine being thrust into their flesh, their -nails torn out, and their bodies slashed with knives before they went to -the stake. An English prisoner was allowed to run the gauntlet here. -They had already begun to strike at him as he sped between the lines, -when he seized a pappoose, flung it on a fire, and, in the instant of -confusion that followed, snatched an axe, cut the bonds of a comrade who -had been doomed to die, and both escaped. - -But the best-known history of this region is that of Rogers's Rock, or -Rogers's Slide, a lofty precipice at the lower end of Lake George. -Major Rogers did not toboggan down this rock in leather trousers, but -his escape was no less remarkable than if he had. On March 13, 1758, -while reconnoitring near Ticonderoga with two hundred rangers, he was -surprised by a force of French and Indians. But seventeen of his men -escaped death or capture, and he was pursued nearly to the brink of this -cliff. During a brief delay among the red men, arising from the loss of -his trail, he had time to throw his pack down the slide, reverse his -snow-shoes, and go back over his own track to the head of a ravine -before they emerged from the woods, and, seeing that his shoe-marks led -to the rock, while none pointed back, they concluded that he had flung -himself off and committed suicide to avoid capture. Great was their -disappointment when they saw the major on the frozen surface of the lake -beneath going at a lively rate toward Fort William Henry. He had gained -the ice by way of the cleft in the rocks, but the savages, believing -that he had leaped over the precipice, attributed his preservation to -the Great Spirit and forbore to fire on him. Unconsciously, he had -chosen the best possible place to disappear from, for the Indians held -it in superstitious regard, believing that spirits haunted the wood and -hurled bad souls down the cliff, drowning them in the lake, instead of -allowing them to go to the happy hunting grounds. The major reached his -quarters in safety, and lived to take up arms against the land of his -birth when the colonies revolted, seventeen years later. - - - - - THE FALLS AT COHOES - -When Occuna, a young Seneca, fell in love with a girl whose cabin was -near the present town of Cohoes, he behaved very much as Americans of a -later date have done. He picked wild flowers for her; he played on the -bone pipe and sang sentimental songs in the twilight; he roamed the -hills with her, gathering the loose quartz crystals that the Indians -believed to be the tears of stricken deer, save on Diamond Rock, in -Lansingburgh, where they are the tears of Moneta, a bereaved mother and -wife; and in fine weather they went boating on the Mohawk above the -rapids. They liked to drift idly on the current, because it gave them -time to gaze into each other's eyes, and to build air castles that they -would live in in the future. They were suddenly called to a realization -of danger one evening, for the stream had been subtly drawing them on -and on until it had them in its power. The stroke of the paddle failed -and the air castles fell in dismal ruin. Sitting erect they began their -death-song in this wise: - -Occuna: "Daughter of a mighty warrior, the Manitou calls me hence. I -hear the roaring of his voice; I see the lightning of his glance along -the river; he walks in clouds and spray upon the waters." - -The Maiden: "Thou art thyself a warrior, O Occuna. Hath not thine axe -been often bathed in blood? Hath the deer ever escaped thine arrow or -the beaver avoided thy chase? Thou wilt not fear to go into the -presence of Manitou." - -Occuna: "Manitou, indeed, respects the strong. When I chose thee from -the women of our tribe I promised that we should live and die together. -The Thunderer calls us now. Welcome, O ghost of Oriska, chief of the -invincible Senecas! A warrior and the daughter of a warrior come to -join you in the feast of the blessed!" - -The boat leaped over the falls, and Occuna, striking on the rocks below, -was killed at once; but, as by a miracle, the girl fell clear of them -and was whirled on the seething current to shoal water, where she made -her escape. For his strength and his virtues the dead man was -canonized. His tribe raised him above the regions of the moon, whence -he looked down on the scenes of his youth with pleasure, and in times of -war gave pleasant dreams and promises to his friends, while he confused -the enemy with evil omens. Whenever his tribe passed the falls they -halted and with brief ceremonials commemorated the death of Occuna. - - - - - FRANCIS WOOLCOTT'S NIGHT-RIDERS - -In Copake, New York, among the Berkshire Hills, less than a century ago, -lived Francis Woolcott, a dark, tall man, with protruding teeth, whose -sinister laugh used to give his neighbors a creep along their spines. -He had no obvious trade or calling, but the farmers feared him so that -he had no trouble in making levies: pork, flour, meal, cider, he could -have what he chose for the asking, for had he not halted horses at the -plow so that neither blows nor commands could move them for two hours? -Had he not set farmer Raught's pigs to walking on their hind legs and -trying to talk? When he shouted "Hup! hup! hup!" to farmer Williams's -children, had they not leaped to the moulding of the parlor wainscot, ---a yard above the floor and only an inch wide,--and walked around it, -afterward skipping like birds from chair-back to chair-back, while the -furniture stood as if nailed to the floor? And was he not the chief of -thirteen night-riders, whose faces no man had seen, nor wanted to see, -and whom he sent about the country on errands of mischief every night -when the moon was growing old? As to moons, had he not found a mystic -message from our satellite on Mount Riga, graven on a meteor? - -Horses' tails were tied, hogs foamed at the mouth and walked like men, -cows gave blood for milk. These night-riders met Woolcott in a grove of -ash and chestnut trees, each furnished with a stolen bundle of oat -straw, and these bundles Woolcott changed to black horses when the night -had grown dark enough not to let the way of the change be seen. These -horses could not cross streams of water, and on the stroke of midnight -they fell to pieces and were oaten sheaves once more, but during their -time of action they rushed through woods, bearing their riders safely, -and tore like hurricanes across the fields, leaping bushes, fences, even -trees, without effort. Never could traces be found of them the next -day. At last the devil came to claim his own. Woolcott, who was ninety -years old, lay sick and helpless in his cabin. Clergymen refused to see -him, but two or three of his neighbors stifled their fears and went to -the wizard's house to soothe his dying moments. With the night came -storm, and with its outbreak the old man's face took on such a strange -and horrible look that the watchers fell back in alarm. There was a -burst of purple flame at the window, a frightful peal, a smell of -sulphur, and Woolcott was dead. When the watchers went out the roads -were dry, and none in the village had heard wind, rain, or thunder. It -was the coming of the fiend. - - - - - POLLY'S LOVER - -In about the middle of this century a withered woman of ninety was -buried from a now deserted house in White Plains, New York, Polly Carter -the name of her, but "Crazy Polly" was what the neighbors called her, -for she was eccentric and not fond of company. Among the belongings of -her house was a tall clock, such as relic hunters prize, that ticked -solemnly in a landing on the stairs. - -For a time, during the Revolution, the house stood within the British -lines, and as her father was a colonel in Washington's army she was left -almost alone in it. The British officers respected her sex, but they -had an unpleasant way of running in unannounced and demanding -entertainment, in the king's name, which she felt forced to grant. One -rainy afternoon the door was flung open, then locked on the inside, and -she found herself in the arms of a stalwart, handsome lieutenant, who -wore the blue. It was her cousin and fiance. Their glad talk had not -been going long when there came a rousing summons at the door. Three -English officers were awaiting admittance. - -Perhaps they had seen Lawrence Carter go into the house, and if caught -he would be killed as a spy. He must be hidden, but in some place where -they would not think of looking. The clock! That was the place. With -a laugh and a kiss the young man submitted to be shut in this narrow -quarter, and throwing his coat and hat behind some furniture the girl -admitted the officers, who were wet and surly and demanded dinner. They -tramped about the best room in their muddy boots, talking loudly, and in -order to break the effect of the chill weather they passed the brandy -bottle freely. Polly served them with a dinner as quickly as possible, -for she wanted to get them out of the house, but they were in no mood to -go, and the bottle passed so often that before the dinner was over they -were noisy and tipsy and were using language that drove Polly from the -room. - -At last, to her relief, she heard them preparing to leave the house, but -as they were about to go the senior officer, looking up at the landing, -now dim in the paling light, said to one of the others, "See what time -it is." The officer addressed, who happened to be the drunkest of the -party, staggered up the stair and exclaimed, "The d---d thing's -stopped." Then, as if he thought it a good joke, he added, "It'll never -go again." Drawing his sabre he gave the clock a careless cut and ran -the blade through the panel of the door; after this the three passed -out. When their voices had died in distant brawling, Polly ran to -release her lover. Something thick and dark was creeping from beneath -the clock-case. With trembling fingers she pulled open the door, and -Lawrence, her lover, fell heavily forward into her arms, dead. The -officer was right: the clock never went again. - - - - - CROSBY, THE PATRIOT SPY - -It was at the Jay house, in Westchester, New York, that Enoch Crosby met -Washington and offered his services to the patriot army. Crosby was a -cobbler, and not a very thriving one, but after the outbreak of -hostilities he took a peddler's outfit on his back and, as a non- -combatant, of Tory sympathies, he obtained admission through the British -lines. After his first visit to head quarters it is certain that he -always carried Sir Henry Clinton's passport in the middle of his pack, -and so sure were his neighbors that he was in the service of the British -that they captured him and took him to General Washington, but while his -case was up for debate he managed to slip his handcuffs, which were not -secure, and made off. Clinton, on the other hand, was puzzled by the -unaccountable foresight of the Americans, for every blow that he -prepared to strike was met, and he lost time and chance and temper. As -if the suspicion of both armies and the hatred of his neighbors were not -enough to contend against, Crosby now became an object of interest to -the Skinners and Cowboys, who were convinced that he was making money, -somehow, and resolved to have it. - -The Skinners were camp-followers of the American troops and the Cowboys -a band of Tories and renegade British. Both factions were employed, -ostensibly, in foraging for their respective armies, but, in reality, -for themselves, and the farmers and citizens occupying the neutral belt -north of Manhattan Island had reason to curse them both impartially. -While these fellows were daring thieves, they occasionally got the worst -of it, even in the encounters with the farmers, as on the Neperan, near -Tarrytown, where the Cowboys chased a woman to death, but were afterward -cut to pieces by the enraged neighbors. Hers is but one of the many -ghosts that haunt the neutral ground, and the croaking of the birds of -ill luck that nest at Raven rock is blended with the cries of her dim -figure. Still, graceless as these fellows were, they affected a loyalty -to their respective sides, and were usually willing to fight each other -when they met, especially for the plunder that was to be got by -fighting. - -In October, 1780, Claudius Smith, "king of the Cowboys," and three -scalawag sons came to the conclusion that it was time for Crosby's money -to revert to the crown, and they set off toward his little house one -evening, sure of finding him in, for his father was seriously ill. The -Smiths arrived there to find that the Skinners had preceded them on the -same errand, and they recognized through the windows, in the leader of -the band, a noted brigand on whose head a price was laid. He was -searching every crack and cranny of the room, while Crosby, stripped to -shirt and trousers, stood before the empty fireplace and begged for that -night to be left alone with his dying father. - -"To hell with the old man!" roared the Skinner. "Give up your gold, or -we'll put you to the torture," and he significantly whirled the end of a -rope that he carried about his waist. At that moment the faint voice of -the old man was heard calling from another room. - -"Take all that I have and let me go!" cried Crosby, and turning up a -brick in the fire-place he disclosed a handful of gold, his life -savings. The leader still tried to oppose his exit, but Crosby flung -him to the floor and rushed away to his father, while the brigand, -deeming it well to delay rising, dug his fingers into the hollow and -began to extract the sovereigns. At that instant four muskets were -discharged from without: there was a crash of glass, a yell of pain, and -four of the Skinners rolled bleeding on the floor; two others ran into -the darkness and escaped; their leader, trying to follow, was met at the -threshold by the Smiths, who clutched the gold out of his hand and -pinioned his elbows in a twinkling. - -"I thought ye'd like to know who's got ye," said old Smith, peering into -the face of the astonished and crestfallen robber, "for I've told ye -many a time to keep out of my way, and now ye've got to swing for -getting into it." - -Within five minutes of the time that he had got his clutch on Crosby's -money the bandit was choking to death at the end of his own rope, hung -from the limb of an apple-tree, and, having secured the gold, the -Cowboys went their way into the darkness. Crosby soon made his -appearance in the ranks of the Continentals, and, though they looked -askant at him for a time, they soon discovered the truth and hailed him -as a hero, for the information he had carried to Washington from -Clinton's camp had often saved them from disaster. He had survived -attack in his own house through the falling out of rogues, and he -survived the work and hazard of war through luck and a sturdy frame. -Congress afterwards gave him a sum of money larger than had been taken -from him, for his chief had commended him in these lines: "Circumstances -of political importance, which involved the lives and fortunes of many, -have hitherto kept secret what this paper now reveals. Enoch Crosby has -for years been a faithful and unrequited servant of his country. Though -man does not, God may reward him for his conduct. - GEORGE WASHINGTON." - -Associated with Crosby in his work of getting information from the enemy -was a man named Gainos, who kept an inn on the neutral ground, that was -often raided. Being assailed by Cowboys once, Gainos, with his tenant -and stable-boys, fired at the bandits together, just as the latter had -forced his front door, then stepping quickly forward he slashed off the -head of the leader with a cutlass. The retreating crew dumped the body -into a well on the premises, and there it sits on the crumbling curb o' -nights looking disconsolately for its head. - -It may also be mentioned that the Skinners had a chance to revenge -themselves on the Cowboys for their defeat at the Crosby house. They -fell upon the latter at the tent-shaped cave in Yonkers,--it is called -Washington's Cave, because the general napped there on bivouac,--and not -only routed them, but secured so much of their treasure that they were -able to be honest for several years after. - - - - - THE LOST GRAVE OF PAINE - -Failure to mark the resting-places of great men and to indicate the -scenes of their deeds has led to misunderstanding and confusion among -those who discover a regard for history and tradition in this practical -age. Robert Fulton, who made steam navigation possible, lies in an -unmarked tomb in the yard of Trinity Church--the richest church in -America. The stone erected to show where Andre was hanged was destroyed -by a cheap patriot, who thought it represented a compliment to the spy. -The spot where Alexander Hamilton was shot in the duel by Aaron Burr is -known to few and will soon be forgotten. It was not until a century of -obloquy had been heaped on the memory of Thomas Paine that his once -enemies were brought to know him as a statesman of integrity, a -philanthropist, and philosopher. His deistic religion, proclaimed in -"The Age of Reason," is unfortunately no whit more independent than is -preached in dozens of pulpits to-day. He died ripe in honors, despite -his want of creed, and his mortal part was buried in New Rochelle, New -York, under a large walnut-tree in a hay-field. Some years later his -friends removed the body to a new grave in higher ground, and placed -over it a monument that the opponents of his principles quickly hacked -to pieces. Around the original grave there still remains a part of the -old inclosure, and it was proposed to erect a suitable memorial-- -the Hudson and its Hills the spot, but the owner of the tract would -neither give nor sell an inch of his land for the purpose of doing honor -to the man. Some doubt has already been expressed as to whether the -grave is beneath the monument or in the inclosure; and it is also -asserted that Paine's ghost appears at intervals, hovering in the air -between the two burial-places, or flitting back and forth from one to -the other, lamenting the forgetfulness of men and wailing, "Where is my -grave? I have lost my grave!" - - - - - THE RISING OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS - -Gouverneur Morris, American minister to the court of Louis XVI, was -considerably enriched, at the close of the reign of terror, by plate, -jewels, furniture, paintings, coaches, and so on, left in his charge by -members of the French nobility, that they might not be confiscated in -the sack of the city by the /sans culottes/; for so many of the -aristocracy were killed and so many went into exile or disguised their -names, that it was impossible to find heirs or owners for these effects. -Some of the people who found France a good country to be out of came to -America, where adventurers had found prosperity and refugees found peace -so many times before. Marshal Ney and Bernadotte are alleged to have -served in the American army during the Revolution, and at Hogansburg, -New York, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, an Episcopal missionary, who -lies buried in the church-yard there, was declared to be the missing son -of Louis XVI. The question, "Have we a Bourbon among us?" was -frequently canvassed; but he avoided publicity and went quietly on with -his pastoral work. - -All property left in Mr. Morris's hands that had not been claimed was -removed to his mansion at Port Morris, when he returned from his -ministry, and he gained in the esteem and envy of his neighbors when the -extent of these riches was seen. Once, at the wine, he touched glasses -with his wife, and said that if she bore a male child that son should be -heir to his wealth. Two relatives who sat at the table exchanged looks -at this and cast a glance of no gentle regard on his lady. A year went -by. The son was born, but Gouverneur Morris was dead. - -It is the first night of the year 1817, the servants are asleep, and the -widow sits late before the fire, her baby in her arms, listening betimes -to the wind in the chimney, the beat of hail on the shutters, the -brawling of the Bronx and the clash of moving ice upon it; yet thinking -of her husband and the sinister look his promise had brought to the -faces of his cousins, when a tramp of horses is heard without, and anon -a summons at the door. The panels are beaten by loaded riding-whips, -and a man's voice cries, "Anne Morris, fetch us our cousin's will, or -we'll break into the house and take it." The woman clutches the infant -to her breast, but makes no answer. Again the clatter of the whips; but -now a mist is gathering in the room, and a strange enchantment comes -over her, for are not the lions breathing on the coat of arms above the -door, and are not the portraits stirring in their frames? - -They are, indeed. There is a rustle of robes and clink of steel and one -old warrior leaps down, his armor sounding as he alights, and striking -thrice his sword and shield together he calls on Gouverneur Morris to -come forth. Somebody moves in the room where Morris died; there is a -measured footfall in the corridor, with the clank of a scabbard keeping -time; the door is opened, and on the blast that enters the widow hears a -cry, then a double gallop, passing swiftly into distance. As she gazes, -her husband appears, apparelled as in life, and with a smile he takes a -candelabrum from the mantel and, beckoning her to follow, moves from -room to room. Then, for the first time, the widow knows to what wealth -her baby has been born, for the ghost discloses secret drawers in -escritoires where money, title deeds, and gems are hidden, turns -pictures and wainscots on unsuspected hinges, revealing shelves heaped -with fabrics, plate, and lace; then, returning to the fireside, he -stoops as if to kiss his wife and boy, but a bell strikes the first hour -of morning and he vanishes into his portrait on the wall. - - - - - - - THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - - DOLPH HEYLIGER - -New York was New Amsterdam when Dolph Heyliger got himself born there, ---a graceless scamp, though a brave, good-natured one, and being left -penniless on his father's death he was fain to take service with a -doctor, while his mother kept a shop. This doctor had bought a farm on -the island of Manhattoes--away out of town, where Twenty-third Street -now runs, most likely--and, because of rumors that its tenants had -noised about it, he seemed likely to enjoy the responsibilities of -landholding and none of its profits. It suited Dolph's adventurous -disposition that he should be deputed to investigate the reason for -these rumors, and for three nights he kept his abode in the desolate old -manor, emerging after daybreak in a lax and pallid condition, but -keeping his own counsel, to the aggravation of the populace, whose ears -were burning for his news. - -Not until long after did he tell of the solemn tread that woke him in -the small hours, of his door softly opening, though he had bolted and -locked it, of a portly Fleming, with curly gray hair, reservoir boots, -slouched hat, trunk and doublet, who entered and sat in the arm-chair, -watching him until the cock crew. Nor did he tell how on the third -night he summoned courage, hugging a Bible and a catechism to his breast -for confidence, to ask the meaning of the visit, and how the Fleming -arose, and drawing Dolph after him with his eyes, led him downstairs, -went through the front door without unbolting it, leaving that task for -the trembling yet eager youth, and how, after he had proceeded to a -disused well at the bottom of the garden, he vanished from sight. - -Dolph brooded long upon these things and dreamed of them in bed. He -alleged that it was in obedience to his dreams that he boarded a -schooner bound up the Hudson, without the formality of adieu to his -employer, and after being spilled ashore in a gale at the foot of Storm -King, he fell into the company of Anthony Vander Hevden, a famous -landholder and hunter, who achieved a fancy for Dolph as a lad who could -shoot, fish, row, and swim, and took him home with him to Albany. The -Heer had commodious quarters, good liquor, and a pretty daughter, and -Dolph felt himself in paradise until led to the room he was to occupy, -for one of the first things that he set eyes on in that apartment was a -portrait of the very person who had kept him awake for the worse part of -three nights at the bowerie in Manhattoes. He demanded to know whose -picture it was, and learned that it was that of Killian Vander Spiegel, -burgomaster and curmudgeon, who buried his money when the English seized -New Amsterdam and fretted himself to death lest it should be discovered. -He remembered that his mother had spoken of this Spiegel and that her -father was the miser's rightful heir, and it now appeared that he was -one of Heyden's forbears too. In his dream that night the Fleming -stepped out of the portrait, led him, as he had done before, to the -well, where he smiled and vanished. Dolph reflected, next morning, that -these things had been ordered to bring together the two branches of the -family and disclose the whereabouts of the treasure that it should -inherit. So full was he of this idea that he went back to New Amsterdam -by the first schooner, to the surprise of the Heer and the regret of his -daughter. - -After the truant had been received with execrations by the doctor and -with delight by his mother, who believed that spooks had run off with -him, and with astonishment, as a hero of romance, by the public, he made -for the haunted premises at the first opportunity and began to angle at -the disused well. Presently he found his hook entangled in something at -the bottom, and on lifting slowly he discovered that he had secured a -fine silver porringer, with lid held down by twisted wire. It was the -work of a moment to wrench off the lid, when he found the vessel to be -filled with golden pieces. His fishing that day was attended with such -luck as never fell to an angler before, for there were other pieces of -plate down there, all engraved with the Spiegel arms and all containing -treasure. - -By encouraging the most dreadful stories about the spot, in order to -keep the people wide away from it, he accomplished the removal of his -prizes bit by bit from their place of concealment to his home. His -unaccounted absence in Albany and his dealings with the dead had -prepared his neighbors for any change in himself or his condition, and -now that he always had a bottle of schnapps for the men and a pot of tea -for the women, and was good to his mother, they said that they had -always known that when he changed it would be for the better,--at which -his old detractors lifted their eyebrows significantly--and when asked -to dinner by him they always accepted. - -Moreover, they made merry when the day came round for his wedding with -the little maid of Albany. They likewise elected him a member of the -corporation, to which he bequeathed some of the Spiegel plate and often -helped the other city fathers to empty the big punch-bowl. Indeed, it -was at one of these corporation feasts that he died of apoplexy. He was -buried with honors in the yard of the Dutch church in Garden Street. - - - - - THE KNELL AT THE WEDDING - -A young New Yorker had laid such siege to the heart of a certain belle-- -this was back in the Knickerbocker days when people married for love-- -that everybody said the banns were as good as published; but everybody -did not know, for one fine morning my lady went to church with another -gentleman--not her father, though old enough to be--and when the two -came out they were man and wife. The elderly man was rich. After the -first paroxysm of rage and disappointment had passed, the lover withdrew -from the world and devoted himself to study; nor when he learned that -she had become a widow, with comfortable belongings derived from the -estate of the late lamented, did he renew acquaintance with her, and -he smiled bitterly when he heard of her second marriage to a young -adventurer who led her a wretched life, but atoned for his sins, in a -measure, by dying soon enough afterward to leave a part of her fortune -unspent. - -In the lapse of time the doubly widowed returned to New York, where -she met again the lover of her youth. Mr. Ellenwood had acquired the -reserve of a scholar, and had often puzzled his friends with his -eccentricities; but after a few meetings with the object of his young -affection he came out of his glooms, and with respectful formality laid -again at her feet the heart she had trampled on forty years before. -Though both of them were well on in life, the news of their engagement -made little of a sensation. The widow was still fair; the wooer was -quiet, refined, and courtly, and the union of their fortunes would -assure a competence for the years that might be left to them. The -church of St. Paul, on Broadway, was appointed for the wedding, and it -was a whim of the groom that his bride should meet him there. At the -appointed hour a company of the curious had assembled in the edifice; -a rattle of wheels was heard, and a bevy of bridesmaids and friends in -hoop, patch, velvet, silk, powder, swords, and buckles walked down the -aisle; but just as the bride had come within the door, out of the -sunlight that streamed so brilliantly on the mounded turf and tombstones -in the churchyard, the bell in the steeple gave a single boom. - -The bride walked to the altar, and as she took her place before it -another clang resounded from the belfry. The bridegroom was not there. -Again and again the brazen throat and iron tongue sent out a doleful -knell, and faces grew pale and anxious, for the meaning of it could not -be guessed. With eyes fixed on the marble tomb of her first husband, -the woman tremblingly awaited the solution of the mystery, until the -door was darkened by something that made her catch her breath-- -a funeral. The organ began a solemn dirge as a black-cloaked cortege -came through the aisle, and it was with amazement that the bride -discovered it to be formed of her oldest friends,--bent, withered; -paired, man and woman, as in mockery--while behind, with white face, -gleaming eyes, disordered hair, and halting step, came the bridegroom, -in his shroud. - -"Come," he said,--let us be married. The coffins are ready. Then, home -to the tomb." - -"Cruel!" murmured the woman. - -"Now, Heaven judge which of us has been cruel. Forty years ago you took -away my faith, destroyed my hopes, and gave to others your youth and -beauty. Our lives have nearly run their course, so I am come to wed you -as with funeral rites." Then, in a softer manner, he took her hand, and -said, "All is forgiven. If we cannot live together we will at least be -wedded in death. Time is almost at its end. We will marry for -eternity. Come." And tenderly embracing her, he led her forward. Hard -as was the ordeal, confusing, frightening, humiliating, the bride came -through it a better woman. - -"It is true," she said, "I have been vain and worldly, but now, in my -age, the truest love I ever knew has come back to me. It is a holy -love. I will cherish it forever." Their eyes met, and they saw each -other through tears. Solemnly the clergyman read the marriage service, -and when it was concluded the low threnody that had come from the organ -in key with the measured clang of the bell, merged into a nobler motive, -until at last the funeral measures were lost in a burst of exultant -harmony. Sobs of pent feeling and sighs of relief were heard as the -bridal party moved away, and when the newmade wife and husband reached -the portal the bell was silent and the sun was shining. - - - - - ROISTERING DIRCK VAN DARA - -In the days when most of New York stood below Grand Street, a roistering -fellow used to make the rounds of the taverns nightly, accompanied by a -friend named Rooney. This brave drinker was Dirck Van Dara, one of the -last of those swag-bellied topers that made merry with such solemnity -before the English seized their unoffending town. It chanced that Dirck -and his chum were out later than usual one night, and by eleven o'clock, -when all good people were abed, a drizzle set in that drove the watch to -sleep in doorways and left Broadway tenantless. As the two choice -spirits reeled out of a hostelry near Wall Street and saw the lights go -out in the tap-room windows they started up town to their homes in -Leonard Street, but hardly had they come abreast of old St. Paul's when -a strange thing stayed them: crying was heard in the churchyard and a -phosphorescent light shone among the tombs. Rooney was sober in a -moment, but not so Dirck Van Dara, who shouted, "Here is sport, friend -Rooney. Let's climb the wall. If the dead are for a dance, we will -take partners and show them how pigeons' wings are cut nowadays." - -"No," exclaimed the other; "those must perish who go among the dead -when they come out of their graves. I've heard that if you get into -their clutches, you must stay in purgatory for a hundred years, and no -priest can pray you out." - -"Bah! old wives' tales! Come on!" And pulling his friend with him, -they were over the fence. "Hello! what have we here?" As he spoke a -haggard thing arose from behind a tombstone, a witchlike creature, with -rags falling about her wasted form and hair that almost hid her face. -The twain were set a-sneezing by the fumes of sulphur, and Rooney swore -afterwards that there were little things at the end of the yard with -grinning faces and lights on the ends of their tails. Old Hollands are -heady. Dirck began to chaff the beldam on her dilapidation, but she -stopped his talk by dipping something from a caldron behind her and -flinging it over both of her visitors. Whatever it was, it burned -outrageously, and with a yell of pain they leaped the wall more briskly -than they had jumped it the other way, and were soon in full flight. -They had not gone far when the clock struck twelve. - -"Arrah! there's a crowd of them coming after," panted Rooney. "Ave -Mary! I've heard that if you die with witch broth being thrown over -you, you're done for in the next world, as well as this. Let us get to -Father Donagan's. Wow!" - -As he made this exclamation the fugitives found their way opposed by a -woman, who looked at them with immodest eyes and said, "Dirck Van Dara, -your sire, in wig and bob, turned us Cyprians out of New York, after -ducking us in the Collect. But we forgive him, and to prove it we ask -you to our festival." - -At the stroke of midnight the street before the church had swarmed with -a motley throng, that now came onward, waving torches that sparkled like -stars. They formed a ring about Dirck and began to dance, and he, -nothing loth, seized the nymph who had addressed him and joined in the -revel. Not a soul was out or awake except themselves, and no words were -said as the dance went wilder to strains of weird and unseen -instruments. Now and then one would apply a torch to the person of -Dirck, meanly assailing him in the rear, and the smart of the burn made -him feet it the livelier. At last they turned toward the Battery as by -common consent, and went careering along the street in frolic fashion. -Rooney, whose senses had thus far been pent in a stupor, fled with a -yell of terror, and as he looked back he saw the unholy troop -disappearing in the mist like a moving galaxy. Never from that night -was Dirck Van Data seen or heard of more, and the publicans felt that -they had less reason for living. - - - - - THE PARTY FROM GIBBET ISLAND - -Ellis Island, in New York harbor, once bore the name of Gibbet Island, -because pirates and mutineers were hanged there in chains. During the -times when it was devoted to this fell purpose there stood in Communipaw -the Wild Goose tavern, where Dutch burghers resorted, to smoke, drink -Hollands, and grow fat, wise, and sleepy in each others' compaay. The -plague of this inn was Yan Yost Vanderscamp, a nephew of the landlord, -who frequently alarmed the patrons of the house by putting powder into -their pipes and attaching briers beneath their horses' tails, and who -naturally turned pirate when he became older, taking with him to sea his -boon companion, an ill-disposed, ill-favored blackamoor named Pluto, who -had been employed about the tavern. When the landlord died, Vanderscamp -possessed himself of this property, fitted it up with plunder, and at -intervals he had his gang ashore,--such a crew of singing, swearing, -drinking, gaming devils as Communipaw had never seen the like of; yet -the residents could not summon activity enough to stop the goings-on -that made the Wild Goose a disgrace to their village. The British -authorities, however, caught three of the swashbucklers and strung them -up on Gibbet Island, and things that went on badly in Communipaw after -that went on with quiet and secrecy. - -The pirate and his henchmen were returning to the tavern one night, -after a visit to a rakish-looking vessel in the offing, when a squall -broke in such force as to give their skiff a leeway to the place of -executions. As they rounded that lonely reef a creaking noise overhead -caused Vanderscamp to look up, and he could not repress a shudder as he -saw the bodies of his three messmates, their rags fluttering and their -chains grinding in the wind. - -"Don't you want to see your friends?" sneered Pluto. "You, who are -never afraid of living men, what do you fear from the dead?" - -"Nothing," answered the pirate. Then, lugging forth his bottle, he took -a long pull at it, and holding it toward the dead felons, he shouted, -"Here's fair weather to you, my lads in the wind, and if you should be -walking the rounds to-night, come in to supper." - -A clatter of bones and a creak of chains sounded like a laugh. It was -midnight when the boat pulled in at Communipaw, and as the storm -continued Vanderscamp, drenched to the skin, made quick time to the Wild -Goose. As he entered, a sound of revelry overhead smote his ear, and, -being no less astonished than in need of cordials, he hastened up-stairs -and flung open the door. A table stood there, furnished with jugs and -pipes and cans, and by light of candles that burned as blue as brimstone -could be seen the three gallows-birds from Gibbet Island, with halters -on their necks, clinking their tankards together and trolling forth a -drinking-song. - -Starting back with affright as the corpses hailed him with lifted arms -and turned their fishy eyes on him, Vanderscamp slipped at the door and -fell headlong to the bottom of the stairs. Next morning he was found -there by the neighbors, dead to a certainty, and was put away in the -Dutch churchyard at Bergen on the Sunday following. As the house was -rifled and deserted by its occupants, it was hinted that the negro had -betrayed his master to his fellow-buccaneers, and that he, Pluto, was no -other than the devil in disguise. But he was not, for his skiff was -seen floating bottom up in the bay soon after, and his drowned body -lodged among the rocks at the foot of the pirates' gallows. - -For a long time afterwards the island was regarded as a place that -required purging with bell, book, and candle, for shadows were reported -there and faint lights that shot into the air, and to this day, with the -great immigrant station on it and crowds going and coming all the time, -the Battery boatmen prefer not to row around it at night, for they are -likely to see the shades of the soldier and his mistress who were -drowned off the place one windy night, when the girl was aiding the -fellow to escape confinement in the guard-house, to say nothing of -Vanderscamp and his felons. - - - - - MISS BRITTON'S POKER - -The maids of Staten Island wrought havoc among the royal troops who were -quartered among them during the Revolution. Near quarantine, in an old -house,--the Austen mansion,--a soldier of King George hanged himself -because a Yankee maid who lived there would not have him for a husband, -nor any gentleman whose coat was of his color; and, until ghosts went -out of fashion, his spirit, in somewhat heavy boots, with jingling -spurs, often disturbed the nightly quiet of the place. - -The conduct of a damsel in the old town of Richmond was even more stern. -She was the granddaughter, and a pretty one, of a farmer named Britton; -but though Britton by descent and name, she was no friend of Britons, -albeit she might have had half the officers in the neighboring camp at -her feet, if she had wished them there. Once, while mulling a cup of -cider for her grandfather, she was interrupted by a self-invited -myrmidon, who undertook, in a fashion rude and unexpected, to show the -love in which he held her. Before he could kiss her, the girl drew the -hot poker from the mug of drink and jabbed at the vitals of her amorous -foe, burning a hole through his scarlet uniform and printing on his -burly person a lasting memento of the adventure. With a howl of pain -the fellow rushed away, and the privacy of the Britton family was never -again invaded, at least whilst cider was being mulled. - - - - - THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES - -When the devil set a claim to the fair lands at the north of Long Island -Sound, his claim was disputed by the Indians, who prepared to fight for -their homes should he attempt to serve his writ of ejectment. Parley -resulted in nothing, so the bad one tried force, but he was routed in -open fight and found it desirable to get away from the scene of action -as soon as possible. He retreated across the Sound near the head of -East River. The tide was out, so he stepped from island to island, -without trouble, and those reefs and islands are to this day the Devil's -Stepping-Stones. On reaching Throgg's Neck he sat down in a despairing -attitude and brooded on his defeat, until, roused to a frenzy at the -thought of it, he resolved to renew the war on terms advantageous -entirely to himself. In that day Connecticut was free from rocks, but -Long Island was covered with them; so he gathered all he could lay his -hands on and tossed them at the Indians that he could see across the -Sound near Cold Spring until the supply had given out. The red men who -last inhabited Connecticut used to show white men where the missiles -landed and where the devil struck his heel into the ground as he sprang -from the shore in his haste to reach Long Island. At Cold Spring other -footprints and one of his toes are shown. Establishing himself at -Coram, he troubled the people of the country for many years, so that -between the devil on the west and the Montauks on the east they were -plagued indeed; for though their guard at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and -other places often apprised them of the coming of the Montauks, they -never knew which way to look for the devil. - - - - - THE SPRINGS OF BLOOD AND WATER - -A great drought had fallen on Long Island, and the red men prayed for -water. It is true that they could get it at Lake Ronkonkoma, but some -of them were many miles from there, and, beside, they feared the spirits -at that place: the girl who plied its waters in a phosphor-shining -birch, seeking her recreant lover; and the powerful guardians that the -Great Spirit had put in charge to keep the fish from being caught, for -these fish were the souls of men, awaiting deliverance into another -form. The people gathered about their villages in bands and besought -the Great Spirit to give them drink. His voice was heard at last, -bidding their chief to shoot an arrow into the air and to watch where it -fell, for there would water gush out. The chief obeyed the deity, and -as the arrow touched the earth a spring of sweet water spouted into the -air. Running forward with glad cries the red men drank eagerly of the -liquor, laved their faces in it, and were made strong again; and in -memory of that event they called the place the Hill of God, or Manitou -Hill, and Manet or Manetta Hill it is to this day. Hereabouts the -Indians settled and lived in peace, thriving under the smile of their -deity, making wampum for the inland tribes and waxing rich with gains -from it. They made the canal from bay to sea at Canoe Place, that they -might reach open water without dragging their boats across the sand- -bars, and in other ways they proved themselves ingenious and strong. - -When the English landed on the island they saw that the Indians were not -a people to be trifled with, and in order to properly impress them with -their superiority, they told them that John Bull desired a treaty with -them. The officers got them to sit in line in front of a cannon, the -nature of which instrument was unknown to them, and during the talk the -gun was fired, mowing down so many of the red people that the survivors -took to flight, leaving the English masters at the north shore, for this -heartless and needless massacre took place at Whale's Neck. So angry -was the Great Spirit at this act of cruelty and treachery that he caused -blood to ooze from the soil, as he had made water leap for his thirsting -children, and never again would grass grow on the spot where the murder -had been done. - - - - - THE CRUMBLING SILVER - -There is a clay bank on Little Neck, Long Island, where metallic nodules -are now and then exposed by rain. Rustics declare them to be silver, -and account for their crumbling on the theory that the metal is under a -curse. A century ago the Montauks mined it, digging over enough soil to -unearth these pellets now and again, and exchanging them at the nearest -settlements for tobacco and rum. The seeming abundance of these lumps -of silver aroused the cupidity of one Gardiner, a dweller in the central -wilderness of the island, but none of the Indians would reveal the -source of their treasure. One day Gardiner succeeded in getting an old -chief so tipsy that, without realizing what he was doing, he led the -white man to the clay bed and showed him the metallic spots glittering -in the sun. With a cry of delight Gardiner sprang forward and tore at -the earth with his fingers, while the Indian stood by laughing at his -eagerness. - -Presently a shade crosssed the white man's face, for he thought that -this vast treasure would have to be shared by others. It was too much -to endure. He wanted all. He would be the richest man on earth. -Stealing behind the Indian as he stood swaying and chuckling, he -wrenched the hatchet from his belt and clove his skull at a blow. Then, -dragging the body to a thicket and hiding it under stones and leaves, he -hurried to his house for cart and pick and shovel, and returning with -speed he dug out a half ton of the silver before sunset. The cart was -loaded, and he set homeward, trembling with excitement and conjuring -bright visions for his future, when a wailing sound from a thicket made -him halt and turn pale. Noiselessly a figure glided from the bush. It -was the Indian he had killed. The form approached the treasure, flung -up its arm, uttered a few guttural words; then a rising wind seemed to -lift it from the ground and it drifted toward the Sound, fading like a -cloud as it receded. - -Full of misgiving, Gardiner drove to his home, and, by light of a -lantern, transferred his treasure to his cellar. Was it the dulness of -the candle that made the metal look so black? After a night of feverish -tossing on his bed he arose and went to the cellar to gloat upon his -wealth. The light of dawn fell on a heap of gray dust, a few brassy -looking particles showing here and there. The curse of the ghost had -been of power and the silver was silver no more. Mineralogists say that -the nodules are iron pyrites. Perhaps so; but old residents know that -they used to be silver. - - - - - THE CORTELYOU ELOPEMENT - -In the Bath district of Brooklyn stands Cortelyou manor, built one -hundred and fifty years ago, and a place of defence during the -Revolution when the British made sallies from their camp in Flatbush -and worried the neighborhood. It was in one of these forays on pigs and -chickens that a gallant officer of red-coats met a pretty lass in the -fields of Cortelyou. He stilled her alarm by aiding her to gather wild- -flowers, and it came about that the girl often went into the fields and -came back with prodigious bouquets of daisies. The elder Cortelyou had -no inkling of this adventure until one of his sons saw her tryst with -the red-coat at a distance. Be sure the whole family joined him in -remonstrance. As the girl declared that she would not forego the -meetings with her lover, the father swore that she should never leave -his roof again, and he tried to be as good, or bad, as his word. The -damsel took her imprisonment as any girl of spirit would, but was unable -to effect her escape until one evening, as she sat at her window, -watching the moon go down and paint the harbor with a path of light. -A tap at the pane, as of a pebble thrown against it, roused her from -her revery. It was her lover on the lawn. - -At her eager signal he ran forward with a light ladder, planted it -against the window-sill, and in less than a minute the twain were -running toward the beach; but the creak of the ladder had been heard, -and grasping their muskets two of the men hurried out. In the track of -the moon the pursuers descried a moving form, and, without waiting to -challenge, they levelled the guns and fired. A woman's cry followed the -report; then a dip of oars was heard that fast grew fainter until it -faded from hearing. On returning to the house they found the girl's -room empty, and next morning her slipper was brought in from the mud at -the landing. Nobody inside of the American lines ever learned what that -shot had done, but if it failed to take a life it robbed Cortelyou of -his mind. He spent the rest of his days in a single room, chained to a -staple in the floor, tramping around and around, muttering and -gesturing, and sometimes startling the passer-by as he showed his white -face and ragged beard at the window. - - - - - VAN WEMPEL'S GOOSE - -Allow us to introduce Nicholas Van Wempel, of Flatbush: fat, phlegmatic, -rich, and henpecked. He would like to be drunk because he is henpecked, -but the wife holds the purse-strings and only doles out money to him -when she wants groceries or he needs clothes. It was New Year's eve, -the eve of 1739, when Vrouw Van Wempel gave to her lord ten English -shillings and bade him hasten to Dr. Beck's for the fat goose that had -been bespoken. "And mind you do not stop at the tavern," she screamed -after him in her shrillest tone. But poor Nicholas! As he went -waddling down the road, snapping through an ice-crust at every step, a -roguish wind--or perhaps it was one of the bugaboos that were known to -haunt the shores of Gravesend Bay--snatched off his hat and rolled it -into the very doorway of the tavern that he had been warned, under -terrible penalties, to avoid. - -As he bent to pick it up the door fell ajar, and a pungency of schnapps -and tobacco went into his nostrils. His resolution, if he had one, -vanished. He ordered one glass of schnapps; friends came in and treated -him to another; he was bound to do as much for them; shilling by -shilling the goose money passed into the till of the landlord. Nicholas -was heard to make a muttered assertion that it was his own money anyhow, -and that while he lived he would be the head of his own house; then the -mutterings grew faint and merged into snores. When he awoke it was at -the low sound of voices in the next room, and drowsily turning his head -he saw there two strangers,--sailors, he thought, from their leather -jackets, black beards, and the rings in their ears. What was that they -said? Gold? On the marshes? At the old Flatlands tide-mill? The -talkers had gone before his slow and foggy brain could grasp it all, but -when the idea had fairly eaten its way into his intellect, he arose with -the nearest approach to alacrity that he had exhibited in years, and -left the place. He crunched back to his home, and seeing nobody astir -went softly into his shed, where he secured a shovel and lantern, and -thence continued with all consistent speed to the tumbledown tide-mill -on the marsh,--a trying journey for his fat legs on a sharp night, but -hope and schnapps impelled him. - -He reached the mill, and, hastening to the cellar, began to probe in the -soft, unfrozen earth. Presently his spade struck something, and he dug -and dug until he had uncovered the top of a canvas bag,--the sort that -sailors call a "round stern-chest." It took all his strength to lug it -out, and as he did so a seam burst, letting a shower of gold pieces over -the ground. He loosed the band of his breeches, and was filling the -legs thereof with coin, when a tread of feet sounded overhead and four -men came down the stair. Two of them he recognized as the fellows of -the tavern. They saw the bag, the lantern, then Nicholas. Laden though -he was with gold until he could hardly budge, these pirates, for such -they were, got him up-stairs, forced him to drink hot Hollands to the -success of their flag, then shot him through the window into the creek. -As he was about to make this unceremonious exit he clutched something to -save himself, and it proved to be a plucked goose that the pirates had -stolen from a neighboring farm and were going to sup on when they had -scraped their gold together. He felt the water and mud close over him; -he struggled desperately; he was conscious of breathing more freely and -of staggering off at a vigorous gait; then the power of all the schnapps -seemed to get into his head, and he remembered no more until he heard -his wife shrilling in his ears, when he sat up and found himself in a -snow-bank close to his house, with a featherless goose tight in his -grasp. - -Vrouw Van Wempel cared less about the state of her spouse when she saw -that he had secured the bird, and whenever he told his tale of the -pirates she turned a deaf ear to him, for if he had found the gold why -did he not manage to bring home a few pieces of it? He, in answer, -asked how, as he had none of his own money, she could have come by the -goose? He often told his tale to sympathetic ears, and would point to -the old mill to prove that it was true. - - - - - THE WEARY WATCHER - -Before the opening of the great bridge sent commerce rattling up -Washington Street in Brooklyn that thoroughfare was a shaded and -beautiful avenue, and among the houses that attested its respectability -was one, between Tillary and Concord Streets, that was long declared to -be haunted. A man and his wife dwelt there who seemed to be fondly -attached to each other, and whose love should have been the stronger -because of their three children none grew to years. A mutual sorrow is -as close a tie as a common affection. One day, while on a visit to a -friend, the wife saw her husband drive by in a carriage with a showy -woman beside him. She went home at once, and when the supposed recreant -returned she met him with bitter reproaches. He answered never a word, -but took his hat and left the house, never to be seen again in the -places that had known him. - -The wife watched and waited, daily looking for his return, but days -lengthened into weeks, months, years, and still he came not. Sometimes -she lamented that she had spoken hastily and harshly, thinking that, had -she known all, she might have found him blameless. There was no family -to look after, no wholesome occupation that she sought, so the days went -by in listening and watching, until, at last, her body and mind gave -way, and the familiar sight of her face, watching from a second floor -window, was seen no longer. Her last day came. She had risen from her -bed; life and mind seemed for a moment to be restored to her; and -standing where she had stood so often, her form supported by a half- -closed shutter and a grasp on the sash, she looked into the street once -more, sighed hopelessly, and so died. It was her shade that long -watched at the windows; it was her waxen face, heavy with fatigue and -pain, that was dimly seen looking over the balusters in the evening. - - - - - THE RIVAL FIDDLERS - -Before Brooklyn had spread itself beyond Greenwood Cemetery a stone -could be seen in Martense's Lane, south of that burial-ground, that bore -a hoof mark. A negro named Joost, in the service of the Van Der -Something-or-others, was plodding home on Saturday night, his fiddle -under his arm. He had been playing for a wedding in Flatbush and had -been drinking schnapps until he saw stars on the ground and fences in -the sky; in fact, the universe seemed so out of order that he seated -himself rather heavily on this rock to think about it. The behavior of -the stars in swimming and rolling struck him as especially curious, and -he conceived the notion that they wanted to dance. Putting his fiddle -to his chin, he began a wild jig, and though he made it up as he went -along, he was conscious of doing finely, when the boom of a bell sent a -shiver down his spine. It was twelve o'clock, and here he was playing a -dance tune on Sunday. However, the sin of playing for one second on the -Sabbath was as great as that of playing all day; so, as long as he was -in for it, he resolved to carry the tune to the end, and he fiddled away -with a reckless vehemence. Presently he became aware that the music was -both wilder and sweeter than before, and that there was more of it. Not -until then did he observe that a tall, thin stranger stood beside him; -and that he was fiddling too,--composing a second to Joost's air, as if -he could read his thought before he put it into execution on the -strings. Joost paused, and the stranger did likewise. - -"Where de debble did you come frum?" asked the first. The other -smiled. - -"And how did you come to know dat music?" Joost pursued. - -"Oh, I've known that tune for years," was the reply. "It's called 'The -Devil's joy at Sabbath Breaking.'" - -"You're a liar!" cried the negro. The stranger bowed and burst into a -roar of laughter. "A liar!" repeated Joost,--for I made up dat music -dis very minute." - -"Yet you notice that I could follow when you played." - -"Humph! Yes, you can follow." - -"And I can lead, too. Do you know the tune Go to the Devil and Shake -Yourself?'" - -"Yes; but I play second to nobody." - -"Very well, I'll beat you at any air you try." - -"Done!" said Joost. And then began a contest that lasted until -daybreak. The stranger was an expert, but Joost seemed to be inspired, -and just as the sun appeared he sounded, in broad and solemn harmonies, -the hymn of Von Catts: - - "Now behold, at dawn of day, - Pious Dutchmen sing and pray." - -At that the stranger exclaimed, "Well, that beats the devil!" and -striking his foot angrily on the rock, disappeared in a flash of fire -like a burst bomb. Joost was hurled twenty feet by the explosion, and -lay on the ground insensible until a herdsman found him some hours -later. As he suffered no harm from the contest and became a better -fiddler than ever, it is supposed that the recording angel did not -inscribe his feat of Sabbath breaking against him in large letters. -There were a few who doubted his story, but they had nothing more to say -when he showed them the hoof-mark on the rock. Moreover, there are -fewer fiddlers among the negroes than there used to be, because they say -that the violin is the devil's instrument. - - - - - WYANDANK - -From Brooklyn Heights, or Ihpetonga, "highplace of trees," where the -Canarsie Indians made wampum or sewant, and where they contemplated the -Great Spirit in the setting of the sun across the meeting waters, to -Montauk Point, Long Island has been swept by the wars of red men, and -many are the tokens of their occupancy. A number of their graves were -to be seen until within fifty years, as clearly marked as when the -warriors were laid there in the hope of resurrection among the happy -hunting grounds that lay to the west and south. The casting of stones -on the death-spots or graves of some revered or beloved Indians was long -continued, and was undoubtedly for the purpose of raising monuments to -them, though at Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, Sacrifice Rock, -between Plymouth and Sandwich, Massachusetts, and some other places the -cairns merely mark a trail. Even the temporary resting-place of Sachem -Poggatacut, near Sag Harbor, was kept clear of weeds and leaves by -Indians who passed it in the two centuries that lapsed between the death -of the chief and the laying of the road across it in 1846. This spot is -not far from Whooping Boy's Hollow, so named because of a boy who was -killed by Indians, and because the rubbing of two trees there in a storm -gave forth a noise like crying. An older legend has it that this noise -is the angry voice of the magician who tried to slay Wyandank, the -"Washington of the Montauks," who is buried on the east end of the -island. Often he led his men into battle, sounding the warwhoop, copied -from the scream of the eagle, so loudly that those who heard it said -that the Montauks were crying for prey. - -It was while killing an eagle on Block Island, that he might use the -plumes for his hair, that this chief disclosed himself to the hostiles -and brought on a fight in which every participant except himself was -slain. He was secretly followed back to Long Island by a magician who -had hopes of enlisting the evil ones of that region against him,--the -giants that left their tracks in "Blood-stone Rock" and "Printed Rock," -near Napeague, and such renegades as he who, having betrayed his people, -was swallowed by the earth, his last agony being marked by a stamp of -the foot that left its print on a slab near the Indian burial-ground at -Kongonok. Failing in these alliances the wizard hid among the hollows -of the moors, and there worked spells of such malice that the chief's -hand lost steadiness in the hunt and his voice was seldom heard in -council. When the haunt of this evil one was made known, a number of -young men undertook to trap him. They went to the hills by night, and -moved stealthily through the shrubbery until they were almost upon him; -but his familiars had warned him of their approach, though they had -wakened him only to betray him for a cloud swept in from the sea, fell -about the wretch, burst into flame, and rolled back toward the ocean, -bearing him in the centre of its burning folds. Because of the cry he -uttered the place long bore the name of Whooping Hollow, and it used to -be said that the magician visited the scene of his illdoing every -winter, when his shrieks could be heard ringing over the hills. - - - - - MARK OF THE SPIRIT HAND - -Andover, New Jersey, was quaint and quiet in the days before the -Revolution--it is not a roaring metropolis, even yet--and as it offered -few social advantages there was more gathering in taprooms and more -drinking of flip than there should have been. Among those who were not -averse to a cheering cup were three boon companions, Bailey, Hill, and -Evans, farmers of the neighborhood. They loved the tavern better than -the church, and in truth the church folk did not love them well, for -they were suspected of entertaining heresies of the most forbidden -character. It was while they were discussing matters of belief over -their glasses that one of them proposed, in a spirit of bravado, that -whichever of the trio might be first to die should come back from the -grave and reveal himself to the others--if he could--thus settling the -question as to whether there was a future. - -Not long after this agreement--for consent was unanimous--Hill departed -this life. His friends lamented his absence, especially at the tavern, -but they anticipated no attempt on his part to express the distinguished -consideration that he had felt for his old chums. Some weeks passed, -yet there was no sign, and the two survivors of the party, as they -jogged homeward to the house where both lived, had begun to think and -speak less frequently of the absent one. But one night the household -was alarmed by a terrible cry. Bailey got a light and hurried to the -bedside of his friend, whom he found deathly white and holding his chest -as if in pain. "He has been here!" gasped Evans. "He stood here just -now." - -"Who?" asked Bailey, a creep passing down his spine. - -"Hill! He stood there, where you are now, and touched me with a hand -that was so cold--cold--" and Evans shivered violently. On turning back -the collar of his shirt the impression of a hand appeared on the flesh -near the shoulder: a hand in white, with one finger missing. Hill had -lost a finger. There was less of taverns after that night, for Evans -carried the token of that ghostly visit on his person until he, too, had -gone to solve the great secret. - - - - - THE FIRST LIBERAL CHURCH - -In 1770 the brig Hand-in-Hand went ashore at Good Luck, New Jersey. -Among the passengers on board the vessel, that it would perhaps be wrong -to call ill fated, was John Murray, founder of Universalism in America. -He had left England in despair, for his wife and children were dead, and -so broken was he in his power of thought and purpose that he felt as if -he should never preach again. - -In fact, his rescue from the wreck was passive, on his part, and he -suffered himself to be carried ashore, recking little whether he reached -it or no. After he had been for half an hour or so on the soil of the -new country, to which he had made his entrance in so unexpected a -manner, he began to feel hungry, and set off afoot along the desolate -beach. He came to a cabin where an old man stood in a doorway with a -basket of fish beside him. "Will you sell me a fish?" asked Murray. - -"No. The fish is all yours. I expected you." - -"You do not know me." - -"You are the man who is to tell us of God." - -"I will never preach of Him again." - -"I built that log church yonder. Don't say that you will not preach in -it. Whenever a clergyman, Presbyterian, Methody, or Baptist, came here, -I asked him to preach in my kitchen. I tried to get him to stay; but -no--he always had work elsewhere. Last night I saw the brig driven on -the bar, and a voice said to me, 'In that ship is the man who will teach -of God. Not the old God of terrors, but one of love and mercy. He has -come through great sorrow to do this work.' I have made ready for you. -Do not go away." - -The minister felt a strange lifting in his heart. He fell on his knees -before the little house and offered up a prayer. Long he staid in that -place, preaching gentle doctrines and ministering to the men and women -of that lonely village, and when the fisherman apostle, Thomas Potter, -died he left the church to Murray, who, in turn, bequeathed it, "free, -for the use of all Christian people." - - - - - ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - - THE PHANTOM DRAGOON - -The height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark, Delaware, is -called Iron Hill, because it is rich in hematite ore, but about the time -of General Howe's advance to the Brandywine it might well have won its -name because of the panoply of war--the sullen guns, the flashing -swords, and glistening bayonets--that appeared among the British tents -pitched on it. After the red-coats had established camp here the -American outposts were advanced and one of the pickets was stationed at -Welsh Tract Church. On his first tour of duty the sentry was thrown -into great alarm by the appearance of a figure robed from head to foot -in white, that rode a horse at a charging gait within ten feet of his -face. When guard was relieved the soldier begged that he might never be -assigned to that post again. His nerves were strong in the presence of -an enemy in the flesh--but an enemy out of the grave! Ugh! He would -desert rather than encounter that shape again. His request was granted. -The sentry who succeeded him was startled, in the small hours, by a rush -of hoofs and the flash of a pallid form. He fired at it, and thought -that he heard the sound of a mocking laugh come back. - -Every night the phantom horseman made his rounds, and several times the -sentinels shot at him without effect, the white horse and white rider -showing no annoyance at these assaults. When it came the turn of a -sceptical and unimaginative old corporal to take the night detail, he -took the liberty of assuming the responsibilities of this post himself. -He looked well to the priming of his musket, and at midnight withdrew -out of the moonshine and waited, with his gun resting on a fence. It -was not long before the beat of hoofs was heard approaching, and in -spite of himself the corporal felt a thrill along his spine as a mounted -figure that might have represented Death on the pale horse came into -view; but he jammed his hat down, set his teeth, and sighted his flint- -lock with deliberation. The rider was near, when bang went the -corporal's musket, and a white form was lying in the road, a horse -speeding into the distance. Scrambling over the fence, the corporal, -reassured, ran to the form and turned it over: a British scout, quite -dead. The daring fellow, relying on the superstitious fears of the -rustics in his front, had made a nightly ride as a ghost, in order to -keep the American outposts from advancing, and also to guess, from -elevated points, at the strength and disposition of their troops. He -wore a cuirass of steel, but that did not protect his brain from the -corporal's bullet. - - - - - DELAWARE WATER GAP - -The Indian name of this beautiful region, Minisink, "the water is gone," -agrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind the -Blue Ridge, and that it burst its way through the hills at this point. -Similar results were produced by a cataclysm on the Connecticut at Mount -Holyoke, on the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk, and Runaway Pond, New Hampshire, -got its name by a like performance. The aborigines, whatever may be -said against them, enjoyed natural beauty, and their habitations were -often made in this delightful region, their councils being attended by -chief Tamanend, or Tammany, a Delaware, whose wisdom and virtues were -such as to raise him to the place of patron saint of America. The -notorious Tammany Society of New York is named for him. When this chief -became old and feeble his tribe abandoned him in a hut at New Britain, -Pennsylvania, and there he tried to kill himself by stabbing, but -failing in that, he flung burning leaves over himself, and so perished. -He was buried where he died. It was a princess of his tribe that gave -the name of Lover's Leap to a cliff on Mount Tammany, by leaping from it -to her death, because her love for a young European was not -reciprocated. - -There is a silver-mine somewhere on the opposite mountain of Minsi, the -knowledge of its location having perished with the death of a recluse, -who coined the metal he took from it into valuable though illegal -dollars, going townward every winter to squander his earnings. During -the Revolution "Oran the Hawk," a Tory and renegade, was vexatious to -the people of Delaware Valley, and a detachment of colonial troops was -sent in pursuit of him. They overtook him at the Gap and chased him up -the slopes of Tammany, though he checked their progress by rolling -stones among them. One rock struck a trooper, crushed him, and bore him -down to the base of a cliff, his blood smearing it in his descent. But -though he seemed to have eluded his pursuers, Oran was shot in several -places during his flight, and when at last he cast himself into a -thicket, to rest and get breath, it was never to rise again. His bones, -cracked by bullets and gnawed by beasts, were found there when the -leaves fell. - - - - - THE PHANTOM DRUMMER - -Colonel Howell, of the king's troops, was a gay fellow, framed to make -women false; but when he met the rosy, sweet-natured daughter of farmer -Jarrett, near Valley Forge, he attempted no dalliance, for he fell too -seriously in love. He might not venture into the old man's presence, -for Jarrett had a son with Washington, and he hated a red-coat as he -did the devil; but the young officer met the girl in secret, and they -plighted troth beneath the garden trees, hidden in gray mist. As Howell -bent to take his first kiss that night, a rising wind went past, -bringing from afar the roll of a drum, and as they talked the drum kept -drawing nearer, until it seemed at hand. The officer peered across the -wall, then hurried to his mistress' side, as pale as death. The fields -outside were empty of life. - -Louder came the rattling drum; it seemed to enter the gate, pass but a -yard away, go through the wall, and die in the distance. When it -ceased, Howell started as if a spell had been lifted, laxed his grip on -the maiden's hand, then drew her to his breast convulsively. Ruth's -terror was more vague but no less genuine than his own, and some moments -passed before she could summon voice to ask him what this visitation -meant. He answered, "Something is about to change my fortunes for good -or ill; probably for ill. Important events in my family for the past -three generations have been heralded by that drum, and those events were -disasters oftener than benefits." Few more words passed, and with -another kiss the soldier scaled the wall and galloped away, the triple -beat of his charger's hoofs sounding back into the maiden's ears like -drum-taps. In a skirmish next day Colonel Howell was shot. He was -carried to farmer Jarrett's house and left there, in spite of the old -man's protest, for he was willing to give no shelter to his country's -enemies. When Ruth saw her lover in this strait she was like to have -fallen, but when she learned that it would take but a few days of quiet -and care to restore him to health, she was ready to forgive her fellow- -countrymen for inflicting an injury that might result in happiness for -both of them. - -It took a great deal of teasing to overcome the scruples of the farmer, -but he gruffly consented to receive the young man until his hurt should -heal. Ruth attended him faithfully, and the cheerful, manly nature of -the officer so won the farmer's heart that he soon forgot the color of -Howell's coat. Nor was he surprised when Howell told him that he loved -his daughter and asked for her hand; indeed, it had been easy to guess -their affection, and the old man declared that but for his allegiance to -a tyrant he would gladly own him as a son-in-law. It was a long -struggle between love and duty that ensued in Howell's breast, and love -was victor. If he might marry Ruth he would leave the army. The old -man gave prompt consent, and a secret marriage was arranged. Howell had -been ordered to rejoin his regiment; he could not honorably resign on -the eve of an impending battle, and, even had he done so, a long delay -must have preceded his release. He would marry the girl, go to the -country, live there quietly until the British evacuated Philadelphia, -when he would return and cast his lot with the Jarrett household. - -Howell donned citizen's dress, and the wedding took place in the -spacious best room of the mansion, but as he slipped the ring on the -finger of his bride the roll of a drum was heard advancing up the steps -into the room, then on and away until all was still again. The young -colonel was pale; Ruth clung to him in terror; clergymen and guests -looked at each other in amazement. Now there were voices at the porch, -the door was flung open, armed men entered, and the bridegroom was a -prisoner. He was borne to his quarters, and afterward tried for -desertion, for a servant in the Jarrett household, hating all English -and wishing them to suffer, even at each other's hands, had betrayed the -plan of his master's guest. The court-martial found him guilty and -condemned him to be shot. When the execution took place, Ruth, praying -and sobbing in her chamber, knew that her husband was no more. The -distant sound of musketry reverberated like the roll of a drum. - - - - - THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE - -During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge -six or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that -little was to be hoped for near the camp of their starving comrades, -they set off in the direction of French Creek. At this stream the party -separated, and a little later two of the men were attacked by Tory -farmers. Flying along the creek for some distance they came to a small -cave in a bluff, and one of them, a young Southerner named Carrington, -scrambled into it. His companion was not far behind, and was hurrying -toward the cave, when he was arrested by a rumble and a crash: a block -of granite, tons in weight, that had hung poised overhead, slid from its -place and completely blocked the entrance. The stifled cry of despair -from the living occupant of the tomb struck to his heart. He hid in a -neighboring wood until the Tories had dispersed, then, returning to the -cave, he strove with might and main to stir the boulder from its place, -but without avail. - -When he reached camp, as he did next day, he told of this disaster, but -the time for rescue was believed to be past, or the work was thought to -be too exhausting and dangerous for a body of men who had much ado to -keep life in their own weak frames. It was a double tragedy, for the -young man's sweetheart never recovered from the shock that the news -occasioned, and on her tomb, near Richmond, Virginia, these words are -chiselled: "Died, of a broken heart, on the 1st of March, 1780, Virginia -Randolph, aged 21 years, 9 days. Faithful unto death." In the summer -of 1889 some workmen, blasting rock near the falls on French Creek, -uncovered the long-concealed cavern and found there a skeleton with a -few rags of a Continental uniform. In a bottle beside it was an -account, signed by Arthur L. Carrington, of the accident that had -befallen him, and a letter declaring undying love for his sweetheart. - -He had starved to death. The bones were neatly coffined, and were sent -to Richmond to be buried beside those of the faithful Miss Randolph. - - - - - THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN - -Many are the tales of prophecy that have been preserved to us from war -times. In the beginning of King Philip's war in Connecticut, in 1675, -it was reported that the firing of the first gun was heard all over the -State, while the drumbeats calling settlers to defence were audible -eight miles away. Braddock's defeat and the salvation of Washington -were foretold by a Miami chief at a council held in Fort Ponchartrain, -on Detroit River, the ambush and the slaughter having been revealed to -him in a dream. The victims of that battle, too, had been apprised, for -one or two nights before the disaster a young lieutenant in Braddock's -command saw his fellow-officers pass through his tent, bloody and torn, -and when the first gun sounded he knew that it spoke the doom of nearly -all his comrades. At Killingly, Connecticut, in the autumn before the -outbreak of the Revolution, a distant roar of artillery was heard for a -whole day and night in the direction of Boston, mingled with a rattle of -musketry, and so strong was the belief that war had begun and the -British were advancing, that the minute men mustered to await orders. -It was afterward argued thatthese noises came from an explosion of -meteors, a shower of these missiles being then in progress, invisible, -of course, in the day-time. Just after the signing of the Declaration -of Independence the royal arms on the spire of the Episcopal church at -Hampton, Virginia, were struck off by lightning. Shortly before the -surrender of Cornwallis a display of northern lights was seen in New -England, the rays taking the form of cannon, facing southward. In -Connecticut sixty-four of these guns were counted. - -At the battle of Germantown the Americans were enraged by the killing of -one of their men who had gone out with a flag of truce. He was shot -from the windows of Judge Chew's house, which was crowded with British -soldiers, and as he fell to the lawn, dyeing the peaceful emblem with -his blood, at least one of the Continentals swore that his death should -be well avenged. The British reinforcements, sixteen thousand strong, -came hurrying through the street, their officers but half-dressed, so -urgent had been the summons for their aid. Except for their steady -tramp the place was silent; doors were locked and shutters bolted, and -if people were within doors no sign of them was visible. General Agnew -alone of all the troop seemed depressed and anxious. Turning to an aide -as they passed the Mennonist graveyard, he said, "This field is the last -I shall fight on." - -An eerie face peered over the cemetery wall, a scarred, unshaven face -framed in long hair and surmounting a body clothed in skins, with the -question, "Is that the brave General Gray who beat the rebels at Paoli?" -One of the soldiers, with a careless toss of the hand, seemed to -indicate General Agnew. A moment later there was a report, a puff of -smoke from the cemetery wall, and a bullet whizzed by the head of the -general, who smiled wanly, to encourage his men. Summary execution -would have been done upon the stranger had not a body of American -cavalry dashed against the red-coats at that moment, and a fierce -contest was begun. When the day was over, General Agnew, who had been -separated from his command in the confusion of battle, came past the -graves again. Tired and depressed, he drew rein for a moment to breathe -the sweet air, so lately fouled with dust and smoke, and to watch the -gorgeous light of sunset. Again, like a malignant genius of the place, -the savage-looking stranger arose from behind the wall. A sharp report -broke the quiet of evening and awoke clattering echoes from the distant -houses. A horse plunged and General Agnew rolled from his saddle, dead: -the last victim in the strife at Germantown. - - - - - A BLOW IN THE DARK - -The Tory Manheim sits brooding in his farmhouse near Valley Forge, -and his daughter, with a hectic flush on her cheek, looks out into the -twilight at the falling snow. She is worn and ill; she has brought on -a fever by exposure incurred that very day in a secret journey to the -American camp, made to warn her lover of another attempt on the life of -Washington, who must pass her father's house on his return from a -distant settlement. The Tory knows nothing of this; but he starts -whenever the men in the next room rattle the dice or break into a ribald -song, and a frown of apprehension crosses his face as the foragers -crunch by, half-barefoot, through the snow. The hours go on, and the -noise in the next room increases; but it hushes suddenly when a knock at -the door is heard. The Tory opens it, and trembles as a tall, grave -man, with the figure of an athlete, steps into the fire-light and calmly -removes his gloves. "I have been riding far," said he. "Can you give -me some food and the chance to sleep for an hour, until the storm clears -up?" - -Manheim says that he can, and shuffling into the next room, he whispers, -"Washington!" The girl is sent out to get refreshments. It is in vain -that she seeks to sign or speak to the man who sits there so calmly -before the fire, for her father is never out of sight or hearing. After -Washington has finished his modest repast he asks to be left to himself -for a while, but the girl is told to conduct him to the room on the left -of the landing on the next floor. - -Her father holds the candle at the foot of the stairs until he sees his -guest enter; then he bids his daughter go to her own bed, which is in -the chamber on the right of the landing. There is busy whispering in -the room below after that, and the dice box is shaken to see to whose -lot it shall fall to steal up those stairs and stab Washington in his -sleep. An hour passes and all in the house appear to be at rest, but -the stairs creak slightly as Manheim creeps upon his prey. He blows his -candle out and softly enters the chamber on the left. The men, who -listen in the dark at the foot of the stair, hear a moan, and the Tory -hurries back with a shout of gladness, for the rebel chief is no more -and Howe's reward will enrich them for life. - -Glasses are filled, and in the midst of the rejoicing a step is heard on -the stair. Washington stands before them. In calm, deep tones he -thanks the farmer for his shelter, and asks that his horse be brought to -the door and his reckoning be made out. The Tory stares as one bereft. -Then he rushes aloft, flings open the door of the room on the left, and -gazes at the face that rests on the pillow,--a pillow that is dabbled -with red. The face is that of his daughter. The name of father is one -that he will never hear again in this world. The candle falls from his -hand; he sinks to the floor; be his sin forgiven! Outside is heard the -tramp of a horse. It is that of Washington, who rides away, ignorant of -the peril he has passed and the sacrifice that averted it. - - - - - THE TORY'S CONVERSION - -In his firelit parlor, in his little house at Valley Forge, old Michael -Kuch sits talking with his daughter. But though it is Christmas eve the -talk has little cheer in it. The hours drag on until the clock strikes -twelve, and the old man is about to offer his evening prayer for the -safety of his son, who is one of Washington's troopers, when hurried -steps are heard in the snow, there is a fumbling at the latch, then the -door flies open and admits a haggard, panting man who hastily closes it -again, falls into a seat, and shakes from head to foot. The girl goes -to him. "John!" she says. But he only averts his face. "What is wrong -with thee, John Blake?" asks the farmer. But he has to ask again and -again ere he gets an answer. Then, in a broken voice, the trembling man -confesses that he has tried to shoot Washington, but the bullet struck -and killed his only attendant, a dragoon. He has come for shelter, for -men are on his track already. "Thou know'st I am neutral in this war, -John Blake," answered the farmer,--"although I have a boy down yonder in -the camp. It was a cowardly thing to do, and I hate you Tories that you -do not fight like men; yet, since you ask me for a hiding-place, you -shall have it, though, mind you, 'tis more on the girl's account than -yours. The men are coming. Out--this way--to the spring-house. So!" - -Before old Michael has time to return to his chair the door is again -thrust open, this time by men in blue and buff. They demand the -assassin, whose footsteps they have tracked there through the snow. -Michael does not answer. They are about to use violence when, through -the open door, comes Washington, who checks them with a word. The -general bears a drooping form with a blood splash on its breast, and -deposits it on the hearth as gently as a mother puts a babe into its -cradle. As the firelight falls on the still face the farmer's eyes grow -round and big; then he shrieks and drops upon his knees, for it is his -son who is lying there. Beside him is a pistol; it was dropped by the -Tory when he entered. Grasping it eagerly the farmer leaps to his feet. -His years have fallen from him. With a tiger-like bound he gains the -door, rushes to the spring-house where John Blake is crouching, his eyes -sunk and shining, gnawing his fingers in a craze of dismay. But though -hate is swift, love is swifter, and the girl is there as soon as he. -She strikes his arm aside, and the bullet he has fired lodges in the -wood. He draws out his knife, and the murderer, to whom has now come -the calmness of despair, kneels and offers his breast to the blade. -Before he can strike, the soldiers hasten up, and seizing Blake, they -drag him to the house--the little room--where all had been so peaceful -but a few minutes before. - -The culprit is brought face to face with Washington, who asks him what -harm he has ever suffered from his fellow countrymen that he should turn -against them thus. Blake hangs his head and owns his willingness to -die. His eyes rest on the form extended on the floor, and he shudders; -but his features undergo an almost joyous change, for the figure lifts -itself, and in a faint voice calls, "Father!" The young man lives. -With a cry of delight both father and sister raise him in their arms. -"You are not yet prepared to die," says Washington to the captive. -"I will put you under guard until you are wanted. Take him into -custody, my dear young lady, and try to make an American of him. See, -it is one o'clock, and this is Christmas morning. May all be happy -here. Come." And beckoning to his men he rides away, though Blake and -his affianced would have gone on their knees before him. Revulsion of -feeling, love, thankfulness and a latent patriotism wrought a quick -change in Blake. When young Kuch recovered Blake joined his regiment, -and no soldier served the flag more honorably. - - - - - LORD PERCY'S DREAM - -Leaving the dissipations of the English court, Lord Percy came to -America to share the fortunes of his brethren in the contest then raging -on our soil. His father had charged him with the delivery of a certain -package to an Indian woman, should he meet her in his rambles through -the western wilds, and, without inquiring into the nature of the gift or -its occasion, he accepted the trust. At the battle of the Brandywine-- -strangely foretold by Quaker prophecy forty years before--he was -detailed by Cornwallis to drive the colonial troops out of a graveyard -where they had intrenched themselves, and though he set upon this errand -with the enthusiasm of youth, his cheek paled as he drew near the spot -where the enemy was waiting. - -It was not that he had actual physical fear of the onset: he had dreamed -a dream a few nights before, the purport of which he had hinted to his -comrades, and as he rode into the clearing at the top of Osborn's Hill -he drew rein and exclaimed, "My dream! Yonder is the graveyard. I am -fated to die there." Giving a few of his effects to his brother -officers, and charging one of them to take a message of love to his -betrothed in England, he set his lips and rode forward. - -His cavalry bound toward the scene of action and are within thirty paces -of the cemetery wall, when from behind it rises a battalion of men in -the green uniform of the Santee Rangers and pours a withering fire into -the ranks. The shock is too great to withstand, and the red-coats -stagger away with broken ranks, leaving many dead and wounded on the -ground. Lord Percy is the coolest of all. He urges the broken columns -forward, and almost alone holds the place until the infantry, a hundred -yards behind, come up. Thereupon ensues one of those hand-to-hand -encounters that are so rare in recent war, and that are the sorest test -of valor and discipline. Now rides forward Captain Waldemar, chief of -the rangers and a half-breed Indian, who, seeing Percy, recognizes him -as an officer and engages him in combat. There is for a minute a clash -of steel on steel; then the nobleman falls heavily to the earth--dead. -His dream has come true. That night the captain Waldemar seeks out the -body of this officer, attracted by something in the memory of his look, -and from his bosom takes the packet that was committed to his care. - -By lantern-light he reads, carelessly at first, then rapidly and -eagerly, and at the close he looks long and earnestly at the dead man, -and seems to brush away a tear. Strange thing to do over the body of an -enemy! Why had fate decreed that they should be enemies? For Waldemar -is the half-brother of Percy. His mother was the Indian girl that the -earl, now passing his last days in England, had deceived with a -pretended marriage, and the letters promise patronage to her son. The -half-breed digs a grave that night with his own hands and lays the form -of his brother in it. - - - - - SAVED BY THE BIBLE - -It was on the day after the battle of Germantown that Warner, who wore -the blue, met his hated neighbor, the Tory Dabney, near that bloody -field. - -By a common impulse the men fell upon each other with their knives, and -Warner soon had his enemy in a position to give him the death-stroke, -but Dabney began to bellow for quarter. "My brother cried for quarter -at Paoli," answered the other, "and you struck him to the heart." - -"I have a wife and child. Spare me for their sakes." - -"My brother had a wife and two children. Perhaps you would like to beg -your life of them." - -Though made in mockery, this proposition was caught at so earnestly that -Warner at length consented to take his adversary, firmly bound, to the -house where the bereaved family was living. The widow was reading the -Bible to her children, but her grief was too fresh to gather comfort -from it. When Dabney was flung into the room he grovelled at her feet -and begged piteously for mercy. Her face did not soften, but there was -a kind of contempt in the settled sadness of her tone as she said, "It -shall be as God directs. I will close this Bible, open it at chance, -and when this boy shall put his finger at random on a line, by that you -must live or die." - -The book was opened, and the child put his finger on a line: "That man -shall die." - -Warner drew his knife and motioned his prisoner to the door. He was -going to lead him into the wood to offer him as a sacrifice to his -brother's spirit. - -"No, no!" shrieked the wretch. "Give me one more chance; one more! -Let the girl open the book." - -The woman coldly consents, and when the book is opened for the second -time she reads, "Love your enemies." There are no other words. The -knife is used, but it is to cut the prisoner's bonds, and he walks away -with head hung down, never more to take arms against his countrymen. -And glad are they all at this, when the husband is brought home--not -dead, though left among the corpses at Paoli, but alive and certain of -recovery, with such nursing as his wife will give him. After tears of -joy have been shed she tells him the story of the Bible judgment, and -all the members of the family fall on their knees in thanksgiving that -the blood of Dabney is not upon their heads. - - - - - PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON - -Farmer Derwent and his four stout sons set off on an autumn night for -the meeting of patriots at a house on the Wissahickon,--a meeting that -bodes no good to the British encamped in Philadelphia, let the red-coats -laugh as they will at the rag-tag and bob-tail that are joining the army -of Mr. Washington in the wilds of the Skippack. The farmer sighs as he -thinks that his younger son alone should be missing from the company, -and wonders for the thousandth time what has become of the boy. They -sit by a rock that juts into the road to trim their lantern, and while -they talk together they are startled by an exclamation. It is from -Ellen, the adopted daughter of Derwent and the betrothed of his missing -son. On the night that the boy stole away from his father's house he -asked her to meet him in this place in a year's time, and the year is up -to-night. - -But it is not to meet him that she is hastening now: she has heard that -the British have learned of the patriot gathering and will try to make -prisoners of the company. Even as she tells of this there is a sound to -the southward: the column is on the march. The farmer's eye blazes with -rage and hate. "Boys," he says, "yonder come those who intend to kill -us. Let them taste of their own warfare. Stand here in the shadow and -fire as they pass this rock." - -The troopers ride on, chuckling over their sure success, when there is a -report of rifles and four of the red-coats are in the dust. The -survivors, though taken by surprise, prove their courage by halting to -answer the volley, and one of them springs from his saddle, seizes -Derwent, and plunges a knife into his throat. The rebel falls. His -blood pools around him. The British are successful, for two of the -young men are bound and two of them have fallen, and there is a cheer of -victory, but the trooper with the knife in his hand does not raise his -voice. He bends above the farmer as still as one dead, until his -captain claps him on the shoulder. As he rises, the prisoners start in -wonder, for the face they see in the lantern-light is that of their -brother, yet strange in its haggardness and its smear of blood on the -cheek. The girl runs from her hiding-place with a cry, but stands in -horror when her foot touches the gory pool in the road. The trooper -opens his coat and offers her a locket. It contains her picture, and he -has worn it above his heart for a year, but she lets it fall and sinks -down, moaning. The soldier tears off his red coat, tramples it in the -dust, then vaulting to his saddle he plunges into the river, fords it, -and crashes through the underbrush on the other side. In a few minutes -he has reached the summit of a rock that rises nearly a hundred feet -above the stream. The horse halts at the edge, but on a fierce stab of -the spur into his flank he takes the leap. With a despairing yell the -traitor and parricide goes into eternity. - - - - - THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE - -Terrible in the field at Brandywine was the figure of a man armed only -with a hammer, who plunged into the ranks of the enemy, heedless of his -own life, yet seeming to escape their shots and sabre cuts by magic, and -with Thor strokes beat them to the earth. But yesterday war had been to -him a distant rumor, a thing as far from his cottage at Dilworth as if -it had been in Europe, but he had revolted at a plot that he had -overheard to capture Washington and had warned the general. In revenge -the Tories had burned his cottage, and his wife and baby had perished in -the flames. All day he had sat beside the smoking ruins, unable to -weep, unable to think, unable almost to suffer, except dumbly, for as -yet he could not understand it. But when the drums were heard they -roused the tiger in him, and gaunt with sleeplessness and hunger he -joined his countrymen and ranged like Ajax on the field. Every cry for -quarter was in vain: to every such appeal he had but one reply, his -wife's name--Mary. - -Near the end of the fight he lay beside the road, his leg broken, his -flesh torn, his life ebbing from a dozen wounds. A wagoner, hasting to -join the American retreat, paused to give him drink. "I've only five -minutes more of life in me," said the smith. "Can you lift me into that -tree and put a rifle in my hands?" The powerful teamster raised him to -the crotch of an oak, and gave him the rifle and ammunition that a dying -soldier had dropped there. A band of red-coats came running down the -road, chasing some farmers. The blacksmith took careful aim; there was -a report, and the leader of the band fell dead. A pause; again a report -rang out, and a trooper sprawled upon the ground. The marksman had been -seen, and a lieutenant was urging his men to hurry on and cut him down. -There was a third report, and the lieutenant reeled forward into the -road, bleeding and cursing. "That's for Mary," gasped the blacksmith. -The rifle dropped from his hands, and he, too, sank lifeless against the -boughs. - - - - - FATHER AND SON - -It was three soldiers, escaping from the rout of Braddock's forces, who -caught the alleged betrayer of their general and put him to the death. -They threw his purse of ill-gotten louis d'or into the river, and sent -him swinging from the edge of a ravine, with a vine about his neck and a -placard on his breast. And so they left him. - -Twenty years pass, and the war-fires burn more fiercely in the vales of -Pennsylvania, but, too old to fight, the schoolmaster sits at his door -near Chad's Ford and smokes and broods upon the past. He thinks of the -time when he marched with Washington, when with two wounded comrades he -returned along the lonely trail; then comes the vision of a blackening -face, and he rises and wipes his brow. "It was right," he mutters. -"He sent a thousand of his brothers to their deaths." - -Gilbert Gates comes that evening to see the old man's daughter: a -smooth, polite young fellow, but Mayland cannot like him, and after some -short talk he leaves him, pleading years and rheumatism, and goes to -bed. But not to sleep; for toward ten o'clock his daughter goes to him -and urges him to fly, for men are gathering near the house--Tories, she -is sure,--and they mean no good. Laughing at her fears, but willing to -relieve her anxiety, the old man slips into his clothes, goes into the -cellar, and thence starts for the barn, while the girl remains for a few -minutes to hide the silver. - -He does not go far before Gates is at his elbow with the whispered -words, "Into the stack-quick. They are after you." Mayland hesitates -with distrust, but the appearance of men with torches leaves no time for -talk. With Gilbert's help he crawls deep into the straw and is covered -up. Presently a rough voice asks which way he has gone. Gilbert -replies that he has gone to the wood, but there is no need for getting -into a passion, and that on no account would it be advisable to fire the -stack. "Won't we though?" cries one of the party. "We'll burn the -rebel out of house and home," and thrusting his torch into the straw it -is ablaze in an instant. The crowd hurries away toward the wood, and -does not hear the stifled groan that comes out of the middle of the -fire. Gates takes a paper from his pocket, and, after reading it for -the last time, flings it upon the flame. It bears the inscription, -"Isaac Gates, Traitor and Spy, hung by three soldiers of his majesty's -army. Isaac Mayland." - -From his moody contemplation he rouses with a start, for Mayland's -daughter is there. Her eyes are bent on a distorted thing that lies -among the embers, and in the dying light of the flames it seems to move. -She studies it close, then with a cry of pain and terror she falls upon -the hot earth, and her senses go out, not to be regained in woful years. -With head low bowed, Gilbert Gates trudges away. In the fight at -Brandywine next day, Black Samson, a giant negro, armed with a scythe, -sweeps his way through the red ranks like a sable figure of Time. -Mayland had taught him; his daughter had given him food. It is to -avenge them that he is fighting. In the height of the conflict he -enters the American ranks leading a prisoner--Gilbert Gates. The young -man is pale, stern, and silent. His deed is known, he is a spy as well -as a traitor, but he asks no mercy. It is rumored that next day he -alone, of the prisoners, was led to a wood and lashed by arms and legs -to a couple of hickory trees that had been bent by a prodigious effort -and tied together by their tops. The lashing was cut by a rifle-ball, -the trees regained their straight position with a snap like whips, and -that was the way Gilbert Gates came to his end. - - - - - THE ENVY OF MANITOU - -Behind the mountains that gloom about the romantic village of Mauch -Chunk, Pennsylvania, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding -loops and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its -prettiest bits of shore stood a village of the Leni Lenape, and largest -of its wigwams, most richly pictured without, most luxurious in its -couching of furs within, was that of the young chief, Onoko. This -Indian was a man of great size, strength, and daring. Single-handed he -had slain the bear on Mauch Chunk [Bear Mountain], and it was no wonder -that Wenonah, the fairest of her tribe, was flattered when he sued for -her hand, and promptly consented to be his wife. It was Onoko's fortune -in war, the chase, and love that roused the envy of Mitche Manitou. - -One day, as the couple were floating in their shallop of bark on the -calm lake, idly enjoying the sunshine and saying pretty things to each -other, the Manitou arose among the mountains. Terrible was his aspect, -for the scowl of hatred was on his face, thunder crashed about his head, -and fire snapped from his eyes. Covering his right hand with his -invincible magic mitten, he dealt a blow on the hills that made the -earth shake, and rived them to a depth of a thousand feet. Through the -chasm thus created the lake poured a foaming deluge, and borne with it -was the canoe of Onoko and Wenonah. One glance at the wrathful face in -the clouds above them and they knew that escape was hopeless, so, -clasping each other in a close embrace, they were whirled away to death. -Manitou strode away moodily among the hills, and ever since that time -the Lehigh has rolled through the chasm that he made. The memory of -Onoko is preserved in the name of a glen and cascade a short distance -above Mauch Chunk. - -It is not well to be too happy in this world. It rouses the envy of the -gods. - - - - -THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL - -"Young man, I'll give thee five dollars a week to be care-taker in -Printz Hall," said Quaker Quidd to fiddler Matthews, on an autumn -evening. - -Young Matthews had just been taunting the old gentleman with being -afraid to sleep on his own domain, and as the eyes of all the tavern -loungers were on him he could hardly decline so flattering a -proposition, so, after some hemming and hawing, he said he would take -the Quaker at his word. He played but two or three more tunes that -evening, did Peter Matthews, and played them rather sadly; then, as -Quidd had finished his mulled cider and departed, he took his homeward -way in thoughtful mood. Printz Hall stood in a lonely, weed-grown -garden near Chester, Pennsylvania, and thither repaired Peter, as next -day's twilight shut down, with a mattress, blanket, comestibles, his -beloved fiddle, and a flask of whiskey. Ensconcing himself in the room -that was least depressing in appearance he stuffed rags into the vacant -panes, lighted a candle, started a blaze in the fireplace, and ate his -supper. - -"Not so bad a place, after all," mumbled Peter, as he warmed himself at -the fire and the flask; then, taking out his violin, he began to play. -The echo of his music emphasized the emptiness of the house, the damp -got into the strings so that they sounded tubby, and there were -unintentional quavers in the melody whenever the trees swung against the -windows and splashed them with rain, or when a distant shutter fell a- -creaking. Finally, he stirred the fire, bolted the door, snuffed his -candle, took a courageous pull at the liquor, flung off his coat and -shoes, rolled his blanket around him, stretched himself on the mattress, -and fell asleep. He was awakened by--well, he could not say what, -exactly, only he became suddenly as wide awake as ever he had been in -his life, and listened for some sound that he knew was going to come out -of the roar of the wind and the slamming, grating, and whistling about -the house. Yes, there it was: a tread and a clank on the stair. The -door, so tightly bolted, flew open, and there entered a dark figure with -steeple-crowned hat, cloak, jack-boots, sword, and corselet. The -terrified fiddler wanted to howl, but his voice was gone. "I am Peter -Printz, governor-general of his Swedish Majesty's American colonies, and -builder of this house," said the figure. "'Tis the night of the -autumnal equinox, when my friends meet here for revel. Take thy fiddle -and come. Play, but speak not." - -And whether he wished or no, Peter was drawn to follow the figure, which -he could make out by the phosphor gleam of it. Down-stairs they went, -doors swinging open before them, and along corridors that clanged to the -stroke of the spectre's boot heels. Now they came to the ancient -reception-room, and as they entered it Peter was dazzled. The floor was -smooth with wax, logs snapped in the fireplace, though the flame was -somewhat blue, the old hangings and portraits looked fresh, and in the -light of wax candles a hundred people, in the brave array of old times, -walked, courtesied, and seemed to laugh and talk together. As the -fiddler appeared, every eye was turned on him in a disquieting way, and -when he addressed himself to his bottle, from every throat came a hollow -laugh. Finding his way to a chair he sank into it and put his -instrument in position. At the first note the couples took hands, and -as he struck into a jig they began to circle swiftly, leaping wondrous -high. - -Faster went the music, for the whiskey was at work in Peter's noddle, -and wilder grew the dance. It was as if the storm had come in through -the windows and was blowing these people hither and yon, around and -around. The fiddler vaguely wondered at himself, for he had never -played so well, though he had never heard the tune before. Now loomed -Governor Printz in the middle of the room, and extending his hand he -ordered the dance to cease. "Thou bast played well, fiddler," he said, -"and shalt be paid." Then, at his signal, came two negro men tugging at -a strong box that Printz unlocked. It was filled with gold pieces. -"Hold thy fiddle bag," commanded the governor, and Peter did so, -watching, open mouthed, the transfer of a double handful of treasure -from box to sack. Another such handful followed, and another. At the -fourth Peter could no longer contain himself. He forgot the injunction -not to speak, and shouted gleefully, "Lord Harry! Here's luck!" - -There was a shriek of demon laughter, the scene was lost in darkness, -and Peter fell insensible. In the morning a tavern-haunting friend, -anxious to know if Peter had met with any adventure, entered the house -and went cautiously from room to room, calling on the watcher to show -himself. There was no response. At last he stumbled on the whiskey -bottle, empty, and knew that Peter must be near. Sure enough, there he -lay in the great room, with dust and mould thick on everything, and his -fiddle smashed into a thousand pieces. Peter on being awakened looked -ruefully about him, then sprang up and eagerly demanded his money. -"What money?" asked his friend. The fiddler clutched at his green bag, -opened it, shook it; there was nothing. Nor was there any delay in -Peter's exit from that mansion, and when, twenty-four hours after, the -house went up in flames, he averred that the ghosts had set it afire, -and that he knew where they brought their coals from. - - - - - THE TWO RINGS - -Gabrielle de St. Pierre, daughter of the commandant of Fort Le Boeuf, -now--Waterford, Pennsylvania, that the French had setup on the Ohio -River, was Parisian by birth and training, but American by choice, for -she had enjoyed on this lonesome frontier a freedom equal to that of the -big-handed, red-faced half-breeds, and she was as wild as an Indian in -her sports. Returning from a hunt, one day, she saw three men advancing -along the trail, and, as it was easy to see that they were not -Frenchmen, her guide slipped an arrow to the cord and discharged it; -but Gabrielle was as quick as he, for she struck the missile as it was -leaving the bow and it quivered harmlessly into a beech. The younger of -the men who were advancing--he was Harry Fairfax, of Virginia--said to -his chief, "Another escape for you, George. Heaven sent one of its -angels to avert that stroke." - -Washington, for it was he, answered lightly, and, as no other hostile -demonstrations were made, the new-comers pressed on to the fort, where -St. Pierre received them cordially, though he knew that their errand was -to claim his land on behalf of the English and urge the French to retire -to the southwest. The days that were spent in futile negotiation passed -all too swiftly for Fairfax, for he had fallen in love with Gabrielle. -She would not consent to a betrothal until time had tried his affection, -but as a token of friendship she gave him a stone circlet of Indian -manufacture, and received in exchange a ring that had been worn by the -mother of Fairfax. - -After the diplomats had returned the English resolved to enforce their -demand with arms, and Fairfax was one of the first to be despatched to -the front. - -Early in the campaign his company engaged the enemy near the Ohio River, -and in the heat of battle he had time to note and wonder at the strange -conduct of one of the French officers, a mere stripling, who seemed more -concerned to check the fire of his men than to secure any advantage in -the fight. Presently the French gave way, and with a cheer the English -ran forward to claim the field, the ruder spirits among them at once -beginning to plunder the wounded. A cry for quarter drew Fairfax with a -bound to the place whence it came, and, dashing aside a pilfering -soldier, he bent above a slight form that lay extended on the earth: the -young officer whose strange conduct had so surprised him. In another -moment he recognized his mother's ring on one of the slender hands. It -was Gabrielle. Her father had perished in the fight, but she had saved -her lover. - -In due time she went with her affianced to his home in Williamsburg, -Virginia, and became mistress of the Fairfax mansion. But she never -liked the English, as a people, and when, in later years, two sturdy -sons of hers asked leave to join the Continental army, she readily -consented. - - - - - FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS - -Before Pittsburg had become worthy to be called a settlement, a white -man rowed his boat to the mouth of Chartiers creek, near that present -city. He was seeking a place in which to make his home, and a little -way up-stream, where were timber, water, and a southern slope, he marked -a "tomahawk claim," and set about clearing the land. Next year his -wife, two children, and his brother came to occupy the cabin he had -built, and for a long time all went happily, but on returning from a -long hunt the brothers found the little house in ashes and the charred -remains of its occupants in the ruins. Though nearly crazed by this -catastrophe they knew that their own lives were in hourly peril, and -they wished to live until they could punish the savages for this crime. -After burying the bodies, they started east across the hills, leaving a -letter on birch bark in a cleft stick at the mouth of Chartiers creek, -in which the tragedy was recounted. - -This letter was afterward found by trappers. The men themselves were -never heard from, and it is believed that they, too, fell at the hands -of the Indians. Old settlers used to affirm that on summer nights the -cries of the murdered innocents could be heard in the little valley -where the cabin stood, and when storms were coming up these cries were -often blended with the yells of savages. More impressive are the death -lights--the will-o'-the-wisps--that wander over the scene of the -tragedy, and up and down the neighboring slopes. These apparitions are -said to be the spirits of husband and wife seeking each other, or going -together in search of their children; but some declare that in their -upward streaming rays it can readily be seen that they are the scalps of -the slain. Two of them have a golden hue, and these are the scalps of -the children. From beneath them drops of red seem to distil on the -grass and are found to have bedewed the flowers on the following -morning. - - - - - THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON - -In 1773 some of the Pietist monks were still living in their rude -monastery whose ruins are visible on the banks of the Wissahickon. -Chief among these mystics was an old man who might have enjoyed the -wealth and distinction warranted by a title had he chosen to remain in -Germany, but he had forsworn vanities, and had come to the new world to -pray, to rear his children, and to live a simple life. Some said he was -an alchemist, and many believed him to be a prophet. The infrequent -wanderer beside the romantic river had seen lights burning in the window -of his cell and had heard the solemn sound of song and prayer. On a -winter night, when snow lay untrodden about the building and a sharp air -stirred in the trees with a sound like harps, the old man sat in a large -room of the place, with his son and daughter, waiting. For a prophecy -had run that on that night, at the third hour of morning, the Deliverer -would present himself. In a dream was heard a voice, saying, "I will -send a deliverer to the new world who shall save my people from bondage, -as my Son saved them from spiritual death." The night wore on in prayer -and meditation, and the hours tolled heavily across the frozen -wilderness, but, at the stroke of three, steps were heard in the snow -and the door swung open. The man who entered was of great stature, with -a calm, strong face, a powerful frame, and a manner of dignity and -grace. - -"Friends, I have lost my way," said he. "Can you direct me?" - -The old man started up in a kind of rapture. "You have not lost your -way," he cried, "but found it. You are called to a great mission. -Kneel at this altar and receive it." - -The stranger looked at the man in surprise and a doubt passed over his -face. "Nay, I am not mad," urged the recluse, with a slight smile. -"Listen: to-night, disturbed for the future of your country, and unable -to sleep, you mounted horse and rode into the night air to think on the -question that cannot be kept out of your mind, Is it lawful for the -subject to draw sword against his king? The horse wandered, you knew -and cared not whither, until he brought you here." - -"How do you know this?" asked the stranger, in amazement. - -"Be not surprised, but kneel while I anoint thee deliverer of this -land." - -Moved and impressed, the man bowed his knee before one of his fellows -for the first time in his life. The monk touched his finger with oil, -and laying it on the brow of the stranger said, "Do you promise, when -the hour shall strike, to take the sword in defence of your country? Do -you promise, when you shall see your soldiers suffer for bread and fire, -and when the people you have led to victory shall bow before you, to -remember that you are but the minister of God in the work of a nation's -freedom?" - -With a new light burning in his eyes, the stranger bent his head. - -"Then, in His name, I consecrate thee deliverer of this oppressed -people. When the time comes, go forth to victory, for, as you are -faithful, be sure that God will grant it. Wear no crown, but the -blessings and honor of a free people, save this." As he finished, his -daughter, a girl of seventeen, came forward and put a wreath of laurel -on the brow of the kneeling man. "Rise," continued the prophet, "and -take my hand, which I have never before offered to any man, and accept -my promise to be faithful to you and to this country, even if it cost my -life." - -As he arose, the son of the priest stepped to him and girt a sword upon -his hip, and the old man held up his hands in solemn benediction. The -stranger laid his hand on the book that stood open on the altar and -kissed the hilt of his sword. "I will keep the faith," said he. At -dawn he went his way again, and no one knew his name, but when the fires -of battle lighted the western world America looked to him for its -deliverance from tyranny. Years later it was this spot that he -revisited, alone, to pray, and here Sir William Howe offered to him, -in the name of his king, the title of regent of America. He took the -parchment and ground it into a rag in the earth at his feet. For this -was Washington. - - - - MARION - -Blooming and maidenly, though she dressed in leather and used a rifle -like a man, was Marion, grand-daughter of old Abraham, who counted his -years as ninety, and who for many of those years had lived with his -books in the tidy cabin where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela come -together. This place stood near the trail along which Braddock marched -to his defeat, and it was one of the stragglers from this command, a -bony half-breed with red hair, called Red Wolf, that knocked at the door -and asked for water. Seeing no one but Marion he ventured in, and would -have tried not only to make free with the contents of the little house -but would have kissed the girl as well, only that she seized her rifle -and held him at bay. Still, the fellow would have braved a shot, had -not a young officer in a silver-laced uniform glanced through the open -door in passing and discovered the situation. He doffed his chapeau to -Marion, then said sternly to the rogue, "Retire. Your men are waiting -for you." Red Wolf slunk away, and Washington, for it was he, begged -that he might rest for a little time under the roof. - -This request was gladly complied with, both by the girl and by her -grandfather, who presently appeared, and the fever that threatened the -young soldier was averted by a day of careful nursing. Marion's innate -refinement, her gentleness, her vivacity, could not fail to interest -Washington, and the vision of her face was with him for many a day. He -promised to return, then he rode forward and caught up with the troops. -He survived the battle in which seven hundred of his comrades were shot -or tomahawked and scalped. One Indian fired at him eleven times, and -five of the bullets scratched him; after that the savage forbore, -believing that the officer was under Manitou's protection. When the -retreating column approached the place where Marion lived he hastened on -in advance to see her. The cabin was in ashes. He called, but there -was no answer. When he turned away, with sad and thoughtful mien, a -brown tress was wrapped around his finger, and in his cabinet he kept it -until his death, folded in a paper marked "Marion, July 11, 1755." - - - - - - - TALES OF PURITAN LAND - - EVANGALINE - -The seizure by England of the country that soon afterward was -rechristened Nova Scotia was one of the cruellest events in history. -The land was occupied by a good and happy people who had much faith and -few laws, plenty to eat and drink, no tax collectors nor magistrates, in -brief, a people who were entitled to call themselves Acadians, for they -made their land an Arcady. Upon them swooped the British ships, took -them unarmed and unoffending, crowded them aboard their transports,-- -often separating husband and wife, parents and children,--scattered them -far and wide, beyond hope of return, and set up the cross of St. George -on the ruins of prosperity and peace. On the shore of the Basin of -Minas can still be traced the foundations of many homes that were -perforce deserted at that time, and among them are the ruins of Grand -Pre. - -Here lived Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, who were -betrothed with the usual rejoicings just before the coming of the -English. They had expected, when their people were arrested, to be sent -away together; but most of the men were kept under guard, and Gabriel -was at sea, bound neither he nor she knew whither, when Evangeline found -herself in her father's house alone, for grief and excitement had been -more than her aged parent could bear, and he was buried at the shore -just before the women of the place were crowded on board of a transport. -As the ship set off her sorrowing passengers looked behind them to see -their homes going up in flame and smoke, and Acadia knew them no more. -The English had planned well to keep these people from coming together -for conspiracy or revenge: they scattered them over all America, from -Newfoundland to the southern savannas. - -Evangeline was not taken far away, only to New England; but without -Gabriel all lands were drear, and she set off in the search for him, -working here and there, sometimes looking timidly at the headstones on -new graves, then travelling on. Once she heard that he was a /coureur -des bois/ on the prairies, again that he was a voyageur in the Louisiana -lowlands; but those of his people who kept near her inclined to jest at -her faith and urged her to marry Leblanc, the notary's son, who truly -loved her. To these she only replied, "I cannot." - -Down the Ohio and Mississippi she went--on a raft--with a little band of -those who were seeking the French settlements, where the language, -religion, and simplicity of life recalled Acadia. They found it on the -banks of the Teche, and they reached the house of the herdsman Gabriel -on the day that he had departed for the north to seek Evangeline. She -and the good priest who had been her stay in a year of sorrow turned -back in pursuit, and for weary months, over prairie and through forest, -skirting mountain and morass, going freely among savages, they followed -vain clues, and at last arrived in Philadelphia. Broken in spirit then, -but not less sweet of nature for the suffering that she had known, she -who had been named for the angels became a minister of mercy, and in the -black robe of a nun went about with comforts to the sick and poor. A -pestilence was sweeping through the city, and those who had no friends -nor attendants were taken to the almshouse, whither, as her way was, -Evangeline went on a soft Sabbath morning to calm the fevered and -brighten the hearts of the dying. - -Some of the patients of the day before had gone and new were in their -places. Suddenly she turned white and sank on her knees at a bedside, -with a cry of "Gabriel, my beloved!" breathed into the ears of a -prematurely aged man who lay gasping in death before her. He came out -of his stupor, slowly, and tried to speak her name. She drew his head -to her bosom, kissed him, and for one moment they were happy. Then the -light went out of his eyes and the warmth from his heart. She pressed -his eyelids down and bowed her head, for her way was plainer now, and -she thanked God that it was so. - - - - - THE SNORING OF SWUNKSUS - -The original proprietor of Deer Isle, off the coast of Maine--at least, -the one who was in possession one hundred and thirty years ago--had the -liquid name of Swunksus. His name was not the only liquid thing in the -neighborhood, however, for, wherever Swunksus was, fire-water was not -far. Shortly before the Revolution a renegade from Boston, one Conary, -moved up to the island and helped himself to as much of it as he chose, -but the longer he lived there the more he wanted. Swunksus was willing -enough to divide his domain with the white intruder, but Conary was not -satisfied with half. He did not need it all; he just wanted it. -Moreover, he grew quarrelsome and was continually nagging poor Swunksus, -until at last he forced the Indian to accept a challenge, not to -immediate combat, but to fight to the death should they meet thereafter. - -The red man retired to his half of the island and hid among the bushes -near his home to await the white man, but in this little fastness he -discovered a jug of whiskey that either fate or Conary had placed there. -Before an hour was over he was "as full and mellow as a harvest moon," -and it was then that his enemy appeared. There was no trouble in -finding Swunksus, for he was snoring like a fog horn, and walking boldly -up to him, Conary blew his head off with a load of slugs. Then he -took possession of the place and lived happily ever after. Swunksus -takes his deposition easily, for, although he has more than once paraded -along the beaches, his ghost spends most of the time in slumber, and -terrific snores have been heard proceeding from the woods in daylight. - - - - - THE LEWISTON HERMIT - -On an island above the falls of the Androscoggin, at Lewiston, Maine, -lived a white recluse at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The -natives, having had good reason to mistrust all palefaces, could think -no good of the man who lived thus among but not with them. Often they -gathered at the bank and looked across at his solitary candle twinkling -among the leaves, and wondered what manner of evil he could be planning -against them. Wherever there are many conspirators one will be a -gabbler or a traitor; so, when the natives had resolved on his murder, -he, somehow, learned of their intent and set himself to thwart it. So -great was their fear of this lonely man, and of the malignant powers he -might conjure to his aid, that nearly fifty Indians joined the -expedition, to give each other courage. - -Their plan was to go a little distance up the river and come down with -the current, thus avoiding the dip of paddles that he might hear in a -direct crossing. When it was quite dark they set off, and keeping -headway on their canoes aimed them toward the light that glimmered above -the water. But the cunning hermit had no fire in his cabin that night. -It was burning on a point below his shelter, and from his hiding-place -among the rocks he saw their fleet, as dim and silent as shadows, go by -him on the way to the misguiding beacon. - -Presently a cry arose. The savages had passed the point of safe -sailing; their boats had become unmanageable. Forgetting their errand, -their only hope now was to save themselves, but in vain they tried to -reach the shore: the current was whirling them to their doom. Cries and -death-songs mingled with the deepening roar of the waters, the light -barks reached the cataract and leaped into the air. Then the night was -still again, save for the booming of the flood. Not one of the Indians -who had set out on this errand of death survived the hermit's stratagem. - - - - - THE DEAD SHIP OF HARPSWELL - -At times the fisher-folk of Maine are startled to see the form of a -ship, with gaunt timbers showing through the planks, like lean limbs -through rents in a pauper's garb, float shoreward in the sunset. She is -a ship of ancient build, with tall masts and sails of majestic spread, -all torn; but what is her name, her port, her flag, what harbor she is -trying to make, no man can tell, for on her deck no sailor has ever been -seen to run up colors or heard to answer a hail. Be it in calm or -storm, in-come or ebb of tide, the ship holds her way until she almost -touches shore. - -There is no creak of spars or whine of cordage, no spray at the bow, no -ripple at the stern--no voice, and no figure to utter one. As she nears -the rocks she pauses, then, as if impelled by a contrary current, floats -rudder foremost off to sea, and vanishes in twilight. Harpswell is her -favorite cruising-ground, and her appearance there sets many heads to -shaking, for while it is not inevitable that ill luck follows her -visits, it has been seen that burial-boats have sometimes had occasion -to cross the harbor soon after them, and that they were obliged by wind -or tide or current to follow her course on leaving the wharf. - - - - - THE SCHOOLMASTER HAD NOT REACHED ORRINGTON. - -The quiet town of Orrington, in Maine, was founded by Jesse Atwood, of -Wellfleet, Cape Cod, in 1778, and has become known, since then, as a -place where skilful farmers and brave sailors could always be found. It -also kept Maine supplied for years with oldest inhabitants. It is said -that the name was an accident of illiteracy, and that it is the only -place in the world that owes its title to bad spelling. The settlers -who followed Atwood there were numerous enough to form a township after -ten years, and the name they decided on for their commonwealth was -Orangetown, so called for a village in Maryland where some of the people -had associations, but the clerk of the town meeting was not a college -graduate and his spelling of Orange was Orring, and of town, ton. His -draft of the resolutions went before the legislature, and the people -directly afterward found themselves living in Orrington. - - - - - JACK WELCH'S DEATH LIGHT - -Pond Cove, Maine, is haunted by a light that on a certain evening, every -summer, rises a mile out at sea, drifts to a spot on shore, then whirls -with a buzz and a glare to an old house, where it vanishes. Its first -appearance was simultaneous with the departure of Jack Welch, a -fisherman. He was seen one evening at work on his boat, but in the -morning he was gone, nor has he since shown himself in the flesh. - -On the tenth anniversary of this event three fishermen were hurrying up -the bay, hoping to reach home before dark, for they dreaded that uncanny -light, but a fog came in and it was late before they reached the wharf. -As they were tying their boat a channel seemed to open through the mist, -and along that path from the deep came a ball of pallid flame with the -rush of a meteor. There was one of the men who cowered at the bottom of -the boat with ashen face and shaking limbs, and did not watch the light, -even though it shot above his head, played through the rigging, and -after a wide sweep went shoreward and settled on his house. Next day -one of his comrades called for him, but Tom Wright was gone, gone, his -wife said, before the day broke. Like Jack Welch's disappearance, this -departure was unexplained, and in time he was given up for dead. - -Twenty years had passed, when Wright's presumptive widow was startled -by the receipt of a letter in a weak, trembling hand, signed with her -husband's name. It was written on his death-bed, in a distant place, -and held a confession. Before their marriage, Jack Welch had been a -suitor for her hand, and had been the favored of the two. To remove his -rival and prosper in his place, Wright stole upon the other at his work, -killed him, took his body to sea, and threw it overboard. Since that -time the dead man had pursued him, and he was glad that the end of his -days was come. But, though Tom Wright is no more, his victim's light -comes yearly from the sea, above the spot where his body sank, floats to -the scene of the murder on the shore, then flits to the house where the -assassin lived and for years simulated the content that comes of wedded -life. - - - - MOGG MEGONE - -Hapless daughter of a renegade is Ruth Bonython. Her father is as -unfair to his friends as to his enemies, but to neither of them so -merciless as to Ruth. Although he knows that she loves Master Scammon-- -in spite of his desertion and would rather die than wed another, he has -promised her to Mogg Megone, the chief who rules the Indians at the Saco -mouth. He, blundering savage, fancies that he sees to the bottom of her -grief, and one day, while urging his suit, he opens his blanket and -shows the scalp of Scammon, to prove that he has avenged her. She looks -in horror, but when he flings the bloody trophy at her feet she baptizes -it with a forgiving tear. What villany may this lead to? Ah, none for -him, for Bonython now steps in and plies him with flattery and drink, -gaining from the chief, at last, his signature--the bow totem--to a -transfer of the land for which he is willing to sell his daughter. -Ruth, maddened at her father's meanness and the Indian's brutality, -rushes on the imbruted savage, grasps from his belt the knife that has -slain her lover, cleaves his heart in twain, and flies into the wood, -leaving Bonython stupid with amazement. - -Father Rasles, in his chapel at Norridgewock, is affecting his Indian -converts against the Puritans, who settled to the southward of him fifty -years before. To him comes a woman with torn garments and frightened -face. Her dead mother stood before her last night, she says, and looked -at her reprovingly, for she had killed Mogg Megone. The priest starts -back in wrath, for Mogg was a hopeful agent of the faith, and bids her -go, for she can ask no pardon. Brooding within his chapel, then, he is -startled by the sound of shot and hum of arrows. Harmon and Moulton are -advancing with their men and crying, "Down with the beast of Rome! -Death to the Babylonish dog!" Ruth, knowing not what this new -misfortune may mean, runs from the church and disappears. - -Some days later, old Baron Castine, going to Norridgewock to bury and -revenge the dead, finds a woman seated on the earth and gazing over a -field strewn with ashes and with human bones. He touches her. She is -cold. There has been no life for days. It is Ruth. - - - - - THE LADY URSULA - -In 1690 a stately house stood in Kittery, Maine, a strongly guarded place -with moat and drawbridge (which was raised at night) and a moated grange -adjacent where were cattle, sheep, and horses. Here, in lonely dignity, -lived Lady Ursula, daughter of the lord of Grondale Abbey, across the -water, whose distant grandeurs were in some sort reflected in this manor -of the wilderness. Silver, mahogany, paintings, tapestries, waxed -floors, and carven chests of linen represented wealth; prayers were said -by a chaplain every morning and evening in the chapel, and, though the -main hall would accommodate five hundred people, the lady usually sat at -meat there with her thirty servants, her part of the table being raised -two feet above theirs. - -It was her happiness to believe that Captain Fowler, now absent in -conflict with the French, would return and wed her according to his -promise, but one day came a tattered messenger with bitter news of the -captain's death. She made no talk of her grief, and, while her face was -pale and step no longer light, she continued in the work that custom -exacted from women of that time: help for the sick, alms for the poor, -teaching for the ignorant, religion for the savage. Great was her joy, -then, when a ship came from England bringing a letter from Captain -Fowler himself, refuting the rumor of defeat and telling of his coming. -Now the hall took on new life, reflecting the pleasure of its mistress; -color came back to her cheek and sparkle to her eye, and she could only -control her impatience by more active work and more aggressive -charities. The day was near at hand for the arrival of her lover, when -Ursula and her servants were set upon by Indians, while away from the -protection of the manor, and slain. They were buried where they fell, -and Captain Fowler found none to whom his love or sorrow could be told. - - - - - FATHER MOODY'S BLACK VEIL - -In 1770 the Reverend Joseph Moody died at York, Maine, where he had long -held the pastorate of a church, and where in his later years his face -was never seen by friend or relative. At home, when any one was by, on -the street, and in the pulpit his visage was concealed by a double fold -of crape that was knotted above his forehead and fell to his chin, the -lower edge of it being shaken by his breath. When first he presented -himself to his congregation with features masked in black, great was the -wonder and long the talk about it. Was he demented? His sermons were -too logical for that. Had he been crossed in love? He could smile, -though the smile was sad. Had he been scarred by accident or illness? -If so, no physician knew of it. - -After a time it was given out that his eyes were weakened by reading and -writing at night, and the wonder ceased, though the veiled parson was -less in demand for weddings, christenings, and social gatherings, and -more besought for funerals than he had been. If asked to take off his -crape he only replied, "We all wear veils of one kind or another, and -the heaviest and darkest are those that hang about our hearts. This is -but a material veil. Let it stay until the hour strikes when all faces -shall be seen and all souls reveal their secrets." - -Little by little the clergyman felt himself enforced to withdraw from -the public gaze. There were rough people who were impertinent and timid -people who turned out of their road to avoid him, so that he found his -out-door walks and meditations almost confined to the night, unless he -chose the grave-yard for its seclusion or strolled on the beach and -listened to the wallowing and grunting of the Black Boars--the rocks off -shore that had laughed on the night when the York witch went up the -chimney in a gale. But his life was long and kind and useful, and when -at last the veiled head lay on the pillow it was never to rise from -consciously, a fellow-clergyman came to soothe his dying moments and -commend his soul to mercy. - -To him, one evening, Father Moody said, "Brother, my hour is come and -the veil of eternal darkness is falling over my eyes. Men have asked me -why I wear this piece of crape about my face, as if it were not for them -a reminder and a symbol, and I have borne the reason so long within me -that only now have I resolved to tell it. Do you recall the finding of -young Clark beside the river, years ago? He had been shot through the -head. The man who killed him did so by accident, for he was a bosom -friend; yet he could never bring himself to confess the fact, for he -dreaded the blame of his townsmen, the anguish of the dead man's -parents, the hate of his betrothed. It was believed that the killing -was a murder, and that some roving Indian had done it. After years of -conscience-darkened life, in which the face of his dead friend often -arose accusingly before him, the unhappy wretch vowed that he would -never again look his fellows openly in the face: he would pay a penalty -and conceal his shame. Then it was that I put a veil between myself and -the world." - -Joseph Moody passed away and, as he wished, the veil still hid his face -in the coffin, but the clergyman who had raised it for a moment to -compose his features, found there a serenity and a beauty that were -majestic. - - - - - THE HOME OF THUNDER - -Some Indians believe that the Thunder Bird is the agent of storm; that -the flashes of his eyes cause lightning and the flapping of his cloud- -vast wings make thunder. Not so the Passamaquoddies, for they hold that -Katahdin's spirit children are Thunders, and in this way an Indian found -them: He had been seeking game along the Penobscot and for weeks had not -met one of his fellow creatures. On a winter day he came on the print -of a pair of snow-shoes; next morning the tracks appeared in another -part of the forest, and so for many days he found them. - -After a time it occurred to him to see where these tracks went to, and -he followed them until they merged with others in a travelled road, -ending at a precipice on the side of Katahdin (Great Mountain). - -While lost in wonder that so many tracks should lead nowhere, he was -roused by a footfall, and a maiden stepped from the precipice to the -ledge beside him. Though he said nothing, being in awe of her -stateliness and beauty, she replied in kind words to every unspoken -thought and bade him go with her. He approached the rock with fear, -but at a touch from the woman it became as mist, and they entered it -together. - -Presently they were in a great cave in the heart of Katahdin, where sat -the spirit of the mountain, who welcomed them and asked the girl if her -brothers had come. "I hear them coming," she replied. A blinding -flash, a roar of thunder, and there stepped into the cave two men of -giant size and gravely beautiful faces, hardened at the cheeks and brows -to stone. "These," said the girl to the hunter, "are my brothers, the -Thunder and the Lightning. My father sends them forth whenever there is -wrong to redress, that those who love us may not be smitten. When you -hear Thunder, know that they are shooting at our enemies." - -At the end of that day the hunter returned to his home, and behold, he -had been gone seven years. Another legend says that the stone-faced -sons of the mountain adopted him, and that for seven years he was a -roaming Thunder, but at the end of that time while a storm was raging he -was allowed to fall, unharmed, into his own village. - - - - - THE PARTRIDGE WITCH - -Two brothers, having hunted at the head of the Penobscot until their -snow-shoes and moccasins gave out, looked at each other ruefully and -cried, "Would that there was a woman to help us!" The younger brother -went to the lodge that evening earlier than the elder, in order to -prepare the supper, and great was his surprise on entering the wigwam to -find the floor swept, a fire built, a pot boiling, and their clothing -mended. Returning to the wood he watched the place from a covert until -he saw a graceful girl enter the lodge and take up the tasks of -housekeeping. - -When he entered she was confused, but he treated her with respect, and -allowed her to have her own way so far as possible, so that they became -warm friends, sporting together like children when the work of the day -was over. But one evening she said, "Your brother is coming. I fear -him. Farewell." And she slipped into the wood. When the young man -told his elder brother what had happened there--the elder having been -detained for a few days in the pursuit of a deer--he declared that he -would wish the woman to come back, and presently, without any summons, -she returned, bringing a tobogganload of garments and arms. The luck of -the hunters improved, and they remained happily together until spring, -when it was time to return with their furs. - -They set off down the Penobscot in their canoe and rowed merrily along, -but as they neared the home village the girl became uneasy, and -presently "threw out her soul"--became clairvoyant--and said, "Let me -land here. I find that your father would not like me, so do not speak -to him about me." But the elder brother told of her when they reached -home, whereon the father exclaimed, "I had feared this. That woman is a -sister of the goblins. She wishes to destroy men." - -At this the elder brother was afraid, lest she should cast a spell on -him, and rowing up the river for a distance he came upon her as she was -bathing and shot at her. The arrow seemed to strike, for there was a -flutter of feathers and the woman flew away as a partridge. But the -younger did not forget the good she had done and sought her in the wood, -where for many days they played together as of old. - -"I do not blame your father: it is an affair of old, this hate he bears -me," she said. "He will choose a wife for you soon, but do not marry -her, else all will come to an end for you." The man could not wed the -witch, and he might not disobey his father, in spite of this adjuration; -so when the old man said to him, "I have a wife for you, my son," he -answered, "It is well." - -They brought the bride to the village, and for four days the wedding- -dance was held, with a feast that lasted four days more. Then said the -young man, "Now comes the end," and lying down on a bear-skin he sighed -a few times and his spirit ascended to the Ghosts' road--the milky way. -The father shook his head, for he knew that this was the witch's work, -and, liking the place no longer, he went away and the tribe was -scattered. - - - - - THE MARRIAGE OF MOUNT KATAHDIN - -An Indian girl gathering berries on the side of Mount Katahdin looked -up at its peak, rosy in the afternoon light, and sighed, "I wish that -I had a husband. If Katahdin were a man he might marry me." Her -companions laughed at this quaint conceit, and, filled with confusion at -being overheard, she climbed higher up the slope and was lost to sight. -For three years her tribe lost sight of her; then she came back with a -child in her arms a beautiful boy with brows of stone. The boy had -wonderful power: he had only to point at a moose or a duck or a bear, -and it fell dead, so that the tribe never wanted food. For he was the -son of the Indian girl and the spirit of the mountain, who had commanded -her not to reveal the boy's paternity. Through years she held silence -on this point, holding in contempt, like other Indians, the prying -inquiries of gossips and the teasing of young people, and knowing that -Katahdin had designed the child for the founder of a mighty race, with -the sinews of the very mountains in its frame, that should fill and rule -the earth. Yet, one day, in anger at some slight, the mother spoke: -"Fools! Wasps who sting the fingers that pick you from the water! Why -do you torment me about what you might all see? Look at the boy's face ---his brows: in them do you not see Katahdin? Now you have brought the -curse upon yourselves, for you shall hunt your own venison from this -time forth." Leading the child by the hand she turned toward the -mountain and went out from their sight. And since then the Indians who -could not hold their tongues, and who might otherwise have been great, -have dwindled to a little people. - - - - - THE MOOSE OF MOUNT KINEO - -Eastern traditions concerning Hiawatha differ in many respects from -those of the West. In the East he is known as Glooskap, god of the -Passamaquoddies, and his marks are left in many places in the maritime -provinces and Maine. It was he who gave names to things, created men, -filled them with life, and moved their wonder with storms. He lived on -the rocky height of Blomidon, at the entrance to Minas Basin, Nova -Scotia, and the agates to be found along its foot are jewels that he -made for his grandmother's necklace, when he restored her youth. He -threw up a ridge between Fort Cumberland and Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, -that he might cross, dry shod, the lake made by the beavers when they -dammed the strait at Blomidon, but he afterward killed the beavers, -and breaking down their dam he let the lake flow into the sea, and went -southward on a hunting tour. At Mount Desert he killed a moose, whose -bones he flung to the ground at Bar Harbor, where they are still to be -seen, turned to stone, while across the bay he threw the entrails, and -they, too, are visible as rocks, dented with his arrow-points. Mount -Kineo was anciently a cow moose of colossal size that he slew and turned -into a height of land, and the Indians trace the outline of the creature -in the uplift to this day. Little Kineo was a calf moose that he slew -at the same time, and Kettle Mountain is his camp-caldron that he flung -to the ground in the ardor of the chase. - - - - - THE OWL TREE - -One day in October, 1827, Rev. Charles Sharply rode into Alfred, Maine, -and held service in the meeting-house. After the sermon he announced -that he was going to Waterborough to preach, and that on his circuit he -had collected two hundred and seventy dollars to help build a church in -that village. Would not his hearers add to that sum? They would and -did, and that evening the parson rode away with over three hundred -dollars in his saddlebags. He never appeared in Waterborough. Some of -the country people gave tongue to their fear that the possession of the -money had made him forget his sacred calling and that he had fled the -State. - -On the morning after his disappearance, however, Deacon Dickerman -appeared in Alfred riding on a horse that was declared to be the -minister's, until the tavern hostler affirmed that the minister's horse -had a white star on forehead and breast, whereas this horse was all -black. The deacon said that he found the horse grazing in his yard at -daybreak, and that he would give it to whoever could prove it to be his -property. Nobody appeared to demand it, and people soon forgot that it -was not his. He extended his business at about that time and prospered; -he became a rich man for a little place; though, as his wealth -increased, he became morose and averse to company. - -One day a rumor went around that a belated traveller had seen a misty -thing under "the owl tree" at a turn of a road where owls were hooting, -and that it took on a strange likeness to the missing clergyman. -Dickerman paled when he heard this story, but he shook his head and -muttered of the folly of listening to boy nonsense. Ten years had gone -by-during that time the boys had avoided the owl tree after dark--when a -clergyman of the neighborhood was hastily summoned to see Mr. Dickerman, -who was said to be suffering from overwork. He found the deacon in his -house alone, pacing the floor, his dress disordered, his cheek hectic. - -"I have not long to live," said he, "nor would I live longer if I could. -I am haunted day and night, and there is no peace, no rest for me on -earth. They say that Sharply's spirit has appeared at the owl tree. -Well, his body lies there. They accused me of taking his horse. It is -true. A little black dye on his head and breast was all that was needed -to deceive them. Pray for me, for I fear my soul is lost. I killed -Sharply." The clergyman recoiled. "I killed him," the wretched man -went on, "for the money that he had. The devil prospered me with it. -In my will I leave two thousand dollars to his widow and five thousand -dollars to the church he was collecting for. Will there be mercy for me -there? I dare not think it. Go and pray for me." The clergyman -hastened away, but was hardly outside the door when the report of a -pistol brought him back. Dickerman lay dead on the floor. Sharply's -body was exhumed from the shade of the owl tree, and the spot was never -haunted after. - - - - - A CHESTNUT LOG - -There is no doubt that farmer Lovel had read ancient history or he would -not have been so ready in the emergency that befell him one time in the -last century. He had settled among the New Hampshire hills near the -site that is now occupied by the village of Washington and had a real -good time there with bears and Indians. It was when he was splitting -rails on Lovel Mountain--they named it for him afterward--that he found -himself surrounded by six Indians, who told him that he was their -prisoner. He agreed that they had the advantage over him and said that -he would go quietly along if they would allow him to finish the big -chestnut log that he was at work on. As he was a powerful fellow and -was armed with an axe worth any two of their tomahawks, and as he would -be pretty sure to have the life of at least one of them if they tried to -drive him faster than he wanted to go, they consented. He said that he -would be ready all the sooner if they would help him to pull the big log -apart, and they agreed to help him. Driving a wedge into the long split -he asked them to take hold, and when they had done this he knocked out -the wedge with a single blow and the twelve hands were caught tight in -the closing wood. Struggle as the savages might, they could not get -free, and after calmly enjoying the situation for a few minutes he -walked slowly from one to the other and split open the heads of all six. -Then he went to work again splitting up more chestnuts. - - - - - THE WATCHER ON WHITE ISLAND - -The isles of Shoals, a little archipelago of wind and wave-swept rocks -that may be seen on clear days from the New Hampshire coast, have been -the scene of some mishaps and some crimes. On Boone Island, where the -Nottingham galley went down one hundred and fifty years ago, the -survivors turned cannibals to escape starvation, while Haley's Island -is peopled by shipwrecked Spanish ghosts that hail vessels and beg for -passage back to their country. The pirate Teach, or Blackbeard, used to -put in at these islands to hide his treasure, and one of his lieutenants -spent some time on White Island with a beautiful girl whom he had -abducted from her home in Scotland and who, in spite of his rough life, -had learned to love him. It was while walking with her on this rock, -forgetful of his trade and the crimes he had been stained with, that one -of his men ran up to report a sail that was standing toward the islands. -The pirate ship was quickly prepared for action, but before embarking, -mindful of possible flight or captivity, the lieutenant made his -mistress swear that she would guard the buried treasure if it should be -till doomsday. - -The ship he was hurrying to meet came smoothly on until the pirate craft -was well in range, when ports flew open along the stranger's sides, guns -were run out, and a heavy broadside splintered through the planks of the -robber galley. It was a man-of-war, not a merchantman, that had run -Blackbeard down. The war-ship closed and grappled with the corsair, but -while the sailors were standing at the chains ready to leap aboard and -complete the subjugation of the outlaws a mass of flame burst from the -pirate ship, both vessels were hurled in fragments through the air, and -a roar went for miles along the sea. Blackbeard's lieutenant had fired -the magazine rather than submit to capture, and had blown the two ships -into a common ruin. A few of both crews floated to the islands on -planks, sore from burns and bruises, but none survived the cold and -hunger of the winter. The pirate's mistress was among the first to die; -still, true to her promise, she keeps her watch, and at night is dimly -seen on a rocky point gazing toward the east, her tall figure enveloped -in a cloak, her golden hair unbound upon her shoulders, her pale face -still as marble. - - - - - CHOCORUA - -This beautiful alp in the White Mountains commemorates in its name a -prophet of the Pequawket tribe who, prior to undertaking a journey, had -confided his son to a friendly settler, Cornelius Campbell, of Tamworth. -The boy found some poison in the house that had been prepared for foxes, -and, thinking it to be some delicacy, he drank of it and died. When -Chocorua returned he could not be persuaded that his son had fallen -victim to his own ignorance, but ascribed his death to the white man's -treachery, and one day, when Campbell entered his cabin from the fields, -he found there the corpses of his wife and children scalped and mangled. - -He was not a man to lament at such a time: hate was stronger than -sorrow. A fresh trail led from his door. Seizing his rifle he set -forth in pursuit of the murderer. A mark in the dust, a bent grass -blade, a torn leaf-these were guides enough, and following on through -bush and swamp and wood they led him to this mountain, and up the slope -he scrambled breathlessly. At the summit, statue-like, Chocorua stood. -He saw the avenger coming, and knew himself unarmed, but he made no -attempt to escape his doom. Drawing himself erect and stretching forth -his hands he invoked anathema on his enemies in these words: "A curse -upon you, white men! May the Great Spirit curse you when he speaks in -the clouds, and his words are fire! Chocorua had a son and you killed -him while the sky looked bright. Lightning blast your crops! Winds and -fire destroy your dwellings! The Evil One breathe death upon your -cattle! Your graves lie in the war-path of the Indian! Panthers howl -and wolves fatten over your bones! Chocorua goes to the Great Spirit. -His curse stays with the white man." - -The report of Campbell's rifle echoed from the ledges and Chocorua -leaped into the air, plunging to the rocks below. His mangled remains -were afterward found and buried near the Tamworth path. The curse had -its effect, for pestilence and storm devastated the surrounding country -and the smaller settlements were abandoned. Campbell became a morose -hermit, and was found dead in his bed two years afterward. - - - - - PASSACONAWAY'S RIDE TO HEAVEN - -The personality of Passaconaway, the powerful chief and prophet, is -involved in doubt, but there can be no misprision of his wisdom. By -some historians he has been made one with St. Aspenquid, the earliest -of native missionaries among the Indians, who, after his conversion by -French Jesuits, travelled from Maine to the Pacific, preaching to sixty- -six tribes, healing the sick and working miracles, returning to die at -the age of ninety-four. He was buried on the top of Agamenticus, Maine, -where his manes were pacified with offerings of three thousand slain -animals, and where his tombstone stood for a century after, bearing the -legend, "Present, useful; absent, wanted; living, desired; dying, -lamented." - -By others Passaconaway is regarded as a different person. The Child of -the Bear--to English his name--was the chief of the Merrimacs and a -convert of the apostle Eliot. Natives and colonists alike admired him -for his eloquence, his bravery, and his virtue. Before his conversion -he was a reputed wizard who sought by magic arts to repel the invasion -of his woods and mountains by the white men, invoking the spirits of -nature against them from the topmost peak of the Agiochooks, and his -native followers declared that in pursuance of this intent he made water -burn, rocks move, trees dance, and transformed himself into a mass of -flame. - -Such was his power over the forces of the earth that he could burn a -tree in winter and from its ashes bring green leaves; he made dead wood -blossom and a farmer's flail to bud, while a snake's skin he could cause -to run. At the age of one hundred and twenty he retired from his tribe -and lived in a lonely wigwam among the Pennacooks. One winter night the -howling of wolves was heard, and a pack came dashing through the village -harnessed by threes to a sledge of hickory saplings that bore a tall -throne spread with furs. The wolves paused at Passaconaway's door. The -old chief came forth, climbed upon the sledge, and was borne away with a -triumphal apostrophe that sounded above the yelping and snarling of his -train. Across Winnepesaukee's frozen surface they sped like the wind, -and the belated hunter shrank aside as he saw the giant towering against -the northern lights and heard his death-song echo from the cliffs. -Through pathless woods, across ravines, the wolves sped on, with never -slackened speed, into the mazes of the Agiochooks to that highest peak -we now call Washington. Up its steep wilderness of snow the ride went -furiously; the summit was neared, the sledge burst into flame, still -there was no pause; the height was gained, the wolves went howling into -darkness, but the car, wrapped in sheaves of fire, shot like a meteor -toward the sky and was lost amid the stars of the winter night. So -passed the Indian king to heaven. - - - - - THE BALL GAME BY THE SACO - -Water-Goblins from the streams about Katahdin had left their birthplace -and journeyed away to the Agiochooks, making their presence known to the -Indians of that region by thefts and loss of life. When the manitou, -Glooskap, learned that these goblins were eating human flesh and -committing other outrages, he took on their own form, turning half his -body into stone, and went in search of them. The, wigwam had been -pitched near the Home of the Water Fairies,--a name absurdly changed by -the people of North Conway to Diana's Bath,--and on entering he was -invited to take meat. The tail of a whale was cooked and offered to -him, but after he had taken it upon his knees one of the goblins -exclaimed, "That is too good for a beggar like you," and snatched it -away. Glooskap had merely to wish the return of the dainty when it flew -back into his platter. Then he took the whale's jaw, and snapped it -like a reed; he filled his pipe and burned the tobacco to ashes in one -inhalation; when his hosts closed the wigwam and smoked vigorously, -intending to foul the air and stupefy him, he enjoyed it, while they -grew sick; so they whispered to each other, "This is a mighty magician, -and we must try his powers in another way." - -A game of ball was proposed, and, adjourning to a sandy level at the -bend of the Saco, they began to play, but Glooskap found that the ball -was a hideous skull that rolled and snapped at him and would have torn -his flesh had it not been immortal and immovable from his bones. He -crushed it at a blow, and breaking off the bough of a tree he turned it -by a word into a skull ten times larger than the other that flew after -the wicked people as a wildcat leaps upon a rabbit. Then the god -stamped on the sands and all the springs were opened in the mountains, -so that the Saco came rising through the valley with a roar that made -the nations tremble. The goblins were caught in the flood and swept -into the sea, where Glooskap changed them into fish. - - - - - THE WHITE MOUNTAINS - -From times of old these noble hills have been the scenes of supernatural -visitations and mysterious occurrences. The tallest peak of the -Agiochooks--as they were, in Indian naming--was the seat of God himself, -and the encroachment there of the white man was little liked. Near -Fabyan's was once a mound, since levelled by pick and spade, that was -known as the Giant's Grave. Ethan Allen Crawford, a skilful hunter, -daring explorer, and man of herculean frame, lived, died, and is buried -here, and near the ancient hillock he built one of the first public -houses in the mountains. It was burned. Another, and yet another -hostelry was builded on the site, but they likewise were destroyed by -fire. Then the enterprise was abandoned, for it was remembered that an -Indian once mounted this grave, waved a torch from its top, and cried in -a loud voice, "No pale-face shall take root on this spot. This has the -Great Spirit whispered in my ear." - -Governor Wentworth, while on a lonely tour through his province, found -this cabin of Crawford's and passed a night there, tendering many -compliments to the austere graces of the lady of the house and drinking -himself into the favor of the husband, who proclaimed him the prince of -good fellows. On leaving, the guest exacted of Crawford a visit to -Wolfeborough, where he was to inquire for "Old Wentworth." This visit -was undertaken soon after, and the sturdy frontiersman was dismayed at -finding himself in the house of the royal governor; but his reception -was hearty enough to put him at his ease, and when he returned to the -mountains he carried in his pocket a deed of a thousand acres of forest -about his little farm. The family that he founded became wealthy and -increased, by many an acre, the measure of that royal grant. - -Not far below this spot, in the wildest part of the Notch, shut in by -walls of rock thousands of feet high, is the old Willey House, and this, -too, was the scene of a tragedy, for in 1826 a storm loosened the soil -on Mount Willey and an enormous landslide occurred. The people in the -house rushed forth on hearing the approach of the slide and met death -almost at their door. Had they remained within they would have been -unharmed, for the avalanche was divided by a wedge of rock behind the -house, and the little inn was saved. Seven people are known to have -been killed, and it was rumored that there was another victim in a young -man whose name was unknown and who was walking through the mountains to -enjoy their beauty. The messenger who bore the tidings of the -destruction of the family was barred from reaching North Conway by the -flood in the Saco, so he stood at the brink of the foaming river and -rang a peal on a trumpet. This blast echoing around the hills in the -middle of the night roused several men from their beds to know its -meaning. The dog belonging to the inn is said to have given first -notice to people below the Notch that something was wrong, but his -moaning and barking were misunderstood, and after running back and -forth, as if to summon help, he disappeared. At the hour of the -accident James Willey, of Conway, had a dream in which he saw his dead -brother standing by him. He related the story of the catastrophe to the -sleeping man and said that when "the world's last knell" sounded they -were going for safety to the foot of the steep mountain, for the Saco -had risen twenty-four feet in seven hours and threatened to ingulf them -in front. - -Another spot of interest in the Notch is Nancy's Brook. It was at the -point where this stream comes foaming from Mount Nancy into the great -ravine that the girl whose name is given to it was found frozen to death -in a shroud of snow in the fall of 1788. She had set out alone from -Jefferson in search of a young farmer who was to have married her, and -walked thirty miles through trackless snow between sunset and dawn. -Then her strength gave out and she sank beside the road never to rise -again. Her recreant lover went mad with remorse when he learned the -manner of her death and did not long survive her, and men who have -traversed the savage passes of the Notch on chill nights in October have -fancied that they heard, above the clash of the stream and whispering of -the woods, long, shuddering groans mingled with despairing cries and -gibbering laughter. - -The birth of Peabody River came about from a cataclysm of less violent -nature than some of the avalanches that have so scarred the mountains. -In White's "History of New England," Mr. Peabody, for whom the stream is -named, is reported as having taken shelter in an Indian cabin on the -heights where the river has its source. During the night a loud roaring -waked the occupants of the hut and they sprang forth, barely in time to -save their lives; for, hardly had they gained the open ground before a -cavern burst open in the hill and a flood of water gushed out, sweeping -away the shelter and cutting a broad swath through the forest. - -Although the Pilot Mountains are supposed to have taken their name from -the fact that they served as landmarks to hunters who were seeking the -Connecticut River from the Lancaster district, an old story is still -told of one Willard, who was lost amid the defiles of this range, and -nearly perished with hunger. While lying exhausted on the mountainside -his dog would leave him every now and then and return after a couple of -hours. Though Willard was half dead, he determined to use his last -strength in following the animal, and as a result was led by a short cut -to his own camp, where provisions were plenty, and where the intelligent -creature had been going for food. The dog was christened Pilot, in -honor of this service, and the whole range is thought by many to be -named in his honor. - -Waternomee Falls, on Hurricane Creek, at Warren, are bordered with rich -moss where fairies used to dance and sing in the moonlight. These -sprites were the reputed children of Indians that had been stolen from -their wigwams and given to eat of fairy bread, that dwarfed and changed -them in a moment. Barring their kidnapping practices the elves were an -innocent and joyous people, and they sought more distant hiding-places -in the wilderness when the stern churchmen and cruel rangers penetrated -their sylvan precincts. - -An old barrack story has it that Lieutenant Chamberlain, who fought -under Lovewell, was pursued along the base of Melvin Peak by Indians and -was almost in their grasp when he reached Ossipee Falls. It seemed as -if there were no alternative between death by the tomahawk and death by -a fall to the rocks below, for the chasm here is eighteen feet wide; but -without stopping to reckon chances he put his strength into a running -jump, and to the amazement of those in pursuit and perhaps to his own -surprise he cleared the gap and escaped into the woods. The foremost of -the Indians attempted the leap, but plunged to his death in the ravine. - -The Eagle Range was said to be the abode, two hundred years ago, of a -man of strange and venerable appearance, whom the Indians regarded with -superstitious awe and never tried to molest. He slept in a cave on the -south slope and ranged the forest in search of game, muttering and -gesturing to himself. He is thought to be identified with Thomas -Crager, whose wife had been hanged in Salem as a witch, and whose only -child had been stolen by Indians. After a long, vain search for the -little one he gave way to a bitter moroseness, and avoided the -habitations of civilized man and savages alike. It is a satisfaction to -know that before he died he found his daughter, though she was the squaw -of an Indian hunter and was living with his tribe on the shore of the -St. Lawrence. - - - - - THE VISION ON MOUNT ADAMS - -There are many traditions connected with Mount Adams that have faded out -of memory. Old people remember that in their childhood there was talk -of the discovery of a magic stone; of an Indian's skeleton that appeared -in a speaking storm; of a fortune-teller that set off on a midnight -quest, far up among the crags and eyries. In October, 1765, a -detachment of nine of Rogers's Rangers began the return from a Canadian -foray, bearing with them plate, candlesticks, and a silver statue that -they had rifled from the Church of St. Francis. An Indian who had -undertaken to guide the party through the Notch proved faithless, and -led them among labyrinthine gorges to the head of Israel's River, where -he disappeared, after poisoning one of the troopers with a rattlesnake's -fang. Losing all reckoning, the Rangers tramped hither and thither -among the snowy hills and sank down, one by one, to die in the -wilderness, a sole survivor reaching a settlement after many days, with -his knapsack filled with human flesh. - -In 1816 the candlesticks were recovered near Lake Memphremagog, but the -statue has never been laid hold upon. The spirits of the famished men -were wont, for many winters, to cry in the woods, and once a hunter, -camped on the side of Mount Adams, was awakened at midnight by the notes -of an organ. The mists were rolling off, and he found that he had gone -to sleep near a mighty church of stone that shone in soft light. The -doors were flung back, showing a tribe of Indians kneeling within. -Candles sparkled on the altar, shooting their rays through clouds of -incense, and the rocks shook with thunder-gusts of music. Suddenly -church, lights, worshippers vanished, and from the mists came forth a -line of uncouth forms, marching in silence. As they started to descend -the mountain a silver image, floating in the air, spread a pair of -gleaming pinions and took flight, disappearing in the chaos of -battlemented rocks above. - - - - - THE GREAT CARBUNCLE - -High on the eastern face of Mount Monroe shone the Great Carbuncle, its -flash scintillating for miles by day, its dusky crimson glowing among -the ledges at night. The red men said that it hung in the air, and that -the soul of an Indian--killed, that he might guard the spot--made -approach perilous to men of all complexions and purposes. As late as -Ethan Crawford's time one search band took a "good man" to lay the -watcher, when they strove to scale the height, but they returned "sorely -bruised, treasureless, and not even saw that wonderful sight." The -value of the stone tempted many, but those who sought it had to toil -through a dense forest, and on arriving at the mountain found its -glories eclipsed by intervening abutments, nor could they get near it. -Rocks covered with crystals, at first thought to be diamonds, were -readily despoiled of their treasure, but the Great Carbuncle burned on, -two thousand feet above them, at the head of the awful chasm of Oakes -Gulf, and baffled seekers likened it to the glare of an evil eye. - -There was one who had grown old in searching for this gem, often -scrambling over the range in wind and snow and cloud, and at last he -reached a precipitous spot he had never attained before. Great was his -joy, for the Carbuncle was within his reach, blazing into his eyes in -the noon sunlight as if it held, crystallized in its depths, the -brightness of all the wine that had ever gladdened the tired hearts of -men. There were rivals in the search, and on reaching the plateau they -looked up and saw him kneeling on a narrow ledge with arms extended as -in rapture. They called to him. He answered not. He was dead--dead of -joy and triumph. While they looked a portion of the crag above him fell -away and rolled from rock to rock, marking its course with flashes of -bloody fire, until it reached the Lake of the Clouds, and the waters of -that tarn drowned its glory. Yet those waters are not always black, and -sometimes the hooked crest of Mount Monroe is outlined against the night -sky in a ruddy glow. - - - - - SKINNER'S CAVE - -The abhorrence to paying taxes and duties--or any other levy from which -an immediate and personal good is not promised--is too deeply rooted in -human nature to be affected by statutes, and whenever it is possible -to buy commodities that have escaped the observation of the revenue -officers many are tempted to do so for the mere pleasure of defying the -law. In the early part of this century the northern farmers and their -wives were, in a way, providing themselves with laces, silver-ware, -brandy, and other protected and dreadful articles, on which it was -evident that somebody had forgotten to pay duty. The customs -authorities on the American side of the border were long puzzled by the -irruption of these forbidden things, but suspicion ultimately fell on a -fellow of gigantic size, named Skinner. - -It was believed that this outlaw carried on the crime of free trade -after sunset, hiding his merchandise by day on the islands of Lake -Memphremagog. This delightful sheet of water lies half in Canada and -half in Vermont--agreeably to the purpose of such as he. Province -Island is still believed to contain buried treasure, but the rock that -contains Skinner's Cave was the smuggler's usual haunt, and when pursued -he rowed to this spot and effected a disappearance, because he entered -the cave on the northwest side, where it was masked by shrubbery. One -night the officers landed on this island after he had gone into hiding, -and after diligent search discovered his boat drawn up in a covert. -They pushed it into the lake, where the winds sent it adrift, and, his -communication with the shore thus cut off, the outlaw perished miserably -of hunger. His skeleton was found in the cavern some years later. - - - - - YET THEY CALL IT LOVER'S LEAP - -In the lower part of the township of Cavendish, Vermont, the Black River -seeks a lower level through a gorge in the foot-hills of the Green -Mountains. The scenery here is romantic and impressive, for the river -makes its way along the ravine in a series of falls and rapids that are -overhung by trees and ledges, while the geologist finds something worth -looking at in the caves and pot-holes that indicate an older level of -the river. At a turn in the ravine rises the sheer precipice of Lover's -Leap. It is a vertical descent of about eighty feet, the water swirling -at its foot in a black and angry maelstrom. It is a spot whence lovers -might easily step into eternity, were they so disposed, and the name -fits delightfully into the wild and somber scene; but ask any good -villager thereabout to relate the legend of the place and he will tell -you this: - -About forty years ago a couple of young farmers went to the Leap--which -then had no name--to pry out some blocks of the schistose rock for a -foundation wall. They found a good exposure of the rock beneath the -turf and began to quarry it. In the earnestness of the work one of the -men forgot that he was standing on the verge of a precipice, and through -a slip of his crowbar he lost his balance and went reeling into the -gulf. His horrified companion crept to the edge, expecting to see his -mangled corpse tossing in the whirlpool, but, to his amazement, the -unfortunate was crawling up the face of a huge table of stone that had -fallen from the opposite wall and lay canted against it. - -"Hello!" shouted the man overhead. "Are you hurt much?" - -The victim of the accident slowly got upon his feet, felt cautiously of -his legs and ribs, and began to search through his pockets, his face -betraying an anxiety that grew deeper and deeper as the search went on. -In due time the answer came back, deliberate, sad, and nasal, but -distinct above the roar of the torrent: "Waal, I ain't hurt much, but -I'll be durned if I haven't lost my jack-knife!" - -And he was pulled out of the gorge without it. - - - - - SALEM AND OTHER WITCHCRAFT - -The extraordinary delusion recorded as Salem witchcraft was but a -reflection of a kindred insanity in the Old World that was not -extirpated until its victims had been counted by thousands. That human -beings should be accused of leaguing themselves with Satan to plague -their fellows and overthrow the powers of righteousness is remarkable, -but that they should admit their guilt is incomprehensible, albeit the -history of every popular delusion shows that weak minds are so affected -as to lose control of themselves and that a whimsey can be as epidemic -as small-pox. - -Such was the case in 1692 when the witchcraft madness, which might -have been stayed by a seasonable spanking, broke out in Danvers, -Massachusetts, the first victim being a wild Irishwoman, named Glover, -and speedily involved the neighboring community of Salem. The mischiefs -done by witches were usually trifling, and it never occurred to their -prosecutors that there was an inconsistency between their pretended -powers and their feeble deeds, or that it was strange that those who -might live in regal luxury should be so wretchedly poor. Aches and -pains, blight of crops, disease of cattle, were charged to them; -children complained of being pricked with thorns and pins (the pins are -still preserved in Salem), and if hysterical girls spoke the name of any -feeble old woman, while in flighty talk, they virtually sentenced her to -die. The word of a child of eleven years sufficed to hang, burn, or -drown a witch. - -Giles Corey, a blameless man of eighty, was condemned to the mediaeval -/peine forte et dure/, his body being crushed beneath a load of rocks -and timbers. He refused to plead in court, and when the beams were laid -upon him he only cried, "More weight!" The shade of the unhappy victim -haunted the scene of his execution for years, and always came to warn -the people of calamities. A child of five and a dog were also hanged -after formal condemnation. Gallows Hill, near Salem, witnessed many sad -tragedies, and the old elm that stood on Boston Common until 1876 was -said to have served as a gallows for witches and Quakers. The accuser -of one day was the prisoner of the next, and not even the clergy were -safe. - -A few escapes were made, like that of a blue-eyed maid of Wenham, whose -lover aided her to break the wooden jail and carried her safely beyond -the Merrimac, finding a home for her among the Quakers; and that of Miss -Wheeler, of Salem, who had fallen under suspicion, and whose brothers -hurried her into a boat, rowed around Cape Ann, and safely bestowed her -in "the witch house" at Pigeon Cove. Many, however, fled to other towns -rather than run the risk of accusation, which commonly meant death. - -When the wife of Philip English was arrested he, too, asked to share her -fate, and both were, through friendly intercession, removed to Boston, -where they were allowed to have their liberty by day on condition that -they would go to jail every night. Just before they were to be taken -back to Salem for trial they went to church and heard the Rev. Joshua -Moody preach from the text, "If they persecute you in one city, flee -unto another." The good clergyman not only preached goodness, but -practised it, and that night the door of their prison was opened. -Furnished with an introduction from Governor Phipps to Governor -Fletcher, of New York, they made their way to that settlement, and -remained there in safe and courteous keeping until the people of Salem -had regained their senses, when they returned. Mrs. English died, soon -after, from the effects of cruelty and anxiety, and although Mr. Moody -was generally commended for his substitution of sense and justice for -law, there were bigots who persecuted him so constantly that he removed -to Plymouth. - -According to the belief of the time a witch or wizard compacted with -Satan for the gift of supernatural power, and in return was to give up -his soul to the evil one after his life was over. The deed was signed -in blood of the witch and horrible ceremonies confirmed the compact. -Satan then gave his ally a familiar in the form of a dog, ape, cat, or -other animal, usually small and black, and sometimes an undisguised imp. -To suckle these "familiars" with the blood of a witch was forbidden in -English law, which ranked it as a felony; but they were thus nourished -in secret, and by their aid the witch might raise storms, blight crops, -abort births, lame cattle, topple over houses, and cause pains, -convulsions, and illness. If she desired to hurt a person she made a -clay or waxen image in his likeness, and the harms and indignities -wreaked on the puppet would be suffered by the one bewitched, a knife or -needle thrust in the waxen body being felt acutely by the living one, no -matter how far distant he might be. By placing this image in running -water, hot sunshine, or near a fire, the living flesh would waste as -this melted or dissolved, and the person thus wrought upon would die. -This belief is still current among negroes affected by the voodoo -superstitions of the South. The witch, too, had the power of riding -winds, usually with a broomstick for a conveyance, after she had smeared -the broom or herself with magic ointment, and the flocking of the -unhallowed to their sabbaths in snaky bogs or on lonely mountain tops -has been described minutely by those who claim to have seen the sight. -Sometimes they cackled and gibbered through the night before the houses -of the clergy, and it was only at Christmas that their power failed -them. The meetings were devoted to wild and obscene orgies, and the -intercourse of fiends and witches begot a progeny of toads and snakes. - -Naturally the Indians were accused, for they recognized the existence of -both good and evil spirits, their medicine-men cured by incantations in -the belief that devils were thus driven out of their patients, and in -the early history of the country the red man was credited by white -settlers with powers hardly inferior to those of the oriental and -European magicians of the middle ages. Cotton Mather detected a -relation between Satan and the Indians, and he declares that certain of -the Algonquins were trained from boyhood as powahs, powwows, or wizards, -acquiring powers of second sight and communion with gods and spirits -through abstinence from food and sleep and the observance of rites. -Their severe discipline made them victims of nervous excitement and the -responsibilities of conjuration had on their minds an effect similar to -that produced by gases from the rift in Delphos on the Apollonian -oracles, their manifestations of insanity or frenzy passing for deific -or infernal possession. When John Gibb, a Scotchman, who had gone mad -through religious excitement, was shipped to this country by his tired -fellow-countrymen, the Indians hailed him as a more powerful wizard than -any of their number, and he died in 1720, admired and feared by them -because of the familiarity with spirits out of Hobbomocko (hell) that -his ravings and antics were supposed to indicate. Two Indian servants -of the Reverend Mr. Purvis, of Salem, having tried by a spell to -discover a witch, were executed as witches themselves. The savages, -who took Salem witchcraft at its worth, were astonished at its deadly -effect, and the English may have lost some influence over the natives in -consequence of this madness. "The Great Spirit sends no witches to the -French," they said. Barrow Hill, near Amesbury, was said to be the -meeting-place for Indian powwows and witches, and at late hours of the -night the light of fires gleamed from its top, while shadowy forms -glanced athwart it. Old men say that the lights are still there in -winter, though modern doubters declare that they were the aurora -borealis. - -But the belief in witches did not die even when the Salem people came to -their senses. In the Merrimac valley the devil found converts for many -years after: Goody Mose, of Rocks village, who tumbled down-stairs when -a big beetle was killed at an evening party, some miles away, after it -had been bumping into the faces of the company; Goody Whitcher, of -Ameshury, whose loom kept banging day and night after she was dead; -Goody Sloper, of West Newbury, who went home lame directly that a man -had struck his axe into the beam of a house that she had bewitched, but -who recovered her strength and established an improved reputation when, -in 1794, she swam out to a capsized boat and rescued two of the people -who were in peril; Goodman Nichols, of Rocks village, who "spelled" a -neighbor's son, compelling him to run up one end of the house, along the -ridge, and down the other end, "troubling the family extremely by his -strange proceedings;" Susie Martin, also of Rocks, who was hanged in -spite of her devotions in jail, though the rope danced so that it could -not be tied, but a crow overhead called for a withe and the law was -executed with that; and Goody Morse, of Market and High Streets, -Newburyport, whose baskets and pots danced through her house continually -and who was seen "flying about the sun as if she had been cut in twain, -or as if the devil did hide the lower part of her." The hill below -Easton, Pennsylvania, called Hexenkopf (Witch's head), was described by -German settlers as a place of nightly gathering for weird women, who -whirled about its top in "linked dances" and sang in deep tones mingled -with awful laughter. After one of these women, in Williams township, -had been punished for enchanting a twenty-dollar horse, their sabbaths -were held more quietly. Mom Rinkle, whose "rock" is pointed out beside -the Wissahickon, in Philadelphia, "drank dew from acorn-cups and had the -evil eye." Juan Perea, of San Mateo, New Mexico, would fly with his -chums to meetings in the mountains in the shape of a fire-ball. During -these sallies he left his own eyes at home and wore those of some brute -animal. It was because his dog ate his eyes when he had carelessly put -them on a table that he had always afterward to wear those of a cat. -Within the present century an old woman who lived in a hut on the -Palisades of the Hudson was held to be responsible for local storms and -accidents. As late as 1889 two Zuni Indians were hanged on the wall of -an old Spanish church near their pueblo in Arizona on a charge of having -blown away the rainclouds in a time of drouth. It was held that there -was something uncanny in the event that gave the name of Gallows Hill to -an eminence near Falls Village, Connecticut, for a strange black man was -found hanging, dead, to a tree near its top one morning. - -Moll Pitcher, a successful sorcerer and fortune-teller of old Lynn, has -figured in obsolete poems, plays, and romances. She lived in a cottage -at the foot of High Rock, where she was consulted, not merely by people -of respectability, but by those who had knavish schemes to prosecute and -who wanted to learn in advance the outcome of their designs. Many a -ship was deserted at the hour of sailing because she boded evil of the -voyage. She was of medium height, big-headed, tangle-haired, long- -nosed, and had a searching black eye. The sticks that she carried were -cut from a hazel that hung athwart a brook where an unwedded mother had -drowned her child. A girl who went to her for news of her lover lost -her reason when the witch, moved by a malignant impulse, described his -death in a fiercely dramatic manner. One day the missing ship came -bowling into port, and the shock of joy that the girl experienced when -the sailor clasped her in his arms restored her erring senses. When -Moll Pitcher died she was attended by the little daughter of the woman -she had so afflicted. - -John, or Edward, Dimond, grandfather of Moll Pitcher, was a benevolent -wizard. When vessels were trying to enter the port of Marblehead in a -heavy gale or at night, their crews were startled to hear a trumpet -voice pealing from the skies, plainly audible above the howling and -hissing of any tempest, telling them how to lay their course so as to -reach smooth water. This was the voice of Dimond, speaking from his -station, miles away in the village cemetery. He always repaired to this -place in troublous weather and shouted orders to the ships that were -made visible to him by mystic power as he strode to and fro among the -graves. When thieves came to him for advice he charmed them and made -them take back their plunder or caused them to tramp helplessly about -the streets bearing heavy burdens. - - "Old Mammy Redd, of Marblehead, - Sweet milk could turn to mould in churn." - -Being a witch, and a notorious one, she could likewise curdle the milk -as it came from the cow, and afterward transform it into blue wool. She -had the evil eye, and, if she willed, her glance or touch could blight -like palsy. It only needed that she should wish a bloody cleaver to be -found in a cradle to cause the little occupant to die, while the whole -town ascribed to her the annoyances of daily housework and business. -Her unpleasant celebrity led to her death at the hands of her fellow- -citizens who had been "worrited" by no end of queer happenings: ships -had appeared just before they were wrecked and had vanished while people -looked at them; men were seen walking on the water after they had been -comfortably buried; the wind was heard to name the sailors doomed never -to return; footsteps and voices were heard in the streets before the -great were to die; one man was chased by a corpse in its coffin; another -was pursued by the devil in a carriage drawn by four white horses; a -young woman who had just received a present of some fine fish from her -lover was amazed to see him melt into the air, and was heart-broken when -she learned next morning that he had died at sea. So far away as -Amesbury the devil's power was shown by the appearance of a man who -walked the roads carrying his head under his arm, and by the freak of a -windmill that the miller always used to shut up at sundown but that -started by itself at midnight. Evidently it was high time to be rid of -Mammy Redd. - -Margaret Wesson, "old Meg," lived in Gloucester until she came to her -death by a shot fired at the siege of Louisburg, five hundred miles -away, in 1745. Two soldiers of Gloucester, while before the walls of -the French town, were annoyed by a crow, that flew over and around them, -cawing harshly and disregarding stones and shot, until it occurred to -them that the bird could be no other than old Meg in another form, and, -as silver bullets are an esteemed antidote for the evils of witchcraft, -they cut two silver buttons from their uniforms and fired them at the -crow. At the first shot its leg was broken; at the second, it fell -dead. On returning to Gloucester they learned that old Meg had fallen -and broken her leg at the moment when the crow was fired on, and that -she died quickly after. An examination of her body was made, and the -identical buttons were extracted from her flesh that had been shot into -the crow at Louisburg. - -As a citizen of New Haven was riding home--this was at the time of the -goings on at Salem--he saw shapes of women near his horse's head, -whispering earnestly together and keeping time with the trot of his -animal without effort of their own. "In the name of God, tell me who -you are," cried the traveller, and at the name of God they vanished. -Next day the man's orchard was shaken by viewless hands and the fruit -thrown down. Hogs ran about the neighborhood on their hind legs; -children cried that somebody was sticking pins into them; one man would -roll across the floor as if pushed, and he had to be watched lest he -should go into the fire; when housewives made their bread they found it -as full of hair as food in a city boarding-house; when they made soft -soap it ran from the kettle and over the floor like lava; stones fell -down chimneys and smashed crockery. One of the farmers cut off an ear -from a pig that was walking on its hind legs, and an eccentric old body -of the neighborhood appeared presently with one of her ears in a muffle, -thus satisfying that community that she had caused the troubles. When a -woman was making potash it began to leap about, and a rifle was fired -into the pot, causing a sudden calm. In the morning the witch was found -dead on her floor. Yet killing only made her worse, for she moved to a -deserted house near her own, and there kept a mad revel every night; -fiddles were heard, lights flashed, stones were thrown, and yells gave -people at a distance a series of cold shivers; but the populace tried -the effect of tearing down the house, and quiet was brought to the town. - -In the early days of this century a skinny old woman known as Aunt -Woodward lived by herself in a log cabin at Minot Corner, Maine, -enjoying the awe of the people in that secluded burg. They moved around -but little at night, on her account, and one poor girl was in mortal -fear lest by mysterious arts she should be changed, between two days, -into a white horse. One citizen kept her away from his house by nailing -a horseshoe to his door, while another took the force out of her spells -by keeping a branch of "round wood" at his threshold. At night she -haunted a big, square house where the ghost of a murdered infant was -often heard to cry, and by day she laid charms on her neighbors' -provisions and utensils, and turned their cream to buttermilk. "Uncle" -Blaisdell hurried into the settlement to tell the farmers that Aunt -Woodward had climbed into his sled in the middle of the road, and that -his four yoke of oxen could not stir it an inch, but that after she had -leaped down one yoke of cattle drew the load of wood without an effort. -Yet she died in her bed. - - - - - THE GLOUCESTER LEAGUERS - -Strange things had been reported in Gloucester. On the eve of King -Philip's War the march of men was heard in its streets and an Indian bow -and scalp were seen on the face of the moon, while the boom of cannon -and roll of drums were heard at Malden and the windows of Plymouth -rattled to the passage of unseen horsemen. But the strangest thing was -the arrival on Cape Ann of a force of French and Indians that never -could be caught, killed, or crippled, though two regiments were hurried -into Gloucester and battled with them for a fortnight. Thus, the rumor -went around that these were not an enemy of flesh and blood, but devils -who hoped to work a moral perversion of the colony. From 1692, when -they appeared, until Salem witchcraft was at an end, Cape Ann was under -military and spiritual guard against "the spectre leaguers." - -Another version of the episode, based on sworn evidence, has it that -Ebenezer Babson, returning late on a summer night, saw two men run from -his door and vanish in a field. His family denied that visitors had -called, so he gave chase, for he believed the men to have a mischievous -intention. As he left the threshold they sprang from behind a log, one -saying to the other, "The master of the house is now come, else we might -have taken the house," and again they disappeared in a swamp. Babson -woke the guard, and on entering the quarters of the garrison the sound -of many feet was heard without, but when the doors were flung open only -the two men were visible and they were retreating. Next evening the -yeoman was chased by these elusive gentry, who were believed to be -scouts of the enemy, for they wore white breeches and waistcoats and -carried bright guns. - -For several nights they appeared, and on the 4th of July half a dozen of -them were seen so plainly that the soldiers made a sally, Babson -bringing three of "ye unaccountable troublers" to the ground with a -single shot, and getting a response in kind, for a bullet hissed by his -ear and buried itself in a tree. When the company approached the place -where lay the victims of that remarkable shot, behold, they arose and -scampered away as blithely as if naught had happened to them. One of -the trio was cornered and shot anew, but when they would pick him up he -melted into air. There was fierce jabbering in an unknown tongue, -through all the swamp, and by the time the garrison had returned the -fellows were skulking in the shrubbery again. Richard Dolliver -afterward came on eleven of them engaged in incantations and scattered -them with a gunshot, but they would not down. They lurked about the -cape until terror fell on all the people, remaining for "the best part -of a month together," so it was deemed that "Satan had set ambushments -against the good people of Gloucester, with demons in the shape of armed -Indians and Frenchmen." - -Stones were thrown, barns were beaten with clubs, the marching of unseen -hosts was heard after dark, the mockers grew so bold that they ventured -close to the redoubtable Babson, gazed scornfully down the barrel of his -gun, and laid a charm on the weapon, so that, no matter how often he -snapped it at them, it flashed in the pan. Neighboring garrisons were -summoned, but all battling with goblins was fruitless. One night a dark -and hostile throng emerged from the wood and moved toward the -blockhouse, where twenty musketeers were keeping guard. "If you be -ghosts or devils I will foil you," cried the captain, and tearing a -silver button from his doublet he rammed it into his gun and fired on -the advancing host. Even as the smoke of his musket was blown on the -wind, so did the beleaguering army vanish, the silver bullet proving -that they were not of human kind. The night was wearing on when a cry -went out that the devils were coming again. Arms were laid aside this -time, and the watchers sank to their knees in prayer. Directly that the -name of God was uttered the marching ceased and heaven rang with the -howls of the angry fiends. Never again were leaguers seen in -Gloucester. - - - - - SATAN AND HIS BURIAL-PLACE - -Satan appears to have troubled the early settlers in America almost as -grievously as he did the German students. He came in many shapes to -many people, and sometimes he met his match. Did he not try to stop old -Peter Stuyvesant from rowing through Hell Gate one moonlight night, and -did not that tough old soldier put something at his shoulder that Satan -thought must be his wooden leg? But it wasn't a leg: it was a gun, -loaded with a silver bullet that had been charged home with prayer. -Peter fired and the missile whistled off to Ward's Island, where three -boys found it afterward and swapped it for double handfuls of doughnuts -and bulls' eyes. Incidentally it passed between the devil's ribs and -the fiend exploded with a yell and a smell, the latter of sulphur, to -Peter's blended satisfaction and alarm. And did not the same spirit of -evil plague the old women of Massachusetts Bay and craze the French and -Spaniards in the South? At Hog Rock, west of Milford, Connecticut, he -broke up a pleasant diversion: - - "Once four young men upon ye rock - Sate down at chuffle board to play - When ye Deuill appearde in shape of a hogg - And frightend ym so they scampered away - And left Old Nick to finish ye play." - -One of the first buildings to be put up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was a -church built on a ledge above the river, and in that church Satan tried -to conceal himself for purposes of mischief. For this act he was hurled -from the steeple-top by some unseen instrument of righteousness with -such force that his hoofmark was stamped into a solid stone near by. -This did not deter him from mounting to the ridge-pole and assuming a -defiant air, with folded arms, when Whitefield began to preach, but when -that clergyman's tremendous voice was loosed below him he bounced into -the air in terror and disappeared. - -The Shakers report that in the waning of the eighteenth century they -chased the evil one through the coverts of Mount Sinai, Massachusetts, -and just before dawn of a summer morning they caught and killed and -buried him. Shakers are spiritualists, and they believe their numbers -to have been augmented by distinguished dead, among whom they already -number Washington, Lafayette, Napoleon, Tamerlane, and Pocahontas. The -two first named of these posthumous communists are still seen by members -of the faith who pass Satan's grave at night, for they sit astride of -white horses and watch the burial spot, lest the enemy of man arise and -begin anew his career of trouble. Some members of the brotherhood say -that this legend typifies a burial of evil tendencies in the hearts of -those who hunted the fiend, but it has passed down among others as a -circumstance. The Shakers have many mystic records, transmitted -verbally to the present disciples of "Mother Ann," but seldom told to -scoffers "in the world," as those are called who live without their pure -and peaceful communes. Among these records is that of the appearance of -John the Baptist in the meeting-house at Mount Lebanon, New York, -one Sunday, clothed in light and leading the sacred dance of the -worshippers, by which they signify the shaking out of all carnal things -from the heart. - - - - - PETER RUGG, THE MISSING MAN - -The idea of long wandering as a penalty, symbolized in "The Wandering -Jew," "The Flying Dutchman," and the character of Kundry, in "Parsifal," -has application in the legend of Peter Rugg. This strange man, who -lived in Middle Street, Boston, with his wife and daughter, was -esteemed, as a person of probity and good manners except in his swearing -fits, for he was subject to outbursts of passion, when he would kick his -way through doors instead of opening them, bite tenpenny nails in two, -and curse his wig off In the autumn of 1770 he visited Concord, with his -little girl, and on the way home was overtaken by a violent storm. He -took shelter with a friend at Menotomy, who urged him to stay all night, -for the rain was falling heavier every moment; but Rugg would not be -stayed, and seeing that there was no hope of a dry journey back to town -he roared a fearful oath and cried, "Let the storm increase. I will see -home to-night in spite of it, or may I never see home!" With that he -tossed the child into the open chaise, leaped in after her, lashed his -horse, and was off. - -Several nights afterward, while Rugg's neighbors were out with lanterns -trying to discover the cause of a heavy jarring that had begun to -disturb them in bad weather, the excitable gentleman, who had not been -seen since his Concord visit, came whirling along the pavement in his -carriage, his daughter beside him, his black horse plunging on in spite -of his efforts to stop him. The lanterns that for a moment twinkled in -Peter's face showed him as a wet and weary man, with eyes turned up -longingly at the windows where his wife awaited him; then he was gone, -and the ground trembled as with an earthquake, while the rain fell more -heavily. - -Mrs. Rugg died within a twelvemonth, and Peter never reached home, but -from all parts of New England came stories of a man and child driving -rapidly along the highways, never stopping except to inquire the way to -Boston. Half of the time the man would be headed in a direction -opposite to the one he seemed to want to follow, and when set right -would cry that he was being deceived, and was sometimes heard to mutter, -"No home to-night." In Hartford, Providence, Newburyport, and among the -New Hampshire hills the anxious face of the man became known, and he was -referred to as "the stormbreeder," for so surely as he passed there -would be rain, wind, lightning, thunder, and darkness within the hour. - -Some years ago a man in a Connecticut town stopped this hurrying -traveller, who said, in reply to a question, "I have lost the road to -Boston. My name is Peter Rugg." Then Rugg's disappearance half a -century before was cited by those who had long memories, and people -began to look askant at Peter and gave him generous road room when they -met him. The toll-taker on Charlestown bridge declared that he had been -annoyed and alarmed by a prodigious tramping of hoofs and rattling of -wheels that seemed to pass toward Boston before his very face, yet he -could see nothing. He took courage one night to plant himself in the -middle of the bridge with a three-legged stool, and when the sound -approached he dimly saw a large black horse driven by a weary looking -man with a child beside him. The stool was flung at the horse's head, -but passed through the animal as through smoke and skipped across the -floor of the bridge. Thus much the toll-collector said, but when asked -if Rugg had appeared again he made no reply. - - - - - THE LOSS OF WEETAMOO - -Winnepurkit, sagamore of the coast settlements between Nahant and Cape -Ann, had married Weetamoo, daughter of Passaconaway, king of the -Pennacooks, and had taken her to his home. Their honeymoon was happy, -but old ties are strong, and after a little time the bride felt a -longing to see her people again. When she made known this wish the -husband not only consented to her visit, but gave her a guard of his -most trusty hunters who saw her safe in her father's lodge (near the -site of Concord, New Hampshire), and returned directly. Presently came -a messenger from Passaconaway, informing his son-in-law that Weetamoo -had finished her visit and wished again to be with her husband, to whom -he looked for an escort to guide her through the wilderness. -Winnepurkit felt that his dignity as a chief was slighted by this last -request, and he replied that as he had supplied her with a guard for the -outward journey it was her father's place to send her back, "for it -stood not with Winnepurkit's reputation either to make himself or his -men so servile as to fetch her again." - -Passaconaway returned a sharp answer that irritated Winnepurkit still -more, and he was told by the young sagamore that he might send his -daughter or keep her, for she would never be sent for. In this unhappy -strife for precedent, which has been repeated on later occasions by -princes and society persons, the young wife seemed to be fated as an -unwilling sacrifice; but summoning spirit to leave her father's wigwam -she launched a canoe on the Merrimack, hoping to make her way along that -watery highway to her husband's domain. It was winter, and the stream -was full of floating ice; at the best of times it was not easy to keep a -frail vessel of bark in the current away from the rapids, and a -wandering hunter reported that a canoe had come down the river guided by -a woman, that it had swung against the Amoskeag rocks, where Manchester -stands now, and a few moments later was in a quieter reach of water, -broken and empty. No more was seen of Weetamoo. - - - - - THE FATAL FORGET-ME-NOT - -Three miles out from the Nahant shore, Massachusetts, rises Egg Rock, -a dome of granite topped by a light-house. In the last century the -forget-me-nots that grew in a little marsh at its summit were much -esteemed, for it was reported that if a girl should receive one of these -little flowers from her lover the two would be faithful to each other -through all their married life. It was before a temporary separation -that a certain young couple strolled together on the Nahant cliffs. The -man was to sail for Italy next day, to urge parental consent to their -union. As he looked dreamily into the sea the legend of the forget-me- -not came into his mind, and in a playful tone he offered to gather a -bunch as a memento. Unthinkingly the girl consented. He ran down the -cliff to his boat, pushed out, and headed toward the rock, but a -fisherman shouted that a gale was rising and the tide was coming in; -indeed, the horizon was whitening and the rote was growing plain. - -Alice had heard the cry of warning and would have called him back, but -she was forsaken by the power of speech, and watched, with pale face and -straining eyes, the boat beating smartly across the surges. It was seen -to reach Egg Rock, and after a lapse came dancing toward the shore -again; but the tide, was now swirling in rapidly, the waves were running -high, and the wind freshened as the sun sank. At times the boat was out -of sight in the hollowed water, and as it neared Nahant it became -unmanageable. Apparently it had filled with water and the tiller-rope -had broken. Nothing could be done by the spectators who had gathered on -the rocks, except to shout directions that were futile, even if they -could be heard. At last the boat was lifted by a breaker and hurled -against a mass of granite at the very feet of the man's mistress. When -the body was recovered next day, a bunch of forget-me-not was clasped in -the rigid hand. - - - - - THE OLD MILL AT SOMERVILLE - -The "old powder-house," as the round stone tower is called that stands -on a gravel ridge in Somerville, Massachusetts, is so named because at -the outbreak of the Revolutionary War it was used temporarily as a -magazine; but long before that it was a wind-mill. Here in the old days -two lovers held their tryst: a sturdy and honest young farmer of the -neighborhood and the daughter of a man whose wealth puffed him with -purse-pride. It was the plebeian state of the farmer that made him look -at him with an unfavorable countenance, and when it was whispered to him -that the young people were meeting each other almost every evening at -the mill, he resolved to surprise them there and humiliate, if he did -not punish them. From the shadow of the door they saw his approach, -and, yielding to the girl's imploring, the lover secreted himself while -she climbed to the loft. The flutter of her dress caught the old man's -eye and he hastened, panting, into the mill. For some moments he groped -about, for his eyes had not grown used to the darkness of the place, and -hearing his muttered oaths, the girl crept backward from the stair. - -She was beginning to hope that she had not been seen, when her foot -caught in a loose board and she stumbled, but in her fall she threw out -her hand to save herself and found a rope within her grasp. Directly -that her weight had been applied to it there was a whir and a clank. -The cord had set the great fans in motion. At the same moment a fall -was heard, then a cry, passing from anger into anguish. She rushed down -the stair, the lover appeared from his hiding-place at the same moment, -and together they dragged the old man to his feet. At the moment when -the wind had started the sails he had been standing on one of the mill- -stones and the sudden jerk had thrown him down. His arm caught between -the grinding surfaces and had been crushed to pulp. He was carried home -and tenderly nursed, but he did not live long; yet before he died he was -made to see the folly of his course, and he consented to the marriage -that it had cost him so dear to try to prevent. Before she could summon -heart to fix the wedding-day the girl passed many months of grief and -repentance, and for the rest of her life she avoided the old mill. -There was good reason for doing so, people said, for on windy nights the -spirit of the old man used to haunt the place, using such profanity that -it became visible in the form of blue lights, dancing and exploding -about the building. - - - - - EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT - -Nothing is left of Province House, the old home of the royal governors, -in Boston, but the gilded Indian that served as its weathercock and -aimed his arrow at the winds from the cupola. The house itself was -swept away long ago in the so-called march of improvement. In one of -its rooms hung a picture so dark that when Lieutenant-Governor -Hutchinson went to live there hardly anybody could say what it -represented. There were hints that it was a portrait of the devil, -painted at a witch-meeting near Salem, and that on the eve of disasters -in the province a dreadful face had glared from the canvas. Shirley had -seen it on the night of the fall of Ticonderoga, and servants had gone -shuddering from the room, certain that they had caught the glance of a -malignant eye. - -It was known to the governors, however, that the portrait, if not that -of the arch fiend, was that of one who in the popular mind was none the -less a devil: Edward Randolph, the traitor, who had repealed the first -provincial charter and deprived the colonists of their liberties. Under -the curse of the people he grew pale and pinched and ugly, his face at -last becoming so hateful that men were unwilling to look at it. Then it -was that he sat for his portrait. Threescore or odd years afterward, -Hutchinson sat in the hall wondering vaguely if coming events would -consign him to the obloquy that had fallen on his predecessor, for at -his bidding a fleet had come into the harbor with three regiments of red -coats on board, despatched from Halifax to overawe the city. The coming -of the selectmen to protest against quartering these troops on the -people and the substitution of martial for civic law, interrupted his -reverie, and a warm debate arose. At last the governor seized his pen -impatiently, and cried, "The king is my master and England is my home. -Upheld by them, I defy the rabble." - -He was about to sign the order for bringing in the troops when a curtain -that had hung before the picture was drawn aside. Hutchinson stared at -the canvas in amazement, then muttered, "It is Randolph's spirit! It -wears the look of hell." The picture was seen to be that of a man in -antique garb, with a despairing, hunted, yet evil expression in the -face, and seemed to stare at Hutchinson. - -"It is a warning," said one of the company. - -Hutchinson recovered himself with an effort and turned away. "It is a -trick," he cried; and bending over the paper he fixed his name, as if in -desperate haste. Then he trembled, turned white, and wiped a sweat from -his brow. The selectmen departed in silence but in anger, and those who -saw Hutchinson on the streets next day affirmed that the portrait had -stepped out of its canvas and stood at his side through the night. -Afterward, as he lay on his death-bed, he cried that the blood of the -Boston massacre was filling his throat, and as his soul passed from him -his face, in its agony and rage, was the face of Edward Randolph. - - - - - LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE - -Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe, being orphaned, was admitted to the family of -her distant relative, Governor Shute, of Massachusetts Bay, and came to -America to take her home with him. She arrived at the gates of Province -House, in Boston, in the governor's splendid coach, with outriders and -guards, and as the governor went to receive her, a pale young man, with -tangled hair, sprang from the crowd and fell in the dust at her feet, -offering himself as a footstool for her to tread upon. Her proud face -lighted with a smile of scorn, and she put out her hand to stay the -governor, who was in the act of striking the fellow with his cane. - -"Do not strike him," she said. "When men seek to be trampled, it is a -favor they deserve." - -For a moment she bore her weight on the prostrate form, "emblem of -aristocracy trampling on human sympathies and the kindred of nature," -and as she stood there the bell on South Church began to toll for a -funeral that was passing at the moment. The crowd started; some looked -annoyed; Lady Eleanore remained calm and walked in stately fashion up -the passage on the arm of His Excellency. "Who was that insolent -fellow?" was asked of Dr. Clarke, the governor's physician. - -"Gervase Helwyse," replied the doctor; "a youth of no fortune, but of -good mind until he met this lady in London, when he fell in love with -her, and her pride and scorn have crazed him." - -A few nights after a ball was given in honor of the governor's ward, -and Province House was filled with the elect of the city. Commanding -in figure, beautiful in face, richly dressed and jewelled, the Lady -Eleanore was the admired of the whole assembly, and the women were -especially curious to see her mantle, for a rumor went out that it had -been made by a dying girl, and had the magic power of giving new beauty -to the wearer every time it was put on. While the guests were taking -refreshment, a young man stole into the room with a silver goblet, and -this he offered on his knee to Lady Eleanore. As she looked down she -recognized the face of Helwyse. - -"Drink of this sacramental wine," he said, eagerly, "and pass it among -the guests." - -"Perhaps it is poisoned," whispered a man, and in another moment the -liquor was overturned, and Helwyse was roughly dragged away. - -"Pray, gentlemen, do not hurt my poor admirer," said the lady, in a tone -of languor and condescension that was unusual to her. Breaking from his -captives, Helwyse ran back and begged her to cast her mantle into the -fire. She replied by throwing a fold of it above her head and smiling -as she said, "Farewell. Remember me as you see me now." - -Helwyse shook his head sadly and submitted to be led away. The -weariness in Eleanore's manner increased; a flush was burning on her -cheek; her laugh had grown infrequent. Dr. Clarke whispered something -in the governor's ear that made that gentleman start and look alarmed. -It was announced that an unforeseen circumstance made it necessary to -close the festival at once, and the company went home. A few days after -the city was thrown into a panic by an outbreak of small-pox, a disease -that in those times could not be prevented nor often cured, and that -gathered its victims by thousands. Graves were dug in rows, and every -night the earth was piled hastily on fresh corpses. Before all infected -houses hung a red flag of warning, and Province House was the first to -show it, for the plague had come to town in Lady Eleanore's mantle. The -people cursed her pride and pointed to the flags as her triumphal -banners. The pestilence was at its height when Gervase Helwyse appeared -in Province House. There were none to stay him now, and he climbed the -stairs, peering from room to room, until he entered a darkened chamber, -where something stirred feebly under a silken coverlet and a faint voice -begged for water. Helwyse tore apart the curtains and exclaimed, "Fie! -What does such a thing as you in Lady Eleanore's apartment?" - -The figure on the bed tried to hide its hideous face. "Do not look on -me," it cried. "I am cursed for my pride that I wrapped about me as a -mantle. You are avenged. I am Eleanore Rochcliffe." - -The lunatic stared for a moment, then the house echoed with his -laughter. The deadly mantle lay on a chair. He snatched it up, and -waving also the red flag of the pestilence ran into the street. In a -short time an effigy wrapped in the mantle was borne to Province House -and set on fire by a mob. From that hour the pest abated and soon -disappeared, though graves and scars made a bitter memory of it for many -a year. Unhappiest of all was the disfigured creature who wandered amid -the shadows of Province House, never showing her face, unloved, avoided, -lonely. - - - - - HOWE'S MASQUERADE - -During the siege of Boston Sir William Howe undertook to show his -contempt for the raw fellows who were disrespectfully tossing cannon- -balls at him from the batteries in Cambridge and South Boston, by giving -a masquerade. It was a brilliant affair, the belles and blades of the -loyalist set being present, some in the garb of their ancestors, for the -past is ever more picturesque than the present, and a few roisterers -caricaturing the American generals in ragged clothes, false noses, and -absurd wigs. At the height of the merriment a sound of a dirge echoing -through the streets caused the dance to stop. The funeral music paused -before the doors of Province House, where the dance was going on, and -they were flung open. Muffled drums marked time for a company that -began to file down the great stair from the floor above the ball-room: -dark men in steeple-hats and pointed beards, with Bibles, swords, and -scrolls, who looked sternly at the guests and descended to the street. - -Colonel Joliffe, a Whig, whose age and infirmity had prevented him from -joining Washington, and whose courtesy and intelligence had made him -respected by his foes, acted as chorus: "These I take to be the Puritan -governors of Massachusetts: Endicott, Winthrop, Vane, Dudley, Haynes, -Bellingham, Leverett, Bradstreet." Then came a rude soldier, mailed, -begirt with arms: the tyrant Andros; a brown-faced man with a sailor's -gait: Sir William Phipps; a courtier wigged and jewelled: Earl -Bellomont; the crafty, well-mannered Dudley; the twinkling, red-nosed -Shute; the ponderous Burnet; the gouty Belcher; Shirley, Pownall, -Bernard, Hutchinson; then a soldier, whose cocked hat he held before his -face. "'Tis the shape of Gage!" cried an officer, turning pale. The -lights were dull and an uncomfortable silence had fallen on the company. -Last, came a tall man muffled in a military cloak, and as he paused on -the landing the guests looked from him to their host in amazement, for -it was the figure of Howe himself. The governor's patience was at an -end, for this was a part of the masquerade that had not been looked for. -He fiercely cried to Joliffe, "There is a plot in this. Your head has -stood too long on a traitor's shoulders." - -"Make haste to cut it off, then," was the reply, "for the power of Sir -William Howe and of the king, his master, is at an end. These shadows -are mourners at his funeral. Look! The last of the governors." - -Howe rushed with drawn sword on the figure of himself, when it turned -and looked at him. The blade clanged to the floor and Howe fell back -with a gasp of horror, for the face was his own. Hand nor voice was -raised to stay the double-goer as it mournfully passed on. At the -threshold it stamped its foot and shook its fists in air; then the door -closed. Mingled with the strains of the funeral march, as it died along -the empty streets, came the tolling of the bell on South Church steeple, -striking the hour of midnight. The festivities were at an end and, -oppressed by a nameless fear, the spectators of this strange pageant -made ready for departure; but before they left the booming of cannon at -the southward announced that Washington had advanced. The glories of -Province House were over. When the last of the royal governors left it -he paused on the threshold, beat his foot on the stone, and flung up his -hands in an attitude of grief and rage. - - - - - OLD ESTHER DUDLEY - -Boston had surrendered. Washington was advancing from the heights where -he had trained his guns on the British works, and Sir William Howe -lingered at the door of Province House,--last of the royal governors who -would stand there,--and cursed and waved his hands and beat his heel on -the step, as if he were crushing rebellion by that act. The sound -brought an old woman to his side. "Esther Dudley!" he exclaimed. "Why -are you not gone?" - -"I shall never leave. As housekeeper for the governors and pensioner of -the king, this has been my home; the only home I know. Go back, but -send more troops. I will keep the house till you return." - -"Grant that I may return," he cried. "Since you will stay, take this -bag of guineas and keep this key until a governor shall demand it." - -Then, with fierce and moody brow, the governor went forth, and the faded -eyes of Esther Dudley saw him nevermore. When the soldiers of the -republic cast about for quarters in Boston town, they spared the -official mansion to this old woman. Her bridling toryism and assumption -of old state amused them and did no harm; indeed, her loyalty was half -admired; beside, nobody took the pride in the place that she did, or -would keep it in better order. That she sometimes had a half-dozen of -unrepentant codgers in to dinner, and that they were suspected of -drinking healths to George III. in crusted port, was a fact to blink. -Rumor had it that not all her guests were flesh and blood, but that she -had an antique mirror across which ancient occupants of the house would -pass in shadowy procession at her command, and that she was wont to have -the Shirleys, Olivers, Hutchinsons, and Dudleys out of their graves to -hold receptions there; so a touch of dread may have mingled in the -feeling that kept the populace aloof. - -Living thus by herself, refusing to hear of rebel victories, construing -the bonfires, drumming, hurrahs, and bell-ringing to signify fresh -triumphs for England, she drifted farther and farther out of her time -and existed in the shadows of the past. She lighted the windows for the -king's birthday, and often from the cupola watched for a British fleet, -heeding not the people below, who, as they saw her withered face, -repeated the prophecy, with a laugh "When the golden Indian on Province -House shall shoot his arrow and the cock on South Church spire shall -crow, look for a royal governor again." So, when it was bandied about -the streets that the governor was coming, she took it in no wise -strange, but dressed herself in silk and hoops, with store of ancient -jewels, and made ready to receive him. In truth, there was a function, -for already a man of stately mien, and richly dressed, was advancing -through the court, with a staff of men in wigs and laced coats behind -him, and a company of troops at a little distance. Esther Dudley flung -the door wide and dropping on her knees held forth the key with the cry, -"Thank heaven for this hour! God save the king!" - -The governor put off his hat and helped the woman to her feet. -"A strange prayer," said he; "yet we will echo it to this effect: For -the good of the realm that still owns him to be its ruler, God save King -George." - -Esther Dudley stared wildly. That face she remembered now,--the -proscribed rebel, John Hancock; governor, not by royal grant, but by the -people's will. - -"Have I welcomed a traitor? Then let me die." - -"Alas! Mistress Dudley, the world has changed for you in these later -years. America has no king." He offered her his arm, and she clung to -it for a moment, then, sinking down, the great key, that she so long had -treasured, clanked to the floor. - -"I have been faithful unto death," she gasped. "God save the king!" - -The people uncovered, for she was dead. - -"At her tomb," said Hancock, "we will bid farewell forever to the past. -A new day has come for us. In its broad light we will press onward." - - - - - THE LOSS OF JACOB HURD - -Jacob Hurd, stern witch-harrier of Ipswich, can abide nothing out of the -ordinary course of things, whether it be flight on a broomstick or the -wrong adding of figures; so his son gives him trouble, for he is an -imaginative boy, who walks alone, talking to the birds, making rhymes, -picking flowers, and dreaming. That he will never be a farmer, -mechanic, or tradesman is as good as certain, and one day when the child -runs in with a story of a golden horse, with tail and mane of silver, on -which he has ridden over land and sea, climbing mountains and swimming -rivers, he turns pale with fright lest the boy be bewitched; then, as -the awfulness of the invention becomes manifest, he cries, "Thou knowest -thou art lying," and strikes the little fellow. - -The boy staggers into his mother's arms, and that night falls into a -fever, in which he raves of his horse and the places he will see, while -Jacob sits by his side, too sore in heart for words, and he never leaves -the cot for food or sleep till the fever is burned out. Just before he -closes his eyes the child looks about him and says that he hears the -horse pawing in the road, and, either for dust or cloud or sun gleam, it -seems for an instant as if the horse were there. The boy gives a cry of -joy, then sinks upon his pillow, lifeless. - -Some time after this Jacob sets off one morning, while the stars are -out, to see three witches hanged, but at evening his horse comes flying -up the road, splashed with blood and foam, and the neighbors know from -that of Jacob's death, for he is lying by the wayside with an Indian -arrow in his heart and an axemark on his head. The wife runs to the -door, and, though she shakes with fear at its approach, she sees that in -the sunset glow the horse's sides have a shine like gold, and its mane -and tail are silver white. Now the animal is before the house, but the -woman does not faint or cry at the blood splash on the saddle, for--is -it the dust-cloud that takes that shape?--she sees on its back a boy -with a shining face, who throws a kiss at her,--her Paul. He, little -poet, lives in spirit, and has found happiness. - - - - - THE HOBOMAK - -Such was the Indian name of the site of Westboro, Massachusetts, and the -neighboring pond was Hochomocko. The camp of the red men near the shore -was full of bustle one day, for their belle, Iano, was to marry the -young chief, Sassacus. The feast was spread and all were ready to -partake of it, when it was found that the bride was missing. One girl -had seen her steal into the wood with a roguish smile on her lip, and -knew that she intended to play hide-and-seek with Sassacus before she -should be proclaimed a wife, but the day wore on and she did not come. -Among those who were late in reaching camp was Wequoash, who brought a -panther in that he had slain on Boston Hill, and he bragged about his -skill, as usual. There had been a time when he was a rival of the -chief for the hand of Iano, and he showed surprise and concern at her -continued absence. The search went on for two days, and, at the end of -that time, the girl's body was taken from the lake. - -At the funeral none groaned so piteously as Wequoash. Yet Sassacus felt -his loss so keenly that he fell into a sickness next day, and none was -found so constant in his ministrations as Wequoash; but all to no avail, -for within a week Sassacus, too, was dead. As the strongest and bravest -remaining in the tribe, Wequoash became heir to his honors by election. - -A year later he sat moodily by the lakeside, when a flame burst up from -the water, and a canoe floated toward him that a mysterious agency -impelled him to enter. The boat sped toward the flame, that, at his -approach, assumed Iano's form. He heard the water gurgle as he passed -over the spot where the shape had glimmered, but there was no other -sound or check. Next year this thing occurred again, and then the -spirit spoke: "Only once more." - -Yet a third time his fate took him to the spot, and as the hour came on -he called his people to him: "This," said he, "is my death-day. I have -done evil, and the time comes none too soon. Sassacus was your chief. -I envied him his happiness, and gave him poison when I nursed him. -Worse than that, I saw Iano in her canoe on her wedding-day. She had -refused my hand. I entered my canoe and chased her over the water, in -pretended sport, but in the middle of the lake I upset her birch and she -was drowned. See! she comes!" - -For, as he spoke, the light danced up again, and the boat came, self- -impelled, to the strand. Wequoash entered it, and with head bent down -was hurried away. Those on the shore saw the flame condense to a -woman's shape, and a voice issued from it: "It is my hour!" A blinding -bolt of lightning fell, and at the appalling roar of thunder all hid -their faces. When they looked up, boat and flame had vanished. -Whenever, afterward, an Indian rowed across the place where the murderer -had sunk, he dropped a stone, and the monument that grew in that way can -be seen on the pond floor to this day. - - - - - BERKSHIRE TORIES - -The tories of Berkshire, Massachusetts, were men who had been endeared -to the king by holding office under warrant from that sacred personage. -They have been gently dealt with by historians, but that is -"overstrained magnanimity which concentrates its charities and praises -for defeated champions of the wrong, and reserves its censures for -triumphant defenders of the right." While the following incidents have -been so well avouched that they deserve to stand as history, their -picturesqueness justifies renewed acquaintance. - -Among the loyalists was Gideon Smith, of Stockbridge, who had helped -British prisoners to escape, and had otherwise made himself so obnoxious -that he was forced for a time to withdraw and pass a season of penitence -and meditation in a cavern near Lenox, that is called the Tories' Glen. -Here he lay for weeks, none but his wife knowing where he was, but at -his request she walked out every day with her children, leading them -past his cave, where he fed on their faces with hungry eyes. They -prattled on, never dreaming that their father was but a few feet from -them. Smith survived the war and lived to be on good terms with his old -foes. - -In Lenox lived a Tory, one of those respectable buffers to whom wealth -and family had given immunity in the early years of the war, but who -sorely tried the temper of his neighbors by damning everything American -from Washington downward. At last they could endure his abuse no -longer; his example had affected other Anglomaniacs, and a committee -waited on him to tell him that he could either swear allegiance to the -colonies or be hanged. He said he would be hanged if he would swear, or -words to that effect, and hanged he was, on a ready-made gallows in the -street. He was let down shortly, "brought around" with rum, and the -oath was offered again. He refused it. This had not been looked for. -It had been taken for granted that he would abjure his fealty to the -king at the first tightening of the cord. A conference was held, and it -was declared that retreat would be undignified and unsafe, so the Tory -was swung up again, this time with a yank that seemed to "mean -business." He hung for some time, and when lowered gave no sign of -life. There was some show of alarm at this, for nobody wanted to kill -the old fellow, and every effort was made to restore consciousness. At -last the lungs heaved, the purple faded from his cheek, his eyes opened, -and he gasped, "I'll swear." With a shout of joy the company hurried -him to the tavern, seated him before the fire, and put a glass of punch -in his hand. He drank the punch to Washington's health, and after a -time was heard to remark to himself, "It's a hard way to make Whigs, but -it'll do it." - -Nathan Jackson, of Tyringham, was another Yankee who had seen fit to -take arms against his countrymen, and when captured he was charged with -treason and remanded for trial. The jail, in Great Barrington, was so -little used in those days of sturdy virtue that it had become a mere -shed, fit to hold nobody, and Jackson, after being locked into it, might -have walked out whenever he felt disposed; but escape, he thought, would -have been a confession of the wrongness of Tory principles, or of a fear -to stand trial. He found life so monotonous, however, that he asked the -sheriff to let him go out to work during the day, promising to sleep in -his cell, and such was his reputation for honesty that his request was -granted without a demur, the prisoner returning every night to be locked -up. When the time approached for the court to meet in Springfield heavy -harvesting had begun, and, as there was no other case from Berkshire -County to present, the sheriff grumbled at the bother of taking his -prisoner across fifty miles of rough country, but Jackson said that he -would make it all right by going alone. The sheriff was glad to be -released from this duty, so off went the Tory to give himself up and be -tried for his life. On the way he was overtaken by Mr. Edwards, of the -Executive Council, then about to meet in Boston, and without telling his -own name or office, he learned the extraordinary errand of this lonely -pedestrian. Jackson was tried, admitted the charges against him, and -was sentenced to death. While he awaited execution of the law upon him, -the council in Boston received petitions for clemency, and Mr. Edwards -asked if there was none in favor of Nathan Jackson. There was none. -Mr. Edwards related the circumstance of his meeting with the condemned -man, and a murmur of surprise and admiration went around the room. A -despatch was sent to Springfield. When it reached there the prison door -was flung open and Jackson walked forth free. - - - - - THE REVENGE OF JOSIAH BREEZE - -Two thousand Cape Cod fishermen had gone to join the colonial army, and -in their absence the British ships had run in shore to land crews on -mischievous errands. No man, woman, or child on the Cape but hated the -troops and sailors of King George, and would do anything to work them -harm. When the Somerset was wrecked off Truro, in 1778, the crew were -helped ashore, 'tis true, but they were straightway marched to prison, -and it was thought that no other frigate would venture near the shifting -dunes where she had laid her skeleton, as many a good ship had done -before and has done since. It was November, and ugly weather was -shutting in, when a three-decker, that had been tacking off shore and -that flew the red flag, was seen to yaw wildly while reefing sail and -drift toward land with a broken tiller. No warning signal was raised on -the bluffs; not a hand was stirred to rescue. Those who saw the -accident watched with sullen satisfaction the on-coming of the vessel, -nor did they cease to look for disaster when the ship anchored and -stowed sail. - -Ezekiel and Josiah Breeze, father and son, stood at the door of their -cottage and watched her peril until three lights twinkling faintly -through the gray of driving snow were all that showed where the enemy -lay, straining at her cables and tossing on a wrathful sea. They stood -long in silence, but at last the boy exclaimed, "I'm going to the ship." - -"If you stir from here, you're no son of mine," said Ezekiel. - -"But she's in danger, dad." - -"As she oughter be. By mornin' she'll be strewed along the shore and -not a spar to mark where she's a-swingin' now." - -"And the men?" - -"It's a jedgment, boy." - -The lad remembered how the sailors of the Ajax had come ashore to burn -the homes of peaceful fishermen and farmers; how women had been -insulted; how his friends and mates had been cut down at Long Island -with British lead and steel; how, when he ran to warn away a red-faced -fellow that was robbing his garden, the man had struck him on the -shoulder with a cutlass. He had sworn then to be revenged. But to let -a host go down to death and never lift a helping hand--was that a fair -revenge? "I've got to go, dad," he burst forth. "Tomorrow morning -there'll be five hundred faces turned up on the beach, covered with ice -and staring at the sky, and five hundred mothers in England will wonder -when they're goin' to see those faces again. If ever they looked at me -the sight of 'em would never go out of my eyes. I'd be harnted by 'em, -awake and asleep. And to-morrow is Thanksgiving. I've got to go, dad, -and I will." So speaking, he rushed away and was swallowed in the -gloom. - -The man stared after him; then, with a revulsion of feeling, he cried, -"You're right, 'Siah. I'll go with you." But had he called in tones of -thunder he would not have been heard in the roar of the wind and crash -of the surf. As he reached the shore he saw faintly on the -phosphorescent foam a something that climbed a hill of water; it was -lost over its crest and reappeared on the wave beyond; it showed for a -moment on the third wave, then it vanished in the night. "Josiah!" It -was a long, querulous cry. No answer. In half an hour a thing rode by -the watcher on the sands and fell with a crash beside him--a boat bottom -up: his son's. - -Next day broke clear, with new snow on the ground. In his house at -Provincetown, Captain Breeze was astir betimes, for his son Ezekiel, his -grandson Josiah, and all other relatives who were not at the front with -Washington were coming for the family reunion. Plump turkeys were ready -for the roasting, great loaves of bread and cake stood beside the oven, -redoubtable pies of pumpkin and apple filled the air with maddening -odors. The people gathered and chattered around his cheery fire of the -damage that the storm had done, when Ezekiel stumbled in, his brown face -haggard, his lips working, and a tremor in his hands. He said, -"Josiah!" in a thick voice, then leaned his arms against the chimney and -pressed his face upon them. Among fishermen whose lives are in daily -peril the understanding of misfortune is quick, and the old man put -his hand on the shoulder of his son and bent his head. The day of joy -was become a day of gloom. As the news went out, the house began to -fill with sympathizing friends, and there was talking in low voices -through the rooms, when a cry of surprise was heard outside. A ship, -cased in tons of ice, was forging up the harbor, her decks swarming with -blue jackets, some of whom were beating off the frozen masses from lower -spars and rigging. She followed the channel so steadily, it was plain -to be seen that a wise hand was at her helm; her anchor ran out and she -swung on the tide. "The Ajax, as I'm a sinner!" exclaimed a sailor on -shore. A boat put off from her, and people angrily collected at the -wharf, with talk of getting out their guns, when a boyish figure arose -in the stern, and was greeted with a shout of surprise and welcome. - -The boat touched the beach, Josiah Breeze leaped out of it, and in -another minute his father had him in a bear's embrace, making no attempt -to stop the tears that welled out of his eyes. An officer had followed -Josiah on shore, and going to the group he said, "That boy is one to be -proud of. He put out in a sea that few men could face, to save an -enemy's ship and pilot it into the harbor. I could do no less than -bring him back." There was praise and laughter and clasping of hands, -and when the Thanksgiving dinner was placed, smoking, on the board, the -commander of H. M. S. Ajax was among the jolliest of the guests at -Captain Breeze's table. - - - - THE MAY-POLE OF MERRYMOUNT - -The people of Merrymount--unsanctified in the eyes of their Puritan -neighbors, for were they not Episcopals, who had pancakes at Shrovetide -and wassail at Christmas?--were dancing about their May-pole one summer -evening, for they tried to make it May throughout the year. Some were -masked like animals, and all were tricked with flowers and ribbons. -Within their circle, sharing in song and jest, were the lord and lady of -the revels, and an English clergyman waiting to join the pair in -wedlock. Life, they sang, should be all jollity: away with care and -duty; leave wisdom to the weak and old, and sanctity for fools. -Watching the sport from a neighboring wood stood a band of frowning -Puritans, and as the sun set they stalked forth and broke through the -circle. All was dismay. The bells, the laughter, the song were silent, -and some who had tasted Puritan wrath before shrewdly smelled the -stocks. A Puritan of iron face--it was Endicott, who had cut the cross -from the flag of England--warning aside the "priest of Baal," proceeded -to hack the pole down with his sword. A few swinging blows, and down it -sank, with its ribbons and flowers. - -"So shall fall the pride of vain people; so shall come to grief the -preachers of false religion," quoth he. "Truss those fellows to the -trees and give them half a dozen of blows apiece as token that we brook -no ungodly conduct and hostility to our liberties. And you, king and -queen of the May, have you no better things to think about than fiddling -and dancing? How if I punish you both?" - -"Had I the power I'd punish you for saying it," answered the swain; -"but, as I have not, I am compelled to ask that the girl go unharmed." - -"Will you have it so, or will you share your lover's punishment?" asked -Endicott. - -"I will take all upon myself," said the woman. - -The face of the governor softened. "Let the young fellow's hair be cut, -in pumpkin-shell fashion," he commanded; "then bring them to me but -gently." - -He was obeyed, and as the couple came before him, hand in hand, he took -a chain of roses from the fallen pole and cast it about their necks. -And so they were married. Love had softened rigor and all were better -for the assertion of a common humanity. But the May-pole of Merrymount -was never set up again. There were no more games and plays and dances, -nor singing of worldly music. The town went to ruin, the merrymakers -were scattered, and the gray sobriety of religion and toil fell on -Pilgrim land again. - - - - - THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER - -When Charles River was lined with groves and marshes there lived in a -cabin, near Brighton, Massachusetts, an ill-fed rascal named Tom Walker. -There was but one in the commonwealth who was more penurious, and that -was his wife. They squabbled over the spending of a penny and each -grudged food to the other. One day as Tom walked through the pine wood -near his place, by habit watching the ground--for even there a farthing -might be discovered--he prodded his stick into a skull, cloven deep by -an Indian tomahawk. He kicked it, to shake the dirt off, when a gruff -voice spake: "What are you doing in my grounds?" A swarthy fellow, with -the face of a charcoal burner, sat on a stump, and Tom wondered that he -had not seen him as he approached. - -He replied, "Your grounds! They belong to Deacon Peabody." - -"Deacon Peabody be damned!" cried the black fellow; "as I think he will -be, anyhow, if he does not look after his own sins a little sharper and -a little less curiously after his neighbors'. Look, if you want to see -how he is faring," and, pointing to a tree, he called Tom to notice that -the deacon's name was written on the bark and that it was rotten at the -core. To his surprise, Tom found that nearly every tree had the name of -some prominent man cut upon it. - -"Who are you?" he asked. - -"I go by different names in different places," replied the dark one. -"In some countries I am the black miner; in some the wild huntsman; here -I am the black woodman. I am the patron of slave dealers and master of -Salem witches." - -"I think you are the devil," blurted Tom. - -"At your service," replied his majesty. - -Now, Tom, having lived long with Mrs. Walker, had no fear of the devil, -and he stopped to have a talk with him. The devil remarked, in a -careless tone, that Captain Kidd had buried his treasure in that wood, -under his majesty's charge, and that whoever wished could find and keep -it by making the usual concession. This Tom declined. He told his wife -about it, however, and she was angry with him for not having closed the -bargain at once, declaring that if he had not courage enough to add this -treasure to their possessions she would not hesitate to do it. Tom -showed no disposition to check her. If she got the money he would try -to get a share of it, and if the devil took away his helpmate--well, -there were things that he had made his mind to endure, when he had to. -True enough, the woman started for the wood before sundown, with her -spoons in her apron. When Tom discovered that the spoons were gone he, -too, set off, for he wanted those back, anyway; but he did not overtake -his wife. An apron was found in a tree containing a dried liver and a -withered heart, and near that place the earth had been trampled and -strewn with handfuls of coarse hair that reminded Tom of the man that he -had met in the woods. "Egad!" he muttered, "Old Nick must have had a -tough time with her." Half in gratitude and half in curiosity, Tom -waited to speak to the dark man, and was next day rewarded by seeing -that personage come through the wood with an axe, whistling carelessly. -Tom at once approached him on the subject of the buried treasure--not -the vanished wife, for her he no longer regarded as a treasure. - -After some haggling the devil proposed that Tom should start a loan -office in Boston and use Kidd's money in exacting usury. This suited -Tom, who promised to screw four per cent. a month out of the -unfortunates who might ask his aid, and he was seen to start for town -with a bag which his neighbors thought to hold his crop of starveling -turnips, but which was really a king's ransom in gold and jewels--the -earnings of Captain Kidd in long years of honest piracy. It was in -Governor Belcher's time, and cash was scarce. Merchants and -professional men as well as the thriftless went to Tom for money, -and, as he always had it, his business grew until he seemed to have a -mortgage on half the men in Boston who were rich enough to be in debt. -He even went so far as to move into a new house, to ride in his own -carriage, and to eat enough to keep body and soul together, for he did -not want to give up his soul to the one who would claim it just yet. - -The most singular proof of his thrift--showing that he wanted to save -soul and money both--was shown in his joining the church and becoming a -prayerful Christian. He kept a Bible in his pocket and another on his -desk, resolved to be prepared if a certain gentleman should call. He -buried his old horse feet uppermost, for he was taught that on -resurrection day the world would be turned upside down, and he was -resolved, if his enemy appeared, to give him a run for it. While -employed one afternoon in the congenial task of foreclosing a mortgage -his creditor begged for another day to raise the money. Tom was -irritable on account of the hot weather and talked to him as a good man -of the church ought not to do. - -"You have made so much money out of me," wailed the victim of Tom's -philanthropies. - -"Now, the devil take me if I have made a farthing!" exclaimed Tom. - -At that instant there were three knocks at the door, and, stepping out -to see who was there, the money lender found himself in presence of his -fate. His little Bible was in a coat on a nail, and the bigger one was -on his desk. He was without defence. The evil one caught him up like a -child, had him on the back of his snorting steed in no time, and giving -the beast a cut he flew like the wind in the teeth of a rising storm -toward the marshes of Brighton. As he reached there a lightning flash -descended into the wood and set it on fire. At the same moment Tom's -house was discovered to be in flames. When his effects were examined -nothing was found in his strong boxes but cinders and shavings. - - - - - THE GRAY CHAMPION - -It befell Sir Edmund Andros to make himself the most hated of the -governors sent to represent the king in New England. A spirit of -independence, born of a free soil, was already moving in the people's -hearts, and the harsh edicts of this officer, as well as the oppressive -measures of his master, brought him into continual conflict with the -people. He it was who went to Hartford to demand the surrender of the -liberties of that colony. The lights were blown out and the patent of -those liberties was hurried away from under his nose and hidden from his -reach in a hollow of the Charter Oak. - -In Boston, too, he could call no American his friend, and it was there -that he met one of the first checks to his arrogance. It was an April -evening in 1689, and there was an unusual stir in the streets. People -were talking in low tones, and one caught such phrases as, "If the -Prince of Orange is successful, this Andros will lose his head." "Our -pastors are to be burned alive in King Street." "The pope has ordered -Andros to celebrate the eve of St. Bartholomew in Boston: we are to be -killed." "Our old Governor Bradstreet is in town, and Andros fears -him." While talk was running in this excited strain the sound of a drum -was heard coming through Cornhill. Now was seen a file of soldiers with -guns on shoulder, matches twinkling in the falling twilight, and behind -them, on horseback, Andros and his councillors, including the priest of -King's Chapel, all wearing crucifixes at their throats, all flushed with -wine, all looking down with indifference at the people in their dark -cloaks and broadbrimmed hats, who looked back at them with suspicion and -hate. The soldiers trod the streets like men unused to giving way, and -the crowd fell back, pressed against the buildings. Groans and hisses -were heard, and a voice sent up this cry, "Lord of Hosts, provide a -champion for thy people!" - -Ere the echo of that call had ceased there came from the other end of -the street, stepping as in time to the drum, an aged man, in cloak and -steeple hat, with heavy sword at his thigh. His port was that of a -king, and his dignity was heightened by a snowy beard that fell to his -waist. Taking the middle of the way he marched on until he was but a -few paces from the advancing column. None knew him and he seemed to -recognize none among the crowd. As he drew himself to his height, it -seemed in the dusk as if he were of no mortal mould. His eye blazed, he -thrust his staff before him, and in a voice of invincible command cried, -"Halt!" - -Half because it was habit to obey the word, half because they were cowed -by the majestic presence, the guard stood still and the drum was -silenced. Andros spurred forward, but even he made a pause when he saw -the staff levelled at his breast. "Forward!" he blustered. "Trample -the dotard into the street. How dare you stop the king's governor?" - -"I have stayed the march of a king himself," was the answer. "The king -you serve no longer sits on the throne of England. To-morrow you will -be a prisoner. Back, lest you reach the scaffold!" - -A moment of hesitation on Andros's part encouraged the people to press -closer, and many of them took no pains to hide the swords and pistols -that were girt upon them. The groans and hisses sounded louder. "Down -with Andros! Death to tyrants! A curse on King James!" came from -among the throng, and some of them stooped as if to tear up the pavings. -Doubtful, yet overawed, the governor wheeled about and gloomily marched -back through the streets where he had ridden so arrogantly. In truth, -his next night was spent in prison, for James had fled from England, and -William held the throne. All eyes being on the retreating company, the -champion of the people was not seen to depart, but when they turned to -praise and thank him he had vanished, and there were those who said that -he had melted into twilight. - -The incident had passed into legend, and fourscore years had followed -it, when the soldiers of another king of England marched down State -Street, and fired on the people of Boston who were gathered below the -old State House. Again it was said that the form of a tall, white- -bearded man in antique garb was seen in that street, warning back the -troops and encouraging the people to resist them. On the little field -of Lexington in early dawn, and at the breastwork on Bunker Hill, where -farmers worked by lantern-light, this dark form was seen--the spirit of -New England. And it is told that whenever any foreign foe or domestic -oppressor shall dare the temper of the people, in the van of the -resisting army shall be found this champion. - - - - - THE FOREST SMITHY - -Early in this century a man named Ainsley appeared at Holyoke, -Massachusetts, and set up a forge in a wood at the edge of the village, -with a two-room cottage to live in. A Yankee peddler once put up at his -place for shelter from a storm, and as the rain increased with every -hour he begged to remain in the house over night, promising to pay for -his accommodation in the morning. The blacksmith, who seemed a mild, -considerate man, said that he was willing, but that, as the rooms were -small, it would be well to refer the matter to his wife. As the peddler -entered the house the wife--a weary-looking woman with white hair-- -seated herself at once in a thickly-cushioned arm-chair, and, as if -loath to leave it, told the peddler that if he would put up with simple -fare and a narrow berth he was welcome. After a candle had been lighted -the three sat together for some time, talking of crops and trade, when -there came a rush of hoofs without and a hard-looking man, who had -dismounted at the door, entered without knocking. The blacksmith turned -pale and the wife's face expressed sore anxiety. - -"What brings you here?" asked the smith. - -"I must pass the night here," answered the man. - -"But, stranger, I can't accommodate you. We have but one spare room, -and that has been taken by the man who is sitting there." - -"Then give me a bit to eat." - -"Get the stranger something," said the woman to her husband, without -rising. - -"Are you lame, that you don't get it yourself?" - -The woman paused; then said, "Husband, you are tired. Sit here and I -will wait on the stranger." - -The blacksmith took the seat, when the stranger again blustered, "It -would be courtesy to offer me that chair, tired as I am. Perhaps you -don't know that I am an officer of the law?" - -When supper was ready they took their places, the woman drawing up the -arm-chair for her own use, but, as the custom was, they all knelt to say -grace, and while their faces were buried in their hands the candle was -blown out. The stranger jumped up and began walking around the room. -When a light could be found he had gone and the cushion had disappeared -from the chair. "Oh! After all these years!" wailed the woman, and -falling on her knees she sobbed like a child, while her husband in vain -tried to comfort her. The peddler, who had already gone to bed, but who -had seen a part of this puzzling drama through the open door, knew not -what to do, but, feeling some concern for the safety of his own -possessions, he drew his pack into bed with him, and, being tired, fell -asleep with the sobs of the woman sounding in his ears. - -When he awoke it was broad day and the earth was fresh and bright from -its bath. After dressing he passed into the other room, finding the -table still set, the chair before it without its cushion, the fire out, -and nobody in or about the house. The smithy was deserted, and to his -call there was no response but the chattering of jays in the trees; so, -shouldering his pack, he resumed his journey. He opened his pack at a -farm-house to repair a clock, when he discovered that his watches were -gone, and immediately lodged complaint with the sheriff, but nothing was -ever seen again of Ainsley, his wife, or the rough stranger. Who was -the thief? What was in the cushion? And what brought the stranger to -the house? - - - - - WAHCONAH FALLS - -The pleasant valley of Dalton, in the Berkshire Hills, had been under -the rule of Miacomo for forty years when a Mohawk dignitary of fifty -scalps and fifty winters came a-wooing his daughter Wahconah. On a June -day in 1637, as the girl sat beside the cascade that bears her name, -twining flowers in her hair and watching leaves float down the stream, -she became conscious of a pair of eyes bent on her from a neighboring -coppice, and arose in some alarm. Finding himself discovered, the owner -of the eyes, a handsome young fellow, stepped forward with a quieting -air of friendliness, and exclaimed, "Hail, Bright Star!" - -"Hail, brother," answered Wahconah. - -"I am Nessacus," said the man, "one of King Philip's soldiers. Nessacus -is tired with his flight from the Long Knives (the English), and his -people faint. Will Bright Star's people shut their lodges against him -and his friends?" - -The maiden answered, "My father is absent, in council with the Mohawks, -but his wigwams are always open. Follow." - -Nessacus gave a signal, and forth from the wood came a sad-eyed, battle- -worn troop that mustered about him. Under the girl's lead they went -down to the valley and were hospitably housed. Five days later Miacomo -returned, with him the elderly Mohawk lover, and a priest, Tashmu, of -repute a cringing schemer, with whom hunters and soldiers could have -nothing in common, and whom they would gladly have put out of the way -had they not been deterred by superstitious fears. The strangers were -welcomed, though Tashmu looked at them gloomily, and there were games in -their honor, Nessacus usually proving the winner, to Wahconah's joy, for -she and the young warrior had fallen in love at first sight, and it was -not long before he asked her father for her hand. Miacomo favored the -suit, but the priest advised him, for politic reasons, to give the girl -to the old Mohawk, and thereby cement a tribal friendship that in those -days of English aggression might be needful. The Mohawk had three wives -already, but he was determined to add Wahconah to his collection, and he -did his best, with threats and flattery, to enforce his suit. Nessacus -offered to decide the matter in a duel with his rival, and the challenge -was accepted, but the wily Tashmu discovered in voices of wind and -thunder, flight of birds and shape of clouds, such omens that the scared -Indians unanimously forbade a resort to arms. "Let the Great Spirit -speak," cried Tashmu, and all yielded their consent. - -Invoking a ban on any who should follow, Tashmu proclaimed that he would -pass that night in Wizard's Glen, where, by invocations, he would learn -the divine will. At sunset he stalked forth, but he had not gone far -ere the Mohawk joined him, and the twain proceeded to Wahconah Falls. -There was no time for magical hocus-pocus that night, for both of them -toiled sorely in deepening a portion of the stream bed, so that the -current ran more swiftly and freely on that side, and in the morning -Tashmu announced in what way the Great Spirit would show his choice. -Assembling the tribe on the river-bank, below a rock that midway split -the current, a canoe, with symbols painted on it, was set afloat near -the falls. If it passed the dividing rock on the side where Nessacus -waited, he should have Wahconah. If it swerved to the opposite shore, -where the Mohawk and his counsellor stood, the Great Spirit had chosen -the old chief for her husband. Of course, the Mohawk stood on the -deeper side. On came the little boat, keeping the centre of the stream. -It struck the rock, and all looked eagerly, though Tashmu and the Mohawk -could hardly suppress an exultant smile. A little wave struck the -canoe: it pivoted against the rock and drifted to the feet of Nessacus. -A look of blank amazement came over the faces of the defeated wooer and -his friend, while a shout of gladness went up, that the Great Spirit had -decided so well. The young couple were wed with rejoicings; the Mohawk -trudged homeward, and, to the general satisfaction, Tashmu disappeared -with him. Later, when Tashmu was identified as the one who had guided -Major Talcott's soldiers to the valley, the priest was caught and slain -by Miacomo's men. - - - - - KNOCKING AT THE TOMB - -Knock, knock, knock! The bell has just gone twelve, and there is the -clang again upon the iron door of the tomb. The few people of Lanesboro -who are paying the penance of misdeeds or late suppers, by lying awake -at that dread hour, gather their blankets around their shoulders and -mutter a word of prayer for deliverance against unwholesome visitors of -the night. Why is the old Berkshire town so troubled? Who is it that -lies buried in that tomb, with its ornament of Masonic symbols? Why was -the heavy iron knocker placed on the door? The question is asked, but -no one will answer it, nor will any say who the woman is that so often -visits the cemetery at the stroke of midnight and sounds the call into -the chamber of the dead. Starlight, moonlight, or storm--it makes no -difference to the woman. There she goes, in her black cloak, seen dim -in the night, except where there are snow and moon together, and there -she waits, her hand on the knocker, for the bell to strike to set up her -clangor. Some say that she is crazy, and it is her freak to do this -thing. Is she calling on the corpses to rise and have a dance among the -graves? or has she been asked to call the occupant of that house at a -given hour? Perhaps, weary of life, she is asking for admittance to the -rest and silence of the tomb. She has long been beneath the sod, this -troubler of dreams. Who knows her secret? - - - - - THE WHITE DEER OF ONOTA - -Beside quiet Onota, in the Berkshire Hills, dwelt a band of Indians, and -while they lived here a white deer often came to drink. So rare was the -appearance of an animal like this that its visits were held as good -omens, and no hunter of the tribe ever tried to slay it. A prophet of -the race had said, "So long as the white doe drinks at Onota, famine -shall not blight the Indian's harvest, nor pestilence come nigh his -lodge, nor foeman lay waste his country." And this prophecy held true. -That summer when the deer came with a fawn as white and graceful as -herself, it was a year of great abundance. On the outbreak of the -French and Indian War a young officer named Montalbert was despatched to -the Berkshire country to persuade the Housatonic Indians to declare -hostility to the English, and it was as a guest in the village of Onota -that he heard of the white deer. Sundry adventurers had made valuable -friendships by returning to the French capital with riches and -curiosities from the New World. Even Indians had been abducted as gifts -for royalty, and this young ambassador resolved that when he returned to -his own country the skin of the white deer should be one of the trophies -that would win him a smile from Louis. - -He offered a price for it--a price that would have bought all their -possessions and miles of the country roundabout, but their deer was -sacred, and their refusal to sacrifice it was couched in such indignant -terms that he wisely said no more about it in the general hearing. -There was in the village a drunken fellow, named Wondo, who had come to -that pass when he would almost have sold his soul for liquor, and him -the officer led away and plied with rum until he promised to bring the -white doe to him. The pretty beast was so familiar with men that she -suffered Wondo to catch her and lead her to Montalbert. Making sure -that none was near, the officer plunged his sword into her side and the -innocent creature fell. The snowy skin, now splashed with red, was -quickly stripped off, concealed among the effects in Montalbert's -outfit, and he set out for Canada; but he had not been many days on his -road before Wondo, in an access of misery and repentance, confessed to -his share of the crime that had been done and was slain on the moment. - -With the death of the deer came an end to good fortune. Wars, blights, -emigration followed, and in a few years not a wigwam was left standing -beside Onota. - -There is a pendant to this legend, incident to the survival of the -deer's white fawn. An English hunter, visiting the lake with dog and -gun, was surprised to see on its southern bank a white doe. The animal -bent to drink and at the same moment the hunter put his gun to his -shoulder. Suddenly a howl was heard, so loud, so long, that the woods -echoed it, and the deer, taking alarm, fled like the wind. The howl -came from the dog, and, as that animal usually showed sagacity in the -presence of game, the hunter was seized with a fear that its form was -occupied, for the time, by a hag who lived alone in the "north woods," -and who was reputed to have appeared in many shapes--for this was not so -long after witch times that their influence was forgotten. - -Drawing his ramrod, the man gave his dog such a beating that the poor -creature had something worth howling for, because it might be the witch -that he was thrashing. Then running to the shanty of the suspected -woman he flung open her door and demanded to see her back, for, if she -had really changed her shape, every blow that he had given to the dog -would have been scored on her skin. When he had made his meaning clear, -the crone laid hold on the implement that served her for horse at night, -and with the wooden end of it rained blows on him so rapidly that, if -the dog had had half the meanness in his nature that some people have, -the spectacle would have warmed his heart, for it was a prompt and -severe revenge for his sufferings. And to the last the hunter could not -decide whether the beating that he received was prompted by indignation -or vengeance. - - - - - WIZARD'S GLEN - -Four miles from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, among the Berkshire Hills, is -a wild valley, noted for its echoes, that for a century and more has -been called Wizard's Glen. Here the Indian priests performed their -incantations, and on the red-stained Devil's Altar, it was said, they -offered human sacrifice to Hobomocko and his demons of the wood. In -Berkshire's early days a hunter, John Chamberlain, of Dalton, who had -killed a deer and was carrying it home on his shoulders, was overtaken -on the hills by a storm and took shelter from it in a cavernous recess -in Wizard's Glen. In spite of his fatigue he was unable to sleep, and -while lying on the earth with open eyes he was amazed to see the wood -bend apart before him, disclosing a long aisle that was mysteriously -lighted and that contained hundreds of capering forms. As his eyes grew -accustomed to the faint light he made out tails and cloven feet on the -dancing figures; and one tall form with wings, around whose head a -wreath of lightning glittered, and who received the deference of the -rest, he surmised to be the devil himself. It was such a night and such -a place as Satan and his imps commonly chose for high festivals. - -As he lay watching them through the sheeted rain a tall and painted -Indian leaped on Devil's Altar, fresh scalps dangling round his body in -festoons, and his eyes blazing with fierce command. In a brief -incantation he summoned the shadow hordes around him. They came, with -torches that burned blue, and went around and around the rock singing a -harsh chant, until, at a sign, an Indian girl was dragged in and flung -on the block of sacrifice. The figures rushed toward her with extended -arms and weapons, and the terrified girl gave one cry that rang in the -hunter's ears all his life after. The wizard raised his axe: the devils -and vampires gathered to drink the blood and clutch the escaping soul, -when in a lightning flash the girl's despairing glance fell on the face -of Chamberlain. That look touched his manhood, and drawing forth his -Bible he held it toward the rabble while he cried aloud the name of God. -There was a crash of thunder. The light faded, the demons vanished, the -storm swept past, and peace settled on the hills. - - - - - BALANCED ROCK - -Balanced Rock, or Rolling Rock, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a -mass of limestone that was deposited where it stands by the great -continental glacier during the ice age, and it weighs four hundred and -eighty tons (estimated) in spite of its centuries of weathering. Here -one of the Atotarhos, kings of the Six Nations, had his camp. He was a -fierce man, who ate and drank from bowls made of the skulls of enemies, -and who, when he received messages and petitions, wreathed himself from -head to foot with poison snakes. The son of this ferocious being -inherited none of his war-like tendencies; indeed, the lad was almost -feminine in appearance, and on succeeding to power he applied himself to -the cultivation of peaceful arts. Later historians have uttered a -suspicion that he was a natural son of Count Frontenac, but that does -not suit with this legend. - -The young Atotarho stood near Balanced Rock watching a number of big -boys play duff. In this game one stone is placed upon another and the -players, standing as far from it as they fancy they can throw, attempt -to knock it out of place with other stones. The silence of Atotarho and -his slender, girlish look called forth rude remarks from the boys, who -did not know him, and who dared him to test his skill. The young chief -came forward, and as he did so the jeers and laughter changed to cries -of astonishment and fear, for at each step he grew in size until he -towered above them, a giant. Then they knew him, and fell down in -dread, but he took no revenge. Catching up great bowlders he tossed -them around as easily as if they had been beechnuts, and at last, -lifting the balanced rock, he placed it lightly where it stands to-day, -gave them a caution against ill manners and hasty judgments, and resumed -his slender form. For many years after, the old men of the tribe -repeated this story and its lesson from the top of Atotarho's duff. - - - - - SHONKEEK-MOONKEEK - -This is the Mohegan name of the pretty lake in the Berkshires now called -Pontoosuc. Shonkeek was a boy, Moonkeek a girl, and they were cousins -who grew up as children commonly do, whether in house or wigwam: they -roamed the woods and hills together, filled their baskets with flowers -and berries, and fell in love. But the marriage of cousins was -forbidden in the Mohegan polity, and when they reached an age in which -they found companionship most delightful their rambles were interdicted -and they were even told to avoid each other. This had the usual effect, -and they met on islands in the lake at frequent intervals, to the -torment of one Nockawando, who wished to wed the girl himself, and -who reported her conduct to her parents. - -The lovers agreed, after this, to fly to an Eastern tribe into which -they would ask to be adopted, but they were pledged, if aught interfered -with their escape, to meet beneath the lake. Nockawando interfered. On -the next night, as the unsuspecting Shonkeek was paddling over to the -island where the maid awaited him, the jealous rival, rowing softly in -his wake, sent an arrow into his back, and Shonkeek, without a cry, -pitched headlong into the water. Yet, to the eyes of Nockawando, he -appeared to keep his seat and urge his canoe forward. The girl saw the -boat approach: it sped, now, like an eagle's flight. One look, as it -passed the rock; one glance at the murderer, crouching in his birchen -vessel, and with her lover's name on her lips she leaped into her own -canoe and pushed out from shore. Nockawando heard her raise the death- -song and rowed forward as rapidly as he could, but near the middle of -the lake his arm fell palsied. - -The song had ended and the night had become strangely, horribly still. -Not a chirp of cricket, not a lap of wave, not a rustle of leaf. -Motionless the girl awaited, for his boat was still moving by the -impetus of his last stroke of the paddle. The evening star was shining -low on the horizon, and as her figure loomed in the darkness the star -shone through at the point where her eye had looked forth. It was no -human creature that sat there. Then came the dead man's boat. The two -shadows rowed noiselessly together, and as they disappeared in the mist -that was now settling on the landscape, an unearthly laugh rang over the -lake; then all was still. When Nockawando reached the camp that night -he was a raving maniac. The Indians never found the bodies of the pair, -but they believed that while water remains in Pontoosuc its surface will -be vexed by these journeys of the dead. - - - - - THE SALEM ALCHEMIST - -In 1720 there lived in a turreted house at North and Essex Streets, in -Salem, a silent, dark-visaged man,--a reputed chemist. He gathered -simples in the fields, and parcels and bottles came and went between him -and learned doctors in Boston; but report went around that it was not -drugs alone that he worked with, nor medicines for passing ailments that -he distilled. The watchman, drowsily pacing the streets in the small -hours, saw his shadow move athwart the furnace glare in his tower, and -other shadows seemed at the moment to flit about it--shadows that could -be thrown by no tangible form, yet that had a grotesque likeness to the -human kind. A clink of hammers and a hiss of steam were sometimes -heard, and his neighbors devoutly hoped that if he secured the secret of -the philosopher's stone or the universal solvent, it would be honestly -come by. - -But it was neither gold nor the perilous strong water that he wanted. -It was life: the elixir that would dispel the chill and decrepitude of -age, that would bring back the youthful sparkle to the eye and set the -pulses bounding. He explored the surrounding wilderness day after day; -the juices of its trees and plants he compounded, night after night, -long without avail. Not until after a thousand failures did he conceive -that he had secured the ingredients but they were many, they were -perishable, they must be distilled within five days, for fermentation -and decay would set in if he delayed longer. Gathering the herbs and -piling his floor with fuel, he began his work, alone; the furnace -glowed, the retorts bubbled, and through their long throats trickled -drops--golden, ruddy, brown, and crystal--that would be combined into -that precious draught. - -And none too soon, for under the strain of anxiety he seemed to be aging -fast. He took no sleep, except while sitting upright in his chair, for, -should he yield entirely to nature's appeal, his fire would die and his -work be spoiled. With heavy eyes and aching head he watched his furnace -and listened to the constant drip, drip of the precious liquor. It was -the fourth day. He had knelt to stir his fire to more active burning. -Its brightness made him blink, its warmth was grateful, and he reclined -before it, with elbow on the floor and head resting on his hand. How -cheerily the logs hummed and crackled, yet how drowsily--how slow the -hours were--how dull the watch! Lower, lower sank the head, and heavier -grew the eyes. At last he lay full length on the floor, and the long -sleep of exhaustion had begun. - -He was awakened by the sound of a bell. "The church bell!" he cried, -starting up. "And people going through the streets to meeting. How is -this? The sun is in the east! My God! I have been asleep! The -furnace is cold. The elixir!" He hastily blended the essences that he -had made, though one or two ingredients were still lacking, and drank -them off. "Faugh!" he exclaimed. "Still unfinished-perhaps spoiled. -I must begin again." Taking his hat and coat he uttered a weary sigh -and was about to open the door when his cheek blenched with pain, sight -seemed to leave him, the cry for help that rose to his lips was stifled -in a groan of anguish, a groping gesture brought a shelf of retorts and -bottles to the floor, and he fell writhing among their fragments. The -elixir of life, unfinished, was an elixir of death. - - - - - ELIZA WHARTON - -Under the name of Eliza Wharton for a brief time lived a woman whose -name was said to be Elizabeth Whitman. Little is known of her, and it -is thought that she had gone among strangers to conceal disgrace. She -died without telling her story. In 1788 she arrived at the Bell Tavern, -Danvers, in company with a man, who, after seeing her properly bestowed, -drove away and never returned. A graceful, beautiful, well-bred woman, -with face overcast by a tender melancholy, she kept indoors with her -books, her sewing, and a guitar, avoiding the gossip of the idle. She -said that her husband was absent on a journey, and a letter addressed to -"Mrs. Eliza Wharton" was to be seen on her table when she received -callers. Once a stranger paused at her door and read the name thereon. -As he passed on the woman groaned, "I am undone!" One good woman, -seeing her need of care and defiant of village prattling, took her to -her home, and there, after giving birth to a dead child, she passed -away. Among her effects were letters full of pathetic appeal, and some -verses, closing thus: - - "O thou for whose dear sake I bear - A doom so dreadful, so severe, - May happy fates thy footsteps guide - And o'er thy peaceful home preside. - Nor let Eliza's early tomb - Infect thee with its baleful gloom." - -A stone was raised above her grave, by whom it is not known, and this -inscription was engraved thereon: "This humble stone, in memory of -Elizabeth Whitman, is inscribed by her weeping friends, to whom she -endeared herself by uncommon tenderness and affection. Endowed with -superior genius and acquirements, she was still more endeared by -humility and benevolence. Let candor throw a veil over her frailties, -for great was her charity for others. She sustained the last painful -scene far from every friend, and exhibited an example of calm -resignation. Her departure was on the 25th of July, 1788, in the -thirty-seventh year of her age, and the tears of strangers watered -her grave." - - - - - SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS - -Bitter were the persecutions endured by Quakers at the hands of the -Puritans. They were flogged if they were restless in church, and -flogged if they did not go to it. Their ears were slit and they were -set in the stocks if they preached, and if any tender-hearted person -gave them bed, bite, or sup, he, too, was liable to punishment. They -were charged with the awful offence of preaching false doctrine, and no -matter how pure their lives might be, the stern Salemite would concede -no good of them while their faith was different from his. They even -suspected Cobbler Keezar of mischief when he declared that his magic -lapstone which Agrippa had torn from the tower at Nettesheim--gave him a -vision of the time when men would be as glad as nature, when the -"snuffler of psalms" would sing for joy, when priests and Quakers would -talk together kindly, when pillory and gallows should be gone. Poor -Keezar! In ecstasy at that prospect he flung up his arms, and his -lapstone rolled into the Merrimack. The tired mill-girls of Lowell -still frequent the spot to seek some dim vision of future comfort. - -In contrast to the tales of habitual tyranny toward the Quakers is the -tradition of the Southwicks. Lawrence and Cassandra, of that name, were -banished from Salem, in spite of their blameless lives, for they had -embraced Quakerism. They died within three days of each other on -Shelter Island, but their son and daughter, Daniel and Provided, -returned to their birthplace, and were incessantly fined for not going -to church. At last, having lost their property through seizures made -to satisfy their fines, the General Court of Boston issued an order for -their sale, as slaves, to any Englishman of Virginia or Barbadoes. -Edward Butter was assigned to sell and take them to their master. The -day arrived and Salem market-place was crowded with a throng of the -curious. Provided Southwick mounted the block and Butter began to call -for bids. While expatiating on the aptness of the girl for field or -houseservice, the master of the Barbadoes ship on which Butter had -engaged passage for himself and his two charges looked into her innocent -face, and roared, in noble dudgeon, "If my ship were filled with silver, -by God, I'd sink her in harbor rather than take away this child!" The -multitude experienced a quick change of feeling and applauded the -sentiment. As the judges and officers trudged away with gloomy faces, -Provided Southwick descended from the auction-block, and brother and -sister went forth into the town free and unharmed. - - - - - THE COURTSHIP OF MYLES STANDISH - -Myles Standish, compact, hard-headed little captain of the Puritan guard -at Plymouth, never knew the meaning of fear until he went a-courting -Priscilla Mullins--or was she a Molines, as some say? He had fought -white men and red men and never reeked of danger in the doing it, but -his courage sank to his boots whenever this demure maiden glanced at -him, as he thought, with approval. Odd, too, for he had been married -once, and Rose was not so long dead that he had forgotten the ways and -likings of women; but he made no progress in his suit, and finally chose -John Alden to urge it for him. John--who divides with Mary Chilton the -honor of being first to land on Plymouth Rock--was a well-favored lad of -twenty-two. Until he could build a house for himself he shared -Standish's cottage and looked up to that worthy as a guardian, but it -was a hard task that was set for him now. He went to goodman Mullins -with a slow step and sober countenance and asked leave to plead his -protector's cause. The father gave it, called his daughter in, and left -them together; then, with noble faith to his mission, the young man -begged the maiden's hand for the captain, dwelling on his valor, -strength, wisdom, his military greatness, his certainty of promotion, -his noble lineage, and all good attributes he could endow him with. - -Priscilla kept at her spinning while this harangue went on, but the -drone of the wheel did not prevent her noting a sigh and a catch of the -breath that interrupted the discourse now and then. She flushed as she -replied, "Why does not Captain Standish come to me himself? If I am -worth the winning I ought to be worth the wooing." - -But John Alden seemed not to notice the girl's confusion until, in a -pause in his eloquence, Priscilla bent her head a little, as if to mend -a break in the flax, and said, "Prithee, John, why don't you speak for -yourself?" - -Then a great light broke on the understanding of John Alden, and a great -warmth welled up in his heart, and--they were married. Myles Standish-- -well, some say that he walked in the wedding procession, while one -narrator holds that the sturdy Roundhead tramped away to the woods, -where he sat for a day, hating himself, and that he never forgave his -protege nor the maiden who took advantage of leap year. However that -may be, the wedding was a happy one, and the Aldens of all America claim -John and Priscilla for their ancestors. - - - - - MOTHER CREWE - -Mother Crewe was of evil repute in Plymouth in the last century. It was -said that she had taken pay for luring a girl into her old farm-house, -where a man lay dead of small-pox, with intent to harm her beauty; she -was accused of blighting land and driving ships ashore with spells; in -brief, she was called a witch, and people, even those who affected to -ignore the craft of wizardry, were content to keep away from her. When -the Revolution ended, Southward Howland demanded Dame Crewe's house and -acre, claiming under law of entail, though primogeniture had been little -enforced in America, where there was room and to spare for all. But -Howland was stubborn and the woman's house had good situation, so one -day he rode to her door and summoned her with a tap of his whip. - -"What do you here on my land?" said he. - -"I live on land that is my own. I cleared it, built my house here, and -no other has claim to it." - -"Then I lay claim. The place is mine. I shall tear your cabin down on -Friday." - -"On Friday they'll dig your grave on Burying Hill. I see the shadow -closing round you. You draw it in with every breath. Quick! Home and -make your peace!" The hag's withered face was touched with spots of red -and her eyes glared in their sunken sockets. - -"Bandy no witch words with me, woman. On Friday I will return." And he -swung himself into his saddle. As he did so a black cat leaped on -Mother Crewe's shoulder and stood there, squalling. The woman listened -to its cries as if they were words. Her look of hate deepened. Raising -her hand, she cried, "Your day is near its end. Repent!" - -"Bah! You have heard what I have said. If on Friday you are not -elsewhere, I'll tear the timbers down and bury you in the ruins." - -"Enough!" cried the woman, her form straightening, her voice grown -shrill. "My curse is on you here and hereafter. Die! Then go down to -hell!" - -As she said this the cat leaped from her shoulder to the flank of the -horse, spitting and clawing, and the frightened steed set off at a -furious pace. As he disappeared in the scrub oaks his master was seen -vainly trying to stop him. The evening closed in with fog and chill, -and before the light waned a man faring homeward came upon the corpse of -Southward Howland stretched along the ground. - - - - - AUNT RACHEL'S CURSE - -On a headland near Plymouth lived "Aunt Rachel," a reputed seer, who -made a scant livelihood by forecasting the future for such seagoing -people as had crossed her palm. The crew of a certain brig came to see -her on the day before sailing, and she reproached one of the lads for -keeping bad company. "Avast, there, granny," interrupted another, who -took the chiding to himself. "None of your slack, or I'll put a stopper -on your gab." The old woman sprang erect. Levelling her skinny finger -at the man, she screamed, "Moon cursers! You have set false beacons and -wrecked ships for plunder. It was your fathers and mothers who decoyed -a brig to these sands and left me childless and a widow. He who rides -the pale horse be your guide, and you be of the number who follow him!" - -That night old Rachel's house was burned, and she barely escaped with -her life, but when it was time for the brig to sail she took her place -among the townfolk who were to see it off. The owner of the brig tried -to console her for the loss of the house. "I need it no longer," she -answered, "for the narrow house will soon be mine, and you wretches -cannot burn that. But you! Who will console you for the loss of your -brig?" - -"My brig is stanch. She has already passed the worst shoal in the bay." - -"But she carries a curse. She cannot swim long." - -As each successive rock and bar was passed the old woman leaned forward, -her hand shaking, her gray locks flying, her eyes starting, her lips -mumbling maledictions, "like an evil spirit, chiding forth the storms as -ministers of vengeance." The last shoal was passed, the merchant sighed -with relief at seeing the vessel now safely on her course, when the -woman uttered a harsh cry, and raised her hand as if to command silence -until something happened that she evidently expected. For this the -onlookers had not long to wait: the brig halted and trembled--her sails -shook in the wind, her crew were seen trying to free the cutter--then -she careened and sank until only her mast-heads stood out of the water. -Most of the company ran for boats and lines, and few saw Rachel pitch -forward on the earth-dead, with a fierce smile of exultation on her -face. The rescuers came back with all the crew, save one--the man who -had challenged the old woman and revengefully burned her cabin. -Rachel's body was buried where her house had stood, and the rock--before -unknown--where the brig had broken long bore the name of Rachel's Curse. - - - - - NIX'S MATE - -The black, pyramidal beacon, called Nix's Mate, is well known to -yachtsmen, sailors, and excursionists in Boston harbor. It rises above -a shoal,--all that is left of a fair, green island which long ago -disappeared in the sea. In 1636 it had an extent of twelve acres, and -on its highest point was a gallows where pirates were hanged in chains. -One night cries were heard on board of a ship that lay at anchor a -little way off shore, and when the watch put off, to see what might be -amiss, the captain, named Nix, was found murdered in his bed. There was -no direct evidence in the case, and no motive could be assigned for the -deed, unless it was the expectancy of promotion on the part of the mate, -in case of his commander's death. - -It was found, however, that this possibility gave significance to -certain acts and sayings of that officer during the voyage, and on -circumstantial evidence so slight as this he was convicted and sentenced -to death. As he was led to execution he swore that he was not guilty, -as he had done before, and from the scaffold he cried aloud, "God, show -that I am innocent. Let this island sink and prove to these people that -I have never stained my hands with human blood." Soon after the -execution of his sentence it was noticed that the surf was going higher -on the shore, that certain rocks were no longer uncovered at low tide, -and in time the island wasted away. The colonists looked with awe on -this manifestation and confessed that God had shown their wrong. - - - - - THE WILD MAN OF CAPE COD - -For years after Bellamy's pirate ship was wrecked at Wellfleet, by false -pilotage on the part of one of his captives, a strange-looking man used -to travel up and down the cape, who was believed to be one of the few -survivors of that night of storm, and of the hanging that others -underwent after getting ashore. The pirates had money when the ship -struck; it was found in the pockets of a hundred drowned who were cast -on the beach, as well as among the sands of the cape, for coin was -gathered there long after. They supposed the stranger had his share, or -more, and that he secreted a quantity of specie near his cabin. After -his death gold was found under his clothing in a girdle. He was often -received at the houses of the fishermen, both because the people were -hospitable and because they feared harm if they refused to feed or -shelter him; but if his company grew wearisome he was exorcised by -reading aloud a portion of the Bible. When he heard the holy words he -invariably departed. - -And it was said that fiends came to him at night, for in his room, -whether he appeared to sleep or wake, there were groans and blasphemy, -uncanny words and sounds that stirred the hair of listeners on their -scalps. The unhappy creature cried to be delivered from his tormenters -and begged to be spared from seeing a rehearsal of the murders he had -committed. For some time he was missed from his haunts, and it was -thought that he had secured a ship and set to sea again; but a traveller -on the sands, while passing his cabin in the small hours, had heard a -more than usual commotion, and could distinguish the voice of the wild -man raised in frantic appeal to somebody, or something; still, knowing -that it was his habit to cry out so, and having misgivings about -approaching the house, the traveller only hurried past. A few neighbors -went to the lonely cabin and looked through the windows, which, as well -as the doors, were locked on the inside. The wild man lay still and -white on the floor, with the furniture upset and pieces of gold clutched -in his fingers and scattered about him. There were marks of claws about -his neck. - - - - - NEWBURY'S OLD ELM - -Among the venerable relics of Newbury few are better known and more -prized than the old elm. It is a stout tree, with a girth of twenty- -four and a half feet, and is said to have been standing since 1713. In -that year it was planted by Richard Jacques, then a youthful rustic, who -had a sweetheart, as all rustics have, and adored her as rustics and -other men should do. On one of his visits he stayed uncommonly late. -It was nearly ten o'clock when he set off for home. The town had been -abed an hour or more; the night was murky and oppressively still, and -corpse-candles were dancing in the graveyard. Witch times had not been -so far agone that he felt comfortable, and, lest some sprite, bogie, -troll, or goblin should waylay him, he tore an elm branch from a tree -that grew before his sweetheart's house, and flourished it as he walked. -He reached home without experiencing any of the troubles that a -superstitious fancy had conjured. As he was about to cast the branch -away a comforting vision of his loved one came into his mind, and he -determined to plant the branch at his own door, that in the hours of -their separation he might be reminded of her who dwelt beneath the -parent tree. He did so. It rooted and grew, and when the youth and -maid had long been married, their children and grandchildren sported -beneath its branches. - - - - - SAMUEL SEWALL'S PROPHECY - -The peace of Newbury is deemed to be permanently secured by the prophecy -of Samuel Sewall, the young man who married the buxom daughter of Mint- -Master John Hull, and received, as wedding portion, her weight in fresh- -coined pine-tree shillings. He afterward became notorious as one of the -witchcraft judges. The prophecy has not been countervailed, nor is it -likely to be, whether the conditions are kept or not. It runs in this -wise: - -"As long as Plum island shall faithfully keep the commanded Post, -Notwithstanding the hectoring words and hard blows of the proud and -boisterous ocean; As long as any Salmon or Sturgeon shall swim in the -streams of Merrimack, or any Perch or Pickeril in Crane Pond; As long as -the Sea Fowl shall know the time of their coming, and not neglect -seasonably to visit the places of their acquaintance; As long as any -Cattel shall be fed with Grass growing in the meadows which doe humbly -bow themselves before Turkie Hill; As long as any Sheep shall walk upon -Old town Hills, and shall from thence look pleasantly down upon the -River Parker and the fruitful Marishes lying beneath; As long as any -free and harmless Doves shall find a White Oak or other Tree within the -township to perch or feed, or build a careless Nest upon, and shall -voluntarily present themselves to perform the office of Gleaners after -Barley Harvest; As long as Nature shall not grow old and dote, but shall -constantly remember to give the rows of Indian Corn their education by -Pairs; So long shall Christians be born there and being first made meet, -shall from thence be translated to be made partakers of the Saints of -Light." - - - - - THE SHRIEKING WOMAN - -During the latter part of the seventeenth century a Spanish ship, richly -laden, was beset off Marblehead by English pirates, who killed every -person on board, at the time of the capture, except a beautiful English -lady, a passenger on the ship, who was brought ashore at night and -brutally murdered at a ledge of rocks near Oakum Bay. As the fishermen -who lived near were absent in their boats, the women and children, who -were startled from their sleep by her piercing shrieks, dared not -attempt a rescue. Taking her a little way from shore in their boat, the -pirates flung her into the sea, and as she came to the surface and -clutched the gunwale they hewed at her hands with cutlasses. She was -heard to cry, "Lord, save me! Mercy! O, Lord Jesus, save me!" Next -day the people found her mangled body on the rocks, and, with bitter -imprecations at the worse than beasts that had done this wrong, they -prepared it for burial. It was interred where it was found, but, -although it was committed to the earth with Christian forms, for one -hundred and fifty years the victim's cries and appeals were repeated, on -each anniversary of the crime, with such distinctness as to affright all -who heard them--and most of the citizens of Marblehead claimed to be of -that number. - - - - - AGNES SURRIAGE - -When, in 1742, Sir Henry Frankland, collector of the port of Boston, -went to Marblehead to inquire into the smuggling that was pretty boldly -carried on, he put up at the Fountain Inn. As he entered that hostelry -a barefooted girl, of sixteen, who was scrubbing the floor, looked at -him. The young man was handsome, well dressed, gallant in bearing, -while Agnes Surriage, maid of all work, was of good figure, beautiful -face, and modest demeanor. Sir Henry tossed out a coin, bidding her to -buy shoes with it, and passed to his room. But the image of Agnes rose -constantly before him. He sought her company, found her of ready -intelligence for one unschooled, and shortly after this visit he -obtained the consent of her parents--humble folk--to take this wild -flower to the city and cultivate it. - -He gave her such an education as the time and place afforded, dressed -her well, and behaved with kindness toward her, while she repaid this -care with the frank bestowal of her heart. The result was not foreseen ---not intended--but they became as man and wife without having wedded. -Colonial society was scandalized, yet the baronet loved the girl -sincerely and could not be persuaded to part from her. Having occasion -to visit England he took Agnes with him and introduced her as Lady -Frankland, but the nature of their alliance had been made known to his -relatives and they refused to receive her. The thought of a permanent -union with the girl had not yet presented itself to the young man. An -aristocrat could not marry a commoner. A nobleman might destroy the -honor of a girl for amusement, but it was beneath his dignity to make -reparation for the act. - -Sir Henry was called to Portugal in 1755, and Agnes went with him. -They arrived inopportunely in one respect, though the sequel showed a -blessing in the accident; for while they were sojourning in Lisbon the -earthquake occurred that laid the city in ruins and killed sixty -thousand people. Sir Henry was in his carriage at the time and was -buried beneath a falling wall, but Agnes, who had hurried from her -lodging at the first alarm, sped through the rocking streets in search -of her lover. She found him at last, and, instead of crying or -fainting, she set to work to drag away the stones and timbers that were -piled upon him. Had she been a delicate creature, her lover's equal in -birth, such as Frankland was used to dance with at the state balls, she -could not have done this, but her days of service at the inn had given -her a strength that received fresh accessions from hope and love. In an -hour she had liberated him, and, carrying him to a place of safety, she -cherished the spark of life until health returned. The nobleman had -received sufficient proof of Agnes's love and courage. He realized, at -last, the superiority of worth to birth. He gave his name, as he had -already given his heart, to her, and their married life was happy. - - - - - SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE - -Flood, Fluid, or Floyd Ireson (in some chronicles his name is Benjamin) -was making for Marblehead in a furious gale, in the autumn of 1808, in -the schooner Betsy. Off Cape Cod he fell in with the schooner Active, -of Beverly, in distress, for she had been disabled in the heavy sea and -was on her beam ends, at the mercy of the tempest. The master of the -Active hailed Ireson and asked to be taken off, for his vessel could not -last much longer, but the Betsy, after a parley, laid her course again -homeward, leaving the exhausted and despairing crew of the sinking -vessel to shift as best they might. The Betsy had not been many hours -in port before it was known that men were in peril in the bay, and two -crews of volunteers set off instantly to the rescue. But it was too -late. The Active was at the bottom of the sea. The captain and three -of his men were saved, however, and their grave accusation against the -Betsy's skipper was common talk in Marblehead ere many days. - -On a moonlight night Flood Ireson was roused by knocking at his door. -On opening it he was seized by a band of his townsmen, silently hustled -to a deserted spot, stripped, bound, and coated with tar and feathers. -At break of day he was pitched into an old dory and dragged along the -roads until the bottom of the boat dropped out, when he was mounted in a -cart and the procession continued until Salem was reached. The -selectmen of that town turned back the company, and for a part of the -way home the cart was drawn by a jeering crowd of fishwives. Ireson was -released only when nature had been taxed to the limit of endurance. As -his bonds were cut he said, quietly, "I thank you for my ride, -gentlemen, but you will live to regret it." - -Some of the cooler heads among his fellows have believed the skipper -innocent and throw the blame for the abandonment of the sinking vessel -on Ireson's mutinous crew. There are others, the universal deniers, who -believe that the whole thing is fiction. Those people refuse to believe -in their own grandfathers. Ireson became moody and reckless after this -adventure. He did not seem to think it worth the attempt to clear -himself. At times he seemed trying, by his aggressive acts and bitter -speeches, to tempt some hot-tempered townsman to kill him. He died -after a severe freezing, having been blown to sea--as some think by his -own will--in a smack. - - - - - HEARTBREAK HILL - -The name of Heartbreak Hill pertains, in the earliest records of -Ipswich, to an eminence in the middle of that town on which there was a -large Indian settlement, called Agawam, before the white men settled -there and drove the inhabitants out. Ere the English colony had been -firmly planted a sailor straying ashore came among the simple natives of -Agawam, and finding their ways full of novelty he lived with them for a -time. When he found means to return to England he took with him the -love of a maiden of the tribe, but the girl herself he left behind, -comforting her on his departure with an assurance that before many moons -he would return. Months went by and extended into years, and every day -the girl climbed Heartbreak Hill to look seaward for some token of her -lover. At last a ship was seen trying to make harbor, with a furious -gale running her close to shore, where breakers were lashing the rocks -and sand. The girl kept her station until the vessel, becoming -unmanageable, was hurled against the shore and smashed into a thousand -pieces. As its timbers went tossing away on the frothing billows a -white, despairing face was lifted to hers for an instant; then it sank -and was seen nevermore--her lover's face. The "dusky Ariadne" wasted -fast from that day, and she lies buried beside the ledge that was her -watch-tower. - - - - - HARRY MAIN: THE TREASURE AND THE CATS - -Ipswich had a very Old Harry in the person of Harry Main, a dark-souled -being, who, after a career of piracy, smuggling, blasphemy, and -dissipation, became a wrecker, and lured vessels to destruction with -false lights. For his crimes he was sent, after death, to do penance on -Ipswich bar, where he had sent many a ship ashore, his doom being to -twine ropes of sand, though some believe it was to shovel back the sea. -Whenever his rope broke he would roar with rage and anguish, so that he -was heard for miles, whereon the children would run to their trembling -mothers and men would look troubled and shake their heads. After a good -bit of cable had been coiled, Harry had a short respite that he enjoyed -on Plum Island, to the terror of the populace. When the tide and a gale -are rising together people say, as they catch the sound of moaning from -the bar, "Old Harry's grumbling again." - -Now, Harry Main--to say nothing of Captain Kidd--was believed to have -buried his ill-gotten wealth in Ipswich, and one man dreamed for three -successive nights that it had been interred in a mill. Believing that a -revelation had been made to him he set off with spade, lantern, and -Bible, on the first murky night--for he wanted no partner in the -discovery--and found a spot which he recognized as the one that had been -pictured to his sleeping senses. He set to work with alacrity and a -shovel, and soon he unearthed a flat stone and an iron bar. He was -about to pry up the stone when an army of black cats encircled the pit -and glared into it with eyes of fire. - -The poor man, in an access both of alarm and courage, whirled the bar -about his head and shouted "Scat!" The uncanny guards of the treasure -disappeared instanter, and at the same moment the digger found himself -up to his middle in icy water that had poured into the hole as he spoke. - -The moral is that you should never talk when you are hunting for -treasure. Wet, scared, and disheartened, the man crawled out and made -homeward, carrying with him, as proof of his adventure, a case of -influenza and the iron bar. The latter trophy he fashioned into a -latch, in which shape it still does service on one of the doors of -Ipswich. - - - - - THE WESSAGUSCUS HANGING - -Among the Puritans who settled in Wessaguscus, now Weymouth, -Massachusetts, was a brash young fellow, of remarkable size and -strength, who, roaming the woods one day, came on a store of corn -concealed in the ground, in the fashion of the Indians. As anybody -might have done, he filled his hat from the granary and went his way. -When the red man who had dug the pit came back to it he saw that his -cache had been levied on, and as the footprints showed the marauder to -be an Englishman he went to the colonists and demanded justice. The -matter could have been settled by giving a pennyworth of trinkets to the -Indian, but, as the moral law had been broken, the Puritans deemed it -right that the pilferer should suffer. - -They held a court and a proposition was made and seriously considered -that, as the culprit was young, hardy, and useful to the colony, his -clothes should be stripped off and put on the body of a bedridden -weaver, who would be hanged in his stead in sight of the offended -savages. Still, it was feared that if they learned the truth about that -execution the Indians would learn a harmful lessson in deceit, and it -was, therefore, resolved to punish the true offender. He, thinking they -were in jest, submitted to be bound, though before doing so he could -have "cleaned out" the court-room, and ere he was really aware of the -purpose of his judges he was kicking at vacancy. - -Butler, in "Hudibras," quotes the story, but makes the offence more -serious - - "This precious brother, having slain, - In time of peace, an Indian, - Not out of malice, but mere zeal, - Because he was an infidel, - The mighty Tottipotimoy - Sent to our elders an envoy - Complaining sorely of the breach Of league." - -But the Puritans, having considered that the offender was a teacher and -a cobbler, - - "Resolved to spare him; yet, to do - The Indian Hoghan Moghan, too, - Impartial justice, in his stead did - Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid." - -The whole circumstance is cloudy, and the reader may accept either -version that touches his fancy. - - - - - THE UNKNOWN CHAMPION - -There was that in the very air of the New World that made the Pilgrims -revolt against priests and kings. The Revolution was long a-breeding -before shots were fired at Lexington. Stout old Endicott, having -conceived a dislike to the British flag because to his mind the cross -was a relic of popery, paraded his soldiers and with his sword ripped -out the offending emblem in their presence. There was a faint cry of -"Treason!" but he answered, "I will avouch the deed before God and man. -Beat a flourish, drummer. Shout for the ensign of New England. Pope -nor tyrant hath part in it now." And a loud huzza of independence went -forth. - -With this sentiment confirmed among the people, it is not surprising -that the judges who had condemned a papist king--Charles I.--to the -block should find welcome in this land. For months at a time they lived -in cellars and garrets in various parts of New England, their hiding- -places kept secret from the royal sheriffs who were seeking them. For a -time they had shelter in a cave in West Rock, New Haven, and once in -that town they were crouching beneath the bridge that a pursuing party -crossed in search of them. In Ipswich the house is pointed out where -they were concealed in the cellar, and the superstitious believed that, -as a penalty for their regicidal decision, they are doomed to stay -there, crying vainly for deliverance. - -Philip, the Narragansett chief, had declared war on the people of New -England, and was waging it with a persistence and fury that spread -terror through the country. It was a struggle against manifest destiny, -such as must needs be repeated whenever civilization comes to dispute a -place in new lands with savagery, and which has been continued, more and -more feebly, to our own day. The war was bloody, and for a long time -the issue hung in the balance. At last the Indian king was driven -westward. The Nipmucks joined him in the Connecticut Valley, and he -laid siege to the lonely settlements of Brookfield, - -Northfield, Deerfield, and Springfield, killing, scalping, and burning -without mercy. On the 1st of September, 1675, he attacked Hadley while -its people were at church, the war-yelp interrupting a prayer of the -pastor. All the men of the congregation sallied out with pikes and guns -and engaged the foe, but so closely were they pressed that a retreat was -called, when suddenly there appeared among them a tall man, of venerable -and commanding aspect, clad in leather, and armed with sword and gun. - -His hair and beard were long and white, but his eye was dark and -resolute, and his voice was strong. "Why sink your hearts?" he cried. -"Fear ye that God will give you up to yonder heathen dogs? Follow me, -and ye shall see that this day there is a champion in Israel." - -Posting half the force at his command to sustain the fight, he led the -others quickly by a detour to the rear of the Indians, on whom he fell -with such energy that the savages, believing themselves overtaken by -reinforcements newly come, fled in confusion. When the victors returned -to the village the unknown champion signed to the company to fall to -their knees while he offered thanks and prayer. Then he was silent for -a little, and when they looked up he was gone. - -They believed him to be an angel sent for their deliverance, nor, till -he had gone to his account, did they know that their captain in that -crisis was Colonel William Goffe, one of the regicide judges, who, with -his associate Whalley, was hiding from the vengeance of the son of the -king they had rebelled against. After leaving their cave in New Haven, -being in peril from beasts and human hunters, they went up the -Connecticut Valley to Hadley, where the clergyman of the place, Rev. -John Russell, gave them shelter for fifteen years. Few were aware of -their existence, and when Goffe, pale with seclusion from the light, -appeared among the people near whom he had long been living, it is no -wonder that they regarded him with awe. - -Whalley died in the minister's house and was buried in a crypt outside -of the cellar-wall, while Goffe kept much abroad, stopping in many -places and under various disguises until his death, which occurred soon -after that of his associate. He was buried in New Haven. - - - - - GOODY COLE - -Goodwife Eunice Cole, of Hampton, Massachusetts, was so "vehemently -suspected to be a witch" that in 1680 she was thrown into jail with a -chain on her leg. She had a mumbling habit, which was bad, and a wild -look, which was worse. The death of two calves had been charged to her -sorceries, and she was believed to have raised the cyclone that sent a -party of merrymakers to the sea-bottom off the Isles of Shoals, for -insulting her that morning. Some said that she took the shapes of -eagles, dogs, and cats, and that she had the aspect of an ape when she -went through the mummeries that caused Goody Marston's child to die, yet -while she was in Ipswich jail a likeness of her was stumping about the -graveyard on the day when they buried the child. For such offences -as that of making bread ferment and give forth evil odors, that -housekeepers could only dispel by prayer, she was several times -whipped and ducked by the constable. - -At last she lay under sentence of death, for Anna Dalton declared that -her child had been changed in its cradle and that she hated and feared -the thing that had been left there. Her husband, Ezra, had pleaded with -her in vain. "'Tis no child of mine," she cried. "'Tis an imp. Don't -you see how old and shrewd it is? How wrinkled and ugly? It does not -take my milk: it is sucking my blood and wearing me to skin and bone." -Once, as she sat brooding by the fire, she turned to her husband and -said, "Rake the coals out and put the child in them. Goody Cole will -fly fast enough when she hears it screaming, and will come down chimney -in the shape of an owl or a bat, and take the thing away. Then we shall -have our little one back." - -Goodman Dalton sighed as he looked into the worn, scowling face of his -wife; then, laying his hands on her head, he prayed to God that she -might be led out of the shadow and made to love her child again. As he -prayed a gleam of sunset shone in at the window and made a halo around -the face of the smiling babe. Mistress Dalton looked at the little -thing in doubt; then a glow of recognition came into her eyes, and with -a sob of joy she caught the child to her breast, while Dalton embraced -them both, deeply happy, for his wife had recovered her reason. In the -midst of tears and kisses the woman started with a faint cry: she -remembered that a poor old creature was about to expiate on the gallows -a crime that had never been committed. She urged her husband to ride -with all speed to justice Sewall and demand that Goody Cole be freed. -This the goodman did, arriving at Newbury at ten o'clock at night, -when the town had long been abed and asleep. By dint of alarms at the -justice's door he brought forth that worthy in gown and night-cap, and, -after the case had been explained to him, he wrote an order for Mistress -Cole's release. - -With this paper in his hand Dalton rode at once to Ipswich, and when the -cock crew in the dawning the victim of that horrible charge walked -forth, without her manacles. Yet dark suspicion hung about the beldam -to the last, and she died, as she had lived, alone in the little cabin -that stood near the site of the academy. Even after her demise the -villagers could with difficulty summon courage to enter her cot and give -her burial. Her body was tumbled into a pit, hastily dug near her door, -and a stake was driven through the heart to exorcise the powers of evil -that possessed her in life. - - - - - GENERAL MOULTON AND THE DEVIL - -Jonathan Moulton, of Hampton, was a general of consequence in the -colonial wars, but a man not always trusted in other than military -matters. It was even hinted that his first wife died before her time, -for he quickly found consolation in his bereavement by marrying her -companion. In the middle of the night the bride was awakened with a -start, for she felt a cold hand plucking at the wedding-ring that had -belonged to the buried Mrs. Moulton, and a voice whispered in her ear, -"Give the dead her own." With a scream of terror she leaped out of bed, -awaking her husband and causing candles to be brought. The ring was -gone. - -It was long after this occurrence that the general sat musing at his -fireside on the hardness of life in new countries and the difficulty of -getting wealth, for old Jonathan was fond of money, and the lack of it -distressed him worse than a conscience. "If only I could have gold -enough," he muttered, "I'd sell my soul for it." Whiz! came something -down the chimney. The general was dazzled by a burst of sparks, from -which stepped forth a lank personage in black velvet with clean ruffles -and brave jewels. "Talk quick, general," said the unknown, "for in -fifteen minutes I must be fifteen miles away, in Portsmouth." And -picking up a live coal in his fingers he looked at his watch by its -light. "Come. You know me. Is it a bargain?" - -The general was a little slow to recover his wits, but the word -"bargain" put him on his mettle, and he began to think of advantageous -terms. "What proof may there be that you can do your part in the -compact?" he inquired. The unknown ran his fingers through his hair and -a shower of guineas jingled on the floor. They were pretty warm, but -Moulton, in his eagerness, fell on hands and knees and gathered them to -his breast. - -"Give me some liquor," then demanded Satan, for of course he was no -other, and filling a tankard with rum he lighted it with the candle, -remarked, affably, "To our better acquaintance," and tossed off the -blazing dram at a gulp. "I will make you," said he, "the richest man -in the province. Sign this paper and on the first day of every month -I will fill your boots with gold; but if you try any tricks with me -you will repent it. For I know you, Jonathan. Sign." - -Moulton hesitated. "Humph!" sneered his majesty. "You have put me to -all this trouble for nothing." And he began to gather up the guineas -that Moulton had placed on the table. This was more than the victim of -his wiles could stand. He swallowed a mouthful of rum, seized a pen -that was held out to him, and trembled violently as a paper was placed -before him; but when he found that his name was to appear with some of -the most distinguished in the province his nerves grew steadier and he -placed his autograph among those of the eminent company, with a few -crooked embellishments and all the t's crossed. "Good!" exclaimed the -devil, and wrapping his cloak about him he stepped into the fire and was -up the chimney in a twinkling. - -Shrewd Jonathan went out the next day and bought the biggest pair of -jack-boots he could find in Hampton. He hung them on the crane on the -last night of that and all the succeeding months so long as he lived, -and on the next morning they brimmed with coins. Moulton rolled in -wealth. The neighbors regarded his sudden prosperity with amazement, -then with envy, but afterward with suspicion. All the same, Jonathan -was not getting rich fast enough to suit himself. - -When the devil came to make a certain of his periodical payments he -poured guineas down the chimney for half an hour without seeming to fill -the boots. Bushel after bushel of gold he emptied into those spacious -money-bags without causing an overflow, and he finally descended to the -fireplace to see why. Moulton had cut the soles from the boots and the -floor was knee-deep in money. With a grin at the general's smartness -the devil disappeared, but in a few minutes a smell of sulphur pervaded -the premises and the house burst into flames. Moulton escaped in his -shirt, and tore his hair as he saw the fire crawl, serpent-like, over -the beams, and fantastic smoke-forms dance in the windows. Then a -thought crossed his mind and he grew calm: his gold, that was hidden in -wainscot, cupboard, floor, and chest, would only melt and could be -quarried out by the hundred weight, so that he could be well-to-do -again. Before the ruins were cool he was delving amid the rubbish, but -not an ounce of gold could he discover. Every bit of his wealth had -disappeared. It was not long after that the general died, and to quiet -some rumors of disturbance in the graveyard his coffin was dug up. It -was empty. - - - - - THE SKELETON IN ARMOR - -The skeleton of a man wearing a breastplate of brass, a belt made of -tubes of the same metal, and lying near some copper arrow-heads, was -exhumed at Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1834. The body had been -artificially embalmed or else preserved by salts in the soil. His arms -and armor suggest Phoenician origin, but the skeleton is thought to be -that of a Dane or Norwegian who spent the last winter of his life at -Newport. He may have helped to carve the rock at West Newbury, or the -better-known Dighton rock at Taunton River that is covered with -inscriptions which the tides and frosts are fast effacing, and which -have been construed into a record of Norse exploration and discovery, -though some will have it that the inevitable Captain Kidd cut the -figures there to tell of buried treasure. The Indians have a legend of -the arrival of white men in a "bird," undoubtedly a ship, from which -issued thunder and lightning. A battle ensued when the visitors landed, -and the white men wrote the story of it on the rock. Certain scholars -of the eighteenth century declared that the rock bore an account of the -arrival of Phoenician sailors, blown across the Atlantic and unable or -unwilling to return. A representation of the pillars of Hercules was -thought to be included among the sculptures, showing that the castaways -were familiar with the Mediterranean. Only this is known about Dighton -Rock, however: that it stood where it does, and as it does, when the -English settled in this neighborhood. The Indians said there were other -rocks near it which bore similar markings until effaced by tides and -drifting ice. - -Longfellow makes the wraith of the long-buried exile of the armor appear -and tell his story: He was a viking who loved the daughter of King -Hildebrand, and as royal consent to their union was withheld he made off -with the girl, hotly followed by the king and seventy horsemen. The -viking reached his vessel first, and hoisting sail continued his flight -over the sea, but the chase was soon upon him, and, having no -alternative but to fight or be taken, he swung around before the wind -and rammed the side of Hildebrand's galley, crushing in its timbers. -The vessel tipped and sank, and every soul on board went with her, while -the viking's boat kept on her course, and after a voyage of three weeks -put in at Narragansett Bay. The round tower at Newport this impetuous -lover built as a bower for his lady, and there he guarded her from the -dangers that beset those who are first in savage countries. When the -princess died she was buried in the tower, and the lonely viking, -arraying himself in his armor, fell on his spear, like Brutus, and -expired. - - - - - MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET - -There is no such place as Martha's Vineyard, except in geography and -common speech. It is Martin Wyngaard's Island, and so was named by -Skipper Block, an Albany Dutchman. But they would English his name, -even in his own town, for it lingers there in Vineyard Point. -Bartholomew Gosnold was one of the first white visitors here, for he -landed in 1602, and lived on the island for a time, collecting a cargo -of sassafras and returning thence to England because he feared the -savages. - -This scarred and windy spot was the home of the Indian giant, Maushope, -who could wade across the sound to the mainland without wetting his -knees, though he once started to build a causeway from Gay Head to -Cuttyhunk and had laid the rocks where you may now see them, when a crab -bit his toe and he gave up the work in disgust. He lived on whales, -mostly, and broiled his dinners on fires made at Devil's Den from trees -that he tore up by the roots like weeds. In his tempers he raised mists -to perplex sea-wanderers, and for sport he would show lights on Gay -Head, though these may have been only the fires he made to cook his -supper with, and of which some beds of lignite are to be found as -remains. He clove No-Man's Land from Gay Head, turned his children into -fish, and when his wife objected he flung her to Seconnet Point, where -she preyed on all who passed before she hardened into a ledge. - -It is reported that he found the island by following a bird that had -been stealing children from Cape Cod, as they rolled in the warm sand or -paddled on the edge of the sea. He waded after this winged robber until -he reached Martha's Vineyard, where he found the bones of all the -children that had been stolen. Tired with his hunt he sat down to fill -his pipe; but as there was no tobacco he plucked some tons of poke that -grew thickly and that Indians sometimes used as a substitute for the -fragrant weed. His pipe being filled and lighted, its fumes rolled over -the ocean like a mist--in fact, the Indians would say, when a fog was -rising, "Here comes old Maushope's smoke"--and when he finished he -emptied his pipe into the sea. Falling on a shallow, the ashes made the -island of Nantucket. The first Indians to reach the latter place were -the parents of a babe that had been stolen by an eagle. They followed -the bird in their canoe, but arrived too late, for the little bones had -been picked clean. The Norsemen rediscovered the island and called it -Naukiton. Is Nantucket a corruption of that word, or was that word the -result of a struggle to master the Indian name? - - - - - LOVE AND TREASON - -The tribes that inhabited Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before the -whites settled the country were constantly at war, and the people of the -western island once resolved to surprise those of Nantucket and slay as -many as possible before they could arm or organize for battle. The -attack was to be made before daybreak, at an hour when their intended -victims would be asleep in their wigwams, but on rowing softly to the -hostile shore, while the stars were still lingering in the west, the -warriors were surprised at finding the enemy alert and waiting their -arrival with bows and spears in hand. To proceed would have been -suicidal, and they returned to their villages, puzzled and disheartened. -Not for some years did they learn how the camp had been apprised, but at -the end of that time, the two tribes being at peace, one of their young -men married a girl of Nantucket, with whom he had long been in love, and -confessed that on the night preceding the attack he had stolen to the -beach, crossed to Nantucket on a neck of sand that then joined the -islands, and was uncovered only at low tide, sought his mistress, warned -her of the attack, that she, at least, might not be killed; then, at a -mad run, with waves of the rising tide lapping his feet, he returned to -his people, who had not missed him. He set off with a grave and -innocent face in the morning, and was as much surprised as any one when -he found the enemy in arms. - - - - - THE HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTOWN - -The boggy portion of North Kingston, Rhode Island, known as Swamptown, -is of queer repute in its neighborhood, for Hell Hollow, Pork Hill, -Indian Corner, and Kettle Hole have their stories of Indian crimes and -witch-meetings. Here the headless figure of a negro boy was seen by a -belated traveller on a path that leads over the hills. It was a dark -night and the figure was revealed in a blaze of blue light. It swayed -to and fro for a time, then rose from the ground with a lurch and shot -into space, leaving a trail of illumination behind it. Here, too, is -Goose-Nest Spring, where the witches dance at night. It dries up every -winter and flows through the summer, gushing forth on the same day of -every year, except once, when a goose took possession of the empty bed -and hatched her brood there. That time the water did not flow until she -got away with her progeny. - -But the most grewsome story of the place is that of the Indian whose -skull was found by a roadmender. This unsuspecting person took it home, -and, as the women would not allow him to carry it into the house, he -hung it on a pole outside. Just as the people were starting for bed, -there came a rattling at the door, and, looking out of the windows, they -saw a skeleton stalking around in quick and angry strides, like those of -a person looking for something. But how could that be when the skeleton -had neither eyes nor a place to carry them? It thrashed its bony arms -impatiently and its ribs rattled like a xylophone. The spectators were -transfixed with fear, all except the culprit, who said, through the -window, in a matter-of-fact way, "I left your head on the pole at the -back door." The skeleton started in that direction, seized the skull, -clapped it into the place where a head should have grown on its own -shoulders, and, after shaking its fists in a threatening way at the -house, disappeared in the darkness. It is said that he acts as a kind -of guard in the neighborhood, to see that none of the other Indians -buried there shall be disturbed, as he was. His principal lounging -place is Indian Corner, where there is a rock from which blood flows -when the moon shines--a memento, doubtless, of some tragedy that -occurred there in times before the white men knew the place. There is -iron in the soil, and visitors say that the red color is due to that, -and that the spring would flow just as freely on dark nights as on -bright ones, if any were there to see it, but the natives, who have -given some thought to these matters, know better. - - - - - THE CROW AND CAT OF HOPKINSHILL - -In a wood near Hopkins Hill, Rhode Island, is a bowlder, four feet in -diameter, scored with a peculiar furrow. Witch Rock, as it is called, -gained its name two centuries ago, when an old woman abode in a deserted -cabin close by and made the forest dreaded. Figures were seen flitting -through its shadows; articles left out o' nights in neighboring -settlements were missing in the morning, though tramps were unknown; -cattle were afflicted with diseases; stones were flung in at windows by -unseen hands; crops were blighted by hail and frost; and in stormy -weather the old woman was seen to rise out of the woods and stir and -push the clouds before her with a broom. For a hundred yards around -Witch Rock the ground is still accursed, and any attempt to break it up -is unavailing. Nearly a century ago a scoffer named Reynolds declared -that he would run his plough through the enchanted boundary, and the -neighbors watched the attempt from a distance. - -He started well, but on arriving at the magic circle the plough shied -and the wooden landside--or chip, as it was called--came off. It was -replaced and the team started again. In a moment the oxen stood -unyoked, while the chip jumped off and whirled away out of sight. On -this, most of the people edged away in the direction of home, and -directly there came from the north a crow that perched on a dead tree -and cawed. John Hopkins, owner of the land, cried to the bird, "Squawk, -you damned old Pat Jenkins!" and the crow took flight, dropping the chip -at Reynolds's feet, at the same moment turning into a beldam with a -cocked hat, who descended upon the rock. Before the men could reach her -she changed into a black cat and disappeared in the ground. Hunting and -digging came to naught, though the pursuers were so earnest and excited -that one of them made the furrow in the rock with a welt from his -shovel. After that few people cared to go near the place, and it became -overgrown with weeds and trees and bushes. - - - - - THE OLD STONE MILL - -If the round tower at Newport was not Benedict Arnold's wind-mill, and -any one or two of several other things, it is probably a relic of the -occupancy of this country by Thorwald and his Norsemen. After coasting -Wonderstrands (Cape Cod), in the year 1007, they built a town that is -known to historians--if not in their histories--as Norumbega, the lost -city of New England. It is now fancied that the city stood on the -Charles River, near Waltham, Massachusetts, where a monument may be -erected, but it is also believed that they reached the neighborhood of -Newport, Rhode Island. After this tower--popularly called the old -stone mill-was built, a seer among the Narragansetts had a vision in -which he foresaw that when the last remnant of the structure had fallen, -and not one stone had been left on another, the Indian race would vanish -from this continent. The work of its extermination seems, indeed, to -have begun with the possession of the coast by white men, and the fate -of the aborigines is easily read. - - - - - ORIGIN OF A NAME - -The origin of many curious geographical names has become an object of -mere surmise, and this is the more the pity because they suggest such -picturesque possibilities. We would like to know, for instance, how -Burnt Coat and Smutty Nose came by such titles. The conglomerate that -strews the fields south of Boston is locally known as Roxbury pudding- -stone, and, according to Dr. Holmes, the masses are fragments of a -pudding, as big as the State-house dome, that the family of a giant -flung about, in a fit of temper, and that petrified where it fell. But -that would have been called pudding-stone, anyway, from its appearance. -The circumstance that named the reef of Norman's Woe has passed out of -record, though it is known that goodman Norman and his son settled there -in the seventeenth century. It is Longfellow who has endowed the rock -with this legend, for he depicts a wreck there in the fury of a winter -storm in 1680--the wreck of the Hesperus, Richard Norman, master, from -which went ashore next morning the body of an unknown and beautiful -girl, clad in ice and lashed to a broken mast. - -But one of the oddest preservations of an apposite in name is found in -the legend of Point Judith, Rhode Island, an innocent /double entendre/. -About two centuries ago a vessel was driving toward the coast in a gale, -with rain and mist. The skipper's eyes were old and dim, so he got his -daughter Judith to stand beside him at the helm, as he steered the -vessel over the foaming surges. Presently she cried, "Land, father! -I see land!" "Where away?" he asked. But he could not see what she -described, and the roar of the wind drowned her voice, so he shouted, -"Point, Judith! Point!" The girl pointed toward the quarter where she -saw the breakers, and the old mariner changed his course and saved his -ship from wreck. On reaching port he told the story of his daughter's -readiness, and other captains, when they passed the cape in later days, -gave to it the name of Point Judith. - - - - - MICAH ROOD APPLES - -In Western Florida they will show roses to you that drop red dew, like -blood, and have been doing so these many years, for they sprang out of -the graves of women and children who had been cruelly killed by Indians. -But there is something queerer still about the Micah Rood--or "Mike"-- -apples of Franklin, Connecticut, which are sweet, red of skin, snowy of -pulp, and have a red spot, like a blood-drop, near the core; hence they -are sometimes known as bloody-hearts. Micah Rood was a farmer in -Franklin in 1693. Though avaricious he was somewhat lazy, and was more -prone to dream of wealth than to work for it. But people whispered that -he did some hard and sharp work on the night after the peddler came to -town--the slender man with a pack filled with jewelry and knickknacks-- -because on the morning after that visit the peddler was found, beneath -an apple-tree on Rood farm, with his pack rifled and his skull split -open. - -Suspicion pointed at Rood, and, while nothing was proved against him, -he became gloomy, solitary, and morose, keeping his own counsels more -faithfully than ever--though he never was disposed to take counsel of -other people. If he had expected to profit by the crime he was -obviously disappointed, for he became poorer than ever, and his farm -yielded less and less. To be sure, he did little work on it. When the -apples ripened on the tree that had spread its branches above the -peddler's body, the neighbors wagged their heads and whispered the more, -for in the centre of each apple was a drop of the peddler's blood: a -silent witness and judgment, they said, and the result of a curse that -the dying man had invoked against his murderer. Micah Rood died soon -after, without saying anything that his fellow-villagers might be -waiting to hear, but his tree is still alive and its strange fruit has -been grafted on hundreds of orchards. - - - - - A DINNER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - -The Nipmucks were populous at Thompson, Connecticut, where they -skilfully tilled the fields, and where their earthworks, on Fort Hill, -provided them with a refuge in case of invasion. Their chief, -Quinatisset, had his lodge on the site of the Congregational church in -Thompson. They believed that Chargoggagmanchogagog Pond was paradise-- -the home of the Great Spirit and departed souls--and that it would -always yield fish to them, as the hills did game. They were fond of -fish, and would barter deer-meat and corn for it, occasionally, with the -Narragansetts. - -Now, these last-named Indians were a waterloving people, and to this day -their "fishing fire"--a column of pale flame--rises out of Quinebaug -Lake once in seven years, as those say who have watched beside its -waters through the night. Knowing their fondness for blue-fish and -clams, the Narragansetts asked the Nipmucks to dine with them on one -occasion, and this courtesy was eagerly accepted, the up-country people -distinguishing themselves by valiant trencher deeds; but, alas, that it -should be so! they disgraced themselves when, soon after, they invited -the Narragansetts to a feast of venison at Killingly, and quarrelled -with their guests over the dressing of the food. This rumpus grew into -a battle in which all but two of the invites were slain. Their hosts -buried them decently, but grass would never grow above their graves. - -This treachery the Great Spirit avenged soon after, when the Nipmucks -had assembled for a powwow, with accessory enjoyments, in the grassy -vale where Mashapaug Lake now reflects the charming landscape, and -where, until lately, the remains of a forest could be seen below the -surface. In the height of the revel the god struck away the foundations -of the hills, and as the earth sank, bearing the offending men and -women, waters rushed in and filled the chasm, so that every person was -drowned, save one good old woman beneath whose feet the ground held -firm. Loon Island, where she stood, remains in sight to-day. - - - - - THE NEW HAVEN STORM SHIP - -In 1647 the New Haven colonists, who even at that early day exhibited -the enterprise that has been a distinguishing feature of the Yankee, -sent a ship to Ireland to try to develop a commerce, their trading posts -on the Delaware having been broken up by the Swedes. When their agent, -Captain Lamberton, sailed--in January--the harbor was so beset with ice -that a track had to be cut through the floes to open water, five miles -distant. She had, moreover, to be dragged out stern foremost--an ill -omen, the sailors thought--and as she swung before the wind a passing -drift of fog concealed her, for a moment, from the gaze of those on -shore, who, from this, foretold things of evil. Though large and new, -the ship was so "walty"--inclined to roll--that the captain set off with -misgiving, and as she moved away the crew heard this solemn and -disheartening invocation from a clergyman on the wharf:--"Lord, if it be -thy pleasure to bury these, our friends, in the bottom of the sea, take -them; they are thine: save them." - -Winter passed; so did spring; still the ship came not; but one afternoon -in June, just as a rain had passed, some children cried, "There's a -brave ship!" for, flying up the harbor, with all sail set and flaunting -colors, was a vessel "the very mould of our ship," the clergyman said. - -Strange to tell, she was going flat against the wind; no sailors were on -her deck; she did not toss with the fling of the waves; there was no -ripple at her bow. As she came close to land a single figure appeared -on the quarter, pointing seaward with a cutlass; then suddenly her main- -top fell, her masts toppled from their holdings, the dismantled hulk -careened and went down. A cloud dropped from heaven and brooded for a -time above the place where it had vanished, and when it lifted the -surface of the sea was empty and still. The good folk of New Haven -believed that the fate of the absent ship had been revealed, at last, -for she never came back and Captain Lamberton was never heard from. - - - - - THE WINDAM FROGS - -On a cloudy night in July, 1758, the people of Windham, Connecticut, -were awakened by screams and shrill voices. Some sprang up and looked -to the priming of their muskets, for they were sure that the Indians -were coming; others vowed that the voices were those of witches or -devils, flying overhead; a few ran into the streets with knives and -fire-arms, while others fastened their windows and prayerfully shrank -under the bedclothes. A notorious reprobate was heard blubbering for -a Bible, and a lawyer offered half of all the money that he had made -dishonestly to any charity if his neighbors would guarantee to preserve -his life until morning. - -All night the greatest alarm prevailed. At early dawn an armed party -climbed the hill to the eastward, and seeing no sign of Indians, or -other invaders, returned to give comfort to their friends. A contest -for office was waging at that period between two lawyers, Colonel Dyer -and Mr. Elderkin, and sundry of the people vowed that they had heard a -challenging yell of "Colonel Dyer! Colonel Dyer!" answered by a -guttural defiance of "Elderkin, too! Elderkin, too!" Next day the -reason of it all came out: A pond having been emptied by drought, the -frogs that had lived there emigrated by common consent to a ditch nearer -the town, and on arriving there had apparently fought for its -possession, for many lay dead on the bank. The night was still and the -voices of the contestants sounded clearly into the village, the piping -of the smaller being construed into "Colonel Dyer," and the grumble of -the bull-frogs into "Elderkin, too." The "frog scare" was a subject of -pleasantry directed against Windham for years afterward. - - - - - THE LAMB OF SACRIFICE - -The Revolution was beginning, homes were empty, farms were deserted, -industries were checked, and the levies of a foreign army had consumed -the stores of the people. A messenger rode into the Connecticut Valley -with tidings of the distress that was in the coast towns, and begged the -farmer folk to spare some of their cattle and the millers some of their -flour for the relief of Boston. On reaching Windham he was received -with good will by Parson White, who summoned his flock by peal of bell, -and from the steps of his church urged the needs of his brethren with -such eloquence that by nightfall the messenger had in his charge a flock -of sheep, a herd of cattle, and a load of grain, with which he was to -set off in the morning. The parson's daughter, a shy maid of nine or -ten, went to her father, with her pet lamb, and said to him, "I must -give this, too, for there are little children who are crying for bread -and meat." - -"No, no," answered the pastor, patting her head and smiling upon her. -"They do not ask help from babes. Run to bed and you shall play with -your lamb to-morrow." - -But in the red of the morning, as he drove his herd through the village -street, the messenger turned at the hail of a childish voice, and -looking over a stone wall he saw the little one with her snow-white lamb -beside her. - -"Wait," she cried, "for my lamb must go to the hungry children of -Boston. It is so small, please to carry it for some of the way, and let -it have fresh grass and water. It is all I have." - -So saying, she kissed the innocent face of her pet, gave it into the -arms of the young man, and ran away, her cheeks shining with tears. -Folding the little creature to his breast, the messenger looked -admiringly after the girl: he felt a glow of pride and hope for the -country whose very children responded to the call of patriotism. "Now, -God help me, I will carry this lamb to the city as a sacrifice." So -saying, he set his face to the east and vigorously strode forward. - - - - - MOODUS NOISES - -The village of Moodus, Connecticut, was troubled with noises. There is -no question as to that. In fact, Machimoodus, the Indian name of the -spot, means Place of Noises. As early as 1700, and for thirty years -after, there were crackings and rumblings that were variously compared -to fusillades, to thunder, to roaring in the air, to the breaking of -rocks, to reports of cannon. A man who was on Mount Tom while the -noises were violent describes the sound as that of rocks falling into -immense caverns beneath his feet and striking against cliffs as they -fell. Houses shook and people feared. - -Rev. Mr. Hosmer, in a letter written to a friend in Boston in 1729, says -that before white settlers appeared there was a large Indian population, -that powwows were frequent, and that the natives "drove a prodigious -trade at worshipping the devil." He adds:--"An old Indian was asked what -was the reason of the noises in this place, to which he replied that the -Indian's god was angry because Englishman's god was come here. Now, -whether there be anything diabolical in these things I know not, but -this I know, that God Almighty is to be seen and trembled at in what has -been often heard among us. Whether it be fire or air distressed in the -subterranean caverns of the earth cannot be known for there is no -eruption, no explosion perceptible but by sounds and tremors which are -sometimes very fearful and dreadful." - -It was finally understood that Haddam witches, who practised black -magic, met the Moodus witches, who used white magic, in a cave beneath -Mount Tom, and fought them in the light of a great carbuncle that was -fastened to the roof. The noises recurred in 1888, when houses rattled -in witch-haunted Salem, eight miles away, and the bell on the village -church "sung like a tuning-fork." The noises have occurred -simultaneously with earthquakes in other parts of the country, and -afterward rocks have been found moved from their bases and cracks have -been discovered in the earth. One sapient editor said that the pearls -in the mussels in Salmon and Connecticut Rivers caused the disturbance. - -If the witch-fights were continued too long the king of Machimoddi, who -sat on a throne of solid sapphire in the cave whence the noises came, -raised his wand: then the light of the carbuncle went out, peals of -thunder rolled through the rocky chambers, and the witches rushed into -the air. Dr. Steele, a learned and aged man from England, built a -crazy-looking house in a lonely spot on Mount Tom, and was soon as much -a mystery as the noises, for it was known that he had come to this -country to stop them by magic and to seize the great carbuncle in the -cave--if he could find it. Every window, crack, and keyhole was closed, -and nobody was admitted while he stayed there, but the clang of hammers -was heard in his house all night, sparks shot from his chimney, and -strange odors were diffused. When all was ready for his adventure he -set forth, his path marked by a faint light that moved before him and -stopped at the closed entrance to the cavern. - -Loud were the Moodus noises that night. The mountain shook and groans -and hisses were heard in the air as he pried up the stone that lay -across the pit-mouth. When he had lifted it off a light poured from it -and streamed into the heaven like a crimson comet or a spear of the -northern aurora. It was the flash of the great carbuncle, and the stars -seen through it were as if dyed in blood. In the morning Steele was -gone. He had taken ship for England. The gem carried with it an evil -fate, for the galley sank in mid-ocean; but, though buried beneath a -thousand fathoms of water, the red ray of the carbuncle sometimes shoots -up from the sea, and the glow of it strikes fear into the hearts of -passing sailors. Long after, when the booming was heard, the Indians -said that the hill was giving birth to another beautiful stone. - -Such cases are not singular. A phenomenon similar to the Moodus noises, -and locally known as "the shooting of Nashoba Hill," occurs at times in -the eminence of that name near East Littleton, Massachusetts. The -strange, deep rumbling was attributed by the Indians to whirlwinds -trying to escape from caves. - -Bald Mountain, North Carolina, was known as Shaking Mountain, for -strange sounds and tremors were heard there, and every moonshiner who -had his cabin on that hill joined the church and was diligent in worship -until he learned that the trembling was due to the slow cracking and -separation of a great ledge. - -At the end of a hot day on Seneca Lake, New York, are sometimes heard -the "lake guns," like exploding gas. Two hundred years ago Agayentah, a -wise and honored member of the Seneca tribe, was killed here by a -lightning-stroke. The same bolt that slew him wrenched a tree from the -bank and hurled it into the water, where it was often seen afterward, -going about the lake as if driven by unseen currents, and among the -whites it got the name of the Wandering Jew. It is often missing for -weeks together, and its reappearances are heralded by the low booming -of--what? The Indians said that the sound was but the echo of -Agayentah's voice, warning them of dangers and summoning them to battle, -while the Wandering Jew became his messenger. - - - - - HADDAM ENCHANTMENTS - -When witchcraft went rampant through New England the Connecticut town of -Haddam owned its share of ugly old women, whom it tried to reform by -lectures and ducking, instead of killing. It was averred that Goody So- -and-So had a black cat for a familiar, that Dame Thus-and-Thus rode on a -broomstick on stormy nights and screeched and gibbered down the farm- -house chimneys, and there were dances of old crones at Devils' Hop Yard, -Witch Woods, Witch Meadows, Giant's Chair, Devil's Footprint, and -Dragon's Rock. Farmers were especially fearful of a bent old hag in a -red hood, who seldom appeared before dusk, but who was apt to be found -crouched on their door-steps if they reached home late, her mole-covered -cheeks wrinkled with a grin, two yellow fangs projecting between her -lips, and a light shining from her eyes that numbed all on whom she -looked. On stormy nights she would drum and rattle at windows, and by -firelight and candle-light her face was seen peering through the panes. - -At Chapman Falls, where the attrition of a stream had worn pot-holes in -the rocks, there were meetings of Haddam witches, to the number of a -dozen. They brewed poisons in those holes, cast spells, and talked in -harsh tongues with the arch fiend, who sat on the brink of the ravine -with his tail laid against his shoulder, like a sceptre, and a red glow -emanating from his body. - -In Devils' Hop Yard was a massive oak that never bears leaves or acorns, -for it has been enchanted since the time that one of the witches, in the -form of a crow, perched on the topmost branch, looked to the four points -of the compass, and flew away. That night the leaves fell off, the -twigs shrivelled, sap ceased to run, and moss began to beard its -skeleton limbs. - -The appearance of witches in the guise of birds was no unusual thing, -indeed, and a farmer named Blakesley shot one of them in that form. He -was hunting in a meadow when a rush of wings was heard and he saw pass -overhead a bird with long neck, blue feathers, and feet like scrawny -hands. It uttered a cry so weird, so shrill, so like mocking laughter -that it made him shudder. This bird alighted on a dead tree and he shot -at it. With another laughing yell it circled around his head. Three -times he fired with the same result. Then he resolved to see if it were -uncanny, for nothing evil can withstand silver--except Congress. Having -no bullets of that metal he cut two silver buttons from his shirt and -rammed them home with a piece of cloth and a prayer. This time the bird -screamed in terror, and tried, but vainly, to rise from the limb. He -fired. The creature dropped, with a button in its body, and fell on its -right side. At that moment an old woman living in a cabin five miles -distant arose from her spinning-wheel, gasped, and fell on her right -side-dead. - - - - - BLOCK ISLAND AND THE PALATINE - -Block Island, or Manisees, is an uplift of clayey moorland between -Montauk and Gay Head. It was for sailors an evil place and "bad -medicine" for Indians, for men who had been wrecked there had been -likewise robbed and ill treated--though the honest islanders of to-day -deny it--while the Indians had been driven from their birthright after -hundreds of their number had fallen in its defence. In the winter of -1750-51 the ship Palatine set forth over the seas with thrifty Dutch -merchants and emigrants, bound for Philadelphia, with all their goods. -A gale delayed them and kept them beating to and fro on the icy seas, -unable to reach land. The captain died--it was thought that he was -murdered--and the sailors, a brutal set even for those days, threw off -all discipline, seized the stores and arms, and starved the passengers -into giving up their money. - -When those died of hunger whose money had given out--for twenty guilders -were demanded for a cup of water and fifty rix dollars for a biscuit-- -their bodies were flung into the sea, and when the crew had secured all -that excited their avarice they took to their boats, leaving ship and -passengers to their fate. It is consoling to know that the sailors -never reached a harbor. The unguided ship, in sight of land, yet tossed -at the mercy of every wind and tenanted by walking skeletons, struck off -Block Island one calm Sunday morning and the wreckers who lived along -the shore set out for her. Their first work was to rescue the -passengers; then they returned to strip everything from the hulk that -the crew had left; but after getting her in tow a gale sprang up, and -seeing that she was doomed to be blown off shore, where she might become -a dangerous obstruction or a derelict, they set her on fire. From the -rocks they watched her drift into misty darkness, but as the flames -mounted to the trucks a scream rang across the whitening sea: a maniac -woman had been left on board. The scream was often repeated, each time -more faintly, and the ship passed into the fog and vanished. - -A twelvemonth later, on the same evening of the year, the islanders were -startled at the sight of a ship in the offing with flames lapping up her -sides and rigging, and smoke clouds rolling off before the wind. It -burned to the water's edge in sight of hundreds. In the winter -following it came again, and was seen, in fact, for years thereafter at -regular intervals, by those who would gladly have forgotten the sight of -it (one of the community, an Indian, fell into madness whenever he saw -the light), while those who listened caught the sound of a woman's voice -raised in agony above the roar of fire and water. - -Substantially the same story is told of a point on the North Carolina -coast, save that in the latter case the passengers, who were from the -Bavarian Palatinate, were put to the knife before their goods were -taken. The captain and his crew filled their boats with treasure and -pulled away for land, first firing the ship and committing its ghastly -freight to the flames. The ship followed them almost to the beach, ere -it fell to pieces, as if it were an animate form, bent on vengeance. -The pirates landed, but none profited by the crime, all of them dying -poor and forsaken. - - - - - THE BUCCANEER - -Among the natives of Block Island was a man named Lee. Born in the last -century among fishermen and wreckers, he has naturally taken to the sea -for a livelihood, and, never having known the influences of education -and refinement, he is rude and imperious in manner. His ship lies in a -Spanish port fitting for sea, but not with freight, for, tired of -peaceful trading, Lee is equipping his vessel as a privateer. A Spanish -lady who has just been bereaved of her husband comes to him to ask a -passage to America, for she has no suspicion of his intent. Her jewels -and well-filled purse arouse Lee's cupidity, and with pretended sympathy -he accedes to her request, even going so far as to allow Senora's -favorite horse to be brought aboard. - -Hardly is the ship in deep water before the lady's servants are stabbed -in their sleep and Lee smashes in the door of her cabin. Realizing his -purpose, and preferring to sacrifice life to honor, she eludes him, -climbs the rail, and leaps into the sea, while the ship ploughs on. -As a poor revenge for being thus balked of his prey the pirate has the -beautiful white horse flung overboard, the animal shrilling a neigh that -seems to reach to the horizon, and is like nothing ever heard before. -But these things he affects to forget in dice and drinking. In a -dispute over a division of plunder Lee stabs one of his men and tosses -him overboard. Soon the rovers come to Block Island, where, under cover -of night, they carry ashore their stealings to hide them in pits and -caves, reserving enough gold to buy a welcome from the wreckers, and -here they live for a year, gaming and carousing. Their ship has been -reported as a pirate and to baffle search it is set adrift. - -One night a ruddy star is seen on the sea-verge and the ruffians leave -their revelling to look at it, for it is growing into sight fast. It -speeds toward them and they can now see that it is a ship--their -shipwrapped in flames. It stops off shore, and out of the ocean at its -prow emerges something white that they say at first is a wave-crest -rolling upon the sands; but it does not dissolve as breakers do: it -rushes on; it scales the bluff it is a milk-white horse, that gallops to -the men, who inly wonder if this is an alcoholic vision, and glares at -Lee. A spell seems to be laid on him, and, unable to resist it, the -buccaneer mounts the animal. It rushes away, snorting and plunging, to -the highest bluff, whence Lee beholds, in the light of the burning ship, -the bodies of all who have been done to death by him, staring into his -eyes through the reddening waves. - -At dawn the horse sinks under him and he stands there alone. From that -hour even his companions desert him. They fear to share his curse. He -wanders about the island, a broken, miserable man, unwilling to live, -afraid to die, refused shelter and friendship, and unable to reach the -mainland, for no boat will give him passage. After a year of this -existence the ship returns, the spectre horse rises from the deep and -claims Lee again for a rider. He mounts; the animal speeds away to the -cliff, but does not pause at the brink this time: with a sickening jump -and fall he goes into the sea. Spurning the wave-tops in his flight he -makes a circuit of the burning ship, and in the hellish light, that -fills the air and penetrates to the ocean bottom, the pirate sees again -his victims looking up with smiles and arms spread to embrace him. - -There is a cry of terror as the steed stops short; then a gurgle, and -horse and rider have disappeared. The fire ship vanishes and the night -is dark. - - - - - ROBERT LOCKWOOD'S FATE - -In the winter of 1779, General Putnam was stationed at Reading, -Connecticut, with a band of ill-fed, unpaid troops. He was quartered at -the Marvin house, and Mary, daughter of farmer Marvin, won her way to -the heart of this rough soldier through the excellence of her dumplings -and the invigorating quality of her flip. He even took her into his -confidence, and, being in want of a spy in an emergency, he playfully -asked her if she knew any brave fellow who could be trusted to take a -false message into the British lines that would avert an impending -attack. Yes, she knew such an one, and would guarantee that he would -take the message if the fortunes of the colonial army would be helped -thereby. Putnam assured her that it would aid the patriot cause, and, -farther, that he would reward her; whereat, with a smile and a twinkling -eye, the girl received the missive and left the room. - -When daylight had left the sky, Mary slipped out of the house, crossed -a pasture, entered a ravine, and in a field beyond reached a cattle -shelter. On the instant a tall form stepped from the shadows and she -sank into its embrace. There was a kiss, a moment of whispered talk, -and the girl hurriedly asked her lover if he would carry a letter to the -British headquarters, near Ridgefield. Of course he would. But he must -not read it, and he must on no account say from whom he had it. The -young man consented without a question--that she required it was -sufficient; so, thrusting the tiny paper into his hand and bidding him -God-speed, she gave him another kiss and they parted--he to go on his -errand, she to pass the night with the clergyman's daughter at the -parsonage. At about ten o'clock Putnam was disturbed by the tramping of -feet and a tall, goodlooking fellow was thrust into his room by a couple -of soldiers. The captive had been found inside the lines, they said, in -consultation with some unknown person who had escaped the eye of the -sentry in the darkness. When captured he had put a piece of paper into -his mouth and swallowed it. He gave the name of Robert Lockwood, and -when Putnam demanded to know what he had been doing near the camp -without a permit he said that he was bound by a promise not to tell. - -"Are you a patriot?" asked the general. - -"I am a royalist. I do not sympathize with rebellion. I have been a -man of peace in this war." - -Putnam strode about the room, giving vent to his passion in language -neither choice nor gentle, for he had been much troubled by spies and -informers since he had been there. Then, stopping, he said: - -"Some one was with you to-night-some of my men. Tell me that traitor's -name and I'll spare your life and hang him before the whole army." - -The prisoner turned pale and dropped his head. He would not violate his -promise. - -"You are a British spy, and I'll hang you at sunrise!" roared Putnam. - -In vain the young man pleaded for time to appeal to Washington. He was -not a spy, he insisted, and it would be found, perhaps too late, that a -terrible mistake had been committed. His words were unheeded: he was -led away and bound, and as the sun was rising on the next morning the -sentence of courtmartial was executed upon him. - -At noon Mary returned from the parsonage, her eyes dancing and her mouth -dimpling with smiles. Going to Putnam, she said, with a dash of -sauciness, "I have succeeded, general. I found a lad last night to take -your message. I had to meet him alone, for he is a Tory; so he cannot -enter this camp. The poor fellow had no idea that he was doing a -service for the rebels, for he did not know what was in the letter, and -I bound him not to tell who gave it to him. You see, I punished him for -abiding by the king." - -The general laughed and gazed at her admiringly. - -"You're a brave girl," he said, "and I suppose you've come for your -reward. Well, what is it to be?" - -"I want a pass for Robert Lockwood. He is the royalist I spoke of, but -he will not betray you, for he is not a soldier; and--his visits make me -very happy." - -"The spy you hanged this morning," whispered an aide in Putnam's ear. -"Give her the pass and say nothing of what has happened." - -The general started, changed color, and paused; then he signed the order -with a dash, placed it in the girl's hand, gravely kissed her, watched -her as she ran lightly from the house, and going to his bedroom closed -the door and remained alone for an hour. From that time he never spoke -of the affair, but when his troops were ordered away, soon after, he -almost blenched as he gave good-by to Mary Marvin, and met her sad, -reproachful look, though to his last day he never learned whether or no -she had discovered Robert Lockwood's fate. - - - - - LOVE AND RUM - -Back in the seventeenth century a number of Yankee traders arrived in -Naugatuck to barter blankets, beads, buttons, Bibles, and brandy for -skins, and there they met chief Toby and his daughter. Toby was not a -pleasing person, but his daughter was well favored, and one of the -traders told the chief that if he would allow the girl to go to Boston -with him he would give to him--Toby--a quart of rum. Toby was willing -enough. He would give a good deal for rum. But the daughter declined -to be sold off in such a fashion unless--she coyly admitted--she could -have half of the rum herself. Loth as he was to do so, Toby was brought -to agree to this proposition, for he knew that rum was rare and good and -girls were common and perverse, so the gentle forest lily took her mug -of liquor and tossed it off. Now, it is not clear whether she wished to -nerve herself for the deed that followed or whether the deed was a -result of the tonic, but she made off from the paternal wigwam and was -presently seen on the ledge of Squaw Rock, locally known also as High -Rock, from which in another moment she had fallen. Toby had pursued -her, and on finding her dead he vented a howl of grief and anger and -flung the now empty rum-jug after her. A huge bowlder arose from the -earth where it struck, and there it remains--a monument to the girl and -a warning to Tobies. - -Another version of the story is that the girl sprang from the rock to -escape the pursuit of a lover who was hateful to her, and who had her -almost in his grasp when she made the fatal leap. In the crevice half- -way up the cliff her spirit has often been seen looking regretfully into -the rich valley that was her home, and on the 20th of March and 20th of -September, in every year, it is imposed on her to take the form of a -seven-headed snake, the large centre head adorned with a splendid -carbuncle. Many have tried to capture the snake and secure this -precious stone, for an old prophecy promises wealth to whoever shall -wrest it from the serpent. But thus far the people of Connecticut have -found more wealth in clocks and tobacco than in snakes and carbuncles. - - - - - - - LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - - - THE SWIM AT INDIAN HEAD - -At Indian Head, Maryland, are the government proving-grounds, where the -racket of great guns and splintering of targets are a deterrent to the -miscellaneous visitations of picnics. Trouble has been frequently -associated with this neighborhood, as it is now suggested in the noisy -symbolry of war. In prehistoric days it was the site of an aboriginal -town, whose denizens were like other Indians in their love for fight and -their willingness to shed blood. Great was the joy of all these -citizens when a scouting party came in, one day, bringing with them the -daughter of one of their toughest old hunters and a young buck, from -another faction, who had come a-courting; her in the neighboring shades. - -Capture meant death, usually, and he knew it, but he held himself -proudly and refused to ask for mercy. It was resolved that he should -die. The father's scorn for his daughter, that she should thus consort -with an enemy, was so great that he was on the point of offering her as -a joint sacrifice with her lover, when she fell on her knees before him -and began a fervent appeal, not for herself, but for the prisoner. She -would do anything to prove her strength, her duty, her obedience, if -they would set him free. He had done injury to none. What justice lay -in putting him to the torture? - -Half in earnest, half in humor, the chief answered, "Suppose we were to -set him on the farther shore of the Potomac, do you love him well enough -to swim to him?" - -"I do." - -"The river is wide and deep." - -"I would drown in it rather than that harm should come to him." - -The old chief ordered the captive, still bound, to be taken to a point -on the Virginia shore, full two miles away, in one of their canoes, and -when the boat was on the water he gave the word to the girl, who -instantly plunged in and followed it. The chief and the father embarked -in another birch--ostensibly to see that the task was honestly -fulfilled; really, perhaps, to see that the damsel did not drown. It -was a long course, but the maid was not as many of our city misses are, -and she reached the bank, tired, but happy, for she had saved her lover -and gained him for a husband. - - - - - THE MOANING SISTERS - -Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the -Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other-- -for they are parts of a submerged reef--but because of a tradition that, -more than a hundred years ago, a boat in which three sisters had gone -out for a row was swung against one of these rocks. The day was gusty -and the boat was upset. All three of the girls were drowned. Either -the sisters remain about this perilous spot or the rocks have -prescience; at least, those who live near them on the shore hold one -view or the other, for they declare that before every death on the river -the sisters moan, the sound being heard above the lapping of the waves. -It is different from any other sound in nature. Besides, it is an -unquestioned fact that more accidents happen here than at any other -point on the river. - -Many are the upsets that have occurred and many are the swimmers who -have gone down, the dark forms of the sisters being the last shapes that -their water-blurred eyes have seen. It is only before a human life is -to be yielded that this low wailing comes from the rocks, and when, on a -night in May, 1889, the sound floated shoreward, just as the clock in -Georgetown struck twelve, good people who were awake sighed and uttered -a prayer for the one whose doom was so near at hand. Twelve hours -later, at noon, a shell came speeding down the Potomac, with a young -athlete jauntily pulling at the oars. As he neared the Three Sisters -his boat appeared to be caught in an eddy; it swerved suddenly, as if -struck; then it upset and the rower sank to his death. - - - - - A RIDE FOR A BRIDE - -When the story of bloodshed at Bunker Hill reached Bohemia Hall, in -Cecil County, Maryland, Albert De Courcy left his brother Ernest to -support the dignity of the house and make patriotic speeches, while he -went to the front, conscious that Helen Carmichael, his affianced wife, -was watching, in pride and sadness, the departure of his company. -Letters came and went, as they always do, until rumor came of a sore -defeat to the colonials at Long Island; then the letters ceased. - -It was a year later when a ragged soldier, who had stopped at the hall -for supper, told of Albert's heroism in covering the retreat of -Washington. The gallant young officer had been shot, he said, as he -attempted to swim the morasses of Gowanus. But this soldier was in -error. Albert had been vexatiously bogged on the edge of the creek. -While floundering in the mud a half dozen sturdy red-coats had lugged -him out and he was packed off to the prison-ships anchored in the -Wallabout. In these dread hulks, amid darkness and miasma, living on -scant, unwholesome food, compelled to see his comrades die by dozens -every day and their bodies flung ashore where the tide lapped away the -sand thrown over them, De Courcy wished that death instead of capture -had been his lot, for next to his love he prized his liberty. - -One day he was told off, with a handful of others, for transfer to a -stockade on the Delaware, and how his heart beat when he learned that -the new prison was within twenty miles of home! His flow of spirits -returned, and his new jailers liked him for his frankness and laughed at -his honest expletives against the king. He had the liberty of the -enclosure, and was not long in finding where the wall was low, the ditch -narrow, and the abatis decayed--knowledge that came useful to him sooner -than he expected, for one day a captured horse was led in that made -straight for him with a whinny and rubbed his nose against his breast. - -"Why!" he cried,--it's Cecil! My horse, gentlemen--or, was. Not a -better hunter in Maryland!" - -"Yes," answered one of the officers. We've just taken him from your -brother. He's been stirring trouble with his speeches and has got to be -quieted. But we'll have him to-day, for he's to be married, and a -scouting party is on the road to nab him at the altar." - -"Married! My brother! What! Ernest, the lawyer, the orator? Ho, ho! -Ah, but it's rather hard to break off a match in that style!" - -"Hard for him, maybe; but they say the lady feels no great love for him. -He made it seem like a duty to her, after her lover died." - -"How's that? Her own--what's her name?" - -"Helen--Helen Carmichael, or something like that." - -Field and sky swam before De Courcy's eyes for a moment; then he -resumed, in a calm voice, and with a pale, set face, "Well, you're -making an unhappy wedding-day for him. If he had Cecil here he would -outride you all. Ah, when I was in practice I could ride this horse and -snatch a pebble from the ground without losing pace!" - -"Could you do it now?" - -"I'm afraid long lodging in your prison-ships has stiffened my joints, -but I'd venture at a handkerchief." - -"Then try," said the commandant. - -De Courcy mounted into the saddle heavily, crossed the grounds at a -canter, and dropped a handkerchief on the grass. Then, taking a few -turns for practice, he started at a gallop and swept around like the -wind. His seat was so firm, his air so noble, his mastery of the steed -so complete, that a cheer of admiration went up. He seemed to fall -headlong from the saddle, but was up again in a moment, waving the -handkerchief gayly in farewell--for he kept straight on toward the weak -place in the wall. A couple of musket-balls hummed by his ears: it was -neck or nothing now! A tremendous leap! Then a ringing cry told the -astonished soldiers that he had reached the road in safety. Through -wood and thicket and field he dashed as if the fiend were after him, and -never once did he cease to urge his steed till he reached the turnpike, -and saw ahead the scouting party on its way to arrest his brother. - -Turning into a path that led to the rear of the little church they were -so dangerously near, he plied hands and heels afresh, and in a few -moments a wedding party was startled by the apparition of a black horse, -all in a foam, ridden by a gaunt man, in torn garments, that burst in at -the open chancel-door. The bridegroom cowered, for he knew his brother. -The bride gazed in amazement. "'Tis the dead come to life!" cried one. -De Courcy had little time for words. He rode forward to the altar, -swung Helen up behind him, and exclaimed, "Save yourselves! The British -are coming! To horse, every one, and make for the manor!" There were -shrieks and fainting--and perhaps a little cursing, even if it was in -church,--and when the squadron rode up most of the company were in full -flight. Ernest was taken, and next morning held his brother's place on -the prison-list, while, as arrangements had been made for a wedding, -there was one, and a happy one, but Albert was the bridegroom. - - - - - - SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE - -The hills about the head of the Hiawassee are filled with "harnts," -among them many animal ghosts, that ravage about the country from sheer -viciousness. The people of the region, illiterate and superstitious, -have unquestioning faith in them. They tell you about the headless bull -and black dog of the valley of the Chatata, the white stag of the -Sequahatchie, and the bleeding horse of the Great Smoky Mountains--the -last three being portents of illness, death, or misfortune to those who -see them. - -Other ghosts are those of men. Near the upper Hiawassee is a cave where -a pile of human skulls was found by a man who had put up his cabin near -the entrance. For some reason, which he says he never understood, this -farmer gathered up the old, bleached bones and dumped them into his -shed. Quite possibly he did not dare to confess that he wanted them for -fertilizers or to burn them for his poultry. - -Night fell dark and still, with a waning moon rising over the mountains ---as calm a night as ever one slept through. Along toward the middle of -it a sound like the coming of a cyclone brought the farmer out of his -bed. He ran to the window to see if the house were to be uprooted, but -the forest was still, with a strange, oppressive stillness--not a twig -moving, not a cloud veiling the stars, not an insect chirping. Filled -with a vague fear, he tried to waken his wife, but she was like one in a -state of catalepsy. - -Again the sound was heard, and now he saw, without, a shadowy band -circling about his house like leaves whirled on the wind. It seemed to -be made of human shapes, with tossing arms--this circling band--and the -sound was that of many voices, each faint and hollow, by itself, but -loud in aggregate. He who was watching realized then that the wraiths -of the dead whose skulls he had purloined from their place of sepulture -were out in lament and protest. He went on his knees at once and prayed -with vigor until morning. As soon as it was light enough to see his way -he replaced the skulls, and was not troubled by the "haunts" again. All -the gold in America, said he, would not tempt him to remove any more -bones from the cave-tombs of the unknown dead. - - - - - LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP - -Drummond's Pond, or the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, is a dark and lonely -tarn that lies in the centre of this noted Virginia morass. It is, in a -century-old tradition, the Styx of two unhappy ghosts that await the end -of time to pass its confines and enjoy the sunshine of serener worlds. -A young woman of a family that had settled near this marsh died of a -fever caused by its malarial exhalations, and was buried near the swamp. -The young man to whom she was betrothed felt her loss so keenly that for -days he neither ate nor slept, and at last broke down in mind and body. -He recovered a measure of physical health, after a time, but his reason -was hopelessly lost. - -It was his hallucination that the girl was not dead, but had been exiled -to the lonely reaches of this watery wilderness. He was heard to -mutter, "I'll find her, and when Death comes I'll hide her in the hollow -of a cypress until he passes on." Evading restraint, he plunged into -the fen, and for some days he wandered there, eating berries, sleeping -on tussocks of grass, with water-snakes crawling over him and poisonous -plants shedding their baneful dew on his flesh. He came to the lake at -last. A will-o'the-wisp played along the surface. "'Tis she!" he -cried. "I see her, standing in the light." Hastily fashioning a raft -of cypress boughs he floated it and pushed toward the centre of the -pond, but the eagerness of his efforts and the rising of a wind -dismembered the frail platform, and he fell into the black water to rise -no more. But often, in the night, is seen the wraith of a canoe, with a -fire-fly lamp burning on its prow, restlessly urged to and fro by two -figures that seem to be vainly searching for an exit from the place, and -that are believed to be those of the maiden and her lover. - - - - - THE BARGE OF DEFEAT - -Rappannock River, in Virginia, used to be vexed with shadowy craft that -some of the populace affirmed to be no boats, but spirits in disguise. -One of these apparitions was held in fear by the Democracy of Essex -County, as it was believed to be a forerunner of Republican victory. -The first recorded appearance of the vessel was shortly after the Civil -War, on the night of a Democratic mass-meeting at Tappahannock. There -were music, refreshments, and jollity, and it was in the middle of a -rousing speech that a man in the crowd cried, "Look, fellows! What is -that queer concern going down the river?" - -The people moved to the shore, and by the light of their torches a hulk -was seen drifting with the stream--a hulk of fantastic form unlike -anything that sails there in the daytime. As it came opposite the -throng, the torchlight showed gigantic negroes who danced on deck, -showing horrible faces to the multitude. Not a sound came from the -barge, the halloos of the spectators bringing no response, and some -boatmen ventured into the stream, only to pull back in a hurry, for the -craft had become so strangely enveloped in shadow that it seemed to melt -into air. - -Next day the Democracy was defeated at the polls, chiefly by the negro -vote. In 1880 it reappeared, and, as before, the Republicans gained the -day. Just before the election of 1886, Mr. Croxton, Democratic nominee -for Congress, was haranguing the people, when the cry of "The Black -Barge!" arose. Argument and derision were alike ineffectual with the -populace. The meeting broke up in silence and gloom, and Mr. Croxton -was defeated by a majority of two thousand. - - - - - NATURAL BRIDGE - -Though several natural bridges are known in this country, there is but -one that is famous the world over, and that is the one which spans Clear -Creek, Virginia--the remnant of a cave-roof, all the rest of the cavern -having collapsed. It is two hundred and fifteen feet above the water, -and is a solid mass of rock forty feet thick, one hundred feet wide, and -ninety feet in span. Thomas Jefferson owned it; George Washington -scaled its side and carved his name on the rock a foot higher than any -one else. Here, too, came the youth who wanted to cut his name above -Washington's, and who found, to his horror, when half-way up, that he -must keep on, for he had left no resting-places for his feet at safe and -reachable distances--who, therefore, climbed on and on, cutting handhold -and foothold in the limestone until he reached the top, in a fainting -state, his knife-blade worn to a stump. Here, too, in another tunnel of -the cavern, flows Lost River, that all must return to, at some time, if -they drink of it. Here, beneath the arch, is the dark stain, so like a -flying eagle that the French officer who saw it during the Revolution -augured from it a success for the united arms of the nations that used -the eagle as their symbol. - -The Mohegans knew this wonder of natural masonry, for to this point they -were pursued by a hostile tribe, and on reaching the gulf found -themselves on the edge of a precipice that was too steep at that point -to descend. Behind them was the foe; before them, the chasm. At the -suggestion of one of their medicine-men they joined in a prayer to the -Great Spirit for deliverance, and when again they looked about them, -there stood the bridge. Their women were hurried over; then, like so -many Horatii, they formed across this dizzy highway and gave battle. -Encouraged by the knowledge that they had a safe retreat in case of -being overmastered, they fought with such heart that the enemy was -defeated, and the grateful Mohegans named the place the Bridge of God. - - - - - THE SILENCE BROKEN - -It was in 1734 that Joist Hite moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with -his wife and boys, and helped to make a settlement on the Shenandoah -twelve miles south of Woodstock. When picking berries at a distance -from the village, one morning, the boys were surprised by Indians, who -hurried with them into the wilderness before their friends could be -apprised. Aaron, the elder, was strong, and big of frame, with coarse, -black hair, and face tanned brown; but his brother was small and fair, -with blue eyes and yellow locks, and it was doubtless because he was a -type of the hated white race that the Indians spent their blows and -kicks on him and spared the sturdy one. Aaron was wild with rage at the -injuries put upon his gentle brother, but he was bound and helpless, and -all that he could do was to encourage him to bear a stout heart and not -to fall behind. - -But Peter was too delicate to keep up, and there came a day when he -could go no farther. The red men consulted for a few moments, then all -of them stood apart but one, who fitted an arrow to his bow. The -child's eyes grew big with fear, and Aaron tore at his bonds, but -uselessly, and shouted that he would take the victim's place, but no -one understood his speech, and in another moment Peter lay dead on the -earth, with an arrow in his heart. Aaron gave one cry of hate and -despair, and he, too, sank unconscious. On coming to himself he found -that he was in a hut of boughs, attended by an old Indian, who told him -in rude English that he was recovering from an illness of several weeks' -duration, and that it was the purpose of his tribe to adopt him. When -the lad tried to protest he found to his amazement that he could not -utter a sound, and he learned from the Indian that the fever had taken -away his tongue. In the dulness and weakness of his state he submitted -to be clothed in Indian dress, smeared with a juice that browned his -skin, and greeted by his brother's slayers as one of themselves. When -he looked into a pool he found that he had, to all intents, become an -Indian. In time he became partly reconciled to this change, for he did -not know and could not ask where the white settlements lay; his -appearance and his inability to speak would prevent his recognition by -his friends, the red men were not unkind to him, and every boy likes a -free and out-door life. They taught him to shoot with bow and arrow, -but they kept him back if a white settlement was to be plundered. - -Three years had elapsed, and Aaron, grown tall and strong, was a good -hunter who stood in favor with the tribe. They had roamed back to the -neighborhood of Woodstock, when, at a council, Aaron overheard a plot to -fall on the village where his parents lived. He begged, by signs, to be -allowed to go with them, and, believing that he could now be trusted, -they offered no objection. Stoic as he had grown to be, he could not -repress a tear as he saw his old home and thought of the peril that it -stood in. If only he could give an alarm! The Indians retired into the -forest to cook their food where the smoke could not be seen, while Aaron -lingered at the edge of the wood and prayed for opportunity. He was not -disappointed. Two girls came up through the perfumed dusk, driving cows -from the pasture, and as they drew near, Aaron, pretending not to see -them, crawled out of the bush with his weapons, and made a show of -stealthily examining the town. The girls came almost upon him and -screamed, while he dashed into the wood in affected surprise and -regained the camp. The Indians had heard and seen nothing. The girls -would surely give the alarm in town. - -One by one the lights of the village went out, and when it seemed locked -in sleep the red marauders crept toward the nearest house--that of Joist -Hite. They arose together and rushed upon it, but at that moment a gun -was fired, an Indian fell, and in a few seconds more the settlers, whom -the girls had not failed to put on their guard, were hurrying from their -hiding-places, firing into the astonished crowd of savages, who dashed -for the woods again, leaving a dozen of their number on the ground. -Aaron remained quietly standing near his father's house, and he was -captured, as he hoped to be. When he saw how his parents had aged with -time and grief he could not repress a tear, but to his grief was added -terror when his father, after looking him steadily in the eye without -recognition, began to load a pistol. "They killed my boys," said he, -"and I am going to kill him. Bind him to that tree." - -In vain the mother pleaded for mercy; in vain the dumb boy's eyes -appealed to his father's. He was not afraid to die, and would do so -gladly to have saved the settlement; but to die by his father's band! -He could not endure it. He was bound to a tree, with the light of a -fire shining into his face. - -The old man, with hard determination, raised the weapon and aimed it -slowly at the boy's heart. A surge of feeling shook the frame of the -captive--he threw his whole life into the effort--then the silence of -three years was broken, and he cried, "Father!" A moment later his -parents were sobbing joyfully, and he could speak to them once more. - - - - - SIREN OF THE FRENCH BROAD - -Among the rocks east of Asheville, North Carolina, lives the Lorelei of -the French Broad River. This stream--the Tselica of the Indians-- -contains in its upper reaches many pools where the rapid water whirls -and deepens, and where the traveller likes to pause in the heats of -afternoon and drink and bathe. Here, from the time when the Cherokees -occupied the country, has lived the siren, and if one who is weary and -downcast sits beside the stream or utters a wish to rest in it, he -becomes conscious of a soft and exquisite music blending with the plash -of the wave. - -Looking down in surprise he sees--at first faintly, then with -distinctness--the form of a beautiful woman, with hair streaming like -moss and dark eyes looking into his, luring him with a power he cannot -resist. His breath grows short, his gaze is fixed, mechanically he -rises, steps to the brink, and lurches forward into the river. The arms -that catch him are slimy and cold as serpents; the face that stares into -his is a grinning skull. A loud, chattering laugh rings through the -wilderness, and all is still again. - - - - - THE HUNTER OF CALAWASSEE - -Through brisk November days young Kedar and his trusty slave, Lauto, -hunted along the Calawassee, with hope to get a shot at a buck--a buck -that wore a single horn and that eluded them with easy, baffling gait -whenever they met it in the fens. Kedar was piqued at this. He drained -a deep draught and buttoned his coat with an air of resolution. "Now, -by my soul," quoth he, "I'll have that buck to-day or die myself!" Then -he laughed at the old slave, who begged him to unsay the oath, for there -was something unusual about that animal--as it ran it left no tracks, -and it passed through the densest wood without halting at trees or -undergrowth. "Bah!" retorted the huntsman. "Have up the dogs. If that -buck is the fiend himself, I'll have him before the day is out!" The -twain were quickly in their saddles, and they had not been long in the -wood before the one-horned buck was seen ahead, trotting with easy pace, -yet with marvellous swiftness. - -Kedar, who was in advance, whipped up his horse and followed the deer -into a cypress grove near the Chechesee. As the game halted at a pool -he fired. The report sounded dead in the dense wood, and the deer -turned calmly, watched his pursuer until he was close at hand, then -trotted away again. All day long he held the chase. The dogs were -nowhere within sound, and he galloped through the forest, shouting and -swearing like a very devil, beating and spurring the horse until the -poor creature's head and flanks were reddened with blood. It was just -at sunset that Kedar found himself again on the bank of the Calawassee, -near the point he had left in the morning, and heard once more the -baying of his hounds. At last his prey seemed exhausted, and, swimming -the river, it ran into a thicket on the opposite side and stood still. -"Now I have him!" cried the hunter. "Hillio, Lauto! He's mine!" The -old negro heard the call and hastened forward. He heard his master's -horse floundering in the swamp that edged the river--then came a plash, -a curse, and as the slave arrived at the margin a few bubbles floated on -the sluggish current. The deer stood in the thicket, staring with eyes -that blazed through the falling darkness, and, with a wail of fear and -sorrow, old Lauto fled the spot. - - - - - REVENGE OF THE ACCABEE - -The settlement made by Lord Cardross, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was -beset by Spaniards and Indians, who laid it in ashes and slew every -person in it but one. She, a child of thirteen, had supposed the young -chief of the Accabees to be her father, as he passed in the smoke, and -had thrown herself into his arms. The savage raised his axe to strike, -but, catching her blue eye raised to his, more in grief and wonder than -alarm, the menacing hand fell to his side, and, tossing the girl lightly -to a seat on his shoulder, he strode off into the forest. Mile after -mile he bore her, and if she slept he held her to his breast as a father -holds a babe. When she awoke it was in his lodge on the Ashley, and he -was smiling in her face. The chief became her protector; but those who -marked, with the flight of time, how his fierceness had softened, knew -that she was more to him than a daughter. Years passed, the girl had -grown to womanhood, and her captor declared himself her lover. She -seemed not ill pleased at this, for she consented to be his wife. After -the betrothal the chief joined a hunting party and was absent for a -time. On his return the girl was gone. A trader who had been bartering -merchandise for furs had seen her, had been inspired by passion, and, -favored by suave manners and a white skin, he had won in a day a -stronger affection than the Indian could claim after years of loving -watchfulness. - -When this discovery was made the chief, without a word, set off on the -trail, and by broken twig, by bended grass and footprints at the brook- -edge, he followed their course until he found them resting beneath a -tree. The girl sprang from her new lover's arms with a cry of fear as -the savage, with knife and tomahawk girt upon him, stepped into view, -and she would have clasped his knees, but he motioned her away; then, -ordering them to continue their march, he went behind them until they -had reached a fertile spot on the Ashley, near the present site of -Charleston, where he halted. "Though guilty, you shall not die," said -he to the woman; then, to his rival, "You shall marry her, and a white -priest shall join your hands. Here is your future home. I give you -many acres of my land, but look that you care for her. As I have been -merciful to you, do good to her. If you treat her ill, I shall not be -far away." - -The twain were married and went to live on the acres that had been so -generously ceded to them, and for a time all went well; but the true -disposition of the husband, which was sullen and selfish, soon began to -disclose itself; disagreements arose, then quarrels; at last the man -struck his wife, and, seizing the deed of the Accabee land and a paper -that he had forced her to sign without knowing its contents, he started -for the settlements, intending to sell the property and sail for -England. On the edge of the village his flight was stayed by a tall -form that arose in his path-that of the Indian. "I gave you all," said -the chief, "the woman who should have been my wife, and then my land. -This is your thanks. You shall go no farther." - -With a quick stroke of the axe he cleft the skull of the shrinking -wretch, and then, cutting off his scalp, the Indian ran to the cottage -where sat the abandoned wife, weeping before the embers of her fire. -He roused her by tossing on fresh fuel, but she shrank back in grief and -shame when she saw who had come to her. Do not fear," he said. "The -man who struck you meant to sell your home to strangers"--and he laid -the deed of sale before her, but he will never play you false or lay -hands on you again. Look!" He tossed the dripping scalp upon the -paper. "Now I leave you forever. I cannot take you back among my -people, who do not know deceit like yours, nor could I ever love you as -I did at first." Turning, without other farewell he went out at the -door. When this gift of Accabee land was sold--for the woman could no -longer bear to live on it, but went to a northern city--a handsome house -was built by the new owner, who added game preserves and pleasure -grounds to the estate, but it was "haunted by a grief." Illness and ill -luck followed the purchase, and the house fell into ruin. - - - - - TOCCOA FALLS - -Early in the days of the white occupation of Georgia a cabin stood not -far from the Falls of Toccoa (the Beautiful). Its only occupant was a -feeble woman, who found it ill work to get food enough from the wild -fruits and scanty clearing near the house, and she had nigh forgotten -the taste of meat; for her two sons, who were her pride no less than her -support, had been killed by savages. She often said that she would -gladly die if she could harm the red men back, in return for her -suffering--which was not Christian doctrine, but was natural. She was -brooding at her fire, one winter evening, in wonder as to how one so -weak and old as she could be revenged, when her door was flung open and -a number of red men filled her cabin. She hardly changed countenance. -She did not rise. "You may take my life," she said, "for it is useless, -now that you have robbed it of all that made it worth living." - -"Hush!" said the chief. "What does the warrior want with the scalps of -women? We war on your men because they kill our game and steal our -land." - -"Is it possible that you come to our homes except to kill?" - -"We are strangers and have lost our way. You must guide us to the foot -of Toccoa and lead us to our friends." - -"I lead you? Never!" - -The chief raised his axe, but the woman did not flinch. There was a -pause, in which the iron still hung menacing. Suddenly the dame looked -up and said, "If you promise to protect me, I will lead you." - -The promise was given and the band set forth, the aged guide in advance, -bending against the storm and clasping her poor rags about her. In the -darkest part of the wood, where the roaring of wind and groaning of -branches seemed the louder for the booming of waters, she cautioned the -band to keep in single file, but to make haste, for the way was far and -the gloom was thickening. Bending their heads against the wind they -pressed forward, she in advance. Suddenly, yet stealthily, she sprang -aside and crouched beneath a tree that grew at the very brink of the -fall. The Indians came on, following blindly, and in an instant she -descried the leader as he went whirling over the edge, and one after -another the party followed. When the last had gone to his death she -arose to her feet with a laugh of triumph. "Now I, too, can die!" she -cried. So saying, she fell forward into the grayness of space. - - - - TWO LIVES FOR ONE - -The place of Macon, Georgia, in the early part of this century was -marked only by an inn. One of its guests was a man who had stopped -there on the way to Alabama, where he had bought land. The girl who -was, to be his wife was to follow in a few days. In the morning when he -paid his reckoning he produced a well-filled pocket-book, and he did not -see the significant look that passed between two rough black-bearded -fellows who had also spent the night there, and who, when he set forth, -mounted their horses and offered to keep him company. As they rode -through the deserted village of Chilicte one of the twain engaged the -traveller in talk while the other, falling a little behind, dealt him a -blow with a loaded whip that unseated him. Divining their purpose, and -lacking weapons for his own defence, he begged for mercy, and asked to -be allowed to return to his bride to be, but the robbers had already -made themselves liable to penalty, and two knife-thrusts in the breast -silenced his appeals. The money was secured, the body was dropped into -a hollow where the wolves would be likely to find and mangle it, and the -outlaws went on their way. - -Men of their class do not keep money long, and when the proceeds of the -robbery had been wasted at cards and in drink they separated. As in -fulfilment of the axiom that a murderer is sure to revisit the scene of -his crime, one of the men found himself at the Ocmulgee, a long time -afterward, in sight of the new town--Macon. In response to his halloo a -skiff shot forth from the opposite shore, and as it approached the bank -he felt a stir in his hair and a touch of ice at his heart, for the -ferryman was his victim of years ago. Neither spoke a word, but the -criminal felt himself forced to enter the boat when the dead man waved -his hand, and he was rowed across, his horse swimming beside the skiff. -As the jar of the keel was felt on the gravel he leaped out, urged his -horse to the road, sprang to the saddle, and rushed away in an agony of -fear, that was heightened when a hollow voice called, "Stay!" - -After a little he slackened pace, and a farmer, who was standing at the -roadside, asked, in astonishment, "How did you get across? There is a -freshet, and the ferryman was drowned last night." With a new thrill he -spurred his horse forward, and made no other halt until he reached the -tavern, where he fell in a faint on the steps, for the strain was no -longer to be endured. A crowd gathered, but he did not see it when he -awoke--he saw only one pair of eyes, that seemed to be looking into his -inmost soul--the eyes of the man he had slain. With a yell of terror -and of insane fury he rushed upon the ghost and thrust a knife into its -breast. The frenzy passed. It was no ghost that lay on the earth -before him, staring up with sightless eyes. It was his fellow-murderer ---his own brother. That night the assassin's body hung from a tree at -the cross-roads. - - - - - A GHOSTLY AVENGER - -In Cuthbert, Georgia, is a gravestone thus inscribed: "Sacred to the -memory of Jim Brown." No date, no epitaph--for Jim Brown was hanged. -And this is the story: At the close of the Civil War a company of -Federal soldiers was stationed in Cuthbert, to enforce order pending the -return of its people to peaceful occupations. Charles Murphy was a -lieutenant in this company. His brother, an officer quartered in a -neighboring town, was sent to Cuthbert one day to receive funds for the -payment of some men, and left camp toward evening to return to his -troop. That night Charles Murphy was awakened by a violent flapping of -his tent. It sounded as though a gale was coming, but when he arose to -make sure that the pegs and poles of his canvas house were secure, the -noise ceased, and he was surprised to find that the air was clear and -still. On returning to bed the flapping began again, and this time he -dressed himself and went out to make a more careful examination. In the -shadow of a tree a man stood beckoning. It was his brother, who, in a -low, grave voice, told him that he was in trouble, and asked him to -follow where he should lead him. The lieutenant walked swiftly through -fields and woods for some miles with his relative--he had at once -applied for and received a leave of absence for a few hours--and they -descended together a slope to the edge of a swamp, where he stumbled -against something. Looking down at the object on which he had tripped, -he saw that it was his brother's corpse--not newly dead, but cold and -rigid--the pockets rifled, the clothing soaked with mire and blood. - -Dazed and terrified, he returned to camp, roused some of his men, and at -daybreak secured the body. An effort to gain a clue to the murderer was -at once set on foot. It was not long before evidence was secured that -led to the arrest of Jim Brown, and there was a hint that his -responsibility for the crime was revealed through the same supernatural -agency that had apprised Lieutenant Murphy of his bereavement. Brown -was an ignorant farm laborer, who had conceived that it was right to -kill Yankees, and whose cupidity had been excited by learning that the -officer had money concealed about him. He had offered, for a trifling -sum, to take his victim by a short cut to his camp, but led him to the -swamp instead, where he had shot him through the heart. On the -culprit's arrival in Cuthbert he was lynched by the soldiers, but was -cut down by their commander before life was extinct, and was formally -and conclusively hanged in the next week, after trial and conviction. - - - - - THE WRAITH RINGER OF ATLANTA - -A man was killed in Elliott Street, Atlanta, Georgia, by a cowardly -stroke from a stiletto. The assassin escaped. Strange what a humming -there was in the belfry of St. Michael's Church that night! Had the -murderer taken refuge there? Was it a knell for his lost soul, chasing -him through the empty streets and beginning already an eternal -punishment of terror? Perhaps the guilty one did not dare to leave -Atlanta, for the chimes sang in minor chords on several nights after. -The old policeman who kept ward in an antiquated guardhouse that stood -opposite the church--it was afterward shaken down by earthquake--said -that he saw a human form, which he would avouch to be that of the -murdered man, though it was wrapped in a cloak, stalk to the doors, -enter without opening them, glide up the winding stair, albeit he bent -neither arm nor knee, pass the ropes by which the chimes were rung, and -mount to the belfry. He could see the shrouded figure standing beneath -the gloomy mouths of metal. It extended its bony hands to the tongues -of the bells and swung them from side to side, but while they appeared -to strike vigorously they seemed as if muffled, and sent out only a low, -musical roar, as if they were rung by the wind. Was the murderer abroad -on those nights? Did he, too, see that black shadow of his victim in -the belfry sounding an alarm to the sleeping town and appealing to be -avenged? It may be. At all events, the apparition boded ill to others, -for, whenever the chimes were rung by spectral hands, mourners gathered -at some bedside within hearing of them and lamented that the friend they -had loved would never know them more on earth. - - - - - THE SWALLOWING EARTHQUAKE - -The Indian village that in 1765 stood just below the site of Oxford, -Alabama, was upset when the news was given out that two of the squaws -had given simultaneous birth to a number of children that were spotted -like leopards. Such an incident betokened the existence of some baneful -spirit among them that had no doubt leagued itself with the women, who -were at once tried on the charge of witchcraft, convicted, and sentenced -to death at the stake, while a watch was to be set on the infants, so -early orphaned, lest they, too, should show signs of malevolent -possession. The whole tribe, seventeen hundred in number, assembled to -see the execution, but hardly were the fires alight when a sound like -thunder rolled beneath their feet, and with a hideous crack and groan -the earth opened and nearly every soul was engulfed in a fathomless and -smoking pit-all, indeed, save two, for a couple of young braves who were -on the edge of the crowd flung themselves flat on the heaving ground and -remained there until the earthquake wave had passed. The hollow -afterward filled with water and was called Blue Pond. It is popularly -supposed to be fathomless, but it was shown that a forest once spread -across the bottom, when, but a few years ago, a great tree arose from -the water, lifting first its branches, then turning so as to show its -roots above the surface, and afterward disappeared. - - - - - LAST STAND OF THE BILOXI - -The southern part of this country was once occupied by a people called -the Biloxi, who had kept pace with the Aztecs in civilization and who -cultivated especially the art of music. In lives of gentleness and -peace they so soon forgot the use of arms that when the Choctaws -descended on their fields they were powerless to prevent the onset. -Town after town they evacuated before the savages, and at last the -Biloxi, reduced to a few thousands, were driven to the mouth of the -Pascagoula River, Mississippi, where they intrenched themselves, and for -a few months withstood the invaders. But the time came when their -supplies were exhausted, and every form was pinched with hunger. Flight -was impossible. Surrender commonly meant slaughter and outrage. They -resolved to die together. - -On a fair spring morning the river-ward gates of their fort were opened -and the survivors of that hapless tribe marched forth, their chief in -advance, with resolution on his wasted face, then the soldiers and -counsellors, the young men, the women and children, and the babes asleep -on the empty breasts of their mothers. As they emerged from the walls -with slow but steady step they broke into song, and their assailants, -who had retired to their tents for their meal, listened with surprise to -the chorus of defiance and rejoicing set up by the starving people. -Without pause or swerving they entered the bay and kept their march. -Now the waters closed over the chief, then the soldiers--at last only a -few voices of women were heard in the chant, and in a few moments all -was still. Not one shrank from the sacrifice. And for years after the -echo of that death-song floated over he waves. - -Another version of the legend sets forth that the Biloxi believed -themselves the children of the sea, and that they worshipped the image -of a lovely mermaid with wondrous music. After the Spaniards had come -among this gay and gentle people, they compelled them, by tyranny and -murder, to accept the religion of the white man, but of course it was -only lip-service that they rendered at the altar. The Biloxi were -awakened one night by the sound of wings and the rising of the river. -Going forth they saw the waters of Pascagoula heaped in a quivering -mound, and bright on its moonlit crest stood a mermaid that sang to -them, "Come to me, children of the sea. Neither bell, book, nor cross -shall win you from your queen." Entranced by her song and the potency -of her glances, they moved forward until they encircled the hill of -waters. Then, with hiss and roar, the river fell back to its level, -submerging the whole tribe. The music that haunts the bay, rising -through the water when the moon is out, is the sound of their revels in -the caves below--dusky Tannhausers of a southern Venusberg. An old -priest, who was among them at the time of this prodigy, feared that the -want of result to his teachings was due to his not being in a perfect -state of grace. On his death-bed he declared that if a priest would row -to the spot where the music sounded, at midnight on Christmas, and drop -a crucifix into the water, he would instantly be swallowed by the waves, -but that every soul at the bottom would be redeemed. The souls have -never been ransomed. - - - - THE SACRED FIRE OF NACHEZ - -The Indians of the South, being in contact with the civilized races of -Central America, were among the most progressive and honorable of the -red men. They were ruled by intelligence rather than force, and -something of the respect that Europeans feel for their kingly families -made them submit to woman's rule. The valley of Nacooche, Georgia, -indeed, perpetuates in its name one of these princesses of a royal -house, for though she ruled a large tribe with wisdom she was not -impervious to the passions of common mortals. The "Evening Star" died by -her own hand, being disappointed in love affair. Her story is that of -Juliet, and she and her lover--united in death, as they could not be in -life--are buried beneath a mound in the centre of he valley. - -The Indians of that region had towns built for permanency, and possessed -some knowledge of the arts, while in religion their belief and rites -were curiously like those of the Persian fire-worshippers. It was on -the site of the present city in Mississippi which bears their name that -the Natchez Indians built their Temple of the Sun. When it was finished -a meteor fell from heaven and kindled the fire on their altar, and from -that hour the priests guarded he flame continually, until one night when -it was extinguished by mischance. This event was believed to be an -omen, and the people so took it to heart that when the white men came, -directly after, they had little courage to prosecute a war, and fell -back before the conqueror, never to hold their ancient home again. - - - - - PASS CHRISTIAN - -Senhor Vineiro, a Portuguese, having wedded Julia Regalea, a Spaniard, -in South America, found it needful to his fortunes to leave Montevideo, -for a revolution was breeding, and no less needful to his happiness to -take his wife with him from that city, for he was old and she was young. -But he chose the wrong ship to sail on, for Captain Dane, of the -Nightingale, was also young, presentable, and well schooled, but -heartless. On the voyage to New Orleans he not only won the affection -of the wife, but slew the husband and flung his body overboard. Vainly -the wife tried to repress the risings of remorse, and vainly, too, she -urged Dane to seek absolution from her church. She had never loved her -husband, and she had loved Dane from the first, but she was not at heart -a bad woman and her peace was gone. The captain was disturbed and -suspicious. His sailors glanced at him out of the corners of their eyes -in a way that he did not like. Had the woman in some unintentional -remark betrayed him? Could he conceal his crime, save with a larger -one? - -Pass Christian was a village then. On a winter night its people saw a -glare in the sky, and hurrying to their doors found a ship burning in -the gulf. Smacks and row-boats put off to the rescue, but hardly were -they under way ere the ship disappeared as suddenly as if the sea had -swallowed it. As the night was thick the boats returned, but next -morning five men were encountered on the shore-all that were left of the -crew of the Nightingale. Captain Dane was so hospitably received by the -people of the district, and seemed to take so great a liking for the -place, that he resolved to live there. He bought a plantation with a -roomy old house upon it and took his fellow-survivors there to live, as -he hoped, an easy life. That was not to be. Yellow fever struck down -all the men but Dane, and one of them, in dying, raved to his negro -nurse that Dane had taken all the treasure from the ship and put it into -a boat, after serving grog enough to intoxicate all save the trusted -ones of the crew; that he and his four associates fired the ship and -rowed away, leaving an unhappy woman to a horrible fate. Senhora -Vineiro was pale but composed when she saw the manner of death she was -to die. She brought from her cabin a harp which had been a solace of -her husband and herself and began to play and sing an air that some of -the listeners remembered. It was an "Ave Maria," and the sound of it -was so plaintive that even Dane stopped rowing; but he set his teeth -when his shoe touched the box of gold at his feet and ordered the men to -row on. There was an explosion and the vessel disappeared. On reaching -shore the treasure was buried at the foot of a large oak. - -This story was repeated by the nurse, but she was ignorant, she had no -proofs, so it was not generally believed; yet there was a perceptible -difference in the treatment of Dane by his neighbors, and among the -superstitious negroes it was declared that he had sold himself to the -devil. If he had, was it an air from hell that sounded in his ears when -he was alone?--the "Ave Maria" of a sinning but repentant woman. The -coldness and suspicion were more than he could stand. Besides, who -could tell? Evidence might be found against him. He would dig up his -treasure and fly the country. It was a year from the night when he had -fired his ship. Going out after dark, that none might see him, he stole -to the tree and began to dig. Presently a red light grew through the -air, and looking up he saw a flaming vessel advancing over the sea. It -stopped, and he could see men clambering into a boat at its side. They -rowed toward him with such miraculous speed that the ocean seemed to -steam with a blue light as they advanced. He stood like a stone, for -now he could see the faces of the rowers, and every one was the face of -a corpse--a corpse that had been left on board of that vessel and had -been in the bottom of the sea for the last twelvemonth. They sprang on -shore and rushed upon him. Next morning Dane's body was found beneath -the oak with his hands filled with gems and gold. - - - - - THE UNDER LAND - -When the Chatas looked into the still depths of Bayou Lacombe, -Louisiana, they said that the reflection of the sky was the empyrean of -the Under Land, whither all good souls were sure to go after death. -Their chief, Opaleeta, having fallen into this bayou, was so long -beneath the water that he was dead when his fellows found him, but -by working over him for hours, and through resort to prayers and -incantations of medicine men, his life returned and he stood on his feet -once more. Then he grieved that his friends had brought him back, for -he had been at the gates of the Under Land, where the air is blithe and -balmy, and so nourishing that people live on it; where it is never -winter; where the sun shines brightly, but never withers and parches; -and where stars dance to the swing of the breezes. There no white man -comes to rob the Indian and teach him to do wrong. Gorgeous birds fly -through changing skies that borrow the tints of flowers, the fields are -spangled with blossoms of red and blue and gold that load each wind with -perfume, the grass is as fine as the hair of deer, and the streams are -thick with honey. - -At sunset those who loved each other in life are gathered to their -lodges, and raise songs of joy and thankfulness. Their voices are soft -and musical, their faces are young again and beam with smiles, and there -is no death. It was only the chiefs who heard his story, for, had all -the tribe known it, many who were old and ill and weary would have gone -to the bayou, and leaped in, to find that restful, happy Under Land. -Those who had gone before they sometimes tried to see, when the lake was -still and dappled with pictures of sunset clouds, but the dead never -came back--they kept away from the margin of the water lest they should -be called again to a life of toil and sorrow. And Opaleeta lived for -many years and ruled his tribe with wisdom, yet he shared in few of the -merry-makings of his people, and when, at last, his lodge was ready in -the Under Land, he gave up his life without a sigh. - - - - - - - THE CENRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES - - - AN AVERTED PERIL - -In 1786 a little building stood at North Bend, Ohio, near the junction -of the Miami and Ohio Rivers, from which building the stars and stripes -were flying. It was one of a series of blockhouses built for the -protecting of cleared land while the settlers were coming in, yet it was -a trading station rather than a fort, for the attitude of government -toward the red men was pacific. The French of the Mississippi Valley -were not reconciled, however, to the extension of power by a Saxon -people, and the English in Canada were equally jealous of the prosperity -of those provinces they had so lately lost. Both French and English had -emissaries among the Shawnees when it had become known that the United -States intended to negotiate a treaty with them. - -It was the mild weather that comes for a time in October, when -Cantantowit blesses the land from his home in the southwest with rich -colors, plaintive perfumes of decay, soft airs, and tender lights a time -for peace; but the garrison at the fort realized that the situation was -precarious. The Shawnees had camped about them, and the air was filled -with the neighing of their ponies and the barking of their dogs. To let -them into the fort was to invite massacre; to keep them out after they -had been summoned was to declare war. - -Colonel George Rogers Clarke, of Virginia, who was in command, scoffed -at the fears of his men, and would not give ear to their appeals for an -adjournment of the meeting or a change of the place of it. At the -appointed hour the doors were opened and the Indians came in. The pipe -of peace was smoked in the usual form, but the red men were sullen and -insolent, and seemed to be seeking a cause of quarrel. Clarke explained -that the whites desired only peace, and he asked the wise men to speak -for their tribe. A stalwart chief arose, glanced contemptuously at the -officer and his little guard, and, striding to the table where Clarke -was seated, threw upon it two girdles of wampum--the peace-belt and the -war-belt. "We offer you these belts," he said. "You know what they -mean. Take which you like." - -It was a deliberate insult and defiance. Both sides knew it, and many -of the men held their breath. Clarke carelessly picked up the war-belt -on the point of his cane and flung it among the assembled chiefs. Every -man in the room sprang to his feet and clutched his weapon. Then, with -a sternness that was almost ferocious, Clarke pointed to the door with -an imperative action, and cried, "Dogs, you may go!" - -The Indians were foiled in their ill intent by his self-possession and -seeming confidence, which made them believe that he had forces in the -vicinity that they were not prepared to meet. They had already had a -bitter experience of his strength and craft, and in the fear that a trap -had been set for them they fled tumultuously. The treaty was ratified -soon after. - - - - - THE OBSTINACY OF SAINT CLAIR - -When the new First Regiment of United States Infantry paused at -Marietta, Ohio, on its way to garrison Vincennes, its officers made a -gay little court there for a time. The young Major Hamtramck-- -contemptuously called by the Indians "the frog on horseback," because of -his round shoulders--found especial pleasure in the society of Marianne -Navarre, who was a guest at the house of General Arthur St. Clair; but -the old general viewed this predilection with disfavor, because he had -hoped that his own daughter would make a match with the major. But -Louisa longed for the freedom of the woods. She was a horsewoman and a -hunter, and she had a sentimental fondness for Indians. - -When Joseph Brandt (Thayendanegea) camped with his dreaded band near the -town, it was she who--without her father's knowledge, and in the -disguise of an Indian girl--took the message that had been entrusted to -a soldier asking the tribe to send delegates to a peace council at the -fort. Louisa and Brandt had met in Philadelphia some years before, when -both were students in that city, and he was rejoiced to meet her again, -for he had made no secret of his liking for her, and in view of the -bravery she had shown in thus riding into a hostile camp his fondness -increased to admiration. After she had delivered the message she said, -"Noble warrior, I have risked my life to obtain this interview. You -must send some one back with me." Brandt replied, "It is fitting that I -alone should guard so courageous a maiden," and he rode with her through -the lines, under the eyes of a wondering and frowning people, straight -to the general's door. Soon after, Brandt made a formal demand for the -hand of this dashing maid, but the stubborn general refused to consider -it. He was determined that she ought to love Major Hamtramck, and he -told her so in tones so loud that they reached the ears of Marianne, as -she sat reading in her room. Stung by this disclosure of the general's -wishes, and doubting whether the major had been true to her--fearful, -too, that she might be regarded as an interloper--she made a pretext to -return as quickly as possible to her home in Detroit, and left no adieus -for her lover. - -It was not long after that war broke out between the settlers and the -Indians, for Brandt now had a personal as well as a race grudge to -gratify, though when he defeated St. Clair he spared his life in the -hope that the general would reward his generosity by resigning to him -his daughter. At all events, he resolved that the "frog on horseback," -whom he conceived to be his rival, should not win her. The poor major, -who cared nothing for Louisa, and who was unable to account for the -flight of Marianne, mourned her absence until it was rumored that she -had been married, when, as much in spite as in love, he took to himself -a mate. After he had been for some time a widower he met Marianne -again, and learned that she was still a maiden. He renewed his court -with ardor, but the woman's love for him had died when she learned of -his marriage. Affecting to make light of this second disappointment, he -said, "Since I cannot be united to you in life, I shall be near you in -death." - -"A soldier cannot choose where he shall die," she answered. - -"No matter. I shall sleep in the shadow of your tomb." - -As it fell out they were indeed buried near each other in Detroit. -Thus, the stupidity and obstinacy of General St. Clair, in supposing -that he could make young folks love to order, thwarted the happiness of -four people and precipitated a war. - - - - - THE HUNDREDTH SKULL - -In the early part of this century Bill Quick, trapper and frontiersman, -lived in a cabin on the upper Scioto, not far from the present town of -Kenton, Ohio. One evening when he returned from the hunt he found his -home rifled of its contents and his aged father weltering in his blood -on the floor. He then and there took oath that he would be revenged a -hundredfold. His mission was undertaken at once, and for many a year -thereafter the Indians of the region had cause to dread the doom that -came to them from brake and wood and fen,--now death by knife that -flashed at them from behind a tree, and the next instant whirled through -the air and was buried to the hilt in a red man's heart; now, by bullet -as they rowed across the rivers; now, by axe that clove their skulls as -they lay asleep. - -Bill Quick worked secretly, and, unlike other men of the place and time, -he did not take his trophies Indian-fashion. The scalp was not enough. -He took the head. And presently a row of grinning skulls was ranged -upon his shelves. Ninety-nine of these ghastly prizes occupied his -cabin, and the man was confident that he should accomplish his intent. -But the Indians, in terror, were falling away toward the lakes; they -were keeping better guard; and ere the hundredth man had fallen before -his rifle he was seized with fatal illness. Calling to him his son, -Tom, he pointed to the skulls, and charged him to fulfil the oath he had -taken by adding to the list a hundredth skull. Should he fail in this -the murdered ancestor and he himself would come back to haunt the -laggard. Tom accepted the trust, but everything seemed to work against -him. He never was much of a hunter nor a very true shot, and he had no -liking for war; besides, the Indians had left the country, as he -fancied. So he grumbled at the uncongenial task appointed for him and -kept deferring it from week to week and from year to year. When his -conscience pricked him he allayed the smart with drink, and his -conscience seemed to grow more active as he grew older. - -On returning to the cabin after a carouse he declared that he had heard -voices, that the skulls gibbered and cracked their teeth together as if -mocking his weakness, and that a phosphorescent glare shone through the -sockets of their eyes. In his cups he prattled his secret, and soon the -whole country knew that he was under oath to kill a red-skin-and the -country laughed at him. On a certain day it was reported that a band of -Indians had been seen in the neighborhood, and what with drink and the -taunts of his friends, he was impelled to take his rifle and set out -once more on the war-path. A settler heard a shot fired not long after. -Next day a neighbor passing Tom Quick's cabin tapped at the door, and, -receiving no answer, pushed it open and entered. The hundredth skull -was there, on the shelves, a bullet-hole in the forehead, and the scalp -gone. The head was Quick's. - - - - - THE CRIME OF BLACK SWAMP - -Two miles south of Munger, Ohio, in the heart of what used to be called -the Black Swamp, stood the Woodbury House, a roomy mansion long gone to -decay. John Cleves, the last to live in it, was a man whose evil -practices got him into the penitentiary, but people had never associated -him with the queer sights and sounds in the lower chambers, nor with the -fact that a man named Syms, who had gone to that house in 1842, had -never been known to leave it. Ten years after Syms's disappearance it -happened that Major Ward and his friend John Stow had occasion to take -shelter there for the night--it being then deserted,--and, starting a -blaze in the parlor fireplace, they lit their pipes and talked till -late. Stow would have preferred a happier topic, but the major, who -feared neither man nor devil, constantly turned the talk on the evil -reputation of the house. - -While they chatted a door opened with a creak and a human skeleton -appeared before them. - -"What do you want? Speak!" cried Ward. But waiting for no answer he -drew his pistols and fired two shots at the grisly object. There was a -rattling sound, but the skeleton was neither dislocated nor -disconcerted. Advancing deliberately, with upraised arm, it said, in a -husky voice, "I, that am dead, yet live in a sense that mortals do not -know. In my earthly life I was James Syms, who was robbed and killed -here in my sleep by John Cleves." With bony finger it pointed to a -rugged gap in its left temple. "Cleves cut off my head and buried it -under the hearth. My body he cast into his well." At these words the -head disappeared and the voice was heard beneath the floor, "Take up my -skull." The watchers obeyed the call, and after digging a minute -beneath the hearth a fleshless head with a wound on the left temple came -to view. Ward took it into his hands, but in a twinkling it left them -and reappeared on the shoulders of the skeleton. - -"I have long wanted to tell my fate," it resumed, "but could not until -one should be found brave enough to speak to me. I have appeared to -many, but you are the first who has commanded me to break my long -silence. Give my bones a decent burial. Write to my relative, Gilmore -Syms, of Columbus, Georgia, and tell him what I have revealed. I have -found peace." With a grateful gesture it extended its hand to Ward, -who, as he took it, shook like one with an ague, his wrist locked in its -bony clasp. As it released him it raised its hand impressively. A -bluish light burned at the doorway for an instant. The two men found -themselves alone. - - - - - THE HOUSE ACCURSED - -Near Gallipolis, Ohio, there stood within a few years an old house of -four rooms that had been occupied by Herman Deluse. He lived there -alone, and, though his farming was of the crudest sort, he never -appeared to lack for anything. The people had an idea that the place -was under ban, and it was more than suspected that its occupant had been -a pirate. In fact, he called his place the Isle of Pines, after a -buccaneers' rendezvous in the West Indies, and made no attempt to -conceal the strange plunder and curious weapons that he had brought home -with him, but of money he never appeared to have much at once. When it -came his time to die he ended his life alone, so far as any knew-- -at least, his body was found in his bed, without trace of violence or -disorder. It was buried and the public administrator took charge of the -estate, locking up the house until possible relatives should come to -claim it, and the rustic jury found that Deluse "came to his death by -visitation of God." - -It was but a few nights after this that the Rev. Henry Galbraith -returned from a visit of a month to Cincinnati and reached his home -after a night of boisterous storm. The snow was so deep and the roads -so blocked with windfalls that he put up his horse in Gallipolis and -started for his house on foot. - -"But where did you pass the night?" inquired his wife, after the -greetings were over. "With old Deluse in the Isle of Pines," he -answered. "I saw a light moving about the house, and rapped. No one -came; so, as I was freezing, I forced open the door, built a fire, and -lay down in my coat before it. Old Deluse came in presently and I -apologized, but he paid no attention to me. He seemed to be walking in -his sleep and to be searching for something. All night long I could -hear his footsteps about the house, in pauses of the storm." - -The clergyman's wife and son looked at each other, and a friend who was -present--a lawyer, named Maren--remarked, "You did not know that Deluse -was dead and buried?" The clergyman was speechless with amazement. -"You have been dreaming," said the lawyer. "Still, if you like, we will -go there to-night and investigate." - -The clergyman, his son, and the lawyer went to the house about nine -o'clock, and as they approached it a noise of fighting came from within ---blows, the clink of steel, groans, and curses. Lights appeared, first -at one window, then at another. The men rushed forward, burst in the -door, and were inside--in darkness and silence. They had brought -candles and lighted them, but the light revealed nothing. Dust lay -thick on the floor except in the room where the clergyman had passed the -previous night, and the door that he had then opened stood ajar, but the -snow outside was drifted and unbroken by footsteps. Then came the sound -of a fall that shook the building. At the same moment it was noticed by -the other two men that young Galbraith was absent. They hurried into -the room whence the noise had come. A board was wrenched from the wall -there, disclosing a hollow that had been used for a hiding-place, and on -the floor lay young Galbraith with a sack of Spanish coins in his hand. -His father stooped to pick him up, but staggered back in horror, for the -young man's life had gone. A post-mortem examination revealed no cause -of death, and a rustic jury again laid it to a "visitation of God." - - - - MARQUETTE'S MAN-EATER - -Until it was worn away by the elements a curious relief was visible on -the bluffs of the Mississippi near Alton, Illinois. It was to be seen -as late as 1860, and represented a monster once famous as the "piasa -bird." Father Marquette not only believed it but described it as a man- -eater in the account of his explorations, where he mentions other -zoological curiosities, such as unicorns with shaggy mane and land- -turtles three feet long with two heads, "very mischievous and addicted -to biting." He even showed a picture of the maneater that accorded -rudely with the picture on the rocks. It was said to prey on human -flesh, and to be held in fear by the Indians, who encountered it on and -near the Mississippi. It had the body of a panther, wings like a bat, -and head and horns of a deer. Father Marquette gave it a human face. -The sculpture was undoubtedly made by Indians, but its resemblance to -the winged bulls of Assyria and the sphinxes of Egypt has been quoted as -confirmation of a prehistoric alliance of Old and New World races or the -descent of one from the other. It has also been thought to stand for -the totem of some great chief-symbolizing, by its body, strength; by its -wings, speed; by its head, gentleness and beauty. But may not the -tradition of it have descended from the discovery of comparatively late -remains, by primitive man, of the winged saurians that crawled, swam, -dived, or flew, lingering on till the later geologic period? The legend -of the man-eater may even have been told by those who killed the last of -the pterodactyls. - - - - - MICHEL DE COUCY'S TROUBLES - -Michel De Coucy, of Prairie de Rocher, Illinois, sat before his door -humming thoughtfully, and trying to pull comfort out of a black pipe.. -He was in debt, and he did not like the sensation. As hunter, boatman, -fiddler he had done well enough, but having rashly ventured into trade -he had lost money, and being unable to meet a note had applied to Pedro -Garcia for a loan at usurious interest. Garcia was a black-whiskered -Spaniard who was known to have been a gambler in New Orleans, and as -Michel was in arrears in his payments he was now threatening suit. -Presently the hunter jumped up with a glad laugh, for two horsemen were -approaching his place--the superior of the Jesuit convent at Notre Dame -de Kaskaskia and the governor of the French settlements in Illinois, of -whom he had asked advice, and who had come from Fort Chartres, on the -Mississippi, to give it in person. It was good advice, too, for the -effect of it was that there was no law of that time--1750--by which a -Spaniard could sue a Frenchman on French territory. Moreover, the bond -was invalid because it was drawn up in Spanish, and Garcia could produce -no witness to verify the cross at the bottom of the document as of -Michel's making. - -Great was the wrath of the Spaniard when Michel told him this, nor was -it lessened when the hunter bade him have no fear--that he might be -obliged to repudiate part of the interest, but that every livre of the -principal would be forthcoming, if only a little time were allowed. The -money lender walked away with clenched fists, muttering to himself, and -Michel lit his pipe again. - -At supper-time little Genevieve, the twelve-yearold daughter of Michel, -did not appear. The table was kept waiting for an hour. Michel sat -down but could not eat, and, after scolding awhile in a half-hearted -fashion, he went to the clearing down the road, where the child had been -playing. A placard was seen upon a tree beside the way, and he called a -passing neighbor to read to him these words: "Meshell Coosy. French -rascal. Pay me my money and you have your daughter. Pedro Garcia." - -Accustomed as he was to perils, and quick as he generally was in -expedient, Michel was overwhelmed by this stroke. The villagers offered -to arm themselves and rescue the child, but he would not consent to -this, for he was afraid that Garcia might kill her, if he knew that -force was to be set against him. In a day or two Michel was told to go -to Fort Chartres, as favorable news awaited him. He rode with all speed -to that post, went to the official quarters, where the governor was -sitting, and as he entered he became almost insane with rage, for Garcia -stood before him. Nothing but the presence of others saved the -Spaniard's life, and it was some time before Michel could be made to -understand that Garcia was there under promise of safe conduct, and that -the representatives of King Louis were in honor bound to see that he was -not injured. The points at issue between the two men were reviewed, and -the governor gave it as his decision that Michel must pay his debt -without interest, that being forfeit by the Spaniard's abduction of -Genevieve, and that the Spaniard was to restore the girl, both parties -in the case being remanded to prison until they had obeyed this -judgment. - -"But I have your promise of safe conduct!" cried the Spaniard, blazing -with wrath. - -"And you shall have it when the girl returns," replied the governor. -"You shall be protected in going and coming, but there is no reference -in the paper that you hold as to how long we may wish to keep you with -us." - -Both men were marched away forthwith, but Michel was released in an -hour, for in that time the people had subscribed enough to pay his debt. -The Spaniard sent a messenger to a renegade who had little Genevieve in -keeping, and next day he too went free, swearing horribly, but glad to -accept the service of an armed escort until he was well out of town. -Michel embraced his child with ardor when once she was in his arms -again; then he lighted his pipe and set out with her for home, convinced -that French law was the best in the world, that Spaniards were not to be -trusted, and that it is safer to keep one's earnings under the floor -than to venture them in trade. - - - - - WALLEN'S RIDGE - -A century ago this rough eminence, a dozen miles from Chattanooga, -Tennessee, was an abiding place of Cherokee Indians, among whom was -Arinook, their medicine-man, and his daughter. The girl was pure and -fair, and when a white hunter saw her one day at the door of her -father's wigwam he was so struck with her charm of person and her -engaging manner that he resolved not to return to his people until he -had won her for his wife. She had many lovers, though she favored none -of them, and while the Cherokees were at first loth to admit a stranger -to their homes they forgot their jealousy when they found that this one -excelled as a hunter and fisherman, that he could throw the knife and -tomahawk better than themselves, and that he was apt in their work and -their sports. - -They even submitted to the inevitable with half a grace when they found -that the stranger and the girl of whom they were so fond were in love. -With an obduracy that seems to be characteristic of fathers, the -medicine-man refused his consent to the union, and the hearts of the -twain were heavy. Though the white man pleaded with her to desert her -tribe, she refused to do so, on the score of duty to her father, and the -couple forlornly roamed about the hill, watching the sunset from its top -and passing the bright summer evenings alone, sitting hand in hand, -loving, sorrowing, and speaking not. In one of their long rambles they -found themselves beside the Tennessee River at a point where the current -swirls among rocks and sucks down things that float, discharging them at -the surface in still water, down the stream. Here for a time they -stood, when the girl, with a gush of tears, began to sing--it was her -death-song. The white man grasped her hand and joined his voice to -hers. Then they took a last embrace and flung themselves into the -water, still hand in hand. - -When the river is low you may hear their death-song sounding there. The -manitous of the river and the wood were offended with the medicine-man -because of his stubbornness and cruelty, although he suffered greatly -because of the death his daughter died, and he the cause of it. For now -strange Indians appeared among the Cherokees and drove the deer and bear -away. Tall, strong, and large were these intruders, and they hung about -the village by day and night--never speaking, yet casting a fear about -them, for they would throw great rocks farther than a warrior could -shoot an arrow with the wind behind him; they had horns springing from -their heads; their eyes were the eyes of wild-cats, and shone in the -dark; they growled like animals, shaking the earth when they did so, and -breathing flame; they were at the bedside, at the council-fire, at the -banquet, seeming only to wait for a show of enmity to annihilate the -tribe. - -At length the people could endure their company no longer, and taking -down their lodges they left Wallen's Ridge and wandered far away until -they came to a valley where no foot had left its impress, and there they -besought the Great Spirit to forgive the wrong their medicine-man had -done, and to free them from the terrible spirits that had been living -among them. The prayer was granted, and the lodges stood for many years -in a safe and happy valley. - - - - - THE SKY WALKER OF HURON - -Here is the myth of Endymion and Diana, as told on the shores of Saginaw -Bay, in Michigan, by Indians who never heard of Greeks. Cloud Catcher, -a handsome youth of the Ojibways, offended his family by refusing to -fast during the ceremony of his coming of age, and was put out of the -paternal wigwam. It was so fine a night that the sky served him as well -as a roof, and he had a boy's confidence in his ability to make a -living, and something of fame and fortune, maybe. He dropped upon a -tuft of moss to plan for his future, and drowsily noted the rising of -the moon, in which he seemed to see a face. On awaking he found that it -was not day, yet the darkness was half dispelled by light that rayed -from a figure near him--the form of a lovely woman. - -"Cloud Catcher, I have come for you," she said. And as she turned away -he felt impelled to rise and follow. But, instead of walking, she began -to move into the air with the flight of an eagle, and, endowed with a -new power, he too ascended beside her. The earth was dim and vast -below, stars blazed as they drew near them, yet the radiance of the -woman seemed to dull their glory. Presently they passed through a gate -of clouds and stood on a beautiful plain, with crystal ponds and brooks -watering noble trees and leagues of flowery meadow; birds of brightest -colors darted here and there, singing like flutes; the very stones were -agate, jasper, and chalcedony. An immense lodge stood on the plain, and -within were embroideries and ornaments, couches of rich furs, pipes and -arms cut from jasper and tipped with silver. While the young man was -gazing around him with delight, the brother of his guide appeared and -reproved her, advising her to send the young man back to earth at once, -but, as she flatly refused to do so, he gave a pipe and bow and arrows -to Cloud Catcher, as a token of his consent to their marriage, and -wished them happiness, which, in fact, they had. - -This brother, who was commanding, tall, and so dazzling in his gold and -silver ornaments that one could hardly look upon him, was abroad all -day, while his sister was absent for a part of the night. He permitted -Cloud Catcher to go with him on one of his daily walks, and as they -crossed the lovely Sky Land they glanced down through open valley -bottoms on the green earth below. The rapid pace they struck gave to -Cloud Catcher an appetite and he asked if there were no game. -"Patience," counselled his companion. On arriving at a spot where a -large hole had been broken through the sky they reclined on mats, and -the tall man loosing one of his silver ornaments flung it into a group -of children playing before a lodge. One of the little ones fell and was -carried within, amid lamentations. Then the villagers left their sports -and labors and looked up at the sky. The tall man cried, in a voice of -thunder, "Offer a sacrifice and the child shall be well again." A white -dog was killed, roasted, and in a twinkling it shot up to the feet of -Cloud Catcher, who, being empty, attacked it voraciously. - -Many such walks and feasts came after, and the sights of earth and taste -of meat filled the mortal with a longing to see his people again. He -told his wife that he wanted to go back. She consented, after a time, -saying, "Since you are better pleased with the cares, the ills, the -labor, and the poverty of the world than with the comfort and abundance -of Sky Land, you may return; but remember you are still my husband, and -beware how you venture to take an earthly maiden for a wife." - -She arose lightly, clasped Cloud Catcher by the wrist, and began to move -with him through the air. The motion lulled him and he fell asleep, -waking at the door of his father's lodge. His relatives gathered and -gave him welcome, and he learned that he had been in the sky for a year. -He took the privations of a hunter's and warrior's life less kindly than -he thought to, and after a time he enlivened its monotony by taking to -wife a bright-eyed girl of his tribe. In four days she was dead. The -lesson was unheeded and he married again. Shortly after, he stepped -from his lodge one evening and never came back. The woods were filled -with a strange radiance on that night, and it is asserted that Cloud -Catcher was taken back to the lodge of the Sun and Moon, and is now -content to live in heaven. - - - - - THE COFFIN OF SNAKES - -No one knew how it was that Lizon gained the love of Julienne, at L'Anse -Creuse (near Detroit), for she was a girl of sweet and pious -disposition, the daughter of a God-fearing farmer, while Lizon was a -dark, ill-favored wretch, who had come among the people nobody knew -whence, and lived on the profits of a tap-room where the vilest liquor -was sold, and where gaming, fighting, and carousing were of nightly -occurrence. Perhaps they were right in saying that it was witchcraft. -He impudently laid siege to her heart, and when she showed signs of -yielding he told her and her friends that he had no intention of -marrying her, because he did not believe in religion. - -Yet Julienne deserted her comfortable home and went to live with this -disreputable scamp in his disreputable tavern, to the scandal of the -community, and especially of the priest, who found Lizon's power for -evil greater than his own for good, for as the tavern gained in hangers- -on the church lost worshippers. One Sunday morning Julienne surprised -the people by appearing in church and publicly asking pardon for her -wrong-doing. It was the first time she had appeared there since her -flight, and she was as one who had roused from a trance or fever-sleep. -Her father gladly took her home again, and all went well until New- -Year's eve, when the young men called d'Ignolee made the rounds of the -settlement to sing and beg meat for the poor--a custom descended from -the Druids. They came to the house of Julienne's father and received -his welcome and his goods, but their song was interrupted by a cry of -distress--Lizon was among the maskers, and Julienne was gone. A crowd -of villagers ran to the cabaret and rescued the girl from the room into -which the fellow had thrust her, but it was too late--she had lost her -reason. Cursing and striking and blaspheming, Lizon was at last -confronted by the priest, who told him he had gone too far; that he had -been a plague to the people and an enemy to the church. He then -pronounced against him the edict of excommunication, and told him that -even in his grave he should not rest; that the church, abandoned by so -many victims of his wiles and tyrannies, should be swept away. - -The priest left the place forthwith, and the morals of the village fell -lower and lower. Everything was against it, too. Blight and storm and -insect pest ravaged the fields and orchards, as if nature had engaged to -make an expression of the iniquity of the place. Suddenly death came -upon Lizon. A pit was dug near his tavern and he was placed in a -coffin, but as the box was lowered it was felt to grow lighter, while -there poured from it a swarm of fat and filthy snakes. The fog that -overspread the earth that morning seemed to blow by in human forms, the -grave rolled like a wave after it had been covered, and after darkness -fell a blue will-o'-the-wisp danced over it. A storm set in, heaping -the billows on shore until the church was undermined, and with a crash -it fell into the seething flood. But the curse had passed, and when a -new chapel was built the old evils had deserted L'Anse Crease. - - - - - MACKINACK - -Not only was Mackinack the birthplace of Hiawatha: it was the home of -God himself--Gitchi Manitou, or Mitchi Manitou--who placed there an -Indian Adam and Eve to watch and cultivate his gardens. He also made -the beaver, that his children might eat, and they acknowledged his -goodness in oblations. Bounteous sacrifices insured entrance after -death to the happy hunting-grounds beyond the Rocky Mountains. Those -who had failed in these offerings were compelled to wander about the -Great Lakes, shelterless, and watched by unsleeping giants who were -ten times the stature of mortals. - -These giants still exist, but in the form of conical rocks, one of -which-called Sugar-Loaf, or Manitou's Wigwam--is ninety feet high. -A cave in this obelisk is pointed out as Manitou's abiding-place, -and it was believed that every other spire in the group had its wraith, -whence has come the name of the island--Michillimackinack (place of -great dancing spirits). Arch Rock is the place that Manitou built to -reach his home from Sunrise Land the better. There were many such -monuments of divinities in the north. They are met with all about the -lakes and in the wooded wilderness, the most striking one being the -magnificent spire of basalt in the Black Hills region of Wyoming. It is -known as Devil's Tower, or Mateo's Tepee, and by the red men is held to -be the wigwam of a were-animal that can become man at pleasure. This -singular rock towers above the Belle Fourche River to a height of eight -hundred feet. - -Deep beneath Mackinack was a stately and beautiful cavern hall where -spirits had their revels. An Indian who got leave to quit his body saw -it in company with one of the spirits, and spread glowing reports of its -beauties when he had clothed himself in flesh again. When Adam and Eve -died they, too, became spirits and continued to watch the home of -Manitou. - -Now, there is another version of this tradition which gives the, -original name of the island as Moschenemacenung, meaning "great turtle." -The French missionaries and traders, finding the word something too -large a mouthful, softened it to Michillimackinack, and, when the -English came, three syllables served them as well as a hundred, so -Mackinack it is to this day. Manitou, having made a turtle from a drop -of his own sweat, sent it to the bottom of Lake Huron, whence it brought -a mouthful of mud, and from this Mackinack was created. As a reward for -his service the turtle was allowed to sleep there in the sun forever. - -Yet another version has it that the Great Spirit plucked a sand-grain -from the primeval ocean, set it floating on those waters, and tended it -until it grew so large that a young wolf, running constantly, died of -old age before reaching its limits. The sand became the earth. -Prophecy has warned the Winnebagoes that Manibozho (Michabo or Hiawatha) -shall smite by pestilence at the end of their thirteenth generation. -Ten are gone. All shall perish but one pure pair, who will people the -recreated world. Manibozho, or Minnebojou, is called a "culture myth," -but the Indians have faith in him. They say that he lies asleep on the -north shore of Lake Superior, beneath the "hill of four knobs," known as -the Sleeping Giant. There offerings are made to him, and it was a hope -of his speedy rising that started the Messiah craze in the West in 1890. - - - - - LAKE SUPERIOR WATER GODS - -There were many water gods about Lake Superior to whom the Indians paid -homage, casting implements, ornaments, and tobacco into the water -whenever they passed a spot where one of these manitous sat enthroned. -At Thunder Cape, on the north shore, lies Manibozho, and in the pillared -recess of La Chapelle, among the Pictured Rocks, dwelt powerful rulers -of the storm to whose mercy the red men commended themselves with quaint -rites whenever they were to set forth on a voyage over the great -unsalted sea. At Le Grand Portal were hidden a horde of mischievous -imps, among whose pranks was the repetition of every word spoken by the -traveller as he rested on his oars beneath this mighty arch. The -Chippewas worked the copper mines at Keweenaw Point before the white -race had learned of a Western land, but they did so timidly, for they -believed that a demon would visit with injury or death the rash mortal -who should presume to pillage his treasure, unless he had first bestowed -gifts upon him. Even then they went ashore with fear, lighted fires -around a surface of native copper, hacked off a few pounds of the -softened metal, and ran to their canoes without looking behind them. - -There was another bad manitou at the mouth of Superior Bay, where -conflicting currents make a pother of waters. This spirit sat on the -bottom of the lake, gazing upward, and if any boatman ventured to cross -his domain without dropping a pipe or beads or hatchet into it, woe -betide him, for his boat would be caught in a current and smashed -against a rocky shore. Perhaps the most vexatious god was he who ruled -the Floating Islands. These islands were beautiful with trees and -flowers, metal shone and crystals sparkled on their ledges, sweet fruits -grew in plenty, and song-birds flitted over them. In wonder and delight -the hunter would speed toward them in his canoe, but as he neared their -turfy banks the jealous manitou, who kept these fairy lands for his own -pleasure, would throw down a fog and shut them out of sight. Never -could the hunter set foot on them, no matter how long he kept up his -search. - - - - -THE WITCH OF PICTURED ROCKS - -On the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior dwelt an Ojibway woman, a widow, -who was cared for by a relative. This relative was a hunter, the -husband of an agreeable wife, the father of two bright children. Being -of a mean and jealous nature, the widow begrudged every kindness that -the hunter showed to his wife--the skins he brought for her clothing, -the moose's lip or other dainty that he saved for her; and one day, in a -pretence of fine good-nature, the old woman offered to give the younger -a swing in a vine pendent from a tree that overhung the lake. - -The wife accepted, and, seating herself on the vine, was swayed to and -fro, catching her breath, yet laughing as she swept out over the water. -When the momentum was greatest the old woman cut the stem. A splash was -heard--then all was silent. Returning to the lodge, the hag disguised -herself in a dress of the missing woman, and sitting in a shadow, -pretended to nurse the infant of the household. The hunter, returning, -was a little surprised that his wife should keep her face from him, and -more surprised that the old woman did not appear for her share of the -food that he had brought; but after their meal he took his little ones -to the lake, to enjoy the evening breeze, when the elder burst into -tears, declaring that the woman in the lodge was not his mother, and -that he feared his own mother was dead or lost. - -The hunter hurled his spear into the earth and prayed that, if his wife -were dead, her body might be found, so he could mourn over it and give -it burial. Instantly a bolt of lightning came from a passing cloud and -shot into the lake, while the thunder-peal that followed shook the -stones he stood on. It also disturbed the water and presently something -was seen rising through it. The man stepped into a thicket and watched. -In a few moments a gull arose from the lake and flew to the spot where -the children were seated. Around its body was a leather belt, -embroidered with beads and quills, which the hunter recognized, and, -advancing softly, he caught the bird--that changed at once into the -missing woman. The family set forth toward home, and as they entered -the lodge the witch--for such she was--looked up, with a start, then -uttered a cry of despair. Bending low, she moved her arms in both -imprecation and appeal. A moment later a black, ungainly bird flew from -the wigwam and passed from sight among the trees. The witch never came -back to plague them. - - - - - THE ORIGIN OF WHITE-FISH - -An Indian who lived far in the north was so devoted to the chase that he -was never at home for the whole of a day, to the sorrow of his two boys, -who liked nothing so much as to sport with him and to be allowed to -practise with his weapons. Their mother told them that on no account -were they to speak to him of the young man who visited the lodge while -their father was away, and it was not until they were well grown and -knew what the duty of wives should be that they resolved to disobey her. -The hunter struck the woman dead when he learned of her perfidy. So -greatly did her spirit trouble them, however, that they could no longer -abide in their old home in peace and comfort, and they left the country -and journeyed southward until they came to the Sault Sainte Marie. - -As they stood beside the falls a head came rolling toward them on the -earth--the head of the dead woman. At that moment, too, a crane was -seen riding on the surface of the water, whirling about in its strongest -eddies, and when one of the boys called to it, "O Grandfather, we are -persecuted by a spirit; take us across the falls," the crane flew to -them. "Cling to my back and do not touch my head," it said to them, and -landed them safely on the farther shore. - -But now the head screamed, "Come, grandfather, and carry me over, for I -have lost my children and am sorely distressed," and the bird flew to -her likewise. "Be careful not to touch my head," it said. The head -promised obedience, but succumbed to curiosity when half-way over and -touched the bird's head to see what was the matter with him. With a -lurch the crane flung off his burden and it fell into the rapids. As it -swept down, bumping against the rocks, the brains were pounded out and -strewn over the water. "You were useless in life," cried the crane. -"You shall not be so in death. Become fish!" And the bits of brain -changed to roe that presently hatched to a delicate white fish, the -flesh whereof is esteemed by Indians of the lakes, and white men, -likewise. The family pitched a lodge near the spot and took the crane -as their totem or name-mark. Many of their descendants bear it to this -day. - - - - - THE SPIRIT OF CLOUDY - -Among the lumbermen of Alger, Michigan, was William Cloud, an Indian, -usually called Cloudy, who was much employed on a chute a mile and a -half out of the village. The rains were heavy one spring, and a large -raft of logs had been floated down to the chute, where they were held -back by a gate until it was time to send them through in a mass. When -the creek had reached its maximum height the foreman gave word to the -log-drivers to lower the gate and let the timber down. This order came -on a chilly April night, and, as it was pitchy dark and rain was falling -in sheets, the lumbermen agreed to draw cuts to decide which of them -should venture out and start the logs. Cloudy drew the fatal slip. He -was a quiet fellow, and without a word he opened the door, bent against -the storm, and passed into the darkness. An hour went by, and the men -in the cabin laughed as they described the probable appearance of their -comrade when he should return, soaked through and through, and they -wondered if he was waiting in some shelter beside the path for the -middle of the night to pass, for the Indians believed that an evil -spirit left the stream every night and was abroad until that hour. - -As time lengthened the jest and talk subsided and a moody silence -supervened. At length one of the number resolved to sally out and see -if any mishap had fallen to the Indian. He was joined by three others, -and the party repaired to the creek. Above the chute it was seen that -the gate--which was released by the withdrawal of iron pins and sank of -its own weight-had not quite settled into place, and by the light of a -lantern held near the surface of the rushing current an obstruction -could be dimly seen. The gate was slightly raised and the object drawn -up with pike-poles. It was the mangled body of Cloudy. He was buried -beside the creek; but the camp was soon abandoned and the chute is in -decay, for between the hours of ten and twelve each night the wraith of -the Indian, accompanied by the bad spirit of the stream, ranges through -the wood, his form shining blue in the gloom, his groans sounding above -the swish and lap of the waters. - - - - - THE SUN FIRE AT SAULT SAINTE MARIE - -Father Marquette reached Sault Sainte Marie, in company with Greysolon -Du Lhut, in August, 1670, and was received in a manner friendly enough, -but the Chippewas warned him to turn back from that point, for the -Ojibways beyond were notoriously hostile to Europeans, their chief-- -White Otter--having taken it on himself to revenge, by war, his father's -desertion of his mother. His father was a Frenchman. Inspired by his -mission, and full of the enthusiasm of youth and of the faith that had -led him safely through a host of dangers and troubles, Marquette refused -to change his plans, and even ventured the assertion that he could tame -the haughty Otter and bring him to the cross. At dawn he and his -doughty henchman set off in a war-canoe, but, on arriving in White -Otter's camp and speaking their errand, they were seized and bound, to -await death on the morrow. The wife of the chief spoke, out of the -kindness of her heart, and asked mercy for the white men. To no avail. -The brute struck her to the ground. That night his daughter, Wanena, -who had seen Du Lhut at the trading post and had felt the stir of a -generous sentiment toward him, appeared before the prisoners when sleep -was heaviest in the camp, cut their bonds, led them by an obscure path -to the river, where she enjoined them to enter a canoe, and guided the -boat to the Holy Isle. This was where the Ojibways came to lay -offerings before the image of Manitou, whose home was there believed to -be. There the friendly red men would be sure to find and rescue them, -she thought, and after a few hours of sleep she led them into a secluded -glen where stood the figure rudely carved from a pine trunk, six feet -high, and tricked with gewgaws. As they stood there, stealthy steps -were heard, and before they could conceal themselves White Otter and -eight of his men were upon them. Du Lhut grasped a club from among the -weapons that--with other offerings--strewed the earth at the statue's -feet and prepared to sell his life dearly. The priest drew forth his -crucifix and prayed. The girl dropped to the ground, drew her blanket -over her head, and began to sing her death-song. - -"So the black-coat and the woman-stealer have come to die before the -Indian's god?" sneered the chief. - -"If it be God's will, we will die defying your god and you," replied -Marquette. "Yet we fear not death, and if God willed he could deliver -us as easily as he could destroy that worthless image." He spoke in an -undertone to Du Lhut, and continued, confidently, "challenge your god to -withstand mine. I shall pray my God to send his fire from the sky and -burn this thing. If he does so will you set us free and become a -Christian?" - -"I will; but if you fail, you die." - -"And if I win you must pardon your daughter." - -White Otter grunted his assent. - -The sun was high and brought spicy odors from the wood; an insect hummed -drowsily, and a birdsong echoed from the distance. Unconscious of what -was being enacted about her, Wanena kept rocking to and fro, singing her -death-song, and waiting the blow that would stretch her at her father's -feet. The savages gathered around the image and watched it with eager -interest. Raising his crucifix with a commanding gesture, the priest -strode close to the effigy, and in a loud voice cried, in Chippewa, -"In the name of God, I command fire to destroy this idol!" - -A spot of light danced upon the breast of the image. It grew dazzling -bright and steady. Then a smoke began to curl from the dry grass and -feathers it was decked with. The Indians fell back in amazement, and -when a faint breeze passed, fanning the sparks into flame, they fell on -their faces, trembling with apprehension, for Marquette declared, "As my -God treats this idol, so can he treat you!" - -Then, looking up to see the manitou in flames, White Otter exclaimed, -"The white man's God has won. Spare us, O mighty medicine!" - -"I will do so, if you promise to become as white men in the faith and be -baptized." Tamed by fear, the red men laid aside their weapons and -knelt at a brook where Marquette, gathering water in his hands, gave the -rite of baptism to each, and laid down the moral law they were to live -by. Wanena, who had fainted from sheer fright when she saw the idol -burning, was restored, and it may be added that the priest who -Christianized her also married her to Du Lhut, who prospered and left -his name to the city of the lake. News of the triumph of the white -men's God went far and wide, and Marquette found his missions easier -after that. Du Lhut alone, of all those present, was in the father's -secret. He had perpetrated a pious fraud, justified by the results as -well as by his peril. A burning-glass had been fastened to the -crucifix, and with that he had destroyed the idol. - -Trading thus on native ignorance a Frenchman named Lyons at another time -impressed the Indians at Dubuque and gained his will by setting a creek -on fire. They did not know that he had first poured turpentine over it. - - - - - THE SNAKE GOD OF BELLE ISLE - -The Indian demi-god, Sleeping Bear, had a daughter so beautiful that he -kept her out of the sight of men in a covered boat that swung on Detroit -River, tied to a tree on shore; but the Winds, having seen her when her -father had visited her with food, contended so fiercely to possess her -that the little cable was snapped and the boat danced on to the keeper -of the water-gates, who lived at the outlet of Lake Huron. The keeper, -filled with admiration for the girl's beauty, claimed the boat and its -charming freight, but he had barely received her into his lodge when the -angry Winds fell upon him, buffeting him so sorely that he died, and was -buried on Peach Island (properly Isle au Peche), where his spirit -remained for generations--an oracle sought by Indians before emprise in -war. His voice had the sound of wind among the reeds, and its meanings -could not be told except by those who had prepared themselves by fasting -and meditation to receive them. Before planning his campaign against -the English, Pontiac fasted here for seven days to "clear his ear" and -hear the wisdom of the sighing voice. - -But the Winds were not satisfied with the slaying of the keeper. They -tore away his meadows and swept them out as islands. They smashed the -damsel's boat and the little bark became Belle Isle. Here Manitou -placed the girl, and set a girdle of vicious snakes around the shore to -guard her and to put a stop to further contests. These islands in the -straits seem to have been favorite places of exile and theatres of -transformation. The Three Sisters are so called because of three Indian -women who so scolded and wrangled that their father was obliged to -separate them and put one on each of the islands for the sake of peace. - -It was at Belle Isle that the red men had put up and worshipped a -natural stone image. Hearing of this idol, on reaching Detroit, Dollier -and De Galinee crossed over to it, tore it down, smashed it, flung the -bigger piece of it into the river, and erected a cross in its place. -The sunken portion of the idol called aloud to the faithful, who had -assembled to wonder at the audacity of the white men and witness their -expected punishment by Manitou, and told them to cast in the other -portions. They did so, and all the fragments united and became a -monster serpent that kept the place from further intrusion. Later, when -La Salle ascended the straits in his ship, the Griffin, the Indians on -shore invoked the help of this, their manitou, and strange forms arose -from the water that pushed the ship into the north, her crew vainly -singing hymns with a hope of staying the demoniac power. - - - - - WERE-WOLVES OF DETROIT - -Long were the shores of Detroit vexed by the Snake God of Belle Isle and -his children, the witches, for the latter sold enchantments and were the -terror of good people. Jacques Morand, the /coureur de bois/, was in -love with Genevieve Parent, but she disliked him and wished only to -serve the church. Courting having proved of no avail, he resolved on -force when she had decided to enter a convent, and he went to one of the -witches, who served as devil's agent, to sell his soul. The witch -accepted the slight commodity and paid for it with a grant of power to -change from a man's form to that of a were-wolf, or /loup garou/, that -he might the easier bear away his victim. Incautiously, he followed her -to Grosse Pointe, where an image of the Virgin had been set up, and as -Genevieve dropped at the feet of the statue to implore aid, the wolf, as -he leaped to her side, was suddenly turned to stone. - -Harder was the fate of another maiden, Archange Simonet, for she was -seized by a were-wolf at this place and hurried away while dancing at -her own wedding. The bridegroom devoted his life to the search for her, -and finally lost his reason, but he prosecuted the hunt so vengefully -and shrewdly that he always found assistance. One of the neighbors cut -off the wolf's tail with a silver bullet, the appendage being for many -years preserved by the Indians. The lover finally came upon the -creature and chased it to the shore, where its footprint is still seen -in one of the bowlders, but it leaped into the water and disappeared. -In his crazy fancy the lover declared that it had jumped down the throat -of a catfish, and that is why the French Canadians have a prejudice -against catfish as an article of diet. - -The man-wolf dared as much for gain as for love. On the night that Jean -Chiquot got the Indians drunk and bore off their beaver-skins, the wood -witches, known as "the white women," fell upon him and tore a part of -his treasure from him, while a were-wolf pounced so hard on his back -that he lost more. He drove the creatures to a little distance, but was -glad to be safe inside of the fort again, though the officers laughed at -him and called him a coward. When they went back over the route with -him they were astonished to find the grass scorched where the women had -fled before him, and little springs in the turf showed where they had -been swallowed up. Sulphur-water was bubbling from the spot where the -wolf dived into the earth when the trader's rosary fell out of his -jacket. Belle Fontaine, the spot was called, long afterward. - - - - - THE ESCAPE OF FRANCOIS NAVARRE - -When the Hurons came to Sandwich, opposite the Michigan shore, in 1806, -and camped near the church for the annual "festival of savages," which -was religious primarily, but incidentally gastronomic, athletic, and -alcoholic, an old woman of the tribe foretold to Angelique Couture that, -ere long, blood would be shed freely and white men and Indians would -take each other's lives. That was a reasonably safe prophecy in those -days, and, though Angelique repeated it to her friends, she did not -worry over it. But when the comet of 1812 appeared the people grew -afraid--and with cause, for the war soon began with England. The girl's -brothers fought under the red flag; her lover, Francois Navarre, under -the stars and stripes. - -The cruel General Proctor one day passed through Sandwich with prisoners -on his way to the Hurons, who were to put them to death in the usual -manner. As they passed by, groaning in anticipation of their fate, foot- -sore and covered with dust, Angelique nearly swooned, for among them she -recognized her lover. He, too, had seen her, and the recognition had -been noticed by Proctor. Whether his savage heart was for the moment -softened by their anguish, or whether he wished to heighten their pain -by a momentary taste of joy, it is certain that on reaching camp he -paroled Francrois until sunset. The young man hastened to the girl's -house, and for one hour they were sadly happy. She tried to make him -break his parole and escape, but he refused, and as the sun sank he tore -himself from her arms and hastened to rejoin his companions in misery. - -His captors admired him for this act of honor, and had he so willed he -could have been then and there received into their tribe. As it was, -they allowed him to remain unbound. Hardly had the sun gone down when a -number of boats drew up at the beach with another lot of prisoners, and -with yells of rejoicing the Indians ran to the river to drive them into -camp. Francois's opportunity was brief, but he seized it. In the -excitement he had been unobserved. He was not under oath now, and with -all speed he dashed into the wood. Less than a minute had elapsed -before his absence was discovered, but he was a cunning woodman, and by -alternately running and hiding, with gathering darkness in his favor, he -had soon put the savages at a distance. - -A band of English went to Angelique's home, thinking that he would be -sure to rejoin her; but he was too shrewd for that, and it was in vain -that they fired guns up the chimneys and thrust bayonets into beds. -Angelique was terrified at this intrusion, but the men had been ordered -not to injure the woman, and she was glad, after all, to think that -Francois had escaped. Some days later one of the Hurons came to her -door and pointed significantly to a fresh scalp that hung at his belt. -In the belief that it was her lover's she grew ill and began to fade, -but one evening there came a faint tap at the door. She opened it to -find a cap on the door-step. - -There was no writing, yet her heart rose in her bosom and the color came -back to her cheeks, for she recognized it as her lover's. Later, she -learned that Francois had kept to the forest until he reached the site -of Walkerville, where he had found a canoe and reached the American side -in safety. She afterward rejoined him in Detroit, and they were married -at the end of the war, through which he served with honor and -satisfaction to himself, being enabled to pay many old scores -against the red-coats and the Indians. - - - - -THE OLD LODGER - -In 1868 there died in Detroit a woman named Marie Louise Thebault, more -usually called Kennette. She was advanced in years, and old residents -remembered when she was one of the quaintest figures and most assertive -spirits in the town, for until a few years before her death she was rude -of speech, untidy in appearance, loved nothing or respected nothing -unless it might be her violin and her money, and lived alone in a little -old house on the river-road to Springwells. Though she made shoes for a -living, she was of so miserly a nature that she accepted food from her -neighbors, and in order to save the expense of light and fuel she spent -her evenings out. Yet she read more or less, and was sufficiently -acquainted with Volney, Voltaire, and other skeptics to shock her church -acquaintances. Love of gain, not of company, induced her to lease one -of her rooms to a pious old woman, from whom she got not only a little -rent, but the incidental use of her fuel and light. - -When the pious one tried to win her to the church it angered her, and -then, too, she had a way of telling ghost stories that Kennette laughed -at. One of these narratives that she would dwell on with especial self- -conviction was that of Lieutenant Muir, who had left his mistress, when -she said No to his pleadings, supposing that she spoke the truth, -whereas she was merely trying to be coquettish. - -He fell in an attack on the Americans that night, and came back, -bleeding, to the girl who had made him throw his life away; he pressed -her hand, leaving the mark of skeleton fingers there, so that she always -kept it gloved afterward. Then there was the tale of the two men of -Detroit who were crushed by a falling tree: the married one, who was not -fatally hurt, begged his mate to call his wife, as soon as his soul was -free, and the woman, hearing the mournful voice at her door, as the -spirit passed on its way to space, ran out and rescued her husband from -his plight. She told, too, of the /feu follet/, or will-o'-the-wisp, -that led a girl on Grosse Isle to the swamp where her lover was engulfed -in mire and enabled her to rescue him. There was Grand'mere Duchene, -likewise, who worked at her spinning-wheel for many a night after death, -striking fear to her son's heart, by its droning, because he had not -bought the fifty masses for the repose of her soul, but when he had -fulfilled the promise she came no more. Another yarn was about the -ghost-boat of hunter Sebastian that ascends the straits once in seven -years, celebrating his return, after death, in accordance with the -promise made to Zoe, his betrothed, that--dead or alive--he would return -to her from the hunt at a certain time. - -To all this Kennette turned the ear of scorning. "Bah!" she cried. -"I don't believe your stories. I don't believe in your hell and your -purgatory. If you die first, come back. If I should, and I can, -I will come. Then we may know whether there is another world." - -The bargain was made to this effect, but the women did not get on well -together, and soon Kennette had an open quarrel with her lodger that -ended by her declaring that she never could forgive her, but that she -would hold her to her after-death compact. The lodger died, and while -talking of her death at the house of a neighbor a boy, who had arrived -from town, casually asked Kennette--knowing her saving ways--why she had -left the light burning in her house. Grasping a poker, she set off at -once to punish the intruder who had dared to enter in her absence, but -when she arrived there was no light. On several evenings the light was -reported by others, but as she was gadding in the neighborhood she never -saw it until, one night, resolved to see for herself, she returned -early, softly entered at the back door, and went to bed. Hardly had she -done so when she saw a light coming up-stairs. Sitting bolt upright in -bed she waited. The light came up noiselessly and presently stood in -the room--not a lantern or candle, but a white phosphorescence. It -advanced toward her, changing its form until she saw a cloudy likeness -to a human being. For the first time in her life she feared. "Come no -nearer!" she cried. "I know you. I believe you, and I forgive." - -The light vanished. From that night it was remarked that Kennette began -to age fast--she began to change and become more like other women. She -went to church and her face grew softer and kinder. It was the only -time that she saw the spirit, but the effect of the visit was permanent. - - - - - THE NAIN ROUGE - -Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, -that made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded -than the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared -only when there was to be trouble. In that it delighted. It was a -shambling, red-faced creature, with a cold, glittering eye and teeth -protruding from a grinning mouth. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, having -struck at it, presently lost his seigniory and his fortunes. It was -seen scampering along the shore on the night before the attack on Bloody -Run, when the brook that afterward bore this name turned red with the -blood of soldiers. People saw it in the smoky streets when the city was -burned in 1805, and on the morning of Hull's surrender it was found -grinning in the fog. It rubbed its bony knuckles expectantly when David -Fisher paddled across the strait to see his love, Soulange Gaudet, in -the only boat he could find--a wheel-barrow, namely--but was sobered -when David made a safe landing. - -It chuckled when the youthful bloods set off on Christmas day to race -the frozen strait for the hand of buffer Beauvais's daughter Claire, but -when her lover's horse, a wiry Indian nag, came pacing in it fled before -their happiness. It was twice seen on the roof of the stable where that -sour-faced, evil-eyed old mumbler, Jean Beaugrand, kept his horse, Sans -Souci--a beast that, spite of its hundred years or more, could and did -leap every wall in Detroit, even the twelve-foot stockade of the fort, -to steal corn and watermelons, and that had been seen in the same barn, -sitting at a table, playing seven-up with his master, and drinking a -liquor that looked like melted brass. The dwarf whispered at the -sleeping ear of the old chief who slew Friar Constantine, chaplain of -the fort, in anger at the teachings that had parted a white lover from -his daughter and led her to drown herself--a killing that the red man -afterward confessed, because he could no longer endure the tolling of a -mass bell in his ears and the friar's voice in the wind. - -The Nain Rouge it was who claimed half of the old mill, on Presque Isle, -that the sick and irritable Josette swore that she would leave to the -devil when her brother Jean pestered her to make her will in his favor, -giving him complete ownership. On the night of her death the mill was -wrecked by a thunder-bolt, and a red-faced imp was often seen among the -ruins, trying to patch the machinery so as to grind the devil's grist. -It directed the dance of black cats in the mill at Pont Rouge, after the -widow's curse had fallen on Louis Robert, her brother-in-law. This man, -succeeding her husband as director of the property, had developed such -miserly traits that she and her children were literally starved to -death, but her dying curse threw such ill luck on the place and set -afloat such evil report about it that he took himself away. The Nain -Rouge may have been the Lutin that took Jacques L'Esperance's ponies -from the stable at Grosse Pointe, and, leaving no tracks in sand or -snow, rode them through the air all night, restoring them at dawn -quivering with fatigue, covered with foam, bloody with the lash of a -thorn-bush. It stopped that exercise on the night that Jacques hurled -a font of holy water at it, but to keep it away the people of Grosse -Pointe still mark their houses with the sign of a cross. - -It was lurking in the wood on the day that Captain Dalzell went against -Pontiac, only to perish in an ambush, to the secret relief of his -superior, Major Gladwyn, for the major hoped to win the betrothed of -Dalzell; but when the girl heard that her lover had been killed at -Bloody Run, and his head had been carried on a pike, she sank to the -ground never to rise again in health, and in a few days she had followed -the victims of the massacre. There was a suspicion that the Nain Rouge -had power to change his shape for one not less offensive. The brothers -Tremblay had no luck in fishing through the straits and lakes until one -of them agreed to share his catch with St. Patrick, the saint's half to -be sold at the church-door for the benefit of the poor and for buying -masses to relieve souls in purgatory. His brother doubted if this -benefit would last, and feared that they might be lured into the water -and turned into fish, for had not St. Patrick eaten pork chops on a -Friday, after dipping them into holy water and turning them into trout? -But his good brother kept on and prospered and the bad one kept on -grumbling. Now, at Grosse Isle was a strange thing called the rolling -muff, that all were afraid of, since to meet it was a warning of -trouble; but, like the /feu follet/, it could be driven off by holding a -cross toward it or by asking it on what day of the month came Christmas. -The worse of the Tremblays encountered this creature and it filled him -with dismay. When he returned his neighbors observed an odor--not of -sanctity--on his garments, and their view of the matter was that he had -met a skunk. The graceless man felt convinced, however, that he had -received a devil's baptism from the Nain Rouge, and St. Patrick had no -stancher allies than both the Tremblays, after that. - - - - - TWO REVENGES - -It is no more possible to predicate the conduct of an Indian than that -of a woman. In Detroit lived Wasson, one of the warriors of the dreaded -Pontiac, who had felt some tender movings of the spirit toward a girl of -his tribe. The keeper of the old red mill that stood at the foot of -Twenty-fourth Street adopted her, with the consent of her people, and -did his best to civilize her. But Wasson kept watch. He presently -discovered that whenever the miller was away a candle shone in the -window until a figure wrapped in a military cloak emerged from the -shadows, knocked, and was admitted. On the night that Wasson identified -his rival as Colonel Campbell, an English officer, he stole into the -girl's room through the window and cut her down with his hatchet. -Colonel Campbell, likewise, he slew after Pontiac had made prisoners of -the garrison. The mill was shunned, after that, for the figure of a -girl, with a candle in her hand, frightened so many people by moving -about the place that it was torn down in 1795. - -But the red man was not always hostile. Kenen, a Huron, loved a half- -breed girl, whom he could never persuade into a betrothal. One day he -accidentally wounded a white man in the wood, and lifting him on his -shoulder he hurried with him to camp. It was not long before he found -that the soft glances of the half-breed girl were doing more to cure his -victim than the incantations of the medicine-man, and in a fit of anger, -one day, he plucked forth his knife and fell upon the couple. Her look -of innocent surprise shamed him. He rushed away, with an expression of -self-contempt, and flung his weapon far into the river. Soon after, -the white man was captured by the Iroquois. They were preparing to put -him to the torture when a tall Indian leaped in among them, with the -cry, "I am Kenen. Let the pale face go, for a Huron chief will take his -place." And, as the bonds fell from the prisoner's wrists and ankles, -he added, "Go and comfort the White Fawn." The white man was allowed to -enter a canoe and row away, but as he did so his heart misgave him: the -words of a deathsong and the crackling of flames had reached his ears. - - - - - HIAWATHA - -The story of Hiawatha--known about the lakes as Manabozho and in the -East as Glooskapis the most widely disseminated of the Indian legends. -He came to earth on a Messianic mission, teaching justice, fortitude, -and forbearance to the red men, showing them how to improve their -handicraft, ridding the woods and hills of monsters, and finally going -up to heaven amid cries of wonder from those on whose behalf he had -worked and counselled. He was brought up as a child among them, took to -wife the Dakota girl, Minnehaha ("Laughing Water"), hunted, fought, and -lived as a warrior; yet, when need came, he could change his form to any -shape of bird, fish, or plant that he wished. He spoke to friends in -the voice of a woman and to enemies in tones like thunder. A giant in -form, few dared to resist him in battle, yet he suffered the common -pains and adversities of his kind, and while fishing in one of the great -lakes in his white stone canoe, that moved whither he willed it, he and -his boat were swallowed by the king of fishes. He killed the creature -by beating at its heart with a stone club, and when the gulls had preyed -on its flesh, as it lay floating on the surface, until he could see -daylight, he clambered through the opening they had made and returned to -his lodge. - -Believing that his father had killed his mother, he fought against him -for several days, driving him to the edge of the world before peace was -made between them. The evil Pearl Feather had slain one of his -relatives, and to avenge that crime Hiawatha pressed through a guard of -fire-breathing serpents which surrounded that fell personage, shot them -with arrows as they struck at him, and having thus reached the lodge of -his enemy he engaged him in combat. All day long they battled to no -purpose, but toward evening a woodpecker flew overhead and cried, "Your -enemy has but one vulnerable point. Shoot at his scalp-lock." Hiawatha -did so and his foe fell dead. Anointing his finger with the blood of -his foe, he touched the bird, and the red mark is found on the head of -every woodpecker to this day. A duck having led him a long chase when -he was trying to capture it for food, he angrily kicked it, thus -flattening its back, bowing its legs, despoiling it of half of its tail- -feathers, and that is why, to this day, ducks are awkward. - -In return for its service in leading him to where the prince of serpents -lived, he invested the kingfisher with a medal and rumpled the feathers -of its head in putting it on; hence all kingfishers have rumpled knots -and white spots on their breasts. After slaying the prince of serpents -he travelled all over America, doing good work, and on reaching Onondaga -he organized a friendly league of thirteen tribes that endured for many -years. This closed his mission. As he stood in the assemblage of -chiefs a white bird, appearing at an immense height, descended like a -meteor, struck Hiawatha's daughter with such force as to drive her -remains into the earth and shattered itself against the ground. Its -silvery feathers were scattered, and these were preserved by the -beholders as ornaments for their hair--so the custom of wearing feather -head-dresses endures to our time. Though filled with consternation, -Hiawatha recognized the summons. He addressed his companions in tones -of such sweetness and terms of such eloquence as had never been heard -before, urging them to live uprightly and to enforce good laws, -andunhappy circumstance!--promising to come back when the time was ripe. -The expectancy of his return has led to ghost-dances and similar -demonstrations of enmity against the whites. When he had ended he -entered his stone canoe and began to rise in air to strains of melting -music. Higher and higher he arose, the white vessel shining in the -sunlight, until he disappeared in the spaces of the sky. - -Incidents of the Hiawatha legend are not all placed, but he is thought -to have been born near the great lakes, perhaps at Mackinack. Some -legends, indeed, credit him with making his home at Mackinack, and from -that point, as a centre, making a new earth around him. The fight with -his father began on the upper Mississippi, and the bowlders found along -its banks were their missiles. The south shore of Lake Superior was the -scene of his conflict with the serpents. He hunted the great beaver -around Lake Superior and brought down his dam at the Sault Sainte Marie. -A depression in a rock on the southern edge of Michipicotea Bay is where -he alighted after a jump across the lake. In a larger depression, near -Thunder Bay, he sat when smoking his last pipe. The big rocks on the -east side of Grand Traverse Bay, near Antrim City, Michigan, are the -bones of a stone monster that he slew. - -So trifling an incident as the kicking of the duck has been localized at -Lake Itasca. [It is worth passing mention that this name, which sounds -as if it were of Indian origin, is held by some to be composed of the -last syllables of /veritas/ and the first letters of /caput/, these -words-signifying "the true head"--being applied by early explorers as -showing that they were confident of having found the actual source of -the Mississippi.] Minnehaha lived near the fall in Minneapolis that -bears her name. The final apotheosis took place on the shores of Lake -Onondaga, New York, though Hiawatha lies buried under a mountain, three -miles long, on the east side of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, which, from -the water, resembles a man lying on his back. The red man makes -oblation, as he rows past, by dropping a pinch of tobacco into the -water. Some say that Hiawatha now lives at the top of the earth, amid -the ice, and directs the sun. He has to live in a cold country because, -if he were to return, he would set the earth on fire with his footsteps. - - - - - THE INDIAN MESSIAH - -The promise of the return to earth of various benign spirits has caused -much trouble among the red men, and incidentally to the white men who -are the objects of their fanatic dislike. The New Mexicans believed -that when the Emperor Montezuma was about to leave the earth he planted -a tree and bade them watch it, for when it fell he would come back in -glory and lead them to victory, wealth, and power. The watch was kept -in secret on account of the determination of the Spaniards to breakup -all fealty to tribal heroes and traditions. As late as 1781 they -executed a sentence of death on a descendant of the Peruvian Incas for -declaring his royal origin. When Montezuma's tree fell the people -gathered on the house-tops to watch the east-in vain, for the white man -was there. In 1883 the Sanpoels, a small tribe in Washington, were -stirred by the teaching of an old chief, who told them that the wicked -would soon be destroyed, and that the Great Spirit had ordered him to -build an ark for his people. The remains of this vessel, two hundred -and eighty-eight feet long, are still to be seen near one of the -tributaries of the Columbia. - -A frenzy swept over the West in 1890, inspiring the Indians by promise -of the coming of one of superhuman power, who was generally believed to -be Hiawatha, to threaten the destruction of the white population, since -it had been foretold that the Messiah would drive the white men from -their land. Early in the summer of that year it was reported that the -Messiah had appeared in the north, and the chiefs of many tribes went to -Dakota, as the magi did to Bethlehem, to learn if this were true. -Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief, told them, in assembly, that it was so, -and declared that he had seen the new Christ while hunting in the -Shoshone Mountains. One evening he lost his way and was impelled by a -strange feeling to follow a star that moved before him. At daybreak it -paused over a beautiful valley, and, weary with his walk, he sank on a -bed of moss. As he sat there throngs of Indian warriors appeared and -began a spirit dance, led by chiefs who had long been dead. Presently a -voice spoke in his ear, and turning he saw a strange man dressed in -white. The man said he was the same Christ who had come into the world -nineteen hundred years before to save white men, and that now he would -save the red men by driving out the whites. The Indians were to dance -the ghost-dance, or spirit dance, until the new moon, when the globe -would shiver, the wind would glow, and the white soldiers and their -horses would sink into the earth. The Messiah showed to Sitting Bull -the nail-wounds in his hands and feet and the spear-stab in his side. -When night came on the form in white had disappeared--and, returning, -the old chief taught the ghost-dance to his people. - - - - - THE VISION OF RESCUE - -Surmounting Red Banks, twelve miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, -on the eastern shore, and one hundred feet above the water, stands an -earthwork that the first settlers found there when they went into that -country. It was built by the Sauks and Outagamies, a family that ruled -the land for many years, rousing the jealousy of neighboring tribes by -their wealth and power. The time came, as it did in the concerns of -nearly every band of Indians, when war was declared against this family, -and the enemy came upon them in the darkness, their canoes patroling the -shore while the main body formed a line about the fort. So silently was -this done that but one person discovered it--a squaw, who cried, "We are -all dead!" - -There was nothing to see or hear, and she was rated for alarming the -camp with foolish dreams; but dawn revealed the beleaguering line, and -at the lifting of the sun a battle began that lasted for days, those -within the earthworks sometimes fighting while ankle-deep in the blood -of their fellows. The greatest lack of the besieged was that of water, -and they let down earthen jars to the lake to get it, but the cords were -cut ere they could be drawn upthe enemy shouting, derisively, "Come down -and drink!" Several times they tried to do so, but were beaten back at -every sally, and it seemed at last as if extermination was to be their -fate. - -When matters were at their darkest one of the young men who had been -fasting for ten days--the Indian custom when divine direction was sought -addressed his companions to this effect: "Last night there stood by me -the form of a young man, clothed in white, who said, 'I was once alive, -but I died, and now I live forever. Trust me and I will deliver you. -Be fearless. At midnight I will cast a sleep on your enemies. Go forth -boldly and you shall escape.'" The condition was too desperate to -question any means of freedom, and that night all but a handful of -disbelievers left the fort, while the enemy was in a slumber of -exhaustion, and got away in safety. When the besiegers, in the morning, -found that the fort had been almost deserted, they fell on the few that -remained to repent their folly, and put them to the knife and axe, for -their fury was excessive at the failure of the siege. - - - - -DEVIL'S LAKE - -Any of the noble rivers and secluded lakes of Wisconsin were held in -esteem or fear by the northern tribes, and it was the now-forgotten -events and superstitions connected with them, not less than the frontier -tendency for strong names, that gave a lurid and diabolical nomenclature -to parts of this region. Devils, witches, magicians, and manitous were -perpetuated, and Indians whose prowess was thought to be supernatural -left dim records of themselves here and there--as near the dells of the -Wisconsin, where a chasm fifty feet wide is shown as the ravine leaped -by chief Black Hawk when flying from the whites. Devil's Lake was the -home of a manitou who does not seem to have been a particularly evil -genius, though he had unusual power. The lake fills what is locally -regarded as the crater of an extinct volcano, and the coldness and -purity kept by the water, in spite of its lacking visible inlets or -outlets, was one cause for thinking it uncanny. - -This manitou piled the heavy blocks of Devil's Door-Way and set up Black -Monument and the Pedestalled Bowlder as thrones where he might sit and -view the landscape by day--for the Indians appreciated the beautiful in -nature and supposed their gods did, too--while at night he could watch -the dance of the frost spirits, the aurora borealis. Cleft Rock was -sundered by one of his darts aimed at an offending Indian, who owed his -life to the manitou's bad aim. The Sacrifice Stone is shown where, at -another time, a girl was immolated to appease his anger. Cleopatra's -Needle, as it is now called, is the body of an ancient chief, who was -turned into stone as a punishment for prying into the mysteries of the -lake, a stone on East Mountain being the remains of a squaw who had -similarly offended. On the St. Croix the Devil's Chair is pointed out -where he sat in state. He had his play spells, too, as you may guess -when you see his toboggan slide in Weber Canon, Utah, while Cinnabar -Mountain, in the Yellowstone country, he scorched red as he coasted -down. - -The hunter wandering through this Wisconsin wilderness paused when he -came within sight of the lake, for all game within its precincts was in -the manitou's protection; not a fish might be taken, and not even a drop -of water could be dipped to cool the lips of the traveller. So strong -was this fear of giving offence to the manitou that Indians who were -dying of wounds or illness, and were longing for a swallow of water, -would refuse to profane the lake by touching their lips to it. - - - - - - THE KEUSCA ELOPEMENT - -Keusca was a village of the Dakota Indians on the Wisconsin bluffs of -the Mississippi eighteen hundred miles from its mouth. The name means, -to overthrow, or set aside, for it was here that a tribal law was -broken. Sacred Wind was a coquette of that village, for whose hand came -many young fellows wooing with painted faces. For her they played the -bone flute in the twilight, and in the games they danced and leaped -their hardest and shot their farthest and truest when she was looking -on. Though they amused her she cared not a jot for these suitors, -keeping her love for the young brave named the Shield--and keeping it -secret, for he was her cousin, and cousins might not wed. If a relative -urged her to marry some young fellow for whom she had no liking, she -would answer that if forced to do so she would fling herself into the -river, and spoke of Winonah and Lovers' Leap. - -She was afraid to wed the Shield, for the medicinemen had threatened all -who dared to break the marriage laws with unearthly terrors; yet when -the Shield had been absent for several weeks on the war-path she -realized that life without his companionship was too hollow to be -endured--and she admired him all the more when he returned with two -scalps hanging at his belt. He renewed his wooing. He allayed her -fears by assurances that he, too, was a medicine-man and could -counteract the spells that wizards might cast on them. Then she no -longer repressed the promptings of her heart, but yielded to his suit. -They agreed to elope that night. - -As they left the little clearing in the wood where their interview had -taken place, a thicket stirred and a girl stole from it, looking -intently at their retreating forms. The Swan, they had named her; but, -with a flush in her dusky cheeks, her brows dark, her eyes glittering, -she more recalled the vulture--for she, too, loved the Shield; and she -had now seen and heard that her love was hopeless. That evening she -alarmed the camp; she told the parents of Sacred Wind of the threatened -violation of custom, and the father rose in anger to seek her. It was -too late, for the flight had taken place. The Swan went to the river -and rowed out in a canoe. From the middle of the stream she saw a speck -on the water to the southward, and knew it to be Sacred Wind and her -lover, henceforth husband. She watched until the speck faded in the -twilight--then leaning over the side of the boat she capsized it, and -passed from the view of men. - - - - - PIPESTONE - -Pipestone, a smooth, hard, even-textured clay, of lively color, from -which thousands of red men cut their pipe-bowls, forms a wall on the -Coteau des Prairies, in Minnesota, that is two miles long and thirty -feet high. In front of it lie five bowlders, the droppings from an -iceberg to the floor of the primeval sea, and beneath these masses of -granite live the spirits of two squaws that must be consulted before the -stone can be dug. This quarry was neutral ground, and here, as they -approached it, the men of all tribes sheathed their knives and belted up -their axes, for to this place the Great Spirit came to kill and eat the -buffalo, and it is the blood of this animal that has turned the stone to -red. Here, too, the Thunder Bird had her nest, and her brood rent the -skies above it with the clashing of their iron wings. - -A snake having crawled into this nest to steal the unhatched thunders, -Manitou caught up a piece of pipestone, hastily pressed it between his -hands, giving it the shape of a man, and flung it at the reptile. The -stone man's feet stuck fast in the ground, and there he stood for a -thousand years, growing like a tree and drawing strength and knowledge -out of the earth. Another shape grew up beside him--woman. In time the -snake gnawed them free from their foundations and the red-earth pair -wandered off together. From them sprang all people. - -Ages after, the Manitou called the red men to the quarry, fashioned a -pipe for them, told them it was a part of their flesh, and smoked it -over them, blowing the smoke to north, south, east, and west, in token -that wherever the influence of the pipe extended there was to be -brotherhood and peace. The place was to be sacred from war and they -were to make their pipes from this rock. As the smoke rolled about him -he gradually disappeared from view. At the last whiff the ashes fell -out and the surface of the rock for miles burst into flame, so that it -melted and glazed. Two ovens opened at its foot, and through the fire -entered the two spirits Tsomecostee and Tsomecostewondee--that are still -its guardians, answering the invocations of the medicine-men and -accepting the oblations of those who go to make pipes or carve their -totems on the rock. - - - - - THE VIRGINS' FEAST - -A game of lacrosse was played by Indian girls on the ice near the -present Fort Snelling, one winter day, and the victorious trophies -were awarded to Wenonah, sister of the chief, to the discomfiture of -Harpstenah, her opponent, an ill-favored woman, neglected by her tribe, -and jealous of Wenonah's beauty and popularity. This defeat, added to -some fancied slights, was almost more than she could bear, and during -the contest she had been cut in the head by one of the rackets--an -accident that she falsely attributed to her adversary in the game. She -had an opportunity of proving her hatred, for directly that it was known -how Wenonah had refused to marry Red Cloud, a stalwart boaster, openly -preferring a younger warrior of the tribe, the ill-thinking Harpstenah -sought out the disappointed suitor, who sat moodily apart, and thus -advised him, "To-morrow is the Feast of Virgins, when all who are pure -will sit at meat together. Wenonah will be there. Has she the right to -be? Have you not seen how shamelessly she favors your rival's suit? -Among the Dakotas to accuse is to condemn, and the girl who is accused -at the Virgins' Feast is disgraced forever. She has shown for Red Cloud -nothing but contempt. If he shows no anger at it the girls will laugh -at him." - -With this she turned away and left Red Cloud to his meditations. -Wenonah, at the door of her brother's wigwam, looked into the north and -saw the stars grow pale through streams of electric fire. "The Woman of -the North warns us of coming evil," muttered the chief. "Some danger is -near. Fire on the lights!" And a volley of musketry sent a shock -through the still air. - -"They shine for me," said Wenonah, sadly. "For I shall soon join our -father, mother, and sister in the land of spirits. Before the leaves -fell I sat beside the Father of Waters and saw a manitou rise among the -waves. It said that my sisters in the sunset world were calling to me -and I must soon go to them." The chief tried to laugh away her fancies -and comforted her as well as he might, then leading her to the wigwam he -urged her to sleep. - -Next day is the Virgins' Feast and Wenonah is among those who sit in the -ring, dressed in their gayest. None who are conscious of a fault may -share in the feast; nor, if one were exposed and expelled, might any -interpose to ask for mercy; yet a groan of surprise and horror goes -through the company when Red Cloud, stalking up to the circle, seizes -the girl roughly by the shoulder and orders her away. No use to deny or -appeal. An Indian warrior would not be so treacherous or unjust as to -act in this way unless he had proofs. Without a word she enters the -adjacent wood, draws her knife, and strikes it to her heart. With -summer came the fever, and it ravaged through the band, laying low the -infant and the counsellor. Red Cloud was the first to die, and as he -was borne away Harpstenah lifted her wasted form and followed him with -dimming eyes, then cried, "He is dead. He hated Wenonah because she -slighted him. I hated her because she was happy. I told him to -denounce her. But she was innocent." - - - - - FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY - -Several of the Dakotas, who had been incamp near the site of St. Paul, -left their families and friends, when the hunting season opened, and -went into the north. On their arrival at another village of their -tribe, they stayed to rest for a little, and one of the men used the -time to ill-advantage, as it fell out, for he conceived an attachment -for a girl of this northern family, and on his way southward he wedded -her and took her home with him. Proper enough to do, if he had not been -married already. The first wife knew that any warrior might take a -second, if he could support both; but the woman was stronger than the -savage in her nature, and when her husband came back, with a red-cheeked -woman walking beside him, she felt that she should never know his love -again. The man was all attention to the young wife, whether the tribe -tarried or travelled. When they shifted camp the elder walked or rowed -behind with her boy, a likely lad of ten or twelve. - -It was when they were returning down the river after a successful hunt -that the whole company was obliged to make a carry around the quick -water near the head of St. Anthony's Falls. While the others were -packing the boats and goods for transportation by hand to the foot of -the cataract, the forsaken wife chose a moment when none were watching -to embark with her boy in one of the canoes. Rowing out to an island, -she put on all her ornaments, and dressed the lad in beads and feathers -as if he were a warrior. Her husband, finding her absent from the -party, looked anxiously about for some time, and was horrified to see -her put out from the island into the rapid current. She had placed the -child high in the boat, and was rowing with a steady stroke down the -stream. He called and beckoned franticly. She did not seem to hear -him, nor did she turn her head when the others joined their cries to -his. For a moment those who listened heard her death-song, then the -yeasty flood hid them from sight, and the husband on the shore fell to -the earth with a wail of anguish. - - - - - FLYING SHADOW AND TRACK MAKER - -The Chippewas and Sioux had come together at Fort Snelling to make merry -and cement friendships. Flying Shadow was sad when the time came for -the tribes to part, for Track Maker had won her heart, and no less -strong than her love was the love he felt for her. But a Chippewa girl -might not marry among the Sioux, and, if she did, the hand of every one -would be against her should ever the tribes wage war upon each other, -and war was nearer than either of them had expected. The Chippewas left -with feelings of good will, Flying Shadow concealing in her bosom the -trinkets that testified to the love of Track Maker and sighing as she -thought of the years that might elapse ere they met again. - -Two renegade Chippewas, that had lingered behind the band, played the -villain after this pleasant parting, for they killed a Sioux. Hardly -was the news of this outrage received at the fort ere three hundred -warriors were on the trail of their whilom guests and friends, all -clamoring for revenge. Among them was Track Maker, for he could not, -as a warrior, remain behind after his brother had been shot, and, while -his heart sank within him as he thought of the gentle Flying Shadow, he -marched in advance, and early in the morning the Chippewas were -surprised between St. Anthony's Falls and Rum River, where they had -camped without fear, being alike ignorant and innocent of the murder -for which so many were to be punished. - -The Sioux fell upon them and cut down all alike--men, women, and -children. In the midst of the carnage Track Maker comes face to face -with Flying Shadow, and with a cry of gladness she throws herself into -his arms. But there is no refuge there. Gladly as he would save her, -he knows too well that the thirst for blood will not be sated until -every member of that band is dead. He folds her to his bosom for an -instant, looks into her eyes with tenderness--then bowing his head he -passes on and never glances back. It is enough. She falls insensible, -and a savage, rushing upon her, tears the scalp from her head. - -The Sioux win a hundred scalps and celebrate their victory with dance -and song. Track Maker has returned with more scalps than any, and the -maidens welcome him as a hero, but he keeps gravely apart from all, and -has no share in the feasting and merry-making. Ever the trusting, -pleading, wondering face of Flying Shadow comes before him. It looks -out at him in the face of the deer he is about to kill. He sees it in -the river, the leaves, the clouds. It rises before him in dreams. The -elder people say he is bewitched, but he will have none of their -curatives. When war breaks out he is the first to go, the first to open -battle. Rushing among his enemies he lays about him with his axe -until he falls, pierced with a hundred spears and arrows. It is the -fate he has courted, and as he falls his face is lighted with a smile. - - - - SAVED BY A LIGHTNING-STROKE - -There was rough justice in the West in the old days. It had to be dealt -severely and quickly, for it was administered to a kind of men that -became dangerous if they saw any advantage or any superiority in their -strength or numbers over the decent people with whom they were cast. -They were uncivilized foreigners and native renegades, for the most -part, who had drifted to the frontier in the hope of making a living -without work more easily than in the cities. As there were no lawyers -or courts and few recognized laws, the whole people constituted -themselves a jury, and if a man were known to be guilty it was -foolishness for any one to waste logic on his case. And there is almost -no record of an innocent man being hanged by lynchers in the West. For -minor offences the penalty was to be marched out of camp, with a warning -to be very cautious about coming that way again, but for graver ones it -was death. - -In 1840 a number of desperate fellows had settled along Cedar River, -near its confluence with the Iowa, who subsisted by means of theft from -the frugal and industrious. Some of these men applied themselves -especially to horse-stealing, and in thinly settled countries, where a -man has often to go twenty or thirty miles for supplies, or his mail, or -medical attendance, it is thought to be a calamity to be without a -horse. - -At last the people organized themselves into a vigilance committee and -ran down the thieves. As the latter were a conscienceless gang of -rascals, it was resolved that the only effectual way of reforming them -would be by hanging. One man of the nine, it is true, was supposed -before his arrest to be a respectable citizen, but his evil -communications closed the ears of his neighbors to his appeals, -and it was resolved that he, too, should hang. - -Not far away stood an oak with nine stout branches, and to this natural -gallows the rogues were taken. As a squall was coming up the ceremonies -were short, and presently every limb was weighted with the form of a -captive. The formerly respectable citizen was the last one to be drawn -up, and hardly had his halter been secured before the storm burst and a -bolt of lightning ripped off the limb on which he hung. During the -delay caused by this accident the unhappy man pleaded so earnestly for a -rehearing that it was decided to give it to him, and when he had secured -it he conclusively proved his innocence and was set free. The tree is -still standing. To the ruffians it was a warning and they went away. -Even the providential saving of one man did not detract from the value -of the lesson to avoid bad company. - - - - - THE KILLING OF CLOUDY SKY - -In the Dakota camp on the bank of Spirit Lake, or Lake Calhoun, Iowa, -lived Cloudy Sky, a medicine-man, who had been made repellent by age and -accident, but who was feared because of his magic power. At eighty -years of age he looked for a third wife, and chose the daughter of a -warrior, his presents of blankets and calicoes to the parents winning -their consent. The girl, Harpstenah (a common name for a third daughter -among the Sioux), dreaded and hated this man, for it was rumored that he -had killed his first wife and basely sold his second. When she learned -what had been decided for her she rushed from the camp in tears and sat -in a lonely spot near the lake to curse and lament unseen. As she sat -there the waters were troubled. There was no wind, yet great waves were -thrown up, and tumbled hissing on the shore. Presently came a wave -higher than the rest, and a graceful form leaped from it, half shrouded -in its own long hair. - -"Do not tremble," said the visitant, for Harpstenah had hidden her face. -"I am the daughter of Unktahe, the water god. In four days your parents -will give you to Cloudy Sky, as his wife, though you love Red Deer. It -is with you to wed the man you hate or the man you love. Cloudy Sky has -offended the water spirits and we have resolved upon his death. If you -will be our agent in destroying him, you shall marry Red Deer and live -long and happily. The medicine-man wandered for years through the air -with the thunder birds, flinging his deadly firespears at us, and it was -for killing the son of Unktahe that he was last sent to earth, where he -has already lived twice before. Kill him while he sleeps and we will -reward you." - -As Harpstenah went back to the village her prospective bridegroom ogled -her as he sat smoking before his lodge, his face blackened and blanket -torn in mourning for an enemy he had killed. She resolved to heed the -appeal of the manitou. When Red Deer heard how she had been promised to -the old conjurer, he was filled with rage. Still, he became thoughtful -and advised caution when she told him of the water spirit's counsel, for -the dwellers in the lakes were, of all immortals, most deceitful, and -had ever been enemies of the Dakotas. "I will do as I am bidden," she -said, sternly. "Go away and visit the Tetons for a time. It is now the -moon of strawberries" (June), "but in the moon when we gather wild rice" -(September) "return and I will be your wife." - -Red Deer obeyed, after finding that she would not elope with him, and -with the announcement that he was going on a long hunt he took his leave -of the village. Harpstenah made ready for the bridal and greeted her -future husband with apparent pleasure and submissiveness. He gave a -medicine feast in token of the removal of his mourning, and appeared in -new clothing, greased and braided hair, and a white blanket decorated -with a black hand--the record of a slain enemy. - -On the night before the wedding the girl creeps to his lodge, but -hesitates when she sees his medicine-bag hanging beside the door--the -medicine that has kept its owner from evil and is sacred from the touch -of woman. As she lingers the night-breeze seems to bring a voice from -the water: "Can a Dakota woman want courage when she is forced to marry -the man she hates?" - -She delays no longer. A knife-blade glitters for an instant in the -moonlight--and Cloudy Sky is dead. Strange, is it not, that the thunder -birds flap so heavily along the west at that moment and a peal of -laughter sounds from the lake? She washes the blood from the blade, -steals to her father's lodge, and pretends to sleep. In the morning she -is loud in her grief when it is made known to her that the medicine-man -was no more, and the doer of the deed is never discovered. In time her -wan face gets its color and when the leaves begin to fall Red Deer -returns and weds her. - -They seem to be happy for a time, and have two sons who promise to be -famous hunters, but consumption fastens on Red Deer and he dies far from -the village. The sons are shot by enemies, and while their bodies are -on their way to Harpstenah's lodge she, too, is stricken dead by -lightning. The spirit of Cloudy Sky had rejoined the thunder birds, -and the water manitou had promised falsely. - - - - - PROVIDENCE HOLE - -The going of white men into the prairies aroused the same sort of -animosity among the Indians that they have shown in other parts of the -country when retiring before the advance of civilization, and many who -tried to plant corn on the rolling lands of Iowa, though they did no -harm to the red men, paid for the attempt with their lives. Such was -the fate of a settler who had built his cabin on the Wyoming hills, near -Davenport. While working in his fields an arrow, shot from a covert, -laid him low, and his scalp was cut away to adorn the belt of a savage. -His little daughter, left alone, began to suffer from fears and -loneliness as the sun went lower and lower, and when it had come to its -time of setting she put on her little bonnet and went in search of him. -As she gained the slope where he had last been seen, an Indian lifted -his head from the grass and looked at her. - -Starting back to run, she saw another behind her. Escape seemed -hopeless, and killing or captivity would have been her lot had not a -crevice opened in the earth close to where she stood. Dropping on hands -and knees she hastily crawled in, and found herself in what seemed to be -an extensive cavern. Hardly had she time to note the character of the -place when the gap closed as strangely as it had opened and she was left -in darkness. Not daring to cry aloud, lest Indians should hear her, she -sat upright until her young eyes could keep open no longer; then, lying -on a mossy rock, she fell asleep. In the morning the sun was shining in -upon her and the way to escape was open. She ran home, hungry, but -thankful, and was found and cared for by neighbors. "Providence Hole" -then passed into the legends of the country. It has closed anew, -however. - - - - - THE SCARE CURE - -Early in this century a restless Yankee, who wore the uninspiring name -of Tompkinson, found his way into Carondelet--or Vuide Poche, the French -settlement on the Mississippi since absorbed by St. Louis--and cast -about for something to do. He had been in hard luck on his trip from -New England to the great river. His schemes for self-aggrandizement and -the incidental enlightenment and prosperity of mankind had not thriven, -and it was largely in pity that M. Dunois gave shelter to the ragged, -half-starved, but still jaunty and resourceful adventurer. Dunois was -the one man in the place who could pretend to some education, and the -two got on together famously. - -As soon as Tompkinson was in clothes and funds--the result of certain -speculations--he took a house, and hung a shingle out announcing that -there he practised medicine. Now, the fellow knew less about doctoring -than any village granny, but a few sick people that he attended had the -rare luck to get well in spite of him, and his reputation expanded to -more than local limits in consequence. In the excess of spirits that -prosperity created he flirted rather openly with a number of virgins in -Carondelet, to the scandal of Dunois, who forbade him his house, and of -the priest, who put him under ban. - -For the priest he cared nothing, but Dunois's anger was more serious-- -for the only maid of all that he really loved was Marie Dunois, his -daughter. He formally proposed for her, but the old man would not -listen to him. Then his "practice" fell away. The future looked as -dark for him as his recent past had been, until a woman came to him with -a bone in her throat and begged to be relieved. His method in such -cases was to turn a wheel-of-fortune and obey it. The arrow this time -pointed to the word, "Bleeding." - -He grasped a scalpel and advanced upon his victim, who, supposing that -he intended to cut her throat open to extract the obstacle, fell -a-screaming with such violence that the bone flew out. What was -supposed to be his ready wit in this emergency restored him to -confidence, and he was able to resume the practice that he needed so -much. In a couple of years he displayed to the wondering eyes of Dunois -so considerable an accumulation of cash that he gave Marie to him almost -without the asking, and, as Tompkinson afterward turned Indian trader -and quadrupled his wealth by cheating the red men, he became one of the -most esteemed citizens of the West. - - - - - TWELFTH NIGHT AT CAHOKIA - -It was Twelfth Night, and the French village of Cahokia, near St. -Louis, was pleasantly agitated at the prospect of a dance in the old -court saloon, which was assembly-room and everything else for the little -place. The thirteen holy fires were alight--a large one, to represent -Christ; a lesser one, to be trampled out by the crowd, typing Judas. -The twelfth cake, one slice with the ring in it, was cut, and there were -drink and laughter, but, as yet, no music. Gwen Malhon, a drift-wood -collector, was the most anxious to get over the delay, for he had begged -a dance from Louison. Louison Florian was pretty, not badly off in -possessions and prospects, and her lover, Beaurain, had gone away. She -was beginning to look a little scornful and impatient, so Gwen set off -for a fiddler. - -He had inquired at nearly every cabin without success, and was on his -way toward the ferry when he heard music. Before him, on the moonlit -river, was a large boat, and near it, on the bank, he saw a company of -men squatted about a fire and bousing together from a bottle. At a -little distance, on a stump, sat a thin, bent man, enveloped in a cloak, -and it was he who played. Gwen complimented him and pleaded the -disappointment of the dancers in excuse of an urgent appeal that he -should hurry with him to the court saloon. The stranger was courteous. -He sprang into the road with a limping bound, shook down his cloak so as -to disclose a curled moustache, shaggy brows, a goat's beard, and a pair -of glittering eyes. "I'll give them a dance!" he exclaimed. "I know -one tune. They call it 'Returned from the Grave.' Pay? We'll see how -you like my playing." - -On entering the room where the caperish youth were already shuffling in -corners, the musician met Mamzel Florian, who offered him a slice of the -cake. He bent somewhat near to take it, and she gave a little cry. He -had found the ring, and that made him king of the festival, with the -right to choose the prettiest girl as queen. A long drink of red wine -seemed to put him in the best of trim, and he began to fiddle with a -verve that was irresistible. In one minute the whole company--including -the priest, some said--was jigging it lustily. "Whew!" gasped one old -fellow. "It is the devil who plays. Get some holy water and sprinkle -the floor." - -Gwen watched the musician as closely as his labors would allow, for he -did not like the way the fiddler had of looking at Louison, and he -thought to himself that Louison never blushed so prettily for him. -Forgetting himself when he saw the fiddler smile at the girl, he made a -rush for the barrel where that artist was perched. He bumped against a -dancer and fell. At that moment the light was put out and the hall rang -with screams and laughter. The tones of one voice sounded above the -rest: "By right of the ring the girl is mine." - -"He has me," Louison was heard to say, yet seemingly not in fear. -Lights were brought. Louison and the fiddler were gone, the stranger's -cloak and half of a false moustache were on the floor, while Gwen was -jammed into the barrel and was kicking desperately to get out. When -released he rushed for the river-side where he had seen the boat. Two -figures flitted before him, but he lost sight of them, and in the -silence and loneliness his choler began to cool. Could it really have -been the devil? An owl hooted in the bush. He went away in haste. -There was a rumor in after years that Beaurain was an actor in a company -that went up and down the great river on a barge, and that a woman who -resembled Louison was also in the troupe. But Gwen never told the story -of his disappointment without crossing himself. - - - - - THE SPELL OF CREVE CIUR LAKE - -Not far west of St. Louis the Lake of Creve Coeur dimples in the -breezes that bend into its basin of hills, and there, in summer, swains -and maidens go to confirm their vows, for the lake has an influence to -strengthen love and reunite contentious pairs. One reason ascribed for -the presence of this spell concerns a turbulent Peoria, ambitious of -leadership and hungry for conquest, who fell upon the Chawanons at this -place, albeit he was affianced to the daughter of their chief. The girl -herself, enraged at the treachery of the youngster, put herself at the -head of her band--a dusky Joan of Arc,--and the fight waged so furiously -that the combatants, what were left of them, were glad when night fell -that they might crawl away to rest their exhausted bodies and nurse -their wounds. Neither tribe daring to invite a battle after that, -hostilities were stopped, but some time later the young captain met the -girl of his heart on the shore, and before the amazon could prepare for -either fight or flight he had caught her in his arms. They renewed -their oaths of fidelity, and at the wedding the chief proclaimed eternal -peace and blessed the waters they had met beside, the blessing being -potent to this day. - -Another reason for the enchantments that are worked here may be that -the lake is occupied by a demon-fish or serpent that crawls, slimy and -dripping, through the underbrush, whenever it sees two lovers together, -and listens to their words. If the man prove faithless he would best -beware of returning to this place, for the demon is lurking there to -destroy him. This monster imprisons the soul of an Ozark princess who -flung herself into the lake when she learned that the son of the Spanish -governor, who had vowed his love to her, had married a woman of his own -rank and race in New Orleans. So they call the lake Creve Coeur, or -Broken Heart. On the day after the suicide the Ozark chief gathered his -men about him and paddled to the middle of the water, where he solemnly -cursed his daughter in her death, and asked the Great Spirit to confine -her there as a punishment for giving her heart to the treacherous white -man, the enemy of his people. The Great Spirit gave her the form in -which she is occasionally seen, to warn and punish faithless lovers. - - - - - HOW THE CRIME WAS REVEALED - -In 1853 a Hebrew peddler, whose pack was light and his purse was full, -asked leave to pass the night at the house of Daniel Baker, near -Lebanon, Missouri. The favor was granted, and that was the last seen -of Samuel Moritz; although, when some neighbors shook their heads and -wondered how it was that Baker was so well in funds, there were others -who replied that it was impossible to keep track of peddlers, and that -if Moritz wanted to start on his travels early in the morning, or to -return to St. Louis for goods, it mattered to nobody. On an evening in -1860 when there was a mist in the gullies and a new moon hung in the -west, Rev. Mr. Cummings, a clergyman of that region, was driving home, -and as he came to a bridge near "old man" Baker's farm he saw a man -standing on it, with a pack on his back and a stick in his hand, who was -staring intently at something beneath the bridge. The clergyman greeted -him cheerily and asked him if he would like to ride, whereat the man -looked him in the face and pointed to the edge of the bridge. Mr. -Cummings glanced down, saw nothing, and when he looked up again the man -with the pack had disappeared. His horse at the same moment gave a -snort and plunged forward at a run, so that the clergyman's attention -was fully occupied until he had brought the animal under control again; -when he glanced back and saw that the man was still standing in the -bridge and looking over the edge of it. The minister told his neighbors -of this adventure, and on returning with two of them to the spot next -morning they found the body of old man Baker swinging by the neck from a -beam of the bridge exactly beneath where the apparition had stood--for -it must have been an apparition, inasmuch as the dust, damped though it -had been with dew, showed no trace of footprint. In taking down the -body the men loosened the earth on a shelving bank, and the gravel -rolling away disclosed a skeleton with some bits of clothing on it that -were identified as belongings of Samuel Moritz. Was it conscience, -craziness, or fate that led old man Baker to hang himself above the -grave of his victim? - - - - - BANSHEE OF THE BAD LANDS - -"Hell, with the fires out," is what the Bad Lands of Dakota have been -called. The fearless Western nomenclature fits the place. It is an -ancient sea-bottom, with its clay strata worn by frost and flood into -forms like pagodas, pyramids, and terraced cities. Labyrinthine canons -wind among these fantastic peaks, which are brilliant in color, but -bleak, savage, and oppressive. Game courses over the castellated hills, -rattlesnakes bask at the edge of the crater above burning coal seams, -and wild men have made despairing stand here against advancing -civilization. It may have been the white victim of a red man's jealousy -that haunts the region of the butte called "Watch Dog," or it may have -been an Indian woman who was killed there, but there is a banshee in the -desert whose cries have chilled the blood that would not have cooled at -the sight of a bear or panther. By moonlight, when the scenery is most -suggestive and unearthly, and the noises of wolves and owls inspire -uneasy feelings, the ghost is seen on a hill a mile south of the Watch -Dog, her hair blowing, her arms tossing in strange gestures. - -If war parties, emigrants, cowboys, hunters, any who for good or ill are -going through this country, pass the haunted butte at night, the rocks -are lighted with phosphor flashes and the banshee sweeps upon them. As -if wishing to speak, or as if waiting a question that it has occurred to -none to ask, she stands beside them in an attitude of appeal, but if -asked what she wants she flings her arms aloft and with a shriek that -echoes through the blasted gulches for a mile she disappears and an -instant later is seen wringing her hands on her hill-top. Cattle will -not graze near the haunted butte and the cowboys keep aloof from it, for -the word has never been spoken that will solve the mystery of the region -or quiet the unhappy banshee. - -The creature has a companion, sometimes, in an unfleshed skeleton that -trudges about the ash and clay and haunts the camps in a search for -music. If he hears it he will sit outside the door and nod in time to -it, while a violin left within his reach is eagerly seized and will be -played on through half the night. The music is wondrous: now as soft as -the stir of wind in the sage, anon as harsh as the cry of a wolf or -startling as the stir of a rattler. As the east begins to brighten the -music grows fainter, and when it is fairly light it has ceased -altogether. But he who listens to it must on no account follow the -player if the skeleton moves away, for not only will it lead him into -rocky pitfalls, whence escape is hopeless, but when there the music will -intoxicate, madden, and will finally charm his soul from his body. - - - - - STANDING ROCK - -The stone that juts from one of the high banks of the Missouri, in South -Dakota, gives its name to the Standing Rock Agency, which, by reason of -many councils, treaties, fights, feasts, and dances held there, is the -best known of the frontier posts. It was a favorite gathering place of -the Sioux before the advent of the white man. The rock itself is only -twenty-eight inches high and fifteen inches wide, and could be plucked -up and carried away without difficulty, but no red man is brave enough -to do that, for this is the transformed body of a squaw who was struck -into stone by Manitou for falsely suspecting her husband of -unfaithfulness. - -After her transformation she not only remained sentient but acquired -supernatural powers that the Sioux propitiated by offerings of beads, -tobacco, and ribbons, paint, fur, and game--a practice that was not -abandoned until the teachings of missionaries began to have effect among -them. Soldiers and trappers think the story an ingenious device to -prevent too close inquiry into the lives of some of the nobility of the -tribe. The Arickarees, however, regard this stone as the wife of one of -their braves, who was so pained and mortified when her husband took a -second wife that she went out into the prairie and neither ate nor drank -until she died, when the Great Spirit turned her into the Standing -Stone. The squaws still resort to it in times of domestic trouble. - - - - - THE SALT WITCH - -A pillar of snowy salt once stood on the Nebraska plain, about forty -miles above the point where the Saline flows into the Platte, and white -men used to hear of it as the Salt Witch. An Indian tribe was for a -long time quartered at the junction of the rivers, its chief a man of -blood and muscle in whom his people gloried, but so fierce, withal, that -nobody made a companion of him except his wife, who alone could check -his tigerish rages. - -In sooth, he loved her so well that on her death he became a recluse and -shut himself within his lodge, refusing to see anybody. This mood -endured with him so long that mutterings were heard in the tribe and -there was talk of choosing another chief. Some of this talk he must -have heard, for one morning he emerged in war-dress, and without a word -to any one strode across the plain to westward. On returning a full -month later he was more communicative and had something unusual to -relate. He also proved his prowess by brandishing a belt of fresh -scalps before the eyes of his warriors, and he had also brought a lump -of salt. - -He told them that after travelling far over the prairie he had thrown -himself on the earth to sleep, when he was aroused by a wailing sound -close by. In the light of a new moon he saw a hideous old woman -brandishing a tomahawk over the head of a younger one, who was kneeling, -begging for mercy, and trying to shake off the grip from her throat. -The sight of the women, forty miles from the village, so surprised the -chief that he ran toward them. The younger woman made a desperate -effort to free herself, but in vain, as it seemed, for the hag wound her -left hand in her hair while with the other she raised the axe and was -about to strike. - -At that moment the chief gained a view of the face of the younger woman- -it was that of his dead wife. With a snarl of wrath he leaped upon the -hag and buried his own hatchet in her brain, but before he could catch -his wife in his arms the earth had opened and both women disappeared, -but a pillar of salt stood where he had seen this thing. For years the -Indians maintained that the column was under the custody of the Salt -Witch, and when they went there to gather salt they would beat the -ground with clubs, believing that each blow fell upon her person and -kept her from working other evil. - - - - - - - ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - - OVER THE DIVIDE - -The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards -who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of -Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample -discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief -in this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions -of savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and -unlock the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic -business, prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of -precious metal and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown -regions beyond the Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with -magnificent possibilities, and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate -the wilderness, "strike it rich," and "make his pile." - -Thus, the region indicated as "over the divide" meaning the continental -water-shed-or "over the range" came to signify not a delectable land -alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of -posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: "Poor Bill! He's -gone over the divide." - -The Indian's name of heaven--"the happy hunting ground"--is of similar -significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place in -the far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. -Just before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed -on a log. If they had been good in the world of the living they -suffered no harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been -evil they never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a -place of whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the -torrent amid thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid -fish. From the far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path -across the divide. - - - - - THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS - -Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where -they go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old -engineer named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled -the road with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with -no accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that -the silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than -usual. A defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that -morning, and he began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left -the first line of snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among -the ice and rocks, and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and -he applied the brakes. - -The conductor ran up and asked, "What did you stop for?" - -"Why did you signal to stop?" - -"I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass -No. 19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us." - -Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under -way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, -and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him -at a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if -something were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the -throttle wide open and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but -the snow was flung off and the train went roaring through another shed. -Here was where the defective rail had been reported. No matter. A -greater danger was pressing behind. The fireman piled on coal until his -clothes were wet with perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke- -stack. The passengers, too, having been warned of their peril, had -dressed themselves and were anxiously watching at the windows, for talk -went among them that a mad engineer was driving the train behind. - -As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his -train to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint -light from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were -bigger than his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and -gestured franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other -train but two hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the -engineer who was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His -face was like dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the -hollows, but the trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across -them; wind screamed in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge -was reached; Edwards's heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear -the chasm by a bound. Now the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not -there, and as the brakes were freed the train shot by like a flash. -Suddenly a red light appeared ahead, swinging to and fro on the track. -As well be run into behind as to crash into an obstacle ahead. He heard -the whistle of the pursuing locomotive yelp behind him, yet he reversed -the lever and put on brakes, and for a few seconds lived in a hell of -dread. - -Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost -leap upon his own--yet just before it touched it the track seemed to -spread, the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled -into the canon and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of -hurt men or hiss of steam came up--nothing but the groan of the wind as -it rolled through the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had -disappeared. Now another danger impended, and there was no time to -linger, for No. 19 might be on its way ahead if he did not reach the -second switch before it moved out. The mad run was resumed and the -second switch was reached in time. As Edwards was finishing the run to -Green River, which he reached in the morning ahead of schedule, he found -written in the frost of his cab-window these words: "A frate train was -recked as yu saw. Now that yu saw it yu will never make another run. -The enjine was not ounder control and four sexshun men wor killed. If -yu ever run on this road again yu will be recked." Edwards quit the -road that morning, and returning to Denver found employment on the Union -Pacific. No wreck was discovered next day in the canon where he had -seen it, nor has the phantom train been in chase of any engineer who has -crossed the divide since that night. - - - - - THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS - -In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment -was ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to -carry a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. -The men wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of -their wives and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers -were directed to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of -the Purgatoire--neither to reach their destination nor to return. Did -they attempt to descend the stream in boats and go to wreck among the -rapids? Were they swept into eternity by a freshet? Did they lose -their provisions and starve in the desert? Did the Indians revenge -themselves for brutality and selfishness by slaying them at night or -from an ambush? Were they killed by banditti? Did they sink in the -quicksands that led the river into subterranean canals? None will ever -know, perhaps; but many years afterward a savage told a priest in Santa -Fe that the regiment had been surrounded by Indians, as Custer's command -was in Montana, and slain, to a man. Seeing that escape was hopeless, -the colonel--so said the narrator--had buried the gold that he was -transporting. Thousands of doubloons are believed to be hidden in the -canon, and thousands of dollars have been spent in searching for them. - -After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word -came of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las -Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as -it tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the -troopers. French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title -when they renamed it Purgatoire, and--"bullwhackers" teaming across the -plains twisted the French title into the unmeaning "Picketwire." But -Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have -ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely -in the valley of Las Animas. - - - - - RIDERS OF THE DESERT - -Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge -of Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and -brave in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he -was happy in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver -and wild sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico -frontier, and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the -pretty Zecana, and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission -into the heart of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest -securely at the settlement until his return. - -On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after -drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its -deity. The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he -stared, distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the -surface--the anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, -galloped away, and paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached -the post. The Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he -urged his jaded horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, -flushed with joy to see his wife before his door and to hear her -singing. When he spoke she looked up carelessly and resumed her song. -She did not know him. Reason was gone. - -It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro -learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind -back for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and -pain, she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her -purpose she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his -feet. For hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian -nature soon resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding -his horse, he wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept -through the night in sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian -stood in the shadow of a room in the trading fort and watched the -Spaniard as he lay asleep. Nobody knew how he passed the guard. - -In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across -his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat -at his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was -bound hand and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta- -in-ga-ro pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the -ground, outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at -the embers of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of -cottonwood and shot it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and -confusion thus made, his own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman -drowsily pacing his beat outside the square of buildings. The sentinel -would have given the alarm, had not the Indian pounced on him like a -panther and laid him dead with a knife-stroke. - -Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and -set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, -where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his -hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and -his appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his -door, Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's -clothes, and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him -into his seat with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its -wrapping and tied it to his prisoner, face to face. - -Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of -his burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on -his own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he -struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the -ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and -blood dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night -he froze uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes -closed in sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro -gave him drink from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for -days. At last hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into -the dead flesh before him he feasted like a ghoul. - -Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose -sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard -had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the -horse with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the -yellow void. He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and -fro, through the brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost -riders, forever. - - - - - THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES - -When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they -found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of -the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This -"Saratoga of the West," nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the -shadow of the noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground -for several families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, -for no Indian dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath -sparkled in the "medicine waters." None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago -a Shoshone and a Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to -drink. The Shoshone had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed -and ill tempered, jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging -down the fat deer that he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the -Shoshone bent over the spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a -handful of it on the ground, as a libation to the spirit of the place, -he put his lips to the surface. It needed but faint pretext for his -companion to begin a quarrel, and he did so in this fashion: "Why does a -stranger drink at the spring-head when one of the owners of the fountain -contents himself with its overflow? How does a Shoshone dare to drink -above me?" - -The other replied, "The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that -his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, -and I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let -them drink together." - -"No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that -nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people." - -"Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is -black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, -'Drink here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all -might drink." - -The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling -surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, -forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was -drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became -agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the -form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer -recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a -man whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these -tribes. The face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in -terrible tones, "Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the -mightiest nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals -for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their -throats." - -Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of -the wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst -open and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is -nauseous, while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote -a neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. -The bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on -that day a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became -involved until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all -that region. - - - - - BESIEGED BY STARVATION - -A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the -Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what -they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the -enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes--for the aggressors -were of that tribe--into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a -castellated rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held -their own for several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt -was made to storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was -too secure a stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped -about it, and, by cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to -game and to water, starved every one of them to death. - -This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, -Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, -with a slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at -the order of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place -and mounted a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the -killing of Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people--the Ottawas--charged -the crime against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in -number, entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their -enemies at bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. -For a time they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the -river at the end of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in -canoes and cut the cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained -there until all had died of starvation. Bones and relics are found -occasionally at the top. - -There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is extant-- -namely, Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and -vertical on all sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in -safety. A company of Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel -and defended the path so vigorously that their pursuers gave over all -attempts to follow them, but squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded -to starve them out. On a dark night the besieged killed some of their -ponies and made lariats of their hides, by which they reached the ground -on the unguarded side of the rock. They slid down, one at a time, and -made off all but one aged Indian, who stayed to keep the camp-fire -burning as a blind. He went down and surrendered on the next day, but -the Sioux, respecting his age and loyalty, gave him freedom. - - - - - A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY - -Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone -country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil -spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the -crest of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy -hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They -loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were -driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now -Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on -avenging acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the -sting of tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band -gathered at the head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand -Canon of the Yellowstone--a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the -bullets of the soldiery,--and with Spartan courage they resolved to die -rather than be taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They -built a raft and placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, -and for a few days they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their -privilege in former times. A short-lived peace, however, for one -morning they are aroused by the crack of rifles--the troops are upon -them. - -Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, -perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is -their intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few -among them have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the -troops, who stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, -and watch, with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it -passes into the current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on -faster and faster. The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of -the waves and that distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the -canon. Every red man has his face turned toward the foe with a look of -defiance, and the tones of the death-chant have in them something of -mockery no less than hate and vaunting. - -The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond -and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a -thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of -morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were -no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The -raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as -the soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate -that the savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. -The raft tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are -launched over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists -weep forever on the rocks and mosses. - - - - - THE BROAD HOUSE - -Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently -coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good -preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling -god, came on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a -prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property. -To do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and -challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and -skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his -own side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and -children, and, finally, some of the men themselves. - -In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives -were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the -people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some -of the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this -performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to -defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had gone to -gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a -challenge, and the animals agreed to help him. - -When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a -large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was -because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball -contest Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god -sent his far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed -itself before touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was -beaten at every point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, -and returned to their people. - -The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him -to a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of -sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man -lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals -and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon -people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came -northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the -site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his -return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini. - - - - THE DEATH WALTZ - -Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post -at Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any -of the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at -the post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, -who enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and -enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women -who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young -lieutenant proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted -himself to her in the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His -experience with the world was not large enough to enable him to -distinguish between the womanly woman and the coquette. - -One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache -outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the -marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, -but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not -only acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if -the fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. -As he bade her good-by he was heard to say, "That is well. Nobody else -shall have you. I will come back and make my claim." - -In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. -It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and -nobody was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a -young man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at -the post, and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As -the dance was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a -draught of air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike -that of any human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned -to the door. In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the -stained uniform of an officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, -the scalp was gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible -light. - -Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, -who, like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the -power of motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The -musicians, who afterward declared that they did not know what they were -doing, struck up a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and -around, the woman growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw -and staring eyes showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead man -allowed her to sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his -hands as he sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished through the -door. A few days after, a troop of soldiers who had been to the scene -of the Apache encounter returned with the body of the lieutenant. - - - - - THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE - -Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although -French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year -of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, -Pennsylvania, to save herimage on the Catholic church in that place, -when it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It -was the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico -long years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in -Santa Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to -Juan Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth -century. She commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the -bishop of the diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told -him to go away. The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the -bishop declared that he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. -A third time the supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb -a certain difficult mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, -and take them to the bishop. - -After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's -amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and -returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before -the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing -picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is -duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. -These treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of -illness and threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the -streets in procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of -money are then made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals -the Virgin makes prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to -the results of their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not -begin on time, though services were almost constantly continued before -the sacred picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped -the image of its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for -hours. That night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed -away, so the populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save -their lives. They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more -brilliantly, and addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy -and earnestness than ever before. - - - - - GODDESS OF SALT - -Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic -rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while -near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess -of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the -sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any -sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the -mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made -it salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West -that much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the -larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from -other tribes that draw from it. - -Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and -wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they -lived happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had -concealed herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to -that land and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave -their view forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a -high wall of sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which -she passed is plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes -was broken off, and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and -became the monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed -his wife, and his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue -stone. - - - - - THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS - -Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red -tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and -the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the -precipitous bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night -the fairies "little fellows" sport and slide. Among others, the Noah -legend finds a parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the -interior of the earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of -Oswego River, New York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the -rocks about Red River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big -Black River in the Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath; -the Aztecs were one of seven tribes that came out from the seven caverns -of Aztlan, or Place of the Heron; and the Navajos believe that they -emerged at a place known to them in the Navajo Mountains. - -In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that -they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers -grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in -the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. -Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had -not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some -place unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the -passage to see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the -surface was reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, -they settled here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen -disappeared. - -Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the -mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, -looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She -told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only -after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that -the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the -eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert -lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having -found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their -retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills -above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl -babe. - -This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted -the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a -shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants -that had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his -wife to his floating palace in the western water, which has since been -her home. To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve -immortals bear their petitions to her throne. - - - - - THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS - -The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals -was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from -the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt -Rivers, and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they -grew selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with -his handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, -in the voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The -prophet Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for -listening to the wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated -the command, with an added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy -them all if they did not reform. - -Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. -But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the -south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and -should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which -he might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately -set out to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had -made a large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, -acorn-meal and water, and meat of bear and venison. - -On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into -the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the -song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would -presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and -it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. -Swift came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. -Withdrawing into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. -Then for some days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. -Their stores had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a -hole in its side its occupants stepped forth. - -There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red -fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night -came on they retired to the ark and slept--a night, a month, a year, -perhaps a century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales -were filled with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The -delighted couple descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark -had rested, and went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand -years, and became the parents of a great tribe. - -But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the -mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, -while the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were -gathering maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of -Suha's daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its -limit, then made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way -he entered the valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition -Mountains; he drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to -him; then, when he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding -and beat out the brains of the stupefied fiend. - -Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other -evil, but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been -disposed of than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build -adobe houses, to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave -cloth, and avoid wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that -they would grow arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, -and would wage wars for gain. When that time came there would be -another flood and not one should be saved--the bad should vanish and the -good would leave the earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas -rely on this prophecy that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, -for there sits Cherwit Make--awaiting the culmination of their -wickedness to let loose on the earth a mighty sea that lies dammed -behind the range. - - - - - THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING - -Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the -scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago -a tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended -their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. -They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong -and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the -mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent -than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the -Apaches. - -After they had lived near the mountain for five years the "little -people" learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made -preparations for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure -valleys; provisions, tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles -of stone were placed along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. -This work was superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and -commanding form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it -was--the Helen of a New-World Troy--who was causing this trouble, for -the Zunis claimed her on the ground that they had brought her from the -waters of the rising sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable -marriage with their chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. - -Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance -until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, -seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the -"little men," watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the -invaders as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the -slope, brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion -of a red man is--and sometimes of a white one. - -At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, -and as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her -people and the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred -yards away the Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon -she stooped, picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the -pool, and ran back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from -crevices in the rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. -Others plunged blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. - -In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not -an arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at -these pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple -of years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the -queen repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even -greater slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, -but they went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in -the mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. - -Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on -Superstition Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and -this cave of the Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of -Salt River. A skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky -texture, were once found there. It is said that electrical phenomena -are frequent on the mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas -lying near together may account for them. - - - - - THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK - -There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, -Arizona, where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. -The white men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their -hands they shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of -the cavern, the fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles -illuminating the interior and exposing to view the objects of their -hatred. - -The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode -away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years -had not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into -this pit of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the -entrance, and took there its everlasting seat. - -Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when -he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully -upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors -subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred -by "the thing." They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes -turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading -claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, -recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there -was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, -while the other had never stopped running--at least, he had not returned -to his usual haunts since "the thing" looked at him. Still, it is -haunted country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon -Ghost Mountain, and the "bad men's hunting-grounds" of the Yumas and -Navajos are over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, -no unusual thing to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. - - - - - SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS - -Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and -perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large towns-- -the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of -Stones, and City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that -had been practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in -Egypt. Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were -a subject people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in -America the arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, -like other nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to -luxury, to wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the -fierce tribes of the North were lurking on the confines of their country -in a faith of speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements -were against them. - -The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire -region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were -heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, -wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. -Then came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. -As the earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, -the king gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be -spared, though he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led -away and knew that in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. - -The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected--a cave -in Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the -officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade -stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And -now, the end. - -Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to -consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; -a hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the storm- -struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor this -time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. It -was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the -more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and -temples were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and -the rush of avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through -the clouds the people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke -from their confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had -indeed abandoned them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its -flight in company with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had -suffered uselessly. - -The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal -executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and -the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and -pillaged it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and -were rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was -also found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a -sense of apprehension. - - - - - TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN - -The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and -the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find -listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for -example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. - -While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun -mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. -"Aha! It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?" he cried, looking -at the Sun. "I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't." - -And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped -to pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran -out and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the -ground and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, -but Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong -breath, for with it he turned all the arrows aside. "The scamp is in -here," said one of the party. Let's get at him another way." So, -getting their flints and shovels, they began to dig. - -"That's your game, is it?" mumbled Ta-Vwots. "I know a way out of this -that you don't know." With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of -his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, -and along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a -niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had -made the hole quite large he shouted, "Be buried in the grave you have -dug for yourselves!" And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he -caved the earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, "To -fight is as good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet -will be an enemy. No one shall escape my wrath." And he sounded his -war-whoop. - -Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from -them. "Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me," he said. - -"You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?" they questioned, -with a jeer. - -"No ghost," he answered, "but a better man than you. Hold me on those -rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you." - -The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they -placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he -kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising -unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, -like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half -through and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. - -On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to -blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they -supposed, but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his -face. - -"You are a ghost!" the women exclaimed. - -"No ghost," said he. "Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do -no harm. See, now." And he puffed thorns into their faces and made -them blind. "Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to -kill the Sun. This is good practice." And he slew them, sounded his -war-whoop, and went on. - -The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and -the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill -him by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he -pretended to eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what -it was. He called out, "It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw -it up to you." With that he tossed something so nearly within their -reach that in bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the -brink, lost their balance, fell over, and were killed. "You are victims -of your own greed. One should never be so anxious as to kill one's -self." This was his only comment, and, sounding the warwhoop, he went -on. - -A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets -lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, "Here comes -that bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?" - -"What were you saying?" asked the hare god. - -"We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'" (A common form of -endearment.) - -"Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you -braid the neck." - -He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed -to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, when-- -puff! the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not know -anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. - -"Easily enough," replied the hare god. "These things may hold water, -but they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can." With -their consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a -little while he had them caged. "Now, come out," he said. But, try as -they might, not a withe could they break. "Ha, ha! You are wise women, -aren't you? Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. -In time I shall learn how." Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck -them dead with his magic ball and went on. - -He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for -he had heard of the hare god and was afraid. "Don't be frightened, -friend Bear," said the rogue. "I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. -How could a little chap like me hurt so many people?" And he helped the -Bear to dig his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and -as the Bear thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his -face and made an end of him. "I was afraid of this warrior," said -Ta-Vwots, "but he is dead, now, in his den." And sounding his war-whoop -he went on. - -It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, -who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not -hurt himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that -he had a pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots -thump it out? Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the -soundest kind of a thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted "Harder," -he guessed that it was an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his -magic ball he finished the Tarantula at a blow. "That is a stroke of -your own seeking," he remarked. "I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I -know that I can do it." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. - -Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, -where thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the -night under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the -instant that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. -The surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered -over the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under -the tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the -increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his -toes, then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his -hands, and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his -arms. At last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and -valley until it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that -gushed forth spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was -conquered, and at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for -his mischievous pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky -every day by the same trail. - - - - - THE COMANCHE RIDER - -The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places -ground sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. -South Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. -Enemies gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off -their scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of -mutilation in killing. - -Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut -a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew -there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of -Polan from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his -brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had -pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, -with silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, -the weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its -place and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the -Indian's tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in -accordance with his wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper -Missouri, on the back of his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, -with the scalps that he had taken hung to the bridle. - -When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that -his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. -His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony -is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy -hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near -Fort Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any -kind of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. -They killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time -the late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of -a lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like -a grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, -formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself -to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and -sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a -stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused -to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in -dismay. Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for -protection, and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their -possession when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. - -Myths and Legends - - - - - HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS - -The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that -they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the -country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the -west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard -to get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the -tops of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman -in his country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his -people from these giants. This king was eaten like the rest, and the -citizens declined to elect another, because they were beginning to lose -faith in kings. Still, there was one young brave whose single thought -was how to defeat the giants and save his people. - -As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly -known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone -away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the -earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to -destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. "Then take my horned -crest for a helmet." - -Lolomi--that was the name of him--did as he was bid, and found that in a -moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly that no -club could break through it. - -"Now take my breastplate," continued the toad. And though it would not -have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased -in bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. - -"Now take the scales from my eyes," commanded the toad, and when he had -done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. - -"Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his -eyes, and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back -to a precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the -edge of the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed." - -Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the -distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As -he drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor -like hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this -the giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. -Fearing a blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who -manoeuvred so skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of -a cliff he sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and -broke his bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, -because they all walked back before him, and after they had fallen the -people heaped rocks on their bodies. To this day the place is known as -"the giants' fall." Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the -most beautiful damsel for a wife. As he was the best king they ever -had, they treasured his memory after he was dead, and used his name as a -term of greeting, so that "Lolomi" is a word of welcome, and will be -until the giants come again. - - - - - THE SPIDER TOWER - -In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated -valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered -sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer -uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was -surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by -them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in -the hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that -was least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with -strength well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch -at its top. Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not -fall within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into -roughnesses of the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had -reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' -eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with -their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having -gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help -had come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the -top of the spire, and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one -end fast to a jag of rock while the other fell within his grasp--for -she, like all other of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers -better than the remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider -Tower. - - - - - THE LOST TRAIL - -The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a -keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells -this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually -placed his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild -roses in the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his -wife--Manetabee (Rosebud)--in the lodge while he went across the -mountains to attend a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return -he found neither wife nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the -ground showed to his keen eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been -there. - -Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had -reached Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a -small fire ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might -have enabled him to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled -about the glow; but it is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, -and, tying his horse, he crawled forward. - -There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide -the ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. -So engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like -approach of Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound -Manetabee's wrists and ankles--she did not cry out, for she had expected -rescue--and both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a -yell, one of the gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway -the fifteen made an onset. - -Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and -he had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he -fell headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst -in fury. A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth -with an appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and -a whirlwind passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time--then he -felt the touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they -arose and looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the -canon, dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. - -"The trail is gone," said Acantow. "Manitou has broken it, that the -Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. -Let us thank the Manitou." So they went back to where the spring burst -amid the rose-bushes. - - - - - A BATTLE IN THE AIR - -In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold -by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is -heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it -heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that -lived here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in -the valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where -hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes -of the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. - -In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John -Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was -belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples -against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region -was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke -him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at -least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good -moon, he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that -filled the air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as -if they were borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of -feet, the striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for -nearly an hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the -horse became so frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he -reached the edge of the valley the sounds were heard going into the -distance. Not until he reached a settlement did he learn of the spell -that rested on the place. - - - - - - - ON THE PACIFIC COAST - - ON THE VOYAGER OF WHULGE - -Like the ancient Greeks, the Siwash of the Northwest invest the unseen -world with spiritual intelligence. Every tree has a soul; the forests -were peopled with good and evil genii, the latter receiving oblation at -the devil-dances, for it was not worth while to appease those already -good; and the mountains are the home of tamanouses, or guardian spirits, -that sometimes fight together--as, when the spirits of Mount Tacoma -engaged with those of Mount Hood, fire and melted stone burst from their -peaks, their bellowing was heard afar, and some of the rocks flung by -Tacoma fell short, blocking the Columbia about the Dalles. - -Across these fantastic reports of older time there come echoes of a -later instruction, adapted and blended into native legend so that the -point of division cannot be indicated. Such is that of the mysterious -voyager of the Whulge--the Siwash name for the sound that takes the name -of Puget from one of Vancouver's officers. Across this body of water -the stranger came in a copper canoe that borrowed the glories of the -morning. When he had landed and sent for all the red men, far and near, -he addressed to them a doctrine that provoked expressions of contempt-- -a doctrine of love. - -To fight and steal no more, to give of their goods to men in need, to -forgive their enemies,--they could not understand such things. He -promised--this radiant stranger--to those who lived right, eternal life -on seas and hills more fair than these of earth, but they did not heed -him. At last, wearying of his talk, they dragged him to a tree and -nailed him fast to it, with pegs through his hands and feet, and jeered -and danced about him, as they did about their victims in the devil- -dance, until his head fell on his breast and his life went out. - -A great storm, with thunderings and earthquakes! They took the body -down and would have buried it, but, to! it arose to its feet, as the sun -burst forth, and resumed its preaching. Then they took the voyager's -word for truth and never harmed him more, while they grew less warlike -as each year went by until, of all Indians, they were most peaceable. - - - - - TAMANOUS OF TACOMA - -Mount Tacoma has always been a place of superstitious regard among the -Siwash (Sauvage) of the Northwest. In their myths it was the place of -refuge for the last man when the Whulge was so swollen after long rain -that its waters covered the earth. All other men were drowned. The -waves pursued the one man as he climbed, rising higher and higher until -they came to his knees, his waist, his breast. Hope was almost gone, -and he felt that the next wave would launch him into the black ocean -that raged about him, when one of the tamanouses of the peak, taking -pity on him, turned his feet to stone. The storm ceased, and the waters -fell away. The man still stood there, his feet a part of the peak, and -he mourned that he could not descend to where the air was balmy and the -flowers were opening. The Spirit of all Things came and bade him sleep, -and, after his eyes were closed, tore out one of his ribs and changed it -to a woman. When lifted out of the rock the man awoke, and, turning -with delight to the woman, he led her to the sea-shore, and there in a -forest bower they made their home. There the human race was recreated. - -On the shore of the Whulge in after years lived an Indian miser--rare -personage--who dried salmon and jerked the meat that he did not use, and -sold it to his fellow-men for hiaqua--the wampum of the Pacific tribes. -The more of this treasure he got, the more he wanted--even as if it were -dollars. One day, while hunting on the slopes of Mount Tacoma, he -looked along its snow-fields, climbing to the sky, and, instead of doing -homage to the tamanous, or divinity of the mountain, he only sighed, -"If I could only get more hiaqua!" - -Sounded a voice in his ear: "Dare you go to my treasure caves?" - -"I dare!" cried the miser. - -The rocks and snows and woods roared back the words so quick in echoes -that the noise was like that of a mountain laughing. The wind came up -again to whisper the secret in the man's ear, and with an elk-horn for -pick and spade he began the ascent of the peak. Next morning he had -reached the crater's rim, and, hurrying down the declivity, he passed a -rock shaped like a salmon, next, one in the form of a kamas-root, and -presently a third in likeness of an elk's head. "'Tis a tamanous has -spoken!" he exclaimed, as he looked at them. - -At the foot of the elk's head he began to dig. Under the snow he came -to crusts of rock that gave a hollow sound, and presently he lifted a -scale of stone that covered a cavity brimful of shells more beautiful, -more precious, more abundant than his wildest hopes had pictured. He -plunged his arms among them to the shoulder--he laughed and fondled -them, winding the strings of them about his arms and waist and neck and -filling his hands. Then, heavily burdened, he started homeward. - -In his eagerness to take away his treasure he made no offerings of -hiaqua strings to the stone tamanouses in the crater, and hardly had he -begun the descent of the mountain's western face before he began to be -buffeted with winds. The angry god wrapped himself in a whirling tower -of cloud and fell upon him, drawing darkness after. Hands seemed to -clutch at him out of the storm: they tore at his treasure, and, in -despair, he cast away a cord of it in sacrifice. The storm paused for a -moment, and when it returned upon him with scream and flash and roar he -parted with another. So, going down in the lulls, he reached timber -just as the last handful of his wealth was wrenched from his grasp and -flung upon the winds. Sick in heart and body, he fell upon a moss-heap, -senseless. He awoke and arose stiffly, after a time, and resumed his -journey. - -In his sleep a change had come to the man. His hair was matted and -reached to his knees; his joints creaked; his food supply was gone; but -he picked kamas bulbs and broke his fast, and the world seemed fresh and -good to him. He looked back at Tacoma and admired the splendor of its -snows and the beauty of its form, and had never a care for the riches in -its crater. The wood was strange to him as he descended, but at sunset -he reached his wigwam, where an aged woman was cooking salmon. Wife -and husband recognized each other, though he had been asleep and she -a-sorrowing for years. In his joy to be at home the miser dug up all -his treasure that he had secreted and gave of his wealth and wisdom to -whoso needed them. Life, love, and nature were enough, he found, and he -never braved the tamanous again. - - - - - THE DEVIL AND THE DALLES - -In days when volcanoes were playing in the Northwest and the sternly -beautiful valley of the Columbia was a hell of ash and lava, the fiend -men of the land met at intervals on the heated rocks to guzzle and riot -together. It was at one of these meetings in the third summer after -Tacoma had stopped spouting that the devil urged a lesson from the -growing peace and joy of nature, and prayed the fiend men to desist from -killing and eating each other and live in love. - -With a howl of rage at such a proposal they set upon him, tossing their -tails in such a threatening manner that he deemed it best to be off, and -as his hoofs clattered over the country his brain was busy in devising -an escape. Nearing the mountain bulwarks of an inland sea, whose -breakers' rhythmic roar he heard above the yells of his pursuers, a hope -came into his head, and new vigor into his tail, though you might have -thought the latter accession was not needed, for his tail was of -prodigious length and strength. He whirled this limb aloft and beat it -on the earth. A chasm opened at the stroke, and the devil skipped -across to the safe side of it. - -Safe? No; for the fiend men in advance took the leap and came beside -him. The tormented one could thrash any two of them at once, but he was -not equal to a thousand. He brandished his weapon once more and it fell -with a crash. Earth shook, dust arose in clouds, and a deeper cleft -than before yawned through the valley. Again the fiend men tried to -reach him, and, though the gap was bigger and many fell into it, -hundreds made the jump and overtook him. He must make one more attempt. -The tail revolved for a third time, and with the energy of despair he -flailed the ground with it. - -A third ravine was split through the rock, and this time the earth's -crust cracked away to the eastward, giving outlet to the sea, which came -pouring through the canon, breaking rocks from mountains and grinding -them to powder in its terrific progress. Gasping with fatigue, the -unhappy one toiled up a hill and surveyed his work with satisfaction, -for the flood engulfed the fiend men and they left no member of their -race behind them. - -When they had all been happily smashed or drowned, the devil skipped -lightly over the channels he had cut and sought his family, though with -a subdued expression of countenance, for his tail--his strength and -pride--was bruised and broken beyond repair, and all the little imps -that he fathered to the world afterward had little dangling tails like -monkeys' instead of megatheriums', and in time these appendages -disappeared. But what was the use of them? The fiend men they had -fought against were dead and the rising race they could circumvent by -subtler means. The inland sea drained off. Its bed is now the prairie, -and the three strokes of the devil's tail are indelibly recorded in the -bed of the Columbia at the Dalles. And the devil never tried to be good -again. - - - - - CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA - -When the Siwash, as the Northwestern Indians called themselves, were -few, Mount Hood was kept by the Spirit of Storms, who when he shook his -robe caused rain or snow to fall over the land, while the Fire Spirit -flashed his lightnings from Mount Adams. Across the vale between them -stretched a mighty bridge of stone, joining peak to peak, and on this -the Siwash laid his offering of salmon and dressed skins. Here, too, -the tribal festivals were kept. The priestess of the arch-Mentonee, who -fed the fire on the tribal altar "unimpassioned by a mortal throb"--had -won the love of the wild tamanouses of the mountains, but she was -careless alike of coaxing and threats, and her heart was as marble to -them. - -Jealous of each other, these two spirits fell to fighting, and, appalled -by the whirl of fire and cloud, of splintering trees and crumbling -rocks, the Indians fled in terror toward the lowlands, but she, unhurt -and undaunted, kept in her place, and still offered praise to the one -god. Yet she was not alone, for watchful in the shadow of a rock stood -a warrior who had loved her so long, without the hope of lovers, that -he, too, had outgrown fear. Though she had given him but passing words -and never a smile, his own heart was the warmer and the heavier with its -freight, and it was his way to be ever watching her in some place where -she might not be troubled by the sight of him. - -The war waxed fiercer, and at last the spirits met at the centre of the -arch, and in roar and quake and deluge the great bridge swayed and -cracked. The young man sprang forward. He seized Mentonee in his arms. -There was time for one embrace that cheated death of sorrow. Then, with -a thunder like a bursting world, the miles of masonry crashed down and -buried the two forever. The Columbia leaps the ruins of the bridge in -the rapids that they call the Cascades, and the waters still brawl on, -while the sulky tamanouses watch the whitened floods from their -mountain-tops, knowing that never again will they see so fair a creature -as Mentonee. - - - - - THE DEATH OF UMATILLA - -Umatilla, chief of the Indians at the Cascades of the Columbia, was one -of the few red men of his time who favored peace with the white settlers -and lent no countenance to the fierce revels of the "potlatch." In -these "feasts of gifts" the savages, believing themselves to be -"possessed by the spirit," lashed themselves into a frenzy that on -several occasions was only quieted by the shedding of blood. Black -Eagle's Feather--or Benjamin, as he was called by the settlers--was the -only one of the children of the old chief who survived a summer of -plague, and on this boy Umatilla had put all his hopes and affections. - -The lad had formed a great trust in his white teacher, a college-bred -man from the East, who had built a little school-house beside the -Columbia and was teaching the Indian idea how to shoot something beside -white people. This boy and his teacher had hunted together; they had -journeyed in the same canoe; had tramped over the same trail to the -great falls of the Missouri; and at the Giant Spring had seen the -Piegans cast in their gifts, in the belief that the manitou of the place -would deliver them in the hereafter to the sun-god, whom they -worshipped. One day Benjamin fell ill, and the schoolmaster saw that -he, too, was to die of the plague. Old Umatilla received the news with -Indian stoicism, but he went into the forest to be alone for a time. - -When he returned day was breaking and a flock of wild-geese trumpeted -overhead. The boy heard them, and said, "Boston tilicum" (white man), -"does the Great Father tell the geese where to go?" - -"Yes." - -"Then he will tell me, too?" - -"Yes." - -"We shall never go back to the Missouri together. My father--" - -"We will watch over him." - -"That is well." And, in a few hours, he had intrusted the guidance of -his soul through the world of shadows to the white man's unseen father. - -Umatilla sat beside the body through the night, and in the morning he -called his people together. He told them that he was prepared to follow -his boy out of the world, but that first he wanted to have their promise -that they would no longer war on the whites, but look to them for -friendship and guidance. There was some murmuring at this, for the -ruder fellows were already plotting a descent on the settlers, but -Umatilla had given them great store of goods at the last potlatch, and -they reluctantly consented. The venerable chief ordered them to make a -grave for Benjamin like the white man's, and, when it had been dug, four -warriors laid the body of his son within it. Then, standing at the -brink, the chief said, "My heart is growing cold, for it is in the grave -there with my son. When I take three steps to the side of him, I, too, -shall die. Be good to the white men, as you have said, and bury us both -together. Great Spirit, I come." And, sinking to the ground, the old -man's life ebbed in a breath. They buried him and his son in a single -grave, and next day they went to the teacher and asked him to lead and -instruct them. And with that year ended all trouble between red and -white men along the Columbia. - - - - - HUNGER VALLEY - -East of San Francisco is a narrow valley opening to the bay of San -Pablo. In spite of its pleasant situation and fruitful possibilities, -it had no inhabitants until 1820, when Miguel Zamacona and his wife -Emilia strayed into it, while on a journey, and, being delighted with -its scenery, determined to make it their home. In playful mockery of -its abundance they gave to it the name El Hambre [Hunger] valley. - -After some weeks of such hardship as comes to a Mexican from work, -Miguel had built an adobe cabin and got a garden started, while he -caught a fish or shot a deer now and then, and they got on pretty well. -At last it became necessary that he should go to Yerba Buena, as San -Francisco was then called, for goods. His burros were fat and strong, -and there should be no danger. Emilia cried at being left behind, but -the garden had to be tended, and he was to be back in exactly three -weeks. She waited for twenty-two days; then, her anxiety becoming -unendurable, she packed an outfit on a burro and started on the trail. -From time to time she called his name, and "Miguel!" echoed sweetly from -hills and groves, but there was no other answer, save when an owl would -hoot. Rolled in a blanket she slept on lupin boughs, but was off at -peep of day again, calling--calling--high and clear among the solitudes. - -During the second day her burro gave a rasping bray, and a hee-haw -answered from the bush. It was Miguel's burro. He had come at last! -Leaping to her feet, in her impatience, she ran to meet him, and found -him lying on the earth, staring silently at the sky. All that day she -sat beside him, caressing his hand, talking, crying, bathing his face -with water from the marsh--the poison marsh--and it was not until sunset -that she could bring herself to admit that he was dead--had been dead -for at least two days. - -She put the blanket over him, weighted it with stones, and heaped reeds -upon it; then she started for home. A wandering trader heard her story, -but years elapsed before any other settler entered Hunger valley. They -found her skeleton then in the weedy garden. The adobe stands -tenantless in the new village of Martinez, and the people have so often -heard that the ghosts of the Zamaconas haunt the place that they have -begun to disbelieve it. - - - - - THE WRATH OF MANITOU - -The county called Kern, in California, lies mostly in a circular valley, -and long, long before the evil one had created the pale face it was the -home of a nation advanced in arts, who worshipped the Great Spirit in a -building with a lofty dome. But the bravery and wisdom of one of their -own people made them forget the Manitou and idolize the man who seemed -the most like him. They brought him to the temple and prayed and sang -to him, and held their sacred dances there, so angering God that he rent -the earth and swallowed them. Nothing was seen of this people for years -after, but their stone tools were left on neighboring hill-sides. -Manitou even poured water into the valley, and great creatures sported -in the inland sea. - -But, ere long, he repented his anger, and, in a fit of impatience at -what he had done, he threw up quantities of earth that smoked with heat, -and thus created the Sierra Nevada, while he broke away the hills at the -foot of the lake, and the waters drained into the sea at the Golden -Gate. This again made dry land of the valley, and, opening the earth -once more, he released the captive tribe. The imprisoned people had not -forgotten their arts nor their boldness; they made the place blossom -again; they conquered other tribes, and Manitou declared them his chosen -ones, from whom alone he would accept sacrifice. But their chief became -so ambitious that he wanted to supplant the Manitou in the worship of -the people, and finally, in a lunacy of self-conceit, he challenged the -god to single combat. - -Under pretence of accepting the challenge, the Great Spirit set the -offenders to wander through the desert until they reached a valley in -the Sierras, opposite Tehachapi, where he caused them to be exterminated -by a horde of savages from the Mojave desert. Then, in a fit of disgust -at refractory humanity, he evoked a whirlwind and stripped away every -living thing from the country of the savages, declaring that it should -be empty of human beings from that time forward. And it was so. - - - - - THE SPOOK OF MISERY HILL - -Tom Bowers, who mined on Misery Hill, near Pike City, California, never -had a partner, and he never took kindly to the rough crowd about the -place. One day he was missing. They traced his steps through the snow -from his cabin to the brink of a great slope where he had been -prospecting, but there they vanished, for a landslide had blotted them -out. His body was exhumed far below and decently buried, yet it was -said that it was so often seen walking about the mouth of his old shaft -that other men avoided the spot. - -Thriftless Jim Brandon, in a spasm of industry, began work on the -abandoned mine, and for a while he made it pay, for he got money and -squared accounts with his creditors; but after a time it appeared that -somebody else was working on the claim, for every morning he found that -the sluice had been tampered with and the water turned on. He searched -for the trespasser in vain, and told "the boys" that if they called that -joking it had grown tiresome. - -One night he loaded his rifle, and, from a convenient nook, he watched -for the intruder. The tamaracks crooned in the wind, the Yuba mumbled -in the canon, the Sierras lay in a line of white against the stars. As -he crept along to a point of better vantage he came to a tree with -something tacked on it--something that shone in the dark like a match. -In its own light he read, "Notice! I, Thomas Bowers, claim this ground -for placer mining." Raising his hand to tear off the paper, he was -amazed to feel a thrill pass through it, and his arm fell palsied at his -side. But the notice was gone. - -Now came the sound of water flowing, and, as he angrily caught his gun -and turned toward the sluice, the letters shone again in phosphorescence -on the tree. There was the sound of a pick in the gravel now, and, -crawling stealthily towards the sluice, he saw, at work there, Tom -Bowers--dead, lank, his head and face covered with white hair, his eyes -glowing from black sockets. Half unconsciously Jim brought his rifle to -his shoulder and fired. A yell followed the report, then the dead man -came running at him like the wind, with pick and shovel in either hand. - -Away went Brandon, and the spectre followed, up hill, in and out of -woods, over ditches, through scrub, on toward Pike City. The miners -were celebrating a new find with liberal potations and a dance in the -saloon when, high above the crash of boots, the shouted jokes, the -laughter, and the clink of glasses, came a sound of falling, a scream- -then silence. They hurried into the road. There lay Brandon's rifle, -and a pick and shovel with "T. B." cut in the handles. Jim returned -no more, and the sluice is running every night on Misery Hill. - - - - - THE QUEEN OF DEATH VALLEY - -In the southern part of California, near the Arizona line, is the famous -Death Valley--a tract of arid, alkaline plain hemmed in by steep -mountains and lying below the level of the sea. For years it was -believed that no human being could cross that desert and live, for -horses sink to their knees in drifts of soda dust; there is no water, -though the traveller requires much drink; and the heat is terrific. -Animals that die in the neighborhood mummify, but do not decay, and it -is surmised that the remains of many a thoughtless or ignorant -prospector lie bleached in the plain. On the east side of Dead Mountain -are points of whitened rock that at a distance look like sheeted -figures, and these, the Indians say, are the ghosts of their brethren. - -In the heart of this desert is said to be the ruin of a pueblo, or -village, though the shape and size of it suggest that it was made for a -few persons rather than for a tribe or family. Long ago, the tale runs, -this place of horrors was a fair and fertile kingdom, ruled by a -beautiful but capricious queen. She ordered her subjects to build her a -mansion that should surpass those of her neighbors, the Aztecs, and they -worked for years to make one worthy of her, dragging the stones and -timbers for miles. Fearing lest age, accident, or illness should forbid -her to see the ending of her dream, she ordered so many of her subjects -to assist that her tribe was reduced to practical slavery. - -In her haste and heartlessness she commanded her own daughter to join -the bearers of burdens, and when the toilers flagged in step in the -noonday heat she strode among them and lashed their naked backs. As -royalty was sacred, they did not complain, but when she struck her -daughter the girl turned, threw down her load of stone, and solemnly -cursed her mother and her kingdom; then, overcome by heat and weariness, -she sank to the earth and died. Vain the regrets and lamentations of -the queen. The sun came out with blinding heat and light, vegetation -withered, animals disappeared, streams and wells dried up, and at last -the wretched woman gave up her life on a bed of fever, with no hand to -soothe her dying moments, for her people, too, were dead. The palace, -half-completed, stands in the midst of this desolation, and sometimes it -seems to lift into view of those at a distance in the shifting mirage -that plays along the horizon. - - - - - BRIDAL VEIL FALL - -The vast ravine of Yo Semite (Grizzly Bear), formed by tearing apart the -solid Sierras, is graced by many water-falls raining down the mile-high -cliffs. The one called Bridal Veil has this tale attached to it. -Centuries ago, in the shelter of this valley, lived Tutokanula and his -tribe--a good hunter, he, a thoughtful saver of crops and game for -winter, a wise chief, trusted and loved by his people. While hunting, -one day, the tutelary spirit of the valley--the lovely Tisayac--revealed -herself to him, and from that moment he knew no peace, nor did he care -for the well-being of his people; for she was not as they were: her skin -was white, her hair was golden, and her eyes like heaven; her speech was -as a thrushsong and led him to her, but when he opened his arms she rose -lighter than any bird and vanished in the sky. - -Lacking his direction Yo Semite became a desert, and when Tisayac -returned she wept to see the corn lands grown with bushes and bears -rooting where the huts had been. On a mighty dome of rock she knelt and -begged the Great Spirit to restore its virtue to the land. He did so, -for, stooping from the sky, he spread new life of green on all the -valley floor, and smiting the mountains he broke a channel for the pent- -up meltings of the snows, and the water ran and leaped far down, pooling -in a lake below and flowing off to gladden other land. The birds -returned, the flowers sprang up, corn swayed in the breeze, and the -people, coming back, gave the name of Tisayac to South Dome, where she -had knelt. - -Then came the chief home again, and, hearing that the spirit had -appeared, was smitten with love more strong than ever. Climbing to the -crest of a rock that spires three thousand feet above the valley, he -carved his likeness there with his hunting-knife, so that his memory -might live among his tribe. As he sat, tired with his work, at the foot -of the Bridal Veil, he saw, with a rainbow arching around her, the form -of Tisayac shining from the water. She smiled on him and beckoned. His -quest was at an end. With a cry of joy he sprang into the fall and -disappeared with Tisayac. Two rainbows quivered on the falling water, -and the sun went down. - - - - - THE GOVERNOR'S RIGHT EYE - -Old Governor Hermenegildo Salvatierra, of Presidio, California, sported -only one eye--the left--because the other had been shot out by an Indian -arrow. With his sound one he was gazing into the fire, on a windy -afternoon in the rainy season, when a chunky man in a sou'wester -wasushered into his presence, and after announcing that he was no other -than Captain Peleg Scudder, of the schooner General Court, from Salem, -he was made welcome in a manner quite out of proportion in its warmth -to the importance that such a disclosure would have for the every-day -citizen. - -He was hailed with wassail and even with wine. The joy of the -commandant was so great that at the third bowl he sang a love ballad, in -a voice somewhat cracked, and got on the table to teach the Yankee how -to dance the cachuca. The law forbade any extended stay of Americans in -Spanish waters, and the General Court took herself off that very night-- -for this, mind you, was in 1797, when the Spaniard ruled the farther -coast. - -Next day Salvatierra appeared before his astonished people with a right -eye. The priests attached to the fort gave a special service of praise, -and told the miracle to the red men of their neighborhood as an -illustration of the effect of goodness, prayer, and faith. People came -from far and near that they might go to church and see this marvel for -themselves. But, alas, for the governor's repute for piety! It soon -began to be whispered around that the new eye was an evil one; that it -read the deepest thoughts of men with its inflexible, cold stare; that -under its influence some of the fathers had been betrayed into -confessing things that the commandant had never supposed a clergyman to -be guilty of. The people feared that eye, and ascribed such rogueries -to the old man as had been entirely foreign to his nature hitherto. - -This common fear and suspicion reacted, inevitably, and Salvatierra -began, unconsciously, to exhibit some of the traits that his subjects -said he possessed. He changed slowly from the indulgent parent to the -stern and exacting law-giver. He did not know, however, what the people -had been saying about him, and never suspected that his eye was likely -to get him into trouble. - -It was a warm night and he had gone to bed with his windows open-- -windows that opened from his garden, and were level, at the bottom, with -the floor. A shadowy form stole along the gravel path and entered one -of these windows. It was that of a mission Indian. He had gathered -from the talk of the faithful that it would be a service to the deity as -well as to men to destroy the power of that evil eye. He came beside -the bed and looked attentively at the governor, sleeping there in the -light of a candle. Then he howled with fright--howled so loudly that -the old man sprang to his feet--for while the left eye had been fast -aleep the evil one was broad awake and looking at him with a ghostly -glare. - -In another second the commandant was at the window whirling his trusty -Toledo about his head, lopping ears and noses from the red renegades who -had followed in the track of the first. In the scrimmage he received -another jab in the right eye with a fist. When day dawned it was -discovered, with joy, that the evil eye was darkened--and forever. The -people trusted him once more. Finding that he was no longer an object -of dread, his voice became kinder, his manner more gentle. A heavy and -unusual rain, that had been falling, passed off that very day, so that -the destruction from flood, which had been prophesied at the missions, -was stayed, and the clergy sang "Te Deum" in the church. The old -commandant never, to his dying day, had the heart to confess that the -evil eye was only a glass one. - - - - - THE PRISONER IN AMERICAN SHAFT - -An Indian seldom forgets an injury or omits to revenge it, be it a real -or a fancied one. A young native of the New Almaden district, in -California, fell in love with a girl of the same race, and supposed that -he was prospering in his suit, for he was ardent and the girl was, -seemingly, not averse to him; but suddenly she became cold, avoided him, -and answered his greetings, if they met, in single words. He affected -to care not greatly for this change, but he took no rest until he had -discovered the cause of it. Her parents had conceived a dislike to him -that later events proved to be well founded, and had ordered or -persuaded her to deny his suit. - -His retaliation was prompt and Indian-like. He killed the father and -mother at the first opportunity, seized the girl when she was at a -distance from the village, and carried her to the deserted quicksilver -mine near Spanish Camp. In a tunnel that branched from American Shaft -he had fashioned a rude cell of stone and wood, and into that he forced -and fastened her. He had stocked it with water and provisions, and for -some weeks he held the wretched girl a captive in total darkness, -visiting her whenever he felt moved to do so until, his passion sated, -he resolved to leave the country. - -As an act of partial atonement for the wrong he had done, he hung a -leather coat at the mouth of the tunnel, on which, in picture writing, -he indicated the whereabouts of the girl. Search parties had been out -from the time of her disappearance, and one of them chanced on this clue -and rescued her as she was on the point of death. The savage who had -exacted so brutal and excessive a revenge fled afar, and his whereabouts -were never known. - - - - - - - AS TO BURIED RICHES - - KIDD'S TREASURE - -Captain Kidd is the most ubiquitous gentleman in history. If his -earnings in the gentle craft of piracy were frugally husbanded, he has -possibly left some pots of money in holes in the ground between Key West -and Halifax. The belief that large deposits of gold were made at -Gardiner's Island, Dunderberg, Cro' Nest, New York City, Coney Island, -Ipswich, the marshes back of Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Isles of -Shoals, Money Island, Ocean Beach, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and -elsewhere has caused reckless expenditure of actual wealth in recovering -doubloons and guineas that disappointed backers of these enterprises are -beginning to look upon--no, not to look upon, but to think about--as -visionary. A hope of getting something for nothing has been the impetus -to these industries, and interest in the subject is now and then revived -by reports of the discovery--usually by a farmer ploughing near the -shore--of an iron kettle with a handful of gold and silver coins in it, -the same having doubtless been buried for purposes of concealment during -the wars of 1776 and 1812. - -Gardiner's Island, a famous rendezvous for pirates, is the only place -known to have been used as a bank of deposit, for in 1699 the Earl of -Bellomont recovered from it seven hundred and eighty-three ounces of -gold, six hundred and thirty-three ounces of silver, cloth of gold, -silks, satins, and jewels. In the old Gardiner mansion, on this island, -was formerly preserved a costly shawl given to Mrs. Gardiner by Captain -Kidd himself. This illustrious Kidd--or Kydd--was born in New York, -began his naval career as a chaser of pirates, became a robber himself, -was captured in Boston, where he was ruffling boldly about the streets, -and was hanged in London in 1701. In sea superstitions the apparition -of his ship is sometimes confused with that of the Flying Dutchman. - -At Lion's Rock, near Lyme, Connecticut, a part of his treasure is under -guard of a demon that springs upon intruders unless they recite -Scripture while digging for the money. - -Charles Island, near Milford, Connecticut, was dug into, one night, by a -company from that town that had learned of Kidd's visit to it--and what -could Kidd be doing ashore unless he was burying money? The lid of an -iron chest had been uncovered when the figure of a headless man came -bounding out of the air, and the work was discontinued right then. The -figure leaped into the pit that had been dug, and blue flames poured out -of it. When the diggers returned, their spades and picks were gone and -the ground was smooth. - -Monhegan Island, off the Maine coast, contains a cave, opening to the -sea, where it was whispered that treasure had been stored in care of -spirits. Searchers found within it a heavy chest, which they were about -to lift when one of the party--contrary to orders--spoke. The spell was -broken, for the watchful spirits heard and snatched away the treasure. -Some years ago the cave was enlarged by blasting, in a hope of finding -that chest, for an old saying has been handed down among the people of -the island--from whom it came they have forgotten--that was to this -effect: "Dig six feet and you will find iron; dig six more and you will -find money." - -On Damariscotta Island, near Kennebec, Maine, is a lake of salt water, -which, like dozens of shallow ones in this country, is locally reputed -to be bottomless. Yet Kidd was believed to have sunk some of his -valuables there, and to have guarded against the entrance of boats by -means of a chain hung from rock to rock at the narrow entrance, bolts on -either side showing the points of attachment, while ring bolts were -thought to have been driven for the purpose of tying buoys, thus marking -the spots where the chests went down. This island, too, has been held -in fear as haunted ground. - -Appledore, in the Isles of Shoals, was another such a hiding-place, and -Kidd put one of his crew to death that he might haunt the place and -frighten searchers from their quest. For years no fisherman could be -induced to land there after nightfall, for did not an islander once -encounter "Old Bab" on his rounds, with a red ring around his neck, a -frock hanging about him, phosphorescence gleaming from his body, who -peered at the intruder with a white and dreadful face, and nearly scared -him to death? - -A spot near the Piscataqua River was another hiding-place, and early in -this century the ground was dug over, two of the seekers plying pick and -spade, while another stood within the circle they had drawn about the -spot and loudly read the Bible. Presently their implements clicked on -an iron chest, but it slid sideway into the ground as they tried to -uncover it, and at last an interruption occurred that caused them to -stop work so long that when they went to look for it again it had -entirely disappeared. This diversion was the appearance of a monster -horse that flew toward them from a distance without a sound, but stopped -short at the circle where the process of banning fiends was still going -on, and, after grazing and walking around them for a time, it dissolved -into air. - -Kidd's plug is a part of the craggy steep known as Cro' Nest, on the -Hudson. It is a projecting knob, like a bung closing an orifice, which -is believed to conceal a cavern where the redoubtable captain placed a -few barrels of his wealth. Though it is two hundred feet up the cliff, -inaccessible either from above or below, and weighs many tons, still, as -pirates and devils have always been friendly, it may be that the corking -of the cave was accomplished with supernatural help, and that if blasts -or prayers ever shake the stone from its place a shower of doubloons and -diamonds may come rattling after it. - -The shore for several hundred feet around Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, -has been examined, for it was once believed that the inscriptions on it -were cut by Kidd to mark the place of burial for part of his hoard. - -The Rock Hill estate, Medford, Massachusetts, was plagued by a spectre -that some thought to be that of a New Hampshire farmer who was robbed -and murdered there, but others say it is the shade of Kidd, for iron -treasure chests were found in the cellar that behaved like that on the -Piscataqua River, sinking out of sight whenever they were touched by -shovels. - -Misery Islands, near Salem, Massachusetts, were dug over, and under -spiritual guidance, too, for other instalments of Mr. Kidd's -acquisitions, but without avail. - -It takes no less than half a dozen ghosts to guard what is hidden in -Money Hill, on Shark River, New Jersey, so there must be a good deal of -it. Some of these guardians are in sailor togs, some in their mouldy -bones, some peaceable, some noisy with threats and screams and groans-- -a "rum lot," as an ancient mariner remarked, who lives near their graves -and daytime hiding-places. Many heirlooms are owned by Jerseymen -hereabout that were received from Kidd's sailors in exchange for apple- -jack and provisions, and two sailor-looking men are alleged to have -taken a strong-box out of Money Hill some years ago, from which they -abstracted two bags of gold. After that event the hill was dug over -with great earnestness, but without other result to the prospectors than -the cultivation of their patience. - -Sandy Hook, New Jersey, near "Kidd's tree," and the clay banks of the -Atlantic highlands back of that point, are suspected hiding-places; but -the cairn or knoll called Old Woman's Hill, at the highlands, is not -haunted by Kidd's men, as used to be said, but by the spirit of a -discontented squaw. This spirit the Indians themselves drove away with -stones. - -At Oyster Point, Maryland, lived Paddy Dabney, who recognized Kidd from -an old portrait on meeting him one evening in 1836. He was going home -late from the tavern when a light in a pine thicket caused him to turn -from the road. In a clearing among the trees, pervaded by a pale shine -which seemed to emanate from its occupants, a strange company was -playing at bowls. A fierce-looking reprobate who was superintending the -game glanced up, and, seeing Paddy's pale face, gave such a leap in his -direction that the Irishman fled with a howl of terror and never stopped -till he reached his door, when, on turning about, he found that the -phantom of the pirate chief had vanished. The others, he conceived, -were devils, for many a sea rover had sold himself to Satan. Captain -Teach, or Blackbeard, proved as much to his crew by shutting himself in -the hold of his ship, where he was burning sulphur to destroy rats, and -withstanding suffocation for several hours; while one day a dark man -appeared on board who was not one of the crew at the sailing, and who -had gone as mysteriously as he came on the day before the ship was -wrecked. It was known that Kidd had buried his Bible in order to -ingratiate the evil one. - -A flat rock on the north shore of Liberty Island, in New York harbor, -was also thought to mark the place of this pervasive wealth of the -pirates. As late as 1830, Sergeant Gibbs, one of the garrison at the -island, tried to unearth it, with the aid of a fortune-teller and a -recruit, but they had no sooner reached a box about four feet in length -than a being with wings, horns, tail, and a breath, the latter palpable -in blue flames, burst from the coffer. Gibbs fell unconscious into the -water and narrowly escaped drowning, while his companions ran away, and -the treasure may still be there for aught we know. - -Back in the days before the Revolution, a negro called Mud Sam, who -lived in a cabin at the Battery, New York City, was benighted at about -the place where One Hundredth Street now touches East River while -waiting there for the tide to take him up the Sound. He beguiled the -time by a nap, and, on waking, he started to leave his sleeping place -under the trees to regain his boat, when the gleam of a lantern and the -sound of voices coming up the bank caused him to shrink back into the -shadow. At first he thought that he might be dreaming, for Hell Gate -was a place of such repute that one might readily have bad dreams there, -and the legends of the spot passed quickly through his mind: the -skeletons that lived in the wreck on Hen and Chickens and looked out at -passing ships with blue lights in the eye-sockets of their skulls; the -brown fellow, known as "the pirate's spuke," that used to cruise up and -down the wrathful torrent, and was snuffed out of sight for some hours -by old Peter Stuyvesant with a silver bullet; a black-looking scoundrel -with a split lip, who used to brattle about the tavern at Corlaer's -Hook, and who tumbled into East River while trying to lug an iron chest -aboard of a suspicious craft that had stolen in to shore in a fog. This -latter bogy was often seen riding up Hell Gate a-straddle of that very -chest, snapping his fingers at the stars and roaring Bacchanalian odes, -just as skipper Onderdonk's boatswain, who had been buried at sea -without prayers, chased the ship for days, sitting on the waves, with -his shroud for a sail, and shoving hills of water after the vessel with -the plash of his hands. - -These grewsome memories sent a quake through Mud Sam's heart, but when -the bushes cracked under the strangers' tread, he knew that they were of -flesh and bone, and, following them for a quarter-mile into the wood, he -saw them dig a hole, plant a strong-box there, and cover it. A -threatening remark from one of the company forced an exclamation from -the negro that drew a pistol-shot upon him, and he took to his heels. -Such a fright did he receive that he could not for several years be -persuaded to return, but when that persuasion came in the form of a -promise of wealth from Wolfert Webber, a cabbage-grower of the town, and -promises of protection from Dr. Knipperhausen, who was skilled in -incantations, he was not proof against it, and guided the seekers to the -spot. - -After the doctor had performed the proper ceremonies they fell to work, -but no sooner had their spades touched the lid of an iron-bound chest -than a sturdy rogue with a red flannel cap leaped out of the bushes. -They said afterward that he had the face of the brawler who was drowned -at Corlaer's Hook, but, in truth, they hardly looked at him in their -flight; nor, when the place was revisited, could any mark of digging be -found, nor any trace of treasure, so that part of Kidd's wealth may be -at this moment snugly stowed in the cellar of a tenement. Webber had -engaged in so many crazy enterprises of this nature that he had -neglected cabbage culture, and had grown so poor that the last -disappointment nearly broke his heart. He retired to his chamber and -made his will, but on learning that a new street had been run across his -farm and that it would presently be worth ten times as much for -building-lots as it ever had been for cabbages, he leaped out of bed, -dressed himself, and prospered for many a day after. - - - - - OTHER BURIED WEALTH - -The wealth of the Astors hardly exceeds the treasure that is supposed to -be secreted here and there about the country, and thousands of dollars -have been expended in dredging rivers and shallow seas, and in blasting -caves and cellars. Certain promoters of these schemes have enjoyed -salaries as officers in the stock companies organized for their -furtherance, and they have seen the only tangible results from such -enterprises. - -One summer evening, in the middle of the seventeenth century, a bark -dropped anchor at the mouth of Saugus River, Massachusetts, and four of -the crew rowed to the woods that skirt its banks and made a landing. -The vessel had disappeared on the following morning, but in the forge at -the settlement was found a paper stating that if a certain number of -shackles and handcuffs were made and secretly deposited at a specified -place in the forest, a sum of money equal to their value would be found -in their stead on the next day. The order was filled and the silver was -found, as promised, but, though a watch was set, nothing further was -seen of men or ship for several months. - -The four men did return, however, and lived by themselves amid the woods -of Saugus, the gossips reporting that a beautiful woman had been seen in -their company--the mistress of the pirate chief, for, of course, the -mysterious quartette had followed the trade of robbery on the high seas. -Three of these men were captured, taken to England, and hanged, but the -fourth-Thomas Veale--escaped to a cavern in the wood, where, it was -reputed, great treasures were concealed, and there he lived until the -earthquake of 1658, when a rock fell from the roof of the cave, closing -the entrance and burying the guilty man in a tomb where, it is presumed, -he perished of thirst and hunger. Dungeon Rock, of Lynn, is the name -that the place has borne ever since. - -In 1852 Hiram Marble announced that he had been visited by spirits, who -not only told him that the pirates' spoils were still in their olden -hiding-place, but pointed out the spot where the work of excavation -should begin. Aided by his son he tunnelled the solid granite for a -distance of one hundred and thirty-five feet, the passage being seven -feet high and seven wide. Whenever he was wearied the "mediums" that he -consulted would tell him to make cuttings to the right or left, and for -every fresh discouragement they found fresh work. For thirty years this -task was carried on, both father and son dying without gaining any -practical result, other than the discovery of an ancient scabbard in a -rift. The heiress of the house of Marble alone reaped benefit from -their labors, for-resuming on a petty scale the levies of the first -dwellers in the rock--she boldly placarded the entrance to the workings -"Ye who enter here leave twenty-five cents behind." - -In several cases the chasms that have been caused by wear of water or -convulsions of nature (their opposite sides being matched) were believed -to have been hiding-places, but, in the old days in New England, it was -believed that all such fractures were caused by the earthquake at the -time of the crucifixion--a testimony of the power of God to shake -sinners. - -The Heart of Greylock is the name given to the crater-like recess, a -thousand feet deep, in the tallest of the Berkshire peaks, but it was -formerly best known as Money Hole, and the stream that courses through -it as Money Brook, for a gang of counterfeiters worked in that recess, -and there some spurious coinage may still be concealed. The stream is -also known as Spectre Brook, for late wandering hunters and scouting -soldiers, seeing the forgers moving to and fro about their furnaces, -took them for ghosts. - -Province Island, in Lake Memphremagog, Vermont, is believed to contain -some of the profits of an extensive smuggling enterprise that was -carried on near the lake for several years. - -A little company of Spanish adventurers passed along the base of the -Green Mountains early in the last century, expecting to return after -having some dealings with the trading stations on the St. Lawrence; so -they deposited a part of their gold on Ludlow Mountain, Vermont, and -another pot of it on Camel's Hump. They agreed that none should return -without his companions, but they were detained in the north and -separated, some of them going home to Spain. Late in life the sole -survivor of the company went to Camel's Hump and tried to recall where -the treasure had been hidden, but in vain. - -While flying from the people whose declaration of independence had -already been written in the blood of the king's troops at Concord, the -royal governor--Wentworth--was embarrassed by a wife and a treasure- -chest. He had left his mansion, at Smith's Pond, New Hampshire, and was -making toward Portsmouth, where he was to enjoy the protection of the -British fleet, but the country was up in arms, time was important, and -as his wearied horses could not go on without a lightening of the -burden, he was forced to leave behind either Lady Wentworth or his other -riches. As the lady properly objected to any risk of her own safety, -the chest was buried at an unknown spot in the forest, and for a century -and more the whereabouts of the Wentworth plate and money-bags have been -a matter of search and conjecture. - -When the Hessian troops marched from Saratoga to Boston, to take ship -after Burgoyne's surrender, they were in wretched condition-war-worn, -ragged, and ill fed,--and having much with them in the form of plate and -jewels that had been spared by their conquerors, together with some of -the money sent from England for their hire, they were in constant fear -of attack from the farmers, who, though they had been beaten, continued -to regard them with an unfavorable eye. On reaching Dalton, -Massachusetts, the Hessians agreed among themselves to put their -valuables into a howitzer, which they buried in the woods, intending -that some of their number should come back at the close of the war and -recover it. An Indian had silently followed them for a long distance, -to gather up any unconsidered trifles that might be left in their -bivouacs, and he marked the route by blazes on the trees; but if he saw -the burial of this novel treasury it meant nothing to him, and the -knowledge of the hiding-place was lost. For years the populace kept -watch of all strangers that came to town, and shadowed them if they went -to the woods, but without result. In about the year 1800 the supposed -hiding-place was examined closely and excavations were made, but, as -before, nothing rewarded the search. - -A tree of unknown age--the Old Elm--stood on Boston Common until within -a few years. This veteran, torn and broken by many a gale and -lightning-stroke, was a gallows in the last century, and Goody Glover -had swung from it in witch-times. On tempestuous nights, when the -boughs creaked together, it was said that dark shapes might be seen -writhing on the branches and capering about the sward below in hellish -glee. On a gusty autumn evening in 1776 a muffled form presented -itself, unannounced, at the chamber of Mike Wild, and, after that -notorious miser had enough recovered from the fear created by the -presence to understand what it said to him, he realized that it was -telling him of something that in life it had buried at the foot of the -Old Elm. After much hesitancy Mike set forth with his ghostly guide, -for he would have risked his soul for money, but on arriving at his -destination he was startled to find himself alone. Nothing daunted, he -set down his lantern and began to dig. Though he turned up many a rood -of soil and sounded with his spade for bags and chests of gold, he found -nothing. Strange noises overhead--for the wind was high and the twigs -seemed to snicker eerily as they crossed each other-sent thrills along -his back from time to time, and he was about to return, half in anger, -half in fear, when his spirit visitor emerged from behind the tree and -stood before him. The mien was threatening, the nose had reddened and -extended, the hair was rumpled, and the brow was scowling. The frown of -the gold monster grew more awful, the stare of his eye in the starlight -more unbearable, and he was crouching and creeping as if for a spring. -Mike could endure no more. He fainted, and awakened in the morning in -his own chamber, where, to a neighbor who made an early call, he told-- -with embellishments--the story of the encounter; but before he had come -to the end of the narrative the visitor burst into a roar of laughter -and confessed that he had personated the supernatural visitant, having -wagered a dozen bottles of wine with the landlord of the Boar's Head -that he could get the better of Mike Wild. For all this the old tree -bore, for many years, an evil reputation. - -A Spanish galleon, the Saints Joseph and Helena, making from Havana to -Cadiz in 1753 was carried from her course by adverse winds and tossed -against a reef, near New London, Connecticut, receiving injuries that -compelled her to run into that port for repairs. To reach her broken -ribs more easily her freight was put on shore in charge of the collector -of the port, but when it was desired to ship the cargo again, behold! -the quarter part of it had disappeared, none could say how. New London -got a bad name from this robbery, and the governor, though besought by -the assembly to make good the shortage, failed to do so, and lost his -place at the next election. It was reputed that some of the treasure -was buried on the shore by the robbers. In 1827 a woman who was -understood to have the power of seership published a vision to a couple -of young blades, who had paid for it, to the effect that hidden under -one of the grass-grown wharves was a box of dollars. By the aid of a -crystal pebble she received this really valuable information, but the -pebble was not clear enough to reveal the exact place of the box. She -could see, however, that the dollars were packed edgewise. When New -London was sound asleep the young men stole out and by lantern-light -began their work. They had dug to water-level when they reached an iron -chest, and they stooped to lift it-but, to their amazement, the iron was -too hot to handle! Now they heard deep growls, and a giant dog peered -at them from the pit-mouth; red eyes flashed at them from the darkness; -a wild-goose, with eyes of blazing green, hovered and screamed above -them. Though the witch had promised them safety, nothing appeared to -ward off the fantastic shapes that began to crowd about them. Too -terrified to work longer they sprang out and made away, and when-taking -courage from the sunshine--they renewed the search, next day, the iron -chest had vanished. - -On Crown Point, Lake Champlain, is the ruin of a fort erected by Lord -Amherst above the site of a French work that had been thrown up in 1731 -to guard a now vanished capital of fifteen hundred people. It was -declared that when the French evacuated the region they buried money and -bullion in a well, in the northwest corner of the bastion, ninety feet -deep, in the full expectancy of regaining it, and half a century ago -this belief had grown to such proportions that fifty men undertook to -clear the well, pushing their investigations into various parts of the -enclosure and over surrounding fields. They found quantities of lead -and iron and no gold. - -Follingsby's Pond, in the Adirondacks, was named for a recluse, who, in -the early part of this century, occupied a lonely but strongly guarded -cabin there. It was believed afterward that he was an English army -officer, of noble birth, who had left his own country in disgust at -having discovered an attachment between his wife and one of his fellow- -officers. He died in a fever, and while raving in a delirium spoke of -a concealed chest. A trapper, who was his only attendant in his last -moments, dug over the ground floor of the hut and found a box containing -a jewelled sword, costly trinkets, and letters that bore out the -presumption of Follingsby's aristocratic origin. What became of these -valuables after their exhumation is not known, and the existence of more -has been suspected. - -Coney Island is declared to have been used by a band of pirates as the -first national sand bank, and, as these rascals were caught and swung -off with short shrift, they do say that the plunder is still to be had-- -by the man who finds it. But the hotel-keepers and three-card-monte men -are not waiting for that discovery to grow rich. - -In Shandaken Valley, in the Catskills, it was affirmed that a party of -British officers buried money somewhere, when they were beset by the -farmers and hunters of that region, and never got it out of the earth -again. - -On Tea Island, Lake George, the buried treasures of Lord Abercrombie -have remained successfully hidden until this day. - -The oldest house at Fort Neck, Long Island, was known for years as the -haunted house, and the grave of its owner--Captain Jones--was called the -pirate's grave, for, in the last century, Jones was accused of piracy -and smuggling, and there have been those who suspected worse. A hope of -finding gold and silver about the premises has been yearly growing -fainter. Just before the death of Jones, which occurred here in an -orderly manner, a crow, so big that everybody believed it to be a demon, -flew in at the window and hovered over the bed of the dying man until he -had drawn his last breath, when, with a triumphant cry, it flew through -the west end of the house. The hole that it broke through the masonry -could never be stopped, for, no matter how often it was repaired, the -stone and cement fell out again, and the wind came through with such a -chill and such shriekings that the house had to be abandoned. - -The owner of an estate on Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, had more wealth -than he thought it was safe or easy to transport when he found the -colonies rising against Britain in 1775, and flight was imperative, for -he was known by his neighbors to be a Tory. Massing his plate, coin, -and other movables into three barrels, he caused his three slaves to -bury them in pits that they had dug beneath his house. Then, as they -were shovelling back the earth, he shot them dead, all three, and buried -them, one on each barrel. His motive for the crime may have been a fear -that the slaves would aid the Americans in the approaching struggle, or -that they might return and dig up the wealth or reveal the hiding-place -to the enemies of the king. Then he made his escape to Nova Scotia, -though he might as well have stayed at home, for the British possessed -themselves of Long Island, and his house became a place of resort for -red-coats and loyalists. It was after the turn of the century when a -boat put in, one evening, at Cold Spring Bay, and next morning the -inhabitants found footprints leading to and from a spot where some -children had discovered a knotted rope projecting from the soil. -Something had been removed, for the mould of a large box was visible at -the bottom of a pit. Acres of the neighborhood were then dug over by -treasure hunters, who found a box of cob dollars and a number of casks. -The contents of the latter, though rich and old, were not solid, and -when diffused through the systems of several Long Islanders imparted to -them a spirituous and patriotic glow--for in thus destroying the -secreted stores of a royalist were they not asserting the triumph of -democratic principles? - -The clay bluffs at Pottery Beach, Brooklyn, were pierced with artificial -caves where lawless men found shelter in the unsettled first years of -the republic. A wreck lay rotting here for many years, and it was said -to be the skeleton of a ship that these fellows had beached by false -beacons. She had costly freight aboard, and on the morning after she -went ashore crew and freight had vanished. It was believed that much of -the plunder was buried in the clay near the water's edge. In the early -colonial days, Grand Island, in Niagara River, was the home of a -Frenchman, Clairieux, an exile or refugee who was attended by a negro -servant. During one summer a sloop visited the island frequently, laden -on each trip with chests that never were taken away in the sight of men, -and that are now supposed to be buried near the site of the Frenchman's -cabin. Report had it that these boxes were filled with money, but if -well or ill procured none could say, unless it were the Frenchman, and -he had no remarks to offer on the subject. In the fall, after these -visits of the sloop, Clairieux disappeared, and when some hunters landed -on the island they found that his cabin had been burned and that a large -skeleton, evidently that of the negro, was chained to the earth in the -centre of the place where the house had stood. The slave had been -killed, it was surmised, that his spirit might watch the hoard and drive -away intruders; but the Frenchman met his fate elsewhere, and his -secret, like that of many another miser, perished with him. In 1888, -when a northeast gale had blown back the water of the river, a farmer -living on the island discovered, just under the surface, a stone -foundation built in circular form, as if it had once supported a tower. -In the mud within this circle he found a number of French gold and -silver coins, one of them minted in 1537. Close by, other coins of -later date were found, and a systematic examination of the whole channel -has been proposed, as it was also said that two French frigates, -scuttled to keep them out of the hands of the English, lie bedded in -sand below the island, one of them with a naval paymaster's chest on -board. - -On the shore of Oneida Lake is an Indian's grave, where a ball of light -is wont to swing and dance. A farmer named Belknap dreamed several -times of a buried treasure at this point, and he was told, in his -vision, that if he would dig there at midnight he could make it his own. -He made the attempt, and his pick struck a crock that gave a chink, as -of gold. He should, at that moment, have turned around three times, as -his dream directed, but he was so excited that he forgot to. A flash of -lightning rent the air and stretched him senseless on the grass. When -he recovered the crock was gone, the hole filled in, and ever since then -the light has hovered about the place. Some say that this is but the -will-o'-the-wisp: the soul of a bad fellow who is doomed to wander in -desolate regions because, after dying, Peter would not allow him to -enter heaven, and the devil would not let him go into the other place, -lest he should make the little devils unmanageable; but he is allowed to -carry a light in his wanderings. - -In Indian Gap, near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, the Doane band of Tories -and terrorists hid a chest of gold, the proceeds of many robberies. It -is guarded by witches, and, although it has been seen, no one has been -able to lay hands on it. The seekers are always blinded by blue flame, -and frightened away by roaring noises. The Dutch farmers of the -vicinity are going to dig for it, all the same, for it is said that the -watch of evil spirits will be given over at midnight, but they do not -know of what date. They will be on hand at the spot revealed to them -through the vision of a "hex layer" (a vision that cost them fifty -cents), until the night arrives when there are no blue flames. - -In the southern part of Chester County, Pennsylvania, is money, too, but -just where nobody knows. A lonely, crabbed man, who died there in a -poor hut after the Revolution, owned that he had served the British as a -spy, but said that he had spent none of the gold that he had taken from -them. He was either too sorry for his deeds, or too mean to do so. He -had put it in a crock and buried it, and, on his death-bed, where he -made his statement, he asked that it might be exhumed and spent for some -good purpose. He was about to tell where it was when the death-rattle -choked his words. - -The Isle of the Yellow Sands, in Lake Superior, was supposed by Indians -to be made of the dust of gold, but it was protected by vultures that -beat back those who approached, or tore them to pieces if they insisted -on landing. An Indian girl who stole away from her camp to procure a -quantity of this treasure was pursued by her lover, who, frightened at -the risk she was about to run from the vultures, stopped her flight by -staving in the side of her canoe, so that she was compelled to take -refuge in his, and he rowed home with her before the birds had come to -the attack. - -Old Francois Fontenoy, an Indian trader, buried a brass kettle full of -gold at Presque Isle, near Detroit, that is still in the earth. - -On the banks of the Cumberland, in Tennessee, is a height where a -searcher for gold was seized by invisible defenders and hurled to the -bottom of the cliff, receiving a mortal hurt. - -The Spaniards were said to have entombed three hundred thousand dollars -in gold near Natchez. A man to whom the secret had descended offered to -reveal it, but, as he was a prisoner, his offer was laughed at. -Afterward an empty vault was found where he said it would be. -Somebody had accidentally opened it and had removed the treasure. - -Caverns have frequently been used as hiding-places for things of more or -less value--generally less. Saltpetre Cave, in Georgia, for instance, -was a factory and magazine for saltpetre, gunpowder, and other military -stores during the Civil War. The Northern soldiers wrecked the potash -works and broke away tons of rock, so as to make it dangerous to return. -Human bones have been found here, too, but they are thought to be those -of soldiers that entered the cave in pursuit of an Indian chief who had -defied the State in the '40's. He escaped through a hole in the roof, -doubled on his pursuers, fired a pile of dead leaves and wood at the -mouth, and suffocated the white men with the smoke. - -Spaniards worked the mines in the Ozark Hills of Missouri two hundred -years ago. One of the mines containing lead and silver, eighteen miles -southwest of Galena, was worked by seven men, who could not agree as to -a division of the yield. One by one they were killed in quarrels until -but a single man was left, and he, in turn, was set upon by the -resurrected victims and choked to death by their cold fingers. In 1873 -a Vermonter named Johnson went there and said he would find what it was -the Spaniards had been hiding, in spite of the devil and his imps. He -did work there for one day, and was then found dead at the mouth of the -old shaft with marks of bony fingers on his throat. - -The seven cities of Cibola, that Coronado and other Spanish adventurers -sought in the vast deserts of the Southwest, were pueblos. A -treacherous guide who had hoped to take Coronado into the waterless -plain and lose him, but who first lost his own head, had told him a tale -of the Quivira, a tribe that had much gold. So far from having gold -these Indians did not know the stuff, but the myth that they had hoarded -quantities of it has survived to this day and has caused waste of lives -and money. Towns in New Mexico that have lain in ruins since 1670, when -the Apaches butchered their people--towns that were well built and were -lorded by solid old churches and monasteries erected by the Spanish -missionaries--these towns have often been dug over, and the ruinous -state of Abo, Curari, and Tabira is due, in part, to their foolish -tunnelling and blasting. - -A Spanish bark, one day in 1841, put in for water off the spot where -Columbia City, Oregon, now stands. She had a rough crew on board, and -it had been necessary for her officers to watch the men closely from the -time the latter discovered that she was carrying a costly cargo. Hardly -had the anchorchains run out before the sailors fell upon the captain, -killed him, seized all of value that they could gather, and took it to -the shore. What happened after is not clear, but it is probable that in -a quarrel, arising over the demands of each man to have most of the -plunder, several of the claimants were slain. Indians were troublesome, -likewise, so that it was thought best to put most of the goods into the -ground, and this was done on the tract known as Hez Copier's farm. -Hardly was the task completed before the Indians appeared in large -numbers and set up their tepees, showing that they meant to remain. The -mutineers rowed back to the ship, and, after vainly waiting for several -days for a chance to go on shore again, they sailed away. Two years of -wandering, fighting, and carousal ensued before the remnant of the crew -returned to Oregon. The Indians were gone, and an earnest search was -made for the money--but in vain. It was as if the ground had never been -disturbed. The man who had supervised its burial was present until the -mutineers went back to their boats, when it was discovered that he was -mysteriously missing. - -More than forty years after these events a meeting of Spiritualists was -held in Columbia City, and a "medium" announced that she had received a -revelation of the exact spot where the goods had been concealed. A -company went to the place, and, after a search of several days, found, -under a foot of soil, a quantity of broken stone. While throwing out -these fragments one of the party fell dead. The spirit of the defrauded -and murdered captain had claimed him, the medium explained. So great -was the fright caused by this accident that the search was again -abandoned until March, 1890, when another party resumed the digging, and -after taking out the remainder of the stone they came on a number of -human skeletons. During the examination of these relics--possibly the -bones of mutineers who had been killed in the fight on shore--a man fell -into a fit of raving madness, and again the search was abandoned, for it -is now said that an immutable curse rests on the treasure. - - - - - - - STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS - - MONSTERS AND SEA-SERPENTS - -It is hardly to be wondered at that two prominent scientists should have -declared on behalf of the sea-serpent, for that remarkable creature has -been reported at so many points, and by so many witnesses not addicted -to fish tales nor liquor, that there ought to be some reason for him. -He has been especially numerous off the New England coast. He was -sighted off Cape Ann in 1817, and several times off Nahant. Though -alarming in appearance--for he has a hundred feet of body, a shaggy -head, and goggle eyes--he is of lamb-like disposition, and has never -justified the attempts that have been made to kill or capture him. -Rewards were at one time offered to the seafaring men who might catch -him, and revenue cutters cruising about Massachusetts Bay were ordered -to keep a lookout for him and have a gun double shotted for action. One -fisherman emptied the contents of a ducking gun into the serpent's head, -as he supposed, but the creature playfully wriggled a few fathoms of its -tail and made off. John Josselyn, gentleman, reports that when he -stirred about this neighborhood in 1638 an enormous reptile was seen -"quoiled up on a rock at Cape Ann." He would have fired at him but for -the earnest dissuasion of his Indian guide, who declared that ill luck -would come of the attempt. The sea-serpent sometimes shows amphibious -tendencies and occasionally leaves the sea for fresh water. Two of him -were seen in Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, in 1892, by four men. They -confess, however, that they were fishing at the time. The snakes had -fins and were a matter of fifty feet long. - -When one of these reptiles found the other in his vicinage he raised his -head six feet above water and fell upon him tooth and nail--if he had -nails. In their struggles these unpleasant neighbors made such waves -that the fishermen's boat was nearly upset. - -Even the humble Wabash has its terror, for at Huntington, Indiana, -three truthful damsels of the town saw its waters churned by a tail that -splashed from side to side, while far ahead was the prow of the animal-- -a leonine skull, with whiskers, and as large as the head of a boy of a -dozen years. As if realizing what kind of a report was going to be made -about him, the monster was overcome with bashfulness at the sight of the -maidens and sank from view. - -In April, 1890, a water-snake was reported in one of the Twin Lakes, in -the Berkshire Hills, but the eye-witnesses of his sports let him off -with a length of twenty-five feet. - -Sysladobosis Lake, in Maine, has a snake with a head like a dog's, but -it is hardly worth mentioning because it is only eight feet long-hardly -longer than the name of the lake. More enterprise is shown across the -border, for Skiff Lake, New Brunswick, has a similar snake thirty feet -long. - -In Cotton Mather's time a double-headed snake was found at Newbury, -Massachusetts,--it had a head at each end,--and before it was killed it -showed its evil disposition by chasing and striking at the lad who first -met it. - -A snake haunts Wolf Pond, Pennsylvania, that is an alleged relic of the -Silurian age. It was last seen in September, 1887, when it unrolled -thirty feet of itself before the eyes of an alarmed spectator--again a -fisherman. The beholder struck him with a pole, and in revenge the -serpent capsized his boat; but he forbore to eat his enemy, and, diving -to the bottom, disappeared. The creature had a black body, about six -inches thick, ringed with dingy-yellow bands, and a mottled-green head, -long and pointed, like a pike's. - -Silver Lake, near Gainesville, New York, was in 1855 reported to be the -lair of a great serpent, and old settlers declare that he still comes to -the surface now and then. - -A tradition among the poor whites of the South Jruns to the effect that -the sea-monster that swallowed Jonah--not a whale, because the throat of -that animal is hardly large enough to admit a herring--crossed the -Atlantic and brought up at the Carolinas. His passenger was supplied -with tobacco and beguiled the tedium of the voyage by smoking a pipe. -The monster, being unused to that sort of thing, suffered as all -beginners in nicotine poisoning do, and expelled the unhappy man with -emphasis. On being safely landed, Jonah attached himself to one of the -tribes that peopled the barrens, and left a white progeny which -antedated Columbus's arrival by several centuries. God pitied the -helplessness of these ignorant and uncourageous whites and led them to -Looking-Glass Mountain, North Carolina, where He caused corn and game to -be created, and while this race endured it lived in plenty. - -Santa Barbara Island, off the California coast, was, for a long time, -the supposed head-quarters of swimming and flying monsters and sirens, -and no Mexican would pass in hearing of the yells and screams and -strange songs without crossing himself and begging the captain to give -the rock a wide berth. But the noise is all the noise of cats. A -shipwrecked tabby peopled the place many years ago, and her numerous -progeny live there on dead fish and on the eggs and chicks of sea-fowl. - -Spirit Canon, a rocky gorge that extends for three miles along Big Sioux -River, Iowa, was hewn through the stone by a spirit that took the form -of a dragon. Such were its size and ferocity that the Indians avoided -the place, lest they should fall victims to its ire. - -The Hurons believed in a monster serpent--Okniont--who wore a horn on -his head that could pierce trees, rocks, and hills. A piece of this -horn was an amulet of great value, for it insured good luck. - -The Zunis tell of a plumed serpent that lives in the water of sacred -springs, and they dare not destroy the venomous creatures that infest -the plains of Arizona because, to them, the killing of a snake means a -reduction in their slender water-supply. The gods were not so kind to -the snakes as men were, for the agatized trees of Chalcedony Park, in -Arizona, are held to be arrows shot by the angry deities at the monsters -who vexed this region. - -Indians living on the shore of Canandaigua Lake, New York, tamed a -pretty spotted snake, and fed and petted it until it took a deer at a -meal. It grew so large that it eventually encircled the camp and began -to prey on its keepers. Vainly they tried to kill the creature, until a -small boy took an arrow of red willow, anointed it with the blood of a -young woman, and shot it from a basswood bow at the creature's heart. -It did not enter at once; it merely stuck to the scales. But presently -it began to bore and twist its way into the serpent's body. The serpent -rolled into the lake and made it foam in its agony. It swallowed water -and vomited it up again, with men dead and alive, before it died. - -The monster Amhuluk, whose home is a lake near Forked Mountain, Oregon, -had but one passion-to catch and drown all things; and when you look -into the lake you see that he has even drowned the sky in it, and has -made the trees stand upside down in the water. Wherever he set his feet -the ground would soften. As three children were digging roots at the -edge of the water he fell on them and impaled two of them on his horns, -the eldest only contriving to escape. When this boy reached home his -body was full of blotches, and the father suspected how it was, yet he -went to the lake at once. The bodies of the children came out of the -mud at his feet to meet him, but went down again and emerged later -across the water. They led him on in this way until he came to the -place where they were drowned. A fog now began to steam up from the -water, but through it he could see the little ones lifted on the -monster's horns, and hear them cry, "We have changed our bodies." Five -times they came up and spoke to him, and five times he raised a dismal -cry and begged them to return, but they could not. Next morning he saw -them rise through the fog again, and, building a camp, he stayed there -and mourned for several days. For five days they showed themselves, but -after that they went down and he saw and heard no more of them. Ambuluk -had taken the children and they would live with him for ever after. - -Crater Lake, Oregon, was a haunt of water-devils who dragged into it and -drowned all who ventured near. Only within a few years could Indians be -persuaded to go to it as guides. Its discoverers saw in it the work of -the Great Spirit, but could not guess its meaning. All but one of these -Klamaths stole away after they had looked into its circular basin and -sheer walls. He fancied that if it was a home of gods they might have -some message for men, so camping on the brink of the lofty cliffs he -waited. In his sleep a vision came to him, and he heard voices, but -could neither make out appearances nor distinguish a word. Every night -this dream was repeated. He finally went down to the lake and bathed, -and instantly found his strength increased and saw that the people of -his dreams were the genii of the waters--whether good or bad he could -not guess. One day he caught a fish for food. A thousand water-devils -came to the surface, on the instant, and seized him. They carried him -to a rock on the north side of the lake, that stands two thousand feet -above the water, and from that they dashed him down, gathering the -remains of his shattered body below and devouring them. Since that -taste they have been eager for men's blood. The rock on the south side -of the lake, called the Phantom Ship, is believed by the Indians to be a -destructive monster, innocent as it looks in the daytime. - -So with Rock Lake, in Washington. A hideous reptile sports about its -waters and gulps down everything that it finds in or on them. Only in -1853 a band of Indians, who had fled hither for security against the -soldiers, were overtaken by this creature, lashed to death, and eaten. - -The Indians of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas believed that the King -Snake, or God Snake, lived in the Gulf of Mexico. It slept in a cavern -of pure crystal at the bottom, and its head, being shaped from a solid -emerald, lighted the ocean for leagues when it arose near the surface. - -Similar to this is the belief of the Cherokees in the kings of -rattlesnakes, "bright old inhabitants" of the mountains that grew to a -mighty size, and drew to themselves every creature that they looked -upon. Each wore a crown of carbuncle of dazzling brightness. - -The Indians avoided Klamath Lake because it was haunted by a monster -that was half dragon, half hippopotamus. - -Hutton Lake, Wyoming, is the home of a serpent queen, whose breathing -may be seen. in the bubbles that well up in the centre. She is -constantly watching for her lover, but takes all men who come in her way -to her grotto beneath the water, when she finds that they are not the -one she has expected, and there they become her slaves. To lure victims -into the lake she sets there a decoy of a beautiful red swan, and should -the hunter kill this bird he will become possessed of divine power. -Should he see "the woman," as the serpent queen is called, he will never -live to tell of it, unless he has seen her from a hiding-place near the -shore--for so surely as he is noticed by this Diana of the depths, so -surely will her spies, the land snakes, sting him to death. In -appearance she is a lovely girl in all but her face, and that is shaped -like the head of a monster snake. Her name is never spoken by the -Indians, for fear that it will cost them their lives. - -Michael Pauw, brave fisherman of Paterson, New Jersey, hero of the fight -with the biggest snapping-turtle in Dover Slank, wearer of a scar on his -seat of honor as memento of the conflict, member of the Kersey Reds--he -whose presence of mind was shown in holding out a chip of St. -Nicholas's staff when he met the nine witches of the rocks capering in -the mists of Passaic Falls--gave battle from a boat to a monster that -had ascended to the cataract. One of the Kersey Reds, leaning out too -far, fell astride of the horny beast, and was carried at express speed, -roaring with fright, until unhorsed by a projecting rock, up which he -scrambled to safety. Falling to work with bayonets and staves, the -company despatched the creature and dragged it to shore. One Dutchman-- -who was quite a traveller, having been as far from home as Albany--said -that the thing was what the Van Rensselaers cut up for beef, and that he -believed they called it a sturgeon. - - - - - STONE-THROWING DEVILS - -There is an odd recurrence among American legends of tales relating to -assaults of people or their houses by imps of darkness. The shadowy -leaguers of Gloucester, Massachusetts, kept the garrison of that place -in a state of fright until they were expelled from the neighborhood by a -silver bullet and a chaplain's prayers. Witchcraft was sometimes -manifested in Salem by the hurling of missiles from unseen hands. The -"stone-throwing devil" of Portsmouth is the subject of a tradition more -than two centuries of age, but, as the stone-thrower appears rather as -an avenger than as a gratuitously malignant spirit, he is ill treated in -having the name of devil applied to him. In this New Hampshire port -lived a widow who had a cabin and a bit of land of her own. George -Walton, a neighbor, wanted her land, for its situation pleased him, and -as the old woman had neither money nor influential friends he charged -her with witchcraft, and, whether by legal chicanery or mere force is -not recorded, he got his hands upon her property. - -The charge of witchcraft was not pressed, because the man had obtained -what he wanted, but the poor, houseless creature laid a ban on the place -and told the thief that he would never have pleasure nor profit out of -it. Walton laughed at her, bade her go her way, and moved his family -into the widow's house. It was Sunday night, and the family had gone to -bed, when at ten o'clock there came a fierce shock of stones against the -roof and doors. All were awake in a moment. A first thought was that -Indians were making an assault, but when the occupants peered cautiously -into the moonlight the fields were seen to be deserted. Yet, even as -they looked, a gate was lifted from its hinges and thrown through the -air. - -Walton ventured out, but a volley of stones, seemingly from a hundred -hands, was delivered at his head, and he ran back to shelter. Doors and -windows were barred and shuttered, but it made no difference. Stones, -too hot to hold a hand upon, were hurled through glass and down the -chimney, objects in the rooms themselves were picked up and flung at -Walton, candles were blown out, a hand without a body tapped at the -window, locks and bars and keys were bent as if by hammer-blows, -a cheese-press was smashed against the wall and the cheese spoiled, hay- -stacks in the field were broken up and the hay tossed into branches of -trees. For a long time Walton could not go out at night without being -assailed with stones. Bell, book, candle, and witch-broth availed -nothing, and it was many a day before peace came to the Walton -household. - -In 1802 an epidemic of assault went through the Berkshire Hills. The -performance began in a tailor's shop in Salisbury, Connecticut, at -eleven of the clock on the night of November 2, when a stick and lumps -of stone, charcoal, and mortar were flung through a window. The moon -was up, but nothing could be seen, and the bombardment was continued -until after daylight. After doing some damage here the assailants went -to the house of Ezekiel Landon and rapped away there for a week. -Persons were struck by the missiles, and quantities of glass were -destroyed. Nothing could be seen coming toward the windows until the -glass broke, and it was seldom that anything passed far into a room. No -matter how hard it was thrown, it dropped softly and surely on the sill, -inside, as if a hand had put it there. Windows were broken on both -sides of buildings at the same time, and many sticks and stones came -through the same holes in the panes, as if aimed carefully by a gunner. - -A hamlet that stood in Sage's ravine, on the east side of the Dome of -the Taconics, was assailed in the same way after nightfall. One house -was considerably injured. No causes for the performance were ever -discovered, and nobody in the place was known to have an enemy-- -at least, a malicious one. - -At Whitmire Hill, Georgia, the spot where two murders were committed -before the war, is a headless phantom that comes thundering down on the -wayfarer on the back of a giant horse and vanishes at the moment when -the heart of his prospective victim is bumping against his palate. At -times, however, this spook prefers to remain invisible, and then it is a -little worse, for it showers stones and sods on the pedestrian until his -legs have carried him well beyond the phantom's jurisdiction. - -The legends of buried treasure, instanced in another place, frequently -include assaults by the ghosts of pirates and misers on the daring ones -who try to resurrect their wealth. - -Forty-seven years ago, in the township of St. Mary's, Illinois, two -lads named Groves and a companion named Kirk were pelted with snowballs -while on their way home from a barn where they had been to care for the -stock for the night. The evening had shut in dark, and the accuracy of -the thrower's aim was the more remarkable because it was hardly possible -to see more than a rod away. The snowballs were packed so tightly that -they did not break on striking, though they were thrown with force, and -Kirk was considerably bruised by them. Mr. Groves went out with a -lantern, but its rays lit up a field of untrodden snow, and there was no -sound except that made by the wind as it whistled past the barn and -fences. Toward dawn another inspection was made, and in the dim light -the snowballs were seen rising from the middle of a field that had not a -footprint on it, and flying toward the spectators like bullets. They -ran into the field and laid about them with pitchforks, but nothing came -of that, and not until the sun arose was the pelting stopped. Young -Kirk, who was badly hurt, died within a year. - -The men of Sharon, Connecticut, having wheedled their town-site from the -Indians in 1754, were plagued thereafter by whoops and whistlings and -the throwing of stones. Men were seen in the starlight and were fired -upon, but without effect, and the disturbances were not ended until the -Indians had received a sum of money. - -Without presuming to doubt the veracity of tradition in these matters, -an incident from the writer's boyhood in New England may be instanced. -The house of an unpopular gentleman was assailed--not in the -ostentatious manner just described, yet in a way that gave him a good -deal of trouble. Dead cats appeared mysteriously in his neighborhood; -weird noises arose under his windows; he tried to pick up letters from -his doorstep that became mere chalk-marks at his touch, so that he took -up only splinters under his nails. One night, as a seance was about -beginning in his yard, he emerged from a clump of bushes, flew in the -direction of the disturbance, laid violent hands on the writer's collar, -and bumped his nose on a paving-stone. Then the manifestations were -discontinued, for several nights, for repairs. - - - - - STORIED SPRINGS - -Like the Greeks, the red men endowed the woods and waters with tutelary -sprites, and many of the springs that are now resorted to as fountains -of healing were known long before the settlement of Europeans here, the -gains from drinking of them being ascribed to the beneficence of spirit -guardians. The earliest comers to these shores--or, rather, the -earliest of those who entertained such beliefs--fancied that the fabled -fountain of eternal youth would be found among the other blessings of -the land. To the Spaniards Florida was a land of promise and mystery. -Somewhere in its interior was fabled to stand a golden city ruled by a -king whose robes sparkled with precious dust, and this city was named -for the adventurer--El Dorado, or the Place of the Gilded One. Here, -they said, would be found the elixir of life. The beautiful Silver -Spring, near the head of the Ocklawaha, with its sandy bottom plainly -visible at the depth of eighty feet, was thought to be the source of the -lifegiving waters, but, though Ponce de Leon heard of this, he never -succeeded in fighting his way to it through the jungle. - -In Georgia, in the reputed land of Chicora, were a sacred stream that -made all young again who bathed there, and a spring so delectable that a -band of red men, chancing on it in a journey, could not leave it, and -are there forever. - -In the island of "Bimini," one of the Lucayos (Bahamas), was another -such a fountain. - -Between the Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers the Creeks declared was a spring -of life, on an island in a marsh, defended from approach by almost -impenetrable labyrinths,--a heaven where the women were fairer than -any other on earth. - -The romantic and superstitious Spaniards believed these legends, and -spent years and treasure in searching for these springs. And, surely, -if the new and striking scenes of this Western world caused Columbus -to "boast that he had found the seat of paradise, it will not appear -strange that Ponce de Leon should dream of discovering the fountain -of youth." - -The Yuma Apaches had been warned by one of their oracles never to enter -a certain canon in Castle Dome range, Arizona, but a company of them -forgot this caution while in chase of deer, and found themselves between -walls of pink and white fluorite with a spring bubbling at the head of -the ravine. Tired and heated, they fell on their faces to drink, when -they found that the crumbling quartz that formed the basin of the spring -was filled with golden nuggets. Eagerly gathering up this precious -substance, for they knew what treasure of beads, knives, arrows, and -blankets the Mexicans would exchange for it, they attempted to make -their way out of the canon; but a cloudburst came, and on the swiftly -rising tide all were swept away but one, who survived to tell the story. -White men have frequently but vainly tried to find that spring. - -In Southwestern Kansas, on a hill a quarter-mile from Solomon River, is -the Sacred Water, pooled in a basin thirty feet across. When many stand -about the brink it slowly rises. Here two Panis stopped on their return -from a buffalo hunt, and one of them unwittingly stepped on a turtle a -yard long. Instantly he felt his feet glued to the monster's back, for, -try as he might, he could not disengage himself, and the creature -lumbered away to the pool, where it sank with him. There the turtle god -remains, and beads, arrows, ear-rings, and pipes that are dropped in, it -swallows greedily. The Indians use the water to mix their paint with, -but never for drinking. - -The mail rider, crossing the hot desert of Arizona, through the cacti -and over holes where scorpions hide, makes for Devil's Well, under El -Diablo--a dark pool surrounded with gaunt rocks. Here, coming when the -night is on, he lies down, and the wind swishing in the sage--brush puts -him to sleep. At dawn he wakens with the frightened whinny of his horse -in his ears and, all awake, looks about him. A stranger, wrapped in a -tattered blanket, is huddled in a recess of the stones, arrived there, -like himself, at night, perhaps. Poising his rifle on his knee, the -rider challenges him, but never a sign the other makes. Then, striding -over to him, he pulls away the blanket and sees a shrivelled corpse with -a face that he knows--his brother. Hardly is this meeting made when a -hail of arrows falls around. His horse is gone. The Apaches, who know -no gentleness and have no mercy, have manned every gap and sheltering -rock. With his rifle he picks them off, as they rise in sight with -arrows at the string, and sends them tumbling into the dust; but, when -his last bullet has sped into a red man's heart, they rise in a body and -with knives and hatchets hew him to death. And that is why the Devil's -Well still tastes of blood. - -Among the Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina is a large spring -that promises refreshment, but, directly that the wayfarer bends over -the water, a grinning face appears at the bottom and as he stoops it -rises to meet his. So hideous is this demon that few of the -mountaineers have courage to drink here, and they refuse to believe that -the apparition is caused by the shape of the basin, or aberrated -reflection of their own faces. They say it is the visage of a "haunt," -for a Cherokee girl, who had uncommon beauty, once lived hard by, and -took delight in luring lovers from less favored maidens. The braves -were jealous of each other, and the women were jealous of her, while -she--the flirt!--rejoiced in the trouble that she made. A day fell for -a wedding--that of a hunter with a damsel of his tribe, but at the hour -appointed the man was missing. Mortified and hurt, the bride stole away -from the village and began a search of the wood, and she carried bow and -arrows in her hand. Presently she came on the hunter, lying at the feet -of the coquette, who was listening to his words with encouraging smiles. -Without warning the deserted girl drew an arrow to the head and shot her -lover through the heart--then, beside his lifeless body, she begged -Manitou to make her rival's face so hideous that all would be frightened -who looked at it. At the words the beautiful creature felt her face -convulse and shrivel, and, rushing to the mirror of the spring, she -looked in, only to start back in loathing. When she realized that the -frightful visage that glared up at her was her own, she uttered a cry of -despair and flung herself into the water, where she drowned. - -It is her face--so altered as to disclose the evil once hid behind it-- -that peers up at the hardy one who passes there and knows it as the -Haunted Spring. - -The medicinal properties of the mineral springs at Ballston and Saratoga -were familiar to the Indians, and High Rock Spring, to which Sir William -Johnson was carried by the Mohawks in 1767 to be cured of a wound, was -called "the medicine spring of the Great Spirit," for it was believed -that the leaping and bubbling of the water came from its agitation by -hands not human, and red men regarded it with reverence. - -The springs at Manitou, Colorado (see "Division of Two Tribes"), were -always approached with gifts for the manitou that lived in them. - -The lithia springs of Londonderry, New Hampshire, used to be visited by -Indians from the Merrimack region, who performed incantations and dances -to ingratiate themselves with the healing spirit that lived in the -water. Their stone implements and arrow-heads are often found in -adjacent fields. - -The curative properties of Milford Springs, New Hampshire, were revealed -in the dream of a dying boy. - -A miracle spring flowed in the old days near the statue of the Virgin at -White Marsh, Maryland. - -Biddeford Pool, Maine, was a miracle pond once a year, for whoso bathed -there on the 26th of June would be restored to health if he were ill, -because that day was the joint festival of Saints Anthelm and Maxentius. - -There was a wise and peaceable chief of the Ute tribe who always -counselled his people to refrain from war, but when he grew old the -fiery spirits deposed him and went down to the plains to give battle to -the Arapahoe. News came that they had been defeated in consequence of -their rashness. Then the old man's sorrow was so keen that his heart -broke. But even in death he was beneficent, for his spirit entered the -earth and forthwith came a gush of water that has never ceased to flow-- -the Hot Sulphur Springs of Colorado. The Utes often used to go to those -springs to bathe--and be cured of rheumatism--before they were driven -away. - -Spring River, Arkansas, is nearly as large at its source as at its -mouth, for Mammoth Spring, in the Ozark Mountains, where it has its -rise, has a yield of ninety thousand gallons a minute, so that it is, -perhaps, the largest in the world. Here, three hundred years ago, the -Indians had gathered for a month's feast, for chief Wampahseesah's -daughter--Nitilita--was to wed a brave of many ponies, a hundred of -which he had given in earnest of his love. For weeks no rain had -fallen, and, while the revel was at its height, news came that all the -rivers had gone dry. Several young men set off with jars, to fill them -at the Mississippi, and, confident that relief would come, the song and -dance went on until the men and women faltered from exhaustion. At -last, Nitilita died, and, in the wildness of his grief, the husband -smote his head upon a rock and perished too. Next day the hunters came -with water, but, incensed by their delay, the chief ordered them to be -slain in sacrifice to the manes of the dead. A large grave was dug and -the last solemnities were begun when there was a roaring and a shaking -in the earth--it parted, and the corpses disappeared in the abyss. Then -from the pit arose a flood of water that went foaming down the valley. -Crazed with grief, remorse, and fear, Wampahseesah flung himself into -the torrent and was borne to his death. The red men built a dam there -later, and often used to sit before it in the twilight, watching, as -they declared, the faces of the dead peering at them through the foam. - -During the rush for the California gold-fields in the '50's a party took -the route by Gila River, and set across the desert. The noon -temperature was 120, the way was strewn with skeletons of wagons, -horses, and men, and on the second night after crossing the Colorado the -water had given out. The party had gathered on the sands below Yuma, -the men discussing the advisability of returning, the women full of -apprehension, the young ones crying, the horses panting; but presently -the talk fell low, for in one of the wagons a child's voice was heard in -prayer: "Oh, good heavenly Father, I know I have been a naughty girl, -but I am so thirsty, and mamma and papa and baby all want a drink so -much! Do, good God, give us water, and I never will be naughty again." -One of the men said, earnestly, "May God grant it!" In a few moments -the child cried, "Mother, get me water. Get some for baby and me. I -can hear it running." The horses and mules nearly broke from the -traces, for almost at their feet a spring had burst from the sand-warm, -but pure. Their sufferings were over. The water continued to flow, -running north for twenty miles, and at one point spreading into a lake -two miles wide and twenty feet deep. When emigration was diverted, two -years later, to the northern route and to the isthmus, New River Spring -dried up. Its mission was over. - - - - - LOVERS' LEAPS - -So few States in this country--and so few countries, if it comes to -that--are without a lover's leap that the very name has come to be a -by-word. In most of these places the disappointed ones seem to have -gone to elaborate and unusual pains to commit suicide, neglecting many -easy and equally appropriate methods. But while in some cases the -legend has been made to fit the place, there is no doubt that in many -instances the story antedated the arrival of the white men. The best -known lovers' leaps are those on the upper Mississippi, on the French -Broad, Jump Mountain, in Virginia, Jenny Jump Mountain, New Jersey, -Mackinac, Michigan, Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, on the -Wissahickon, near Philadelphia, Muscatine, Iowa, and Lefferts Height. -There are many other declivities,--also, that are scenes of leaps and -adventures, such as the Fawn's Leap, in Kaaterskill Clove; Rogers's -Rock, on Lake George; the rocks in Long Narrows, on the Juniata, where -the ghost of Captain Jack, "the wild hunter" of colonial days, still -ranges; Campbell's Ledge, Pittston, Pennsylvania, where its name-giver -jumped off to escape Indians; and Peabody's leap, of thirty feet, on -Lake Champlain, where Tim Peabody, a scout, escaped after killing a -number of savages. - -At Jump Mountain, near Lexington, Virginia, an Indian couple sprang off -because there were insuperable bars to their marriage. - -At the rock on the Wissahickon a girl sought death because her lover was -untrue to her. - -At Muscatine the cause of a maid's demise and that of her lover was the -severity of her father, who forbade the match because there was no war -in which the young man could prove his courage. - -At Lefferts Height a girl stopped her recreant lover as he was on his -way to see her rival, and urging his horse to the edge of the bluff she -leaped with him into the air. - -Monument Mountain, a picturesque height in the Berkshires, is faced on -its western side by a tall precipice, from which a girl flung herself -because the laws of her tribe forbade her marriage with a cousin to whom -she had plighted troth. She was buried where her body was found, and -each Indian as he passed the spot laid a stone on her grave--thus, in -time, forming a monument. - -"Purgatory," the chasm at Newport, Rhode Island, through which the sea -booms loudly after a storm, was a scene of self-sacrifice to a hopeless -love on the part of an Indian pair in a later century, though there is -an older tradition of the seizure of a guilty squaw, by no less a person -than the devil himself, who flung her from the cliff and dragged her -soul away as it left her body. His hoof-marks were formerly visible on -the rocks. - -At Hot Springs, North Carolina, two conspicuous cliffs are pointed out -on the right bank of the French Broad River: Paint Rock--where the -aborigines used to get ochre to smear their faces, and which they -decorated with hieroglyphics--and Lover's Leap. It is claimed that the -latter is the first in this country known to bear this sentimental and -tragically suggestive title. There are two traditions concerning it, -one being that an Indian girl was discovered at its top by hostiles who -drove her into the gulf below, the other relating to the wish of an -Indian to marry a girl of a tribe with which his own had been -immemorially at war. The match was opposed on both sides, so, instead -of doing as most Indians and some white men would do nowadays--marry the -girl and let reconciliation come in time,--he scaled the rock in her -company and leaped with her into the stream. They awoke as man and wife -in the happy hunting-ground. - -In 1700 there lived in the village of Keoxa, below Frontenac, Minnesota, -on the Mississippi River, a Dakota girl named Winona (the First Born), -who was loved by a hunter in her tribe, and loved him in return. Her -friends commended to her affections a young chief who had valiantly -defended the village against an attack of hostiles, but Juliet would -none of this dusky Count de Paris, adhering faithfully to her Romeo. -Unable to move her by argument, her family at length drove her lover -away, and used other harsh measures to force her into a repugnant union, -but she replied, "You are driving me to despair. I do not love this -chief, and cannot live with him. You are my father, my brothers, my -relatives, yet you drive from me the only man with whom I wish to be -united. Alone he ranges through the forest, with no one to build his -lodge, none to spread his blanket, none to wait on him. Soon you will -have neither daughter, sister, nor relative to torment with false -professions." Blazing with anger at this unsubmissive speech, her -father declared that she should marry the chief on that very day, but -while the festival was in preparation she stole to the top of the crag -that has since been known as Maiden's Rock, and there, four hundred feet -above the heads of the people, upbraided those who had formerly -professed regard for her. Then she began her death-song. Some of the -men tried to scale the cliff and avert the tragedy that it was evident -would shortly be enacted, and her father, his displeasure forgotten in -an agony of apprehension, called to her that he would no longer oppose -her choice. She gave no heed to their appeals, but, when the song was -finished, walked to the edge of the rock, leaped out, and rolled -lifeless at the feet of her people. - -When we say that the real name of Lover's Leap in Mackinac is -Mechenemockenungoqua, we trust that it will not be repeated. It has its -legend, however, as well as its name, for an Ojibway girl stood on this -spire of rock, watching for her lover after a battle had been fought and -her people were returning. Eagerly she scanned the faces of the braves -as their war-canoes swept by, but the face she looked for was not among -them. Her lover was at that moment tied to a tree, with an arrow in his -heart. As she looked at the boats a vision of his fate revealed itself, -and the dead man, floating toward her, beckoned. Her death-song sounded -in the ears of the men, but before they could reach her she had gone -swiftly to the verge, her hands extended, her eyes on vacancy, and her -spirit had met her lover's. - -From this very rock, in olden time, leaped the red Eve when the red Adam -had been driven away by a devil who had fallen in love with her. Adam, -who was paddling by the shore, saw she was about to fall, rushed -forward, caught her, and saved her life. The law of gravitation in -those days did not act with such distressing promptitude as now. -Manitou, hearing of these doings, restored them to the island and -banished the devil, who fell to a world of evil spirits underground, -where he became the father of the white race, and has ever since -persecuted the Indians by proxy. - -On the same island of Mackinac the English had a fort, the garrison of -which was massacred in 1763. A sole survivor--a young officer named -Robinson--owed his life to a pretty half-breed who gave him hiding in a -secluded wigwam. As the spot assured him of safety, and the girl was -his only companion, they lived together as man and wife, rather happily, -for several years. When the fort had been built again, Robinson re- -entered the service, and appeared at head-quarters with a wife of his -own color. His Indian consort showed no jealousy. On the contrary, she -consented to live apart in a little house belonging to the station, on -the cliff, called Robinson's Folly. She did ask her lover to go there -and sit with her for an hour before they separated forever, and he -granted this request. While they stood at the edge of the rock she -embraced him; then, stepping back, with her arms still around his neck, -she fell from the cliff, dragging him with her, and both were killed. -The edge of the rock fell shortly after, carrying the house with it. - -Matiwana, daughter of the chief of the Omahas, whose village was near -the mouth of Omaha Creek, married a faithless trader from St. Louis, who -had one wife already, and who returned to her, after an absence among -his own people, with a third, a woman of his own color. He coldly -repelled the Indian woman, though he promised to send her boy--and his ---to the settlements to be educated. She turned away with only a look, -and a few days later was found dead at the foot of a bluff near her -home. - -White Rocks, one hundred and fifty feet above Cheat River, in Fayette -County, Pennsylvania, were the favorite tryst of a handsome girl, the -daughter of a well-to-do farmer of that region, and a dashing fellow who -had gone into that country to hunt. They had many happy days there on -the hill together, but after making arrangements for the wedding they -quarrelled, nobody knew for what. One evening they met by accident on -the rocks, and appeared to be in formal talk when night came on and they -could no longer be seen. The girl did not return, and her father set -off with a search party to look for her. They found her, dead and -mangled, at the foot of the rocks. Her lover, in a fit of impatience, -had pushed her and she had staggered and fallen over. He fled at once, -and, under a changed name and changed appearance, eluded pursuit. When -the War of the Rebellion broke out, he entered the army and fought -recklessly, for by that time he had tired of life and hoped to die. But -it was of no use. He was only made captain for a bravery that he was -not conscious of showing, and the old remorse still preyed on him. It -was after the war that something took him back to Fayette County, and on -a pleasant day he climbed the rocks to take a last look at the scenes -that had been brightened by love and saddened by regret. He had not -been long on its summit when an irresistible impulse came upon him to -leap down where the girl had fallen, and atone with his own blood for -the shedding of hers. He gave way to this prompting, and the fall was -fatal. - -Some years before the outbreak of the Civil War a man with his wife and -daughter took up their residence in a log cabin at the foot of Sunrise -Rock, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. It seemed probable that they had -known better days, for the head of the household was notoriously useless -in the eyes of his neighbors, and was believed to get his living through -"writin' or book-larnin'," but he was so quiet and gentle that they -never upbraided him, and would sometimes, after making a call, wander -into his garden and casually weed it for him for an hour or so. The -girl, Stella, was a well-schooled, quick-witted, rosy-cheeked lass, whom -all the shaggy, big-jointed farmer lads of the neighborhood regarded -with hopeless admiration. A year or two after the settlement of the -family it began to be noticed that she was losing color and had an -anxious look, and when a friendly old farmer saw her talking in the lane -with a lawyer from Chattanooga, who wore broadcloth and had a gold -watch, he was puzzled that the "city chap" did not go home with her, but -kissed his hand to her as he turned away. Afterward the farmer met the -pair again, and while the girl smiled and said, "Howdy, Uncle Joe?" the -lawyer turned away and looked down the river. It was the last time that -a smile was seen on Stella's face. A few evenings later she was seen -standing on Sunrise Rock, with her look bent on Chattanooga. The shadow -of night crept up the cliff until only her figure stood in sunlight, -with her hair like a golden halo about her face. At that moment came on -the wind the sound of bells-wedding-bells. Pressing her hands to her -ears, the girl walked to the edge of the rock, and a few seconds later -her lifeless form rolled through the bushes at its foot into the road. -At her funeral the people came from far and near to offer sympathy to -the mother, garbed in black, and the father, with his hair turned white, -but the lawyer from Chattanooga was not there. - -The name of Indian Maiden's Cliff--applied to a precipice that hangs -above the wild ravine of Stony Clove, in the Catskills--commemorates the -sequel to an elopement from her tribe of an Indian girl and her lover. -The parents and relatives had opposed the match with that fatal fatuity -that appears to be characteristic of story-book Indians, and as soon as -word of her flight came to the village they set off in chase. While -hurrying through the tangled wood the young couple were separated and -the girl found herself on the edge of the cliff. Farther advance was -impossible. Her pursuers were close behind. She must yield or die. -She chose not to yield, and, with a despairing cry, flung herself into -the shadows. - -Similar to this is the tale of Lover's Leap in the dells of the Sioux, -among the Black Hills of South Dakota. - -At New Milford, Connecticut, they show you Falls Mountain, with the -cairn erected by his tribe in 1735 to chief Waramaug, who wished to be -buried there, so that, when he was cold and lonely in the other life, -he could return to his body and muse on the lovely landscape that he -so enjoyed. The will-o'-the-wisp flickered on the mountain's edge at -night, and flecks of dew-vapor that floated from the wood by day were -sometimes thought to be the spirit of the chief. He had a daughter, -Lillinonah, whose story is related to Lover's Leap, on the riverward -side of the mountain. She had led to the camp a white man, who had been -wandering beside the Housatonic, ill and weak, vainly seeking a way out -of the wilderness, and, in spite of the dark looks that were cast at him -and her, she succeeded in making him, for that summer, a member of the -tribe. As the man grew strong with her care he grew happy and he fell -in love. In the autumn he said to her, "I wish to see my people, and -when I have done so I will come back to you and we shall be man and -wife." They parted regretfully and the winter passed for the girl on -leaden feet. With spring came hope. The trails were open, and daily -she watched for her white lover. The summer came and went, and the -autumn was there again. She had grown pale and sad, and old Waramaug -said to young Eagle Feather, who had looked softly on her for many -years, "The girl sickens in loneliness. You shall wed her." This is -repeated to her, and that evening she slips away to the river, enters a -canoe, casts away the paddle, and drifts down the stream. Slowly, at -first, but faster and faster, as the rapids begin to draw it, skims the -boat, but above the hoarse brawling of the waters she hears a song in a -voice that she knows--the merry troll of a light heart. The branches -part at Lover's Leap and her lover looks down upon her. The joyous -glance of recognition changes to a look of horror, for the boat is -caught. The girl rises and holds her arms toward him in agonized -appeal. Life, at any cost! He, with a cry, leaps into the flood as the -canoe is passing. It lurches against a rock and Lillinonah is thrown -out. He reaches her. The falls bellow in their ears. They take a last -embrace, and two lives go out in the growing darkness. - - - - - GOD ON THE MOUNTAINS - -From the oldest time men have associated the mountains with visitations -of God. Their height, their vastness, their majesty made them seem -worthy to be stairs by which the Deity might descend to earth, and they -stand in religious and poetic literature to this day as symbols of the -largest mental conceptions. Scriptural history is intimately associated -with them, and the giving of the law on Sinai, amid thunder and -darkness, is one of the most tremendous pictures that imagination can -paint. Ararat, Hermon, Horeb, Pisgah, Calvary, Adam's Peak, Parnassus, -Olympus! How full of suggestion are these names! And poetic figures in -sacred writings are full of allusion to the beauty, nobility, and -endurance of the hills. - -It is little known that many of our own mountains are associated with -aboriginal legends of the Great Spirit. According to the Indians of -California, Mount Shasta was the first part of the earth to be made. -The Great Spirit broke a hole through the floor of heaven with a rock, -and on the spot where this rock had stopped he flung down more rocks, -with earth and snow and ice, until the mass had gained such a height -that he could step from the sky to its summit. Running his hands over -its sides he caused forests to spring up. The leaves that he plucked he -breathed upon, tossed into the air, and, lo! they were birds. Out of -his own staff he made beasts and fishes, to live on the hills and in the -streams, that began to appear as the work of worldbuilding went on. The -earth became so joyous and so fair that he resolved at last to live on -it, and he hollowed Shasta into a wigwam, where he dwelt for centuries, -the smoke of his lodge-fire (Shasta is a volcano) being often seen -pouring from the cone before the white man came. - -According to the Oregon Indians the first man was created at the base of -the Cascade Range, near Wood River, by Kmukamtchiksh, "the old man of -the ancients," who had already made the world. The Klamaths believe -Kmukamtchiksh a treacherous spirit, "a typical beast god," yet that he -punishes the wicked by turning them into rocks on the mountain-sides or -by putting them into volcanic fires. - -Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin, was the home of strange beings who occupied -caverns that few dared to enter. Enchanted rivers flowed through these -caves to heaven. The Catskills and Adirondacks were abodes of powerful -beings, and the Highlands of the Hudson were a wall within which Manitou -confined a host of rebellious spirits. When the river burst through -this bulwark and poured into the sea, fifty miles below, these spirits -took flight, and many succeeded in escaping. But others still haunt the -ravines and bristling woods, and when Manitou careers through the Hudson -canon on his car of cloud, crying with thunder voice, and hurling his -lightnings to right and left as he passes, the demons scream and howl in -rage and fear lest they be recaptured and shut up forever beneath the -earth. - -The White Mountains were held in awe by Indians, to whom they were homes -of great and blessed spirits. Mount Washington was their Olympus and -Ararat in one, for there dwelt God, and there, when the earth was -covered with a flood, lived the chief and his wife, whom God had saved, -sending forth a hare, after the waters had subsided, to learn if it were -safe to descend. From them the whole country was peopled with red men. -Yet woe betid the intruder on this high and holy ground, for an angered -deity condemned him to wander for ages over the desolate peaks and -through the shadowy chasms rifted down their sides. The despairing -cries of these condemned ones, in winter storms, even frightened the -early white settlers in this region, and in 1784 the women of Conway -petitioned three clergymen "to lay the spirits." - -Other ark and deluge legends relate to the Superstition Mountains, in -Arizona, Caddoes village, on Red River, Cerro Naztarny, on the Rio -Grande, the peak of Old Zuni, in Mexico, Colhuacan, on the Pacific -coast, Mount Apaola, in upper Mixteca, and Mount Neba, in Guaymi. The -Northwestern Indians tell of a flood in which all perished save one man, -who fled to Mount Tacoma. To prevent him from being swept away a spirit -turned him into stone. When the flood had fallen the deity took one of -his ribs and made a woman of it. Then he touched the stone man back to -life. - -There were descendants of Manitou on the mountains, too, of North -Carolina, but the Cherokees believe that those heights are bare because -the devil strode over them on his way to the Devil's Court House -(Transylvania County, North Carolina), where he sat in judgment and -claimed his own. Monsters were found in the White Mountains. Devil's -Den, on the face of Mount Willard, was the lair of one of them--a -strange, winged creature that strewed the floor of its cave with brute -and human skeletons, after preying on their flesh. - -The ideas of supernatural occurrences in these New Hampshire hills -obtained until a recent date, and Sunday Mountain is a monument to the -dire effects of Sabbath-breaking that was pointed out to several -generations of New Hampshire youth for their moral betterment. The -story goes that a man of the adjacent town of Oxford took a walk one -Sunday, when he should have taken himself to church; and, straying into -the woods here, he was delivered into the claws and maws of an -assemblage of bears that made an immediate and exemplary conclusion of -him. - -The grand portrait in rock in Profile Notch was regarded with reverence -by the few red men who ventured into that lonely defile. When white men -saw it they said it resembled Washington, and a Yankee orator is quoted -as saying, "Men put out signs representing their different trades. -Jewellers hang out a monster watch, shoemakers a huge boot, and, up in -Franconia, God Almighty has hung out a sign that in New England He makes -men." - -To Echo Lake, close by, the deity was wont to repair that he might -contemplate the beauties of nature, and the clear, repeated echoes were -his voice, speaking in gentleness or anger. Moosilauke--meaning a bald -place, and wrongly called Moose Hillock--was declared by Waternomee, -chief of the Pemigewassets, to be the home of the Great Spirit, and the -first time that red men tried to gain the summit they returned in fear, -crying that Gitche Manitou was riding home in anger on a storm--which -presently, indeed, burst over the whole country. Few Indians dared to -climb the mountain after that, and the first fruits of the harvest and -first victims of the chase were offered in propitiation to the deity. -At Seven Cascades, on its eastern slope, one of Rogers's Rangers, -retreating after the Canadian foray, fell to the ground, too tired for -further motion, when a distant music of harps mingled with the cascade's -plash, and directly the waters were peopled with forms glowing with -silverwhite, like the moonstone, that rose and circled, hand in hand, -singing gayly as they did so. The air then seemed to be flooded with -rosy light and thousands of sylvan genii ascended altars of rock, by -steps of rainbow, to offer incense and greet the sun with song. A dark -cloud passed, daylight faded, and a vision arose of the massacre at St. -Francis, a retreat through untried wilderness, a feast on human heads, -torture, and death; then his senses left the worn and starving man. But -a trapper who had seen his trail soon reached him and led him to a -friendly settlement, where he was told that only to those who were about -to take their leave of earth was it given to know those spirits of -fountain and forest that offered their voices, on behalf of nature, in -praise of the Great Spirit. To those of grosser sense, on whom the -weight of worldliness still rested, this halcyon was never revealed. - -It was to Mount Washington that the Great Spirit summoned Passaconaway, -when his work was done, and there was his apotheosis. - -The Indians account in this manner for the birth of the White Mountains: -A red hunter who had wandered for days through the forest without -finding game dropped exhausted on the snow, one night, and awaited -death. But he fell asleep and dreamed. In his vision he saw a -beautiful mountain country where birds and beasts and fruits were -plenty, and, awaking from his sleep, he found that day had come. -Looking about the frozen wilderness in despair, he cried, "Great Master -of Life, where is this country that I have seen?" And even as he spoke -the Master appeared and gave to him a spear and a coal. The hunter -dropped the coal on the ground, when a fire spread from it, the rocks -burning with dense smoke, out of which came the Master's voice, in -thunder tones, bidding the mountains rise. The earth heaved and through -the reek the terrified man saw hills and crags lifting--lifting--until -their tops reached above the clouds, and from the far summits sounded -the promise, "Here shall the Great Spirit live and watch over his -children." Water now burst from the rocks and came laughing down the -hollows in a thousand brooks and rills, the valleys unfolded in leaf and -bloom, birds sang in the branches, butterflies-like winged flowers -flitted to and fro, the faint and cheerful noise of insect life came -from the herbage, the smoke rolled away, a genial sun blazed out, and, -as the hunter looked in rapture on the mighty peaks of the Agiochooks, -God stood upon their crest. - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS-LEGENDS, BY SKINNER, ENTIRE *** - -*********** This file should be named cs10w10.txt or cs10w10.zip *********** - -Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, cs10w11.txt -VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cs10w10a.txt - -This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> - -Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US -unless a copyright notice is included. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete - -Author: Charles M. Skinner - -Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #6615] -Last Updated: February 27, 2018 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND LEGENDS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - -MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OUR OWN LAND - -By Charles M. Skinner - - - - -CONTENTS: - -THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - -Rip Van Winkle -Catskill Gnomes -The Catskill Witch -The Revenge of Shandaken -Condemned to the Noose -Big Indian -The Baker's Dozen -The Devil's Dance-Chamber -The Culprit Fay -Pokepsie -Dunderberg -Anthony's Nose -Moodua Creek -A Trapper's Ghastly Vengeance -The Vanderdecken of Tappan Zee -The Galloping Hessian -Storm Ship on the Hudson -Why Spuyten Duyvil is so Named -The Ramapo Salamander -Chief Croton -The Retreat from Mahopac -Niagara -The Deformed of Zoar -Horseheads -Kayuta and Waneta -The Drop Star -The Prophet of Palmyra -A Villain's Cremation -The Monster Mosquito -The Green Picture -The Nuns of Carthage -The Skull in the Wall -The Haunted Mill -Old Indian Face -The Division of the Saranacs -An Event in Indian Park -The Indian Plume -Birth of the Water-Lily -Rogers's Slide -The Falls at Cohoes -Francis Woolcott's Night-Riders -Polly's Lover -Crosby, the Patriot Spy -The Lost Grave of Paine -The Rising of Gouverneur Morris - - -THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - -Dolph Heyliger -The Knell at the Wedding -Roistering Dirck Van Dara -The Party from Gibbet Island -Miss Britton's Poker -The Devil's Stepping-Stones -The Springs of Blood and Water -The Crumbling Silver -The Cortelyou Elopement -Van Wempel's Goose -The Weary Watcher -The Rival Fiddlers -Wyandank -Mark of the Spirit Hand -The First Liberal Church - - -ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - -The Phantom Dragoon -Delaware Water Gap -The Phantom Drummer -The Missing Soldier of Valley Forge -The Last Shot at Germantown -A Blow in the Dark -The Tory's Conversion -Lord Percy's Dream -Saved by the Bible -Parricide of the Wissahickon -The Blacksmith at Brandywine -Father and Son -The Envy of Manitou -The Last Revel in Printz Hall -The Two Rings -Flame Scalps of the Chartiers -The Consecration of Washington -Marion - - -TALES OF PURITAN LAND - -Evangeline -The Snoring of Swunksus -The Lewiston Hermit -The Dead Ship of Harpswell -The Schoolmaster had not reached Orrington -Jack Welch's Death Light -Mogg Megone -The Lady Ursula -Father Moody's Black Veil -The Home of Thunder -The Partridge Witch -The Marriage of Mount Katahdin -The Moose of Mount Kineo -The Owl Tree -A Chestnut Log -The Watcher on White Island -Chocorua -Passaconaway's Ride to Heaven -The Ball Game by the Saco -The White Mountains -The Vision on Mount Adams -The Great Carbuncle -Skinner's Cave -Yet they call it Lover's Leap -Salem and other Witchcraft -The Gloucester Leaguers -Satan and his Burial-Place -Peter Rugg, the Missing Man -The Loss of Weetamoo -The Fatal Forget-me-not -The Old Mill at Somerville -Edward Randolph's Portrait -Lady Eleanore's Mantle -Howe's Masquerade -Old Esther Dudley -The Loss of Jacob Hurd -The Hobomak -Berkshire Tories -The Revenge of Josiah Breeze -The May-Pole of Merrymount -The Devil and Tom Walker -The Gray Champion -The Forest Smithy -Wahconah Falls -Knocking at the Tomb -The White Deer of Onota -Wizard's Glen -Balanced Rock -Shonkeek-Moonkeek -The Salem Alchemist -Eliza Wharton -Sale of the Southwicks -The Courtship of Myles Standish -Mother Crewe -Aunt Rachel's Curse -Nix's Mate -The Wild Man of Cape Cod -Newbury's Old Elm -Samuel Sewall's Prophecy -The Shrieking Woman -Agnes Surriage -Skipper Ireson's Ride -Heartbreak Hill -Harry Main: The Treasure and the Cats -The Wessaguscus Hanging -The Unknown Champion -Goody Cole -General Moulton and the Devil -The Skeleton in Armor -Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket -Love and Treason -The Headless Skeleton of Swamptown -The Crow and Cat of Hopkins Hill -The Old Stone Mill -Origin of a Name -Micah Rood Apples -A Dinner and its Consequences -The New Haven Storm Ship -The Windham Frogs -The Lamb of Sacrifice -Moodus Noises -Haddam Enchantments -Block Island and the Palatine -The Buccaneer -Robert Lockwood's Fate -Love and Rum - - - -LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - -The Swim at Indian Head -The Moaning Sisters -A Ride for a Bride -Spooks of the Hiawassee -Lake of the Dismal Swamp -The Barge of Defeat -Natural Bridge -The Silence Broken -Siren of the French Broad -The Hunter of Calawassee -Revenge of the Accabee -Toccoa Falls -Two Lives for One -A Ghostly Avenger -The Wraith Ringer of Atlanta -The Swallowing Earthquake -The Last Stand of the Biloxi -The Sacred Fire of Natchez -Pass Christian -The Under Land - - -THE CENTRAL STATES AND GREAT LAKES - -An Averted Peril -The Obstinacy of Saint Clair -The Hundredth Skull -The Crime of Black Swamp -The House Accursed -Marquette's Man-Eater -Michel de Coucy's Troubles -Wallen's Ridge -The Sky Walker of Huron -The Coffin of Snakes -Mackinack -Lake Superior Water Gods -The Witch of Pictured Rocks -The Origin of White Fish -The Spirit of Cloudy -The Sun Fire at Sault Sainte Marie -The Snake God of Belle Isle -Were-Wolves of Detroit -The Escape of Francois Navarre -The Old Lodger -The Nain Rouge -Two Revenges -Hiawatha -The Indian Messiah -The Vision of Rescue -Devil's Lake -The Keusca Elopement -Pipestone -The Virgins' Feast -Falls of St. Anthony -Flying Shadow and Track Maker -Saved by a Lightning-Stroke -The Killing of Cloudy Sky -Providence Hole -The Scare Cure -Twelfth Night at Cahokia -The Spell of Creve Coeur Lake -How the Crime was Revealed -Banshee of the Bad Lands -Standing Rock -The Salt Witch - - -ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - -Over the Divide -The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass -The River of Lost Souls -Riders of the Desert -The Division of Two Tribes -Besieged by Starvation -A Yellowstone Tragedy -The Broad House -The Death Waltz -The Flood at Santa Fe -Goddess of Salt -The Coming of the Navajos -The Ark on Superstition Mountains -The Pale Faced Lightning -The Weird Sentinel at Squaw Peak -Sacrifice of the Toltecs -Ta-Vwots Conquers the Sun -The Comanche Rider -Horned Toad and Giants -The Spider Tower -The Lost Trail -A Battle in the Air - - -ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE - -The Voyager of the Whulge -Tamanous of Tacoma -The Devil and the Dalles -Cascades of the Columbia -The Death of Umatilla -Hunger Valley -The Wrath of Manitou -The Spook of Misery Hill -The Queen of Death Valley -Bridal Veil Fall -The Governor's Right Eye -The Prisoner in American Shaft - - -AS TO BURIED TREASURE - -Kidd's Treasure -Other Buried Wealth - - -STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS - - - - - -PREFACE - -It is unthinkingly said and often, that America is not old enough to have -developed a legendary era, for such an era grows backward as a nation -grows forward. No little of the charm of European travel is ascribed to -the glamour that history and fable have flung around old churches, -castles, and the favored haunts of tourists, and the Rhine and Hudson are -frequently compared, to the prejudice of the latter, not because its -scenery lacks in loveliness or grandeur, but that its beauty has not been -humanized by love of chivalry or faerie, as that of the older stream has -been. Yet the record of our country's progress is of deep import, and as -time goes on the figures seen against the morning twilight of our history -will rise to more commanding stature, and the mists of legend will invest -them with a softness or glory that shall make reverence for them -spontaneous and deep. Washington hurling the stone across the Potomac may -live as the Siegfried of some Western saga, and Franklin invoking the -lightnings may be the Loki of our mythology. The bibliography of American -legends is slight, and these tales have been gathered from sources the -most diverse: records, histories, newspapers, magazines, oral -narrative--in every case reconstructed. The pursuit of them has been so -long that a claim may be set forth for some measure of completeness. - -But, whatever the episodes of our four historic centuries may furnish to -the poet, painter, dramatist, or legend-building idealist of the future, -it is certain that we are not devoid of myth and folk-lore. Some -characters, prosaic enough, perhaps, in daily life, have impinged so -lightly on society before and after perpetrating their one or two great -deeds, that they have already become shadowy and their achievements have -acquired a color of the supernatural. It is where myth and history -combine that legend is most interesting and appeals to our fancy or our -sympathy most strongly; and it is not too early for us to begin the -collation of those quaint happenings and those spoken reports that gain -in picturesqueness with each transmission. An attempt has been made in -this instance to assemble only legends, for, doubtful as some historians -profess to find them, certain occurrences, like the story of Captain -Smith and Pocahontas, and the ride of General Putnam down Breakneck -Stairs, are taught as history; while as to folk-lore, that of the Indian -tribes and of the Southern negro is too copious to be recounted in this -work. It will be noted that traditions do not thrive in brick and -brownstone, and that the stories once rife in the colonial cities have -almost as effectually disappeared as the architectural landmarks of last -century. The field entered by the writer is not untrodden. Hawthorne and -Irving have made paths across it, and it is hoped that others may deem -its farther exploration worthy of their efforts. - - - - -THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - - - - -RIP VAN WINKLE - -The story of Rip Van Winkle, told by Irving, dramatized by Boucicault, -acted by Jefferson, pictured by Darley, set to music by Bristow, is the -best known of American legends. Rip was a real personage, and the Van -Winkles are a considerable family at this day. An idle, good-natured, -happy-go-lucky fellow, he lived, presumably, in the village of Catskill, -and began his long sleep in 1769. His wife was a shrew, and to escape her -abuse Rip often took his dog and gun and roamed away to the Catskills, -nine miles westward, where he lounged or hunted, as the humor seized him. -It was on a September evening, during a jaunt on South Mountain, that he -met a stubby, silent man, of goodly girth, his round head topped with a -steeple hat, the skirts of his belted coat and flaps of his petticoat -trousers meeting at the tops of heavy boots, and the face--ugh!--green -and ghastly, with unmoving eyes that glimmered in the twilight like -phosphorus. The dwarf carried a keg, and on receiving an intimation, in a -sign, that he would like Rip to relieve him of it, that cheerful vagabond -shouldered it and marched on up the mountain. - -At nightfall they emerged on a little plateau where a score of men in the -garb of long ago, with faces like that of Rip's guide, and equally still -and speechless, were playing bowls with great solemnity, the balls -sometimes rolling over the plateau's edge and rumbling down the rocks -with a boom like thunder. A cloaked and snowy-bearded figure, watching -aloof, turned like the others, and gazed uncomfortably at the visitor who -now came blundering in among them. Rip was at first for making off, but -the sinister glare in the circle of eyes took the run out of his legs, -and he was not displeased when they signed to him to tap the keg and join -in a draught of the ripest schnapps that ever he had tasted,--and he knew -the flavor of every brand in Catskill. While these strange men grew no -more genial with passing of the flagons, Rip was pervaded by a satisfying -glow; then, overcome by sleepiness and resting his head on a stone, he -stretched his tired legs out and fell to dreaming. - -Morning. Sunlight and leaf shadow were dappled over the earth when he -awoke, and rising stiffly from his bed, with compunctions in his bones, -he reached for his gun. The already venerable implement was so far gone -with rot and rust that it fell to pieces in his hand, and looking down at -the fragments of it, he saw that his clothes were dropping from his body -in rags and mould, while a white beard flowed over his breast. Puzzled -and alarmed, shaking his head ruefully as he recalled the carouse of the -silent, he hobbled down the mountain as fast as he might for the grip of -the rheumatism on his knees and elbows, and entered his native village. -What! Was this Catskill? Was this the place that he left yesterday? Had -all these houses sprung up overnight, and these streets been pushed -across the meadows in a day? The people, too: where were his friends? The -children who had romped with him, the rotund topers whom he had left -cooling their hot noses in pewter pots at the tavern door, the dogs that -used to bark a welcome, recognizing in him a kindred spirit of vagrancy: -where were they? - -And his wife, whose athletic arm and agile tongue had half disposed him -to linger in the mountains how happened it that she was not awaiting him -at the gate? But gate there was none in the familiar place: an unfenced -yard of weeds and ruined foundation wall were there. Rip's home was gone. -The idlers jeered at his bent, lean form, his snarl of beard and hair, -his disreputable dress, his look of grieved astonishment. He stopped, -instinctively, at the tavern, for he knew that place in spite of its new -sign: an officer in blue regimentals and a cocked hat replacing the -crimson George III. of his recollection, and labelled “General -Washington.” There was a quick gathering of ne'er-do-weels, of -tavern-haunters and gaping 'prentices, about him, and though their faces -were strange and their manners rude, he made bold to ask if they knew -such and such of his friends. - -“Nick Vedder? He's dead and gone these eighteen years.” “Brom Dutcher? He -joined the army and was killed at Stony Point.” “Van Brummel? He, too, -went to the war, and is in Congress now.” - -“And Rip Van Winkle?” - -“Yes, he's here. That's him yonder.” - -And to Rip's utter confusion he saw before him a counterpart of himself, -as young, lazy, ragged, and easy-natured as he remembered himself to be, -yesterday--or, was it yesterday? - -“That's young Rip,” continued his informer. “His father was Rip Van -Winkle, too, but he went to the mountains twenty years ago and never came -back. He probably fell over a cliff, or was carried off by Indians, or -eaten by bears.” - -Twenty years ago! Truly, it was so. Rip had slept for twenty years -without awaking. He had left a peaceful colonial village; he returned to -a bustling republican town. How he eventually found, among the oldest -inhabitants, some who admitted that they knew him; how he found a -comfortable home with his married daughter and the son who took after him -so kindly; how he recovered from the effect of the tidings that his wife -had died of apoplexy, in a quarrel; how he resumed his seat at the tavern -tap and smoked long pipes and told long yarns for the rest of his days, -were matters of record up to the beginning of this century. - -And a strange story Rip had to tell, for he had served as cup-bearer to -the dead crew of the Half Moon. He had quaffed a cup of Hollands with no -other than Henry Hudson himself. Some say that Hudson's spirit has made -its home amid these hills, that it may look into the lovely valley that -he discovered; but others hold that every twenty years he and his men -assemble for a revel in the mountains that so charmed them when first -seen swelling against the western heavens, and the liquor they drink on -this night has the bane of throwing any mortal who lips it into a slumber -whence nothing can arouse him until the day dawns when the crew shall -meet again. As you climb the east front of the mountains by the old -carriage road, you pass, half-way up the height, the stone that Rip Van -Winkle slept on, and may see that it is slightly hollowed by his form. -The ghostly revellers are due in the Catskills in 1909, and let all -tourists who are among the mountains in September of that year beware of -accepting liquor from strangers. - - - - -CATSKILL GNOMES - -Behind the New Grand Hotel, in the Catskills, is an amphitheatre of -mountain that is held to be the place of which the Mohicans spoke when -they told of people there who worked in metals, and had bushy beards and -eyes like pigs. From the smoke of their forges, in autumn, came the haze -of Indian summer; and when the moon was full, it was their custom to -assemble on the edge of a precipice above the hollow and dance and caper -until the night was nigh worn away. They brewed a liquor that had the -effect of shortening the bodies and swelling the heads of all who drank -it, and when Hudson and his crew visited the mountains, the pygmies held -a carouse in his honor and invited him to drink their liquor. The crew -went away, shrunken and distorted by the magic distillation, and thus it -was that Rip Van Winkle found them on the eve of his famous sleep. - - - - -THE CATSKILL WITCH - -When the Dutch gave the name of Katzbergs to the mountains west of the -Hudson, by reason of the wild-cats and panthers that ranged there, they -obliterated the beautiful Indian Ontiora, “mountains of the sky.” In one -tradition of the red men these hills were bones of a monster that fed on -human beings until the Great Spirit turned it into stone as it was -floundering toward the ocean to bathe. The two lakes near the summit were -its eyes. These peaks were the home of an Indian witch, who adjusted the -weather for the Hudson Valley with the certainty of a signal service -bureau. It was she who let out the day and night in blessed alternation, -holding back the one when the other was at large, for fear of conflict. -Old moons she cut into stars as soon as she had hung new ones in the sky, -and she was often seen perched on Round Top and North Mountain, spinning -clouds and flinging them to the winds. Woe betide the valley residents if -they showed irreverence, for then the clouds were black and heavy, and -through them she poured floods of rain and launched the lightnings, -causing disastrous freshets in the streams and blasting the wigwams of -the mockers. In a frolic humor she would take the form of a bear or deer -and lead the Indian hunters anything but a merry dance, exposing them to -tire and peril, and vanishing or assuming some terrible shape when they -had overtaken her. Sometimes she would lead them to the cloves and would -leap into the air with a mocking “Ho, ho!” just as they stopped with a -shudder at the brink of an abyss. Garden Rock was a spot where she was -often found, and at its foot a lake once spread. This was held in such -awe that an Indian would never wittingly pursue his quarry there; but -once a hunter lost his way and emerged from the forest at the edge of the -pond. Seeing a number of gourds in crotches of the trees he took one, but -fearing the spirit he turned to leave so quickly that he stumbled and it -fell. As it broke, a spring welled from it in such volume that the -unhappy man was gulfed in its waters, swept to the edge of Kaaterskill -clove and dashed on the rocks two hundred and sixty feet below. Nor did -the water ever cease to run, and in these times the stream born of the -witch's revenge is known as Catskill Creek. - - - - -THE REVENGE OF SHANDAKEN - -On the rock platform where the Catskill Mountain House now stands, -commanding one of the fairest views in the world, old chief Shandaken set -his wigwam,--for it is a mistake to suppose that barbarians are -indifferent to beauty,--and there his daughter, Lotowana, was sought in -marriage by his braves. She, however, kept faith to an early vow -exchanged with a young chief of the Mohawks. A suitor who was -particularly troublesome was Norsereddin, proud, morose, dark-featured, a -stranger to the red man, a descendant, so he claimed, from Egyptian -kings, and who lived by himself on Kaaterskill Creek, appearing among -white settlements but rarely. - -On one of his visits to Catskill, a tavern-lounging Dutchman wagered him -a thousand golden crowns that he could not win Lotowana, and, stung by -avarice as well as inflamed by passion, Norsereddin laid new siege to her -heart. Still the girl refused to listen, and Shandaken counselled him to -be content with the smiles of others, thereby so angering the Egyptian -that he assailed the chief and was driven from the camp with blows; but -on the day of Lotowana's wedding with the Mohawk he returned, and in a -honeyed speech asked leave to give a jewel to the bride to show that he -had stifled jealousy and ill will. The girl took the handsome box he gave -her and drew the cover, when a spring flew forward, driving into her hand -the poisoned tooth of a snake that had been affixed to it. The venom was -strong, and in a few minutes Lotowana lay dead at her husband's feet. - -Though the Egyptian had disappeared into the forest directly on the -acceptance of his treacherous gift, twenty braves set off in pursuit, and -overtaking him on the Kalkberg, they dragged him back to the rock where -father and husband were bewailing the maid's untimely fate. A pile of -fagots was heaped within a few feet of the precipice edge, and tying -their captive on them, they applied the torch, dancing about with cries -of exultation as the shrieks of the wretch echoed from the cliffs. The -dead girl was buried by the mourning tribe, while the ashes of -Norsereddin were left to be blown abroad. On the day of his revenge -Shandaken left his ancient dwelling-place, and his camp-fires never -glimmered afterward on the front of Ontiora. - - - - -CONDEMNED TO THE NOOSE - -Ralph Sutherland, who, early in the last century, occupied a stone house -a mile from Leeds, in the Catskills, was a man of morose and violent -disposition, whose servant, a Scotch girl, was virtually a slave, -inasmuch as she was bound to work for him without pay until she had -refunded to him her passage-money to this country. Becoming weary of -bondage and of the tempers of her master, the girl ran away. The man set -off in a raging chase, and she had not gone far before Sutherland -overtook her, tied her by the wrists to his horse's tail, and began the -homeward journey. Afterward, he swore that the girl stumbled against the -horse's legs, so frightening the animal that it rushed off madly, -pitching him out of the saddle and dashing the servant to death on rocks -and trees; yet, knowing how ugly-tempered he could be, his neighbors were -better inclined to believe that he had driven the horse into a gallop, -intending to drag the girl for a short distance, as a punishment, and to -rein up before he had done serious mischief. On this supposition he was -arrested, tried, and sentenced to die on the scaffold. - -The tricks of circumstantial evidence, together with pleas advanced by -influential relatives of the prisoner, induced the court to delay -sentence until the culprit should be ninety-nine years old, but it was -ordered that, while released on his own recognizance, in the interim, he -should keep a hangman's noose about his neck and show himself before the -judges in Catskill once every year, to prove that he wore his badge of -infamy and kept his crime in mind. This sentence he obeyed, and there -were people living recently who claimed to remember him as he went about -with a silken cord knotted at his throat. He was always alone, he seldom -spoke, his rough, imperious manner had departed. Only when children asked -him what the rope was for were his lips seen to quiver, and then he would -hurry away. After dark his house was avoided, for gossips said that a -shrieking woman passed it nightly, tied at the tail of a giant horse with -fiery eyes and smoking nostrils; that a skeleton in a winding sheet had -been found there; that a curious thing, somewhat like a woman, had been -known to sit on his garden wall, with lights shining from her -finger-tips, uttering unearthly laughter; and that domestic animals -reproached the man by groaning and howling beneath his windows. - -These beliefs he knew, yet he neither grieved, nor scorned, nor answered -when he was told of them. Years sped on. Every year deepened his reserve -and loneliness, and some began to whisper that he would take his own way -out of the world, though others answered that men who were born to be -hanged would never be drowned; but a new republic was created; new laws -were made; new judges sat to minister them; so, on Ralph Sutherland's -ninety-ninth birthday anniversary, there were none who would accuse him -or execute sentence. He lived yet another year, dying in 1801. But was it -from habit, or was it in self-punishment and remorse, that he never took -off the cord? for, when he drew his last breath, though it was in his own -house, his throat was still encircled by the hangman's rope. - - - - -BIG INDIAN - -Intermarriages between white people and red ones in this country were not -uncommon in the days when our ancestors led as rude a life as the -natives, and several places in the Catskills commemorate this fact. Mount -Utsayantha, for example, is named for an Indian woman whose life, with -that of her baby and her white husband, was lost there. For the white men -early found friends among these mountains. As far back as 1663 they -spared Catherine Dubois and her three children, after some rash spirits -had abducted them and carried them to a place on the upper Walkill, to do -them to death; for the captives raised a Huguenot hymn and the hearts of -their captors were softened. - -In Esopus Valley lived Winnisook, whose height was seven feet, and who -was known among the white settlers as “the big Indian.” He loved a white -girl of the neighborhood, one Gertrude Molyneux, and had asked for her -hand; but while she was willing, the objections of her family were too -strong to be overcome, and she was teased into marriage with Joseph -Bundy, of her own race, instead. She liked the Indian all the better -after that, however, because Bundy proved to be a bad fellow, and -believing that she could be happier among barbarians than among a people -that approved such marriages, she eloped with Winnisook. For a long time -all trace of the runaway couple was lost, but one day the man having gone -down to the plain to steal cattle, it was alleged, was discovered by some -farmers who knew him, and who gave hot chase, coming up with him at the -place now called Big Indian. - -Foremost in the chase was Bundy. As he came near to the enemy of his -peace he exclaimed, “I think the best way to civilize that yellow serpent -is to let daylight into his heart,” and, drawing his rifle to his -shoulder, he fired. Mortally wounded, yet instinctively seeking refuge, -the giant staggered into the hollow of a pine-tree, where the farmers -lost sight of him. There, however, he was found by Gertrude, bolt -upright, yet dead. The unwedded widow brought her dusky children to the -place and spent the remainder of her days near his grave. Until a few -years ago the tree was still pointed out, but a railroad company has now -covered it with an embankment. - - - - -THE BAKER'S DOZEN - -Baas [Boss] Volckert Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam kept a bake-shop in -Albany, and lives in history as the man who invented New Year cakes and -made gingerbread babies in the likeness of his own fat offspring. Good -churchman though he was, the bane of his life was a fear of being -bewitched, and perhaps it was to keep out evil spirits, who might make -one last effort to gain the mastery over him, ere he turned the customary -leaf with the incoming year, that he had primed himself with an extra -glass of spirits on the last night of 1654. His sales had been brisk, and -as he sat in his little shop, meditating comfortably on the gains he -would make when his harmless rivals--the knikkerbakkers (bakers of -marbles)--sent for their usual supply of olie-koeks and mince-pies on the -morrow, he was startled by a sharp rap, and an ugly old woman entered. -“Give me a dozen New Year's cookies!” she cried, in a shrill voice. - -“Vell, den, you needn' sbeak so loud. I aind teaf, den.” - -“A dozen!” she screamed. “Give me a dozen. Here are only twelve.” - -“Vell, den, dwalf is a dozen.” - -“One more! I want a dozen.” - -“Vell, den, if you vant anodder, go to de duyvil and ged it.” - -Did the hag take him at his word? She left the shop, and from that time -it seemed as if poor Volckert was bewitched, indeed, for his cakes were -stolen; his bread was so light that it went up the chimney, when it was -not so heavy that it fell through the oven; invisible hands plucked -bricks from that same oven and pelted him until he was blue; his wife -became deaf, his children went unkempt, and his trade went elsewhere. -Thrice the old woman reappeared, and each time was sent anew to the -devil; but at last, in despair, the baker called on Saint Nicolaus to -come and advise him. His call was answered with startling quickness, for, -almost while he was making it, the venerable patron of Dutch feasts stood -before him. The good soul advised the trembling man to be more generous -in his dealings with his fellows, and after a lecture on charity he -vanished, when, lo! the old woman was there in his place. - -She repeated her demand for one more cake, and Volckert Jan Pietersen, -etc., gave it, whereupon she exclaimed, “The spell is broken, and from -this time a dozen is thirteen!” Taking from the counter a gingerbread -effigy of Saint Nicolaus, she made the astonished Dutchman lay his hand -upon it and swear to give more liberal measure in the future. So, until -thirteen new States arose from the ruins of the colonies,--when the -shrewd Yankees restored the original measure,--thirteen made a baker's -dozen. - - - - -THE DEVIL'S DANCE-CHAMBER. - -Most storied of our New World rivers is the Hudson. Historic scenes have -been enacted on its shores, and Indian, Dutchman, Briton, and American -have invested it with romance. It had its source, in the red man's fancy, -in a spring of eternal youth; giants and spirits dwelt in its woods and -hills, and before the river-Shatemuc, king of streams, the red men called -it--had broken through the highlands, those mountains were a pent for -spirits who had rebelled against the Manitou. After the waters had forced -a passage to the sea these evil ones sought shelter in the glens and -valleys that open to right and left along its course, but in time of -tempest, when they hear Manitou riding down the ravine on wings of storm, -dashing thunderbolts against the cliffs, it is the fear that he will -recapture them and force them into lightless caverns to expiate their -revolt, that sends them huddling among the rocks and makes the hills -resound with roars and howls. - -At the Devil's Dance-Chamber, a slight plateau on the west bank, between -Newburg and Crom Elbow, the red men performed semi-religious rites as a -preface to their hunting and fishing trips or ventures on the war-path. -They built a fire, painted themselves, and in that frenzy into which -savages are so readily lashed, and that is so like to the action of mobs -in trousers, they tumbled, leaped, danced, yelled, sang, grimaced, and -gesticulated until the Manitou disclosed himself, either as a harmless -animal or a beast of prey. If he came in the former shape the augury was -favorable, but if he showed himself as a bear or panther, it was a -warning of evil that they seldom dared to disregard. - -The crew of Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, having chanced on one of these -orgies, were so impressed by the fantastic spectacle that they gave the -name Duyvels Dans-Kamer to the spot. Years afterwards, when Stuyvesant -ascended the river, his doughty retainers were horrified, on landing -below the Dans-Kamer, to discover hundreds of painted figures frisking -there in the fire-light. A few surmised that they were but a new -generation of savages holding a powwow, but most of the sailors fancied -that the assemblage was demoniac, and that the figures were spirits of -bad Indians repeating a scalp-dance and revelling in the mysterious -fire-water that they had brought down from the river source in jars and -skins. The spot was at least once profaned with blood, for a young -Dutchman and his wife, of Albany, were captured here by an angry Indian, -and although the young man succeeded in stabbing his captor to death, he -was burned alive on the rock by the friends of the Indian whose wrath he -had provoked. The wife, after being kept in captivity for a time, was -ransomed. - - - - -THE CULPRIT FAY - -The wood-tick's drum convokes the elves at the noon of night on Cro' Nest -top, and, clambering out of their flower-cup beds and hammocks of cobweb, -they fly to the meeting, not to freak about the grass or banquet at the -mushroom table, but to hear sentence passed on the fay who, forgetting -his vestal vow, has loved an earthly maid. From his throne under a canopy -of tulip petals, borne on pillars of shell, the king commands silence, -and with severe eye but softened voice he tells the culprit that while he -has scorned the royal decree he has saved himself from the extreme -penalty, of imprisonment in walnut shells and cobweb dungeons, by loving -a maid who is gentle and pure. So it shall be enough if he will go down -to the Hudson and seize a drop from the bow of mist that a sturgeon -leaves when he makes his leap; and after, to kindle his darkened -flame-wood lamp at a meteor spark. The fairy bows, and without a word -slowly descends the rocky steep, for his wing is soiled and has lost its -power; but once at the river, he tugs amain at a mussel shell till he has -it afloat; then, leaping in, he paddles out with a strong grass blade -till he comes to the spot where the sturgeon swims, though the -watersprites plague him and toss his boat, and the fish and the leeches -bunt and drag; but, suddenly, the sturgeon shoots from the water, and ere -the arch of mist that he tracks through the air has vanished, the sprite -has caught a drop of the spray in a tiny blossom, and in this he washes -clean his wings. - -The water-goblins torment him no longer. They push his boat to the shore, -where, alighting, he kisses his hand, then, even as a bubble, he flies -back to the mountain top, dons his acorn helmet, his corselet of -bee-hide, his shield of lady-bug shell, and grasping his lance, tipped -with wasp sting, he bestrides his fire-fly steed and off he goes like a -flash. The world spreads out and then grows small, but he flies straight -on. The ice-ghosts leer from the topmost clouds, and the mists surge -round, but he shakes his lance and pipes his call, and at last he comes -to the Milky Way, where the sky-sylphs lead him to their queen, who lies -couched in a palace ceiled with stars, its dome held up by northern -lights and the curtains made of the morning's flush. Her mantle is -twilight purple, tied with threads of gold from the eastern dawn, and her -face is as fair as the silver moon. - -She begs the fay to stay with her and taste forever the joys of heaven, -but the knightly elf keeps down the beating of his heart, for he -remembers a face on earth that is fairer than hers, and he begs to go. -With a sigh she fits him a car of cloud, with the fire-fly steed chained -on behind, and he hurries away to the northern sky whence the meteor -comes, with roar and whirl, and as it passes it bursts to flame. He -lights his lamp at a glowing spark, then wheels away to the fairy-land. -His king and his brothers hail him stoutly, with song and shout, and -feast and dance, and the revel is kept till the eastern sky has a ruddy -streak. Then the cock crows shrill and the fays are gone. - - - - -POKEPSIE - -The name of this town has forty-two spellings in old records, and with -singular pertinacity in ill-doing, the inhabitants have fastened on it -the longest and clumsiest of all. It comes from the Mohegan words -Apo-keep-sink, meaning a safe, pleasant harbor. Harbor it might be for -canoes, but for nothing bigger, for it was only the little cove that was -so called between Call Rock and Adder Cliff,--the former indicating where -settlers awaiting passage hailed the masters of vessels from its top, and -the latter taking its name from the snakes that abounded there. - -Hither came a band of Delawares with Pequot captives, among them a young -chief to whom had been offered not only life but leadership if he would -renounce his tribe, receive the mark of the turtle on his breast, and -become a Delaware. On his refusal, he was bound to a tree, and was about -to undergo the torture, when a girl among the listeners sprang to his -side. She, too, was a Pequot, but the turtle totem was on her bosom, and -when she begged his life, because they had been betrothed, the captors -paused to talk of it. She had chosen well the time to interfere, for a -band of Hurons was approaching, and even as the talk went on their yell -was heard in the wood. Instant measures for defence were taken, and in -the fight that followed both chief and maiden were forgotten; but though -she cut the cords that bound him, they were separated in the confusion, -he disappearing, she falling captive to the Hurons, who, sated with -blood, retired from the field. In the fantastic disguise of a wizard the -young Pequot entered their camp soon after, and on being asked to try his -enchantments for the cure of a young woman, he entered her tent, showing -no surprise at finding her to be the maiden of his choice, who was -suffering from nothing worse than nerves, due to the excitement of the -battle. Left alone with his patient, he disclosed his identity, and -planned a way of escape that proved effective on that very night, for, -though pursued by the angry Hurons, the couple reached “safe harbor,” - thence making a way to their own country in the east, where they were -married. - - - - -DUNDERBERG - -Dunderberg, “Thunder Mountain,” at the southern gate of the Hudson -Highlands, is a wooded eminence, chiefly populated by a crew of imps of -stout circumference, whose leader, the Heer, is a bulbous goblin clad in -the dress worn by Dutch colonists two centuries ago, and carrying a -speaking-trumpet, through which he bawls his orders for the blowing of -winds and the touching off of lightnings. These orders are given in Low -Dutch, and are put into execution by the imps aforesaid, who troop into -the air and tumble about in the mist, sometimes smiting the flag or -topsail of a ship to ribbons, or laying the vessel over before the wind -until she is in peril of going on beam ends. At one time a sloop passing -the Dunderberg had nearly foundered, when the crew discovered the -sugar-loaf hat of the Heer at the mast-head. None dared to climb for it, -and it was not until she had driven past Pollopel's Island--the limit of -the Heer's jurisdiction--that she righted. As she did so the little hat -spun into the air like a top, creating a vortex that drew up the -storm-clouds, and the sloop kept her way prosperously for the rest of the -voyage. The captain had nailed a horse-shoe to the mast. The “Hat Rogue” - of the Devil's Bridge in Switzerland must be a relative of this gamesome -sprite, for his mischief is usually of a harmless sort; but, to be on the -safe side, the Dutchmen who plied along the river lowered their peaks in -homage to the keeper of the mountain, and for years this was a common -practice. Mariners who paid this courtesy to the Heer of the Donder Berg -were never molested by his imps, though skipper Ouselsticker, of -Fishkill,--for all he had a parson on board,--was once beset by a heavy -squall, and the goblin came out of the mist and sat astraddle of his -bowsprit, seeming to guide his schooner straight toward the rocks. The -dominie chanted the song of Saint Nicolaus, and the goblin, unable to -endure either its spiritual potency or the worthy parson's singing, shot -upward like a ball and rode off on the gale, carrying with him the -nightcap of the parson's wife, which he hung on the weathercock of Esopus -steeple, forty miles away. - - - - -ANTHONY'S NOSE - -The Hudson Highlands are suggestively named Bear Mountain, Sugar Loaf, -Cro' Nest, Storm King, called by the Dutch Boterberg, or Butter Hill, -from its likeness to a pat of butter; Beacon Hill, where the fires blazed -to tell the country that the Revolutionary war was over; Dunderberg, -Mount Taurus, so called because a wild bull that had terrorized the -Highlands was chased out of his haunts on this height, and was killed by -falling from a cliff on an eminence to the northward, known, in -consequence, as Breakneck Hill. These, with Anthony's Nose, are the -principal points of interest in the lovely and impressive panorama that -unfolds before the view as the boats fly onward. - -Concerning the last-named elevation, the aquiline promontory that abuts -on the Hudson opposite Dunderberg, it takes title from no resemblance to -the human feature, but is so named because Anthony Van Corlaer, the -trumpeter, who afterwards left a reason for calling the upper boundary of -Manhattan Island Spuyten Duyvil Creek, killed the first sturgeon ever -eaten at the foot of this mountain. It happened in this wise: By -assiduous devotion to keg and flagon Anthony had begotten a nose that was -the wonder and admiration of all who knew it, for its size was -prodigious; in color it rivalled the carbuncle, and it shone like -polished copper. As Anthony was lounging over the quarter of Peter -Stuyvesant's galley one summer morning this nose caught a ray from the -sun and reflected it hissing into the water, where it killed a sturgeon -that was rising beside the vessel. The fish was pulled aboard, eaten, and -declared good, though the singed place savored of brimstone, and in -commemoration of the event Stuyvesant dubbed the mountain that rose above -his vessel Anthony's Nose. - - - - -MOODUA CREEK - -Moodua is an evolution, through Murdy's and Moodna, from Murderer's -Creek, its present inexpressive name having been given to it by N. P. -Willis. One Murdock lived on its shore with his wife, two sons, and a -daughter; and often in the evening Naoman, a warrior of a neighboring -tribe, came to the cabin, caressed the children, and shared the woodman's -hospitality. One day the little girl found in the forest an arrow wrapped -in snake-skin and tipped with crow's feather; then the boy found a -hatchet hanging by a hair from a bough above the door; then a glare of -evil eyes was caught for an instant in a thicket. Naoman, when he came, -was reserved and stern, finding voice only to warn the family to fly that -night; so, when all was still, the threatened family made its way softly, -but quickly, to the Hudson shore, and embarked for Fisher's Kill, across -the river. - -The wind lagged and their boat drew heavily, and when, from the shade of -Pollopel's Island, a canoe swept out, propelled by twelve men, the hearts -of the people in the boat sank in despair. The wife was about to leap -over, but Murdock drew her back; then, loading and firing as fast as -possible, he laid six of his pursuers low; but the canoe was savagely -urged forward, and in another minute every member of the family was a -helpless captive. When the skiff had been dragged back, the prisoners -were marched through the wood to an open spot where the principal members -of the tribe sat in council. - -The sachem arose, twisted his hands in the woman's golden hair, bared his -knife, and cried, “Tell us what Indian warned you and betrayed his tribe, -or you shall see husband and children bleed before your eyes.” The woman -answered never a word, but after a little Naoman arose and said, “'Twas -I;” then drew his blanket about him and knelt for execution. An axe cleft -his skull. Drunk with the sight of blood, the Indians rushed upon the -captives and slew them, one by one. The prisoners neither shrank nor -cried for mercy, but met their end with hymns upon their lips, and, -seeing that they could so meet death, one member of the band let fall his -arm and straight became a Christian. The cabin was burned, the bodies -flung into the stream, and the stain of blood was seen for many a year in -Murderer's Creek. - - - - -A TRAPPER'S GHASTLY VENGEANCE - -About a mile back from the Hudson, at Coxsackie, stood the cabin of Nick -Wolsey, who, in the last century, was known to the river settlements as a -hunter and trapper of correct aim, shrewdness, endurance, and taciturn -habit. For many years he lived in this cabin alone, except for the -company of his dog; but while visiting a camp of Indians in the -wilderness he was struck with the engaging manner of one of the girls of -the tribe; he repeated the visit; he found cause to go to the camp -frequently; he made presents to the father of the maid, and at length won -her consent to be his wife. The simple marriage ceremony of the tribe was -performed, and Wolsey led Minamee to his home; but the wedding was -interrupted in an almost tragic manner, for a surly fellow who had loved -the girl, yet who never had found courage to declare himself, was wrought -to such a jealous fury at the discovery of Wolsey's good fortune that he -sprang at him with a knife, and would have despatched him on the spot had -not the white man's faithful hound leaped at his throat and borne him to -the ground. - -Wolsey disarmed the fellow and kicked and cuffed him to the edge of the -wood, while the whole company shouted with laughter at this ignominious -punishment, and approved it. A year or more passed. Wolsey and his Indian -wife were happy in their free and simple life; happy, too, in their -little babe. Wolsey was seldom absent from his cabin for any considerable -length of time, and usually returned to it before the night set in. One -evening he noticed that the grass and twigs were bent near his house by -some passing foot that, with the keen eye of the woodman, he saw was not -his wife's. - -“Some hunter,” he said, “saw the house when he passed here, and as, -belike, he never saw one before, he stopped to look in.” For the trail -led to his window, and diverged thence to the forest again. A few days -later, as he was returning, he came on the footprints that were freshly -made, and a shadow crossed his face. On nearing the door he stumbled on -the body of his dog, lying rigid on the ground. “How did this happen, -Minamee?” he cried, as he flung open the door. The wife answered, in a -low voice, “O Hush! you'll wake the child.” - -Nick Wolsey entered the cabin and stood as one turned to marble. Minamee, -his wife, sat on the gold hearth, her face and hands cut and blackened, -her dress torn, her eyes glassy, a meaningless smile on her lips. In her -arms she pressed the body of her infant, its dress soaked with blood, and -the head of the little creature lay on the floor beside her. She crooned -softly over the cold clay as if hushing it to sleep, and when Wolsey at -length found words, she only whispered, “Hush! you will wake him.” The -night went heavily on; day dawned, and the crooning became lower and -lower; still, through all that day the bereft woman rocked to and fro -upon the floor, and the agonized husband hung about her, trying in vain -to give comfort, to bind her wounds, to get some explanation of the -mystery that confronted him. The second night set in, and it was evident -that it would be the last for Minamee. Her strength failed until she -allowed herself to be placed on a couch of skins, while the body of her -child was gently lifted from her arms. Then, for a few brief minutes, her -reason was restored, and she found words to tell her husband how the -Indian whose murderous attack he had thwarted at the wedding had come to -the cabin, shot the dog that had rushed out to defend the place, beat the -woman back from the door, tore the baby from its bed, slashed its head -off with a knife, and, flinging the little body into her lap, departed -with the words, “This is my revenge. I am satisfied.” Before the sun was -in the east again Minamee was with her baby. - -Wolsey sat for hours in the ruin of his happiness, his breathing alone -proving that he was alive, and when at last he arose and went out of the -house, there were neither tears nor outcry; he saddled his horse and rode -off to the westward. At nightfall he came to the Indian village where he -had won his wife, and relating to the assembled tribe what had happened, -he demanded that the murderer be given up to him. His demand was readily -granted, whereupon the white man advanced on the cowering wretch, who had -confidently expected the protection of his people, and with the quick -fling and jerk of a raw-hide rope bound his arms to his side. Then -casting a noose about his neck and tying the end of it to his saddle-bow, -he set off for the Hudson. All that night he rode, the Indian walking and -running at the horse's heels, and next day he reached his cabin. Tying -his prisoner to a tree, the trapper cut a quantity of young willows, from -which he fashioned a large cradle-like receptacle; in this he placed the -culprit, face upward, and tied so stoutly that he could not move a -finger; then going into his house, he emerged with the body of Minamee, -and laid it, face downward, on the wretch, who could not repress a groan -of horror as the awful burden sank on his breast. Wolsey bound together -the living and the dead, and with a swing of his powerful arms he flung -them on his horse's back, securing them there with so many turns of rope -that nothing could displace them. Now he began to lash his horse until -the poor beast trembled with anger and pain, when, flinging off the -halter, he gave it a final lash, and the animal plunged, foaming and -snorting, into the wilderness. When it had vanished and the hoof-beats -were no longer heard, Nick Wolsey took his rifle on his arm and left his -home forever. And tradition says that the horse never stopped in its mad -career, but that on still nights it can be heard sweeping through the -woods along the Hudson and along the Mohawk like a whirlwind, and that as -the sound goes by a smothered voice breaks out in cursing, in appeal, -then in harsh and dreadful laughter. - - - - -THE VANDERDECKEN OF TAPPAN ZEE - -It is Saturday night; the swell of the Hudson lazily heaves against the -shores of Tappan Zee, the cliff above Tarrytown where the white lady -cries on winter nights is pale in starlight, and crickets chirp in the -boskage. It is so still that the lap of oars can be heard coming across -the water at least a mile away. Some small boat, evidently, but of heavy -build, for it takes a vigorous hand to propel it, and now there is a -grinding of oars on thole-pins. Strange that it is not yet seen, for the -sound is near. Look! Is that a shadow crossing that wrinkle of starlight -in the water? The oars have stopped, and there is no wind to make that -sound of a sigh. - -Ho, Rambout Van Dam! Is it you? Are you still expiating your oath to pull -from Kakiat to Spuyten Duyvil before the dawn of Sabbath, if it takes you -a month of Sundays? Better for you had you passed the night with your -roistering friends at Kakiat, or started homeward earlier, for -Sabbath-breaking is no sin now, and you, poor ghost, will find little -sympathy for your plight. Grant that your month of Sundays, or your cycle -of months of Sundays, be soon up, for it is sad to be reminded that we -may be punished for offences many years forgotten. When the sun is high -to-morrow a score of barges will vex the sea of Tappan, each crowded with -men and maids from New Amsterdam, jigging to profane music and refreshing -themselves with such liquors as you, Rambout, never even smelled--be -thankful for that much. If your shade sits blinking at them from the -wooded buttresses of the Palisades, you must repine, indeed, at the -hardness of your fate. - - - - -THE GALLOPING HESSIAN - -In the flower-gemmed cemetery of Tarrytown, where gentle Irving sleeps, a -Hessian soldier was interred after sustaining misfortune in the loss of -his head in one of the Revolutionary battles. For a long time after he -was buried it was the habit of this gentleman to crawl from his grave at -unseemly hours and gallop about the country, sending shivers through the -frames of many worthy people, who shrank under their blankets when they -heard the rush of hoofs along the unlighted roads. - -In later times there lived in Tarrytown--so named because of the tarrying -habits of Dutch gossips on market days, though some hard-minded people -insist that Tarwe-town means Wheat-towna gaunt schoolmaster, one Ichabod -Crane, who cherished sweet sentiments for Katrina Van Tassell, the buxom -daughter of a farmer, also a famous maker of pies and doughnuts. Ichabod -had been calling late one evening, and, his way home being long, -Katrina's father lent him a horse to make the journey; but even with this -advantage the youth set out with misgivings, for he had to pass the -graveyard. - -As it was near the hour when the Hessian was to ride, he whistled feebly -to keep his courage up, but when he came to the dreaded spot the whistle -died in a gasp, for he heard the tread of a horse. On looking around, his -hair bristled and his heart came up like a plug in his throat to hinder -his breathing, for he saw a headless horseman coming over the ridge -behind him, blackly defined against the starry sky. Setting spurs to his -nag with a hope of being first to reach Sleepy Hollow bridge, which the -spectre never passed, the unhappy man made the best possible time in that -direction, for his follower was surely overtaking him. Another minute and -the bridge would be reached; but, to Ichabod's horror, the Hessian dashed -alongside and, rising in his stirrups, flung his head full at the -fugitive's back. With a squeal of fright the schoolmaster rolled into a -mass of weeds by the wayside, and for some minutes he remained there, -knowing and remembering nothing. - -Next morning farmer Van Tassell's horse was found grazing in a field near -Sleepy Hollow, and a man who lived some miles southward reported that he -had seen Mr. Crane striding as rapidly along the road to New York as his -lean legs could take him, and wearing a pale and serious face as he kept -his march. There were yellow stains on the back of his coat, and the man -who restored the horse found a smashed pumpkin in the broken bushes -beside the road. Ichabod never returned to Tarrytown, and when Brom -Bones, a stout young ploughman and taphaunter, married Katrina, people -made bold to say that he knew more about the galloping Hessian than any -one else, though they believed that he never had reason to be jealous of -Ichabod Crane. - - - - -STORM SHIP OF THE HUDSON - -It was noised about New Amsterdam, two hundred years ago, that a round -and bulky ship flying Dutch colors from her lofty quarter was careering -up the harbor in the teeth of a north wind, through the swift waters of -an ebbing tide, and making for the Hudson. A signal from the Battery to -heave to and account for herself being disregarded, a cannon was trained -upon her, and a ball went whistling through her cloudy and imponderable -mass, for timbers she had none. Some of the sailor-folk talked of mirages -that rose into the air of northern coasts and seas, but the wise ones put -their fingers beside their noses and called to memory the Flying -Dutchman, that wanderer of the seas whose captain, having sworn that he -would round Cape Horn in spite of heaven and hell, has been beating to -and fro along the bleak Fuegian coast and elsewhere for centuries, being -allowed to land but once in seven years, when he can break the curse if -he finds a girl who will love him. Perhaps Captain Vanderdecken found -this maiden of his hopes in some Dutch settlement on the Hudson, or -perhaps he expiated his rashness by prayer and penitence; howbeit, he -never came down again, unless he slipped away to sea in snow or fog so -dense that watchers and boatmen saw nothing of his passing. A few old -settlers declared the vessel to be the Half Moon, and there were some who -testified to seeing that identical ship with Hudson and his spectre crew -on board making for the Catskills to hold carouse. - -This fleeting vision has been confounded with the storm ship that lurks -about the foot of the Palisades and Point-no-Point, cruising through -Tappan Zee at night when a gale is coming up. The Hudson is four miles -wide at Tappan, and squalls have space enough to gather force; hence, -when old skippers saw the misty form of a ship steal out from the shadows -of the western hills, then fly like a gull from shore to shore, catching -the moonlight on her topsails, but showing no lanterns, they made to -windward and dropped anchor, unless their craft were stanch and their -pilot's brains unvexed with liquor. On summer nights, when falls that -curious silence which is ominous of tempest, the storm ship is not only -seen spinning across the mirror surface of the river, but the voices of -the crew are heard as they chant at the braces and halyards in words -devoid of meaning to the listeners. - - - - -WHY SPUYTEN DUYVIL IS SO NAMED - -The tide-water creek that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island is -known to dwellers in tenements round about as “Spittin' Divvle.” The -proper name of it is Spuyten Duyvil, and this, in turn, is the -compression of a celebrated boast by Anthony Van Corlaer. This -redoubtable gentleman, famous for fat, long wind, and long whiskers, was -trumpeter for the garrison at New Amsterdam, which his countrymen had -just bought for twenty-four dollars, and he sounded the brass so sturdily -that in the fight between the Dutch and Indians at the Dey Street peach -orchard his blasts struck more terror into the red men's hearts than did -the matchlocks of his comrades. William the Testy vowed that Anthony and -his trumpet were garrison enough for all Manhattan Island, for he argued -that no regiment of Yankees would approach near enough to be struck with -lasting deafness, as must have happened if they came when Anthony was -awake. - -Peter Stuyvesant-Peter the Headstrong--showed his appreciation of -Anthony's worth by making him his esquire, and when he got news of an -English expedition on its way to seize his unoffending colony, he at once -ordered Anthony to rouse the villages along the Hudson with a trumpet -call to war. The esquire took a hurried leave of six or eight ladies, -each of whom delighted to believe that his affections were lavished on -her alone, and bravely started northward, his trumpet hanging on one -side, a stone bottle, much heavier, depending from the other. It was a -stormy evening when he arrived at the upper end of the island, and there -was no ferryman in sight, so, after fuming up and down the shore, he -swallowed a mighty draught of Dutch courage,--for he was as accomplished -a performer on the horn as on the trumpet,--and swore with ornate and -voluminous oaths that he would swim the stream “in spite of the devil” - [En spuyt den Duyvil]. - -He plunged in, and had gone half-way across when the Evil One, not to be -spited, appeared as a huge moss-bunker, vomiting boiling water and -lashing a fiery tail. This dreadful fish seized Anthony by the leg; but -the trumpeter was game, for, raising his instrument to his lips, he -exhaled his last breath through it in a defiant blast that rang through -the woods for miles and made the devil himself let go for a moment. Then -he was dragged below, his nose shining through the water more and more -faintly, until, at last, all sight of him was lost. The failure of his -mission resulted in the downfall of the Dutch in America, for, soon -after, the English won a bloodless victory, and St. George's cross -flaunted from the ramparts where Anthony had so often saluted the setting -sun. But it was years, even then, before he was hushed, for in stormy -weather it was claimed that the shrill of his trumpet could be heard near -the creek that he had named, sounding above the deeper roar of the blast. - - - - -THE RAMAPO SALAMANDER - -A curious tale of the Rosicrucians runs to the effect that more than two -centuries ago a band of German colonists entered the Ramapo valley and -put up houses of stone, like those they had left in the Hartz Mountains, -and when the Indians saw how they made knives and other wonderful things -out of metal, which they extracted from the rocks by fire, they believed -them to be manitous and went away, not wishing to resist their possession -of the land. There was treasure here, for High Tor, or Torn Mountain, had -been the home of Amasis, youngest of the magi who had followed the star -of Bethlehem. He had found his way, through Asia and Alaska, to this -country, had taken to wife a native woman, by whom he had a child, and -here on the summit he had built a temple. Having refused the sun worship, -when the Indians demanded that he should take their faith, he was set -upon, and would have been killed had not an earthquake torn the ground at -his feet, opening a new channel for the Hudson and precipitating into it -every one but the magus and his daughter. To him had been revealed in -magic vision the secrets of wealth in the rocks. - -The leader in the German colony, one Hugo, was a man of noble origin, who -had a wife and two children: a boy, named after himself; a girl,--Mary. -Though it had been the custom in the other country to let out the forge -fires once in seven years, Hugo opposed that practice in the forge he had -built as needless. But his men murmured and talked of the salamander that -once in seven years attains its growth in unquenched flame and goes forth -doing mischief. On the day when that period was ended the master entered -his works and saw the men gazing into the furnace at a pale form that -seemed made from flame, that was nodding and turning in the fire, -occasionally darting its tongue at them or allowing its tail to fall out -and lie along the stone floor. As he came to the door he, too, was -transfixed, and the fire seemed burning his vitals, until he felt water -sprinkled on his face, and saw that his wife, whom he had left at home -too ill to move, stood behind him and was casting holy water into the -furnace, speaking an incantation as she did so. At that moment a storm -arose, and a rain fell that put out the fire; but as the last glow faded -the lady fell dead. - -When her children were to be consecrated, seven years later, those who -stood outside of the church during the ceremony saw a vivid flash, and -the nurse turned from the boy in her fright. She took her hands from her -eyes. The child was gone. Twice seven years had passed and the daughter -remained unspotted by the world, for, on the night when her father had -led her to the top of High Torn Mountain and shown her what Amasis had -seen,--the earth spirits in their caves heaping jewels and offering to -give them if Hugo would speak the word that binds the free to the earth -forces and bars his future for a thousand years,--it was her prayer that -brought him to his senses and made the scene below grow dim, though the -baleful light of the salamander clinging to the rocks at the bottom of -the cave sent a glow into the sky. - -Many nights after that the glow was seen on the height and Hugo was -missing from his home, but for lack of a pure soul to stand as -interpreter he failed to read the words that burned in the triangle on -the salamander's back, and returned in rage and jealousy. A knightly man -had of late appeared in the settlement, and between him and Mary a tender -feeling had arisen, that, however, was unexpressed until, after saving -her from the attack of a panther, he had allowed her to fall into his -arms. She would willingly then have declared her love for him, but he -placed her gently and regretfully from him and said, “When you slept I -came to you and put a crown of gems on your head: that was because I was -in the power of the earth spirit. Then I had power only over the element -of fire, that either consumes or hardens to stone; but now water and life -are mine. Behold! Wear these, for thou art worthy.” And touching the -tears that had fallen from her eyes, they turned into lilies in his -hands, and he put them on her brow. - -“Shall we meet again?” asked the girl. - -“I do not know,” said he. “I tread the darkness of the universe alone, -and I peril my redemption by yielding to this love of earth. Thou art -redeemed already, but I must make my way back to God through obedience -tested in trial. Know that I am one of those that left heaven for love of -man. We were of that subtle element which is flame, burning and glowing -with love,--and when thy mother came to me with the power of purity to -cast me out of the furnace, I lost my shape of fire and took that of a -human being,--a child. I have been with thee often, and was rushing to -annihilation, because I could not withstand the ordeal of the senses. Had -I yielded, or found thee other than thou art, I should have become again -an earth spirit. I have been led away by wish for power, such as I have -in my grasp, and forgot the mission to the suffering. I became a wanderer -over the earth until I reached this land, the land that you call new. -Here was to be my last trial and here I am to pass the gate of fire.” - -As he spoke voices arose from the settlement. - -“They are coming,” said he. The stout form of Hugo was in advance. With a -fierce oath he sprang on the young man. “He has ruined my household,” he -cried. “Fling him into the furnace!” The young man stood waiting, but his -brow was serene. He was seized, and in a few moments had disappeared -through the mouth of the burning pit. But Mary, looking up, saw a shape -in robes of silvery light, and it drifted upward until it vanished in the -darkness. The look of horror on her face died away, and a peace came to -it that endured until the end. - - - - -CHIEF CROTON - -Between the island of Manhattoes and the Catskills the Hudson shores were -plagued with spooks, and even as late as the nineteenth century Hans -Anderson, a man who tilled a farm back of Peekskill, was worried into his -grave by the leaden-face likeness of a British spy whom he had hanged on -General Putnam's orders. “Old Put” doubtless enjoyed immunity from this -vexatious creature, because he was born with few nerves. A region -especially afflicted was the confluence of the Croton and the Hudson, for -the Kitchawan burying-ground was here, and the red people being disturbed -by the tramping of white men over their graves, “the walking sachems of -Teller's Point” were nightly to be met on their errands of protest. - -These Indians had built a palisade on Croton Point, and here they made -their last stand against their enemies from the north. Throughout the -fight old chief Croton stood on the wall with arrows showering around -him, and directed the resistance with the utmost calm. Not until every -one of his men was dead and the fort was going up in flame about him did -he confess defeat. Then standing amid the charring timbers, he used his -last breath in calling down the curse of the Great Spirit against the -foe. As the victorious enemy rushed into the enclosure to secure the -scalps of the dead he fell lifeless into the fire, and their jubilant -yell was lost upon his ears. Yet, he could not rest nor bear to leave his -ancient home, even after death, and often his form, in musing attitude, -was seen moving through the woods. When a manor was built on the ruins of -his fort, he appeared to the master of it, to urge him into the -Continental army, and having seen this behest obeyed and laid a solemn -injointure to keep the freedom of the land forever, he vanished, and -never appeared again. - - - - -THE RETREAT FROM MAHOPAC - -After the English had secured the city of New Amsterdam and had begun to -extend their settlements along the Hudson, the Indians congregated in -large numbers about Lake Mahopac, and rejected all overtures for the -purchase of that region. In their resolution they were sustained by their -young chief Omoyao, who refused to abandon on on any terms the country -where his fathers had solong hunted, fished, and built their lodges. A -half-breed, one Joliper, a member of this tribe, was secretly in the pay -of the English, but the allurements and insinuations that he put forth on -their behalf were as futile as the breathing of wind in the leaves. At -last the white men grew angry. Have the land they would, by evil course -if good ways were refused, and commissioning Joliper to act for them in a -decisive manner, they guaranteed to supply him with forces if his -negotiations fell through. This man never thought it needful to -negotiate. He knew the temper of his tribe and he was too jealous of his -chief to go to him for favors, because he loved Maya, the chosen one of -Omoyao. - -At the door of Maya's tent he entreated her to go with him to the white -settlements, and on her refusal he broke into angry threats, declaring, -in the self-forgetfulness of passion, that he would kill her lover and -lead the English against the tribe. Unknown to both Omoyao had overheard -this interview, and he immediately sent runners to tell all warriors of -his people to meet him at once on the island in the lake. Though the -runners were cautioned to keep their errand secret, it is probable that -Joliper suspected that the alarm had gone forth, and he resolved to -strike at once; so he summoned his renegades, stole into camp next -evening and made toward Maya's wigwam, intending to take her to a place -of safety. Seeing the chief at the door, he shot an arrow at him, but the -shaft went wide and slew the girl's father. Realizing, upon this assault, -that he was outwitted and that his people were outnumbered, the chief -called to Maya to meet him at the island, and plunged into the brush, -after seeing that she had taken flight in an opposite direction. The -vengeful Joliper was close behind him with his renegades, and the chief -was captured; then, that he might not communicate with his people or -delay the operations against them, it was resolved to put him to death. - -He was tied to a tree, the surrounding wood was set on fire, and he was -abandoned to his fate, his enemies leaving him to destruction in their -haste to reach the place of the council and slay or capture all who were -there. Hardly were they out of hearing ere the plash of a paddle sounded -through the roar of flame and Maya sprang upon the bank, cut her lover's -bonds, and with him made toward the island, which they reached by a -protected way before the assailants had arrived. They told the story of -Joliper's cruelty and treason, and when his boats were seen coming in to -shore they had eyes and hands only for Joliper. He was the first to land. -Hardly had he touched the strand before he was surrounded by a frenzied -crowd and had fallen bleeding from a hundred gashes. - -The Indians were overpowered after a brief and bloody resistance. They -took safety in flight. Omoyao and Maya, climbing upon the rock above -their “council chamber,” found that while most of their people had -escaped their own retreat was cut off, and that it would be impossible to -reach any of the canoes. They preferred death to torture and captivity, -so, hand in hand, they leaped together down the cliff, and the English -claimed the land next day. - - - - -NIAGARA - -The cataract of Niagara (properly pronounced Nee-ah-gah-rah), or -Oniahgarah, is as fatal as it is fascinating, beautiful, sublime, and the -casualties occurring there justify the tradition that “the Thundering -Water asks two victims every year.” It was reputed, before white men -looked for the first time on these falls--and what thumping yarns they -told about them!--that two lives were lost here annually, and this -average has been kept up by men and women who fall into the flood through -accident, recklessness or despair, while bloody battles have been fought -on the shores, and vessels have been hurled over the brink, to be dashed -to splinters on the rocks. - -The sound of the cataract was declared to be the voice of a mighty spirit -that dwelt in the waters, and in former centuries the Indians offered to -it a yearly sacrifice. This sacrifice was a maiden of the tribe, who was -sent over in a white canoe, decorated with fruit and flowers, and the -girls contended for this honor, for the brides of Manitou were objects of -a special grace in the happy hunting-grounds. The last recorded sacrifice -was in 1679, when Lelawala, the daughter of chief Eagle Eye, was chosen, -in spite of the urgings and protests of the chevalier La Salle, who had -been trying to restrain the people from their idolatries by an exposition -of the Christian dogma. To his protests he received the unexpected -answer, “Your words witness against you. Christ, you say, set us an -example. We will follow it. Why should one death be great, while our -sacrifice is horrible?” So the tribe gathered at the bank to watch the -sailing of the white canoe. The chief watched the embarkation with the -stoicism usual to the Indian when he is observed by others, but when the -little bark swung out into the current his affection mastered him, and he -leaped into his own canoe and tried to overtake his daughter. In a moment -both were beyond the power of rescue. After their death they were changed -into spirits of pure strength and goodness, and live in a crystal heaven -so far beneath the fall that its roaring is a music to them: she, the -maid of the mist; he, the ruler of the cataract. Another version of the -legend makes a lover and his mistress the chief actors. Some years later -a patriarch of the tribe and all his sons went over the fall when the -white men had seized their lands, preferring death to flight or war. - -In about the year 200 the Stone Giants waded across the river below the -falls on their northward march. These beings were descended from an -ancient family, and being separated from their stock in the year 150 by -the breaking of a vine bridge across the Mississippi, they left that -region. Indian Pass, in the Adirondacks, bore the names of Otneyarheh, -Stony Giants; Ganosgwah, Giants Clothed in Stone; and Dayohjegago, Place -Where the Storm Clouds Fight the Great Serpent. Giants and serpents were -held to be harmful inventions of the Evil Spirit, and the Lightning god, -catching up clouds as he stood on the crags, broke them open, tore their -lightnings out and hurled them against the monsters. These cannibals had -almost exterminated the Iroquois, for they were of immense size and had -made themselves almost invincible by rolling daily in the sand until -their flesh was like stone. The Holder of the Heavens, viewing their evil -actions from on high, came down disguised as one of their number--he used -often to meditate on Manitou Rock, at the Whirlpool--and leading them to -a valley near Onondaga, on pretence of guiding them to a fairer country, -he stood on a hill above them and hurled rocks upon their heads until -all, save one, who fled into the north, were dead. Yet, in the fulness of -time, new children of the Stone Giants (mail-clad Europeans?) entered the -region again and were destroyed by the Great Spirit,--oddly enough where -the famous fraud known as the Cardiff giant was alleged to have been -found. The Onondagas believed this statue to be one of their ancient -foes. - - - - -THE DEFORMED OF ZOAR - -The valley of Zoar, in western New York, is so surrounded by hills that -its discoverers--a religious people, who gave it a name from Scripture -said, “This is Zoar; it is impregnable. From her we will never go.” And -truly, for lack of roads, they found it so hard to get out, having got -in, that they did not leave it. Among the early settlers here were people -of a family named Wright, whose house became a sort of inn for the -infrequent traveller, inasmuch as they were not troubled with piety, and -had no scruples against the selling of drink and the playing of cards at -late hours. A peddler passed through the valley on his way to Buffalo and -stopped at the Wright house for a lodging, but before he went to bed he -incautiously showed a number of golden trinkets from his pack and drew a -considerable quantity of money out of his pocket when he paid the fee for -his lodging. Hardly had he fallen asleep before his greedy hosts were in -the room, searching for his money. Their lack of caution caused him to -awake, and as he found them rifling his pockets and his pack he sprang up -and showed fight. - -A blow sent him to the bottom of the stairs, where his attempt to escape -was intercepted, and the family closed around him and bound his arms and -legs. They showed him the money they had taken and asked where he had -concealed the rest. He vowed that it was all he had. They insisted that -he had more, and seizing a knife from the table the elder Wright slashed -off one of his toes “to make him confess.” No result came from this, and -six toes were cut off,--three from each foot; then, in disgust, the -unhappy peddler was knocked on the head and flung through a trap-door -into a shallow cellar. Presently he arose and tried to draw himself out, -but with hatchet and knife they chopped away his fingers and he fell -back. Even the women shared in this work, and leaned forward to gaze into -the cellar to see if he might yet be dead. While listening, they heard -the man invoke the curse of heaven on them: he asked that they should -wear the mark of crime even to the fourth generation, by coming into the -world deformed and mutilated as he was then. And it was so. The next -child born in that house had round, hoof-like feet, with only two toes, -and hands that tapered from the wrist into a single long finger. And in -time there were twenty people so deformed in the valley: The “crab-clawed -Zoarites” they were called. - - - - -HORSEHEADS - -The feeling recently created by an attempt to fasten the stupid names of -Fairport or of North Elmira on the village in central New York that, off -and on for fifty years, had been called Horseheads, caused an inquiry as -to how that singular name chanced to be adopted for a settlement. In -1779, when General Sullivan was retiring toward the base of his supplies -after a destructive campaign against the Indians in Genesee County, he -stopped near this place and rested his troops. The country was then rude, -unbroken, and still beset with enemies, however, and when the march was -resumed it was thought best to gain time over a part of the way by -descending the Chemung River on rafts. - -As there were no appliances for building large floats, and the depth of -the water was not known, the general ordered a destruction of all -impedimenta that could be got rid of, and commanded that the poor and -superfluous horses should be killed. His order was obeyed. As soon as the -troops had gone, the wolves, that were then abundant, came forth and -devoured the carcasses of the steeds, so that the clean-picked bones were -strewn widely over the camp-ground. When the Indians ventured back into -this region, some of them piled the skulls of the horses into heaps, and -these curious monuments were found by white settlers who came into the -valley some years later, and who named their village Horseheads, in -commemoration of these relics. The Indians were especially loth to leave -this region, for their tradition was that it had been the land of the -Senecas from immemorial time, the tribe being descended from a couple -that had a home on a hill near Horseheads. - - - - -KAYUTA AND WANETA - -The Indians loved our lakes. They had eyes for their beauty, and to them -they were abodes of gracious spirits. They used to say of Oneida Lake, -that when the Great Spirit formed the world “his smile rested on its -waters and Frenchman's Island rose to greet it; he laughed and Lotus -Island came up to listen.” So they built lodges on their shores and -skimmed their waters in canoes. Much of their history relates to them, -and this is a tale of the Senecas that was revived a few years ago by the -discovery of a deer-skin near Lakes Waneta and Keuka, New York, on which -some facts of the history were rudely drawn, for all Indians are artists. - -Waneta, daughter of a chief, had plighted her troth to Kayuta, a hunter -of a neighboring tribe with which her people were at war. Their tryst was -held at twilight on the farther shore of the lake from her village, and -it was her gayety and happiness, after these meetings had taken place, -that roused the suspicion and jealousy of Weutha, who had marked her for -his bride against the time when he should have won her father's consent -by some act of bravery. Shadowing the girl as she stole into the forest -one evening, he saw her enter her canoe and row to a densely wooded spot; -he heard a call like the note of a quail, then an answer; then Kayuta -emerged on the shore, lifted the maiden from her little bark, and the -twain sat down beside the water to listen to the lap of its waves and -watch the stars come out. - -Hurrying back to camp, the spy reported that an enemy was near them, and -although Waneta had regained her wigwam by another route before the -company of warriors had reached the lake, Kayuta was seen, pursued, and -only escaped with difficulty. Next evening, not knowing what had happened -after her homeward departure on the previous night--for the braves deemed -it best to keep the knowledge of their military operations from the -women--the girl crept away to the lake again and rowed to the accustomed -place, but while waiting for the quail call a twig dropped on the water -beside her. With a quick instinct that civilization has spoiled she -realized this to be a warning, and remaining perfectly still, she allowed -her boat to drift toward shore, presently discovering that her lover was -standing waist-deep in the water. In a whisper he told her that they were -watched, and bade her row to a dead pine that towered at the foot of the -lake, where he would soon meet her. At that instant an arrow grazed his -side and flew quivering into the canoe. - -Pushing the boat on its course and telling her to hasten, Kayuta sprang -ashore, sounded the warwhoop, and as Weutha rose into sight he clove his -skull with a tomahawk. Two other braves now leaped forward, but, after a -struggle, Kayuta left them dead or senseless, too. He would have stayed -to tear their scalps off had he not heard his name uttered in a shriek of -agony from the end of the lake, and, tired and bleeding though he was, he -bounded along its margin like a deer, for the voice that he heard was -Waneta's. He reached the blasted pine, gave one look, and sank to the -earth. Presently other Indians came, who had heard the noise of fighting, -and burst upon him with yells and brandished weapons, but something in -his look restrained them from a close advance. His eyes were fixed on a -string of beads that lay on the bottom of the lake, just off shore, and -when the meaning of it came to them, the savages thought no more of -killing, but moaned their grief; for Waneta, in stepping from her canoe -to wade ashore, had been caught and swallowed by a quagmire. All night -and all next day Kayuta sat there like a man of stone. Then, just as the -hour fell when he was used to meet his love, his heart broke, and he -joined her in the spiritland. - - - - -THE DROP STAR - -A little maid of three years was missing from her home on the Genesee. -She had gone to gather water-lilies and did not return. Her mother, -almost crazed with grief, searched for days, weeks, months, before she -could resign herself to the thought that her little one--Kayutah, the -Drop Star, the Indians called her--had indeed been drowned. Years went -by. The woman's home was secure against pillage, for it was no longer the -one house of a white family in that region, and the Indians had retired -farther and farther into the wilderness. One day a hunter came to the -woman and said, “I have seen old Skenandoh,--the last of his tribe, thank -God! who bade me say this to you: that the ice is broken, and he knows of -a hill of snow where a red berry grows that shall be yours if you will -claim it.” When the meaning of this message came upon her the woman -fainted, but on recovering speech she despatched her nephew to the hut of -the aged chief and passed that night in prayer. - -The young man set off at sunset, and by hard riding, over dim trails, -with only stars for light, he came in the gray of dawn to an upright -timber, colored red and hung with scalps, that had been cut from white -men's heads at the massacre of Wyoming. The place they still call Painted -Post. Without drawing rein he sped along the hills that hem Lake Seneca, -then, striking deeper into the wilds, he reached a smaller lake, and -almost fell from his saddle before a rude tent near the shore. A new -grave had been dug close by, and he shuddered to think that perhaps he -had come too late, but a wrinkled Indian stepped forth at that moment and -waited his word. - -“I come,” cried the youth,--“to see the berry that springs from snow.” - -“You come in time,” answered Skenandoh. “No, 'tis not in that grave. It -is my own child that is buried there. She was as a sister to the one you -seek, and she bade me restore the Drop Star to her mother,--the squaw -that we know as the New Moon's Light.” - -Stepping into the wigwam, he emerged again, clasping the wrist of a girl -of eighteen, whose robe he tore asunder at the throat, showing the white -breast, and on it a red birth-mark; then, leading her to the young man, -he said,--“And now I must go to the setting sun.” He slung a pouch about -him, loaded, not with arms and food, but stones, stepped into his canoe, -and paddled out upon the water, singing as he went a melancholy -chant--his deathsong. On gaining the middle of the lake he swung his -tomahawk and clove the bottom of the frail boat, so that it filled in a -moment and the chief sank from sight. The young man took his cousin to -her overjoyed mother, helped to win her back to the ways of civilized -life, and eventually married her. She took her Christian name again, but -left to the lake on whose banks she had lived so long her Indian name of -Drop Star--Kayutah. - - - - -THE PROPHET OF PALMYRA - -It was at Palmyra, New York, that the principles of Mormonism were first -enunciated by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found the golden plates -of the Book of Mormon in a hill-side in neighboring Manchester,--the -“Hill of Cumorah,”--to which he was led by angels. The plates were -written in characters similar to the masonic cabala, and he translated -them by divine aid, giving to the world the result of his discovery. The -Hebrew prophet Mormon was the alleged author of the record, and his son -Moroni buried it. The basis of Mormonism was, however, an unpublished -novel, called “The Manuscript Found,” that was read to Sidney Rigdon -(afterwards a Mormon elder) by its author, a clergyman, and that -formulated a creed for a hypothetical church. Smith had a slight local -celebrity, for he and his father were operators with the divining-rod, -and when he appropriated this creed a harmless and beneficent one, for -polygamy was a later “inspiration” of Brigham Young--and began to preach -it, in 1844, it gained many converts. His arrogation of the presidency of -the “Church of Latter Day Saints” and other rash performances won for him -the enmity of the Gentiles, who imprisoned and killed him at Carthage, -Missouri, leaving Brigham Young to lead the people across the deserts to -Salt Lake, where they prospered through thrift and industry. - -It was claimed that in the van of this army, on the march to Utah, was -often seen a venerable man with silver beard, who never spoke, but who -would point the way whenever the pilgrims were faint or discouraged. When -they reached the spot where the temple was afterwards built, he struck -his staff into the earth and vanished. - -At Hydesville, near Palmyra, spiritualism, as it is commonly called, came -into being on March 31, 1849, when certain of the departed announced -themselves by thumping on doors and tables in the house of the Fox -family, the survivors of which confessed the fraud nearly forty years -after. It is of interest to note that the ground whence these new -religions sprang was peopled by the Onondagas, the sacerdotal class of -the Algonquin tribe, who have preserved the ancient religious rites of -that great family until this day. - - - - -A VILLAIN'S CREMATION - -Bramley's Mountain, near the present village of Bloomfield, New York, on -the edge of the Catskill group, was the home of a young couple that had -married with rejoicing and had taken up the duties and pleasures of -housekeeping with enthusiasm. To be sure, in those days housekeeping was -not a thing to be much afraid of, and the servant question had not come -up for discussion. The housewives did the work themselves, and the -husband had no valets. The domicile of this particular pair was merely a -tent of skins stretched around a frame of poles, and their furniture -consisted principally of furs strewn over the earth floor; but they loved -each other truly. The girl was thankful to be taken from her home to -live, because, up to the time of her marriage, she had been persecuted by -a morose and ill-looking fellow of her tribe, who laid siege to her -affection with such vehemence that the more he pleaded the greater was -her dislike; and now she hoped that she had seen the last of him. But -that was not to be. He lurked about the wigwam of the pair, torturing -himself with the sight of their felicity, and awaiting his chance to -prove his hate. This chance came when the husband had gone to Lake -Delaware to fish, for he rowed after and gave battle in the middle of the -pond. Taken by surprise, and being insufficiently armed, the husband was -killed and his body flung into the water. Then, casting an affectionate -leer at the wife who had watched this act of treachery and malice with -speechless horror from the mountain-side, he drove his canoe ashore and -set off in pursuit of her. She retreated so slowly as to allow him to -keep her in sight, and when she entered a cave he pressed forward -eagerly, believing that now her escape was impossible; but she had -purposely trapped him there, for she had already explored a tortuous -passage that led to the upper air, and by this she had left the cavern in -safety while he was groping and calling in the dark. Returning to the -entrance, she loosened, by a jar, a ledge that overhung it, so that the -door was almost blocked; then, gathering light wood from the dry trees -around her, she made a fire and hurled the burning sticks into the prison -where the wretch was howling, until he was dead in smoke and flame. When -his yells and curses had been silenced she told a friend what she had -done, then going back to the lake, she sang her death-song and cast -herself into the water, hoping thus to rejoin her husband. - - - - -THE MONSTER MOSQUITOE - -They have some pretty big mosquitoes in New Jersey and on Long Island, -but, if report of their ancestry is true, they have degenerated in size -and voracity; for the grandfather of all mosquitoes used to live in the -neighborhood of Fort Onondaga, New York, and sallying out whenever he was -hungry, would eat an Indian or two and pick his teeth with their ribs. -The red men had no arms that could prevail against it, but at last the -Holder of the Heavens, hearing their cry for aid, came down and attacked -the insect. Finding that it had met its match, the mosquito flew away so -rapidly that its assailant could hardly keep it in sight. It flew around -the great lake, then turned eastward again. It sought help vainly of the -witches that brooded in the sink-holes, or Green Lakes (near Janesville, -New York), and had reached the salt lake of Onondaga when its pursuer -came up and killed it, the creature piling the sand into hills in its -dying struggles. - -As its blood poured upon the earth it became small mosquitoes, that -gathered about the Holder of the Heavens and stung him so sorely that he -half repented the service that he had done to men. The Tuscaroras say -that this was one of two monsters that stood on opposite banks of the -Seneca River and slew all men that passed. Hiawatha killed the other one. -On their reservation is a stone, marked by the form of the Sky Holder, -that shows where he rested during the chase, while his tracks were until -lately seen south of Syracuse, alternating with footprints of the -mosquito, which were shaped like those of a bird, and twenty inches long. -At Brighton, New York, where these marks appeared, they were -reverentially renewed by the Indians for many years. - - - - -THE GREEN PICTURE - -In a cellar in Green Street, Schenectady, there appeared, some years ago, -the silhouette of a human form, painted on the floor in mould. It was -swept and scrubbed away, but presently it was there again, and month by -month, after each removal, it returned: a mass of fluffy mould, always in -the shape of a recumbent man. When it was found that the house stood on -the site of the old Dutch burial ground, the gossips fitted this and that -together and concluded that the mould was planted by a spirit whose -mortal part was put to rest a century and more ago, on the spot covered -by the house, and that the spirit took this way of apprising people that -they were trespassing on its grave. Others held that foul play had been -done, and that a corpse, hastily and shallowly buried, was yielding -itself back to the damp cellar in vegetable form, before its resolution -into simpler elements. But a darker meaning was that it was the outline -of a vampire that vainly strove to leave its grave, and could not because -a virtuous spell had been worked about the place. - -A vampire is a dead man who walks about seeking for those whose blood he -can suck, for only by supplying new life to its cold limbs can he keep -the privilege of moving about the earth. He fights his way from his -coffin, and those who meet his gray and stiffened shape, with fishy eyes -and blackened mouth, lurking by open windows, biding his time to steal in -and drink up a human life, fly from him in terror and disgust. In -northern Rhode Island those who die of consumption are believed to be -victims of vampires who work by charm, draining the blood by slow -draughts as they lie in their graves. To lay this monster he must be -taken up and burned; at least, his heart must be; and he must be -disinterred in the daytime when he is asleep and unaware. If he died with -blood in his heart he has this power of nightly resurrection. As late as -1892 the ceremony of heart-burning was performed at Exeter, Rhode Island, -to save the family of a dead woman that was threatened with the same -disease that removed her, namely, consumption. But the Schenectady -vampire has yielded up all his substance, and the green picture is no -more. - - - - -THE NUNS OF CARTHAGE - -At Carthage, New York, where the Black River bends gracefully about a -point, there was a stanch old house, built in the colonial fashion and -designed for the occupancy of some family of hospitality and wealth, but -the family died out or moved away, and for some years it remained -deserted. During the war of 1812 the village gossips were excited by the -appearance of carpenters, painters and upholsterers, and it was evident -that the place was to be restored to its manorial dignities; but their -curiosity was deepened instead of satisfied when, after the house had -been put in order and high walls built around it, the occupants presented -themselves as four young women in the garb of nuns. Were they daughters -of the family? Were they English sympathizers in disguise, seeking asylum -in the days of trouble? Had they registered a vow of celibacy until their -lovers should return from the war? Were they on a secret and diplomatic -errand? None ever knew, at least in Carthage. The nuns lived in great -privacy, but in a luxury before unequalled in that part of the country. -They kept a gardener, they received from New York wines and delicacies -that others could not afford, and when they took the air, still veiled, -it was behind a splendid pair of bays. - -One afternoon, just after the close of the war, a couple of young -American officers went to the convent, and, contrary to all precedent, -were admitted. They remained within all that day, and no one saw them -leave, but a sound of wheels passed through the street that evening. Next -day there were no signs of life about the place, nor the day following, -nor the next. The savage dog was quiet and the garden walks had gone -unswept. Some neighbors climbed over the wall and reported that the place -had been deserted. Why and by whom no one ever knew, but a cloud remained -upon its title until a recent day, for it was thought that at some time -the nuns might return. - - - - -THE SKULL IN THE WALL - -A skull is built into the wall above the door of the court-house at -Goshen, New York. It was taken from a coffin unearthed in 1842, when the -foundation of the building was laid. People said there was no doubt about -it, only Claudius Smith could have worn that skull, and he deserved to be -publicly pilloried in that manner. Before the Revolutionary war Smith was -a farmer in Monroe, New York, and being prosperous enough to feel the -king's taxes no burden, to say nothing of his jealousy of the advantage -that an independent government would be to the hopes of his poorer -neighbors, he declared for the king. After the declaration of -independence had been published, his sympathies were illustrated in an -unpleasantly practical manner by gathering a troop of other Tories about -him, and, emboldened by the absence of most of the men of his vicinage in -the colonial army, he began to harass the country as grievously in foray -as the red-coats were doing in open field. - -He pillaged houses and barns, then burned them; he insulted women, he -drove away cattle and horses, he killed several persons who had -undertaken to defend their property. His “campaigns” were managed with -such secrecy that nobody knew when or whence to look for him. His murder -of Major Nathaniel Strong, of Blooming Grove, roused indignation to such -a point that a united effort was made to catch him, a money reward for -success acting as a stimulus to the vigilance of the hunters, and at last -he was captured on Long Island. He was sent back to Goshen, tried, -convicted, and on January 22, 1779, was hanged, with five of his band. -The bodies of the culprits were buried in the jail-yard, on the spot -where the court-house stands, and old residents identified Smith's -skeleton, when it was accidentally exhumed, by its uncommon size. A -farmer from an adjacent town made off with a thigh bone, and a mason -clapped mortar into the empty skull and cemented it into the wall, where -it long remained. - - - - -THE HAUNTED MILL - -Among the settlers in the Adirondacks, forty or fifty years ago, was -Henry Clymer, from Brooklyn, who went up to Little Black Creek and tried -to make a farm out of the gnarly, stumpy land; but being a green hand at -that sort of thing, he soon gave it up and put up the place near -Northwood, that is locally referred to as the haunted mill. When the -first slab was cut, a big party was on hand to cheer and eat pie in honor -of the Clymers, for Mr. Clymer, who was a dark, hearty, handsome fellow, -and his bright young wife had been liberal in their hospitality. The -couple had made some talk, they were so loving before folks--too loving -to last; and, besides, it was evident that Mrs. Clymer was used to a -better station in life than her husband. It was while the crowd was -laughing and chattering at the picnic-table of new boards from the mill -that Mrs. Clymer stole away to her modest little house, and a neighbor -who had followed her was an accidental witness to a singular episode. -Mrs. Clymer was kneeling beside her bed, crying over the picture of a -child, when Clymer entered unexpectedly and attempted to take the picture -from her. - -She faced him defiantly. “You kept that because it looked like him, I -reckon,” he said. “You might run back to him. You know what he'd call you -and where you'd stand with your aristocracy.” - -The woman pointed to the door, and the man left without another word, and -so did the listener. Next morning the body of Mrs. Clymer was found -hanging to a beam in the mill. At the inquest the husband owned that he -had “had a few words” with her on the previous day, and thought that she -must have suddenly become insane. The jury took this view. News of the -suicide was printed in some of the city papers, and soon after that the -gossips had another sensation, for a fair-haired man, also from Brooklyn, -arrived at the place and asked where the woman was buried. When he found -the grave he sat beside it for some time, his head resting on his hand; -then he inquired for Clymer, but Clymer, deadly pale, had gone into the -woods as soon as he heard that a stranger had arrived. The new-comer went -to Trenton, where he ordered a gravestone bearing the single word -“Estella” to be placed where the woman's body had been interred. Clymer -quickly sold out and disappeared. The mill never prospered, and has long -been in a ruinous condition. People of the neighborhood think that the -ghost of Mrs. Clymer--was that her name?--still troubles it, and they -pass the place with quickened steps. - - - - -OLD INDIAN FACE - -On Lower Ausable Pond is a large, ruddy rock showing a huge profile, with -another, resembling a pappoose, below it. When the Tahawi ruled this -region their sachem lived here at “the Dark Cup,” as they called this -lake, a man renowned for virtue and remarkable, in his age, for -gentleness. When his children had died and his manly grandson, who was -the old man's hope, had followed them to the land of the cloud mountains, -Adota's heart withered within him, and standing beneath this rock, he -addressed his people, recounting what he had done for them, how he had -swept their enemies from the Lakes of the Clustered Stars (the Lower -Saranac) and Silver Sky (Upper Saranac) to the Lake of Wandah, gaining a -land where they might hunt and fish in peace. The little one, the Star, -had been ravished away to crown the brow of the thunder god, who, even -now, was advancing across the peaks, bending the woods and lighting the -valleys with his jagged torches. - -Life was nothing to him longer; he resigned it. - -As he spoke these words he fell back, and the breath passed out of him. -Then came the thunder god, and with an appalling burst of fire sent the -people cowering. The roar that followed seemed to shake the earth, but -the medicine-man of the tribe stood still, listening to the speech of the -god in the clouds. “Tribe of the Tahawi,” he translated, “Adota treads -the star-path to the happy hunting-grounds, and the sun is shining on his -heart. He will never walk among you again, but the god loves both him and -you, and he will set his face on the mountains. Look!” And, raising their -eyes, they beheld the likeness of Adota and of his beloved child, the -Star, graven by lightning-stroke on the cliff. There they buried the body -of Adota and held their solemn festivals until the white men drove them -out of the country. - - - - -THE DIVISION OF THE SARANACS - -In the middle of the last century a large body of Saranac Indians -occupied the forests of the Upper Saranac through which ran the Indian -carrying-place, called by them the Eagle Nest Trail. Whenever they raided -the Tahawi on the slopes of Mount Tahawus (Sky-splitter), there was a -pleasing rivalry between two young athletes, called the Wolf and the -Eagle, as to which would carry off the more scalps, and the tribe was -divided in admiration of them. There was one who did not share this -liking: an old sachem, one of the wizards who had escaped when the Great -Spirit locked these workers of evil in the hollow trees that stood beside -the trail. In their struggles to escape the less fortunate ones thrust -their arms through the closing bark, and they are seen there, as withered -trunks and branches, to this day. Oquarah had not been softened by this -exhibition of danger nor the qualification of mercy that allowed him -still to exist. Rather he was more bitter when he saw, as he fancied, -that the tribe thought more of the daring and powerful warriors than it -did of the bent and malignant-minded counsellor. - -It was in the moon of green leaves that the two young men set off to hunt -the moose, and on the next day the Wolf returned alone. He explained that -in the hunt they had been separated; he had called for hours for his -friend, and had searched so long that he concluded he must have returned -ahead of him. But he was not at the camp. Up rose the sachem with visage -dark. “I hear a forked tongue,” he cried. “The Wolf was jealous of the -Eagle and his teeth have cut into his heart.” - -“The Wolf cannot lie,” answered the young man. - -“Where is the Eagle?” angrily shouted the sachem, clutching his hatchet. - -“The Wolf has said,” replied the other. - -The old sachem advanced upon him, but as he raised his axe to strike, the -wife of the Wolf threw herself before her husband, and the steel sank -into her brain. The sachem fell an instant later with the Wolf's knife in -his heart, and instantly the camp was in turmoil. Before the day had -passed it had been broken up, and the people were divided into factions, -for it was no longer possible to hold it together in peace. The Wolf, -with half of the people, went down the Sounding River to new -hunting-grounds, and the earth that separated the families was reddened -whenever one side met the other. - -Years had passed when, one morning, the upper tribe saw a canoe advancing -across the Lake of the Silver Sky. An old man stepped from it: he was the -Eagle. After the Wolf had left him he had fallen into a cleft in a rock, -and had lain helpless until found by hunters who were on their way to -Canada. He had joined the British against the French, had married a -northern squaw, but had returned to die among the people of his early -love. Deep was his sorrow that his friend should have been accused of -doing him an injury, and that the once happy tribe should have been -divided by that allegation. The warriors and sachems of both branches -were summoned to a council, and in his presence they swore a peace, so -that in the fulness of time he was able to die content. That peace was -always kept. - - - - -AN EVENT IN INDIAN PARK - -It was during the years when the Saranacs were divided that Howling Wind, -one of the young men of Indian Carry, saw and fell in love with a girl of -the family on Tupper Lake. He quickly found a way to tell his liking, and -the couple met often in the woods and on the shore. He made bold to row -her around the quieter bays, and one moonlight evening he took her to -Devil's Rock, or Devil's Pulpit, where he told her the story of the -place. This was to the effect that the fiend had paddled, on timbers, by -means of his tail, to that rock, and had assembled fish and game about -him in large numbers by telling them that he was going to preach to them, -instead of which moral procedure he pounced upon and ate all that were -within his grasp. - -As so often happened in Indian history, the return of these lovers was -seen by a disappointed rival, who had hurried back to camp and secured -the aid of half a dozen men to arrest the favored one as soon as he -should land. The capture was made after a struggle, and Howling Wind was -dragged to the chief's tent for sentence. That sentence was death, and -with a refinement of cruelty that was rare even among the Indians, the -girl was ordered to execute it. She begged and wept to no avail. An axe -was put into her hands, and she was ordered to despatch the prisoner. She -took the weapon; her face grew stern and the tears dried on her cheeks; -her lover, bound to a tree, gazed at her in amazement; his rival watched, -almost in glee. Slowly the girl crossed the open space to her lover. She -raised the tomahawk and at a blow severed the thongs that held him, then, -like a flash, she leaped upon his rival, who had sprung forward to -interfere, and clove his skull with a single stroke. The lovers fled as -only those can fly who run for life. Happily for them, they met a party -from the Carry coming to rescue Howling Wind from the danger to which his -courtship had exposed him, and it was even said that this party entered -the village and by presenting knives and arrows at the breast of the -chief obtained his now superfluous consent to the union of the fugitives. -The pair reached the Carry in safety and lived a long and happy life -together. - - - - -THE INDIAN PLUME - -Brightest flower that grows beside the brooks is the scarlet blossom of -the Indian plume: the blood of Lenawee. Hundreds of years ago she lived -happily among her brother and sister Saranacs beside Stony Creek, the -Stream of the Snake, and was soon to marry the comely youth who, for the -speed of his foot, was called the Arrow. But one summer the Quick Death -came on the people, and as the viewless devil stalked through the village -young and old fell before him. The Arrow was the first to die. In vain -the Prophet smoked the Great Calumet: its smoke ascending took no shape -that he could read. In vain was the white dog killed to take aloft the -people's sins. But at last the Great Spirit himself came down to the -mountain called the Storm Darer, splendid in lightning, awful in his -thunder voice and robe of cloud. “My wrath is against you for your sins,” - he cried, “and naught but human blood will appease it.” - -In the morning the Prophet told his message, and all sat silent for a -time. Then Lenawee entered the circle. “Lenawee is a blighted flower,” - she sobbed. “Let her blood flow for her people.” And catching a knife -from the Prophet's belt, she ran with it to the stream on which she and -the Arrow had so often floated in their canoe. In another moment her -blood had bedewed the earth. “Lay me with the Arrow,” she murmured, and, -smiling in their sad faces, breathed her last. The demon of the quick -death shrank from the spot, and the Great Spirit smiled once more on the -tribe that could produce such heroism. Lenawee's body was placed beside -her lover's, and next morning, where her blood had spilt, the ground was -pure, and on it grew in slender spires a new flower,--the Indian plume: -the transformed blood of sacrifice. The people loved that flower in all -years after. They decked their hair and dresses with it and made a feast -in its honor. When parents taught their children the beauty of -unselfishness they used as its emblem a stalk of Indian plume. - - - - -BIRTH OF THE WATER-LILY - -Back from his war against the Tahawi comes the Sun, chief of the Lower -Saranacs,--back to the Lake of the Clustered Stars, afterward called, by -dullards, Tupper's Lake. Tall and invincible he comes among his people, -boasting of his victories, Indian fashion, and stirring the scalps that -hang at his breast. “The Eagle screams,” he cries. “He greets the chief, -the Blazing Sun. Wayotah has made the Tahawi tremble. They fly from him. -Hooh, hooh! He is the chief.” Standing apart with wistful glance stands -Oseetah, the Bird. She loves the strong young chief, but she knows that -another has his promise, and she dares not hope; yet the chief loves her, -and when the feasting is over he follows her footprints to the shore, -where he sees her canoe turning the point of an island. He silently -pursues and comes upon her as she sits waving and moaning. He tries to -embrace her, but she draws apart. He asks her to sing to him; she bids -him begone. - -He takes a more imperious tone and orders her to listen to her chief. She -moves away. He darts toward her. Turning on him a face of sorrow, she -runs to the edge of a steep rock and waves him back. He hastens after. -Then she springs and disappears in the deep water. The Sun plunges after -her and swims with mad strength here and there. He calls. There is no -answer. Slowly he returns to the village and tells the people what has -happened. The Bird's parents are stricken and the Sun moans in his sleep. -At noon a hunter comes in with strange tidings: flowers are growing on -the water! The people go to their canoes and row to the Island of Elms. -There, in a cove, the still water is enamelled with flowers, some as -white as snow, filling the air with perfume, others strong and yellow, -like the lake at sunset. - -“Explain to us,” they cry, turning to the old Medicine of his tribe, “for -this was not so yesterday.” - -“It is our daughter,” he answered. “These flowers are the form she -takes. The white is her purity, the yellow her love. You shall see that -her heart will close when the sun sets, and will reopen at his coming.” - And the young chief went apart and bowed his head. - - - - -ROGERS'S SLIDE - -The shores of Lakes George and Champlain were ravaged by war. Up and down -those lovely waters swept the barges of French and English, and the green -hills rang to the shrill of bugles, the boom of cannon, and the yell of -savages. Fiction and history have been weft across the woods and the -memory of deeds still echoes among the heights. It was at Glen's Falls, -in the cave on the rock in the middle of the river, that the brave Uncas -held the watch with Hawkeye. Bloody Defile and Bloody Pond, between there -and Lake George, take their names from the “Bloody morning scout” sent -out by Sir William Johnson on a September day in 1755 to check Dieskau -until Fort William Henry could be completed. In the action that ensued, -Colonel Williams, founder of Williams College, and Captain Grant, of the -Connecticut line, great-grandfather of the President who bore that name, -were killed. The victims, dead and wounded alike, having been flung into -Bloody Pond, it was thick and red for days, and tradition said that in -after years it resumed its hue of crimson at sunset and held it until -dawn. The captured, who were delivered to the Indians, had little to -hope, for their white allies could not stay their savagery. Blind Rock -was so called because the Indians brought a white man there, and tearing -his eyes out, flung them into embers at the foot of the stone. Captives -were habitually tortured, blazing splinters of pine being thrust into -their flesh, their nails torn out, and their bodies slashed with knives -before they went to the stake. An English prisoner was allowed to run the -gauntlet here. They had already begun to strike at him as he sped between -the lines, when he seized a pappoose, flung it on a fire, and, in the -instant of confusion that followed, snatched an axe, cut the bonds of a -comrade who had been doomed to die, and both escaped. - -But the best-known history of this region is that of Rogers's Rock, or -Rogers's Slide, a lofty precipice at the lower end of Lake George. Major -Rogers did not toboggan down this rock in leather trousers, but his -escape was no less remarkable than if he had. On March 13, 1758, while -reconnoitring near Ticonderoga with two hundred rangers, he was surprised -by a force of French and Indians. But seventeen of his men escaped death -or capture, and he was pursued nearly to the brink of this cliff. During -a brief delay among the red men, arising from the loss of his trail, he -had time to throw his pack down the slide, reverse his snow-shoes, and go -back over his own track to the head of a ravine before they emerged from -the woods, and, seeing that his shoe-marks led to the rock, while none -pointed back, they concluded that he had flung himself off and committed -suicide to avoid capture. Great was their disappointment when they saw -the major on the frozen surface of the lake beneath going at a lively -rate toward Fort William Henry. He had gained the ice by way of the cleft -in the rocks, but the savages, believing that he had leaped over the -precipice, attributed his preservation to the Great Spirit and forbore to -fire on him. Unconsciously, he had chosen the best possible place to -disappear from, for the Indians held it in superstitious regard, -believing that spirits haunted the wood and hurled bad souls down the -cliff, drowning them in the lake, instead of allowing them to go to the -happy hunting grounds. The major reached his quarters in safety, and -lived to take up arms against the land of his birth when the colonies -revolted, seventeen years later. - - - - -THE FALLS AT COHOES - -When Occuna, a young Seneca, fell in love with a girl whose cabin was -near the present town of Cohoes, he behaved very much as Americans of a -later date have done. He picked wild flowers for her; he played on the -bone pipe and sang sentimental songs in the twilight; he roamed the hills -with her, gathering the loose quartz crystals that the Indians believed -to be the tears of stricken deer, save on Diamond Rock, in Lansingburgh, -where they are the tears of Moneta, a bereaved mother and wife; and in -fine weather they went boating on the Mohawk above the rapids. They liked -to drift idly on the current, because it gave them time to gaze into each -other's eyes, and to build air castles that they would live in in the -future. They were suddenly called to a realization of danger one evening, -for the stream had been subtly drawing them on and on until it had them -in its power. The stroke of the paddle failed and the air castles fell in -dismal ruin. Sitting erect they began their death-song in this wise: - -Occuna: “Daughter of a mighty warrior, the Manitou calls me hence. I hear -the roaring of his voice; I see the lightning of his glance along the -river; he walks in clouds and spray upon the waters.” - -The Maiden: “Thou art thyself a warrior, O Occuna. Hath not thine axe -been often bathed in blood? Hath the deer ever escaped thine arrow or the -beaver avoided thy chase? Thou wilt not fear to go into the presence of -Manitou.” - -Occuna: “Manitou, indeed, respects the strong. When I chose thee from the -women of our tribe I promised that we should live and die together. The -Thunderer calls us now. Welcome, O ghost of Oriska, chief of the -invincible Senecas! A warrior and the daughter of a warrior come to join -you in the feast of the blessed!” - -The boat leaped over the falls, and Occuna, striking on the rocks below, -was killed at once; but, as by a miracle, the girl fell clear of them and -was whirled on the seething current to shoal water, where she made her -escape. For his strength and his virtues the dead man was canonized. His -tribe raised him above the regions of the moon, whence he looked down on -the scenes of his youth with pleasure, and in times of war gave pleasant -dreams and promises to his friends, while he confused the enemy with evil -omens. Whenever his tribe passed the falls they halted and with brief -ceremonials commemorated the death of Occuna. - - - - -FRANCIS WOOLCOTT'S NIGHT-RIDERS - -In Copake, New York, among the Berkshire Hills, less than a century ago, -lived Francis Woolcott, a dark, tall man, with protruding teeth, whose -sinister laugh used to give his neighbors a creep along their spines. He -had no obvious trade or calling, but the farmers feared him so that he -had no trouble in making levies: pork, flour, meal, cider, he could have -what he chose for the asking, for had he not halted horses at the plow so -that neither blows nor commands could move them for two hours? Had he not -set farmer Raught's pigs to walking on their hind legs and trying to -talk? When he shouted “Hup! hup! hup!” to farmer Williams's children, had -they not leaped to the moulding of the parlor wainscot,--a yard above the -floor and only an inch wide,--and walked around it, afterward skipping -like birds from chair-back to chair-back, while the furniture stood as if -nailed to the floor? And was he not the chief of thirteen night-riders, -whose faces no man had seen, nor wanted to see, and whom he sent about -the country on errands of mischief every night when the moon was growing -old? As to moons, had he not found a mystic message from our satellite on -Mount Riga, graven on a meteor? - -Horses' tails were tied, hogs foamed at the mouth and walked like men, -cows gave blood for milk. These night-riders met Woolcott in a grove of -ash and chestnut trees, each furnished with a stolen bundle of oat straw, -and these bundles Woolcott changed to black horses when the night had -grown dark enough not to let the way of the change be seen. These horses -could not cross streams of water, and on the stroke of midnight they fell -to pieces and were oaten sheaves once more, but during their time of -action they rushed through woods, bearing their riders safely, and tore -like hurricanes across the fields, leaping bushes, fences, even trees, -without effort. Never could traces be found of them the next day. At last -the devil came to claim his own. Woolcott, who was ninety years old, lay -sick and helpless in his cabin. Clergymen refused to see him, but two or -three of his neighbors stifled their fears and went to the wizard's house -to soothe his dying moments. With the night came storm, and with its -outbreak the old man's face took on such a strange and horrible look that -the watchers fell back in alarm. There was a burst of purple flame at the -window, a frightful peal, a smell of sulphur, and Woolcott was dead. When -the watchers went out the roads were dry, and none in the village had -heard wind, rain, or thunder. It was the coming of the fiend. - - - - -POLLY'S LOVER - -In about the middle of this century a withered woman of ninety was buried -from a now deserted house in White Plains, New York, Polly Carter the -name of her, but “Crazy Polly” was what the neighbors called her, for she -was eccentric and not fond of company. Among the belongings of her house -was a tall clock, such as relic hunters prize, that ticked solemnly in a -landing on the stairs. - -For a time, during the Revolution, the house stood within the British -lines, and as her father was a colonel in Washington's army she was left -almost alone in it. The British officers respected her sex, but they had -an unpleasant way of running in unannounced and demanding entertainment, -in the king's name, which she felt forced to grant. One rainy afternoon -the door was flung open, then locked on the inside, and she found herself -in the arms of a stalwart, handsome lieutenant, who wore the blue. It was -her cousin and fiance. Their glad talk had not been going long when there -came a rousing summons at the door. Three English officers were awaiting -admittance. - -Perhaps they had seen Lawrence Carter go into the house, and if caught he -would be killed as a spy. He must be hidden, but in some place where they -would not think of looking. The clock! That was the place. With a laugh -and a kiss the young man submitted to be shut in this narrow quarter, and -throwing his coat and hat behind some furniture the girl admitted the -officers, who were wet and surly and demanded dinner. They tramped about -the best room in their muddy boots, talking loudly, and in order to break -the effect of the chill weather they passed the brandy bottle freely. -Polly served them with a dinner as quickly as possible, for she wanted to -get them out of the house, but they were in no mood to go, and the bottle -passed so often that before the dinner was over they were noisy and tipsy -and were using language that drove Polly from the room. - -At last, to her relief, she heard them preparing to leave the house, but -as they were about to go the senior officer, looking up at the landing, -now dim in the paling light, said to one of the others, “See what time it -is.” The officer addressed, who happened to be the drunkest of the party, -staggered up the stair and exclaimed, “The d---d thing's stopped.” Then, -as if he thought it a good joke, he added, “It'll never go again.” - Drawing his sabre he gave the clock a careless cut and ran the blade -through the panel of the door; after this the three passed out. When -their voices had died in distant brawling, Polly ran to release her -lover. Something thick and dark was creeping from beneath the clock-case. -With trembling fingers she pulled open the door, and Lawrence, her lover, -fell heavily forward into her arms, dead. The officer was right: the -clock never went again. - - - - -CROSBY, THE PATRIOT SPY - -It was at the Jay house, in Westchester, New York, that Enoch Crosby met -Washington and offered his services to the patriot army. Crosby was a -cobbler, and not a very thriving one, but after the outbreak of -hostilities he took a peddler's outfit on his back and, as a -non-combatant, of Tory sympathies, he obtained admission through the -British lines. After his first visit to head quarters it is certain that -he always carried Sir Henry Clinton's passport in the middle of his pack, -and so sure were his neighbors that he was in the service of the British -that they captured him and took him to General Washington, but while his -case was up for debate he managed to slip his handcuffs, which were not -secure, and made off. Clinton, on the other hand, was puzzled by the -unaccountable foresight of the Americans, for every blow that he prepared -to strike was met, and he lost time and chance and temper. As if the -suspicion of both armies and the hatred of his neighbors were not enough -to contend against, Crosby now became an object of interest to the -Skinners and Cowboys, who were convinced that he was making money, -somehow, and resolved to have it. - -The Skinners were camp-followers of the American troops and the Cowboys a -band of Tories and renegade British. Both factions were employed, -ostensibly, in foraging for their respective armies, but, in reality, for -themselves, and the farmers and citizens occupying the neutral belt north -of Manhattan Island had reason to curse them both impartially. While -these fellows were daring thieves, they occasionally got the worst of it, -even in the encounters with the farmers, as on the Neperan, near -Tarrytown, where the Cowboys chased a woman to death, but were afterward -cut to pieces by the enraged neighbors. Hers is but one of the many -ghosts that haunt the neutral ground, and the croaking of the birds of -ill luck that nest at Raven rock is blended with the cries of her dim -figure. Still, graceless as these fellows were, they affected a loyalty -to their respective sides, and were usually willing to fight each other -when they met, especially for the plunder that was to be got by fighting. - -In October, 1780, Claudius Smith, “king of the Cowboys,” and three -scalawag sons came to the conclusion that it was time for Crosby's money -to revert to the crown, and they set off toward his little house one -evening, sure of finding him in, for his father was seriously ill. The -Smiths arrived there to find that the Skinners had preceded them on the -same errand, and they recognized through the windows, in the leader of -the band, a noted brigand on whose head a price was laid. He was -searching every crack and cranny of the room, while Crosby, stripped to -shirt and trousers, stood before the empty fireplace and begged for that -night to be left alone with his dying father. - -“To hell with the old man!” roared the Skinner. “Give up your gold, or -we'll put you to the torture,” and he significantly whirled the end of a -rope that he carried about his waist. At that moment the faint voice of -the old man was heard calling from another room. - -“Take all that I have and let me go!” cried Crosby, and turning up a -brick in the fire-place he disclosed a handful of gold, his life savings. -The leader still tried to oppose his exit, but Crosby flung him to the -floor and rushed away to his father, while the brigand, deeming it well -to delay rising, dug his fingers into the hollow and began to extract the -sovereigns. At that instant four muskets were discharged from without: -there was a crash of glass, a yell of pain, and four of the Skinners -rolled bleeding on the floor; two others ran into the darkness and -escaped; their leader, trying to follow, was met at the threshold by the -Smiths, who clutched the gold out of his hand and pinioned his elbows in -a twinkling. - -“I thought ye'd like to know who's got ye,” said old Smith, peering into -the face of the astonished and crestfallen robber, “for I've told ye many -a time to keep out of my way, and now ye've got to swing for getting into -it.” - -Within five minutes of the time that he had got his clutch on Crosby's -money the bandit was choking to death at the end of his own rope, hung -from the limb of an apple-tree, and, having secured the gold, the Cowboys -went their way into the darkness. Crosby soon made his appearance in the -ranks of the Continentals, and, though they looked askant at him for a -time, they soon discovered the truth and hailed him as a hero, for the -information he had carried to Washington from Clinton's camp had often -saved them from disaster. He had survived attack in his own house through -the falling out of rogues, and he survived the work and hazard of war -through luck and a sturdy frame. Congress afterwards gave him a sum of -money larger than had been taken from him, for his chief had commended -him in these lines: “Circumstances of political importance, which -involved the lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what -this paper now reveals. Enoch Crosby has for years been a faithful and -unrequited servant of his country. Though man does not, God may reward -him for his conduct. GEORGE WASHINGTON.” - -Associated with Crosby in his work of getting information from the enemy -was a man named Gainos, who kept an inn on the neutral ground, that was -often raided. Being assailed by Cowboys once, Gainos, with his tenant and -stable-boys, fired at the bandits together, just as the latter had forced -his front door, then stepping quickly forward he slashed off the head of -the leader with a cutlass. The retreating crew dumped the body into a -well on the premises, and there it sits on the crumbling curb o' nights -looking disconsolately for its head. - -It may also be mentioned that the Skinners had a chance to revenge -themselves on the Cowboys for their defeat at the Crosby house. They fell -upon the latter at the tent-shaped cave in Yonkers,--it is called -Washington's Cave, because the general napped there on bivouac,--and not -only routed them, but secured so much of their treasure that they were -able to be honest for several years after. - - - - -THE LOST GRAVE OF PAINE - -Failure to mark the resting-places of great men and to indicate the -scenes of their deeds has led to misunderstanding and confusion among -those who discover a regard for history and tradition in this practical -age. Robert Fulton, who made steam navigation possible, lies in an -unmarked tomb in the yard of Trinity Church--the richest church in -America. The stone erected to show where Andre was hanged was destroyed -by a cheap patriot, who thought it represented a compliment to the spy. -The spot where Alexander Hamilton was shot in the duel by Aaron Burr is -known to few and will soon be forgotten. It was not until a century of -obloquy had been heaped on the memory of Thomas Paine that his once -enemies were brought to know him as a statesman of integrity, a -philanthropist, and philosopher. His deistic religion, proclaimed in “The -Age of Reason,” is unfortunately no whit more independent than is -preached in dozens of pulpits to-day. He died ripe in honors, despite his -want of creed, and his mortal part was buried in New Rochelle, New York, -under a large walnut-tree in a hay-field. Some years later his friends -removed the body to a new grave in higher ground, and placed over it a -monument that the opponents of his principles quickly hacked to pieces. -Around the original grave there still remains a part of the old -inclosure, and it was proposed to erect a suitable memorial--the Hudson -and its Hills the spot, but the owner of the tract would neither give nor -sell an inch of his land for the purpose of doing honor to the man. Some -doubt has already been expressed as to whether the grave is beneath the -monument or in the inclosure; and it is also asserted that Paine's ghost -appears at intervals, hovering in the air between the two burial-places, -or flitting back and forth from one to the other, lamenting the -forgetfulness of men and wailing, “Where is my grave? I have lost my -grave!” - - - - -THE RISING OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS - -Gouverneur Morris, American minister to the court of Louis XVI, was -considerably enriched, at the close of the reign of terror, by plate, -jewels, furniture, paintings, coaches, and so on, left in his charge by -members of the French nobility, that they might not be confiscated in the -sack of the city by the _sans culottes_; for so many of the aristocracy -were killed and so many went into exile or disguised their names, that it -was impossible to find heirs or owners for these effects. Some of the -people who found France a good country to be out of came to America, -where adventurers had found prosperity and refugees found peace so many -times before. Marshal Ney and Bernadotte are alleged to have served in -the American army during the Revolution, and at Hogansburg, New York, the -Reverend Eleazer Williams, an Episcopal missionary, who lies buried in -the church-yard there, was declared to be the missing son of Louis XVI. -The question, “Have we a Bourbon among us?” was frequently canvassed; but -he avoided publicity and went quietly on with his pastoral work. - -All property left in Mr. Morris's hands that had not been claimed was -removed to his mansion at Port Morris, when he returned from his -ministry, and he gained in the esteem and envy of his neighbors when the -extent of these riches was seen. Once, at the wine, he touched glasses -with his wife, and said that if she bore a male child that son should be -heir to his wealth. Two relatives who sat at the table exchanged looks at -this and cast a glance of no gentle regard on his lady. A year went by. -The son was born, but Gouverneur Morris was dead. - -It is the first night of the year 1817, the servants are asleep, and the -widow sits late before the fire, her baby in her arms, listening betimes -to the wind in the chimney, the beat of hail on the shutters, the -brawling of the Bronx and the clash of moving ice upon it; yet thinking -of her husband and the sinister look his promise had brought to the faces -of his cousins, when a tramp of horses is heard without, and anon a -summons at the door. The panels are beaten by loaded riding-whips, and a -man's voice cries, “Anne Morris, fetch us our cousin's will, or we'll -break into the house and take it.” The woman clutches the infant to her -breast, but makes no answer. Again the clatter of the whips; but now a -mist is gathering in the room, and a strange enchantment comes over her, -for are not the lions breathing on the coat of arms above the door, and -are not the portraits stirring in their frames? - -They are, indeed. There is a rustle of robes and clink of steel and one -old warrior leaps down, his armor sounding as he alights, and striking -thrice his sword and shield together he calls on Gouverneur Morris to -come forth. Somebody moves in the room where Morris died; there is a -measured footfall in the corridor, with the clank of a scabbard keeping -time; the door is opened, and on the blast that enters the widow hears a -cry, then a double gallop, passing swiftly into distance. As she gazes, -her husband appears, apparelled as in life, and with a smile he takes a -candelabrum from the mantel and, beckoning her to follow, moves from room -to room. Then, for the first time, the widow knows to what wealth her -baby has been born, for the ghost discloses secret drawers in escritoires -where money, title deeds, and gems are hidden, turns pictures and -wainscots on unsuspected hinges, revealing shelves heaped with fabrics, -plate, and lace; then, returning to the fireside, he stoops as if to kiss -his wife and boy, but a bell strikes the first hour of morning and he -vanishes into his portrait on the wall. - - - - -THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - - - - -DOLPH HEYLIGER - -New York was New Amsterdam when Dolph Heyliger got himself born there,--a -graceless scamp, though a brave, good-natured one, and being left -penniless on his father's death he was fain to take service with a -doctor, while his mother kept a shop. This doctor had bought a farm on -the island of Manhattoes--away out of town, where Twenty-third Street now -runs, most likely--and, because of rumors that its tenants had noised -about it, he seemed likely to enjoy the responsibilities of landholding -and none of its profits. It suited Dolph's adventurous disposition that -he should be deputed to investigate the reason for these rumors, and for -three nights he kept his abode in the desolate old manor, emerging after -daybreak in a lax and pallid condition, but keeping his own counsel, to -the aggravation of the populace, whose ears were burning for his news. - -Not until long after did he tell of the solemn tread that woke him in the -small hours, of his door softly opening, though he had bolted and locked -it, of a portly Fleming, with curly gray hair, reservoir boots, slouched -hat, trunk and doublet, who entered and sat in the arm-chair, watching -him until the cock crew. Nor did he tell how on the third night he -summoned courage, hugging a Bible and a catechism to his breast for -confidence, to ask the meaning of the visit, and how the Fleming arose, -and drawing Dolph after him with his eyes, led him downstairs, went -through the front door without unbolting it, leaving that task for the -trembling yet eager youth, and how, after he had proceeded to a disused -well at the bottom of the garden, he vanished from sight. - -Dolph brooded long upon these things and dreamed of them in bed. He -alleged that it was in obedience to his dreams that he boarded a schooner -bound up the Hudson, without the formality of adieu to his employer, and -after being spilled ashore in a gale at the foot of Storm King, he fell -into the company of Anthony Vander Hevden, a famous landholder and -hunter, who achieved a fancy for Dolph as a lad who could shoot, fish, -row, and swim, and took him home with him to Albany. The Heer had -commodious quarters, good liquor, and a pretty daughter, and Dolph felt -himself in paradise until led to the room he was to occupy, for one of -the first things that he set eyes on in that apartment was a portrait of -the very person who had kept him awake for the worse part of three nights -at the bowerie in Manhattoes. He demanded to know whose picture it was, -and learned that it was that of Killian Vander Spiegel, burgomaster and -curmudgeon, who buried his money when the English seized New Amsterdam -and fretted himself to death lest it should be discovered. He remembered -that his mother had spoken of this Spiegel and that her father was the -miser's rightful heir, and it now appeared that he was one of Heyden's -forbears too. In his dream that night the Fleming stepped out of the -portrait, led him, as he had done before, to the well, where he smiled -and vanished. Dolph reflected, next morning, that these things had been -ordered to bring together the two branches of the family and disclose the -whereabouts of the treasure that it should inherit. So full was he of -this idea that he went back to New Amsterdam by the first schooner, to -the surprise of the Heer and the regret of his daughter. - -After the truant had been received with execrations by the doctor and -with delight by his mother, who believed that spooks had run off with -him, and with astonishment, as a hero of romance, by the public, he made -for the haunted premises at the first opportunity and began to angle at -the disused well. Presently he found his hook entangled in something at -the bottom, and on lifting slowly he discovered that he had secured a -fine silver porringer, with lid held down by twisted wire. It was the -work of a moment to wrench off the lid, when he found the vessel to be -filled with golden pieces. His fishing that day was attended with such -luck as never fell to an angler before, for there were other pieces of -plate down there, all engraved with the Spiegel arms and all containing -treasure. - -By encouraging the most dreadful stories about the spot, in order to keep -the people wide away from it, he accomplished the removal of his prizes -bit by bit from their place of concealment to his home. His unaccounted -absence in Albany and his dealings with the dead had prepared his -neighbors for any change in himself or his condition, and now that he -always had a bottle of schnapps for the men and a pot of tea for the -women, and was good to his mother, they said that they had always known -that when he changed it would be for the better,--at which his old -detractors lifted their eyebrows significantly--and when asked to dinner -by him they always accepted. - -Moreover, they made merry when the day came round for his wedding with -the little maid of Albany. They likewise elected him a member of the -corporation, to which he bequeathed some of the Spiegel plate and often -helped the other city fathers to empty the big punch-bowl. Indeed, it was -at one of these corporation feasts that he died of apoplexy. He was -buried with honors in the yard of the Dutch church in Garden Street. - - - - -THE KNELL AT THE WEDDING - -A young New Yorker had laid such siege to the heart of a certain -belle--this was back in the Knickerbocker days when people married for -love--that everybody said the banns were as good as published; but -everybody did not know, for one fine morning my lady went to church with -another gentleman--not her father, though old enough to be--and when the -two came out they were man and wife. The elderly man was rich. After the -first paroxysm of rage and disappointment had passed, the lover withdrew -from the world and devoted himself to study; nor when he learned that she -had become a widow, with comfortable belongings derived from the estate -of the late lamented, did he renew acquaintance with her, and he smiled -bitterly when he heard of her second marriage to a young adventurer who -led her a wretched life, but atoned for his sins, in a measure, by dying -soon enough afterward to leave a part of her fortune unspent. - -In the lapse of time the doubly widowed returned to New York, where she -met again the lover of her youth. Mr. Ellenwood had acquired the reserve -of a scholar, and had often puzzled his friends with his eccentricities; -but after a few meetings with the object of his young affection he came -out of his glooms, and with respectful formality laid again at her feet -the heart she had trampled on forty years before. Though both of them -were well on in life, the news of their engagement made little of a -sensation. The widow was still fair; the wooer was quiet, refined, and -courtly, and the union of their fortunes would assure a competence for -the years that might be left to them. The church of St. Paul, on -Broadway, was appointed for the wedding, and it was a whim of the groom -that his bride should meet him there. At the appointed hour a company of -the curious had assembled in the edifice; a rattle of wheels was heard, -and a bevy of bridesmaids and friends in hoop, patch, velvet, silk, -powder, swords, and buckles walked down the aisle; but just as the bride -had come within the door, out of the sunlight that streamed so -brilliantly on the mounded turf and tombstones in the churchyard, the -bell in the steeple gave a single boom. - -The bride walked to the altar, and as she took her place before it -another clang resounded from the belfry. The bridegroom was not there. -Again and again the brazen throat and iron tongue sent out a doleful -knell, and faces grew pale and anxious, for the meaning of it could not -be guessed. With eyes fixed on the marble tomb of her first husband, the -woman tremblingly awaited the solution of the mystery, until the door was -darkened by something that made her catch her breath--a funeral. The -organ began a solemn dirge as a black-cloaked cortege came through the -aisle, and it was with amazement that the bride discovered it to be -formed of her oldest friends,--bent, withered; paired, man and woman, as -in mockery--while behind, with white face, gleaming eyes, disordered -hair, and halting step, came the bridegroom, in his shroud. - -“Come,” he said,--“let us be married. The coffins are ready. Then, home -to the tomb.” - -“Cruel!” murmured the woman. - -“Now, Heaven judge which of us has been cruel. Forty years ago you took -away my faith, destroyed my hopes, and gave to others your youth and -beauty. Our lives have nearly run their course, so I am come to wed you -as with funeral rites.” Then, in a softer manner, he took her hand, and -said, “All is forgiven. If we cannot live together we will at least be -wedded in death. Time is almost at its end. We will marry for eternity. -Come.” And tenderly embracing her, he led her forward. Hard as was the -ordeal, confusing, frightening, humiliating, the bride came through it a -better woman. - -“It is true,” she said, “I have been vain and worldly, but now, in my -age, the truest love I ever knew has come back to me. It is a holy love. -I will cherish it forever.” Their eyes met, and they saw each other -through tears. Solemnly the clergyman read the marriage service, and when -it was concluded the low threnody that had come from the organ in key -with the measured clang of the bell, merged into a nobler motive, until -at last the funeral measures were lost in a burst of exultant harmony. -Sobs of pent feeling and sighs of relief were heard as the bridal party -moved away, and when the newmade wife and husband reached the portal the -bell was silent and the sun was shining. - - - - -ROISTERING DIRCK VAN DARA - -In the days when most of New York stood below Grand Street, a roistering -fellow used to make the rounds of the taverns nightly, accompanied by a -friend named Rooney. This brave drinker was Dirck Van Dara, one of the -last of those swag-bellied topers that made merry with such solemnity -before the English seized their unoffending town. It chanced that Dirck -and his chum were out later than usual one night, and by eleven o'clock, -when all good people were abed, a drizzle set in that drove the watch to -sleep in doorways and left Broadway tenantless. As the two choice spirits -reeled out of a hostelry near Wall Street and saw the lights go out in -the tap-room windows they started up town to their homes in Leonard -Street, but hardly had they come abreast of old St. Paul's when a strange -thing stayed them: crying was heard in the churchyard and a -phosphorescent light shone among the tombs. Rooney was sober in a moment, -but not so Dirck Van Dara, who shouted, “Here is sport, friend Rooney. -Let's climb the wall. If the dead are for a dance, we will take partners -and show them how pigeons' wings are cut nowadays.” - -“No,” exclaimed the other; “those must perish who go among the dead when -they come out of their graves. I've heard that if you get into their -clutches, you must stay in purgatory for a hundred years, and no priest -can pray you out.” - -“Bah! old wives' tales! Come on!” And pulling his friend with him, they -were over the fence. “Hello! what have we here?” As he spoke a haggard -thing arose from behind a tombstone, a witchlike creature, with rags -falling about her wasted form and hair that almost hid her face. The -twain were set a-sneezing by the fumes of sulphur, and Rooney swore -afterwards that there were little things at the end of the yard with -grinning faces and lights on the ends of their tails. Old Hollands are -heady. Dirck began to chaff the beldam on her dilapidation, but she -stopped his talk by dipping something from a caldron behind her and -flinging it over both of her visitors. Whatever it was, it burned -outrageously, and with a yell of pain they leaped the wall more briskly -than they had jumped it the other way, and were soon in full flight. They -had not gone far when the clock struck twelve. - -“Arrah! there's a crowd of them coming after,” panted Rooney. “Ave Mary! -I've heard that if you die with witch broth being thrown over you, you're -done for in the next world, as well as this. Let us get to Father -Donagan's. Wow!” - -As he made this exclamation the fugitives found their way opposed by a -woman, who looked at them with immodest eyes and said, “Dirck Van Dara, -your sire, in wig and bob, turned us Cyprians out of New York, after -ducking us in the Collect. But we forgive him, and to prove it we ask you -to our festival.” - -At the stroke of midnight the street before the church had swarmed with a -motley throng, that now came onward, waving torches that sparkled like -stars. They formed a ring about Dirck and began to dance, and he, nothing -loth, seized the nymph who had addressed him and joined in the revel. Not -a soul was out or awake except themselves, and no words were said as the -dance went wilder to strains of weird and unseen instruments. Now and -then one would apply a torch to the person of Dirck, meanly assailing him -in the rear, and the smart of the burn made him feet it the livelier. At -last they turned toward the Battery as by common consent, and went -careering along the street in frolic fashion. Rooney, whose senses had -thus far been pent in a stupor, fled with a yell of terror, and as he -looked back he saw the unholy troop disappearing in the mist like a -moving galaxy. Never from that night was Dirck Van Data seen or heard of -more, and the publicans felt that they had less reason for living. - - - - -THE PARTY FROM GIBBET ISLAND - -Ellis Island, in New York harbor, once bore the name of Gibbet Island, -because pirates and mutineers were hanged there in chains. During the -times when it was devoted to this fell purpose there stood in Communipaw -the Wild Goose tavern, where Dutch burghers resorted, to smoke, drink -Hollands, and grow fat, wise, and sleepy in each others' company. The -plague of this inn was Yan Yost Vanderscamp, a nephew of the landlord, -who frequently alarmed the patrons of the house by putting powder into -their pipes and attaching briers beneath their horses' tails, and who -naturally turned pirate when he became older, taking with him to sea his -boon companion, an ill-disposed, ill-favored blackamoor named Pluto, who -had been employed about the tavern. When the landlord died, Vanderscamp -possessed himself of this property, fitted it up with plunder, and at -intervals he had his gang ashore,--such a crew of singing, swearing, -drinking, gaming devils as Communipaw had never seen the like of; yet the -residents could not summon activity enough to stop the goings-on that -made the Wild Goose a disgrace to their village. The British authorities, -however, caught three of the swashbucklers and strung them up on Gibbet -Island, and things that went on badly in Communipaw after that went on -with quiet and secrecy. - -The pirate and his henchmen were returning to the tavern one night, after -a visit to a rakish-looking vessel in the offing, when a squall broke in -such force as to give their skiff a leeway to the place of executions. As -they rounded that lonely reef a creaking noise overhead caused -Vanderscamp to look up, and he could not repress a shudder as he saw the -bodies of his three messmates, their rags fluttering and their chains -grinding in the wind. - -“Don't you want to see your friends?” sneered Pluto. “You, who are never -afraid of living men, what do you fear from the dead?” - -“Nothing,” answered the pirate. Then, lugging forth his bottle, he took a -long pull at it, and holding it toward the dead felons, he shouted, -“Here's fair weather to you, my lads in the wind, and if you should be -walking the rounds to-night, come in to supper.” - -A clatter of bones and a creak of chains sounded like a laugh. It was -midnight when the boat pulled in at Communipaw, and as the storm -continued Vanderscamp, drenched to the skin, made quick time to the Wild -Goose. As he entered, a sound of revelry overhead smote his ear, and, -being no less astonished than in need of cordials, he hastened up-stairs -and flung open the door. A table stood there, furnished with jugs and -pipes and cans, and by light of candles that burned as blue as brimstone -could be seen the three gallows-birds from Gibbet Island, with halters on -their necks, clinking their tankards together and trolling forth a -drinking-song. - -Starting back with affright as the corpses hailed him with lifted arms -and turned their fishy eyes on him, Vanderscamp slipped at the door and -fell headlong to the bottom of the stairs. Next morning he was found -there by the neighbors, dead to a certainty, and was put away in the -Dutch churchyard at Bergen on the Sunday following. As the house was -rifled and deserted by its occupants, it was hinted that the negro had -betrayed his master to his fellow-buccaneers, and that he, Pluto, was no -other than the devil in disguise. But he was not, for his skiff was seen -floating bottom up in the bay soon after, and his drowned body lodged -among the rocks at the foot of the pirates' gallows. - -For a long time afterwards the island was regarded as a place that -required purging with bell, book, and candle, for shadows were reported -there and faint lights that shot into the air, and to this day, with the -great immigrant station on it and crowds going and coming all the time, -the Battery boatmen prefer not to row around it at night, for they are -likely to see the shades of the soldier and his mistress who were drowned -off the place one windy night, when the girl was aiding the fellow to -escape confinement in the guard-house, to say nothing of Vanderscamp and -his felons. - - - - -MISS BRITTON'S POKER - -The maids of Staten Island wrought havoc among the royal troops who were -quartered among them during the Revolution. Near quarantine, in an old -house,--the Austen mansion,--a soldier of King George hanged himself -because a Yankee maid who lived there would not have him for a husband, -nor any gentleman whose coat was of his color; and, until ghosts went out -of fashion, his spirit, in somewhat heavy boots, with jingling spurs, -often disturbed the nightly quiet of the place. - -The conduct of a damsel in the old town of Richmond was even more stern. -She was the granddaughter, and a pretty one, of a farmer named Britton; -but though Britton by descent and name, she was no friend of Britons, -albeit she might have had half the officers in the neighboring camp at -her feet, if she had wished them there. Once, while mulling a cup of -cider for her grandfather, she was interrupted by a self-invited -myrmidon, who undertook, in a fashion rude and unexpected, to show the -love in which he held her. Before he could kiss her, the girl drew the -hot poker from the mug of drink and jabbed at the vitals of her amorous -foe, burning a hole through his scarlet uniform and printing on his burly -person a lasting memento of the adventure. With a howl of pain the fellow -rushed away, and the privacy of the Britton family was never again -invaded, at least whilst cider was being mulled. - - - - -THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES - -When the devil set a claim to the fair lands at the north of Long Island -Sound, his claim was disputed by the Indians, who prepared to fight for -their homes should he attempt to serve his writ of ejectment. Parley -resulted in nothing, so the bad one tried force, but he was routed in -open fight and found it desirable to get away from the scene of action as -soon as possible. He retreated across the Sound near the head of East -River. The tide was out, so he stepped from island to island, without -trouble, and those reefs and islands are to this day the Devil's -Stepping-Stones. On reaching Throgg's Neck he sat down in a despairing -attitude and brooded on his defeat, until, roused to a frenzy at the -thought of it, he resolved to renew the war on terms advantageous -entirely to himself. In that day Connecticut was free from rocks, but -Long Island was covered with them; so he gathered all he could lay his -hands on and tossed them at the Indians that he could see across the -Sound near Cold Spring until the supply had given out. The red men who -last inhabited Connecticut used to show white men where the missiles -landed and where the devil struck his heel into the ground as he sprang -from the shore in his haste to reach Long Island. At Cold Spring other -footprints and one of his toes are shown. Establishing himself at Coram, -he troubled the people of the country for many years, so that between the -devil on the west and the Montauks on the east they were plagued indeed; -for though their guard at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and other places -often apprised them of the coming of the Montauks, they never knew which -way to look for the devil. - - - - -THE SPRINGS OF BLOOD AND WATER - -A great drought had fallen on Long Island, and the red men prayed for -water. It is true that they could get it at Lake Ronkonkoma, but some of -them were many miles from there, and, beside, they feared the spirits at -that place: the girl who plied its waters in a phosphor-shining birch, -seeking her recreant lover; and the powerful guardians that the Great -Spirit had put in charge to keep the fish from being caught, for these -fish were the souls of men, awaiting deliverance into another form. The -people gathered about their villages in bands and besought the Great -Spirit to give them drink. His voice was heard at last, bidding their -chief to shoot an arrow into the air and to watch where it fell, for -there would water gush out. The chief obeyed the deity, and as the arrow -touched the earth a spring of sweet water spouted into the air. Running -forward with glad cries the red men drank eagerly of the liquor, laved -their faces in it, and were made strong again; and in memory of that -event they called the place the Hill of God, or Manitou Hill, and Manet -or Manetta Hill it is to this day. Hereabouts the Indians settled and -lived in peace, thriving under the smile of their deity, making wampum -for the inland tribes and waxing rich with gains from it. They made the -canal from bay to sea at Canoe Place, that they might reach open water -without dragging their boats across the sand-bars, and in other ways they -proved themselves ingenious and strong. - -When the English landed on the island they saw that the Indians were not -a people to be trifled with, and in order to properly impress them with -their superiority, they told them that John Bull desired a treaty with -them. The officers got them to sit in line in front of a cannon, the -nature of which instrument was unknown to them, and during the talk the -gun was fired, mowing down so many of the red people that the survivors -took to flight, leaving the English masters at the north shore, for this -heartless and needless massacre took place at Whale's Neck. So angry was -the Great Spirit at this act of cruelty and treachery that he caused -blood to ooze from the soil, as he had made water leap for his thirsting -children, and never again would grass grow on the spot where the murder -had been done. - - - - -THE CRUMBLING SILVER - -There is a clay bank on Little Neck, Long Island, where metallic nodules -are now and then exposed by rain. Rustics declare them to be silver, and -account for their crumbling on the theory that the metal is under a -curse. A century ago the Montauks mined it, digging over enough soil to -unearth these pellets now and again, and exchanging them at the nearest -settlements for tobacco and rum. The seeming abundance of these lumps of -silver aroused the cupidity of one Gardiner, a dweller in the central -wilderness of the island, but none of the Indians would reveal the source -of their treasure. One day Gardiner succeeded in getting an old chief so -tipsy that, without realizing what he was doing, he led the white man to -the clay bed and showed him the metallic spots glittering in the sun. -With a cry of delight Gardiner sprang forward and tore at the earth with -his fingers, while the Indian stood by laughing at his eagerness. - -Presently a shade crossed the white man's face, for he thought that this -vast treasure would have to be shared by others. It was too much to -endure. He wanted all. He would be the richest man on earth. Stealing -behind the Indian as he stood swaying and chuckling, he wrenched the -hatchet from his belt and clove his skull at a blow. Then, dragging the -body to a thicket and hiding it under stones and leaves, he hurried to -his house for cart and pick and shovel, and returning with speed he dug -out a half ton of the silver before sunset. The cart was loaded, and he -set homeward, trembling with excitement and conjuring bright visions for -his future, when a wailing sound from a thicket made him halt and turn -pale. Noiselessly a figure glided from the bush. It was the Indian he had -killed. The form approached the treasure, flung up its arm, uttered a few -guttural words; then a rising wind seemed to lift it from the ground and -it drifted toward the Sound, fading like a cloud as it receded. - -Full of misgiving, Gardiner drove to his home, and, by light of a -lantern, transferred his treasure to his cellar. Was it the dulness of -the candle that made the metal look so black? After a night of feverish -tossing on his bed he arose and went to the cellar to gloat upon his -wealth. The light of dawn fell on a heap of gray dust, a few brassy -looking particles showing here and there. The curse of the ghost had been -of power and the silver was silver no more. Mineralogists say that the -nodules are iron pyrites. Perhaps so; but old residents know that they -used to be silver. - - - - -THE CORTELYOU ELOPEMENT - -In the Bath district of Brooklyn stands Cortelyou manor, built one -hundred and fifty years ago, and a place of defence during the Revolution -when the British made sallies from their camp in Flatbush and worried the -neighborhood. It was in one of these forays on pigs and chickens that a -gallant officer of red-coats met a pretty lass in the fields of -Cortelyou. He stilled her alarm by aiding her to gather wild-flowers, and -it came about that the girl often went into the fields and came back with -prodigious bouquets of daisies. The elder Cortelyou had no inkling of -this adventure until one of his sons saw her tryst with the red-coat at a -distance. Be sure the whole family joined him in remonstrance. As the -girl declared that she would not forego the meetings with her lover, the -father swore that she should never leave his roof again, and he tried to -be as good, or bad, as his word. The damsel took her imprisonment as any -girl of spirit would, but was unable to effect her escape until one -evening, as she sat at her window, watching the moon go down and paint -the harbor with a path of light. A tap at the pane, as of a pebble thrown -against it, roused her from her revery. It was her lover on the lawn. - -At her eager signal he ran forward with a light ladder, planted it -against the window-sill, and in less than a minute the twain were running -toward the beach; but the creak of the ladder had been heard, and -grasping their muskets two of the men hurried out. In the track of the -moon the pursuers descried a moving form, and, without waiting to -challenge, they levelled the guns and fired. A woman's cry followed the -report; then a dip of oars was heard that fast grew fainter until it -faded from hearing. On returning to the house they found the girl's room -empty, and next morning her slipper was brought in from the mud at the -landing. Nobody inside of the American lines ever learned what that shot -had done, but if it failed to take a life it robbed Cortelyou of his -mind. He spent the rest of his days in a single room, chained to a staple -in the floor, tramping around and around, muttering and gesturing, and -sometimes startling the passer-by as he showed his white face and ragged -beard at the window. - - - - -VAN WEMPEL'S GOOSE - -Allow us to introduce Nicholas Van Wempel, of Flatbush: fat, phlegmatic, -rich, and henpecked. He would like to be drunk because he is henpecked, -but the wife holds the purse-strings and only doles out money to him when -she wants groceries or he needs clothes. It was New Year's eve, the eve -of 1739, when Vrouw Van Wempel gave to her lord ten English shillings and -bade him hasten to Dr. Beck's for the fat goose that had been bespoken. -“And mind you do not stop at the tavern,” she screamed after him in her -shrillest tone. But poor Nicholas! As he went waddling down the road, -snapping through an ice-crust at every step, a roguish wind--or perhaps -it was one of the bugaboos that were known to haunt the shores of -Gravesend Bay--snatched off his hat and rolled it into the very doorway -of the tavern that he had been warned, under terrible penalties, to -avoid. - -As he bent to pick it up the door fell ajar, and a pungency of schnapps -and tobacco went into his nostrils. His resolution, if he had one, -vanished. He ordered one glass of schnapps; friends came in and treated -him to another; he was bound to do as much for them; shilling by shilling -the goose money passed into the till of the landlord. Nicholas was heard -to make a muttered assertion that it was his own money anyhow, and that -while he lived he would be the head of his own house; then the mutterings -grew faint and merged into snores. When he awoke it was at the low sound -of voices in the next room, and drowsily turning his head he saw there -two strangers,--sailors, he thought, from their leather jackets, black -beards, and the rings in their ears. What was that they said? Gold? On -the marshes? At the old Flatlands tide-mill? The talkers had gone before -his slow and foggy brain could grasp it all, but when the idea had fairly -eaten its way into his intellect, he arose with the nearest approach to -alacrity that he had exhibited in years, and left the place. He crunched -back to his home, and seeing nobody astir went softly into his shed, -where he secured a shovel and lantern, and thence continued with all -consistent speed to the tumbledown tide-mill on the marsh,--a trying -journey for his fat legs on a sharp night, but hope and schnapps impelled -him. - -He reached the mill, and, hastening to the cellar, began to probe in the -soft, unfrozen earth. Presently his spade struck something, and he dug -and dug until he had uncovered the top of a canvas bag,--the sort that -sailors call a “round stern-chest.” It took all his strength to lug it -out, and as he did so a seam burst, letting a shower of gold pieces over -the ground. He loosed the band of his breeches, and was filling the legs -thereof with coin, when a tread of feet sounded overhead and four men -came down the stair. Two of them he recognized as the fellows of the -tavern. They saw the bag, the lantern, then Nicholas. Laden though he was -with gold until he could hardly budge, these pirates, for such they were, -got him up-stairs, forced him to drink hot Hollands to the success of -their flag, then shot him through the window into the creek. As he was -about to make this unceremonious exit he clutched something to save -himself, and it proved to be a plucked goose that the pirates had stolen -from a neighboring farm and were going to sup on when they had scraped -their gold together. He felt the water and mud close over him; he -struggled desperately; he was conscious of breathing more freely and of -staggering off at a vigorous gait; then the power of all the schnapps -seemed to get into his head, and he remembered no more until he heard his -wife shrilling in his ears, when he sat up and found himself in a -snow-bank close to his house, with a featherless goose tight in his -grasp. - -Vrouw Van Wempel cared less about the state of her spouse when she saw -that he had secured the bird, and whenever he told his tale of the -pirates she turned a deaf ear to him, for if he had found the gold why -did he not manage to bring home a few pieces of it? He, in answer, asked -how, as he had none of his own money, she could have come by the goose? -He often told his tale to sympathetic ears, and would point to the old -mill to prove that it was true. - - - - -THE WEARY WATCHER - -Before the opening of the great bridge sent commerce rattling up -Washington Street in Brooklyn that thoroughfare was a shaded and -beautiful avenue, and among the houses that attested its respectability -was one, between Tillary and Concord Streets, that was long declared to -be haunted. A man and his wife dwelt there who seemed to be fondly -attached to each other, and whose love should have been the stronger -because of their three children none grew to years. A mutual sorrow is as -close a tie as a common affection. One day, while on a visit to a friend, -the wife saw her husband drive by in a carriage with a showy woman beside -him. She went home at once, and when the supposed recreant returned she -met him with bitter reproaches. He answered never a word, but took his -hat and left the house, never to be seen again in the places that had -known him. - -The wife watched and waited, daily looking for his return, but days -lengthened into weeks, months, years, and still he came not. Sometimes -she lamented that she had spoken hastily and harshly, thinking that, had -she known all, she might have found him blameless. There was no family to -look after, no wholesome occupation that she sought, so the days went by -in listening and watching, until, at last, her body and mind gave way, -and the familiar sight of her face, watching from a second floor window, -was seen no longer. Her last day came. She had risen from her bed; life -and mind seemed for a moment to be restored to her; and standing where -she had stood so often, her form supported by a half-closed shutter and a -grasp on the sash, she looked into the street once more, sighed -hopelessly, and so died. It was her shade that long watched at the -windows; it was her waxen face, heavy with fatigue and pain, that was -dimly seen looking over the balusters in the evening. - - - - -THE RIVAL FIDDLERS - -Before Brooklyn had spread itself beyond Greenwood Cemetery a stone could -be seen in Martense's Lane, south of that burial-ground, that bore a hoof -mark. A negro named Joost, in the service of the Van Der -Something-or-others, was plodding home on Saturday night, his fiddle -under his arm. He had been playing for a wedding in Flatbush and had been -drinking schnapps until he saw stars on the ground and fences in the sky; -in fact, the universe seemed so out of order that he seated himself -rather heavily on this rock to think about it. The behavior of the stars -in swimming and rolling struck him as especially curious, and he -conceived the notion that they wanted to dance. Putting his fiddle to his -chin, he began a wild jig, and though he made it up as he went along, he -was conscious of doing finely, when the boom of a bell sent a shiver down -his spine. It was twelve o'clock, and here he was playing a dance tune on -Sunday. However, the sin of playing for one second on the Sabbath was as -great as that of playing all day; so, as long as he was in for it, he -resolved to carry the tune to the end, and he fiddled away with a -reckless vehemence. Presently he became aware that the music was both -wilder and sweeter than before, and that there was more of it. Not until -then did he observe that a tall, thin stranger stood beside him; and that -he was fiddling too,--composing a second to Joost's air, as if he could -read his thought before he put it into execution on the strings. Joost -paused, and the stranger did likewise. - -“Where de debble did you come frum?” asked the first. The other smiled. - -“And how did you come to know dat music?” Joost pursued. - -“Oh, I've known that tune for years,” was the reply. “It's called 'The -Devil's joy at Sabbath Breaking.'” - -“You're a liar!” cried the negro. The stranger bowed and burst into a -roar of laughter. “A liar!” repeated Joost,--“for I made up dat music dis -very minute.” - -“Yet you notice that I could follow when you played.” - -“Humph! Yes, you can follow.” - -“And I can lead, too. Do you know the tune 'Go to the Devil and Shake -Yourself?'” - -“Yes; but I play second to nobody.” - -“Very well, I'll beat you at any air you try.” - -“Done!” said Joost. And then began a contest that lasted until daybreak. -The stranger was an expert, but Joost seemed to be inspired, and just as -the sun appeared he sounded, in broad and solemn harmonies, the hymn of -Von Catts: - - “Now behold, at dawn of day, - Pious Dutchmen sing and pray.” - -At that the stranger exclaimed, “Well, that beats the devil!” and -striking his foot angrily on the rock, disappeared in a flash of fire -like a burst bomb. Joost was hurled twenty feet by the explosion, and lay -on the ground insensible until a herdsman found him some hours later. As -he suffered no harm from the contest and became a better fiddler than -ever, it is supposed that the recording angel did not inscribe his feat -of Sabbath breaking against him in large letters. There were a few who -doubted his story, but they had nothing more to say when he showed them -the hoof-mark on the rock. Moreover, there are fewer fiddlers among the -negroes than there used to be, because they say that the violin is the -devil's instrument. - - - - -WYANDANK - -From Brooklyn Heights, or Ihpetonga, “highplace of trees,” where the -Canarsie Indians made wampum or sewant, and where they contemplated the -Great Spirit in the setting of the sun across the meeting waters, to -Montauk Point, Long Island has been swept by the wars of red men, and -many are the tokens of their occupancy. A number of their graves were to -be seen until within fifty years, as clearly marked as when the warriors -were laid there in the hope of resurrection among the happy hunting -grounds that lay to the west and south. The casting of stones on the -death-spots or graves of some revered or beloved Indians was long -continued, and was undoubtedly for the purpose of raising monuments to -them, though at Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, Sacrifice Rock, between -Plymouth and Sandwich, Massachusetts, and some other places the cairns -merely mark a trail. Even the temporary resting-place of Sachem -Poggatacut, near Sag Harbor, was kept clear of weeds and leaves by -Indians who passed it in the two centuries that lapsed between the death -of the chief and the laying of the road across it in 1846. This spot is -not far from Whooping Boy's Hollow, so named because of a boy who was -killed by Indians, and because the rubbing of two trees there in a storm -gave forth a noise like crying. An older legend has it that this noise is -the angry voice of the magician who tried to slay Wyandank, the -“Washington of the Montauks,” who is buried on the east end of the -island. Often he led his men into battle, sounding the warwhoop, copied -from the scream of the eagle, so loudly that those who heard it said that -the Montauks were crying for prey. - -It was while killing an eagle on Block Island, that he might use the -plumes for his hair, that this chief disclosed himself to the hostiles -and brought on a fight in which every participant except himself was -slain. He was secretly followed back to Long Island by a magician who had -hopes of enlisting the evil ones of that region against him,--the giants -that left their tracks in “Blood-stone Rock” and “Printed Rock,” near -Napeague, and such renegades as he who, having betrayed his people, was -swallowed by the earth, his last agony being marked by a stamp of the -foot that left its print on a slab near the Indian burial-ground at -Kongonok. Failing in these alliances the wizard hid among the hollows of -the moors, and there worked spells of such malice that the chief's hand -lost steadiness in the hunt and his voice was seldom heard in council. -When the haunt of this evil one was made known, a number of young men -undertook to trap him. They went to the hills by night, and moved -stealthily through the shrubbery until they were almost upon him; but his -familiars had warned him of their approach, though they had wakened him -only to betray him for a cloud swept in from the sea, fell about the -wretch, burst into flame, and rolled back toward the ocean, bearing him -in the centre of its burning folds. Because of the cry he uttered the -place long bore the name of Whooping Hollow, and it used to be said that -the magician visited the scene of his ill-doing every winter, when his -shrieks could be heard ringing over the hills. - - - - -MARK OF THE SPIRIT HAND - -Andover, New Jersey, was quaint and quiet in the days before the -Revolution--it is not a roaring metropolis, even yet--and as it offered -few social advantages there was more gathering in taprooms and more -drinking of flip than there should have been. Among those who were not -averse to a cheering cup were three boon companions, Bailey, Hill, and -Evans, farmers of the neighborhood. They loved the tavern better than the -church, and in truth the church folk did not love them well, for they -were suspected of entertaining heresies of the most forbidden character. -It was while they were discussing matters of belief over their glasses -that one of them proposed, in a spirit of bravado, that whichever of the -trio might be first to die should come back from the grave and reveal -himself to the others--if he could--thus settling the question as to -whether there was a future. - -Not long after this agreement--for consent was unanimous--Hill departed -this life. His friends lamented his absence, especially at the tavern, -but they anticipated no attempt on his part to express the distinguished -consideration that he had felt for his old chums. Some weeks passed, yet -there was no sign, and the two survivors of the party, as they jogged -homeward to the house where both lived, had begun to think and speak less -frequently of the absent one. But one night the household was alarmed by -a terrible cry. Bailey got a light and hurried to the bedside of his -friend, whom he found deathly white and holding his chest as if in pain. -“He has been here!” gasped Evans. “He stood here just now.” - -“Who?” asked Bailey, a creep passing down his spine. - -“Hill! He stood there, where you are now, and touched me with a hand that -was so cold--cold--” and Evans shivered violently. On turning back the -collar of his shirt the impression of a hand appeared on the flesh near -the shoulder: a hand in white, with one finger missing. Hill had lost a -finger. There was less of taverns after that night, for Evans carried the -token of that ghostly visit on his person until he, too, had gone to -solve the great secret. - - - - -THE FIRST LIBERAL CHURCH - -In 1770 the brig Hand-in-Hand went ashore at Good Luck, New Jersey. Among -the passengers on board the vessel, that it would perhaps be wrong to -call ill fated, was John Murray, founder of Universalism in America. He -had left England in despair, for his wife and children were dead, and so -broken was he in his power of thought and purpose that he felt as if he -should never preach again. - -In fact, his rescue from the wreck was passive, on his part, and he -suffered himself to be carried ashore, recking little whether he reached -it or no. After he had been for half an hour or so on the soil of the new -country, to which he had made his entrance in so unexpected a manner, he -began to feel hungry, and set off afoot along the desolate beach. He came -to a cabin where an old man stood in a doorway with a basket of fish -beside him. “Will you sell me a fish?” asked Murray. - -“No. The fish is all yours. I expected you.” - -“You do not know me.” - -“You are the man who is to tell us of God.” - -“I will never preach of Him again.” - -“I built that log church yonder. Don't say that you will not preach in -it. Whenever a clergyman, Presbyterian, Methody, or Baptist, came here, I -asked him to preach in my kitchen. I tried to get him to stay; but no--he -always had work elsewhere. Last night I saw the brig driven on the bar, -and a voice said to me, 'In that ship is the man who will teach of God. -Not the old God of terrors, but one of love and mercy. He has come -through great sorrow to do this work.' I have made ready for you. Do not -go away.” - -The minister felt a strange lifting in his heart. He fell on his knees -before the little house and offered up a prayer. Long he staid in that -place, preaching gentle doctrines and ministering to the men and women of -that lonely village, and when the fisherman apostle, Thomas Potter, died -he left the church to Murray, who, in turn, bequeathed it, “free, for the -use of all Christian people.” - - - - -ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - - - - -THE PHANTOM DRAGOON - -The height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark, Delaware, is -called Iron Hill, because it is rich in hematite ore, but about the time -of General Howe's advance to the Brandywine it might well have won its -name because of the panoply of war--the sullen guns, the flashing swords, -and glistening bayonets--that appeared among the British tents pitched on -it. After the red-coats had established camp here the American outposts -were advanced and one of the pickets was stationed at Welsh Tract Church. -On his first tour of duty the sentry was thrown into great alarm by the -appearance of a figure robed from head to foot in white, that rode a -horse at a charging gait within ten feet of his face. When guard was -relieved the soldier begged that he might never be assigned to that post -again. His nerves were strong in the presence of an enemy in the -flesh--but an enemy out of the grave! Ugh! He would desert rather than -encounter that shape again. His request was granted. The sentry who -succeeded him was startled, in the small hours, by a rush of hoofs and -the flash of a pallid form. He fired at it, and thought that he heard the -sound of a mocking laugh come back. - -Every night the phantom horseman made his rounds, and several times the -sentinels shot at him without effect, the white horse and white rider -showing no annoyance at these assaults. When it came the turn of a -sceptical and unimaginative old corporal to take the night detail, he -took the liberty of assuming the responsibilities of this post himself. -He looked well to the priming of his musket, and at midnight withdrew out -of the moonshine and waited, with his gun resting on a fence. It was not -long before the beat of hoofs was heard approaching, and in spite of -himself the corporal felt a thrill along his spine as a mounted figure -that might have represented Death on the pale horse came into view; but -he jammed his hat down, set his teeth, and sighted his flint-lock with -deliberation. The rider was near, when bang went the corporal's musket, -and a white form was lying in the road, a horse speeding into the -distance. Scrambling over the fence, the corporal, reassured, ran to the -form and turned it over: a British scout, quite dead. The daring fellow, -relying on the superstitious fears of the rustics in his front, had made -a nightly ride as a ghost, in order to keep the American outposts from -advancing, and also to guess, from elevated points, at the strength and -disposition of their troops. He wore a cuirass of steel, but that did not -protect his brain from the corporal's bullet. - - - - -DELAWARE WATER GAP - -The Indian name of this beautiful region, Minisink, “the water is gone,” - agrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind the -Blue Ridge, and that it burst its way through the hills at this point. -Similar results were produced by a cataclysm on the Connecticut at Mount -Holyoke, on the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk, and Runaway Pond, New Hampshire, -got its name by a like performance. The aborigines, whatever may be said -against them, enjoyed natural beauty, and their habitations were often -made in this delightful region, their councils being attended by chief -Tamanend, or Tammany, a Delaware, whose wisdom and virtues were such as -to raise him to the place of patron saint of America. The notorious -Tammany Society of New York is named for him. When this chief became old -and feeble his tribe abandoned him in a hut at New Britain, Pennsylvania, -and there he tried to kill himself by stabbing, but failing in that, he -flung burning leaves over himself, and so perished. He was buried where -he died. It was a princess of his tribe that gave the name of Lover's -Leap to a cliff on Mount Tammany, by leaping from it to her death, -because her love for a young European was not reciprocated. - -There is a silver-mine somewhere on the opposite mountain of Minsi, the -knowledge of its location having perished with the death of a recluse, -who coined the metal he took from it into valuable though illegal -dollars, going townward every winter to squander his earnings. During the -Revolution “Oran the Hawk,” a Tory and renegade, was vexatious to the -people of Delaware Valley, and a detachment of colonial troops was sent -in pursuit of him. They overtook him at the Gap and chased him up the -slopes of Tammany, though he checked their progress by rolling stones -among them. One rock struck a trooper, crushed him, and bore him down to -the base of a cliff, his blood smearing it in his descent. But though he -seemed to have eluded his pursuers, Oran was shot in several places -during his flight, and when at last he cast himself into a thicket, to -rest and get breath, it was never to rise again. His bones, cracked by -bullets and gnawed by beasts, were found there when the leaves fell. - - - - -THE PHANTOM DRUMMER - -Colonel Howell, of the king's troops, was a gay fellow, framed to make -women false; but when he met the rosy, sweet-natured daughter of farmer -Jarrett, near Valley Forge, he attempted no dalliance, for he fell too -seriously in love. He might not venture into the old man's presence, for -Jarrett had a son with Washington, and he hated a red-coat as he did the -devil; but the young officer met the girl in secret, and they plighted -troth beneath the garden trees, hidden in gray mist. As Howell bent to -take his first kiss that night, a rising wind went past, bringing from -afar the roll of a drum, and as they talked the drum kept drawing nearer, -until it seemed at hand. The officer peered across the wall, then hurried -to his mistress' side, as pale as death. The fields outside were empty of -life. - -Louder came the rattling drum; it seemed to enter the gate, pass but a -yard away, go through the wall, and die in the distance. When it ceased, -Howell started as if a spell had been lifted, laxed his grip on the -maiden's hand, then drew her to his breast convulsively. Ruth's terror -was more vague but no less genuine than his own, and some moments passed -before she could summon voice to ask him what this visitation meant. He -answered, “Something is about to change my fortunes for good or ill; -probably for ill. Important events in my family for the past three -generations have been heralded by that drum, and those events were -disasters oftener than benefits.” Few more words passed, and with another -kiss the soldier scaled the wall and galloped away, the triple beat of -his charger's hoofs sounding back into the maiden's ears like drum-taps. -In a skirmish next day Colonel Howell was shot. He was carried to farmer -Jarrett's house and left there, in spite of the old man's protest, for he -was willing to give no shelter to his country's enemies. When Ruth saw -her lover in this strait she was like to have fallen, but when she -learned that it would take but a few days of quiet and care to restore -him to health, she was ready to forgive her fellow-countrymen for -inflicting an injury that might result in happiness for both of them. - -It took a great deal of teasing to overcome the scruples of the farmer, -but he gruffly consented to receive the young man until his hurt should -heal. Ruth attended him faithfully, and the cheerful, manly nature of the -officer so won the farmer's heart that he soon forgot the color of -Howell's coat. Nor was he surprised when Howell told him that he loved -his daughter and asked for her hand; indeed, it had been easy to guess -their affection, and the old man declared that but for his allegiance to -a tyrant he would gladly own him as a son-in-law. It was a long struggle -between love and duty that ensued in Howell's breast, and love was -victor. If he might marry Ruth he would leave the army. The old man gave -prompt consent, and a secret marriage was arranged. Howell had been -ordered to rejoin his regiment; he could not honorably resign on the eve -of an impending battle, and, even had he done so, a long delay must have -preceded his release. He would marry the girl, go to the country, live -there quietly until the British evacuated Philadelphia, when he would -return and cast his lot with the Jarrett household. - -Howell donned citizen's dress, and the wedding took place in the spacious -best room of the mansion, but as he slipped the ring on the finger of his -bride the roll of a drum was heard advancing up the steps into the room, -then on and away until all was still again. The young colonel was pale; -Ruth clung to him in terror; clergymen and guests looked at each other in -amazement. Now there were voices at the porch, the door was flung open, -armed men entered, and the bridegroom was a prisoner. He was borne to his -quarters, and afterward tried for desertion, for a servant in the Jarrett -household, hating all English and wishing them to suffer, even at each -other's hands, had betrayed the plan of his master's guest. The -court-martial found him guilty and condemned him to be shot. When the -execution took place, Ruth, praying and sobbing in her chamber, knew that -her husband was no more. The distant sound of musketry reverberated like -the roll of a drum. - - - - -THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE - -During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge six -or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that little -was to be hoped for near the camp of their starving comrades, they set -off in the direction of French Creek. At this stream the party separated, -and a little later two of the men were attacked by Tory farmers. Flying -along the creek for some distance they came to a small cave in a bluff, -and one of them, a young Southerner named Carrington, scrambled into it. -His companion was not far behind, and was hurrying toward the cave, when -he was arrested by a rumble and a crash: a block of granite, tons in -weight, that had hung poised overhead, slid from its place and completely -blocked the entrance. The stifled cry of despair from the living occupant -of the tomb struck to his heart. He hid in a neighboring wood until the -Tories had dispersed, then, returning to the cave, he strove with might -and main to stir the boulder from its place, but without avail. - -When he reached camp, as he did next day, he told of this disaster, but -the time for rescue was believed to be past, or the work was thought to -be too exhausting and dangerous for a body of men who had much ado to -keep life in their own weak frames. It was a double tragedy, for the -young man's sweetheart never recovered from the shock that the news -occasioned, and on her tomb, near Richmond, Virginia, these words are -chiselled: “Died, of a broken heart, on the 1st of March, 1780, Virginia -Randolph, aged 21 years, 9 days. Faithful unto death.” In the summer of -1889 some workmen, blasting rock near the falls on French Creek, -uncovered the long-concealed cavern and found there a skeleton with a few -rags of a Continental uniform. In a bottle beside it was an account, -signed by Arthur L. Carrington, of the accident that had befallen him, -and a letter declaring undying love for his sweetheart. - -He had starved to death. The bones were neatly coffined, and were sent to -Richmond to be buried beside those of the faithful Miss Randolph. - - - - -THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN - -Many are the tales of prophecy that have been preserved to us from war -times. In the beginning of King Philip's war in Connecticut, in 1675, it -was reported that the firing of the first gun was heard all over the -State, while the drumbeats calling settlers to defence were audible eight -miles away. Braddock's defeat and the salvation of Washington were -foretold by a Miami chief at a council held in Fort Ponchartrain, on -Detroit River, the ambush and the slaughter having been revealed to him -in a dream. The victims of that battle, too, had been apprised, for one -or two nights before the disaster a young lieutenant in Braddock's -command saw his fellow-officers pass through his tent, bloody and torn, -and when the first gun sounded he knew that it spoke the doom of nearly -all his comrades. At Killingly, Connecticut, in the autumn before the -outbreak of the Revolution, a distant roar of artillery was heard for a -whole day and night in the direction of Boston, mingled with a rattle of -musketry, and so strong was the belief that war had begun and the British -were advancing, that the minute men mustered to await orders. It was -afterward argued that these noises came from an explosion of meteors, a -shower of these missiles being then in progress, invisible, of course, in -the day-time. Just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence -the royal arms on the spire of the Episcopal church at Hampton, Virginia, -were struck off by lightning. Shortly before the surrender of Cornwallis -a display of northern lights was seen in New England, the rays taking the -form of cannon, facing southward. In Connecticut sixty-four of these guns -were counted. - -At the battle of Germantown the Americans were enraged by the killing of -one of their men who had gone out with a flag of truce. He was shot from -the windows of Judge Chew's house, which was crowded with British -soldiers, and as he fell to the lawn, dyeing the peaceful emblem with his -blood, at least one of the Continentals swore that his death should be -well avenged. The British reinforcements, sixteen thousand strong, came -hurrying through the street, their officers but half-dressed, so urgent -had been the summons for their aid. Except for their steady tramp the -place was silent; doors were locked and shutters bolted, and if people -were within doors no sign of them was visible. General Agnew alone of all -the troop seemed depressed and anxious. Turning to an aide as they passed -the Mennonist graveyard, he said, “This field is the last I shall fight -on.” - -An eerie face peered over the cemetery wall, a scarred, unshaven face -framed in long hair and surmounting a body clothed in skins, with the -question, “Is that the brave General Gray who beat the rebels at Paoli?” - One of the soldiers, with a careless toss of the hand, seemed to indicate -General Agnew. A moment later there was a report, a puff of smoke from -the cemetery wall, and a bullet whizzed by the head of the general, who -smiled wanly, to encourage his men. Summary execution would have been -done upon the stranger had not a body of American cavalry dashed against -the red-coats at that moment, and a fierce contest was begun. When the -day was over, General Agnew, who had been separated from his command in -the confusion of battle, came past the graves again. Tired and depressed, -he drew rein for a moment to breathe the sweet air, so lately fouled with -dust and smoke, and to watch the gorgeous light of sunset. Again, like a -malignant genius of the place, the savage-looking stranger arose from -behind the wall. A sharp report broke the quiet of evening and awoke -clattering echoes from the distant houses. A horse plunged and General -Agnew rolled from his saddle, dead: the last victim in the strife at -Germantown. - - - - -A BLOW IN THE DARK - -The Tory Manheim sits brooding in his farmhouse near Valley Forge, and -his daughter, with a hectic flush on her cheek, looks out into the -twilight at the falling snow. She is worn and ill; she has brought on a -fever by exposure incurred that very day in a secret journey to the -American camp, made to warn her lover of another attempt on the life of -Washington, who must pass her father's house on his return from a distant -settlement. The Tory knows nothing of this; but he starts whenever the -men in the next room rattle the dice or break into a ribald song, and a -frown of apprehension crosses his face as the foragers crunch by, -half-barefoot, through the snow. The hours go on, and the noise in the -next room increases; but it hushes suddenly when a knock at the door is -heard. The Tory opens it, and trembles as a tall, grave man, with the -figure of an athlete, steps into the fire-light and calmly removes his -gloves. “I have been riding far,” said he. “Can you give me some food and -the chance to sleep for an hour, until the storm clears up?” - -Manheim says that he can, and shuffling into the next room, he whispers, -“Washington!” The girl is sent out to get refreshments. It is in vain -that she seeks to sign or speak to the man who sits there so calmly -before the fire, for her father is never out of sight or hearing. After -Washington has finished his modest repast he asks to be left to himself -for a while, but the girl is told to conduct him to the room on the left -of the landing on the next floor. - -Her father holds the candle at the foot of the stairs until he sees his -guest enter; then he bids his daughter go to her own bed, which is in the -chamber on the right of the landing. There is busy whispering in the room -below after that, and the dice box is shaken to see to whose lot it shall -fall to steal up those stairs and stab Washington in his sleep. An hour -passes and all in the house appear to be at rest, but the stairs creak -slightly as Manheim creeps upon his prey. He blows his candle out and -softly enters the chamber on the left. The men, who listen in the dark at -the foot of the stair, hear a moan, and the Tory hurries back with a -shout of gladness, for the rebel chief is no more and Howe's reward will -enrich them for life. - -Glasses are filled, and in the midst of the rejoicing a step is heard on -the stair. Washington stands before them. In calm, deep tones he thanks -the farmer for his shelter, and asks that his horse be brought to the -door and his reckoning be made out. The Tory stares as one bereft. Then -he rushes aloft, flings open the door of the room on the left, and gazes -at the face that rests on the pillow,--a pillow that is dabbled with red. -The face is that of his daughter. The name of father is one that he will -never hear again in this world. The candle falls from his hand; he sinks -to the floor; be his sin forgiven! Outside is heard the tramp of a horse. -It is that of Washington, who rides away, ignorant of the peril he has -passed and the sacrifice that averted it. - - - - -THE TORY'S CONVERSION - -In his firelit parlor, in his little house at Valley Forge, old Michael -Kuch sits talking with his daughter. But though it is Christmas eve the -talk has little cheer in it. The hours drag on until the clock strikes -twelve, and the old man is about to offer his evening prayer for the -safety of his son, who is one of Washington's troopers, when hurried -steps are heard in the snow, there is a fumbling at the latch, then the -door flies open and admits a haggard, panting man who hastily closes it -again, falls into a seat, and shakes from head to foot. The girl goes to -him. “John!” she says. But he only averts his face. “What is wrong with -thee, John Blake?” asks the farmer. But he has to ask again and again ere -he gets an answer. Then, in a broken voice, the trembling man confesses -that he has tried to shoot Washington, but the bullet struck and killed -his only attendant, a dragoon. He has come for shelter, for men are on -his track already. “Thou know'st I am neutral in this war, John Blake,” - answered the farmer,--“although I have a boy down yonder in the camp. It -was a cowardly thing to do, and I hate you Tories that you do not fight -like men; yet, since you ask me for a hiding-place, you shall have it, -though, mind you, 'tis more on the girl's account than yours. The men are -coming. Out--this way--to the spring-house. So!” - -Before old Michael has time to return to his chair the door is again -thrust open, this time by men in blue and buff. They demand the assassin, -whose footsteps they have tracked there through the snow. Michael does -not answer. They are about to use violence when, through the open door, -comes Washington, who checks them with a word. The general bears a -drooping form with a blood splash on its breast, and deposits it on the -hearth as gently as a mother puts a babe into its cradle. As the -firelight falls on the still face the farmer's eyes grow round and big; -then he shrieks and drops upon his knees, for it is his son who is lying -there. Beside him is a pistol; it was dropped by the Tory when he -entered. Grasping it eagerly the farmer leaps to his feet. His years have -fallen from him. With a tiger-like bound he gains the door, rushes to the -spring-house where John Blake is crouching, his eyes sunk and shining, -gnawing his fingers in a craze of dismay. But though hate is swift, love -is swifter, and the girl is there as soon as he. She strikes his arm -aside, and the bullet he has fired lodges in the wood. He draws out his -knife, and the murderer, to whom has now come the calmness of despair, -kneels and offers his breast to the blade. Before he can strike, the -soldiers hasten up, and seizing Blake, they drag him to the house--the -little room--where all had been so peaceful but a few minutes before. - -The culprit is brought face to face with Washington, who asks him what -harm he has ever suffered from his fellow countrymen that he should turn -against them thus. Blake hangs his head and owns his willingness to die. -His eyes rest on the form extended on the floor, and he shudders; but his -features undergo an almost joyous change, for the figure lifts itself, -and in a faint voice calls, “Father!” The young man lives. With a cry of -delight both father and sister raise him in their arms. “You are not yet -prepared to die,” says Washington to the captive. “I will put you under -guard until you are wanted. Take him into custody, my dear young lady, -and try to make an American of him. See, it is one o'clock, and this is -Christmas morning. May all be happy here. Come.” And beckoning to his men -he rides away, though Blake and his affianced would have gone on their -knees before him. Revulsion of feeling, love, thankfulness and a latent -patriotism wrought a quick change in Blake. When young Kuch recovered -Blake joined his regiment, and no soldier served the flag more honorably. - - - - -LORD PERCY'S DREAM - -Leaving the dissipations of the English court, Lord Percy came to America -to share the fortunes of his brethren in the contest then raging on our -soil. His father had charged him with the delivery of a certain package -to an Indian woman, should he meet her in his rambles through the western -wilds, and, without inquiring into the nature of the gift -or its occasion, he accepted the trust. At the battle of the -Brandywine--strangely foretold by Quaker prophecy forty years before--he -was detailed by Cornwallis to drive the colonial troops out of a -graveyard where they had intrenched themselves, and though he set upon -this errand with the enthusiasm of youth, his cheek paled as he drew near -the spot where the enemy was waiting. - -It was not that he had actual physical fear of the onset: he had dreamed -a dream a few nights before, the purport of which he had hinted to his -comrades, and as he rode into the clearing at the top of Osborn's Hill he -drew rein and exclaimed, “My dream! Yonder is the graveyard. I am fated -to die there.” Giving a few of his effects to his brother officers, and -charging one of them to take a message of love to his betrothed in -England, he set his lips and rode forward. - -His cavalry bound toward the scene of action and are within thirty paces -of the cemetery wall, when from behind it rises a battalion of men in the -green uniform of the Santee Rangers and pours a withering fire into the -ranks. The shock is too great to withstand, and the red-coats stagger -away with broken ranks, leaving many dead and wounded on the ground. Lord -Percy is the coolest of all. He urges the broken columns forward, and -almost alone holds the place until the infantry, a hundred yards behind, -come up. Thereupon ensues one of those hand-to-hand encounters that are -so rare in recent war, and that are the sorest test of valor and -discipline. Now rides forward Captain Waldemar, chief of the rangers and -a half-breed Indian, who, seeing Percy, recognizes him as an officer and -engages him in combat. There is for a minute a clash of steel on steel; -then the nobleman falls heavily to the earth--dead. His dream has come -true. That night the captain Waldemar seeks out the body of this officer, -attracted by something in the memory of his look, and from his bosom -takes the packet that was committed to his care. - -By lantern-light he reads, carelessly at first, then rapidly and eagerly, -and at the close he looks long and earnestly at the dead man, and seems -to brush away a tear. Strange thing to do over the body of an enemy! Why -had fate decreed that they should be enemies? For Waldemar is the -half-brother of Percy. His mother was the Indian girl that the earl, now -passing his last days in England, had deceived with a pretended marriage, -and the letters promise patronage to her son. The half-breed digs a grave -that night with his own hands and lays the form of his brother in it. - - - - -SAVED BY THE BIBLE - -It was on the day after the battle of Germantown that Warner, who wore -the blue, met his hated neighbor, the Tory Dabney, near that bloody -field. - -By a common impulse the men fell upon each other with their knives, and -Warner soon had his enemy in a position to give him the death-stroke, but -Dabney began to bellow for quarter. “My brother cried for quarter at -Paoli,” answered the other, “and you struck him to the heart.” - -“I have a wife and child. Spare me for their sakes.” - -“My brother had a wife and two children. Perhaps you would like to beg -your life of them.” - -Though made in mockery, this proposition was caught at so earnestly that -Warner at length consented to take his adversary, firmly bound, to the -house where the bereaved family was living. The widow was reading the -Bible to her children, but her grief was too fresh to gather comfort from -it. When Dabney was flung into the room he grovelled at her feet and -begged piteously for mercy. Her face did not soften, but there was a kind -of contempt in the settled sadness of her tone as she said, “It shall be -as God directs. I will close this Bible, open it at chance, and when this -boy shall put his finger at random on a line, by that you must live or -die.” - -The book was opened, and the child put his finger on a line: “That man -shall die.” - -Warner drew his knife and motioned his prisoner to the door. He was going -to lead him into the wood to offer him as a sacrifice to his brother's -spirit. - -“No, no!” shrieked the wretch. “Give me one more chance; one more! Let -the girl open the book.” - -The woman coldly consents, and when the book is opened for the second -time she reads, “Love your enemies.” There are no other words. The knife -is used, but it is to cut the prisoner's bonds, and he walks away with -head hung down, never more to take arms against his countrymen. And glad -are they all at this, when the husband is brought home--not dead, though -left among the corpses at Paoli, but alive and certain of recovery, with -such nursing as his wife will give him. After tears of joy have been shed -she tells him the story of the Bible judgment, and all the members of the -family fall on their knees in thanksgiving that the blood of Dabney is -not upon their heads. - - - - -PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON - -Farmer Derwent and his four stout sons set off on an autumn night for the -meeting of patriots at a house on the Wissahickon,--a meeting that bodes -no good to the British encamped in Philadelphia, let the red-coats laugh -as they will at the rag-tag and bob-tail that are joining the army of Mr. -Washington in the wilds of the Skippack. The farmer sighs as he thinks -that his younger son alone should be missing from the company, and -wonders for the thousandth time what has become of the boy. They sit by a -rock that juts into the road to trim their lantern, and while they talk -together they are startled by an exclamation. It is from Ellen, the -adopted daughter of Derwent and the betrothed of his missing son. On the -night that the boy stole away from his father's house he asked her to -meet him in this place in a year's time, and the year is up to-night. - -But it is not to meet him that she is hastening now: she has heard that -the British have learned of the patriot gathering and will try to make -prisoners of the company. Even as she tells of this there is a sound to -the southward: the column is on the march. The farmer's eye blazes with -rage and hate. “Boys,” he says, “yonder come those who intend to kill us. -Let them taste of their own warfare. Stand here in the shadow and fire as -they pass this rock.” - -The troopers ride on, chuckling over their sure success, when there is a -report of rifles and four of the red-coats are in the dust. The -survivors, though taken by surprise, prove their courage by halting to -answer the volley, and one of them springs from his saddle, seizes -Derwent, and plunges a knife into his throat. The rebel falls. His blood -pools around him. The British are successful, for two of the young men -are bound and two of them have fallen, and there is a cheer of victory, -but the trooper with the knife in his hand does not raise his voice. He -bends above the farmer as still as one dead, until his captain claps him -on the shoulder. As he rises, the prisoners start in wonder, for the face -they see in the lantern-light is that of their brother, yet strange in -its haggardness and its smear of blood on the cheek. The girl runs from -her hiding-place with a cry, but stands in horror when her foot touches -the gory pool in the road. The trooper opens his coat and offers her a -locket. It contains her picture, and he has worn it above his heart for a -year, but she lets it fall and sinks down, moaning. The soldier tears off -his red coat, tramples it in the dust, then vaulting to his saddle he -plunges into the river, fords it, and crashes through the underbrush on -the other side. In a few minutes he has reached the summit of a rock that -rises nearly a hundred feet above the stream. The horse halts at the -edge, but on a fierce stab of the spur into his flank he takes the leap. -With a despairing yell the traitor and parricide goes into eternity. - - - - -THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE - -Terrible in the field at Brandywine was the figure of a man armed only -with a hammer, who plunged into the ranks of the enemy, heedless of his -own life, yet seeming to escape their shots and sabre cuts by magic, and -with Thor strokes beat them to the earth. But yesterday war had been to -him a distant rumor, a thing as far from his cottage at Dilworth as if it -had been in Europe, but he had revolted at a plot that he had overheard -to capture Washington and had warned the general. In revenge the Tories -had burned his cottage, and his wife and baby had perished in the flames. -All day he had sat beside the smoking ruins, unable to weep, unable to -think, unable almost to suffer, except dumbly, for as yet he could not -understand it. But when the drums were heard they roused the tiger in -him, and gaunt with sleeplessness and hunger he joined his countrymen and -ranged like Ajax on the field. Every cry for quarter was in vain: to -every such appeal he had but one reply, his wife's name--Mary. - -Near the end of the fight he lay beside the road, his leg broken, his -flesh torn, his life ebbing from a dozen wounds. A wagoner, hasting to -join the American retreat, paused to give him drink. “I've only five -minutes more of life in me,” said the smith. “Can you lift me into that -tree and put a rifle in my hands?” The powerful teamster raised him to -the crotch of an oak, and gave him the rifle and ammunition that a dying -soldier had dropped there. A band of red-coats came running down the -road, chasing some farmers. The blacksmith took careful aim; there was a -report, and the leader of the band fell dead. A pause; again a report -rang out, and a trooper sprawled upon the ground. The marksman had been -seen, and a lieutenant was urging his men to hurry on and cut him down. -There was a third report, and the lieutenant reeled forward into the -road, bleeding and cursing. “That's for Mary,” gasped the blacksmith. The -rifle dropped from his hands, and he, too, sank lifeless against the -boughs. - - - - -FATHER AND SON - -It was three soldiers, escaping from the rout of Braddock's forces, who -caught the alleged betrayer of their general and put him to the death. -They threw his purse of ill-gotten louis d'or into the river, and sent -him swinging from the edge of a ravine, with a vine about his neck and a -placard on his breast. And so they left him. - -Twenty years pass, and the war-fires burn more fiercely in the vales of -Pennsylvania, but, too old to fight, the schoolmaster sits at his door -near Chad's Ford and smokes and broods upon the past. He thinks of the -time when he marched with Washington, when with two wounded comrades he -returned along the lonely trail; then comes the vision of a blackening -face, and he rises and wipes his brow. “It was right,” he mutters. “He -sent a thousand of his brothers to their deaths.” - -Gilbert Gates comes that evening to see the old man's daughter: a smooth, -polite young fellow, but Mayland cannot like him, and after some short -talk he leaves him, pleading years and rheumatism, and goes to bed. But -not to sleep; for toward ten o'clock his daughter goes to him and urges -him to fly, for men are gathering near the house--Tories, she is -sure,--and they mean no good. Laughing at her fears, but willing to -relieve her anxiety, the old man slips into his clothes, goes into the -cellar, and thence starts for the barn, while the girl remains for a few -minutes to hide the silver. - -He does not go far before Gates is at his elbow with the whispered words, -“Into the stack-quick. They are after you.” Mayland hesitates with -distrust, but the appearance of men with torches leaves no time for talk. -With Gilbert's help he crawls deep into the straw and is covered up. -Presently a rough voice asks which way he has gone. Gilbert replies that -he has gone to the wood, but there is no need for getting into a passion, -and that on no account would it be advisable to fire the stack. “Won't we -though?” cries one of the party. “We'll burn the rebel out of house and -home,” and thrusting his torch into the straw it is ablaze in an instant. -The crowd hurries away toward the wood, and does not hear the stifled -groan that comes out of the middle of the fire. Gates takes a paper from -his pocket, and, after reading it for the last time, flings it upon the -flame. It bears the inscription, “Isaac Gates, Traitor and Spy, hung by -three soldiers of his majesty's army. Isaac Mayland.” - -From his moody contemplation he rouses with a start, for Mayland's -daughter is there. Her eyes are bent on a distorted thing that lies among -the embers, and in the dying light of the flames it seems to move. She -studies it close, then with a cry of pain and terror she falls upon the -hot earth, and her senses go out, not to be regained in woful years. With -head low bowed, Gilbert Gates trudges away. In the fight at Brandywine -next day, Black Samson, a giant negro, armed with a scythe, sweeps his -way through the red ranks like a sable figure of Time. Mayland had taught -him; his daughter had given him food. It is to avenge them that he is -fighting. In the height of the conflict he enters the American ranks -leading a prisoner--Gilbert Gates. The young man is pale, stern, and -silent. His deed is known, he is a spy as well as a traitor, but he asks -no mercy. It is rumored that next day he alone, of the prisoners, was led -to a wood and lashed by arms and legs to a couple of hickory trees that -had been bent by a prodigious effort and tied together by their tops. The -lashing was cut by a rifle-ball, the trees regained their straight -position with a snap like whips, and that was the way Gilbert Gates came -to his end. - - - - -THE ENVY OF MANITOU - -Behind the mountains that gloom about the romantic village of Mauch -Chunk, Pennsylvania, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding -loops and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its prettiest -bits of shore stood a village of the Leni Lenape, and largest of its -wigwams, most richly pictured without, most luxurious in its couching of -furs within, was that of the young chief, Onoko. This Indian was a man of -great size, strength, and daring. Single-handed he had slain the bear on -Mauch Chunk [Bear Mountain], and it was no wonder that Wenonah, the -fairest of her tribe, was flattered when he sued for her hand, and -promptly consented to be his wife. It was Onoko's fortune in war, the -chase, and love that roused the envy of Mitche Manitou. - -One day, as the couple were floating in their shallop of bark on the calm -lake, idly enjoying the sunshine and saying pretty things to each other, -the Manitou arose among the mountains. Terrible was his aspect, for the -scowl of hatred was on his face, thunder crashed about his head, and fire -snapped from his eyes. Covering his right hand with his invincible magic -mitten, he dealt a blow on the hills that made the earth shake, and rived -them to a depth of a thousand feet. Through the chasm thus created the -lake poured a foaming deluge, and borne with it was the canoe of Onoko -and Wenonah. One glance at the wrathful face in the clouds above them and -they knew that escape was hopeless, so, clasping each other in a close -embrace, they were whirled away to death. Manitou strode away moodily -among the hills, and ever since that time the Lehigh has rolled through -the chasm that he made. The memory of Onoko is preserved in the name of a -glen and cascade a short distance above Mauch Chunk. - -It is not well to be too happy in this world. It rouses the envy of the -gods. - - - - -THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL - -“Young man, I'll give thee five dollars a week to be care-taker in Printz -Hall,” said Quaker Quidd to fiddler Matthews, on an autumn evening. - -Young Matthews had just been taunting the old gentleman with being afraid -to sleep on his own domain, and as the eyes of all the tavern loungers -were on him he could hardly decline so flattering a proposition, so, -after some hemming and hawing, he said he would take the Quaker at his -word. He played but two or three more tunes that evening, did Peter -Matthews, and played them rather sadly; then, as Quidd had finished his -mulled cider and departed, he took his homeward way in thoughtful mood. -Printz Hall stood in a lonely, weed-grown garden near Chester, -Pennsylvania, and thither repaired Peter, as next day's twilight shut -down, with a mattress, blanket, comestibles, his beloved fiddle, and a -flask of whiskey. Ensconcing himself in the room that was least -depressing in appearance he stuffed rags into the vacant panes, lighted a -candle, started a blaze in the fireplace, and ate his supper. - -“Not so bad a place, after all,” mumbled Peter, as he warmed himself at -the fire and the flask; then, taking out his violin, he began to play. -The echo of his music emphasized the emptiness of the house, the damp got -into the strings so that they sounded tubby, and there were unintentional -quavers in the melody whenever the trees swung against the windows and -splashed them with rain, or when a distant shutter fell a-creaking. -Finally, he stirred the fire, bolted the door, snuffed his candle, took a -courageous pull at the liquor, flung off his coat and shoes, rolled his -blanket around him, stretched himself on the mattress, and fell asleep. -He was awakened by--well, he could not say what, exactly, only he became -suddenly as wide awake as ever he had been in his life, and listened for -some sound that he knew was going to come out of the roar of the wind and -the slamming, grating, and whistling about the house. Yes, there it was: -a tread and a clank on the stair. The door, so tightly bolted, flew open, -and there entered a dark figure with steeple-crowned hat, cloak, -jack-boots, sword, and corselet. The terrified fiddler wanted to howl, -but his voice was gone. “I am Peter Printz, governor-general of his -Swedish Majesty's American colonies, and builder of this house,” said the -figure. “'Tis the night of the autumnal equinox, when my friends meet -here for revel. Take thy fiddle and come. Play, but speak not.” - -And whether he wished or no, Peter was drawn to follow the figure, which -he could make out by the phosphor gleam of it. Down-stairs they went, -doors swinging open before them, and along corridors that clanged to the -stroke of the spectre's boot heels. Now they came to the ancient -reception-room, and as they entered it Peter was dazzled. The floor was -smooth with wax, logs snapped in the fireplace, though the flame was -somewhat blue, the old hangings and portraits looked fresh, and in the -light of wax candles a hundred people, in the brave array of old times, -walked, courtesied, and seemed to laugh and talk together. As the fiddler -appeared, every eye was turned on him in a disquieting way, and when he -addressed himself to his bottle, from every throat came a hollow laugh. -Finding his way to a chair he sank into it and put his instrument in -position. At the first note the couples took hands, and as he struck into -a jig they began to circle swiftly, leaping wondrous high. - -Faster went the music, for the whiskey was at work in Peter's noddle, and -wilder grew the dance. It was as if the storm had come in through the -windows and was blowing these people hither and yon, around and around. -The fiddler vaguely wondered at himself, for he had never played so well, -though he had never heard the tune before. Now loomed Governor Printz in -the middle of the room, and extending his hand he ordered the dance to -cease. “Thou bast played well, fiddler,” he said, “and shalt be paid.” - Then, at his signal, came two negro men tugging at a strong box that -Printz unlocked. It was filled with gold pieces. “Hold thy fiddle bag,” - commanded the governor, and Peter did so, watching, open mouthed, the -transfer of a double handful of treasure from box to sack. Another such -handful followed, and another. At the fourth Peter could no longer -contain himself. He forgot the injunction not to speak, and shouted -gleefully, “Lord Harry! Here's luck!” - -There was a shriek of demon laughter, the scene was lost in darkness, and -Peter fell insensible. In the morning a tavern-haunting friend, anxious -to know if Peter had met with any adventure, entered the house and went -cautiously from room to room, calling on the watcher to show himself. -There was no response. At last he stumbled on the whiskey bottle, empty, -and knew that Peter must be near. Sure enough, there he lay in the great -room, with dust and mould thick on everything, and his fiddle smashed -into a thousand pieces. Peter on being awakened looked ruefully about -him, then sprang up and eagerly demanded his money. “What money?” asked -his friend. The fiddler clutched at his green bag, opened it, shook it; -there was nothing. Nor was there any delay in Peter's exit from that -mansion, and when, twenty-four hours after, the house went up in flames, -he averred that the ghosts had set it afire, and that he knew where they -brought their coals from. - - - - -THE TWO RINGS - -Gabrielle de St. Pierre, daughter of the commandant of Fort Le Boeuf, -now--Waterford, Pennsylvania, that the French had setup on the Ohio -River, was Parisian by birth and training, but American by choice, for -she had enjoyed on this lonesome frontier a freedom equal to that of the -big-handed, red-faced half-breeds, and she was as wild as an Indian in -her sports. Returning from a hunt, one day, she saw three men advancing -along the trail, and, as it was easy to see that they were not Frenchmen, -her guide slipped an arrow to the cord and discharged it; but Gabrielle -was as quick as he, for she struck the missile as it was leaving the bow -and it quivered harmlessly into a beech. The younger of the men who were -advancing--he was Harry Fairfax, of Virginia--said to his chief, “Another -escape for you, George. Heaven sent one of its angels to avert that -stroke.” - -Washington, for it was he, answered lightly, and, as no other hostile -demonstrations were made, the new-comers pressed on to the fort, where -St. Pierre received them cordially, though he knew that their errand was -to claim his land on behalf of the English and urge the French to retire -to the southwest. The days that were spent in futile negotiation passed -all too swiftly for Fairfax, for he had fallen in love with Gabrielle. -She would not consent to a betrothal until time had tried his affection, -but as a token of friendship she gave him a stone circlet of Indian -manufacture, and received in exchange a ring that had been worn by the -mother of Fairfax. - -After the diplomats had returned the English resolved to enforce their -demand with arms, and Fairfax was one of the first to be despatched to -the front. - -Early in the campaign his company engaged the enemy near the Ohio River, -and in the heat of battle he had time to note and wonder at the strange -conduct of one of the French officers, a mere stripling, who seemed more -concerned to check the fire of his men than to secure any advantage in -the fight. Presently the French gave way, and with a cheer the English -ran forward to claim the field, the ruder spirits among them at once -beginning to plunder the wounded. A cry for quarter drew Fairfax with a -bound to the place whence it came, and, dashing aside a pilfering -soldier, he bent above a slight form that lay extended on the earth: the -young officer whose strange conduct had so surprised him. In another -moment he recognized his mother's ring on one of the slender hands. It -was Gabrielle. Her father had perished in the fight, but she had saved -her lover. - -In due time she went with her affianced to his home in Williamsburg, -Virginia, and became mistress of the Fairfax mansion. But she never liked -the English, as a people, and when, in later years, two sturdy sons of -hers asked leave to join the Continental army, she readily consented. - - - - -FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS - -Before Pittsburg had become worthy to be called a settlement, a white man -rowed his boat to the mouth of Chartiers creek, near that present city. -He was seeking a place in which to make his home, and a little way -up-stream, where were timber, water, and a southern slope, he marked a -“tomahawk claim,” and set about clearing the land. Next year his wife, -two children, and his brother came to occupy the cabin he had built, and -for a long time all went happily, but on returning from a long hunt the -brothers found the little house in ashes and the charred remains of its -occupants in the ruins. Though nearly crazed by this catastrophe they -knew that their own lives were in hourly peril, and they wished to live -until they could punish the savages for this crime. After burying the -bodies, they started east across the hills, leaving a letter on birch -bark in a cleft stick at the mouth of Chartiers creek, in which the -tragedy was recounted. - -This letter was afterward found by trappers. The men themselves were -never heard from, and it is believed that they, too, fell at the hands of -the Indians. Old settlers used to affirm that on summer nights the cries -of the murdered innocents could be heard in the little valley where the -cabin stood, and when storms were coming up these cries were often -blended with the yells of savages. More impressive are the death -lights--the will-o'-the-wisps--that wander over the scene of the tragedy, -and up and down the neighboring slopes. These apparitions are said to be -the spirits of husband and wife seeking each other, or going together in -search of their children; but some declare that in their upward streaming -rays it can readily be seen that they are the scalps of the slain. Two of -them have a golden hue, and these are the scalps of the children. From -beneath them drops of red seem to distil on the grass and are found to -have bedewed the flowers on the following morning. - - - - -THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON - -In 1773 some of the Pietist monks were still living in their rude -monastery whose ruins are visible on the banks of the Wissahickon. Chief -among these mystics was an old man who might have enjoyed the wealth and -distinction warranted by a title had he chosen to remain in Germany, but -he had forsworn vanities, and had come to the new world to pray, to rear -his children, and to live a simple life. Some said he was an alchemist, -and many believed him to be a prophet. The infrequent wanderer beside the -romantic river had seen lights burning in the window of his cell and had -heard the solemn sound of song and prayer. On a winter night, when snow -lay untrodden about the building and a sharp air stirred in the trees -with a sound like harps, the old man sat in a large room of the place, -with his son and daughter, waiting. For a prophecy had run that on that -night, at the third hour of morning, the Deliverer would present himself. -In a dream was heard a voice, saying, “I will send a deliverer to the new -world who shall save my people from bondage, as my Son saved them from -spiritual death.” The night wore on in prayer and meditation, and the -hours tolled heavily across the frozen wilderness, but, at the stroke of -three, steps were heard in the snow and the door swung open. The man who -entered was of great stature, with a calm, strong face, a powerful frame, -and a manner of dignity and grace. - -“Friends, I have lost my way,” said he. “Can you direct me?” - -The old man started up in a kind of rapture. “You have not lost your -way,” he cried, “but found it. You are called to a great mission. Kneel -at this altar and receive it.” - -The stranger looked at the man in surprise and a doubt passed over his -face. “Nay, I am not mad,” urged the recluse, with a slight smile. -“Listen: to-night, disturbed for the future of your country, and unable -to sleep, you mounted horse and rode into the night air to think on the -question that cannot be kept out of your mind, Is it lawful for the -subject to draw sword against his king? The horse wandered, you knew and -cared not whither, until he brought you here.” - -“How do you know this?” asked the stranger, in amazement. - -“Be not surprised, but kneel while I anoint thee deliverer of this land.” - -Moved and impressed, the man bowed his knee before one of his fellows for -the first time in his life. The monk touched his finger with oil, and -laying it on the brow of the stranger said, “Do you promise, when the -hour shall strike, to take the sword in defence of your country? Do you -promise, when you shall see your soldiers suffer for bread and fire, and -when the people you have led to victory shall bow before you, to remember -that you are but the minister of God in the work of a nation's freedom?” - -With a new light burning in his eyes, the stranger bent his head. - -“Then, in His name, I consecrate thee deliverer of this oppressed people. -When the time comes, go forth to victory, for, as you are faithful, be -sure that God will grant it. Wear no crown, but the blessings and honor -of a free people, save this.” As he finished, his daughter, a girl of -seventeen, came forward and put a wreath of laurel on the brow of the -kneeling man. “Rise,” continued the prophet, “and take my hand, which I -have never before offered to any man, and accept my promise to be -faithful to you and to this country, even if it cost my life.” - -As he arose, the son of the priest stepped to him and girt a sword upon -his hip, and the old man held up his hands in solemn benediction. The -stranger laid his hand on the book that stood open on the altar and -kissed the hilt of his sword. “I will keep the faith,” said he. At dawn -he went his way again, and no one knew his name, but when the fires of -battle lighted the western world America looked to him for its -deliverance from tyranny. Years later it was this spot that he revisited, -alone, to pray, and here Sir William Howe offered to him, in the name of -his king, the title of regent of America. He took the parchment and -ground it into a rag in the earth at his feet. For this was Washington. -MARION - -Blooming and maidenly, though she dressed in leather and used a rifle -like a man, was Marion, grand-daughter of old Abraham, who counted his -years as ninety, and who for many of those years had lived with his books -in the tidy cabin where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela come together. -This place stood near the trail along which Braddock marched to his -defeat, and it was one of the stragglers from this command, a bony -half-breed with red hair, called Red Wolf, that knocked at the door and -asked for water. Seeing no one but Marion he ventured in, and would have -tried not only to make free with the contents of the little house but -would have kissed the girl as well, only that she seized her rifle and -held him at bay. Still, the fellow would have braved a shot, had not a -young officer in a silver-laced uniform glanced through the open door in -passing and discovered the situation. He doffed his chapeau to Marion, -then said sternly to the rogue, “Retire. Your men are waiting for you.” - Red Wolf slunk away, and Washington, for it was he, begged that he might -rest for a little time under the roof. - -This request was gladly complied with, both by the girl and by her -grandfather, who presently appeared, and the fever that threatened the -young soldier was averted by a day of careful nursing. Marion's innate -refinement, her gentleness, her vivacity, could not fail to interest -Washington, and the vision of her face was with him for many a day. He -promised to return, then he rode forward and caught up with the troops. -He survived the battle in which seven hundred of his comrades were shot -or tomahawked and scalped. One Indian fired at him eleven times, and five -of the bullets scratched him; after that the savage forbore, believing -that the officer was under Manitou's protection. When the retreating -column approached the place where Marion lived he hastened on in advance -to see her. The cabin was in ashes. He called, but there was no answer. -When he turned away, with sad and thoughtful mien, a brown tress was -wrapped around his finger, and in his cabinet he kept it until his death, -folded in a paper marked “Marion, July 11, 1755.” - - - - -TALES OF PURITAN LAND - - - - -EVANGALINE - -The seizure by England of the country that soon afterward was -rechristened Nova Scotia was one of the cruellest events in history. The -land was occupied by a good and happy people who had much faith and few -laws, plenty to eat and drink, no tax collectors nor magistrates, in -brief, a people who were entitled to call themselves Acadians, for they -made their land an Arcady. Upon them swooped the British ships, took them -unarmed and unoffending, crowded them aboard their transports,--often -separating husband and wife, parents and children,--scattered them far -and wide, beyond hope of return, and set up the cross of St. George on -the ruins of prosperity and peace. On the shore of the Basin of Minas can -still be traced the foundations of many homes that were perforce deserted -at that time, and among them are the ruins of Grand Pre. - -Here lived Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, who were -betrothed with the usual rejoicings just before the coming of the -English. They had expected, when their people were arrested, to be sent -away together; but most of the men were kept under guard, and Gabriel was -at sea, bound neither he nor she knew whither, when Evangeline found -herself in her father's house alone, for grief and excitement had been -more than her aged parent could bear, and he was buried at the shore just -before the women of the place were crowded on board of a transport. As -the ship set off her sorrowing passengers looked behind them to see their -homes going up in flame and smoke, and Acadia knew them no more. The -English had planned well to keep these people from coming together for -conspiracy or revenge: they scattered them over all America, from -Newfoundland to the southern savannas. - -Evangeline was not taken far away, only to New England; but without -Gabriel all lands were drear, and she set off in the search for him, -working here and there, sometimes looking timidly at the headstones on -new graves, then travelling on. Once she heard that he was a _coureur des -bois_ on the prairies, again that he was a voyageur in the Louisiana -lowlands; but those of his people who kept near her inclined to jest at -her faith and urged her to marry Leblanc, the notary's son, who truly -loved her. To these she only replied, “I cannot.” - -Down the Ohio and Mississippi she went--on a raft--with a little band of -those who were seeking the French settlements, where the language, -religion, and simplicity of life recalled Acadia. They found it on the -banks of the Teche, and they reached the house of the herdsman Gabriel on -the day that he had departed for the north to seek Evangeline. She and -the good priest who had been her stay in a year of sorrow turned back in -pursuit, and for weary months, over prairie and through forest, skirting -mountain and morass, going freely among savages, they followed vain -clues, and at last arrived in Philadelphia. Broken in spirit then, but -not less sweet of nature for the suffering that she had known, she who -had been named for the angels became a minister of mercy, and in the -black robe of a nun went about with comforts to the sick and poor. A -pestilence was sweeping through the city, and those who had no friends -nor attendants were taken to the almshouse, whither, as her way was, -Evangeline went on a soft Sabbath morning to calm the fevered and -brighten the hearts of the dying. - -Some of the patients of the day before had gone and new were in their -places. Suddenly she turned white and sank on her knees at a bedside, -with a cry of “Gabriel, my beloved!” breathed into the ears of a -prematurely aged man who lay gasping in death before her. He came out of -his stupor, slowly, and tried to speak her name. She drew his head to her -bosom, kissed him, and for one moment they were happy. Then the light -went out of his eyes and the warmth from his heart. She pressed his -eyelids down and bowed her head, for her way was plainer now, and she -thanked God that it was so. - - - - -THE SNORING OF SWUNKSUS - -The original proprietor of Deer Isle, off the coast of Maine--at least, -the one who was in possession one hundred and thirty years ago--had the -liquid name of Swunksus. His name was not the only liquid thing in the -neighborhood, however, for, wherever Swunksus was, fire-water was not -far. Shortly before the Revolution a renegade from Boston, one Conary, -moved up to the island and helped himself to as much of it as he chose, -but the longer he lived there the more he wanted. Swunksus was willing -enough to divide his domain with the white intruder, but Conary was not -satisfied with half. He did not need it all; he just wanted it. Moreover, -he grew quarrelsome and was continually nagging poor Swunksus, until at -last he forced the Indian to accept a challenge, not to immediate combat, -but to fight to the death should they meet thereafter. - -The red man retired to his half of the island and hid among the bushes -near his home to await the white man, but in this little fastness he -discovered a jug of whiskey that either fate or Conary had placed there. -Before an hour was over he was “as full and mellow as a harvest moon,” - and it was then that his enemy appeared. There was no trouble in finding -Swunksus, for he was snoring like a fog horn, and walking boldly up to -him, Conary blew his head off with a load of slugs. Then he took -possession of the place and lived happily ever after. Swunksus takes his -deposition easily, for, although he has more than once paraded along the -beaches, his ghost spends most of the time in slumber, and terrific -snores have been heard proceeding from the woods in daylight. - - - - -THE LEWISTON HERMIT - -On an island above the falls of the Androscoggin, at Lewiston, Maine, -lived a white recluse at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The -natives, having had good reason to mistrust all palefaces, could think no -good of the man who lived thus among but not with them. Often they -gathered at the bank and looked across at his solitary candle twinkling -among the leaves, and wondered what manner of evil he could be planning -against them. Wherever there are many conspirators one will be a gabbler -or a traitor; so, when the natives had resolved on his murder, he, -somehow, learned of their intent and set himself to thwart it. So great -was their fear of this lonely man, and of the malignant powers he might -conjure to his aid, that nearly fifty Indians joined the expedition, to -give each other courage. - -Their plan was to go a little distance up the river and come down with -the current, thus avoiding the dip of paddles that he might hear in a -direct crossing. When it was quite dark they set off, and keeping headway -on their canoes aimed them toward the light that glimmered above the -water. But the cunning hermit had no fire in his cabin that night. It was -burning on a point below his shelter, and from his hiding-place among the -rocks he saw their fleet, as dim and silent as shadows, go by him on the -way to the misguiding beacon. - -Presently a cry arose. The savages had passed the point of safe sailing; -their boats had become unmanageable. Forgetting their errand, their only -hope now was to save themselves, but in vain they tried to reach the -shore: the current was whirling them to their doom. Cries and death-songs -mingled with the deepening roar of the waters, the light barks reached -the cataract and leaped into the air. Then the night was still again, -save for the booming of the flood. Not one of the Indians who had set out -on this errand of death survived the hermit's stratagem. - - - - -THE DEAD SHIP OF HARPSWELL - -At times the fisher-folk of Maine are startled to see the form of a ship, -with gaunt timbers showing through the planks, like lean limbs through -rents in a pauper's garb, float shoreward in the sunset. She is a ship of -ancient build, with tall masts and sails of majestic spread, all torn; -but what is her name, her port, her flag, what harbor she is trying to -make, no man can tell, for on her deck no sailor has ever been seen to -run up colors or heard to answer a hail. Be it in calm or storm, in-come -or ebb of tide, the ship holds her way until she almost touches shore. - -There is no creak of spars or whine of cordage, no spray at the bow, no -ripple at the stern--no voice, and no figure to utter one. As she nears -the rocks she pauses, then, as if impelled by a contrary current, floats -rudder foremost off to sea, and vanishes in twilight. Harpswell is her -favorite cruising-ground, and her appearance there sets many heads to -shaking, for while it is not inevitable that ill luck follows her visits, -it has been seen that burial-boats have sometimes had occasion to cross -the harbor soon after them, and that they were obliged by wind or tide or -current to follow her course on leaving the wharf. - - - - -THE SCHOOLMASTER HAD NOT REACHED ORRINGTON. - -The quiet town of Orrington, in Maine, was founded by Jesse Atwood, of -Wellfleet, Cape Cod, in 1778, and has become known, since then, as a -place where skilful farmers and brave sailors could always be found. It -also kept Maine supplied for years with oldest inhabitants. It is said -that the name was an accident of illiteracy, and that it is the only -place in the world that owes its title to bad spelling. The settlers who -followed Atwood there were numerous enough to form a township after ten -years, and the name they decided on for their commonwealth was -Orangetown, so called for a village in Maryland where some of the people -had associations, but the clerk of the town meeting was not a college -graduate and his spelling of Orange was Orring, and of town, ton. His -draft of the resolutions went before the legislature, and the people -directly afterward found themselves living in Orrington. - - - - -JACK WELCH'S DEATH LIGHT - -Pond Cove, Maine, is haunted by a light that on a certain evening, every -summer, rises a mile out at sea, drifts to a spot on shore, then whirls -with a buzz and a glare to an old house, where it vanishes. Its first -appearance was simultaneous with the departure of Jack Welch, a -fisherman. He was seen one evening at work on his boat, but in the -morning he was gone, nor has he since shown himself in the flesh. - -On the tenth anniversary of this event three fishermen were hurrying up -the bay, hoping to reach home before dark, for they dreaded that uncanny -light, but a fog came in and it was late before they reached the wharf. -As they were tying their boat a channel seemed to open through the mist, -and along that path from the deep came a ball of pallid flame with the -rush of a meteor. There was one of the men who cowered at the bottom of -the boat with ashen face and shaking limbs, and did not watch the light, -even though it shot above his head, played through the rigging, and after -a wide sweep went shoreward and settled on his house. Next day one of his -comrades called for him, but Tom Wright was gone, gone, his wife said, -before the day broke. Like Jack Welch's disappearance, this departure was -unexplained, and in time he was given up for dead. - -Twenty years had passed, when Wright's presumptive widow was startled by -the receipt of a letter in a weak, trembling hand, signed with her -husband's name. It was written on his death-bed, in a distant place, and -held a confession. Before their marriage, Jack Welch had been a suitor -for her hand, and had been the favored of the two. To remove his rival -and prosper in his place, Wright stole upon the other at his work, killed -him, took his body to sea, and threw it overboard. Since that time the -dead man had pursued him, and he was glad that the end of his days was -come. But, though Tom Wright is no more, his victim's light comes yearly -from the sea, above the spot where his body sank, floats to the scene of -the murder on the shore, then flits to the house where the assassin lived -and for years simulated the content that comes of wedded life. -MOGG MEGONE - -Hapless daughter of a renegade is Ruth Bonython. Her father is as unfair -to his friends as to his enemies, but to neither of them so merciless as -to Ruth. Although he knows that she loves Master Scammon--in spite of his -desertion and would rather die than wed another, he has promised her to -Mogg Megone, the chief who rules the Indians at the Saco mouth. He, -blundering savage, fancies that he sees to the bottom of her grief, and -one day, while urging his suit, he opens his blanket and shows the scalp -of Scammon, to prove that he has avenged her. She looks in horror, but -when he flings the bloody trophy at her feet she baptizes it with a -forgiving tear. What villainy may this lead to? Ah, none for him, for -Bonython now steps in and plies him with flattery and drink, gaining from -the chief, at last, his signature--the bow totem--to a transfer of the -land for which he is willing to sell his daughter. Ruth, maddened at her -father's meanness and the Indian's brutality, rushes on the imbruted -savage, grasps from his belt the knife that has slain her lover, cleaves -his heart in twain, and flies into the wood, leaving Bonython stupid with -amazement. - -Father Rasles, in his chapel at Norridgewock, is affecting his Indian -converts against the Puritans, who settled to the southward of him fifty -years before. To him comes a woman with torn garments and frightened -face. Her dead mother stood before her last night, she says, and looked -at her reprovingly, for she had killed Mogg Megone. The priest starts -back in wrath, for Mogg was a hopeful agent of the faith, and bids her -go, for she can ask no pardon. Brooding within his chapel, then, he is -startled by the sound of shot and hum of arrows. Harmon and Moulton are -advancing with their men and crying, “Down with the beast of Rome! Death -to the Babylonish dog!” Ruth, knowing not what this new misfortune may -mean, runs from the church and disappears. - -Some days later, old Baron Castine, going to Norridgewock to bury and -revenge the dead, finds a woman seated on the earth and gazing over a -field strewn with ashes and with human bones. He touches her. She is -cold. There has been no life for days. It is Ruth. - - - - -THE LADY URSULA - -In 1690 a stately house stood in Kittery, Maine, a strongly guarded place -with moat and drawbridge (which was raised at night) and a moated grange -adjacent where were cattle, sheep, and horses. Here, in lonely dignity, -lived Lady Ursula, daughter of the lord of Grondale Abbey, across the -water, whose distant grandeurs were in some sort reflected in this manor -of the wilderness. Silver, mahogany, paintings, tapestries, waxed floors, -and carven chests of linen represented wealth; prayers were said by a -chaplain every morning and evening in the chapel, and, though the main -hall would accommodate five hundred people, the lady usually sat at meat -there with her thirty servants, her part of the table being raised two -feet above theirs. - -It was her happiness to believe that Captain Fowler, now absent in -conflict with the French, would return and wed her according to his -promise, but one day came a tattered messenger with bitter news of the -captain's death. She made no talk of her grief, and, while her face was -pale and step no longer light, she continued in the work that custom -exacted from women of that time: help for the sick, alms for the poor, -teaching for the ignorant, religion for the savage. Great was her joy, -then, when a ship came from England bringing a letter from Captain Fowler -himself, refuting the rumor of defeat and telling of his coming. Now the -hall took on new life, reflecting the pleasure of its mistress; color -came back to her cheek and sparkle to her eye, and she could only control -her impatience by more active work and more aggressive charities. The day -was near at hand for the arrival of her lover, when Ursula and her -servants were set upon by Indians, while away from the protection of the -manor, and slain. They were buried where they fell, and Captain Fowler -found none to whom his love or sorrow could be told. - - - - -FATHER MOODY'S BLACK VEIL - -In 1770 the Reverend Joseph Moody died at York, Maine, where he had long -held the pastorate of a church, and where in his later years his face was -never seen by friend or relative. At home, when any one was by, on the -street, and in the pulpit his visage was concealed by a double fold of -crape that was knotted above his forehead and fell to his chin, the lower -edge of it being shaken by his breath. When first he presented himself to -his congregation with features masked in black, great was the wonder and -long the talk about it. Was he demented? His sermons were too logical for -that. Had he been crossed in love? He could smile, though the smile was -sad. Had he been scarred by accident or illness? If so, no physician knew -of it. - -After a time it was given out that his eyes were weakened by reading and -writing at night, and the wonder ceased, though the veiled parson was -less in demand for weddings, christenings, and social gatherings, and -more besought for funerals than he had been. If asked to take off his -crape he only replied, “We all wear veils of one kind or another, and the -heaviest and darkest are those that hang about our hearts. This is but a -material veil. Let it stay until the hour strikes when all faces shall be -seen and all souls reveal their secrets.” - -Little by little the clergyman felt himself enforced to withdraw from the -public gaze. There were rough people who were impertinent and timid -people who turned out of their road to avoid him, so that he found his -out-door walks and meditations almost confined to the night, unless he -chose the grave-yard for its seclusion or strolled on the beach and -listened to the wallowing and grunting of the Black Boars--the rocks off -shore that had laughed on the night when the York witch went up the -chimney in a gale. But his life was long and kind and useful, and when at -last the veiled head lay on the pillow it was never to rise from -consciously, a fellow-clergyman came to soothe his dying moments and -commend his soul to mercy. - -To him, one evening, Father Moody said, “Brother, my hour is come and the -veil of eternal darkness is falling over my eyes. Men have asked me why I -wear this piece of crape about my face, as if it were not for them a -reminder and a symbol, and I have borne the reason so long within me that -only now have I resolved to tell it. Do you recall the finding of young -Clark beside the river, years ago? He had been shot through the head. The -man who killed him did so by accident, for he was a bosom friend; yet he -could never bring himself to confess the fact, for he dreaded the blame -of his townsmen, the anguish of the dead man's parents, the hate of his -betrothed. It was believed that the killing was a murder, and that some -roving Indian had done it. After years of conscience-darkened life, in -which the face of his dead friend often arose accusingly before him, the -unhappy wretch vowed that he would never again look his fellows openly in -the face: he would pay a penalty and conceal his shame. Then it was that -I put a veil between myself and the world.” - -Joseph Moody passed away and, as he wished, the veil still hid his face -in the coffin, but the clergyman who had raised it for a moment to -compose his features, found there a serenity and a beauty that were -majestic. - - - - -THE HOME OF THUNDER - -Some Indians believe that the Thunder Bird is the agent of storm; that -the flashes of his eyes cause lightning and the flapping of his -cloud-vast wings make thunder. Not so the Passamaquoddies, for they hold -that Katahdin's spirit children are Thunders, and in this way an Indian -found them: He had been seeking game along the Penobscot and for weeks -had not met one of his fellow creatures. On a winter day he came on the -print of a pair of snow-shoes; next morning the tracks appeared in -another part of the forest, and so for many days he found them. - -After a time it occurred to him to see where these tracks went to, and he -followed them until they merged with others in a travelled road, ending -at a precipice on the side of Katahdin (Great Mountain). - -While lost in wonder that so many tracks should lead nowhere, he was -roused by a footfall, and a maiden stepped from the precipice to the -ledge beside him. Though he said nothing, being in awe of her stateliness -and beauty, she replied in kind words to every unspoken thought and bade -him go with her. He approached the rock with fear, but at a touch from -the woman it became as mist, and they entered it together. - -Presently they were in a great cave in the heart of Katahdin, where sat -the spirit of the mountain, who welcomed them and asked the girl if her -brothers had come. “I hear them coming,” she replied. A blinding flash, a -roar of thunder, and there stepped into the cave two men of giant size -and gravely beautiful faces, hardened at the cheeks and brows to stone. -“These,” said the girl to the hunter, “are my brothers, the Thunder and -the Lightning. My father sends them forth whenever there is wrong to -redress, that those who love us may not be smitten. When you hear -Thunder, know that they are shooting at our enemies.” - -At the end of that day the hunter returned to his home, and behold, he -had been gone seven years. Another legend says that the stone-faced sons -of the mountain adopted him, and that for seven years he was a roaming -Thunder, but at the end of that time while a storm was raging he was -allowed to fall, unharmed, into his own village. - - - - -THE PARTRIDGE WITCH - -Two brothers, having hunted at the head of the Penobscot until their -snow-shoes and moccasins gave out, looked at each other ruefully and -cried, “Would that there was a woman to help us!” The younger brother -went to the lodge that evening earlier than the elder, in order to -prepare the supper, and great was his surprise on entering the wigwam to -find the floor swept, a fire built, a pot boiling, and their clothing -mended. Returning to the wood he watched the place from a covert until he -saw a graceful girl enter the lodge and take up the tasks of -housekeeping. - -When he entered she was confused, but he treated her with respect, and -allowed her to have her own way so far as possible, so that they became -warm friends, sporting together like children when the work of the day -was over. But one evening she said, “Your brother is coming. I fear him. -Farewell.” And she slipped into the wood. When the young man told his -elder brother what had happened there--the elder having been detained for -a few days in the pursuit of a deer--he declared that he would wish the -woman to come back, and presently, without any summons, she returned, -bringing a toboggan-load of garments and arms. The luck of the hunters -improved, and they remained happily together until spring, when it was -time to return with their furs. - -They set off down the Penobscot in their canoe and rowed merrily along, -but as they neared the home village the girl became uneasy, and presently -“threw out her soul”--became clairvoyant--and said, “Let me land here. I -find that your father would not like me, so do not speak to him about -me.” But the elder brother told of her when they reached home, whereon -the father exclaimed, “I had feared this. That woman is a sister of the -goblins. She wishes to destroy men.” - -At this the elder brother was afraid, lest she should cast a spell on -him, and rowing up the river for a distance he came upon her as she was -bathing and shot at her. The arrow seemed to strike, for there was a -flutter of feathers and the woman flew away as a partridge. But the -younger did not forget the good she had done and sought her in the wood, -where for many days they played together as of old. - -“I do not blame your father: it is an affair of old, this hate he bears -me,” she said. “He will choose a wife for you soon, but do not marry her, -else all will come to an end for you.” The man could not wed the witch, -and he might not disobey his father, in spite of this adjuration; so when -the old man said to him, “I have a wife for you, my son,” he answered, -“It is well.” - -They brought the bride to the village, and for four days the -wedding-dance was held, with a feast that lasted four days more. Then -said the young man, “Now comes the end,” and lying down on a bear-skin he -sighed a few times and his spirit ascended to the Ghosts' road--the milky -way. The father shook his head, for he knew that this was the witch's -work, and, liking the place no longer, he went away and the tribe was -scattered. - - - - -THE MARRIAGE OF MOUNT KATAHDIN - -An Indian girl gathering berries on the side of Mount Katahdin looked up -at its peak, rosy in the afternoon light, and sighed, “I wish that I had -a husband. If Katahdin were a man he might marry me.” Her companions -laughed at this quaint conceit, and, filled with confusion at being -overheard, she climbed higher up the slope and was lost to sight. For -three years her tribe lost sight of her; then she came back with a child -in her arms a beautiful boy with brows of stone. The boy had wonderful -power: he had only to point at a moose or a duck or a bear, and it fell -dead, so that the tribe never wanted food. For he was the son of the -Indian girl and the spirit of the mountain, who had commanded her not to -reveal the boy's paternity. Through years she held silence on this point, -holding in contempt, like other Indians, the prying inquiries of gossips -and the teasing of young people, and knowing that Katahdin had designed -the child for the founder of a mighty race, with the sinews of the very -mountains in its frame, that should fill and rule the earth. Yet, one -day, in anger at some slight, the mother spoke: “Fools! Wasps who sting -the fingers that pick you from the water! Why do you torment me about -what you might all see? Look at the boy's face--his brows: in them do you -not see Katahdin? Now you have brought the curse upon yourselves, for you -shall hunt your own venison from this time forth.” Leading the child by -the hand she turned toward the mountain and went out from their sight. -And since then the Indians who could not hold their tongues, and who -might otherwise have been great, have dwindled to a little people. - - - - -THE MOOSE OF MOUNT KINEO - -Eastern traditions concerning Hiawatha differ in many respects from those -of the West. In the East he is known as Glooskap, god of the -Passamaquoddies, and his marks are left in many places in the maritime -provinces and Maine. It was he who gave names to things, created men, -filled them with life, and moved their wonder with storms. He lived on -the rocky height of Blomidon, at the entrance to Minas Basin, Nova -Scotia, and the agates to be found along its foot are jewels that he made -for his grandmother's necklace, when he restored her youth. He threw up a -ridge between Fort Cumberland and Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, that he might -cross, dry shod, the lake made by the beavers when they dammed the strait -at Blomidon, but he afterward killed the beavers, and breaking down their -dam he let the lake flow into the sea, and went southward on a hunting -tour. At Mount Desert he killed a moose, whose bones he flung to the -ground at Bar Harbor, where they are still to be seen, turned to stone, -while across the bay he threw the entrails, and they, too, are visible as -rocks, dented with his arrow-points. Mount Kineo was anciently a cow -moose of colossal size that he slew and turned into a height of land, and -the Indians trace the outline of the creature in the uplift to this day. -Little Kineo was a calf moose that he slew at the same time, and Kettle -Mountain is his camp-caldron that he flung to the ground in the ardor of -the chase. - - - - -THE OWL TREE - -One day in October, 1827, Rev. Charles Sharply rode into Alfred, Maine, -and held service in the meeting-house. After the sermon he announced that -he was going to Waterborough to preach, and that on his circuit he had -collected two hundred and seventy dollars to help build a church in that -village. Would not his hearers add to that sum? They would and did, and -that evening the parson rode away with over three hundred dollars in his -saddlebags. He never appeared in Waterborough. Some of the country people -gave tongue to their fear that the possession of the money had made him -forget his sacred calling and that he had fled the State. - -On the morning after his disappearance, however, Deacon Dickerman -appeared in Alfred riding on a horse that was declared to be the -minister's, until the tavern hostler affirmed that the minister's horse -had a white star on forehead and breast, whereas this horse was all -black. The deacon said that he found the horse grazing in his yard at -daybreak, and that he would give it to whoever could prove it to be his -property. Nobody appeared to demand it, and people soon forgot that it -was not his. He extended his business at about that time and prospered; -he became a rich man for a little place; though, as his wealth increased, -he became morose and averse to company. - -One day a rumor went around that a belated traveller had seen a misty -thing under “the owl tree” at a turn of a road where owls were hooting, -and that it took on a strange likeness to the missing clergyman. -Dickerman paled when he heard this story, but he shook his head and -muttered of the folly of listening to boy nonsense. Ten years had gone -by-during that time the boys had avoided the owl tree after dark--when a -clergyman of the neighborhood was hastily summoned to see Mr. Dickerman, -who was said to be suffering from overwork. He found the deacon in his -house alone, pacing the floor, his dress disordered, his cheek hectic. - -“I have not long to live,” said he, “nor would I live longer if I could. -I am haunted day and night, and there is no peace, no rest for me on -earth. They say that Sharply's spirit has appeared at the owl tree. Well, -his body lies there. They accused me of taking his horse. It is true. A -little black dye on his head and breast was all that was needed to -deceive them. Pray for me, for I fear my soul is lost. I killed Sharply.” - The clergyman recoiled. “I killed him,” the wretched man went on, “for -the money that he had. The devil prospered me with it. In my will I leave -two thousand dollars to his widow and five thousand dollars to the church -he was collecting for. Will there be mercy for me there? I dare not think -it. Go and pray for me.” The clergyman hastened away, but was hardly -outside the door when the report of a pistol brought him back. Dickerman -lay dead on the floor. Sharply's body was exhumed from the shade of the -owl tree, and the spot was never haunted after. - - - - -A CHESTNUT LOG - -There is no doubt that farmer Lovel had read ancient history or he would -not have been so ready in the emergency that befell him one time in the -last century. He had settled among the New Hampshire hills near the site -that is now occupied by the village of Washington and had a real good -time there with bears and Indians. It was when he was splitting rails on -Lovel Mountain--they named it for him afterward--that he found himself -surrounded by six Indians, who told him that he was their prisoner. He -agreed that they had the advantage over him and said that he would go -quietly along if they would allow him to finish the big chestnut log that -he was at work on. As he was a powerful fellow and was armed with an axe -worth any two of their tomahawks, and as he would be pretty sure to have -the life of at least one of them if they tried to drive him faster than -he wanted to go, they consented. He said that he would be ready all the -sooner if they would help him to pull the big log apart, and they agreed -to help him. Driving a wedge into the long split he asked them to take -hold, and when they had done this he knocked out the wedge with a single -blow and the twelve hands were caught tight in the closing wood. Struggle -as the savages might, they could not get free, and after calmly enjoying -the situation for a few minutes he walked slowly from one to the other -and split open the heads of all six. Then he went to work again splitting -up more chestnuts. - - - - -THE WATCHER ON WHITE ISLAND - -The isles of Shoals, a little archipelago of wind and wave-swept rocks -that may be seen on clear days from the New Hampshire coast, have been -the scene of some mishaps and some crimes. On Boone Island, where the -Nottingham galley went down one hundred and fifty years ago, the -survivors turned cannibals to escape starvation, while Haley's Island is -peopled by shipwrecked Spanish ghosts that hail vessels and beg for -passage back to their country. The pirate Teach, or Blackbeard, used to -put in at these islands to hide his treasure, and one of his lieutenants -spent some time on White Island with a beautiful girl whom he had -abducted from her home in Scotland and who, in spite of his rough life, -had learned to love him. It was while walking with her on this rock, -forgetful of his trade and the crimes he had been stained with, that one -of his men ran up to report a sail that was standing toward the islands. -The pirate ship was quickly prepared for action, but before embarking, -mindful of possible flight or captivity, the lieutenant made his mistress -swear that she would guard the buried treasure if it should be till -doomsday. - -The ship he was hurrying to meet came smoothly on until the pirate craft -was well in range, when ports flew open along the stranger's sides, guns -were run out, and a heavy broadside splintered through the planks of the -robber galley. It was a man-of-war, not a merchantman, that had run -Blackbeard down. The war-ship closed and grappled with the corsair, but -while the sailors were standing at the chains ready to leap aboard and -complete the subjugation of the outlaws a mass of flame burst from the -pirate ship, both vessels were hurled in fragments through the air, and a -roar went for miles along the sea. Blackbeard's lieutenant had fired the -magazine rather than submit to capture, and had blown the two ships into -a common ruin. A few of both crews floated to the islands on planks, sore -from burns and bruises, but none survived the cold and hunger of the -winter. The pirate's mistress was among the first to die; still, true to -her promise, she keeps her watch, and at night is dimly seen on a rocky -point gazing toward the east, her tall figure enveloped in a cloak, her -golden hair unbound upon her shoulders, her pale face still as marble. - - - - -CHOCORUA - -This beautiful alp in the White Mountains commemorates in its name a -prophet of the Pequawket tribe who, prior to undertaking a journey, had -confided his son to a friendly settler, Cornelius Campbell, of Tamworth. -The boy found some poison in the house that had been prepared for foxes, -and, thinking it to be some delicacy, he drank of it and died. When -Chocorua returned he could not be persuaded that his son had fallen -victim to his own ignorance, but ascribed his death to the white man's -treachery, and one day, when Campbell entered his cabin from the fields, -he found there the corpses of his wife and children scalped and mangled. - -He was not a man to lament at such a time: hate was stronger than sorrow. -A fresh trail led from his door. Seizing his rifle he set forth in -pursuit of the murderer. A mark in the dust, a bent grass blade, a torn -leaf-these were guides enough, and following on through bush and swamp -and wood they led him to this mountain, and up the slope he scrambled -breathlessly. At the summit, statue-like, Chocorua stood. He saw the -avenger coming, and knew himself unarmed, but he made no attempt to -escape his doom. Drawing himself erect and stretching forth his hands he -invoked anathema on his enemies in these words: “A curse upon you, white -men! May the Great Spirit curse you when he speaks in the clouds, and his -words are fire! Chocorua had a son and you killed him while the sky -looked bright. Lightning blast your crops! Winds and fire destroy your -dwellings! The Evil One breathe death upon your cattle! Your graves lie -in the war-path of the Indian! Panthers howl and wolves fatten over your -bones! Chocorua goes to the Great Spirit. His curse stays with the white -man.” - -The report of Campbell's rifle echoed from the ledges and Chocorua leaped -into the air, plunging to the rocks below. His mangled remains were -afterward found and buried near the Tamworth path. The curse had its -effect, for pestilence and storm devastated the surrounding country and -the smaller settlements were abandoned. Campbell became a morose hermit, -and was found dead in his bed two years afterward. - - - - -PASSACONAWAY'S RIDE TO HEAVEN - -The personality of Passaconaway, the powerful chief and prophet, is -involved in doubt, but there can be no misprision of his wisdom. By some -historians he has been made one with St. Aspenquid, the earliest of -native missionaries among the Indians, who, after his conversion by -French Jesuits, travelled from Maine to the Pacific, preaching to -sixty-six tribes, healing the sick and working miracles, returning to die -at the age of ninety-four. He was buried on the top of Agamenticus, -Maine, where his manes were pacified with offerings of three thousand -slain animals, and where his tombstone stood for a century after, bearing -the legend, “Present, useful; absent, wanted; living, desired; dying, -lamented.” - -By others Passaconaway is regarded as a different person. The Child of -the Bear--to English his name--was the chief of the Merrimacs and a -convert of the apostle Eliot. Natives and colonists alike admired him for -his eloquence, his bravery, and his virtue. Before his conversion he was -a reputed wizard who sought by magic arts to repel the invasion of his -woods and mountains by the white men, invoking the spirits of nature -against them from the topmost peak of the Agiochooks, and his native -followers declared that in pursuance of this intent he made water burn, -rocks move, trees dance, and transformed himself into a mass of flame. - -Such was his power over the forces of the earth that he could burn a tree -in winter and from its ashes bring green leaves; he made dead wood -blossom and a farmer's flail to bud, while a snake's skin he could cause -to run. At the age of one hundred and twenty he retired from his tribe -and lived in a lonely wigwam among the Pennacooks. One winter night the -howling of wolves was heard, and a pack came dashing through the village -harnessed by threes to a sledge of hickory saplings that bore a tall -throne spread with furs. The wolves paused at Passaconaway's door. The -old chief came forth, climbed upon the sledge, and was borne away with a -triumphal apostrophe that sounded above the yelping and snarling of his -train. Across Winnepesaukee's frozen surface they sped like the wind, and -the belated hunter shrank aside as he saw the giant towering against the -northern lights and heard his death-song echo from the cliffs. Through -pathless woods, across ravines, the wolves sped on, with never slackened -speed, into the mazes of the Agiochooks to that highest peak we now call -Washington. Up its steep wilderness of snow the ride went furiously; the -summit was neared, the sledge burst into flame, still there was no pause; -the height was gained, the wolves went howling into darkness, but the -car, wrapped in sheaves of fire, shot like a meteor toward the sky and -was lost amid the stars of the winter night. So passed the Indian king to -heaven. - - - - -THE BALL GAME BY THE SACO - -Water-Goblins from the streams about Katahdin had left their birthplace -and journeyed away to the Agiochooks, making their presence known to the -Indians of that region by thefts and loss of life. When the manitou, -Glooskap, learned that these goblins were eating human flesh and -committing other outrages, he took on their own form, turning half his -body into stone, and went in search of them. The wigwam had been pitched -near the Home of the Water Fairies,--a name absurdly changed by the -people of North Conway to Diana's Bath,--and on entering he was invited -to take meat. The tail of a whale was cooked and offered to him, but -after he had taken it upon his knees one of the goblins exclaimed, “That -is too good for a beggar like you,” and snatched it away. Glooskap had -merely to wish the return of the dainty when it flew back into his -platter. Then he took the whale's jaw, and snapped it like a reed; he -filled his pipe and burned the tobacco to ashes in one inhalation; when -his hosts closed the wigwam and smoked vigorously, intending to foul the -air and stupefy him, he enjoyed it, while they grew sick; so they -whispered to each other, “This is a mighty magician, and we must try his -powers in another way.” - -A game of ball was proposed, and, adjourning to a sandy level at the bend -of the Saco, they began to play, but Glooskap found that the ball was a -hideous skull that rolled and snapped at him and would have torn his -flesh had it not been immortal and immovable from his bones. He crushed -it at a blow, and breaking off the bough of a tree he turned it by a word -into a skull ten times larger than the other that flew after the wicked -people as a wildcat leaps upon a rabbit. Then the god stamped on the -sands and all the springs were opened in the mountains, so that the Saco -came rising through the valley with a roar that made the nations tremble. -The goblins were caught in the flood and swept into the sea, where -Glooskap changed them into fish. - - - - -THE WHITE MOUNTAINS - -From times of old these noble hills have been the scenes of supernatural -visitations and mysterious occurrences. The tallest peak of the -Agiochooks--as they were, in Indian naming--was the seat of God himself, -and the encroachment there of the white man was little liked. Near -Fabyan's was once a mound, since levelled by pick and spade, that was -known as the Giant's Grave. Ethan Allen Crawford, a skilful hunter, -daring explorer, and man of herculean frame, lived, died, and is buried -here, and near the ancient hillock he built one of the first public -houses in the mountains. It was burned. Another, and yet another hostelry -was builded on the site, but they likewise were destroyed by fire. Then -the enterprise was abandoned, for it was remembered that an Indian once -mounted this grave, waved a torch from its top, and cried in a loud -voice, “No pale-face shall take root on this spot. This has the Great -Spirit whispered in my ear.” - -Governor Wentworth, while on a lonely tour through his province, found -this cabin of Crawford's and passed a night there, tendering many -compliments to the austere graces of the lady of the house and drinking -himself into the favor of the husband, who proclaimed him the prince of -good fellows. On leaving, the guest exacted of Crawford a visit to -Wolfeborough, where he was to inquire for “Old Wentworth.” This visit was -undertaken soon after, and the sturdy frontiersman was dismayed at -finding himself in the house of the royal governor; but his reception was -hearty enough to put him at his ease, and when he returned to the -mountains he carried in his pocket a deed of a thousand acres of forest -about his little farm. The family that he founded became wealthy and -increased, by many an acre, the measure of that royal grant. - -Not far below this spot, in the wildest part of the Notch, shut in by -walls of rock thousands of feet high, is the old Willey House, and this, -too, was the scene of a tragedy, for in 1826 a storm loosened the soil on -Mount Willey and an enormous landslide occurred. The people in the house -rushed forth on hearing the approach of the slide and met death almost at -their door. Had they remained within they would have been unharmed, for -the avalanche was divided by a wedge of rock behind the house, and the -little inn was saved. Seven people are known to have been killed, and it -was rumored that there was another victim in a young man whose name was -unknown and who was walking through the mountains to enjoy their beauty. -The messenger who bore the tidings of the destruction of the family was -barred from reaching North Conway by the flood in the Saco, so he stood -at the brink of the foaming river and rang a peal on a trumpet. This -blast echoing around the hills in the middle of the night roused several -men from their beds to know its meaning. The dog belonging to the inn is -said to have given first notice to people below the Notch that something -was wrong, but his moaning and barking were misunderstood, and after -running back and forth, as if to summon help, he disappeared. At the hour -of the accident James Willey, of Conway, had a dream in which he saw his -dead brother standing by him. He related the story of the catastrophe to -the sleeping man and said that when “the world's last knell” sounded they -were going for safety to the foot of the steep mountain, for the Saco had -risen twenty-four feet in seven hours and threatened to ingulf them in -front. - -Another spot of interest in the Notch is Nancy's Brook. It was at the -point where this stream comes foaming from Mount Nancy into the great -ravine that the girl whose name is given to it was found frozen to death -in a shroud of snow in the fall of 1788. She had set out alone from -Jefferson in search of a young farmer who was to have married her, and -walked thirty miles through trackless snow between sunset and dawn. Then -her strength gave out and she sank beside the road never to rise again. -Her recreant lover went mad with remorse when he learned the manner of -her death and did not long survive her, and men who have traversed the -savage passes of the Notch on chill nights in October have fancied that -they heard, above the clash of the stream and whispering of the woods, -long, shuddering groans mingled with despairing cries and gibbering -laughter. - -The birth of Peabody River came about from a cataclysm of less violent -nature than some of the avalanches that have so scarred the mountains. In -White's “History of New England,” Mr. Peabody, for whom the stream is -named, is reported as having taken shelter in an Indian cabin on the -heights where the river has its source. During the night a loud roaring -waked the occupants of the hut and they sprang forth, barely in time to -save their lives; for, hardly had they gained the open ground before a -cavern burst open in the hill and a flood of water gushed out, sweeping -away the shelter and cutting a broad swath through the forest. - -Although the Pilot Mountains are supposed to have taken their name from -the fact that they served as landmarks to hunters who were seeking the -Connecticut River from the Lancaster district, an old story is still told -of one Willard, who was lost amid the defiles of this range, and nearly -perished with hunger. While lying exhausted on the mountainside his dog -would leave him every now and then and return after a couple of hours. -Though Willard was half dead, he determined to use his last strength in -following the animal, and as a result was led by a short cut to his own -camp, where provisions were plenty, and where the intelligent creature -had been going for food. The dog was christened Pilot, in honor of this -service, and the whole range is thought by many to be named in his honor. - -Waternomee Falls, on Hurricane Creek, at Warren, are bordered with rich -moss where fairies used to dance and sing in the moonlight. These sprites -were the reputed children of Indians that had been stolen from their -wigwams and given to eat of fairy bread, that dwarfed and changed them in -a moment. Barring their kidnapping practices the elves were an innocent -and joyous people, and they sought more distant hiding-places in the -wilderness when the stern churchmen and cruel rangers penetrated their -sylvan precincts. - -An old barrack story has it that Lieutenant Chamberlain, who fought under -Lovewell, was pursued along the base of Melvin Peak by Indians and was -almost in their grasp when he reached Ossipee Falls. It seemed as if -there were no alternative between death by the tomahawk and death by a -fall to the rocks below, for the chasm here is eighteen feet wide; but -without stopping to reckon chances he put his strength into a running -jump, and to the amazement of those in pursuit and perhaps to his own -surprise he cleared the gap and escaped into the woods. The foremost of -the Indians attempted the leap, but plunged to his death in the ravine. - -The Eagle Range was said to be the abode, two hundred years ago, of a man -of strange and venerable appearance, whom the Indians regarded with -superstitious awe and never tried to molest. He slept in a cave on the -south slope and ranged the forest in search of game, muttering and -gesturing to himself. He is thought to be identified with Thomas Crager, -whose wife had been hanged in Salem as a witch, and whose only child had -been stolen by Indians. After a long, vain search for the little one he -gave way to a bitter moroseness, and avoided the habitations of civilized -man and savages alike. It is a satisfaction to know that before he died -he found his daughter, though she was the squaw of an Indian hunter and -was living with his tribe on the shore of the St. Lawrence. - - - - -THE VISION ON MOUNT ADAMS - -There are many traditions connected with Mount Adams that have faded out -of memory. Old people remember that in their childhood there was talk of -the discovery of a magic stone; of an Indian's skeleton that appeared in -a speaking storm; of a fortune-teller that set off on a midnight quest, -far up among the crags and eyries. In October, 1765, a detachment of nine -of Rogers's Rangers began the return from a Canadian foray, bearing with -them plate, candlesticks, and a silver statue that they had rifled from -the Church of St. Francis. An Indian who had undertaken to guide the -party through the Notch proved faithless, and led them among labyrinthine -gorges to the head of Israel's River, where he disappeared, after -poisoning one of the troopers with a rattlesnake's fang. Losing all -reckoning, the Rangers tramped hither and thither among the snowy hills -and sank down, one by one, to die in the wilderness, a sole survivor -reaching a settlement after many days, with his knapsack filled with -human flesh. - -In 1816 the candlesticks were recovered near Lake Memphremagog, but the -statue has never been laid hold upon. The spirits of the famished men -were wont, for many winters, to cry in the woods, and once a hunter, -camped on the side of Mount Adams, was awakened at midnight by the notes -of an organ. The mists were rolling off, and he found that he had gone to -sleep near a mighty church of stone that shone in soft light. The doors -were flung back, showing a tribe of Indians kneeling within. Candles -sparkled on the altar, shooting their rays through clouds of incense, and -the rocks shook with thunder-gusts of music. Suddenly church, lights, -worshippers vanished, and from the mists came forth a line of uncouth -forms, marching in silence. As they started to descend the mountain a -silver image, floating in the air, spread a pair of gleaming pinions and -took flight, disappearing in the chaos of battlemented rocks above. - - - - -THE GREAT CARBUNCLE - -High on the eastern face of Mount Monroe shone the Great Carbuncle, its -flash scintillating for miles by day, its dusky crimson glowing among the -ledges at night. The red men said that it hung in the air, and that the -soul of an Indian--killed, that he might guard the spot--made approach -perilous to men of all complexions and purposes. As late as Ethan -Crawford's time one search band took a “good man” to lay the watcher, -when they strove to scale the height, but they returned “sorely bruised, -treasureless, and not even saw that wonderful sight.” The value of the -stone tempted many, but those who sought it had to toil through a dense -forest, and on arriving at the mountain found its glories eclipsed by -intervening abutments, nor could they get near it. Rocks covered with -crystals, at first thought to be diamonds, were readily despoiled of -their treasure, but the Great Carbuncle burned on, two thousand feet -above them, at the head of the awful chasm of Oakes Gulf, and baffled -seekers likened it to the glare of an evil eye. - -There was one who had grown old in searching for this gem, often -scrambling over the range in wind and snow and cloud, and at last he -reached a precipitous spot he had never attained before. Great was his -joy, for the Carbuncle was within his reach, blazing into his eyes in the -noon sunlight as if it held, crystallized in its depths, the brightness -of all the wine that had ever gladdened the tired hearts of men. There -were rivals in the search, and on reaching the plateau they looked up and -saw him kneeling on a narrow ledge with arms extended as in rapture. They -called to him. He answered not. He was dead--dead of joy and triumph. -While they looked a portion of the crag above him fell away and rolled -from rock to rock, marking its course with flashes of bloody fire, until -it reached the Lake of the Clouds, and the waters of that tarn drowned -its glory. Yet those waters are not always black, and sometimes the -hooked crest of Mount Monroe is outlined against the night sky in a ruddy -glow. - - - - -SKINNER'S CAVE - -The abhorrence to paying taxes and duties--or any other levy from which -an immediate and personal good is not promised--is too deeply rooted in -human nature to be affected by statutes, and whenever it is possible to -buy commodities that have escaped the observation of the revenue officers -many are tempted to do so for the mere pleasure of defying the law. In -the early part of this century the northern farmers and their wives were, -in a way, providing themselves with laces, silver-ware, brandy, and other -protected and dreadful articles, on which it was evident that somebody -had forgotten to pay duty. The customs authorities on the American side -of the border were long puzzled by the irruption of these forbidden -things, but suspicion ultimately fell on a fellow of gigantic size, named -Skinner. - -It was believed that this outlaw carried on the crime of free trade after -sunset, hiding his merchandise by day on the islands of Lake -Memphremagog. This delightful sheet of water lies half in Canada and half -in Vermont--agreeably to the purpose of such as he. Province Island is -still believed to contain buried treasure, but the rock that contains -Skinner's Cave was the smuggler's usual haunt, and when pursued he rowed -to this spot and effected a disappearance, because he entered the cave on -the northwest side, where it was masked by shrubbery. One night the -officers landed on this island after he had gone into hiding, and after -diligent search discovered his boat drawn up in a covert. They pushed it -into the lake, where the winds sent it adrift, and, his communication -with the shore thus cut off, the outlaw perished miserably of hunger. His -skeleton was found in the cavern some years later. - - - - -YET THEY CALL IT LOVER'S LEAP - -In the lower part of the township of Cavendish, Vermont, the Black River -seeks a lower level through a gorge in the foot-hills of the Green -Mountains. The scenery here is romantic and impressive, for the river -makes its way along the ravine in a series of falls and rapids that are -overhung by trees and ledges, while the geologist finds something worth -looking at in the caves and pot-holes that indicate an older level of the -river. At a turn in the ravine rises the sheer precipice of Lover's Leap. -It is a vertical descent of about eighty feet, the water swirling at its -foot in a black and angry maelstrom. It is a spot whence lovers might -easily step into eternity, were they so disposed, and the name fits -delightfully into the wild and somber scene; but ask any good villager -thereabout to relate the legend of the place and he will tell you this: - -About forty years ago a couple of young farmers went to the Leap--which -then had no name--to pry out some blocks of the schistose rock for a -foundation wall. They found a good exposure of the rock beneath the turf -and began to quarry it. In the earnestness of the work one of the men -forgot that he was standing on the verge of a precipice, and through a -slip of his crowbar he lost his balance and went reeling into the gulf. -His horrified companion crept to the edge, expecting to see his mangled -corpse tossing in the whirlpool, but, to his amazement, the unfortunate -was crawling up the face of a huge table of stone that had fallen from -the opposite wall and lay canted against it. - -“Hello!” shouted the man overhead. “Are you hurt much?” - -The victim of the accident slowly got upon his feet, felt cautiously of -his legs and ribs, and began to search through his pockets, his face -betraying an anxiety that grew deeper and deeper as the search went on. -In due time the answer came back, deliberate, sad, and nasal, but -distinct above the roar of the torrent: “Waal, I ain't hurt much, but -I'll be durned if I haven't lost my jack-knife!” - -And he was pulled out of the gorge without it. - - - - -SALEM AND OTHER WITCHCRAFT - -The extraordinary delusion recorded as Salem witchcraft was but a -reflection of a kindred insanity in the Old World that was not extirpated -until its victims had been counted by thousands. That human beings should -be accused of leaguing themselves with Satan to plague their fellows and -overthrow the powers of righteousness is remarkable, but that they should -admit their guilt is incomprehensible, albeit the history of every -popular delusion shows that weak minds are so affected as to lose control -of themselves and that a whimsey can be as epidemic as small-pox. - -Such was the case in 1692 when the witchcraft madness, which might have -been stayed by a seasonable spanking, broke out in Danvers, -Massachusetts, the first victim being a wild Irishwoman, named Glover, -and speedily involved the neighboring community of Salem. The mischiefs -done by witches were usually trifling, and it never occurred to their -prosecutors that there was an inconsistency between their pretended -powers and their feeble deeds, or that it was strange that those who -might live in regal luxury should be so wretchedly poor. Aches and pains, -blight of crops, disease of cattle, were charged to them; children -complained of being pricked with thorns and pins (the pins are still -preserved in Salem), and if hysterical girls spoke the name of any feeble -old woman, while in flighty talk, they virtually sentenced her to die. -The word of a child of eleven years sufficed to hang, burn, or drown a -witch. - -Giles Corey, a blameless man of eighty, was condemned to the mediaeval -_peine forte et dure_, his body being crushed beneath a load of rocks and -timbers. He refused to plead in court, and when the beams were laid upon -him he only cried, “More weight!” The shade of the unhappy victim haunted -the scene of his execution for years, and always came to warn the people -of calamities. A child of five and a dog were also hanged after formal -condemnation. Gallows Hill, near Salem, witnessed many sad tragedies, and -the old elm that stood on Boston Common until 1876 was said to have -served as a gallows for witches and Quakers. The accuser of one day was -the prisoner of the next, and not even the clergy were safe. - -A few escapes were made, like that of a blue-eyed maid of Wenham, whose -lover aided her to break the wooden jail and carried her safely beyond -the Merrimac, finding a home for her among the Quakers; and that of Miss -Wheeler, of Salem, who had fallen under suspicion, and whose brothers -hurried her into a boat, rowed around Cape Ann, and safely bestowed her -in “the witch house” at Pigeon Cove. Many, however, fled to other towns -rather than run the risk of accusation, which commonly meant death. - -When the wife of Philip English was arrested he, too, asked to share her -fate, and both were, through friendly intercession, removed to Boston, -where they were allowed to have their liberty by day on condition that -they would go to jail every night. Just before they were to be taken back -to Salem for trial they went to church and heard the Rev. Joshua Moody -preach from the text, “If they persecute you in one city, flee unto -another.” The good clergyman not only preached goodness, but practised -it, and that night the door of their prison was opened. Furnished with an -introduction from Governor Phipps to Governor Fletcher, of New York, they -made their way to that settlement, and remained there in safe and -courteous keeping until the people of Salem had regained their senses, -when they returned. Mrs. English died, soon after, from the effects of -cruelty and anxiety, and although Mr. Moody was generally commended for -his substitution of sense and justice for law, there were bigots who -persecuted him so constantly that he removed to Plymouth. - -According to the belief of the time a witch or wizard compacted with -Satan for the gift of supernatural power, and in return was to give up -his soul to the evil one after his life was over. The deed was signed in -blood of the witch and horrible ceremonies confirmed the compact. Satan -then gave his ally a familiar in the form of a dog, ape, cat, or other -animal, usually small and black, and sometimes an undisguised imp. To -suckle these “familiars” with the blood of a witch was forbidden in -English law, which ranked it as a felony; but they were thus nourished in -secret, and by their aid the witch might raise storms, blight crops, -abort births, lame cattle, topple over houses, and cause pains, -convulsions, and illness. If she desired to hurt a person she made a clay -or waxen image in his likeness, and the harms and indignities wreaked on -the puppet would be suffered by the one bewitched, a knife or needle -thrust in the waxen body being felt acutely by the living one, no matter -how far distant he might be. By placing this image in running water, hot -sunshine, or near a fire, the living flesh would waste as this melted or -dissolved, and the person thus wrought upon would die. This belief is -still current among negroes affected by the voodoo superstitions of the -South. The witch, too, had the power of riding winds, usually with a -broomstick for a conveyance, after she had smeared the broom or herself -with magic ointment, and the flocking of the unhallowed to their sabbaths -in snaky bogs or on lonely mountain tops has been described minutely by -those who claim to have seen the sight. Sometimes they cackled and -gibbered through the night before the houses of the clergy, and it was -only at Christmas that their power failed them. The meetings were devoted -to wild and obscene orgies, and the intercourse of fiends and witches -begot a progeny of toads and snakes. - -Naturally the Indians were accused, for they recognized the existence of -both good and evil spirits, their medicine-men cured by incantations in -the belief that devils were thus driven out of their patients, and in the -early history of the country the red man was credited by white settlers -with powers hardly inferior to those of the oriental and European -magicians of the middle ages. Cotton Mather detected a relation between -Satan and the Indians, and he declares that certain of the Algonquins -were trained from boyhood as powahs, powwows, or wizards, acquiring -powers of second sight and communion with gods and spirits through -abstinence from food and sleep and the observance of rites. Their severe -discipline made them victims of nervous excitement and the -responsibilities of conjuration had on their minds an effect similar to -that produced by gases from the rift in Delphos on the Apollonian -oracles, their manifestations of insanity or frenzy passing for deific or -infernal possession. When John Gibb, a Scotchman, who had gone mad -through religious excitement, was shipped to this country by his tired -fellow-countrymen, the Indians hailed him as a more powerful wizard than -any of their number, and he died in 1720, admired and feared by them -because of the familiarity with spirits out of Hobbomocko (hell) that his -ravings and antics were supposed to indicate. Two Indian servants of the -Reverend Mr. Purvis, of Salem, having tried by a spell to discover a -witch, were executed as witches themselves. The savages, who took Salem -witchcraft at its worth, were astonished at its deadly effect, and the -English may have lost some influence over the natives in consequence of -this madness. “The Great Spirit sends no witches to the French,” they -said. Barrow Hill, near Amesbury, was said to be the meeting-place for -Indian powwows and witches, and at late hours of the night the light of -fires gleamed from its top, while shadowy forms glanced athwart it. Old -men say that the lights are still there in winter, though modern doubters -declare that they were the aurora borealis. - -But the belief in witches did not die even when the Salem people came to -their senses. In the Merrimac valley the devil found converts for many -years after: Goody Mose, of Rocks village, who tumbled down-stairs when a -big beetle was killed at an evening party, some miles away, after it had -been bumping into the faces of the company; Goody Whitcher, of Ameshury, -whose loom kept banging day and night after she was dead; Goody Sloper, -of West Newbury, who went home lame directly that a man had struck his -axe into the beam of a house that she had bewitched, but who recovered -her strength and established an improved reputation when, in 1794, she -swam out to a capsized boat and rescued two of the people who were in -peril; Goodman Nichols, of Rocks village, who “spelled” a neighbor's son, -compelling him to run up one end of the house, along the ridge, and down -the other end, “troubling the family extremely by his strange -proceedings;” Susie Martin, also of Rocks, who was hanged in spite of her -devotions in jail, though the rope danced so that it could not be tied, -but a crow overhead called for a withe and the law was executed with -that; and Goody Morse, of Market and High Streets, Newburyport, whose -baskets and pots danced through her house continually and who was seen -“flying about the sun as if she had been cut in twain, or as if the devil -did hide the lower part of her.” The hill below Easton, Pennsylvania, -called Hexenkopf (Witch's head), was described by German settlers as a -place of nightly gathering for weird women, who whirled about its top in -“linked dances” and sang in deep tones mingled with awful laughter. After -one of these women, in Williams township, had been punished for -enchanting a twenty-dollar horse, their sabbaths were held more quietly. -Mom Rinkle, whose “rock” is pointed out beside the Wissahickon, in -Philadelphia, “drank dew from acorn-cups and had the evil eye.” Juan -Perea, of San Mateo, New Mexico, would fly with his chums to meetings in -the mountains in the shape of a fire-ball. During these sallies he left -his own eyes at home and wore those of some brute animal. It was because -his dog ate his eyes when he had carelessly put them on a table that he -had always afterward to wear those of a cat. Within the present century -an old woman who lived in a hut on the Palisades of the Hudson was held -to be responsible for local storms and accidents. As late as 1889 two -Zuni Indians were hanged on the wall of an old Spanish church near their -pueblo in Arizona on a charge of having blown away the rainclouds in a -time of drouth. It was held that there was something uncanny in the event -that gave the name of Gallows Hill to an eminence near Falls Village, -Connecticut, for a strange black man was found hanging, dead, to a tree -near its top one morning. - -Moll Pitcher, a successful sorcerer and fortune-teller of old Lynn, has -figured in obsolete poems, plays, and romances. She lived in a cottage at -the foot of High Rock, where she was consulted, not merely by people of -respectability, but by those who had knavish schemes to prosecute and who -wanted to learn in advance the outcome of their designs. Many a ship was -deserted at the hour of sailing because she boded evil of the voyage. She -was of medium height, big-headed, tangle-haired, long-nosed, and had a -searching black eye. The sticks that she carried were cut from a hazel -that hung athwart a brook where an unwedded mother had drowned her child. -A girl who went to her for news of her lover lost her reason when the -witch, moved by a malignant impulse, described his death in a fiercely -dramatic manner. One day the missing ship came bowling into port, and the -shock of joy that the girl experienced when the sailor clasped her in his -arms restored her erring senses. When Moll Pitcher died she was attended -by the little daughter of the woman she had so afflicted. - -John, or Edward, Dimond, grandfather of Moll Pitcher, was a benevolent -wizard. When vessels were trying to enter the port of Marblehead in a -heavy gale or at night, their crews were startled to hear a trumpet voice -pealing from the skies, plainly audible above the howling and hissing of -any tempest, telling them how to lay their course so as to reach smooth -water. This was the voice of Dimond, speaking from his station, miles -away in the village cemetery. He always repaired to this place in -troublous weather and shouted orders to the ships that were made visible -to him by mystic power as he strode to and fro among the graves. When -thieves came to him for advice he charmed them and made them take back -their plunder or caused them to tramp helplessly about the streets -bearing heavy burdens. - -“Old Mammy Redd, of Marblehead, Sweet milk could turn to mould in churn.” - -Being a witch, and a notorious one, she could likewise curdle the milk as -it came from the cow, and afterward transform it into blue wool. She had -the evil eye, and, if she willed, her glance or touch could blight like -palsy. It only needed that she should wish a bloody cleaver to be found -in a cradle to cause the little occupant to die, while the whole town -ascribed to her the annoyances of daily housework and business. Her -unpleasant celebrity led to her death at the hands of her fellow-citizens -who had been “worrited” by no end of queer happenings: ships had appeared -just before they were wrecked and had vanished while people looked at -them; men were seen walking on the water after they had been comfortably -buried; the wind was heard to name the sailors doomed never to return; -footsteps and voices were heard in the streets before the great were to -die; one man was chased by a corpse in its coffin; another was pursued by -the devil in a carriage drawn by four white horses; a young woman who had -just received a present of some fine fish from her lover was amazed to -see him melt into the air, and was heart-broken when she learned next -morning that he had died at sea. So far away as Amesbury the devil's -power was shown by the appearance of a man who walked the roads carrying -his head under his arm, and by the freak of a windmill that the miller -always used to shut up at sundown but that started by itself at midnight. -Evidently it was high time to be rid of Mammy Redd. - -Margaret Wesson, “old Meg,” lived in Gloucester until she came to her -death by a shot fired at the siege of Louisburg, five hundred miles away, -in 1745. Two soldiers of Gloucester, while before the walls of the French -town, were annoyed by a crow, that flew over and around them, cawing -harshly and disregarding stones and shot, until it occurred to them that -the bird could be no other than old Meg in another form, and, as silver -bullets are an esteemed antidote for the evils of witchcraft, they cut -two silver buttons from their uniforms and fired them at the crow. At the -first shot its leg was broken; at the second, it fell dead. On returning -to Gloucester they learned that old Meg had fallen and broken her leg at -the moment when the crow was fired on, and that she died quickly after. -An examination of her body was made, and the identical buttons were -extracted from her flesh that had been shot into the crow at Louisburg. - -As a citizen of New Haven was riding home--this was at the time of the -goings on at Salem--he saw shapes of women near his horse's head, -whispering earnestly together and keeping time with the trot of his -animal without effort of their own. “In the name of God, tell me who you -are,” cried the traveller, and at the name of God they vanished. Next day -the man's orchard was shaken by viewless hands and the fruit thrown down. -Hogs ran about the neighborhood on their hind legs; children cried that -somebody was sticking pins into them; one man would roll across the floor -as if pushed, and he had to be watched lest he should go into the fire; -when housewives made their bread they found it as full of hair as food in -a city boarding-house; when they made soft soap it ran from the kettle -and over the floor like lava; stones fell down chimneys and smashed -crockery. One of the farmers cut off an ear from a pig that was walking -on its hind legs, and an eccentric old body of the neighborhood appeared -presently with one of her ears in a muffle, thus satisfying that -community that she had caused the troubles. When a woman was making -potash it began to leap about, and a rifle was fired into the pot, -causing a sudden calm. In the morning the witch was found dead on her -floor. Yet killing only made her worse, for she moved to a deserted house -near her own, and there kept a mad revel every night; fiddles were heard, -lights flashed, stones were thrown, and yells gave people at a distance a -series of cold shivers; but the populace tried the effect of tearing down -the house, and quiet was brought to the town. - -In the early days of this century a skinny old woman known as Aunt -Woodward lived by herself in a log cabin at Minot Corner, Maine, enjoying -the awe of the people in that secluded burg. They moved around but little -at night, on her account, and one poor girl was in mortal fear lest by -mysterious arts she should be changed, between two days, into a white -horse. One citizen kept her away from his house by nailing a horseshoe to -his door, while another took the force out of her spells by keeping a -branch of “round wood” at his threshold. At night she haunted a big, -square house where the ghost of a murdered infant was often heard to cry, -and by day she laid charms on her neighbors' provisions and utensils, and -turned their cream to buttermilk. “Uncle” Blaisdell hurried into the -settlement to tell the farmers that Aunt Woodward had climbed into his -sled in the middle of the road, and that his four yoke of oxen could not -stir it an inch, but that after she had leaped down one yoke of cattle -drew the load of wood without an effort. Yet she died in her bed. - - - - -THE GLOUCESTER LEAGUERS - -Strange things had been reported in Gloucester. On the eve of King -Philip's War the march of men was heard in its streets and an Indian bow -and scalp were seen on the face of the moon, while the boom of cannon and -roll of drums were heard at Malden and the windows of Plymouth rattled to -the passage of unseen horsemen. But the strangest thing was the arrival -on Cape Ann of a force of French and Indians that never could be caught, -killed, or crippled, though two regiments were hurried into Gloucester -and battled with them for a fortnight. Thus, the rumor went around that -these were not an enemy of flesh and blood, but devils who hoped to work -a moral perversion of the colony. From 1692, when they appeared, until -Salem witchcraft was at an end, Cape Ann was under military and spiritual -guard against “the spectre leaguers.” - -Another version of the episode, based on sworn evidence, has it that -Ebenezer Babson, returning late on a summer night, saw two men run from -his door and vanish in a field. His family denied that visitors had -called, so he gave chase, for he believed the men to have a mischievous -intention. As he left the threshold they sprang from behind a log, one -saying to the other, “The master of the house is now come, else we might -have taken the house,” and again they disappeared in a swamp. Babson woke -the guard, and on entering the quarters of the garrison the sound of many -feet was heard without, but when the doors were flung open only the two -men were visible and they were retreating. Next evening the yeoman was -chased by these elusive gentry, who were believed to be scouts of the -enemy, for they wore white breeches and waistcoats and carried bright -guns. - -For several nights they appeared, and on the 4th of July half a dozen of -them were seen so plainly that the soldiers made a sally, Babson bringing -three of “ye unaccountable troublers” to the ground with a single shot, -and getting a response in kind, for a bullet hissed by his ear and buried -itself in a tree. When the company approached the place where lay the -victims of that remarkable shot, behold, they arose and scampered away as -blithely as if naught had happened to them. One of the trio was cornered -and shot anew, but when they would pick him up he melted into air. There -was fierce jabbering in an unknown tongue, through all the swamp, and by -the time the garrison had returned the fellows were skulking in the -shrubbery again. Richard Dolliver afterward came on eleven of them -engaged in incantations and scattered them with a gunshot, but they would -not down. They lurked about the cape until terror fell on all the people, -remaining for “the best part of a month together,” so it was deemed that -“Satan had set ambushments against the good people of Gloucester, with -demons in the shape of armed Indians and Frenchmen.” - -Stones were thrown, barns were beaten with clubs, the marching of unseen -hosts was heard after dark, the mockers grew so bold that they ventured -close to the redoubtable Babson, gazed scornfully down the barrel of his -gun, and laid a charm on the weapon, so that, no matter how often he -snapped it at them, it flashed in the pan. Neighboring garrisons were -summoned, but all battling with goblins was fruitless. One night a dark -and hostile throng emerged from the wood and moved toward the blockhouse, -where twenty musketeers were keeping guard. “If you be ghosts or devils I -will foil you,” cried the captain, and tearing a silver button from his -doublet he rammed it into his gun and fired on the advancing host. Even -as the smoke of his musket was blown on the wind, so did the beleaguering -army vanish, the silver bullet proving that they were not of human kind. -The night was wearing on when a cry went out that the devils were coming -again. Arms were laid aside this time, and the watchers sank to their -knees in prayer. Directly that the name of God was uttered the marching -ceased and heaven rang with the howls of the angry fiends. Never again -were leaguers seen in Gloucester. - - - - -SATAN AND HIS BURIAL-PLACE - -Satan appears to have troubled the early settlers in America almost as -grievously as he did the German students. He came in many shapes to many -people, and sometimes he met his match. Did he not try to stop old Peter -Stuyvesant from rowing through Hell Gate one moonlight night, and did not -that tough old soldier put something at his shoulder that Satan thought -must be his wooden leg? But it wasn't a leg: it was a gun, loaded with a -silver bullet that had been charged home with prayer. Peter fired and the -missile whistled off to Ward's Island, where three boys found it -afterward and swapped it for double handfuls of doughnuts and bulls' -eyes. Incidentally it passed between the devil's ribs and the fiend -exploded with a yell and a smell, the latter of sulphur, to Peter's -blended satisfaction and alarm. And did not the same spirit of evil -plague the old women of Massachusetts Bay and craze the French and -Spaniards in the South? At Hog Rock, west of Milford, Connecticut, he -broke up a pleasant diversion: - - “Once four young men upon ye rock - Sate down at chuffle board to play - When ye Deuill appearde in shape of a hogg - And frightend ym so they scampered away - And left Old Nick to finish ye play.” - -One of the first buildings to be put up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was a -church built on a ledge above the river, and in that church Satan tried -to conceal himself for purposes of mischief. For this act he was hurled -from the steeple-top by some unseen instrument of righteousness with such -force that his hoofmark was stamped into a solid stone near by. This did -not deter him from mounting to the ridge-pole and assuming a defiant air, -with folded arms, when Whitefield began to preach, but when that -clergyman's tremendous voice was loosed below him he bounced into the air -in terror and disappeared. - -The Shakers report that in the waning of the eighteenth century they -chased the evil one through the coverts of Mount Sinai, Massachusetts, -and just before dawn of a summer morning they caught and killed and -buried him. Shakers are spiritualists, and they believe their numbers to -have been augmented by distinguished dead, among whom they already number -Washington, Lafayette, Napoleon, Tamerlane, and Pocahontas. The two first -named of these posthumous communists are still seen by members of the -faith who pass Satan's grave at night, for they sit astride of white -horses and watch the burial spot, lest the enemy of man arise and begin -anew his career of trouble. Some members of the brotherhood say that this -legend typifies a burial of evil tendencies in the hearts of those who -hunted the fiend, but it has passed down among others as a circumstance. -The Shakers have many mystic records, transmitted verbally to the present -disciples of “Mother Ann,” but seldom told to scoffers “in the world,” as -those are called who live without their pure and peaceful communes. Among -these records is that of the appearance of John the Baptist in the -meeting-house at Mount Lebanon, New York, one Sunday, clothed in light -and leading the sacred dance of the worshippers, by which they signify -the shaking out of all carnal things from the heart. - - - - -PETER RUGG, THE MISSING MAN - -The idea of long wandering as a penalty, symbolized in “The Wandering -Jew,” “The Flying Dutchman,” and the character of Kundry, in “Parsifal,” - has application in the legend of Peter Rugg. This strange man, who lived -in Middle Street, Boston, with his wife and daughter, was esteemed, as a -person of probity and good manners except in his swearing fits, for he -was subject to outbursts of passion, when he would kick his way through -doors instead of opening them, bite tenpenny nails in two, and curse his -wig off In the autumn of 1770 he visited Concord, with his little girl, -and on the way home was overtaken by a violent storm. He took shelter -with a friend at Menotomy, who urged him to stay all night, for the rain -was falling heavier every moment; but Rugg would not be stayed, and -seeing that there was no hope of a dry journey back to town he roared a -fearful oath and cried, “Let the storm increase. I will see home to-night -in spite of it, or may I never see home!” With that he tossed the child -into the open chaise, leaped in after her, lashed his horse, and was off. - -Several nights afterward, while Rugg's neighbors were out with lanterns -trying to discover the cause of a heavy jarring that had begun to disturb -them in bad weather, the excitable gentleman, who had not been seen since -his Concord visit, came whirling along the pavement in his carriage, his -daughter beside him, his black horse plunging on in spite of his efforts -to stop him. The lanterns that for a moment twinkled in Peter's face -showed him as a wet and weary man, with eyes turned up longingly at the -windows where his wife awaited him; then he was gone, and the ground -trembled as with an earthquake, while the rain fell more heavily. - -Mrs. Rugg died within a twelvemonth, and Peter never reached home, but -from all parts of New England came stories of a man and child driving -rapidly along the highways, never stopping except to inquire the way to -Boston. Half of the time the man would be headed in a direction opposite -to the one he seemed to want to follow, and when set right would cry that -he was being deceived, and was sometimes heard to mutter, “No home -to-night.” In Hartford, Providence, Newburyport, and among the New -Hampshire hills the anxious face of the man became known, and he was -referred to as “the stormbreeder,” for so surely as he passed there would -be rain, wind, lightning, thunder, and darkness within the hour. - -Some years ago a man in a Connecticut town stopped this hurrying -traveller, who said, in reply to a question, “I have lost the road to -Boston. My name is Peter Rugg.” Then Rugg's disappearance half a century -before was cited by those who had long memories, and people began to look -askant at Peter and gave him generous road room when they met him. The -toll-taker on Charlestown bridge declared that he had been annoyed and -alarmed by a prodigious tramping of hoofs and rattling of wheels that -seemed to pass toward Boston before his very face, yet he could see -nothing. He took courage one night to plant himself in the middle of the -bridge with a three-legged stool, and when the sound approached he dimly -saw a large black horse driven by a weary looking man with a child beside -him. The stool was flung at the horse's head, but passed through the -animal as through smoke and skipped across the floor of the bridge. Thus -much the toll-collector said, but when asked if Rugg had appeared again -he made no reply. - - - - -THE LOSS OF WEETAMOO - -Winnepurkit, sagamore of the coast settlements between Nahant and Cape -Ann, had married Weetamoo, daughter of Passaconaway, king of the -Pennacooks, and had taken her to his home. Their honeymoon was happy, but -old ties are strong, and after a little time the bride felt a longing to -see her people again. When she made known this wish the husband not only -consented to her visit, but gave her a guard of his most trusty hunters -who saw her safe in her father's lodge (near the site of Concord, New -Hampshire), and returned directly. Presently came a messenger from -Passaconaway, informing his son-in-law that Weetamoo had finished her -visit and wished again to be with her husband, to whom he looked for an -escort to guide her through the wilderness. Winnepurkit felt that his -dignity as a chief was slighted by this last request, and he replied that -as he had supplied her with a guard for the outward journey it was her -father's place to send her back, “for it stood not with Winnepurkit's -reputation either to make himself or his men so servile as to fetch her -again.” - -Passaconaway returned a sharp answer that irritated Winnepurkit still -more, and he was told by the young sagamore that he might send his -daughter or keep her, for she would never be sent for. In this unhappy -strife for precedent, which has been repeated on later occasions by -princes and society persons, the young wife seemed to be fated as an -unwilling sacrifice; but summoning spirit to leave her father's wigwam -she launched a canoe on the Merrimack, hoping to make her way along that -watery highway to her husband's domain. It was winter, and the stream was -full of floating ice; at the best of times it was not easy to keep a -frail vessel of bark in the current away from the rapids, and a wandering -hunter reported that a canoe had come down the river guided by a woman, -that it had swung against the Amoskeag rocks, where Manchester stands -now, and a few moments later was in a quieter reach of water, broken and -empty. No more was seen of Weetamoo. - - - - -THE FATAL FORGET-ME-NOT - -Three miles out from the Nahant shore, Massachusetts, rises Egg Rock, a -dome of granite topped by a light-house. In the last century the -forget-me-nots that grew in a little marsh at its summit were much -esteemed, for it was reported that if a girl should receive one of these -little flowers from her lover the two would be faithful to each other -through all their married life. It was before a temporary separation that -a certain young couple strolled together on the Nahant cliffs. The man -was to sail for Italy next day, to urge parental consent to their union. -As he looked dreamily into the sea the legend of the forget-me-not came -into his mind, and in a playful tone he offered to gather a bunch as a -memento. Unthinkingly the girl consented. He ran down the cliff to his -boat, pushed out, and headed toward the rock, but a fisherman shouted -that a gale was rising and the tide was coming in; indeed, the horizon -was whitening and the rote was growing plain. - -Alice had heard the cry of warning and would have called him back, but -she was forsaken by the power of speech, and watched, with pale face and -straining eyes, the boat beating smartly across the surges. It was seen -to reach Egg Rock, and after a lapse came dancing toward the shore again; -but the tide, was now swirling in rapidly, the waves were running high, -and the wind freshened as the sun sank. At times the boat was out of -sight in the hollowed water, and as it neared Nahant it became -unmanageable. Apparently it had filled with water and the tiller-rope had -broken. Nothing could be done by the spectators who had gathered on the -rocks, except to shout directions that were futile, even if they could be -heard. At last the boat was lifted by a breaker and hurled against a mass -of granite at the very feet of the man's mistress. When the body was -recovered next day, a bunch of forget-me-not was clasped in the rigid -hand. - - - - -THE OLD MILL AT SOMERVILLE - -The “old powder-house,” as the round stone tower is called that stands on -a gravel ridge in Somerville, Massachusetts, is so named because at the -outbreak of the Revolutionary War it was used temporarily as a magazine; -but long before that it was a wind-mill. Here in the old days two lovers -held their tryst: a sturdy and honest young farmer of the neighborhood -and the daughter of a man whose wealth puffed him with purse-pride. It -was the plebeian state of the farmer that made him look at him with an -unfavorable countenance, and when it was whispered to him that the young -people were meeting each other almost every evening at the mill, he -resolved to surprise them there and humiliate, if he did not punish them. -From the shadow of the door they saw his approach, and, yielding to the -girl's imploring, the lover secreted himself while she climbed to the -loft. The flutter of her dress caught the old man's eye and he hastened, -panting, into the mill. For some moments he groped about, for his eyes -had not grown used to the darkness of the place, and hearing his muttered -oaths, the girl crept backward from the stair. - -She was beginning to hope that she had not been seen, when her foot -caught in a loose board and she stumbled, but in her fall she threw out -her hand to save herself and found a rope within her grasp. Directly that -her weight had been applied to it there was a whir and a clank. The cord -had set the great fans in motion. At the same moment a fall was heard, -then a cry, passing from anger into anguish. She rushed down the stair, -the lover appeared from his hiding-place at the same moment, and together -they dragged the old man to his feet. At the moment when the wind had -started the sails he had been standing on one of the mill-stones and the -sudden jerk had thrown him down. His arm caught between the grinding -surfaces and had been crushed to pulp. He was carried home and tenderly -nursed, but he did not live long; yet before he died he was made to see -the folly of his course, and he consented to the marriage that it had -cost him so dear to try to prevent. Before she could summon heart to fix -the wedding-day the girl passed many months of grief and repentance, and -for the rest of her life she avoided the old mill. There was good reason -for doing so, people said, for on windy nights the spirit of the old man -used to haunt the place, using such profanity that it became visible in -the form of blue lights, dancing and exploding about the building. - - - - -EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT - -Nothing is left of Province House, the old home of the royal governors, -in Boston, but the gilded Indian that served as its weathercock and aimed -his arrow at the winds from the cupola. The house itself was swept away -long ago in the so-called march of improvement. In one of its rooms hung -a picture so dark that when Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson went to live -there hardly anybody could say what it represented. There were hints that -it was a portrait of the devil, painted at a witch-meeting near Salem, -and that on the eve of disasters in the province a dreadful face had -glared from the canvas. Shirley had seen it on the night of the fall of -Ticonderoga, and servants had gone shuddering from the room, certain that -they had caught the glance of a malignant eye. - -It was known to the governors, however, that the portrait, if not that of -the arch fiend, was that of one who in the popular mind was none the less -a devil: Edward Randolph, the traitor, who had repealed the first -provincial charter and deprived the colonists of their liberties. Under -the curse of the people he grew pale and pinched and ugly, his face at -last becoming so hateful that men were unwilling to look at it. Then it -was that he sat for his portrait. Threescore or odd years afterward, -Hutchinson sat in the hall wondering vaguely if coming events would -consign him to the obloquy that had fallen on his predecessor, for at his -bidding a fleet had come into the harbor with three regiments of red -coats on board, despatched from Halifax to overawe the city. The coming -of the selectmen to protest against quartering these troops on the people -and the substitution of martial for civic law, interrupted his reverie, -and a warm debate arose. At last the governor seized his pen impatiently, -and cried, “The king is my master and England is my home. Upheld by them, -I defy the rabble.” - -He was about to sign the order for bringing in the troops when a curtain -that had hung before the picture was drawn aside. Hutchinson stared at -the canvas in amazement, then muttered, “It is Randolph's spirit! It -wears the look of hell.” The picture was seen to be that of a man in -antique garb, with a despairing, hunted, yet evil expression in the face, -and seemed to stare at Hutchinson. - -“It is a warning,” said one of the company. - -Hutchinson recovered himself with an effort and turned away. “It is a -trick,” he cried; and bending over the paper he fixed his name, as if in -desperate haste. Then he trembled, turned white, and wiped a sweat from -his brow. The selectmen departed in silence but in anger, and those who -saw Hutchinson on the streets next day affirmed that the portrait had -stepped out of its canvas and stood at his side through the night. -Afterward, as he lay on his death-bed, he cried that the blood of the -Boston massacre was filling his throat, and as his soul passed from him -his face, in its agony and rage, was the face of Edward Randolph. - - - - -LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE - -Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe, being orphaned, was admitted to the family of -her distant relative, Governor Shute, of Massachusetts Bay, and came to -America to take her home with him. She arrived at the gates of Province -House, in Boston, in the governor's splendid coach, with outriders and -guards, and as the governor went to receive her, a pale young man, with -tangled hair, sprang from the crowd and fell in the dust at her feet, -offering himself as a footstool for her to tread upon. Her proud face -lighted with a smile of scorn, and she put out her hand to stay the -governor, who was in the act of striking the fellow with his cane. - -“Do not strike him,” she said. “When men seek to be trampled, it is a -favor they deserve.” - -For a moment she bore her weight on the prostrate form, “emblem of -aristocracy trampling on human sympathies and the kindred of nature,” and -as she stood there the bell on South Church began to toll for a funeral -that was passing at the moment. The crowd started; some looked annoyed; -Lady Eleanore remained calm and walked in stately fashion up the passage -on the arm of His Excellency. “Who was that insolent fellow?” was asked -of Dr. Clarke, the governor's physician. - -“Gervase Helwyse,” replied the doctor; “a youth of no fortune, but of -good mind until he met this lady in London, when he fell in love with -her, and her pride and scorn have crazed him.” - -A few nights after a ball was given in honor of the governor's ward, and -Province House was filled with the elect of the city. Commanding in -figure, beautiful in face, richly dressed and jewelled, the Lady Eleanore -was the admired of the whole assembly, and the women were especially -curious to see her mantle, for a rumor went out that it had been made by -a dying girl, and had the magic power of giving new beauty to the wearer -every time it was put on. While the guests were taking refreshment, a -young man stole into the room with a silver goblet, and this he offered -on his knee to Lady Eleanore. As she looked down she recognized the face -of Helwyse. - -“Drink of this sacramental wine,” he said, eagerly, “and pass it among -the guests.” - -“Perhaps it is poisoned,” whispered a man, and in another moment the -liquor was overturned, and Helwyse was roughly dragged away. - -“Pray, gentlemen, do not hurt my poor admirer,” said the lady, in a tone -of languor and condescension that was unusual to her. Breaking from his -captives, Helwyse ran back and begged her to cast her mantle into the -fire. She replied by throwing a fold of it above her head and smiling as -she said, “Farewell. Remember me as you see me now.” - -Helwyse shook his head sadly and submitted to be led away. The weariness -in Eleanore's manner increased; a flush was burning on her cheek; her -laugh had grown infrequent. Dr. Clarke whispered something in the -governor's ear that made that gentleman start and look alarmed. It was -announced that an unforeseen circumstance made it necessary to close the -festival at once, and the company went home. A few days after the city -was thrown into a panic by an outbreak of small-pox, a disease that in -those times could not be prevented nor often cured, and that gathered its -victims by thousands. Graves were dug in rows, and every night the earth -was piled hastily on fresh corpses. Before all infected houses hung a red -flag of warning, and Province House was the first to show it, for the -plague had come to town in Lady Eleanore's mantle. The people cursed her -pride and pointed to the flags as her triumphal banners. The pestilence -was at its height when Gervase Helwyse appeared in Province House. There -were none to stay him now, and he climbed the stairs, peering from room -to room, until he entered a darkened chamber, where something stirred -feebly under a silken coverlet and a faint voice begged for water. -Helwyse tore apart the curtains and exclaimed, “Fie! What does such a -thing as you in Lady Eleanore's apartment?” - -The figure on the bed tried to hide its hideous face. “Do not look on -me,” it cried. “I am cursed for my pride that I wrapped about me as a -mantle. You are avenged. I am Eleanore Rochcliffe.” - -The lunatic stared for a moment, then the house echoed with his laughter. -The deadly mantle lay on a chair. He snatched it up, and waving also the -red flag of the pestilence ran into the street. In a short time an effigy -wrapped in the mantle was borne to Province House and set on fire by a -mob. From that hour the pest abated and soon disappeared, though graves -and scars made a bitter memory of it for many a year. Unhappiest of all -was the disfigured creature who wandered amid the shadows of Province -House, never showing her face, unloved, avoided, lonely. - - - - -HOWE'S MASQUERADE - -During the siege of Boston Sir William Howe undertook to show his -contempt for the raw fellows who were disrespectfully tossing -cannon-balls at him from the batteries in Cambridge and South Boston, by -giving a masquerade. It was a brilliant affair, the belles and blades of -the loyalist set being present, some in the garb of their ancestors, for -the past is ever more picturesque than the present, and a few roisterers -caricaturing the American generals in ragged clothes, false noses, and -absurd wigs. At the height of the merriment a sound of a dirge echoing -through the streets caused the dance to stop. The funeral music paused -before the doors of Province House, where the dance was going on, and -they were flung open. Muffled drums marked time for a company that began -to file down the great stair from the floor above the ball-room: dark men -in steeple-hats and pointed beards, with Bibles, swords, and scrolls, who -looked sternly at the guests and descended to the street. - -Colonel Joliffe, a Whig, whose age and infirmity had prevented him from -joining Washington, and whose courtesy and intelligence had made him -respected by his foes, acted as chorus: “These I take to be the Puritan -governors of Massachusetts: Endicott, Winthrop, Vane, Dudley, Haynes, -Bellingham, Leverett, Bradstreet.” Then came a rude soldier, mailed, -begirt with arms: the tyrant Andros; a brown-faced man with a sailor's -gait: Sir William Phipps; a courtier wigged and jewelled: Earl Bellomont; -the crafty, well-mannered Dudley; the twinkling, red-nosed Shute; the -ponderous Burnet; the gouty Belcher; Shirley, Pownall, Bernard, -Hutchinson; then a soldier, whose cocked hat he held before his face. -“'Tis the shape of Gage!” cried an officer, turning pale. The lights were -dull and an uncomfortable silence had fallen on the company. Last, came a -tall man muffled in a military cloak, and as he paused on the landing the -guests looked from him to their host in amazement, for it was the figure -of Howe himself. The governor's patience was at an end, for this was a -part of the masquerade that had not been looked for. He fiercely cried to -Joliffe, “There is a plot in this. Your head has stood too long on a -traitor's shoulders.” - -“Make haste to cut it off, then,” was the reply, “for the power of Sir -William Howe and of the king, his master, is at an end. These shadows are -mourners at his funeral. Look! The last of the governors.” - -Howe rushed with drawn sword on the figure of himself, when it turned and -looked at him. The blade clanged to the floor and Howe fell back with a -gasp of horror, for the face was his own. Hand nor voice was raised to -stay the double-goer as it mournfully passed on. At the threshold it -stamped its foot and shook its fists in air; then the door closed. -Mingled with the strains of the funeral march, as it died along the empty -streets, came the tolling of the bell on South Church steeple, striking -the hour of midnight. The festivities were at an end and, oppressed by a -nameless fear, the spectators of this strange pageant made ready for -departure; but before they left the booming of cannon at the southward -announced that Washington had advanced. The glories of Province House -were over. When the last of the royal governors left it he paused on the -threshold, beat his foot on the stone, and flung up his hands in an -attitude of grief and rage. - - - - -OLD ESTHER DUDLEY - -Boston had surrendered. Washington was advancing from the heights where -he had trained his guns on the British works, and Sir William Howe -lingered at the door of Province House,--last of the royal governors who -would stand there,--and cursed and waved his hands and beat his heel on -the step, as if he were crushing rebellion by that act. The sound brought -an old woman to his side. “Esther Dudley!” he exclaimed. “Why are you not -gone?” - -“I shall never leave. As housekeeper for the governors and pensioner of -the king, this has been my home; the only home I know. Go back, but send -more troops. I will keep the house till you return.” - -“Grant that I may return,” he cried. “Since you will stay, take this bag -of guineas and keep this key until a governor shall demand it.” - -Then, with fierce and moody brow, the governor went forth, and the faded -eyes of Esther Dudley saw him nevermore. When the soldiers of the -republic cast about for quarters in Boston town, they spared the official -mansion to this old woman. Her bridling toryism and assumption of old -state amused them and did no harm; indeed, her loyalty was half admired; -beside, nobody took the pride in the place that she did, or would keep it -in better order. That she sometimes had a half-dozen of unrepentant -codgers in to dinner, and that they were suspected of drinking healths to -George III. in crusted port, was a fact to blink. Rumor had it that not -all her guests were flesh and blood, but that she had an antique mirror -across which ancient occupants of the house would pass in shadowy -procession at her command, and that she was wont to have the Shirleys, -Olivers, Hutchinsons, and Dudleys out of their graves to hold receptions -there; so a touch of dread may have mingled in the feeling that kept the -populace aloof. - -Living thus by herself, refusing to hear of rebel victories, construing -the bonfires, drumming, hurrahs, and bell-ringing to signify fresh -triumphs for England, she drifted farther and farther out of her time and -existed in the shadows of the past. She lighted the windows for the -king's birthday, and often from the cupola watched for a British fleet, -heeding not the people below, who, as they saw her withered face, -repeated the prophecy, with a laugh “When the golden Indian on Province -House shall shoot his arrow and the cock on South Church spire shall -crow, look for a royal governor again.” So, when it was bandied about the -streets that the governor was coming, she took it in no wise strange, but -dressed herself in silk and hoops, with store of ancient jewels, and made -ready to receive him. In truth, there was a function, for already a man -of stately mien, and richly dressed, was advancing through the court, -with a staff of men in wigs and laced coats behind him, and a company of -troops at a little distance. Esther Dudley flung the door wide and -dropping on her knees held forth the key with the cry, “Thank heaven for -this hour! God save the king!” - -The governor put off his hat and helped the woman to her feet. “A strange -prayer,” said he; “yet we will echo it to this effect: For the good of -the realm that still owns him to be its ruler, God save King George.” - -Esther Dudley stared wildly. That face she remembered now,--the -proscribed rebel, John Hancock; governor, not by royal grant, but by the -people's will. - -“Have I welcomed a traitor? Then let me die.” - -“Alas! Mistress Dudley, the world has changed for you in these later -years. America has no king.” He offered her his arm, and she clung to it -for a moment, then, sinking down, the great key, that she so long had -treasured, clanked to the floor. - -“I have been faithful unto death,” she gasped. “God save the king!” - -The people uncovered, for she was dead. - -“At her tomb,” said Hancock, “we will bid farewell forever to the past. A -new day has come for us. In its broad light we will press onward.” - - - - -THE LOSS OF JACOB HURD - -Jacob Hurd, stern witch-harrier of Ipswich, can abide nothing out of the -ordinary course of things, whether it be flight on a broomstick or the -wrong adding of figures; so his son gives him trouble, for he is an -imaginative boy, who walks alone, talking to the birds, making rhymes, -picking flowers, and dreaming. That he will never be a farmer, mechanic, -or tradesman is as good as certain, and one day when the child runs in -with a story of a golden horse, with tail and mane of silver, on which he -has ridden over land and sea, climbing mountains and swimming rivers, he -turns pale with fright lest the boy be bewitched; then, as the awfulness -of the invention becomes manifest, he cries, “Thou knowest thou art -lying,” and strikes the little fellow. - -The boy staggers into his mother's arms, and that night falls into a -fever, in which he raves of his horse and the places he will see, while -Jacob sits by his side, too sore in heart for words, and he never leaves -the cot for food or sleep till the fever is burned out. Just before he -closes his eyes the child looks about him and says that he hears the -horse pawing in the road, and, either for dust or cloud or sun gleam, it -seems for an instant as if the horse were there. The boy gives a cry of -joy, then sinks upon his pillow, lifeless. - -Some time after this Jacob sets off one morning, while the stars are out, -to see three witches hanged, but at evening his horse comes flying up the -road, splashed with blood and foam, and the neighbors know from that of -Jacob's death, for he is lying by the wayside with an Indian arrow in his -heart and an axemark on his head. The wife runs to the door, and, though -she shakes with fear at its approach, she sees that in the sunset glow -the horse's sides have a shine like gold, and its mane and tail are -silver white. Now the animal is before the house, but the woman does not -faint or cry at the blood splash on the saddle, for--is it the dust-cloud -that takes that shape?--she sees on its back a boy with a shining face, -who throws a kiss at her,--her Paul. He, little poet, lives in spirit, -and has found happiness. - - - - -THE HOBOMAK - -Such was the Indian name of the site of Westboro, Massachusetts, and the -neighboring pond was Hochomocko. The camp of the red men near the shore -was full of bustle one day, for their belle, Iano, was to marry the young -chief, Sassacus. The feast was spread and all were ready to partake of -it, when it was found that the bride was missing. One girl had seen her -steal into the wood with a roguish smile on her lip, and knew that she -intended to play hide-and-seek with Sassacus before she should be -proclaimed a wife, but the day wore on and she did not come. Among those -who were late in reaching camp was Wequoash, who brought a panther in -that he had slain on Boston Hill, and he bragged about his skill, as -usual. There had been a time when he was a rival of the chief for the -hand of Iano, and he showed surprise and concern at her continued -absence. The search went on for two days, and, at the end of that time, -the girl's body was taken from the lake. - -At the funeral none groaned so piteously as Wequoash. Yet Sassacus felt -his loss so keenly that he fell into a sickness next day, and none was -found so constant in his ministrations as Wequoash; but all to no avail, -for within a week Sassacus, too, was dead. As the strongest and bravest -remaining in the tribe, Wequoash became heir to his honors by election. - -A year later he sat moodily by the lakeside, when a flame burst up from -the water, and a canoe floated toward him that a mysterious agency -impelled him to enter. The boat sped toward the flame, that, at his -approach, assumed Iano's form. He heard the water gurgle as he passed -over the spot where the shape had glimmered, but there was no other sound -or check. Next year this thing occurred again, and then the spirit spoke: -“Only once more.” - -Yet a third time his fate took him to the spot, and as the hour came on -he called his people to him: “This,” said he, “is my death-day. I have -done evil, and the time comes none too soon. Sassacus was your chief. I -envied him his happiness, and gave him poison when I nursed him. Worse -than that, I saw Iano in her canoe on her wedding-day. She had refused my -hand. I entered my canoe and chased her over the water, in pretended -sport, but in the middle of the lake I upset her birch and she was -drowned. See! she comes!” - -For, as he spoke, the light danced up again, and the boat came, -self-impelled, to the strand. Wequoash entered it, and with head bent -down was hurried away. Those on the shore saw the flame condense to a -woman's shape, and a voice issued from it: “It is my hour!” A blinding -bolt of lightning fell, and at the appalling roar of thunder all hid -their faces. When they looked up, boat and flame had vanished. Whenever, -afterward, an Indian rowed across the place where the murderer had sunk, -he dropped a stone, and the monument that grew in that way can be seen on -the pond floor to this day. - - - - -BERKSHIRE TORIES - -The tories of Berkshire, Massachusetts, were men who had been endeared to -the king by holding office under warrant from that sacred personage. They -have been gently dealt with by historians, but that is “overstrained -magnanimity which concentrates its charities and praises for defeated -champions of the wrong, and reserves its censures for triumphant -defenders of the right.” While the following incidents have been so well -avouched that they deserve to stand as history, their picturesqueness -justifies renewed acquaintance. - -Among the loyalists was Gideon Smith, of Stockbridge, who had helped -British prisoners to escape, and had otherwise made himself so obnoxious -that he was forced for a time to withdraw and pass a season of penitence -and meditation in a cavern near Lenox, that is called the Tories' Glen. -Here he lay for weeks, none but his wife knowing where he was, but at his -request she walked out every day with her children, leading them past his -cave, where he fed on their faces with hungry eyes. They prattled on, -never dreaming that their father was but a few feet from them. Smith -survived the war and lived to be on good terms with his old foes. - -In Lenox lived a Tory, one of those respectable buffers to whom wealth -and family had given immunity in the early years of the war, but who -sorely tried the temper of his neighbors by damning everything American -from Washington downward. At last they could endure his abuse no longer; -his example had affected other Anglomaniacs, and a committee waited on -him to tell him that he could either swear allegiance to the colonies or -be hanged. He said he would be hanged if he would swear, or words to that -effect, and hanged he was, on a ready-made gallows in the street. He was -let down shortly, “brought around” with rum, and the oath was offered -again. He refused it. This had not been looked for. It had been taken for -granted that he would abjure his fealty to the king at the first -tightening of the cord. A conference was held, and it was declared that -retreat would be undignified and unsafe, so the Tory was swung up again, -this time with a yank that seemed to “mean business.” He hung for some -time, and when lowered gave no sign of life. There was some show of alarm -at this, for nobody wanted to kill the old fellow, and every effort was -made to restore consciousness. At last the lungs heaved, the purple faded -from his cheek, his eyes opened, and he gasped, “I'll swear.” With a -shout of joy the company hurried him to the tavern, seated him before the -fire, and put a glass of punch in his hand. He drank the punch to -Washington's health, and after a time was heard to remark to himself, -“It's a hard way to make Whigs, but it'll do it.” - -Nathan Jackson, of Tyringham, was another Yankee who had seen fit to take -arms against his countrymen, and when captured he was charged with -treason and remanded for trial. The jail, in Great Barrington, was so -little used in those days of sturdy virtue that it had become a mere -shed, fit to hold nobody, and Jackson, after being locked into it, might -have walked out whenever he felt disposed; but escape, he thought, would -have been a confession of the wrongness of Tory principles, or of a fear -to stand trial. He found life so monotonous, however, that he asked the -sheriff to let him go out to work during the day, promising to sleep in -his cell, and such was his reputation for honesty that his request was -granted without a demur, the prisoner returning every night to be locked -up. When the time approached for the court to meet in Springfield heavy -harvesting had begun, and, as there was no other case from Berkshire -County to present, the sheriff grumbled at the bother of taking his -prisoner across fifty miles of rough country, but Jackson said that he -would make it all right by going alone. The sheriff was glad to be -released from this duty, so off went the Tory to give himself up and be -tried for his life. On the way he was overtaken by Mr. Edwards, of the -Executive Council, then about to meet in Boston, and without telling his -own name or office, he learned the extraordinary errand of this lonely -pedestrian. Jackson was tried, admitted the charges against him, and was -sentenced to death. While he awaited execution of the law upon him, the -council in Boston received petitions for clemency, and Mr. Edwards asked -if there was none in favor of Nathan Jackson. There was none. Mr. Edwards -related the circumstance of his meeting with the condemned man, and a -murmur of surprise and admiration went around the room. A despatch was -sent to Springfield. When it reached there the prison door was flung open -and Jackson walked forth free. - - - - -THE REVENGE OF JOSIAH BREEZE - -Two thousand Cape Cod fishermen had gone to join the colonial army, and -in their absence the British ships had run in shore to land crews on -mischievous errands. No man, woman, or child on the Cape but hated the -troops and sailors of King George, and would do anything to work them -harm. When the Somerset was wrecked off Truro, in 1778, the crew were -helped ashore, 'tis true, but they were straightway marched to prison, -and it was thought that no other frigate would venture near the shifting -dunes where she had laid her skeleton, as many a good ship had done -before and has done since. It was November, and ugly weather was shutting -in, when a three-decker, that had been tacking off shore and that flew -the red flag, was seen to yaw wildly while reefing sail and drift toward -land with a broken tiller. No warning signal was raised on the bluffs; -not a hand was stirred to rescue. Those who saw the accident watched with -sullen satisfaction the on-coming of the vessel, nor did they cease to -look for disaster when the ship anchored and stowed sail. - -Ezekiel and Josiah Breeze, father and son, stood at the door of their -cottage and watched her peril until three lights twinkling faintly -through the gray of driving snow were all that showed where the enemy -lay, straining at her cables and tossing on a wrathful sea. They stood -long in silence, but at last the boy exclaimed, “I'm going to the ship.” - -“If you stir from here, you're no son of mine,” said Ezekiel. - -“But she's in danger, dad.” - -“As she oughter be. By mornin' she'll be strewed along the shore and not -a spar to mark where she's a-swingin' now.” - -“And the men?” - -“It's a jedgment, boy.” - -The lad remembered how the sailors of the Ajax had come ashore to burn -the homes of peaceful fishermen and farmers; how women had been insulted; -how his friends and mates had been cut down at Long Island with British -lead and steel; how, when he ran to warn away a red-faced fellow that was -robbing his garden, the man had struck him on the shoulder with a -cutlass. He had sworn then to be revenged. But to let a host go down to -death and never lift a helping hand--was that a fair revenge? “I've got -to go, dad,” he burst forth. “Tomorrow morning there'll be five hundred -faces turned up on the beach, covered with ice and staring at the sky, -and five hundred mothers in England will wonder when they're goin' to see -those faces again. If ever they looked at me the sight of 'em would never -go out of my eyes. I'd be harnted by 'em, awake and asleep. And to-morrow -is Thanksgiving. I've got to go, dad, and I will.” So speaking, he rushed -away and was swallowed in the gloom. - -The man stared after him; then, with a revulsion of feeling, he cried, -“You're right, 'Siah. I'll go with you.” But had he called in tones of -thunder he would not have been heard in the roar of the wind and crash of -the surf. As he reached the shore he saw faintly on the phosphorescent -foam a something that climbed a hill of water; it was lost over its crest -and reappeared on the wave beyond; it showed for a moment on the third -wave, then it vanished in the night. “Josiah!” It was a long, querulous -cry. No answer. In half an hour a thing rode by the watcher on the sands -and fell with a crash beside him--a boat bottom up: his son's. - -Next day broke clear, with new snow on the ground. In his house at -Provincetown, Captain Breeze was astir betimes, for his son Ezekiel, his -grandson Josiah, and all other relatives who were not at the front with -Washington were coming for the family reunion. Plump turkeys were ready -for the roasting, great loaves of bread and cake stood beside the oven, -redoubtable pies of pumpkin and apple filled the air with maddening -odors. The people gathered and chattered around his cheery fire of the -damage that the storm had done, when Ezekiel stumbled in, his brown face -haggard, his lips working, and a tremor in his hands. He said, “Josiah!” - in a thick voice, then leaned his arms against the chimney and pressed -his face upon them. Among fishermen whose lives are in daily peril the -understanding of misfortune is quick, and the old man put his hand on the -shoulder of his son and bent his head. The day of joy was become a day of -gloom. As the news went out, the house began to fill with sympathizing -friends, and there was talking in low voices through the rooms, when a -cry of surprise was heard outside. A ship, cased in tons of ice, was -forging up the harbor, her decks swarming with blue jackets, some of whom -were beating off the frozen masses from lower spars and rigging. She -followed the channel so steadily, it was plain to be seen that a wise -hand was at her helm; her anchor ran out and she swung on the tide. “The -Ajax, as I'm a sinner!” exclaimed a sailor on shore. A boat put off from -her, and people angrily collected at the wharf, with talk of getting out -their guns, when a boyish figure arose in the stern, and was greeted with -a shout of surprise and welcome. - -The boat touched the beach, Josiah Breeze leaped out of it, and in -another minute his father had him in a bear's embrace, making no attempt -to stop the tears that welled out of his eyes. An officer had followed -Josiah on shore, and going to the group he said, “That boy is one to be -proud of. He put out in a sea that few men could face, to save an enemy's -ship and pilot it into the harbor. I could do no less than bring him -back.” There was praise and laughter and clasping of hands, and when the -Thanksgiving dinner was placed, smoking, on the board, the commander of -H. M. S. Ajax was among the jolliest of the guests at Captain Breeze's -table. - - - - -THE MAY-POLE OF MERRYMOUNT - -The people of Merrymount--unsanctified in the eyes of their Puritan -neighbors, for were they not Episcopals, who had pancakes at Shrovetide -and wassail at Christmas?--were dancing about their May-pole one summer -evening, for they tried to make it May throughout the year. Some were -masked like animals, and all were tricked with flowers and ribbons. -Within their circle, sharing in song and jest, were the lord and lady of -the revels, and an English clergyman waiting to join the pair in wedlock. -Life, they sang, should be all jollity: away with care and duty; leave -wisdom to the weak and old, and sanctity for fools. Watching the sport -from a neighboring wood stood a band of frowning Puritans, and as the sun -set they stalked forth and broke through the circle. All was dismay. The -bells, the laughter, the song were silent, and some who had tasted -Puritan wrath before shrewdly smelled the stocks. A Puritan of iron -face--it was Endicott, who had cut the cross from the flag of -England--warning aside the “priest of Baal,” proceeded to hack the pole -down with his sword. A few swinging blows, and down it sank, with its -ribbons and flowers. - -“So shall fall the pride of vain people; so shall come to grief the -preachers of false religion,” quoth he. “Truss those fellows to the trees -and give them half a dozen of blows apiece as token that we brook no -ungodly conduct and hostility to our liberties. And you, king and queen -of the May, have you no better things to think about than fiddling and -dancing? How if I punish you both?” - -“Had I the power I'd punish you for saying it,” answered the swain; “but, -as I have not, I am compelled to ask that the girl go unharmed.” - -“Will you have it so, or will you share your lover's punishment?” asked -Endicott. - -“I will take all upon myself,” said the woman. - -The face of the governor softened. “Let the young fellow's hair be cut, -in pumpkin-shell fashion,” he commanded; “then bring them to me but -gently.” - -He was obeyed, and as the couple came before him, hand in hand, he took a -chain of roses from the fallen pole and cast it about their necks. And so -they were married. Love had softened rigor and all were better for the -assertion of a common humanity. But the May-pole of Merrymount was never -set up again. There were no more games and plays and dances, nor singing -of worldly music. The town went to ruin, the merrymakers were scattered, -and the gray sobriety of religion and toil fell on Pilgrim land again. - - - - -THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER - -When Charles River was lined with groves and marshes there lived in a -cabin, near Brighton, Massachusetts, an ill-fed rascal named Tom Walker. -There was but one in the commonwealth who was more penurious, and that -was his wife. They squabbled over the spending of a penny and each -grudged food to the other. One day as Tom walked through the pine wood -near his place, by habit watching the ground--for even there a farthing -might be discovered--he prodded his stick into a skull, cloven deep by an -Indian tomahawk. He kicked it, to shake the dirt off, when a gruff voice -spake: “What are you doing in my grounds?” A swarthy fellow, with the -face of a charcoal burner, sat on a stump, and Tom wondered that he had -not seen him as he approached. - -He replied, “Your grounds! They belong to Deacon Peabody.” - -“Deacon Peabody be damned!” cried the black fellow; “as I think he will -be, anyhow, if he does not look after his own sins a little sharper and a -little less curiously after his neighbors'. Look, if you want to see how -he is faring,” and, pointing to a tree, he called Tom to notice that the -deacon's name was written on the bark and that it was rotten at the core. -To his surprise, Tom found that nearly every tree had the name of some -prominent man cut upon it. - -“Who are you?” he asked. - -“I go by different names in different places,” replied the dark one. “In -some countries I am the black miner; in some the wild huntsman; here I am -the black woodman. I am the patron of slave dealers and master of Salem -witches.” - -“I think you are the devil,” blurted Tom. - -“At your service,” replied his majesty. - -Now, Tom, having lived long with Mrs. Walker, had no fear of the devil, -and he stopped to have a talk with him. The devil remarked, in a careless -tone, that Captain Kidd had buried his treasure in that wood, under his -majesty's charge, and that whoever wished could find and keep it by -making the usual concession. This Tom declined. He told his wife about -it, however, and she was angry with him for not having closed the bargain -at once, declaring that if he had not courage enough to add this treasure -to their possessions she would not hesitate to do it. Tom showed no -disposition to check her. If she got the money he would try to get a -share of it, and if the devil took away his helpmate--well, there were -things that he had made his mind to endure, when he had to. True enough, -the woman started for the wood before sundown, with her spoons in her -apron. When Tom discovered that the spoons were gone he, too, set off, -for he wanted those back, anyway; but he did not overtake his wife. An -apron was found in a tree containing a dried liver and a withered heart, -and near that place the earth had been trampled and strewn with handfuls -of coarse hair that reminded Tom of the man that he had met in the woods. -“Egad!” he muttered, “Old Nick must have had a tough time with her.” Half -in gratitude and half in curiosity, Tom waited to speak to the dark man, -and was next day rewarded by seeing that personage come through the wood -with an axe, whistling carelessly. Tom at once approached him on the -subject of the buried treasure--not the vanished wife, for her he no -longer regarded as a treasure. - -After some haggling the devil proposed that Tom should start a loan -office in Boston and use Kidd's money in exacting usury. This suited Tom, -who promised to screw four per cent. a month out of the unfortunates who -might ask his aid, and he was seen to start for town with a bag which his -neighbors thought to hold his crop of starveling turnips, but which was -really a king's ransom in gold and jewels--the earnings of Captain Kidd -in long years of honest piracy. It was in Governor Belcher's time, and -cash was scarce. Merchants and professional men as well as the thriftless -went to Tom for money, and, as he always had it, his business grew until -he seemed to have a mortgage on half the men in Boston who were rich -enough to be in debt. He even went so far as to move into a new house, to -ride in his own carriage, and to eat enough to keep body and soul -together, for he did not want to give up his soul to the one who would -claim it just yet. - -The most singular proof of his thrift--showing that he wanted to save -soul and money both--was shown in his joining the church and becoming a -prayerful Christian. He kept a Bible in his pocket and another on his -desk, resolved to be prepared if a certain gentleman should call. He -buried his old horse feet uppermost, for he was taught that on -resurrection day the world would be turned upside down, and he was -resolved, if his enemy appeared, to give him a run for it. While employed -one afternoon in the congenial task of foreclosing a mortgage his -creditor begged for another day to raise the money. Tom was irritable on -account of the hot weather and talked to him as a good man of the church -ought not to do. - -“You have made so much money out of me,” wailed the victim of Tom's -philanthropies. - -“Now, the devil take me if I have made a farthing!” exclaimed Tom. - -At that instant there were three knocks at the door, and, stepping out to -see who was there, the money lender found himself in presence of his -fate. His little Bible was in a coat on a nail, and the bigger one was on -his desk. He was without defence. The evil one caught him up like a -child, had him on the back of his snorting steed in no time, and giving -the beast a cut he flew like the wind in the teeth of a rising storm -toward the marshes of Brighton. As he reached there a lightning flash -descended into the wood and set it on fire. At the same moment Tom's -house was discovered to be in flames. When his effects were examined -nothing was found in his strong boxes but cinders and shavings. - - - - -THE GRAY CHAMPION - -It befell Sir Edmund Andros to make himself the most hated of the -governors sent to represent the king in New England. A spirit of -independence, born of a free soil, was already moving in the people's -hearts, and the harsh edicts of this officer, as well as the oppressive -measures of his master, brought him into continual conflict with the -people. He it was who went to Hartford to demand the surrender of the -liberties of that colony. The lights were blown out and the patent of -those liberties was hurried away from under his nose and hidden from his -reach in a hollow of the Charter Oak. - -In Boston, too, he could call no American his friend, and it was there -that he met one of the first checks to his arrogance. It was an April -evening in 1689, and there was an unusual stir in the streets. People -were talking in low tones, and one caught such phrases as, “If the Prince -of Orange is successful, this Andros will lose his head.” “Our pastors -are to be burned alive in King Street.” “The pope has ordered Andros to -celebrate the eve of St. Bartholomew in Boston: we are to be killed.” - “Our old Governor Bradstreet is in town, and Andros fears him.” While -talk was running in this excited strain the sound of a drum was heard -coming through Cornhill. Now was seen a file of soldiers with guns on -shoulder, matches twinkling in the falling twilight, and behind them, on -horseback, Andros and his councillors, including the priest of King's -Chapel, all wearing crucifixes at their throats, all flushed with wine, -all looking down with indifference at the people in their dark cloaks and -broadbrimmed hats, who looked back at them with suspicion and hate. The -soldiers trod the streets like men unused to giving way, and the crowd -fell back, pressed against the buildings. Groans and hisses were heard, -and a voice sent up this cry, “Lord of Hosts, provide a champion for thy -people!” - -Ere the echo of that call had ceased there came from the other end of the -street, stepping as in time to the drum, an aged man, in cloak and -steeple hat, with heavy sword at his thigh. His port was that of a king, -and his dignity was heightened by a snowy beard that fell to his waist. -Taking the middle of the way he marched on until he was but a few paces -from the advancing column. None knew him and he seemed to recognize none -among the crowd. As he drew himself to his height, it seemed in the dusk -as if he were of no mortal mould. His eye blazed, he thrust his staff -before him, and in a voice of invincible command cried, “Halt!” - -Half because it was habit to obey the word, half because they were cowed -by the majestic presence, the guard stood still and the drum was -silenced. Andros spurred forward, but even he made a pause when he saw -the staff levelled at his breast. “Forward!” he blustered. “Trample the -dotard into the street. How dare you stop the king's governor?” - -“I have stayed the march of a king himself,” was the answer. “The king -you serve no longer sits on the throne of England. To-morrow you will be -a prisoner. Back, lest you reach the scaffold!” - -A moment of hesitation on Andros's part encouraged the people to press -closer, and many of them took no pains to hide the swords and pistols -that were girt upon them. The groans and hisses sounded louder. “Down -with Andros! Death to tyrants! A curse on King James!” came from among -the throng, and some of them stooped as if to tear up the pavings. -Doubtful, yet overawed, the governor wheeled about and gloomily marched -back through the streets where he had ridden so arrogantly. In truth, his -next night was spent in prison, for James had fled from England, and -William held the throne. All eyes being on the retreating company, the -champion of the people was not seen to depart, but when they turned to -praise and thank him he had vanished, and there were those who said that -he had melted into twilight. - -The incident had passed into legend, and fourscore years had followed it, -when the soldiers of another king of England marched down State Street, -and fired on the people of Boston who were gathered below the old State -House. Again it was said that the form of a tall, white-bearded man in -antique garb was seen in that street, warning back the troops and -encouraging the people to resist them. On the little field of Lexington -in early dawn, and at the breastwork on Bunker Hill, where farmers worked -by lantern-light, this dark form was seen--the spirit of New England. And -it is told that whenever any foreign foe or domestic oppressor shall dare -the temper of the people, in the van of the resisting army shall be found -this champion. - - - - -THE FOREST SMITHY - -Early in this century a man named Ainsley appeared at Holyoke, -Massachusetts, and set up a forge in a wood at the edge of the village, -with a two-room cottage to live in. A Yankee peddler once put up at his -place for shelter from a storm, and as the rain increased with every hour -he begged to remain in the house over night, promising to pay for his -accommodation in the morning. The blacksmith, who seemed a mild, -considerate man, said that he was willing, but that, as the rooms were -small, it would be well to refer the matter to his wife. As the peddler -entered the house the wife--a weary-looking woman with white hair--seated -herself at once in a thickly-cushioned arm-chair, and, as if loath to -leave it, told the peddler that if he would put up with simple fare and a -narrow berth he was welcome. After a candle had been lighted the three -sat together for some time, talking of crops and trade, when there came a -rush of hoofs without and a hard-looking man, who had dismounted at the -door, entered without knocking. The blacksmith turned pale and the wife's -face expressed sore anxiety. - -“What brings you here?” asked the smith. - -“I must pass the night here,” answered the man. - -“But, stranger, I can't accommodate you. We have but one spare room, and -that has been taken by the man who is sitting there.” - -“Then give me a bit to eat.” - -“Get the stranger something,” said the woman to her husband, without -rising. - -“Are you lame, that you don't get it yourself?” - -The woman paused; then said, “Husband, you are tired. Sit here and I will -wait on the stranger.” - -The blacksmith took the seat, when the stranger again blustered, “It -would be courtesy to offer me that chair, tired as I am. Perhaps you -don't know that I am an officer of the law?” - -When supper was ready they took their places, the woman drawing up the -arm-chair for her own use, but, as the custom was, they all knelt to say -grace, and while their faces were buried in their hands the candle was -blown out. The stranger jumped up and began walking around the room. When -a light could be found he had gone and the cushion had disappeared from -the chair. “Oh! After all these years!” wailed the woman, and falling on -her knees she sobbed like a child, while her husband in vain tried to -comfort her. The peddler, who had already gone to bed, but who had seen a -part of this puzzling drama through the open door, knew not what to do, -but, feeling some concern for the safety of his own possessions, he drew -his pack into bed with him, and, being tired, fell asleep with the sobs -of the woman sounding in his ears. - -When he awoke it was broad day and the earth was fresh and bright from -its bath. After dressing he passed into the other room, finding the table -still set, the chair before it without its cushion, the fire out, and -nobody in or about the house. The smithy was deserted, and to his call -there was no response but the chattering of jays in the trees; so, -shouldering his pack, he resumed his journey. He opened his pack at a -farm-house to repair a clock, when he discovered that his watches were -gone, and immediately lodged complaint with the sheriff, but nothing was -ever seen again of Ainsley, his wife, or the rough stranger. Who was the -thief? What was in the cushion? And what brought the stranger to the -house? - - - - -WAHCONAH FALLS - -The pleasant valley of Dalton, in the Berkshire Hills, had been under the -rule of Miacomo for forty years when a Mohawk dignitary of fifty scalps -and fifty winters came a-wooing his daughter Wahconah. On a June day in -1637, as the girl sat beside the cascade that bears her name, twining -flowers in her hair and watching leaves float down the stream, she became -conscious of a pair of eyes bent on her from a neighboring coppice, and -arose in some alarm. Finding himself discovered, the owner of the eyes, a -handsome young fellow, stepped forward with a quieting air of -friendliness, and exclaimed, “Hail, Bright Star!” - -“Hail, brother,” answered Wahconah. - -“I am Nessacus,” said the man, “one of King Philip's soldiers. Nessacus -is tired with his flight from the Long Knives (the English), and his -people faint. Will Bright Star's people shut their lodges against him and -his friends?” - -The maiden answered, “My father is absent, in council with the Mohawks, -but his wigwams are always open. Follow.” - -Nessacus gave a signal, and forth from the wood came a sad-eyed, -battle-worn troop that mustered about him. Under the girl's lead they -went down to the valley and were hospitably housed. Five days later -Miacomo returned, with him the elderly Mohawk lover, and a priest, -Tashmu, of repute a cringing schemer, with whom hunters and soldiers -could have nothing in common, and whom they would gladly have put out of -the way had they not been deterred by superstitious fears. The strangers -were welcomed, though Tashmu looked at them gloomily, and there were -games in their honor, Nessacus usually proving the winner, to Wahconah's -joy, for she and the young warrior had fallen in love at first sight, and -it was not long before he asked her father for her hand. Miacomo favored -the suit, but the priest advised him, for politic reasons, to give the -girl to the old Mohawk, and thereby cement a tribal friendship that in -those days of English aggression might be needful. The Mohawk had three -wives already, but he was determined to add Wahconah to his collection, -and he did his best, with threats and flattery, to enforce his suit. -Nessacus offered to decide the matter in a duel with his rival, and the -challenge was accepted, but the wily Tashmu discovered in voices of wind -and thunder, flight of birds and shape of clouds, such omens that the -scared Indians unanimously forbade a resort to arms. “Let the Great -Spirit speak,” cried Tashmu, and all yielded their consent. - -Invoking a ban on any who should follow, Tashmu proclaimed that he would -pass that night in Wizard's Glen, where, by invocations, he would learn -the divine will. At sunset he stalked forth, but he had not gone far ere -the Mohawk joined him, and the twain proceeded to Wahconah Falls. There -was no time for magical hocus-pocus that night, for both of them toiled -sorely in deepening a portion of the stream bed, so that the current ran -more swiftly and freely on that side, and in the morning Tashmu announced -in what way the Great Spirit would show his choice. Assembling the tribe -on the river-bank, below a rock that midway split the current, a canoe, -with symbols painted on it, was set afloat near the falls. If it passed -the dividing rock on the side where Nessacus waited, he should have -Wahconah. If it swerved to the opposite shore, where the Mohawk and his -counsellor stood, the Great Spirit had chosen the old chief for her -husband. Of course, the Mohawk stood on the deeper side. On came the -little boat, keeping the centre of the stream. It struck the rock, and -all looked eagerly, though Tashmu and the Mohawk could hardly suppress an -exultant smile. A little wave struck the canoe: it pivoted against the -rock and drifted to the feet of Nessacus. A look of blank amazement came -over the faces of the defeated wooer and his friend, while a shout of -gladness went up, that the Great Spirit had decided so well. The young -couple were wed with rejoicings; the Mohawk trudged homeward, and, to the -general satisfaction, Tashmu disappeared with him. Later, when Tashmu was -identified as the one who had guided Major Talcott's soldiers to the -valley, the priest was caught and slain by Miacomo's men. - - - - -KNOCKING AT THE TOMB - -Knock, knock, knock! The bell has just gone twelve, and there is the -clang again upon the iron door of the tomb. The few people of Lanesboro -who are paying the penance of misdeeds or late suppers, by lying awake at -that dread hour, gather their blankets around their shoulders and mutter -a word of prayer for deliverance against unwholesome visitors of the -night. Why is the old Berkshire town so troubled? Who is it that lies -buried in that tomb, with its ornament of Masonic symbols? Why was the -heavy iron knocker placed on the door? The question is asked, but no one -will answer it, nor will any say who the woman is that so often visits -the cemetery at the stroke of midnight and sounds the call into the -chamber of the dead. Starlight, moonlight, or storm--it makes no -difference to the woman. There she goes, in her black cloak, seen dim in -the night, except where there are snow and moon together, and there she -waits, her hand on the knocker, for the bell to strike to set up her -clangor. Some say that she is crazy, and it is her freak to do this -thing. Is she calling on the corpses to rise and have a dance among the -graves? or has she been asked to call the occupant of that house at a -given hour? Perhaps, weary of life, she is asking for admittance to the -rest and silence of the tomb. She has long been beneath the sod, this -troubler of dreams. Who knows her secret? - - - - -THE WHITE DEER OF ONOTA - -Beside quiet Onota, in the Berkshire Hills, dwelt a band of Indians, and -while they lived here a white deer often came to drink. So rare was the -appearance of an animal like this that its visits were held as good -omens, and no hunter of the tribe ever tried to slay it. A prophet of the -race had said, “So long as the white doe drinks at Onota, famine shall -not blight the Indian's harvest, nor pestilence come nigh his lodge, nor -foeman lay waste his country.” And this prophecy held true. That summer -when the deer came with a fawn as white and graceful as herself, it was a -year of great abundance. On the outbreak of the French and Indian War a -young officer named Montalbert was despatched to the Berkshire country to -persuade the Housatonic Indians to declare hostility to the English, and -it was as a guest in the village of Onota that he heard of the white -deer. Sundry adventurers had made valuable friendships by returning to -the French capital with riches and curiosities from the New World. Even -Indians had been abducted as gifts for royalty, and this young ambassador -resolved that when he returned to his own country the skin of the white -deer should be one of the trophies that would win him a smile from Louis. - -He offered a price for it--a price that would have bought all their -possessions and miles of the country roundabout, but their deer was -sacred, and their refusal to sacrifice it was couched in such indignant -terms that he wisely said no more about it in the general hearing. There -was in the village a drunken fellow, named Wondo, who had come to that -pass when he would almost have sold his soul for liquor, and him the -officer led away and plied with rum until he promised to bring the white -doe to him. The pretty beast was so familiar with men that she suffered -Wondo to catch her and lead her to Montalbert. Making sure that none was -near, the officer plunged his sword into her side and the innocent -creature fell. The snowy skin, now splashed with red, was quickly -stripped off, concealed among the effects in Montalbert's outfit, and he -set out for Canada; but he had not been many days on his road before -Wondo, in an access of misery and repentance, confessed to his share of -the crime that had been done and was slain on the moment. - -With the death of the deer came an end to good fortune. Wars, blights, -emigration followed, and in a few years not a wigwam was left standing -beside Onota. - -There is a pendant to this legend, incident to the survival of the deer's -white fawn. An English hunter, visiting the lake with dog and gun, was -surprised to see on its southern bank a white doe. The animal bent to -drink and at the same moment the hunter put his gun to his shoulder. -Suddenly a howl was heard, so loud, so long, that the woods echoed it, -and the deer, taking alarm, fled like the wind. The howl came from the -dog, and, as that animal usually showed sagacity in the presence of game, -the hunter was seized with a fear that its form was occupied, for the -time, by a hag who lived alone in the “north woods,” and who was reputed -to have appeared in many shapes--for this was not so long after witch -times that their influence was forgotten. - -Drawing his ramrod, the man gave his dog such a beating that the poor -creature had something worth howling for, because it might be the witch -that he was thrashing. Then running to the shanty of the suspected woman -he flung open her door and demanded to see her back, for, if she had -really changed her shape, every blow that he had given to the dog would -have been scored on her skin. When he had made his meaning clear, the -crone laid hold on the implement that served her for horse at night, and -with the wooden end of it rained blows on him so rapidly that, if the dog -had had half the meanness in his nature that some people have, the -spectacle would have warmed his heart, for it was a prompt and severe -revenge for his sufferings. And to the last the hunter could not decide -whether the beating that he received was prompted by indignation or -vengeance. - - - - -WIZARD'S GLEN - -Four miles from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, among the Berkshire Hills, is -a wild valley, noted for its echoes, that for a century and more has been -called Wizard's Glen. Here the Indian priests performed their -incantations, and on the red-stained Devil's Altar, it was said, they -offered human sacrifice to Hobomocko and his demons of the wood. In -Berkshire's early days a hunter, John Chamberlain, of Dalton, who had -killed a deer and was carrying it home on his shoulders, was overtaken on -the hills by a storm and took shelter from it in a cavernous recess in -Wizard's Glen. In spite of his fatigue he was unable to sleep, and while -lying on the earth with open eyes he was amazed to see the wood bend -apart before him, disclosing a long aisle that was mysteriously lighted -and that contained hundreds of capering forms. As his eyes grew -accustomed to the faint light he made out tails and cloven feet on the -dancing figures; and one tall form with wings, around whose head a wreath -of lightning glittered, and who received the deference of the rest, he -surmised to be the devil himself. It was such a night and such a place as -Satan and his imps commonly chose for high festivals. - -As he lay watching them through the sheeted rain a tall and painted -Indian leaped on Devil's Altar, fresh scalps dangling round his body in -festoons, and his eyes blazing with fierce command. In a brief -incantation he summoned the shadow hordes around him. They came, with -torches that burned blue, and went around and around the rock singing a -harsh chant, until, at a sign, an Indian girl was dragged in and flung on -the block of sacrifice. The figures rushed toward her with extended arms -and weapons, and the terrified girl gave one cry that rang in the -hunter's ears all his life after. The wizard raised his axe: the devils -and vampires gathered to drink the blood and clutch the escaping soul, -when in a lightning flash the girl's despairing glance fell on the face -of Chamberlain. That look touched his manhood, and drawing forth his -Bible he held it toward the rabble while he cried aloud the name of God. -There was a crash of thunder. The light faded, the demons vanished, the -storm swept past, and peace settled on the hills. - - - - -BALANCED ROCK - -Balanced Rock, or Rolling Rock, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a mass -of limestone that was deposited where it stands by the great continental -glacier during the ice age, and it weighs four hundred and eighty tons -(estimated) in spite of its centuries of weathering. Here one of the -Atotarhos, kings of the Six Nations, had his camp. He was a fierce man, -who ate and drank from bowls made of the skulls of enemies, and who, when -he received messages and petitions, wreathed himself from head to foot -with poison snakes. The son of this ferocious being inherited none of his -war-like tendencies; indeed, the lad was almost feminine in appearance, -and on succeeding to power he applied himself to the cultivation of -peaceful arts. Later historians have uttered a suspicion that he was a -natural son of Count Frontenac, but that does not suit with this legend. - -The young Atotarho stood near Balanced Rock watching a number of big boys -play duff. In this game one stone is placed upon another and the players, -standing as far from it as they fancy they can throw, attempt to knock it -out of place with other stones. The silence of Atotarho and his slender, -girlish look called forth rude remarks from the boys, who did not know -him, and who dared him to test his skill. The young chief came forward, -and as he did so the jeers and laughter changed to cries of astonishment -and fear, for at each step he grew in size until he towered above them, a -giant. Then they knew him, and fell down in dread, but he took no -revenge. Catching up great bowlders he tossed them around as easily as if -they had been beechnuts, and at last, lifting the balanced rock, he -placed it lightly where it stands to-day, gave them a caution against ill -manners and hasty judgments, and resumed his slender form. For many years -after, the old men of the tribe repeated this story and its lesson from -the top of Atotarho's duff. - - - - -SHONKEEK-MOONKEEK - -This is the Mohegan name of the pretty lake in the Berkshires now called -Pontoosuc. Shonkeek was a boy, Moonkeek a girl, and they were cousins who -grew up as children commonly do, whether in house or wigwam: they roamed -the woods and hills together, filled their baskets with flowers and -berries, and fell in love. But the marriage of cousins was forbidden in -the Mohegan polity, and when they reached an age in which they found -companionship most delightful their rambles were interdicted and they -were even told to avoid each other. This had the usual effect, and they -met on islands in the lake at frequent intervals, to the torment of one -Nockawando, who wished to wed the girl himself, and who reported her -conduct to her parents. - -The lovers agreed, after this, to fly to an Eastern tribe into which they -would ask to be adopted, but they were pledged, if aught interfered with -their escape, to meet beneath the lake. Nockawando interfered. On the -next night, as the unsuspecting Shonkeek was paddling over to the island -where the maid awaited him, the jealous rival, rowing softly in his wake, -sent an arrow into his back, and Shonkeek, without a cry, pitched -headlong into the water. Yet, to the eyes of Nockawando, he appeared to -keep his seat and urge his canoe forward. The girl saw the boat approach: -it sped, now, like an eagle's flight. One look, as it passed the rock; -one glance at the murderer, crouching in his birchen vessel, and with her -lover's name on her lips she leaped into her own canoe and pushed out -from shore. Nockawando heard her raise the death-song and rowed forward -as rapidly as he could, but near the middle of the lake his arm fell -palsied. - -The song had ended and the night had become strangely, horribly still. -Not a chirp of cricket, not a lap of wave, not a rustle of leaf. -Motionless the girl awaited, for his boat was still moving by the impetus -of his last stroke of the paddle. The evening star was shining low on the -horizon, and as her figure loomed in the darkness the star shone through -at the point where her eye had looked forth. It was no human creature -that sat there. Then came the dead man's boat. The two shadows rowed -noiselessly together, and as they disappeared in the mist that was now -settling on the landscape, an unearthly laugh rang over the lake; then -all was still. When Nockawando reached the camp that night he was a -raving maniac. The Indians never found the bodies of the pair, but they -believed that while water remains in Pontoosuc its surface will be vexed -by these journeys of the dead. - - - - -THE SALEM ALCHEMIST - -In 1720 there lived in a turreted house at North and Essex Streets, in -Salem, a silent, dark-visaged man,--a reputed chemist. He gathered -simples in the fields, and parcels and bottles came and went between him -and learned doctors in Boston; but report went around that it was not -drugs alone that he worked with, nor medicines for passing ailments that -he distilled. The watchman, drowsily pacing the streets in the small -hours, saw his shadow move athwart the furnace glare in his tower, and -other shadows seemed at the moment to flit about it--shadows that could -be thrown by no tangible form, yet that had a grotesque likeness to the -human kind. A clink of hammers and a hiss of steam were sometimes heard, -and his neighbors devoutly hoped that if he secured the secret of the -philosopher's stone or the universal solvent, it would be honestly come -by. - -But it was neither gold nor the perilous strong water that he wanted. It -was life: the elixir that would dispel the chill and decrepitude of age, -that would bring back the youthful sparkle to the eye and set the pulses -bounding. He explored the surrounding wilderness day after day; the -juices of its trees and plants he compounded, night after night, long -without avail. Not until after a thousand failures did he conceive that -he had secured the ingredients but they were many, they were perishable, -they must be distilled within five days, for fermentation and decay would -set in if he delayed longer. Gathering the herbs and piling his floor -with fuel, he began his work, alone; the furnace glowed, the retorts -bubbled, and through their long throats trickled drops--golden, ruddy, -brown, and crystal--that would be combined into that precious draught. - -And none too soon, for under the strain of anxiety he seemed to be aging -fast. He took no sleep, except while sitting upright in his chair, for, -should he yield entirely to nature's appeal, his fire would die and his -work be spoiled. With heavy eyes and aching head he watched his furnace -and listened to the constant drip, drip of the precious liquor. It was -the fourth day. He had knelt to stir his fire to more active burning. Its -brightness made him blink, its warmth was grateful, and he reclined -before it, with elbow on the floor and head resting on his hand. How -cheerily the logs hummed and crackled, yet how drowsily--how slow the -hours were--how dull the watch! Lower, lower sank the head, and heavier -grew the eyes. At last he lay full length on the floor, and the long -sleep of exhaustion had begun. - -He was awakened by the sound of a bell. “The church bell!” he cried, -starting up. “And people going through the streets to meeting. How is -this? The sun is in the east! My God! I have been asleep! The furnace is -cold. The elixir!” He hastily blended the essences that he had made, -though one or two ingredients were still lacking, and drank them off. -“Faugh!” he exclaimed. “Still unfinished-perhaps spoiled. I must begin -again.” Taking his hat and coat he uttered a weary sigh and was about to -open the door when his cheek blenched with pain, sight seemed to leave -him, the cry for help that rose to his lips was stifled in a groan of -anguish, a groping gesture brought a shelf of retorts and bottles to the -floor, and he fell writhing among their fragments. The elixir of life, -unfinished, was an elixir of death. - - - - -ELIZA WHARTON - -Under the name of Eliza Wharton for a brief time lived a woman whose name -was said to be Elizabeth Whitman. Little is known of her, and it is -thought that she had gone among strangers to conceal disgrace. She died -without telling her story. In 1788 she arrived at the Bell Tavern, -Danvers, in company with a man, who, after seeing her properly bestowed, -drove away and never returned. A graceful, beautiful, well-bred woman, -with face overcast by a tender melancholy, she kept indoors with her -books, her sewing, and a guitar, avoiding the gossip of the idle. She -said that her husband was absent on a journey, and a letter addressed to -“Mrs. Eliza Wharton” was to be seen on her table when she received -callers. Once a stranger paused at her door and read the name thereon. As -he passed on the woman groaned, “I am undone!” One good woman, seeing her -need of care and defiant of village prattling, took her to her home, and -there, after giving birth to a dead child, she passed away. Among her -effects were letters full of pathetic appeal, and some verses, closing -thus: - - “O thou for whose dear sake I bear - A doom so dreadful, so severe, - May happy fates thy footsteps guide - And o'er thy peaceful home preside. - Nor let Eliza's early tomb - Infect thee with its baleful gloom.” - -A stone was raised above her grave, by whom it is not known, and this -inscription was engraved thereon: “This humble stone, in memory of -Elizabeth Whitman, is inscribed by her weeping friends, to whom she -endeared herself by uncommon tenderness and affection. Endowed with -superior genius and acquirements, she was still more endeared by humility -and benevolence. Let candor throw a veil over her frailties, for great -was her charity for others. She sustained the last painful scene far from -every friend, and exhibited an example of calm resignation. Her departure -was on the 25th of July, 1788, in the thirty-seventh year of her age, and -the tears of strangers watered her grave.” - - - - -SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS - -Bitter were the persecutions endured by Quakers at the hands of the -Puritans. They were flogged if they were restless in church, and flogged -if they did not go to it. Their ears were slit and they were set in the -stocks if they preached, and if any tender-hearted person gave them bed, -bite, or sup, he, too, was liable to punishment. They were charged with -the awful offence of preaching false doctrine, and no matter how pure -their lives might be, the stern Salemite would concede no good of them -while their faith was different from his. They even suspected Cobbler -Keezar of mischief when he declared that his magic lapstone which Agrippa -had torn from the tower at Nettesheim--gave him a vision of the time when -men would be as glad as nature, when the “snuffler of psalms” would sing -for joy, when priests and Quakers would talk together kindly, when -pillory and gallows should be gone. Poor Keezar! In ecstasy at that -prospect he flung up his arms, and his lapstone rolled into the -Merrimack. The tired mill-girls of Lowell still frequent the spot to seek -some dim vision of future comfort. - -In contrast to the tales of habitual tyranny toward the Quakers is the -tradition of the Southwicks. Lawrence and Cassandra, of that name, were -banished from Salem, in spite of their blameless lives, for they had -embraced Quakerism. They died within three days of each other on Shelter -Island, but their son and daughter, Daniel and Provided, returned to -their birthplace, and were incessantly fined for not going to church. At -last, having lost their property through seizures made to satisfy their -fines, the General Court of Boston issued an order for their sale, as -slaves, to any Englishman of Virginia or Barbadoes. Edward Butter was -assigned to sell and take them to their master. The day arrived and Salem -market-place was crowded with a throng of the curious. Provided Southwick -mounted the block and Butter began to call for bids. While expatiating on -the aptness of the girl for field or house-service, the master of the -Barbadoes ship on which Butter had engaged passage for himself and his -two charges looked into her innocent face, and roared, in noble dudgeon, -“If my ship were filled with silver, by God, I'd sink her in harbor -rather than take away this child!” The multitude experienced a quick -change of feeling and applauded the sentiment. As the judges and officers -trudged away with gloomy faces, Provided Southwick descended from the -auction-block, and brother and sister went forth into the town free and -unharmed. - - - - -THE COURTSHIP OF MYLES STANDISH - -Myles Standish, compact, hard-headed little captain of the Puritan guard -at Plymouth, never knew the meaning of fear until he went a-courting -Priscilla Mullins--or was she a Molines, as some say? He had fought white -men and red men and never reeked of danger in the doing it, but his -courage sank to his boots whenever this demure maiden glanced at him, as -he thought, with approval. Odd, too, for he had been married once, and -Rose was not so long dead that he had forgotten the ways and likings of -women; but he made no progress in his suit, and finally chose John Alden -to urge it for him. John--who divides with Mary Chilton the honor of -being first to land on Plymouth Rock--was a well-favored lad of -twenty-two. Until he could build a house for himself he shared Standish's -cottage and looked up to that worthy as a guardian, but it was a hard -task that was set for him now. He went to goodman Mullins with a slow -step and sober countenance and asked leave to plead his protector's -cause. The father gave it, called his daughter in, and left them -together; then, with noble faith to his mission, the young man begged the -maiden's hand for the captain, dwelling on his valor, strength, wisdom, -his military greatness, his certainty of promotion, his noble lineage, -and all good attributes he could endow him with. - -Priscilla kept at her spinning while this harangue went on, but the drone -of the wheel did not prevent her noting a sigh and a catch of the breath -that interrupted the discourse now and then. She flushed as she replied, -“Why does not Captain Standish come to me himself? If I am worth the -winning I ought to be worth the wooing.” - -But John Alden seemed not to notice the girl's confusion until, in a -pause in his eloquence, Priscilla bent her head a little, as if to mend a -break in the flax, and said, “Prithee, John, why don't you speak for -yourself?” - -Then a great light broke on the understanding of John Alden, and a great -warmth welled up in his heart, and--they were married. Myles -Standish--well, some say that he walked in the wedding procession, while -one narrator holds that the sturdy Roundhead tramped away to the woods, -where he sat for a day, hating himself, and that he never forgave his -protege nor the maiden who took advantage of leap year. However that may -be, the wedding was a happy one, and the Aldens of all America claim John -and Priscilla for their ancestors. - - - - -MOTHER CREWE - -Mother Crewe was of evil repute in Plymouth in the last century. It was -said that she had taken pay for luring a girl into her old farm-house, -where a man lay dead of small-pox, with intent to harm her beauty; she -was accused of blighting land and driving ships ashore with spells; in -brief, she was called a witch, and people, even those who affected to -ignore the craft of wizardry, were content to keep away from her. When -the Revolution ended, Southward Howland demanded Dame Crewe's house and -acre, claiming under law of entail, though primogeniture had been little -enforced in America, where there was room and to spare for all. But -Howland was stubborn and the woman's house had good situation, so one day -he rode to her door and summoned her with a tap of his whip. - -“What do you here on my land?” said he. - -“I live on land that is my own. I cleared it, built my house here, and no -other has claim to it.” - -“Then I lay claim. The place is mine. I shall tear your cabin down on -Friday.” - -“On Friday they'll dig your grave on Burying Hill. I see the shadow -closing round you. You draw it in with every breath. Quick! Home and make -your peace!” The hag's withered face was touched with spots of red and -her eyes glared in their sunken sockets. - -“Bandy no witch words with me, woman. On Friday I will return.” And he -swung himself into his saddle. As he did so a black cat leaped on Mother -Crewe's shoulder and stood there, squalling. The woman listened to its -cries as if they were words. Her look of hate deepened. Raising her hand, -she cried, “Your day is near its end. Repent!” - -“Bah! You have heard what I have said. If on Friday you are not -elsewhere, I'll tear the timbers down and bury you in the ruins.” - -“Enough!” cried the woman, her form straightening, her voice grown -shrill. “My curse is on you here and hereafter. Die! Then go down to -hell!” - -As she said this the cat leaped from her shoulder to the flank of the -horse, spitting and clawing, and the frightened steed set off at a -furious pace. As he disappeared in the scrub oaks his master was seen -vainly trying to stop him. The evening closed in with fog and chill, and -before the light waned a man faring homeward came upon the corpse of -Southward Howland stretched along the ground. - - - - -AUNT RACHEL'S CURSE - -On a headland near Plymouth lived “Aunt Rachel,” a reputed seer, who made -a scant livelihood by forecasting the future for such seagoing people as -had crossed her palm. The crew of a certain brig came to see her on the -day before sailing, and she reproached one of the lads for keeping bad -company. “Avast, there, granny,” interrupted another, who took the -chiding to himself. “None of your slack, or I'll put a stopper on your -gab.” The old woman sprang erect. Levelling her skinny finger at the man, -she screamed, “Moon cursers! You have set false beacons and wrecked ships -for plunder. It was your fathers and mothers who decoyed a brig to these -sands and left me childless and a widow. He who rides the pale horse be -your guide, and you be of the number who follow him!” - -That night old Rachel's house was burned, and she barely escaped with her -life, but when it was time for the brig to sail she took her place among -the townfolk who were to see it off. The owner of the brig tried to -console her for the loss of the house. “I need it no longer,” she -answered, “for the narrow house will soon be mine, and you wretches -cannot burn that. But you! Who will console you for the loss of your -brig?” - -“My brig is stanch. She has already passed the worst shoal in the bay.” - -“But she carries a curse. She cannot swim long.” - -As each successive rock and bar was passed the old woman leaned forward, -her hand shaking, her gray locks flying, her eyes starting, her lips -mumbling maledictions, “like an evil spirit, chiding forth the storms as -ministers of vengeance.” The last shoal was passed, the merchant sighed -with relief at seeing the vessel now safely on her course, when the woman -uttered a harsh cry, and raised her hand as if to command silence until -something happened that she evidently expected. For this the onlookers -had not long to wait: the brig halted and trembled--her sails shook in -the wind, her crew were seen trying to free the cutter--then she careened -and sank until only her mast-heads stood out of the water. Most of the -company ran for boats and lines, and few saw Rachel pitch forward on the -earth-dead, with a fierce smile of exultation on her face. The rescuers -came back with all the crew, save one--the man who had challenged the old -woman and revengefully burned her cabin. Rachel's body was buried where -her house had stood, and the rock--before unknown--where the brig had -broken long bore the name of Rachel's Curse. - - - - -NIX'S MATE - -The black, pyramidal beacon, called Nix's Mate, is well known to -yachtsmen, sailors, and excursionists in Boston harbor. It rises above a -shoal,--all that is left of a fair, green island which long ago -disappeared in the sea. In 1636 it had an extent of twelve acres, and on -its highest point was a gallows where pirates were hanged in chains. One -night cries were heard on board of a ship that lay at anchor a little way -off shore, and when the watch put off, to see what might be amiss, the -captain, named Nix, was found murdered in his bed. There was no direct -evidence in the case, and no motive could be assigned for the deed, -unless it was the expectancy of promotion on the part of the mate, in -case of his commander's death. - -It was found, however, that this possibility gave significance to certain -acts and sayings of that officer during the voyage, and on circumstantial -evidence so slight as this he was convicted and sentenced to death. As he -was led to execution he swore that he was not guilty, as he had done -before, and from the scaffold he cried aloud, “God, show that I am -innocent. Let this island sink and prove to these people that I have -never stained my hands with human blood.” Soon after the execution of his -sentence it was noticed that the surf was going higher on the shore, that -certain rocks were no longer uncovered at low tide, and in time the -island wasted away. The colonists looked with awe on this manifestation -and confessed that God had shown their wrong. - - - - -THE WILD MAN OF CAPE COD - -For years after Bellamy's pirate ship was wrecked at Wellfleet, by false -pilotage on the part of one of his captives, a strange-looking man used -to travel up and down the cape, who was believed to be one of the few -survivors of that night of storm, and of the hanging that others -underwent after getting ashore. The pirates had money when the ship -struck; it was found in the pockets of a hundred drowned who were cast on -the beach, as well as among the sands of the cape, for coin was gathered -there long after. They supposed the stranger had his share, or more, and -that he secreted a quantity of specie near his cabin. After his death -gold was found under his clothing in a girdle. He was often received at -the houses of the fishermen, both because the people were hospitable and -because they feared harm if they refused to feed or shelter him; but if -his company grew wearisome he was exorcised by reading aloud a portion of -the Bible. When he heard the holy words he invariably departed. - -And it was said that fiends came to him at night, for in his room, -whether he appeared to sleep or wake, there were groans and blasphemy, -uncanny words and sounds that stirred the hair of listeners on their -scalps. The unhappy creature cried to be delivered from his tormenters -and begged to be spared from seeing a rehearsal of the murders he had -committed. For some time he was missed from his haunts, and it was -thought that he had secured a ship and set to sea again; but a traveller -on the sands, while passing his cabin in the small hours, had heard a -more than usual commotion, and could distinguish the voice of the wild -man raised in frantic appeal to somebody, or something; still, knowing -that it was his habit to cry out so, and having misgivings about -approaching the house, the traveller only hurried past. A few neighbors -went to the lonely cabin and looked through the windows, which, as well -as the doors, were locked on the inside. The wild man lay still and white -on the floor, with the furniture upset and pieces of gold clutched in his -fingers and scattered about him. There were marks of claws about his -neck. - - - - -NEWBURY'S OLD ELM - -Among the venerable relics of Newbury few are better known and more -prized than the old elm. It is a stout tree, with a girth of twenty-four -and a half feet, and is said to have been standing since 1713. In that -year it was planted by Richard Jacques, then a youthful rustic, who had a -sweetheart, as all rustics have, and adored her as rustics and other men -should do. On one of his visits he stayed uncommonly late. It was nearly -ten o'clock when he set off for home. The town had been abed an hour or -more; the night was murky and oppressively still, and corpse-candles were -dancing in the graveyard. Witch times had not been so far agone that he -felt comfortable, and, lest some sprite, bogie, troll, or goblin should -waylay him, he tore an elm branch from a tree that grew before his -sweetheart's house, and flourished it as he walked. He reached home -without experiencing any of the troubles that a superstitious fancy had -conjured. As he was about to cast the branch away a comforting vision of -his loved one came into his mind, and he determined to plant the branch -at his own door, that in the hours of their separation he might be -reminded of her who dwelt beneath the parent tree. He did so. It rooted -and grew, and when the youth and maid had long been married, their -children and grandchildren sported beneath its branches. - - - - -SAMUEL SEWALL'S PROPHECY - -The peace of Newbury is deemed to be permanently secured by the prophecy -of Samuel Sewall, the young man who married the buxom daughter of -Mint-Master John Hull, and received, as wedding portion, her weight in -fresh-coined pine-tree shillings. He afterward became notorious as one of -the witchcraft judges. The prophecy has not been countervailed, nor is it -likely to be, whether the conditions are kept or not. It runs in this -wise: - -“As long as Plum island shall faithfully keep the commanded Post, -Notwithstanding the hectoring words and hard blows of the proud and -boisterous ocean; As long as any Salmon or Sturgeon shall swim in the -streams of Merrimack, or any Perch or Pickeril in Crane Pond; As long as -the Sea Fowl shall know the time of their coming, and not neglect -seasonably to visit the places of their acquaintance; As long as any -Cattel shall be fed with Grass growing in the meadows which doe humbly -bow themselves before Turkie Hill; As long as any Sheep shall walk upon -Old town Hills, and shall from thence look pleasantly down upon the River -Parker and the fruitful Marishes lying beneath; As long as any free and -harmless Doves shall find a White Oak or other Tree within the township -to perch or feed, or build a careless Nest upon, and shall voluntarily -present themselves to perform the office of Gleaners after Barley -Harvest; As long as Nature shall not grow old and dote, but shall -constantly remember to give the rows of Indian Corn their education by -Pairs; So long shall Christians be born there and being first made meet, -shall from thence be translated to be made partakers of the Saints of -Light.” - - - - -THE SHRIEKING WOMAN - -During the latter part of the seventeenth century a Spanish ship, richly -laden, was beset off Marblehead by English pirates, who killed every -person on board, at the time of the capture, except a beautiful English -lady, a passenger on the ship, who was brought ashore at night and -brutally murdered at a ledge of rocks near Oakum Bay. As the fishermen -who lived near were absent in their boats, the women and children, who -were startled from their sleep by her piercing shrieks, dared not attempt -a rescue. Taking her a little way from shore in their boat, the pirates -flung her into the sea, and as she came to the surface and clutched the -gunwale they hewed at her hands with cutlasses. She was heard to cry, -“Lord, save me! Mercy! O, Lord Jesus, save me!” Next day the people found -her mangled body on the rocks, and, with bitter imprecations at the worse -than beasts that had done this wrong, they prepared it for burial. It was -interred where it was found, but, although it was committed to the earth -with Christian forms, for one hundred and fifty years the victim's cries -and appeals were repeated, on each anniversary of the crime, with such -distinctness as to affright all who heard them--and most of the citizens -of Marblehead claimed to be of that number. - - - - -AGNES SURRIAGE - -When, in 1742, Sir Henry Frankland, collector of the port of Boston, went -to Marblehead to inquire into the smuggling that was pretty boldly -carried on, he put up at the Fountain Inn. As he entered that hostelry a -barefooted girl, of sixteen, who was scrubbing the floor, looked at him. -The young man was handsome, well dressed, gallant in bearing, while Agnes -Surriage, maid of all work, was of good figure, beautiful face, and -modest demeanor. Sir Henry tossed out a coin, bidding her to buy shoes -with it, and passed to his room. But the image of Agnes rose constantly -before him. He sought her company, found her of ready intelligence for -one unschooled, and shortly after this visit he obtained the consent of -her parents--humble folk--to take this wild flower to the city and -cultivate it. - -He gave her such an education as the time and place afforded, dressed her -well, and behaved with kindness toward her, while she repaid this care -with the frank bestowal of her heart. The result was not foreseen--not -intended--but they became as man and wife without having wedded. Colonial -society was scandalized, yet the baronet loved the girl sincerely and -could not be persuaded to part from her. Having occasion to visit England -he took Agnes with him and introduced her as Lady Frankland, but the -nature of their alliance had been made known to his relatives and they -refused to receive her. The thought of a permanent union with the girl -had not yet presented itself to the young man. An aristocrat could not -marry a commoner. A nobleman might destroy the honor of a girl for -amusement, but it was beneath his dignity to make reparation for the act. - -Sir Henry was called to Portugal in 1755, and Agnes went with him. They -arrived inopportunely in one respect, though the sequel showed a blessing -in the accident; for while they were sojourning in Lisbon the earthquake -occurred that laid the city in ruins and killed sixty thousand people. -Sir Henry was in his carriage at the time and was buried beneath a -falling wall, but Agnes, who had hurried from her lodging at the first -alarm, sped through the rocking streets in search of her lover. She found -him at last, and, instead of crying or fainting, she set to work to drag -away the stones and timbers that were piled upon him. Had she been a -delicate creature, her lover's equal in birth, such as Frankland was used -to dance with at the state balls, she could not have done this, but her -days of service at the inn had given her a strength that received fresh -accessions from hope and love. In an hour she had liberated him, and, -carrying him to a place of safety, she cherished the spark of life until -health returned. The nobleman had received sufficient proof of Agnes's -love and courage. He realized, at last, the superiority of worth to -birth. He gave his name, as he had already given his heart, to her, and -their married life was happy. - - - - -SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE - -Flood, Fluid, or Floyd Ireson (in some chronicles his name is Benjamin) -was making for Marblehead in a furious gale, in the autumn of 1808, in -the schooner Betsy. Off Cape Cod he fell in with the schooner Active, of -Beverly, in distress, for she had been disabled in the heavy sea and was -on her beam ends, at the mercy of the tempest. The master of the Active -hailed Ireson and asked to be taken off, for his vessel could not last -much longer, but the Betsy, after a parley, laid her course again -homeward, leaving the exhausted and despairing crew of the sinking vessel -to shift as best they might. The Betsy had not been many hours in port -before it was known that men were in peril in the bay, and two crews of -volunteers set off instantly to the rescue. But it was too late. The -Active was at the bottom of the sea. The captain and three of his men -were saved, however, and their grave accusation against the Betsy's -skipper was common talk in Marblehead ere many days. - -On a moonlight night Flood Ireson was roused by knocking at his door. On -opening it he was seized by a band of his townsmen, silently hustled to a -deserted spot, stripped, bound, and coated with tar and feathers. At -break of day he was pitched into an old dory and dragged along the roads -until the bottom of the boat dropped out, when he was mounted in a cart -and the procession continued until Salem was reached. The selectmen of -that town turned back the company, and for a part of the way home the -cart was drawn by a jeering crowd of fishwives. Ireson was released only -when nature had been taxed to the limit of endurance. As his bonds were -cut he said, quietly, “I thank you for my ride, gentlemen, but you will -live to regret it.” - -Some of the cooler heads among his fellows have believed the skipper -innocent and throw the blame for the abandonment of the sinking vessel on -Ireson's mutinous crew. There are others, the universal deniers, who -believe that the whole thing is fiction. Those people refuse to believe -in their own grandfathers. Ireson became moody and reckless after this -adventure. He did not seem to think it worth the attempt to clear -himself. At times he seemed trying, by his aggressive acts and bitter -speeches, to tempt some hot-tempered townsman to kill him. He died after -a severe freezing, having been blown to sea--as some think by his own -will--in a smack. - - - - -HEARTBREAK HILL - -The name of Heartbreak Hill pertains, in the earliest records of Ipswich, -to an eminence in the middle of that town on which there was a large -Indian settlement, called Agawam, before the white men settled there and -drove the inhabitants out. Ere the English colony had been firmly planted -a sailor straying ashore came among the simple natives of Agawam, and -finding their ways full of novelty he lived with them for a time. When he -found means to return to England he took with him the love of a maiden of -the tribe, but the girl herself he left behind, comforting her on his -departure with an assurance that before many moons he would return. -Months went by and extended into years, and every day the girl climbed -Heartbreak Hill to look seaward for some token of her lover. At last a -ship was seen trying to make harbor, with a furious gale running her -close to shore, where breakers were lashing the rocks and sand. The girl -kept her station until the vessel, becoming unmanageable, was hurled -against the shore and smashed into a thousand pieces. As its timbers went -tossing away on the frothing billows a white, despairing face was lifted -to hers for an instant; then it sank and was seen nevermore--her lover's -face. The “dusky Ariadne” wasted fast from that day, and she lies buried -beside the ledge that was her watch-tower. - - - - -HARRY MAIN: THE TREASURE AND THE CATS - -Ipswich had a very Old Harry in the person of Harry Main, a dark-souled -being, who, after a career of piracy, smuggling, blasphemy, and -dissipation, became a wrecker, and lured vessels to destruction with -false lights. For his crimes he was sent, after death, to do penance on -Ipswich bar, where he had sent many a ship ashore, his doom being to -twine ropes of sand, though some believe it was to shovel back the sea. -Whenever his rope broke he would roar with rage and anguish, so that he -was heard for miles, whereon the children would run to their trembling -mothers and men would look troubled and shake their heads. After a good -bit of cable had been coiled, Harry had a short respite that he enjoyed -on Plum Island, to the terror of the populace. When the tide and a gale -are rising together people say, as they catch the sound of moaning from -the bar, “Old Harry's grumbling again.” - -Now, Harry Main--to say nothing of Captain Kidd--was believed to have -buried his ill-gotten wealth in Ipswich, and one man dreamed for three -successive nights that it had been interred in a mill. Believing that a -revelation had been made to him he set off with spade, lantern, and -Bible, on the first murky night--for he wanted no partner in the -discovery--and found a spot which he recognized as the one that had been -pictured to his sleeping senses. He set to work with alacrity and a -shovel, and soon he unearthed a flat stone and an iron bar. He was about -to pry up the stone when an army of black cats encircled the pit and -glared into it with eyes of fire. - -The poor man, in an access both of alarm and courage, whirled the bar -about his head and shouted “Scat!” The uncanny guards of the treasure -disappeared instanter, and at the same moment the digger found himself up -to his middle in icy water that had poured into the hole as he spoke. - -The moral is that you should never talk when you are hunting for -treasure. Wet, scared, and disheartened, the man crawled out and made -homeward, carrying with him, as proof of his adventure, a case of -influenza and the iron bar. The latter trophy he fashioned into a latch, -in which shape it still does service on one of the doors of Ipswich. - - - - -THE WESSAGUSCUS HANGING - -Among the Puritans who settled in Wessaguscus, now Weymouth, -Massachusetts, was a brash young fellow, of remarkable size and strength, -who, roaming the woods one day, came on a store of corn concealed in the -ground, in the fashion of the Indians. As anybody might have done, he -filled his hat from the granary and went his way. When the red man who -had dug the pit came back to it he saw that his cache had been levied on, -and as the footprints showed the marauder to be an Englishman he went to -the colonists and demanded justice. The matter could have been settled by -giving a pennyworth of trinkets to the Indian, but, as the moral law had -been broken, the Puritans deemed it right that the pilferer should -suffer. - -They held a court and a proposition was made and seriously considered -that, as the culprit was young, hardy, and useful to the colony, his -clothes should be stripped off and put on the body of a bedridden weaver, -who would be hanged in his stead in sight of the offended savages. Still, -it was feared that if they learned the truth about that execution the -Indians would learn a harmful lesson in deceit, and it was, therefore, -resolved to punish the true offender. He, thinking they were in jest, -submitted to be bound, though before doing so he could have “cleaned out” - the court-room, and ere he was really aware of the purpose of his judges -he was kicking at vacancy. - -Butler, in “Hudibras,” quotes the story, but makes the offence more -serious-- - - “This precious brother, having slain, - In time of peace, an Indian, - Not out of malice, but mere zeal, - Because he was an infidel, - The mighty Tottipotimoy - Sent to our elders an envoy - Complaining sorely of the breach Of league.” - -But the Puritans, having considered that the offender was a teacher and a -cobbler, - - “Resolved to spare him; yet, to do - The Indian Hoghan Moghan, too, - Impartial justice, in his stead did - Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid.” - -The whole circumstance is cloudy, and the reader may accept either -version that touches his fancy. - - - - -THE UNKNOWN CHAMPION - -There was that in the very air of the New World that made the Pilgrims -revolt against priests and kings. The Revolution was long a-breeding -before shots were fired at Lexington. Stout old Endicott, having -conceived a dislike to the British flag because to his mind the cross was -a relic of popery, paraded his soldiers and with his sword ripped out the -offending emblem in their presence. There was a faint cry of “Treason!” - but he answered, “I will avouch the deed before God and man. Beat a -flourish, drummer. Shout for the ensign of New England. Pope nor tyrant -hath part in it now.” And a loud huzza of independence went forth. - -With this sentiment confirmed among the people, it is not surprising that -the judges who had condemned a papist king--Charles I.--to the block -should find welcome in this land. For months at a time they lived in -cellars and garrets in various parts of New England, their hiding-places -kept secret from the royal sheriffs who were seeking them. For a time -they had shelter in a cave in West Rock, New Haven, and once in that town -they were crouching beneath the bridge that a pursuing party crossed in -search of them. In Ipswich the house is pointed out where they were -concealed in the cellar, and the superstitious believed that, as a -penalty for their regicidal decision, they are doomed to stay there, -crying vainly for deliverance. - -Philip, the Narragansett chief, had declared war on the people of New -England, and was waging it with a persistence and fury that spread terror -through the country. It was a struggle against manifest destiny, such as -must needs be repeated whenever civilization comes to dispute a place in -new lands with savagery, and which has been continued, more and more -feebly, to our own day. The war was bloody, and for a long time the issue -hung in the balance. At last the Indian king was driven westward. The -Nipmucks joined him in the Connecticut Valley, and he laid siege to the -lonely settlements of Brookfield, Northfield, Deerfield, and Springfield, -killing, scalping, and burning without mercy. On the 1st of September, -1675, he attacked Hadley while its people were at church, the war-yelp -interrupting a prayer of the pastor. All the men of the congregation -sallied out with pikes and guns and engaged the foe, but so closely were -they pressed that a retreat was called, when suddenly there appeared -among them a tall man, of venerable and commanding aspect, clad in -leather, and armed with sword and gun. - -His hair and beard were long and white, but his eye was dark and -resolute, and his voice was strong. “Why sink your hearts?” he cried. -“Fear ye that God will give you up to yonder heathen dogs? Follow me, and -ye shall see that this day there is a champion in Israel.” - -Posting half the force at his command to sustain the fight, he led the -others quickly by a detour to the rear of the Indians, on whom he fell -with such energy that the savages, believing themselves overtaken by -reinforcements newly come, fled in confusion. When the victors returned -to the village the unknown champion signed to the company to fall to -their knees while he offered thanks and prayer. Then he was silent for a -little, and when they looked up he was gone. - -They believed him to be an angel sent for their deliverance, nor, till he -had gone to his account, did they know that their captain in that crisis -was Colonel William Goffe, one of the regicide judges, who, with his -associate Whalley, was hiding from the vengeance of the son of the king -they had rebelled against. After leaving their cave in New Haven, being -in peril from beasts and human hunters, they went up the Connecticut -Valley to Hadley, where the clergyman of the place, Rev. John Russell, -gave them shelter for fifteen years. Few were aware of their existence, -and when Goffe, pale with seclusion from the light, appeared among the -people near whom he had long been living, it is no wonder that they -regarded him with awe. - -Whalley died in the minister's house and was buried in a crypt outside of -the cellar-wall, while Goffe kept much abroad, stopping in many places -and under various disguises until his death, which occurred soon after -that of his associate. He was buried in New Haven. - - - - -GOODY COLE - -Goodwife Eunice Cole, of Hampton, Massachusetts, was so “vehemently -suspected to be a witch” that in 1680 she was thrown into jail with a -chain on her leg. She had a mumbling habit, which was bad, and a wild -look, which was worse. The death of two calves had been charged to her -sorceries, and she was believed to have raised the cyclone that sent a -party of merrymakers to the sea-bottom off the Isles of Shoals, for -insulting her that morning. Some said that she took the shapes of eagles, -dogs, and cats, and that she had the aspect of an ape when she went -through the mummeries that caused Goody Marston's child to die, yet while -she was in Ipswich jail a likeness of her was stumping about the -graveyard on the day when they buried the child. For such offences as -that of making bread ferment and give forth evil odors, that housekeepers -could only dispel by prayer, she was several times whipped and ducked by -the constable. - -At last she lay under sentence of death, for Anna Dalton declared that -her child had been changed in its cradle and that she hated and feared -the thing that had been left there. Her husband, Ezra, had pleaded with -her in vain. “'Tis no child of mine,” she cried. “'Tis an imp. Don't you -see how old and shrewd it is? How wrinkled and ugly? It does not take my -milk: it is sucking my blood and wearing me to skin and bone.” Once, as -she sat brooding by the fire, she turned to her husband and said, “Rake -the coals out and put the child in them. Goody Cole will fly fast enough -when she hears it screaming, and will come down chimney in the shape of -an owl or a bat, and take the thing away. Then we shall have our little -one back.” - -Goodman Dalton sighed as he looked into the worn, scowling face of his -wife; then, laying his hands on her head, he prayed to God that she might -be led out of the shadow and made to love her child again. As he prayed a -gleam of sunset shone in at the window and made a halo around the face of -the smiling babe. Mistress Dalton looked at the little thing in doubt; -then a glow of recognition came into her eyes, and with a sob of joy she -caught the child to her breast, while Dalton embraced them both, deeply -happy, for his wife had recovered her reason. In the midst of tears and -kisses the woman started with a faint cry: she remembered that a poor old -creature was about to expiate on the gallows a crime that had never been -committed. She urged her husband to ride with all speed to justice Sewall -and demand that Goody Cole be freed. This the goodman did, arriving at -Newbury at ten o'clock at night, when the town had long been abed and -asleep. By dint of alarms at the justice's door he brought forth that -worthy in gown and night-cap, and, after the case had been explained to -him, he wrote an order for Mistress Cole's release. - -With this paper in his hand Dalton rode at once to Ipswich, and when the -cock crew in the dawning the victim of that horrible charge walked forth, -without her manacles. Yet dark suspicion hung about the beldam to the -last, and she died, as she had lived, alone in the little cabin that -stood near the site of the academy. Even after her demise the villagers -could with difficulty summon courage to enter her cot and give her -burial. Her body was tumbled into a pit, hastily dug near her door, and a -stake was driven through the heart to exorcise the powers of evil that -possessed her in life. - - - - -GENERAL MOULTON AND THE DEVIL - -Jonathan Moulton, of Hampton, was a general of consequence in the -colonial wars, but a man not always trusted in other than military -matters. It was even hinted that his first wife died before her time, for -he quickly found consolation in his bereavement by marrying her -companion. In the middle of the night the bride was awakened with a -start, for she felt a cold hand plucking at the wedding-ring that had -belonged to the buried Mrs. Moulton, and a voice whispered in her ear, -“Give the dead her own.” With a scream of terror she leaped out of bed, -awaking her husband and causing candles to be brought. The ring was gone. - -It was long after this occurrence that the general sat musing at his -fireside on the hardness of life in new countries and the difficulty of -getting wealth, for old Jonathan was fond of money, and the lack of it -distressed him worse than a conscience. “If only I could have gold -enough,” he muttered, “I'd sell my soul for it.” Whiz! came something -down the chimney. The general was dazzled by a burst of sparks, from -which stepped forth a lank personage in black velvet with clean ruffles -and brave jewels. “Talk quick, general,” said the unknown, “for in -fifteen minutes I must be fifteen miles away, in Portsmouth.” And picking -up a live coal in his fingers he looked at his watch by its light. “Come. -You know me. Is it a bargain?” - -The general was a little slow to recover his wits, but the word “bargain” - put him on his mettle, and he began to think of advantageous terms. “What -proof may there be that you can do your part in the compact?” he -inquired. The unknown ran his fingers through his hair and a shower of -guineas jingled on the floor. They were pretty warm, but Moulton, in his -eagerness, fell on hands and knees and gathered them to his breast. - -“Give me some liquor,” then demanded Satan, for of course he was no -other, and filling a tankard with rum he lighted it with the candle, -remarked, affably, “To our better acquaintance,” and tossed off the -blazing dram at a gulp. “I will make you,” said he, “the richest man in -the province. Sign this paper and on the first day of every month I will -fill your boots with gold; but if you try any tricks with me you will -repent it. For I know you, Jonathan. Sign.” - -Moulton hesitated. “Humph!” sneered his majesty. “You have put me to all -this trouble for nothing.” And he began to gather up the guineas that -Moulton had placed on the table. This was more than the victim of his -wiles could stand. He swallowed a mouthful of rum, seized a pen that was -held out to him, and trembled violently as a paper was placed before him; -but when he found that his name was to appear with some of the most -distinguished in the province his nerves grew steadier and he placed his -autograph among those of the eminent company, with a few crooked -embellishments and all the t's crossed. “Good!” exclaimed the devil, and -wrapping his cloak about him he stepped into the fire and was up the -chimney in a twinkling. - -Shrewd Jonathan went out the next day and bought the biggest pair of -jack-boots he could find in Hampton. He hung them on the crane on the -last night of that and all the succeeding months so long as he lived, and -on the next morning they brimmed with coins. Moulton rolled in wealth. -The neighbors regarded his sudden prosperity with amazement, then with -envy, but afterward with suspicion. All the same, Jonathan was not -getting rich fast enough to suit himself. - -When the devil came to make a certain of his periodical payments he -poured guineas down the chimney for half an hour without seeming to fill -the boots. Bushel after bushel of gold he emptied into those spacious -money-bags without causing an overflow, and he finally descended to the -fireplace to see why. Moulton had cut the soles from the boots and the -floor was knee-deep in money. With a grin at the general's smartness the -devil disappeared, but in a few minutes a smell of sulphur pervaded the -premises and the house burst into flames. Moulton escaped in his shirt, -and tore his hair as he saw the fire crawl, serpent-like, over the beams, -and fantastic smoke-forms dance in the windows. Then a thought crossed -his mind and he grew calm: his gold, that was hidden in wainscot, -cupboard, floor, and chest, would only melt and could be quarried out by -the hundred weight, so that he could be well-to-do again. Before the -ruins were cool he was delving amid the rubbish, but not an ounce of gold -could he discover. Every bit of his wealth had disappeared. It was not -long after that the general died, and to quiet some rumors of disturbance -in the graveyard his coffin was dug up. It was empty. - - - - -THE SKELETON IN ARMOR - -The skeleton of a man wearing a breastplate of brass, a belt made of -tubes of the same metal, and lying near some copper arrow-heads, was -exhumed at Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1834. The body had been -artificially embalmed or else preserved by salts in the soil. His arms -and armor suggest Phoenician origin, but the skeleton is thought to be -that of a Dane or Norwegian who spent the last winter of his life at -Newport. He may have helped to carve the rock at West Newbury, or the -better-known Dighton rock at Taunton River that is covered with -inscriptions which the tides and frosts are fast effacing, and which have -been construed into a record of Norse exploration and discovery, though -some will have it that the inevitable Captain Kidd cut the figures there -to tell of buried treasure. The Indians have a legend of the arrival of -white men in a “bird,” undoubtedly a ship, from which issued thunder and -lightning. A battle ensued when the visitors landed, and the white men -wrote the story of it on the rock. Certain scholars of the eighteenth -century declared that the rock bore an account of the arrival of -Phoenician sailors, blown across the Atlantic and unable or unwilling to -return. A representation of the pillars of Hercules was thought to be -included among the sculptures, showing that the castaways were familiar -with the Mediterranean. Only this is known about Dighton Rock, however: -that it stood where it does, and as it does, when the English settled in -this neighborhood. The Indians said there were other rocks near it which -bore similar markings until effaced by tides and drifting ice. - -Longfellow makes the wraith of the long-buried exile of the armor appear -and tell his story: He was a viking who loved the daughter of King -Hildebrand, and as royal consent to their union was withheld he made off -with the girl, hotly followed by the king and seventy horsemen. The -viking reached his vessel first, and hoisting sail continued his flight -over the sea, but the chase was soon upon him, and, having no alternative -but to fight or be taken, he swung around before the wind and rammed the -side of Hildebrand's galley, crushing in its timbers. The vessel tipped -and sank, and every soul on board went with her, while the viking's boat -kept on her course, and after a voyage of three weeks put in at -Narragansett Bay. The round tower at Newport this impetuous lover built -as a bower for his lady, and there he guarded her from the dangers that -beset those who are first in savage countries. When the princess died she -was buried in the tower, and the lonely viking, arraying himself in his -armor, fell on his spear, like Brutus, and expired. - - - - -MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET - -There is no such place as Martha's Vineyard, except in geography and -common speech. It is Martin Wyngaard's Island, and so was named by -Skipper Block, an Albany Dutchman. But they would English his name, even -in his own town, for it lingers there in Vineyard Point. Bartholomew -Gosnold was one of the first white visitors here, for he landed in 1602, -and lived on the island for a time, collecting a cargo of sassafras and -returning thence to England because he feared the savages. - -This scarred and windy spot was the home of the Indian giant, Maushope, -who could wade across the sound to the mainland without wetting his -knees, though he once started to build a causeway from Gay Head to -Cuttyhunk and had laid the rocks where you may now see them, when a crab -bit his toe and he gave up the work in disgust. He lived on whales, -mostly, and broiled his dinners on fires made at Devil's Den from trees -that he tore up by the roots like weeds. In his tempers he raised mists -to perplex sea-wanderers, and for sport he would show lights on Gay Head, -though these may have been only the fires he made to cook his supper -with, and of which some beds of lignite are to be found as remains. He -clove No-Man's Land from Gay Head, turned his children into fish, and -when his wife objected he flung her to Seconnet Point, where she preyed -on all who passed before she hardened into a ledge. - -It is reported that he found the island by following a bird that had been -stealing children from Cape Cod, as they rolled in the warm sand or -paddled on the edge of the sea. He waded after this winged robber until -he reached Martha's Vineyard, where he found the bones of all the -children that had been stolen. Tired with his hunt he sat down to fill -his pipe; but as there was no tobacco he plucked some tons of poke that -grew thickly and that Indians sometimes used as a substitute for the -fragrant weed. His pipe being filled and lighted, its fumes rolled over -the ocean like a mist--in fact, the Indians would say, when a fog was -rising, “Here comes old Maushope's smoke”--and when he finished he -emptied his pipe into the sea. Falling on a shallow, the ashes made the -island of Nantucket. The first Indians to reach the latter place were the -parents of a babe that had been stolen by an eagle. They followed the -bird in their canoe, but arrived too late, for the little bones had been -picked clean. The Norsemen rediscovered the island and called it -Naukiton. Is Nantucket a corruption of that word, or was that word the -result of a struggle to master the Indian name? - - - - -LOVE AND TREASON - -The tribes that inhabited Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before the -whites settled the country were constantly at war, and the people of the -western island once resolved to surprise those of Nantucket and slay as -many as possible before they could arm or organize for battle. The attack -was to be made before daybreak, at an hour when their intended victims -would be asleep in their wigwams, but on rowing softly to the hostile -shore, while the stars were still lingering in the west, the warriors -were surprised at finding the enemy alert and waiting their arrival with -bows and spears in hand. To proceed would have been suicidal, and they -returned to their villages, puzzled and disheartened. Not for some years -did they learn how the camp had been apprised, but at the end of that -time, the two tribes being at peace, one of their young men married a -girl of Nantucket, with whom he had long been in love, and confessed that -on the night preceding the attack he had stolen to the beach, crossed to -Nantucket on a neck of sand that then joined the islands, and was -uncovered only at low tide, sought his mistress, warned her of the -attack, that she, at least, might not be killed; then, at a mad run, with -waves of the rising tide lapping his feet, he returned to his people, who -had not missed him. He set off with a grave and innocent face in the -morning, and was as much surprised as any one when he found the enemy in -arms. - - - - -THE HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTOWN - -The boggy portion of North Kingston, Rhode Island, known as Swamptown, is -of queer repute in its neighborhood, for Hell Hollow, Pork Hill, Indian -Corner, and Kettle Hole have their stories of Indian crimes and -witch-meetings. Here the headless figure of a negro boy was seen by a -belated traveller on a path that leads over the hills. It was a dark -night and the figure was revealed in a blaze of blue light. It swayed to -and fro for a time, then rose from the ground with a lurch and shot into -space, leaving a trail of illumination behind it. Here, too, is -Goose-Nest Spring, where the witches dance at night. It dries up every -winter and flows through the summer, gushing forth on the same day of -every year, except once, when a goose took possession of the empty bed -and hatched her brood there. That time the water did not flow until she -got away with her progeny. - -But the most grewsome story of the place is that of the Indian whose -skull was found by a roadmender. This unsuspecting person took it home, -and, as the women would not allow him to carry it into the house, he hung -it on a pole outside. Just as the people were starting for bed, there -came a rattling at the door, and, looking out of the windows, they saw a -skeleton stalking around in quick and angry strides, like those of a -person looking for something. But how could that be when the skeleton had -neither eyes nor a place to carry them? It thrashed its bony arms -impatiently and its ribs rattled like a xylophone. The spectators were -transfixed with fear, all except the culprit, who said, through the -window, in a matter-of-fact way, “I left your head on the pole at the -back door.” The skeleton started in that direction, seized the skull, -clapped it into the place where a head should have grown on its own -shoulders, and, after shaking its fists in a threatening way at the -house, disappeared in the darkness. It is said that he acts as a kind of -guard in the neighborhood, to see that none of the other Indians buried -there shall be disturbed, as he was. His principal lounging place is -Indian Corner, where there is a rock from which blood flows when the moon -shines--a memento, doubtless, of some tragedy that occurred there in -times before the white men knew the place. There is iron in the soil, and -visitors say that the red color is due to that, and that the spring would -flow just as freely on dark nights as on bright ones, if any were there -to see it, but the natives, who have given some thought to these matters, -know better. - - - - -THE CROW AND CAT OF HOPKINSHILL - -In a wood near Hopkins Hill, Rhode Island, is a bowlder, four feet in -diameter, scored with a peculiar furrow. Witch Rock, as it is called, -gained its name two centuries ago, when an old woman abode in a deserted -cabin close by and made the forest dreaded. Figures were seen flitting -through its shadows; articles left out o' nights in neighboring -settlements were missing in the morning, though tramps were unknown; -cattle were afflicted with diseases; stones were flung in at windows by -unseen hands; crops were blighted by hail and frost; and in stormy -weather the old woman was seen to rise out of the woods and stir and push -the clouds before her with a broom. For a hundred yards around Witch Rock -the ground is still accursed, and any attempt to break it up is -unavailing. Nearly a century ago a scoffer named Reynolds declared that -he would run his plough through the enchanted boundary, and the neighbors -watched the attempt from a distance. - -He started well, but on arriving at the magic circle the plough shied and -the wooden landside--or chip, as it was called--came off. It was replaced -and the team started again. In a moment the oxen stood unyoked, while the -chip jumped off and whirled away out of sight. On this, most of the -people edged away in the direction of home, and directly there came from -the north a crow that perched on a dead tree and cawed. John Hopkins, -owner of the land, cried to the bird, “Squawk, you damned old Pat -Jenkins!” and the crow took flight, dropping the chip at Reynolds's feet, -at the same moment turning into a beldam with a cocked hat, who descended -upon the rock. Before the men could reach her she changed into a black -cat and disappeared in the ground. Hunting and digging came to naught, -though the pursuers were so earnest and excited that one of them made the -furrow in the rock with a welt from his shovel. After that few people -cared to go near the place, and it became overgrown with weeds and trees -and bushes. - - - - -THE OLD STONE MILL - -If the round tower at Newport was not Benedict Arnold's wind-mill, and -any one or two of several other things, it is probably a relic of the -occupancy of this country by Thorwald and his Norsemen. After coasting -Wonderstrands (Cape Cod), in the year 1007, they built a town that is -known to historians--if not in their histories--as Norumbega, the lost -city of New England. It is now fancied that the city stood on the Charles -River, near Waltham, Massachusetts, where a monument may be erected, but -it is also believed that they reached the neighborhood of Newport, Rhode -Island. After this tower--popularly called the old stone mill-was built, -a seer among the Narragansetts had a vision in which he foresaw that when -the last remnant of the structure had fallen, and not one stone had been -left on another, the Indian race would vanish from this continent. The -work of its extermination seems, indeed, to have begun with the -possession of the coast by white men, and the fate of the aborigines is -easily read. - - - - -ORIGIN OF A NAME - -The origin of many curious geographical names has become an object of -mere surmise, and this is the more the pity because they suggest such -picturesque possibilities. We would like to know, for instance, how Burnt -Coat and Smutty Nose came by such titles. The conglomerate that strews -the fields south of Boston is locally known as Roxbury pudding-stone, -and, according to Dr. Holmes, the masses are fragments of a pudding, as -big as the State-house dome, that the family of a giant flung about, in a -fit of temper, and that petrified where it fell. But that would have been -called pudding-stone, anyway, from its appearance. The circumstance that -named the reef of Norman's Woe has passed out of record, though it is -known that goodman Norman and his son settled there in the seventeenth -century. It is Longfellow who has endowed the rock with this legend, for -he depicts a wreck there in the fury of a winter storm in 1680--the wreck -of the Hesperus, Richard Norman, master, from which went ashore next -morning the body of an unknown and beautiful girl, clad in ice and lashed -to a broken mast. - -But one of the oddest preservations of an apposite in name is found in -the legend of Point Judith, Rhode Island, an innocent _double entendre_. -About two centuries ago a vessel was driving toward the coast in a gale, -with rain and mist. The skipper's eyes were old and dim, so he got his -daughter Judith to stand beside him at the helm, as he steered the vessel -over the foaming surges. Presently she cried, “Land, father! I see land!” - “Where away?” he asked. But he could not see what she described, and the -roar of the wind drowned her voice, so he shouted, “Point, Judith! -Point!” The girl pointed toward the quarter where she saw the breakers, -and the old mariner changed his course and saved his ship from wreck. On -reaching port he told the story of his daughter's readiness, and other -captains, when they passed the cape in later days, gave to it the name of -Point Judith. - - - - -MICAH ROOD APPLES - -In Western Florida they will show roses to you that drop red dew, like -blood, and have been doing so these many years, for they sprang out of -the graves of women and children who had been cruelly killed by Indians. -But there is something queerer still about the Micah Rood--or -“Mike”--apples of Franklin, Connecticut, which are sweet, red of skin, -snowy of pulp, and have a red spot, like a blood-drop, near the core; -hence they are sometimes known as bloody-hearts. Micah Rood was a farmer -in Franklin in 1693. Though avaricious he was somewhat lazy, and was more -prone to dream of wealth than to work for it. But people whispered that -he did some hard and sharp work on the night after the peddler came to -town--the slender man with a pack filled with jewelry and -knickknacks--because on the morning after that visit the peddler was -found, beneath an apple-tree on Rood farm, with his pack rifled and his -skull split open. - -Suspicion pointed at Rood, and, while nothing was proved against him, he -became gloomy, solitary, and morose, keeping his own counsels more -faithfully than ever--though he never was disposed to take counsel of -other people. If he had expected to profit by the crime he was obviously -disappointed, for he became poorer than ever, and his farm yielded less -and less. To be sure, he did little work on it. When the apples ripened -on the tree that had spread its branches above the peddler's body, the -neighbors wagged their heads and whispered the more, for in the centre of -each apple was a drop of the peddler's blood: a silent witness and -judgment, they said, and the result of a curse that the dying man had -invoked against his murderer. Micah Rood died soon after, without saying -anything that his fellow-villagers might be waiting to hear, but his tree -is still alive and its strange fruit has been grafted on hundreds of -orchards. - - - - -A DINNER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - -The Nipmucks were populous at Thompson, Connecticut, where they skilfully -tilled the fields, and where their earthworks, on Fort Hill, provided -them with a refuge in case of invasion. Their chief, Quinatisset, had his -lodge on the site of the Congregational church in Thompson. They believed -that Chargoggagmanchogagog Pond was paradise--the home of the Great -Spirit and departed souls--and that it would always yield fish to them, -as the hills did game. They were fond of fish, and would barter deer-meat -and corn for it, occasionally, with the Narragansetts. - -Now, these last-named Indians were a waterloving people, and to this day -their “fishing fire”--a column of pale flame--rises out of Quinebaug Lake -once in seven years, as those say who have watched beside its waters -through the night. Knowing their fondness for blue-fish and clams, the -Narragansetts asked the Nipmucks to dine with them on one occasion, and -this courtesy was eagerly accepted, the up-country people distinguishing -themselves by valiant trencher deeds; but, alas, that it should be so! -they disgraced themselves when, soon after, they invited the -Narragansetts to a feast of venison at Killingly, and quarrelled with -their guests over the dressing of the food. This rumpus grew into a -battle in which all but two of the invites were slain. Their hosts buried -them decently, but grass would never grow above their graves. - -This treachery the Great Spirit avenged soon after, when the Nipmucks had -assembled for a powwow, with accessory enjoyments, in the grassy vale -where Mashapaug Lake now reflects the charming landscape, and where, -until lately, the remains of a forest could be seen below the surface. In -the height of the revel the god struck away the foundations of the hills, -and as the earth sank, bearing the offending men and women, waters rushed -in and filled the chasm, so that every person was drowned, save one good -old woman beneath whose feet the ground held firm. Loon Island, where she -stood, remains in sight to-day. - - - - -THE NEW HAVEN STORM SHIP - -In 1647 the New Haven colonists, who even at that early day exhibited the -enterprise that has been a distinguishing feature of the Yankee, sent a -ship to Ireland to try to develop a commerce, their trading posts on the -Delaware having been broken up by the Swedes. When their agent, Captain -Lamberton, sailed--in January--the harbor was so beset with ice that a -track had to be cut through the floes to open water, five miles distant. -She had, moreover, to be dragged out stern foremost--an ill omen, the -sailors thought--and as she swung before the wind a passing drift of fog -concealed her, for a moment, from the gaze of those on shore, who, from -this, foretold things of evil. Though large and new, the ship was so -“walty”--inclined to roll--that the captain set off with misgiving, and -as she moved away the crew heard this solemn and disheartening invocation -from a clergyman on the wharf:--“Lord, if it be thy pleasure to bury -these, our friends, in the bottom of the sea, take them; they are thine: -save them.” - -Winter passed; so did spring; still the ship came not; but one afternoon -in June, just as a rain had passed, some children cried, “There's a brave -ship!” for, flying up the harbor, with all sail set and flaunting colors, -was a vessel “the very mould of our ship,” the clergyman said. - -Strange to tell, she was going flat against the wind; no sailors were on -her deck; she did not toss with the fling of the waves; there was no -ripple at her bow. As she came close to land a single figure appeared on -the quarter, pointing seaward with a cutlass; then suddenly her main-top -fell, her masts toppled from their holdings, the dismantled hulk careened -and went down. A cloud dropped from heaven and brooded for a time above -the place where it had vanished, and when it lifted the surface of the -sea was empty and still. The good folk of New Haven believed that the -fate of the absent ship had been revealed, at last, for she never came -back and Captain Lamberton was never heard from. - - - - -THE WINDAM FROGS - -On a cloudy night in July, 1758, the people of Windham, Connecticut, were -awakened by screams and shrill voices. Some sprang up and looked to the -priming of their muskets, for they were sure that the Indians were -coming; others vowed that the voices were those of witches or devils, -flying overhead; a few ran into the streets with knives and fire-arms, -while others fastened their windows and prayerfully shrank under the -bedclothes. A notorious reprobate was heard blubbering for a Bible, and a -lawyer offered half of all the money that he had made dishonestly to any -charity if his neighbors would guarantee to preserve his life until -morning. - -All night the greatest alarm prevailed. At early dawn an armed party -climbed the hill to the eastward, and seeing no sign of Indians, or other -invaders, returned to give comfort to their friends. A contest for office -was waging at that period between two lawyers, Colonel Dyer and Mr. -Elderkin, and sundry of the people vowed that they had heard a -challenging yell of “Colonel Dyer! Colonel Dyer!” answered by a guttural -defiance of “Elderkin, too! Elderkin, too!” Next day the reason of it all -came out: A pond having been emptied by drought, the frogs that had lived -there emigrated by common consent to a ditch nearer the town, and on -arriving there had apparently fought for its possession, for many lay -dead on the bank. The night was still and the voices of the contestants -sounded clearly into the village, the piping of the smaller being -construed into “Colonel Dyer,” and the grumble of the bull-frogs into -“Elderkin, too.” The “frog scare” was a subject of pleasantry directed -against Windham for years afterward. - - - - -THE LAMB OF SACRIFICE - -The Revolution was beginning, homes were empty, farms were deserted, -industries were checked, and the levies of a foreign army had consumed -the stores of the people. A messenger rode into the Connecticut Valley -with tidings of the distress that was in the coast towns, and begged the -farmer folk to spare some of their cattle and the millers some of their -flour for the relief of Boston. On reaching Windham he was received with -good will by Parson White, who summoned his flock by peal of bell, and -from the steps of his church urged the needs of his brethren with such -eloquence that by nightfall the messenger had in his charge a flock of -sheep, a herd of cattle, and a load of grain, with which he was to set -off in the morning. The parson's daughter, a shy maid of nine or ten, -went to her father, with her pet lamb, and said to him, “I must give -this, too, for there are little children who are crying for bread and -meat.” - -“No, no,” answered the pastor, patting her head and smiling upon her. -“They do not ask help from babes. Run to bed and you shall play with your -lamb to-morrow.” - -But in the red of the morning, as he drove his herd through the village -street, the messenger turned at the hail of a childish voice, and looking -over a stone wall he saw the little one with her snow-white lamb beside -her. - -“Wait,” she cried, “for my lamb must go to the hungry children of Boston. -It is so small, please to carry it for some of the way, and let it have -fresh grass and water. It is all I have.” - -So saying, she kissed the innocent face of her pet, gave it into the arms -of the young man, and ran away, her cheeks shining with tears. Folding -the little creature to his breast, the messenger looked admiringly after -the girl: he felt a glow of pride and hope for the country whose very -children responded to the call of patriotism. “Now, God help me, I will -carry this lamb to the city as a sacrifice.” So saying, he set his face -to the east and vigorously strode forward. - - - - -MOODUS NOISES - -The village of Moodus, Connecticut, was troubled with noises. There is no -question as to that. In fact, Machimoodus, the Indian name of the spot, -means Place of Noises. As early as 1700, and for thirty years after, -there were crackings and rumblings that were variously compared to -fusillades, to thunder, to roaring in the air, to the breaking of rocks, -to reports of cannon. A man who was on Mount Tom while the noises were -violent describes the sound as that of rocks falling into immense caverns -beneath his feet and striking against cliffs as they fell. Houses shook -and people feared. - -Rev. Mr. Hosmer, in a letter written to a friend in Boston in 1729, says -that before white settlers appeared there was a large Indian population, -that powwows were frequent, and that the natives “drove a prodigious -trade at worshipping the devil.” He adds:--“An old Indian was asked what -was the reason of the noises in this place, to which he replied that the -Indian's god was angry because Englishman's god was come here. Now, -whether there be anything diabolical in these things I know not, but this -I know, that God Almighty is to be seen and trembled at in what has been -often heard among us. Whether it be fire or air distressed in the -subterranean caverns of the earth cannot be known for there is no -eruption, no explosion perceptible but by sounds and tremors which are -sometimes very fearful and dreadful.” - -It was finally understood that Haddam witches, who practised black magic, -met the Moodus witches, who used white magic, in a cave beneath Mount -Tom, and fought them in the light of a great carbuncle that was fastened -to the roof. The noises recurred in 1888, when houses rattled in -witch-haunted Salem, eight miles away, and the bell on the village church -“sung like a tuning-fork.” The noises have occurred simultaneously with -earthquakes in other parts of the country, and afterward rocks have been -found moved from their bases and cracks have been discovered in the -earth. One sapient editor said that the pearls in the mussels in Salmon -and Connecticut Rivers caused the disturbance. - -If the witch-fights were continued too long the king of Machimoddi, who -sat on a throne of solid sapphire in the cave whence the noises came, -raised his wand: then the light of the carbuncle went out, peals of -thunder rolled through the rocky chambers, and the witches rushed into -the air. Dr. Steele, a learned and aged man from England, built a -crazy-looking house in a lonely spot on Mount Tom, and was soon as much a -mystery as the noises, for it was known that he had come to this country -to stop them by magic and to seize the great carbuncle in the cave--if he -could find it. Every window, crack, and keyhole was closed, and nobody -was admitted while he stayed there, but the clang of hammers was heard in -his house all night, sparks shot from his chimney, and strange odors were -diffused. When all was ready for his adventure he set forth, his path -marked by a faint light that moved before him and stopped at the closed -entrance to the cavern. - -Loud were the Moodus noises that night. The mountain shook and groans and -hisses were heard in the air as he pried up the stone that lay across the -pit-mouth. When he had lifted it off a light poured from it and streamed -into the heaven like a crimson comet or a spear of the northern aurora. -It was the flash of the great carbuncle, and the stars seen through it -were as if dyed in blood. In the morning Steele was gone. He had taken -ship for England. The gem carried with it an evil fate, for the galley -sank in mid-ocean; but, though buried beneath a thousand fathoms of -water, the red ray of the carbuncle sometimes shoots up from the sea, and -the glow of it strikes fear into the hearts of passing sailors. Long -after, when the booming was heard, the Indians said that the hill was -giving birth to another beautiful stone. - -Such cases are not singular. A phenomenon similar to the Moodus noises, -and locally known as “the shooting of Nashoba Hill,” occurs at times in -the eminence of that name near East Littleton, Massachusetts. The -strange, deep rumbling was attributed by the Indians to whirlwinds trying -to escape from caves. - -Bald Mountain, North Carolina, was known as Shaking Mountain, for strange -sounds and tremors were heard there, and every moonshiner who had his -cabin on that hill joined the church and was diligent in worship until he -learned that the trembling was due to the slow cracking and separation of -a great ledge. - -At the end of a hot day on Seneca Lake, New York, are sometimes heard the -“lake guns,” like exploding gas. Two hundred years ago Agayentah, a wise -and honored member of the Seneca tribe, was killed here by a -lightning-stroke. The same bolt that slew him wrenched a tree from the -bank and hurled it into the water, where it was often seen afterward, -going about the lake as if driven by unseen currents, and among the -whites it got the name of the Wandering Jew. It is often missing for -weeks together, and its reappearances are heralded by the low booming -of--what? The Indians said that the sound was but the echo of Agayentah's -voice, warning them of dangers and summoning them to battle, while the -Wandering Jew became his messenger. - - - - -HADDAM ENCHANTMENTS - -When witchcraft went rampant through New England the Connecticut town of -Haddam owned its share of ugly old women, whom it tried to reform by -lectures and ducking, instead of killing. It was averred that Goody -So-and-So had a black cat for a familiar, that Dame Thus-and-Thus rode on -a broomstick on stormy nights and screeched and gibbered down the -farm-house chimneys, and there were dances of old crones at Devils' Hop -Yard, Witch Woods, Witch Meadows, Giant's Chair, Devil's Footprint, and -Dragon's Rock. Farmers were especially fearful of a bent old hag in a red -hood, who seldom appeared before dusk, but who was apt to be found -crouched on their door-steps if they reached home late, her mole-covered -cheeks wrinkled with a grin, two yellow fangs projecting between her -lips, and a light shining from her eyes that numbed all on whom she -looked. On stormy nights she would drum and rattle at windows, and by -firelight and candle-light her face was seen peering through the panes. - -At Chapman Falls, where the attrition of a stream had worn pot-holes in -the rocks, there were meetings of Haddam witches, to the number of a -dozen. They brewed poisons in those holes, cast spells, and talked in -harsh tongues with the arch fiend, who sat on the brink of the ravine -with his tail laid against his shoulder, like a sceptre, and a red glow -emanating from his body. - -In Devils' Hop Yard was a massive oak that never bears leaves or acorns, -for it has been enchanted since the time that one of the witches, in the -form of a crow, perched on the topmost branch, looked to the four points -of the compass, and flew away. That night the leaves fell off, the twigs -shrivelled, sap ceased to run, and moss began to beard its skeleton -limbs. - -The appearance of witches in the guise of birds was no unusual thing, -indeed, and a farmer named Blakesley shot one of them in that form. He -was hunting in a meadow when a rush of wings was heard and he saw pass -overhead a bird with long neck, blue feathers, and feet like scrawny -hands. It uttered a cry so weird, so shrill, so like mocking laughter -that it made him shudder. This bird alighted on a dead tree and he shot -at it. With another laughing yell it circled around his head. Three times -he fired with the same result. Then he resolved to see if it were -uncanny, for nothing evil can withstand silver--except Congress. Having -no bullets of that metal he cut two silver buttons from his shirt and -rammed them home with a piece of cloth and a prayer. This time the bird -screamed in terror, and tried, but vainly, to rise from the limb. He -fired. The creature dropped, with a button in its body, and fell on its -right side. At that moment an old woman living in a cabin five miles -distant arose from her spinning-wheel, gasped, and fell on her right -side-dead. - - - - -BLOCK ISLAND AND THE PALATINE - -Block Island, or Manisees, is an uplift of clayey moorland between -Montauk and Gay Head. It was for sailors an evil place and “bad medicine” - for Indians, for men who had been wrecked there had been likewise robbed -and ill treated--though the honest islanders of to-day deny it--while the -Indians had been driven from their birthright after hundreds of their -number had fallen in its defence. In the winter of 1750-51 the ship -Palatine set forth over the seas with thrifty Dutch merchants and -emigrants, bound for Philadelphia, with all their goods. A gale delayed -them and kept them beating to and fro on the icy seas, unable to reach -land. The captain died--it was thought that he was murdered--and the -sailors, a brutal set even for those days, threw off all discipline, -seized the stores and arms, and starved the passengers into giving up -their money. - -When those died of hunger whose money had given out--for twenty guilders -were demanded for a cup of water and fifty rix dollars for a -biscuit--their bodies were flung into the sea, and when the crew had -secured all that excited their avarice they took to their boats, leaving -ship and passengers to their fate. It is consoling to know that the -sailors never reached a harbor. The unguided ship, in sight of land, yet -tossed at the mercy of every wind and tenanted by walking skeletons, -struck off Block Island one calm Sunday morning and the wreckers who -lived along the shore set out for her. Their first work was to rescue the -passengers; then they returned to strip everything from the hulk that the -crew had left; but after getting her in tow a gale sprang up, and seeing -that she was doomed to be blown off shore, where she might become a -dangerous obstruction or a derelict, they set her on fire. From the rocks -they watched her drift into misty darkness, but as the flames mounted to -the trucks a scream rang across the whitening sea: a maniac woman had -been left on board. The scream was often repeated, each time more -faintly, and the ship passed into the fog and vanished. - -A twelvemonth later, on the same evening of the year, the islanders were -startled at the sight of a ship in the offing with flames lapping up her -sides and rigging, and smoke clouds rolling off before the wind. It -burned to the water's edge in sight of hundreds. In the winter following -it came again, and was seen, in fact, for years thereafter at regular -intervals, by those who would gladly have forgotten the sight of it (one -of the community, an Indian, fell into madness whenever he saw the -light), while those who listened caught the sound of a woman's voice -raised in agony above the roar of fire and water. - -Substantially the same story is told of a point on the North Carolina -coast, save that in the latter case the passengers, who were from the -Bavarian Palatinate, were put to the knife before their goods were taken. -The captain and his crew filled their boats with treasure and pulled away -for land, first firing the ship and committing its ghastly freight to the -flames. The ship followed them almost to the beach, ere it fell to -pieces, as if it were an animate form, bent on vengeance. The pirates -landed, but none profited by the crime, all of them dying poor and -forsaken. - - - - -THE BUCCANEER - -Among the natives of Block Island was a man named Lee. Born in the last -century among fishermen and wreckers, he has naturally taken to the sea -for a livelihood, and, never having known the influences of education and -refinement, he is rude and imperious in manner. His ship lies in a -Spanish port fitting for sea, but not with freight, for, tired of -peaceful trading, Lee is equipping his vessel as a privateer. A Spanish -lady who has just been bereaved of her husband comes to him to ask a -passage to America, for she has no suspicion of his intent. Her jewels -and well-filled purse arouse Lee's cupidity, and with pretended sympathy -he accedes to her request, even going so far as to allow Senora's -favorite horse to be brought aboard. - -Hardly is the ship in deep water before the lady's servants are stabbed -in their sleep and Lee smashes in the door of her cabin. Realizing his -purpose, and preferring to sacrifice life to honor, she eludes him, -climbs the rail, and leaps into the sea, while the ship ploughs on. As a -poor revenge for being thus balked of his prey the pirate has the -beautiful white horse flung overboard, the animal shrilling a neigh that -seems to reach to the horizon, and is like nothing ever heard before. But -these things he affects to forget in dice and drinking. In a dispute over -a division of plunder Lee stabs one of his men and tosses him overboard. -Soon the rovers come to Block Island, where, under cover of night, they -carry ashore their stealings to hide them in pits and caves, reserving -enough gold to buy a welcome from the wreckers, and here they live for a -year, gaming and carousing. Their ship has been reported as a pirate and -to baffle search it is set adrift. - -One night a ruddy star is seen on the sea-verge and the ruffians leave -their revelling to look at it, for it is growing into sight fast. It -speeds toward them and they can now see that it is a ship--their -shipwrapped in flames. It stops off shore, and out of the ocean at its -prow emerges something white that they say at first is a wave-crest -rolling upon the sands; but it does not dissolve as breakers do: it -rushes on; it scales the bluff it is a milk-white horse, that gallops to -the men, who inly wonder if this is an alcoholic vision, and glares at -Lee. A spell seems to be laid on him, and, unable to resist it, the -buccaneer mounts the animal. It rushes away, snorting and plunging, to -the highest bluff, whence Lee beholds, in the light of the burning ship, -the bodies of all who have been done to death by him, staring into his -eyes through the reddening waves. - -At dawn the horse sinks under him and he stands there alone. From that -hour even his companions desert him. They fear to share his curse. He -wanders about the island, a broken, miserable man, unwilling to live, -afraid to die, refused shelter and friendship, and unable to reach the -mainland, for no boat will give him passage. After a year of this -existence the ship returns, the spectre horse rises from the deep and -claims Lee again for a rider. He mounts; the animal speeds away to the -cliff, but does not pause at the brink this time: with a sickening jump -and fall he goes into the sea. Spurning the wave-tops in his flight he -makes a circuit of the burning ship, and in the hellish light, that fills -the air and penetrates to the ocean bottom, the pirate sees again his -victims looking up with smiles and arms spread to embrace him. - -There is a cry of terror as the steed stops short; then a gurgle, and -horse and rider have disappeared. The fire ship vanishes and the night is -dark. - - - - -ROBERT LOCKWOOD'S FATE - -In the winter of 1779, General Putnam was stationed at Reading, -Connecticut, with a band of ill-fed, unpaid troops. He was quartered at -the Marvin house, and Mary, daughter of farmer Marvin, won her way to the -heart of this rough soldier through the excellence of her dumplings and -the invigorating quality of her flip. He even took her into his -confidence, and, being in want of a spy in an emergency, he playfully -asked her if she knew any brave fellow who could be trusted to take a -false message into the British lines that would avert an impending -attack. Yes, she knew such an one, and would guarantee that he would take -the message if the fortunes of the colonial army would be helped thereby. -Putnam assured her that it would aid the patriot cause, and, farther, -that he would reward her; whereat, with a smile and a twinkling eye, the -girl received the missive and left the room. - -When daylight had left the sky, Mary slipped out of the house, crossed a -pasture, entered a ravine, and in a field beyond reached a cattle -shelter. On the instant a tall form stepped from the shadows and she sank -into its embrace. There was a kiss, a moment of whispered talk, and the -girl hurriedly asked her lover if he would carry a letter to the British -headquarters, near Ridgefield. Of course he would. But he must not read -it, and he must on no account say from whom he had it. The young man -consented without a question--that she required it was sufficient; so, -thrusting the tiny paper into his hand and bidding him God-speed, she -gave him another kiss and they parted--he to go on his errand, she to -pass the night with the clergyman's daughter at the parsonage. At about -ten o'clock Putnam was disturbed by the tramping of feet and a tall, -goodlooking fellow was thrust into his room by a couple of soldiers. The -captive had been found inside the lines, they said, in consultation with -some unknown person who had escaped the eye of the sentry in the -darkness. When captured he had put a piece of paper into his mouth and -swallowed it. He gave the name of Robert Lockwood, and when Putnam -demanded to know what he had been doing near the camp without a permit he -said that he was bound by a promise not to tell. - -“Are you a patriot?” asked the general. - -“I am a royalist. I do not sympathize with rebellion. I have been a man -of peace in this war.” - -Putnam strode about the room, giving vent to his passion in language -neither choice nor gentle, for he had been much troubled by spies and -informers since he had been there. Then, stopping, he said: - -“Some one was with you to-night-some of my men. Tell me that traitor's -name and I'll spare your life and hang him before the whole army.” - -The prisoner turned pale and dropped his head. He would not violate his -promise. - -“You are a British spy, and I'll hang you at sunrise!” roared Putnam. - -In vain the young man pleaded for time to appeal to Washington. He was -not a spy, he insisted, and it would be found, perhaps too late, that a -terrible mistake had been committed. His words were unheeded: he was led -away and bound, and as the sun was rising on the next morning the -sentence of courtmartial was executed upon him. - -At noon Mary returned from the parsonage, her eyes dancing and her mouth -dimpling with smiles. Going to Putnam, she said, with a dash of -sauciness, “I have succeeded, general. I found a lad last night to take -your message. I had to meet him alone, for he is a Tory; so he cannot -enter this camp. The poor fellow had no idea that he was doing a service -for the rebels, for he did not know what was in the letter, and I bound -him not to tell who gave it to him. You see, I punished him for abiding -by the king.” - -The general laughed and gazed at her admiringly. - -“You're a brave girl,” he said, “and I suppose you've come for your -reward. Well, what is it to be?” - -“I want a pass for Robert Lockwood. He is the royalist I spoke of, but he -will not betray you, for he is not a soldier; and--his visits make me -very happy.” - -“The spy you hanged this morning,” whispered an aide in Putnam's ear. -“Give her the pass and say nothing of what has happened.” - -The general started, changed color, and paused; then he signed the order -with a dash, placed it in the girl's hand, gravely kissed her, watched -her as she ran lightly from the house, and going to his bedroom closed -the door and remained alone for an hour. From that time he never spoke of -the affair, but when his troops were ordered away, soon after, he almost -blenched as he gave good-by to Mary Marvin, and met her sad, reproachful -look, though to his last day he never learned whether or no she had -discovered Robert Lockwood's fate. - - - - -LOVE AND RUM - -Back in the seventeenth century a number of Yankee traders arrived in -Naugatuck to barter blankets, beads, buttons, Bibles, and brandy for -skins, and there they met chief Toby and his daughter. Toby was not a -pleasing person, but his daughter was well favored, and one of the -traders told the chief that if he would allow the girl to go to Boston -with him he would give to him--Toby--a quart of rum. Toby was willing -enough. He would give a good deal for rum. But the daughter declined to -be sold off in such a fashion unless--she coyly admitted--she could have -half of the rum herself. Loth as he was to do so, Toby was brought to -agree to this proposition, for he knew that rum was rare and good and -girls were common and perverse, so the gentle forest lily took her mug of -liquor and tossed it off. Now, it is not clear whether she wished to -nerve herself for the deed that followed or whether the deed was a result -of the tonic, but she made off from the paternal wigwam and was presently -seen on the ledge of Squaw Rock, locally known also as High Rock, from -which in another moment she had fallen. Toby had pursued her, and on -finding her dead he vented a howl of grief and anger and flung the now -empty rum-jug after her. A huge bowlder arose from the earth where it -struck, and there it remains--a monument to the girl and a warning to -Tobies. - -Another version of the story is that the girl sprang from the rock to -escape the pursuit of a lover who was hateful to her, and who had her -almost in his grasp when she made the fatal leap. In the crevice half-way -up the cliff her spirit has often been seen looking regretfully into the -rich valley that was her home, and on the 20th of March and 20th of -September, in every year, it is imposed on her to take the form of a -seven-headed snake, the large centre head adorned with a splendid -carbuncle. Many have tried to capture the snake and secure this precious -stone, for an old prophecy promises wealth to whoever shall wrest it from -the serpent. But thus far the people of Connecticut have found more -wealth in clocks and tobacco than in snakes and carbuncles. - - - - -LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - - - - -THE SWIM AT INDIAN HEAD - -At Indian Head, Maryland, are the government proving-grounds, where the -racket of great guns and splintering of targets are a deterrent to the -miscellaneous visitations of picnics. Trouble has been frequently -associated with this neighborhood, as it is now suggested in the noisy -symbolry of war. In prehistoric days it was the site of an aboriginal -town, whose denizens were like other Indians in their love for fight and -their willingness to shed blood. Great was the joy of all these citizens -when a scouting party came in, one day, bringing with them the daughter -of one of their toughest old hunters and a young buck, from another -faction, who had come a-courting; her in the neighboring shades. - -Capture meant death, usually, and he knew it, but he held himself proudly -and refused to ask for mercy. It was resolved that he should die. The -father's scorn for his daughter, that she should thus consort with an -enemy, was so great that he was on the point of offering her as a joint -sacrifice with her lover, when she fell on her knees before him and began -a fervent appeal, not for herself, but for the prisoner. She would do -anything to prove her strength, her duty, her obedience, if they would -set him free. He had done injury to none. What justice lay in putting him -to the torture? - -Half in earnest, half in humor, the chief answered, “Suppose we were to -set him on the farther shore of the Potomac, do you love him well enough -to swim to him?” - -“I do.” - -“The river is wide and deep.” - -“I would drown in it rather than that harm should come to him.” - -The old chief ordered the captive, still bound, to be taken to a point on -the Virginia shore, full two miles away, in one of their canoes, and when -the boat was on the water he gave the word to the girl, who instantly -plunged in and followed it. The chief and the father embarked in another -birch--ostensibly to see that the task was honestly fulfilled; really, -perhaps, to see that the damsel did not drown. It was a long course, but -the maid was not as many of our city misses are, and she reached the -bank, tired, but happy, for she had saved her lover and gained him for a -husband. - - - - -THE MOANING SISTERS - -Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the -Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other--for -they are parts of a submerged reef--but because of a tradition that, more -than a hundred years ago, a boat in which three sisters had gone out for -a row was swung against one of these rocks. The day was gusty and the -boat was upset. All three of the girls were drowned. Either the sisters -remain about this perilous spot or the rocks have prescience; at least, -those who live near them on the shore hold one view or the other, for -they declare that before every death on the river the sisters moan, the -sound being heard above the lapping of the waves. It is different from -any other sound in nature. Besides, it is an unquestioned fact that more -accidents happen here than at any other point on the river. - -Many are the upsets that have occurred and many are the swimmers who have -gone down, the dark forms of the sisters being the last shapes that their -water-blurred eyes have seen. It is only before a human life is to be -yielded that this low wailing comes from the rocks, and when, on a night -in May, 1889, the sound floated shoreward, just as the clock in -Georgetown struck twelve, good people who were awake sighed and uttered a -prayer for the one whose doom was so near at hand. Twelve hours later, at -noon, a shell came speeding down the Potomac, with a young athlete -jauntily pulling at the oars. As he neared the Three Sisters his boat -appeared to be caught in an eddy; it swerved suddenly, as if struck; then -it upset and the rower sank to his death. - - - - -A RIDE FOR A BRIDE - -When the story of bloodshed at Bunker Hill reached Bohemia Hall, in Cecil -County, Maryland, Albert De Courcy left his brother Ernest to support the -dignity of the house and make patriotic speeches, while he went to the -front, conscious that Helen Carmichael, his affianced wife, was watching, -in pride and sadness, the departure of his company. Letters came and -went, as they always do, until rumor came of a sore defeat to the -colonials at Long Island; then the letters ceased. - -It was a year later when a ragged soldier, who had stopped at the hall -for supper, told of Albert's heroism in covering the retreat of -Washington. The gallant young officer had been shot, he said, as he -attempted to swim the morasses of Gowanus. But this soldier was in error. -Albert had been vexatiously bogged on the edge of the creek. While -floundering in the mud a half dozen sturdy red-coats had lugged him out -and he was packed off to the prison-ships anchored in the Wallabout. In -these dread hulks, amid darkness and miasma, living on scant, unwholesome -food, compelled to see his comrades die by dozens every day and their -bodies flung ashore where the tide lapped away the sand thrown over them, -De Courcy wished that death instead of capture had been his lot, for next -to his love he prized his liberty. - -One day he was told off, with a handful of others, for transfer to a -stockade on the Delaware, and how his heart beat when he learned that the -new prison was within twenty miles of home! His flow of spirits returned, -and his new jailers liked him for his frankness and laughed at his honest -expletives against the king. He had the liberty of the enclosure, and was -not long in finding where the wall was low, the ditch narrow, and the -abatis decayed--knowledge that came useful to him sooner than he -expected, for one day a captured horse was led in that made straight for -him with a whinny and rubbed his nose against his breast. - -“Why!” he cried,--“it's Cecil! My horse, gentlemen--or, was. Not a better -hunter in Maryland!” - -“Yes,” answered one of the officers. “We've just taken him from your -brother. He's been stirring trouble with his speeches and has got to be -quieted. But we'll have him to-day, for he's to be married, and a -scouting party is on the road to nab him at the altar.” - -“Married! My brother! What! Ernest, the lawyer, the orator? Ho, ho! Ah, -but it's rather hard to break off a match in that style!” - -“Hard for him, maybe; but they say the lady feels no great love for him. -He made it seem like a duty to her, after her lover died.” - -“How's that? Her own--what's her name?” - -“Helen--Helen Carmichael, or something like that.” - -Field and sky swam before De Courcy's eyes for a moment; then he resumed, -in a calm voice, and with a pale, set face, “Well, you're making an -unhappy wedding-day for him. If he had Cecil here he would outride you -all. Ah, when I was in practice I could ride this horse and snatch a -pebble from the ground without losing pace!” - -“Could you do it now?” - -“I'm afraid long lodging in your prison-ships has stiffened my joints, -but I'd venture at a handkerchief.” - -“Then try,” said the commandant. - -De Courcy mounted into the saddle heavily, crossed the grounds at a -canter, and dropped a handkerchief on the grass. Then, taking a few turns -for practice, he started at a gallop and swept around like the wind. His -seat was so firm, his air so noble, his mastery of the steed so complete, -that a cheer of admiration went up. He seemed to fall headlong from the -saddle, but was up again in a moment, waving the handkerchief gayly in -farewell--for he kept straight on toward the weak place in the wall. A -couple of musket-balls hummed by his ears: it was neck or nothing now! A -tremendous leap! Then a ringing cry told the astonished soldiers that he -had reached the road in safety. Through wood and thicket and field he -dashed as if the fiend were after him, and never once did he cease to -urge his steed till he reached the turnpike, and saw ahead the scouting -party on its way to arrest his brother. - -Turning into a path that led to the rear of the little church they were -so dangerously near, he plied hands and heels afresh, and in a few -moments a wedding party was startled by the apparition of a black horse, -all in a foam, ridden by a gaunt man, in torn garments, that burst in at -the open chancel-door. The bridegroom cowered, for he knew his brother. -The bride gazed in amazement. “'Tis the dead come to life!” cried one. De -Courcy had little time for words. He rode forward to the altar, swung -Helen up behind him, and exclaimed, “Save yourselves! The British are -coming! To horse, every one, and make for the manor!” There were shrieks -and fainting--and perhaps a little cursing, even if it was in -church,--and when the squadron rode up most of the company were in full -flight. Ernest was taken, and next morning held his brother's place on -the prison-list, while, as arrangements had been made for a wedding, -there was one, and a happy one, but Albert was the bridegroom. - - - - -SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE - -The hills about the head of the Hiawassee are filled with “harnts,” among -them many animal ghosts, that ravage about the country from sheer -viciousness. The people of the region, illiterate and superstitious, have -unquestioning faith in them. They tell you about the headless bull and -black dog of the valley of the Chatata, the white stag of the -Sequahatchie, and the bleeding horse of the Great Smoky Mountains--the -last three being portents of illness, death, or misfortune to those who -see them. - -Other ghosts are those of men. Near the upper Hiawassee is a cave where a -pile of human skulls was found by a man who had put up his cabin near the -entrance. For some reason, which he says he never understood, this farmer -gathered up the old, bleached bones and dumped them into his shed. Quite -possibly he did not dare to confess that he wanted them for fertilizers -or to burn them for his poultry. - -Night fell dark and still, with a waning moon rising over the -mountains--as calm a night as ever one slept through. Along toward the -middle of it a sound like the coming of a cyclone brought the farmer out -of his bed. He ran to the window to see if the house were to be uprooted, -but the forest was still, with a strange, oppressive stillness--not a -twig moving, not a cloud veiling the stars, not an insect chirping. -Filled with a vague fear, he tried to waken his wife, but she was like -one in a state of catalepsy. - -Again the sound was heard, and now he saw, without, a shadowy band -circling about his house like leaves whirled on the wind. It seemed to be -made of human shapes, with tossing arms--this circling band--and the -sound was that of many voices, each faint and hollow, by itself, but loud -in aggregate. He who was watching realized then that the wraiths of the -dead whose skulls he had purloined from their place of sepulture were out -in lament and protest. He went on his knees at once and prayed with vigor -until morning. As soon as it was light enough to see his way he replaced -the skulls, and was not troubled by the “haunts” again. All the gold in -America, said he, would not tempt him to remove any more bones from the -cave-tombs of the unknown dead. - - - - -LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP - -Drummond's Pond, or the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, is a dark and lonely -tarn that lies in the centre of this noted Virginia morass. It is, in a -century-old tradition, the Styx of two unhappy ghosts that await the end -of time to pass its confines and enjoy the sunshine of serener worlds. A -young woman of a family that had settled near this marsh died of a fever -caused by its malarial exhalations, and was buried near the swamp. The -young man to whom she was betrothed felt her loss so keenly that for days -he neither ate nor slept, and at last broke down in mind and body. He -recovered a measure of physical health, after a time, but his reason was -hopelessly lost. - -It was his hallucination that the girl was not dead, but had been exiled -to the lonely reaches of this watery wilderness. He was heard to mutter, -“I'll find her, and when Death comes I'll hide her in the hollow of a -cypress until he passes on.” Evading restraint, he plunged into the fen, -and for some days he wandered there, eating berries, sleeping on tussocks -of grass, with water-snakes crawling over him and poisonous plants -shedding their baneful dew on his flesh. He came to the lake at last. A -will-o'the-wisp played along the surface. “'Tis she!” he cried. “I see -her, standing in the light.” Hastily fashioning a raft of cypress boughs -he floated it and pushed toward the centre of the pond, but the eagerness -of his efforts and the rising of a wind dismembered the frail platform, -and he fell into the black water to rise no more. But often, in the -night, is seen the wraith of a canoe, with a fire-fly lamp burning on its -prow, restlessly urged to and fro by two figures that seem to be vainly -searching for an exit from the place, and that are believed to be those -of the maiden and her lover. - - - - -THE BARGE OF DEFEAT - -Rappannock River, in Virginia, used to be vexed with shadowy craft that -some of the populace affirmed to be no boats, but spirits in disguise. -One of these apparitions was held in fear by the Democracy of Essex -County, as it was believed to be a forerunner of Republican victory. The -first recorded appearance of the vessel was shortly after the Civil War, -on the night of a Democratic mass-meeting at Tappahannock. There were -music, refreshments, and jollity, and it was in the middle of a rousing -speech that a man in the crowd cried, “Look, fellows! What is that queer -concern going down the river?” - -The people moved to the shore, and by the light of their torches a hulk -was seen drifting with the stream--a hulk of fantastic form unlike -anything that sails there in the daytime. As it came opposite the throng, -the torchlight showed gigantic negroes who danced on deck, showing -horrible faces to the multitude. Not a sound came from the barge, the -halloos of the spectators bringing no response, and some boatmen ventured -into the stream, only to pull back in a hurry, for the craft had become -so strangely enveloped in shadow that it seemed to melt into air. - -Next day the Democracy was defeated at the polls, chiefly by the negro -vote. In 1880 it reappeared, and, as before, the Republicans gained the -day. Just before the election of 1886, Mr. Croxton, Democratic nominee -for Congress, was haranguing the people, when the cry of “The Black -Barge!” arose. Argument and derision were alike ineffectual with the -populace. The meeting broke up in silence and gloom, and Mr. Croxton was -defeated by a majority of two thousand. - - - - -NATURAL BRIDGE - -Though several natural bridges are known in this country, there is but -one that is famous the world over, and that is the one which spans Clear -Creek, Virginia--the remnant of a cave-roof, all the rest of the cavern -having collapsed. It is two hundred and fifteen feet above the water, and -is a solid mass of rock forty feet thick, one hundred feet wide, and -ninety feet in span. Thomas Jefferson owned it; George Washington scaled -its side and carved his name on the rock a foot higher than any one else. -Here, too, came the youth who wanted to cut his name above Washington's, -and who found, to his horror, when half-way up, that he must keep on, for -he had left no resting-places for his feet at safe and reachable -distances--who, therefore, climbed on and on, cutting handhold and -foothold in the limestone until he reached the top, in a fainting state, -his knife-blade worn to a stump. Here, too, in another tunnel of the -cavern, flows Lost River, that all must return to, at some time, if they -drink of it. Here, beneath the arch, is the dark stain, so like a flying -eagle that the French officer who saw it during the Revolution augured -from it a success for the united arms of the nations that used the eagle -as their symbol. - -The Mohegans knew this wonder of natural masonry, for to this point they -were pursued by a hostile tribe, and on reaching the gulf found -themselves on the edge of a precipice that was too steep at that point to -descend. Behind them was the foe; before them, the chasm. At the -suggestion of one of their medicine-men they joined in a prayer to the -Great Spirit for deliverance, and when again they looked about them, -there stood the bridge. Their women were hurried over; then, like so many -Horatii, they formed across this dizzy highway and gave battle. -Encouraged by the knowledge that they had a safe retreat in case of being -overmastered, they fought with such heart that the enemy was defeated, -and the grateful Mohegans named the place the Bridge of God. - - - - -THE SILENCE BROKEN - -It was in 1734 that Joist Hite moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with -his wife and boys, and helped to make a settlement on the Shenandoah -twelve miles south of Woodstock. When picking berries at a distance from -the village, one morning, the boys were surprised by Indians, who hurried -with them into the wilderness before their friends could be apprised. -Aaron, the elder, was strong, and big of frame, with coarse, black hair, -and face tanned brown; but his brother was small and fair, with blue eyes -and yellow locks, and it was doubtless because he was a type of the hated -white race that the Indians spent their blows and kicks on him and spared -the sturdy one. Aaron was wild with rage at the injuries put upon his -gentle brother, but he was bound and helpless, and all that he could do -was to encourage him to bear a stout heart and not to fall behind. - -But Peter was too delicate to keep up, and there came a day when he could -go no farther. The red men consulted for a few moments, then all of them -stood apart but one, who fitted an arrow to his bow. The child's eyes -grew big with fear, and Aaron tore at his bonds, but uselessly, and -shouted that he would take the victim's place, but no one understood his -speech, and in another moment Peter lay dead on the earth, with an arrow -in his heart. Aaron gave one cry of hate and despair, and he, too, sank -unconscious. On coming to himself he found that he was in a hut of -boughs, attended by an old Indian, who told him in rude English that he -was recovering from an illness of several weeks' duration, and that it -was the purpose of his tribe to adopt him. When the lad tried to protest -he found to his amazement that he could not utter a sound, and he learned -from the Indian that the fever had taken away his tongue. In the dulness -and weakness of his state he submitted to be clothed in Indian dress, -smeared with a juice that browned his skin, and greeted by his brother's -slayers as one of themselves. When he looked into a pool he found that he -had, to all intents, become an Indian. In time he became partly -reconciled to this change, for he did not know and could not ask where -the white settlements lay; his appearance and his inability to speak -would prevent his recognition by his friends, the red men were not unkind -to him, and every boy likes a free and out-door life. They taught him to -shoot with bow and arrow, but they kept him back if a white settlement -was to be plundered. - -Three years had elapsed, and Aaron, grown tall and strong, was a good -hunter who stood in favor with the tribe. They had roamed back to the -neighborhood of Woodstock, when, at a council, Aaron overheard a plot to -fall on the village where his parents lived. He begged, by signs, to be -allowed to go with them, and, believing that he could now be trusted, -they offered no objection. Stoic as he had grown to be, he could not -repress a tear as he saw his old home and thought of the peril that it -stood in. If only he could give an alarm! The Indians retired into the -forest to cook their food where the smoke could not be seen, while Aaron -lingered at the edge of the wood and prayed for opportunity. He was not -disappointed. Two girls came up through the perfumed dusk, driving cows -from the pasture, and as they drew near, Aaron, pretending not to see -them, crawled out of the bush with his weapons, and made a show of -stealthily examining the town. The girls came almost upon him and -screamed, while he dashed into the wood in affected surprise and regained -the camp. The Indians had heard and seen nothing. The girls would surely -give the alarm in town. - -One by one the lights of the village went out, and when it seemed locked -in sleep the red marauders crept toward the nearest house--that of Joist -Hite. They arose together and rushed upon it, but at that moment a gun -was fired, an Indian fell, and in a few seconds more the settlers, whom -the girls had not failed to put on their guard, were hurrying from their -hiding-places, firing into the astonished crowd of savages, who dashed -for the woods again, leaving a dozen of their number on the ground. Aaron -remained quietly standing near his father's house, and he was captured, -as he hoped to be. When he saw how his parents had aged with time and -grief he could not repress a tear, but to his grief was added terror when -his father, after looking him steadily in the eye without recognition, -began to load a pistol. “They killed my boys,” said he, “and I am going -to kill him. Bind him to that tree.” - -In vain the mother pleaded for mercy; in vain the dumb boy's eyes -appealed to his father's. He was not afraid to die, and would do so -gladly to have saved the settlement; but to die by his father's band! He -could not endure it. He was bound to a tree, with the light of a fire -shining into his face. - -The old man, with hard determination, raised the weapon and aimed it -slowly at the boy's heart. A surge of feeling shook the frame of the -captive--he threw his whole life into the effort--then the silence of -three years was broken, and he cried, “Father!” A moment later his -parents were sobbing joyfully, and he could speak to them once more. - - - - -SIREN OF THE FRENCH BROAD - -Among the rocks east of Asheville, North Carolina, lives the Lorelei of -the French Broad River. This stream--the Tselica of the Indians--contains -in its upper reaches many pools where the rapid water whirls and deepens, -and where the traveller likes to pause in the heats of afternoon and -drink and bathe. Here, from the time when the Cherokees occupied the -country, has lived the siren, and if one who is weary and downcast sits -beside the stream or utters a wish to rest in it, he becomes conscious of -a soft and exquisite music blending with the plash of the wave. - -Looking down in surprise he sees--at first faintly, then with -distinctness--the form of a beautiful woman, with hair streaming like -moss and dark eyes looking into his, luring him with a power he cannot -resist. His breath grows short, his gaze is fixed, mechanically he rises, -steps to the brink, and lurches forward into the river. The arms that -catch him are slimy and cold as serpents; the face that stares into his -is a grinning skull. A loud, chattering laugh rings through the -wilderness, and all is still again. - - - - -THE HUNTER OF CALAWASSEE - -Through brisk November days young Kedar and his trusty slave, Lauto, -hunted along the Calawassee, with hope to get a shot at a buck--a buck -that wore a single horn and that eluded them with easy, baffling gait -whenever they met it in the fens. Kedar was piqued at this. He drained a -deep draught and buttoned his coat with an air of resolution. “Now, by my -soul,” quoth he, “I'll have that buck to-day or die myself!” Then he -laughed at the old slave, who begged him to unsay the oath, for there was -something unusual about that animal--as it ran it left no tracks, and it -passed through the densest wood without halting at trees or undergrowth. -“Bah!” retorted the huntsman. “Have up the dogs. If that buck is the -fiend himself, I'll have him before the day is out!” The twain were -quickly in their saddles, and they had not been long in the wood before -the one-horned buck was seen ahead, trotting with easy pace, yet with -marvellous swiftness. - -Kedar, who was in advance, whipped up his horse and followed the deer -into a cypress grove near the Chechesee. As the game halted at a pool he -fired. The report sounded dead in the dense wood, and the deer turned -calmly, watched his pursuer until he was close at hand, then trotted away -again. All day long he held the chase. The dogs were nowhere within -sound, and he galloped through the forest, shouting and swearing like a -very devil, beating and spurring the horse until the poor creature's head -and flanks were reddened with blood. It was just at sunset that Kedar -found himself again on the bank of the Calawassee, near the point he had -left in the morning, and heard once more the baying of his hounds. At -last his prey seemed exhausted, and, swimming the river, it ran into a -thicket on the opposite side and stood still. “Now I have him!” cried the -hunter. “Hillio, Lauto! He's mine!” The old negro heard the call and -hastened forward. He heard his master's horse floundering in the swamp -that edged the river--then came a plash, a curse, and as the slave -arrived at the margin a few bubbles floated on the sluggish current. The -deer stood in the thicket, staring with eyes that blazed through the -falling darkness, and, with a wail of fear and sorrow, old Lauto fled the -spot. - - - - -REVENGE OF THE ACCABEE - -The settlement made by Lord Cardross, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was -beset by Spaniards and Indians, who laid it in ashes and slew every -person in it but one. She, a child of thirteen, had supposed the young -chief of the Accabees to be her father, as he passed in the smoke, and -had thrown herself into his arms. The savage raised his axe to strike, -but, catching her blue eye raised to his, more in grief and wonder than -alarm, the menacing hand fell to his side, and, tossing the girl lightly -to a seat on his shoulder, he strode off into the forest. Mile after mile -he bore her, and if she slept he held her to his breast as a father holds -a babe. When she awoke it was in his lodge on the Ashley, and he was -smiling in her face. The chief became her protector; but those who -marked, with the flight of time, how his fierceness had softened, knew -that she was more to him than a daughter. Years passed, the girl had -grown to womanhood, and her captor declared himself her lover. She seemed -not ill pleased at this, for she consented to be his wife. After the -betrothal the chief joined a hunting party and was absent for a time. On -his return the girl was gone. A trader who had been bartering merchandise -for furs had seen her, had been inspired by passion, and, favored by -suave manners and a white skin, he had won in a day a stronger affection -than the Indian could claim after years of loving watchfulness. - -When this discovery was made the chief, without a word, set off on the -trail, and by broken twig, by bended grass and footprints at the -brook-edge, he followed their course until he found them resting beneath -a tree. The girl sprang from her new lover's arms with a cry of fear as -the savage, with knife and tomahawk girt upon him, stepped into view, and -she would have clasped his knees, but he motioned her away; then, -ordering them to continue their march, he went behind them until they had -reached a fertile spot on the Ashley, near the present site of -Charleston, where he halted. “Though guilty, you shall not die,” said he -to the woman; then, to his rival, “You shall marry her, and a white -priest shall join your hands. Here is your future home. I give you many -acres of my land, but look that you care for her. As I have been merciful -to you, do good to her. If you treat her ill, I shall not be far away.” - -The twain were married and went to live on the acres that had been so -generously ceded to them, and for a time all went well; but the true -disposition of the husband, which was sullen and selfish, soon began to -disclose itself; disagreements arose, then quarrels; at last the man -struck his wife, and, seizing the deed of the Accabee land and a paper -that he had forced her to sign without knowing its contents, he started -for the settlements, intending to sell the property and sail for England. -On the edge of the village his flight was stayed by a tall form that -arose in his path-that of the Indian. “I gave you all,” said the chief, -“the woman who should have been my wife, and then my land. This is your -thanks. You shall go no farther.” - -With a quick stroke of the axe he cleft the skull of the shrinking -wretch, and then, cutting off his scalp, the Indian ran to the cottage -where sat the abandoned wife, weeping before the embers of her fire. He -roused her by tossing on fresh fuel, but she shrank back in grief and -shame when she saw who had come to her. “Do not fear,” he said. “The man -who struck you meant to sell your home to strangers”--and he laid the -deed of sale before her, “but he will never play you false or lay hands on -you again. Look!” He tossed the dripping scalp upon the paper. “Now I -leave you forever. I cannot take you back among my people, who do not -know deceit like yours, nor could I ever love you as I did at first.” - Turning, without other farewell he went out at the door. When this gift -of Accabee land was sold--for the woman could no longer bear to live on -it, but went to a northern city--a handsome house was built by the new -owner, who added game preserves and pleasure grounds to the estate, but -it was “haunted by a grief.” Illness and ill luck followed the purchase, -and the house fell into ruin. - - - - -TOCCOA FALLS - -Early in the days of the white occupation of Georgia a cabin stood not -far from the Falls of Toccoa (the Beautiful). Its only occupant was a -feeble woman, who found it ill work to get food enough from the wild -fruits and scanty clearing near the house, and she had nigh forgotten the -taste of meat; for her two sons, who were her pride no less than her -support, had been killed by savages. She often said that she would gladly -die if she could harm the red men back, in return for her -suffering--which was not Christian doctrine, but was natural. She was -brooding at her fire, one winter evening, in wonder as to how one so weak -and old as she could be revenged, when her door was flung open and a -number of red men filled her cabin. She hardly changed countenance. She -did not rise. “You may take my life,” she said, “for it is useless, now -that you have robbed it of all that made it worth living.” - -“Hush!” said the chief. “What does the warrior want with the scalps of -women? We war on your men because they kill our game and steal our land.” - -“Is it possible that you come to our homes except to kill?” - -“We are strangers and have lost our way. You must guide us to the foot of -Toccoa and lead us to our friends.” - -“I lead you? Never!” - -The chief raised his axe, but the woman did not flinch. There was a -pause, in which the iron still hung menacing. Suddenly the dame looked up -and said, “If you promise to protect me, I will lead you.” - -The promise was given and the band set forth, the aged guide in advance, -bending against the storm and clasping her poor rags about her. In the -darkest part of the wood, where the roaring of wind and groaning of -branches seemed the louder for the booming of waters, she cautioned the -band to keep in single file, but to make haste, for the way was far and -the gloom was thickening. Bending their heads against the wind they -pressed forward, she in advance. Suddenly, yet stealthily, she sprang -aside and crouched beneath a tree that grew at the very brink of the -fall. The Indians came on, following blindly, and in an instant she -descried the leader as he went whirling over the edge, and one after -another the party followed. When the last had gone to his death she arose -to her feet with a laugh of triumph. “Now I, too, can die!” she cried. So -saying, she fell forward into the grayness of space. - - - - -TWO LIVES FOR ONE - -The place of Macon, Georgia, in the early part of this century was marked -only by an inn. One of its guests was a man who had stopped there on the -way to Alabama, where he had bought land. The girl who was, to be his -wife was to follow in a few days. In the morning when he paid his -reckoning he produced a well-filled pocket-book, and he did not see the -significant look that passed between two rough black-bearded fellows who -had also spent the night there, and who, when he set forth, mounted their -horses and offered to keep him company. As they rode through the deserted -village of Chilicte one of the twain engaged the traveller in talk while -the other, falling a little behind, dealt him a blow with a loaded whip -that unseated him. Divining their purpose, and lacking weapons for his -own defence, he begged for mercy, and asked to be allowed to return to -his bride to be, but the robbers had already made themselves liable to -penalty, and two knife-thrusts in the breast silenced his appeals. The -money was secured, the body was dropped into a hollow where the wolves -would be likely to find and mangle it, and the outlaws went on their way. - -Men of their class do not keep money long, and when the proceeds of the -robbery had been wasted at cards and in drink they separated. As in -fulfilment of the axiom that a murderer is sure to revisit the scene of -his crime, one of the men found himself at the Ocmulgee, a long time -afterward, in sight of the new town--Macon. In response to his halloo a -skiff shot forth from the opposite shore, and as it approached the bank -he felt a stir in his hair and a touch of ice at his heart, for the -ferryman was his victim of years ago. Neither spoke a word, but the -criminal felt himself forced to enter the boat when the dead man waved -his hand, and he was rowed across, his horse swimming beside the skiff. -As the jar of the keel was felt on the gravel he leaped out, urged his -horse to the road, sprang to the saddle, and rushed away in an agony of -fear, that was heightened when a hollow voice called, “Stay!” - -After a little he slackened pace, and a farmer, who was standing at the -roadside, asked, in astonishment, “How did you get across? There is a -freshet, and the ferryman was drowned last night.” With a new thrill he -spurred his horse forward, and made no other halt until he reached the -tavern, where he fell in a faint on the steps, for the strain was no -longer to be endured. A crowd gathered, but he did not see it when he -awoke--he saw only one pair of eyes, that seemed to be looking into his -inmost soul--the eyes of the man he had slain. With a yell of terror and -of insane fury he rushed upon the ghost and thrust a knife into its -breast. The frenzy passed. It was no ghost that lay on the earth before -him, staring up with sightless eyes. It was his fellow-murderer--his own -brother. That night the assassin's body hung from a tree at the -cross-roads. - - - - -A GHOSTLY AVENGER - -In Cuthbert, Georgia, is a gravestone thus inscribed: “Sacred to the -memory of Jim Brown.” No date, no epitaph--for Jim Brown was hanged. And -this is the story: At the close of the Civil War a company of Federal -soldiers was stationed in Cuthbert, to enforce order pending the return -of its people to peaceful occupations. Charles Murphy was a lieutenant in -this company. His brother, an officer quartered in a neighboring town, -was sent to Cuthbert one day to receive funds for the payment of some -men, and left camp toward evening to return to his troop. That night -Charles Murphy was awakened by a violent flapping of his tent. It sounded -as though a gale was coming, but when he arose to make sure that the pegs -and poles of his canvas house were secure, the noise ceased, and he was -surprised to find that the air was clear and still. On returning to bed -the flapping began again, and this time he dressed himself and went out -to make a more careful examination. In the shadow of a tree a man stood -beckoning. It was his brother, who, in a low, grave voice, told him that -he was in trouble, and asked him to follow where he should lead him. The -lieutenant walked swiftly through fields and woods for some miles with -his relative--he had at once applied for and received a leave of absence -for a few hours--and they descended together a slope to the edge of a -swamp, where he stumbled against something. Looking down at the object on -which he had tripped, he saw that it was his brother's corpse--not newly -dead, but cold and rigid--the pockets rifled, the clothing soaked with -mire and blood. - -Dazed and terrified, he returned to camp, roused some of his men, and at -daybreak secured the body. An effort to gain a clue to the murderer was -at once set on foot. It was not long before evidence was secured that led -to the arrest of Jim Brown, and there was a hint that his responsibility -for the crime was revealed through the same supernatural agency that had -apprised Lieutenant Murphy of his bereavement. Brown was an ignorant farm -laborer, who had conceived that it was right to kill Yankees, and whose -cupidity had been excited by learning that the officer had money -concealed about him. He had offered, for a trifling sum, to take his -victim by a short cut to his camp, but led him to the swamp instead, -where he had shot him through the heart. On the culprit's arrival in -Cuthbert he was lynched by the soldiers, but was cut down by their -commander before life was extinct, and was formally and conclusively -hanged in the next week, after trial and conviction. - - - - -THE WRAITH RINGER OF ATLANTA - -A man was killed in Elliott Street, Atlanta, Georgia, by a cowardly -stroke from a stiletto. The assassin escaped. Strange what a humming -there was in the belfry of St. Michael's Church that night! Had the -murderer taken refuge there? Was it a knell for his lost soul, chasing -him through the empty streets and beginning already an eternal punishment -of terror? Perhaps the guilty one did not dare to leave Atlanta, for the -chimes sang in minor chords on several nights after. The old policeman -who kept ward in an antiquated guardhouse that stood opposite the -church--it was afterward shaken down by earthquake--said that he saw a -human form, which he would avouch to be that of the murdered man, though -it was wrapped in a cloak, stalk to the doors, enter without opening -them, glide up the winding stair, albeit he bent neither arm nor knee, -pass the ropes by which the chimes were rung, and mount to the belfry. He -could see the shrouded figure standing beneath the gloomy mouths of -metal. It extended its bony hands to the tongues of the bells and swung -them from side to side, but while they appeared to strike vigorously they -seemed as if muffled, and sent out only a low, musical roar, as if they -were rung by the wind. Was the murderer abroad on those nights? Did he, -too, see that black shadow of his victim in the belfry sounding an alarm -to the sleeping town and appealing to be avenged? It may be. At all -events, the apparition boded ill to others, for, whenever the chimes were -rung by spectral hands, mourners gathered at some bedside within hearing -of them and lamented that the friend they had loved would never know them -more on earth. - - - - -THE SWALLOWING EARTHQUAKE - -The Indian village that in 1765 stood just below the site of Oxford, -Alabama, was upset when the news was given out that two of the squaws had -given simultaneous birth to a number of children that were spotted like -leopards. Such an incident betokened the existence of some baneful spirit -among them that had no doubt leagued itself with the women, who were at -once tried on the charge of witchcraft, convicted, and sentenced to death -at the stake, while a watch was to be set on the infants, so early -orphaned, lest they, too, should show signs of malevolent possession. The -whole tribe, seventeen hundred in number, assembled to see the execution, -but hardly were the fires alight when a sound like thunder rolled beneath -their feet, and with a hideous crack and groan the earth opened and -nearly every soul was engulfed in a fathomless and smoking pit-all, -indeed, save two, for a couple of young braves who were on the edge of -the crowd flung themselves flat on the heaving ground and remained there -until the earthquake wave had passed. The hollow afterward filled with -water and was called Blue Pond. It is popularly supposed to be -fathomless, but it was shown that a forest once spread across the bottom, -when, but a few years ago, a great tree arose from the water, lifting -first its branches, then turning so as to show its roots above the -surface, and afterward disappeared. - - - - -LAST STAND OF THE BILOXI - -The southern part of this country was once occupied by a people called -the Biloxi, who had kept pace with the Aztecs in civilization and who -cultivated especially the art of music. In lives of gentleness and peace -they so soon forgot the use of arms that when the Choctaws descended on -their fields they were powerless to prevent the onset. Town after town -they evacuated before the savages, and at last the Biloxi, reduced to a -few thousands, were driven to the mouth of the Pascagoula River, -Mississippi, where they intrenched themselves, and for a few months -withstood the invaders. But the time came when their supplies were -exhausted, and every form was pinched with hunger. Flight was impossible. -Surrender commonly meant slaughter and outrage. They resolved to die -together. - -On a fair spring morning the river-ward gates of their fort were opened -and the survivors of that hapless tribe marched forth, their chief in -advance, with resolution on his wasted face, then the soldiers and -counsellors, the young men, the women and children, and the babes asleep -on the empty breasts of their mothers. As they emerged from the walls -with slow but steady step they broke into song, and their assailants, who -had retired to their tents for their meal, listened with surprise to the -chorus of defiance and rejoicing set up by the starving people. Without -pause or swerving they entered the bay and kept their march. Now the -waters closed over the chief, then the soldiers--at last only a few -voices of women were heard in the chant, and in a few moments all was -still. Not one shrank from the sacrifice. And for years after the echo of -that death-song floated over he waves. - -Another version of the legend sets forth that the Biloxi believed -themselves the children of the sea, and that they worshipped the image of -a lovely mermaid with wondrous music. After the Spaniards had come among -this gay and gentle people, they compelled them, by tyranny and murder, -to accept the religion of the white man, but of course it was only -lip-service that they rendered at the altar. The Biloxi were awakened one -night by the sound of wings and the rising of the river. Going forth they -saw the waters of Pascagoula heaped in a quivering mound, and bright on -its moonlit crest stood a mermaid that sang to them, “Come to me, -children of the sea. Neither bell, book, nor cross shall win you from -your queen.” Entranced by her song and the potency of her glances, they -moved forward until they encircled the hill of waters. Then, with hiss -and roar, the river fell back to its level, submerging the whole tribe. -The music that haunts the bay, rising through the water when the moon is -out, is the sound of their revels in the caves below--dusky Tannhausers -of a southern Venusberg. An old priest, who was among them at the time of -this prodigy, feared that the want of result to his teachings was due to -his not being in a perfect state of grace. On his death-bed he declared -that if a priest would row to the spot where the music sounded, at -midnight on Christmas, and drop a crucifix into the water, he would -instantly be swallowed by the waves, but that every soul at the bottom -would be redeemed. The souls have never been ransomed. - - - - -THE SACRED FIRE OF NACHEZ - -The Indians of the South, being in contact with the civilized races of -Central America, were among the most progressive and honorable of the red -men. They were ruled by intelligence rather than force, and something of -the respect that Europeans feel for their kingly families made them -submit to woman's rule. The valley of Nacooche, Georgia, indeed, -perpetuates in its name one of these princesses of a royal house, for -though she ruled a large tribe with wisdom she was not impervious to the -passions of common mortals. The “Evening Star” died by her own hand, -being disappointed in love affair. Her story is that of Juliet, and she -and her lover--united in death, as they could not be in life--are buried -beneath a mound in the centre of he valley. - -The Indians of that region had towns built for permanency, and possessed -some knowledge of the arts, while in religion their belief and rites were -curiously like those of the Persian fire-worshippers. It was on the site -of the present city in Mississippi which bears their name that the -Natchez Indians built their Temple of the Sun. When it was finished a -meteor fell from heaven and kindled the fire on their altar, and from -that hour the priests guarded he flame continually, until one night when -it was extinguished by mischance. This event was believed to be an omen, -and the people so took it to heart that when the white men came, directly -after, they had little courage to prosecute a war, and fell back before -the conqueror, never to hold their ancient home again. - - - - -PASS CHRISTIAN - -Senhor Vineiro, a Portuguese, having wedded Julia Regalea, a Spaniard, in -South America, found it needful to his fortunes to leave Montevideo, for -a revolution was breeding, and no less needful to his happiness to take -his wife with him from that city, for he was old and she was young. But -he chose the wrong ship to sail on, for Captain Dane, of the Nightingale, -was also young, presentable, and well schooled, but heartless. On the -voyage to New Orleans he not only won the affection of the wife, but slew -the husband and flung his body overboard. Vainly the wife tried to -repress the risings of remorse, and vainly, too, she urged Dane to seek -absolution from her church. She had never loved her husband, and she had -loved Dane from the first, but she was not at heart a bad woman and her -peace was gone. The captain was disturbed and suspicious. His sailors -glanced at him out of the corners of their eyes in a way that he did not -like. Had the woman in some unintentional remark betrayed him? Could he -conceal his crime, save with a larger one? - -Pass Christian was a village then. On a winter night its people saw a -glare in the sky, and hurrying to their doors found a ship burning in the -gulf. Smacks and row-boats put off to the rescue, but hardly were they -under way ere the ship disappeared as suddenly as if the sea had -swallowed it. As the night was thick the boats returned, but next morning -five men were encountered on the shore-all that were left of the crew of -the Nightingale. Captain Dane was so hospitably received by the people of -the district, and seemed to take so great a liking for the place, that he -resolved to live there. He bought a plantation with a roomy old house -upon it and took his fellow-survivors there to live, as he hoped, an easy -life. That was not to be. Yellow fever struck down all the men but Dane, -and one of them, in dying, raved to his negro nurse that Dane had taken -all the treasure from the ship and put it into a boat, after serving grog -enough to intoxicate all save the trusted ones of the crew; that he and -his four associates fired the ship and rowed away, leaving an unhappy -woman to a horrible fate. Senhora Vineiro was pale but composed when she -saw the manner of death she was to die. She brought from her cabin a harp -which had been a solace of her husband and herself and began to play and -sing an air that some of the listeners remembered. It was an “Ave Maria,” - and the sound of it was so plaintive that even Dane stopped rowing; but -he set his teeth when his shoe touched the box of gold at his feet and -ordered the men to row on. There was an explosion and the vessel -disappeared. On reaching shore the treasure was buried at the foot of a -large oak. - -This story was repeated by the nurse, but she was ignorant, she had no -proofs, so it was not generally believed; yet there was a perceptible -difference in the treatment of Dane by his neighbors, and among the -superstitious negroes it was declared that he had sold himself to the -devil. If he had, was it an air from hell that sounded in his ears when -he was alone?--the “Ave Maria” of a sinning but repentant woman. The -coldness and suspicion were more than he could stand. Besides, who could -tell? Evidence might be found against him. He would dig up his treasure -and fly the country. It was a year from the night when he had fired his -ship. Going out after dark, that none might see him, he stole to the tree -and began to dig. Presently a red light grew through the air, and looking -up he saw a flaming vessel advancing over the sea. It stopped, and he -could see men clambering into a boat at its side. They rowed toward him -with such miraculous speed that the ocean seemed to steam with a blue -light as they advanced. He stood like a stone, for now he could see the -faces of the rowers, and every one was the face of a corpse--a corpse -that had been left on board of that vessel and had been in the bottom of -the sea for the last twelvemonth. They sprang on shore and rushed upon -him. Next morning Dane's body was found beneath the oak with his hands -filled with gems and gold. - - - - -THE UNDER LAND - -When the Chatas looked into the still depths of Bayou Lacombe, Louisiana, -they said that the reflection of the sky was the empyrean of the Under -Land, whither all good souls were sure to go after death. Their chief, -Opaleeta, having fallen into this bayou, was so long beneath the water -that he was dead when his fellows found him, but by working over him for -hours, and through resort to prayers and incantations of medicine men, -his life returned and he stood on his feet once more. Then he grieved -that his friends had brought him back, for he had been at the gates of -the Under Land, where the air is blithe and balmy, and so nourishing that -people live on it; where it is never winter; where the sun shines -brightly, but never withers and parches; and where stars dance to the -swing of the breezes. There no white man comes to rob the Indian and -teach him to do wrong. Gorgeous birds fly through changing skies that -borrow the tints of flowers, the fields are spangled with blossoms of red -and blue and gold that load each wind with perfume, the grass is as fine -as the hair of deer, and the streams are thick with honey. - -At sunset those who loved each other in life are gathered to their -lodges, and raise songs of joy and thankfulness. Their voices are soft -and musical, their faces are young again and beam with smiles, and there -is no death. It was only the chiefs who heard his story, for, had all the -tribe known it, many who were old and ill and weary would have gone to -the bayou, and leaped in, to find that restful, happy Under Land. Those -who had gone before they sometimes tried to see, when the lake was still -and dappled with pictures of sunset clouds, but the dead never came -back--they kept away from the margin of the water lest they should be -called again to a life of toil and sorrow. And Opaleeta lived for many -years and ruled his tribe with wisdom, yet he shared in few of the -merry-makings of his people, and when, at last, his lodge was ready in -the Under Land, he gave up his life without a sigh. - - - - -THE CENRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES - - - - -AN AVERTED PERIL - -In 1786 a little building stood at North Bend, Ohio, near the junction of -the Miami and Ohio Rivers, from which building the stars and stripes were -flying. It was one of a series of blockhouses built for the protecting of -cleared land while the settlers were coming in, yet it was a trading -station rather than a fort, for the attitude of government toward the red -men was pacific. The French of the Mississippi Valley were not -reconciled, however, to the extension of power by a Saxon people, and the -English in Canada were equally jealous of the prosperity of those -provinces they had so lately lost. Both French and English had emissaries -among the Shawnees when it had become known that the United States -intended to negotiate a treaty with them. - -It was the mild weather that comes for a time in October, when -Cantantowit blesses the land from his home in the southwest with rich -colors, plaintive perfumes of decay, soft airs, and tender lights a time -for peace; but the garrison at the fort realized that the situation was -precarious. The Shawnees had camped about them, and the air was filled -with the neighing of their ponies and the barking of their dogs. To let -them into the fort was to invite massacre; to keep them out after they -had been summoned was to declare war. - -Colonel George Rogers Clarke, of Virginia, who was in command, scoffed at -the fears of his men, and would not give ear to their appeals for an -adjournment of the meeting or a change of the place of it. At the -appointed hour the doors were opened and the Indians came in. The pipe of -peace was smoked in the usual form, but the red men were sullen and -insolent, and seemed to be seeking a cause of quarrel. Clarke explained -that the whites desired only peace, and he asked the wise men to speak -for their tribe. A stalwart chief arose, glanced contemptuously at the -officer and his little guard, and, striding to the table where Clarke was -seated, threw upon it two girdles of wampum--the peace-belt and the -war-belt. “We offer you these belts,” he said. “You know what they mean. -Take which you like.” - -It was a deliberate insult and defiance. Both sides knew it, and many of -the men held their breath. Clarke carelessly picked up the war-belt on -the point of his cane and flung it among the assembled chiefs. Every man -in the room sprang to his feet and clutched his weapon. Then, with a -sternness that was almost ferocious, Clarke pointed to the door with an -imperative action, and cried, “Dogs, you may go!” - -The Indians were foiled in their ill intent by his self-possession and -seeming confidence, which made them believe that he had forces in the -vicinity that they were not prepared to meet. They had already had a -bitter experience of his strength and craft, and in the fear that a trap -had been set for them they fled tumultuously. The treaty was ratified -soon after. - - - - -THE OBSTINACY OF SAINT CLAIR - -When the new First Regiment of United States Infantry paused at Marietta, -Ohio, on its way to garrison Vincennes, its officers made a gay little -court there for a time. The young Major Hamtramck--contemptuously called -by the Indians “the frog on horseback,” because of his round -shoulders--found especial pleasure in the society of Marianne Navarre, -who was a guest at the house of General Arthur St. Clair; but the old -general viewed this predilection with disfavor, because he had hoped that -his own daughter would make a match with the major. But Louisa longed for -the freedom of the woods. She was a horsewoman and a hunter, and she had -a sentimental fondness for Indians. - -When Joseph Brandt (Thayendanegea) camped with his dreaded band near the -town, it was she who--without her father's knowledge, and in the disguise -of an Indian girl--took the message that had been entrusted to a soldier -asking the tribe to send delegates to a peace council at the fort. Louisa -and Brandt had met in Philadelphia some years before, when both were -students in that city, and he was rejoiced to meet her again, for he had -made no secret of his liking for her, and in view of the bravery she had -shown in thus riding into a hostile camp his fondness increased to -admiration. After she had delivered the message she said, “Noble warrior, -I have risked my life to obtain this interview. You must send some one -back with me.” Brandt replied, “It is fitting that I alone should guard -so courageous a maiden,” and he rode with her through the lines, under -the eyes of a wondering and frowning people, straight to the general's -door. Soon after, Brandt made a formal demand for the hand of this -dashing maid, but the stubborn general refused to consider it. He was -determined that she ought to love Major Hamtramck, and he told her so in -tones so loud that they reached the ears of Marianne, as she sat reading -in her room. Stung by this disclosure of the general's wishes, and -doubting whether the major had been true to her--fearful, too, that she -might be regarded as an interloper--she made a pretext to return as -quickly as possible to her home in Detroit, and left no adieus for her -lover. - -It was not long after that war broke out between the settlers and the -Indians, for Brandt now had a personal as well as a race grudge to -gratify, though when he defeated St. Clair he spared his life in the hope -that the general would reward his generosity by resigning to him his -daughter. At all events, he resolved that the “frog on horseback,” whom -he conceived to be his rival, should not win her. The poor major, who -cared nothing for Louisa, and who was unable to account for the flight of -Marianne, mourned her absence until it was rumored that she had been -married, when, as much in spite as in love, he took to himself a mate. -After he had been for some time a widower he met Marianne again, and -learned that she was still a maiden. He renewed his court with ardor, but -the woman's love for him had died when she learned of his marriage. -Affecting to make light of this second disappointment, he said, “Since I -cannot be united to you in life, I shall be near you in death.” - -“A soldier cannot choose where he shall die,” she answered. - -“No matter. I shall sleep in the shadow of your tomb.” - -As it fell out they were indeed buried near each other in Detroit. Thus, -the stupidity and obstinacy of General St. Clair, in supposing that he -could make young folks love to order, thwarted the happiness of four -people and precipitated a war. - - - - -THE HUNDREDTH SKULL - -In the early part of this century Bill Quick, trapper and frontiersman, -lived in a cabin on the upper Scioto, not far from the present town of -Kenton, Ohio. One evening when he returned from the hunt he found his -home rifled of its contents and his aged father weltering in his blood on -the floor. He then and there took oath that he would be revenged a -hundredfold. His mission was undertaken at once, and for many a year -thereafter the Indians of the region had cause to dread the doom that -came to them from brake and wood and fen,--now death by knife that -flashed at them from behind a tree, and the next instant whirled through -the air and was buried to the hilt in a red man's heart; now, by bullet -as they rowed across the rivers; now, by axe that clove their skulls as -they lay asleep. - -Bill Quick worked secretly, and, unlike other men of the place and time, -he did not take his trophies Indian-fashion. The scalp was not enough. He -took the head. And presently a row of grinning skulls was ranged upon his -shelves. Ninety-nine of these ghastly prizes occupied his cabin, and the -man was confident that he should accomplish his intent. But the Indians, -in terror, were falling away toward the lakes; they were keeping better -guard; and ere the hundredth man had fallen before his rifle he was -seized with fatal illness. Calling to him his son, Tom, he pointed to the -skulls, and charged him to fulfil the oath he had taken by adding to the -list a hundredth skull. Should he fail in this the murdered ancestor and -he himself would come back to haunt the laggard. Tom accepted the trust, -but everything seemed to work against him. He never was much of a hunter -nor a very true shot, and he had no liking for war; besides, the Indians -had left the country, as he fancied. So he grumbled at the uncongenial -task appointed for him and kept deferring it from week to week and from -year to year. When his conscience pricked him he allayed the smart with -drink, and his conscience seemed to grow more active as he grew older. - -On returning to the cabin after a carouse he declared that he had heard -voices, that the skulls gibbered and cracked their teeth together as if -mocking his weakness, and that a phosphorescent glare shone through the -sockets of their eyes. In his cups he prattled his secret, and soon the -whole country knew that he was under oath to kill a red-skin-and the -country laughed at him. On a certain day it was reported that a band of -Indians had been seen in the neighborhood, and what with drink and the -taunts of his friends, he was impelled to take his rifle and set out once -more on the war-path. A settler heard a shot fired not long after. Next -day a neighbor passing Tom Quick's cabin tapped at the door, and, -receiving no answer, pushed it open and entered. The hundredth skull was -there, on the shelves, a bullet-hole in the forehead, and the scalp gone. -The head was Quick's. - - - - -THE CRIME OF BLACK SWAMP - -Two miles south of Munger, Ohio, in the heart of what used to be called -the Black Swamp, stood the Woodbury House, a roomy mansion long gone to -decay. John Cleves, the last to live in it, was a man whose evil -practices got him into the penitentiary, but people had never associated -him with the queer sights and sounds in the lower chambers, nor with the -fact that a man named Syms, who had gone to that house in 1842, had never -been known to leave it. Ten years after Syms's disappearance it happened -that Major Ward and his friend John Stow had occasion to take shelter -there for the night--it being then deserted,--and, starting a blaze in -the parlor fireplace, they lit their pipes and talked till late. Stow -would have preferred a happier topic, but the major, who feared neither -man nor devil, constantly turned the talk on the evil reputation of the -house. - -While they chatted a door opened with a creak and a human skeleton -appeared before them. - -“What do you want? Speak!” cried Ward. But waiting for no answer he drew -his pistols and fired two shots at the grisly object. There was a -rattling sound, but the skeleton was neither dislocated nor disconcerted. -Advancing deliberately, with upraised arm, it said, in a husky voice, “I, -that am dead, yet live in a sense that mortals do not know. In my earthly -life I was James Syms, who was robbed and killed here in my sleep by John -Cleves.” With bony finger it pointed to a rugged gap in its left temple. -“Cleves cut off my head and buried it under the hearth. My body he cast -into his well.” At these words the head disappeared and the voice was -heard beneath the floor, “Take up my skull.” The watchers obeyed the -call, and after digging a minute beneath the hearth a fleshless head with -a wound on the left temple came to view. Ward took it into his hands, but -in a twinkling it left them and reappeared on the shoulders of the -skeleton. - -“I have long wanted to tell my fate,” it resumed, “but could not until -one should be found brave enough to speak to me. I have appeared to many, -but you are the first who has commanded me to break my long silence. Give -my bones a decent burial. Write to my relative, Gilmore Syms, of -Columbus, Georgia, and tell him what I have revealed. I have found -peace.” With a grateful gesture it extended its hand to Ward, who, as he -took it, shook like one with an ague, his wrist locked in its bony clasp. -As it released him it raised its hand impressively. A bluish light burned -at the doorway for an instant. The two men found themselves alone. - - - - -THE HOUSE ACCURSED - -Near Gallipolis, Ohio, there stood within a few years an old house of -four rooms that had been occupied by Herman Deluse. He lived there alone, -and, though his farming was of the crudest sort, he never appeared to -lack for anything. The people had an idea that the place was under ban, -and it was more than suspected that its occupant had been a pirate. In -fact, he called his place the Isle of Pines, after a buccaneers' -rendezvous in the West Indies, and made no attempt to conceal the strange -plunder and curious weapons that he had brought home with him, but of -money he never appeared to have much at once. When it came his time to -die he ended his life alone, so far as any knew--at least, his body was -found in his bed, without trace of violence or disorder. It was buried -and the public administrator took charge of the estate, locking up the -house until possible relatives should come to claim it, and the rustic -jury found that Deluse “came to his death by visitation of God.” - -It was but a few nights after this that the Rev. Henry Galbraith returned -from a visit of a month to Cincinnati and reached his home after a night -of boisterous storm. The snow was so deep and the roads so blocked with -windfalls that he put up his horse in Gallipolis and started for his -house on foot. - -“But where did you pass the night?” inquired his wife, after the -greetings were over. “With old Deluse in the Isle of Pines,” he answered. -“I saw a light moving about the house, and rapped. No one came; so, as I -was freezing, I forced open the door, built a fire, and lay down in my -coat before it. Old Deluse came in presently and I apologized, but he -paid no attention to me. He seemed to be walking in his sleep and to be -searching for something. All night long I could hear his footsteps about -the house, in pauses of the storm.” - -The clergyman's wife and son looked at each other, and a friend who was -present--a lawyer, named Maren--remarked, “You did not know that Deluse -was dead and buried?” The clergyman was speechless with amazement. “You -have been dreaming,” said the lawyer. “Still, if you like, we will go -there to-night and investigate.” - -The clergyman, his son, and the lawyer went to the house about nine -o'clock, and as they approached it a noise of fighting came from -within--blows, the clink of steel, groans, and curses. Lights appeared, -first at one window, then at another. The men rushed forward, burst in -the door, and were inside--in darkness and silence. They had brought -candles and lighted them, but the light revealed nothing. Dust lay thick -on the floor except in the room where the clergyman had passed the -previous night, and the door that he had then opened stood ajar, but the -snow outside was drifted and unbroken by footsteps. Then came the sound -of a fall that shook the building. At the same moment it was noticed by -the other two men that young Galbraith was absent. They hurried into the -room whence the noise had come. A board was wrenched from the wall there, -disclosing a hollow that had been used for a hiding-place, and on the -floor lay young Galbraith with a sack of Spanish coins in his hand. His -father stooped to pick him up, but staggered back in horror, for the -young man's life had gone. A post-mortem examination revealed no cause of -death, and a rustic jury again laid it to a “visitation of God.” - MARQUETTE'S MAN-EATER - -Until it was worn away by the elements a curious relief was visible on -the bluffs of the Mississippi near Alton, Illinois. It was to be seen as -late as 1860, and represented a monster once famous as the “piasa bird.” - Father Marquette not only believed it but described it as a man-eater in -the account of his explorations, where he mentions other zoological -curiosities, such as unicorns with shaggy mane and land-turtles three -feet long with two heads, “very mischievous and addicted to biting.” He -even showed a picture of the maneater that accorded rudely with the -picture on the rocks. It was said to prey on human flesh, and to be held -in fear by the Indians, who encountered it on and near the Mississippi. -It had the body of a panther, wings like a bat, and head and horns of a -deer. Father Marquette gave it a human face. The sculpture was -undoubtedly made by Indians, but its resemblance to the winged bulls of -Assyria and the sphinxes of Egypt has been quoted as confirmation of a -prehistoric alliance of Old and New World races or the descent of one -from the other. It has also been thought to stand for the totem of some -great chief-symbolizing, by its body, strength; by its wings, speed; by -its head, gentleness and beauty. But may not the tradition of it have -descended from the discovery of comparatively late remains, by primitive -man, of the winged saurians that crawled, swam, dived, or flew, lingering -on till the later geologic period? The legend of the man-eater may even -have been told by those who killed the last of the pterodactyls. - - - - -MICHEL DE COUCY'S TROUBLES - -Michel De Coucy, of Prairie de Rocher, Illinois, sat before his door -humming thoughtfully, and trying to pull comfort out of a black pipe.. He -was in debt, and he did not like the sensation. As hunter, boatman, -fiddler he had done well enough, but having rashly ventured into trade he -had lost money, and being unable to meet a note had applied to Pedro -Garcia for a loan at usurious interest. Garcia was a black-whiskered -Spaniard who was known to have been a gambler in New Orleans, and as -Michel was in arrears in his payments he was now threatening suit. -Presently the hunter jumped up with a glad laugh, for two horsemen were -approaching his place--the superior of the Jesuit convent at Notre Dame -de Kaskaskia and the governor of the French settlements in Illinois, of -whom he had asked advice, and who had come from Fort Chartres, on the -Mississippi, to give it in person. It was good advice, too, for the -effect of it was that there was no law of that time--1750--by which a -Spaniard could sue a Frenchman on French territory. Moreover, the bond -was invalid because it was drawn up in Spanish, and Garcia could produce -no witness to verify the cross at the bottom of the document as of -Michel's making. - -Great was the wrath of the Spaniard when Michel told him this, nor was it -lessened when the hunter bade him have no fear--that he might be obliged -to repudiate part of the interest, but that every livre of the principal -would be forthcoming, if only a little time were allowed. The money -lender walked away with clenched fists, muttering to himself, and Michel -lit his pipe again. - -At supper-time little Genevieve, the twelve-year-old daughter of Michel, -did not appear. The table was kept waiting for an hour. Michel sat down -but could not eat, and, after scolding awhile in a half-hearted fashion, -he went to the clearing down the road, where the child had been playing. -A placard was seen upon a tree beside the way, and he called a passing -neighbor to read to him these words: “Meshell Coosy. French rascal. Pay -me my money and you have your daughter. Pedro Garcia.” - -Accustomed as he was to perils, and quick as he generally was in -expedient, Michel was overwhelmed by this stroke. The villagers offered -to arm themselves and rescue the child, but he would not consent to this, -for he was afraid that Garcia might kill her, if he knew that force was -to be set against him. In a day or two Michel was told to go to Fort -Chartres, as favorable news awaited him. He rode with all speed to that -post, went to the official quarters, where the governor was sitting, and -as he entered he became almost insane with rage, for Garcia stood before -him. Nothing but the presence of others saved the Spaniard's life, and it -was some time before Michel could be made to understand that Garcia was -there under promise of safe conduct, and that the representatives of King -Louis were in honor bound to see that he was not injured. The points at -issue between the two men were reviewed, and the governor gave it as his -decision that Michel must pay his debt without interest, that being -forfeit by the Spaniard's abduction of Genevieve, and that the Spaniard -was to restore the girl, both parties in the case being remanded to -prison until they had obeyed this judgment. - -“But I have your promise of safe conduct!” cried the Spaniard, blazing -with wrath. - -“And you shall have it when the girl returns,” replied the governor. “You -shall be protected in going and coming, but there is no reference in the -paper that you hold as to how long we may wish to keep you with us.” - -Both men were marched away forthwith, but Michel was released in an hour, -for in that time the people had subscribed enough to pay his debt. The -Spaniard sent a messenger to a renegade who had little Genevieve in -keeping, and next day he too went free, swearing horribly, but glad to -accept the service of an armed escort until he was well out of town. -Michel embraced his child with ardor when once she was in his arms again; -then he lighted his pipe and set out with her for home, convinced that -French law was the best in the world, that Spaniards were not to be -trusted, and that it is safer to keep one's earnings under the floor than -to venture them in trade. - - - - -WALLEN'S RIDGE - -A century ago this rough eminence, a dozen miles from Chattanooga, -Tennessee, was an abiding place of Cherokee Indians, among whom was -Arinook, their medicine-man, and his daughter. The girl was pure and -fair, and when a white hunter saw her one day at the door of her father's -wigwam he was so struck with her charm of person and her engaging manner -that he resolved not to return to his people until he had won her for his -wife. She had many lovers, though she favored none of them, and while the -Cherokees were at first loth to admit a stranger to their homes they -forgot their jealousy when they found that this one excelled as a hunter -and fisherman, that he could throw the knife and tomahawk better than -themselves, and that he was apt in their work and their sports. - -They even submitted to the inevitable with half a grace when they found -that the stranger and the girl of whom they were so fond were in love. -With an obduracy that seems to be characteristic of fathers, the -medicine-man refused his consent to the union, and the hearts of the -twain were heavy. Though the white man pleaded with her to desert her -tribe, she refused to do so, on the score of duty to her father, and the -couple forlornly roamed about the hill, watching the sunset from its top -and passing the bright summer evenings alone, sitting hand in hand, -loving, sorrowing, and speaking not. In one of their long rambles they -found themselves beside the Tennessee River at a point where the current -swirls among rocks and sucks down things that float, discharging them at -the surface in still water, down the stream. Here for a time they stood, -when the girl, with a gush of tears, began to sing--it was her -death-song. The white man grasped her hand and joined his voice to hers. -Then they took a last embrace and flung themselves into the water, still -hand in hand. - -When the river is low you may hear their death-song sounding there. The -manitous of the river and the wood were offended with the medicine-man -because of his stubbornness and cruelty, although he suffered greatly -because of the death his daughter died, and he the cause of it. For now -strange Indians appeared among the Cherokees and drove the deer and bear -away. Tall, strong, and large were these intruders, and they hung about -the village by day and night--never speaking, yet casting a fear about -them, for they would throw great rocks farther than a warrior could shoot -an arrow with the wind behind him; they had horns springing from their -heads; their eyes were the eyes of wild-cats, and shone in the dark; they -growled like animals, shaking the earth when they did so, and breathing -flame; they were at the bedside, at the council-fire, at the banquet, -seeming only to wait for a show of enmity to annihilate the tribe. - -At length the people could endure their company no longer, and taking -down their lodges they left Wallen's Ridge and wandered far away until -they came to a valley where no foot had left its impress, and there they -besought the Great Spirit to forgive the wrong their medicine-man had -done, and to free them from the terrible spirits that had been living -among them. The prayer was granted, and the lodges stood for many years -in a safe and happy valley. - - - - -THE SKY WALKER OF HURON - -Here is the myth of Endymion and Diana, as told on the shores of Saginaw -Bay, in Michigan, by Indians who never heard of Greeks. Cloud Catcher, a -handsome youth of the Ojibways, offended his family by refusing to fast -during the ceremony of his coming of age, and was put out of the paternal -wigwam. It was so fine a night that the sky served him as well as a roof, -and he had a boy's confidence in his ability to make a living, and -something of fame and fortune, maybe. He dropped upon a tuft of moss to -plan for his future, and drowsily noted the rising of the moon, in which -he seemed to see a face. On awaking he found that it was not day, yet the -darkness was half dispelled by light that rayed from a figure near -him--the form of a lovely woman. - -“Cloud Catcher, I have come for you,” she said. And as she turned away he -felt impelled to rise and follow. But, instead of walking, she began to -move into the air with the flight of an eagle, and, endowed with a new -power, he too ascended beside her. The earth was dim and vast below, -stars blazed as they drew near them, yet the radiance of the woman seemed -to dull their glory. Presently they passed through a gate of clouds and -stood on a beautiful plain, with crystal ponds and brooks watering noble -trees and leagues of flowery meadow; birds of brightest colors darted -here and there, singing like flutes; the very stones were agate, jasper, -and chalcedony. An immense lodge stood on the plain, and within were -embroideries and ornaments, couches of rich furs, pipes and arms cut from -jasper and tipped with silver. While the young man was gazing around him -with delight, the brother of his guide appeared and reproved her, -advising her to send the young man back to earth at once, but, as she -flatly refused to do so, he gave a pipe and bow and arrows to Cloud -Catcher, as a token of his consent to their marriage, and wished them -happiness, which, in fact, they had. - -This brother, who was commanding, tall, and so dazzling in his gold and -silver ornaments that one could hardly look upon him, was abroad all day, -while his sister was absent for a part of the night. He permitted Cloud -Catcher to go with him on one of his daily walks, and as they crossed the -lovely Sky Land they glanced down through open valley bottoms on the -green earth below. The rapid pace they struck gave to Cloud Catcher an -appetite and he asked if there were no game. “Patience,” counselled his -companion. On arriving at a spot where a large hole had been broken -through the sky they reclined on mats, and the tall man loosing one of -his silver ornaments flung it into a group of children playing before a -lodge. One of the little ones fell and was carried within, amid -lamentations. Then the villagers left their sports and labors and looked -up at the sky. The tall man cried, in a voice of thunder, “Offer a -sacrifice and the child shall be well again.” A white dog was killed, -roasted, and in a twinkling it shot up to the feet of Cloud Catcher, who, -being empty, attacked it voraciously. - -Many such walks and feasts came after, and the sights of earth and taste -of meat filled the mortal with a longing to see his people again. He told -his wife that he wanted to go back. She consented, after a time, saying, -“Since you are better pleased with the cares, the ills, the labor, and -the poverty of the world than with the comfort and abundance of Sky Land, -you may return; but remember you are still my husband, and beware how you -venture to take an earthly maiden for a wife.” - -She arose lightly, clasped Cloud Catcher by the wrist, and began to move -with him through the air. The motion lulled him and he fell asleep, -waking at the door of his father's lodge. His relatives gathered and gave -him welcome, and he learned that he had been in the sky for a year. He -took the privations of a hunter's and warrior's life less kindly than he -thought to, and after a time he enlivened its monotony by taking to wife -a bright-eyed girl of his tribe. In four days she was dead. The lesson -was unheeded and he married again. Shortly after, he stepped from his -lodge one evening and never came back. The woods were filled with a -strange radiance on that night, and it is asserted that Cloud Catcher was -taken back to the lodge of the Sun and Moon, and is now content to live -in heaven. - - - - -THE COFFIN OF SNAKES - -No one knew how it was that Lizon gained the love of Julienne, at L'Anse -Creuse (near Detroit), for she was a girl of sweet and pious disposition, -the daughter of a God-fearing farmer, while Lizon was a dark, ill-favored -wretch, who had come among the people nobody knew whence, and lived on -the profits of a tap-room where the vilest liquor was sold, and where -gaming, fighting, and carousing were of nightly occurrence. Perhaps they -were right in saying that it was witchcraft. He impudently laid siege to -her heart, and when she showed signs of yielding he told her and her -friends that he had no intention of marrying her, because he did not -believe in religion. - -Yet Julienne deserted her comfortable home and went to live with this -disreputable scamp in his disreputable tavern, to the scandal of the -community, and especially of the priest, who found Lizon's power for evil -greater than his own for good, for as the tavern gained in hangers-on the -church lost worshippers. One Sunday morning Julienne surprised the people -by appearing in church and publicly asking pardon for her wrong-doing. It -was the first time she had appeared there since her flight, and she was -as one who had roused from a trance or fever-sleep. Her father gladly -took her home again, and all went well until New-Year's eve, when the -young men called d'Ignolee made the rounds of the settlement to sing and -beg meat for the poor--a custom descended from the Druids. They came to -the house of Julienne's father and received his welcome and his goods, -but their song was interrupted by a cry of distress--Lizon was among the -maskers, and Julienne was gone. A crowd of villagers ran to the cabaret -and rescued the girl from the room into which the fellow had thrust her, -but it was too late--she had lost her reason. Cursing and striking and -blaspheming, Lizon was at last confronted by the priest, who told him he -had gone too far; that he had been a plague to the people and an enemy to -the church. He then pronounced against him the edict of excommunication, -and told him that even in his grave he should not rest; that the church, -abandoned by so many victims of his wiles and tyrannies, should be swept -away. - -The priest left the place forthwith, and the morals of the village fell -lower and lower. Everything was against it, too. Blight and storm and -insect pest ravaged the fields and orchards, as if nature had engaged to -make an expression of the iniquity of the place. Suddenly death came upon -Lizon. A pit was dug near his tavern and he was placed in a coffin, but -as the box was lowered it was felt to grow lighter, while there poured -from it a swarm of fat and filthy snakes. The fog that overspread the -earth that morning seemed to blow by in human forms, the grave rolled -like a wave after it had been covered, and after darkness fell a blue -will-o'-the-wisp danced over it. A storm set in, heaping the billows on -shore until the church was undermined, and with a crash it fell into the -seething flood. But the curse had passed, and when a new chapel was built -the old evils had deserted L'Anse Crease. - - - - -MACKINACK - -Not only was Mackinack the birthplace of Hiawatha: it was the home of God -himself--Gitchi Manitou, or Mitchi Manitou--who placed there an Indian -Adam and Eve to watch and cultivate his gardens. He also made the beaver, -that his children might eat, and they acknowledged his goodness in -oblations. Bounteous sacrifices insured entrance after death to the happy -hunting-grounds beyond the Rocky Mountains. Those who had failed in these -offerings were compelled to wander about the Great Lakes, shelterless, -and watched by unsleeping giants who were ten times the stature of -mortals. - -These giants still exist, but in the form of conical rocks, one of -which-called Sugar-Loaf, or Manitou's Wigwam--is ninety feet high. A cave -in this obelisk is pointed out as Manitou's abiding-place, and it was -believed that every other spire in the group had its wraith, whence has -come the name of the island--Michillimackinack (place of great dancing -spirits). Arch Rock is the place that Manitou built to reach his home -from Sunrise Land the better. There were many such monuments of -divinities in the north. They are met with all about the lakes and in the -wooded wilderness, the most striking one being the magnificent spire of -basalt in the Black Hills region of Wyoming. It is known as Devil's -Tower, or Mateo's Tepee, and by the red men is held to be the wigwam of a -were-animal that can become man at pleasure. This singular rock towers -above the Belle Fourche River to a height of eight hundred feet. - -Deep beneath Mackinack was a stately and beautiful cavern hall where -spirits had their revels. An Indian who got leave to quit his body saw it -in company with one of the spirits, and spread glowing reports of its -beauties when he had clothed himself in flesh again. When Adam and Eve -died they, too, became spirits and continued to watch the home of -Manitou. - -Now, there is another version of this tradition which gives the, original -name of the island as Moschenemacenung, meaning “great turtle.” The -French missionaries and traders, finding the word something too large a -mouthful, softened it to Michillimackinack, and, when the English came, -three syllables served them as well as a hundred, so Mackinack it is to -this day. Manitou, having made a turtle from a drop of his own sweat, -sent it to the bottom of Lake Huron, whence it brought a mouthful of mud, -and from this Mackinack was created. As a reward for his service the -turtle was allowed to sleep there in the sun forever. - -Yet another version has it that the Great Spirit plucked a sand-grain -from the primeval ocean, set it floating on those waters, and tended it -until it grew so large that a young wolf, running constantly, died of old -age before reaching its limits. The sand became the earth. Prophecy has -warned the Winnebagoes that Manibozho (Michabo or Hiawatha) shall smite -by pestilence at the end of their thirteenth generation. Ten are gone. -All shall perish but one pure pair, who will people the recreated world. -Manibozho, or Minnebojou, is called a “culture myth,” but the Indians -have faith in him. They say that he lies asleep on the north shore of -Lake Superior, beneath the “hill of four knobs,” known as the Sleeping -Giant. There offerings are made to him, and it was a hope of his speedy -rising that started the Messiah craze in the West in 1890. - - - - -LAKE SUPERIOR WATER GODS - -There were many water gods about Lake Superior to whom the Indians paid -homage, casting implements, ornaments, and tobacco into the water -whenever they passed a spot where one of these manitous sat enthroned. At -Thunder Cape, on the north shore, lies Manibozho, and in the pillared -recess of La Chapelle, among the Pictured Rocks, dwelt powerful rulers of -the storm to whose mercy the red men commended themselves with quaint -rites whenever they were to set forth on a voyage over the great unsalted -sea. At Le Grand Portal were hidden a horde of mischievous imps, among -whose pranks was the repetition of every word spoken by the traveller as -he rested on his oars beneath this mighty arch. The Chippewas worked the -copper mines at Keweenaw Point before the white race had learned of a -Western land, but they did so timidly, for they believed that a demon -would visit with injury or death the rash mortal who should presume to -pillage his treasure, unless he had first bestowed gifts upon him. Even -then they went ashore with fear, lighted fires around a surface of native -copper, hacked off a few pounds of the softened metal, and ran to their -canoes without looking behind them. - -There was another bad manitou at the mouth of Superior Bay, where -conflicting currents make a pother of waters. This spirit sat on the -bottom of the lake, gazing upward, and if any boatman ventured to cross -his domain without dropping a pipe or beads or hatchet into it, woe -betide him, for his boat would be caught in a current and smashed against -a rocky shore. Perhaps the most vexatious god was he who ruled the -Floating Islands. These islands were beautiful with trees and flowers, -metal shone and crystals sparkled on their ledges, sweet fruits grew in -plenty, and song-birds flitted over them. In wonder and delight the -hunter would speed toward them in his canoe, but as he neared their turfy -banks the jealous manitou, who kept these fairy lands for his own -pleasure, would throw down a fog and shut them out of sight. Never could -the hunter set foot on them, no matter how long he kept up his search. - - - - -THE WITCH OF PICTURED ROCKS - -On the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior dwelt an Ojibway woman, a widow, -who was cared for by a relative. This relative was a hunter, the husband -of an agreeable wife, the father of two bright children. Being of a mean -and jealous nature, the widow begrudged every kindness that the hunter -showed to his wife--the skins he brought for her clothing, the moose's -lip or other dainty that he saved for her; and one day, in a pretence of -fine good-nature, the old woman offered to give the younger a swing in a -vine pendent from a tree that overhung the lake. - -The wife accepted, and, seating herself on the vine, was swayed to and -fro, catching her breath, yet laughing as she swept out over the water. -When the momentum was greatest the old woman cut the stem. A splash was -heard--then all was silent. Returning to the lodge, the hag disguised -herself in a dress of the missing woman, and sitting in a shadow, -pretended to nurse the infant of the household. The hunter, returning, -was a little surprised that his wife should keep her face from him, and -more surprised that the old woman did not appear for her share of the -food that he had brought; but after their meal he took his little ones to -the lake, to enjoy the evening breeze, when the elder burst into tears, -declaring that the woman in the lodge was not his mother, and that he -feared his own mother was dead or lost. - -The hunter hurled his spear into the earth and prayed that, if his wife -were dead, her body might be found, so he could mourn over it and give it -burial. Instantly a bolt of lightning came from a passing cloud and shot -into the lake, while the thunder-peal that followed shook the stones he -stood on. It also disturbed the water and presently something was seen -rising through it. The man stepped into a thicket and watched. In a few -moments a gull arose from the lake and flew to the spot where the -children were seated. Around its body was a leather belt, embroidered -with beads and quills, which the hunter recognized, and, advancing -softly, he caught the bird--that changed at once into the missing woman. -The family set forth toward home, and as they entered the lodge the -witch--for such she was--looked up, with a start, then uttered a cry of -despair. Bending low, she moved her arms in both imprecation and appeal. -A moment later a black, ungainly bird flew from the wigwam and passed -from sight among the trees. The witch never came back to plague them. - - - - -THE ORIGIN OF WHITE-FISH - -An Indian who lived far in the north was so devoted to the chase that he -was never at home for the whole of a day, to the sorrow of his two boys, -who liked nothing so much as to sport with him and to be allowed to -practise with his weapons. Their mother told them that on no account were -they to speak to him of the young man who visited the lodge while their -father was away, and it was not until they were well grown and knew what -the duty of wives should be that they resolved to disobey her. The hunter -struck the woman dead when he learned of her perfidy. So greatly did her -spirit trouble them, however, that they could no longer abide in their -old home in peace and comfort, and they left the country and journeyed -southward until they came to the Sault Sainte Marie. - -As they stood beside the falls a head came rolling toward them on the -earth--the head of the dead woman. At that moment, too, a crane was seen -riding on the surface of the water, whirling about in its strongest -eddies, and when one of the boys called to it, “O Grandfather, we are -persecuted by a spirit; take us across the falls,” the crane flew to -them. “Cling to my back and do not touch my head,” it said to them, and -landed them safely on the farther shore. - -But now the head screamed, “Come, grandfather, and carry me over, for I -have lost my children and am sorely distressed,” and the bird flew to her -likewise. “Be careful not to touch my head,” it said. The head promised -obedience, but succumbed to curiosity when half-way over and touched the -bird's head to see what was the matter with him. With a lurch the crane -flung off his burden and it fell into the rapids. As it swept down, -bumping against the rocks, the brains were pounded out and strewn over -the water. “You were useless in life,” cried the crane. “You shall not be -so in death. Become fish!” And the bits of brain changed to roe that -presently hatched to a delicate white fish, the flesh whereof is esteemed -by Indians of the lakes, and white men, likewise. The family pitched a -lodge near the spot and took the crane as their totem or name-mark. Many -of their descendants bear it to this day. - - - - -THE SPIRIT OF CLOUDY - -Among the lumbermen of Alger, Michigan, was William Cloud, an Indian, -usually called Cloudy, who was much employed on a chute a mile and a half -out of the village. The rains were heavy one spring, and a large raft of -logs had been floated down to the chute, where they were held back by a -gate until it was time to send them through in a mass. When the creek had -reached its maximum height the foreman gave word to the log-drivers to -lower the gate and let the timber down. This order came on a chilly April -night, and, as it was pitchy dark and rain was falling in sheets, the -lumbermen agreed to draw cuts to decide which of them should venture out -and start the logs. Cloudy drew the fatal slip. He was a quiet fellow, -and without a word he opened the door, bent against the storm, and passed -into the darkness. An hour went by, and the men in the cabin laughed as -they described the probable appearance of their comrade when he should -return, soaked through and through, and they wondered if he was waiting -in some shelter beside the path for the middle of the night to pass, for -the Indians believed that an evil spirit left the stream every night and -was abroad until that hour. - -As time lengthened the jest and talk subsided and a moody silence -supervened. At length one of the number resolved to sally out and see if -any mishap had fallen to the Indian. He was joined by three others, and -the party repaired to the creek. Above the chute it was seen that the -gate--which was released by the withdrawal of iron pins and sank of its -own weight-had not quite settled into place, and by the light of a -lantern held near the surface of the rushing current an obstruction could -be dimly seen. The gate was slightly raised and the object drawn up with -pike-poles. It was the mangled body of Cloudy. He was buried beside the -creek; but the camp was soon abandoned and the chute is in decay, for -between the hours of ten and twelve each night the wraith of the Indian, -accompanied by the bad spirit of the stream, ranges through the wood, his -form shining blue in the gloom, his groans sounding above the swish and -lap of the waters. - - - - -THE SUN FIRE AT SAULT SAINTE MARIE - -Father Marquette reached Sault Sainte Marie, in company with Greysolon Du -Lhut, in August, 1670, and was received in a manner friendly enough, but -the Chippewas warned him to turn back from that point, for the Ojibways -beyond were notoriously hostile to Europeans, their chief--White -Otter--having taken it on himself to revenge, by war, his father's -desertion of his mother. His father was a Frenchman. Inspired by his -mission, and full of the enthusiasm of youth and of the faith that had -led him safely through a host of dangers and troubles, Marquette refused -to change his plans, and even ventured the assertion that he could tame -the haughty Otter and bring him to the cross. At dawn he and his doughty -henchman set off in a war-canoe, but, on arriving in White Otter's camp -and speaking their errand, they were seized and bound, to await death on -the morrow. The wife of the chief spoke, out of the kindness of her -heart, and asked mercy for the white men. To no avail. The brute struck -her to the ground. That night his daughter, Wanena, who had seen Du Lhut -at the trading post and had felt the stir of a generous sentiment toward -him, appeared before the prisoners when sleep was heaviest in the camp, -cut their bonds, led them by an obscure path to the river, where she -enjoined them to enter a canoe, and guided the boat to the Holy Isle. -This was where the Ojibways came to lay offerings before the image of -Manitou, whose home was there believed to be. There the friendly red men -would be sure to find and rescue them, she thought, and after a few hours -of sleep she led them into a secluded glen where stood the figure rudely -carved from a pine trunk, six feet high, and tricked with gewgaws. As -they stood there, stealthy steps were heard, and before they could -conceal themselves White Otter and eight of his men were upon them. Du -Lhut grasped a club from among the weapons that--with other -offerings--strewed the earth at the statue's feet and prepared to sell -his life dearly. The priest drew forth his crucifix and prayed. The girl -dropped to the ground, drew her blanket over her head, and began to sing -her death-song. - -“So the black-coat and the woman-stealer have come to die before the -Indian's god?” sneered the chief. - -“If it be God's will, we will die defying your god and you,” replied -Marquette. “Yet we fear not death, and if God willed he could deliver us -as easily as he could destroy that worthless image.” He spoke in an -undertone to Du Lhut, and continued, confidently, “challenge your god to -withstand mine. I shall pray my God to send his fire from the sky and -burn this thing. If he does so will you set us free and become a -Christian?” - -“I will; but if you fail, you die.” - -“And if I win you must pardon your daughter.” - -White Otter grunted his assent. - -The sun was high and brought spicy odors from the wood; an insect hummed -drowsily, and a bird-song echoed from the distance. Unconscious of what -was being enacted about her, Wanena kept rocking to and fro, singing her -death-song, and waiting the blow that would stretch her at her father's -feet. The savages gathered around the image and watched it with eager -interest. Raising his crucifix with a commanding gesture, the priest -strode close to the effigy, and in a loud voice cried, in Chippewa, “In -the name of God, I command fire to destroy this idol!” - -A spot of light danced upon the breast of the image. It grew dazzling -bright and steady. Then a smoke began to curl from the dry grass and -feathers it was decked with. The Indians fell back in amazement, and when -a faint breeze passed, fanning the sparks into flame, they fell on their -faces, trembling with apprehension, for Marquette declared, “As my God -treats this idol, so can he treat you!” - -Then, looking up to see the manitou in flames, White Otter exclaimed, -“The white man's God has won. Spare us, O mighty medicine!” - -“I will do so, if you promise to become as white men in the faith and be -baptized.” Tamed by fear, the red men laid aside their weapons and knelt -at a brook where Marquette, gathering water in his hands, gave the rite -of baptism to each, and laid down the moral law they were to live by. -Wanena, who had fainted from sheer fright when she saw the idol burning, -was restored, and it may be added that the priest who Christianized her -also married her to Du Lhut, who prospered and left his name to the city -of the lake. News of the triumph of the white men's God went far and -wide, and Marquette found his missions easier after that. Du Lhut alone, -of all those present, was in the father's secret. He had perpetrated a -pious fraud, justified by the results as well as by his peril. A -burning-glass had been fastened to the crucifix, and with that he had -destroyed the idol. - -Trading thus on native ignorance a Frenchman named Lyons at another time -impressed the Indians at Dubuque and gained his will by setting a creek -on fire. They did not know that he had first poured turpentine over it. - - - - -THE SNAKE GOD OF BELLE ISLE - -The Indian demi-god, Sleeping Bear, had a daughter so beautiful that he -kept her out of the sight of men in a covered boat that swung on Detroit -River, tied to a tree on shore; but the Winds, having seen her when her -father had visited her with food, contended so fiercely to possess her -that the little cable was snapped and the boat danced on to the keeper of -the water-gates, who lived at the outlet of Lake Huron. The keeper, -filled with admiration for the girl's beauty, claimed the boat and its -charming freight, but he had barely received her into his lodge when the -angry Winds fell upon him, buffeting him so sorely that he died, and was -buried on Peach Island (properly Isle au Peche), where his spirit -remained for generations--an oracle sought by Indians before emprise in -war. His voice had the sound of wind among the reeds, and its meanings -could not be told except by those who had prepared themselves by fasting -and meditation to receive them. Before planning his campaign against the -English, Pontiac fasted here for seven days to “clear his ear” and hear -the wisdom of the sighing voice. - -But the Winds were not satisfied with the slaying of the keeper. They -tore away his meadows and swept them out as islands. They smashed the -damsel's boat and the little bark became Belle Isle. Here Manitou placed -the girl, and set a girdle of vicious snakes around the shore to guard -her and to put a stop to further contests. These islands in the straits -seem to have been favorite places of exile and theatres of -transformation. The Three Sisters are so called because of three Indian -women who so scolded and wrangled that their father was obliged to -separate them and put one on each of the islands for the sake of peace. - -It was at Belle Isle that the red men had put up and worshipped a natural -stone image. Hearing of this idol, on reaching Detroit, Dollier and De -Galinee crossed over to it, tore it down, smashed it, flung the bigger -piece of it into the river, and erected a cross in its place. The sunken -portion of the idol called aloud to the faithful, who had assembled to -wonder at the audacity of the white men and witness their expected -punishment by Manitou, and told them to cast in the other portions. They -did so, and all the fragments united and became a monster serpent that -kept the place from further intrusion. Later, when La Salle ascended the -straits in his ship, the Griffin, the Indians on shore invoked the help -of this, their manitou, and strange forms arose from the water that -pushed the ship into the north, her crew vainly singing hymns with a hope -of staying the demoniac power. - - - - -WERE-WOLVES OF DETROIT - -Long were the shores of Detroit vexed by the Snake God of Belle Isle and -his children, the witches, for the latter sold enchantments and were the -terror of good people. Jacques Morand, the _coureur de bois_, was in love -with Genevieve Parent, but she disliked him and wished only to serve the -church. Courting having proved of no avail, he resolved on force when she -had decided to enter a convent, and he went to one of the witches, who -served as devil's agent, to sell his soul. The witch accepted the slight -commodity and paid for it with a grant of power to change from a man's -form to that of a were-wolf, or _loup garou_, that he might the easier -bear away his victim. Incautiously, he followed her to Grosse Pointe, -where an image of the Virgin had been set up, and as Genevieve dropped at -the feet of the statue to implore aid, the wolf, as he leaped to her -side, was suddenly turned to stone. - -Harder was the fate of another maiden, Archange Simonet, for she was -seized by a were-wolf at this place and hurried away while dancing at her -own wedding. The bridegroom devoted his life to the search for her, and -finally lost his reason, but he prosecuted the hunt so vengefully and -shrewdly that he always found assistance. One of the neighbors cut off -the wolf's tail with a silver bullet, the appendage being for many years -preserved by the Indians. The lover finally came upon the creature and -chased it to the shore, where its footprint is still seen in one of the -bowlders, but it leaped into the water and disappeared. In his crazy -fancy the lover declared that it had jumped down the throat of a catfish, -and that is why the French Canadians have a prejudice against catfish as -an article of diet. - -The man-wolf dared as much for gain as for love. On the night that Jean -Chiquot got the Indians drunk and bore off their beaver-skins, the wood -witches, known as “the white women,” fell upon him and tore a part of his -treasure from him, while a were-wolf pounced so hard on his back that he -lost more. He drove the creatures to a little distance, but was glad to -be safe inside of the fort again, though the officers laughed at him and -called him a coward. When they went back over the route with him they -were astonished to find the grass scorched where the women had fled -before him, and little springs in the turf showed where they had been -swallowed up. Sulphur-water was bubbling from the spot where the wolf -dived into the earth when the trader's rosary fell out of his jacket. -Belle Fontaine, the spot was called, long afterward. - - - - -THE ESCAPE OF FRANCOIS NAVARRE - -When the Hurons came to Sandwich, opposite the Michigan shore, in 1806, -and camped near the church for the annual “festival of savages,” which -was religious primarily, but incidentally gastronomic, athletic, and -alcoholic, an old woman of the tribe foretold to Angelique Couture that, -ere long, blood would be shed freely and white men and Indians would take -each other's lives. That was a reasonably safe prophecy in those days, -and, though Angelique repeated it to her friends, she did not worry over -it. But when the comet of 1812 appeared the people grew afraid--and with -cause, for the war soon began with England. The girl's brothers fought -under the red flag; her lover, Francois Navarre, under the stars and -stripes. - -The cruel General Proctor one day passed through Sandwich with prisoners -on his way to the Hurons, who were to put them to death in the usual -manner. As they passed by, groaning in anticipation of their fate, -foot-sore and covered with dust, Angelique nearly swooned, for among them -she recognized her lover. He, too, had seen her, and the recognition had -been noticed by Proctor. Whether his savage heart was for the moment -softened by their anguish, or whether he wished to heighten their pain by -a momentary taste of joy, it is certain that on reaching camp he paroled -Francrois until sunset. The young man hastened to the girl's house, and -for one hour they were sadly happy. She tried to make him break his -parole and escape, but he refused, and as the sun sank he tore himself -from her arms and hastened to rejoin his companions in misery. - -His captors admired him for this act of honor, and had he so willed he -could have been then and there received into their tribe. As it was, they -allowed him to remain unbound. Hardly had the sun gone down when a number -of boats drew up at the beach with another lot of prisoners, and with -yells of rejoicing the Indians ran to the river to drive them into camp. -Francois's opportunity was brief, but he seized it. In the excitement he -had been unobserved. He was not under oath now, and with all speed he -dashed into the wood. Less than a minute had elapsed before his absence -was discovered, but he was a cunning woodman, and by alternately running -and hiding, with gathering darkness in his favor, he had soon put the -savages at a distance. - -A band of English went to Angelique's home, thinking that he would be -sure to rejoin her; but he was too shrewd for that, and it was in vain -that they fired guns up the chimneys and thrust bayonets into beds. -Angelique was terrified at this intrusion, but the men had been ordered -not to injure the woman, and she was glad, after all, to think that -Francois had escaped. Some days later one of the Hurons came to her door -and pointed significantly to a fresh scalp that hung at his belt. In the -belief that it was her lover's she grew ill and began to fade, but one -evening there came a faint tap at the door. She opened it to find a cap -on the door-step. - -There was no writing, yet her heart rose in her bosom and the color came -back to her cheeks, for she recognized it as her lover's. Later, she -learned that Francois had kept to the forest until he reached the site of -Walkerville, where he had found a canoe and reached the American side in -safety. She afterward rejoined him in Detroit, and they were married at -the end of the war, through which he served with honor and satisfaction -to himself, being enabled to pay many old scores against the red-coats -and the Indians. - - - - -THE OLD LODGER - -In 1868 there died in Detroit a woman named Marie Louise Thebault, more -usually called Kennette. She was advanced in years, and old residents -remembered when she was one of the quaintest figures and most assertive -spirits in the town, for until a few years before her death she was rude -of speech, untidy in appearance, loved nothing or respected nothing -unless it might be her violin and her money, and lived alone in a little -old house on the river-road to Springwells. Though she made shoes for a -living, she was of so miserly a nature that she accepted food from her -neighbors, and in order to save the expense of light and fuel she spent -her evenings out. Yet she read more or less, and was sufficiently -acquainted with Volney, Voltaire, and other skeptics to shock her church -acquaintances. Love of gain, not of company, induced her to lease one of -her rooms to a pious old woman, from whom she got not only a little rent, -but the incidental use of her fuel and light. - -When the pious one tried to win her to the church it angered her, and -then, too, she had a way of telling ghost stories that Kennette laughed -at. One of these narratives that she would dwell on with especial -self-conviction was that of Lieutenant Muir, who had left his mistress, -when she said No to his pleadings, supposing that she spoke the truth, -whereas she was merely trying to be coquettish. - -He fell in an attack on the Americans that night, and came back, -bleeding, to the girl who had made him throw his life away; he pressed -her hand, leaving the mark of skeleton fingers there, so that she always -kept it gloved afterward. Then there was the tale of the two men of -Detroit who were crushed by a falling tree: the married one, who was not -fatally hurt, begged his mate to call his wife, as soon as his soul was -free, and the woman, hearing the mournful voice at her door, as the -spirit passed on its way to space, ran out and rescued her husband from -his plight. She told, too, of the _feu follet_, or will-o'-the-wisp, that -led a girl on Grosse Isle to the swamp where her lover was engulfed in -mire and enabled her to rescue him. There was Grand'mere Duchene, -likewise, who worked at her spinning-wheel for many a night after death, -striking fear to her son's heart, by its droning, because he had not -bought the fifty masses for the repose of her soul, but when he had -fulfilled the promise she came no more. Another yarn was about the -ghost-boat of hunter Sebastian that ascends the straits once in seven -years, celebrating his return, after death, in accordance with the -promise made to Zoe, his betrothed, that--dead or alive--he would return -to her from the hunt at a certain time. - -To all this Kennette turned the ear of scorning. “Bah!” she cried. “I -don't believe your stories. I don't believe in your hell and your -purgatory. If you die first, come back. If I should, and I can, I will -come. Then we may know whether there is another world.” - -The bargain was made to this effect, but the women did not get on well -together, and soon Kennette had an open quarrel with her lodger that -ended by her declaring that she never could forgive her, but that she -would hold her to her after-death compact. The lodger died, and while -talking of her death at the house of a neighbor a boy, who had arrived -from town, casually asked Kennette--knowing her saving ways--why she had -left the light burning in her house. Grasping a poker, she set off at -once to punish the intruder who had dared to enter in her absence, but -when she arrived there was no light. On several evenings the light was -reported by others, but as she was gadding in the neighborhood she never -saw it until, one night, resolved to see for herself, she returned early, -softly entered at the back door, and went to bed. Hardly had she done so -when she saw a light coming up-stairs. Sitting bolt upright in bed she -waited. The light came up noiselessly and presently stood in the -room--not a lantern or candle, but a white phosphorescence. It advanced -toward her, changing its form until she saw a cloudy likeness to a human -being. For the first time in her life she feared. “Come no nearer!” she -cried. “I know you. I believe you, and I forgive.” - -The light vanished. From that night it was remarked that Kennette began -to age fast--she began to change and become more like other women. She -went to church and her face grew softer and kinder. It was the only time -that she saw the spirit, but the effect of the visit was permanent. - - - - -THE NAIN ROUGE - -Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, -that made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded -than the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared -only when there was to be trouble. In that it delighted. It was a -shambling, red-faced creature, with a cold, glittering eye and teeth -protruding from a grinning mouth. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, having -struck at it, presently lost his seigniory and his fortunes. It was seen -scampering along the shore on the night before the attack on Bloody Run, -when the brook that afterward bore this name turned red with the blood of -soldiers. People saw it in the smoky streets when the city was burned in -1805, and on the morning of Hull's surrender it was found grinning in the -fog. It rubbed its bony knuckles expectantly when David Fisher paddled -across the strait to see his love, Soulange Gaudet, in the only boat he -could find--a wheel-barrow, namely--but was sobered when David made a -safe landing. - -It chuckled when the youthful bloods set off on Christmas day to race the -frozen strait for the hand of buffer Beauvais's daughter Claire, but when -her lover's horse, a wiry Indian nag, came pacing in it fled before their -happiness. It was twice seen on the roof of the stable where that -sour-faced, evil-eyed old mumbler, Jean Beaugrand, kept his horse, Sans -Souci--a beast that, spite of its hundred years or more, could and did -leap every wall in Detroit, even the twelve-foot stockade of the fort, to -steal corn and watermelons, and that had been seen in the same barn, -sitting at a table, playing seven-up with his master, and drinking a -liquor that looked like melted brass. The dwarf whispered at the sleeping -ear of the old chief who slew Friar Constantine, chaplain of the fort, in -anger at the teachings that had parted a white lover from his daughter -and led her to drown herself--a killing that the red man afterward -confessed, because he could no longer endure the tolling of a mass bell -in his ears and the friar's voice in the wind. - -The Nain Rouge it was who claimed half of the old mill, on Presque Isle, -that the sick and irritable Josette swore that she would leave to the -devil when her brother Jean pestered her to make her will in his favor, -giving him complete ownership. On the night of her death the mill was -wrecked by a thunder-bolt, and a red-faced imp was often seen among the -ruins, trying to patch the machinery so as to grind the devil's grist. It -directed the dance of black cats in the mill at Pont Rouge, after the -widow's curse had fallen on Louis Robert, her brother-in-law. This man, -succeeding her husband as director of the property, had developed such -miserly traits that she and her children were literally starved to death, -but her dying curse threw such ill luck on the place and set afloat such -evil report about it that he took himself away. The Nain Rouge may have -been the Lutin that took Jacques L'Esperance's ponies from the stable at -Grosse Pointe, and, leaving no tracks in sand or snow, rode them through -the air all night, restoring them at dawn quivering with fatigue, covered -with foam, bloody with the lash of a thorn-bush. It stopped that exercise -on the night that Jacques hurled a font of holy water at it, but to keep -it away the people of Grosse Pointe still mark their houses with the sign -of a cross. - -It was lurking in the wood on the day that Captain Dalzell went against -Pontiac, only to perish in an ambush, to the secret relief of his -superior, Major Gladwyn, for the major hoped to win the betrothed of -Dalzell; but when the girl heard that her lover had been killed at Bloody -Run, and his head had been carried on a pike, she sank to the ground -never to rise again in health, and in a few days she had followed the -victims of the massacre. There was a suspicion that the Nain Rouge had -power to change his shape for one not less offensive. The brothers -Tremblay had no luck in fishing through the straits and lakes until one -of them agreed to share his catch with St. Patrick, the saint's half to -be sold at the church-door for the benefit of the poor and for buying -masses to relieve souls in purgatory. His brother doubted if this benefit -would last, and feared that they might be lured into the water and turned -into fish, for had not St. Patrick eaten pork chops on a Friday, after -dipping them into holy water and turning them into trout? But his good -brother kept on and prospered and the bad one kept on grumbling. Now, at -Grosse Isle was a strange thing called the rolling muff, that all were -afraid of, since to meet it was a warning of trouble; but, like the _feu -follet_, it could be driven off by holding a cross toward it or by asking -it on what day of the month came Christmas. The worse of the Tremblays -encountered this creature and it filled him with dismay. When he returned -his neighbors observed an odor--not of sanctity--on his garments, and -their view of the matter was that he had met a skunk. The graceless man -felt convinced, however, that he had received a devil's baptism from the -Nain Rouge, and St. Patrick had no stancher allies than both the -Tremblays, after that. - - - - -TWO REVENGES - -It is no more possible to predicate the conduct of an Indian than that of -a woman. In Detroit lived Wasson, one of the warriors of the dreaded -Pontiac, who had felt some tender movings of the spirit toward a girl of -his tribe. The keeper of the old red mill that stood at the foot of -Twenty-fourth Street adopted her, with the consent of her people, and did -his best to civilize her. But Wasson kept watch. He presently discovered -that whenever the miller was away a candle shone in the window until a -figure wrapped in a military cloak emerged from the shadows, knocked, and -was admitted. On the night that Wasson identified his rival as Colonel -Campbell, an English officer, he stole into the girl's room through the -window and cut her down with his hatchet. Colonel Campbell, likewise, he -slew after Pontiac had made prisoners of the garrison. The mill was -shunned, after that, for the figure of a girl, with a candle in her hand, -frightened so many people by moving about the place that it was torn down -in 1795. - -But the red man was not always hostile. Kenen, a Huron, loved a -half-breed girl, whom he could never persuade into a betrothal. One day -he accidentally wounded a white man in the wood, and lifting him on his -shoulder he hurried with him to camp. It was not long before he found -that the soft glances of the half-breed girl were doing more to cure his -victim than the incantations of the medicine-man, and in a fit of anger, -one day, he plucked forth his knife and fell upon the couple. Her look of -innocent surprise shamed him. He rushed away, with an expression of -self-contempt, and flung his weapon far into the river. Soon after, the -white man was captured by the Iroquois. They were preparing to put him to -the torture when a tall Indian leaped in among them, with the cry, “I am -Kenen. Let the pale face go, for a Huron chief will take his place.” And, -as the bonds fell from the prisoner's wrists and ankles, he added, “Go -and comfort the White Fawn.” The white man was allowed to enter a canoe -and row away, but as he did so his heart misgave him: the words of a -deathsong and the crackling of flames had reached his ears. - - - - -HIAWATHA - -The story of Hiawatha--known about the lakes as Manabozho and in the East -as Glooskapis the most widely disseminated of the Indian legends. He came -to earth on a Messianic mission, teaching justice, fortitude, and -forbearance to the red men, showing them how to improve their handicraft, -ridding the woods and hills of monsters, and finally going up to heaven -amid cries of wonder from those on whose behalf he had worked and -counselled. He was brought up as a child among them, took to wife the -Dakota girl, Minnehaha (“Laughing Water”), hunted, fought, and lived as a -warrior; yet, when need came, he could change his form to any shape of -bird, fish, or plant that he wished. He spoke to friends in the voice of -a woman and to enemies in tones like thunder. A giant in form, few dared -to resist him in battle, yet he suffered the common pains and adversities -of his kind, and while fishing in one of the great lakes in his white -stone canoe, that moved whither he willed it, he and his boat were -swallowed by the king of fishes. He killed the creature by beating at its -heart with a stone club, and when the gulls had preyed on its flesh, as -it lay floating on the surface, until he could see daylight, he clambered -through the opening they had made and returned to his lodge. - -Believing that his father had killed his mother, he fought against him -for several days, driving him to the edge of the world before peace was -made between them. The evil Pearl Feather had slain one of his relatives, -and to avenge that crime Hiawatha pressed through a guard of -fire-breathing serpents which surrounded that fell personage, shot them -with arrows as they struck at him, and having thus reached the lodge of -his enemy he engaged him in combat. All day long they battled to no -purpose, but toward evening a woodpecker flew overhead and cried, “Your -enemy has but one vulnerable point. Shoot at his scalp-lock.” Hiawatha -did so and his foe fell dead. Anointing his finger with the blood of his -foe, he touched the bird, and the red mark is found on the head of every -woodpecker to this day. A duck having led him a long chase when he was -trying to capture it for food, he angrily kicked it, thus flattening its -back, bowing its legs, despoiling it of half of its tail-feathers, and -that is why, to this day, ducks are awkward. - -In return for its service in leading him to where the prince of serpents -lived, he invested the kingfisher with a medal and rumpled the feathers -of its head in putting it on; hence all kingfishers have rumpled knots -and white spots on their breasts. After slaying the prince of serpents he -travelled all over America, doing good work, and on reaching Onondaga he -organized a friendly league of thirteen tribes that endured for many -years. This closed his mission. As he stood in the assemblage of chiefs a -white bird, appearing at an immense height, descended like a meteor, -struck Hiawatha's daughter with such force as to drive her remains into -the earth and shattered itself against the ground. Its silvery feathers -were scattered, and these were preserved by the beholders as ornaments -for their hair--so the custom of wearing feather head-dresses endures to -our time. Though filled with consternation, Hiawatha recognized the -summons. He addressed his companions in tones of such sweetness and terms -of such eloquence as had never been heard before, urging them to live -uprightly and to enforce good laws, and unhappy circumstance!--promising -to come back when the time was ripe. The expectancy of his return has led -to ghost-dances and similar demonstrations of enmity against the whites. -When he had ended he entered his stone canoe and began to rise in air to -strains of melting music. Higher and higher he arose, the white vessel -shining in the sunlight, until he disappeared in the spaces of the sky. - -Incidents of the Hiawatha legend are not all placed, but he is thought to -have been born near the great lakes, perhaps at Mackinack. Some legends, -indeed, credit him with making his home at Mackinack, and from that -point, as a centre, making a new earth around him. The fight with his -father began on the upper Mississippi, and the bowlders found along its -banks were their missiles. The south shore of Lake Superior was the scene -of his conflict with the serpents. He hunted the great beaver around Lake -Superior and brought down his dam at the Sault Sainte Marie. A depression -in a rock on the southern edge of Michipicotea Bay is where he alighted -after a jump across the lake. In a larger depression, near Thunder Bay, -he sat when smoking his last pipe. The big rocks on the east side of -Grand Traverse Bay, near Antrim City, Michigan, are the bones of a stone -monster that he slew. - -So trifling an incident as the kicking of the duck has been localized at -Lake Itasca. [It is worth passing mention that this name, which sounds as -if it were of Indian origin, is held by some to be composed of the last -syllables of _veritas_ and the first letters of _caput_, these -words-signifying “the true head”--being applied by early explorers as -showing that they were confident of having found the actual source of the -Mississippi.] Minnehaha lived near the fall in Minneapolis that bears her -name. The final apotheosis took place on the shores of Lake Onondaga, New -York, though Hiawatha lies buried under a mountain, three miles long, on -the east side of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, which, from the water, -resembles a man lying on his back. The red man makes oblation, as he rows -past, by dropping a pinch of tobacco into the water. Some say that -Hiawatha now lives at the top of the earth, amid the ice, and directs the -sun. He has to live in a cold country because, if he were to return, he -would set the earth on fire with his footsteps. - - - - -THE INDIAN MESSIAH - -The promise of the return to earth of various benign spirits has caused -much trouble among the red men, and incidentally to the white men who are -the objects of their fanatic dislike. The New Mexicans believed that when -the Emperor Montezuma was about to leave the earth he planted a tree and -bade them watch it, for when it fell he would come back in glory and lead -them to victory, wealth, and power. The watch was kept in secret on -account of the determination of the Spaniards to breakup all fealty to -tribal heroes and traditions. As late as 1781 they executed a sentence of -death on a descendant of the Peruvian Incas for declaring his royal -origin. When Montezuma's tree fell the people gathered on the house-tops -to watch the east-in vain, for the white man was there. In 1883 the -Sanpoels, a small tribe in Washington, were stirred by the teaching of an -old chief, who told them that the wicked would soon be destroyed, and -that the Great Spirit had ordered him to build an ark for his people. The -remains of this vessel, two hundred and eighty-eight feet long, are still -to be seen near one of the tributaries of the Columbia. - -A frenzy swept over the West in 1890, inspiring the Indians by promise of -the coming of one of superhuman power, who was generally believed to be -Hiawatha, to threaten the destruction of the white population, since it -had been foretold that the Messiah would drive the white men from their -land. Early in the summer of that year it was reported that the Messiah -had appeared in the north, and the chiefs of many tribes went to Dakota, -as the magi did to Bethlehem, to learn if this were true. Sitting Bull, -the Sioux chief, told them, in assembly, that it was so, and declared -that he had seen the new Christ while hunting in the Shoshone Mountains. -One evening he lost his way and was impelled by a strange feeling to -follow a star that moved before him. At daybreak it paused over a -beautiful valley, and, weary with his walk, he sank on a bed of moss. As -he sat there throngs of Indian warriors appeared and began a spirit -dance, led by chiefs who had long been dead. Presently a voice spoke in -his ear, and turning he saw a strange man dressed in white. The man said -he was the same Christ who had come into the world nineteen hundred years -before to save white men, and that now he would save the red men by -driving out the whites. The Indians were to dance the ghost-dance, or -spirit dance, until the new moon, when the globe would shiver, the wind -would glow, and the white soldiers and their horses would sink into the -earth. The Messiah showed to Sitting Bull the nail-wounds in his hands -and feet and the spear-stab in his side. When night came on the form in -white had disappeared--and, returning, the old chief taught the -ghost-dance to his people. - - - - -THE VISION OF RESCUE - -Surmounting Red Banks, twelve miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the -eastern shore, and one hundred feet above the water, stands an earthwork -that the first settlers found there when they went into that country. It -was built by the Sauks and Outagamies, a family that ruled the land for -many years, rousing the jealousy of neighboring tribes by their wealth -and power. The time came, as it did in the concerns of nearly every band -of Indians, when war was declared against this family, and the enemy came -upon them in the darkness, their canoes patroling the shore while the -main body formed a line about the fort. So silently was this done that -but one person discovered it--a squaw, who cried, “We are all dead!” - -There was nothing to see or hear, and she was rated for alarming the camp -with foolish dreams; but dawn revealed the beleaguering line, and at the -lifting of the sun a battle began that lasted for days, those within the -earthworks sometimes fighting while ankle-deep in the blood of their -fellows. The greatest lack of the besieged was that of water, and they -let down earthen jars to the lake to get it, but the cords were cut ere -they could be drawn up, the enemy shouting, derisively, “Come down and -drink!” Several times they tried to do so, but were beaten back at every -sally, and it seemed at last as if extermination was to be their fate. - -When matters were at their darkest one of the young men who had been -fasting for ten days--the Indian custom when divine direction was sought -addressed his companions to this effect: “Last night there stood by me -the form of a young man, clothed in white, who said, 'I was once alive, -but I died, and now I live forever. Trust me and I will deliver you. Be -fearless. At midnight I will cast a sleep on your enemies. Go forth -boldly and you shall escape.'” The condition was too desperate to -question any means of freedom, and that night all but a handful of -disbelievers left the fort, while the enemy was in a slumber of -exhaustion, and got away in safety. When the besiegers, in the morning, -found that the fort had been almost deserted, they fell on the few that -remained to repent their folly, and put them to the knife and axe, for -their fury was excessive at the failure of the siege. - - - - -DEVIL'S LAKE - -Any of the noble rivers and secluded lakes of Wisconsin were held in -esteem or fear by the northern tribes, and it was the now-forgotten -events and superstitions connected with them, not less than the frontier -tendency for strong names, that gave a lurid and diabolical nomenclature -to parts of this region. Devils, witches, magicians, and manitous were -perpetuated, and Indians whose prowess was thought to be supernatural -left dim records of themselves here and there--as near the dells of the -Wisconsin, where a chasm fifty feet wide is shown as the ravine leaped by -chief Black Hawk when flying from the whites. Devil's Lake was the home -of a manitou who does not seem to have been a particularly evil genius, -though he had unusual power. The lake fills what is locally regarded as -the crater of an extinct volcano, and the coldness and purity kept by the -water, in spite of its lacking visible inlets or outlets, was one cause -for thinking it uncanny. - -This manitou piled the heavy blocks of Devil's Door-Way and set up Black -Monument and the Pedestalled Bowlder as thrones where he might sit and -view the landscape by day--for the Indians appreciated the beautiful in -nature and supposed their gods did, too--while at night he could watch -the dance of the frost spirits, the aurora borealis. Cleft Rock was -sundered by one of his darts aimed at an offending Indian, who owed his -life to the manitou's bad aim. The Sacrifice Stone is shown where, at -another time, a girl was immolated to appease his anger. Cleopatra's -Needle, as it is now called, is the body of an ancient chief, who was -turned into stone as a punishment for prying into the mysteries of the -lake, a stone on East Mountain being the remains of a squaw who had -similarly offended. On the St. Croix the Devil's Chair is pointed out -where he sat in state. He had his play spells, too, as you may guess when -you see his toboggan slide in Weber Canon, Utah, while Cinnabar Mountain, -in the Yellowstone country, he scorched red as he coasted down. - -The hunter wandering through this Wisconsin wilderness paused when he -came within sight of the lake, for all game within its precincts was in -the manitou's protection; not a fish might be taken, and not even a drop -of water could be dipped to cool the lips of the traveller. So strong was -this fear of giving offence to the manitou that Indians who were dying of -wounds or illness, and were longing for a swallow of water, would refuse -to profane the lake by touching their lips to it. - - - - -THE KEUSCA ELOPEMENT - -Keusca was a village of the Dakota Indians on the Wisconsin bluffs of the -Mississippi eighteen hundred miles from its mouth. The name means, to -overthrow, or set aside, for it was here that a tribal law was broken. -Sacred Wind was a coquette of that village, for whose hand came many -young fellows wooing with painted faces. For her they played the bone -flute in the twilight, and in the games they danced and leaped their -hardest and shot their farthest and truest when she was looking on. -Though they amused her she cared not a jot for these suitors, keeping her -love for the young brave named the Shield--and keeping it secret, for he -was her cousin, and cousins might not wed. If a relative urged her to -marry some young fellow for whom she had no liking, she would answer that -if forced to do so she would fling herself into the river, and spoke of -Winonah and Lovers' Leap. - -She was afraid to wed the Shield, for the medicine-men had threatened all -who dared to break the marriage laws with unearthly terrors; yet when the -Shield had been absent for several weeks on the war-path she realized -that life without his companionship was too hollow to be endured--and she -admired him all the more when he returned with two scalps hanging at his -belt. He renewed his wooing. He allayed her fears by assurances that he, -too, was a medicine-man and could counteract the spells that wizards -might cast on them. Then she no longer repressed the promptings of her -heart, but yielded to his suit. They agreed to elope that night. - -As they left the little clearing in the wood where their interview had -taken place, a thicket stirred and a girl stole from it, looking intently -at their retreating forms. The Swan, they had named her; but, with a -flush in her dusky cheeks, her brows dark, her eyes glittering, she more -recalled the vulture--for she, too, loved the Shield; and she had now -seen and heard that her love was hopeless. That evening she alarmed the -camp; she told the parents of Sacred Wind of the threatened violation of -custom, and the father rose in anger to seek her. It was too late, for -the flight had taken place. The Swan went to the river and rowed out in a -canoe. From the middle of the stream she saw a speck on the water to the -southward, and knew it to be Sacred Wind and her lover, henceforth -husband. She watched until the speck faded in the twilight--then leaning -over the side of the boat she capsized it, and passed from the view of -men. - - - - -PIPESTONE - -Pipestone, a smooth, hard, even-textured clay, of lively color, from -which thousands of red men cut their pipe-bowls, forms a wall on the -Coteau des Prairies, in Minnesota, that is two miles long and thirty feet -high. In front of it lie five bowlders, the droppings from an iceberg to -the floor of the primeval sea, and beneath these masses of granite live -the spirits of two squaws that must be consulted before the stone can be -dug. This quarry was neutral ground, and here, as they approached it, the -men of all tribes sheathed their knives and belted up their axes, for to -this place the Great Spirit came to kill and eat the buffalo, and it is -the blood of this animal that has turned the stone to red. Here, too, the -Thunder Bird had her nest, and her brood rent the skies above it with the -clashing of their iron wings. - -A snake having crawled into this nest to steal the unhatched thunders, -Manitou caught up a piece of pipestone, hastily pressed it between his -hands, giving it the shape of a man, and flung it at the reptile. The -stone man's feet stuck fast in the ground, and there he stood for a -thousand years, growing like a tree and drawing strength and knowledge -out of the earth. Another shape grew up beside him--woman. In time the -snake gnawed them free from their foundations and the red-earth pair -wandered off together. From them sprang all people. - -Ages after, the Manitou called the red men to the quarry, fashioned a -pipe for them, told them it was a part of their flesh, and smoked it over -them, blowing the smoke to north, south, east, and west, in token that -wherever the influence of the pipe extended there was to be brotherhood -and peace. The place was to be sacred from war and they were to make -their pipes from this rock. As the smoke rolled about him he gradually -disappeared from view. At the last whiff the ashes fell out and the -surface of the rock for miles burst into flame, so that it melted and -glazed. Two ovens opened at its foot, and through the fire entered the -two spirits Tsomecostee and Tsomecostewondee--that are still its -guardians, answering the invocations of the medicine-men and accepting -the oblations of those who go to make pipes or carve their totems on the -rock. - - - - -THE VIRGINS' FEAST - -A game of lacrosse was played by Indian girls on the ice near the present -Fort Snelling, one winter day, and the victorious trophies were awarded -to Wenonah, sister of the chief, to the discomfiture of Harpstenah, her -opponent, an ill-favored woman, neglected by her tribe, and jealous of -Wenonah's beauty and popularity. This defeat, added to some fancied -slights, was almost more than she could bear, and during the contest she -had been cut in the head by one of the rackets--an accident that she -falsely attributed to her adversary in the game. She had an opportunity -of proving her hatred, for directly that it was known how Wenonah had -refused to marry Red Cloud, a stalwart boaster, openly preferring a -younger warrior of the tribe, the ill-thinking Harpstenah sought out the -disappointed suitor, who sat moodily apart, and thus advised him, -“To-morrow is the Feast of Virgins, when all who are pure will sit at -meat together. Wenonah will be there. Has she the right to be? Have you -not seen how shamelessly she favors your rival's suit? Among the Dakotas -to accuse is to condemn, and the girl who is accused at the Virgins' -Feast is disgraced forever. She has shown for Red Cloud nothing but -contempt. If he shows no anger at it the girls will laugh at him.” - -With this she turned away and left Red Cloud to his meditations. Wenonah, -at the door of her brother's wigwam, looked into the north and saw the -stars grow pale through streams of electric fire. “The Woman of the North -warns us of coming evil,” muttered the chief. “Some danger is near. Fire -on the lights!” And a volley of musketry sent a shock through the still -air. - -“They shine for me,” said Wenonah, sadly. “For I shall soon join our -father, mother, and sister in the land of spirits. Before the leaves fell -I sat beside the Father of Waters and saw a manitou rise among the waves. -It said that my sisters in the sunset world were calling to me and I must -soon go to them.” The chief tried to laugh away her fancies and comforted -her as well as he might, then leading her to the wigwam he urged her to -sleep. - -Next day is the Virgins' Feast and Wenonah is among those who sit in the -ring, dressed in their gayest. None who are conscious of a fault may -share in the feast; nor, if one were exposed and expelled, might any -interpose to ask for mercy; yet a groan of surprise and horror goes -through the company when Red Cloud, stalking up to the circle, seizes the -girl roughly by the shoulder and orders her away. No use to deny or -appeal. An Indian warrior would not be so treacherous or unjust as to act -in this way unless he had proofs. Without a word she enters the adjacent -wood, draws her knife, and strikes it to her heart. With summer came the -fever, and it ravaged through the band, laying low the infant and the -counsellor. Red Cloud was the first to die, and as he was borne away -Harpstenah lifted her wasted form and followed him with dimming eyes, -then cried, “He is dead. He hated Wenonah because she slighted him. I -hated her because she was happy. I told him to denounce her. But she was -innocent.” - - - - -FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY - -Several of the Dakotas, who had been in camp near the site of St. Paul, -left their families and friends, when the hunting season opened, and went -into the north. On their arrival at another village of their tribe, they -stayed to rest for a little, and one of the men used the time to -ill-advantage, as it fell out, for he conceived an attachment for a girl -of this northern family, and on his way southward he wedded her and took -her home with him. Proper enough to do, if he had not been married -already. The first wife knew that any warrior might take a second, if he -could support both; but the woman was stronger than the savage in her -nature, and when her husband came back, with a red-cheeked woman walking -beside him, she felt that she should never know his love again. The man -was all attention to the young wife, whether the tribe tarried or -travelled. When they shifted camp the elder walked or rowed behind with -her boy, a likely lad of ten or twelve. - -It was when they were returning down the river after a successful hunt -that the whole company was obliged to make a carry around the quick water -near the head of St. Anthony's Falls. While the others were packing the -boats and goods for transportation by hand to the foot of the cataract, -the forsaken wife chose a moment when none were watching to embark with -her boy in one of the canoes. Rowing out to an island, she put on all her -ornaments, and dressed the lad in beads and feathers as if he were a -warrior. Her husband, finding her absent from the party, looked anxiously -about for some time, and was horrified to see her put out from the island -into the rapid current. She had placed the child high in the boat, and -was rowing with a steady stroke down the stream. He called and beckoned -franticly. She did not seem to hear him, nor did she turn her head when -the others joined their cries to his. For a moment those who listened -heard her death-song, then the yeasty flood hid them from sight, and the -husband on the shore fell to the earth with a wail of anguish. - - - - -FLYING SHADOW AND TRACK MAKER - -The Chippewas and Sioux had come together at Fort Snelling to make merry -and cement friendships. Flying Shadow was sad when the time came for the -tribes to part, for Track Maker had won her heart, and no less strong -than her love was the love he felt for her. But a Chippewa girl might not -marry among the Sioux, and, if she did, the hand of every one would be -against her should ever the tribes wage war upon each other, and war was -nearer than either of them had expected. The Chippewas left with feelings -of good will, Flying Shadow concealing in her bosom the trinkets that -testified to the love of Track Maker and sighing as she thought of the -years that might elapse ere they met again. - -Two renegade Chippewas, that had lingered behind the band, played the -villain after this pleasant parting, for they killed a Sioux. Hardly was -the news of this outrage received at the fort ere three hundred warriors -were on the trail of their whilom guests and friends, all clamoring for -revenge. Among them was Track Maker, for he could not, as a warrior, -remain behind after his brother had been shot, and, while his heart sank -within him as he thought of the gentle Flying Shadow, he marched in -advance, and early in the morning the Chippewas were surprised between -St. Anthony's Falls and Rum River, where they had camped without fear, -being alike ignorant and innocent of the murder for which so many were to -be punished. - -The Sioux fell upon them and cut down all alike--men, women, and -children. In the midst of the carnage Track Maker comes face to face with -Flying Shadow, and with a cry of gladness she throws herself into his -arms. But there is no refuge there. Gladly as he would save her, he knows -too well that the thirst for blood will not be sated until every member -of that band is dead. He folds her to his bosom for an instant, looks -into her eyes with tenderness--then bowing his head he passes on and -never glances back. It is enough. She falls insensible, and a savage, -rushing upon her, tears the scalp from her head. - -The Sioux win a hundred scalps and celebrate their victory with dance and -song. Track Maker has returned with more scalps than any, and the maidens -welcome him as a hero, but he keeps gravely apart from all, and has no -share in the feasting and merry-making. Ever the trusting, pleading, -wondering face of Flying Shadow comes before him. It looks out at him in -the face of the deer he is about to kill. He sees it in the river, the -leaves, the clouds. It rises before him in dreams. The elder people say -he is bewitched, but he will have none of their curatives. When war -breaks out he is the first to go, the first to open battle. Rushing among -his enemies he lays about him with his axe until he falls, pierced with a -hundred spears and arrows. It is the fate he has courted, and as he falls -his face is lighted with a smile. - - - - -SAVED BY A LIGHTNING-STROKE - -There was rough justice in the West in the old days. It had to be dealt -severely and quickly, for it was administered to a kind of men that -became dangerous if they saw any advantage or any superiority in their -strength or numbers over the decent people with whom they were cast. They -were uncivilized foreigners and native renegades, for the most part, who -had drifted to the frontier in the hope of making a living without work -more easily than in the cities. As there were no lawyers or courts and -few recognized laws, the whole people constituted themselves a jury, and -if a man were known to be guilty it was foolishness for any one to waste -logic on his case. And there is almost no record of an innocent man being -hanged by lynchers in the West. For minor offences the penalty was to be -marched out of camp, with a warning to be very cautious about coming that -way again, but for graver ones it was death. - -In 1840 a number of desperate fellows had settled along Cedar River, near -its confluence with the Iowa, who subsisted by means of theft from the -frugal and industrious. Some of these men applied themselves especially -to horse-stealing, and in thinly settled countries, where a man has often -to go twenty or thirty miles for supplies, or his mail, or medical -attendance, it is thought to be a calamity to be without a horse. - -At last the people organized themselves into a vigilance committee and -ran down the thieves. As the latter were a conscienceless gang of -rascals, it was resolved that the only effectual way of reforming them -would be by hanging. One man of the nine, it is true, was supposed before -his arrest to be a respectable citizen, but his evil communications -closed the ears of his neighbors to his appeals, and it was resolved that -he, too, should hang. - -Not far away stood an oak with nine stout branches, and to this natural -gallows the rogues were taken. As a squall was coming up the ceremonies -were short, and presently every limb was weighted with the form of a -captive. The formerly respectable citizen was the last one to be drawn -up, and hardly had his halter been secured before the storm burst and a -bolt of lightning ripped off the limb on which he hung. During the delay -caused by this accident the unhappy man pleaded so earnestly for a -rehearing that it was decided to give it to him, and when he had secured -it he conclusively proved his innocence and was set free. The tree is -still standing. To the ruffians it was a warning and they went away. Even -the providential saving of one man did not detract from the value of the -lesson to avoid bad company. - - - - -THE KILLING OF CLOUDY SKY - -In the Dakota camp on the bank of Spirit Lake, or Lake Calhoun, Iowa, -lived Cloudy Sky, a medicine-man, who had been made repellent by age and -accident, but who was feared because of his magic power. At eighty years -of age he looked for a third wife, and chose the daughter of a warrior, -his presents of blankets and calicoes to the parents winning their -consent. The girl, Harpstenah (a common name for a third daughter among -the Sioux), dreaded and hated this man, for it was rumored that he had -killed his first wife and basely sold his second. When she learned what -had been decided for her she rushed from the camp in tears and sat in a -lonely spot near the lake to curse and lament unseen. As she sat there -the waters were troubled. There was no wind, yet great waves were thrown -up, and tumbled hissing on the shore. Presently came a wave higher than -the rest, and a graceful form leaped from it, half shrouded in its own -long hair. - -“Do not tremble,” said the visitant, for Harpstenah had hidden her face. -“I am the daughter of Unktahe, the water god. In four days your parents -will give you to Cloudy Sky, as his wife, though you love Red Deer. It is -with you to wed the man you hate or the man you love. Cloudy Sky has -offended the water spirits and we have resolved upon his death. If you -will be our agent in destroying him, you shall marry Red Deer and live -long and happily. The medicine-man wandered for years through the air -with the thunder birds, flinging his deadly fire-spears at us, and it was -for killing the son of Unktahe that he was last sent to earth, where he -has already lived twice before. Kill him while he sleeps and we will -reward you.” - -As Harpstenah went back to the village her prospective bridegroom ogled -her as he sat smoking before his lodge, his face blackened and blanket -torn in mourning for an enemy he had killed. She resolved to heed the -appeal of the manitou. When Red Deer heard how she had been promised to -the old conjurer, he was filled with rage. Still, he became thoughtful -and advised caution when she told him of the water spirit's counsel, for -the dwellers in the lakes were, of all immortals, most deceitful, and had -ever been enemies of the Dakotas. “I will do as I am bidden,” she said, -sternly. “Go away and visit the Tetons for a time. It is now the moon of -strawberries” (June), “but in the moon when we gather wild rice” - (September) “return and I will be your wife.” - -Red Deer obeyed, after finding that she would not elope with him, and -with the announcement that he was going on a long hunt he took his leave -of the village. Harpstenah made ready for the bridal and greeted her -future husband with apparent pleasure and submissiveness. He gave a -medicine feast in token of the removal of his mourning, and appeared in -new clothing, greased and braided hair, and a white blanket decorated -with a black hand--the record of a slain enemy. - -On the night before the wedding the girl creeps to his lodge, but -hesitates when she sees his medicine-bag hanging beside the door--the -medicine that has kept its owner from evil and is sacred from the touch -of woman. As she lingers the night-breeze seems to bring a voice from the -water: “Can a Dakota woman want courage when she is forced to marry the -man she hates?” - -She delays no longer. A knife-blade glitters for an instant in the -moonlight--and Cloudy Sky is dead. Strange, is it not, that the thunder -birds flap so heavily along the west at that moment and a peal of -laughter sounds from the lake? She washes the blood from the blade, -steals to her father's lodge, and pretends to sleep. In the morning she -is loud in her grief when it is made known to her that the medicine-man -was no more, and the doer of the deed is never discovered. In time her -wan face gets its color and when the leaves begin to fall Red Deer -returns and weds her. - -They seem to be happy for a time, and have two sons who promise to be -famous hunters, but consumption fastens on Red Deer and he dies far from -the village. The sons are shot by enemies, and while their bodies are on -their way to Harpstenah's lodge she, too, is stricken dead by lightning. -The spirit of Cloudy Sky had rejoined the thunder birds, and the water -manitou had promised falsely. - - - - -PROVIDENCE HOLE - -The going of white men into the prairies aroused the same sort of -animosity among the Indians that they have shown in other parts of the -country when retiring before the advance of civilization, and many who -tried to plant corn on the rolling lands of Iowa, though they did no harm -to the red men, paid for the attempt with their lives. Such was the fate -of a settler who had built his cabin on the Wyoming hills, near -Davenport. While working in his fields an arrow, shot from a covert, laid -him low, and his scalp was cut away to adorn the belt of a savage. His -little daughter, left alone, began to suffer from fears and loneliness as -the sun went lower and lower, and when it had come to its time of setting -she put on her little bonnet and went in search of him. As she gained the -slope where he had last been seen, an Indian lifted his head from the -grass and looked at her. - -Starting back to run, she saw another behind her. Escape seemed hopeless, -and killing or captivity would have been her lot had not a crevice opened -in the earth close to where she stood. Dropping on hands and knees she -hastily crawled in, and found herself in what seemed to be an extensive -cavern. Hardly had she time to note the character of the place when the -gap closed as strangely as it had opened and she was left in darkness. -Not daring to cry aloud, lest Indians should hear her, she sat upright -until her young eyes could keep open no longer; then, lying on a mossy -rock, she fell asleep. In the morning the sun was shining in upon her and -the way to escape was open. She ran home, hungry, but thankful, and was -found and cared for by neighbors. “Providence Hole” then passed into the -legends of the country. It has closed anew, however. - - - - -THE SCARE CURE - -Early in this century a restless Yankee, who wore the uninspiring name of -Tompkinson, found his way into Carondelet--or Vuide Poche, the French -settlement on the Mississippi since absorbed by St. Louis--and cast about -for something to do. He had been in hard luck on his trip from New -England to the great river. His schemes for self-aggrandizement and the -incidental enlightenment and prosperity of mankind had not thriven, and -it was largely in pity that M. Dunois gave shelter to the ragged, -half-starved, but still jaunty and resourceful adventurer. Dunois was the -one man in the place who could pretend to some education, and the two got -on together famously. - -As soon as Tompkinson was in clothes and funds--the result of certain -speculations--he took a house, and hung a shingle out announcing that -there he practised medicine. Now, the fellow knew less about doctoring -than any village granny, but a few sick people that he attended had the -rare luck to get well in spite of him, and his reputation expanded to -more than local limits in consequence. In the excess of spirits that -prosperity created he flirted rather openly with a number of virgins in -Carondelet, to the scandal of Dunois, who forbade him his house, and of -the priest, who put him under ban. - -For the priest he cared nothing, but Dunois's anger was more serious--for -the only maid of all that he really loved was Marie Dunois, his daughter. -He formally proposed for her, but the old man would not listen to him. -Then his “practice” fell away. The future looked as dark for him as his -recent past had been, until a woman came to him with a bone in her throat -and begged to be relieved. His method in such cases was to turn a -wheel-of-fortune and obey it. The arrow this time pointed to the word, -“Bleeding.” - -He grasped a scalpel and advanced upon his victim, who, supposing that he -intended to cut her throat open to extract the obstacle, fell a-screaming -with such violence that the bone flew out. What was supposed to be his -ready wit in this emergency restored him to confidence, and he was able -to resume the practice that he needed so much. In a couple of years he -displayed to the wondering eyes of Dunois so considerable an accumulation -of cash that he gave Marie to him almost without the asking, and, as -Tompkinson afterward turned Indian trader and quadrupled his wealth by -cheating the red men, he became one of the most esteemed citizens of the -West. - - - - -TWELFTH NIGHT AT CAHOKIA - -It was Twelfth Night, and the French village of Cahokia, near St. Louis, -was pleasantly agitated at the prospect of a dance in the old court -saloon, which was assembly-room and everything else for the little place. -The thirteen holy fires were alight--a large one, to represent Christ; a -lesser one, to be trampled out by the crowd, typing Judas. The twelfth -cake, one slice with the ring in it, was cut, and there were drink and -laughter, but, as yet, no music. Gwen Malhon, a drift-wood collector, was -the most anxious to get over the delay, for he had begged a dance from -Louison. Louison Florian was pretty, not badly off in possessions and -prospects, and her lover, Beaurain, had gone away. She was beginning to -look a little scornful and impatient, so Gwen set off for a fiddler. - -He had inquired at nearly every cabin without success, and was on his way -toward the ferry when he heard music. Before him, on the moonlit river, -was a large boat, and near it, on the bank, he saw a company of men -squatted about a fire and bousing together from a bottle. At a little -distance, on a stump, sat a thin, bent man, enveloped in a cloak, and it -was he who played. Gwen complimented him and pleaded the disappointment -of the dancers in excuse of an urgent appeal that he should hurry with -him to the court saloon. The stranger was courteous. He sprang into the -road with a limping bound, shook down his cloak so as to disclose a -curled moustache, shaggy brows, a goat's beard, and a pair of glittering -eyes. “I'll give them a dance!” he exclaimed. “I know one tune. They call -it 'Returned from the Grave.' Pay? We'll see how you like my playing.” - -On entering the room where the caperish youth were already shuffling in -corners, the musician met Mamzel Florian, who offered him a slice of the -cake. He bent somewhat near to take it, and she gave a little cry. He had -found the ring, and that made him king of the festival, with the right to -choose the prettiest girl as queen. A long drink of red wine seemed to -put him in the best of trim, and he began to fiddle with a verve that was -irresistible. In one minute the whole company--including the priest, some -said--was jigging it lustily. “Whew!” gasped one old fellow. “It is the -devil who plays. Get some holy water and sprinkle the floor.” - -Gwen watched the musician as closely as his labors would allow, for he -did not like the way the fiddler had of looking at Louison, and he -thought to himself that Louison never blushed so prettily for him. -Forgetting himself when he saw the fiddler smile at the girl, he made a -rush for the barrel where that artist was perched. He bumped against a -dancer and fell. At that moment the light was put out and the hall rang -with screams and laughter. The tones of one voice sounded above the rest: -“By right of the ring the girl is mine.” - -“He has me,” Louison was heard to say, yet seemingly not in fear. Lights -were brought. Louison and the fiddler were gone, the stranger's cloak and -half of a false moustache were on the floor, while Gwen was jammed into -the barrel and was kicking desperately to get out. When released he -rushed for the river-side where he had seen the boat. Two figures flitted -before him, but he lost sight of them, and in the silence and loneliness -his choler began to cool. Could it really have been the devil? An owl -hooted in the bush. He went away in haste. There was a rumor in after -years that Beaurain was an actor in a company that went up and down the -great river on a barge, and that a woman who resembled Louison was also -in the troupe. But Gwen never told the story of his disappointment -without crossing himself. - - - - -THE SPELL OF CREVE CIUR LAKE - -Not far west of St. Louis the Lake of Creve Coeur dimples in the breezes -that bend into its basin of hills, and there, in summer, swains and -maidens go to confirm their vows, for the lake has an influence to -strengthen love and reunite contentious pairs. One reason ascribed for -the presence of this spell concerns a turbulent Peoria, ambitious of -leadership and hungry for conquest, who fell upon the Chawanons at this -place, albeit he was affianced to the daughter of their chief. The girl -herself, enraged at the treachery of the youngster, put herself at the -head of her band--a dusky Joan of Arc,--and the fight waged so furiously -that the combatants, what were left of them, were glad when night fell -that they might crawl away to rest their exhausted bodies and nurse their -wounds. Neither tribe daring to invite a battle after that, hostilities -were stopped, but some time later the young captain met the girl of his -heart on the shore, and before the amazon could prepare for either fight -or flight he had caught her in his arms. They renewed their oaths of -fidelity, and at the wedding the chief proclaimed eternal peace and -blessed the waters they had met beside, the blessing being potent to this -day. - -Another reason for the enchantments that are worked here may be that the -lake is occupied by a demon-fish or serpent that crawls, slimy and -dripping, through the underbrush, whenever it sees two lovers together, -and listens to their words. If the man prove faithless he would best -beware of returning to this place, for the demon is lurking there to -destroy him. This monster imprisons the soul of an Ozark princess who -flung herself into the lake when she learned that the son of the Spanish -governor, who had vowed his love to her, had married a woman of his own -rank and race in New Orleans. So they call the lake Creve Coeur, or -Broken Heart. On the day after the suicide the Ozark chief gathered his -men about him and paddled to the middle of the water, where he solemnly -cursed his daughter in her death, and asked the Great Spirit to confine -her there as a punishment for giving her heart to the treacherous white -man, the enemy of his people. The Great Spirit gave her the form in which -she is occasionally seen, to warn and punish faithless lovers. - - - - -HOW THE CRIME WAS REVEALED - -In 1853 a Hebrew peddler, whose pack was light and his purse was full, -asked leave to pass the night at the house of Daniel Baker, near Lebanon, -Missouri. The favor was granted, and that was the last seen of Samuel -Moritz; although, when some neighbors shook their heads and wondered how -it was that Baker was so well in funds, there were others who replied -that it was impossible to keep track of peddlers, and that if Moritz -wanted to start on his travels early in the morning, or to return to St. -Louis for goods, it mattered to nobody. On an evening in 1860 when there -was a mist in the gullies and a new moon hung in the west, Rev. Mr. -Cummings, a clergyman of that region, was driving home, and as he came to -a bridge near “old man” Baker's farm he saw a man standing on it, with a -pack on his back and a stick in his hand, who was staring intently at -something beneath the bridge. The clergyman greeted him cheerily and -asked him if he would like to ride, whereat the man looked him in the -face and pointed to the edge of the bridge. Mr. Cummings glanced down, -saw nothing, and when he looked up again the man with the pack had -disappeared. His horse at the same moment gave a snort and plunged -forward at a run, so that the clergyman's attention was fully occupied -until he had brought the animal under control again; when he glanced back -and saw that the man was still standing in the bridge and looking over -the edge of it. The minister told his neighbors of this adventure, and on -returning with two of them to the spot next morning they found the body -of old man Baker swinging by the neck from a beam of the bridge exactly -beneath where the apparition had stood--for it must have been an -apparition, inasmuch as the dust, damped though it had been with dew, -showed no trace of footprint. In taking down the body the men loosened -the earth on a shelving bank, and the gravel rolling away disclosed a -skeleton with some bits of clothing on it that were identified as -belongings of Samuel Moritz. Was it conscience, craziness, or fate that -led old man Baker to hang himself above the grave of his victim? - - - - -BANSHEE OF THE BAD LANDS - -“Hell, with the fires out,” is what the Bad Lands of Dakota have been -called. The fearless Western nomenclature fits the place. It is an -ancient sea-bottom, with its clay strata worn by frost and flood into -forms like pagodas, pyramids, and terraced cities. Labyrinthine canons -wind among these fantastic peaks, which are brilliant in color, but -bleak, savage, and oppressive. Game courses over the castellated hills, -rattlesnakes bask at the edge of the crater above burning coal seams, and -wild men have made despairing stand here against advancing civilization. -It may have been the white victim of a red man's jealousy that haunts the -region of the butte called “Watch Dog,” or it may have been an Indian -woman who was killed there, but there is a banshee in the desert whose -cries have chilled the blood that would not have cooled at the sight of a -bear or panther. By moonlight, when the scenery is most suggestive and -unearthly, and the noises of wolves and owls inspire uneasy feelings, the -ghost is seen on a hill a mile south of the Watch Dog, her hair blowing, -her arms tossing in strange gestures. - -If war parties, emigrants, cowboys, hunters, any who for good or ill are -going through this country, pass the haunted butte at night, the rocks -are lighted with phosphor flashes and the banshee sweeps upon them. As if -wishing to speak, or as if waiting a question that it has occurred to -none to ask, she stands beside them in an attitude of appeal, but if -asked what she wants she flings her arms aloft and with a shriek that -echoes through the blasted gulches for a mile she disappears and an -instant later is seen wringing her hands on her hill-top. Cattle will not -graze near the haunted butte and the cowboys keep aloof from it, for the -word has never been spoken that will solve the mystery of the region or -quiet the unhappy banshee. - -The creature has a companion, sometimes, in an unfleshed skeleton that -trudges about the ash and clay and haunts the camps in a search for -music. If he hears it he will sit outside the door and nod in time to it, -while a violin left within his reach is eagerly seized and will be played -on through half the night. The music is wondrous: now as soft as the stir -of wind in the sage, anon as harsh as the cry of a wolf or startling as -the stir of a rattler. As the east begins to brighten the music grows -fainter, and when it is fairly light it has ceased altogether. But he who -listens to it must on no account follow the player if the skeleton moves -away, for not only will it lead him into rocky pitfalls, whence escape is -hopeless, but when there the music will intoxicate, madden, and will -finally charm his soul from his body. - - - - -STANDING ROCK - -The stone that juts from one of the high banks of the Missouri, in South -Dakota, gives its name to the Standing Rock Agency, which, by reason of -many councils, treaties, fights, feasts, and dances held there, is the -best known of the frontier posts. It was a favorite gathering place of -the Sioux before the advent of the white man. The rock itself is only -twenty-eight inches high and fifteen inches wide, and could be plucked up -and carried away without difficulty, but no red man is brave enough to do -that, for this is the transformed body of a squaw who was struck into -stone by Manitou for falsely suspecting her husband of unfaithfulness. - -After her transformation she not only remained sentient but acquired -supernatural powers that the Sioux propitiated by offerings of beads, -tobacco, and ribbons, paint, fur, and game--a practice that was not -abandoned until the teachings of missionaries began to have effect among -them. Soldiers and trappers think the story an ingenious device to -prevent too close inquiry into the lives of some of the nobility of the -tribe. The Arickarees, however, regard this stone as the wife of one of -their braves, who was so pained and mortified when her husband took a -second wife that she went out into the prairie and neither ate nor drank -until she died, when the Great Spirit turned her into the Standing Stone. -The squaws still resort to it in times of domestic trouble. - - - - -THE SALT WITCH - -A pillar of snowy salt once stood on the Nebraska plain, about forty -miles above the point where the Saline flows into the Platte, and white -men used to hear of it as the Salt Witch. An Indian tribe was for a long -time quartered at the junction of the rivers, its chief a man of blood -and muscle in whom his people gloried, but so fierce, withal, that nobody -made a companion of him except his wife, who alone could check his -tigerish rages. - -In sooth, he loved her so well that on her death he became a recluse and -shut himself within his lodge, refusing to see anybody. This mood endured -with him so long that mutterings were heard in the tribe and there was -talk of choosing another chief. Some of this talk he must have heard, for -one morning he emerged in war-dress, and without a word to any one strode -across the plain to westward. On returning a full month later he was more -communicative and had something unusual to relate. He also proved his -prowess by brandishing a belt of fresh scalps before the eyes of his -warriors, and he had also brought a lump of salt. - -He told them that after travelling far over the prairie he had thrown -himself on the earth to sleep, when he was aroused by a wailing sound -close by. In the light of a new moon he saw a hideous old woman -brandishing a tomahawk over the head of a younger one, who was kneeling, -begging for mercy, and trying to shake off the grip from her throat. The -sight of the women, forty miles from the village, so surprised the chief -that he ran toward them. The younger woman made a desperate effort to -free herself, but in vain, as it seemed, for the hag wound her left hand -in her hair while with the other she raised the axe and was about to -strike. - -At that moment the chief gained a view of the face of the younger -woman-it was that of his dead wife. With a snarl of wrath he leaped upon -the hag and buried his own hatchet in her brain, but before he could -catch his wife in his arms the earth had opened and both women -disappeared, but a pillar of salt stood where he had seen this thing. For -years the Indians maintained that the column was under the custody of the -Salt Witch, and when they went there to gather salt they would beat the -ground with clubs, believing that each blow fell upon her person and kept -her from working other evil. - - - - -ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - - - - -OVER THE DIVIDE - -The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards -who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of -Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample -discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief -in this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions -of savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and -unlock the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic -business, prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of -precious metal and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown -regions beyond the Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with -magnificent possibilities, and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate -the wilderness, “strike it rich,” and “make his pile.” - -Thus, the region indicated as “over the divide” meaning the continental -water-shed-or “over the range” came to signify not a delectable land -alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of -posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: “Poor Bill! He's -gone over the divide.” - -The Indian's name of heaven--“the happy hunting ground”--is of similar -significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place in the -far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. Just -before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed on a -log. If they had been good in the world of the living they suffered no -harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been evil they -never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a place of -whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the torrent -amid thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid fish. -From the far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path across the -divide. - - - - -THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS - -Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where they -go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old engineer -named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled the road -with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with no -accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that the -silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than usual. A -defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that morning, and -he began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left the first line -of snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among the ice and -rocks, and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and he applied -the brakes. - -The conductor ran up and asked, “What did you stop for?” - -“Why did you signal to stop?” - -“I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass No. -19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us.” - -Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under -way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, -and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him -at a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if -something were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the throttle -wide open and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but the snow was -flung off and the train went roaring through another shed. Here was where -the defective rail had been reported. No matter. A greater danger was -pressing behind. The fireman piled on coal until his clothes were wet -with perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke-stack. The passengers, -too, having been warned of their peril, had dressed themselves and were -anxiously watching at the windows, for talk went among them that a mad -engineer was driving the train behind. - -As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his train -to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint light -from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were bigger than -his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and gestured -franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other train but two -hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the engineer who -was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His face was like -dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the hollows, but the -trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across them; wind -screamed in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge was reached; -Edwards's heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear the chasm by a -bound. Now the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not there, and as the -brakes were freed the train shot by like a flash. Suddenly a red light -appeared ahead, swinging to and fro on the track. As well be run into -behind as to crash into an obstacle ahead. He heard the whistle of the -pursuing locomotive yelp behind him, yet he reversed the lever and put on -brakes, and for a few seconds lived in a hell of dread. - -Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost leap -upon his own--yet just before it touched it the track seemed to spread, -the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled into the canon -and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of hurt men or hiss -of steam came up--nothing but the groan of the wind as it rolled through -the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had disappeared. Now another -danger impended, and there was no time to linger, for No. 19 might be on -its way ahead if he did not reach the second switch before it moved out. -The mad run was resumed and the second switch was reached in time. As -Edwards was finishing the run to Green River, which he reached in the -morning ahead of schedule, he found written in the frost of his -cab-window these words: “A frate train was recked as yu saw. Now that yu -saw it yu will never make another run. The enjine was not ounder control -and four sexshun men wor killed. If yu ever run on this road again yu -will be recked.” Edwards quit the road that morning, and returning to -Denver found employment on the Union Pacific. No wreck was discovered -next day in the canon where he had seen it, nor has the phantom train -been in chase of any engineer who has crossed the divide since that -night. - - - - -THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS - -In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment was -ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to carry -a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. The men -wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of their wives -and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers were -directed to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of the -Purgatoire--neither to reach their destination nor to return. Did they -attempt to descend the stream in boats and go to wreck among the rapids? -Were they swept into eternity by a freshet? Did they lose their -provisions and starve in the desert? Did the Indians revenge themselves -for brutality and selfishness by slaying them at night or from an ambush? -Were they killed by banditti? Did they sink in the quicksands that led -the river into subterranean canals? None will ever know, perhaps; but -many years afterward a savage told a priest in Santa Fe that the regiment -had been surrounded by Indians, as Custer's command was in Montana, and -slain, to a man. Seeing that escape was hopeless, the colonel--so said -the narrator--had buried the gold that he was transporting. Thousands of -doubloons are believed to be hidden in the canon, and thousands of -dollars have been spent in searching for them. - -After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word -came of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las -Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as it -tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the troopers. -French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title when they -renamed it Purgatoire, and--“bullwhackers” teaming across the plains -twisted the French title into the unmeaning “Picketwire.” But -Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have -ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely -in the valley of Las Animas. - - - - -RIDERS OF THE DESERT - -Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge of -Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and brave -in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he was -happy in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver and -wild sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico -frontier, and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the -pretty Zecana, and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission -into the heart of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest -securely at the settlement until his return. - -On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after -drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its deity. -The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he stared, -distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the surface--the -anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, galloped away, and -paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached the post. The -Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he urged his jaded -horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, flushed with joy -to see his wife before his door and to hear her singing. When he spoke -she looked up carelessly and resumed her song. She did not know him. -Reason was gone. - -It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro -learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind back -for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and pain, -she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her purpose -she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his feet. For -hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian nature soon -resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding his horse, he -wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept through the night in -sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian stood in the shadow of -a room in the trading fort and watched the Spaniard as he lay asleep. -Nobody knew how he passed the guard. - -In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across -his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat at -his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was bound -hand and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta-in-ga-ro -pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the ground, -outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at the embers -of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of cottonwood and shot -it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and confusion thus made, -his own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman drowsily pacing his beat -outside the square of buildings. The sentinel would have given the alarm, -had not the Indian pounced on him like a panther and laid him dead with a -knife-stroke. - -Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and -set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, -where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his -hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and his -appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his door, -Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's -clothes, and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him into -his seat with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its wrapping -and tied it to his prisoner, face to face. - -Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of his -burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on his -own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he -struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the -ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and blood -dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night he froze -uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes closed in -sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro gave him drink -from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for days. At last -hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into the dead flesh -before him he feasted like a ghoul. - -Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose -sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard -had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the horse -with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the yellow -void. He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and fro, through -the brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost riders, -forever. - - - - -THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES - -When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they -found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of -the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This “Saratoga -of the West,” nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the shadow of the -noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground for several -families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, for no Indian -dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath sparkled in the -“medicine waters.” None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago a Shoshone and a -Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to drink. The Shoshone -had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed and ill tempered, -jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging down the fat deer that -he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the Shoshone bent over the -spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a handful of it on the ground, -as a libation to the spirit of the place, he put his lips to the surface. -It needed but faint pretext for his companion to begin a quarrel, and he -did so in this fashion: “Why does a stranger drink at the spring-head -when one of the owners of the fountain contents himself with its -overflow? How does a Shoshone dare to drink above me?” - -The other replied, “The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that -his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, -and I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let -them drink together.” - -“No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that -nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people.” - -“Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is -black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, 'Drink -here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all might -drink.” - -The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling -surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, -forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was -drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became -agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the -form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer -recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a -man whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these -tribes. The face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in -terrible tones, “Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the -mightiest nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals -for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their -throats.” - -Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of the -wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst open -and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is nauseous, -while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote a -neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. The -bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on that -day a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became involved -until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all that -region. - - - - -BESIEGED BY STARVATION - -A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the -Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what -they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the -enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes--for the aggressors were -of that tribe--into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a castellated -rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held their own for -several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt was made to -storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was too secure a -stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped about it, and, -by cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to game and to water, -starved every one of them to death. - -This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, -Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, with -a slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at the -order of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place and -mounted a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the killing -of Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people--the Ottawas--charged the crime -against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in number, -entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their enemies at -bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. For a time -they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the river at the end -of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in canoes and cut the -cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained there until all had -died of starvation. Bones and relics are found occasionally at the top. - -There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is -extant--namely, Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and -vertical on all sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in -safety. A company of Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel -and defended the path so vigorously that their pursuers gave over all -attempts to follow them, but squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded -to starve them out. On a dark night the besieged killed some of their -ponies and made lariats of their hides, by which they reached the ground -on the unguarded side of the rock. They slid down, one at a time, and -made off all but one aged Indian, who stayed to keep the camp-fire -burning as a blind. He went down and surrendered on the next day, but the -Sioux, respecting his age and loyalty, gave him freedom. - - - - -A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY - -Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone -country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil -spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the -crest of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy -hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They -loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were -driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now -Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on avenging -acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the sting of -tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band gathered at the -head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand Canon of the -Yellowstone--a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the bullets of the -soldiery,--and with Spartan courage they resolved to die rather than be -taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They built a raft and -placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, and for a few days -they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their privilege in former -times. A short-lived peace, however, for one morning they are aroused by -the crack of rifles--the troops are upon them. - -Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, -perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is -their intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few among -them have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the troops, who -stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, and watch, -with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it passes into the -current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on faster and faster. -The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of the waves and that -distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the canon. Every red man -has his face turned toward the foe with a look of defiance, and the tones -of the death-chant have in them something of mockery no less than hate -and vaunting. - -The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond -and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a -thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of -morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were -no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The -raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as the -soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate that the -savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. The raft -tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are launched -over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists weep forever -on the rocks and mosses. - - - - -THE BROAD HOUSE - -Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently -coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good -preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling -god, came on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a -prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property. To -do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and -challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and -skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his own -side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and children, -and, finally, some of the men themselves. - -In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives -were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the -people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some of -the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this -performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to -defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had gone to -gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a challenge, -and the animals agreed to help him. - -When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a -large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was -because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball contest -Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god sent his -far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed itself before -touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was beaten at every -point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, and returned to -their people. - -The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him to -a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of -sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man -lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals -and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon -people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came -northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the -site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his -return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini. - - - - -THE DEATH WALTZ - -Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post at -Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any of -the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at the -post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, who -enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and -enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women -who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young -lieutenant proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted -himself to her in the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His -experience with the world was not large enough to enable him to -distinguish between the womanly woman and the coquette. - -One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache -outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the -marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, -but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not only -acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if the -fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. As he -bade her good-by he was heard to say, “That is well. Nobody else shall -have you. I will come back and make my claim.” - -In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. -It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and -nobody was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a young -man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at the post, -and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As the dance -was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a draught of -air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike that of any -human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned to the door. -In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the stained uniform -of an officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, the scalp was -gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible light. - -Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, who, -like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the power of -motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The musicians, who -afterward declared that they did not know what they were doing, struck up -a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and around, the woman -growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw and staring eyes -showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead man allowed her to -sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his hands as he -sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished through the door. A few days -after, a troop of soldiers who had been to the scene of the Apache -encounter returned with the body of the lieutenant. - - - - -THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE - -Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although -French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year -of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, -Pennsylvania, to save her image on the Catholic church in that place, when -it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It was -the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico long -years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Santa -Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to Juan -Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth century. She -commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the bishop of the -diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told him to go away. -The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the bishop declared that -he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. A third time the -supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb a certain difficult -mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and take them to the -bishop. - -After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's -amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and -returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before -the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing -picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is -duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. These -treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness and -threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in -procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then -made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin makes -prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results of -their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not begin on time, -though services were almost constantly continued before the sacred -picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image of -its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That -night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the -populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives. -They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and -addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness -than ever before. - - - - -GODDESS OF SALT - -Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic -rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while -near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess -of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the -sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any -sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the -mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made -it salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West that -much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the -larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from -other tribes that draw from it. - -Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and -wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they lived -happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had concealed -herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to that land -and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave their view -forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a high wall of -sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which she passed is -plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes was broken off, -and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and became the -monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed his wife, and -his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue stone. - - - - -THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS - -Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red -tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and -the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the precipitous -bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night the fairies -“little fellows” sport and slide. Among others, the Noah legend finds a -parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the interior of the -earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of Oswego River, New -York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the rocks about Red -River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big Black River in the -Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath; the Aztecs were one of -seven tribes that came out from the seven caverns of Aztlan, or Place of -the Heron; and the Navajos believe that they emerged at a place known to -them in the Navajo Mountains. - -In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that -they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers -grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in -the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. -Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had -not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some place -unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the passage to -see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the surface was -reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, they settled -here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen disappeared. - -Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the -mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, -looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She -told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only -after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that -the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the -eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert -lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having -found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their -retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills -above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl -babe. - -This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted -the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a -shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants that -had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his wife to -his floating palace in the western water, which has since been her home. -To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve immortals bear -their petitions to her throne. - - - - -THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS - -The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals -was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from -the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt -Rivers, and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they -grew selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with his -handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, in the -voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The prophet -Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for listening to the -wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated the command, with an -added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy them all if they did -not reform. - -Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. -But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the -south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and -should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which -he might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately set -out to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had made a -large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, acorn-meal -and water, and meat of bear and venison. - -On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into -the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the -song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would -presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and -it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. Swift -came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. -Withdrawing into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. -Then for some days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. -Their stores had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a -hole in its side its occupants stepped forth. - -There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red -fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night came -on they retired to the ark and slept--a night, a month, a year, perhaps a -century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales were filled -with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The delighted couple -descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark had rested, and -went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand years, and became -the parents of a great tribe. - -But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the -mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, while -the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were gathering -maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of Suha's -daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its limit, -then made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way he -entered the valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition -Mountains; he drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to -him; then, when he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding -and beat out the brains of the stupefied fiend. - -Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other evil, -but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been disposed -of than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build adobe -houses, to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave cloth, and -avoid wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that they would grow -arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, and would wage -wars for gain. When that time came there would be another flood and not -one should be saved--the bad should vanish and the good would leave the -earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas rely on this prophecy -that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, for there sits Cherwit -Make--awaiting the culmination of their wickedness to let loose on the -earth a mighty sea that lies dammed behind the range. - - - - -THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING - -Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the -scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago a -tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended -their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. -They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong -and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the -mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent -than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the -Apaches. - -After they had lived near the mountain for five years the “little people” - learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made -preparations for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure valleys; -provisions, tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles of stone -were placed along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. This work -was superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and commanding -form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it was--the Helen -of a New-World Troy--who was causing this trouble, for the Zunis claimed -her on the ground that they had brought her from the waters of the rising -sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable marriage with their -chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. - -Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance -until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, -seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the -“little men,” watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the -invaders as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the -slope, brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion -of a red man is--and sometimes of a white one. - -At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, -and as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her -people and the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred -yards away the Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon -she stooped, picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the -pool, and ran back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from -crevices in the rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. -Others plunged blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. - -In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not -an arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at these -pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple of -years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the queen -repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even greater -slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, but they -went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in the -mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. - -Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on -Superstition Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and -this cave of the Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of -Salt River. A skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky texture, -were once found there. It is said that electrical phenomena are frequent -on the mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas lying near -together may account for them. - - - - -THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK - -There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, Arizona, -where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. The white -men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their hands they -shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of the cavern, -the fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles illuminating the -interior and exposing to view the objects of their hatred. - -The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode -away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years -had not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into this -pit of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the entrance, -and took there its everlasting seat. - -Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when -he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully -upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors -subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred -by “the thing.” They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes -turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading -claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, -recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there -was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, -while the other had never stopped running--at least, he had not returned -to his usual haunts since “the thing” looked at him. Still, it is haunted -country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon Ghost -Mountain, and the “bad men's hunting-grounds” of the Yumas and Navajos -are over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, no unusual -thing to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. - - - - -SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS - -Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and -perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large -towns--the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of -Stones, and City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that -had been practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in -Egypt. Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were a -subject people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in -America the arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, -like other nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to -luxury, to wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the -fierce tribes of the North were lurking on the confines of their country -in a faith of speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements -were against them. - -The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire -region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were -heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, -wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. Then -came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. As the -earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, the -king gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be spared, -though he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led away and -knew that in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. - -The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected--a cave in -Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the -officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade -stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And now, -the end. - -Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to -consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; -a hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the -storm-struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor -this time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. -It was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the -more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and temples -were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and the rush -of avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through the clouds -the people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke from their -confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had indeed abandoned -them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its flight in company -with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had suffered uselessly. - -The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal -executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and -the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and -pillaged it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and -were rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was -also found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a -sense of apprehension. - - - - -TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN - -The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and -the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find -listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for -example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. - -While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun -mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. “Aha! -It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?” he cried, looking at the -Sun. “I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't.” - -And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped -to pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran -out and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the -ground and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, -but Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong -breath, for with it he turned all the arrows aside. “The scamp is in -here,” said one of the party. “Let's get at him another way.” So, getting -their flints and shovels, they began to dig. - -“That's your game, is it?” mumbled Ta-Vwots. “I know a way out of this -that you don't know.” With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of -his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, -and along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a -niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had made -the hole quite large he shouted, “Be buried in the grave you have dug for -yourselves!” And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he caved the -earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, “To fight is as -good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet will be an -enemy. No one shall escape my wrath.” And he sounded his war-whoop. - -Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from them. -“Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me,” he said. - -“You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?” they questioned, -with a jeer. - -“No ghost,” he answered, “but a better man than you. Hold me on those -rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you.” - -The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they -placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he -kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising -unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, -like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half -through and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. - -On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to -blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they supposed, -but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his face. - -“You are a ghost!” the women exclaimed. - -“No ghost,” said he. “Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do no -harm. See, now.” And he puffed thorns into their faces and made them -blind. “Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to kill -the Sun. This is good practice.” And he slew them, sounded his war-whoop, -and went on. - -The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and -the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill him -by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he pretended to -eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what it was. He -called out, “It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw it up to -you.” With that he tossed something so nearly within their reach that in -bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the brink, lost their -balance, fell over, and were killed. “You are victims of your own greed. -One should never be so anxious as to kill one's self.” This was his only -comment, and, sounding the warwhoop, he went on. - -A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets -lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, “Here comes that -bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?” - -“What were you saying?” asked the hare god. - -“We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'” (A common form of endearment.) - -“Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you -braid the neck.” - -He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed -to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, -when--puff! the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not -know anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. - -“Easily enough,” replied the hare god. “These things may hold water, but -they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can.” With their -consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a little -while he had them caged. “Now, come out,” he said. But, try as they -might, not a withe could they break. “Ha, ha! You are wise women, aren't -you? Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. In time I -shall learn how.” Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck them dead with -his magic ball and went on. - -He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for he -had heard of the hare god and was afraid. “Don't be frightened, friend -Bear,” said the rogue. “I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. How -could a little chap like me hurt so many people?” And he helped the Bear -to dig his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and as the -Bear thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his face and -made an end of him. “I was afraid of this warrior,” said Ta-Vwots, “but -he is dead, now, in his den.” And sounding his war-whoop he went on. - -It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, -who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not hurt -himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that he had a -pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots thump it -out? Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the soundest kind -of a thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted “Harder,” he guessed that -it was an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his magic ball he -finished the Tarantula at a blow. “That is a stroke of your own seeking,” - he remarked. “I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I know that I can do -it.” And sounding his war-whoop he went on. - -Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, -where thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the -night under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the -instant that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. -The surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered -over the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under -the tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the -increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his toes, -then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his hands, -and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his arms. -At last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and valley -until it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that gushed -forth spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was -conquered, and at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for his -mischievous pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky -every day by the same trail. - - - - -THE COMANCHE RIDER - -The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground -sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South -Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. Enemies -gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off their -scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of -mutilation in killing. - -Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut -a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew -there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of Polan -from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his -brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had -pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, with -silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, the -weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its place -and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the Indian's -tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in accordance with his -wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper Missouri, on the back of -his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, with the scalps that he -had taken hung to the bridle. - -When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that -his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. -His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony -is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy -hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort -Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind -of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They -killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the -late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a -lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a -grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, -formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself -to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and -sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a -stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused -to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay. -Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for protection, -and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their possession -when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. - -Myths and Legends - - - - -HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS - -The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that -they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the -country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the -west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard to -get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the tops -of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman in his -country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his people -from these giants. This king was eaten like the rest, and the citizens -declined to elect another, because they were beginning to lose faith in -kings. Still, there was one young brave whose single thought was how to -defeat the giants and save his people. - -As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly -known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone -away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the -earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to -destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. “Then take my horned -crest for a helmet.” - -Lolomi--that was the name of him--did as he was bid, and found that in a -moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly that no club -could break through it. - -“Now take my breastplate,” continued the toad. And though it would not -have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased -in bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. - -“Now take the scales from my eyes,” commanded the toad, and when he had -done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. - -“Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his -eyes, and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back to -a precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the edge of -the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed.” - -Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the -distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As he -drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor like -hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this the -giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. Fearing a -blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who manoeuvred so -skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of a cliff he -sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and broke his -bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, because they all -walked back before him, and after they had fallen the people heaped rocks -on their bodies. To this day the place is known as “the giants' fall.” - Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the most beautiful damsel -for a wife. As he was the best king they ever had, they treasured his -memory after he was dead, and used his name as a term of greeting, so -that “Lolomi” is a word of welcome, and will be until the giants come -again. - - - - -THE SPIDER TOWER - -In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated -valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered -sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer -uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was -surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by -them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in the -hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that was -least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with strength -well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch at its -top. Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not fall -within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into -roughnesses of the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had -reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' -eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with -their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having -gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help had -come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the top -of the spire, and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one end -fast to a jag of rock while the other fell within his grasp--for she, -like all other of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers better -than the remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider Tower. - - - - -THE LOST TRAIL - -The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a -keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells -this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed -his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild roses in -the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his -wife--Manetabee (Rosebud)--in the lodge while he went across the -mountains to attend a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return he -found neither wife nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the ground -showed to his keen eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been there. - -Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had -reached Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a -small fire ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might have -enabled him to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled about the -glow; but it is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, and, tying his -horse, he crawled forward. - -There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide the -ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. So -engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like approach of -Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound Manetabee's -wrists and ankles--she did not cry out, for she had expected rescue--and -both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a yell, one of the -gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway the fifteen made -an onset. - -Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and -he had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he -fell headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst in -fury. A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth with an -appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and a -whirlwind passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time--then he felt -the touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they arose and -looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the canon, -dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. - -“The trail is gone,” said Acantow. “Manitou has broken it, that the -Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. -Let us thank the Manitou.” So they went back to where the spring burst -amid the rose-bushes. - - - - -A BATTLE IN THE AIR - -In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold -by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is -heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it -heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that lived -here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in the -valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where -hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes of -the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. - -In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John -Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was -belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples -against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region -was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke -him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at -least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good moon, -he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that filled the -air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as if they -were borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of feet, the -striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for nearly an -hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the horse became so -frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he reached the edge -of the valley the sounds were heard going into the distance. Not until he -reached a settlement did he learn of the spell that rested on the place. - - - - -ON THE PACIFIC COAST - - - - -THE VOYAGER OF WHULGE - -Like the ancient Greeks, the Siwash of the Northwest invest the unseen -world with spiritual intelligence. Every tree has a soul; the forests -were peopled with good and evil genii, the latter receiving oblation at -the devil-dances, for it was not worth while to appease those already -good; and the mountains are the home of tamanouses, or guardian spirits, -that sometimes fight together--as, when the spirits of Mount Tacoma -engaged with those of Mount Hood, fire and melted stone burst from their -peaks, their bellowing was heard afar, and some of the rocks flung by -Tacoma fell short, blocking the Columbia about the Dalles. - -Across these fantastic reports of older time there come echoes of a later -instruction, adapted and blended into native legend so that the point of -division cannot be indicated. Such is that of the mysterious voyager of -the Whulge--the Siwash name for the sound that takes the name of Puget -from one of Vancouver's officers. Across this body of water the stranger -came in a copper canoe that borrowed the glories of the morning. When he -had landed and sent for all the red men, far and near, he addressed to -them a doctrine that provoked expressions of contempt--a doctrine of -love. - -To fight and steal no more, to give of their goods to men in need, to -forgive their enemies,--they could not understand such things. He -promised--this radiant stranger--to those who lived right, eternal life -on seas and hills more fair than these of earth, but they did not heed -him. At last, wearying of his talk, they dragged him to a tree and nailed -him fast to it, with pegs through his hands and feet, and jeered and -danced about him, as they did about their victims in the devil-dance, -until his head fell on his breast and his life went out. - -A great storm, with thunderings and earthquakes! They took the body down -and would have buried it, but, to! it arose to its feet, as the sun burst -forth, and resumed its preaching. Then they took the voyager's word for -truth and never harmed him more, while they grew less warlike as each -year went by until, of all Indians, they were most peaceable. - - - - -TAMANOUS OF TACOMA - -Mount Tacoma has always been a place of superstitious regard among the -Siwash (Sauvage) of the Northwest. In their myths it was the place of -refuge for the last man when the Whulge was so swollen after long rain -that its waters covered the earth. All other men were drowned. The waves -pursued the one man as he climbed, rising higher and higher until they -came to his knees, his waist, his breast. Hope was almost gone, and he -felt that the next wave would launch him into the black ocean that raged -about him, when one of the tamanouses of the peak, taking pity on him, -turned his feet to stone. The storm ceased, and the waters fell away. The -man still stood there, his feet a part of the peak, and he mourned that -he could not descend to where the air was balmy and the flowers were -opening. The Spirit of all Things came and bade him sleep, and, after his -eyes were closed, tore out one of his ribs and changed it to a woman. -When lifted out of the rock the man awoke, and, turning with delight to -the woman, he led her to the sea-shore, and there in a forest bower they -made their home. There the human race was recreated. - -On the shore of the Whulge in after years lived an Indian miser--rare -personage--who dried salmon and jerked the meat that he did not use, and -sold it to his fellow-men for hiaqua--the wampum of the Pacific tribes. -The more of this treasure he got, the more he wanted--even as if it were -dollars. One day, while hunting on the slopes of Mount Tacoma, he looked -along its snow-fields, climbing to the sky, and, instead of doing homage -to the tamanous, or divinity of the mountain, he only sighed, “If I could -only get more hiaqua!” - -Sounded a voice in his ear: “Dare you go to my treasure caves?” - -“I dare!” cried the miser. - -The rocks and snows and woods roared back the words so quick in echoes -that the noise was like that of a mountain laughing. The wind came up -again to whisper the secret in the man's ear, and with an elk-horn for -pick and spade he began the ascent of the peak. Next morning he had -reached the crater's rim, and, hurrying down the declivity, he passed a -rock shaped like a salmon, next, one in the form of a kamas-root, and -presently a third in likeness of an elk's head. “'Tis a tamanous has -spoken!” he exclaimed, as he looked at them. - -At the foot of the elk's head he began to dig. Under the snow he came to -crusts of rock that gave a hollow sound, and presently he lifted a scale -of stone that covered a cavity brimful of shells more beautiful, more -precious, more abundant than his wildest hopes had pictured. He plunged -his arms among them to the shoulder--he laughed and fondled them, winding -the strings of them about his arms and waist and neck and filling his -hands. Then, heavily burdened, he started homeward. - -In his eagerness to take away his treasure he made no offerings of hiaqua -strings to the stone tamanouses in the crater, and hardly had he begun -the descent of the mountain's western face before he began to be buffeted -with winds. The angry god wrapped himself in a whirling tower of cloud -and fell upon him, drawing darkness after. Hands seemed to clutch at him -out of the storm: they tore at his treasure, and, in despair, he cast -away a cord of it in sacrifice. The storm paused for a moment, and when -it returned upon him with scream and flash and roar he parted with -another. So, going down in the lulls, he reached timber just as the last -handful of his wealth was wrenched from his grasp and flung upon the -winds. Sick in heart and body, he fell upon a moss-heap, senseless. He -awoke and arose stiffly, after a time, and resumed his journey. - -In his sleep a change had come to the man. His hair was matted and -reached to his knees; his joints creaked; his food supply was gone; but -he picked kamas bulbs and broke his fast, and the world seemed fresh and -good to him. He looked back at Tacoma and admired the splendor of its -snows and the beauty of its form, and had never a care for the riches in -its crater. The wood was strange to him as he descended, but at sunset he -reached his wigwam, where an aged woman was cooking salmon. Wife and -husband recognized each other, though he had been asleep and she -a-sorrowing for years. In his joy to be at home the miser dug up all his -treasure that he had secreted and gave of his wealth and wisdom to whoso -needed them. Life, love, and nature were enough, he found, and he never -braved the tamanous again. - - - - -THE DEVIL AND THE DALLES - -In days when volcanoes were playing in the Northwest and the sternly -beautiful valley of the Columbia was a hell of ash and lava, the fiend -men of the land met at intervals on the heated rocks to guzzle and riot -together. It was at one of these meetings in the third summer after -Tacoma had stopped spouting that the devil urged a lesson from the -growing peace and joy of nature, and prayed the fiend men to desist from -killing and eating each other and live in love. - -With a howl of rage at such a proposal they set upon him, tossing their -tails in such a threatening manner that he deemed it best to be off, and -as his hoofs clattered over the country his brain was busy in devising an -escape. Nearing the mountain bulwarks of an inland sea, whose breakers' -rhythmic roar he heard above the yells of his pursuers, a hope came into -his head, and new vigor into his tail, though you might have thought the -latter accession was not needed, for his tail was of prodigious length -and strength. He whirled this limb aloft and beat it on the earth. A -chasm opened at the stroke, and the devil skipped across to the safe side -of it. - -Safe? No; for the fiend men in advance took the leap and came beside him. -The tormented one could thrash any two of them at once, but he was not -equal to a thousand. He brandished his weapon once more and it fell with -a crash. Earth shook, dust arose in clouds, and a deeper cleft than -before yawned through the valley. Again the fiend men tried to reach him, -and, though the gap was bigger and many fell into it, hundreds made the -jump and overtook him. He must make one more attempt. The tail revolved -for a third time, and with the energy of despair he flailed the ground -with it. - -A third ravine was split through the rock, and this time the earth's -crust cracked away to the eastward, giving outlet to the sea, which came -pouring through the canon, breaking rocks from mountains and grinding -them to powder in its terrific progress. Gasping with fatigue, the -unhappy one toiled up a hill and surveyed his work with satisfaction, for -the flood engulfed the fiend men and they left no member of their race -behind them. - -When they had all been happily smashed or drowned, the devil skipped -lightly over the channels he had cut and sought his family, though with a -subdued expression of countenance, for his tail--his strength and -pride--was bruised and broken beyond repair, and all the little imps that -he fathered to the world afterward had little dangling tails like -monkeys' instead of megatheriums', and in time these appendages -disappeared. But what was the use of them? The fiend men they had fought -against were dead and the rising race they could circumvent by subtler -means. The inland sea drained off. Its bed is now the prairie, and the -three strokes of the devil's tail are indelibly recorded in the bed of -the Columbia at the Dalles. And the devil never tried to be good again. - - - - -CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA - -When the Siwash, as the Northwestern Indians called themselves, were few, -Mount Hood was kept by the Spirit of Storms, who when he shook his robe -caused rain or snow to fall over the land, while the Fire Spirit flashed -his lightnings from Mount Adams. Across the vale between them stretched a -mighty bridge of stone, joining peak to peak, and on this the Siwash laid -his offering of salmon and dressed skins. Here, too, the tribal festivals -were kept. The priestess of the arch-Mentonee, who fed the fire on the -tribal altar “unimpassioned by a mortal throb”--had won the love of the -wild tamanouses of the mountains, but she was careless alike of coaxing -and threats, and her heart was as marble to them. - -Jealous of each other, these two spirits fell to fighting, and, appalled -by the whirl of fire and cloud, of splintering trees and crumbling rocks, -the Indians fled in terror toward the lowlands, but she, unhurt and -undaunted, kept in her place, and still offered praise to the one god. -Yet she was not alone, for watchful in the shadow of a rock stood a -warrior who had loved her so long, without the hope of lovers, that he, -too, had outgrown fear. Though she had given him but passing words and -never a smile, his own heart was the warmer and the heavier with its -freight, and it was his way to be ever watching her in some place where -she might not be troubled by the sight of him. - -The war waxed fiercer, and at last the spirits met at the centre of the -arch, and in roar and quake and deluge the great bridge swayed and -cracked. The young man sprang forward. He seized Mentonee in his arms. -There was time for one embrace that cheated death of sorrow. Then, with a -thunder like a bursting world, the miles of masonry crashed down and -buried the two forever. The Columbia leaps the ruins of the bridge in the -rapids that they call the Cascades, and the waters still brawl on, while -the sulky tamanouses watch the whitened floods from their mountain-tops, -knowing that never again will they see so fair a creature as Mentonee. - - - - -THE DEATH OF UMATILLA - -Umatilla, chief of the Indians at the Cascades of the Columbia, was one -of the few red men of his time who favored peace with the white settlers -and lent no countenance to the fierce revels of the “potlatch.” In these -“feasts of gifts” the savages, believing themselves to be “possessed by -the spirit,” lashed themselves into a frenzy that on several occasions -was only quieted by the shedding of blood. Black Eagle's Feather--or -Benjamin, as he was called by the settlers--was the only one of the -children of the old chief who survived a summer of plague, and on this -boy Umatilla had put all his hopes and affections. - -The lad had formed a great trust in his white teacher, a college-bred man -from the East, who had built a little school-house beside the Columbia -and was teaching the Indian idea how to shoot something beside white -people. This boy and his teacher had hunted together; they had journeyed -in the same canoe; had tramped over the same trail to the great falls of -the Missouri; and at the Giant Spring had seen the Piegans cast in their -gifts, in the belief that the manitou of the place would deliver them in -the hereafter to the sun-god, whom they worshipped. One day Benjamin fell -ill, and the schoolmaster saw that he, too, was to die of the plague. Old -Umatilla received the news with Indian stoicism, but he went into the -forest to be alone for a time. - -When he returned day was breaking and a flock of wild-geese trumpeted -overhead. The boy heard them, and said, “Boston tilicum” (white man), -“does the Great Father tell the geese where to go?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then he will tell me, too?” - -“Yes.” - -“We shall never go back to the Missouri together. My father--” - -“We will watch over him.” - -“That is well.” And, in a few hours, he had intrusted the guidance of his -soul through the world of shadows to the white man's unseen father. - -Umatilla sat beside the body through the night, and in the morning he -called his people together. He told them that he was prepared to follow -his boy out of the world, but that first he wanted to have their promise -that they would no longer war on the whites, but look to them for -friendship and guidance. There was some murmuring at this, for the ruder -fellows were already plotting a descent on the settlers, but Umatilla had -given them great store of goods at the last potlatch, and they -reluctantly consented. The venerable chief ordered them to make a grave -for Benjamin like the white man's, and, when it had been dug, four -warriors laid the body of his son within it. Then, standing at the brink, -the chief said, “My heart is growing cold, for it is in the grave there -with my son. When I take three steps to the side of him, I, too, shall -die. Be good to the white men, as you have said, and bury us both -together. Great Spirit, I come.” And, sinking to the ground, the old -man's life ebbed in a breath. They buried him and his son in a single -grave, and next day they went to the teacher and asked him to lead and -instruct them. And with that year ended all trouble between red and white -men along the Columbia. - - - - -HUNGER VALLEY - -East of San Francisco is a narrow valley opening to the bay of San Pablo. -In spite of its pleasant situation and fruitful possibilities, it had no -inhabitants until 1820, when Miguel Zamacona and his wife Emilia strayed -into it, while on a journey, and, being delighted with its scenery, -determined to make it their home. In playful mockery of its abundance -they gave to it the name El Hambre [Hunger] valley. - -After some weeks of such hardship as comes to a Mexican from work, Miguel -had built an adobe cabin and got a garden started, while he caught a fish -or shot a deer now and then, and they got on pretty well. At last it -became necessary that he should go to Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was -then called, for goods. His burros were fat and strong, and there should -be no danger. Emilia cried at being left behind, but the garden had to be -tended, and he was to be back in exactly three weeks. She waited for -twenty-two days; then, her anxiety becoming unendurable, she packed an -outfit on a burro and started on the trail. From time to time she called -his name, and “Miguel!” echoed sweetly from hills and groves, but there -was no other answer, save when an owl would hoot. Rolled in a blanket she -slept on lupin boughs, but was off at peep of day again, -calling--calling--high and clear among the solitudes. - -During the second day her burro gave a rasping bray, and a hee-haw -answered from the bush. It was Miguel's burro. He had come at last! -Leaping to her feet, in her impatience, she ran to meet him, and found -him lying on the earth, staring silently at the sky. All that day she sat -beside him, caressing his hand, talking, crying, bathing his face with -water from the marsh--the poison marsh--and it was not until sunset that -she could bring herself to admit that he was dead--had been dead for at -least two days. - -She put the blanket over him, weighted it with stones, and heaped reeds -upon it; then she started for home. A wandering trader heard her story, -but years elapsed before any other settler entered Hunger valley. They -found her skeleton then in the weedy garden. The adobe stands tenantless -in the new village of Martinez, and the people have so often heard that -the ghosts of the Zamaconas haunt the place that they have begun to -disbelieve it. - - - - -THE WRATH OF MANITOU - -The county called Kern, in California, lies mostly in a circular valley, -and long, long before the evil one had created the pale face it was the -home of a nation advanced in arts, who worshipped the Great Spirit in a -building with a lofty dome. But the bravery and wisdom of one of their -own people made them forget the Manitou and idolize the man who seemed -the most like him. They brought him to the temple and prayed and sang to -him, and held their sacred dances there, so angering God that he rent the -earth and swallowed them. Nothing was seen of this people for years -after, but their stone tools were left on neighboring hill-sides. Manitou -even poured water into the valley, and great creatures sported in the -inland sea. - -But, ere long, he repented his anger, and, in a fit of impatience at what -he had done, he threw up quantities of earth that smoked with heat, and -thus created the Sierra Nevada, while he broke away the hills at the foot -of the lake, and the waters drained into the sea at the Golden Gate. This -again made dry land of the valley, and, opening the earth once more, he -released the captive tribe. The imprisoned people had not forgotten their -arts nor their boldness; they made the place blossom again; they -conquered other tribes, and Manitou declared them his chosen ones, from -whom alone he would accept sacrifice. But their chief became so ambitious -that he wanted to supplant the Manitou in the worship of the people, and -finally, in a lunacy of self-conceit, he challenged the god to single -combat. - -Under pretence of accepting the challenge, the Great Spirit set the -offenders to wander through the desert until they reached a valley in the -Sierras, opposite Tehachapi, where he caused them to be exterminated by a -horde of savages from the Mojave desert. Then, in a fit of disgust at -refractory humanity, he evoked a whirlwind and stripped away every living -thing from the country of the savages, declaring that it should be empty -of human beings from that time forward. And it was so. - - - - -THE SPOOK OF MISERY HILL - -Tom Bowers, who mined on Misery Hill, near Pike City, California, never -had a partner, and he never took kindly to the rough crowd about the -place. One day he was missing. They traced his steps through the snow -from his cabin to the brink of a great slope where he had been -prospecting, but there they vanished, for a landslide had blotted them -out. His body was exhumed far below and decently buried, yet it was said -that it was so often seen walking about the mouth of his old shaft that -other men avoided the spot. - -Thriftless Jim Brandon, in a spasm of industry, began work on the -abandoned mine, and for a while he made it pay, for he got money and -squared accounts with his creditors; but after a time it appeared that -somebody else was working on the claim, for every morning he found that -the sluice had been tampered with and the water turned on. He searched -for the trespasser in vain, and told “the boys” that if they called that -joking it had grown tiresome. - -One night he loaded his rifle, and, from a convenient nook, he watched -for the intruder. The tamaracks crooned in the wind, the Yuba mumbled in -the canon, the Sierras lay in a line of white against the stars. As he -crept along to a point of better vantage he came to a tree with something -tacked on it--something that shone in the dark like a match. In its own -light he read, “Notice! I, Thomas Bowers, claim this ground for placer -mining.” Raising his hand to tear off the paper, he was amazed to feel a -thrill pass through it, and his arm fell palsied at his side. But the -notice was gone. - -Now came the sound of water flowing, and, as he angrily caught his gun -and turned toward the sluice, the letters shone again in phosphorescence -on the tree. There was the sound of a pick in the gravel now, and, -crawling stealthily towards the sluice, he saw, at work there, Tom -Bowers--dead, lank, his head and face covered with white hair, his eyes -glowing from black sockets. Half unconsciously Jim brought his rifle to -his shoulder and fired. A yell followed the report, then the dead man -came running at him like the wind, with pick and shovel in either hand. - -Away went Brandon, and the spectre followed, up hill, in and out of -woods, over ditches, through scrub, on toward Pike City. The miners were -celebrating a new find with liberal potations and a dance in the saloon -when, high above the crash of boots, the shouted jokes, the laughter, and -the clink of glasses, came a sound of falling, a scream-then silence. -They hurried into the road. There lay Brandon's rifle, and a pick and -shovel with “T. B.” cut in the handles. Jim returned no more, and the -sluice is running every night on Misery Hill. - - - - -THE QUEEN OF DEATH VALLEY - -In the southern part of California, near the Arizona line, is the famous -Death Valley--a tract of arid, alkaline plain hemmed in by steep -mountains and lying below the level of the sea. For years it was believed -that no human being could cross that desert and live, for horses sink to -their knees in drifts of soda dust; there is no water, though the -traveller requires much drink; and the heat is terrific. Animals that die -in the neighborhood mummify, but do not decay, and it is surmised that -the remains of many a thoughtless or ignorant prospector lie bleached in -the plain. On the east side of Dead Mountain are points of whitened rock -that at a distance look like sheeted figures, and these, the Indians say, -are the ghosts of their brethren. - -In the heart of this desert is said to be the ruin of a pueblo, or -village, though the shape and size of it suggest that it was made for a -few persons rather than for a tribe or family. Long ago, the tale runs, -this place of horrors was a fair and fertile kingdom, ruled by a -beautiful but capricious queen. She ordered her subjects to build her a -mansion that should surpass those of her neighbors, the Aztecs, and they -worked for years to make one worthy of her, dragging the stones and -timbers for miles. Fearing lest age, accident, or illness should forbid -her to see the ending of her dream, she ordered so many of her subjects -to assist that her tribe was reduced to practical slavery. - -In her haste and heartlessness she commanded her own daughter to join the -bearers of burdens, and when the toilers flagged in step in the noonday -heat she strode among them and lashed their naked backs. As royalty was -sacred, they did not complain, but when she struck her daughter the girl -turned, threw down her load of stone, and solemnly cursed her mother and -her kingdom; then, overcome by heat and weariness, she sank to the earth -and died. Vain the regrets and lamentations of the queen. The sun came -out with blinding heat and light, vegetation withered, animals -disappeared, streams and wells dried up, and at last the wretched woman -gave up her life on a bed of fever, with no hand to soothe her dying -moments, for her people, too, were dead. The palace, half-completed, -stands in the midst of this desolation, and sometimes it seems to lift -into view of those at a distance in the shifting mirage that plays along -the horizon. - - - - -BRIDAL VEIL FALL - -The vast ravine of Yo Semite (Grizzly Bear), formed by tearing apart the -solid Sierras, is graced by many water-falls raining down the mile-high -cliffs. The one called Bridal Veil has this tale attached to it. -Centuries ago, in the shelter of this valley, lived Tutokanula and his -tribe--a good hunter, he, a thoughtful saver of crops and game for -winter, a wise chief, trusted and loved by his people. While hunting, one -day, the tutelary spirit of the valley--the lovely Tisayac--revealed -herself to him, and from that moment he knew no peace, nor did he care -for the well-being of his people; for she was not as they were: her skin -was white, her hair was golden, and her eyes like heaven; her speech was -as a thrush-song and led him to her, but when he opened his arms she rose -lighter than any bird and vanished in the sky. - -Lacking his direction Yo Semite became a desert, and when Tisayac -returned she wept to see the corn lands grown with bushes and bears -rooting where the huts had been. On a mighty dome of rock she knelt and -begged the Great Spirit to restore its virtue to the land. He did so, -for, stooping from the sky, he spread new life of green on all the valley -floor, and smiting the mountains he broke a channel for the pent-up -meltings of the snows, and the water ran and leaped far down, pooling in -a lake below and flowing off to gladden other land. The birds returned, -the flowers sprang up, corn swayed in the breeze, and the people, coming -back, gave the name of Tisayac to South Dome, where she had knelt. - -Then came the chief home again, and, hearing that the spirit had -appeared, was smitten with love more strong than ever. Climbing to the -crest of a rock that spires three thousand feet above the valley, he -carved his likeness there with his hunting-knife, so that his memory -might live among his tribe. As he sat, tired with his work, at the foot -of the Bridal Veil, he saw, with a rainbow arching around her, the form -of Tisayac shining from the water. She smiled on him and beckoned. His -quest was at an end. With a cry of joy he sprang into the fall and -disappeared with Tisayac. Two rainbows quivered on the falling water, and -the sun went down. - - - - -THE GOVERNOR'S RIGHT EYE - -Old Governor Hermenegildo Salvatierra, of Presidio, California, sported -only one eye--the left--because the other had been shot out by an Indian -arrow. With his sound one he was gazing into the fire, on a windy -afternoon in the rainy season, when a chunky man in a sou'wester -was-ushered into his presence, and after announcing that he was no other -than Captain Peleg Scudder, of the schooner General Court, from Salem, he -was made welcome in a manner quite out of proportion in its warmth to the -importance that such a disclosure would have for the every-day citizen. - -He was hailed with wassail and even with wine. The joy of the commandant -was so great that at the third bowl he sang a love ballad, in a voice -somewhat cracked, and got on the table to teach the Yankee how to dance -the cachuca. The law forbade any extended stay of Americans in Spanish -waters, and the General Court took herself off that very night--for this, -mind you, was in 1797, when the Spaniard ruled the farther coast. - -Next day Salvatierra appeared before his astonished people with a right -eye. The priests attached to the fort gave a special service of praise, -and told the miracle to the red men of their neighborhood as an -illustration of the effect of goodness, prayer, and faith. People came -from far and near that they might go to church and see this marvel for -themselves. But, alas, for the governor's repute for piety! It soon began -to be whispered around that the new eye was an evil one; that it read the -deepest thoughts of men with its inflexible, cold stare; that under its -influence some of the fathers had been betrayed into confessing things -that the commandant had never supposed a clergyman to be guilty of. The -people feared that eye, and ascribed such rogueries to the old man as had -been entirely foreign to his nature hitherto. - -This common fear and suspicion reacted, inevitably, and Salvatierra -began, unconsciously, to exhibit some of the traits that his subjects -said he possessed. He changed slowly from the indulgent parent to the -stern and exacting law-giver. He did not know, however, what the people -had been saying about him, and never suspected that his eye was likely to -get him into trouble. - -It was a warm night and he had gone to bed with his windows open--windows -that opened from his garden, and were level, at the bottom, with the -floor. A shadowy form stole along the gravel path and entered one of -these windows. It was that of a mission Indian. He had gathered from the -talk of the faithful that it would be a service to the deity as well as -to men to destroy the power of that evil eye. He came beside the bed and -looked attentively at the governor, sleeping there in the light of a -candle. Then he howled with fright--howled so loudly that the old man -sprang to his feet--for while the left eye had been fast asleep the evil -one was broad awake and looking at him with a ghostly glare. - -In another second the commandant was at the window whirling his trusty -Toledo about his head, lopping ears and noses from the red renegades who -had followed in the track of the first. In the scrimmage he received -another jab in the right eye with a fist. When day dawned it was -discovered, with joy, that the evil eye was darkened--and forever. The -people trusted him once more. Finding that he was no longer an object of -dread, his voice became kinder, his manner more gentle. A heavy and -unusual rain, that had been falling, passed off that very day, so that -the destruction from flood, which had been prophesied at the missions, -was stayed, and the clergy sang “Te Deum” in the church. The old -commandant never, to his dying day, had the heart to confess that the -evil eye was only a glass one. - - - - -THE PRISONER IN AMERICAN SHAFT - -An Indian seldom forgets an injury or omits to revenge it, be it a real -or a fancied one. A young native of the New Almaden district, in -California, fell in love with a girl of the same race, and supposed that -he was prospering in his suit, for he was ardent and the girl was, -seemingly, not averse to him; but suddenly she became cold, avoided him, -and answered his greetings, if they met, in single words. He affected to -care not greatly for this change, but he took no rest until he had -discovered the cause of it. Her parents had conceived a dislike to him -that later events proved to be well founded, and had ordered or persuaded -her to deny his suit. - -His retaliation was prompt and Indian-like. He killed the father and -mother at the first opportunity, seized the girl when she was at a -distance from the village, and carried her to the deserted quicksilver -mine near Spanish Camp. In a tunnel that branched from American Shaft he -had fashioned a rude cell of stone and wood, and into that he forced and -fastened her. He had stocked it with water and provisions, and for some -weeks he held the wretched girl a captive in total darkness, visiting her -whenever he felt moved to do so until, his passion sated, he resolved to -leave the country. - -As an act of partial atonement for the wrong he had done, he hung a -leather coat at the mouth of the tunnel, on which, in picture writing, he -indicated the whereabouts of the girl. Search parties had been out from -the time of her disappearance, and one of them chanced on this clue and -rescued her as she was on the point of death. The savage who had exacted -so brutal and excessive a revenge fled afar, and his whereabouts were -never known. - - - - -AS TO BURIED RICHES - - - - -KIDD'S TREASURE - -Captain Kidd is the most ubiquitous gentleman in history. If his earnings -in the gentle craft of piracy were frugally husbanded, he has possibly -left some pots of money in holes in the ground between Key West and -Halifax. The belief that large deposits of gold were made at Gardiner's -Island, Dunderberg, Cro' Nest, New York City, Coney Island, Ipswich, the -marshes back of Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Isles of Shoals, Money -Island, Ocean Beach, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and elsewhere has -caused reckless expenditure of actual wealth in recovering doubloons and -guineas that disappointed backers of these enterprises are beginning to -look upon--no, not to look upon, but to think about--as visionary. A hope -of getting something for nothing has been the impetus to these -industries, and interest in the subject is now and then revived by -reports of the discovery--usually by a farmer ploughing near the -shore--of an iron kettle with a handful of gold and silver coins in it, -the same having doubtless been buried for purposes of concealment during -the wars of 1776 and 1812. - -Gardiner's Island, a famous rendezvous for pirates, is the only place -known to have been used as a bank of deposit, for in 1699 the Earl of -Bellomont recovered from it seven hundred and eighty-three ounces of -gold, six hundred and thirty-three ounces of silver, cloth of gold, -silks, satins, and jewels. In the old Gardiner mansion, on this island, -was formerly preserved a costly shawl given to Mrs. Gardiner by Captain -Kidd himself. This illustrious Kidd--or Kydd--was born in New York, began -his naval career as a chaser of pirates, became a robber himself, was -captured in Boston, where he was ruffling boldly about the streets, and -was hanged in London in 1701. In sea superstitions the apparition of his -ship is sometimes confused with that of the Flying Dutchman. - -At Lion's Rock, near Lyme, Connecticut, a part of his treasure is under -guard of a demon that springs upon intruders unless they recite Scripture -while digging for the money. - -Charles Island, near Milford, Connecticut, was dug into, one night, by a -company from that town that had learned of Kidd's visit to it--and what -could Kidd be doing ashore unless he was burying money? The lid of an -iron chest had been uncovered when the figure of a headless man came -bounding out of the air, and the work was discontinued right then. The -figure leaped into the pit that had been dug, and blue flames poured out -of it. When the diggers returned, their spades and picks were gone and -the ground was smooth. - -Monhegan Island, off the Maine coast, contains a cave, opening to the -sea, where it was whispered that treasure had been stored in care of -spirits. Searchers found within it a heavy chest, which they were about -to lift when one of the party--contrary to orders--spoke. The spell was -broken, for the watchful spirits heard and snatched away the treasure. -Some years ago the cave was enlarged by blasting, in a hope of finding -that chest, for an old saying has been handed down among the people of -the island--from whom it came they have forgotten--that was to this -effect: “Dig six feet and you will find iron; dig six more and you will -find money.” - -On Damariscotta Island, near Kennebec, Maine, is a lake of salt water, -which, like dozens of shallow ones in this country, is locally reputed to -be bottomless. Yet Kidd was believed to have sunk some of his valuables -there, and to have guarded against the entrance of boats by means of a -chain hung from rock to rock at the narrow entrance, bolts on either side -showing the points of attachment, while ring bolts were thought to have -been driven for the purpose of tying buoys, thus marking the spots where -the chests went down. This island, too, has been held in fear as haunted -ground. - -Appledore, in the Isles of Shoals, was another such a hiding-place, and -Kidd put one of his crew to death that he might haunt the place and -frighten searchers from their quest. For years no fisherman could be -induced to land there after nightfall, for did not an islander once -encounter “Old Bab” on his rounds, with a red ring around his neck, a -frock hanging about him, phosphorescence gleaming from his body, who -peered at the intruder with a white and dreadful face, and nearly scared -him to death? - -A spot near the Piscataqua River was another hiding-place, and early in -this century the ground was dug over, two of the seekers plying pick and -spade, while another stood within the circle they had drawn about the -spot and loudly read the Bible. Presently their implements clicked on an -iron chest, but it slid sideway into the ground as they tried to uncover -it, and at last an interruption occurred that caused them to stop work so -long that when they went to look for it again it had entirely -disappeared. This diversion was the appearance of a monster horse that -flew toward them from a distance without a sound, but stopped short at -the circle where the process of banning fiends was still going on, and, -after grazing and walking around them for a time, it dissolved into air. - -Kidd's plug is a part of the craggy steep known as Cro' Nest, on the -Hudson. It is a projecting knob, like a bung closing an orifice, which is -believed to conceal a cavern where the redoubtable captain placed a few -barrels of his wealth. Though it is two hundred feet up the cliff, -inaccessible either from above or below, and weighs many tons, still, as -pirates and devils have always been friendly, it may be that the corking -of the cave was accomplished with supernatural help, and that if blasts -or prayers ever shake the stone from its place a shower of doubloons and -diamonds may come rattling after it. - -The shore for several hundred feet around Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, -has been examined, for it was once believed that the inscriptions on it -were cut by Kidd to mark the place of burial for part of his hoard. - -The Rock Hill estate, Medford, Massachusetts, was plagued by a spectre -that some thought to be that of a New Hampshire farmer who was robbed and -murdered there, but others say it is the shade of Kidd, for iron treasure -chests were found in the cellar that behaved like that on the Piscataqua -River, sinking out of sight whenever they were touched by shovels. - -Misery Islands, near Salem, Massachusetts, were dug over, and under -spiritual guidance, too, for other instalments of Mr. Kidd's -acquisitions, but without avail. - -It takes no less than half a dozen ghosts to guard what is hidden in -Money Hill, on Shark River, New Jersey, so there must be a good deal of -it. Some of these guardians are in sailor togs, some in their mouldy -bones, some peaceable, some noisy with threats and screams and groans--a -“rum lot,” as an ancient mariner remarked, who lives near their graves -and daytime hiding-places. Many heirlooms are owned by Jerseymen -hereabout that were received from Kidd's sailors in exchange for -apple-jack and provisions, and two sailor-looking men are alleged to have -taken a strong-box out of Money Hill some years ago, from which they -abstracted two bags of gold. After that event the hill was dug over with -great earnestness, but without other result to the prospectors than the -cultivation of their patience. - -Sandy Hook, New Jersey, near “Kidd's tree,” and the clay banks of the -Atlantic highlands back of that point, are suspected hiding-places; but -the cairn or knoll called Old Woman's Hill, at the highlands, is not -haunted by Kidd's men, as used to be said, but by the spirit of a -discontented squaw. This spirit the Indians themselves drove away with -stones. - -At Oyster Point, Maryland, lived Paddy Dabney, who recognized Kidd from -an old portrait on meeting him one evening in 1836. He was going home -late from the tavern when a light in a pine thicket caused him to turn -from the road. In a clearing among the trees, pervaded by a pale shine -which seemed to emanate from its occupants, a strange company was playing -at bowls. A fierce-looking reprobate who was superintending the game -glanced up, and, seeing Paddy's pale face, gave such a leap in his -direction that the Irishman fled with a howl of terror and never stopped -till he reached his door, when, on turning about, he found that the -phantom of the pirate chief had vanished. The others, he conceived, were -devils, for many a sea rover had sold himself to Satan. Captain Teach, or -Blackbeard, proved as much to his crew by shutting himself in the hold of -his ship, where he was burning sulphur to destroy rats, and withstanding -suffocation for several hours; while one day a dark man appeared on board -who was not one of the crew at the sailing, and who had gone as -mysteriously as he came on the day before the ship was wrecked. It was -known that Kidd had buried his Bible in order to ingratiate the evil one. - -A flat rock on the north shore of Liberty Island, in New York harbor, was -also thought to mark the place of this pervasive wealth of the pirates. -As late as 1830, Sergeant Gibbs, one of the garrison at the island, tried -to unearth it, with the aid of a fortune-teller and a recruit, but they -had no sooner reached a box about four feet in length than a being with -wings, horns, tail, and a breath, the latter palpable in blue flames, -burst from the coffer. Gibbs fell unconscious into the water and narrowly -escaped drowning, while his companions ran away, and the treasure may -still be there for aught we know. - -Back in the days before the Revolution, a negro called Mud Sam, who lived -in a cabin at the Battery, New York City, was benighted at about the -place where One Hundredth Street now touches East River while waiting -there for the tide to take him up the Sound. He beguiled the time by a -nap, and, on waking, he started to leave his sleeping place under the -trees to regain his boat, when the gleam of a lantern and the sound of -voices coming up the bank caused him to shrink back into the shadow. At -first he thought that he might be dreaming, for Hell Gate was a place of -such repute that one might readily have bad dreams there, and the legends -of the spot passed quickly through his mind: the skeletons that lived in -the wreck on Hen and Chickens and looked out at passing ships with blue -lights in the eye-sockets of their skulls; the brown fellow, known as -“the pirate's spuke,” that used to cruise up and down the wrathful -torrent, and was snuffed out of sight for some hours by old Peter -Stuyvesant with a silver bullet; a black-looking scoundrel with a split -lip, who used to brattle about the tavern at Corlaer's Hook, and who -tumbled into East River while trying to lug an iron chest aboard of a -suspicious craft that had stolen in to shore in a fog. This latter bogy -was often seen riding up Hell Gate a-straddle of that very chest, -snapping his fingers at the stars and roaring Bacchanalian odes, just as -skipper Onderdonk's boatswain, who had been buried at sea without -prayers, chased the ship for days, sitting on the waves, with his shroud -for a sail, and shoving hills of water after the vessel with the plash of -his hands. - -These grewsome memories sent a quake through Mud Sam's heart, but when -the bushes cracked under the strangers' tread, he knew that they were of -flesh and bone, and, following them for a quarter-mile into the wood, he -saw them dig a hole, plant a strong-box there, and cover it. A -threatening remark from one of the company forced an exclamation from the -negro that drew a pistol-shot upon him, and he took to his heels. Such a -fright did he receive that he could not for several years be persuaded to -return, but when that persuasion came in the form of a promise of wealth -from Wolfert Webber, a cabbage-grower of the town, and promises of -protection from Dr. Knipperhausen, who was skilled in incantations, he -was not proof against it, and guided the seekers to the spot. - -After the doctor had performed the proper ceremonies they fell to work, -but no sooner had their spades touched the lid of an iron-bound chest -than a sturdy rogue with a red flannel cap leaped out of the bushes. They -said afterward that he had the face of the brawler who was drowned at -Corlaer's Hook, but, in truth, they hardly looked at him in their flight; -nor, when the place was revisited, could any mark of digging be found, -nor any trace of treasure, so that part of Kidd's wealth may be at this -moment snugly stowed in the cellar of a tenement. Webber had engaged in -so many crazy enterprises of this nature that he had neglected cabbage -culture, and had grown so poor that the last disappointment nearly broke -his heart. He retired to his chamber and made his will, but on learning -that a new street had been run across his farm and that it would -presently be worth ten times as much for building-lots as it ever had -been for cabbages, he leaped out of bed, dressed himself, and prospered -for many a day after. - - - - -OTHER BURIED WEALTH - -The wealth of the Astors hardly exceeds the treasure that is supposed to -be secreted here and there about the country, and thousands of dollars -have been expended in dredging rivers and shallow seas, and in blasting -caves and cellars. Certain promoters of these schemes have enjoyed -salaries as officers in the stock companies organized for their -furtherance, and they have seen the only tangible results from such -enterprises. - -One summer evening, in the middle of the seventeenth century, a bark -dropped anchor at the mouth of Saugus River, Massachusetts, and four of -the crew rowed to the woods that skirt its banks and made a landing. The -vessel had disappeared on the following morning, but in the forge at the -settlement was found a paper stating that if a certain number of shackles -and handcuffs were made and secretly deposited at a specified place in -the forest, a sum of money equal to their value would be found in their -stead on the next day. The order was filled and the silver was found, as -promised, but, though a watch was set, nothing further was seen of men or -ship for several months. - -The four men did return, however, and lived by themselves amid the woods -of Saugus, the gossips reporting that a beautiful woman had been seen in -their company--the mistress of the pirate chief, for, of course, the -mysterious quartette had followed the trade of robbery on the high seas. -Three of these men were captured, taken to England, and hanged, but the -fourth-Thomas Veale--escaped to a cavern in the wood, where, it was -reputed, great treasures were concealed, and there he lived until the -earthquake of 1658, when a rock fell from the roof of the cave, closing -the entrance and burying the guilty man in a tomb where, it is presumed, -he perished of thirst and hunger. Dungeon Rock, of Lynn, is the name that -the place has borne ever since. - -In 1852 Hiram Marble announced that he had been visited by spirits, who -not only told him that the pirates' spoils were still in their olden -hiding-place, but pointed out the spot where the work of excavation -should begin. Aided by his son he tunnelled the solid granite for a -distance of one hundred and thirty-five feet, the passage being seven -feet high and seven wide. Whenever he was wearied the “mediums” that he -consulted would tell him to make cuttings to the right or left, and for -every fresh discouragement they found fresh work. For thirty years this -task was carried on, both father and son dying without gaining any -practical result, other than the discovery of an ancient scabbard in a -rift. The heiress of the house of Marble alone reaped benefit from their -labors, for-resuming on a petty scale the levies of the first dwellers in -the rock--she boldly placarded the entrance to the workings “Ye who enter -here leave twenty-five cents behind.” - -In several cases the chasms that have been caused by wear of water or -convulsions of nature (their opposite sides being matched) were believed -to have been hiding-places, but, in the old days in New England, it was -believed that all such fractures were caused by the earthquake at the -time of the crucifixion--a testimony of the power of God to shake -sinners. - -The Heart of Greylock is the name given to the crater-like recess, a -thousand feet deep, in the tallest of the Berkshire peaks, but it was -formerly best known as Money Hole, and the stream that courses through it -as Money Brook, for a gang of counterfeiters worked in that recess, and -there some spurious coinage may still be concealed. The stream is also -known as Spectre Brook, for late wandering hunters and scouting soldiers, -seeing the forgers moving to and fro about their furnaces, took them for -ghosts. - -Province Island, in Lake Memphremagog, Vermont, is believed to contain -some of the profits of an extensive smuggling enterprise that was carried -on near the lake for several years. - -A little company of Spanish adventurers passed along the base of the -Green Mountains early in the last century, expecting to return after -having some dealings with the trading stations on the St. Lawrence; so -they deposited a part of their gold on Ludlow Mountain, Vermont, and -another pot of it on Camel's Hump. They agreed that none should return -without his companions, but they were detained in the north and -separated, some of them going home to Spain. Late in life the sole -survivor of the company went to Camel's Hump and tried to recall where -the treasure had been hidden, but in vain. - -While flying from the people whose declaration of independence had -already been written in the blood of the king's troops at Concord, the -royal governor--Wentworth--was embarrassed by a wife and a -treasure-chest. He had left his mansion, at Smith's Pond, New Hampshire, -and was making toward Portsmouth, where he was to enjoy the protection of -the British fleet, but the country was up in arms, time was important, -and as his wearied horses could not go on without a lightening of the -burden, he was forced to leave behind either Lady Wentworth or his other -riches. As the lady properly objected to any risk of her own safety, the -chest was buried at an unknown spot in the forest, and for a century and -more the whereabouts of the Wentworth plate and money-bags have been a -matter of search and conjecture. - -When the Hessian troops marched from Saratoga to Boston, to take ship -after Burgoyne's surrender, they were in wretched condition-war-worn, -ragged, and ill fed,--and having much with them in the form of plate and -jewels that had been spared by their conquerors, together with some of -the money sent from England for their hire, they were in constant fear of -attack from the farmers, who, though they had been beaten, continued to -regard them with an unfavorable eye. On reaching Dalton, Massachusetts, -the Hessians agreed among themselves to put their valuables into a -howitzer, which they buried in the woods, intending that some of their -number should come back at the close of the war and recover it. An Indian -had silently followed them for a long distance, to gather up any -unconsidered trifles that might be left in their bivouacs, and he marked -the route by blazes on the trees; but if he saw the burial of this novel -treasury it meant nothing to him, and the knowledge of the hiding-place -was lost. For years the populace kept watch of all strangers that came to -town, and shadowed them if they went to the woods, but without result. In -about the year 1800 the supposed hiding-place was examined closely and -excavations were made, but, as before, nothing rewarded the search. - -A tree of unknown age--the Old Elm--stood on Boston Common until within a -few years. This veteran, torn and broken by many a gale and -lightning-stroke, was a gallows in the last century, and Goody Glover had -swung from it in witch-times. On tempestuous nights, when the boughs -creaked together, it was said that dark shapes might be seen writhing on -the branches and capering about the sward below in hellish glee. On a -gusty autumn evening in 1776 a muffled form presented itself, -unannounced, at the chamber of Mike Wild, and, after that notorious miser -had enough recovered from the fear created by the presence to understand -what it said to him, he realized that it was telling him of something -that in life it had buried at the foot of the Old Elm. After much -hesitancy Mike set forth with his ghostly guide, for he would have risked -his soul for money, but on arriving at his destination he was startled to -find himself alone. Nothing daunted, he set down his lantern and began to -dig. Though he turned up many a rood of soil and sounded with his spade -for bags and chests of gold, he found nothing. Strange noises -overhead--for the wind was high and the twigs seemed to snicker eerily as -they crossed each other-sent thrills along his back from time to time, -and he was about to return, half in anger, half in fear, when his spirit -visitor emerged from behind the tree and stood before him. The mien was -threatening, the nose had reddened and extended, the hair was rumpled, -and the brow was scowling. The frown of the gold monster grew more awful, -the stare of his eye in the starlight more unbearable, and he was -crouching and creeping as if for a spring. Mike could endure no more. He -fainted, and awakened in the morning in his own chamber, where, to a -neighbor who made an early call, he told--with embellishments--the story -of the encounter; but before he had come to the end of the narrative the -visitor burst into a roar of laughter and confessed that he had -personated the supernatural visitant, having wagered a dozen bottles of -wine with the landlord of the Boar's Head that he could get the better of -Mike Wild. For all this the old tree bore, for many years, an evil -reputation. - -A Spanish galleon, the Saints Joseph and Helena, making from Havana to -Cadiz in 1753 was carried from her course by adverse winds and tossed -against a reef, near New London, Connecticut, receiving injuries that -compelled her to run into that port for repairs. To reach her broken ribs -more easily her freight was put on shore in charge of the collector of -the port, but when it was desired to ship the cargo again, behold! the -quarter part of it had disappeared, none could say how. New London got a -bad name from this robbery, and the governor, though besought by the -assembly to make good the shortage, failed to do so, and lost his place -at the next election. It was reputed that some of the treasure was buried -on the shore by the robbers. In 1827 a woman who was understood to have -the power of seership published a vision to a couple of young blades, who -had paid for it, to the effect that hidden under one of the grass-grown -wharves was a box of dollars. By the aid of a crystal pebble she received -this really valuable information, but the pebble was not clear enough to -reveal the exact place of the box. She could see, however, that the -dollars were packed edgewise. When New London was sound asleep the young -men stole out and by lantern-light began their work. They had dug to -water-level when they reached an iron chest, and they stooped to lift -it-but, to their amazement, the iron was too hot to handle! Now they -heard deep growls, and a giant dog peered at them from the pit-mouth; red -eyes flashed at them from the darkness; a wild-goose, with eyes of -blazing green, hovered and screamed above them. Though the witch had -promised them safety, nothing appeared to ward off the fantastic shapes -that began to crowd about them. Too terrified to work longer they sprang -out and made away, and when-taking courage from the sunshine--they -renewed the search, next day, the iron chest had vanished. - -On Crown Point, Lake Champlain, is the ruin of a fort erected by Lord -Amherst above the site of a French work that had been thrown up in 1731 -to guard a now vanished capital of fifteen hundred people. It was -declared that when the French evacuated the region they buried money and -bullion in a well, in the northwest corner of the bastion, ninety feet -deep, in the full expectancy of regaining it, and half a century ago this -belief had grown to such proportions that fifty men undertook to clear -the well, pushing their investigations into various parts of the -enclosure and over surrounding fields. They found quantities of lead and -iron and no gold. - -Follingsby's Pond, in the Adirondacks, was named for a recluse, who, in -the early part of this century, occupied a lonely but strongly guarded -cabin there. It was believed afterward that he was an English army -officer, of noble birth, who had left his own country in disgust at -having discovered an attachment between his wife and one of his -fellow-officers. He died in a fever, and while raving in a delirium spoke -of a concealed chest. A trapper, who was his only attendant in his last -moments, dug over the ground floor of the hut and found a box containing -a jewelled sword, costly trinkets, and letters that bore out the -presumption of Follingsby's aristocratic origin. What became of these -valuables after their exhumation is not known, and the existence of more -has been suspected. - -Coney Island is declared to have been used by a band of pirates as the -first national sand bank, and, as these rascals were caught and swung off -with short shrift, they do say that the plunder is still to be had--by -the man who finds it. But the hotel-keepers and three-card-monte men are -not waiting for that discovery to grow rich. - -In Shandaken Valley, in the Catskills, it was affirmed that a party of -British officers buried money somewhere, when they were beset by the -farmers and hunters of that region, and never got it out of the earth -again. - -On Tea Island, Lake George, the buried treasures of Lord Abercrombie have -remained successfully hidden until this day. - -The oldest house at Fort Neck, Long Island, was known for years as the -haunted house, and the grave of its owner--Captain Jones--was called the -pirate's grave, for, in the last century, Jones was accused of piracy and -smuggling, and there have been those who suspected worse. A hope of -finding gold and silver about the premises has been yearly growing -fainter. Just before the death of Jones, which occurred here in an -orderly manner, a crow, so big that everybody believed it to be a demon, -flew in at the window and hovered over the bed of the dying man until he -had drawn his last breath, when, with a triumphant cry, it flew through -the west end of the house. The hole that it broke through the masonry -could never be stopped, for, no matter how often it was repaired, the -stone and cement fell out again, and the wind came through with such a -chill and such shriekings that the house had to be abandoned. - -The owner of an estate on Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, had more wealth than -he thought it was safe or easy to transport when he found the colonies -rising against Britain in 1775, and flight was imperative, for he was -known by his neighbors to be a Tory. Massing his plate, coin, and other -movables into three barrels, he caused his three slaves to bury them in -pits that they had dug beneath his house. Then, as they were shovelling -back the earth, he shot them dead, all three, and buried them, one on -each barrel. His motive for the crime may have been a fear that the -slaves would aid the Americans in the approaching struggle, or that they -might return and dig up the wealth or reveal the hiding-place to the -enemies of the king. Then he made his escape to Nova Scotia, though he -might as well have stayed at home, for the British possessed themselves -of Long Island, and his house became a place of resort for red-coats and -loyalists. It was after the turn of the century when a boat put in, one -evening, at Cold Spring Bay, and next morning the inhabitants found -footprints leading to and from a spot where some children had discovered -a knotted rope projecting from the soil. Something had been removed, for -the mould of a large box was visible at the bottom of a pit. Acres of the -neighborhood were then dug over by treasure hunters, who found a box of -cob dollars and a number of casks. The contents of the latter, though -rich and old, were not solid, and when diffused through the systems of -several Long Islanders imparted to them a spirituous and patriotic -glow--for in thus destroying the secreted stores of a royalist were they -not asserting the triumph of democratic principles? - -The clay bluffs at Pottery Beach, Brooklyn, were pierced with artificial -caves where lawless men found shelter in the unsettled first years of the -republic. A wreck lay rotting here for many years, and it was said to be -the skeleton of a ship that these fellows had beached by false beacons. -She had costly freight aboard, and on the morning after she went ashore -crew and freight had vanished. It was believed that much of the plunder -was buried in the clay near the water's edge. In the early colonial days, -Grand Island, in Niagara River, was the home of a Frenchman, Clairieux, -an exile or refugee who was attended by a negro servant. During one -summer a sloop visited the island frequently, laden on each trip with -chests that never were taken away in the sight of men, and that are now -supposed to be buried near the site of the Frenchman's cabin. Report had -it that these boxes were filled with money, but if well or ill procured -none could say, unless it were the Frenchman, and he had no remarks to -offer on the subject. In the fall, after these visits of the sloop, -Clairieux disappeared, and when some hunters landed on the island they -found that his cabin had been burned and that a large skeleton, evidently -that of the negro, was chained to the earth in the centre of the place -where the house had stood. The slave had been killed, it was surmised, -that his spirit might watch the hoard and drive away intruders; but the -Frenchman met his fate elsewhere, and his secret, like that of many -another miser, perished with him. In 1888, when a northeast gale had -blown back the water of the river, a farmer living on the island -discovered, just under the surface, a stone foundation built in circular -form, as if it had once supported a tower. In the mud within this circle -he found a number of French gold and silver coins, one of them minted in -1537. Close by, other coins of later date were found, and a systematic -examination of the whole channel has been proposed, as it was also said -that two French frigates, scuttled to keep them out of the hands of the -English, lie bedded in sand below the island, one of them with a naval -paymaster's chest on board. - -On the shore of Oneida Lake is an Indian's grave, where a ball of light -is wont to swing and dance. A farmer named Belknap dreamed several times -of a buried treasure at this point, and he was told, in his vision, that -if he would dig there at midnight he could make it his own. He made the -attempt, and his pick struck a crock that gave a chink, as of gold. He -should, at that moment, have turned around three times, as his dream -directed, but he was so excited that he forgot to. A flash of lightning -rent the air and stretched him senseless on the grass. When he recovered -the crock was gone, the hole filled in, and ever since then the light has -hovered about the place. Some say that this is but the will-o'-the-wisp: -the soul of a bad fellow who is doomed to wander in desolate regions -because, after dying, Peter would not allow him to enter heaven, and the -devil would not let him go into the other place, lest he should make the -little devils unmanageable; but he is allowed to carry a light in his -wanderings. - -In Indian Gap, near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, the Doane band of Tories -and terrorists hid a chest of gold, the proceeds of many robberies. It is -guarded by witches, and, although it has been seen, no one has been able -to lay hands on it. The seekers are always blinded by blue flame, and -frightened away by roaring noises. The Dutch farmers of the vicinity are -going to dig for it, all the same, for it is said that the watch of evil -spirits will be given over at midnight, but they do not know of what -date. They will be on hand at the spot revealed to them through the -vision of a “hex layer” (a vision that cost them fifty cents), until the -night arrives when there are no blue flames. - -In the southern part of Chester County, Pennsylvania, is money, too, but -just where nobody knows. A lonely, crabbed man, who died there in a poor -hut after the Revolution, owned that he had served the British as a spy, -but said that he had spent none of the gold that he had taken from them. -He was either too sorry for his deeds, or too mean to do so. He had put -it in a crock and buried it, and, on his death-bed, where he made his -statement, he asked that it might be exhumed and spent for some good -purpose. He was about to tell where it was when the death-rattle choked -his words. - -The Isle of the Yellow Sands, in Lake Superior, was supposed by Indians -to be made of the dust of gold, but it was protected by vultures that -beat back those who approached, or tore them to pieces if they insisted -on landing. An Indian girl who stole away from her camp to procure a -quantity of this treasure was pursued by her lover, who, frightened at -the risk she was about to run from the vultures, stopped her flight by -staving in the side of her canoe, so that she was compelled to take -refuge in his, and he rowed home with her before the birds had come to -the attack. - -Old Francois Fontenoy, an Indian trader, buried a brass kettle full of -gold at Presque Isle, near Detroit, that is still in the earth. - -On the banks of the Cumberland, in Tennessee, is a height where a -searcher for gold was seized by invisible defenders and hurled to the -bottom of the cliff, receiving a mortal hurt. - -The Spaniards were said to have entombed three hundred thousand dollars -in gold near Natchez. A man to whom the secret had descended offered to -reveal it, but, as he was a prisoner, his offer was laughed at. Afterward -an empty vault was found where he said it would be. Somebody had -accidentally opened it and had removed the treasure. - -Caverns have frequently been used as hiding-places for things of more or -less value--generally less. Saltpetre Cave, in Georgia, for instance, was -a factory and magazine for saltpetre, gunpowder, and other military -stores during the Civil War. The Northern soldiers wrecked the potash -works and broke away tons of rock, so as to make it dangerous to return. -Human bones have been found here, too, but they are thought to be those -of soldiers that entered the cave in pursuit of an Indian chief who had -defied the State in the '40's. He escaped through a hole in the roof, -doubled on his pursuers, fired a pile of dead leaves and wood at the -mouth, and suffocated the white men with the smoke. - -Spaniards worked the mines in the Ozark Hills of Missouri two hundred -years ago. One of the mines containing lead and silver, eighteen miles -southwest of Galena, was worked by seven men, who could not agree as to a -division of the yield. One by one they were killed in quarrels until but -a single man was left, and he, in turn, was set upon by the resurrected -victims and choked to death by their cold fingers. In 1873 a Vermonter -named Johnson went there and said he would find what it was the Spaniards -had been hiding, in spite of the devil and his imps. He did work there -for one day, and was then found dead at the mouth of the old shaft with -marks of bony fingers on his throat. - -The seven cities of Cibola, that Coronado and other Spanish adventurers -sought in the vast deserts of the Southwest, were pueblos. A treacherous -guide who had hoped to take Coronado into the waterless plain and lose -him, but who first lost his own head, had told him a tale of the Quivira, -a tribe that had much gold. So far from having gold these Indians did not -know the stuff, but the myth that they had hoarded quantities of it has -survived to this day and has caused waste of lives and money. Towns in -New Mexico that have lain in ruins since 1670, when the Apaches butchered -their people--towns that were well built and were lorded by solid old -churches and monasteries erected by the Spanish missionaries--these towns -have often been dug over, and the ruinous state of Abo, Curari, and -Tabira is due, in part, to their foolish tunnelling and blasting. - -A Spanish bark, one day in 1841, put in for water off the spot where -Columbia City, Oregon, now stands. She had a rough crew on board, and it -had been necessary for her officers to watch the men closely from the -time the latter discovered that she was carrying a costly cargo. Hardly -had the anchorchains run out before the sailors fell upon the captain, -killed him, seized all of value that they could gather, and took it to -the shore. What happened after is not clear, but it is probable that in a -quarrel, arising over the demands of each man to have most of the -plunder, several of the claimants were slain. Indians were troublesome, -likewise, so that it was thought best to put most of the goods into the -ground, and this was done on the tract known as Hez Copier's farm. Hardly -was the task completed before the Indians appeared in large numbers and -set up their tepees, showing that they meant to remain. The mutineers -rowed back to the ship, and, after vainly waiting for several days for a -chance to go on shore again, they sailed away. Two years of wandering, -fighting, and carousal ensued before the remnant of the crew returned to -Oregon. The Indians were gone, and an earnest search was made for the -money--but in vain. It was as if the ground had never been disturbed. The -man who had supervised its burial was present until the mutineers went -back to their boats, when it was discovered that he was mysteriously -missing. - -More than forty years after these events a meeting of Spiritualists was -held in Columbia City, and a “medium” announced that she had received a -revelation of the exact spot where the goods had been concealed. A -company went to the place, and, after a search of several days, found, -under a foot of soil, a quantity of broken stone. While throwing out -these fragments one of the party fell dead. The spirit of the defrauded -and murdered captain had claimed him, the medium explained. So great was -the fright caused by this accident that the search was again abandoned -until March, 1890, when another party resumed the digging, and after -taking out the remainder of the stone they came on a number of human -skeletons. During the examination of these relics--possibly the bones of -mutineers who had been killed in the fight on shore--a man fell into a -fit of raving madness, and again the search was abandoned, for it is now -said that an immutable curse rests on the treasure. - - - - -STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS - - - - -MONSTERS AND SEA-SERPENTS - -It is hardly to be wondered at that two prominent scientists should have -declared on behalf of the sea-serpent, for that remarkable creature has -been reported at so many points, and by so many witnesses not addicted to -fish tales nor liquor, that there ought to be some reason for him. He has -been especially numerous off the New England coast. He was sighted off -Cape Ann in 1817, and several times off Nahant. Though alarming in -appearance--for he has a hundred feet of body, a shaggy head, and goggle -eyes--he is of lamb-like disposition, and has never justified the -attempts that have been made to kill or capture him. Rewards were at one -time offered to the seafaring men who might catch him, and revenue -cutters cruising about Massachusetts Bay were ordered to keep a lookout -for him and have a gun double shotted for action. One fisherman emptied -the contents of a ducking gun into the serpent's head, as he supposed, -but the creature playfully wriggled a few fathoms of its tail and made -off. John Josselyn, gentleman, reports that when he stirred about this -neighborhood in 1638 an enormous reptile was seen “quoiled up on a rock -at Cape Ann.” He would have fired at him but for the earnest dissuasion -of his Indian guide, who declared that ill luck would come of the -attempt. The sea-serpent sometimes shows amphibious tendencies and -occasionally leaves the sea for fresh water. Two of him were seen in -Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, in 1892, by four men. They confess, however, -that they were fishing at the time. The snakes had fins and were a matter -of fifty feet long. - -When one of these reptiles found the other in his vicinage he raised his -head six feet above water and fell upon him tooth and nail--if he had -nails. In their struggles these unpleasant neighbors made such waves that -the fishermen's boat was nearly upset. - -Even the humble Wabash has its terror, for at Huntington, Indiana, three -truthful damsels of the town saw its waters churned by a tail that -splashed from side to side, while far ahead was the prow of the animal--a -leonine skull, with whiskers, and as large as the head of a boy of a -dozen years. As if realizing what kind of a report was going to be made -about him, the monster was overcome with bashfulness at the sight of the -maidens and sank from view. - -In April, 1890, a water-snake was reported in one of the Twin Lakes, in -the Berkshire Hills, but the eye-witnesses of his sports let him off with -a length of twenty-five feet. - -Sysladobosis Lake, in Maine, has a snake with a head like a dog's, but it -is hardly worth mentioning because it is only eight feet long-hardly -longer than the name of the lake. More enterprise is shown across the -border, for Skiff Lake, New Brunswick, has a similar snake thirty feet -long. - -In Cotton Mather's time a double-headed snake was found at Newbury, -Massachusetts,--it had a head at each end,--and before it was killed it -showed its evil disposition by chasing and striking at the lad who first -met it. - -A snake haunts Wolf Pond, Pennsylvania, that is an alleged relic of the -Silurian age. It was last seen in September, 1887, when it unrolled -thirty feet of itself before the eyes of an alarmed spectator--again a -fisherman. The beholder struck him with a pole, and in revenge the -serpent capsized his boat; but he forbore to eat his enemy, and, diving -to the bottom, disappeared. The creature had a black body, about six -inches thick, ringed with dingy-yellow bands, and a mottled-green head, -long and pointed, like a pike's. - -Silver Lake, near Gainesville, New York, was in 1855 reported to be the -lair of a great serpent, and old settlers declare that he still comes to -the surface now and then. - -A tradition among the poor whites of the South Jruns to the effect that -the sea-monster that swallowed Jonah--not a whale, because the throat of -that animal is hardly large enough to admit a herring--crossed the -Atlantic and brought up at the Carolinas. His passenger was supplied with -tobacco and beguiled the tedium of the voyage by smoking a pipe. The -monster, being unused to that sort of thing, suffered as all beginners in -nicotine poisoning do, and expelled the unhappy man with emphasis. On -being safely landed, Jonah attached himself to one of the tribes that -peopled the barrens, and left a white progeny which antedated Columbus's -arrival by several centuries. God pitied the helplessness of these -ignorant and uncourageous whites and led them to Looking-Glass Mountain, -North Carolina, where He caused corn and game to be created, and while -this race endured it lived in plenty. - -Santa Barbara Island, off the California coast, was, for a long time, the -supposed head-quarters of swimming and flying monsters and sirens, and no -Mexican would pass in hearing of the yells and screams and strange songs -without crossing himself and begging the captain to give the rock a wide -berth. But the noise is all the noise of cats. A shipwrecked tabby -peopled the place many years ago, and her numerous progeny live there on -dead fish and on the eggs and chicks of sea-fowl. - -Spirit Canon, a rocky gorge that extends for three miles along Big Sioux -River, Iowa, was hewn through the stone by a spirit that took the form of -a dragon. Such were its size and ferocity that the Indians avoided the -place, lest they should fall victims to its ire. - -The Hurons believed in a monster serpent--Okniont--who wore a horn on his -head that could pierce trees, rocks, and hills. A piece of this horn was -an amulet of great value, for it insured good luck. - -The Zunis tell of a plumed serpent that lives in the water of sacred -springs, and they dare not destroy the venomous creatures that infest the -plains of Arizona because, to them, the killing of a snake means a -reduction in their slender water-supply. The gods were not so kind to the -snakes as men were, for the agatized trees of Chalcedony Park, in -Arizona, are held to be arrows shot by the angry deities at the monsters -who vexed this region. - -Indians living on the shore of Canandaigua Lake, New York, tamed a pretty -spotted snake, and fed and petted it until it took a deer at a meal. It -grew so large that it eventually encircled the camp and began to prey on -its keepers. Vainly they tried to kill the creature, until a small boy -took an arrow of red willow, anointed it with the blood of a young woman, -and shot it from a basswood bow at the creature's heart. It did not enter -at once; it merely stuck to the scales. But presently it began to bore -and twist its way into the serpent's body. The serpent rolled into the -lake and made it foam in its agony. It swallowed water and vomited it up -again, with men dead and alive, before it died. - -The monster Amhuluk, whose home is a lake near Forked Mountain, Oregon, -had but one passion-to catch and drown all things; and when you look into -the lake you see that he has even drowned the sky in it, and has made the -trees stand upside down in the water. Wherever he set his feet the ground -would soften. As three children were digging roots at the edge of the -water he fell on them and impaled two of them on his horns, the eldest -only contriving to escape. When this boy reached home his body was full -of blotches, and the father suspected how it was, yet he went to the lake -at once. The bodies of the children came out of the mud at his feet to -meet him, but went down again and emerged later across the water. They -led him on in this way until he came to the place where they were -drowned. A fog now began to steam up from the water, but through it he -could see the little ones lifted on the monster's horns, and hear them -cry, “We have changed our bodies.” Five times they came up and spoke to -him, and five times he raised a dismal cry and begged them to return, but -they could not. Next morning he saw them rise through the fog again, and, -building a camp, he stayed there and mourned for several days. For five -days they showed themselves, but after that they went down and he saw and -heard no more of them. Ambuluk had taken the children and they would live -with him for ever after. - -Crater Lake, Oregon, was a haunt of water-devils who dragged into it and -drowned all who ventured near. Only within a few years could Indians be -persuaded to go to it as guides. Its discoverers saw in it the work of -the Great Spirit, but could not guess its meaning. All but one of these -Klamaths stole away after they had looked into its circular basin and -sheer walls. He fancied that if it was a home of gods they might have -some message for men, so camping on the brink of the lofty cliffs he -waited. In his sleep a vision came to him, and he heard voices, but could -neither make out appearances nor distinguish a word. Every night this -dream was repeated. He finally went down to the lake and bathed, and -instantly found his strength increased and saw that the people of his -dreams were the genii of the waters--whether good or bad he could not -guess. One day he caught a fish for food. A thousand water-devils came to -the surface, on the instant, and seized him. They carried him to a rock -on the north side of the lake, that stands two thousand feet above the -water, and from that they dashed him down, gathering the remains of his -shattered body below and devouring them. Since that taste they have been -eager for men's blood. The rock on the south side of the lake, called the -Phantom Ship, is believed by the Indians to be a destructive monster, -innocent as it looks in the daytime. - -So with Rock Lake, in Washington. A hideous reptile sports about its -waters and gulps down everything that it finds in or on them. Only in -1853 a band of Indians, who had fled hither for security against the -soldiers, were overtaken by this creature, lashed to death, and eaten. - -The Indians of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas believed that the King -Snake, or God Snake, lived in the Gulf of Mexico. It slept in a cavern of -pure crystal at the bottom, and its head, being shaped from a solid -emerald, lighted the ocean for leagues when it arose near the surface. - -Similar to this is the belief of the Cherokees in the kings of -rattlesnakes, “bright old inhabitants” of the mountains that grew to a -mighty size, and drew to themselves every creature that they looked upon. -Each wore a crown of carbuncle of dazzling brightness. - -The Indians avoided Klamath Lake because it was haunted by a monster that -was half dragon, half hippopotamus. - -Hutton Lake, Wyoming, is the home of a serpent queen, whose breathing may -be seen in the bubbles that well up in the centre. She is constantly -watching for her lover, but takes all men who come in her way to her -grotto beneath the water, when she finds that they are not the one she -has expected, and there they become her slaves. To lure victims into the -lake she sets there a decoy of a beautiful red swan, and should the -hunter kill this bird he will become possessed of divine power. Should he -see “the woman,” as the serpent queen is called, he will never live to -tell of it, unless he has seen her from a hiding-place near the -shore--for so surely as he is noticed by this Diana of the depths, so -surely will her spies, the land snakes, sting him to death. In appearance -she is a lovely girl in all but her face, and that is shaped like the -head of a monster snake. Her name is never spoken by the Indians, for -fear that it will cost them their lives. - -Michael Pauw, brave fisherman of Paterson, New Jersey, hero of the fight -with the biggest snapping-turtle in Dover Slank, wearer of a scar on his -seat of honor as memento of the conflict, member of the Kersey Reds--he -whose presence of mind was shown in holding out a chip of St. Nicholas's -staff when he met the nine witches of the rocks capering in the mists of -Passaic Falls--gave battle from a boat to a monster that had ascended to -the cataract. One of the Kersey Reds, leaning out too far, fell astride -of the horny beast, and was carried at express speed, roaring with -fright, until unhorsed by a projecting rock, up which he scrambled to -safety. Falling to work with bayonets and staves, the company despatched -the creature and dragged it to shore. One Dutchman--who was quite a -traveller, having been as far from home as Albany--said that the thing -was what the Van Rensselaers cut up for beef, and that he believed they -called it a sturgeon. - - - - -STONE-THROWING DEVILS - -There is an odd recurrence among American legends of tales relating to -assaults of people or their houses by imps of darkness. The shadowy -leaguers of Gloucester, Massachusetts, kept the garrison of that place in -a state of fright until they were expelled from the neighborhood by a -silver bullet and a chaplain's prayers. Witchcraft was sometimes -manifested in Salem by the hurling of missiles from unseen hands. The -“stone-throwing devil” of Portsmouth is the subject of a tradition more -than two centuries of age, but, as the stone-thrower appears rather as an -avenger than as a gratuitously malignant spirit, he is ill treated in -having the name of devil applied to him. In this New Hampshire port lived -a widow who had a cabin and a bit of land of her own. George Walton, a -neighbor, wanted her land, for its situation pleased him, and as the old -woman had neither money nor influential friends he charged her with -witchcraft, and, whether by legal chicanery or mere force is not -recorded, he got his hands upon her property. - -The charge of witchcraft was not pressed, because the man had obtained -what he wanted, but the poor, houseless creature laid a ban on the place -and told the thief that he would never have pleasure nor profit out of -it. Walton laughed at her, bade her go her way, and moved his family into -the widow's house. It was Sunday night, and the family had gone to bed, -when at ten o'clock there came a fierce shock of stones against the roof -and doors. All were awake in a moment. A first thought was that Indians -were making an assault, but when the occupants peered cautiously into the -moonlight the fields were seen to be deserted. Yet, even as they looked, -a gate was lifted from its hinges and thrown through the air. - -Walton ventured out, but a volley of stones, seemingly from a hundred -hands, was delivered at his head, and he ran back to shelter. Doors and -windows were barred and shuttered, but it made no difference. Stones, too -hot to hold a hand upon, were hurled through glass and down the chimney, -objects in the rooms themselves were picked up and flung at Walton, -candles were blown out, a hand without a body tapped at the window, locks -and bars and keys were bent as if by hammer-blows, a cheese-press was -smashed against the wall and the cheese spoiled, hay-stacks in the field -were broken up and the hay tossed into branches of trees. For a long time -Walton could not go out at night without being assailed with stones. -Bell, book, candle, and witch-broth availed nothing, and it was many a -day before peace came to the Walton household. - -In 1802 an epidemic of assault went through the Berkshire Hills. The -performance began in a tailor's shop in Salisbury, Connecticut, at eleven -of the clock on the night of November 2, when a stick and lumps of stone, -charcoal, and mortar were flung through a window. The moon was up, but -nothing could be seen, and the bombardment was continued until after -daylight. After doing some damage here the assailants went to the house -of Ezekiel Landon and rapped away there for a week. Persons were struck -by the missiles, and quantities of glass were destroyed. Nothing could be -seen coming toward the windows until the glass broke, and it was seldom -that anything passed far into a room. No matter how hard it was thrown, -it dropped softly and surely on the sill, inside, as if a hand had put it -there. Windows were broken on both sides of buildings at the same time, -and many sticks and stones came through the same holes in the panes, as -if aimed carefully by a gunner. - -A hamlet that stood in Sage's ravine, on the east side of the Dome of the -Taconics, was assailed in the same way after nightfall. One house was -considerably injured. No causes for the performance were ever discovered, -and nobody in the place was known to have an enemy--at least, a malicious -one. - -At Whitmire Hill, Georgia, the spot where two murders were committed -before the war, is a headless phantom that comes thundering down on the -wayfarer on the back of a giant horse and vanishes at the moment when the -heart of his prospective victim is bumping against his palate. At times, -however, this spook prefers to remain invisible, and then it is a little -worse, for it showers stones and sods on the pedestrian until his legs -have carried him well beyond the phantom's jurisdiction. - -The legends of buried treasure, instanced in another place, frequently -include assaults by the ghosts of pirates and misers on the daring ones -who try to resurrect their wealth. - -Forty-seven years ago, in the township of St. Mary's, Illinois, two lads -named Groves and a companion named Kirk were pelted with snowballs while -on their way home from a barn where they had been to care for the stock -for the night. The evening had shut in dark, and the accuracy of the -thrower's aim was the more remarkable because it was hardly possible to -see more than a rod away. The snowballs were packed so tightly that they -did not break on striking, though they were thrown with force, and Kirk -was considerably bruised by them. Mr. Groves went out with a lantern, but -its rays lit up a field of untrodden snow, and there was no sound except -that made by the wind as it whistled past the barn and fences. Toward -dawn another inspection was made, and in the dim light the snowballs were -seen rising from the middle of a field that had not a footprint on it, -and flying toward the spectators like bullets. They ran into the field -and laid about them with pitchforks, but nothing came of that, and not -until the sun arose was the pelting stopped. Young Kirk, who was badly -hurt, died within a year. - -The men of Sharon, Connecticut, having wheedled their town-site from the -Indians in 1754, were plagued thereafter by whoops and whistlings and the -throwing of stones. Men were seen in the starlight and were fired upon, -but without effect, and the disturbances were not ended until the Indians -had received a sum of money. - -Without presuming to doubt the veracity of tradition in these matters, an -incident from the writer's boyhood in New England may be instanced. The -house of an unpopular gentleman was assailed--not in the ostentatious -manner just described, yet in a way that gave him a good deal of trouble. -Dead cats appeared mysteriously in his neighborhood; weird noises arose -under his windows; he tried to pick up letters from his doorstep that -became mere chalk-marks at his touch, so that he took up only splinters -under his nails. One night, as a seance was about beginning in his yard, -he emerged from a clump of bushes, flew in the direction of the -disturbance, laid violent hands on the writer's collar, and bumped his -nose on a paving-stone. Then the manifestations were discontinued, for -several nights, for repairs. - - - - -STORIED SPRINGS - -Like the Greeks, the red men endowed the woods and waters with tutelary -sprites, and many of the springs that are now resorted to as fountains of -healing were known long before the settlement of Europeans here, the -gains from drinking of them being ascribed to the beneficence of spirit -guardians. The earliest comers to these shores--or, rather, the earliest -of those who entertained such beliefs--fancied that the fabled fountain -of eternal youth would be found among the other blessings of the land. To -the Spaniards Florida was a land of promise and mystery. Somewhere in its -interior was fabled to stand a golden city ruled by a king whose robes -sparkled with precious dust, and this city was named for the -adventurer--El Dorado, or the Place of the Gilded One. Here, they said, -would be found the elixir of life. The beautiful Silver Spring, near the -head of the Ocklawaha, with its sandy bottom plainly visible at the depth -of eighty feet, was thought to be the source of the life-giving waters, -but, though Ponce de Leon heard of this, he never succeeded in fighting -his way to it through the jungle. - -In Georgia, in the reputed land of Chicora, were a sacred stream that -made all young again who bathed there, and a spring so delectable that a -band of red men, chancing on it in a journey, could not leave it, and are -there forever. - -In the island of “Bimini,” one of the Lucayos (Bahamas), was another such -a fountain. - -Between the Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers the Creeks declared was a spring of -life, on an island in a marsh, defended from approach by almost -impenetrable labyrinths,--a heaven where the women were fairer than any -other on earth. - -The romantic and superstitious Spaniards believed these legends, and -spent years and treasure in searching for these springs. And, surely, if -the new and striking scenes of this Western world caused Columbus to -“boast that he had found the seat of paradise, it will not appear strange -that Ponce de Leon should dream of discovering the fountain of youth.” - -The Yuma Apaches had been warned by one of their oracles never to enter a -certain canon in Castle Dome range, Arizona, but a company of them forgot -this caution while in chase of deer, and found themselves between walls -of pink and white fluorite with a spring bubbling at the head of the -ravine. Tired and heated, they fell on their faces to drink, when they -found that the crumbling quartz that formed the basin of the spring was -filled with golden nuggets. Eagerly gathering up this precious substance, -for they knew what treasure of beads, knives, arrows, and blankets the -Mexicans would exchange for it, they attempted to make their way out of -the canon; but a cloudburst came, and on the swiftly rising tide all were -swept away but one, who survived to tell the story. White men have -frequently but vainly tried to find that spring. - -In Southwestern Kansas, on a hill a quarter-mile from Solomon River, is -the Sacred Water, pooled in a basin thirty feet across. When many stand -about the brink it slowly rises. Here two Panis stopped on their return -from a buffalo hunt, and one of them unwittingly stepped on a turtle a -yard long. Instantly he felt his feet glued to the monster's back, for, -try as he might, he could not disengage himself, and the creature -lumbered away to the pool, where it sank with him. There the turtle god -remains, and beads, arrows, ear-rings, and pipes that are dropped in, it -swallows greedily. The Indians use the water to mix their paint with, but -never for drinking. - -The mail rider, crossing the hot desert of Arizona, through the cacti and -over holes where scorpions hide, makes for Devil's Well, under El -Diablo--a dark pool surrounded with gaunt rocks. Here, coming when the -night is on, he lies down, and the wind swishing in the sage--brush puts -him to sleep. At dawn he wakens with the frightened whinny of his horse -in his ears and, all awake, looks about him. A stranger, wrapped in a -tattered blanket, is huddled in a recess of the stones, arrived there, -like himself, at night, perhaps. Poising his rifle on his knee, the rider -challenges him, but never a sign the other makes. Then, striding over to -him, he pulls away the blanket and sees a shrivelled corpse with a face -that he knows--his brother. Hardly is this meeting made when a hail of -arrows falls around. His horse is gone. The Apaches, who know no -gentleness and have no mercy, have manned every gap and sheltering rock. -With his rifle he picks them off, as they rise in sight with arrows at -the string, and sends them tumbling into the dust; but, when his last -bullet has sped into a red man's heart, they rise in a body and with -knives and hatchets hew him to death. And that is why the Devil's Well -still tastes of blood. - -Among the Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina is a large spring -that promises refreshment, but, directly that the wayfarer bends over the -water, a grinning face appears at the bottom and as he stoops it rises to -meet his. So hideous is this demon that few of the mountaineers have -courage to drink here, and they refuse to believe that the apparition is -caused by the shape of the basin, or aberrated reflection of their own -faces. They say it is the visage of a “haunt,” for a Cherokee girl, who -had uncommon beauty, once lived hard by, and took delight in luring -lovers from less favored maidens. The braves were jealous of each other, -and the women were jealous of her, while she--the flirt!--rejoiced in the -trouble that she made. A day fell for a wedding--that of a hunter with a -damsel of his tribe, but at the hour appointed the man was missing. -Mortified and hurt, the bride stole away from the village and began a -search of the wood, and she carried bow and arrows in her hand. Presently -she came on the hunter, lying at the feet of the coquette, who was -listening to his words with encouraging smiles. Without warning the -deserted girl drew an arrow to the head and shot her lover through the -heart--then, beside his lifeless body, she begged Manitou to make her -rival's face so hideous that all would be frightened who looked at it. At -the words the beautiful creature felt her face convulse and shrivel, and, -rushing to the mirror of the spring, she looked in, only to start back in -loathing. When she realized that the frightful visage that glared up at -her was her own, she uttered a cry of despair and flung herself into the -water, where she drowned. - -It is her face--so altered as to disclose the evil once hid behind -it--that peers up at the hardy one who passes there and knows it as the -Haunted Spring. - -The medicinal properties of the mineral springs at Ballston and Saratoga -were familiar to the Indians, and High Rock Spring, to which Sir William -Johnson was carried by the Mohawks in 1767 to be cured of a wound, was -called “the medicine spring of the Great Spirit,” for it was believed -that the leaping and bubbling of the water came from its agitation by -hands not human, and red men regarded it with reverence. - -The springs at Manitou, Colorado (see “Division of Two Tribes”), were -always approached with gifts for the manitou that lived in them. - -The lithia springs of Londonderry, New Hampshire, used to be visited by -Indians from the Merrimack region, who performed incantations and dances -to ingratiate themselves with the healing spirit that lived in the water. -Their stone implements and arrow-heads are often found in adjacent -fields. - -The curative properties of Milford Springs, New Hampshire, were revealed -in the dream of a dying boy. - -A miracle spring flowed in the old days near the statue of the Virgin at -White Marsh, Maryland. - -Biddeford Pool, Maine, was a miracle pond once a year, for whoso bathed -there on the 26th of June would be restored to health if he were ill, -because that day was the joint festival of Saints Anthelm and Maxentius. - -There was a wise and peaceable chief of the Ute tribe who always -counselled his people to refrain from war, but when he grew old the fiery -spirits deposed him and went down to the plains to give battle to the -Arapahoe. News came that they had been defeated in consequence of their -rashness. Then the old man's sorrow was so keen that his heart broke. But -even in death he was beneficent, for his spirit entered the earth and -forthwith came a gush of water that has never ceased to flow--the Hot -Sulphur Springs of Colorado. The Utes often used to go to those springs -to bathe--and be cured of rheumatism--before they were driven away. - -Spring River, Arkansas, is nearly as large at its source as at its mouth, -for Mammoth Spring, in the Ozark Mountains, where it has its rise, has a -yield of ninety thousand gallons a minute, so that it is, perhaps, the -largest in the world. Here, three hundred years ago, the Indians -had gathered for a month's feast, for chief Wampahseesah's -daughter--Nitilita--was to wed a brave of many ponies, a hundred of which -he had given in earnest of his love. For weeks no rain had fallen, and, -while the revel was at its height, news came that all the rivers had gone -dry. Several young men set off with jars, to fill them at the -Mississippi, and, confident that relief would come, the song and dance -went on until the men and women faltered from exhaustion. At last, -Nitilita died, and, in the wildness of his grief, the husband smote his -head upon a rock and perished too. Next day the hunters came with water, -but, incensed by their delay, the chief ordered them to be slain in -sacrifice to the manes of the dead. A large grave was dug and the last -solemnities were begun when there was a roaring and a shaking in the -earth--it parted, and the corpses disappeared in the abyss. Then from the -pit arose a flood of water that went foaming down the valley. Crazed with -grief, remorse, and fear, Wampahseesah flung himself into the torrent and -was borne to his death. The red men built a dam there later, and often -used to sit before it in the twilight, watching, as they declared, the -faces of the dead peering at them through the foam. - -During the rush for the California gold-fields in the '50's a party took -the route by Gila River, and set across the desert. The noon temperature -was 120, the way was strewn with skeletons of wagons, horses, and men, -and on the second night after crossing the Colorado the water had given -out. The party had gathered on the sands below Yuma, the men discussing -the advisability of returning, the women full of apprehension, the young -ones crying, the horses panting; but presently the talk fell low, for in -one of the wagons a child's voice was heard in prayer: “Oh, good heavenly -Father, I know I have been a naughty girl, but I am so thirsty, and mamma -and papa and baby all want a drink so much! Do, good God, give us water, -and I never will be naughty again.” One of the men said, earnestly, “May -God grant it!” In a few moments the child cried, “Mother, get me water. -Get some for baby and me. I can hear it running.” The horses and mules -nearly broke from the traces, for almost at their feet a spring had burst -from the sand-warm, but pure. Their sufferings were over. The water -continued to flow, running north for twenty miles, and at one point -spreading into a lake two miles wide and twenty feet deep. When -emigration was diverted, two years later, to the northern route and to -the isthmus, New River Spring dried up. Its mission was over. - - - - -LOVERS' LEAPS - -So few States in this country--and so few countries, if it comes to -that--are without a lover's leap that the very name has come to be a -by-word. In most of these places the disappointed ones seem to have gone -to elaborate and unusual pains to commit suicide, neglecting many easy -and equally appropriate methods. But while in some cases the legend has -been made to fit the place, there is no doubt that in many instances the -story antedated the arrival of the white men. The best known lovers' -leaps are those on the upper Mississippi, on the French Broad, Jump -Mountain, in Virginia, Jenny Jump Mountain, New Jersey, Mackinac, -Michigan, Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, on the Wissahickon, near -Philadelphia, Muscatine, Iowa, and Lefferts Height. There are many other -declivities,--also, that are scenes of leaps and adventures, such as the -Fawn's Leap, in Kaaterskill Clove; Rogers's Rock, on Lake George; the -rocks in Long Narrows, on the Juniata, where the ghost of Captain Jack, -“the wild hunter” of colonial days, still ranges; Campbell's Ledge, -Pittston, Pennsylvania, where its name-giver jumped off to escape -Indians; and Peabody's leap, of thirty feet, on Lake Champlain, where Tim -Peabody, a scout, escaped after killing a number of savages. - -At Jump Mountain, near Lexington, Virginia, an Indian couple sprang off -because there were insuperable bars to their marriage. - -At the rock on the Wissahickon a girl sought death because her lover was -untrue to her. - -At Muscatine the cause of a maid's demise and that of her lover was the -severity of her father, who forbade the match because there was no war in -which the young man could prove his courage. - -At Lefferts Height a girl stopped her recreant lover as he was on his way -to see her rival, and urging his horse to the edge of the bluff she -leaped with him into the air. - -Monument Mountain, a picturesque height in the Berkshires, is faced on -its western side by a tall precipice, from which a girl flung herself -because the laws of her tribe forbade her marriage with a cousin to whom -she had plighted troth. She was buried where her body was found, and each -Indian as he passed the spot laid a stone on her grave--thus, in time, -forming a monument. - -“Purgatory,” the chasm at Newport, Rhode Island, through which the sea -booms loudly after a storm, was a scene of self-sacrifice to a hopeless -love on the part of an Indian pair in a later century, though there is an -older tradition of the seizure of a guilty squaw, by no less a person -than the devil himself, who flung her from the cliff and dragged her soul -away as it left her body. His hoof-marks were formerly visible on the -rocks. - -At Hot Springs, North Carolina, two conspicuous cliffs are pointed out on -the right bank of the French Broad River: Paint Rock--where the -aborigines used to get ochre to smear their faces, and which they -decorated with hieroglyphics--and Lover's Leap. It is claimed that the -latter is the first in this country known to bear this sentimental and -tragically suggestive title. There are two traditions concerning it, one -being that an Indian girl was discovered at its top by hostiles who drove -her into the gulf below, the other relating to the wish of an Indian to -marry a girl of a tribe with which his own had been immemorially at war. -The match was opposed on both sides, so, instead of doing as most Indians -and some white men would do nowadays--marry the girl and let -reconciliation come in time,--he scaled the rock in her company and -leaped with her into the stream. They awoke as man and wife in the happy -hunting-ground. - -In 1700 there lived in the village of Keoxa, below Frontenac, Minnesota, -on the Mississippi River, a Dakota girl named Winona (the First Born), -who was loved by a hunter in her tribe, and loved him in return. Her -friends commended to her affections a young chief who had valiantly -defended the village against an attack of hostiles, but Juliet would none -of this dusky Count de Paris, adhering faithfully to her Romeo. Unable to -move her by argument, her family at length drove her lover away, and used -other harsh measures to force her into a repugnant union, but she -replied, “You are driving me to despair. I do not love this chief, and -cannot live with him. You are my father, my brothers, my relatives, yet -you drive from me the only man with whom I wish to be united. Alone he -ranges through the forest, with no one to build his lodge, none to spread -his blanket, none to wait on him. Soon you will have neither daughter, -sister, nor relative to torment with false professions.” Blazing with -anger at this unsubmissive speech, her father declared that she should -marry the chief on that very day, but while the festival was in -preparation she stole to the top of the crag that has since been known as -Maiden's Rock, and there, four hundred feet above the heads of the -people, upbraided those who had formerly professed regard for her. Then -she began her death-song. Some of the men tried to scale the cliff and -avert the tragedy that it was evident would shortly be enacted, and her -father, his displeasure forgotten in an agony of apprehension, called to -her that he would no longer oppose her choice. She gave no heed to their -appeals, but, when the song was finished, walked to the edge of the rock, -leaped out, and rolled lifeless at the feet of her people. - -When we say that the real name of Lover's Leap in Mackinac is -Mechenemockenungoqua, we trust that it will not be repeated. It has its -legend, however, as well as its name, for an Ojibway girl stood on this -spire of rock, watching for her lover after a battle had been fought and -her people were returning. Eagerly she scanned the faces of the braves as -their war-canoes swept by, but the face she looked for was not among -them. Her lover was at that moment tied to a tree, with an arrow in his -heart. As she looked at the boats a vision of his fate revealed itself, -and the dead man, floating toward her, beckoned. Her death-song sounded -in the ears of the men, but before they could reach her she had gone -swiftly to the verge, her hands extended, her eyes on vacancy, and her -spirit had met her lover's. - -From this very rock, in olden time, leaped the red Eve when the red Adam -had been driven away by a devil who had fallen in love with her. Adam, -who was paddling by the shore, saw she was about to fall, rushed forward, -caught her, and saved her life. The law of gravitation in those days did -not act with such distressing promptitude as now. Manitou, hearing of -these doings, restored them to the island and banished the devil, who -fell to a world of evil spirits underground, where he became the father -of the white race, and has ever since persecuted the Indians by proxy. - -On the same island of Mackinac the English had a fort, the garrison of -which was massacred in 1763. A sole survivor--a young officer named -Robinson--owed his life to a pretty half-breed who gave him hiding in a -secluded wigwam. As the spot assured him of safety, and the girl was his -only companion, they lived together as man and wife, rather happily, for -several years. When the fort had been built again, Robinson re-entered -the service, and appeared at head-quarters with a wife of his own color. -His Indian consort showed no jealousy. On the contrary, she consented to -live apart in a little house belonging to the station, on the cliff, -called Robinson's Folly. She did ask her lover to go there and sit with -her for an hour before they separated forever, and he granted this -request. While they stood at the edge of the rock she embraced him; then, -stepping back, with her arms still around his neck, she fell from the -cliff, dragging him with her, and both were killed. The edge of the rock -fell shortly after, carrying the house with it. - -Matiwana, daughter of the chief of the Omahas, whose village was near the -mouth of Omaha Creek, married a faithless trader from St. Louis, who had -one wife already, and who returned to her, after an absence among his own -people, with a third, a woman of his own color. He coldly repelled the -Indian woman, though he promised to send her boy--and his--to the -settlements to be educated. She turned away with only a look, and a few -days later was found dead at the foot of a bluff near her home. - -White Rocks, one hundred and fifty feet above Cheat River, in Fayette -County, Pennsylvania, were the favorite tryst of a handsome girl, the -daughter of a well-to-do farmer of that region, and a dashing fellow who -had gone into that country to hunt. They had many happy days there on the -hill together, but after making arrangements for the wedding they -quarrelled, nobody knew for what. One evening they met by accident on the -rocks, and appeared to be in formal talk when night came on and they -could no longer be seen. The girl did not return, and her father set off -with a search party to look for her. They found her, dead and mangled, at -the foot of the rocks. Her lover, in a fit of impatience, had pushed her -and she had staggered and fallen over. He fled at once, and, under a -changed name and changed appearance, eluded pursuit. When the War of the -Rebellion broke out, he entered the army and fought recklessly, for by -that time he had tired of life and hoped to die. But it was of no use. He -was only made captain for a bravery that he was not conscious of showing, -and the old remorse still preyed on him. It was after the war that -something took him back to Fayette County, and on a pleasant day he -climbed the rocks to take a last look at the scenes that had been -brightened by love and saddened by regret. He had not been long on its -summit when an irresistible impulse came upon him to leap down where the -girl had fallen, and atone with his own blood for the shedding of hers. -He gave way to this prompting, and the fall was fatal. - -Some years before the outbreak of the Civil War a man with his wife and -daughter took up their residence in a log cabin at the foot of Sunrise -Rock, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. It seemed probable that they had known -better days, for the head of the household was notoriously useless in the -eyes of his neighbors, and was believed to get his living through -“writin' or book-larnin',” but he was so quiet and gentle that they never -upbraided him, and would sometimes, after making a call, wander into his -garden and casually weed it for him for an hour or so. The girl, Stella, -was a well-schooled, quick-witted, rosy-cheeked lass, whom all the -shaggy, big-jointed farmer lads of the neighborhood regarded with -hopeless admiration. A year or two after the settlement of the family it -began to be noticed that she was losing color and had an anxious look, -and when a friendly old farmer saw her talking in the lane with a lawyer -from Chattanooga, who wore broadcloth and had a gold watch, he was -puzzled that the “city chap” did not go home with her, but kissed his -hand to her as he turned away. Afterward the farmer met the pair again, -and while the girl smiled and said, “Howdy, Uncle Joe?” the lawyer turned -away and looked down the river. It was the last time that a smile was -seen on Stella's face. A few evenings later she was seen standing on -Sunrise Rock, with her look bent on Chattanooga. The shadow of night -crept up the cliff until only her figure stood in sunlight, with her hair -like a golden halo about her face. At that moment came on the wind the -sound of bells-wedding-bells. Pressing her hands to her ears, the girl -walked to the edge of the rock, and a few seconds later her lifeless form -rolled through the bushes at its foot into the road. At her funeral the -people came from far and near to offer sympathy to the mother, garbed in -black, and the father, with his hair turned white, but the lawyer from -Chattanooga was not there. - -The name of Indian Maiden's Cliff--applied to a precipice that hangs -above the wild ravine of Stony Clove, in the Catskills--commemorates the -sequel to an elopement from her tribe of an Indian girl and her lover. -The parents and relatives had opposed the match with that fatal fatuity -that appears to be characteristic of story-book Indians, and as soon as -word of her flight came to the village they set off in chase. While -hurrying through the tangled wood the young couple were separated and the -girl found herself on the edge of the cliff. Farther advance was -impossible. Her pursuers were close behind. She must yield or die. She -chose not to yield, and, with a despairing cry, flung herself into the -shadows. - -Similar to this is the tale of Lover's Leap in the dells of the Sioux, -among the Black Hills of South Dakota. - -At New Milford, Connecticut, they show you Falls Mountain, with the cairn -erected by his tribe in 1735 to chief Waramaug, who wished to be buried -there, so that, when he was cold and lonely in the other life, he could -return to his body and muse on the lovely landscape that he so enjoyed. -The will-o'-the-wisp flickered on the mountain's edge at night, and -flecks of dew-vapor that floated from the wood by day were sometimes -thought to be the spirit of the chief. He had a daughter, Lillinonah, -whose story is related to Lover's Leap, on the riverward side of the -mountain. She had led to the camp a white man, who had been wandering -beside the Housatonic, ill and weak, vainly seeking a way out of the -wilderness, and, in spite of the dark looks that were cast at him and -her, she succeeded in making him, for that summer, a member of the tribe. -As the man grew strong with her care he grew happy and he fell in love. -In the autumn he said to her, “I wish to see my people, and when I have -done so I will come back to you and we shall be man and wife.” They -parted regretfully and the winter passed for the girl on leaden feet. -With spring came hope. The trails were open, and daily she watched for -her white lover. The summer came and went, and the autumn was there -again. She had grown pale and sad, and old Waramaug said to young Eagle -Feather, who had looked softly on her for many years, “The girl sickens -in loneliness. You shall wed her.” This is repeated to her, and that -evening she slips away to the river, enters a canoe, casts away the -paddle, and drifts down the stream. Slowly, at first, but faster and -faster, as the rapids begin to draw it, skims the boat, but above the -hoarse brawling of the waters she hears a song in a voice that she -knows--the merry troll of a light heart. The branches part at Lover's -Leap and her lover looks down upon her. The joyous glance of recognition -changes to a look of horror, for the boat is caught. The girl rises and -holds her arms toward him in agonized appeal. Life, at any cost! He, with -a cry, leaps into the flood as the canoe is passing. It lurches against a -rock and Lillinonah is thrown out. He reaches her. The falls bellow in -their ears. They take a last embrace, and two lives go out in the growing -darkness. - - - - -GOD ON THE MOUNTAINS - -From the oldest time men have associated the mountains with visitations -of God. Their height, their vastness, their majesty made them seem worthy -to be stairs by which the Deity might descend to earth, and they stand in -religious and poetic literature to this day as symbols of the largest -mental conceptions. Scriptural history is intimately associated with -them, and the giving of the law on Sinai, amid thunder and darkness, is -one of the most tremendous pictures that imagination can paint. Ararat, -Hermon, Horeb, Pisgah, Calvary, Adam's Peak, Parnassus, Olympus! How full -of suggestion are these names! And poetic figures in sacred writings are -full of allusion to the beauty, nobility, and endurance of the hills. - -It is little known that many of our own mountains are associated with -aboriginal legends of the Great Spirit. According to the Indians of -California, Mount Shasta was the first part of the earth to be made. The -Great Spirit broke a hole through the floor of heaven with a rock, and on -the spot where this rock had stopped he flung down more rocks, with earth -and snow and ice, until the mass had gained such a height that he could -step from the sky to its summit. Running his hands over its sides he -caused forests to spring up. The leaves that he plucked he breathed upon, -tossed into the air, and, lo! they were birds. Out of his own staff he -made beasts and fishes, to live on the hills and in the streams, that -began to appear as the work of worldbuilding went on. The earth became so -joyous and so fair that he resolved at last to live on it, and he -hollowed Shasta into a wigwam, where he dwelt for centuries, the smoke of -his lodge-fire (Shasta is a volcano) being often seen pouring from the -cone before the white man came. - -According to the Oregon Indians the first man was created at the base of -the Cascade Range, near Wood River, by Kmukamtchiksh, “the old man of the -ancients,” who had already made the world. The Klamaths believe -Kmukamtchiksh a treacherous spirit, “a typical beast god,” yet that he -punishes the wicked by turning them into rocks on the mountain-sides or -by putting them into volcanic fires. - -Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin, was the home of strange beings who occupied -caverns that few dared to enter. Enchanted rivers flowed through these -caves to heaven. The Catskills and Adirondacks were abodes of powerful -beings, and the Highlands of the Hudson were a wall within which Manitou -confined a host of rebellious spirits. When the river burst through this -bulwark and poured into the sea, fifty miles below, these spirits took -flight, and many succeeded in escaping. But others still haunt the -ravines and bristling woods, and when Manitou careers through the Hudson -canon on his car of cloud, crying with thunder voice, and hurling his -lightnings to right and left as he passes, the demons scream and howl in -rage and fear lest they be recaptured and shut up forever beneath the -earth. - -The White Mountains were held in awe by Indians, to whom they were homes -of great and blessed spirits. Mount Washington was their Olympus and -Ararat in one, for there dwelt God, and there, when the earth was covered -with a flood, lived the chief and his wife, whom God had saved, sending -forth a hare, after the waters had subsided, to learn if it were safe to -descend. From them the whole country was peopled with red men. Yet woe -betide the intruder on this high and holy ground, for an angered deity -condemned him to wander for ages over the desolate peaks and through the -shadowy chasms rifted down their sides. The despairing cries of these -condemned ones, in winter storms, even frightened the early white -settlers in this region, and in 1784 the women of Conway petitioned three -clergymen “to lay the spirits.” - -Other ark and deluge legends relate to the Superstition Mountains, in -Arizona, Caddoes village, on Red River, Cerro Naztarny, on the Rio -Grande, the peak of Old Zuni, in Mexico, Colhuacan, on the Pacific coast, -Mount Apaola, in upper Mixteca, and Mount Neba, in Guaymi. The -Northwestern Indians tell of a flood in which all perished save one man, -who fled to Mount Tacoma. To prevent him from being swept away a spirit -turned him into stone. When the flood had fallen the deity took one of -his ribs and made a woman of it. Then he touched the stone man back to -life. - -There were descendants of Manitou on the mountains, too, of North -Carolina, but the Cherokees believe that those heights are bare because -the devil strode over them on his way to the Devil's Court House -(Transylvania County, North Carolina), where he sat in judgment and -claimed his own. Monsters were found in the White Mountains. Devil's Den, -on the face of Mount Willard, was the lair of one of them--a strange, -winged creature that strewed the floor of its cave with brute and human -skeletons, after preying on their flesh. - -The ideas of supernatural occurrences in these New Hampshire hills -obtained until a recent date, and Sunday Mountain is a monument to the -dire effects of Sabbath-breaking that was pointed out to several -generations of New Hampshire youth for their moral betterment. The story -goes that a man of the adjacent town of Oxford took a walk one Sunday, -when he should have taken himself to church; and, straying into the woods -here, he was delivered into the claws and maws of an assemblage of bears -that made an immediate and exemplary conclusion of him. - -The grand portrait in rock in Profile Notch was regarded with reverence -by the few red men who ventured into that lonely defile. When white men -saw it they said it resembled Washington, and a Yankee orator is quoted -as saying, “Men put out signs representing their different trades. -Jewellers hang out a monster watch, shoemakers a huge boot, and, up in -Franconia, God Almighty has hung out a sign that in New England He makes -men.” - -To Echo Lake, close by, the deity was wont to repair that he might -contemplate the beauties of nature, and the clear, repeated echoes were -his voice, speaking in gentleness or anger. Moosilauke--meaning a bald -place, and wrongly called Moose Hillock--was declared by Waternomee, -chief of the Pemigewassets, to be the home of the Great Spirit, and the -first time that red men tried to gain the summit they returned in fear, -crying that Gitche Manitou was riding home in anger on a storm--which -presently, indeed, burst over the whole country. Few Indians dared to -climb the mountain after that, and the first fruits of the harvest and -first victims of the chase were offered in propitiation to the deity. At -Seven Cascades, on its eastern slope, one of Rogers's Rangers, retreating -after the Canadian foray, fell to the ground, too tired for further -motion, when a distant music of harps mingled with the cascade's plash, -and directly the waters were peopled with forms glowing with silver-white, -like the moonstone, that rose and circled, hand in hand, singing gayly as -they did so. The air then seemed to be flooded with rosy light and -thousands of sylvan genii ascended altars of rock, by steps of rainbow, -to offer incense and greet the sun with song. A dark cloud passed, -daylight faded, and a vision arose of the massacre at St. Francis, a -retreat through untried wilderness, a feast on human heads, torture, and -death; then his senses left the worn and starving man. But a trapper who -had seen his trail soon reached him and led him to a friendly settlement, -where he was told that only to those who were about to take their leave -of earth was it given to know those spirits of fountain and forest that -offered their voices, on behalf of nature, in praise of the Great Spirit. -To those of grosser sense, on whom the weight of worldliness still -rested, this halcyon was never revealed. - -It was to Mount Washington that the Great Spirit summoned Passaconaway, -when his work was done, and there was his apotheosis. - -The Indians account in this manner for the birth of the White Mountains: -A red hunter who had wandered for days through the forest without finding -game dropped exhausted on the snow, one night, and awaited death. But he -fell asleep and dreamed. In his vision he saw a beautiful mountain -country where birds and beasts and fruits were plenty, and, awaking from -his sleep, he found that day had come. Looking about the frozen -wilderness in despair, he cried, “Great Master of Life, where is this -country that I have seen?” And even as he spoke the Master appeared and -gave to him a spear and a coal. The hunter dropped the coal on the -ground, when a fire spread from it, the rocks burning with dense smoke, -out of which came the Master's voice, in thunder tones, bidding the -mountains rise. The earth heaved and through the reek the terrified man -saw hills and crags lifting--lifting--until their tops reached above the -clouds, and from the far summits sounded the promise, “Here shall the -Great Spirit live and watch over his children.” Water now burst from the -rocks and came laughing down the hollows in a thousand brooks and rills, -the valleys unfolded in leaf and bloom, birds sang in the branches, -butterflies-like winged flowers flitted to and fro, the faint and -cheerful noise of insect life came from the herbage, the smoke rolled -away, a genial sun blazed out, and, as the hunter looked in rapture on -the mighty peaks of the Agiochooks, God stood upon their crest. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, -Complete, by Charles M. 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Skinner - </title> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> - - body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} - P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } - H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } - hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} - .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } - blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} - .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} - .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} - .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} - div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } - .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} - .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} - pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} - -</style> - </head> - <body> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete -by Charles M. Skinner - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete - -Author: Charles M. Skinner - -Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #6615] -Last Updated: February 2, 2019 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND LEGENDS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - -</pre> - - <div style="height: 8em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h1> - MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OUR OWN LAND - </h1> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <h2> - By Charles M. Skinner - </h2> - <p> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </p> - <hr /> - <p> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </p> - <h2> - CONTENTS - </h2> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_PREF"> <b>PREFACE</b> </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> RIP VAN WINKLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> CATSKILL GNOMES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE CATSKILL WITCH </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THE REVENGE OF SHANDAKEN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> CONDEMNED TO THE NOOSE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> BIG INDIAN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> THE BAKER'S DOZEN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> THE DEVIL'S DANCE-CHAMBER. </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> THE CULPRIT FAY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> POKEPSIE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> DUNDERBERG </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> ANTHONY'S NOSE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> MOODUA CREEK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> A TRAPPER'S GHASTLY VENGEANCE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> THE VANDERDECKEN OF TAPPAN ZEE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> THE GALLOPING HESSIAN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> STORM SHIP OF THE HUDSON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> WHY SPUYTEN DUYVIL IS SO NAMED </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> THE RAMAPO SALAMANDER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> CHIEF CROTON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> THE RETREAT FROM MAHOPAC </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> NIAGARA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> THE DEFORMED OF ZOAR </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> HORSEHEADS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> KAYUTA AND WANETA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> THE DROP STAR </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> THE PROPHET OF PALMYRA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> A VILLAIN'S CREMATION </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> THE MONSTER MOSQUITOE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> THE GREEN PICTURE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> THE NUNS OF CARTHAGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0034"> THE SKULL IN THE WALL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0035"> THE HAUNTED MILL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0036"> OLD INDIAN FACE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0037"> THE DIVISION OF THE SARANACS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0038"> AN EVENT IN INDIAN PARK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0039"> THE INDIAN PLUME </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0040"> BIRTH OF THE WATER-LILY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0041"> ROGERS'S SLIDE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0042"> THE FALLS AT COHOES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0043"> FRANCIS WOOLCOTT'S NIGHT-RIDERS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0044"> POLLY'S LOVER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0045"> CROSBY, THE PATRIOT SPY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0046"> THE LOST GRAVE OF PAINE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0047"> THE RISING OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0048"> <b>THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0049"> DOLPH HEYLIGER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0050"> THE KNELL AT THE WEDDING </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0051"> ROISTERING DIRCK VAN DARA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0052"> THE PARTY FROM GIBBET ISLAND </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0053"> MISS BRITTON'S POKER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0054"> THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0055"> THE SPRINGS OF BLOOD AND WATER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0056"> THE CRUMBLING SILVER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0057"> THE CORTELYOU ELOPEMENT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0058"> VAN WEMPEL'S GOOSE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0059"> THE WEARY WATCHER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0060"> THE RIVAL FIDDLERS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0061"> WYANDANK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0062"> MARK OF THE SPIRIT HAND </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0063"> THE FIRST LIBERAL CHURCH </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0064"> <b>ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0065"> THE PHANTOM DRAGOON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0066"> DELAWARE WATER GAP </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0067"> THE PHANTOM DRUMMER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0068"> THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0069"> THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0070"> A BLOW IN THE DARK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0071"> THE TORY'S CONVERSION </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0072"> LORD PERCY'S DREAM </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0073"> SAVED BY THE BIBLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0074"> PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0075"> THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0076"> FATHER AND SON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0077"> THE ENVY OF MANITOU </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0078"> THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0079"> THE TWO RINGS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0080"> FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0081"> THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0082"> <b>TALES OF PURITAN LAND</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0083"> EVANGALINE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0084"> THE SNORING OF SWUNKSUS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0085"> THE LEWISTON HERMIT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0086"> THE DEAD SHIP OF HARPSWELL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0087"> THE SCHOOLMASTER HAD NOT REACHED ORRINGTON. </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0088"> JACK WELCH'S DEATH LIGHT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0089"> THE LADY URSULA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0090"> FATHER MOODY'S BLACK VEIL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0091"> THE HOME OF THUNDER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0092"> THE PARTRIDGE WITCH </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0093"> THE MARRIAGE OF MOUNT KATAHDIN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0094"> THE MOOSE OF MOUNT KINEO </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0095"> THE OWL TREE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0096"> A CHESTNUT LOG </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0097"> THE WATCHER ON WHITE ISLAND </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0098"> CHOCORUA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0099"> PASSACONAWAY'S RIDE TO HEAVEN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0100"> THE BALL GAME BY THE SACO </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0101"> <b>THE WHITE MOUNTAINS</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0102"> THE VISION ON MOUNT ADAMS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0103"> THE GREAT CARBUNCLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0104"> SKINNER'S CAVE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0105"> YET THEY CALL IT LOVER'S LEAP </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0106"> SALEM AND OTHER WITCHCRAFT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0107"> THE GLOUCESTER LEAGUERS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0108"> SATAN AND HIS BURIAL-PLACE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0109"> PETER RUGG, THE MISSING MAN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0110"> THE LOSS OF WEETAMOO </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0111"> THE FATAL FORGET-ME-NOT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0112"> THE OLD MILL AT SOMERVILLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0113"> EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0114"> LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0115"> HOWE'S MASQUERADE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0116"> OLD ESTHER DUDLEY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0117"> THE LOSS OF JACOB HURD </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0118"> THE HOBOMAK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0119"> BERKSHIRE TORIES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0120"> THE REVENGE OF JOSIAH BREEZE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0121"> THE MAY-POLE OF MERRYMOUNT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0122"> THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0123"> THE GRAY CHAMPION </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0124"> THE FOREST SMITHY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0125"> WAHCONAH FALLS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0126"> KNOCKING AT THE TOMB </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0127"> THE WHITE DEER OF ONOTA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0128"> WIZARD'S GLEN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0129"> BALANCED ROCK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0130"> SHONKEEK-MOONKEEK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0131"> THE SALEM ALCHEMIST </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0132"> ELIZA WHARTON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0133"> SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0134"> THE COURTSHIP OF MYLES STANDISH </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0135"> MOTHER CREWE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0136"> AUNT RACHEL'S CURSE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0137"> NIX'S MATE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0138"> THE WILD MAN OF CAPE COD </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0139"> NEWBURY'S OLD ELM </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0140"> SAMUEL SEWALL'S PROPHECY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0141"> THE SHRIEKING WOMAN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0142"> AGNES SURRIAGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0143"> SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0144"> HEARTBREAK HILL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0145"> HARRY MAIN: THE TREASURE AND THE CATS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0146"> THE WESSAGUSCUS HANGING </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0147"> THE UNKNOWN CHAMPION </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0148"> GOODY COLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0149"> GENERAL MOULTON AND THE DEVIL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0150"> THE SKELETON IN ARMOR </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0151"> <b>MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0152"> LOVE AND TREASON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0153"> THE HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTOWN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0154"> THE CROW AND CAT OF HOPKINSHILL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0155"> THE OLD STONE MILL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0156"> ORIGIN OF A NAME </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0157"> MICAH ROOD APPLES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0158"> A DINNER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0159"> THE NEW HAVEN STORM SHIP </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0160"> THE WINDAM FROGS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0161"> THE LAMB OF SACRIFICE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0162"> MOODUS NOISES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0163"> HADDAM ENCHANTMENTS </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0164"> <b>BLOCK ISLAND AND THE PALATINE</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0165"> THE BUCCANEER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0166"> ROBERT LOCKWOOD'S FATE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0167"> LOVE AND RUM </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0168"> <b>LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0169"> THE SWIM AT INDIAN HEAD </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0170"> THE MOANING SISTERS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0171"> A RIDE FOR A BRIDE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0172"> SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0173"> LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0174"> THE BARGE OF DEFEAT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0175"> NATURAL BRIDGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0176"> THE SILENCE BROKEN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0177"> SIREN OF THE FRENCH BROAD </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0178"> THE HUNTER OF CALAWASSEE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0179"> REVENGE OF THE ACCABEE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0180"> TOCCOA FALLS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0181"> TWO LIVES FOR ONE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0182"> A GHOSTLY AVENGER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0183"> THE WRAITH RINGER OF ATLANTA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0184"> THE SWALLOWING EARTHQUAKE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0185"> LAST STAND OF THE BILOXI </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0186"> THE SACRED FIRE OF NACHEZ </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0187"> PASS CHRISTIAN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0188"> THE UNDER LAND </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0189"> <b>THE CENTRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES</b> - </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0190"> AN AVERTED PERIL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0191"> THE OBSTINACY OF SAINT CLAIR </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0192"> THE HUNDREDTH SKULL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0193"> THE CRIME OF BLACK SWAMP </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0194"> THE HOUSE ACCURSED </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0195"> MICHEL DE COUCY'S TROUBLES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0196"> WALLEN'S RIDGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0197"> THE SKY WALKER OF HURON </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0198"> THE COFFIN OF SNAKES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0199"> MACKINACK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0200"> LAKE SUPERIOR WATER GODS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0201"> THE WITCH OF PICTURED ROCKS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0202"> THE ORIGIN OF WHITE-FISH </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0203"> THE SPIRIT OF CLOUDY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0204"> THE SUN FIRE AT SAULT SAINTE MARIE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0205"> THE SNAKE GOD OF BELLE ISLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0206"> WERE-WOLVES OF DETROIT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0207"> THE ESCAPE OF FRANCOIS NAVARRE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0208"> THE OLD LODGER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0209"> THE NAIN ROUGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0210"> TWO REVENGES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0211"> HIAWATHA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0212"> THE INDIAN MESSIAH </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0213"> THE VISION OF RESCUE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0214"> DEVIL'S LAKE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0215"> THE KEUSCA ELOPEMENT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0216"> PIPESTONE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0217"> THE VIRGINS' FEAST </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0218"> FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0219"> FLYING SHADOW AND TRACK MAKER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0220"> SAVED BY A LIGHTNING-STROKE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0221"> THE KILLING OF CLOUDY SKY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0222"> PROVIDENCE HOLE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0223"> THE SCARE CURE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0224"> TWELFTH NIGHT AT CAHOKIA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0225"> THE SPELL OF CREVE CIUR LAKE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0226"> HOW THE CRIME WAS REVEALED </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0227"> BANSHEE OF THE BAD LANDS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0228"> STANDING ROCK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0229"> THE SALT WITCH </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0230"> <b>ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0231"> OVER THE DIVIDE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0232"> THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0233"> THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0234"> RIDERS OF THE DESERT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0235"> THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0236"> BESIEGED BY STARVATION </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0237"> A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0238"> THE BROAD HOUSE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0239"> THE DEATH WALTZ </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0240"> THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0241"> GODDESS OF SALT </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0242"> THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0243"> THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0244"> THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0245"> THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0246"> SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0247"> TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0248"> THE COMANCHE RIDER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0249"> HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0250"> THE SPIDER TOWER </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0251"> THE LOST TRAIL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0252"> A BATTLE IN THE AIR </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0253"> <b>ON THE PACIFIC COAST</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0254"> THE VOYAGER OF WHULGE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0255"> TAMANOUS OF TACOMA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0256"> THE DEVIL AND THE DALLES </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0257"> CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0258"> THE DEATH OF UMATILLA </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0259"> HUNGER VALLEY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0260"> THE WRATH OF MANITOU </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0261"> THE SPOOK OF MISERY HILL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0262"> THE QUEEN OF DEATH VALLEY </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0263"> BRIDAL VEIL FALL </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0264"> THE GOVERNOR'S RIGHT EYE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0265"> THE PRISONER IN AMERICAN SHAFT </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0266"> <b>AS TO BURIED RICHES</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0267"> KIDD'S TREASURE </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0268"> OTHER BURIED WEALTH </a> - </p> - <p> - <br /><br /> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0269"> <b>STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS</b> </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0270"> MONSTERS AND SEA-SERPENTS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0271"> STONE-THROWING DEVILS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0272"> STORIED SPRINGS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0273"> LOVERS' LEAPS </a> - </p> - <p class="toc"> - <a href="#link2H_4_0274"> GOD ON THE MOUNTAINS </a> - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PREFACE - </h2> - <p> - It is unthinkingly said and often, that America is not old enough to have - developed a legendary era, for such an era grows backward as a nation - grows forward. No little of the charm of European travel is ascribed to - the glamour that history and fable have flung around old churches, - castles, and the favored haunts of tourists, and the Rhine and Hudson are - frequently compared, to the prejudice of the latter, not because its - scenery lacks in loveliness or grandeur, but that its beauty has not been - humanized by love of chivalry or faerie, as that of the older stream has - been. Yet the record of our country's progress is of deep import, and as - time goes on the figures seen against the morning twilight of our history - will rise to more commanding stature, and the mists of legend will invest - them with a softness or glory that shall make reverence for them - spontaneous and deep. Washington hurling the stone across the Potomac may - live as the Siegfried of some Western saga, and Franklin invoking the - lightnings may be the Loki of our mythology. The bibliography of American - legends is slight, and these tales have been gathered from sources the - most diverse: records, histories, newspapers, magazines, oral narrative—in - every case reconstructed. The pursuit of them has been so long that a - claim may be set forth for some measure of completeness. - </p> - <p> - But, whatever the episodes of our four historic centuries may furnish to - the poet, painter, dramatist, or legend-building idealist of the future, - it is certain that we are not devoid of myth and folk-lore. Some - characters, prosaic enough, perhaps, in daily life, have impinged so - lightly on society before and after perpetrating their one or two great - deeds, that they have already become shadowy and their achievements have - acquired a color of the supernatural. It is where myth and history combine - that legend is most interesting and appeals to our fancy or our sympathy - most strongly; and it is not too early for us to begin the collation of - those quaint happenings and those spoken reports that gain in - picturesqueness with each transmission. An attempt has been made in this - instance to assemble only legends, for, doubtful as some historians - profess to find them, certain occurrences, like the story of Captain Smith - and Pocahontas, and the ride of General Putnam down Breakneck Stairs, are - taught as history; while as to folk-lore, that of the Indian tribes and of - the Southern negro is too copious to be recounted in this work. It will be - noted that traditions do not thrive in brick and brownstone, and that the - stories once rife in the colonial cities have almost as effectually - disappeared as the architectural landmarks of last century. The field - entered by the writer is not untrodden. Hawthorne and Irving have made - paths across it, and it is hoped that others may deem its farther - exploration worthy of their efforts. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - RIP VAN WINKLE - </h2> - <p> - The story of Rip Van Winkle, told by Irving, dramatized by Boucicault, - acted by Jefferson, pictured by Darley, set to music by Bristow, is the - best known of American legends. Rip was a real personage, and the Van - Winkles are a considerable family at this day. An idle, good-natured, - happy-go-lucky fellow, he lived, presumably, in the village of Catskill, - and began his long sleep in 1769. His wife was a shrew, and to escape her - abuse Rip often took his dog and gun and roamed away to the Catskills, - nine miles westward, where he lounged or hunted, as the humor seized him. - It was on a September evening, during a jaunt on South Mountain, that he - met a stubby, silent man, of goodly girth, his round head topped with a - steeple hat, the skirts of his belted coat and flaps of his petticoat - trousers meeting at the tops of heavy boots, and the face—ugh!—green - and ghastly, with unmoving eyes that glimmered in the twilight like - phosphorus. The dwarf carried a keg, and on receiving an intimation, in a - sign, that he would like Rip to relieve him of it, that cheerful vagabond - shouldered it and marched on up the mountain. - </p> - <p> - At nightfall they emerged on a little plateau where a score of men in the - garb of long ago, with faces like that of Rip's guide, and equally still - and speechless, were playing bowls with great solemnity, the balls - sometimes rolling over the plateau's edge and rumbling down the rocks with - a boom like thunder. A cloaked and snowy-bearded figure, watching aloof, - turned like the others, and gazed uncomfortably at the visitor who now - came blundering in among them. Rip was at first for making off, but the - sinister glare in the circle of eyes took the run out of his legs, and he - was not displeased when they signed to him to tap the keg and join in a - draught of the ripest schnapps that ever he had tasted,—and he knew - the flavor of every brand in Catskill. While these strange men grew no - more genial with passing of the flagons, Rip was pervaded by a satisfying - glow; then, overcome by sleepiness and resting his head on a stone, he - stretched his tired legs out and fell to dreaming. - </p> - <p> - Morning. Sunlight and leaf shadow were dappled over the earth when he - awoke, and rising stiffly from his bed, with compunctions in his bones, he - reached for his gun. The already venerable implement was so far gone with - rot and rust that it fell to pieces in his hand, and looking down at the - fragments of it, he saw that his clothes were dropping from his body in - rags and mould, while a white beard flowed over his breast. Puzzled and - alarmed, shaking his head ruefully as he recalled the carouse of the - silent, he hobbled down the mountain as fast as he might for the grip of - the rheumatism on his knees and elbows, and entered his native village. - What! Was this Catskill? Was this the place that he left yesterday? Had - all these houses sprung up overnight, and these streets been pushed across - the meadows in a day? The people, too: where were his friends? The - children who had romped with him, the rotund topers whom he had left - cooling their hot noses in pewter pots at the tavern door, the dogs that - used to bark a welcome, recognizing in him a kindred spirit of vagrancy: - where were they? - </p> - <p> - And his wife, whose athletic arm and agile tongue had half disposed him to - linger in the mountains how happened it that she was not awaiting him at - the gate? But gate there was none in the familiar place: an unfenced yard - of weeds and ruined foundation wall were there. Rip's home was gone. The - idlers jeered at his bent, lean form, his snarl of beard and hair, his - disreputable dress, his look of grieved astonishment. He stopped, - instinctively, at the tavern, for he knew that place in spite of its new - sign: an officer in blue regimentals and a cocked hat replacing the - crimson George III. of his recollection, and labelled “General - Washington.” There was a quick gathering of ne'er-do-weels, of - tavern-haunters and gaping 'prentices, about him, and though their faces - were strange and their manners rude, he made bold to ask if they knew such - and such of his friends. - </p> - <p> - “Nick Vedder? He's dead and gone these eighteen years.” “Brom Dutcher? He - joined the army and was killed at Stony Point.” “Van Brummel? He, too, - went to the war, and is in Congress now.” - </p> - <p> - “And Rip Van Winkle?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes, he's here. That's him yonder.” - </p> - <p> - And to Rip's utter confusion he saw before him a counterpart of himself, - as young, lazy, ragged, and easy-natured as he remembered himself to be, - yesterday—or, was it yesterday? - </p> - <p> - “That's young Rip,” continued his informer. “His father was Rip Van - Winkle, too, but he went to the mountains twenty years ago and never came - back. He probably fell over a cliff, or was carried off by Indians, or - eaten by bears.” - </p> - <p> - Twenty years ago! Truly, it was so. Rip had slept for twenty years without - awaking. He had left a peaceful colonial village; he returned to a - bustling republican town. How he eventually found, among the oldest - inhabitants, some who admitted that they knew him; how he found a - comfortable home with his married daughter and the son who took after him - so kindly; how he recovered from the effect of the tidings that his wife - had died of apoplexy, in a quarrel; how he resumed his seat at the tavern - tap and smoked long pipes and told long yarns for the rest of his days, - were matters of record up to the beginning of this century. - </p> - <p> - And a strange story Rip had to tell, for he had served as cup-bearer to - the dead crew of the Half Moon. He had quaffed a cup of Hollands with no - other than Henry Hudson himself. Some say that Hudson's spirit has made - its home amid these hills, that it may look into the lovely valley that he - discovered; but others hold that every twenty years he and his men - assemble for a revel in the mountains that so charmed them when first seen - swelling against the western heavens, and the liquor they drink on this - night has the bane of throwing any mortal who lips it into a slumber - whence nothing can arouse him until the day dawns when the crew shall meet - again. As you climb the east front of the mountains by the old carriage - road, you pass, half-way up the height, the stone that Rip Van Winkle - slept on, and may see that it is slightly hollowed by his form. The - ghostly revellers are due in the Catskills in 1909, and let all tourists - who are among the mountains in September of that year beware of accepting - liquor from strangers. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - CATSKILL GNOMES - </h2> - <p> - Behind the New Grand Hotel, in the Catskills, is an amphitheatre of - mountain that is held to be the place of which the Mohicans spoke when - they told of people there who worked in metals, and had bushy beards and - eyes like pigs. From the smoke of their forges, in autumn, came the haze - of Indian summer; and when the moon was full, it was their custom to - assemble on the edge of a precipice above the hollow and dance and caper - until the night was nigh worn away. They brewed a liquor that had the - effect of shortening the bodies and swelling the heads of all who drank - it, and when Hudson and his crew visited the mountains, the pygmies held a - carouse in his honor and invited him to drink their liquor. The crew went - away, shrunken and distorted by the magic distillation, and thus it was - that Rip Van Winkle found them on the eve of his famous sleep. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CATSKILL WITCH - </h2> - <p> - When the Dutch gave the name of Katzbergs to the mountains west of the - Hudson, by reason of the wild-cats and panthers that ranged there, they - obliterated the beautiful Indian Ontiora, “mountains of the sky.” In one - tradition of the red men these hills were bones of a monster that fed on - human beings until the Great Spirit turned it into stone as it was - floundering toward the ocean to bathe. The two lakes near the summit were - its eyes. These peaks were the home of an Indian witch, who adjusted the - weather for the Hudson Valley with the certainty of a signal service - bureau. It was she who let out the day and night in blessed alternation, - holding back the one when the other was at large, for fear of conflict. - Old moons she cut into stars as soon as she had hung new ones in the sky, - and she was often seen perched on Round Top and North Mountain, spinning - clouds and flinging them to the winds. Woe betide the valley residents if - they showed irreverence, for then the clouds were black and heavy, and - through them she poured floods of rain and launched the lightnings, - causing disastrous freshets in the streams and blasting the wigwams of the - mockers. In a frolic humor she would take the form of a bear or deer and - lead the Indian hunters anything but a merry dance, exposing them to tire - and peril, and vanishing or assuming some terrible shape when they had - overtaken her. Sometimes she would lead them to the cloves and would leap - into the air with a mocking “Ho, ho!” just as they stopped with a shudder - at the brink of an abyss. Garden Rock was a spot where she was often - found, and at its foot a lake once spread. This was held in such awe that - an Indian would never wittingly pursue his quarry there; but once a hunter - lost his way and emerged from the forest at the edge of the pond. Seeing a - number of gourds in crotches of the trees he took one, but fearing the - spirit he turned to leave so quickly that he stumbled and it fell. As it - broke, a spring welled from it in such volume that the unhappy man was - gulfed in its waters, swept to the edge of Kaaterskill clove and dashed on - the rocks two hundred and sixty feet below. Nor did the water ever cease - to run, and in these times the stream born of the witch's revenge is known - as Catskill Creek. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE REVENGE OF SHANDAKEN - </h2> - <p> - On the rock platform where the Catskill Mountain House now stands, - commanding one of the fairest views in the world, old chief Shandaken set - his wigwam,—for it is a mistake to suppose that barbarians are - indifferent to beauty,—and there his daughter, Lotowana, was sought - in marriage by his braves. She, however, kept faith to an early vow - exchanged with a young chief of the Mohawks. A suitor who was particularly - troublesome was Norsereddin, proud, morose, dark-featured, a stranger to - the red man, a descendant, so he claimed, from Egyptian kings, and who - lived by himself on Kaaterskill Creek, appearing among white settlements - but rarely. - </p> - <p> - On one of his visits to Catskill, a tavern-lounging Dutchman wagered him a - thousand golden crowns that he could not win Lotowana, and, stung by - avarice as well as inflamed by passion, Norsereddin laid new siege to her - heart. Still the girl refused to listen, and Shandaken counselled him to - be content with the smiles of others, thereby so angering the Egyptian - that he assailed the chief and was driven from the camp with blows; but on - the day of Lotowana's wedding with the Mohawk he returned, and in a - honeyed speech asked leave to give a jewel to the bride to show that he - had stifled jealousy and ill will. The girl took the handsome box he gave - her and drew the cover, when a spring flew forward, driving into her hand - the poisoned tooth of a snake that had been affixed to it. The venom was - strong, and in a few minutes Lotowana lay dead at her husband's feet. - </p> - <p> - Though the Egyptian had disappeared into the forest directly on the - acceptance of his treacherous gift, twenty braves set off in pursuit, and - overtaking him on the Kalkberg, they dragged him back to the rock where - father and husband were bewailing the maid's untimely fate. A pile of - fagots was heaped within a few feet of the precipice edge, and tying their - captive on them, they applied the torch, dancing about with cries of - exultation as the shrieks of the wretch echoed from the cliffs. The dead - girl was buried by the mourning tribe, while the ashes of Norsereddin were - left to be blown abroad. On the day of his revenge Shandaken left his - ancient dwelling-place, and his camp-fires never glimmered afterward on - the front of Ontiora. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - CONDEMNED TO THE NOOSE - </h2> - <p> - Ralph Sutherland, who, early in the last century, occupied a stone house a - mile from Leeds, in the Catskills, was a man of morose and violent - disposition, whose servant, a Scotch girl, was virtually a slave, inasmuch - as she was bound to work for him without pay until she had refunded to him - her passage-money to this country. Becoming weary of bondage and of the - tempers of her master, the girl ran away. The man set off in a raging - chase, and she had not gone far before Sutherland overtook her, tied her - by the wrists to his horse's tail, and began the homeward journey. - Afterward, he swore that the girl stumbled against the horse's legs, so - frightening the animal that it rushed off madly, pitching him out of the - saddle and dashing the servant to death on rocks and trees; yet, knowing - how ugly-tempered he could be, his neighbors were better inclined to - believe that he had driven the horse into a gallop, intending to drag the - girl for a short distance, as a punishment, and to rein up before he had - done serious mischief. On this supposition he was arrested, tried, and - sentenced to die on the scaffold. - </p> - <p> - The tricks of circumstantial evidence, together with pleas advanced by - influential relatives of the prisoner, induced the court to delay sentence - until the culprit should be ninety-nine years old, but it was ordered - that, while released on his own recognizance, in the interim, he should - keep a hangman's noose about his neck and show himself before the judges - in Catskill once every year, to prove that he wore his badge of infamy and - kept his crime in mind. This sentence he obeyed, and there were people - living recently who claimed to remember him as he went about with a silken - cord knotted at his throat. He was always alone, he seldom spoke, his - rough, imperious manner had departed. Only when children asked him what - the rope was for were his lips seen to quiver, and then he would hurry - away. After dark his house was avoided, for gossips said that a shrieking - woman passed it nightly, tied at the tail of a giant horse with fiery eyes - and smoking nostrils; that a skeleton in a winding sheet had been found - there; that a curious thing, somewhat like a woman, had been known to sit - on his garden wall, with lights shining from her finger-tips, uttering - unearthly laughter; and that domestic animals reproached the man by - groaning and howling beneath his windows. - </p> - <p> - These beliefs he knew, yet he neither grieved, nor scorned, nor answered - when he was told of them. Years sped on. Every year deepened his reserve - and loneliness, and some began to whisper that he would take his own way - out of the world, though others answered that men who were born to be - hanged would never be drowned; but a new republic was created; new laws - were made; new judges sat to minister them; so, on Ralph Sutherland's - ninety-ninth birthday anniversary, there were none who would accuse him or - execute sentence. He lived yet another year, dying in 1801. But was it - from habit, or was it in self-punishment and remorse, that he never took - off the cord? for, when he drew his last breath, though it was in his own - house, his throat was still encircled by the hangman's rope. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BIG INDIAN - </h2> - <p> - Intermarriages between white people and red ones in this country were not - uncommon in the days when our ancestors led as rude a life as the natives, - and several places in the Catskills commemorate this fact. Mount - Utsayantha, for example, is named for an Indian woman whose life, with - that of her baby and her white husband, was lost there. For the white men - early found friends among these mountains. As far back as 1663 they spared - Catherine Dubois and her three children, after some rash spirits had - abducted them and carried them to a place on the upper Walkill, to do them - to death; for the captives raised a Huguenot hymn and the hearts of their - captors were softened. - </p> - <p> - In Esopus Valley lived Winnisook, whose height was seven feet, and who was - known among the white settlers as “the big Indian.” He loved a white girl - of the neighborhood, one Gertrude Molyneux, and had asked for her hand; - but while she was willing, the objections of her family were too strong to - be overcome, and she was teased into marriage with Joseph Bundy, of her - own race, instead. She liked the Indian all the better after that, - however, because Bundy proved to be a bad fellow, and believing that she - could be happier among barbarians than among a people that approved such - marriages, she eloped with Winnisook. For a long time all trace of the - runaway couple was lost, but one day the man having gone down to the plain - to steal cattle, it was alleged, was discovered by some farmers who knew - him, and who gave hot chase, coming up with him at the place now called - Big Indian. - </p> - <p> - Foremost in the chase was Bundy. As he came near to the enemy of his peace - he exclaimed, “I think the best way to civilize that yellow serpent is to - let daylight into his heart,” and, drawing his rifle to his shoulder, he - fired. Mortally wounded, yet instinctively seeking refuge, the giant - staggered into the hollow of a pine-tree, where the farmers lost sight of - him. There, however, he was found by Gertrude, bolt upright, yet dead. The - unwedded widow brought her dusky children to the place and spent the - remainder of her days near his grave. Until a few years ago the tree was - still pointed out, but a railroad company has now covered it with an - embankment. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE BAKER'S DOZEN - </h2> - <p> - Baas [Boss] Volckert Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam kept a bake-shop in - Albany, and lives in history as the man who invented New Year cakes and - made gingerbread babies in the likeness of his own fat offspring. Good - churchman though he was, the bane of his life was a fear of being - bewitched, and perhaps it was to keep out evil spirits, who might make one - last effort to gain the mastery over him, ere he turned the customary leaf - with the incoming year, that he had primed himself with an extra glass of - spirits on the last night of 1654. His sales had been brisk, and as he sat - in his little shop, meditating comfortably on the gains he would make when - his harmless rivals—the knikkerbakkers (bakers of marbles)—sent - for their usual supply of olie-koeks and mince-pies on the morrow, he was - startled by a sharp rap, and an ugly old woman entered. “Give me a dozen - New Year's cookies!” she cried, in a shrill voice. - </p> - <p> - “Vell, den, you needn' sbeak so loud. I aind teaf, den.” - </p> - <p> - “A dozen!” she screamed. “Give me a dozen. Here are only twelve.” - </p> - <p> - “Vell, den, dwalf is a dozen.” - </p> - <p> - “One more! I want a dozen.” - </p> - <p> - “Vell, den, if you vant anodder, go to de duyvil and ged it.” - </p> - <p> - Did the hag take him at his word? She left the shop, and from that time it - seemed as if poor Volckert was bewitched, indeed, for his cakes were - stolen; his bread was so light that it went up the chimney, when it was - not so heavy that it fell through the oven; invisible hands plucked bricks - from that same oven and pelted him until he was blue; his wife became - deaf, his children went unkempt, and his trade went elsewhere. Thrice the - old woman reappeared, and each time was sent anew to the devil; but at - last, in despair, the baker called on Saint Nicolaus to come and advise - him. His call was answered with startling quickness, for, almost while he - was making it, the venerable patron of Dutch feasts stood before him. The - good soul advised the trembling man to be more generous in his dealings - with his fellows, and after a lecture on charity he vanished, when, lo! - the old woman was there in his place. - </p> - <p> - She repeated her demand for one more cake, and Volckert Jan Pietersen, - etc., gave it, whereupon she exclaimed, “The spell is broken, and from - this time a dozen is thirteen!” Taking from the counter a gingerbread - effigy of Saint Nicolaus, she made the astonished Dutchman lay his hand - upon it and swear to give more liberal measure in the future. So, until - thirteen new States arose from the ruins of the colonies,—when the - shrewd Yankees restored the original measure,—thirteen made a - baker's dozen. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEVIL'S DANCE-CHAMBER. - </h2> - <p> - Most storied of our New World rivers is the Hudson. Historic scenes have - been enacted on its shores, and Indian, Dutchman, Briton, and American - have invested it with romance. It had its source, in the red man's fancy, - in a spring of eternal youth; giants and spirits dwelt in its woods and - hills, and before the river-Shatemuc, king of streams, the red men called - it—had broken through the highlands, those mountains were a pent for - spirits who had rebelled against the Manitou. After the waters had forced - a passage to the sea these evil ones sought shelter in the glens and - valleys that open to right and left along its course, but in time of - tempest, when they hear Manitou riding down the ravine on wings of storm, - dashing thunderbolts against the cliffs, it is the fear that he will - recapture them and force them into lightless caverns to expiate their - revolt, that sends them huddling among the rocks and makes the hills - resound with roars and howls. - </p> - <p> - At the Devil's Dance-Chamber, a slight plateau on the west bank, between - Newburg and Crom Elbow, the red men performed semi-religious rites as a - preface to their hunting and fishing trips or ventures on the war-path. - They built a fire, painted themselves, and in that frenzy into which - savages are so readily lashed, and that is so like to the action of mobs - in trousers, they tumbled, leaped, danced, yelled, sang, grimaced, and - gesticulated until the Manitou disclosed himself, either as a harmless - animal or a beast of prey. If he came in the former shape the augury was - favorable, but if he showed himself as a bear or panther, it was a warning - of evil that they seldom dared to disregard. - </p> - <p> - The crew of Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, having chanced on one of these - orgies, were so impressed by the fantastic spectacle that they gave the - name Duyvels Dans-Kamer to the spot. Years afterwards, when Stuyvesant - ascended the river, his doughty retainers were horrified, on landing below - the Dans-Kamer, to discover hundreds of painted figures frisking there in - the fire-light. A few surmised that they were but a new generation of - savages holding a powwow, but most of the sailors fancied that the - assemblage was demoniac, and that the figures were spirits of bad Indians - repeating a scalp-dance and revelling in the mysterious fire-water that - they had brought down from the river source in jars and skins. The spot - was at least once profaned with blood, for a young Dutchman and his wife, - of Albany, were captured here by an angry Indian, and although the young - man succeeded in stabbing his captor to death, he was burned alive on the - rock by the friends of the Indian whose wrath he had provoked. The wife, - after being kept in captivity for a time, was ransomed. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CULPRIT FAY - </h2> - <p> - The wood-tick's drum convokes the elves at the noon of night on Cro' Nest - top, and, clambering out of their flower-cup beds and hammocks of cobweb, - they fly to the meeting, not to freak about the grass or banquet at the - mushroom table, but to hear sentence passed on the fay who, forgetting his - vestal vow, has loved an earthly maid. From his throne under a canopy of - tulip petals, borne on pillars of shell, the king commands silence, and - with severe eye but softened voice he tells the culprit that while he has - scorned the royal decree he has saved himself from the extreme penalty, of - imprisonment in walnut shells and cobweb dungeons, by loving a maid who is - gentle and pure. So it shall be enough if he will go down to the Hudson - and seize a drop from the bow of mist that a sturgeon leaves when he makes - his leap; and after, to kindle his darkened flame-wood lamp at a meteor - spark. The fairy bows, and without a word slowly descends the rocky steep, - for his wing is soiled and has lost its power; but once at the river, he - tugs amain at a mussel shell till he has it afloat; then, leaping in, he - paddles out with a strong grass blade till he comes to the spot where the - sturgeon swims, though the watersprites plague him and toss his boat, and - the fish and the leeches bunt and drag; but, suddenly, the sturgeon shoots - from the water, and ere the arch of mist that he tracks through the air - has vanished, the sprite has caught a drop of the spray in a tiny blossom, - and in this he washes clean his wings. - </p> - <p> - The water-goblins torment him no longer. They push his boat to the shore, - where, alighting, he kisses his hand, then, even as a bubble, he flies - back to the mountain top, dons his acorn helmet, his corselet of bee-hide, - his shield of lady-bug shell, and grasping his lance, tipped with wasp - sting, he bestrides his fire-fly steed and off he goes like a flash. The - world spreads out and then grows small, but he flies straight on. The - ice-ghosts leer from the topmost clouds, and the mists surge round, but he - shakes his lance and pipes his call, and at last he comes to the Milky - Way, where the sky-sylphs lead him to their queen, who lies couched in a - palace ceiled with stars, its dome held up by northern lights and the - curtains made of the morning's flush. Her mantle is twilight purple, tied - with threads of gold from the eastern dawn, and her face is as fair as the - silver moon. - </p> - <p> - She begs the fay to stay with her and taste forever the joys of heaven, - but the knightly elf keeps down the beating of his heart, for he remembers - a face on earth that is fairer than hers, and he begs to go. With a sigh - she fits him a car of cloud, with the fire-fly steed chained on behind, - and he hurries away to the northern sky whence the meteor comes, with roar - and whirl, and as it passes it bursts to flame. He lights his lamp at a - glowing spark, then wheels away to the fairy-land. His king and his - brothers hail him stoutly, with song and shout, and feast and dance, and - the revel is kept till the eastern sky has a ruddy streak. Then the cock - crows shrill and the fays are gone. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - POKEPSIE - </h2> - <p> - The name of this town has forty-two spellings in old records, and with - singular pertinacity in ill-doing, the inhabitants have fastened on it the - longest and clumsiest of all. It comes from the Mohegan words - Apo-keep-sink, meaning a safe, pleasant harbor. Harbor it might be for - canoes, but for nothing bigger, for it was only the little cove that was - so called between Call Rock and Adder Cliff,—the former indicating - where settlers awaiting passage hailed the masters of vessels from its - top, and the latter taking its name from the snakes that abounded there. - </p> - <p> - Hither came a band of Delawares with Pequot captives, among them a young - chief to whom had been offered not only life but leadership if he would - renounce his tribe, receive the mark of the turtle on his breast, and - become a Delaware. On his refusal, he was bound to a tree, and was about - to undergo the torture, when a girl among the listeners sprang to his - side. She, too, was a Pequot, but the turtle totem was on her bosom, and - when she begged his life, because they had been betrothed, the captors - paused to talk of it. She had chosen well the time to interfere, for a - band of Hurons was approaching, and even as the talk went on their yell - was heard in the wood. Instant measures for defence were taken, and in the - fight that followed both chief and maiden were forgotten; but though she - cut the cords that bound him, they were separated in the confusion, he - disappearing, she falling captive to the Hurons, who, sated with blood, - retired from the field. In the fantastic disguise of a wizard the young - Pequot entered their camp soon after, and on being asked to try his - enchantments for the cure of a young woman, he entered her tent, showing - no surprise at finding her to be the maiden of his choice, who was - suffering from nothing worse than nerves, due to the excitement of the - battle. Left alone with his patient, he disclosed his identity, and - planned a way of escape that proved effective on that very night, for, - though pursued by the angry Hurons, the couple reached “safe harbor,” - thence making a way to their own country in the east, where they were - married. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - DUNDERBERG - </h2> - <p> - Dunderberg, “Thunder Mountain,” at the southern gate of the Hudson - Highlands, is a wooded eminence, chiefly populated by a crew of imps of - stout circumference, whose leader, the Heer, is a bulbous goblin clad in - the dress worn by Dutch colonists two centuries ago, and carrying a - speaking-trumpet, through which he bawls his orders for the blowing of - winds and the touching off of lightnings. These orders are given in Low - Dutch, and are put into execution by the imps aforesaid, who troop into - the air and tumble about in the mist, sometimes smiting the flag or - topsail of a ship to ribbons, or laying the vessel over before the wind - until she is in peril of going on beam ends. At one time a sloop passing - the Dunderberg had nearly foundered, when the crew discovered the - sugar-loaf hat of the Heer at the mast-head. None dared to climb for it, - and it was not until she had driven past Pollopel's Island—the limit - of the Heer's jurisdiction—that she righted. As she did so the - little hat spun into the air like a top, creating a vortex that drew up - the storm-clouds, and the sloop kept her way prosperously for the rest of - the voyage. The captain had nailed a horse-shoe to the mast. The “Hat - Rogue” of the Devil's Bridge in Switzerland must be a relative of this - gamesome sprite, for his mischief is usually of a harmless sort; but, to - be on the safe side, the Dutchmen who plied along the river lowered their - peaks in homage to the keeper of the mountain, and for years this was a - common practice. Mariners who paid this courtesy to the Heer of the Donder - Berg were never molested by his imps, though skipper Ouselsticker, of - Fishkill,—for all he had a parson on board,—was once beset by - a heavy squall, and the goblin came out of the mist and sat astraddle of - his bowsprit, seeming to guide his schooner straight toward the rocks. The - dominie chanted the song of Saint Nicolaus, and the goblin, unable to - endure either its spiritual potency or the worthy parson's singing, shot - upward like a ball and rode off on the gale, carrying with him the - nightcap of the parson's wife, which he hung on the weathercock of Esopus - steeple, forty miles away. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ANTHONY'S NOSE - </h2> - <p> - The Hudson Highlands are suggestively named Bear Mountain, Sugar Loaf, - Cro' Nest, Storm King, called by the Dutch Boterberg, or Butter Hill, from - its likeness to a pat of butter; Beacon Hill, where the fires blazed to - tell the country that the Revolutionary war was over; Dunderberg, Mount - Taurus, so called because a wild bull that had terrorized the Highlands - was chased out of his haunts on this height, and was killed by falling - from a cliff on an eminence to the northward, known, in consequence, as - Breakneck Hill. These, with Anthony's Nose, are the principal points of - interest in the lovely and impressive panorama that unfolds before the - view as the boats fly onward. - </p> - <p> - Concerning the last-named elevation, the aquiline promontory that abuts on - the Hudson opposite Dunderberg, it takes title from no resemblance to the - human feature, but is so named because Anthony Van Corlaer, the trumpeter, - who afterwards left a reason for calling the upper boundary of Manhattan - Island Spuyten Duyvil Creek, killed the first sturgeon ever eaten at the - foot of this mountain. It happened in this wise: By assiduous devotion to - keg and flagon Anthony had begotten a nose that was the wonder and - admiration of all who knew it, for its size was prodigious; in color it - rivalled the carbuncle, and it shone like polished copper. As Anthony was - lounging over the quarter of Peter Stuyvesant's galley one summer morning - this nose caught a ray from the sun and reflected it hissing into the - water, where it killed a sturgeon that was rising beside the vessel. The - fish was pulled aboard, eaten, and declared good, though the singed place - savored of brimstone, and in commemoration of the event Stuyvesant dubbed - the mountain that rose above his vessel Anthony's Nose. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MOODUA CREEK - </h2> - <p> - Moodua is an evolution, through Murdy's and Moodna, from Murderer's Creek, - its present inexpressive name having been given to it by N. P. Willis. One - Murdock lived on its shore with his wife, two sons, and a daughter; and - often in the evening Naoman, a warrior of a neighboring tribe, came to the - cabin, caressed the children, and shared the woodman's hospitality. One - day the little girl found in the forest an arrow wrapped in snake-skin and - tipped with crow's feather; then the boy found a hatchet hanging by a hair - from a bough above the door; then a glare of evil eyes was caught for an - instant in a thicket. Naoman, when he came, was reserved and stern, - finding voice only to warn the family to fly that night; so, when all was - still, the threatened family made its way softly, but quickly, to the - Hudson shore, and embarked for Fisher's Kill, across the river. - </p> - <p> - The wind lagged and their boat drew heavily, and when, from the shade of - Pollopel's Island, a canoe swept out, propelled by twelve men, the hearts - of the people in the boat sank in despair. The wife was about to leap - over, but Murdock drew her back; then, loading and firing as fast as - possible, he laid six of his pursuers low; but the canoe was savagely - urged forward, and in another minute every member of the family was a - helpless captive. When the skiff had been dragged back, the prisoners were - marched through the wood to an open spot where the principal members of - the tribe sat in council. - </p> - <p> - The sachem arose, twisted his hands in the woman's golden hair, bared his - knife, and cried, “Tell us what Indian warned you and betrayed his tribe, - or you shall see husband and children bleed before your eyes.” The woman - answered never a word, but after a little Naoman arose and said, “'Twas - I;” then drew his blanket about him and knelt for execution. An axe cleft - his skull. Drunk with the sight of blood, the Indians rushed upon the - captives and slew them, one by one. The prisoners neither shrank nor cried - for mercy, but met their end with hymns upon their lips, and, seeing that - they could so meet death, one member of the band let fall his arm and - straight became a Christian. The cabin was burned, the bodies flung into - the stream, and the stain of blood was seen for many a year in Murderer's - Creek. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A TRAPPER'S GHASTLY VENGEANCE - </h2> - <p> - About a mile back from the Hudson, at Coxsackie, stood the cabin of Nick - Wolsey, who, in the last century, was known to the river settlements as a - hunter and trapper of correct aim, shrewdness, endurance, and taciturn - habit. For many years he lived in this cabin alone, except for the company - of his dog; but while visiting a camp of Indians in the wilderness he was - struck with the engaging manner of one of the girls of the tribe; he - repeated the visit; he found cause to go to the camp frequently; he made - presents to the father of the maid, and at length won her consent to be - his wife. The simple marriage ceremony of the tribe was performed, and - Wolsey led Minamee to his home; but the wedding was interrupted in an - almost tragic manner, for a surly fellow who had loved the girl, yet who - never had found courage to declare himself, was wrought to such a jealous - fury at the discovery of Wolsey's good fortune that he sprang at him with - a knife, and would have despatched him on the spot had not the white man's - faithful hound leaped at his throat and borne him to the ground. - </p> - <p> - Wolsey disarmed the fellow and kicked and cuffed him to the edge of the - wood, while the whole company shouted with laughter at this ignominious - punishment, and approved it. A year or more passed. Wolsey and his Indian - wife were happy in their free and simple life; happy, too, in their little - babe. Wolsey was seldom absent from his cabin for any considerable length - of time, and usually returned to it before the night set in. One evening - he noticed that the grass and twigs were bent near his house by some - passing foot that, with the keen eye of the woodman, he saw was not his - wife's. - </p> - <p> - “Some hunter,” he said, “saw the house when he passed here, and as, - belike, he never saw one before, he stopped to look in.” For the trail led - to his window, and diverged thence to the forest again. A few days later, - as he was returning, he came on the footprints that were freshly made, and - a shadow crossed his face. On nearing the door he stumbled on the body of - his dog, lying rigid on the ground. “How did this happen, Minamee?” he - cried, as he flung open the door. The wife answered, in a low voice, “O - Hush! you'll wake the child.” - </p> - <p> - Nick Wolsey entered the cabin and stood as one turned to marble. Minamee, - his wife, sat on the gold hearth, her face and hands cut and blackened, - her dress torn, her eyes glassy, a meaningless smile on her lips. In her - arms she pressed the body of her infant, its dress soaked with blood, and - the head of the little creature lay on the floor beside her. She crooned - softly over the cold clay as if hushing it to sleep, and when Wolsey at - length found words, she only whispered, “Hush! you will wake him.” The - night went heavily on; day dawned, and the crooning became lower and - lower; still, through all that day the bereft woman rocked to and fro upon - the floor, and the agonized husband hung about her, trying in vain to give - comfort, to bind her wounds, to get some explanation of the mystery that - confronted him. The second night set in, and it was evident that it would - be the last for Minamee. Her strength failed until she allowed herself to - be placed on a couch of skins, while the body of her child was gently - lifted from her arms. Then, for a few brief minutes, her reason was - restored, and she found words to tell her husband how the Indian whose - murderous attack he had thwarted at the wedding had come to the cabin, - shot the dog that had rushed out to defend the place, beat the woman back - from the door, tore the baby from its bed, slashed its head off with a - knife, and, flinging the little body into her lap, departed with the - words, “This is my revenge. I am satisfied.” Before the sun was in the - east again Minamee was with her baby. - </p> - <p> - Wolsey sat for hours in the ruin of his happiness, his breathing alone - proving that he was alive, and when at last he arose and went out of the - house, there were neither tears nor outcry; he saddled his horse and rode - off to the westward. At nightfall he came to the Indian village where he - had won his wife, and relating to the assembled tribe what had happened, - he demanded that the murderer be given up to him. His demand was readily - granted, whereupon the white man advanced on the cowering wretch, who had - confidently expected the protection of his people, and with the quick - fling and jerk of a raw-hide rope bound his arms to his side. Then casting - a noose about his neck and tying the end of it to his saddle-bow, he set - off for the Hudson. All that night he rode, the Indian walking and running - at the horse's heels, and next day he reached his cabin. Tying his - prisoner to a tree, the trapper cut a quantity of young willows, from - which he fashioned a large cradle-like receptacle; in this he placed the - culprit, face upward, and tied so stoutly that he could not move a finger; - then going into his house, he emerged with the body of Minamee, and laid - it, face downward, on the wretch, who could not repress a groan of horror - as the awful burden sank on his breast. Wolsey bound together the living - and the dead, and with a swing of his powerful arms he flung them on his - horse's back, securing them there with so many turns of rope that nothing - could displace them. Now he began to lash his horse until the poor beast - trembled with anger and pain, when, flinging off the halter, he gave it a - final lash, and the animal plunged, foaming and snorting, into the - wilderness. When it had vanished and the hoof-beats were no longer heard, - Nick Wolsey took his rifle on his arm and left his home forever. And - tradition says that the horse never stopped in its mad career, but that on - still nights it can be heard sweeping through the woods along the Hudson - and along the Mohawk like a whirlwind, and that as the sound goes by a - smothered voice breaks out in cursing, in appeal, then in harsh and - dreadful laughter. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE VANDERDECKEN OF TAPPAN ZEE - </h2> - <p> - It is Saturday night; the swell of the Hudson lazily heaves against the - shores of Tappan Zee, the cliff above Tarrytown where the white lady cries - on winter nights is pale in starlight, and crickets chirp in the boskage. - It is so still that the lap of oars can be heard coming across the water - at least a mile away. Some small boat, evidently, but of heavy build, for - it takes a vigorous hand to propel it, and now there is a grinding of oars - on thole-pins. Strange that it is not yet seen, for the sound is near. - Look! Is that a shadow crossing that wrinkle of starlight in the water? - The oars have stopped, and there is no wind to make that sound of a sigh. - </p> - <p> - Ho, Rambout Van Dam! Is it you? Are you still expiating your oath to pull - from Kakiat to Spuyten Duyvil before the dawn of Sabbath, if it takes you - a month of Sundays? Better for you had you passed the night with your - roistering friends at Kakiat, or started homeward earlier, for - Sabbath-breaking is no sin now, and you, poor ghost, will find little - sympathy for your plight. Grant that your month of Sundays, or your cycle - of months of Sundays, be soon up, for it is sad to be reminded that we may - be punished for offences many years forgotten. When the sun is high - to-morrow a score of barges will vex the sea of Tappan, each crowded with - men and maids from New Amsterdam, jigging to profane music and refreshing - themselves with such liquors as you, Rambout, never even smelled—be - thankful for that much. If your shade sits blinking at them from the - wooded buttresses of the Palisades, you must repine, indeed, at the - hardness of your fate. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE GALLOPING HESSIAN - </h2> - <p> - In the flower-gemmed cemetery of Tarrytown, where gentle Irving sleeps, a - Hessian soldier was interred after sustaining misfortune in the loss of - his head in one of the Revolutionary battles. For a long time after he was - buried it was the habit of this gentleman to crawl from his grave at - unseemly hours and gallop about the country, sending shivers through the - frames of many worthy people, who shrank under their blankets when they - heard the rush of hoofs along the unlighted roads. - </p> - <p> - In later times there lived in Tarrytown—so named because of the - tarrying habits of Dutch gossips on market days, though some hard-minded - people insist that Tarwe-town means Wheat-towna gaunt schoolmaster, one - Ichabod Crane, who cherished sweet sentiments for Katrina Van Tassell, the - buxom daughter of a farmer, also a famous maker of pies and doughnuts. - Ichabod had been calling late one evening, and, his way home being long, - Katrina's father lent him a horse to make the journey; but even with this - advantage the youth set out with misgivings, for he had to pass the - graveyard. - </p> - <p> - As it was near the hour when the Hessian was to ride, he whistled feebly - to keep his courage up, but when he came to the dreaded spot the whistle - died in a gasp, for he heard the tread of a horse. On looking around, his - hair bristled and his heart came up like a plug in his throat to hinder - his breathing, for he saw a headless horseman coming over the ridge behind - him, blackly defined against the starry sky. Setting spurs to his nag with - a hope of being first to reach Sleepy Hollow bridge, which the spectre - never passed, the unhappy man made the best possible time in that - direction, for his follower was surely overtaking him. Another minute and - the bridge would be reached; but, to Ichabod's horror, the Hessian dashed - alongside and, rising in his stirrups, flung his head full at the - fugitive's back. With a squeal of fright the schoolmaster rolled into a - mass of weeds by the wayside, and for some minutes he remained there, - knowing and remembering nothing. - </p> - <p> - Next morning farmer Van Tassell's horse was found grazing in a field near - Sleepy Hollow, and a man who lived some miles southward reported that he - had seen Mr. Crane striding as rapidly along the road to New York as his - lean legs could take him, and wearing a pale and serious face as he kept - his march. There were yellow stains on the back of his coat, and the man - who restored the horse found a smashed pumpkin in the broken bushes beside - the road. Ichabod never returned to Tarrytown, and when Brom Bones, a - stout young ploughman and taphaunter, married Katrina, people made bold to - say that he knew more about the galloping Hessian than any one else, - though they believed that he never had reason to be jealous of Ichabod - Crane. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - STORM SHIP OF THE HUDSON - </h2> - <p> - It was noised about New Amsterdam, two hundred years ago, that a round and - bulky ship flying Dutch colors from her lofty quarter was careering up the - harbor in the teeth of a north wind, through the swift waters of an ebbing - tide, and making for the Hudson. A signal from the Battery to heave to and - account for herself being disregarded, a cannon was trained upon her, and - a ball went whistling through her cloudy and imponderable mass, for - timbers she had none. Some of the sailor-folk talked of mirages that rose - into the air of northern coasts and seas, but the wise ones put their - fingers beside their noses and called to memory the Flying Dutchman, that - wanderer of the seas whose captain, having sworn that he would round Cape - Horn in spite of heaven and hell, has been beating to and fro along the - bleak Fuegian coast and elsewhere for centuries, being allowed to land but - once in seven years, when he can break the curse if he finds a girl who - will love him. Perhaps Captain Vanderdecken found this maiden of his hopes - in some Dutch settlement on the Hudson, or perhaps he expiated his - rashness by prayer and penitence; howbeit, he never came down again, - unless he slipped away to sea in snow or fog so dense that watchers and - boatmen saw nothing of his passing. A few old settlers declared the vessel - to be the Half Moon, and there were some who testified to seeing that - identical ship with Hudson and his spectre crew on board making for the - Catskills to hold carouse. - </p> - <p> - This fleeting vision has been confounded with the storm ship that lurks - about the foot of the Palisades and Point-no-Point, cruising through - Tappan Zee at night when a gale is coming up. The Hudson is four miles - wide at Tappan, and squalls have space enough to gather force; hence, when - old skippers saw the misty form of a ship steal out from the shadows of - the western hills, then fly like a gull from shore to shore, catching the - moonlight on her topsails, but showing no lanterns, they made to windward - and dropped anchor, unless their craft were stanch and their pilot's - brains unvexed with liquor. On summer nights, when falls that curious - silence which is ominous of tempest, the storm ship is not only seen - spinning across the mirror surface of the river, but the voices of the - crew are heard as they chant at the braces and halyards in words devoid of - meaning to the listeners. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - WHY SPUYTEN DUYVIL IS SO NAMED - </h2> - <p> - The tide-water creek that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island is - known to dwellers in tenements round about as “Spittin' Divvle.” The - proper name of it is Spuyten Duyvil, and this, in turn, is the compression - of a celebrated boast by Anthony Van Corlaer. This redoubtable gentleman, - famous for fat, long wind, and long whiskers, was trumpeter for the - garrison at New Amsterdam, which his countrymen had just bought for - twenty-four dollars, and he sounded the brass so sturdily that in the - fight between the Dutch and Indians at the Dey Street peach orchard his - blasts struck more terror into the red men's hearts than did the - matchlocks of his comrades. William the Testy vowed that Anthony and his - trumpet were garrison enough for all Manhattan Island, for he argued that - no regiment of Yankees would approach near enough to be struck with - lasting deafness, as must have happened if they came when Anthony was - awake. - </p> - <p> - Peter Stuyvesant-Peter the Headstrong—showed his appreciation of - Anthony's worth by making him his esquire, and when he got news of an - English expedition on its way to seize his unoffending colony, he at once - ordered Anthony to rouse the villages along the Hudson with a trumpet call - to war. The esquire took a hurried leave of six or eight ladies, each of - whom delighted to believe that his affections were lavished on her alone, - and bravely started northward, his trumpet hanging on one side, a stone - bottle, much heavier, depending from the other. It was a stormy evening - when he arrived at the upper end of the island, and there was no ferryman - in sight, so, after fuming up and down the shore, he swallowed a mighty - draught of Dutch courage,—for he was as accomplished a performer on - the horn as on the trumpet,—and swore with ornate and voluminous - oaths that he would swim the stream “in spite of the devil” [En spuyt den - Duyvil]. - </p> - <p> - He plunged in, and had gone half-way across when the Evil One, not to be - spited, appeared as a huge moss-bunker, vomiting boiling water and lashing - a fiery tail. This dreadful fish seized Anthony by the leg; but the - trumpeter was game, for, raising his instrument to his lips, he exhaled - his last breath through it in a defiant blast that rang through the woods - for miles and made the devil himself let go for a moment. Then he was - dragged below, his nose shining through the water more and more faintly, - until, at last, all sight of him was lost. The failure of his mission - resulted in the downfall of the Dutch in America, for, soon after, the - English won a bloodless victory, and St. George's cross flaunted from the - ramparts where Anthony had so often saluted the setting sun. But it was - years, even then, before he was hushed, for in stormy weather it was - claimed that the shrill of his trumpet could be heard near the creek that - he had named, sounding above the deeper roar of the blast. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE RAMAPO SALAMANDER - </h2> - <p> - A curious tale of the Rosicrucians runs to the effect that more than two - centuries ago a band of German colonists entered the Ramapo valley and put - up houses of stone, like those they had left in the Hartz Mountains, and - when the Indians saw how they made knives and other wonderful things out - of metal, which they extracted from the rocks by fire, they believed them - to be manitous and went away, not wishing to resist their possession of - the land. There was treasure here, for High Tor, or Torn Mountain, had - been the home of Amasis, youngest of the magi who had followed the star of - Bethlehem. He had found his way, through Asia and Alaska, to this country, - had taken to wife a native woman, by whom he had a child, and here on the - summit he had built a temple. Having refused the sun worship, when the - Indians demanded that he should take their faith, he was set upon, and - would have been killed had not an earthquake torn the ground at his feet, - opening a new channel for the Hudson and precipitating into it every one - but the magus and his daughter. To him had been revealed in magic vision - the secrets of wealth in the rocks. - </p> - <p> - The leader in the German colony, one Hugo, was a man of noble origin, who - had a wife and two children: a boy, named after himself; a girl,—Mary. - Though it had been the custom in the other country to let out the forge - fires once in seven years, Hugo opposed that practice in the forge he had - built as needless. But his men murmured and talked of the salamander that - once in seven years attains its growth in unquenched flame and goes forth - doing mischief. On the day when that period was ended the master entered - his works and saw the men gazing into the furnace at a pale form that - seemed made from flame, that was nodding and turning in the fire, - occasionally darting its tongue at them or allowing its tail to fall out - and lie along the stone floor. As he came to the door he, too, was - transfixed, and the fire seemed burning his vitals, until he felt water - sprinkled on his face, and saw that his wife, whom he had left at home too - ill to move, stood behind him and was casting holy water into the furnace, - speaking an incantation as she did so. At that moment a storm arose, and a - rain fell that put out the fire; but as the last glow faded the lady fell - dead. - </p> - <p> - When her children were to be consecrated, seven years later, those who - stood outside of the church during the ceremony saw a vivid flash, and the - nurse turned from the boy in her fright. She took her hands from her eyes. - The child was gone. Twice seven years had passed and the daughter remained - unspotted by the world, for, on the night when her father had led her to - the top of High Torn Mountain and shown her what Amasis had seen,—the - earth spirits in their caves heaping jewels and offering to give them if - Hugo would speak the word that binds the free to the earth forces and bars - his future for a thousand years,—it was her prayer that brought him - to his senses and made the scene below grow dim, though the baleful light - of the salamander clinging to the rocks at the bottom of the cave sent a - glow into the sky. - </p> - <p> - Many nights after that the glow was seen on the height and Hugo was - missing from his home, but for lack of a pure soul to stand as interpreter - he failed to read the words that burned in the triangle on the - salamander's back, and returned in rage and jealousy. A knightly man had - of late appeared in the settlement, and between him and Mary a tender - feeling had arisen, that, however, was unexpressed until, after saving her - from the attack of a panther, he had allowed her to fall into his arms. - She would willingly then have declared her love for him, but he placed her - gently and regretfully from him and said, “When you slept I came to you - and put a crown of gems on your head: that was because I was in the power - of the earth spirit. Then I had power only over the element of fire, that - either consumes or hardens to stone; but now water and life are mine. - Behold! Wear these, for thou art worthy.” And touching the tears that had - fallen from her eyes, they turned into lilies in his hands, and he put - them on her brow. - </p> - <p> - “Shall we meet again?” asked the girl. - </p> - <p> - “I do not know,” said he. “I tread the darkness of the universe alone, and - I peril my redemption by yielding to this love of earth. Thou art redeemed - already, but I must make my way back to God through obedience tested in - trial. Know that I am one of those that left heaven for love of man. We - were of that subtle element which is flame, burning and glowing with love,—and - when thy mother came to me with the power of purity to cast me out of the - furnace, I lost my shape of fire and took that of a human being,—a - child. I have been with thee often, and was rushing to annihilation, - because I could not withstand the ordeal of the senses. Had I yielded, or - found thee other than thou art, I should have become again an earth - spirit. I have been led away by wish for power, such as I have in my - grasp, and forgot the mission to the suffering. I became a wanderer over - the earth until I reached this land, the land that you call new. Here was - to be my last trial and here I am to pass the gate of fire.” - </p> - <p> - As he spoke voices arose from the settlement. - </p> - <p> - “They are coming,” said he. The stout form of Hugo was in advance. With a - fierce oath he sprang on the young man. “He has ruined my household,” he - cried. “Fling him into the furnace!” The young man stood waiting, but his - brow was serene. He was seized, and in a few moments had disappeared - through the mouth of the burning pit. But Mary, looking up, saw a shape in - robes of silvery light, and it drifted upward until it vanished in the - darkness. The look of horror on her face died away, and a peace came to it - that endured until the end. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - CHIEF CROTON - </h2> - <p> - Between the island of Manhattoes and the Catskills the Hudson shores were - plagued with spooks, and even as late as the nineteenth century Hans - Anderson, a man who tilled a farm back of Peekskill, was worried into his - grave by the leaden-face likeness of a British spy whom he had hanged on - General Putnam's orders. “Old Put” doubtless enjoyed immunity from this - vexatious creature, because he was born with few nerves. A region - especially afflicted was the confluence of the Croton and the Hudson, for - the Kitchawan burying-ground was here, and the red people being disturbed - by the tramping of white men over their graves, “the walking sachems of - Teller's Point” were nightly to be met on their errands of protest. - </p> - <p> - These Indians had built a palisade on Croton Point, and here they made - their last stand against their enemies from the north. Throughout the - fight old chief Croton stood on the wall with arrows showering around him, - and directed the resistance with the utmost calm. Not until every one of - his men was dead and the fort was going up in flame about him did he - confess defeat. Then standing amid the charring timbers, he used his last - breath in calling down the curse of the Great Spirit against the foe. As - the victorious enemy rushed into the enclosure to secure the scalps of the - dead he fell lifeless into the fire, and their jubilant yell was lost upon - his ears. Yet, he could not rest nor bear to leave his ancient home, even - after death, and often his form, in musing attitude, was seen moving - through the woods. When a manor was built on the ruins of his fort, he - appeared to the master of it, to urge him into the Continental army, and - having seen this behest obeyed and laid a solemn injointure to keep the - freedom of the land forever, he vanished, and never appeared again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE RETREAT FROM MAHOPAC - </h2> - <p> - After the English had secured the city of New Amsterdam and had begun to - extend their settlements along the Hudson, the Indians congregated in - large numbers about Lake Mahopac, and rejected all overtures for the - purchase of that region. In their resolution they were sustained by their - young chief Omoyao, who refused to abandon on on any terms the country - where his fathers had solong hunted, fished, and built their lodges. A - half-breed, one Joliper, a member of this tribe, was secretly in the pay - of the English, but the allurements and insinuations that he put forth on - their behalf were as futile as the breathing of wind in the leaves. At - last the white men grew angry. Have the land they would, by evil course if - good ways were refused, and commissioning Joliper to act for them in a - decisive manner, they guaranteed to supply him with forces if his - negotiations fell through. This man never thought it needful to negotiate. - He knew the temper of his tribe and he was too jealous of his chief to go - to him for favors, because he loved Maya, the chosen one of Omoyao. - </p> - <p> - At the door of Maya's tent he entreated her to go with him to the white - settlements, and on her refusal he broke into angry threats, declaring, in - the self-forgetfulness of passion, that he would kill her lover and lead - the English against the tribe. Unknown to both Omoyao had overheard this - interview, and he immediately sent runners to tell all warriors of his - people to meet him at once on the island in the lake. Though the runners - were cautioned to keep their errand secret, it is probable that Joliper - suspected that the alarm had gone forth, and he resolved to strike at - once; so he summoned his renegades, stole into camp next evening and made - toward Maya's wigwam, intending to take her to a place of safety. Seeing - the chief at the door, he shot an arrow at him, but the shaft went wide - and slew the girl's father. Realizing, upon this assault, that he was - outwitted and that his people were outnumbered, the chief called to Maya - to meet him at the island, and plunged into the brush, after seeing that - she had taken flight in an opposite direction. The vengeful Joliper was - close behind him with his renegades, and the chief was captured; then, - that he might not communicate with his people or delay the operations - against them, it was resolved to put him to death. - </p> - <p> - He was tied to a tree, the surrounding wood was set on fire, and he was - abandoned to his fate, his enemies leaving him to destruction in their - haste to reach the place of the council and slay or capture all who were - there. Hardly were they out of hearing ere the plash of a paddle sounded - through the roar of flame and Maya sprang upon the bank, cut her lover's - bonds, and with him made toward the island, which they reached by a - protected way before the assailants had arrived. They told the story of - Joliper's cruelty and treason, and when his boats were seen coming in to - shore they had eyes and hands only for Joliper. He was the first to land. - Hardly had he touched the strand before he was surrounded by a frenzied - crowd and had fallen bleeding from a hundred gashes. - </p> - <p> - The Indians were overpowered after a brief and bloody resistance. They - took safety in flight. Omoyao and Maya, climbing upon the rock above their - “council chamber,” found that while most of their people had escaped their - own retreat was cut off, and that it would be impossible to reach any of - the canoes. They preferred death to torture and captivity, so, hand in - hand, they leaped together down the cliff, and the English claimed the - land next day. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - NIAGARA - </h2> - <p> - The cataract of Niagara (properly pronounced Nee-ah-gah-rah), or - Oniahgarah, is as fatal as it is fascinating, beautiful, sublime, and the - casualties occurring there justify the tradition that “the Thundering - Water asks two victims every year.” It was reputed, before white men - looked for the first time on these falls—and what thumping yarns - they told about them!—that two lives were lost here annually, and - this average has been kept up by men and women who fall into the flood - through accident, recklessness or despair, while bloody battles have been - fought on the shores, and vessels have been hurled over the brink, to be - dashed to splinters on the rocks. - </p> - <p> - The sound of the cataract was declared to be the voice of a mighty spirit - that dwelt in the waters, and in former centuries the Indians offered to - it a yearly sacrifice. This sacrifice was a maiden of the tribe, who was - sent over in a white canoe, decorated with fruit and flowers, and the - girls contended for this honor, for the brides of Manitou were objects of - a special grace in the happy hunting-grounds. The last recorded sacrifice - was in 1679, when Lelawala, the daughter of chief Eagle Eye, was chosen, - in spite of the urgings and protests of the chevalier La Salle, who had - been trying to restrain the people from their idolatries by an exposition - of the Christian dogma. To his protests he received the unexpected answer, - “Your words witness against you. Christ, you say, set us an example. We - will follow it. Why should one death be great, while our sacrifice is - horrible?” So the tribe gathered at the bank to watch the sailing of the - white canoe. The chief watched the embarkation with the stoicism usual to - the Indian when he is observed by others, but when the little bark swung - out into the current his affection mastered him, and he leaped into his - own canoe and tried to overtake his daughter. In a moment both were beyond - the power of rescue. After their death they were changed into spirits of - pure strength and goodness, and live in a crystal heaven so far beneath - the fall that its roaring is a music to them: she, the maid of the mist; - he, the ruler of the cataract. Another version of the legend makes a lover - and his mistress the chief actors. Some years later a patriarch of the - tribe and all his sons went over the fall when the white men had seized - their lands, preferring death to flight or war. - </p> - <p> - In about the year 200 the Stone Giants waded across the river below the - falls on their northward march. These beings were descended from an - ancient family, and being separated from their stock in the year 150 by - the breaking of a vine bridge across the Mississippi, they left that - region. Indian Pass, in the Adirondacks, bore the names of Otneyarheh, - Stony Giants; Ganosgwah, Giants Clothed in Stone; and Dayohjegago, Place - Where the Storm Clouds Fight the Great Serpent. Giants and serpents were - held to be harmful inventions of the Evil Spirit, and the Lightning god, - catching up clouds as he stood on the crags, broke them open, tore their - lightnings out and hurled them against the monsters. These cannibals had - almost exterminated the Iroquois, for they were of immense size and had - made themselves almost invincible by rolling daily in the sand until their - flesh was like stone. The Holder of the Heavens, viewing their evil - actions from on high, came down disguised as one of their number—he - used often to meditate on Manitou Rock, at the Whirlpool—and leading - them to a valley near Onondaga, on pretence of guiding them to a fairer - country, he stood on a hill above them and hurled rocks upon their heads - until all, save one, who fled into the north, were dead. Yet, in the - fulness of time, new children of the Stone Giants (mail-clad Europeans?) - entered the region again and were destroyed by the Great Spirit,—oddly - enough where the famous fraud known as the Cardiff giant was alleged to - have been found. The Onondagas believed this statue to be one of their - ancient foes. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEFORMED OF ZOAR - </h2> - <p> - The valley of Zoar, in western New York, is so surrounded by hills that - its discoverers—a religious people, who gave it a name from - Scripture said, “This is Zoar; it is impregnable. From her we will never - go.” And truly, for lack of roads, they found it so hard to get out, - having got in, that they did not leave it. Among the early settlers here - were people of a family named Wright, whose house became a sort of inn for - the infrequent traveller, inasmuch as they were not troubled with piety, - and had no scruples against the selling of drink and the playing of cards - at late hours. A peddler passed through the valley on his way to Buffalo - and stopped at the Wright house for a lodging, but before he went to bed - he incautiously showed a number of golden trinkets from his pack and drew - a considerable quantity of money out of his pocket when he paid the fee - for his lodging. Hardly had he fallen asleep before his greedy hosts were - in the room, searching for his money. Their lack of caution caused him to - awake, and as he found them rifling his pockets and his pack he sprang up - and showed fight. - </p> - <p> - A blow sent him to the bottom of the stairs, where his attempt to escape - was intercepted, and the family closed around him and bound his arms and - legs. They showed him the money they had taken and asked where he had - concealed the rest. He vowed that it was all he had. They insisted that he - had more, and seizing a knife from the table the elder Wright slashed off - one of his toes “to make him confess.” No result came from this, and six - toes were cut off,—three from each foot; then, in disgust, the - unhappy peddler was knocked on the head and flung through a trap-door into - a shallow cellar. Presently he arose and tried to draw himself out, but - with hatchet and knife they chopped away his fingers and he fell back. - Even the women shared in this work, and leaned forward to gaze into the - cellar to see if he might yet be dead. While listening, they heard the man - invoke the curse of heaven on them: he asked that they should wear the - mark of crime even to the fourth generation, by coming into the world - deformed and mutilated as he was then. And it was so. The next child born - in that house had round, hoof-like feet, with only two toes, and hands - that tapered from the wrist into a single long finger. And in time there - were twenty people so deformed in the valley: The “crab-clawed Zoarites” - they were called. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HORSEHEADS - </h2> - <p> - The feeling recently created by an attempt to fasten the stupid names of - Fairport or of North Elmira on the village in central New York that, off - and on for fifty years, had been called Horseheads, caused an inquiry as - to how that singular name chanced to be adopted for a settlement. In 1779, - when General Sullivan was retiring toward the base of his supplies after a - destructive campaign against the Indians in Genesee County, he stopped - near this place and rested his troops. The country was then rude, - unbroken, and still beset with enemies, however, and when the march was - resumed it was thought best to gain time over a part of the way by - descending the Chemung River on rafts. - </p> - <p> - As there were no appliances for building large floats, and the depth of - the water was not known, the general ordered a destruction of all - impedimenta that could be got rid of, and commanded that the poor and - superfluous horses should be killed. His order was obeyed. As soon as the - troops had gone, the wolves, that were then abundant, came forth and - devoured the carcasses of the steeds, so that the clean-picked bones were - strewn widely over the camp-ground. When the Indians ventured back into - this region, some of them piled the skulls of the horses into heaps, and - these curious monuments were found by white settlers who came into the - valley some years later, and who named their village Horseheads, in - commemoration of these relics. The Indians were especially loth to leave - this region, for their tradition was that it had been the land of the - Senecas from immemorial time, the tribe being descended from a couple that - had a home on a hill near Horseheads. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - KAYUTA AND WANETA - </h2> - <p> - The Indians loved our lakes. They had eyes for their beauty, and to them - they were abodes of gracious spirits. They used to say of Oneida Lake, - that when the Great Spirit formed the world “his smile rested on its - waters and Frenchman's Island rose to greet it; he laughed and Lotus - Island came up to listen.” So they built lodges on their shores and - skimmed their waters in canoes. Much of their history relates to them, and - this is a tale of the Senecas that was revived a few years ago by the - discovery of a deer-skin near Lakes Waneta and Keuka, New York, on which - some facts of the history were rudely drawn, for all Indians are artists. - </p> - <p> - Waneta, daughter of a chief, had plighted her troth to Kayuta, a hunter of - a neighboring tribe with which her people were at war. Their tryst was - held at twilight on the farther shore of the lake from her village, and it - was her gayety and happiness, after these meetings had taken place, that - roused the suspicion and jealousy of Weutha, who had marked her for his - bride against the time when he should have won her father's consent by - some act of bravery. Shadowing the girl as she stole into the forest one - evening, he saw her enter her canoe and row to a densely wooded spot; he - heard a call like the note of a quail, then an answer; then Kayuta emerged - on the shore, lifted the maiden from her little bark, and the twain sat - down beside the water to listen to the lap of its waves and watch the - stars come out. - </p> - <p> - Hurrying back to camp, the spy reported that an enemy was near them, and - although Waneta had regained her wigwam by another route before the - company of warriors had reached the lake, Kayuta was seen, pursued, and - only escaped with difficulty. Next evening, not knowing what had happened - after her homeward departure on the previous night—for the braves - deemed it best to keep the knowledge of their military operations from the - women—the girl crept away to the lake again and rowed to the - accustomed place, but while waiting for the quail call a twig dropped on - the water beside her. With a quick instinct that civilization has spoiled - she realized this to be a warning, and remaining perfectly still, she - allowed her boat to drift toward shore, presently discovering that her - lover was standing waist-deep in the water. In a whisper he told her that - they were watched, and bade her row to a dead pine that towered at the - foot of the lake, where he would soon meet her. At that instant an arrow - grazed his side and flew quivering into the canoe. - </p> - <p> - Pushing the boat on its course and telling her to hasten, Kayuta sprang - ashore, sounded the warwhoop, and as Weutha rose into sight he clove his - skull with a tomahawk. Two other braves now leaped forward, but, after a - struggle, Kayuta left them dead or senseless, too. He would have stayed to - tear their scalps off had he not heard his name uttered in a shriek of - agony from the end of the lake, and, tired and bleeding though he was, he - bounded along its margin like a deer, for the voice that he heard was - Waneta's. He reached the blasted pine, gave one look, and sank to the - earth. Presently other Indians came, who had heard the noise of fighting, - and burst upon him with yells and brandished weapons, but something in his - look restrained them from a close advance. His eyes were fixed on a string - of beads that lay on the bottom of the lake, just off shore, and when the - meaning of it came to them, the savages thought no more of killing, but - moaned their grief; for Waneta, in stepping from her canoe to wade ashore, - had been caught and swallowed by a quagmire. All night and all next day - Kayuta sat there like a man of stone. Then, just as the hour fell when he - was used to meet his love, his heart broke, and he joined her in the - spiritland. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DROP STAR - </h2> - <p> - A little maid of three years was missing from her home on the Genesee. She - had gone to gather water-lilies and did not return. Her mother, almost - crazed with grief, searched for days, weeks, months, before she could - resign herself to the thought that her little one—Kayutah, the Drop - Star, the Indians called her—had indeed been drowned. Years went by. - The woman's home was secure against pillage, for it was no longer the one - house of a white family in that region, and the Indians had retired - farther and farther into the wilderness. One day a hunter came to the - woman and said, “I have seen old Skenandoh,—the last of his tribe, - thank God! who bade me say this to you: that the ice is broken, and he - knows of a hill of snow where a red berry grows that shall be yours if you - will claim it.” When the meaning of this message came upon her the woman - fainted, but on recovering speech she despatched her nephew to the hut of - the aged chief and passed that night in prayer. - </p> - <p> - The young man set off at sunset, and by hard riding, over dim trails, with - only stars for light, he came in the gray of dawn to an upright timber, - colored red and hung with scalps, that had been cut from white men's heads - at the massacre of Wyoming. The place they still call Painted Post. - Without drawing rein he sped along the hills that hem Lake Seneca, then, - striking deeper into the wilds, he reached a smaller lake, and almost fell - from his saddle before a rude tent near the shore. A new grave had been - dug close by, and he shuddered to think that perhaps he had come too late, - but a wrinkled Indian stepped forth at that moment and waited his word. - </p> - <p> - “I come,” cried the youth,—“to see the berry that springs from - snow.” - </p> - <p> - “You come in time,” answered Skenandoh. “No, 'tis not in that grave. It is - my own child that is buried there. She was as a sister to the one you - seek, and she bade me restore the Drop Star to her mother,—the squaw - that we know as the New Moon's Light.” - </p> - <p> - Stepping into the wigwam, he emerged again, clasping the wrist of a girl - of eighteen, whose robe he tore asunder at the throat, showing the white - breast, and on it a red birth-mark; then, leading her to the young man, he - said,—“And now I must go to the setting sun.” He slung a pouch about - him, loaded, not with arms and food, but stones, stepped into his canoe, - and paddled out upon the water, singing as he went a melancholy chant—his - deathsong. On gaining the middle of the lake he swung his tomahawk and - clove the bottom of the frail boat, so that it filled in a moment and the - chief sank from sight. The young man took his cousin to her overjoyed - mother, helped to win her back to the ways of civilized life, and - eventually married her. She took her Christian name again, but left to the - lake on whose banks she had lived so long her Indian name of Drop Star—Kayutah. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PROPHET OF PALMYRA - </h2> - <p> - It was at Palmyra, New York, that the principles of Mormonism were first - enunciated by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found the golden plates of - the Book of Mormon in a hill-side in neighboring Manchester,—the - “Hill of Cumorah,”—to which he was led by angels. The plates were - written in characters similar to the masonic cabala, and he translated - them by divine aid, giving to the world the result of his discovery. The - Hebrew prophet Mormon was the alleged author of the record, and his son - Moroni buried it. The basis of Mormonism was, however, an unpublished - novel, called “The Manuscript Found,” that was read to Sidney Rigdon - (afterwards a Mormon elder) by its author, a clergyman, and that - formulated a creed for a hypothetical church. Smith had a slight local - celebrity, for he and his father were operators with the divining-rod, and - when he appropriated this creed a harmless and beneficent one, for - polygamy was a later “inspiration” of Brigham Young—and began to - preach it, in 1844, it gained many converts. His arrogation of the - presidency of the “Church of Latter Day Saints” and other rash - performances won for him the enmity of the Gentiles, who imprisoned and - killed him at Carthage, Missouri, leaving Brigham Young to lead the people - across the deserts to Salt Lake, where they prospered through thrift and - industry. - </p> - <p> - It was claimed that in the van of this army, on the march to Utah, was - often seen a venerable man with silver beard, who never spoke, but who - would point the way whenever the pilgrims were faint or discouraged. When - they reached the spot where the temple was afterwards built, he struck his - staff into the earth and vanished. - </p> - <p> - At Hydesville, near Palmyra, spiritualism, as it is commonly called, came - into being on March 31, 1849, when certain of the departed announced - themselves by thumping on doors and tables in the house of the Fox family, - the survivors of which confessed the fraud nearly forty years after. It is - of interest to note that the ground whence these new religions sprang was - peopled by the Onondagas, the sacerdotal class of the Algonquin tribe, who - have preserved the ancient religious rites of that great family until this - day. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A VILLAIN'S CREMATION - </h2> - <p> - Bramley's Mountain, near the present village of Bloomfield, New York, on - the edge of the Catskill group, was the home of a young couple that had - married with rejoicing and had taken up the duties and pleasures of - housekeeping with enthusiasm. To be sure, in those days housekeeping was - not a thing to be much afraid of, and the servant question had not come up - for discussion. The housewives did the work themselves, and the husband - had no valets. The domicile of this particular pair was merely a tent of - skins stretched around a frame of poles, and their furniture consisted - principally of furs strewn over the earth floor; but they loved each other - truly. The girl was thankful to be taken from her home to live, because, - up to the time of her marriage, she had been persecuted by a morose and - ill-looking fellow of her tribe, who laid siege to her affection with such - vehemence that the more he pleaded the greater was her dislike; and now - she hoped that she had seen the last of him. But that was not to be. He - lurked about the wigwam of the pair, torturing himself with the sight of - their felicity, and awaiting his chance to prove his hate. This chance - came when the husband had gone to Lake Delaware to fish, for he rowed - after and gave battle in the middle of the pond. Taken by surprise, and - being insufficiently armed, the husband was killed and his body flung into - the water. Then, casting an affectionate leer at the wife who had watched - this act of treachery and malice with speechless horror from the - mountain-side, he drove his canoe ashore and set off in pursuit of her. - She retreated so slowly as to allow him to keep her in sight, and when she - entered a cave he pressed forward eagerly, believing that now her escape - was impossible; but she had purposely trapped him there, for she had - already explored a tortuous passage that led to the upper air, and by this - she had left the cavern in safety while he was groping and calling in the - dark. Returning to the entrance, she loosened, by a jar, a ledge that - overhung it, so that the door was almost blocked; then, gathering light - wood from the dry trees around her, she made a fire and hurled the burning - sticks into the prison where the wretch was howling, until he was dead in - smoke and flame. When his yells and curses had been silenced she told a - friend what she had done, then going back to the lake, she sang her - death-song and cast herself into the water, hoping thus to rejoin her - husband. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE MONSTER MOSQUITOE - </h2> - <p> - They have some pretty big mosquitoes in New Jersey and on Long Island, - but, if report of their ancestry is true, they have degenerated in size - and voracity; for the grandfather of all mosquitoes used to live in the - neighborhood of Fort Onondaga, New York, and sallying out whenever he was - hungry, would eat an Indian or two and pick his teeth with their ribs. The - red men had no arms that could prevail against it, but at last the Holder - of the Heavens, hearing their cry for aid, came down and attacked the - insect. Finding that it had met its match, the mosquito flew away so - rapidly that its assailant could hardly keep it in sight. It flew around - the great lake, then turned eastward again. It sought help vainly of the - witches that brooded in the sink-holes, or Green Lakes (near Janesville, - New York), and had reached the salt lake of Onondaga when its pursuer came - up and killed it, the creature piling the sand into hills in its dying - struggles. - </p> - <p> - As its blood poured upon the earth it became small mosquitoes, that - gathered about the Holder of the Heavens and stung him so sorely that he - half repented the service that he had done to men. The Tuscaroras say that - this was one of two monsters that stood on opposite banks of the Seneca - River and slew all men that passed. Hiawatha killed the other one. On - their reservation is a stone, marked by the form of the Sky Holder, that - shows where he rested during the chase, while his tracks were until lately - seen south of Syracuse, alternating with footprints of the mosquito, which - were shaped like those of a bird, and twenty inches long. At Brighton, New - York, where these marks appeared, they were reverentially renewed by the - Indians for many years. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE GREEN PICTURE - </h2> - <p> - In a cellar in Green Street, Schenectady, there appeared, some years ago, - the silhouette of a human form, painted on the floor in mould. It was - swept and scrubbed away, but presently it was there again, and month by - month, after each removal, it returned: a mass of fluffy mould, always in - the shape of a recumbent man. When it was found that the house stood on - the site of the old Dutch burial ground, the gossips fitted this and that - together and concluded that the mould was planted by a spirit whose mortal - part was put to rest a century and more ago, on the spot covered by the - house, and that the spirit took this way of apprising people that they - were trespassing on its grave. Others held that foul play had been done, - and that a corpse, hastily and shallowly buried, was yielding itself back - to the damp cellar in vegetable form, before its resolution into simpler - elements. But a darker meaning was that it was the outline of a vampire - that vainly strove to leave its grave, and could not because a virtuous - spell had been worked about the place. - </p> - <p> - A vampire is a dead man who walks about seeking for those whose blood he - can suck, for only by supplying new life to its cold limbs can he keep the - privilege of moving about the earth. He fights his way from his coffin, - and those who meet his gray and stiffened shape, with fishy eyes and - blackened mouth, lurking by open windows, biding his time to steal in and - drink up a human life, fly from him in terror and disgust. In northern - Rhode Island those who die of consumption are believed to be victims of - vampires who work by charm, draining the blood by slow draughts as they - lie in their graves. To lay this monster he must be taken up and burned; - at least, his heart must be; and he must be disinterred in the daytime - when he is asleep and unaware. If he died with blood in his heart he has - this power of nightly resurrection. As late as 1892 the ceremony of - heart-burning was performed at Exeter, Rhode Island, to save the family of - a dead woman that was threatened with the same disease that removed her, - namely, consumption. But the Schenectady vampire has yielded up all his - substance, and the green picture is no more. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE NUNS OF CARTHAGE - </h2> - <p> - At Carthage, New York, where the Black River bends gracefully about a - point, there was a stanch old house, built in the colonial fashion and - designed for the occupancy of some family of hospitality and wealth, but - the family died out or moved away, and for some years it remained - deserted. During the war of 1812 the village gossips were excited by the - appearance of carpenters, painters and upholsterers, and it was evident - that the place was to be restored to its manorial dignities; but their - curiosity was deepened instead of satisfied when, after the house had been - put in order and high walls built around it, the occupants presented - themselves as four young women in the garb of nuns. Were they daughters of - the family? Were they English sympathizers in disguise, seeking asylum in - the days of trouble? Had they registered a vow of celibacy until their - lovers should return from the war? Were they on a secret and diplomatic - errand? None ever knew, at least in Carthage. The nuns lived in great - privacy, but in a luxury before unequalled in that part of the country. - They kept a gardener, they received from New York wines and delicacies - that others could not afford, and when they took the air, still veiled, it - was behind a splendid pair of bays. - </p> - <p> - One afternoon, just after the close of the war, a couple of young American - officers went to the convent, and, contrary to all precedent, were - admitted. They remained within all that day, and no one saw them leave, - but a sound of wheels passed through the street that evening. Next day - there were no signs of life about the place, nor the day following, nor - the next. The savage dog was quiet and the garden walks had gone unswept. - Some neighbors climbed over the wall and reported that the place had been - deserted. Why and by whom no one ever knew, but a cloud remained upon its - title until a recent day, for it was thought that at some time the nuns - might return. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0034" id="link2H_4_0034"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SKULL IN THE WALL - </h2> - <p> - A skull is built into the wall above the door of the court-house at - Goshen, New York. It was taken from a coffin unearthed in 1842, when the - foundation of the building was laid. People said there was no doubt about - it, only Claudius Smith could have worn that skull, and he deserved to be - publicly pilloried in that manner. Before the Revolutionary war Smith was - a farmer in Monroe, New York, and being prosperous enough to feel the - king's taxes no burden, to say nothing of his jealousy of the advantage - that an independent government would be to the hopes of his poorer - neighbors, he declared for the king. After the declaration of independence - had been published, his sympathies were illustrated in an unpleasantly - practical manner by gathering a troop of other Tories about him, and, - emboldened by the absence of most of the men of his vicinage in the - colonial army, he began to harass the country as grievously in foray as - the red-coats were doing in open field. - </p> - <p> - He pillaged houses and barns, then burned them; he insulted women, he - drove away cattle and horses, he killed several persons who had undertaken - to defend their property. His “campaigns” were managed with such secrecy - that nobody knew when or whence to look for him. His murder of Major - Nathaniel Strong, of Blooming Grove, roused indignation to such a point - that a united effort was made to catch him, a money reward for success - acting as a stimulus to the vigilance of the hunters, and at last he was - captured on Long Island. He was sent back to Goshen, tried, convicted, and - on January 22, 1779, was hanged, with five of his band. The bodies of the - culprits were buried in the jail-yard, on the spot where the court-house - stands, and old residents identified Smith's skeleton, when it was - accidentally exhumed, by its uncommon size. A farmer from an adjacent town - made off with a thigh bone, and a mason clapped mortar into the empty - skull and cemented it into the wall, where it long remained. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0035" id="link2H_4_0035"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HAUNTED MILL - </h2> - <p> - Among the settlers in the Adirondacks, forty or fifty years ago, was Henry - Clymer, from Brooklyn, who went up to Little Black Creek and tried to make - a farm out of the gnarly, stumpy land; but being a green hand at that sort - of thing, he soon gave it up and put up the place near Northwood, that is - locally referred to as the haunted mill. When the first slab was cut, a - big party was on hand to cheer and eat pie in honor of the Clymers, for - Mr. Clymer, who was a dark, hearty, handsome fellow, and his bright young - wife had been liberal in their hospitality. The couple had made some talk, - they were so loving before folks—too loving to last; and, besides, - it was evident that Mrs. Clymer was used to a better station in life than - her husband. It was while the crowd was laughing and chattering at the - picnic-table of new boards from the mill that Mrs. Clymer stole away to - her modest little house, and a neighbor who had followed her was an - accidental witness to a singular episode. Mrs. Clymer was kneeling beside - her bed, crying over the picture of a child, when Clymer entered - unexpectedly and attempted to take the picture from her. - </p> - <p> - She faced him defiantly. “You kept that because it looked like him, I - reckon,” he said. “You might run back to him. You know what he'd call you - and where you'd stand with your aristocracy.” - </p> - <p> - The woman pointed to the door, and the man left without another word, and - so did the listener. Next morning the body of Mrs. Clymer was found - hanging to a beam in the mill. At the inquest the husband owned that he - had “had a few words” with her on the previous day, and thought that she - must have suddenly become insane. The jury took this view. News of the - suicide was printed in some of the city papers, and soon after that the - gossips had another sensation, for a fair-haired man, also from Brooklyn, - arrived at the place and asked where the woman was buried. When he found - the grave he sat beside it for some time, his head resting on his hand; - then he inquired for Clymer, but Clymer, deadly pale, had gone into the - woods as soon as he heard that a stranger had arrived. The new-comer went - to Trenton, where he ordered a gravestone bearing the single word - “Estella” to be placed where the woman's body had been interred. Clymer - quickly sold out and disappeared. The mill never prospered, and has long - been in a ruinous condition. People of the neighborhood think that the - ghost of Mrs. Clymer—was that her name?—still troubles it, and - they pass the place with quickened steps. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0036" id="link2H_4_0036"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - OLD INDIAN FACE - </h2> - <p> - On Lower Ausable Pond is a large, ruddy rock showing a huge profile, with - another, resembling a pappoose, below it. When the Tahawi ruled this - region their sachem lived here at “the Dark Cup,” as they called this - lake, a man renowned for virtue and remarkable, in his age, for - gentleness. When his children had died and his manly grandson, who was the - old man's hope, had followed them to the land of the cloud mountains, - Adota's heart withered within him, and standing beneath this rock, he - addressed his people, recounting what he had done for them, how he had - swept their enemies from the Lakes of the Clustered Stars (the Lower - Saranac) and Silver Sky (Upper Saranac) to the Lake of Wandah, gaining a - land where they might hunt and fish in peace. The little one, the Star, - had been ravished away to crown the brow of the thunder god, who, even - now, was advancing across the peaks, bending the woods and lighting the - valleys with his jagged torches. - </p> - <p> - Life was nothing to him longer; he resigned it. - </p> - <p> - As he spoke these words he fell back, and the breath passed out of him. - Then came the thunder god, and with an appalling burst of fire sent the - people cowering. The roar that followed seemed to shake the earth, but the - medicine-man of the tribe stood still, listening to the speech of the god - in the clouds. “Tribe of the Tahawi,” he translated, “Adota treads the - star-path to the happy hunting-grounds, and the sun is shining on his - heart. He will never walk among you again, but the god loves both him and - you, and he will set his face on the mountains. Look!” And, raising their - eyes, they beheld the likeness of Adota and of his beloved child, the - Star, graven by lightning-stroke on the cliff. There they buried the body - of Adota and held their solemn festivals until the white men drove them - out of the country. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0037" id="link2H_4_0037"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DIVISION OF THE SARANACS - </h2> - <p> - In the middle of the last century a large body of Saranac Indians occupied - the forests of the Upper Saranac through which ran the Indian - carrying-place, called by them the Eagle Nest Trail. Whenever they raided - the Tahawi on the slopes of Mount Tahawus (Sky-splitter), there was a - pleasing rivalry between two young athletes, called the Wolf and the - Eagle, as to which would carry off the more scalps, and the tribe was - divided in admiration of them. There was one who did not share this - liking: an old sachem, one of the wizards who had escaped when the Great - Spirit locked these workers of evil in the hollow trees that stood beside - the trail. In their struggles to escape the less fortunate ones thrust - their arms through the closing bark, and they are seen there, as withered - trunks and branches, to this day. Oquarah had not been softened by this - exhibition of danger nor the qualification of mercy that allowed him still - to exist. Rather he was more bitter when he saw, as he fancied, that the - tribe thought more of the daring and powerful warriors than it did of the - bent and malignant-minded counsellor. - </p> - <p> - It was in the moon of green leaves that the two young men set off to hunt - the moose, and on the next day the Wolf returned alone. He explained that - in the hunt they had been separated; he had called for hours for his - friend, and had searched so long that he concluded he must have returned - ahead of him. But he was not at the camp. Up rose the sachem with visage - dark. “I hear a forked tongue,” he cried. “The Wolf was jealous of the - Eagle and his teeth have cut into his heart.” - </p> - <p> - “The Wolf cannot lie,” answered the young man. - </p> - <p> - “Where is the Eagle?” angrily shouted the sachem, clutching his hatchet. - </p> - <p> - “The Wolf has said,” replied the other. - </p> - <p> - The old sachem advanced upon him, but as he raised his axe to strike, the - wife of the Wolf threw herself before her husband, and the steel sank into - her brain. The sachem fell an instant later with the Wolf's knife in his - heart, and instantly the camp was in turmoil. Before the day had passed it - had been broken up, and the people were divided into factions, for it was - no longer possible to hold it together in peace. The Wolf, with half of - the people, went down the Sounding River to new hunting-grounds, and the - earth that separated the families was reddened whenever one side met the - other. - </p> - <p> - Years had passed when, one morning, the upper tribe saw a canoe advancing - across the Lake of the Silver Sky. An old man stepped from it: he was the - Eagle. After the Wolf had left him he had fallen into a cleft in a rock, - and had lain helpless until found by hunters who were on their way to - Canada. He had joined the British against the French, had married a - northern squaw, but had returned to die among the people of his early - love. Deep was his sorrow that his friend should have been accused of - doing him an injury, and that the once happy tribe should have been - divided by that allegation. The warriors and sachems of both branches were - summoned to a council, and in his presence they swore a peace, so that in - the fulness of time he was able to die content. That peace was always - kept. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0038" id="link2H_4_0038"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - AN EVENT IN INDIAN PARK - </h2> - <p> - It was during the years when the Saranacs were divided that Howling Wind, - one of the young men of Indian Carry, saw and fell in love with a girl of - the family on Tupper Lake. He quickly found a way to tell his liking, and - the couple met often in the woods and on the shore. He made bold to row - her around the quieter bays, and one moonlight evening he took her to - Devil's Rock, or Devil's Pulpit, where he told her the story of the place. - This was to the effect that the fiend had paddled, on timbers, by means of - his tail, to that rock, and had assembled fish and game about him in large - numbers by telling them that he was going to preach to them, instead of - which moral procedure he pounced upon and ate all that were within his - grasp. - </p> - <p> - As so often happened in Indian history, the return of these lovers was - seen by a disappointed rival, who had hurried back to camp and secured the - aid of half a dozen men to arrest the favored one as soon as he should - land. The capture was made after a struggle, and Howling Wind was dragged - to the chief's tent for sentence. That sentence was death, and with a - refinement of cruelty that was rare even among the Indians, the girl was - ordered to execute it. She begged and wept to no avail. An axe was put - into her hands, and she was ordered to despatch the prisoner. She took the - weapon; her face grew stern and the tears dried on her cheeks; her lover, - bound to a tree, gazed at her in amazement; his rival watched, almost in - glee. Slowly the girl crossed the open space to her lover. She raised the - tomahawk and at a blow severed the thongs that held him, then, like a - flash, she leaped upon his rival, who had sprung forward to interfere, and - clove his skull with a single stroke. The lovers fled as only those can - fly who run for life. Happily for them, they met a party from the Carry - coming to rescue Howling Wind from the danger to which his courtship had - exposed him, and it was even said that this party entered the village and - by presenting knives and arrows at the breast of the chief obtained his - now superfluous consent to the union of the fugitives. The pair reached - the Carry in safety and lived a long and happy life together. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0039" id="link2H_4_0039"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE INDIAN PLUME - </h2> - <p> - Brightest flower that grows beside the brooks is the scarlet blossom of - the Indian plume: the blood of Lenawee. Hundreds of years ago she lived - happily among her brother and sister Saranacs beside Stony Creek, the - Stream of the Snake, and was soon to marry the comely youth who, for the - speed of his foot, was called the Arrow. But one summer the Quick Death - came on the people, and as the viewless devil stalked through the village - young and old fell before him. The Arrow was the first to die. In vain the - Prophet smoked the Great Calumet: its smoke ascending took no shape that - he could read. In vain was the white dog killed to take aloft the people's - sins. But at last the Great Spirit himself came down to the mountain - called the Storm Darer, splendid in lightning, awful in his thunder voice - and robe of cloud. “My wrath is against you for your sins,” he cried, “and - naught but human blood will appease it.” - </p> - <p> - In the morning the Prophet told his message, and all sat silent for a - time. Then Lenawee entered the circle. “Lenawee is a blighted flower,” she - sobbed. “Let her blood flow for her people.” And catching a knife from the - Prophet's belt, she ran with it to the stream on which she and the Arrow - had so often floated in their canoe. In another moment her blood had - bedewed the earth. “Lay me with the Arrow,” she murmured, and, smiling in - their sad faces, breathed her last. The demon of the quick death shrank - from the spot, and the Great Spirit smiled once more on the tribe that - could produce such heroism. Lenawee's body was placed beside her lover's, - and next morning, where her blood had spilt, the ground was pure, and on - it grew in slender spires a new flower,—the Indian plume: the - transformed blood of sacrifice. The people loved that flower in all years - after. They decked their hair and dresses with it and made a feast in its - honor. When parents taught their children the beauty of unselfishness they - used as its emblem a stalk of Indian plume. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0040" id="link2H_4_0040"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BIRTH OF THE WATER-LILY - </h2> - <p> - Back from his war against the Tahawi comes the Sun, chief of the Lower - Saranacs,—back to the Lake of the Clustered Stars, afterward called, - by dullards, Tupper's Lake. Tall and invincible he comes among his people, - boasting of his victories, Indian fashion, and stirring the scalps that - hang at his breast. “The Eagle screams,” he cries. “He greets the chief, - the Blazing Sun. Wayotah has made the Tahawi tremble. They fly from him. - Hooh, hooh! He is the chief.” Standing apart with wistful glance stands - Oseetah, the Bird. She loves the strong young chief, but she knows that - another has his promise, and she dares not hope; yet the chief loves her, - and when the feasting is over he follows her footprints to the shore, - where he sees her canoe turning the point of an island. He silently - pursues and comes upon her as she sits waving and moaning. He tries to - embrace her, but she draws apart. He asks her to sing to him; she bids him - begone. - </p> - <p> - He takes a more imperious tone and orders her to listen to her chief. She - moves away. He darts toward her. Turning on him a face of sorrow, she runs - to the edge of a steep rock and waves him back. He hastens after. Then she - springs and disappears in the deep water. The Sun plunges after her and - swims with mad strength here and there. He calls. There is no answer. - Slowly he returns to the village and tells the people what has happened. - The Bird's parents are stricken and the Sun moans in his sleep. At noon a - hunter comes in with strange tidings: flowers are growing on the water! - The people go to their canoes and row to the Island of Elms. There, in a - cove, the still water is enamelled with flowers, some as white as snow, - filling the air with perfume, others strong and yellow, like the lake at - sunset. - </p> - <p> - “Explain to us,” they cry, turning to the old Medicine of his tribe, “for - this was not so yesterday.” - </p> - <p> - “It is our daughter,” he answered. “These flowers are the form she takes. - The white is her purity, the yellow her love. You shall see that her heart - will close when the sun sets, and will reopen at his coming.” And the - young chief went apart and bowed his head. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0041" id="link2H_4_0041"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ROGERS'S SLIDE - </h2> - <p> - The shores of Lakes George and Champlain were ravaged by war. Up and down - those lovely waters swept the barges of French and English, and the green - hills rang to the shrill of bugles, the boom of cannon, and the yell of - savages. Fiction and history have been weft across the woods and the - memory of deeds still echoes among the heights. It was at Glen's Falls, in - the cave on the rock in the middle of the river, that the brave Uncas held - the watch with Hawkeye. Bloody Defile and Bloody Pond, between there and - Lake George, take their names from the “Bloody morning scout” sent out by - Sir William Johnson on a September day in 1755 to check Dieskau until Fort - William Henry could be completed. In the action that ensued, Colonel - Williams, founder of Williams College, and Captain Grant, of the - Connecticut line, great-grandfather of the President who bore that name, - were killed. The victims, dead and wounded alike, having been flung into - Bloody Pond, it was thick and red for days, and tradition said that in - after years it resumed its hue of crimson at sunset and held it until - dawn. The captured, who were delivered to the Indians, had little to hope, - for their white allies could not stay their savagery. Blind Rock was so - called because the Indians brought a white man there, and tearing his eyes - out, flung them into embers at the foot of the stone. Captives were - habitually tortured, blazing splinters of pine being thrust into their - flesh, their nails torn out, and their bodies slashed with knives before - they went to the stake. An English prisoner was allowed to run the - gauntlet here. They had already begun to strike at him as he sped between - the lines, when he seized a pappoose, flung it on a fire, and, in the - instant of confusion that followed, snatched an axe, cut the bonds of a - comrade who had been doomed to die, and both escaped. - </p> - <p> - But the best-known history of this region is that of Rogers's Rock, or - Rogers's Slide, a lofty precipice at the lower end of Lake George. Major - Rogers did not toboggan down this rock in leather trousers, but his escape - was no less remarkable than if he had. On March 13, 1758, while - reconnoitring near Ticonderoga with two hundred rangers, he was surprised - by a force of French and Indians. But seventeen of his men escaped death - or capture, and he was pursued nearly to the brink of this cliff. During a - brief delay among the red men, arising from the loss of his trail, he had - time to throw his pack down the slide, reverse his snow-shoes, and go back - over his own track to the head of a ravine before they emerged from the - woods, and, seeing that his shoe-marks led to the rock, while none pointed - back, they concluded that he had flung himself off and committed suicide - to avoid capture. Great was their disappointment when they saw the major - on the frozen surface of the lake beneath going at a lively rate toward - Fort William Henry. He had gained the ice by way of the cleft in the - rocks, but the savages, believing that he had leaped over the precipice, - attributed his preservation to the Great Spirit and forbore to fire on - him. Unconsciously, he had chosen the best possible place to disappear - from, for the Indians held it in superstitious regard, believing that - spirits haunted the wood and hurled bad souls down the cliff, drowning - them in the lake, instead of allowing them to go to the happy hunting - grounds. The major reached his quarters in safety, and lived to take up - arms against the land of his birth when the colonies revolted, seventeen - years later. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0042" id="link2H_4_0042"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE FALLS AT COHOES - </h2> - <p> - When Occuna, a young Seneca, fell in love with a girl whose cabin was near - the present town of Cohoes, he behaved very much as Americans of a later - date have done. He picked wild flowers for her; he played on the bone pipe - and sang sentimental songs in the twilight; he roamed the hills with her, - gathering the loose quartz crystals that the Indians believed to be the - tears of stricken deer, save on Diamond Rock, in Lansingburgh, where they - are the tears of Moneta, a bereaved mother and wife; and in fine weather - they went boating on the Mohawk above the rapids. They liked to drift idly - on the current, because it gave them time to gaze into each other's eyes, - and to build air castles that they would live in in the future. They were - suddenly called to a realization of danger one evening, for the stream had - been subtly drawing them on and on until it had them in its power. The - stroke of the paddle failed and the air castles fell in dismal ruin. - Sitting erect they began their death-song in this wise: - </p> - <p> - Occuna: “Daughter of a mighty warrior, the Manitou calls me hence. I hear - the roaring of his voice; I see the lightning of his glance along the - river; he walks in clouds and spray upon the waters.” - </p> - <p> - The Maiden: “Thou art thyself a warrior, O Occuna. Hath not thine axe been - often bathed in blood? Hath the deer ever escaped thine arrow or the - beaver avoided thy chase? Thou wilt not fear to go into the presence of - Manitou.” - </p> - <p> - Occuna: “Manitou, indeed, respects the strong. When I chose thee from the - women of our tribe I promised that we should live and die together. The - Thunderer calls us now. Welcome, O ghost of Oriska, chief of the - invincible Senecas! A warrior and the daughter of a warrior come to join - you in the feast of the blessed!” - </p> - <p> - The boat leaped over the falls, and Occuna, striking on the rocks below, - was killed at once; but, as by a miracle, the girl fell clear of them and - was whirled on the seething current to shoal water, where she made her - escape. For his strength and his virtues the dead man was canonized. His - tribe raised him above the regions of the moon, whence he looked down on - the scenes of his youth with pleasure, and in times of war gave pleasant - dreams and promises to his friends, while he confused the enemy with evil - omens. Whenever his tribe passed the falls they halted and with brief - ceremonials commemorated the death of Occuna. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0043" id="link2H_4_0043"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - FRANCIS WOOLCOTT'S NIGHT-RIDERS - </h2> - <p> - In Copake, New York, among the Berkshire Hills, less than a century ago, - lived Francis Woolcott, a dark, tall man, with protruding teeth, whose - sinister laugh used to give his neighbors a creep along their spines. He - had no obvious trade or calling, but the farmers feared him so that he had - no trouble in making levies: pork, flour, meal, cider, he could have what - he chose for the asking, for had he not halted horses at the plow so that - neither blows nor commands could move them for two hours? Had he not set - farmer Raught's pigs to walking on their hind legs and trying to talk? - When he shouted “Hup! hup! hup!” to farmer Williams's children, had they - not leaped to the moulding of the parlor wainscot,—a yard above the - floor and only an inch wide,—and walked around it, afterward - skipping like birds from chair-back to chair-back, while the furniture - stood as if nailed to the floor? And was he not the chief of thirteen - night-riders, whose faces no man had seen, nor wanted to see, and whom he - sent about the country on errands of mischief every night when the moon - was growing old? As to moons, had he not found a mystic message from our - satellite on Mount Riga, graven on a meteor? - </p> - <p> - Horses' tails were tied, hogs foamed at the mouth and walked like men, - cows gave blood for milk. These night-riders met Woolcott in a grove of - ash and chestnut trees, each furnished with a stolen bundle of oat straw, - and these bundles Woolcott changed to black horses when the night had - grown dark enough not to let the way of the change be seen. These horses - could not cross streams of water, and on the stroke of midnight they fell - to pieces and were oaten sheaves once more, but during their time of - action they rushed through woods, bearing their riders safely, and tore - like hurricanes across the fields, leaping bushes, fences, even trees, - without effort. Never could traces be found of them the next day. At last - the devil came to claim his own. Woolcott, who was ninety years old, lay - sick and helpless in his cabin. Clergymen refused to see him, but two or - three of his neighbors stifled their fears and went to the wizard's house - to soothe his dying moments. With the night came storm, and with its - outbreak the old man's face took on such a strange and horrible look that - the watchers fell back in alarm. There was a burst of purple flame at the - window, a frightful peal, a smell of sulphur, and Woolcott was dead. When - the watchers went out the roads were dry, and none in the village had - heard wind, rain, or thunder. It was the coming of the fiend. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0044" id="link2H_4_0044"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - POLLY'S LOVER - </h2> - <p> - In about the middle of this century a withered woman of ninety was buried - from a now deserted house in White Plains, New York, Polly Carter the name - of her, but “Crazy Polly” was what the neighbors called her, for she was - eccentric and not fond of company. Among the belongings of her house was a - tall clock, such as relic hunters prize, that ticked solemnly in a landing - on the stairs. - </p> - <p> - For a time, during the Revolution, the house stood within the British - lines, and as her father was a colonel in Washington's army she was left - almost alone in it. The British officers respected her sex, but they had - an unpleasant way of running in unannounced and demanding entertainment, - in the king's name, which she felt forced to grant. One rainy afternoon - the door was flung open, then locked on the inside, and she found herself - in the arms of a stalwart, handsome lieutenant, who wore the blue. It was - her cousin and fiance. Their glad talk had not been going long when there - came a rousing summons at the door. Three English officers were awaiting - admittance. - </p> - <p> - Perhaps they had seen Lawrence Carter go into the house, and if caught he - would be killed as a spy. He must be hidden, but in some place where they - would not think of looking. The clock! That was the place. With a laugh - and a kiss the young man submitted to be shut in this narrow quarter, and - throwing his coat and hat behind some furniture the girl admitted the - officers, who were wet and surly and demanded dinner. They tramped about - the best room in their muddy boots, talking loudly, and in order to break - the effect of the chill weather they passed the brandy bottle freely. - Polly served them with a dinner as quickly as possible, for she wanted to - get them out of the house, but they were in no mood to go, and the bottle - passed so often that before the dinner was over they were noisy and tipsy - and were using language that drove Polly from the room. - </p> - <p> - At last, to her relief, she heard them preparing to leave the house, but - as they were about to go the senior officer, looking up at the landing, - now dim in the paling light, said to one of the others, “See what time it - is.” The officer addressed, who happened to be the drunkest of the party, - staggered up the stair and exclaimed, “The d—-d thing's stopped.” - Then, as if he thought it a good joke, he added, “It'll never go again.” - Drawing his sabre he gave the clock a careless cut and ran the blade - through the panel of the door; after this the three passed out. When their - voices had died in distant brawling, Polly ran to release her lover. - Something thick and dark was creeping from beneath the clock-case. With - trembling fingers she pulled open the door, and Lawrence, her lover, fell - heavily forward into her arms, dead. The officer was right: the clock - never went again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0045" id="link2H_4_0045"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - CROSBY, THE PATRIOT SPY - </h2> - <p> - It was at the Jay house, in Westchester, New York, that Enoch Crosby met - Washington and offered his services to the patriot army. Crosby was a - cobbler, and not a very thriving one, but after the outbreak of - hostilities he took a peddler's outfit on his back and, as a - non-combatant, of Tory sympathies, he obtained admission through the - British lines. After his first visit to head quarters it is certain that - he always carried Sir Henry Clinton's passport in the middle of his pack, - and so sure were his neighbors that he was in the service of the British - that they captured him and took him to General Washington, but while his - case was up for debate he managed to slip his handcuffs, which were not - secure, and made off. Clinton, on the other hand, was puzzled by the - unaccountable foresight of the Americans, for every blow that he prepared - to strike was met, and he lost time and chance and temper. As if the - suspicion of both armies and the hatred of his neighbors were not enough - to contend against, Crosby now became an object of interest to the - Skinners and Cowboys, who were convinced that he was making money, - somehow, and resolved to have it. - </p> - <p> - The Skinners were camp-followers of the American troops and the Cowboys a - band of Tories and renegade British. Both factions were employed, - ostensibly, in foraging for their respective armies, but, in reality, for - themselves, and the farmers and citizens occupying the neutral belt north - of Manhattan Island had reason to curse them both impartially. While these - fellows were daring thieves, they occasionally got the worst of it, even - in the encounters with the farmers, as on the Neperan, near Tarrytown, - where the Cowboys chased a woman to death, but were afterward cut to - pieces by the enraged neighbors. Hers is but one of the many ghosts that - haunt the neutral ground, and the croaking of the birds of ill luck that - nest at Raven rock is blended with the cries of her dim figure. Still, - graceless as these fellows were, they affected a loyalty to their - respective sides, and were usually willing to fight each other when they - met, especially for the plunder that was to be got by fighting. - </p> - <p> - In October, 1780, Claudius Smith, “king of the Cowboys,” and three - scalawag sons came to the conclusion that it was time for Crosby's money - to revert to the crown, and they set off toward his little house one - evening, sure of finding him in, for his father was seriously ill. The - Smiths arrived there to find that the Skinners had preceded them on the - same errand, and they recognized through the windows, in the leader of the - band, a noted brigand on whose head a price was laid. He was searching - every crack and cranny of the room, while Crosby, stripped to shirt and - trousers, stood before the empty fireplace and begged for that night to be - left alone with his dying father. - </p> - <p> - “To hell with the old man!” roared the Skinner. “Give up your gold, or - we'll put you to the torture,” and he significantly whirled the end of a - rope that he carried about his waist. At that moment the faint voice of - the old man was heard calling from another room. - </p> - <p> - “Take all that I have and let me go!” cried Crosby, and turning up a brick - in the fire-place he disclosed a handful of gold, his life savings. The - leader still tried to oppose his exit, but Crosby flung him to the floor - and rushed away to his father, while the brigand, deeming it well to delay - rising, dug his fingers into the hollow and began to extract the - sovereigns. At that instant four muskets were discharged from without: - there was a crash of glass, a yell of pain, and four of the Skinners - rolled bleeding on the floor; two others ran into the darkness and - escaped; their leader, trying to follow, was met at the threshold by the - Smiths, who clutched the gold out of his hand and pinioned his elbows in a - twinkling. - </p> - <p> - “I thought ye'd like to know who's got ye,” said old Smith, peering into - the face of the astonished and crestfallen robber, “for I've told ye many - a time to keep out of my way, and now ye've got to swing for getting into - it.” - </p> - <p> - Within five minutes of the time that he had got his clutch on Crosby's - money the bandit was choking to death at the end of his own rope, hung - from the limb of an apple-tree, and, having secured the gold, the Cowboys - went their way into the darkness. Crosby soon made his appearance in the - ranks of the Continentals, and, though they looked askant at him for a - time, they soon discovered the truth and hailed him as a hero, for the - information he had carried to Washington from Clinton's camp had often - saved them from disaster. He had survived attack in his own house through - the falling out of rogues, and he survived the work and hazard of war - through luck and a sturdy frame. Congress afterwards gave him a sum of - money larger than had been taken from him, for his chief had commended him - in these lines: “Circumstances of political importance, which involved the - lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what this paper now - reveals. Enoch Crosby has for years been a faithful and unrequited servant - of his country. Though man does not, God may reward him for his conduct. - GEORGE WASHINGTON.” - </p> - <p> - Associated with Crosby in his work of getting information from the enemy - was a man named Gainos, who kept an inn on the neutral ground, that was - often raided. Being assailed by Cowboys once, Gainos, with his tenant and - stable-boys, fired at the bandits together, just as the latter had forced - his front door, then stepping quickly forward he slashed off the head of - the leader with a cutlass. The retreating crew dumped the body into a well - on the premises, and there it sits on the crumbling curb o' nights looking - disconsolately for its head. - </p> - <p> - It may also be mentioned that the Skinners had a chance to revenge - themselves on the Cowboys for their defeat at the Crosby house. They fell - upon the latter at the tent-shaped cave in Yonkers,—it is called - Washington's Cave, because the general napped there on bivouac,—and - not only routed them, but secured so much of their treasure that they were - able to be honest for several years after. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0046" id="link2H_4_0046"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LOST GRAVE OF PAINE - </h2> - <p> - Failure to mark the resting-places of great men and to indicate the scenes - of their deeds has led to misunderstanding and confusion among those who - discover a regard for history and tradition in this practical age. Robert - Fulton, who made steam navigation possible, lies in an unmarked tomb in - the yard of Trinity Church—the richest church in America. The stone - erected to show where Andre was hanged was destroyed by a cheap patriot, - who thought it represented a compliment to the spy. The spot where - Alexander Hamilton was shot in the duel by Aaron Burr is known to few and - will soon be forgotten. It was not until a century of obloquy had been - heaped on the memory of Thomas Paine that his once enemies were brought to - know him as a statesman of integrity, a philanthropist, and philosopher. - His deistic religion, proclaimed in “The Age of Reason,” is unfortunately - no whit more independent than is preached in dozens of pulpits to-day. He - died ripe in honors, despite his want of creed, and his mortal part was - buried in New Rochelle, New York, under a large walnut-tree in a - hay-field. Some years later his friends removed the body to a new grave in - higher ground, and placed over it a monument that the opponents of his - principles quickly hacked to pieces. Around the original grave there still - remains a part of the old inclosure, and it was proposed to erect a - suitable memorial—the Hudson and its Hills the spot, but the owner - of the tract would neither give nor sell an inch of his land for the - purpose of doing honor to the man. Some doubt has already been expressed - as to whether the grave is beneath the monument or in the inclosure; and - it is also asserted that Paine's ghost appears at intervals, hovering in - the air between the two burial-places, or flitting back and forth from one - to the other, lamenting the forgetfulness of men and wailing, “Where is my - grave? I have lost my grave!” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0047" id="link2H_4_0047"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE RISING OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS - </h2> - <p> - Gouverneur Morris, American minister to the court of Louis XVI, was - considerably enriched, at the close of the reign of terror, by plate, - jewels, furniture, paintings, coaches, and so on, left in his charge by - members of the French nobility, that they might not be confiscated in the - sack of the city by the <i>sans culottes</i>; for so many of the - aristocracy were killed and so many went into exile or disguised their - names, that it was impossible to find heirs or owners for these effects. - Some of the people who found France a good country to be out of came to - America, where adventurers had found prosperity and refugees found peace - so many times before. Marshal Ney and Bernadotte are alleged to have - served in the American army during the Revolution, and at Hogansburg, New - York, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, an Episcopal missionary, who lies - buried in the church-yard there, was declared to be the missing son of - Louis XVI. The question, “Have we a Bourbon among us?” was frequently - canvassed; but he avoided publicity and went quietly on with his pastoral - work. - </p> - <p> - All property left in Mr. Morris's hands that had not been claimed was - removed to his mansion at Port Morris, when he returned from his ministry, - and he gained in the esteem and envy of his neighbors when the extent of - these riches was seen. Once, at the wine, he touched glasses with his - wife, and said that if she bore a male child that son should be heir to - his wealth. Two relatives who sat at the table exchanged looks at this and - cast a glance of no gentle regard on his lady. A year went by. The son was - born, but Gouverneur Morris was dead. - </p> - <p> - It is the first night of the year 1817, the servants are asleep, and the - widow sits late before the fire, her baby in her arms, listening betimes - to the wind in the chimney, the beat of hail on the shutters, the brawling - of the Bronx and the clash of moving ice upon it; yet thinking of her - husband and the sinister look his promise had brought to the faces of his - cousins, when a tramp of horses is heard without, and anon a summons at - the door. The panels are beaten by loaded riding-whips, and a man's voice - cries, “Anne Morris, fetch us our cousin's will, or we'll break into the - house and take it.” The woman clutches the infant to her breast, but makes - no answer. Again the clatter of the whips; but now a mist is gathering in - the room, and a strange enchantment comes over her, for are not the lions - breathing on the coat of arms above the door, and are not the portraits - stirring in their frames? - </p> - <p> - They are, indeed. There is a rustle of robes and clink of steel and one - old warrior leaps down, his armor sounding as he alights, and striking - thrice his sword and shield together he calls on Gouverneur Morris to come - forth. Somebody moves in the room where Morris died; there is a measured - footfall in the corridor, with the clank of a scabbard keeping time; the - door is opened, and on the blast that enters the widow hears a cry, then a - double gallop, passing swiftly into distance. As she gazes, her husband - appears, apparelled as in life, and with a smile he takes a candelabrum - from the mantel and, beckoning her to follow, moves from room to room. - Then, for the first time, the widow knows to what wealth her baby has been - born, for the ghost discloses secret drawers in escritoires where money, - title deeds, and gems are hidden, turns pictures and wainscots on - unsuspected hinges, revealing shelves heaped with fabrics, plate, and - lace; then, returning to the fireside, he stoops as if to kiss his wife - and boy, but a bell strikes the first hour of morning and he vanishes into - his portrait on the wall. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0048" id="link2H_4_0048"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0049" id="link2H_4_0049"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - DOLPH HEYLIGER - </h2> - <p> - New York was New Amsterdam when Dolph Heyliger got himself born there,—a - graceless scamp, though a brave, good-natured one, and being left - penniless on his father's death he was fain to take service with a doctor, - while his mother kept a shop. This doctor had bought a farm on the island - of Manhattoes—away out of town, where Twenty-third Street now runs, - most likely—and, because of rumors that its tenants had noised about - it, he seemed likely to enjoy the responsibilities of landholding and none - of its profits. It suited Dolph's adventurous disposition that he should - be deputed to investigate the reason for these rumors, and for three - nights he kept his abode in the desolate old manor, emerging after - daybreak in a lax and pallid condition, but keeping his own counsel, to - the aggravation of the populace, whose ears were burning for his news. - </p> - <p> - Not until long after did he tell of the solemn tread that woke him in the - small hours, of his door softly opening, though he had bolted and locked - it, of a portly Fleming, with curly gray hair, reservoir boots, slouched - hat, trunk and doublet, who entered and sat in the arm-chair, watching him - until the cock crew. Nor did he tell how on the third night he summoned - courage, hugging a Bible and a catechism to his breast for confidence, to - ask the meaning of the visit, and how the Fleming arose, and drawing Dolph - after him with his eyes, led him downstairs, went through the front door - without unbolting it, leaving that task for the trembling yet eager youth, - and how, after he had proceeded to a disused well at the bottom of the - garden, he vanished from sight. - </p> - <p> - Dolph brooded long upon these things and dreamed of them in bed. He - alleged that it was in obedience to his dreams that he boarded a schooner - bound up the Hudson, without the formality of adieu to his employer, and - after being spilled ashore in a gale at the foot of Storm King, he fell - into the company of Anthony Vander Hevden, a famous landholder and hunter, - who achieved a fancy for Dolph as a lad who could shoot, fish, row, and - swim, and took him home with him to Albany. The Heer had commodious - quarters, good liquor, and a pretty daughter, and Dolph felt himself in - paradise until led to the room he was to occupy, for one of the first - things that he set eyes on in that apartment was a portrait of the very - person who had kept him awake for the worse part of three nights at the - bowerie in Manhattoes. He demanded to know whose picture it was, and - learned that it was that of Killian Vander Spiegel, burgomaster and - curmudgeon, who buried his money when the English seized New Amsterdam and - fretted himself to death lest it should be discovered. He remembered that - his mother had spoken of this Spiegel and that her father was the miser's - rightful heir, and it now appeared that he was one of Heyden's forbears - too. In his dream that night the Fleming stepped out of the portrait, led - him, as he had done before, to the well, where he smiled and vanished. - Dolph reflected, next morning, that these things had been ordered to bring - together the two branches of the family and disclose the whereabouts of - the treasure that it should inherit. So full was he of this idea that he - went back to New Amsterdam by the first schooner, to the surprise of the - Heer and the regret of his daughter. - </p> - <p> - After the truant had been received with execrations by the doctor and with - delight by his mother, who believed that spooks had run off with him, and - with astonishment, as a hero of romance, by the public, he made for the - haunted premises at the first opportunity and began to angle at the - disused well. Presently he found his hook entangled in something at the - bottom, and on lifting slowly he discovered that he had secured a fine - silver porringer, with lid held down by twisted wire. It was the work of a - moment to wrench off the lid, when he found the vessel to be filled with - golden pieces. His fishing that day was attended with such luck as never - fell to an angler before, for there were other pieces of plate down there, - all engraved with the Spiegel arms and all containing treasure. - </p> - <p> - By encouraging the most dreadful stories about the spot, in order to keep - the people wide away from it, he accomplished the removal of his prizes - bit by bit from their place of concealment to his home. His unaccounted - absence in Albany and his dealings with the dead had prepared his - neighbors for any change in himself or his condition, and now that he - always had a bottle of schnapps for the men and a pot of tea for the - women, and was good to his mother, they said that they had always known - that when he changed it would be for the better,—at which his old - detractors lifted their eyebrows significantly—and when asked to - dinner by him they always accepted. - </p> - <p> - Moreover, they made merry when the day came round for his wedding with the - little maid of Albany. They likewise elected him a member of the - corporation, to which he bequeathed some of the Spiegel plate and often - helped the other city fathers to empty the big punch-bowl. Indeed, it was - at one of these corporation feasts that he died of apoplexy. He was buried - with honors in the yard of the Dutch church in Garden Street. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0050" id="link2H_4_0050"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE KNELL AT THE WEDDING - </h2> - <p> - A young New Yorker had laid such siege to the heart of a certain belle—this - was back in the Knickerbocker days when people married for love—that - everybody said the banns were as good as published; but everybody did not - know, for one fine morning my lady went to church with another gentleman—not - her father, though old enough to be—and when the two came out they - were man and wife. The elderly man was rich. After the first paroxysm of - rage and disappointment had passed, the lover withdrew from the world and - devoted himself to study; nor when he learned that she had become a widow, - with comfortable belongings derived from the estate of the late lamented, - did he renew acquaintance with her, and he smiled bitterly when he heard - of her second marriage to a young adventurer who led her a wretched life, - but atoned for his sins, in a measure, by dying soon enough afterward to - leave a part of her fortune unspent. - </p> - <p> - In the lapse of time the doubly widowed returned to New York, where she - met again the lover of her youth. Mr. Ellenwood had acquired the reserve - of a scholar, and had often puzzled his friends with his eccentricities; - but after a few meetings with the object of his young affection he came - out of his glooms, and with respectful formality laid again at her feet - the heart she had trampled on forty years before. Though both of them were - well on in life, the news of their engagement made little of a sensation. - The widow was still fair; the wooer was quiet, refined, and courtly, and - the union of their fortunes would assure a competence for the years that - might be left to them. The church of St. Paul, on Broadway, was appointed - for the wedding, and it was a whim of the groom that his bride should meet - him there. At the appointed hour a company of the curious had assembled in - the edifice; a rattle of wheels was heard, and a bevy of bridesmaids and - friends in hoop, patch, velvet, silk, powder, swords, and buckles walked - down the aisle; but just as the bride had come within the door, out of the - sunlight that streamed so brilliantly on the mounded turf and tombstones - in the churchyard, the bell in the steeple gave a single boom. - </p> - <p> - The bride walked to the altar, and as she took her place before it another - clang resounded from the belfry. The bridegroom was not there. Again and - again the brazen throat and iron tongue sent out a doleful knell, and - faces grew pale and anxious, for the meaning of it could not be guessed. - With eyes fixed on the marble tomb of her first husband, the woman - tremblingly awaited the solution of the mystery, until the door was - darkened by something that made her catch her breath—a funeral. The - organ began a solemn dirge as a black-cloaked cortege came through the - aisle, and it was with amazement that the bride discovered it to be formed - of her oldest friends,—bent, withered; paired, man and woman, as in - mockery—while behind, with white face, gleaming eyes, disordered - hair, and halting step, came the bridegroom, in his shroud. - </p> - <p> - “Come,” he said,—“let us be married. The coffins are ready. Then, - home to the tomb.” - </p> - <p> - “Cruel!” murmured the woman. - </p> - <p> - “Now, Heaven judge which of us has been cruel. Forty years ago you took - away my faith, destroyed my hopes, and gave to others your youth and - beauty. Our lives have nearly run their course, so I am come to wed you as - with funeral rites.” Then, in a softer manner, he took her hand, and said, - “All is forgiven. If we cannot live together we will at least be wedded in - death. Time is almost at its end. We will marry for eternity. Come.” And - tenderly embracing her, he led her forward. Hard as was the ordeal, - confusing, frightening, humiliating, the bride came through it a better - woman. - </p> - <p> - “It is true,” she said, “I have been vain and worldly, but now, in my age, - the truest love I ever knew has come back to me. It is a holy love. I will - cherish it forever.” Their eyes met, and they saw each other through - tears. Solemnly the clergyman read the marriage service, and when it was - concluded the low threnody that had come from the organ in key with the - measured clang of the bell, merged into a nobler motive, until at last the - funeral measures were lost in a burst of exultant harmony. Sobs of pent - feeling and sighs of relief were heard as the bridal party moved away, and - when the newmade wife and husband reached the portal the bell was silent - and the sun was shining. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0051" id="link2H_4_0051"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ROISTERING DIRCK VAN DARA - </h2> - <p> - In the days when most of New York stood below Grand Street, a roistering - fellow used to make the rounds of the taverns nightly, accompanied by a - friend named Rooney. This brave drinker was Dirck Van Dara, one of the - last of those swag-bellied topers that made merry with such solemnity - before the English seized their unoffending town. It chanced that Dirck - and his chum were out later than usual one night, and by eleven o'clock, - when all good people were abed, a drizzle set in that drove the watch to - sleep in doorways and left Broadway tenantless. As the two choice spirits - reeled out of a hostelry near Wall Street and saw the lights go out in the - tap-room windows they started up town to their homes in Leonard Street, - but hardly had they come abreast of old St. Paul's when a strange thing - stayed them: crying was heard in the churchyard and a phosphorescent light - shone among the tombs. Rooney was sober in a moment, but not so Dirck Van - Dara, who shouted, “Here is sport, friend Rooney. Let's climb the wall. If - the dead are for a dance, we will take partners and show them how pigeons' - wings are cut nowadays.” - </p> - <p> - “No,” exclaimed the other; “those must perish who go among the dead when - they come out of their graves. I've heard that if you get into their - clutches, you must stay in purgatory for a hundred years, and no priest - can pray you out.” - </p> - <p> - “Bah! old wives' tales! Come on!” And pulling his friend with him, they - were over the fence. “Hello! what have we here?” As he spoke a haggard - thing arose from behind a tombstone, a witchlike creature, with rags - falling about her wasted form and hair that almost hid her face. The twain - were set a-sneezing by the fumes of sulphur, and Rooney swore afterwards - that there were little things at the end of the yard with grinning faces - and lights on the ends of their tails. Old Hollands are heady. Dirck began - to chaff the beldam on her dilapidation, but she stopped his talk by - dipping something from a caldron behind her and flinging it over both of - her visitors. Whatever it was, it burned outrageously, and with a yell of - pain they leaped the wall more briskly than they had jumped it the other - way, and were soon in full flight. They had not gone far when the clock - struck twelve. - </p> - <p> - “Arrah! there's a crowd of them coming after,” panted Rooney. “Ave Mary! - I've heard that if you die with witch broth being thrown over you, you're - done for in the next world, as well as this. Let us get to Father - Donagan's. Wow!” - </p> - <p> - As he made this exclamation the fugitives found their way opposed by a - woman, who looked at them with immodest eyes and said, “Dirck Van Dara, - your sire, in wig and bob, turned us Cyprians out of New York, after - ducking us in the Collect. But we forgive him, and to prove it we ask you - to our festival.” - </p> - <p> - At the stroke of midnight the street before the church had swarmed with a - motley throng, that now came onward, waving torches that sparkled like - stars. They formed a ring about Dirck and began to dance, and he, nothing - loth, seized the nymph who had addressed him and joined in the revel. Not - a soul was out or awake except themselves, and no words were said as the - dance went wilder to strains of weird and unseen instruments. Now and then - one would apply a torch to the person of Dirck, meanly assailing him in - the rear, and the smart of the burn made him feet it the livelier. At last - they turned toward the Battery as by common consent, and went careering - along the street in frolic fashion. Rooney, whose senses had thus far been - pent in a stupor, fled with a yell of terror, and as he looked back he saw - the unholy troop disappearing in the mist like a moving galaxy. Never from - that night was Dirck Van Data seen or heard of more, and the publicans - felt that they had less reason for living. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0052" id="link2H_4_0052"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PARTY FROM GIBBET ISLAND - </h2> - <p> - Ellis Island, in New York harbor, once bore the name of Gibbet Island, - because pirates and mutineers were hanged there in chains. During the - times when it was devoted to this fell purpose there stood in Communipaw - the Wild Goose tavern, where Dutch burghers resorted, to smoke, drink - Hollands, and grow fat, wise, and sleepy in each others' company. The - plague of this inn was Yan Yost Vanderscamp, a nephew of the landlord, who - frequently alarmed the patrons of the house by putting powder into their - pipes and attaching briers beneath their horses' tails, and who naturally - turned pirate when he became older, taking with him to sea his boon - companion, an ill-disposed, ill-favored blackamoor named Pluto, who had - been employed about the tavern. When the landlord died, Vanderscamp - possessed himself of this property, fitted it up with plunder, and at - intervals he had his gang ashore,—such a crew of singing, swearing, - drinking, gaming devils as Communipaw had never seen the like of; yet the - residents could not summon activity enough to stop the goings-on that made - the Wild Goose a disgrace to their village. The British authorities, - however, caught three of the swashbucklers and strung them up on Gibbet - Island, and things that went on badly in Communipaw after that went on - with quiet and secrecy. - </p> - <p> - The pirate and his henchmen were returning to the tavern one night, after - a visit to a rakish-looking vessel in the offing, when a squall broke in - such force as to give their skiff a leeway to the place of executions. As - they rounded that lonely reef a creaking noise overhead caused Vanderscamp - to look up, and he could not repress a shudder as he saw the bodies of his - three messmates, their rags fluttering and their chains grinding in the - wind. - </p> - <p> - “Don't you want to see your friends?” sneered Pluto. “You, who are never - afraid of living men, what do you fear from the dead?” - </p> - <p> - “Nothing,” answered the pirate. Then, lugging forth his bottle, he took a - long pull at it, and holding it toward the dead felons, he shouted, - “Here's fair weather to you, my lads in the wind, and if you should be - walking the rounds to-night, come in to supper.” - </p> - <p> - A clatter of bones and a creak of chains sounded like a laugh. It was - midnight when the boat pulled in at Communipaw, and as the storm continued - Vanderscamp, drenched to the skin, made quick time to the Wild Goose. As - he entered, a sound of revelry overhead smote his ear, and, being no less - astonished than in need of cordials, he hastened up-stairs and flung open - the door. A table stood there, furnished with jugs and pipes and cans, and - by light of candles that burned as blue as brimstone could be seen the - three gallows-birds from Gibbet Island, with halters on their necks, - clinking their tankards together and trolling forth a drinking-song. - </p> - <p> - Starting back with affright as the corpses hailed him with lifted arms and - turned their fishy eyes on him, Vanderscamp slipped at the door and fell - headlong to the bottom of the stairs. Next morning he was found there by - the neighbors, dead to a certainty, and was put away in the Dutch - churchyard at Bergen on the Sunday following. As the house was rifled and - deserted by its occupants, it was hinted that the negro had betrayed his - master to his fellow-buccaneers, and that he, Pluto, was no other than the - devil in disguise. But he was not, for his skiff was seen floating bottom - up in the bay soon after, and his drowned body lodged among the rocks at - the foot of the pirates' gallows. - </p> - <p> - For a long time afterwards the island was regarded as a place that - required purging with bell, book, and candle, for shadows were reported - there and faint lights that shot into the air, and to this day, with the - great immigrant station on it and crowds going and coming all the time, - the Battery boatmen prefer not to row around it at night, for they are - likely to see the shades of the soldier and his mistress who were drowned - off the place one windy night, when the girl was aiding the fellow to - escape confinement in the guard-house, to say nothing of Vanderscamp and - his felons. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0053" id="link2H_4_0053"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MISS BRITTON'S POKER - </h2> - <p> - The maids of Staten Island wrought havoc among the royal troops who were - quartered among them during the Revolution. Near quarantine, in an old - house,—the Austen mansion,—a soldier of King George hanged - himself because a Yankee maid who lived there would not have him for a - husband, nor any gentleman whose coat was of his color; and, until ghosts - went out of fashion, his spirit, in somewhat heavy boots, with jingling - spurs, often disturbed the nightly quiet of the place. - </p> - <p> - The conduct of a damsel in the old town of Richmond was even more stern. - She was the granddaughter, and a pretty one, of a farmer named Britton; - but though Britton by descent and name, she was no friend of Britons, - albeit she might have had half the officers in the neighboring camp at her - feet, if she had wished them there. Once, while mulling a cup of cider for - her grandfather, she was interrupted by a self-invited myrmidon, who - undertook, in a fashion rude and unexpected, to show the love in which he - held her. Before he could kiss her, the girl drew the hot poker from the - mug of drink and jabbed at the vitals of her amorous foe, burning a hole - through his scarlet uniform and printing on his burly person a lasting - memento of the adventure. With a howl of pain the fellow rushed away, and - the privacy of the Britton family was never again invaded, at least whilst - cider was being mulled. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0054" id="link2H_4_0054"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES - </h2> - <p> - When the devil set a claim to the fair lands at the north of Long Island - Sound, his claim was disputed by the Indians, who prepared to fight for - their homes should he attempt to serve his writ of ejectment. Parley - resulted in nothing, so the bad one tried force, but he was routed in open - fight and found it desirable to get away from the scene of action as soon - as possible. He retreated across the Sound near the head of East River. - The tide was out, so he stepped from island to island, without trouble, - and those reefs and islands are to this day the Devil's Stepping-Stones. - On reaching Throgg's Neck he sat down in a despairing attitude and brooded - on his defeat, until, roused to a frenzy at the thought of it, he resolved - to renew the war on terms advantageous entirely to himself. In that day - Connecticut was free from rocks, but Long Island was covered with them; so - he gathered all he could lay his hands on and tossed them at the Indians - that he could see across the Sound near Cold Spring until the supply had - given out. The red men who last inhabited Connecticut used to show white - men where the missiles landed and where the devil struck his heel into the - ground as he sprang from the shore in his haste to reach Long Island. At - Cold Spring other footprints and one of his toes are shown. Establishing - himself at Coram, he troubled the people of the country for many years, so - that between the devil on the west and the Montauks on the east they were - plagued indeed; for though their guard at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and - other places often apprised them of the coming of the Montauks, they never - knew which way to look for the devil. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0055" id="link2H_4_0055"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SPRINGS OF BLOOD AND WATER - </h2> - <p> - A great drought had fallen on Long Island, and the red men prayed for - water. It is true that they could get it at Lake Ronkonkoma, but some of - them were many miles from there, and, beside, they feared the spirits at - that place: the girl who plied its waters in a phosphor-shining birch, - seeking her recreant lover; and the powerful guardians that the Great - Spirit had put in charge to keep the fish from being caught, for these - fish were the souls of men, awaiting deliverance into another form. The - people gathered about their villages in bands and besought the Great - Spirit to give them drink. His voice was heard at last, bidding their - chief to shoot an arrow into the air and to watch where it fell, for there - would water gush out. The chief obeyed the deity, and as the arrow touched - the earth a spring of sweet water spouted into the air. Running forward - with glad cries the red men drank eagerly of the liquor, laved their faces - in it, and were made strong again; and in memory of that event they called - the place the Hill of God, or Manitou Hill, and Manet or Manetta Hill it - is to this day. Hereabouts the Indians settled and lived in peace, - thriving under the smile of their deity, making wampum for the inland - tribes and waxing rich with gains from it. They made the canal from bay to - sea at Canoe Place, that they might reach open water without dragging - their boats across the sand-bars, and in other ways they proved themselves - ingenious and strong. - </p> - <p> - When the English landed on the island they saw that the Indians were not a - people to be trifled with, and in order to properly impress them with - their superiority, they told them that John Bull desired a treaty with - them. The officers got them to sit in line in front of a cannon, the - nature of which instrument was unknown to them, and during the talk the - gun was fired, mowing down so many of the red people that the survivors - took to flight, leaving the English masters at the north shore, for this - heartless and needless massacre took place at Whale's Neck. So angry was - the Great Spirit at this act of cruelty and treachery that he caused blood - to ooze from the soil, as he had made water leap for his thirsting - children, and never again would grass grow on the spot where the murder - had been done. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0056" id="link2H_4_0056"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CRUMBLING SILVER - </h2> - <p> - There is a clay bank on Little Neck, Long Island, where metallic nodules - are now and then exposed by rain. Rustics declare them to be silver, and - account for their crumbling on the theory that the metal is under a curse. - A century ago the Montauks mined it, digging over enough soil to unearth - these pellets now and again, and exchanging them at the nearest - settlements for tobacco and rum. The seeming abundance of these lumps of - silver aroused the cupidity of one Gardiner, a dweller in the central - wilderness of the island, but none of the Indians would reveal the source - of their treasure. One day Gardiner succeeded in getting an old chief so - tipsy that, without realizing what he was doing, he led the white man to - the clay bed and showed him the metallic spots glittering in the sun. With - a cry of delight Gardiner sprang forward and tore at the earth with his - fingers, while the Indian stood by laughing at his eagerness. - </p> - <p> - Presently a shade crossed the white man's face, for he thought that this - vast treasure would have to be shared by others. It was too much to - endure. He wanted all. He would be the richest man on earth. Stealing - behind the Indian as he stood swaying and chuckling, he wrenched the - hatchet from his belt and clove his skull at a blow. Then, dragging the - body to a thicket and hiding it under stones and leaves, he hurried to his - house for cart and pick and shovel, and returning with speed he dug out a - half ton of the silver before sunset. The cart was loaded, and he set - homeward, trembling with excitement and conjuring bright visions for his - future, when a wailing sound from a thicket made him halt and turn pale. - Noiselessly a figure glided from the bush. It was the Indian he had - killed. The form approached the treasure, flung up its arm, uttered a few - guttural words; then a rising wind seemed to lift it from the ground and - it drifted toward the Sound, fading like a cloud as it receded. - </p> - <p> - Full of misgiving, Gardiner drove to his home, and, by light of a lantern, - transferred his treasure to his cellar. Was it the dulness of the candle - that made the metal look so black? After a night of feverish tossing on - his bed he arose and went to the cellar to gloat upon his wealth. The - light of dawn fell on a heap of gray dust, a few brassy looking particles - showing here and there. The curse of the ghost had been of power and the - silver was silver no more. Mineralogists say that the nodules are iron - pyrites. Perhaps so; but old residents know that they used to be silver. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0057" id="link2H_4_0057"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CORTELYOU ELOPEMENT - </h2> - <p> - In the Bath district of Brooklyn stands Cortelyou manor, built one hundred - and fifty years ago, and a place of defence during the Revolution when the - British made sallies from their camp in Flatbush and worried the - neighborhood. It was in one of these forays on pigs and chickens that a - gallant officer of red-coats met a pretty lass in the fields of Cortelyou. - He stilled her alarm by aiding her to gather wild-flowers, and it came - about that the girl often went into the fields and came back with - prodigious bouquets of daisies. The elder Cortelyou had no inkling of this - adventure until one of his sons saw her tryst with the red-coat at a - distance. Be sure the whole family joined him in remonstrance. As the girl - declared that she would not forego the meetings with her lover, the father - swore that she should never leave his roof again, and he tried to be as - good, or bad, as his word. The damsel took her imprisonment as any girl of - spirit would, but was unable to effect her escape until one evening, as - she sat at her window, watching the moon go down and paint the harbor with - a path of light. A tap at the pane, as of a pebble thrown against it, - roused her from her revery. It was her lover on the lawn. - </p> - <p> - At her eager signal he ran forward with a light ladder, planted it against - the window-sill, and in less than a minute the twain were running toward - the beach; but the creak of the ladder had been heard, and grasping their - muskets two of the men hurried out. In the track of the moon the pursuers - descried a moving form, and, without waiting to challenge, they levelled - the guns and fired. A woman's cry followed the report; then a dip of oars - was heard that fast grew fainter until it faded from hearing. On returning - to the house they found the girl's room empty, and next morning her - slipper was brought in from the mud at the landing. Nobody inside of the - American lines ever learned what that shot had done, but if it failed to - take a life it robbed Cortelyou of his mind. He spent the rest of his days - in a single room, chained to a staple in the floor, tramping around and - around, muttering and gesturing, and sometimes startling the passer-by as - he showed his white face and ragged beard at the window. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0058" id="link2H_4_0058"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - VAN WEMPEL'S GOOSE - </h2> - <p> - Allow us to introduce Nicholas Van Wempel, of Flatbush: fat, phlegmatic, - rich, and henpecked. He would like to be drunk because he is henpecked, - but the wife holds the purse-strings and only doles out money to him when - she wants groceries or he needs clothes. It was New Year's eve, the eve of - 1739, when Vrouw Van Wempel gave to her lord ten English shillings and - bade him hasten to Dr. Beck's for the fat goose that had been bespoken. - “And mind you do not stop at the tavern,” she screamed after him in her - shrillest tone. But poor Nicholas! As he went waddling down the road, - snapping through an ice-crust at every step, a roguish wind—or - perhaps it was one of the bugaboos that were known to haunt the shores of - Gravesend Bay—snatched off his hat and rolled it into the very - doorway of the tavern that he had been warned, under terrible penalties, - to avoid. - </p> - <p> - As he bent to pick it up the door fell ajar, and a pungency of schnapps - and tobacco went into his nostrils. His resolution, if he had one, - vanished. He ordered one glass of schnapps; friends came in and treated - him to another; he was bound to do as much for them; shilling by shilling - the goose money passed into the till of the landlord. Nicholas was heard - to make a muttered assertion that it was his own money anyhow, and that - while he lived he would be the head of his own house; then the mutterings - grew faint and merged into snores. When he awoke it was at the low sound - of voices in the next room, and drowsily turning his head he saw there two - strangers,—sailors, he thought, from their leather jackets, black - beards, and the rings in their ears. What was that they said? Gold? On the - marshes? At the old Flatlands tide-mill? The talkers had gone before his - slow and foggy brain could grasp it all, but when the idea had fairly - eaten its way into his intellect, he arose with the nearest approach to - alacrity that he had exhibited in years, and left the place. He crunched - back to his home, and seeing nobody astir went softly into his shed, where - he secured a shovel and lantern, and thence continued with all consistent - speed to the tumbledown tide-mill on the marsh,—a trying journey for - his fat legs on a sharp night, but hope and schnapps impelled him. - </p> - <p> - He reached the mill, and, hastening to the cellar, began to probe in the - soft, unfrozen earth. Presently his spade struck something, and he dug and - dug until he had uncovered the top of a canvas bag,—the sort that - sailors call a “round stern-chest.” It took all his strength to lug it - out, and as he did so a seam burst, letting a shower of gold pieces over - the ground. He loosed the band of his breeches, and was filling the legs - thereof with coin, when a tread of feet sounded overhead and four men came - down the stair. Two of them he recognized as the fellows of the tavern. - They saw the bag, the lantern, then Nicholas. Laden though he was with - gold until he could hardly budge, these pirates, for such they were, got - him up-stairs, forced him to drink hot Hollands to the success of their - flag, then shot him through the window into the creek. As he was about to - make this unceremonious exit he clutched something to save himself, and it - proved to be a plucked goose that the pirates had stolen from a - neighboring farm and were going to sup on when they had scraped their gold - together. He felt the water and mud close over him; he struggled - desperately; he was conscious of breathing more freely and of staggering - off at a vigorous gait; then the power of all the schnapps seemed to get - into his head, and he remembered no more until he heard his wife shrilling - in his ears, when he sat up and found himself in a snow-bank close to his - house, with a featherless goose tight in his grasp. - </p> - <p> - Vrouw Van Wempel cared less about the state of her spouse when she saw - that he had secured the bird, and whenever he told his tale of the pirates - she turned a deaf ear to him, for if he had found the gold why did he not - manage to bring home a few pieces of it? He, in answer, asked how, as he - had none of his own money, she could have come by the goose? He often told - his tale to sympathetic ears, and would point to the old mill to prove - that it was true. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0059" id="link2H_4_0059"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WEARY WATCHER - </h2> - <p> - Before the opening of the great bridge sent commerce rattling up - Washington Street in Brooklyn that thoroughfare was a shaded and beautiful - avenue, and among the houses that attested its respectability was one, - between Tillary and Concord Streets, that was long declared to be haunted. - A man and his wife dwelt there who seemed to be fondly attached to each - other, and whose love should have been the stronger because of their three - children none grew to years. A mutual sorrow is as close a tie as a common - affection. One day, while on a visit to a friend, the wife saw her husband - drive by in a carriage with a showy woman beside him. She went home at - once, and when the supposed recreant returned she met him with bitter - reproaches. He answered never a word, but took his hat and left the house, - never to be seen again in the places that had known him. - </p> - <p> - The wife watched and waited, daily looking for his return, but days - lengthened into weeks, months, years, and still he came not. Sometimes she - lamented that she had spoken hastily and harshly, thinking that, had she - known all, she might have found him blameless. There was no family to look - after, no wholesome occupation that she sought, so the days went by in - listening and watching, until, at last, her body and mind gave way, and - the familiar sight of her face, watching from a second floor window, was - seen no longer. Her last day came. She had risen from her bed; life and - mind seemed for a moment to be restored to her; and standing where she had - stood so often, her form supported by a half-closed shutter and a grasp on - the sash, she looked into the street once more, sighed hopelessly, and so - died. It was her shade that long watched at the windows; it was her waxen - face, heavy with fatigue and pain, that was dimly seen looking over the - balusters in the evening. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0060" id="link2H_4_0060"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE RIVAL FIDDLERS - </h2> - <p> - Before Brooklyn had spread itself beyond Greenwood Cemetery a stone could - be seen in Martense's Lane, south of that burial-ground, that bore a hoof - mark. A negro named Joost, in the service of the Van Der - Something-or-others, was plodding home on Saturday night, his fiddle under - his arm. He had been playing for a wedding in Flatbush and had been - drinking schnapps until he saw stars on the ground and fences in the sky; - in fact, the universe seemed so out of order that he seated himself rather - heavily on this rock to think about it. The behavior of the stars in - swimming and rolling struck him as especially curious, and he conceived - the notion that they wanted to dance. Putting his fiddle to his chin, he - began a wild jig, and though he made it up as he went along, he was - conscious of doing finely, when the boom of a bell sent a shiver down his - spine. It was twelve o'clock, and here he was playing a dance tune on - Sunday. However, the sin of playing for one second on the Sabbath was as - great as that of playing all day; so, as long as he was in for it, he - resolved to carry the tune to the end, and he fiddled away with a reckless - vehemence. Presently he became aware that the music was both wilder and - sweeter than before, and that there was more of it. Not until then did he - observe that a tall, thin stranger stood beside him; and that he was - fiddling too,—composing a second to Joost's air, as if he could read - his thought before he put it into execution on the strings. Joost paused, - and the stranger did likewise. - </p> - <p> - “Where de debble did you come frum?” asked the first. The other smiled. - </p> - <p> - “And how did you come to know dat music?” Joost pursued. - </p> - <p> - “Oh, I've known that tune for years,” was the reply. “It's called 'The - Devil's joy at Sabbath Breaking.'” - </p> - <p> - “You're a liar!” cried the negro. The stranger bowed and burst into a roar - of laughter. “A liar!” repeated Joost,—“for I made up dat music dis - very minute.” - </p> - <p> - “Yet you notice that I could follow when you played.” - </p> - <p> - “Humph! Yes, you can follow.” - </p> - <p> - “And I can lead, too. Do you know the tune 'Go to the Devil and Shake - Yourself?'” - </p> - <p> - “Yes; but I play second to nobody.” - </p> - <p> - “Very well, I'll beat you at any air you try.” - </p> - <p> - “Done!” said Joost. And then began a contest that lasted until daybreak. - The stranger was an expert, but Joost seemed to be inspired, and just as - the sun appeared he sounded, in broad and solemn harmonies, the hymn of - Von Catts: - </p> - <p> - “Now behold, at dawn of day, Pious Dutchmen sing and pray.” - </p> - <p> - At that the stranger exclaimed, “Well, that beats the devil!” and striking - his foot angrily on the rock, disappeared in a flash of fire like a burst - bomb. Joost was hurled twenty feet by the explosion, and lay on the ground - insensible until a herdsman found him some hours later. As he suffered no - harm from the contest and became a better fiddler than ever, it is - supposed that the recording angel did not inscribe his feat of Sabbath - breaking against him in large letters. There were a few who doubted his - story, but they had nothing more to say when he showed them the hoof-mark - on the rock. Moreover, there are fewer fiddlers among the negroes than - there used to be, because they say that the violin is the devil's - instrument. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0061" id="link2H_4_0061"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - WYANDANK - </h2> - <p> - From Brooklyn Heights, or Ihpetonga, “highplace of trees,” where the - Canarsie Indians made wampum or sewant, and where they contemplated the - Great Spirit in the setting of the sun across the meeting waters, to - Montauk Point, Long Island has been swept by the wars of red men, and many - are the tokens of their occupancy. A number of their graves were to be - seen until within fifty years, as clearly marked as when the warriors were - laid there in the hope of resurrection among the happy hunting grounds - that lay to the west and south. The casting of stones on the death-spots - or graves of some revered or beloved Indians was long continued, and was - undoubtedly for the purpose of raising monuments to them, though at - Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, Sacrifice Rock, between Plymouth and - Sandwich, Massachusetts, and some other places the cairns merely mark a - trail. Even the temporary resting-place of Sachem Poggatacut, near Sag - Harbor, was kept clear of weeds and leaves by Indians who passed it in the - two centuries that lapsed between the death of the chief and the laying of - the road across it in 1846. This spot is not far from Whooping Boy's - Hollow, so named because of a boy who was killed by Indians, and because - the rubbing of two trees there in a storm gave forth a noise like crying. - An older legend has it that this noise is the angry voice of the magician - who tried to slay Wyandank, the “Washington of the Montauks,” who is - buried on the east end of the island. Often he led his men into battle, - sounding the warwhoop, copied from the scream of the eagle, so loudly that - those who heard it said that the Montauks were crying for prey. - </p> - <p> - It was while killing an eagle on Block Island, that he might use the - plumes for his hair, that this chief disclosed himself to the hostiles and - brought on a fight in which every participant except himself was slain. He - was secretly followed back to Long Island by a magician who had hopes of - enlisting the evil ones of that region against him,—the giants that - left their tracks in “Blood-stone Rock” and “Printed Rock,” near Napeague, - and such renegades as he who, having betrayed his people, was swallowed by - the earth, his last agony being marked by a stamp of the foot that left - its print on a slab near the Indian burial-ground at Kongonok. Failing in - these alliances the wizard hid among the hollows of the moors, and there - worked spells of such malice that the chief's hand lost steadiness in the - hunt and his voice was seldom heard in council. When the haunt of this - evil one was made known, a number of young men undertook to trap him. They - went to the hills by night, and moved stealthily through the shrubbery - until they were almost upon him; but his familiars had warned him of their - approach, though they had wakened him only to betray him for a cloud swept - in from the sea, fell about the wretch, burst into flame, and rolled back - toward the ocean, bearing him in the centre of its burning folds. Because - of the cry he uttered the place long bore the name of Whooping Hollow, and - it used to be said that the magician visited the scene of his ill-doing - every winter, when his shrieks could be heard ringing over the hills. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0062" id="link2H_4_0062"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MARK OF THE SPIRIT HAND - </h2> - <p> - Andover, New Jersey, was quaint and quiet in the days before the - Revolution—it is not a roaring metropolis, even yet—and as it - offered few social advantages there was more gathering in taprooms and - more drinking of flip than there should have been. Among those who were - not averse to a cheering cup were three boon companions, Bailey, Hill, and - Evans, farmers of the neighborhood. They loved the tavern better than the - church, and in truth the church folk did not love them well, for they were - suspected of entertaining heresies of the most forbidden character. It was - while they were discussing matters of belief over their glasses that one - of them proposed, in a spirit of bravado, that whichever of the trio might - be first to die should come back from the grave and reveal himself to the - others—if he could—thus settling the question as to whether - there was a future. - </p> - <p> - Not long after this agreement—for consent was unanimous—Hill - departed this life. His friends lamented his absence, especially at the - tavern, but they anticipated no attempt on his part to express the - distinguished consideration that he had felt for his old chums. Some weeks - passed, yet there was no sign, and the two survivors of the party, as they - jogged homeward to the house where both lived, had begun to think and - speak less frequently of the absent one. But one night the household was - alarmed by a terrible cry. Bailey got a light and hurried to the bedside - of his friend, whom he found deathly white and holding his chest as if in - pain. “He has been here!” gasped Evans. “He stood here just now.” - </p> - <p> - “Who?” asked Bailey, a creep passing down his spine. - </p> - <p> - “Hill! He stood there, where you are now, and touched me with a hand that - was so cold—cold—” and Evans shivered violently. On turning - back the collar of his shirt the impression of a hand appeared on the - flesh near the shoulder: a hand in white, with one finger missing. Hill - had lost a finger. There was less of taverns after that night, for Evans - carried the token of that ghostly visit on his person until he, too, had - gone to solve the great secret. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0063" id="link2H_4_0063"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE FIRST LIBERAL CHURCH - </h2> - <p> - In 1770 the brig Hand-in-Hand went ashore at Good Luck, New Jersey. Among - the passengers on board the vessel, that it would perhaps be wrong to call - ill fated, was John Murray, founder of Universalism in America. He had - left England in despair, for his wife and children were dead, and so - broken was he in his power of thought and purpose that he felt as if he - should never preach again. - </p> - <p> - In fact, his rescue from the wreck was passive, on his part, and he - suffered himself to be carried ashore, recking little whether he reached - it or no. After he had been for half an hour or so on the soil of the new - country, to which he had made his entrance in so unexpected a manner, he - began to feel hungry, and set off afoot along the desolate beach. He came - to a cabin where an old man stood in a doorway with a basket of fish - beside him. “Will you sell me a fish?” asked Murray. - </p> - <p> - “No. The fish is all yours. I expected you.” - </p> - <p> - “You do not know me.” - </p> - <p> - “You are the man who is to tell us of God.” - </p> - <p> - “I will never preach of Him again.” - </p> - <p> - “I built that log church yonder. Don't say that you will not preach in it. - Whenever a clergyman, Presbyterian, Methody, or Baptist, came here, I - asked him to preach in my kitchen. I tried to get him to stay; but no—he - always had work elsewhere. Last night I saw the brig driven on the bar, - and a voice said to me, 'In that ship is the man who will teach of God. - Not the old God of terrors, but one of love and mercy. He has come through - great sorrow to do this work.' I have made ready for you. Do not go away.” - </p> - <p> - The minister felt a strange lifting in his heart. He fell on his knees - before the little house and offered up a prayer. Long he staid in that - place, preaching gentle doctrines and ministering to the men and women of - that lonely village, and when the fisherman apostle, Thomas Potter, died - he left the church to Murray, who, in turn, bequeathed it, “free, for the - use of all Christian people.” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0064" id="link2H_4_0064"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0065" id="link2H_4_0065"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PHANTOM DRAGOON - </h2> - <p> - The height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark, Delaware, is - called Iron Hill, because it is rich in hematite ore, but about the time - of General Howe's advance to the Brandywine it might well have won its - name because of the panoply of war—the sullen guns, the flashing - swords, and glistening bayonets—that appeared among the British - tents pitched on it. After the red-coats had established camp here the - American outposts were advanced and one of the pickets was stationed at - Welsh Tract Church. On his first tour of duty the sentry was thrown into - great alarm by the appearance of a figure robed from head to foot in - white, that rode a horse at a charging gait within ten feet of his face. - When guard was relieved the soldier begged that he might never be assigned - to that post again. His nerves were strong in the presence of an enemy in - the flesh—but an enemy out of the grave! Ugh! He would desert rather - than encounter that shape again. His request was granted. The sentry who - succeeded him was startled, in the small hours, by a rush of hoofs and the - flash of a pallid form. He fired at it, and thought that he heard the - sound of a mocking laugh come back. - </p> - <p> - Every night the phantom horseman made his rounds, and several times the - sentinels shot at him without effect, the white horse and white rider - showing no annoyance at these assaults. When it came the turn of a - sceptical and unimaginative old corporal to take the night detail, he took - the liberty of assuming the responsibilities of this post himself. He - looked well to the priming of his musket, and at midnight withdrew out of - the moonshine and waited, with his gun resting on a fence. It was not long - before the beat of hoofs was heard approaching, and in spite of himself - the corporal felt a thrill along his spine as a mounted figure that might - have represented Death on the pale horse came into view; but he jammed his - hat down, set his teeth, and sighted his flint-lock with deliberation. The - rider was near, when bang went the corporal's musket, and a white form was - lying in the road, a horse speeding into the distance. Scrambling over the - fence, the corporal, reassured, ran to the form and turned it over: a - British scout, quite dead. The daring fellow, relying on the superstitious - fears of the rustics in his front, had made a nightly ride as a ghost, in - order to keep the American outposts from advancing, and also to guess, - from elevated points, at the strength and disposition of their troops. He - wore a cuirass of steel, but that did not protect his brain from the - corporal's bullet. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0066" id="link2H_4_0066"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - DELAWARE WATER GAP - </h2> - <p> - The Indian name of this beautiful region, Minisink, “the water is gone,” - agrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind the - Blue Ridge, and that it burst its way through the hills at this point. - Similar results were produced by a cataclysm on the Connecticut at Mount - Holyoke, on the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk, and Runaway Pond, New Hampshire, - got its name by a like performance. The aborigines, whatever may be said - against them, enjoyed natural beauty, and their habitations were often - made in this delightful region, their councils being attended by chief - Tamanend, or Tammany, a Delaware, whose wisdom and virtues were such as to - raise him to the place of patron saint of America. The notorious Tammany - Society of New York is named for him. When this chief became old and - feeble his tribe abandoned him in a hut at New Britain, Pennsylvania, and - there he tried to kill himself by stabbing, but failing in that, he flung - burning leaves over himself, and so perished. He was buried where he died. - It was a princess of his tribe that gave the name of Lover's Leap to a - cliff on Mount Tammany, by leaping from it to her death, because her love - for a young European was not reciprocated. - </p> - <p> - There is a silver-mine somewhere on the opposite mountain of Minsi, the - knowledge of its location having perished with the death of a recluse, who - coined the metal he took from it into valuable though illegal dollars, - going townward every winter to squander his earnings. During the - Revolution “Oran the Hawk,” a Tory and renegade, was vexatious to the - people of Delaware Valley, and a detachment of colonial troops was sent in - pursuit of him. They overtook him at the Gap and chased him up the slopes - of Tammany, though he checked their progress by rolling stones among them. - One rock struck a trooper, crushed him, and bore him down to the base of a - cliff, his blood smearing it in his descent. But though he seemed to have - eluded his pursuers, Oran was shot in several places during his flight, - and when at last he cast himself into a thicket, to rest and get breath, - it was never to rise again. His bones, cracked by bullets and gnawed by - beasts, were found there when the leaves fell. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0067" id="link2H_4_0067"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PHANTOM DRUMMER - </h2> - <p> - Colonel Howell, of the king's troops, was a gay fellow, framed to make - women false; but when he met the rosy, sweet-natured daughter of farmer - Jarrett, near Valley Forge, he attempted no dalliance, for he fell too - seriously in love. He might not venture into the old man's presence, for - Jarrett had a son with Washington, and he hated a red-coat as he did the - devil; but the young officer met the girl in secret, and they plighted - troth beneath the garden trees, hidden in gray mist. As Howell bent to - take his first kiss that night, a rising wind went past, bringing from - afar the roll of a drum, and as they talked the drum kept drawing nearer, - until it seemed at hand. The officer peered across the wall, then hurried - to his mistress' side, as pale as death. The fields outside were empty of - life. - </p> - <p> - Louder came the rattling drum; it seemed to enter the gate, pass but a - yard away, go through the wall, and die in the distance. When it ceased, - Howell started as if a spell had been lifted, laxed his grip on the - maiden's hand, then drew her to his breast convulsively. Ruth's terror was - more vague but no less genuine than his own, and some moments passed - before she could summon voice to ask him what this visitation meant. He - answered, “Something is about to change my fortunes for good or ill; - probably for ill. Important events in my family for the past three - generations have been heralded by that drum, and those events were - disasters oftener than benefits.” Few more words passed, and with another - kiss the soldier scaled the wall and galloped away, the triple beat of his - charger's hoofs sounding back into the maiden's ears like drum-taps. In a - skirmish next day Colonel Howell was shot. He was carried to farmer - Jarrett's house and left there, in spite of the old man's protest, for he - was willing to give no shelter to his country's enemies. When Ruth saw her - lover in this strait she was like to have fallen, but when she learned - that it would take but a few days of quiet and care to restore him to - health, she was ready to forgive her fellow-countrymen for inflicting an - injury that might result in happiness for both of them. - </p> - <p> - It took a great deal of teasing to overcome the scruples of the farmer, - but he gruffly consented to receive the young man until his hurt should - heal. Ruth attended him faithfully, and the cheerful, manly nature of the - officer so won the farmer's heart that he soon forgot the color of - Howell's coat. Nor was he surprised when Howell told him that he loved his - daughter and asked for her hand; indeed, it had been easy to guess their - affection, and the old man declared that but for his allegiance to a - tyrant he would gladly own him as a son-in-law. It was a long struggle - between love and duty that ensued in Howell's breast, and love was victor. - If he might marry Ruth he would leave the army. The old man gave prompt - consent, and a secret marriage was arranged. Howell had been ordered to - rejoin his regiment; he could not honorably resign on the eve of an - impending battle, and, even had he done so, a long delay must have - preceded his release. He would marry the girl, go to the country, live - there quietly until the British evacuated Philadelphia, when he would - return and cast his lot with the Jarrett household. - </p> - <p> - Howell donned citizen's dress, and the wedding took place in the spacious - best room of the mansion, but as he slipped the ring on the finger of his - bride the roll of a drum was heard advancing up the steps into the room, - then on and away until all was still again. The young colonel was pale; - Ruth clung to him in terror; clergymen and guests looked at each other in - amazement. Now there were voices at the porch, the door was flung open, - armed men entered, and the bridegroom was a prisoner. He was borne to his - quarters, and afterward tried for desertion, for a servant in the Jarrett - household, hating all English and wishing them to suffer, even at each - other's hands, had betrayed the plan of his master's guest. The - court-martial found him guilty and condemned him to be shot. When the - execution took place, Ruth, praying and sobbing in her chamber, knew that - her husband was no more. The distant sound of musketry reverberated like - the roll of a drum. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0068" id="link2H_4_0068"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE - </h2> - <p> - During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge six - or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that little - was to be hoped for near the camp of their starving comrades, they set off - in the direction of French Creek. At this stream the party separated, and - a little later two of the men were attacked by Tory farmers. Flying along - the creek for some distance they came to a small cave in a bluff, and one - of them, a young Southerner named Carrington, scrambled into it. His - companion was not far behind, and was hurrying toward the cave, when he - was arrested by a rumble and a crash: a block of granite, tons in weight, - that had hung poised overhead, slid from its place and completely blocked - the entrance. The stifled cry of despair from the living occupant of the - tomb struck to his heart. He hid in a neighboring wood until the Tories - had dispersed, then, returning to the cave, he strove with might and main - to stir the boulder from its place, but without avail. - </p> - <p> - When he reached camp, as he did next day, he told of this disaster, but - the time for rescue was believed to be past, or the work was thought to be - too exhausting and dangerous for a body of men who had much ado to keep - life in their own weak frames. It was a double tragedy, for the young - man's sweetheart never recovered from the shock that the news occasioned, - and on her tomb, near Richmond, Virginia, these words are chiselled: - “Died, of a broken heart, on the 1st of March, 1780, Virginia Randolph, - aged 21 years, 9 days. Faithful unto death.” In the summer of 1889 some - workmen, blasting rock near the falls on French Creek, uncovered the - long-concealed cavern and found there a skeleton with a few rags of a - Continental uniform. In a bottle beside it was an account, signed by - Arthur L. Carrington, of the accident that had befallen him, and a letter - declaring undying love for his sweetheart. - </p> - <p> - He had starved to death. The bones were neatly coffined, and were sent to - Richmond to be buried beside those of the faithful Miss Randolph. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0069" id="link2H_4_0069"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN - </h2> - <p> - Many are the tales of prophecy that have been preserved to us from war - times. In the beginning of King Philip's war in Connecticut, in 1675, it - was reported that the firing of the first gun was heard all over the - State, while the drumbeats calling settlers to defence were audible eight - miles away. Braddock's defeat and the salvation of Washington were - foretold by a Miami chief at a council held in Fort Ponchartrain, on - Detroit River, the ambush and the slaughter having been revealed to him in - a dream. The victims of that battle, too, had been apprised, for one or - two nights before the disaster a young lieutenant in Braddock's command - saw his fellow-officers pass through his tent, bloody and torn, and when - the first gun sounded he knew that it spoke the doom of nearly all his - comrades. At Killingly, Connecticut, in the autumn before the outbreak of - the Revolution, a distant roar of artillery was heard for a whole day and - night in the direction of Boston, mingled with a rattle of musketry, and - so strong was the belief that war had begun and the British were - advancing, that the minute men mustered to await orders. It was afterward - argued that these noises came from an explosion of meteors, a shower of - these missiles being then in progress, invisible, of course, in the - day-time. Just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence the - royal arms on the spire of the Episcopal church at Hampton, Virginia, were - struck off by lightning. Shortly before the surrender of Cornwallis a - display of northern lights was seen in New England, the rays taking the - form of cannon, facing southward. In Connecticut sixty-four of these guns - were counted. - </p> - <p> - At the battle of Germantown the Americans were enraged by the killing of - one of their men who had gone out with a flag of truce. He was shot from - the windows of Judge Chew's house, which was crowded with British - soldiers, and as he fell to the lawn, dyeing the peaceful emblem with his - blood, at least one of the Continentals swore that his death should be - well avenged. The British reinforcements, sixteen thousand strong, came - hurrying through the street, their officers but half-dressed, so urgent - had been the summons for their aid. Except for their steady tramp the - place was silent; doors were locked and shutters bolted, and if people - were within doors no sign of them was visible. General Agnew alone of all - the troop seemed depressed and anxious. Turning to an aide as they passed - the Mennonist graveyard, he said, “This field is the last I shall fight - on.” - </p> - <p> - An eerie face peered over the cemetery wall, a scarred, unshaven face - framed in long hair and surmounting a body clothed in skins, with the - question, “Is that the brave General Gray who beat the rebels at Paoli?” - One of the soldiers, with a careless toss of the hand, seemed to indicate - General Agnew. A moment later there was a report, a puff of smoke from the - cemetery wall, and a bullet whizzed by the head of the general, who smiled - wanly, to encourage his men. Summary execution would have been done upon - the stranger had not a body of American cavalry dashed against the - red-coats at that moment, and a fierce contest was begun. When the day was - over, General Agnew, who had been separated from his command in the - confusion of battle, came past the graves again. Tired and depressed, he - drew rein for a moment to breathe the sweet air, so lately fouled with - dust and smoke, and to watch the gorgeous light of sunset. Again, like a - malignant genius of the place, the savage-looking stranger arose from - behind the wall. A sharp report broke the quiet of evening and awoke - clattering echoes from the distant houses. A horse plunged and General - Agnew rolled from his saddle, dead: the last victim in the strife at - Germantown. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0070" id="link2H_4_0070"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A BLOW IN THE DARK - </h2> - <p> - The Tory Manheim sits brooding in his farmhouse near Valley Forge, and his - daughter, with a hectic flush on her cheek, looks out into the twilight at - the falling snow. She is worn and ill; she has brought on a fever by - exposure incurred that very day in a secret journey to the American camp, - made to warn her lover of another attempt on the life of Washington, who - must pass her father's house on his return from a distant settlement. The - Tory knows nothing of this; but he starts whenever the men in the next - room rattle the dice or break into a ribald song, and a frown of - apprehension crosses his face as the foragers crunch by, half-barefoot, - through the snow. The hours go on, and the noise in the next room - increases; but it hushes suddenly when a knock at the door is heard. The - Tory opens it, and trembles as a tall, grave man, with the figure of an - athlete, steps into the fire-light and calmly removes his gloves. “I have - been riding far,” said he. “Can you give me some food and the chance to - sleep for an hour, until the storm clears up?” - </p> - <p> - Manheim says that he can, and shuffling into the next room, he whispers, - “Washington!” The girl is sent out to get refreshments. It is in vain that - she seeks to sign or speak to the man who sits there so calmly before the - fire, for her father is never out of sight or hearing. After Washington - has finished his modest repast he asks to be left to himself for a while, - but the girl is told to conduct him to the room on the left of the landing - on the next floor. - </p> - <p> - Her father holds the candle at the foot of the stairs until he sees his - guest enter; then he bids his daughter go to her own bed, which is in the - chamber on the right of the landing. There is busy whispering in the room - below after that, and the dice box is shaken to see to whose lot it shall - fall to steal up those stairs and stab Washington in his sleep. An hour - passes and all in the house appear to be at rest, but the stairs creak - slightly as Manheim creeps upon his prey. He blows his candle out and - softly enters the chamber on the left. The men, who listen in the dark at - the foot of the stair, hear a moan, and the Tory hurries back with a shout - of gladness, for the rebel chief is no more and Howe's reward will enrich - them for life. - </p> - <p> - Glasses are filled, and in the midst of the rejoicing a step is heard on - the stair. Washington stands before them. In calm, deep tones he thanks - the farmer for his shelter, and asks that his horse be brought to the door - and his reckoning be made out. The Tory stares as one bereft. Then he - rushes aloft, flings open the door of the room on the left, and gazes at - the face that rests on the pillow,—a pillow that is dabbled with - red. The face is that of his daughter. The name of father is one that he - will never hear again in this world. The candle falls from his hand; he - sinks to the floor; be his sin forgiven! Outside is heard the tramp of a - horse. It is that of Washington, who rides away, ignorant of the peril he - has passed and the sacrifice that averted it. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0071" id="link2H_4_0071"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE TORY'S CONVERSION - </h2> - <p> - In his firelit parlor, in his little house at Valley Forge, old Michael - Kuch sits talking with his daughter. But though it is Christmas eve the - talk has little cheer in it. The hours drag on until the clock strikes - twelve, and the old man is about to offer his evening prayer for the - safety of his son, who is one of Washington's troopers, when hurried steps - are heard in the snow, there is a fumbling at the latch, then the door - flies open and admits a haggard, panting man who hastily closes it again, - falls into a seat, and shakes from head to foot. The girl goes to him. - “John!” she says. But he only averts his face. “What is wrong with thee, - John Blake?” asks the farmer. But he has to ask again and again ere he - gets an answer. Then, in a broken voice, the trembling man confesses that - he has tried to shoot Washington, but the bullet struck and killed his - only attendant, a dragoon. He has come for shelter, for men are on his - track already. “Thou know'st I am neutral in this war, John Blake,” - answered the farmer,—“although I have a boy down yonder in the camp. - It was a cowardly thing to do, and I hate you Tories that you do not fight - like men; yet, since you ask me for a hiding-place, you shall have it, - though, mind you, 'tis more on the girl's account than yours. The men are - coming. Out—this way—to the spring-house. So!” - </p> - <p> - Before old Michael has time to return to his chair the door is again - thrust open, this time by men in blue and buff. They demand the assassin, - whose footsteps they have tracked there through the snow. Michael does not - answer. They are about to use violence when, through the open door, comes - Washington, who checks them with a word. The general bears a drooping form - with a blood splash on its breast, and deposits it on the hearth as gently - as a mother puts a babe into its cradle. As the firelight falls on the - still face the farmer's eyes grow round and big; then he shrieks and drops - upon his knees, for it is his son who is lying there. Beside him is a - pistol; it was dropped by the Tory when he entered. Grasping it eagerly - the farmer leaps to his feet. His years have fallen from him. With a - tiger-like bound he gains the door, rushes to the spring-house where John - Blake is crouching, his eyes sunk and shining, gnawing his fingers in a - craze of dismay. But though hate is swift, love is swifter, and the girl - is there as soon as he. She strikes his arm aside, and the bullet he has - fired lodges in the wood. He draws out his knife, and the murderer, to - whom has now come the calmness of despair, kneels and offers his breast to - the blade. Before he can strike, the soldiers hasten up, and seizing - Blake, they drag him to the house—the little room—where all - had been so peaceful but a few minutes before. - </p> - <p> - The culprit is brought face to face with Washington, who asks him what - harm he has ever suffered from his fellow countrymen that he should turn - against them thus. Blake hangs his head and owns his willingness to die. - His eyes rest on the form extended on the floor, and he shudders; but his - features undergo an almost joyous change, for the figure lifts itself, and - in a faint voice calls, “Father!” The young man lives. With a cry of - delight both father and sister raise him in their arms. “You are not yet - prepared to die,” says Washington to the captive. “I will put you under - guard until you are wanted. Take him into custody, my dear young lady, and - try to make an American of him. See, it is one o'clock, and this is - Christmas morning. May all be happy here. Come.” And beckoning to his men - he rides away, though Blake and his affianced would have gone on their - knees before him. Revulsion of feeling, love, thankfulness and a latent - patriotism wrought a quick change in Blake. When young Kuch recovered - Blake joined his regiment, and no soldier served the flag more honorably. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0072" id="link2H_4_0072"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LORD PERCY'S DREAM - </h2> - <p> - Leaving the dissipations of the English court, Lord Percy came to America - to share the fortunes of his brethren in the contest then raging on our - soil. His father had charged him with the delivery of a certain package to - an Indian woman, should he meet her in his rambles through the western - wilds, and, without inquiring into the nature of the gift or its occasion, - he accepted the trust. At the battle of the Brandywine—strangely - foretold by Quaker prophecy forty years before—he was detailed by - Cornwallis to drive the colonial troops out of a graveyard where they had - intrenched themselves, and though he set upon this errand with the - enthusiasm of youth, his cheek paled as he drew near the spot where the - enemy was waiting. - </p> - <p> - It was not that he had actual physical fear of the onset: he had dreamed a - dream a few nights before, the purport of which he had hinted to his - comrades, and as he rode into the clearing at the top of Osborn's Hill he - drew rein and exclaimed, “My dream! Yonder is the graveyard. I am fated to - die there.” Giving a few of his effects to his brother officers, and - charging one of them to take a message of love to his betrothed in - England, he set his lips and rode forward. - </p> - <p> - His cavalry bound toward the scene of action and are within thirty paces - of the cemetery wall, when from behind it rises a battalion of men in the - green uniform of the Santee Rangers and pours a withering fire into the - ranks. The shock is too great to withstand, and the red-coats stagger away - with broken ranks, leaving many dead and wounded on the ground. Lord Percy - is the coolest of all. He urges the broken columns forward, and almost - alone holds the place until the infantry, a hundred yards behind, come up. - Thereupon ensues one of those hand-to-hand encounters that are so rare in - recent war, and that are the sorest test of valor and discipline. Now - rides forward Captain Waldemar, chief of the rangers and a half-breed - Indian, who, seeing Percy, recognizes him as an officer and engages him in - combat. There is for a minute a clash of steel on steel; then the nobleman - falls heavily to the earth—dead. His dream has come true. That night - the captain Waldemar seeks out the body of this officer, attracted by - something in the memory of his look, and from his bosom takes the packet - that was committed to his care. - </p> - <p> - By lantern-light he reads, carelessly at first, then rapidly and eagerly, - and at the close he looks long and earnestly at the dead man, and seems to - brush away a tear. Strange thing to do over the body of an enemy! Why had - fate decreed that they should be enemies? For Waldemar is the half-brother - of Percy. His mother was the Indian girl that the earl, now passing his - last days in England, had deceived with a pretended marriage, and the - letters promise patronage to her son. The half-breed digs a grave that - night with his own hands and lays the form of his brother in it. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0073" id="link2H_4_0073"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SAVED BY THE BIBLE - </h2> - <p> - It was on the day after the battle of Germantown that Warner, who wore the - blue, met his hated neighbor, the Tory Dabney, near that bloody field. - </p> - <p> - By a common impulse the men fell upon each other with their knives, and - Warner soon had his enemy in a position to give him the death-stroke, but - Dabney began to bellow for quarter. “My brother cried for quarter at - Paoli,” answered the other, “and you struck him to the heart.” - </p> - <p> - “I have a wife and child. Spare me for their sakes.” - </p> - <p> - “My brother had a wife and two children. Perhaps you would like to beg - your life of them.” - </p> - <p> - Though made in mockery, this proposition was caught at so earnestly that - Warner at length consented to take his adversary, firmly bound, to the - house where the bereaved family was living. The widow was reading the - Bible to her children, but her grief was too fresh to gather comfort from - it. When Dabney was flung into the room he grovelled at her feet and - begged piteously for mercy. Her face did not soften, but there was a kind - of contempt in the settled sadness of her tone as she said, “It shall be - as God directs. I will close this Bible, open it at chance, and when this - boy shall put his finger at random on a line, by that you must live or - die.” - </p> - <p> - The book was opened, and the child put his finger on a line: “That man - shall die.” - </p> - <p> - Warner drew his knife and motioned his prisoner to the door. He was going - to lead him into the wood to offer him as a sacrifice to his brother's - spirit. - </p> - <p> - “No, no!” shrieked the wretch. “Give me one more chance; one more! Let the - girl open the book.” - </p> - <p> - The woman coldly consents, and when the book is opened for the second time - she reads, “Love your enemies.” There are no other words. The knife is - used, but it is to cut the prisoner's bonds, and he walks away with head - hung down, never more to take arms against his countrymen. And glad are - they all at this, when the husband is brought home—not dead, though - left among the corpses at Paoli, but alive and certain of recovery, with - such nursing as his wife will give him. After tears of joy have been shed - she tells him the story of the Bible judgment, and all the members of the - family fall on their knees in thanksgiving that the blood of Dabney is not - upon their heads. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0074" id="link2H_4_0074"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON - </h2> - <p> - Farmer Derwent and his four stout sons set off on an autumn night for the - meeting of patriots at a house on the Wissahickon,—a meeting that - bodes no good to the British encamped in Philadelphia, let the red-coats - laugh as they will at the rag-tag and bob-tail that are joining the army - of Mr. Washington in the wilds of the Skippack. The farmer sighs as he - thinks that his younger son alone should be missing from the company, and - wonders for the thousandth time what has become of the boy. They sit by a - rock that juts into the road to trim their lantern, and while they talk - together they are startled by an exclamation. It is from Ellen, the - adopted daughter of Derwent and the betrothed of his missing son. On the - night that the boy stole away from his father's house he asked her to meet - him in this place in a year's time, and the year is up to-night. - </p> - <p> - But it is not to meet him that she is hastening now: she has heard that - the British have learned of the patriot gathering and will try to make - prisoners of the company. Even as she tells of this there is a sound to - the southward: the column is on the march. The farmer's eye blazes with - rage and hate. “Boys,” he says, “yonder come those who intend to kill us. - Let them taste of their own warfare. Stand here in the shadow and fire as - they pass this rock.” - </p> - <p> - The troopers ride on, chuckling over their sure success, when there is a - report of rifles and four of the red-coats are in the dust. The survivors, - though taken by surprise, prove their courage by halting to answer the - volley, and one of them springs from his saddle, seizes Derwent, and - plunges a knife into his throat. The rebel falls. His blood pools around - him. The British are successful, for two of the young men are bound and - two of them have fallen, and there is a cheer of victory, but the trooper - with the knife in his hand does not raise his voice. He bends above the - farmer as still as one dead, until his captain claps him on the shoulder. - As he rises, the prisoners start in wonder, for the face they see in the - lantern-light is that of their brother, yet strange in its haggardness and - its smear of blood on the cheek. The girl runs from her hiding-place with - a cry, but stands in horror when her foot touches the gory pool in the - road. The trooper opens his coat and offers her a locket. It contains her - picture, and he has worn it above his heart for a year, but she lets it - fall and sinks down, moaning. The soldier tears off his red coat, tramples - it in the dust, then vaulting to his saddle he plunges into the river, - fords it, and crashes through the underbrush on the other side. In a few - minutes he has reached the summit of a rock that rises nearly a hundred - feet above the stream. The horse halts at the edge, but on a fierce stab - of the spur into his flank he takes the leap. With a despairing yell the - traitor and parricide goes into eternity. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0075" id="link2H_4_0075"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE - </h2> - <p> - Terrible in the field at Brandywine was the figure of a man armed only - with a hammer, who plunged into the ranks of the enemy, heedless of his - own life, yet seeming to escape their shots and sabre cuts by magic, and - with Thor strokes beat them to the earth. But yesterday war had been to - him a distant rumor, a thing as far from his cottage at Dilworth as if it - had been in Europe, but he had revolted at a plot that he had overheard to - capture Washington and had warned the general. In revenge the Tories had - burned his cottage, and his wife and baby had perished in the flames. All - day he had sat beside the smoking ruins, unable to weep, unable to think, - unable almost to suffer, except dumbly, for as yet he could not understand - it. But when the drums were heard they roused the tiger in him, and gaunt - with sleeplessness and hunger he joined his countrymen and ranged like - Ajax on the field. Every cry for quarter was in vain: to every such appeal - he had but one reply, his wife's name—Mary. - </p> - <p> - Near the end of the fight he lay beside the road, his leg broken, his - flesh torn, his life ebbing from a dozen wounds. A wagoner, hasting to - join the American retreat, paused to give him drink. “I've only five - minutes more of life in me,” said the smith. “Can you lift me into that - tree and put a rifle in my hands?” The powerful teamster raised him to the - crotch of an oak, and gave him the rifle and ammunition that a dying - soldier had dropped there. A band of red-coats came running down the road, - chasing some farmers. The blacksmith took careful aim; there was a report, - and the leader of the band fell dead. A pause; again a report rang out, - and a trooper sprawled upon the ground. The marksman had been seen, and a - lieutenant was urging his men to hurry on and cut him down. There was a - third report, and the lieutenant reeled forward into the road, bleeding - and cursing. “That's for Mary,” gasped the blacksmith. The rifle dropped - from his hands, and he, too, sank lifeless against the boughs. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0076" id="link2H_4_0076"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - FATHER AND SON - </h2> - <p> - It was three soldiers, escaping from the rout of Braddock's forces, who - caught the alleged betrayer of their general and put him to the death. - They threw his purse of ill-gotten louis d'or into the river, and sent him - swinging from the edge of a ravine, with a vine about his neck and a - placard on his breast. And so they left him. - </p> - <p> - Twenty years pass, and the war-fires burn more fiercely in the vales of - Pennsylvania, but, too old to fight, the schoolmaster sits at his door - near Chad's Ford and smokes and broods upon the past. He thinks of the - time when he marched with Washington, when with two wounded comrades he - returned along the lonely trail; then comes the vision of a blackening - face, and he rises and wipes his brow. “It was right,” he mutters. “He - sent a thousand of his brothers to their deaths.” - </p> - <p> - Gilbert Gates comes that evening to see the old man's daughter: a smooth, - polite young fellow, but Mayland cannot like him, and after some short - talk he leaves him, pleading years and rheumatism, and goes to bed. But - not to sleep; for toward ten o'clock his daughter goes to him and urges - him to fly, for men are gathering near the house—Tories, she is - sure,—and they mean no good. Laughing at her fears, but willing to - relieve her anxiety, the old man slips into his clothes, goes into the - cellar, and thence starts for the barn, while the girl remains for a few - minutes to hide the silver. - </p> - <p> - He does not go far before Gates is at his elbow with the whispered words, - “Into the stack-quick. They are after you.” Mayland hesitates with - distrust, but the appearance of men with torches leaves no time for talk. - With Gilbert's help he crawls deep into the straw and is covered up. - Presently a rough voice asks which way he has gone. Gilbert replies that - he has gone to the wood, but there is no need for getting into a passion, - and that on no account would it be advisable to fire the stack. “Won't we - though?” cries one of the party. “We'll burn the rebel out of house and - home,” and thrusting his torch into the straw it is ablaze in an instant. - The crowd hurries away toward the wood, and does not hear the stifled - groan that comes out of the middle of the fire. Gates takes a paper from - his pocket, and, after reading it for the last time, flings it upon the - flame. It bears the inscription, “Isaac Gates, Traitor and Spy, hung by - three soldiers of his majesty's army. Isaac Mayland.” - </p> - <p> - From his moody contemplation he rouses with a start, for Mayland's - daughter is there. Her eyes are bent on a distorted thing that lies among - the embers, and in the dying light of the flames it seems to move. She - studies it close, then with a cry of pain and terror she falls upon the - hot earth, and her senses go out, not to be regained in woful years. With - head low bowed, Gilbert Gates trudges away. In the fight at Brandywine - next day, Black Samson, a giant negro, armed with a scythe, sweeps his way - through the red ranks like a sable figure of Time. Mayland had taught him; - his daughter had given him food. It is to avenge them that he is fighting. - In the height of the conflict he enters the American ranks leading a - prisoner—Gilbert Gates. The young man is pale, stern, and silent. - His deed is known, he is a spy as well as a traitor, but he asks no mercy. - It is rumored that next day he alone, of the prisoners, was led to a wood - and lashed by arms and legs to a couple of hickory trees that had been - bent by a prodigious effort and tied together by their tops. The lashing - was cut by a rifle-ball, the trees regained their straight position with a - snap like whips, and that was the way Gilbert Gates came to his end. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0077" id="link2H_4_0077"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE ENVY OF MANITOU - </h2> - <p> - Behind the mountains that gloom about the romantic village of Mauch Chunk, - Pennsylvania, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding loops - and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its prettiest bits of - shore stood a village of the Leni Lenape, and largest of its wigwams, most - richly pictured without, most luxurious in its couching of furs within, - was that of the young chief, Onoko. This Indian was a man of great size, - strength, and daring. Single-handed he had slain the bear on Mauch Chunk - [Bear Mountain], and it was no wonder that Wenonah, the fairest of her - tribe, was flattered when he sued for her hand, and promptly consented to - be his wife. It was Onoko's fortune in war, the chase, and love that - roused the envy of Mitche Manitou. - </p> - <p> - One day, as the couple were floating in their shallop of bark on the calm - lake, idly enjoying the sunshine and saying pretty things to each other, - the Manitou arose among the mountains. Terrible was his aspect, for the - scowl of hatred was on his face, thunder crashed about his head, and fire - snapped from his eyes. Covering his right hand with his invincible magic - mitten, he dealt a blow on the hills that made the earth shake, and rived - them to a depth of a thousand feet. Through the chasm thus created the - lake poured a foaming deluge, and borne with it was the canoe of Onoko and - Wenonah. One glance at the wrathful face in the clouds above them and they - knew that escape was hopeless, so, clasping each other in a close embrace, - they were whirled away to death. Manitou strode away moodily among the - hills, and ever since that time the Lehigh has rolled through the chasm - that he made. The memory of Onoko is preserved in the name of a glen and - cascade a short distance above Mauch Chunk. - </p> - <p> - It is not well to be too happy in this world. It rouses the envy of the - gods. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0078" id="link2H_4_0078"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL - </h2> - <p> - “Young man, I'll give thee five dollars a week to be care-taker in Printz - Hall,” said Quaker Quidd to fiddler Matthews, on an autumn evening. - </p> - <p> - Young Matthews had just been taunting the old gentleman with being afraid - to sleep on his own domain, and as the eyes of all the tavern loungers - were on him he could hardly decline so flattering a proposition, so, after - some hemming and hawing, he said he would take the Quaker at his word. He - played but two or three more tunes that evening, did Peter Matthews, and - played them rather sadly; then, as Quidd had finished his mulled cider and - departed, he took his homeward way in thoughtful mood. Printz Hall stood - in a lonely, weed-grown garden near Chester, Pennsylvania, and thither - repaired Peter, as next day's twilight shut down, with a mattress, - blanket, comestibles, his beloved fiddle, and a flask of whiskey. - Ensconcing himself in the room that was least depressing in appearance he - stuffed rags into the vacant panes, lighted a candle, started a blaze in - the fireplace, and ate his supper. - </p> - <p> - “Not so bad a place, after all,” mumbled Peter, as he warmed himself at - the fire and the flask; then, taking out his violin, he began to play. The - echo of his music emphasized the emptiness of the house, the damp got into - the strings so that they sounded tubby, and there were unintentional - quavers in the melody whenever the trees swung against the windows and - splashed them with rain, or when a distant shutter fell a-creaking. - Finally, he stirred the fire, bolted the door, snuffed his candle, took a - courageous pull at the liquor, flung off his coat and shoes, rolled his - blanket around him, stretched himself on the mattress, and fell asleep. He - was awakened by—well, he could not say what, exactly, only he became - suddenly as wide awake as ever he had been in his life, and listened for - some sound that he knew was going to come out of the roar of the wind and - the slamming, grating, and whistling about the house. Yes, there it was: a - tread and a clank on the stair. The door, so tightly bolted, flew open, - and there entered a dark figure with steeple-crowned hat, cloak, - jack-boots, sword, and corselet. The terrified fiddler wanted to howl, but - his voice was gone. “I am Peter Printz, governor-general of his Swedish - Majesty's American colonies, and builder of this house,” said the figure. - “'Tis the night of the autumnal equinox, when my friends meet here for - revel. Take thy fiddle and come. Play, but speak not.” - </p> - <p> - And whether he wished or no, Peter was drawn to follow the figure, which - he could make out by the phosphor gleam of it. Down-stairs they went, - doors swinging open before them, and along corridors that clanged to the - stroke of the spectre's boot heels. Now they came to the ancient - reception-room, and as they entered it Peter was dazzled. The floor was - smooth with wax, logs snapped in the fireplace, though the flame was - somewhat blue, the old hangings and portraits looked fresh, and in the - light of wax candles a hundred people, in the brave array of old times, - walked, courtesied, and seemed to laugh and talk together. As the fiddler - appeared, every eye was turned on him in a disquieting way, and when he - addressed himself to his bottle, from every throat came a hollow laugh. - Finding his way to a chair he sank into it and put his instrument in - position. At the first note the couples took hands, and as he struck into - a jig they began to circle swiftly, leaping wondrous high. - </p> - <p> - Faster went the music, for the whiskey was at work in Peter's noddle, and - wilder grew the dance. It was as if the storm had come in through the - windows and was blowing these people hither and yon, around and around. - The fiddler vaguely wondered at himself, for he had never played so well, - though he had never heard the tune before. Now loomed Governor Printz in - the middle of the room, and extending his hand he ordered the dance to - cease. “Thou bast played well, fiddler,” he said, “and shalt be paid.” - Then, at his signal, came two negro men tugging at a strong box that - Printz unlocked. It was filled with gold pieces. “Hold thy fiddle bag,” - commanded the governor, and Peter did so, watching, open mouthed, the - transfer of a double handful of treasure from box to sack. Another such - handful followed, and another. At the fourth Peter could no longer contain - himself. He forgot the injunction not to speak, and shouted gleefully, - “Lord Harry! Here's luck!” - </p> - <p> - There was a shriek of demon laughter, the scene was lost in darkness, and - Peter fell insensible. In the morning a tavern-haunting friend, anxious to - know if Peter had met with any adventure, entered the house and went - cautiously from room to room, calling on the watcher to show himself. - There was no response. At last he stumbled on the whiskey bottle, empty, - and knew that Peter must be near. Sure enough, there he lay in the great - room, with dust and mould thick on everything, and his fiddle smashed into - a thousand pieces. Peter on being awakened looked ruefully about him, then - sprang up and eagerly demanded his money. “What money?” asked his friend. - The fiddler clutched at his green bag, opened it, shook it; there was - nothing. Nor was there any delay in Peter's exit from that mansion, and - when, twenty-four hours after, the house went up in flames, he averred - that the ghosts had set it afire, and that he knew where they brought - their coals from. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0079" id="link2H_4_0079"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE TWO RINGS - </h2> - <p> - Gabrielle de St. Pierre, daughter of the commandant of Fort Le Boeuf, now—Waterford, - Pennsylvania, that the French had setup on the Ohio River, was Parisian by - birth and training, but American by choice, for she had enjoyed on this - lonesome frontier a freedom equal to that of the big-handed, red-faced - half-breeds, and she was as wild as an Indian in her sports. Returning - from a hunt, one day, she saw three men advancing along the trail, and, as - it was easy to see that they were not Frenchmen, her guide slipped an - arrow to the cord and discharged it; but Gabrielle was as quick as he, for - she struck the missile as it was leaving the bow and it quivered - harmlessly into a beech. The younger of the men who were advancing—he - was Harry Fairfax, of Virginia—said to his chief, “Another escape - for you, George. Heaven sent one of its angels to avert that stroke.” - </p> - <p> - Washington, for it was he, answered lightly, and, as no other hostile - demonstrations were made, the new-comers pressed on to the fort, where St. - Pierre received them cordially, though he knew that their errand was to - claim his land on behalf of the English and urge the French to retire to - the southwest. The days that were spent in futile negotiation passed all - too swiftly for Fairfax, for he had fallen in love with Gabrielle. She - would not consent to a betrothal until time had tried his affection, but - as a token of friendship she gave him a stone circlet of Indian - manufacture, and received in exchange a ring that had been worn by the - mother of Fairfax. - </p> - <p> - After the diplomats had returned the English resolved to enforce their - demand with arms, and Fairfax was one of the first to be despatched to the - front. - </p> - <p> - Early in the campaign his company engaged the enemy near the Ohio River, - and in the heat of battle he had time to note and wonder at the strange - conduct of one of the French officers, a mere stripling, who seemed more - concerned to check the fire of his men than to secure any advantage in the - fight. Presently the French gave way, and with a cheer the English ran - forward to claim the field, the ruder spirits among them at once beginning - to plunder the wounded. A cry for quarter drew Fairfax with a bound to the - place whence it came, and, dashing aside a pilfering soldier, he bent - above a slight form that lay extended on the earth: the young officer - whose strange conduct had so surprised him. In another moment he - recognized his mother's ring on one of the slender hands. It was - Gabrielle. Her father had perished in the fight, but she had saved her - lover. - </p> - <p> - In due time she went with her affianced to his home in Williamsburg, - Virginia, and became mistress of the Fairfax mansion. But she never liked - the English, as a people, and when, in later years, two sturdy sons of - hers asked leave to join the Continental army, she readily consented. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0080" id="link2H_4_0080"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS - </h2> - <p> - Before Pittsburg had become worthy to be called a settlement, a white man - rowed his boat to the mouth of Chartiers creek, near that present city. He - was seeking a place in which to make his home, and a little way up-stream, - where were timber, water, and a southern slope, he marked a “tomahawk - claim,” and set about clearing the land. Next year his wife, two children, - and his brother came to occupy the cabin he had built, and for a long time - all went happily, but on returning from a long hunt the brothers found the - little house in ashes and the charred remains of its occupants in the - ruins. Though nearly crazed by this catastrophe they knew that their own - lives were in hourly peril, and they wished to live until they could - punish the savages for this crime. After burying the bodies, they started - east across the hills, leaving a letter on birch bark in a cleft stick at - the mouth of Chartiers creek, in which the tragedy was recounted. - </p> - <p> - This letter was afterward found by trappers. The men themselves were never - heard from, and it is believed that they, too, fell at the hands of the - Indians. Old settlers used to affirm that on summer nights the cries of - the murdered innocents could be heard in the little valley where the cabin - stood, and when storms were coming up these cries were often blended with - the yells of savages. More impressive are the death lights—the - will-o'-the-wisps—that wander over the scene of the tragedy, and up - and down the neighboring slopes. These apparitions are said to be the - spirits of husband and wife seeking each other, or going together in - search of their children; but some declare that in their upward streaming - rays it can readily be seen that they are the scalps of the slain. Two of - them have a golden hue, and these are the scalps of the children. From - beneath them drops of red seem to distil on the grass and are found to - have bedewed the flowers on the following morning. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0081" id="link2H_4_0081"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON - </h2> - <p> - In 1773 some of the Pietist monks were still living in their rude - monastery whose ruins are visible on the banks of the Wissahickon. Chief - among these mystics was an old man who might have enjoyed the wealth and - distinction warranted by a title had he chosen to remain in Germany, but - he had forsworn vanities, and had come to the new world to pray, to rear - his children, and to live a simple life. Some said he was an alchemist, - and many believed him to be a prophet. The infrequent wanderer beside the - romantic river had seen lights burning in the window of his cell and had - heard the solemn sound of song and prayer. On a winter night, when snow - lay untrodden about the building and a sharp air stirred in the trees with - a sound like harps, the old man sat in a large room of the place, with his - son and daughter, waiting. For a prophecy had run that on that night, at - the third hour of morning, the Deliverer would present himself. In a dream - was heard a voice, saying, “I will send a deliverer to the new world who - shall save my people from bondage, as my Son saved them from spiritual - death.” The night wore on in prayer and meditation, and the hours tolled - heavily across the frozen wilderness, but, at the stroke of three, steps - were heard in the snow and the door swung open. The man who entered was of - great stature, with a calm, strong face, a powerful frame, and a manner of - dignity and grace. - </p> - <p> - “Friends, I have lost my way,” said he. “Can you direct me?” - </p> - <p> - The old man started up in a kind of rapture. “You have not lost your way,” - he cried, “but found it. You are called to a great mission. Kneel at this - altar and receive it.” - </p> - <p> - The stranger looked at the man in surprise and a doubt passed over his - face. “Nay, I am not mad,” urged the recluse, with a slight smile. - “Listen: to-night, disturbed for the future of your country, and unable to - sleep, you mounted horse and rode into the night air to think on the - question that cannot be kept out of your mind, Is it lawful for the - subject to draw sword against his king? The horse wandered, you knew and - cared not whither, until he brought you here.” - </p> - <p> - “How do you know this?” asked the stranger, in amazement. - </p> - <p> - “Be not surprised, but kneel while I anoint thee deliverer of this land.” - </p> - <p> - Moved and impressed, the man bowed his knee before one of his fellows for - the first time in his life. The monk touched his finger with oil, and - laying it on the brow of the stranger said, “Do you promise, when the hour - shall strike, to take the sword in defence of your country? Do you - promise, when you shall see your soldiers suffer for bread and fire, and - when the people you have led to victory shall bow before you, to remember - that you are but the minister of God in the work of a nation's freedom?” - </p> - <p> - With a new light burning in his eyes, the stranger bent his head. - </p> - <p> - “Then, in His name, I consecrate thee deliverer of this oppressed people. - When the time comes, go forth to victory, for, as you are faithful, be - sure that God will grant it. Wear no crown, but the blessings and honor of - a free people, save this.” As he finished, his daughter, a girl of - seventeen, came forward and put a wreath of laurel on the brow of the - kneeling man. “Rise,” continued the prophet, “and take my hand, which I - have never before offered to any man, and accept my promise to be faithful - to you and to this country, even if it cost my life.” - </p> - <p> - As he arose, the son of the priest stepped to him and girt a sword upon - his hip, and the old man held up his hands in solemn benediction. The - stranger laid his hand on the book that stood open on the altar and kissed - the hilt of his sword. “I will keep the faith,” said he. At dawn he went - his way again, and no one knew his name, but when the fires of battle - lighted the western world America looked to him for its deliverance from - tyranny. Years later it was this spot that he revisited, alone, to pray, - and here Sir William Howe offered to him, in the name of his king, the - title of regent of America. He took the parchment and ground it into a rag - in the earth at his feet. For this was Washington. MARION - </p> - <p> - Blooming and maidenly, though she dressed in leather and used a rifle like - a man, was Marion, grand-daughter of old Abraham, who counted his years as - ninety, and who for many of those years had lived with his books in the - tidy cabin where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela come together. This - place stood near the trail along which Braddock marched to his defeat, and - it was one of the stragglers from this command, a bony half-breed with red - hair, called Red Wolf, that knocked at the door and asked for water. - Seeing no one but Marion he ventured in, and would have tried not only to - make free with the contents of the little house but would have kissed the - girl as well, only that she seized her rifle and held him at bay. Still, - the fellow would have braved a shot, had not a young officer in a - silver-laced uniform glanced through the open door in passing and - discovered the situation. He doffed his chapeau to Marion, then said - sternly to the rogue, “Retire. Your men are waiting for you.” Red Wolf - slunk away, and Washington, for it was he, begged that he might rest for a - little time under the roof. - </p> - <p> - This request was gladly complied with, both by the girl and by her - grandfather, who presently appeared, and the fever that threatened the - young soldier was averted by a day of careful nursing. Marion's innate - refinement, her gentleness, her vivacity, could not fail to interest - Washington, and the vision of her face was with him for many a day. He - promised to return, then he rode forward and caught up with the troops. He - survived the battle in which seven hundred of his comrades were shot or - tomahawked and scalped. One Indian fired at him eleven times, and five of - the bullets scratched him; after that the savage forbore, believing that - the officer was under Manitou's protection. When the retreating column - approached the place where Marion lived he hastened on in advance to see - her. The cabin was in ashes. He called, but there was no answer. When he - turned away, with sad and thoughtful mien, a brown tress was wrapped - around his finger, and in his cabinet he kept it until his death, folded - in a paper marked “Marion, July 11, 1755.” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0082" id="link2H_4_0082"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TALES OF PURITAN LAND - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0083" id="link2H_4_0083"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - EVANGALINE - </h2> - <p> - The seizure by England of the country that soon afterward was rechristened - Nova Scotia was one of the cruellest events in history. The land was - occupied by a good and happy people who had much faith and few laws, - plenty to eat and drink, no tax collectors nor magistrates, in brief, a - people who were entitled to call themselves Acadians, for they made their - land an Arcady. Upon them swooped the British ships, took them unarmed and - unoffending, crowded them aboard their transports,—often separating - husband and wife, parents and children,—scattered them far and wide, - beyond hope of return, and set up the cross of St. George on the ruins of - prosperity and peace. On the shore of the Basin of Minas can still be - traced the foundations of many homes that were perforce deserted at that - time, and among them are the ruins of Grand Pre. - </p> - <p> - Here lived Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, who were - betrothed with the usual rejoicings just before the coming of the English. - They had expected, when their people were arrested, to be sent away - together; but most of the men were kept under guard, and Gabriel was at - sea, bound neither he nor she knew whither, when Evangeline found herself - in her father's house alone, for grief and excitement had been more than - her aged parent could bear, and he was buried at the shore just before the - women of the place were crowded on board of a transport. As the ship set - off her sorrowing passengers looked behind them to see their homes going - up in flame and smoke, and Acadia knew them no more. The English had - planned well to keep these people from coming together for conspiracy or - revenge: they scattered them over all America, from Newfoundland to the - southern savannas. - </p> - <p> - Evangeline was not taken far away, only to New England; but without - Gabriel all lands were drear, and she set off in the search for him, - working here and there, sometimes looking timidly at the headstones on new - graves, then travelling on. Once she heard that he was a <i>coureur des - bois</i> on the prairies, again that he was a voyageur in the Louisiana - lowlands; but those of his people who kept near her inclined to jest at - her faith and urged her to marry Leblanc, the notary's son, who truly - loved her. To these she only replied, “I cannot.” - </p> - <p> - Down the Ohio and Mississippi she went—on a raft—with a little - band of those who were seeking the French settlements, where the language, - religion, and simplicity of life recalled Acadia. They found it on the - banks of the Teche, and they reached the house of the herdsman Gabriel on - the day that he had departed for the north to seek Evangeline. She and the - good priest who had been her stay in a year of sorrow turned back in - pursuit, and for weary months, over prairie and through forest, skirting - mountain and morass, going freely among savages, they followed vain clues, - and at last arrived in Philadelphia. Broken in spirit then, but not less - sweet of nature for the suffering that she had known, she who had been - named for the angels became a minister of mercy, and in the black robe of - a nun went about with comforts to the sick and poor. A pestilence was - sweeping through the city, and those who had no friends nor attendants - were taken to the almshouse, whither, as her way was, Evangeline went on a - soft Sabbath morning to calm the fevered and brighten the hearts of the - dying. - </p> - <p> - Some of the patients of the day before had gone and new were in their - places. Suddenly she turned white and sank on her knees at a bedside, with - a cry of “Gabriel, my beloved!” breathed into the ears of a prematurely - aged man who lay gasping in death before her. He came out of his stupor, - slowly, and tried to speak her name. She drew his head to her bosom, - kissed him, and for one moment they were happy. Then the light went out of - his eyes and the warmth from his heart. She pressed his eyelids down and - bowed her head, for her way was plainer now, and she thanked God that it - was so. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0084" id="link2H_4_0084"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SNORING OF SWUNKSUS - </h2> - <p> - The original proprietor of Deer Isle, off the coast of Maine—at - least, the one who was in possession one hundred and thirty years ago—had - the liquid name of Swunksus. His name was not the only liquid thing in the - neighborhood, however, for, wherever Swunksus was, fire-water was not far. - Shortly before the Revolution a renegade from Boston, one Conary, moved up - to the island and helped himself to as much of it as he chose, but the - longer he lived there the more he wanted. Swunksus was willing enough to - divide his domain with the white intruder, but Conary was not satisfied - with half. He did not need it all; he just wanted it. Moreover, he grew - quarrelsome and was continually nagging poor Swunksus, until at last he - forced the Indian to accept a challenge, not to immediate combat, but to - fight to the death should they meet thereafter. - </p> - <p> - The red man retired to his half of the island and hid among the bushes - near his home to await the white man, but in this little fastness he - discovered a jug of whiskey that either fate or Conary had placed there. - Before an hour was over he was “as full and mellow as a harvest moon,” and - it was then that his enemy appeared. There was no trouble in finding - Swunksus, for he was snoring like a fog horn, and walking boldly up to - him, Conary blew his head off with a load of slugs. Then he took - possession of the place and lived happily ever after. Swunksus takes his - deposition easily, for, although he has more than once paraded along the - beaches, his ghost spends most of the time in slumber, and terrific snores - have been heard proceeding from the woods in daylight. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0085" id="link2H_4_0085"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LEWISTON HERMIT - </h2> - <p> - On an island above the falls of the Androscoggin, at Lewiston, Maine, - lived a white recluse at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The - natives, having had good reason to mistrust all palefaces, could think no - good of the man who lived thus among but not with them. Often they - gathered at the bank and looked across at his solitary candle twinkling - among the leaves, and wondered what manner of evil he could be planning - against them. Wherever there are many conspirators one will be a gabbler - or a traitor; so, when the natives had resolved on his murder, he, - somehow, learned of their intent and set himself to thwart it. So great - was their fear of this lonely man, and of the malignant powers he might - conjure to his aid, that nearly fifty Indians joined the expedition, to - give each other courage. - </p> - <p> - Their plan was to go a little distance up the river and come down with the - current, thus avoiding the dip of paddles that he might hear in a direct - crossing. When it was quite dark they set off, and keeping headway on - their canoes aimed them toward the light that glimmered above the water. - But the cunning hermit had no fire in his cabin that night. It was burning - on a point below his shelter, and from his hiding-place among the rocks he - saw their fleet, as dim and silent as shadows, go by him on the way to the - misguiding beacon. - </p> - <p> - Presently a cry arose. The savages had passed the point of safe sailing; - their boats had become unmanageable. Forgetting their errand, their only - hope now was to save themselves, but in vain they tried to reach the - shore: the current was whirling them to their doom. Cries and death-songs - mingled with the deepening roar of the waters, the light barks reached the - cataract and leaped into the air. Then the night was still again, save for - the booming of the flood. Not one of the Indians who had set out on this - errand of death survived the hermit's stratagem. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0086" id="link2H_4_0086"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEAD SHIP OF HARPSWELL - </h2> - <p> - At times the fisher-folk of Maine are startled to see the form of a ship, - with gaunt timbers showing through the planks, like lean limbs through - rents in a pauper's garb, float shoreward in the sunset. She is a ship of - ancient build, with tall masts and sails of majestic spread, all torn; but - what is her name, her port, her flag, what harbor she is trying to make, - no man can tell, for on her deck no sailor has ever been seen to run up - colors or heard to answer a hail. Be it in calm or storm, in-come or ebb - of tide, the ship holds her way until she almost touches shore. - </p> - <p> - There is no creak of spars or whine of cordage, no spray at the bow, no - ripple at the stern—no voice, and no figure to utter one. As she - nears the rocks she pauses, then, as if impelled by a contrary current, - floats rudder foremost off to sea, and vanishes in twilight. Harpswell is - her favorite cruising-ground, and her appearance there sets many heads to - shaking, for while it is not inevitable that ill luck follows her visits, - it has been seen that burial-boats have sometimes had occasion to cross - the harbor soon after them, and that they were obliged by wind or tide or - current to follow her course on leaving the wharf. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0087" id="link2H_4_0087"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SCHOOLMASTER HAD NOT REACHED ORRINGTON. - </h2> - <p> - The quiet town of Orrington, in Maine, was founded by Jesse Atwood, of - Wellfleet, Cape Cod, in 1778, and has become known, since then, as a place - where skilful farmers and brave sailors could always be found. It also - kept Maine supplied for years with oldest inhabitants. It is said that the - name was an accident of illiteracy, and that it is the only place in the - world that owes its title to bad spelling. The settlers who followed - Atwood there were numerous enough to form a township after ten years, and - the name they decided on for their commonwealth was Orangetown, so called - for a village in Maryland where some of the people had associations, but - the clerk of the town meeting was not a college graduate and his spelling - of Orange was Orring, and of town, ton. His draft of the resolutions went - before the legislature, and the people directly afterward found themselves - living in Orrington. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0088" id="link2H_4_0088"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - JACK WELCH'S DEATH LIGHT - </h2> - <p> - Pond Cove, Maine, is haunted by a light that on a certain evening, every - summer, rises a mile out at sea, drifts to a spot on shore, then whirls - with a buzz and a glare to an old house, where it vanishes. Its first - appearance was simultaneous with the departure of Jack Welch, a fisherman. - He was seen one evening at work on his boat, but in the morning he was - gone, nor has he since shown himself in the flesh. - </p> - <p> - On the tenth anniversary of this event three fishermen were hurrying up - the bay, hoping to reach home before dark, for they dreaded that uncanny - light, but a fog came in and it was late before they reached the wharf. As - they were tying their boat a channel seemed to open through the mist, and - along that path from the deep came a ball of pallid flame with the rush of - a meteor. There was one of the men who cowered at the bottom of the boat - with ashen face and shaking limbs, and did not watch the light, even - though it shot above his head, played through the rigging, and after a - wide sweep went shoreward and settled on his house. Next day one of his - comrades called for him, but Tom Wright was gone, gone, his wife said, - before the day broke. Like Jack Welch's disappearance, this departure was - unexplained, and in time he was given up for dead. - </p> - <p> - Twenty years had passed, when Wright's presumptive widow was startled by - the receipt of a letter in a weak, trembling hand, signed with her - husband's name. It was written on his death-bed, in a distant place, and - held a confession. Before their marriage, Jack Welch had been a suitor for - her hand, and had been the favored of the two. To remove his rival and - prosper in his place, Wright stole upon the other at his work, killed him, - took his body to sea, and threw it overboard. Since that time the dead man - had pursued him, and he was glad that the end of his days was come. But, - though Tom Wright is no more, his victim's light comes yearly from the - sea, above the spot where his body sank, floats to the scene of the murder - on the shore, then flits to the house where the assassin lived and for - years simulated the content that comes of wedded life. MOGG MEGONE - </p> - <p> - Hapless daughter of a renegade is Ruth Bonython. Her father is as unfair - to his friends as to his enemies, but to neither of them so merciless as - to Ruth. Although he knows that she loves Master Scammon—in spite of - his desertion and would rather die than wed another, he has promised her - to Mogg Megone, the chief who rules the Indians at the Saco mouth. He, - blundering savage, fancies that he sees to the bottom of her grief, and - one day, while urging his suit, he opens his blanket and shows the scalp - of Scammon, to prove that he has avenged her. She looks in horror, but - when he flings the bloody trophy at her feet she baptizes it with a - forgiving tear. What villainy may this lead to? Ah, none for him, for - Bonython now steps in and plies him with flattery and drink, gaining from - the chief, at last, his signature—the bow totem—to a transfer - of the land for which he is willing to sell his daughter. Ruth, maddened - at her father's meanness and the Indian's brutality, rushes on the - imbruted savage, grasps from his belt the knife that has slain her lover, - cleaves his heart in twain, and flies into the wood, leaving Bonython - stupid with amazement. - </p> - <p> - Father Rasles, in his chapel at Norridgewock, is affecting his Indian - converts against the Puritans, who settled to the southward of him fifty - years before. To him comes a woman with torn garments and frightened face. - Her dead mother stood before her last night, she says, and looked at her - reprovingly, for she had killed Mogg Megone. The priest starts back in - wrath, for Mogg was a hopeful agent of the faith, and bids her go, for she - can ask no pardon. Brooding within his chapel, then, he is startled by the - sound of shot and hum of arrows. Harmon and Moulton are advancing with - their men and crying, “Down with the beast of Rome! Death to the - Babylonish dog!” Ruth, knowing not what this new misfortune may mean, runs - from the church and disappears. - </p> - <p> - Some days later, old Baron Castine, going to Norridgewock to bury and - revenge the dead, finds a woman seated on the earth and gazing over a - field strewn with ashes and with human bones. He touches her. She is cold. - There has been no life for days. It is Ruth. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0089" id="link2H_4_0089"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LADY URSULA - </h2> - <p> - In 1690 a stately house stood in Kittery, Maine, a strongly guarded place - with moat and drawbridge (which was raised at night) and a moated grange - adjacent where were cattle, sheep, and horses. Here, in lonely dignity, - lived Lady Ursula, daughter of the lord of Grondale Abbey, across the - water, whose distant grandeurs were in some sort reflected in this manor - of the wilderness. Silver, mahogany, paintings, tapestries, waxed floors, - and carven chests of linen represented wealth; prayers were said by a - chaplain every morning and evening in the chapel, and, though the main - hall would accommodate five hundred people, the lady usually sat at meat - there with her thirty servants, her part of the table being raised two - feet above theirs. - </p> - <p> - It was her happiness to believe that Captain Fowler, now absent in - conflict with the French, would return and wed her according to his - promise, but one day came a tattered messenger with bitter news of the - captain's death. She made no talk of her grief, and, while her face was - pale and step no longer light, she continued in the work that custom - exacted from women of that time: help for the sick, alms for the poor, - teaching for the ignorant, religion for the savage. Great was her joy, - then, when a ship came from England bringing a letter from Captain Fowler - himself, refuting the rumor of defeat and telling of his coming. Now the - hall took on new life, reflecting the pleasure of its mistress; color came - back to her cheek and sparkle to her eye, and she could only control her - impatience by more active work and more aggressive charities. The day was - near at hand for the arrival of her lover, when Ursula and her servants - were set upon by Indians, while away from the protection of the manor, and - slain. They were buried where they fell, and Captain Fowler found none to - whom his love or sorrow could be told. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0090" id="link2H_4_0090"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - FATHER MOODY'S BLACK VEIL - </h2> - <p> - In 1770 the Reverend Joseph Moody died at York, Maine, where he had long - held the pastorate of a church, and where in his later years his face was - never seen by friend or relative. At home, when any one was by, on the - street, and in the pulpit his visage was concealed by a double fold of - crape that was knotted above his forehead and fell to his chin, the lower - edge of it being shaken by his breath. When first he presented himself to - his congregation with features masked in black, great was the wonder and - long the talk about it. Was he demented? His sermons were too logical for - that. Had he been crossed in love? He could smile, though the smile was - sad. Had he been scarred by accident or illness? If so, no physician knew - of it. - </p> - <p> - After a time it was given out that his eyes were weakened by reading and - writing at night, and the wonder ceased, though the veiled parson was less - in demand for weddings, christenings, and social gatherings, and more - besought for funerals than he had been. If asked to take off his crape he - only replied, “We all wear veils of one kind or another, and the heaviest - and darkest are those that hang about our hearts. This is but a material - veil. Let it stay until the hour strikes when all faces shall be seen and - all souls reveal their secrets.” - </p> - <p> - Little by little the clergyman felt himself enforced to withdraw from the - public gaze. There were rough people who were impertinent and timid people - who turned out of their road to avoid him, so that he found his out-door - walks and meditations almost confined to the night, unless he chose the - grave-yard for its seclusion or strolled on the beach and listened to the - wallowing and grunting of the Black Boars—the rocks off shore that - had laughed on the night when the York witch went up the chimney in a - gale. But his life was long and kind and useful, and when at last the - veiled head lay on the pillow it was never to rise from consciously, a - fellow-clergyman came to soothe his dying moments and commend his soul to - mercy. - </p> - <p> - To him, one evening, Father Moody said, “Brother, my hour is come and the - veil of eternal darkness is falling over my eyes. Men have asked me why I - wear this piece of crape about my face, as if it were not for them a - reminder and a symbol, and I have borne the reason so long within me that - only now have I resolved to tell it. Do you recall the finding of young - Clark beside the river, years ago? He had been shot through the head. The - man who killed him did so by accident, for he was a bosom friend; yet he - could never bring himself to confess the fact, for he dreaded the blame of - his townsmen, the anguish of the dead man's parents, the hate of his - betrothed. It was believed that the killing was a murder, and that some - roving Indian had done it. After years of conscience-darkened life, in - which the face of his dead friend often arose accusingly before him, the - unhappy wretch vowed that he would never again look his fellows openly in - the face: he would pay a penalty and conceal his shame. Then it was that I - put a veil between myself and the world.” - </p> - <p> - Joseph Moody passed away and, as he wished, the veil still hid his face in - the coffin, but the clergyman who had raised it for a moment to compose - his features, found there a serenity and a beauty that were majestic. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0091" id="link2H_4_0091"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HOME OF THUNDER - </h2> - <p> - Some Indians believe that the Thunder Bird is the agent of storm; that the - flashes of his eyes cause lightning and the flapping of his cloud-vast - wings make thunder. Not so the Passamaquoddies, for they hold that - Katahdin's spirit children are Thunders, and in this way an Indian found - them: He had been seeking game along the Penobscot and for weeks had not - met one of his fellow creatures. On a winter day he came on the print of a - pair of snow-shoes; next morning the tracks appeared in another part of - the forest, and so for many days he found them. - </p> - <p> - After a time it occurred to him to see where these tracks went to, and he - followed them until they merged with others in a travelled road, ending at - a precipice on the side of Katahdin (Great Mountain). - </p> - <p> - While lost in wonder that so many tracks should lead nowhere, he was - roused by a footfall, and a maiden stepped from the precipice to the ledge - beside him. Though he said nothing, being in awe of her stateliness and - beauty, she replied in kind words to every unspoken thought and bade him - go with her. He approached the rock with fear, but at a touch from the - woman it became as mist, and they entered it together. - </p> - <p> - Presently they were in a great cave in the heart of Katahdin, where sat - the spirit of the mountain, who welcomed them and asked the girl if her - brothers had come. “I hear them coming,” she replied. A blinding flash, a - roar of thunder, and there stepped into the cave two men of giant size and - gravely beautiful faces, hardened at the cheeks and brows to stone. - “These,” said the girl to the hunter, “are my brothers, the Thunder and - the Lightning. My father sends them forth whenever there is wrong to - redress, that those who love us may not be smitten. When you hear Thunder, - know that they are shooting at our enemies.” - </p> - <p> - At the end of that day the hunter returned to his home, and behold, he had - been gone seven years. Another legend says that the stone-faced sons of - the mountain adopted him, and that for seven years he was a roaming - Thunder, but at the end of that time while a storm was raging he was - allowed to fall, unharmed, into his own village. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0092" id="link2H_4_0092"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PARTRIDGE WITCH - </h2> - <p> - Two brothers, having hunted at the head of the Penobscot until their - snow-shoes and moccasins gave out, looked at each other ruefully and - cried, “Would that there was a woman to help us!” The younger brother went - to the lodge that evening earlier than the elder, in order to prepare the - supper, and great was his surprise on entering the wigwam to find the - floor swept, a fire built, a pot boiling, and their clothing mended. - Returning to the wood he watched the place from a covert until he saw a - graceful girl enter the lodge and take up the tasks of housekeeping. - </p> - <p> - When he entered she was confused, but he treated her with respect, and - allowed her to have her own way so far as possible, so that they became - warm friends, sporting together like children when the work of the day was - over. But one evening she said, “Your brother is coming. I fear him. - Farewell.” And she slipped into the wood. When the young man told his - elder brother what had happened there—the elder having been detained - for a few days in the pursuit of a deer—he declared that he would - wish the woman to come back, and presently, without any summons, she - returned, bringing a toboggan-load of garments and arms. The luck of the - hunters improved, and they remained happily together until spring, when it - was time to return with their furs. - </p> - <p> - They set off down the Penobscot in their canoe and rowed merrily along, - but as they neared the home village the girl became uneasy, and presently - “threw out her soul”—became clairvoyant—and said, “Let me land - here. I find that your father would not like me, so do not speak to him - about me.” But the elder brother told of her when they reached home, - whereon the father exclaimed, “I had feared this. That woman is a sister - of the goblins. She wishes to destroy men.” - </p> - <p> - At this the elder brother was afraid, lest she should cast a spell on him, - and rowing up the river for a distance he came upon her as she was bathing - and shot at her. The arrow seemed to strike, for there was a flutter of - feathers and the woman flew away as a partridge. But the younger did not - forget the good she had done and sought her in the wood, where for many - days they played together as of old. - </p> - <p> - “I do not blame your father: it is an affair of old, this hate he bears - me,” she said. “He will choose a wife for you soon, but do not marry her, - else all will come to an end for you.” The man could not wed the witch, - and he might not disobey his father, in spite of this adjuration; so when - the old man said to him, “I have a wife for you, my son,” he answered, “It - is well.” - </p> - <p> - They brought the bride to the village, and for four days the wedding-dance - was held, with a feast that lasted four days more. Then said the young - man, “Now comes the end,” and lying down on a bear-skin he sighed a few - times and his spirit ascended to the Ghosts' road—the milky way. The - father shook his head, for he knew that this was the witch's work, and, - liking the place no longer, he went away and the tribe was scattered. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0093" id="link2H_4_0093"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE MARRIAGE OF MOUNT KATAHDIN - </h2> - <p> - An Indian girl gathering berries on the side of Mount Katahdin looked up - at its peak, rosy in the afternoon light, and sighed, “I wish that I had a - husband. If Katahdin were a man he might marry me.” Her companions laughed - at this quaint conceit, and, filled with confusion at being overheard, she - climbed higher up the slope and was lost to sight. For three years her - tribe lost sight of her; then she came back with a child in her arms a - beautiful boy with brows of stone. The boy had wonderful power: he had - only to point at a moose or a duck or a bear, and it fell dead, so that - the tribe never wanted food. For he was the son of the Indian girl and the - spirit of the mountain, who had commanded her not to reveal the boy's - paternity. Through years she held silence on this point, holding in - contempt, like other Indians, the prying inquiries of gossips and the - teasing of young people, and knowing that Katahdin had designed the child - for the founder of a mighty race, with the sinews of the very mountains in - its frame, that should fill and rule the earth. Yet, one day, in anger at - some slight, the mother spoke: “Fools! Wasps who sting the fingers that - pick you from the water! Why do you torment me about what you might all - see? Look at the boy's face—his brows: in them do you not see - Katahdin? Now you have brought the curse upon yourselves, for you shall - hunt your own venison from this time forth.” Leading the child by the hand - she turned toward the mountain and went out from their sight. And since - then the Indians who could not hold their tongues, and who might otherwise - have been great, have dwindled to a little people. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0094" id="link2H_4_0094"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE MOOSE OF MOUNT KINEO - </h2> - <p> - Eastern traditions concerning Hiawatha differ in many respects from those - of the West. In the East he is known as Glooskap, god of the - Passamaquoddies, and his marks are left in many places in the maritime - provinces and Maine. It was he who gave names to things, created men, - filled them with life, and moved their wonder with storms. He lived on the - rocky height of Blomidon, at the entrance to Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, and - the agates to be found along its foot are jewels that he made for his - grandmother's necklace, when he restored her youth. He threw up a ridge - between Fort Cumberland and Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, that he might cross, - dry shod, the lake made by the beavers when they dammed the strait at - Blomidon, but he afterward killed the beavers, and breaking down their dam - he let the lake flow into the sea, and went southward on a hunting tour. - At Mount Desert he killed a moose, whose bones he flung to the ground at - Bar Harbor, where they are still to be seen, turned to stone, while across - the bay he threw the entrails, and they, too, are visible as rocks, dented - with his arrow-points. Mount Kineo was anciently a cow moose of colossal - size that he slew and turned into a height of land, and the Indians trace - the outline of the creature in the uplift to this day. Little Kineo was a - calf moose that he slew at the same time, and Kettle Mountain is his - camp-caldron that he flung to the ground in the ardor of the chase. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0095" id="link2H_4_0095"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE OWL TREE - </h2> - <p> - One day in October, 1827, Rev. Charles Sharply rode into Alfred, Maine, - and held service in the meeting-house. After the sermon he announced that - he was going to Waterborough to preach, and that on his circuit he had - collected two hundred and seventy dollars to help build a church in that - village. Would not his hearers add to that sum? They would and did, and - that evening the parson rode away with over three hundred dollars in his - saddlebags. He never appeared in Waterborough. Some of the country people - gave tongue to their fear that the possession of the money had made him - forget his sacred calling and that he had fled the State. - </p> - <p> - On the morning after his disappearance, however, Deacon Dickerman appeared - in Alfred riding on a horse that was declared to be the minister's, until - the tavern hostler affirmed that the minister's horse had a white star on - forehead and breast, whereas this horse was all black. The deacon said - that he found the horse grazing in his yard at daybreak, and that he would - give it to whoever could prove it to be his property. Nobody appeared to - demand it, and people soon forgot that it was not his. He extended his - business at about that time and prospered; he became a rich man for a - little place; though, as his wealth increased, he became morose and averse - to company. - </p> - <p> - One day a rumor went around that a belated traveller had seen a misty - thing under “the owl tree” at a turn of a road where owls were hooting, - and that it took on a strange likeness to the missing clergyman. Dickerman - paled when he heard this story, but he shook his head and muttered of the - folly of listening to boy nonsense. Ten years had gone by-during that time - the boys had avoided the owl tree after dark—when a clergyman of the - neighborhood was hastily summoned to see Mr. Dickerman, who was said to be - suffering from overwork. He found the deacon in his house alone, pacing - the floor, his dress disordered, his cheek hectic. - </p> - <p> - “I have not long to live,” said he, “nor would I live longer if I could. I - am haunted day and night, and there is no peace, no rest for me on earth. - They say that Sharply's spirit has appeared at the owl tree. Well, his - body lies there. They accused me of taking his horse. It is true. A little - black dye on his head and breast was all that was needed to deceive them. - Pray for me, for I fear my soul is lost. I killed Sharply.” The clergyman - recoiled. “I killed him,” the wretched man went on, “for the money that he - had. The devil prospered me with it. In my will I leave two thousand - dollars to his widow and five thousand dollars to the church he was - collecting for. Will there be mercy for me there? I dare not think it. Go - and pray for me.” The clergyman hastened away, but was hardly outside the - door when the report of a pistol brought him back. Dickerman lay dead on - the floor. Sharply's body was exhumed from the shade of the owl tree, and - the spot was never haunted after. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0096" id="link2H_4_0096"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A CHESTNUT LOG - </h2> - <p> - There is no doubt that farmer Lovel had read ancient history or he would - not have been so ready in the emergency that befell him one time in the - last century. He had settled among the New Hampshire hills near the site - that is now occupied by the village of Washington and had a real good time - there with bears and Indians. It was when he was splitting rails on Lovel - Mountain—they named it for him afterward—that he found himself - surrounded by six Indians, who told him that he was their prisoner. He - agreed that they had the advantage over him and said that he would go - quietly along if they would allow him to finish the big chestnut log that - he was at work on. As he was a powerful fellow and was armed with an axe - worth any two of their tomahawks, and as he would be pretty sure to have - the life of at least one of them if they tried to drive him faster than he - wanted to go, they consented. He said that he would be ready all the - sooner if they would help him to pull the big log apart, and they agreed - to help him. Driving a wedge into the long split he asked them to take - hold, and when they had done this he knocked out the wedge with a single - blow and the twelve hands were caught tight in the closing wood. Struggle - as the savages might, they could not get free, and after calmly enjoying - the situation for a few minutes he walked slowly from one to the other and - split open the heads of all six. Then he went to work again splitting up - more chestnuts. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0097" id="link2H_4_0097"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WATCHER ON WHITE ISLAND - </h2> - <p> - The isles of Shoals, a little archipelago of wind and wave-swept rocks - that may be seen on clear days from the New Hampshire coast, have been the - scene of some mishaps and some crimes. On Boone Island, where the - Nottingham galley went down one hundred and fifty years ago, the survivors - turned cannibals to escape starvation, while Haley's Island is peopled by - shipwrecked Spanish ghosts that hail vessels and beg for passage back to - their country. The pirate Teach, or Blackbeard, used to put in at these - islands to hide his treasure, and one of his lieutenants spent some time - on White Island with a beautiful girl whom he had abducted from her home - in Scotland and who, in spite of his rough life, had learned to love him. - It was while walking with her on this rock, forgetful of his trade and the - crimes he had been stained with, that one of his men ran up to report a - sail that was standing toward the islands. The pirate ship was quickly - prepared for action, but before embarking, mindful of possible flight or - captivity, the lieutenant made his mistress swear that she would guard the - buried treasure if it should be till doomsday. - </p> - <p> - The ship he was hurrying to meet came smoothly on until the pirate craft - was well in range, when ports flew open along the stranger's sides, guns - were run out, and a heavy broadside splintered through the planks of the - robber galley. It was a man-of-war, not a merchantman, that had run - Blackbeard down. The war-ship closed and grappled with the corsair, but - while the sailors were standing at the chains ready to leap aboard and - complete the subjugation of the outlaws a mass of flame burst from the - pirate ship, both vessels were hurled in fragments through the air, and a - roar went for miles along the sea. Blackbeard's lieutenant had fired the - magazine rather than submit to capture, and had blown the two ships into a - common ruin. A few of both crews floated to the islands on planks, sore - from burns and bruises, but none survived the cold and hunger of the - winter. The pirate's mistress was among the first to die; still, true to - her promise, she keeps her watch, and at night is dimly seen on a rocky - point gazing toward the east, her tall figure enveloped in a cloak, her - golden hair unbound upon her shoulders, her pale face still as marble. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0098" id="link2H_4_0098"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - CHOCORUA - </h2> - <p> - This beautiful alp in the White Mountains commemorates in its name a - prophet of the Pequawket tribe who, prior to undertaking a journey, had - confided his son to a friendly settler, Cornelius Campbell, of Tamworth. - The boy found some poison in the house that had been prepared for foxes, - and, thinking it to be some delicacy, he drank of it and died. When - Chocorua returned he could not be persuaded that his son had fallen victim - to his own ignorance, but ascribed his death to the white man's treachery, - and one day, when Campbell entered his cabin from the fields, he found - there the corpses of his wife and children scalped and mangled. - </p> - <p> - He was not a man to lament at such a time: hate was stronger than sorrow. - A fresh trail led from his door. Seizing his rifle he set forth in pursuit - of the murderer. A mark in the dust, a bent grass blade, a torn leaf-these - were guides enough, and following on through bush and swamp and wood they - led him to this mountain, and up the slope he scrambled breathlessly. At - the summit, statue-like, Chocorua stood. He saw the avenger coming, and - knew himself unarmed, but he made no attempt to escape his doom. Drawing - himself erect and stretching forth his hands he invoked anathema on his - enemies in these words: “A curse upon you, white men! May the Great Spirit - curse you when he speaks in the clouds, and his words are fire! Chocorua - had a son and you killed him while the sky looked bright. Lightning blast - your crops! Winds and fire destroy your dwellings! The Evil One breathe - death upon your cattle! Your graves lie in the war-path of the Indian! - Panthers howl and wolves fatten over your bones! Chocorua goes to the - Great Spirit. His curse stays with the white man.” - </p> - <p> - The report of Campbell's rifle echoed from the ledges and Chocorua leaped - into the air, plunging to the rocks below. His mangled remains were - afterward found and buried near the Tamworth path. The curse had its - effect, for pestilence and storm devastated the surrounding country and - the smaller settlements were abandoned. Campbell became a morose hermit, - and was found dead in his bed two years afterward. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0099" id="link2H_4_0099"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PASSACONAWAY'S RIDE TO HEAVEN - </h2> - <p> - The personality of Passaconaway, the powerful chief and prophet, is - involved in doubt, but there can be no misprision of his wisdom. By some - historians he has been made one with St. Aspenquid, the earliest of native - missionaries among the Indians, who, after his conversion by French - Jesuits, travelled from Maine to the Pacific, preaching to sixty-six - tribes, healing the sick and working miracles, returning to die at the age - of ninety-four. He was buried on the top of Agamenticus, Maine, where his - manes were pacified with offerings of three thousand slain animals, and - where his tombstone stood for a century after, bearing the legend, - “Present, useful; absent, wanted; living, desired; dying, lamented.” - </p> - <p> - By others Passaconaway is regarded as a different person. The Child of the - Bear—to English his name—was the chief of the Merrimacs and a - convert of the apostle Eliot. Natives and colonists alike admired him for - his eloquence, his bravery, and his virtue. Before his conversion he was a - reputed wizard who sought by magic arts to repel the invasion of his woods - and mountains by the white men, invoking the spirits of nature against - them from the topmost peak of the Agiochooks, and his native followers - declared that in pursuance of this intent he made water burn, rocks move, - trees dance, and transformed himself into a mass of flame. - </p> - <p> - Such was his power over the forces of the earth that he could burn a tree - in winter and from its ashes bring green leaves; he made dead wood blossom - and a farmer's flail to bud, while a snake's skin he could cause to run. - At the age of one hundred and twenty he retired from his tribe and lived - in a lonely wigwam among the Pennacooks. One winter night the howling of - wolves was heard, and a pack came dashing through the village harnessed by - threes to a sledge of hickory saplings that bore a tall throne spread with - furs. The wolves paused at Passaconaway's door. The old chief came forth, - climbed upon the sledge, and was borne away with a triumphal apostrophe - that sounded above the yelping and snarling of his train. Across - Winnepesaukee's frozen surface they sped like the wind, and the belated - hunter shrank aside as he saw the giant towering against the northern - lights and heard his death-song echo from the cliffs. Through pathless - woods, across ravines, the wolves sped on, with never slackened speed, - into the mazes of the Agiochooks to that highest peak we now call - Washington. Up its steep wilderness of snow the ride went furiously; the - summit was neared, the sledge burst into flame, still there was no pause; - the height was gained, the wolves went howling into darkness, but the car, - wrapped in sheaves of fire, shot like a meteor toward the sky and was lost - amid the stars of the winter night. So passed the Indian king to heaven. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0100" id="link2H_4_0100"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE BALL GAME BY THE SACO - </h2> - <p> - Water-Goblins from the streams about Katahdin had left their birthplace - and journeyed away to the Agiochooks, making their presence known to the - Indians of that region by thefts and loss of life. When the manitou, - Glooskap, learned that these goblins were eating human flesh and - committing other outrages, he took on their own form, turning half his - body into stone, and went in search of them. The wigwam had been pitched - near the Home of the Water Fairies,—a name absurdly changed by the - people of North Conway to Diana's Bath,—and on entering he was - invited to take meat. The tail of a whale was cooked and offered to him, - but after he had taken it upon his knees one of the goblins exclaimed, - “That is too good for a beggar like you,” and snatched it away. Glooskap - had merely to wish the return of the dainty when it flew back into his - platter. Then he took the whale's jaw, and snapped it like a reed; he - filled his pipe and burned the tobacco to ashes in one inhalation; when - his hosts closed the wigwam and smoked vigorously, intending to foul the - air and stupefy him, he enjoyed it, while they grew sick; so they - whispered to each other, “This is a mighty magician, and we must try his - powers in another way.” - </p> - <p> - A game of ball was proposed, and, adjourning to a sandy level at the bend - of the Saco, they began to play, but Glooskap found that the ball was a - hideous skull that rolled and snapped at him and would have torn his flesh - had it not been immortal and immovable from his bones. He crushed it at a - blow, and breaking off the bough of a tree he turned it by a word into a - skull ten times larger than the other that flew after the wicked people as - a wildcat leaps upon a rabbit. Then the god stamped on the sands and all - the springs were opened in the mountains, so that the Saco came rising - through the valley with a roar that made the nations tremble. The goblins - were caught in the flood and swept into the sea, where Glooskap changed - them into fish. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0101" id="link2H_4_0101"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WHITE MOUNTAINS - </h2> - <p> - From times of old these noble hills have been the scenes of supernatural - visitations and mysterious occurrences. The tallest peak of the Agiochooks—as - they were, in Indian naming—was the seat of God himself, and the - encroachment there of the white man was little liked. Near Fabyan's was - once a mound, since levelled by pick and spade, that was known as the - Giant's Grave. Ethan Allen Crawford, a skilful hunter, daring explorer, - and man of herculean frame, lived, died, and is buried here, and near the - ancient hillock he built one of the first public houses in the mountains. - It was burned. Another, and yet another hostelry was builded on the site, - but they likewise were destroyed by fire. Then the enterprise was - abandoned, for it was remembered that an Indian once mounted this grave, - waved a torch from its top, and cried in a loud voice, “No pale-face shall - take root on this spot. This has the Great Spirit whispered in my ear.” - </p> - <p> - Governor Wentworth, while on a lonely tour through his province, found - this cabin of Crawford's and passed a night there, tendering many - compliments to the austere graces of the lady of the house and drinking - himself into the favor of the husband, who proclaimed him the prince of - good fellows. On leaving, the guest exacted of Crawford a visit to - Wolfeborough, where he was to inquire for “Old Wentworth.” This visit was - undertaken soon after, and the sturdy frontiersman was dismayed at finding - himself in the house of the royal governor; but his reception was hearty - enough to put him at his ease, and when he returned to the mountains he - carried in his pocket a deed of a thousand acres of forest about his - little farm. The family that he founded became wealthy and increased, by - many an acre, the measure of that royal grant. - </p> - <p> - Not far below this spot, in the wildest part of the Notch, shut in by - walls of rock thousands of feet high, is the old Willey House, and this, - too, was the scene of a tragedy, for in 1826 a storm loosened the soil on - Mount Willey and an enormous landslide occurred. The people in the house - rushed forth on hearing the approach of the slide and met death almost at - their door. Had they remained within they would have been unharmed, for - the avalanche was divided by a wedge of rock behind the house, and the - little inn was saved. Seven people are known to have been killed, and it - was rumored that there was another victim in a young man whose name was - unknown and who was walking through the mountains to enjoy their beauty. - The messenger who bore the tidings of the destruction of the family was - barred from reaching North Conway by the flood in the Saco, so he stood at - the brink of the foaming river and rang a peal on a trumpet. This blast - echoing around the hills in the middle of the night roused several men - from their beds to know its meaning. The dog belonging to the inn is said - to have given first notice to people below the Notch that something was - wrong, but his moaning and barking were misunderstood, and after running - back and forth, as if to summon help, he disappeared. At the hour of the - accident James Willey, of Conway, had a dream in which he saw his dead - brother standing by him. He related the story of the catastrophe to the - sleeping man and said that when “the world's last knell” sounded they were - going for safety to the foot of the steep mountain, for the Saco had risen - twenty-four feet in seven hours and threatened to ingulf them in front. - </p> - <p> - Another spot of interest in the Notch is Nancy's Brook. It was at the - point where this stream comes foaming from Mount Nancy into the great - ravine that the girl whose name is given to it was found frozen to death - in a shroud of snow in the fall of 1788. She had set out alone from - Jefferson in search of a young farmer who was to have married her, and - walked thirty miles through trackless snow between sunset and dawn. Then - her strength gave out and she sank beside the road never to rise again. - Her recreant lover went mad with remorse when he learned the manner of her - death and did not long survive her, and men who have traversed the savage - passes of the Notch on chill nights in October have fancied that they - heard, above the clash of the stream and whispering of the woods, long, - shuddering groans mingled with despairing cries and gibbering laughter. - </p> - <p> - The birth of Peabody River came about from a cataclysm of less violent - nature than some of the avalanches that have so scarred the mountains. In - White's “History of New England,” Mr. Peabody, for whom the stream is - named, is reported as having taken shelter in an Indian cabin on the - heights where the river has its source. During the night a loud roaring - waked the occupants of the hut and they sprang forth, barely in time to - save their lives; for, hardly had they gained the open ground before a - cavern burst open in the hill and a flood of water gushed out, sweeping - away the shelter and cutting a broad swath through the forest. - </p> - <p> - Although the Pilot Mountains are supposed to have taken their name from - the fact that they served as landmarks to hunters who were seeking the - Connecticut River from the Lancaster district, an old story is still told - of one Willard, who was lost amid the defiles of this range, and nearly - perished with hunger. While lying exhausted on the mountainside his dog - would leave him every now and then and return after a couple of hours. - Though Willard was half dead, he determined to use his last strength in - following the animal, and as a result was led by a short cut to his own - camp, where provisions were plenty, and where the intelligent creature had - been going for food. The dog was christened Pilot, in honor of this - service, and the whole range is thought by many to be named in his honor. - </p> - <p> - Waternomee Falls, on Hurricane Creek, at Warren, are bordered with rich - moss where fairies used to dance and sing in the moonlight. These sprites - were the reputed children of Indians that had been stolen from their - wigwams and given to eat of fairy bread, that dwarfed and changed them in - a moment. Barring their kidnapping practices the elves were an innocent - and joyous people, and they sought more distant hiding-places in the - wilderness when the stern churchmen and cruel rangers penetrated their - sylvan precincts. - </p> - <p> - An old barrack story has it that Lieutenant Chamberlain, who fought under - Lovewell, was pursued along the base of Melvin Peak by Indians and was - almost in their grasp when he reached Ossipee Falls. It seemed as if there - were no alternative between death by the tomahawk and death by a fall to - the rocks below, for the chasm here is eighteen feet wide; but without - stopping to reckon chances he put his strength into a running jump, and to - the amazement of those in pursuit and perhaps to his own surprise he - cleared the gap and escaped into the woods. The foremost of the Indians - attempted the leap, but plunged to his death in the ravine. - </p> - <p> - The Eagle Range was said to be the abode, two hundred years ago, of a man - of strange and venerable appearance, whom the Indians regarded with - superstitious awe and never tried to molest. He slept in a cave on the - south slope and ranged the forest in search of game, muttering and - gesturing to himself. He is thought to be identified with Thomas Crager, - whose wife had been hanged in Salem as a witch, and whose only child had - been stolen by Indians. After a long, vain search for the little one he - gave way to a bitter moroseness, and avoided the habitations of civilized - man and savages alike. It is a satisfaction to know that before he died he - found his daughter, though she was the squaw of an Indian hunter and was - living with his tribe on the shore of the St. Lawrence. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0102" id="link2H_4_0102"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE VISION ON MOUNT ADAMS - </h2> - <p> - There are many traditions connected with Mount Adams that have faded out - of memory. Old people remember that in their childhood there was talk of - the discovery of a magic stone; of an Indian's skeleton that appeared in a - speaking storm; of a fortune-teller that set off on a midnight quest, far - up among the crags and eyries. In October, 1765, a detachment of nine of - Rogers's Rangers began the return from a Canadian foray, bearing with them - plate, candlesticks, and a silver statue that they had rifled from the - Church of St. Francis. An Indian who had undertaken to guide the party - through the Notch proved faithless, and led them among labyrinthine gorges - to the head of Israel's River, where he disappeared, after poisoning one - of the troopers with a rattlesnake's fang. Losing all reckoning, the - Rangers tramped hither and thither among the snowy hills and sank down, - one by one, to die in the wilderness, a sole survivor reaching a - settlement after many days, with his knapsack filled with human flesh. - </p> - <p> - In 1816 the candlesticks were recovered near Lake Memphremagog, but the - statue has never been laid hold upon. The spirits of the famished men were - wont, for many winters, to cry in the woods, and once a hunter, camped on - the side of Mount Adams, was awakened at midnight by the notes of an - organ. The mists were rolling off, and he found that he had gone to sleep - near a mighty church of stone that shone in soft light. The doors were - flung back, showing a tribe of Indians kneeling within. Candles sparkled - on the altar, shooting their rays through clouds of incense, and the rocks - shook with thunder-gusts of music. Suddenly church, lights, worshippers - vanished, and from the mists came forth a line of uncouth forms, marching - in silence. As they started to descend the mountain a silver image, - floating in the air, spread a pair of gleaming pinions and took flight, - disappearing in the chaos of battlemented rocks above. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0103" id="link2H_4_0103"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE GREAT CARBUNCLE - </h2> - <p> - High on the eastern face of Mount Monroe shone the Great Carbuncle, its - flash scintillating for miles by day, its dusky crimson glowing among the - ledges at night. The red men said that it hung in the air, and that the - soul of an Indian—killed, that he might guard the spot—made - approach perilous to men of all complexions and purposes. As late as Ethan - Crawford's time one search band took a “good man” to lay the watcher, when - they strove to scale the height, but they returned “sorely bruised, - treasureless, and not even saw that wonderful sight.” The value of the - stone tempted many, but those who sought it had to toil through a dense - forest, and on arriving at the mountain found its glories eclipsed by - intervening abutments, nor could they get near it. Rocks covered with - crystals, at first thought to be diamonds, were readily despoiled of their - treasure, but the Great Carbuncle burned on, two thousand feet above them, - at the head of the awful chasm of Oakes Gulf, and baffled seekers likened - it to the glare of an evil eye. - </p> - <p> - There was one who had grown old in searching for this gem, often - scrambling over the range in wind and snow and cloud, and at last he - reached a precipitous spot he had never attained before. Great was his - joy, for the Carbuncle was within his reach, blazing into his eyes in the - noon sunlight as if it held, crystallized in its depths, the brightness of - all the wine that had ever gladdened the tired hearts of men. There were - rivals in the search, and on reaching the plateau they looked up and saw - him kneeling on a narrow ledge with arms extended as in rapture. They - called to him. He answered not. He was dead—dead of joy and triumph. - While they looked a portion of the crag above him fell away and rolled - from rock to rock, marking its course with flashes of bloody fire, until - it reached the Lake of the Clouds, and the waters of that tarn drowned its - glory. Yet those waters are not always black, and sometimes the hooked - crest of Mount Monroe is outlined against the night sky in a ruddy glow. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0104" id="link2H_4_0104"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SKINNER'S CAVE - </h2> - <p> - The abhorrence to paying taxes and duties—or any other levy from - which an immediate and personal good is not promised—is too deeply - rooted in human nature to be affected by statutes, and whenever it is - possible to buy commodities that have escaped the observation of the - revenue officers many are tempted to do so for the mere pleasure of - defying the law. In the early part of this century the northern farmers - and their wives were, in a way, providing themselves with laces, - silver-ware, brandy, and other protected and dreadful articles, on which - it was evident that somebody had forgotten to pay duty. The customs - authorities on the American side of the border were long puzzled by the - irruption of these forbidden things, but suspicion ultimately fell on a - fellow of gigantic size, named Skinner. - </p> - <p> - It was believed that this outlaw carried on the crime of free trade after - sunset, hiding his merchandise by day on the islands of Lake Memphremagog. - This delightful sheet of water lies half in Canada and half in Vermont—agreeably - to the purpose of such as he. Province Island is still believed to contain - buried treasure, but the rock that contains Skinner's Cave was the - smuggler's usual haunt, and when pursued he rowed to this spot and - effected a disappearance, because he entered the cave on the northwest - side, where it was masked by shrubbery. One night the officers landed on - this island after he had gone into hiding, and after diligent search - discovered his boat drawn up in a covert. They pushed it into the lake, - where the winds sent it adrift, and, his communication with the shore thus - cut off, the outlaw perished miserably of hunger. His skeleton was found - in the cavern some years later. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0105" id="link2H_4_0105"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - YET THEY CALL IT LOVER'S LEAP - </h2> - <p> - In the lower part of the township of Cavendish, Vermont, the Black River - seeks a lower level through a gorge in the foot-hills of the Green - Mountains. The scenery here is romantic and impressive, for the river - makes its way along the ravine in a series of falls and rapids that are - overhung by trees and ledges, while the geologist finds something worth - looking at in the caves and pot-holes that indicate an older level of the - river. At a turn in the ravine rises the sheer precipice of Lover's Leap. - It is a vertical descent of about eighty feet, the water swirling at its - foot in a black and angry maelstrom. It is a spot whence lovers might - easily step into eternity, were they so disposed, and the name fits - delightfully into the wild and somber scene; but ask any good villager - thereabout to relate the legend of the place and he will tell you this: - </p> - <p> - About forty years ago a couple of young farmers went to the Leap—which - then had no name—to pry out some blocks of the schistose rock for a - foundation wall. They found a good exposure of the rock beneath the turf - and began to quarry it. In the earnestness of the work one of the men - forgot that he was standing on the verge of a precipice, and through a - slip of his crowbar he lost his balance and went reeling into the gulf. - His horrified companion crept to the edge, expecting to see his mangled - corpse tossing in the whirlpool, but, to his amazement, the unfortunate - was crawling up the face of a huge table of stone that had fallen from the - opposite wall and lay canted against it. - </p> - <p> - “Hello!” shouted the man overhead. “Are you hurt much?” - </p> - <p> - The victim of the accident slowly got upon his feet, felt cautiously of - his legs and ribs, and began to search through his pockets, his face - betraying an anxiety that grew deeper and deeper as the search went on. In - due time the answer came back, deliberate, sad, and nasal, but distinct - above the roar of the torrent: “Waal, I ain't hurt much, but I'll be - durned if I haven't lost my jack-knife!” - </p> - <p> - And he was pulled out of the gorge without it. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0106" id="link2H_4_0106"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SALEM AND OTHER WITCHCRAFT - </h2> - <p> - The extraordinary delusion recorded as Salem witchcraft was but a - reflection of a kindred insanity in the Old World that was not extirpated - until its victims had been counted by thousands. That human beings should - be accused of leaguing themselves with Satan to plague their fellows and - overthrow the powers of righteousness is remarkable, but that they should - admit their guilt is incomprehensible, albeit the history of every popular - delusion shows that weak minds are so affected as to lose control of - themselves and that a whimsey can be as epidemic as small-pox. - </p> - <p> - Such was the case in 1692 when the witchcraft madness, which might have - been stayed by a seasonable spanking, broke out in Danvers, Massachusetts, - the first victim being a wild Irishwoman, named Glover, and speedily - involved the neighboring community of Salem. The mischiefs done by witches - were usually trifling, and it never occurred to their prosecutors that - there was an inconsistency between their pretended powers and their feeble - deeds, or that it was strange that those who might live in regal luxury - should be so wretchedly poor. Aches and pains, blight of crops, disease of - cattle, were charged to them; children complained of being pricked with - thorns and pins (the pins are still preserved in Salem), and if hysterical - girls spoke the name of any feeble old woman, while in flighty talk, they - virtually sentenced her to die. The word of a child of eleven years - sufficed to hang, burn, or drown a witch. - </p> - <p> - Giles Corey, a blameless man of eighty, was condemned to the mediaeval <i>peine - forte et dure</i>, his body being crushed beneath a load of rocks and - timbers. He refused to plead in court, and when the beams were laid upon - him he only cried, “More weight!” The shade of the unhappy victim haunted - the scene of his execution for years, and always came to warn the people - of calamities. A child of five and a dog were also hanged after formal - condemnation. Gallows Hill, near Salem, witnessed many sad tragedies, and - the old elm that stood on Boston Common until 1876 was said to have served - as a gallows for witches and Quakers. The accuser of one day was the - prisoner of the next, and not even the clergy were safe. - </p> - <p> - A few escapes were made, like that of a blue-eyed maid of Wenham, whose - lover aided her to break the wooden jail and carried her safely beyond the - Merrimac, finding a home for her among the Quakers; and that of Miss - Wheeler, of Salem, who had fallen under suspicion, and whose brothers - hurried her into a boat, rowed around Cape Ann, and safely bestowed her in - “the witch house” at Pigeon Cove. Many, however, fled to other towns - rather than run the risk of accusation, which commonly meant death. - </p> - <p> - When the wife of Philip English was arrested he, too, asked to share her - fate, and both were, through friendly intercession, removed to Boston, - where they were allowed to have their liberty by day on condition that - they would go to jail every night. Just before they were to be taken back - to Salem for trial they went to church and heard the Rev. Joshua Moody - preach from the text, “If they persecute you in one city, flee unto - another.” The good clergyman not only preached goodness, but practised it, - and that night the door of their prison was opened. Furnished with an - introduction from Governor Phipps to Governor Fletcher, of New York, they - made their way to that settlement, and remained there in safe and - courteous keeping until the people of Salem had regained their senses, - when they returned. Mrs. English died, soon after, from the effects of - cruelty and anxiety, and although Mr. Moody was generally commended for - his substitution of sense and justice for law, there were bigots who - persecuted him so constantly that he removed to Plymouth. - </p> - <p> - According to the belief of the time a witch or wizard compacted with Satan - for the gift of supernatural power, and in return was to give up his soul - to the evil one after his life was over. The deed was signed in blood of - the witch and horrible ceremonies confirmed the compact. Satan then gave - his ally a familiar in the form of a dog, ape, cat, or other animal, - usually small and black, and sometimes an undisguised imp. To suckle these - “familiars” with the blood of a witch was forbidden in English law, which - ranked it as a felony; but they were thus nourished in secret, and by - their aid the witch might raise storms, blight crops, abort births, lame - cattle, topple over houses, and cause pains, convulsions, and illness. If - she desired to hurt a person she made a clay or waxen image in his - likeness, and the harms and indignities wreaked on the puppet would be - suffered by the one bewitched, a knife or needle thrust in the waxen body - being felt acutely by the living one, no matter how far distant he might - be. By placing this image in running water, hot sunshine, or near a fire, - the living flesh would waste as this melted or dissolved, and the person - thus wrought upon would die. This belief is still current among negroes - affected by the voodoo superstitions of the South. The witch, too, had the - power of riding winds, usually with a broomstick for a conveyance, after - she had smeared the broom or herself with magic ointment, and the flocking - of the unhallowed to their sabbaths in snaky bogs or on lonely mountain - tops has been described minutely by those who claim to have seen the - sight. Sometimes they cackled and gibbered through the night before the - houses of the clergy, and it was only at Christmas that their power failed - them. The meetings were devoted to wild and obscene orgies, and the - intercourse of fiends and witches begot a progeny of toads and snakes. - </p> - <p> - Naturally the Indians were accused, for they recognized the existence of - both good and evil spirits, their medicine-men cured by incantations in - the belief that devils were thus driven out of their patients, and in the - early history of the country the red man was credited by white settlers - with powers hardly inferior to those of the oriental and European - magicians of the middle ages. Cotton Mather detected a relation between - Satan and the Indians, and he declares that certain of the Algonquins were - trained from boyhood as powahs, powwows, or wizards, acquiring powers of - second sight and communion with gods and spirits through abstinence from - food and sleep and the observance of rites. Their severe discipline made - them victims of nervous excitement and the responsibilities of conjuration - had on their minds an effect similar to that produced by gases from the - rift in Delphos on the Apollonian oracles, their manifestations of - insanity or frenzy passing for deific or infernal possession. When John - Gibb, a Scotchman, who had gone mad through religious excitement, was - shipped to this country by his tired fellow-countrymen, the Indians hailed - him as a more powerful wizard than any of their number, and he died in - 1720, admired and feared by them because of the familiarity with spirits - out of Hobbomocko (hell) that his ravings and antics were supposed to - indicate. Two Indian servants of the Reverend Mr. Purvis, of Salem, having - tried by a spell to discover a witch, were executed as witches themselves. - The savages, who took Salem witchcraft at its worth, were astonished at - its deadly effect, and the English may have lost some influence over the - natives in consequence of this madness. “The Great Spirit sends no witches - to the French,” they said. Barrow Hill, near Amesbury, was said to be the - meeting-place for Indian powwows and witches, and at late hours of the - night the light of fires gleamed from its top, while shadowy forms glanced - athwart it. Old men say that the lights are still there in winter, though - modern doubters declare that they were the aurora borealis. - </p> - <p> - But the belief in witches did not die even when the Salem people came to - their senses. In the Merrimac valley the devil found converts for many - years after: Goody Mose, of Rocks village, who tumbled down-stairs when a - big beetle was killed at an evening party, some miles away, after it had - been bumping into the faces of the company; Goody Whitcher, of Ameshury, - whose loom kept banging day and night after she was dead; Goody Sloper, of - West Newbury, who went home lame directly that a man had struck his axe - into the beam of a house that she had bewitched, but who recovered her - strength and established an improved reputation when, in 1794, she swam - out to a capsized boat and rescued two of the people who were in peril; - Goodman Nichols, of Rocks village, who “spelled” a neighbor's son, - compelling him to run up one end of the house, along the ridge, and down - the other end, “troubling the family extremely by his strange - proceedings;” Susie Martin, also of Rocks, who was hanged in spite of her - devotions in jail, though the rope danced so that it could not be tied, - but a crow overhead called for a withe and the law was executed with that; - and Goody Morse, of Market and High Streets, Newburyport, whose baskets - and pots danced through her house continually and who was seen “flying - about the sun as if she had been cut in twain, or as if the devil did hide - the lower part of her.” The hill below Easton, Pennsylvania, called - Hexenkopf (Witch's head), was described by German settlers as a place of - nightly gathering for weird women, who whirled about its top in “linked - dances” and sang in deep tones mingled with awful laughter. After one of - these women, in Williams township, had been punished for enchanting a - twenty-dollar horse, their sabbaths were held more quietly. Mom Rinkle, - whose “rock” is pointed out beside the Wissahickon, in Philadelphia, - “drank dew from acorn-cups and had the evil eye.” Juan Perea, of San - Mateo, New Mexico, would fly with his chums to meetings in the mountains - in the shape of a fire-ball. During these sallies he left his own eyes at - home and wore those of some brute animal. It was because his dog ate his - eyes when he had carelessly put them on a table that he had always - afterward to wear those of a cat. Within the present century an old woman - who lived in a hut on the Palisades of the Hudson was held to be - responsible for local storms and accidents. As late as 1889 two Zuni - Indians were hanged on the wall of an old Spanish church near their pueblo - in Arizona on a charge of having blown away the rainclouds in a time of - drouth. It was held that there was something uncanny in the event that - gave the name of Gallows Hill to an eminence near Falls Village, - Connecticut, for a strange black man was found hanging, dead, to a tree - near its top one morning. - </p> - <p> - Moll Pitcher, a successful sorcerer and fortune-teller of old Lynn, has - figured in obsolete poems, plays, and romances. She lived in a cottage at - the foot of High Rock, where she was consulted, not merely by people of - respectability, but by those who had knavish schemes to prosecute and who - wanted to learn in advance the outcome of their designs. Many a ship was - deserted at the hour of sailing because she boded evil of the voyage. She - was of medium height, big-headed, tangle-haired, long-nosed, and had a - searching black eye. The sticks that she carried were cut from a hazel - that hung athwart a brook where an unwedded mother had drowned her child. - A girl who went to her for news of her lover lost her reason when the - witch, moved by a malignant impulse, described his death in a fiercely - dramatic manner. One day the missing ship came bowling into port, and the - shock of joy that the girl experienced when the sailor clasped her in his - arms restored her erring senses. When Moll Pitcher died she was attended - by the little daughter of the woman she had so afflicted. - </p> - <p> - John, or Edward, Dimond, grandfather of Moll Pitcher, was a benevolent - wizard. When vessels were trying to enter the port of Marblehead in a - heavy gale or at night, their crews were startled to hear a trumpet voice - pealing from the skies, plainly audible above the howling and hissing of - any tempest, telling them how to lay their course so as to reach smooth - water. This was the voice of Dimond, speaking from his station, miles away - in the village cemetery. He always repaired to this place in troublous - weather and shouted orders to the ships that were made visible to him by - mystic power as he strode to and fro among the graves. When thieves came - to him for advice he charmed them and made them take back their plunder or - caused them to tramp helplessly about the streets bearing heavy burdens. - </p> - <p> - “Old Mammy Redd, of Marblehead, Sweet milk could turn to mould in churn.” - </p> - <p> - Being a witch, and a notorious one, she could likewise curdle the milk as - it came from the cow, and afterward transform it into blue wool. She had - the evil eye, and, if she willed, her glance or touch could blight like - palsy. It only needed that she should wish a bloody cleaver to be found in - a cradle to cause the little occupant to die, while the whole town - ascribed to her the annoyances of daily housework and business. Her - unpleasant celebrity led to her death at the hands of her fellow-citizens - who had been “worrited” by no end of queer happenings: ships had appeared - just before they were wrecked and had vanished while people looked at - them; men were seen walking on the water after they had been comfortably - buried; the wind was heard to name the sailors doomed never to return; - footsteps and voices were heard in the streets before the great were to - die; one man was chased by a corpse in its coffin; another was pursued by - the devil in a carriage drawn by four white horses; a young woman who had - just received a present of some fine fish from her lover was amazed to see - him melt into the air, and was heart-broken when she learned next morning - that he had died at sea. So far away as Amesbury the devil's power was - shown by the appearance of a man who walked the roads carrying his head - under his arm, and by the freak of a windmill that the miller always used - to shut up at sundown but that started by itself at midnight. Evidently it - was high time to be rid of Mammy Redd. - </p> - <p> - Margaret Wesson, “old Meg,” lived in Gloucester until she came to her - death by a shot fired at the siege of Louisburg, five hundred miles away, - in 1745. Two soldiers of Gloucester, while before the walls of the French - town, were annoyed by a crow, that flew over and around them, cawing - harshly and disregarding stones and shot, until it occurred to them that - the bird could be no other than old Meg in another form, and, as silver - bullets are an esteemed antidote for the evils of witchcraft, they cut two - silver buttons from their uniforms and fired them at the crow. At the - first shot its leg was broken; at the second, it fell dead. On returning - to Gloucester they learned that old Meg had fallen and broken her leg at - the moment when the crow was fired on, and that she died quickly after. An - examination of her body was made, and the identical buttons were extracted - from her flesh that had been shot into the crow at Louisburg. - </p> - <p> - As a citizen of New Haven was riding home—this was at the time of - the goings on at Salem—he saw shapes of women near his horse's head, - whispering earnestly together and keeping time with the trot of his animal - without effort of their own. “In the name of God, tell me who you are,” - cried the traveller, and at the name of God they vanished. Next day the - man's orchard was shaken by viewless hands and the fruit thrown down. Hogs - ran about the neighborhood on their hind legs; children cried that - somebody was sticking pins into them; one man would roll across the floor - as if pushed, and he had to be watched lest he should go into the fire; - when housewives made their bread they found it as full of hair as food in - a city boarding-house; when they made soft soap it ran from the kettle and - over the floor like lava; stones fell down chimneys and smashed crockery. - One of the farmers cut off an ear from a pig that was walking on its hind - legs, and an eccentric old body of the neighborhood appeared presently - with one of her ears in a muffle, thus satisfying that community that she - had caused the troubles. When a woman was making potash it began to leap - about, and a rifle was fired into the pot, causing a sudden calm. In the - morning the witch was found dead on her floor. Yet killing only made her - worse, for she moved to a deserted house near her own, and there kept a - mad revel every night; fiddles were heard, lights flashed, stones were - thrown, and yells gave people at a distance a series of cold shivers; but - the populace tried the effect of tearing down the house, and quiet was - brought to the town. - </p> - <p> - In the early days of this century a skinny old woman known as Aunt - Woodward lived by herself in a log cabin at Minot Corner, Maine, enjoying - the awe of the people in that secluded burg. They moved around but little - at night, on her account, and one poor girl was in mortal fear lest by - mysterious arts she should be changed, between two days, into a white - horse. One citizen kept her away from his house by nailing a horseshoe to - his door, while another took the force out of her spells by keeping a - branch of “round wood” at his threshold. At night she haunted a big, - square house where the ghost of a murdered infant was often heard to cry, - and by day she laid charms on her neighbors' provisions and utensils, and - turned their cream to buttermilk. “Uncle” Blaisdell hurried into the - settlement to tell the farmers that Aunt Woodward had climbed into his - sled in the middle of the road, and that his four yoke of oxen could not - stir it an inch, but that after she had leaped down one yoke of cattle - drew the load of wood without an effort. Yet she died in her bed. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0107" id="link2H_4_0107"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE GLOUCESTER LEAGUERS - </h2> - <p> - Strange things had been reported in Gloucester. On the eve of King - Philip's War the march of men was heard in its streets and an Indian bow - and scalp were seen on the face of the moon, while the boom of cannon and - roll of drums were heard at Malden and the windows of Plymouth rattled to - the passage of unseen horsemen. But the strangest thing was the arrival on - Cape Ann of a force of French and Indians that never could be caught, - killed, or crippled, though two regiments were hurried into Gloucester and - battled with them for a fortnight. Thus, the rumor went around that these - were not an enemy of flesh and blood, but devils who hoped to work a moral - perversion of the colony. From 1692, when they appeared, until Salem - witchcraft was at an end, Cape Ann was under military and spiritual guard - against “the spectre leaguers.” - </p> - <p> - Another version of the episode, based on sworn evidence, has it that - Ebenezer Babson, returning late on a summer night, saw two men run from - his door and vanish in a field. His family denied that visitors had - called, so he gave chase, for he believed the men to have a mischievous - intention. As he left the threshold they sprang from behind a log, one - saying to the other, “The master of the house is now come, else we might - have taken the house,” and again they disappeared in a swamp. Babson woke - the guard, and on entering the quarters of the garrison the sound of many - feet was heard without, but when the doors were flung open only the two - men were visible and they were retreating. Next evening the yeoman was - chased by these elusive gentry, who were believed to be scouts of the - enemy, for they wore white breeches and waistcoats and carried bright - guns. - </p> - <p> - For several nights they appeared, and on the 4th of July half a dozen of - them were seen so plainly that the soldiers made a sally, Babson bringing - three of “ye unaccountable troublers” to the ground with a single shot, - and getting a response in kind, for a bullet hissed by his ear and buried - itself in a tree. When the company approached the place where lay the - victims of that remarkable shot, behold, they arose and scampered away as - blithely as if naught had happened to them. One of the trio was cornered - and shot anew, but when they would pick him up he melted into air. There - was fierce jabbering in an unknown tongue, through all the swamp, and by - the time the garrison had returned the fellows were skulking in the - shrubbery again. Richard Dolliver afterward came on eleven of them engaged - in incantations and scattered them with a gunshot, but they would not - down. They lurked about the cape until terror fell on all the people, - remaining for “the best part of a month together,” so it was deemed that - “Satan had set ambushments against the good people of Gloucester, with - demons in the shape of armed Indians and Frenchmen.” - </p> - <p> - Stones were thrown, barns were beaten with clubs, the marching of unseen - hosts was heard after dark, the mockers grew so bold that they ventured - close to the redoubtable Babson, gazed scornfully down the barrel of his - gun, and laid a charm on the weapon, so that, no matter how often he - snapped it at them, it flashed in the pan. Neighboring garrisons were - summoned, but all battling with goblins was fruitless. One night a dark - and hostile throng emerged from the wood and moved toward the blockhouse, - where twenty musketeers were keeping guard. “If you be ghosts or devils I - will foil you,” cried the captain, and tearing a silver button from his - doublet he rammed it into his gun and fired on the advancing host. Even as - the smoke of his musket was blown on the wind, so did the beleaguering - army vanish, the silver bullet proving that they were not of human kind. - The night was wearing on when a cry went out that the devils were coming - again. Arms were laid aside this time, and the watchers sank to their - knees in prayer. Directly that the name of God was uttered the marching - ceased and heaven rang with the howls of the angry fiends. Never again - were leaguers seen in Gloucester. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0108" id="link2H_4_0108"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SATAN AND HIS BURIAL-PLACE - </h2> - <p> - Satan appears to have troubled the early settlers in America almost as - grievously as he did the German students. He came in many shapes to many - people, and sometimes he met his match. Did he not try to stop old Peter - Stuyvesant from rowing through Hell Gate one moonlight night, and did not - that tough old soldier put something at his shoulder that Satan thought - must be his wooden leg? But it wasn't a leg: it was a gun, loaded with a - silver bullet that had been charged home with prayer. Peter fired and the - missile whistled off to Ward's Island, where three boys found it afterward - and swapped it for double handfuls of doughnuts and bulls' eyes. - Incidentally it passed between the devil's ribs and the fiend exploded - with a yell and a smell, the latter of sulphur, to Peter's blended - satisfaction and alarm. And did not the same spirit of evil plague the old - women of Massachusetts Bay and craze the French and Spaniards in the - South? At Hog Rock, west of Milford, Connecticut, he broke up a pleasant - diversion: - </p> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - “Once four young men upon ye rock - Sate down at chuffle board to play - When ye Deuill appearde in shape of a hogg - And frightend ym so they scampered away - And left Old Nick to finish ye play.” - </pre> - <p> - One of the first buildings to be put up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was a - church built on a ledge above the river, and in that church Satan tried to - conceal himself for purposes of mischief. For this act he was hurled from - the steeple-top by some unseen instrument of righteousness with such force - that his hoofmark was stamped into a solid stone near by. This did not - deter him from mounting to the ridge-pole and assuming a defiant air, with - folded arms, when Whitefield began to preach, but when that clergyman's - tremendous voice was loosed below him he bounced into the air in terror - and disappeared. - </p> - <p> - The Shakers report that in the waning of the eighteenth century they - chased the evil one through the coverts of Mount Sinai, Massachusetts, and - just before dawn of a summer morning they caught and killed and buried - him. Shakers are spiritualists, and they believe their numbers to have - been augmented by distinguished dead, among whom they already number - Washington, Lafayette, Napoleon, Tamerlane, and Pocahontas. The two first - named of these posthumous communists are still seen by members of the - faith who pass Satan's grave at night, for they sit astride of white - horses and watch the burial spot, lest the enemy of man arise and begin - anew his career of trouble. Some members of the brotherhood say that this - legend typifies a burial of evil tendencies in the hearts of those who - hunted the fiend, but it has passed down among others as a circumstance. - The Shakers have many mystic records, transmitted verbally to the present - disciples of “Mother Ann,” but seldom told to scoffers “in the world,” as - those are called who live without their pure and peaceful communes. Among - these records is that of the appearance of John the Baptist in the - meeting-house at Mount Lebanon, New York, one Sunday, clothed in light and - leading the sacred dance of the worshippers, by which they signify the - shaking out of all carnal things from the heart. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0109" id="link2H_4_0109"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PETER RUGG, THE MISSING MAN - </h2> - <p> - The idea of long wandering as a penalty, symbolized in “The Wandering - Jew,” “The Flying Dutchman,” and the character of Kundry, in “Parsifal,” - has application in the legend of Peter Rugg. This strange man, who lived - in Middle Street, Boston, with his wife and daughter, was esteemed, as a - person of probity and good manners except in his swearing fits, for he was - subject to outbursts of passion, when he would kick his way through doors - instead of opening them, bite tenpenny nails in two, and curse his wig off - In the autumn of 1770 he visited Concord, with his little girl, and on the - way home was overtaken by a violent storm. He took shelter with a friend - at Menotomy, who urged him to stay all night, for the rain was falling - heavier every moment; but Rugg would not be stayed, and seeing that there - was no hope of a dry journey back to town he roared a fearful oath and - cried, “Let the storm increase. I will see home to-night in spite of it, - or may I never see home!” With that he tossed the child into the open - chaise, leaped in after her, lashed his horse, and was off. - </p> - <p> - Several nights afterward, while Rugg's neighbors were out with lanterns - trying to discover the cause of a heavy jarring that had begun to disturb - them in bad weather, the excitable gentleman, who had not been seen since - his Concord visit, came whirling along the pavement in his carriage, his - daughter beside him, his black horse plunging on in spite of his efforts - to stop him. The lanterns that for a moment twinkled in Peter's face - showed him as a wet and weary man, with eyes turned up longingly at the - windows where his wife awaited him; then he was gone, and the ground - trembled as with an earthquake, while the rain fell more heavily. - </p> - <p> - Mrs. Rugg died within a twelvemonth, and Peter never reached home, but - from all parts of New England came stories of a man and child driving - rapidly along the highways, never stopping except to inquire the way to - Boston. Half of the time the man would be headed in a direction opposite - to the one he seemed to want to follow, and when set right would cry that - he was being deceived, and was sometimes heard to mutter, “No home - to-night.” In Hartford, Providence, Newburyport, and among the New - Hampshire hills the anxious face of the man became known, and he was - referred to as “the stormbreeder,” for so surely as he passed there would - be rain, wind, lightning, thunder, and darkness within the hour. - </p> - <p> - Some years ago a man in a Connecticut town stopped this hurrying - traveller, who said, in reply to a question, “I have lost the road to - Boston. My name is Peter Rugg.” Then Rugg's disappearance half a century - before was cited by those who had long memories, and people began to look - askant at Peter and gave him generous road room when they met him. The - toll-taker on Charlestown bridge declared that he had been annoyed and - alarmed by a prodigious tramping of hoofs and rattling of wheels that - seemed to pass toward Boston before his very face, yet he could see - nothing. He took courage one night to plant himself in the middle of the - bridge with a three-legged stool, and when the sound approached he dimly - saw a large black horse driven by a weary looking man with a child beside - him. The stool was flung at the horse's head, but passed through the - animal as through smoke and skipped across the floor of the bridge. Thus - much the toll-collector said, but when asked if Rugg had appeared again he - made no reply. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0110" id="link2H_4_0110"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LOSS OF WEETAMOO - </h2> - <p> - Winnepurkit, sagamore of the coast settlements between Nahant and Cape - Ann, had married Weetamoo, daughter of Passaconaway, king of the - Pennacooks, and had taken her to his home. Their honeymoon was happy, but - old ties are strong, and after a little time the bride felt a longing to - see her people again. When she made known this wish the husband not only - consented to her visit, but gave her a guard of his most trusty hunters - who saw her safe in her father's lodge (near the site of Concord, New - Hampshire), and returned directly. Presently came a messenger from - Passaconaway, informing his son-in-law that Weetamoo had finished her - visit and wished again to be with her husband, to whom he looked for an - escort to guide her through the wilderness. Winnepurkit felt that his - dignity as a chief was slighted by this last request, and he replied that - as he had supplied her with a guard for the outward journey it was her - father's place to send her back, “for it stood not with Winnepurkit's - reputation either to make himself or his men so servile as to fetch her - again.” - </p> - <p> - Passaconaway returned a sharp answer that irritated Winnepurkit still - more, and he was told by the young sagamore that he might send his - daughter or keep her, for she would never be sent for. In this unhappy - strife for precedent, which has been repeated on later occasions by - princes and society persons, the young wife seemed to be fated as an - unwilling sacrifice; but summoning spirit to leave her father's wigwam she - launched a canoe on the Merrimack, hoping to make her way along that - watery highway to her husband's domain. It was winter, and the stream was - full of floating ice; at the best of times it was not easy to keep a frail - vessel of bark in the current away from the rapids, and a wandering hunter - reported that a canoe had come down the river guided by a woman, that it - had swung against the Amoskeag rocks, where Manchester stands now, and a - few moments later was in a quieter reach of water, broken and empty. No - more was seen of Weetamoo. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0111" id="link2H_4_0111"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE FATAL FORGET-ME-NOT - </h2> - <p> - Three miles out from the Nahant shore, Massachusetts, rises Egg Rock, a - dome of granite topped by a light-house. In the last century the - forget-me-nots that grew in a little marsh at its summit were much - esteemed, for it was reported that if a girl should receive one of these - little flowers from her lover the two would be faithful to each other - through all their married life. It was before a temporary separation that - a certain young couple strolled together on the Nahant cliffs. The man was - to sail for Italy next day, to urge parental consent to their union. As he - looked dreamily into the sea the legend of the forget-me-not came into his - mind, and in a playful tone he offered to gather a bunch as a memento. - Unthinkingly the girl consented. He ran down the cliff to his boat, pushed - out, and headed toward the rock, but a fisherman shouted that a gale was - rising and the tide was coming in; indeed, the horizon was whitening and - the rote was growing plain. - </p> - <p> - Alice had heard the cry of warning and would have called him back, but she - was forsaken by the power of speech, and watched, with pale face and - straining eyes, the boat beating smartly across the surges. It was seen to - reach Egg Rock, and after a lapse came dancing toward the shore again; but - the tide, was now swirling in rapidly, the waves were running high, and - the wind freshened as the sun sank. At times the boat was out of sight in - the hollowed water, and as it neared Nahant it became unmanageable. - Apparently it had filled with water and the tiller-rope had broken. - Nothing could be done by the spectators who had gathered on the rocks, - except to shout directions that were futile, even if they could be heard. - At last the boat was lifted by a breaker and hurled against a mass of - granite at the very feet of the man's mistress. When the body was - recovered next day, a bunch of forget-me-not was clasped in the rigid - hand. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0112" id="link2H_4_0112"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE OLD MILL AT SOMERVILLE - </h2> - <p> - The “old powder-house,” as the round stone tower is called that stands on - a gravel ridge in Somerville, Massachusetts, is so named because at the - outbreak of the Revolutionary War it was used temporarily as a magazine; - but long before that it was a wind-mill. Here in the old days two lovers - held their tryst: a sturdy and honest young farmer of the neighborhood and - the daughter of a man whose wealth puffed him with purse-pride. It was the - plebeian state of the farmer that made him look at him with an unfavorable - countenance, and when it was whispered to him that the young people were - meeting each other almost every evening at the mill, he resolved to - surprise them there and humiliate, if he did not punish them. From the - shadow of the door they saw his approach, and, yielding to the girl's - imploring, the lover secreted himself while she climbed to the loft. The - flutter of her dress caught the old man's eye and he hastened, panting, - into the mill. For some moments he groped about, for his eyes had not - grown used to the darkness of the place, and hearing his muttered oaths, - the girl crept backward from the stair. - </p> - <p> - She was beginning to hope that she had not been seen, when her foot caught - in a loose board and she stumbled, but in her fall she threw out her hand - to save herself and found a rope within her grasp. Directly that her - weight had been applied to it there was a whir and a clank. The cord had - set the great fans in motion. At the same moment a fall was heard, then a - cry, passing from anger into anguish. She rushed down the stair, the lover - appeared from his hiding-place at the same moment, and together they - dragged the old man to his feet. At the moment when the wind had started - the sails he had been standing on one of the mill-stones and the sudden - jerk had thrown him down. His arm caught between the grinding surfaces and - had been crushed to pulp. He was carried home and tenderly nursed, but he - did not live long; yet before he died he was made to see the folly of his - course, and he consented to the marriage that it had cost him so dear to - try to prevent. Before she could summon heart to fix the wedding-day the - girl passed many months of grief and repentance, and for the rest of her - life she avoided the old mill. There was good reason for doing so, people - said, for on windy nights the spirit of the old man used to haunt the - place, using such profanity that it became visible in the form of blue - lights, dancing and exploding about the building. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0113" id="link2H_4_0113"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT - </h2> - <p> - Nothing is left of Province House, the old home of the royal governors, in - Boston, but the gilded Indian that served as its weathercock and aimed his - arrow at the winds from the cupola. The house itself was swept away long - ago in the so-called march of improvement. In one of its rooms hung a - picture so dark that when Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson went to live - there hardly anybody could say what it represented. There were hints that - it was a portrait of the devil, painted at a witch-meeting near Salem, and - that on the eve of disasters in the province a dreadful face had glared - from the canvas. Shirley had seen it on the night of the fall of - Ticonderoga, and servants had gone shuddering from the room, certain that - they had caught the glance of a malignant eye. - </p> - <p> - It was known to the governors, however, that the portrait, if not that of - the arch fiend, was that of one who in the popular mind was none the less - a devil: Edward Randolph, the traitor, who had repealed the first - provincial charter and deprived the colonists of their liberties. Under - the curse of the people he grew pale and pinched and ugly, his face at - last becoming so hateful that men were unwilling to look at it. Then it - was that he sat for his portrait. Threescore or odd years afterward, - Hutchinson sat in the hall wondering vaguely if coming events would - consign him to the obloquy that had fallen on his predecessor, for at his - bidding a fleet had come into the harbor with three regiments of red coats - on board, despatched from Halifax to overawe the city. The coming of the - selectmen to protest against quartering these troops on the people and the - substitution of martial for civic law, interrupted his reverie, and a warm - debate arose. At last the governor seized his pen impatiently, and cried, - “The king is my master and England is my home. Upheld by them, I defy the - rabble.” - </p> - <p> - He was about to sign the order for bringing in the troops when a curtain - that had hung before the picture was drawn aside. Hutchinson stared at the - canvas in amazement, then muttered, “It is Randolph's spirit! It wears the - look of hell.” The picture was seen to be that of a man in antique garb, - with a despairing, hunted, yet evil expression in the face, and seemed to - stare at Hutchinson. - </p> - <p> - “It is a warning,” said one of the company. - </p> - <p> - Hutchinson recovered himself with an effort and turned away. “It is a - trick,” he cried; and bending over the paper he fixed his name, as if in - desperate haste. Then he trembled, turned white, and wiped a sweat from - his brow. The selectmen departed in silence but in anger, and those who - saw Hutchinson on the streets next day affirmed that the portrait had - stepped out of its canvas and stood at his side through the night. - Afterward, as he lay on his death-bed, he cried that the blood of the - Boston massacre was filling his throat, and as his soul passed from him - his face, in its agony and rage, was the face of Edward Randolph. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0114" id="link2H_4_0114"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE - </h2> - <p> - Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe, being orphaned, was admitted to the family of - her distant relative, Governor Shute, of Massachusetts Bay, and came to - America to take her home with him. She arrived at the gates of Province - House, in Boston, in the governor's splendid coach, with outriders and - guards, and as the governor went to receive her, a pale young man, with - tangled hair, sprang from the crowd and fell in the dust at her feet, - offering himself as a footstool for her to tread upon. Her proud face - lighted with a smile of scorn, and she put out her hand to stay the - governor, who was in the act of striking the fellow with his cane. - </p> - <p> - “Do not strike him,” she said. “When men seek to be trampled, it is a - favor they deserve.” - </p> - <p> - For a moment she bore her weight on the prostrate form, “emblem of - aristocracy trampling on human sympathies and the kindred of nature,” and - as she stood there the bell on South Church began to toll for a funeral - that was passing at the moment. The crowd started; some looked annoyed; - Lady Eleanore remained calm and walked in stately fashion up the passage - on the arm of His Excellency. “Who was that insolent fellow?” was asked of - Dr. Clarke, the governor's physician. - </p> - <p> - “Gervase Helwyse,” replied the doctor; “a youth of no fortune, but of good - mind until he met this lady in London, when he fell in love with her, and - her pride and scorn have crazed him.” - </p> - <p> - A few nights after a ball was given in honor of the governor's ward, and - Province House was filled with the elect of the city. Commanding in - figure, beautiful in face, richly dressed and jewelled, the Lady Eleanore - was the admired of the whole assembly, and the women were especially - curious to see her mantle, for a rumor went out that it had been made by a - dying girl, and had the magic power of giving new beauty to the wearer - every time it was put on. While the guests were taking refreshment, a - young man stole into the room with a silver goblet, and this he offered on - his knee to Lady Eleanore. As she looked down she recognized the face of - Helwyse. - </p> - <p> - “Drink of this sacramental wine,” he said, eagerly, “and pass it among the - guests.” - </p> - <p> - “Perhaps it is poisoned,” whispered a man, and in another moment the - liquor was overturned, and Helwyse was roughly dragged away. - </p> - <p> - “Pray, gentlemen, do not hurt my poor admirer,” said the lady, in a tone - of languor and condescension that was unusual to her. Breaking from his - captives, Helwyse ran back and begged her to cast her mantle into the - fire. She replied by throwing a fold of it above her head and smiling as - she said, “Farewell. Remember me as you see me now.” - </p> - <p> - Helwyse shook his head sadly and submitted to be led away. The weariness - in Eleanore's manner increased; a flush was burning on her cheek; her - laugh had grown infrequent. Dr. Clarke whispered something in the - governor's ear that made that gentleman start and look alarmed. It was - announced that an unforeseen circumstance made it necessary to close the - festival at once, and the company went home. A few days after the city was - thrown into a panic by an outbreak of small-pox, a disease that in those - times could not be prevented nor often cured, and that gathered its - victims by thousands. Graves were dug in rows, and every night the earth - was piled hastily on fresh corpses. Before all infected houses hung a red - flag of warning, and Province House was the first to show it, for the - plague had come to town in Lady Eleanore's mantle. The people cursed her - pride and pointed to the flags as her triumphal banners. The pestilence - was at its height when Gervase Helwyse appeared in Province House. There - were none to stay him now, and he climbed the stairs, peering from room to - room, until he entered a darkened chamber, where something stirred feebly - under a silken coverlet and a faint voice begged for water. Helwyse tore - apart the curtains and exclaimed, “Fie! What does such a thing as you in - Lady Eleanore's apartment?” - </p> - <p> - The figure on the bed tried to hide its hideous face. “Do not look on me,” - it cried. “I am cursed for my pride that I wrapped about me as a mantle. - You are avenged. I am Eleanore Rochcliffe.” - </p> - <p> - The lunatic stared for a moment, then the house echoed with his laughter. - The deadly mantle lay on a chair. He snatched it up, and waving also the - red flag of the pestilence ran into the street. In a short time an effigy - wrapped in the mantle was borne to Province House and set on fire by a - mob. From that hour the pest abated and soon disappeared, though graves - and scars made a bitter memory of it for many a year. Unhappiest of all - was the disfigured creature who wandered amid the shadows of Province - House, never showing her face, unloved, avoided, lonely. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0115" id="link2H_4_0115"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HOWE'S MASQUERADE - </h2> - <p> - During the siege of Boston Sir William Howe undertook to show his contempt - for the raw fellows who were disrespectfully tossing cannon-balls at him - from the batteries in Cambridge and South Boston, by giving a masquerade. - It was a brilliant affair, the belles and blades of the loyalist set being - present, some in the garb of their ancestors, for the past is ever more - picturesque than the present, and a few roisterers caricaturing the - American generals in ragged clothes, false noses, and absurd wigs. At the - height of the merriment a sound of a dirge echoing through the streets - caused the dance to stop. The funeral music paused before the doors of - Province House, where the dance was going on, and they were flung open. - Muffled drums marked time for a company that began to file down the great - stair from the floor above the ball-room: dark men in steeple-hats and - pointed beards, with Bibles, swords, and scrolls, who looked sternly at - the guests and descended to the street. - </p> - <p> - Colonel Joliffe, a Whig, whose age and infirmity had prevented him from - joining Washington, and whose courtesy and intelligence had made him - respected by his foes, acted as chorus: “These I take to be the Puritan - governors of Massachusetts: Endicott, Winthrop, Vane, Dudley, Haynes, - Bellingham, Leverett, Bradstreet.” Then came a rude soldier, mailed, - begirt with arms: the tyrant Andros; a brown-faced man with a sailor's - gait: Sir William Phipps; a courtier wigged and jewelled: Earl Bellomont; - the crafty, well-mannered Dudley; the twinkling, red-nosed Shute; the - ponderous Burnet; the gouty Belcher; Shirley, Pownall, Bernard, - Hutchinson; then a soldier, whose cocked hat he held before his face. - “'Tis the shape of Gage!” cried an officer, turning pale. The lights were - dull and an uncomfortable silence had fallen on the company. Last, came a - tall man muffled in a military cloak, and as he paused on the landing the - guests looked from him to their host in amazement, for it was the figure - of Howe himself. The governor's patience was at an end, for this was a - part of the masquerade that had not been looked for. He fiercely cried to - Joliffe, “There is a plot in this. Your head has stood too long on a - traitor's shoulders.” - </p> - <p> - “Make haste to cut it off, then,” was the reply, “for the power of Sir - William Howe and of the king, his master, is at an end. These shadows are - mourners at his funeral. Look! The last of the governors.” - </p> - <p> - Howe rushed with drawn sword on the figure of himself, when it turned and - looked at him. The blade clanged to the floor and Howe fell back with a - gasp of horror, for the face was his own. Hand nor voice was raised to - stay the double-goer as it mournfully passed on. At the threshold it - stamped its foot and shook its fists in air; then the door closed. Mingled - with the strains of the funeral march, as it died along the empty streets, - came the tolling of the bell on South Church steeple, striking the hour of - midnight. The festivities were at an end and, oppressed by a nameless - fear, the spectators of this strange pageant made ready for departure; but - before they left the booming of cannon at the southward announced that - Washington had advanced. The glories of Province House were over. When the - last of the royal governors left it he paused on the threshold, beat his - foot on the stone, and flung up his hands in an attitude of grief and - rage. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0116" id="link2H_4_0116"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - OLD ESTHER DUDLEY - </h2> - <p> - Boston had surrendered. Washington was advancing from the heights where he - had trained his guns on the British works, and Sir William Howe lingered - at the door of Province House,—last of the royal governors who would - stand there,—and cursed and waved his hands and beat his heel on the - step, as if he were crushing rebellion by that act. The sound brought an - old woman to his side. “Esther Dudley!” he exclaimed. “Why are you not - gone?” - </p> - <p> - “I shall never leave. As housekeeper for the governors and pensioner of - the king, this has been my home; the only home I know. Go back, but send - more troops. I will keep the house till you return.” - </p> - <p> - “Grant that I may return,” he cried. “Since you will stay, take this bag - of guineas and keep this key until a governor shall demand it.” - </p> - <p> - Then, with fierce and moody brow, the governor went forth, and the faded - eyes of Esther Dudley saw him nevermore. When the soldiers of the republic - cast about for quarters in Boston town, they spared the official mansion - to this old woman. Her bridling toryism and assumption of old state amused - them and did no harm; indeed, her loyalty was half admired; beside, nobody - took the pride in the place that she did, or would keep it in better - order. That she sometimes had a half-dozen of unrepentant codgers in to - dinner, and that they were suspected of drinking healths to George III. in - crusted port, was a fact to blink. Rumor had it that not all her guests - were flesh and blood, but that she had an antique mirror across which - ancient occupants of the house would pass in shadowy procession at her - command, and that she was wont to have the Shirleys, Olivers, Hutchinsons, - and Dudleys out of their graves to hold receptions there; so a touch of - dread may have mingled in the feeling that kept the populace aloof. - </p> - <p> - Living thus by herself, refusing to hear of rebel victories, construing - the bonfires, drumming, hurrahs, and bell-ringing to signify fresh - triumphs for England, she drifted farther and farther out of her time and - existed in the shadows of the past. She lighted the windows for the king's - birthday, and often from the cupola watched for a British fleet, heeding - not the people below, who, as they saw her withered face, repeated the - prophecy, with a laugh “When the golden Indian on Province House shall - shoot his arrow and the cock on South Church spire shall crow, look for a - royal governor again.” So, when it was bandied about the streets that the - governor was coming, she took it in no wise strange, but dressed herself - in silk and hoops, with store of ancient jewels, and made ready to receive - him. In truth, there was a function, for already a man of stately mien, - and richly dressed, was advancing through the court, with a staff of men - in wigs and laced coats behind him, and a company of troops at a little - distance. Esther Dudley flung the door wide and dropping on her knees held - forth the key with the cry, “Thank heaven for this hour! God save the - king!” - </p> - <p> - The governor put off his hat and helped the woman to her feet. “A strange - prayer,” said he; “yet we will echo it to this effect: For the good of the - realm that still owns him to be its ruler, God save King George.” - </p> - <p> - Esther Dudley stared wildly. That face she remembered now,—the - proscribed rebel, John Hancock; governor, not by royal grant, but by the - people's will. - </p> - <p> - “Have I welcomed a traitor? Then let me die.” - </p> - <p> - “Alas! Mistress Dudley, the world has changed for you in these later - years. America has no king.” He offered her his arm, and she clung to it - for a moment, then, sinking down, the great key, that she so long had - treasured, clanked to the floor. - </p> - <p> - “I have been faithful unto death,” she gasped. “God save the king!” - </p> - <p> - The people uncovered, for she was dead. - </p> - <p> - “At her tomb,” said Hancock, “we will bid farewell forever to the past. A - new day has come for us. In its broad light we will press onward.” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0117" id="link2H_4_0117"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LOSS OF JACOB HURD - </h2> - <p> - Jacob Hurd, stern witch-harrier of Ipswich, can abide nothing out of the - ordinary course of things, whether it be flight on a broomstick or the - wrong adding of figures; so his son gives him trouble, for he is an - imaginative boy, who walks alone, talking to the birds, making rhymes, - picking flowers, and dreaming. That he will never be a farmer, mechanic, - or tradesman is as good as certain, and one day when the child runs in - with a story of a golden horse, with tail and mane of silver, on which he - has ridden over land and sea, climbing mountains and swimming rivers, he - turns pale with fright lest the boy be bewitched; then, as the awfulness - of the invention becomes manifest, he cries, “Thou knowest thou art - lying,” and strikes the little fellow. - </p> - <p> - The boy staggers into his mother's arms, and that night falls into a - fever, in which he raves of his horse and the places he will see, while - Jacob sits by his side, too sore in heart for words, and he never leaves - the cot for food or sleep till the fever is burned out. Just before he - closes his eyes the child looks about him and says that he hears the horse - pawing in the road, and, either for dust or cloud or sun gleam, it seems - for an instant as if the horse were there. The boy gives a cry of joy, - then sinks upon his pillow, lifeless. - </p> - <p> - Some time after this Jacob sets off one morning, while the stars are out, - to see three witches hanged, but at evening his horse comes flying up the - road, splashed with blood and foam, and the neighbors know from that of - Jacob's death, for he is lying by the wayside with an Indian arrow in his - heart and an axemark on his head. The wife runs to the door, and, though - she shakes with fear at its approach, she sees that in the sunset glow the - horse's sides have a shine like gold, and its mane and tail are silver - white. Now the animal is before the house, but the woman does not faint or - cry at the blood splash on the saddle, for—is it the dust-cloud that - takes that shape?—she sees on its back a boy with a shining face, - who throws a kiss at her,—her Paul. He, little poet, lives in - spirit, and has found happiness. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0118" id="link2H_4_0118"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HOBOMAK - </h2> - <p> - Such was the Indian name of the site of Westboro, Massachusetts, and the - neighboring pond was Hochomocko. The camp of the red men near the shore - was full of bustle one day, for their belle, Iano, was to marry the young - chief, Sassacus. The feast was spread and all were ready to partake of it, - when it was found that the bride was missing. One girl had seen her steal - into the wood with a roguish smile on her lip, and knew that she intended - to play hide-and-seek with Sassacus before she should be proclaimed a - wife, but the day wore on and she did not come. Among those who were late - in reaching camp was Wequoash, who brought a panther in that he had slain - on Boston Hill, and he bragged about his skill, as usual. There had been a - time when he was a rival of the chief for the hand of Iano, and he showed - surprise and concern at her continued absence. The search went on for two - days, and, at the end of that time, the girl's body was taken from the - lake. - </p> - <p> - At the funeral none groaned so piteously as Wequoash. Yet Sassacus felt - his loss so keenly that he fell into a sickness next day, and none was - found so constant in his ministrations as Wequoash; but all to no avail, - for within a week Sassacus, too, was dead. As the strongest and bravest - remaining in the tribe, Wequoash became heir to his honors by election. - </p> - <p> - A year later he sat moodily by the lakeside, when a flame burst up from - the water, and a canoe floated toward him that a mysterious agency - impelled him to enter. The boat sped toward the flame, that, at his - approach, assumed Iano's form. He heard the water gurgle as he passed over - the spot where the shape had glimmered, but there was no other sound or - check. Next year this thing occurred again, and then the spirit spoke: - “Only once more.” - </p> - <p> - Yet a third time his fate took him to the spot, and as the hour came on he - called his people to him: “This,” said he, “is my death-day. I have done - evil, and the time comes none too soon. Sassacus was your chief. I envied - him his happiness, and gave him poison when I nursed him. Worse than that, - I saw Iano in her canoe on her wedding-day. She had refused my hand. I - entered my canoe and chased her over the water, in pretended sport, but in - the middle of the lake I upset her birch and she was drowned. See! she - comes!” - </p> - <p> - For, as he spoke, the light danced up again, and the boat came, - self-impelled, to the strand. Wequoash entered it, and with head bent down - was hurried away. Those on the shore saw the flame condense to a woman's - shape, and a voice issued from it: “It is my hour!” A blinding bolt of - lightning fell, and at the appalling roar of thunder all hid their faces. - When they looked up, boat and flame had vanished. Whenever, afterward, an - Indian rowed across the place where the murderer had sunk, he dropped a - stone, and the monument that grew in that way can be seen on the pond - floor to this day. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0119" id="link2H_4_0119"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BERKSHIRE TORIES - </h2> - <p> - The tories of Berkshire, Massachusetts, were men who had been endeared to - the king by holding office under warrant from that sacred personage. They - have been gently dealt with by historians, but that is “overstrained - magnanimity which concentrates its charities and praises for defeated - champions of the wrong, and reserves its censures for triumphant defenders - of the right.” While the following incidents have been so well avouched - that they deserve to stand as history, their picturesqueness justifies - renewed acquaintance. - </p> - <p> - Among the loyalists was Gideon Smith, of Stockbridge, who had helped - British prisoners to escape, and had otherwise made himself so obnoxious - that he was forced for a time to withdraw and pass a season of penitence - and meditation in a cavern near Lenox, that is called the Tories' Glen. - Here he lay for weeks, none but his wife knowing where he was, but at his - request she walked out every day with her children, leading them past his - cave, where he fed on their faces with hungry eyes. They prattled on, - never dreaming that their father was but a few feet from them. Smith - survived the war and lived to be on good terms with his old foes. - </p> - <p> - In Lenox lived a Tory, one of those respectable buffers to whom wealth and - family had given immunity in the early years of the war, but who sorely - tried the temper of his neighbors by damning everything American from - Washington downward. At last they could endure his abuse no longer; his - example had affected other Anglomaniacs, and a committee waited on him to - tell him that he could either swear allegiance to the colonies or be - hanged. He said he would be hanged if he would swear, or words to that - effect, and hanged he was, on a ready-made gallows in the street. He was - let down shortly, “brought around” with rum, and the oath was offered - again. He refused it. This had not been looked for. It had been taken for - granted that he would abjure his fealty to the king at the first - tightening of the cord. A conference was held, and it was declared that - retreat would be undignified and unsafe, so the Tory was swung up again, - this time with a yank that seemed to “mean business.” He hung for some - time, and when lowered gave no sign of life. There was some show of alarm - at this, for nobody wanted to kill the old fellow, and every effort was - made to restore consciousness. At last the lungs heaved, the purple faded - from his cheek, his eyes opened, and he gasped, “I'll swear.” With a shout - of joy the company hurried him to the tavern, seated him before the fire, - and put a glass of punch in his hand. He drank the punch to Washington's - health, and after a time was heard to remark to himself, “It's a hard way - to make Whigs, but it'll do it.” - </p> - <p> - Nathan Jackson, of Tyringham, was another Yankee who had seen fit to take - arms against his countrymen, and when captured he was charged with treason - and remanded for trial. The jail, in Great Barrington, was so little used - in those days of sturdy virtue that it had become a mere shed, fit to hold - nobody, and Jackson, after being locked into it, might have walked out - whenever he felt disposed; but escape, he thought, would have been a - confession of the wrongness of Tory principles, or of a fear to stand - trial. He found life so monotonous, however, that he asked the sheriff to - let him go out to work during the day, promising to sleep in his cell, and - such was his reputation for honesty that his request was granted without a - demur, the prisoner returning every night to be locked up. When the time - approached for the court to meet in Springfield heavy harvesting had - begun, and, as there was no other case from Berkshire County to present, - the sheriff grumbled at the bother of taking his prisoner across fifty - miles of rough country, but Jackson said that he would make it all right - by going alone. The sheriff was glad to be released from this duty, so off - went the Tory to give himself up and be tried for his life. On the way he - was overtaken by Mr. Edwards, of the Executive Council, then about to meet - in Boston, and without telling his own name or office, he learned the - extraordinary errand of this lonely pedestrian. Jackson was tried, - admitted the charges against him, and was sentenced to death. While he - awaited execution of the law upon him, the council in Boston received - petitions for clemency, and Mr. Edwards asked if there was none in favor - of Nathan Jackson. There was none. Mr. Edwards related the circumstance of - his meeting with the condemned man, and a murmur of surprise and - admiration went around the room. A despatch was sent to Springfield. When - it reached there the prison door was flung open and Jackson walked forth - free. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0120" id="link2H_4_0120"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE REVENGE OF JOSIAH BREEZE - </h2> - <p> - Two thousand Cape Cod fishermen had gone to join the colonial army, and in - their absence the British ships had run in shore to land crews on - mischievous errands. No man, woman, or child on the Cape but hated the - troops and sailors of King George, and would do anything to work them - harm. When the Somerset was wrecked off Truro, in 1778, the crew were - helped ashore, 'tis true, but they were straightway marched to prison, and - it was thought that no other frigate would venture near the shifting dunes - where she had laid her skeleton, as many a good ship had done before and - has done since. It was November, and ugly weather was shutting in, when a - three-decker, that had been tacking off shore and that flew the red flag, - was seen to yaw wildly while reefing sail and drift toward land with a - broken tiller. No warning signal was raised on the bluffs; not a hand was - stirred to rescue. Those who saw the accident watched with sullen - satisfaction the on-coming of the vessel, nor did they cease to look for - disaster when the ship anchored and stowed sail. - </p> - <p> - Ezekiel and Josiah Breeze, father and son, stood at the door of their - cottage and watched her peril until three lights twinkling faintly through - the gray of driving snow were all that showed where the enemy lay, - straining at her cables and tossing on a wrathful sea. They stood long in - silence, but at last the boy exclaimed, “I'm going to the ship.” - </p> - <p> - “If you stir from here, you're no son of mine,” said Ezekiel. - </p> - <p> - “But she's in danger, dad.” - </p> - <p> - “As she oughter be. By mornin' she'll be strewed along the shore and not a - spar to mark where she's a-swingin' now.” - </p> - <p> - “And the men?” - </p> - <p> - “It's a jedgment, boy.” - </p> - <p> - The lad remembered how the sailors of the Ajax had come ashore to burn the - homes of peaceful fishermen and farmers; how women had been insulted; how - his friends and mates had been cut down at Long Island with British lead - and steel; how, when he ran to warn away a red-faced fellow that was - robbing his garden, the man had struck him on the shoulder with a cutlass. - He had sworn then to be revenged. But to let a host go down to death and - never lift a helping hand—was that a fair revenge? “I've got to go, - dad,” he burst forth. “Tomorrow morning there'll be five hundred faces - turned up on the beach, covered with ice and staring at the sky, and five - hundred mothers in England will wonder when they're goin' to see those - faces again. If ever they looked at me the sight of 'em would never go out - of my eyes. I'd be harnted by 'em, awake and asleep. And to-morrow is - Thanksgiving. I've got to go, dad, and I will.” So speaking, he rushed - away and was swallowed in the gloom. - </p> - <p> - The man stared after him; then, with a revulsion of feeling, he cried, - “You're right, 'Siah. I'll go with you.” But had he called in tones of - thunder he would not have been heard in the roar of the wind and crash of - the surf. As he reached the shore he saw faintly on the phosphorescent - foam a something that climbed a hill of water; it was lost over its crest - and reappeared on the wave beyond; it showed for a moment on the third - wave, then it vanished in the night. “Josiah!” It was a long, querulous - cry. No answer. In half an hour a thing rode by the watcher on the sands - and fell with a crash beside him—a boat bottom up: his son's. - </p> - <p> - Next day broke clear, with new snow on the ground. In his house at - Provincetown, Captain Breeze was astir betimes, for his son Ezekiel, his - grandson Josiah, and all other relatives who were not at the front with - Washington were coming for the family reunion. Plump turkeys were ready - for the roasting, great loaves of bread and cake stood beside the oven, - redoubtable pies of pumpkin and apple filled the air with maddening odors. - The people gathered and chattered around his cheery fire of the damage - that the storm had done, when Ezekiel stumbled in, his brown face haggard, - his lips working, and a tremor in his hands. He said, “Josiah!” in a thick - voice, then leaned his arms against the chimney and pressed his face upon - them. Among fishermen whose lives are in daily peril the understanding of - misfortune is quick, and the old man put his hand on the shoulder of his - son and bent his head. The day of joy was become a day of gloom. As the - news went out, the house began to fill with sympathizing friends, and - there was talking in low voices through the rooms, when a cry of surprise - was heard outside. A ship, cased in tons of ice, was forging up the - harbor, her decks swarming with blue jackets, some of whom were beating - off the frozen masses from lower spars and rigging. She followed the - channel so steadily, it was plain to be seen that a wise hand was at her - helm; her anchor ran out and she swung on the tide. “The Ajax, as I'm a - sinner!” exclaimed a sailor on shore. A boat put off from her, and people - angrily collected at the wharf, with talk of getting out their guns, when - a boyish figure arose in the stern, and was greeted with a shout of - surprise and welcome. - </p> - <p> - The boat touched the beach, Josiah Breeze leaped out of it, and in another - minute his father had him in a bear's embrace, making no attempt to stop - the tears that welled out of his eyes. An officer had followed Josiah on - shore, and going to the group he said, “That boy is one to be proud of. He - put out in a sea that few men could face, to save an enemy's ship and - pilot it into the harbor. I could do no less than bring him back.” There - was praise and laughter and clasping of hands, and when the Thanksgiving - dinner was placed, smoking, on the board, the commander of H. M. S. Ajax - was among the jolliest of the guests at Captain Breeze's table. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0121" id="link2H_4_0121"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE MAY-POLE OF MERRYMOUNT - </h2> - <p> - The people of Merrymount—unsanctified in the eyes of their Puritan - neighbors, for were they not Episcopals, who had pancakes at Shrovetide - and wassail at Christmas?—were dancing about their May-pole one - summer evening, for they tried to make it May throughout the year. Some - were masked like animals, and all were tricked with flowers and ribbons. - Within their circle, sharing in song and jest, were the lord and lady of - the revels, and an English clergyman waiting to join the pair in wedlock. - Life, they sang, should be all jollity: away with care and duty; leave - wisdom to the weak and old, and sanctity for fools. Watching the sport - from a neighboring wood stood a band of frowning Puritans, and as the sun - set they stalked forth and broke through the circle. All was dismay. The - bells, the laughter, the song were silent, and some who had tasted Puritan - wrath before shrewdly smelled the stocks. A Puritan of iron face—it - was Endicott, who had cut the cross from the flag of England—warning - aside the “priest of Baal,” proceeded to hack the pole down with his - sword. A few swinging blows, and down it sank, with its ribbons and - flowers. - </p> - <p> - “So shall fall the pride of vain people; so shall come to grief the - preachers of false religion,” quoth he. “Truss those fellows to the trees - and give them half a dozen of blows apiece as token that we brook no - ungodly conduct and hostility to our liberties. And you, king and queen of - the May, have you no better things to think about than fiddling and - dancing? How if I punish you both?” - </p> - <p> - “Had I the power I'd punish you for saying it,” answered the swain; “but, - as I have not, I am compelled to ask that the girl go unharmed.” - </p> - <p> - “Will you have it so, or will you share your lover's punishment?” asked - Endicott. - </p> - <p> - “I will take all upon myself,” said the woman. - </p> - <p> - The face of the governor softened. “Let the young fellow's hair be cut, in - pumpkin-shell fashion,” he commanded; “then bring them to me but gently.” - </p> - <p> - He was obeyed, and as the couple came before him, hand in hand, he took a - chain of roses from the fallen pole and cast it about their necks. And so - they were married. Love had softened rigor and all were better for the - assertion of a common humanity. But the May-pole of Merrymount was never - set up again. There were no more games and plays and dances, nor singing - of worldly music. The town went to ruin, the merrymakers were scattered, - and the gray sobriety of religion and toil fell on Pilgrim land again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0122" id="link2H_4_0122"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER - </h2> - <p> - When Charles River was lined with groves and marshes there lived in a - cabin, near Brighton, Massachusetts, an ill-fed rascal named Tom Walker. - There was but one in the commonwealth who was more penurious, and that was - his wife. They squabbled over the spending of a penny and each grudged - food to the other. One day as Tom walked through the pine wood near his - place, by habit watching the ground—for even there a farthing might - be discovered—he prodded his stick into a skull, cloven deep by an - Indian tomahawk. He kicked it, to shake the dirt off, when a gruff voice - spake: “What are you doing in my grounds?” A swarthy fellow, with the face - of a charcoal burner, sat on a stump, and Tom wondered that he had not - seen him as he approached. - </p> - <p> - He replied, “Your grounds! They belong to Deacon Peabody.” - </p> - <p> - “Deacon Peabody be damned!” cried the black fellow; “as I think he will - be, anyhow, if he does not look after his own sins a little sharper and a - little less curiously after his neighbors'. Look, if you want to see how - he is faring,” and, pointing to a tree, he called Tom to notice that the - deacon's name was written on the bark and that it was rotten at the core. - To his surprise, Tom found that nearly every tree had the name of some - prominent man cut upon it. - </p> - <p> - “Who are you?” he asked. - </p> - <p> - “I go by different names in different places,” replied the dark one. “In - some countries I am the black miner; in some the wild huntsman; here I am - the black woodman. I am the patron of slave dealers and master of Salem - witches.” - </p> - <p> - “I think you are the devil,” blurted Tom. - </p> - <p> - “At your service,” replied his majesty. - </p> - <p> - Now, Tom, having lived long with Mrs. Walker, had no fear of the devil, - and he stopped to have a talk with him. The devil remarked, in a careless - tone, that Captain Kidd had buried his treasure in that wood, under his - majesty's charge, and that whoever wished could find and keep it by making - the usual concession. This Tom declined. He told his wife about it, - however, and she was angry with him for not having closed the bargain at - once, declaring that if he had not courage enough to add this treasure to - their possessions she would not hesitate to do it. Tom showed no - disposition to check her. If she got the money he would try to get a share - of it, and if the devil took away his helpmate—well, there were - things that he had made his mind to endure, when he had to. True enough, - the woman started for the wood before sundown, with her spoons in her - apron. When Tom discovered that the spoons were gone he, too, set off, for - he wanted those back, anyway; but he did not overtake his wife. An apron - was found in a tree containing a dried liver and a withered heart, and - near that place the earth had been trampled and strewn with handfuls of - coarse hair that reminded Tom of the man that he had met in the woods. - “Egad!” he muttered, “Old Nick must have had a tough time with her.” Half - in gratitude and half in curiosity, Tom waited to speak to the dark man, - and was next day rewarded by seeing that personage come through the wood - with an axe, whistling carelessly. Tom at once approached him on the - subject of the buried treasure—not the vanished wife, for her he no - longer regarded as a treasure. - </p> - <p> - After some haggling the devil proposed that Tom should start a loan office - in Boston and use Kidd's money in exacting usury. This suited Tom, who - promised to screw four per cent. a month out of the unfortunates who might - ask his aid, and he was seen to start for town with a bag which his - neighbors thought to hold his crop of starveling turnips, but which was - really a king's ransom in gold and jewels—the earnings of Captain - Kidd in long years of honest piracy. It was in Governor Belcher's time, - and cash was scarce. Merchants and professional men as well as the - thriftless went to Tom for money, and, as he always had it, his business - grew until he seemed to have a mortgage on half the men in Boston who were - rich enough to be in debt. He even went so far as to move into a new - house, to ride in his own carriage, and to eat enough to keep body and - soul together, for he did not want to give up his soul to the one who - would claim it just yet. - </p> - <p> - The most singular proof of his thrift—showing that he wanted to save - soul and money both—was shown in his joining the church and becoming - a prayerful Christian. He kept a Bible in his pocket and another on his - desk, resolved to be prepared if a certain gentleman should call. He - buried his old horse feet uppermost, for he was taught that on - resurrection day the world would be turned upside down, and he was - resolved, if his enemy appeared, to give him a run for it. While employed - one afternoon in the congenial task of foreclosing a mortgage his creditor - begged for another day to raise the money. Tom was irritable on account of - the hot weather and talked to him as a good man of the church ought not to - do. - </p> - <p> - “You have made so much money out of me,” wailed the victim of Tom's - philanthropies. - </p> - <p> - “Now, the devil take me if I have made a farthing!” exclaimed Tom. - </p> - <p> - At that instant there were three knocks at the door, and, stepping out to - see who was there, the money lender found himself in presence of his fate. - His little Bible was in a coat on a nail, and the bigger one was on his - desk. He was without defence. The evil one caught him up like a child, had - him on the back of his snorting steed in no time, and giving the beast a - cut he flew like the wind in the teeth of a rising storm toward the - marshes of Brighton. As he reached there a lightning flash descended into - the wood and set it on fire. At the same moment Tom's house was discovered - to be in flames. When his effects were examined nothing was found in his - strong boxes but cinders and shavings. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0123" id="link2H_4_0123"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE GRAY CHAMPION - </h2> - <p> - It befell Sir Edmund Andros to make himself the most hated of the - governors sent to represent the king in New England. A spirit of - independence, born of a free soil, was already moving in the people's - hearts, and the harsh edicts of this officer, as well as the oppressive - measures of his master, brought him into continual conflict with the - people. He it was who went to Hartford to demand the surrender of the - liberties of that colony. The lights were blown out and the patent of - those liberties was hurried away from under his nose and hidden from his - reach in a hollow of the Charter Oak. - </p> - <p> - In Boston, too, he could call no American his friend, and it was there - that he met one of the first checks to his arrogance. It was an April - evening in 1689, and there was an unusual stir in the streets. People were - talking in low tones, and one caught such phrases as, “If the Prince of - Orange is successful, this Andros will lose his head.” “Our pastors are to - be burned alive in King Street.” “The pope has ordered Andros to celebrate - the eve of St. Bartholomew in Boston: we are to be killed.” “Our old - Governor Bradstreet is in town, and Andros fears him.” While talk was - running in this excited strain the sound of a drum was heard coming - through Cornhill. Now was seen a file of soldiers with guns on shoulder, - matches twinkling in the falling twilight, and behind them, on horseback, - Andros and his councillors, including the priest of King's Chapel, all - wearing crucifixes at their throats, all flushed with wine, all looking - down with indifference at the people in their dark cloaks and broadbrimmed - hats, who looked back at them with suspicion and hate. The soldiers trod - the streets like men unused to giving way, and the crowd fell back, - pressed against the buildings. Groans and hisses were heard, and a voice - sent up this cry, “Lord of Hosts, provide a champion for thy people!” - </p> - <p> - Ere the echo of that call had ceased there came from the other end of the - street, stepping as in time to the drum, an aged man, in cloak and steeple - hat, with heavy sword at his thigh. His port was that of a king, and his - dignity was heightened by a snowy beard that fell to his waist. Taking the - middle of the way he marched on until he was but a few paces from the - advancing column. None knew him and he seemed to recognize none among the - crowd. As he drew himself to his height, it seemed in the dusk as if he - were of no mortal mould. His eye blazed, he thrust his staff before him, - and in a voice of invincible command cried, “Halt!” - </p> - <p> - Half because it was habit to obey the word, half because they were cowed - by the majestic presence, the guard stood still and the drum was silenced. - Andros spurred forward, but even he made a pause when he saw the staff - levelled at his breast. “Forward!” he blustered. “Trample the dotard into - the street. How dare you stop the king's governor?” - </p> - <p> - “I have stayed the march of a king himself,” was the answer. “The king you - serve no longer sits on the throne of England. To-morrow you will be a - prisoner. Back, lest you reach the scaffold!” - </p> - <p> - A moment of hesitation on Andros's part encouraged the people to press - closer, and many of them took no pains to hide the swords and pistols that - were girt upon them. The groans and hisses sounded louder. “Down with - Andros! Death to tyrants! A curse on King James!” came from among the - throng, and some of them stooped as if to tear up the pavings. Doubtful, - yet overawed, the governor wheeled about and gloomily marched back through - the streets where he had ridden so arrogantly. In truth, his next night - was spent in prison, for James had fled from England, and William held the - throne. All eyes being on the retreating company, the champion of the - people was not seen to depart, but when they turned to praise and thank - him he had vanished, and there were those who said that he had melted into - twilight. - </p> - <p> - The incident had passed into legend, and fourscore years had followed it, - when the soldiers of another king of England marched down State Street, - and fired on the people of Boston who were gathered below the old State - House. Again it was said that the form of a tall, white-bearded man in - antique garb was seen in that street, warning back the troops and - encouraging the people to resist them. On the little field of Lexington in - early dawn, and at the breastwork on Bunker Hill, where farmers worked by - lantern-light, this dark form was seen—the spirit of New England. - And it is told that whenever any foreign foe or domestic oppressor shall - dare the temper of the people, in the van of the resisting army shall be - found this champion. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0124" id="link2H_4_0124"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE FOREST SMITHY - </h2> - <p> - Early in this century a man named Ainsley appeared at Holyoke, - Massachusetts, and set up a forge in a wood at the edge of the village, - with a two-room cottage to live in. A Yankee peddler once put up at his - place for shelter from a storm, and as the rain increased with every hour - he begged to remain in the house over night, promising to pay for his - accommodation in the morning. The blacksmith, who seemed a mild, - considerate man, said that he was willing, but that, as the rooms were - small, it would be well to refer the matter to his wife. As the peddler - entered the house the wife—a weary-looking woman with white hair—seated - herself at once in a thickly-cushioned arm-chair, and, as if loath to - leave it, told the peddler that if he would put up with simple fare and a - narrow berth he was welcome. After a candle had been lighted the three sat - together for some time, talking of crops and trade, when there came a rush - of hoofs without and a hard-looking man, who had dismounted at the door, - entered without knocking. The blacksmith turned pale and the wife's face - expressed sore anxiety. - </p> - <p> - “What brings you here?” asked the smith. - </p> - <p> - “I must pass the night here,” answered the man. - </p> - <p> - “But, stranger, I can't accommodate you. We have but one spare room, and - that has been taken by the man who is sitting there.” - </p> - <p> - “Then give me a bit to eat.” - </p> - <p> - “Get the stranger something,” said the woman to her husband, without - rising. - </p> - <p> - “Are you lame, that you don't get it yourself?” - </p> - <p> - The woman paused; then said, “Husband, you are tired. Sit here and I will - wait on the stranger.” - </p> - <p> - The blacksmith took the seat, when the stranger again blustered, “It would - be courtesy to offer me that chair, tired as I am. Perhaps you don't know - that I am an officer of the law?” - </p> - <p> - When supper was ready they took their places, the woman drawing up the - arm-chair for her own use, but, as the custom was, they all knelt to say - grace, and while their faces were buried in their hands the candle was - blown out. The stranger jumped up and began walking around the room. When - a light could be found he had gone and the cushion had disappeared from - the chair. “Oh! After all these years!” wailed the woman, and falling on - her knees she sobbed like a child, while her husband in vain tried to - comfort her. The peddler, who had already gone to bed, but who had seen a - part of this puzzling drama through the open door, knew not what to do, - but, feeling some concern for the safety of his own possessions, he drew - his pack into bed with him, and, being tired, fell asleep with the sobs of - the woman sounding in his ears. - </p> - <p> - When he awoke it was broad day and the earth was fresh and bright from its - bath. After dressing he passed into the other room, finding the table - still set, the chair before it without its cushion, the fire out, and - nobody in or about the house. The smithy was deserted, and to his call - there was no response but the chattering of jays in the trees; so, - shouldering his pack, he resumed his journey. He opened his pack at a - farm-house to repair a clock, when he discovered that his watches were - gone, and immediately lodged complaint with the sheriff, but nothing was - ever seen again of Ainsley, his wife, or the rough stranger. Who was the - thief? What was in the cushion? And what brought the stranger to the - house? - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0125" id="link2H_4_0125"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - WAHCONAH FALLS - </h2> - <p> - The pleasant valley of Dalton, in the Berkshire Hills, had been under the - rule of Miacomo for forty years when a Mohawk dignitary of fifty scalps - and fifty winters came a-wooing his daughter Wahconah. On a June day in - 1637, as the girl sat beside the cascade that bears her name, twining - flowers in her hair and watching leaves float down the stream, she became - conscious of a pair of eyes bent on her from a neighboring coppice, and - arose in some alarm. Finding himself discovered, the owner of the eyes, a - handsome young fellow, stepped forward with a quieting air of - friendliness, and exclaimed, “Hail, Bright Star!” - </p> - <p> - “Hail, brother,” answered Wahconah. - </p> - <p> - “I am Nessacus,” said the man, “one of King Philip's soldiers. Nessacus is - tired with his flight from the Long Knives (the English), and his people - faint. Will Bright Star's people shut their lodges against him and his - friends?” - </p> - <p> - The maiden answered, “My father is absent, in council with the Mohawks, - but his wigwams are always open. Follow.” - </p> - <p> - Nessacus gave a signal, and forth from the wood came a sad-eyed, - battle-worn troop that mustered about him. Under the girl's lead they went - down to the valley and were hospitably housed. Five days later Miacomo - returned, with him the elderly Mohawk lover, and a priest, Tashmu, of - repute a cringing schemer, with whom hunters and soldiers could have - nothing in common, and whom they would gladly have put out of the way had - they not been deterred by superstitious fears. The strangers were - welcomed, though Tashmu looked at them gloomily, and there were games in - their honor, Nessacus usually proving the winner, to Wahconah's joy, for - she and the young warrior had fallen in love at first sight, and it was - not long before he asked her father for her hand. Miacomo favored the - suit, but the priest advised him, for politic reasons, to give the girl to - the old Mohawk, and thereby cement a tribal friendship that in those days - of English aggression might be needful. The Mohawk had three wives - already, but he was determined to add Wahconah to his collection, and he - did his best, with threats and flattery, to enforce his suit. Nessacus - offered to decide the matter in a duel with his rival, and the challenge - was accepted, but the wily Tashmu discovered in voices of wind and - thunder, flight of birds and shape of clouds, such omens that the scared - Indians unanimously forbade a resort to arms. “Let the Great Spirit - speak,” cried Tashmu, and all yielded their consent. - </p> - <p> - Invoking a ban on any who should follow, Tashmu proclaimed that he would - pass that night in Wizard's Glen, where, by invocations, he would learn - the divine will. At sunset he stalked forth, but he had not gone far ere - the Mohawk joined him, and the twain proceeded to Wahconah Falls. There - was no time for magical hocus-pocus that night, for both of them toiled - sorely in deepening a portion of the stream bed, so that the current ran - more swiftly and freely on that side, and in the morning Tashmu announced - in what way the Great Spirit would show his choice. Assembling the tribe - on the river-bank, below a rock that midway split the current, a canoe, - with symbols painted on it, was set afloat near the falls. If it passed - the dividing rock on the side where Nessacus waited, he should have - Wahconah. If it swerved to the opposite shore, where the Mohawk and his - counsellor stood, the Great Spirit had chosen the old chief for her - husband. Of course, the Mohawk stood on the deeper side. On came the - little boat, keeping the centre of the stream. It struck the rock, and all - looked eagerly, though Tashmu and the Mohawk could hardly suppress an - exultant smile. A little wave struck the canoe: it pivoted against the - rock and drifted to the feet of Nessacus. A look of blank amazement came - over the faces of the defeated wooer and his friend, while a shout of - gladness went up, that the Great Spirit had decided so well. The young - couple were wed with rejoicings; the Mohawk trudged homeward, and, to the - general satisfaction, Tashmu disappeared with him. Later, when Tashmu was - identified as the one who had guided Major Talcott's soldiers to the - valley, the priest was caught and slain by Miacomo's men. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0126" id="link2H_4_0126"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - KNOCKING AT THE TOMB - </h2> - <p> - Knock, knock, knock! The bell has just gone twelve, and there is the clang - again upon the iron door of the tomb. The few people of Lanesboro who are - paying the penance of misdeeds or late suppers, by lying awake at that - dread hour, gather their blankets around their shoulders and mutter a word - of prayer for deliverance against unwholesome visitors of the night. Why - is the old Berkshire town so troubled? Who is it that lies buried in that - tomb, with its ornament of Masonic symbols? Why was the heavy iron knocker - placed on the door? The question is asked, but no one will answer it, nor - will any say who the woman is that so often visits the cemetery at the - stroke of midnight and sounds the call into the chamber of the dead. - Starlight, moonlight, or storm—it makes no difference to the woman. - There she goes, in her black cloak, seen dim in the night, except where - there are snow and moon together, and there she waits, her hand on the - knocker, for the bell to strike to set up her clangor. Some say that she - is crazy, and it is her freak to do this thing. Is she calling on the - corpses to rise and have a dance among the graves? or has she been asked - to call the occupant of that house at a given hour? Perhaps, weary of - life, she is asking for admittance to the rest and silence of the tomb. - She has long been beneath the sod, this troubler of dreams. Who knows her - secret? - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0127" id="link2H_4_0127"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WHITE DEER OF ONOTA - </h2> - <p> - Beside quiet Onota, in the Berkshire Hills, dwelt a band of Indians, and - while they lived here a white deer often came to drink. So rare was the - appearance of an animal like this that its visits were held as good omens, - and no hunter of the tribe ever tried to slay it. A prophet of the race - had said, “So long as the white doe drinks at Onota, famine shall not - blight the Indian's harvest, nor pestilence come nigh his lodge, nor - foeman lay waste his country.” And this prophecy held true. That summer - when the deer came with a fawn as white and graceful as herself, it was a - year of great abundance. On the outbreak of the French and Indian War a - young officer named Montalbert was despatched to the Berkshire country to - persuade the Housatonic Indians to declare hostility to the English, and - it was as a guest in the village of Onota that he heard of the white deer. - Sundry adventurers had made valuable friendships by returning to the - French capital with riches and curiosities from the New World. Even - Indians had been abducted as gifts for royalty, and this young ambassador - resolved that when he returned to his own country the skin of the white - deer should be one of the trophies that would win him a smile from Louis. - </p> - <p> - He offered a price for it—a price that would have bought all their - possessions and miles of the country roundabout, but their deer was - sacred, and their refusal to sacrifice it was couched in such indignant - terms that he wisely said no more about it in the general hearing. There - was in the village a drunken fellow, named Wondo, who had come to that - pass when he would almost have sold his soul for liquor, and him the - officer led away and plied with rum until he promised to bring the white - doe to him. The pretty beast was so familiar with men that she suffered - Wondo to catch her and lead her to Montalbert. Making sure that none was - near, the officer plunged his sword into her side and the innocent - creature fell. The snowy skin, now splashed with red, was quickly stripped - off, concealed among the effects in Montalbert's outfit, and he set out - for Canada; but he had not been many days on his road before Wondo, in an - access of misery and repentance, confessed to his share of the crime that - had been done and was slain on the moment. - </p> - <p> - With the death of the deer came an end to good fortune. Wars, blights, - emigration followed, and in a few years not a wigwam was left standing - beside Onota. - </p> - <p> - There is a pendant to this legend, incident to the survival of the deer's - white fawn. An English hunter, visiting the lake with dog and gun, was - surprised to see on its southern bank a white doe. The animal bent to - drink and at the same moment the hunter put his gun to his shoulder. - Suddenly a howl was heard, so loud, so long, that the woods echoed it, and - the deer, taking alarm, fled like the wind. The howl came from the dog, - and, as that animal usually showed sagacity in the presence of game, the - hunter was seized with a fear that its form was occupied, for the time, by - a hag who lived alone in the “north woods,” and who was reputed to have - appeared in many shapes—for this was not so long after witch times - that their influence was forgotten. - </p> - <p> - Drawing his ramrod, the man gave his dog such a beating that the poor - creature had something worth howling for, because it might be the witch - that he was thrashing. Then running to the shanty of the suspected woman - he flung open her door and demanded to see her back, for, if she had - really changed her shape, every blow that he had given to the dog would - have been scored on her skin. When he had made his meaning clear, the - crone laid hold on the implement that served her for horse at night, and - with the wooden end of it rained blows on him so rapidly that, if the dog - had had half the meanness in his nature that some people have, the - spectacle would have warmed his heart, for it was a prompt and severe - revenge for his sufferings. And to the last the hunter could not decide - whether the beating that he received was prompted by indignation or - vengeance. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0128" id="link2H_4_0128"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - WIZARD'S GLEN - </h2> - <p> - Four miles from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, among the Berkshire Hills, is a - wild valley, noted for its echoes, that for a century and more has been - called Wizard's Glen. Here the Indian priests performed their - incantations, and on the red-stained Devil's Altar, it was said, they - offered human sacrifice to Hobomocko and his demons of the wood. In - Berkshire's early days a hunter, John Chamberlain, of Dalton, who had - killed a deer and was carrying it home on his shoulders, was overtaken on - the hills by a storm and took shelter from it in a cavernous recess in - Wizard's Glen. In spite of his fatigue he was unable to sleep, and while - lying on the earth with open eyes he was amazed to see the wood bend apart - before him, disclosing a long aisle that was mysteriously lighted and that - contained hundreds of capering forms. As his eyes grew accustomed to the - faint light he made out tails and cloven feet on the dancing figures; and - one tall form with wings, around whose head a wreath of lightning - glittered, and who received the deference of the rest, he surmised to be - the devil himself. It was such a night and such a place as Satan and his - imps commonly chose for high festivals. - </p> - <p> - As he lay watching them through the sheeted rain a tall and painted Indian - leaped on Devil's Altar, fresh scalps dangling round his body in festoons, - and his eyes blazing with fierce command. In a brief incantation he - summoned the shadow hordes around him. They came, with torches that burned - blue, and went around and around the rock singing a harsh chant, until, at - a sign, an Indian girl was dragged in and flung on the block of sacrifice. - The figures rushed toward her with extended arms and weapons, and the - terrified girl gave one cry that rang in the hunter's ears all his life - after. The wizard raised his axe: the devils and vampires gathered to - drink the blood and clutch the escaping soul, when in a lightning flash - the girl's despairing glance fell on the face of Chamberlain. That look - touched his manhood, and drawing forth his Bible he held it toward the - rabble while he cried aloud the name of God. There was a crash of thunder. - The light faded, the demons vanished, the storm swept past, and peace - settled on the hills. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0129" id="link2H_4_0129"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BALANCED ROCK - </h2> - <p> - Balanced Rock, or Rolling Rock, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a mass - of limestone that was deposited where it stands by the great continental - glacier during the ice age, and it weighs four hundred and eighty tons - (estimated) in spite of its centuries of weathering. Here one of the - Atotarhos, kings of the Six Nations, had his camp. He was a fierce man, - who ate and drank from bowls made of the skulls of enemies, and who, when - he received messages and petitions, wreathed himself from head to foot - with poison snakes. The son of this ferocious being inherited none of his - war-like tendencies; indeed, the lad was almost feminine in appearance, - and on succeeding to power he applied himself to the cultivation of - peaceful arts. Later historians have uttered a suspicion that he was a - natural son of Count Frontenac, but that does not suit with this legend. - </p> - <p> - The young Atotarho stood near Balanced Rock watching a number of big boys - play duff. In this game one stone is placed upon another and the players, - standing as far from it as they fancy they can throw, attempt to knock it - out of place with other stones. The silence of Atotarho and his slender, - girlish look called forth rude remarks from the boys, who did not know - him, and who dared him to test his skill. The young chief came forward, - and as he did so the jeers and laughter changed to cries of astonishment - and fear, for at each step he grew in size until he towered above them, a - giant. Then they knew him, and fell down in dread, but he took no revenge. - Catching up great bowlders he tossed them around as easily as if they had - been beechnuts, and at last, lifting the balanced rock, he placed it - lightly where it stands to-day, gave them a caution against ill manners - and hasty judgments, and resumed his slender form. For many years after, - the old men of the tribe repeated this story and its lesson from the top - of Atotarho's duff. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0130" id="link2H_4_0130"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SHONKEEK-MOONKEEK - </h2> - <p> - This is the Mohegan name of the pretty lake in the Berkshires now called - Pontoosuc. Shonkeek was a boy, Moonkeek a girl, and they were cousins who - grew up as children commonly do, whether in house or wigwam: they roamed - the woods and hills together, filled their baskets with flowers and - berries, and fell in love. But the marriage of cousins was forbidden in - the Mohegan polity, and when they reached an age in which they found - companionship most delightful their rambles were interdicted and they were - even told to avoid each other. This had the usual effect, and they met on - islands in the lake at frequent intervals, to the torment of one - Nockawando, who wished to wed the girl himself, and who reported her - conduct to her parents. - </p> - <p> - The lovers agreed, after this, to fly to an Eastern tribe into which they - would ask to be adopted, but they were pledged, if aught interfered with - their escape, to meet beneath the lake. Nockawando interfered. On the next - night, as the unsuspecting Shonkeek was paddling over to the island where - the maid awaited him, the jealous rival, rowing softly in his wake, sent - an arrow into his back, and Shonkeek, without a cry, pitched headlong into - the water. Yet, to the eyes of Nockawando, he appeared to keep his seat - and urge his canoe forward. The girl saw the boat approach: it sped, now, - like an eagle's flight. One look, as it passed the rock; one glance at the - murderer, crouching in his birchen vessel, and with her lover's name on - her lips she leaped into her own canoe and pushed out from shore. - Nockawando heard her raise the death-song and rowed forward as rapidly as - he could, but near the middle of the lake his arm fell palsied. - </p> - <p> - The song had ended and the night had become strangely, horribly still. Not - a chirp of cricket, not a lap of wave, not a rustle of leaf. Motionless - the girl awaited, for his boat was still moving by the impetus of his last - stroke of the paddle. The evening star was shining low on the horizon, and - as her figure loomed in the darkness the star shone through at the point - where her eye had looked forth. It was no human creature that sat there. - Then came the dead man's boat. The two shadows rowed noiselessly together, - and as they disappeared in the mist that was now settling on the - landscape, an unearthly laugh rang over the lake; then all was still. When - Nockawando reached the camp that night he was a raving maniac. The Indians - never found the bodies of the pair, but they believed that while water - remains in Pontoosuc its surface will be vexed by these journeys of the - dead. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0131" id="link2H_4_0131"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SALEM ALCHEMIST - </h2> - <p> - In 1720 there lived in a turreted house at North and Essex Streets, in - Salem, a silent, dark-visaged man,—a reputed chemist. He gathered - simples in the fields, and parcels and bottles came and went between him - and learned doctors in Boston; but report went around that it was not - drugs alone that he worked with, nor medicines for passing ailments that - he distilled. The watchman, drowsily pacing the streets in the small - hours, saw his shadow move athwart the furnace glare in his tower, and - other shadows seemed at the moment to flit about it—shadows that - could be thrown by no tangible form, yet that had a grotesque likeness to - the human kind. A clink of hammers and a hiss of steam were sometimes - heard, and his neighbors devoutly hoped that if he secured the secret of - the philosopher's stone or the universal solvent, it would be honestly - come by. - </p> - <p> - But it was neither gold nor the perilous strong water that he wanted. It - was life: the elixir that would dispel the chill and decrepitude of age, - that would bring back the youthful sparkle to the eye and set the pulses - bounding. He explored the surrounding wilderness day after day; the juices - of its trees and plants he compounded, night after night, long without - avail. Not until after a thousand failures did he conceive that he had - secured the ingredients but they were many, they were perishable, they - must be distilled within five days, for fermentation and decay would set - in if he delayed longer. Gathering the herbs and piling his floor with - fuel, he began his work, alone; the furnace glowed, the retorts bubbled, - and through their long throats trickled drops—golden, ruddy, brown, - and crystal—that would be combined into that precious draught. - </p> - <p> - And none too soon, for under the strain of anxiety he seemed to be aging - fast. He took no sleep, except while sitting upright in his chair, for, - should he yield entirely to nature's appeal, his fire would die and his - work be spoiled. With heavy eyes and aching head he watched his furnace - and listened to the constant drip, drip of the precious liquor. It was the - fourth day. He had knelt to stir his fire to more active burning. Its - brightness made him blink, its warmth was grateful, and he reclined before - it, with elbow on the floor and head resting on his hand. How cheerily the - logs hummed and crackled, yet how drowsily—how slow the hours were—how - dull the watch! Lower, lower sank the head, and heavier grew the eyes. At - last he lay full length on the floor, and the long sleep of exhaustion had - begun. - </p> - <p> - He was awakened by the sound of a bell. “The church bell!” he cried, - starting up. “And people going through the streets to meeting. How is - this? The sun is in the east! My God! I have been asleep! The furnace is - cold. The elixir!” He hastily blended the essences that he had made, - though one or two ingredients were still lacking, and drank them off. - “Faugh!” he exclaimed. “Still unfinished-perhaps spoiled. I must begin - again.” Taking his hat and coat he uttered a weary sigh and was about to - open the door when his cheek blenched with pain, sight seemed to leave - him, the cry for help that rose to his lips was stifled in a groan of - anguish, a groping gesture brought a shelf of retorts and bottles to the - floor, and he fell writhing among their fragments. The elixir of life, - unfinished, was an elixir of death. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0132" id="link2H_4_0132"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ELIZA WHARTON - </h2> - <p> - Under the name of Eliza Wharton for a brief time lived a woman whose name - was said to be Elizabeth Whitman. Little is known of her, and it is - thought that she had gone among strangers to conceal disgrace. She died - without telling her story. In 1788 she arrived at the Bell Tavern, - Danvers, in company with a man, who, after seeing her properly bestowed, - drove away and never returned. A graceful, beautiful, well-bred woman, - with face overcast by a tender melancholy, she kept indoors with her - books, her sewing, and a guitar, avoiding the gossip of the idle. She said - that her husband was absent on a journey, and a letter addressed to “Mrs. - Eliza Wharton” was to be seen on her table when she received callers. Once - a stranger paused at her door and read the name thereon. As he passed on - the woman groaned, “I am undone!” One good woman, seeing her need of care - and defiant of village prattling, took her to her home, and there, after - giving birth to a dead child, she passed away. Among her effects were - letters full of pathetic appeal, and some verses, closing thus: - </p> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - “O thou for whose dear sake I bear - A doom so dreadful, so severe, - May happy fates thy footsteps guide - And o'er thy peaceful home preside. - Nor let Eliza's early tomb - Infect thee with its baleful gloom.” - </pre> - <p> - A stone was raised above her grave, by whom it is not known, and this - inscription was engraved thereon: “This humble stone, in memory of - Elizabeth Whitman, is inscribed by her weeping friends, to whom she - endeared herself by uncommon tenderness and affection. Endowed with - superior genius and acquirements, she was still more endeared by humility - and benevolence. Let candor throw a veil over her frailties, for great was - her charity for others. She sustained the last painful scene far from - every friend, and exhibited an example of calm resignation. Her departure - was on the 25th of July, 1788, in the thirty-seventh year of her age, and - the tears of strangers watered her grave.” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0133" id="link2H_4_0133"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS - </h2> - <p> - Bitter were the persecutions endured by Quakers at the hands of the - Puritans. They were flogged if they were restless in church, and flogged - if they did not go to it. Their ears were slit and they were set in the - stocks if they preached, and if any tender-hearted person gave them bed, - bite, or sup, he, too, was liable to punishment. They were charged with - the awful offence of preaching false doctrine, and no matter how pure - their lives might be, the stern Salemite would concede no good of them - while their faith was different from his. They even suspected Cobbler - Keezar of mischief when he declared that his magic lapstone which Agrippa - had torn from the tower at Nettesheim—gave him a vision of the time - when men would be as glad as nature, when the “snuffler of psalms” would - sing for joy, when priests and Quakers would talk together kindly, when - pillory and gallows should be gone. Poor Keezar! In ecstasy at that - prospect he flung up his arms, and his lapstone rolled into the Merrimack. - The tired mill-girls of Lowell still frequent the spot to seek some dim - vision of future comfort. - </p> - <p> - In contrast to the tales of habitual tyranny toward the Quakers is the - tradition of the Southwicks. Lawrence and Cassandra, of that name, were - banished from Salem, in spite of their blameless lives, for they had - embraced Quakerism. They died within three days of each other on Shelter - Island, but their son and daughter, Daniel and Provided, returned to their - birthplace, and were incessantly fined for not going to church. At last, - having lost their property through seizures made to satisfy their fines, - the General Court of Boston issued an order for their sale, as slaves, to - any Englishman of Virginia or Barbadoes. Edward Butter was assigned to - sell and take them to their master. The day arrived and Salem market-place - was crowded with a throng of the curious. Provided Southwick mounted the - block and Butter began to call for bids. While expatiating on the aptness - of the girl for field or house-service, the master of the Barbadoes ship - on which Butter had engaged passage for himself and his two charges looked - into her innocent face, and roared, in noble dudgeon, “If my ship were - filled with silver, by God, I'd sink her in harbor rather than take away - this child!” The multitude experienced a quick change of feeling and - applauded the sentiment. As the judges and officers trudged away with - gloomy faces, Provided Southwick descended from the auction-block, and - brother and sister went forth into the town free and unharmed. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0134" id="link2H_4_0134"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE COURTSHIP OF MYLES STANDISH - </h2> - <p> - Myles Standish, compact, hard-headed little captain of the Puritan guard - at Plymouth, never knew the meaning of fear until he went a-courting - Priscilla Mullins—or was she a Molines, as some say? He had fought - white men and red men and never reeked of danger in the doing it, but his - courage sank to his boots whenever this demure maiden glanced at him, as - he thought, with approval. Odd, too, for he had been married once, and - Rose was not so long dead that he had forgotten the ways and likings of - women; but he made no progress in his suit, and finally chose John Alden - to urge it for him. John—who divides with Mary Chilton the honor of - being first to land on Plymouth Rock—was a well-favored lad of - twenty-two. Until he could build a house for himself he shared Standish's - cottage and looked up to that worthy as a guardian, but it was a hard task - that was set for him now. He went to goodman Mullins with a slow step and - sober countenance and asked leave to plead his protector's cause. The - father gave it, called his daughter in, and left them together; then, with - noble faith to his mission, the young man begged the maiden's hand for the - captain, dwelling on his valor, strength, wisdom, his military greatness, - his certainty of promotion, his noble lineage, and all good attributes he - could endow him with. - </p> - <p> - Priscilla kept at her spinning while this harangue went on, but the drone - of the wheel did not prevent her noting a sigh and a catch of the breath - that interrupted the discourse now and then. She flushed as she replied, - “Why does not Captain Standish come to me himself? If I am worth the - winning I ought to be worth the wooing.” - </p> - <p> - But John Alden seemed not to notice the girl's confusion until, in a pause - in his eloquence, Priscilla bent her head a little, as if to mend a break - in the flax, and said, “Prithee, John, why don't you speak for yourself?” - </p> - <p> - Then a great light broke on the understanding of John Alden, and a great - warmth welled up in his heart, and—they were married. Myles Standish—well, - some say that he walked in the wedding procession, while one narrator - holds that the sturdy Roundhead tramped away to the woods, where he sat - for a day, hating himself, and that he never forgave his protege nor the - maiden who took advantage of leap year. However that may be, the wedding - was a happy one, and the Aldens of all America claim John and Priscilla - for their ancestors. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0135" id="link2H_4_0135"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MOTHER CREWE - </h2> - <p> - Mother Crewe was of evil repute in Plymouth in the last century. It was - said that she had taken pay for luring a girl into her old farm-house, - where a man lay dead of small-pox, with intent to harm her beauty; she was - accused of blighting land and driving ships ashore with spells; in brief, - she was called a witch, and people, even those who affected to ignore the - craft of wizardry, were content to keep away from her. When the Revolution - ended, Southward Howland demanded Dame Crewe's house and acre, claiming - under law of entail, though primogeniture had been little enforced in - America, where there was room and to spare for all. But Howland was - stubborn and the woman's house had good situation, so one day he rode to - her door and summoned her with a tap of his whip. - </p> - <p> - “What do you here on my land?” said he. - </p> - <p> - “I live on land that is my own. I cleared it, built my house here, and no - other has claim to it.” - </p> - <p> - “Then I lay claim. The place is mine. I shall tear your cabin down on - Friday.” - </p> - <p> - “On Friday they'll dig your grave on Burying Hill. I see the shadow - closing round you. You draw it in with every breath. Quick! Home and make - your peace!” The hag's withered face was touched with spots of red and her - eyes glared in their sunken sockets. - </p> - <p> - “Bandy no witch words with me, woman. On Friday I will return.” And he - swung himself into his saddle. As he did so a black cat leaped on Mother - Crewe's shoulder and stood there, squalling. The woman listened to its - cries as if they were words. Her look of hate deepened. Raising her hand, - she cried, “Your day is near its end. Repent!” - </p> - <p> - “Bah! You have heard what I have said. If on Friday you are not elsewhere, - I'll tear the timbers down and bury you in the ruins.” - </p> - <p> - “Enough!” cried the woman, her form straightening, her voice grown shrill. - “My curse is on you here and hereafter. Die! Then go down to hell!” - </p> - <p> - As she said this the cat leaped from her shoulder to the flank of the - horse, spitting and clawing, and the frightened steed set off at a furious - pace. As he disappeared in the scrub oaks his master was seen vainly - trying to stop him. The evening closed in with fog and chill, and before - the light waned a man faring homeward came upon the corpse of Southward - Howland stretched along the ground. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0136" id="link2H_4_0136"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - AUNT RACHEL'S CURSE - </h2> - <p> - On a headland near Plymouth lived “Aunt Rachel,” a reputed seer, who made - a scant livelihood by forecasting the future for such seagoing people as - had crossed her palm. The crew of a certain brig came to see her on the - day before sailing, and she reproached one of the lads for keeping bad - company. “Avast, there, granny,” interrupted another, who took the chiding - to himself. “None of your slack, or I'll put a stopper on your gab.” The - old woman sprang erect. Levelling her skinny finger at the man, she - screamed, “Moon cursers! You have set false beacons and wrecked ships for - plunder. It was your fathers and mothers who decoyed a brig to these sands - and left me childless and a widow. He who rides the pale horse be your - guide, and you be of the number who follow him!” - </p> - <p> - That night old Rachel's house was burned, and she barely escaped with her - life, but when it was time for the brig to sail she took her place among - the townfolk who were to see it off. The owner of the brig tried to - console her for the loss of the house. “I need it no longer,” she - answered, “for the narrow house will soon be mine, and you wretches cannot - burn that. But you! Who will console you for the loss of your brig?” - </p> - <p> - “My brig is stanch. She has already passed the worst shoal in the bay.” - </p> - <p> - “But she carries a curse. She cannot swim long.” - </p> - <p> - As each successive rock and bar was passed the old woman leaned forward, - her hand shaking, her gray locks flying, her eyes starting, her lips - mumbling maledictions, “like an evil spirit, chiding forth the storms as - ministers of vengeance.” The last shoal was passed, the merchant sighed - with relief at seeing the vessel now safely on her course, when the woman - uttered a harsh cry, and raised her hand as if to command silence until - something happened that she evidently expected. For this the onlookers had - not long to wait: the brig halted and trembled—her sails shook in - the wind, her crew were seen trying to free the cutter—then she - careened and sank until only her mast-heads stood out of the water. Most - of the company ran for boats and lines, and few saw Rachel pitch forward - on the earth-dead, with a fierce smile of exultation on her face. The - rescuers came back with all the crew, save one—the man who had - challenged the old woman and revengefully burned her cabin. Rachel's body - was buried where her house had stood, and the rock—before unknown—where - the brig had broken long bore the name of Rachel's Curse. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0137" id="link2H_4_0137"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - NIX'S MATE - </h2> - <p> - The black, pyramidal beacon, called Nix's Mate, is well known to - yachtsmen, sailors, and excursionists in Boston harbor. It rises above a - shoal,—all that is left of a fair, green island which long ago - disappeared in the sea. In 1636 it had an extent of twelve acres, and on - its highest point was a gallows where pirates were hanged in chains. One - night cries were heard on board of a ship that lay at anchor a little way - off shore, and when the watch put off, to see what might be amiss, the - captain, named Nix, was found murdered in his bed. There was no direct - evidence in the case, and no motive could be assigned for the deed, unless - it was the expectancy of promotion on the part of the mate, in case of his - commander's death. - </p> - <p> - It was found, however, that this possibility gave significance to certain - acts and sayings of that officer during the voyage, and on circumstantial - evidence so slight as this he was convicted and sentenced to death. As he - was led to execution he swore that he was not guilty, as he had done - before, and from the scaffold he cried aloud, “God, show that I am - innocent. Let this island sink and prove to these people that I have never - stained my hands with human blood.” Soon after the execution of his - sentence it was noticed that the surf was going higher on the shore, that - certain rocks were no longer uncovered at low tide, and in time the island - wasted away. The colonists looked with awe on this manifestation and - confessed that God had shown their wrong. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0138" id="link2H_4_0138"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WILD MAN OF CAPE COD - </h2> - <p> - For years after Bellamy's pirate ship was wrecked at Wellfleet, by false - pilotage on the part of one of his captives, a strange-looking man used to - travel up and down the cape, who was believed to be one of the few - survivors of that night of storm, and of the hanging that others underwent - after getting ashore. The pirates had money when the ship struck; it was - found in the pockets of a hundred drowned who were cast on the beach, as - well as among the sands of the cape, for coin was gathered there long - after. They supposed the stranger had his share, or more, and that he - secreted a quantity of specie near his cabin. After his death gold was - found under his clothing in a girdle. He was often received at the houses - of the fishermen, both because the people were hospitable and because they - feared harm if they refused to feed or shelter him; but if his company - grew wearisome he was exorcised by reading aloud a portion of the Bible. - When he heard the holy words he invariably departed. - </p> - <p> - And it was said that fiends came to him at night, for in his room, whether - he appeared to sleep or wake, there were groans and blasphemy, uncanny - words and sounds that stirred the hair of listeners on their scalps. The - unhappy creature cried to be delivered from his tormenters and begged to - be spared from seeing a rehearsal of the murders he had committed. For - some time he was missed from his haunts, and it was thought that he had - secured a ship and set to sea again; but a traveller on the sands, while - passing his cabin in the small hours, had heard a more than usual - commotion, and could distinguish the voice of the wild man raised in - frantic appeal to somebody, or something; still, knowing that it was his - habit to cry out so, and having misgivings about approaching the house, - the traveller only hurried past. A few neighbors went to the lonely cabin - and looked through the windows, which, as well as the doors, were locked - on the inside. The wild man lay still and white on the floor, with the - furniture upset and pieces of gold clutched in his fingers and scattered - about him. There were marks of claws about his neck. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0139" id="link2H_4_0139"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - NEWBURY'S OLD ELM - </h2> - <p> - Among the venerable relics of Newbury few are better known and more prized - than the old elm. It is a stout tree, with a girth of twenty-four and a - half feet, and is said to have been standing since 1713. In that year it - was planted by Richard Jacques, then a youthful rustic, who had a - sweetheart, as all rustics have, and adored her as rustics and other men - should do. On one of his visits he stayed uncommonly late. It was nearly - ten o'clock when he set off for home. The town had been abed an hour or - more; the night was murky and oppressively still, and corpse-candles were - dancing in the graveyard. Witch times had not been so far agone that he - felt comfortable, and, lest some sprite, bogie, troll, or goblin should - waylay him, he tore an elm branch from a tree that grew before his - sweetheart's house, and flourished it as he walked. He reached home - without experiencing any of the troubles that a superstitious fancy had - conjured. As he was about to cast the branch away a comforting vision of - his loved one came into his mind, and he determined to plant the branch at - his own door, that in the hours of their separation he might be reminded - of her who dwelt beneath the parent tree. He did so. It rooted and grew, - and when the youth and maid had long been married, their children and - grandchildren sported beneath its branches. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0140" id="link2H_4_0140"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SAMUEL SEWALL'S PROPHECY - </h2> - <p> - The peace of Newbury is deemed to be permanently secured by the prophecy - of Samuel Sewall, the young man who married the buxom daughter of - Mint-Master John Hull, and received, as wedding portion, her weight in - fresh-coined pine-tree shillings. He afterward became notorious as one of - the witchcraft judges. The prophecy has not been countervailed, nor is it - likely to be, whether the conditions are kept or not. It runs in this - wise: - </p> - <p> - “As long as Plum island shall faithfully keep the commanded Post, - Notwithstanding the hectoring words and hard blows of the proud and - boisterous ocean; As long as any Salmon or Sturgeon shall swim in the - streams of Merrimack, or any Perch or Pickeril in Crane Pond; As long as - the Sea Fowl shall know the time of their coming, and not neglect - seasonably to visit the places of their acquaintance; As long as any - Cattel shall be fed with Grass growing in the meadows which doe humbly bow - themselves before Turkie Hill; As long as any Sheep shall walk upon Old - town Hills, and shall from thence look pleasantly down upon the River - Parker and the fruitful Marishes lying beneath; As long as any free and - harmless Doves shall find a White Oak or other Tree within the township to - perch or feed, or build a careless Nest upon, and shall voluntarily - present themselves to perform the office of Gleaners after Barley Harvest; - As long as Nature shall not grow old and dote, but shall constantly - remember to give the rows of Indian Corn their education by Pairs; So long - shall Christians be born there and being first made meet, shall from - thence be translated to be made partakers of the Saints of Light.” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0141" id="link2H_4_0141"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SHRIEKING WOMAN - </h2> - <p> - During the latter part of the seventeenth century a Spanish ship, richly - laden, was beset off Marblehead by English pirates, who killed every - person on board, at the time of the capture, except a beautiful English - lady, a passenger on the ship, who was brought ashore at night and - brutally murdered at a ledge of rocks near Oakum Bay. As the fishermen who - lived near were absent in their boats, the women and children, who were - startled from their sleep by her piercing shrieks, dared not attempt a - rescue. Taking her a little way from shore in their boat, the pirates - flung her into the sea, and as she came to the surface and clutched the - gunwale they hewed at her hands with cutlasses. She was heard to cry, - “Lord, save me! Mercy! O, Lord Jesus, save me!” Next day the people found - her mangled body on the rocks, and, with bitter imprecations at the worse - than beasts that had done this wrong, they prepared it for burial. It was - interred where it was found, but, although it was committed to the earth - with Christian forms, for one hundred and fifty years the victim's cries - and appeals were repeated, on each anniversary of the crime, with such - distinctness as to affright all who heard them—and most of the - citizens of Marblehead claimed to be of that number. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0142" id="link2H_4_0142"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - AGNES SURRIAGE - </h2> - <p> - When, in 1742, Sir Henry Frankland, collector of the port of Boston, went - to Marblehead to inquire into the smuggling that was pretty boldly carried - on, he put up at the Fountain Inn. As he entered that hostelry a - barefooted girl, of sixteen, who was scrubbing the floor, looked at him. - The young man was handsome, well dressed, gallant in bearing, while Agnes - Surriage, maid of all work, was of good figure, beautiful face, and modest - demeanor. Sir Henry tossed out a coin, bidding her to buy shoes with it, - and passed to his room. But the image of Agnes rose constantly before him. - He sought her company, found her of ready intelligence for one unschooled, - and shortly after this visit he obtained the consent of her parents—humble - folk—to take this wild flower to the city and cultivate it. - </p> - <p> - He gave her such an education as the time and place afforded, dressed her - well, and behaved with kindness toward her, while she repaid this care - with the frank bestowal of her heart. The result was not foreseen—not - intended—but they became as man and wife without having wedded. - Colonial society was scandalized, yet the baronet loved the girl sincerely - and could not be persuaded to part from her. Having occasion to visit - England he took Agnes with him and introduced her as Lady Frankland, but - the nature of their alliance had been made known to his relatives and they - refused to receive her. The thought of a permanent union with the girl had - not yet presented itself to the young man. An aristocrat could not marry a - commoner. A nobleman might destroy the honor of a girl for amusement, but - it was beneath his dignity to make reparation for the act. - </p> - <p> - Sir Henry was called to Portugal in 1755, and Agnes went with him. They - arrived inopportunely in one respect, though the sequel showed a blessing - in the accident; for while they were sojourning in Lisbon the earthquake - occurred that laid the city in ruins and killed sixty thousand people. Sir - Henry was in his carriage at the time and was buried beneath a falling - wall, but Agnes, who had hurried from her lodging at the first alarm, sped - through the rocking streets in search of her lover. She found him at last, - and, instead of crying or fainting, she set to work to drag away the - stones and timbers that were piled upon him. Had she been a delicate - creature, her lover's equal in birth, such as Frankland was used to dance - with at the state balls, she could not have done this, but her days of - service at the inn had given her a strength that received fresh accessions - from hope and love. In an hour she had liberated him, and, carrying him to - a place of safety, she cherished the spark of life until health returned. - The nobleman had received sufficient proof of Agnes's love and courage. He - realized, at last, the superiority of worth to birth. He gave his name, as - he had already given his heart, to her, and their married life was happy. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0143" id="link2H_4_0143"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE - </h2> - <p> - Flood, Fluid, or Floyd Ireson (in some chronicles his name is Benjamin) - was making for Marblehead in a furious gale, in the autumn of 1808, in the - schooner Betsy. Off Cape Cod he fell in with the schooner Active, of - Beverly, in distress, for she had been disabled in the heavy sea and was - on her beam ends, at the mercy of the tempest. The master of the Active - hailed Ireson and asked to be taken off, for his vessel could not last - much longer, but the Betsy, after a parley, laid her course again - homeward, leaving the exhausted and despairing crew of the sinking vessel - to shift as best they might. The Betsy had not been many hours in port - before it was known that men were in peril in the bay, and two crews of - volunteers set off instantly to the rescue. But it was too late. The - Active was at the bottom of the sea. The captain and three of his men were - saved, however, and their grave accusation against the Betsy's skipper was - common talk in Marblehead ere many days. - </p> - <p> - On a moonlight night Flood Ireson was roused by knocking at his door. On - opening it he was seized by a band of his townsmen, silently hustled to a - deserted spot, stripped, bound, and coated with tar and feathers. At break - of day he was pitched into an old dory and dragged along the roads until - the bottom of the boat dropped out, when he was mounted in a cart and the - procession continued until Salem was reached. The selectmen of that town - turned back the company, and for a part of the way home the cart was drawn - by a jeering crowd of fishwives. Ireson was released only when nature had - been taxed to the limit of endurance. As his bonds were cut he said, - quietly, “I thank you for my ride, gentlemen, but you will live to regret - it.” - </p> - <p> - Some of the cooler heads among his fellows have believed the skipper - innocent and throw the blame for the abandonment of the sinking vessel on - Ireson's mutinous crew. There are others, the universal deniers, who - believe that the whole thing is fiction. Those people refuse to believe in - their own grandfathers. Ireson became moody and reckless after this - adventure. He did not seem to think it worth the attempt to clear himself. - At times he seemed trying, by his aggressive acts and bitter speeches, to - tempt some hot-tempered townsman to kill him. He died after a severe - freezing, having been blown to sea—as some think by his own will—in - a smack. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0144" id="link2H_4_0144"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HEARTBREAK HILL - </h2> - <p> - The name of Heartbreak Hill pertains, in the earliest records of Ipswich, - to an eminence in the middle of that town on which there was a large - Indian settlement, called Agawam, before the white men settled there and - drove the inhabitants out. Ere the English colony had been firmly planted - a sailor straying ashore came among the simple natives of Agawam, and - finding their ways full of novelty he lived with them for a time. When he - found means to return to England he took with him the love of a maiden of - the tribe, but the girl herself he left behind, comforting her on his - departure with an assurance that before many moons he would return. Months - went by and extended into years, and every day the girl climbed Heartbreak - Hill to look seaward for some token of her lover. At last a ship was seen - trying to make harbor, with a furious gale running her close to shore, - where breakers were lashing the rocks and sand. The girl kept her station - until the vessel, becoming unmanageable, was hurled against the shore and - smashed into a thousand pieces. As its timbers went tossing away on the - frothing billows a white, despairing face was lifted to hers for an - instant; then it sank and was seen nevermore—her lover's face. The - “dusky Ariadne” wasted fast from that day, and she lies buried beside the - ledge that was her watch-tower. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0145" id="link2H_4_0145"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HARRY MAIN: THE TREASURE AND THE CATS - </h2> - <p> - Ipswich had a very Old Harry in the person of Harry Main, a dark-souled - being, who, after a career of piracy, smuggling, blasphemy, and - dissipation, became a wrecker, and lured vessels to destruction with false - lights. For his crimes he was sent, after death, to do penance on Ipswich - bar, where he had sent many a ship ashore, his doom being to twine ropes - of sand, though some believe it was to shovel back the sea. Whenever his - rope broke he would roar with rage and anguish, so that he was heard for - miles, whereon the children would run to their trembling mothers and men - would look troubled and shake their heads. After a good bit of cable had - been coiled, Harry had a short respite that he enjoyed on Plum Island, to - the terror of the populace. When the tide and a gale are rising together - people say, as they catch the sound of moaning from the bar, “Old Harry's - grumbling again.” - </p> - <p> - Now, Harry Main—to say nothing of Captain Kidd—was believed to - have buried his ill-gotten wealth in Ipswich, and one man dreamed for - three successive nights that it had been interred in a mill. Believing - that a revelation had been made to him he set off with spade, lantern, and - Bible, on the first murky night—for he wanted no partner in the - discovery—and found a spot which he recognized as the one that had - been pictured to his sleeping senses. He set to work with alacrity and a - shovel, and soon he unearthed a flat stone and an iron bar. He was about - to pry up the stone when an army of black cats encircled the pit and - glared into it with eyes of fire. - </p> - <p> - The poor man, in an access both of alarm and courage, whirled the bar - about his head and shouted “Scat!” The uncanny guards of the treasure - disappeared instanter, and at the same moment the digger found himself up - to his middle in icy water that had poured into the hole as he spoke. - </p> - <p> - The moral is that you should never talk when you are hunting for treasure. - Wet, scared, and disheartened, the man crawled out and made homeward, - carrying with him, as proof of his adventure, a case of influenza and the - iron bar. The latter trophy he fashioned into a latch, in which shape it - still does service on one of the doors of Ipswich. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0146" id="link2H_4_0146"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WESSAGUSCUS HANGING - </h2> - <p> - Among the Puritans who settled in Wessaguscus, now Weymouth, - Massachusetts, was a brash young fellow, of remarkable size and strength, - who, roaming the woods one day, came on a store of corn concealed in the - ground, in the fashion of the Indians. As anybody might have done, he - filled his hat from the granary and went his way. When the red man who had - dug the pit came back to it he saw that his cache had been levied on, and - as the footprints showed the marauder to be an Englishman he went to the - colonists and demanded justice. The matter could have been settled by - giving a pennyworth of trinkets to the Indian, but, as the moral law had - been broken, the Puritans deemed it right that the pilferer should suffer. - </p> - <p> - They held a court and a proposition was made and seriously considered - that, as the culprit was young, hardy, and useful to the colony, his - clothes should be stripped off and put on the body of a bedridden weaver, - who would be hanged in his stead in sight of the offended savages. Still, - it was feared that if they learned the truth about that execution the - Indians would learn a harmful lesson in deceit, and it was, therefore, - resolved to punish the true offender. He, thinking they were in jest, - submitted to be bound, though before doing so he could have “cleaned out” - the court-room, and ere he was really aware of the purpose of his judges - he was kicking at vacancy. - </p> - <p> - Butler, in “Hudibras,” quotes the story, but makes the offence more - serious— - </p> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - “This precious brother, having slain, - In time of peace, an Indian, - Not out of malice, but mere zeal, - Because he was an infidel, - The mighty Tottipotimoy - Sent to our elders an envoy - Complaining sorely of the breach Of league.” - </pre> - <p> - But the Puritans, having considered that the offender was a teacher and a - cobbler, - </p> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - “Resolved to spare him; yet, to do - The Indian Hoghan Moghan, too, - Impartial justice, in his stead did - Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid.” - </pre> - <p> - The whole circumstance is cloudy, and the reader may accept either version - that touches his fancy. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0147" id="link2H_4_0147"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE UNKNOWN CHAMPION - </h2> - <p> - There was that in the very air of the New World that made the Pilgrims - revolt against priests and kings. The Revolution was long a-breeding - before shots were fired at Lexington. Stout old Endicott, having conceived - a dislike to the British flag because to his mind the cross was a relic of - popery, paraded his soldiers and with his sword ripped out the offending - emblem in their presence. There was a faint cry of “Treason!” but he - answered, “I will avouch the deed before God and man. Beat a flourish, - drummer. Shout for the ensign of New England. Pope nor tyrant hath part in - it now.” And a loud huzza of independence went forth. - </p> - <p> - With this sentiment confirmed among the people, it is not surprising that - the judges who had condemned a papist king—Charles I.—to the - block should find welcome in this land. For months at a time they lived in - cellars and garrets in various parts of New England, their hiding-places - kept secret from the royal sheriffs who were seeking them. For a time they - had shelter in a cave in West Rock, New Haven, and once in that town they - were crouching beneath the bridge that a pursuing party crossed in search - of them. In Ipswich the house is pointed out where they were concealed in - the cellar, and the superstitious believed that, as a penalty for their - regicidal decision, they are doomed to stay there, crying vainly for - deliverance. - </p> - <p> - Philip, the Narragansett chief, had declared war on the people of New - England, and was waging it with a persistence and fury that spread terror - through the country. It was a struggle against manifest destiny, such as - must needs be repeated whenever civilization comes to dispute a place in - new lands with savagery, and which has been continued, more and more - feebly, to our own day. The war was bloody, and for a long time the issue - hung in the balance. At last the Indian king was driven westward. The - Nipmucks joined him in the Connecticut Valley, and he laid siege to the - lonely settlements of Brookfield, Northfield, Deerfield, and Springfield, - killing, scalping, and burning without mercy. On the 1st of September, - 1675, he attacked Hadley while its people were at church, the war-yelp - interrupting a prayer of the pastor. All the men of the congregation - sallied out with pikes and guns and engaged the foe, but so closely were - they pressed that a retreat was called, when suddenly there appeared among - them a tall man, of venerable and commanding aspect, clad in leather, and - armed with sword and gun. - </p> - <p> - His hair and beard were long and white, but his eye was dark and resolute, - and his voice was strong. “Why sink your hearts?” he cried. “Fear ye that - God will give you up to yonder heathen dogs? Follow me, and ye shall see - that this day there is a champion in Israel.” - </p> - <p> - Posting half the force at his command to sustain the fight, he led the - others quickly by a detour to the rear of the Indians, on whom he fell - with such energy that the savages, believing themselves overtaken by - reinforcements newly come, fled in confusion. When the victors returned to - the village the unknown champion signed to the company to fall to their - knees while he offered thanks and prayer. Then he was silent for a little, - and when they looked up he was gone. - </p> - <p> - They believed him to be an angel sent for their deliverance, nor, till he - had gone to his account, did they know that their captain in that crisis - was Colonel William Goffe, one of the regicide judges, who, with his - associate Whalley, was hiding from the vengeance of the son of the king - they had rebelled against. After leaving their cave in New Haven, being in - peril from beasts and human hunters, they went up the Connecticut Valley - to Hadley, where the clergyman of the place, Rev. John Russell, gave them - shelter for fifteen years. Few were aware of their existence, and when - Goffe, pale with seclusion from the light, appeared among the people near - whom he had long been living, it is no wonder that they regarded him with - awe. - </p> - <p> - Whalley died in the minister's house and was buried in a crypt outside of - the cellar-wall, while Goffe kept much abroad, stopping in many places and - under various disguises until his death, which occurred soon after that of - his associate. He was buried in New Haven. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0148" id="link2H_4_0148"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - GOODY COLE - </h2> - <p> - Goodwife Eunice Cole, of Hampton, Massachusetts, was so “vehemently - suspected to be a witch” that in 1680 she was thrown into jail with a - chain on her leg. She had a mumbling habit, which was bad, and a wild - look, which was worse. The death of two calves had been charged to her - sorceries, and she was believed to have raised the cyclone that sent a - party of merrymakers to the sea-bottom off the Isles of Shoals, for - insulting her that morning. Some said that she took the shapes of eagles, - dogs, and cats, and that she had the aspect of an ape when she went - through the mummeries that caused Goody Marston's child to die, yet while - she was in Ipswich jail a likeness of her was stumping about the graveyard - on the day when they buried the child. For such offences as that of making - bread ferment and give forth evil odors, that housekeepers could only - dispel by prayer, she was several times whipped and ducked by the - constable. - </p> - <p> - At last she lay under sentence of death, for Anna Dalton declared that her - child had been changed in its cradle and that she hated and feared the - thing that had been left there. Her husband, Ezra, had pleaded with her in - vain. “'Tis no child of mine,” she cried. “'Tis an imp. Don't you see how - old and shrewd it is? How wrinkled and ugly? It does not take my milk: it - is sucking my blood and wearing me to skin and bone.” Once, as she sat - brooding by the fire, she turned to her husband and said, “Rake the coals - out and put the child in them. Goody Cole will fly fast enough when she - hears it screaming, and will come down chimney in the shape of an owl or a - bat, and take the thing away. Then we shall have our little one back.” - </p> - <p> - Goodman Dalton sighed as he looked into the worn, scowling face of his - wife; then, laying his hands on her head, he prayed to God that she might - be led out of the shadow and made to love her child again. As he prayed a - gleam of sunset shone in at the window and made a halo around the face of - the smiling babe. Mistress Dalton looked at the little thing in doubt; - then a glow of recognition came into her eyes, and with a sob of joy she - caught the child to her breast, while Dalton embraced them both, deeply - happy, for his wife had recovered her reason. In the midst of tears and - kisses the woman started with a faint cry: she remembered that a poor old - creature was about to expiate on the gallows a crime that had never been - committed. She urged her husband to ride with all speed to justice Sewall - and demand that Goody Cole be freed. This the goodman did, arriving at - Newbury at ten o'clock at night, when the town had long been abed and - asleep. By dint of alarms at the justice's door he brought forth that - worthy in gown and night-cap, and, after the case had been explained to - him, he wrote an order for Mistress Cole's release. - </p> - <p> - With this paper in his hand Dalton rode at once to Ipswich, and when the - cock crew in the dawning the victim of that horrible charge walked forth, - without her manacles. Yet dark suspicion hung about the beldam to the - last, and she died, as she had lived, alone in the little cabin that stood - near the site of the academy. Even after her demise the villagers could - with difficulty summon courage to enter her cot and give her burial. Her - body was tumbled into a pit, hastily dug near her door, and a stake was - driven through the heart to exorcise the powers of evil that possessed her - in life. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0149" id="link2H_4_0149"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - GENERAL MOULTON AND THE DEVIL - </h2> - <p> - Jonathan Moulton, of Hampton, was a general of consequence in the colonial - wars, but a man not always trusted in other than military matters. It was - even hinted that his first wife died before her time, for he quickly found - consolation in his bereavement by marrying her companion. In the middle of - the night the bride was awakened with a start, for she felt a cold hand - plucking at the wedding-ring that had belonged to the buried Mrs. Moulton, - and a voice whispered in her ear, “Give the dead her own.” With a scream - of terror she leaped out of bed, awaking her husband and causing candles - to be brought. The ring was gone. - </p> - <p> - It was long after this occurrence that the general sat musing at his - fireside on the hardness of life in new countries and the difficulty of - getting wealth, for old Jonathan was fond of money, and the lack of it - distressed him worse than a conscience. “If only I could have gold - enough,” he muttered, “I'd sell my soul for it.” Whiz! came something down - the chimney. The general was dazzled by a burst of sparks, from which - stepped forth a lank personage in black velvet with clean ruffles and - brave jewels. “Talk quick, general,” said the unknown, “for in fifteen - minutes I must be fifteen miles away, in Portsmouth.” And picking up a - live coal in his fingers he looked at his watch by its light. “Come. You - know me. Is it a bargain?” - </p> - <p> - The general was a little slow to recover his wits, but the word “bargain” - put him on his mettle, and he began to think of advantageous terms. “What - proof may there be that you can do your part in the compact?” he inquired. - The unknown ran his fingers through his hair and a shower of guineas - jingled on the floor. They were pretty warm, but Moulton, in his - eagerness, fell on hands and knees and gathered them to his breast. - </p> - <p> - “Give me some liquor,” then demanded Satan, for of course he was no other, - and filling a tankard with rum he lighted it with the candle, remarked, - affably, “To our better acquaintance,” and tossed off the blazing dram at - a gulp. “I will make you,” said he, “the richest man in the province. Sign - this paper and on the first day of every month I will fill your boots with - gold; but if you try any tricks with me you will repent it. For I know - you, Jonathan. Sign.” - </p> - <p> - Moulton hesitated. “Humph!” sneered his majesty. “You have put me to all - this trouble for nothing.” And he began to gather up the guineas that - Moulton had placed on the table. This was more than the victim of his - wiles could stand. He swallowed a mouthful of rum, seized a pen that was - held out to him, and trembled violently as a paper was placed before him; - but when he found that his name was to appear with some of the most - distinguished in the province his nerves grew steadier and he placed his - autograph among those of the eminent company, with a few crooked - embellishments and all the t's crossed. “Good!” exclaimed the devil, and - wrapping his cloak about him he stepped into the fire and was up the - chimney in a twinkling. - </p> - <p> - Shrewd Jonathan went out the next day and bought the biggest pair of - jack-boots he could find in Hampton. He hung them on the crane on the last - night of that and all the succeeding months so long as he lived, and on - the next morning they brimmed with coins. Moulton rolled in wealth. The - neighbors regarded his sudden prosperity with amazement, then with envy, - but afterward with suspicion. All the same, Jonathan was not getting rich - fast enough to suit himself. - </p> - <p> - When the devil came to make a certain of his periodical payments he poured - guineas down the chimney for half an hour without seeming to fill the - boots. Bushel after bushel of gold he emptied into those spacious - money-bags without causing an overflow, and he finally descended to the - fireplace to see why. Moulton had cut the soles from the boots and the - floor was knee-deep in money. With a grin at the general's smartness the - devil disappeared, but in a few minutes a smell of sulphur pervaded the - premises and the house burst into flames. Moulton escaped in his shirt, - and tore his hair as he saw the fire crawl, serpent-like, over the beams, - and fantastic smoke-forms dance in the windows. Then a thought crossed his - mind and he grew calm: his gold, that was hidden in wainscot, cupboard, - floor, and chest, would only melt and could be quarried out by the hundred - weight, so that he could be well-to-do again. Before the ruins were cool - he was delving amid the rubbish, but not an ounce of gold could he - discover. Every bit of his wealth had disappeared. It was not long after - that the general died, and to quiet some rumors of disturbance in the - graveyard his coffin was dug up. It was empty. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0150" id="link2H_4_0150"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SKELETON IN ARMOR - </h2> - <p> - The skeleton of a man wearing a breastplate of brass, a belt made of tubes - of the same metal, and lying near some copper arrow-heads, was exhumed at - Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1834. The body had been artificially - embalmed or else preserved by salts in the soil. His arms and armor - suggest Phoenician origin, but the skeleton is thought to be that of a - Dane or Norwegian who spent the last winter of his life at Newport. He may - have helped to carve the rock at West Newbury, or the better-known Dighton - rock at Taunton River that is covered with inscriptions which the tides - and frosts are fast effacing, and which have been construed into a record - of Norse exploration and discovery, though some will have it that the - inevitable Captain Kidd cut the figures there to tell of buried treasure. - The Indians have a legend of the arrival of white men in a “bird,” - undoubtedly a ship, from which issued thunder and lightning. A battle - ensued when the visitors landed, and the white men wrote the story of it - on the rock. Certain scholars of the eighteenth century declared that the - rock bore an account of the arrival of Phoenician sailors, blown across - the Atlantic and unable or unwilling to return. A representation of the - pillars of Hercules was thought to be included among the sculptures, - showing that the castaways were familiar with the Mediterranean. Only this - is known about Dighton Rock, however: that it stood where it does, and as - it does, when the English settled in this neighborhood. The Indians said - there were other rocks near it which bore similar markings until effaced - by tides and drifting ice. - </p> - <p> - Longfellow makes the wraith of the long-buried exile of the armor appear - and tell his story: He was a viking who loved the daughter of King - Hildebrand, and as royal consent to their union was withheld he made off - with the girl, hotly followed by the king and seventy horsemen. The viking - reached his vessel first, and hoisting sail continued his flight over the - sea, but the chase was soon upon him, and, having no alternative but to - fight or be taken, he swung around before the wind and rammed the side of - Hildebrand's galley, crushing in its timbers. The vessel tipped and sank, - and every soul on board went with her, while the viking's boat kept on her - course, and after a voyage of three weeks put in at Narragansett Bay. The - round tower at Newport this impetuous lover built as a bower for his lady, - and there he guarded her from the dangers that beset those who are first - in savage countries. When the princess died she was buried in the tower, - and the lonely viking, arraying himself in his armor, fell on his spear, - like Brutus, and expired. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0151" id="link2H_4_0151"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET - </h2> - <p> - There is no such place as Martha's Vineyard, except in geography and - common speech. It is Martin Wyngaard's Island, and so was named by Skipper - Block, an Albany Dutchman. But they would English his name, even in his - own town, for it lingers there in Vineyard Point. Bartholomew Gosnold was - one of the first white visitors here, for he landed in 1602, and lived on - the island for a time, collecting a cargo of sassafras and returning - thence to England because he feared the savages. - </p> - <p> - This scarred and windy spot was the home of the Indian giant, Maushope, - who could wade across the sound to the mainland without wetting his knees, - though he once started to build a causeway from Gay Head to Cuttyhunk and - had laid the rocks where you may now see them, when a crab bit his toe and - he gave up the work in disgust. He lived on whales, mostly, and broiled - his dinners on fires made at Devil's Den from trees that he tore up by the - roots like weeds. In his tempers he raised mists to perplex sea-wanderers, - and for sport he would show lights on Gay Head, though these may have been - only the fires he made to cook his supper with, and of which some beds of - lignite are to be found as remains. He clove No-Man's Land from Gay Head, - turned his children into fish, and when his wife objected he flung her to - Seconnet Point, where she preyed on all who passed before she hardened - into a ledge. - </p> - <p> - It is reported that he found the island by following a bird that had been - stealing children from Cape Cod, as they rolled in the warm sand or - paddled on the edge of the sea. He waded after this winged robber until he - reached Martha's Vineyard, where he found the bones of all the children - that had been stolen. Tired with his hunt he sat down to fill his pipe; - but as there was no tobacco he plucked some tons of poke that grew thickly - and that Indians sometimes used as a substitute for the fragrant weed. His - pipe being filled and lighted, its fumes rolled over the ocean like a mist—in - fact, the Indians would say, when a fog was rising, “Here comes old - Maushope's smoke”—and when he finished he emptied his pipe into the - sea. Falling on a shallow, the ashes made the island of Nantucket. The - first Indians to reach the latter place were the parents of a babe that - had been stolen by an eagle. They followed the bird in their canoe, but - arrived too late, for the little bones had been picked clean. The Norsemen - rediscovered the island and called it Naukiton. Is Nantucket a corruption - of that word, or was that word the result of a struggle to master the - Indian name? - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0152" id="link2H_4_0152"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LOVE AND TREASON - </h2> - <p> - The tribes that inhabited Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before the - whites settled the country were constantly at war, and the people of the - western island once resolved to surprise those of Nantucket and slay as - many as possible before they could arm or organize for battle. The attack - was to be made before daybreak, at an hour when their intended victims - would be asleep in their wigwams, but on rowing softly to the hostile - shore, while the stars were still lingering in the west, the warriors were - surprised at finding the enemy alert and waiting their arrival with bows - and spears in hand. To proceed would have been suicidal, and they returned - to their villages, puzzled and disheartened. Not for some years did they - learn how the camp had been apprised, but at the end of that time, the two - tribes being at peace, one of their young men married a girl of Nantucket, - with whom he had long been in love, and confessed that on the night - preceding the attack he had stolen to the beach, crossed to Nantucket on a - neck of sand that then joined the islands, and was uncovered only at low - tide, sought his mistress, warned her of the attack, that she, at least, - might not be killed; then, at a mad run, with waves of the rising tide - lapping his feet, he returned to his people, who had not missed him. He - set off with a grave and innocent face in the morning, and was as much - surprised as any one when he found the enemy in arms. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0153" id="link2H_4_0153"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTOWN - </h2> - <p> - The boggy portion of North Kingston, Rhode Island, known as Swamptown, is - of queer repute in its neighborhood, for Hell Hollow, Pork Hill, Indian - Corner, and Kettle Hole have their stories of Indian crimes and - witch-meetings. Here the headless figure of a negro boy was seen by a - belated traveller on a path that leads over the hills. It was a dark night - and the figure was revealed in a blaze of blue light. It swayed to and fro - for a time, then rose from the ground with a lurch and shot into space, - leaving a trail of illumination behind it. Here, too, is Goose-Nest - Spring, where the witches dance at night. It dries up every winter and - flows through the summer, gushing forth on the same day of every year, - except once, when a goose took possession of the empty bed and hatched her - brood there. That time the water did not flow until she got away with her - progeny. - </p> - <p> - But the most grewsome story of the place is that of the Indian whose skull - was found by a roadmender. This unsuspecting person took it home, and, as - the women would not allow him to carry it into the house, he hung it on a - pole outside. Just as the people were starting for bed, there came a - rattling at the door, and, looking out of the windows, they saw a skeleton - stalking around in quick and angry strides, like those of a person looking - for something. But how could that be when the skeleton had neither eyes - nor a place to carry them? It thrashed its bony arms impatiently and its - ribs rattled like a xylophone. The spectators were transfixed with fear, - all except the culprit, who said, through the window, in a matter-of-fact - way, “I left your head on the pole at the back door.” The skeleton started - in that direction, seized the skull, clapped it into the place where a - head should have grown on its own shoulders, and, after shaking its fists - in a threatening way at the house, disappeared in the darkness. It is said - that he acts as a kind of guard in the neighborhood, to see that none of - the other Indians buried there shall be disturbed, as he was. His - principal lounging place is Indian Corner, where there is a rock from - which blood flows when the moon shines—a memento, doubtless, of some - tragedy that occurred there in times before the white men knew the place. - There is iron in the soil, and visitors say that the red color is due to - that, and that the spring would flow just as freely on dark nights as on - bright ones, if any were there to see it, but the natives, who have given - some thought to these matters, know better. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0154" id="link2H_4_0154"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CROW AND CAT OF HOPKINSHILL - </h2> - <p> - In a wood near Hopkins Hill, Rhode Island, is a bowlder, four feet in - diameter, scored with a peculiar furrow. Witch Rock, as it is called, - gained its name two centuries ago, when an old woman abode in a deserted - cabin close by and made the forest dreaded. Figures were seen flitting - through its shadows; articles left out o' nights in neighboring - settlements were missing in the morning, though tramps were unknown; - cattle were afflicted with diseases; stones were flung in at windows by - unseen hands; crops were blighted by hail and frost; and in stormy weather - the old woman was seen to rise out of the woods and stir and push the - clouds before her with a broom. For a hundred yards around Witch Rock the - ground is still accursed, and any attempt to break it up is unavailing. - Nearly a century ago a scoffer named Reynolds declared that he would run - his plough through the enchanted boundary, and the neighbors watched the - attempt from a distance. - </p> - <p> - He started well, but on arriving at the magic circle the plough shied and - the wooden landside—or chip, as it was called—came off. It was - replaced and the team started again. In a moment the oxen stood unyoked, - while the chip jumped off and whirled away out of sight. On this, most of - the people edged away in the direction of home, and directly there came - from the north a crow that perched on a dead tree and cawed. John Hopkins, - owner of the land, cried to the bird, “Squawk, you damned old Pat - Jenkins!” and the crow took flight, dropping the chip at Reynolds's feet, - at the same moment turning into a beldam with a cocked hat, who descended - upon the rock. Before the men could reach her she changed into a black cat - and disappeared in the ground. Hunting and digging came to naught, though - the pursuers were so earnest and excited that one of them made the furrow - in the rock with a welt from his shovel. After that few people cared to go - near the place, and it became overgrown with weeds and trees and bushes. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0155" id="link2H_4_0155"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE OLD STONE MILL - </h2> - <p> - If the round tower at Newport was not Benedict Arnold's wind-mill, and any - one or two of several other things, it is probably a relic of the - occupancy of this country by Thorwald and his Norsemen. After coasting - Wonderstrands (Cape Cod), in the year 1007, they built a town that is - known to historians—if not in their histories—as Norumbega, - the lost city of New England. It is now fancied that the city stood on the - Charles River, near Waltham, Massachusetts, where a monument may be - erected, but it is also believed that they reached the neighborhood of - Newport, Rhode Island. After this tower—popularly called the old - stone mill-was built, a seer among the Narragansetts had a vision in which - he foresaw that when the last remnant of the structure had fallen, and not - one stone had been left on another, the Indian race would vanish from this - continent. The work of its extermination seems, indeed, to have begun with - the possession of the coast by white men, and the fate of the aborigines - is easily read. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0156" id="link2H_4_0156"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ORIGIN OF A NAME - </h2> - <p> - The origin of many curious geographical names has become an object of mere - surmise, and this is the more the pity because they suggest such - picturesque possibilities. We would like to know, for instance, how Burnt - Coat and Smutty Nose came by such titles. The conglomerate that strews the - fields south of Boston is locally known as Roxbury pudding-stone, and, - according to Dr. Holmes, the masses are fragments of a pudding, as big as - the State-house dome, that the family of a giant flung about, in a fit of - temper, and that petrified where it fell. But that would have been called - pudding-stone, anyway, from its appearance. The circumstance that named - the reef of Norman's Woe has passed out of record, though it is known that - goodman Norman and his son settled there in the seventeenth century. It is - Longfellow who has endowed the rock with this legend, for he depicts a - wreck there in the fury of a winter storm in 1680—the wreck of the - Hesperus, Richard Norman, master, from which went ashore next morning the - body of an unknown and beautiful girl, clad in ice and lashed to a broken - mast. - </p> - <p> - But one of the oddest preservations of an apposite in name is found in the - legend of Point Judith, Rhode Island, an innocent <i>double entendre</i>. - About two centuries ago a vessel was driving toward the coast in a gale, - with rain and mist. The skipper's eyes were old and dim, so he got his - daughter Judith to stand beside him at the helm, as he steered the vessel - over the foaming surges. Presently she cried, “Land, father! I see land!” - “Where away?” he asked. But he could not see what she described, and the - roar of the wind drowned her voice, so he shouted, “Point, Judith! Point!” - The girl pointed toward the quarter where she saw the breakers, and the - old mariner changed his course and saved his ship from wreck. On reaching - port he told the story of his daughter's readiness, and other captains, - when they passed the cape in later days, gave to it the name of Point - Judith. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0157" id="link2H_4_0157"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MICAH ROOD APPLES - </h2> - <p> - In Western Florida they will show roses to you that drop red dew, like - blood, and have been doing so these many years, for they sprang out of the - graves of women and children who had been cruelly killed by Indians. But - there is something queerer still about the Micah Rood—or “Mike”—apples - of Franklin, Connecticut, which are sweet, red of skin, snowy of pulp, and - have a red spot, like a blood-drop, near the core; hence they are - sometimes known as bloody-hearts. Micah Rood was a farmer in Franklin in - 1693. Though avaricious he was somewhat lazy, and was more prone to dream - of wealth than to work for it. But people whispered that he did some hard - and sharp work on the night after the peddler came to town—the - slender man with a pack filled with jewelry and knickknacks—because - on the morning after that visit the peddler was found, beneath an - apple-tree on Rood farm, with his pack rifled and his skull split open. - </p> - <p> - Suspicion pointed at Rood, and, while nothing was proved against him, he - became gloomy, solitary, and morose, keeping his own counsels more - faithfully than ever—though he never was disposed to take counsel of - other people. If he had expected to profit by the crime he was obviously - disappointed, for he became poorer than ever, and his farm yielded less - and less. To be sure, he did little work on it. When the apples ripened on - the tree that had spread its branches above the peddler's body, the - neighbors wagged their heads and whispered the more, for in the centre of - each apple was a drop of the peddler's blood: a silent witness and - judgment, they said, and the result of a curse that the dying man had - invoked against his murderer. Micah Rood died soon after, without saying - anything that his fellow-villagers might be waiting to hear, but his tree - is still alive and its strange fruit has been grafted on hundreds of - orchards. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0158" id="link2H_4_0158"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A DINNER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - </h2> - <p> - The Nipmucks were populous at Thompson, Connecticut, where they skilfully - tilled the fields, and where their earthworks, on Fort Hill, provided them - with a refuge in case of invasion. Their chief, Quinatisset, had his lodge - on the site of the Congregational church in Thompson. They believed that - Chargoggagmanchogagog Pond was paradise—the home of the Great Spirit - and departed souls—and that it would always yield fish to them, as - the hills did game. They were fond of fish, and would barter deer-meat and - corn for it, occasionally, with the Narragansetts. - </p> - <p> - Now, these last-named Indians were a waterloving people, and to this day - their “fishing fire”—a column of pale flame—rises out of - Quinebaug Lake once in seven years, as those say who have watched beside - its waters through the night. Knowing their fondness for blue-fish and - clams, the Narragansetts asked the Nipmucks to dine with them on one - occasion, and this courtesy was eagerly accepted, the up-country people - distinguishing themselves by valiant trencher deeds; but, alas, that it - should be so! they disgraced themselves when, soon after, they invited the - Narragansetts to a feast of venison at Killingly, and quarrelled with - their guests over the dressing of the food. This rumpus grew into a battle - in which all but two of the invites were slain. Their hosts buried them - decently, but grass would never grow above their graves. - </p> - <p> - This treachery the Great Spirit avenged soon after, when the Nipmucks had - assembled for a powwow, with accessory enjoyments, in the grassy vale - where Mashapaug Lake now reflects the charming landscape, and where, until - lately, the remains of a forest could be seen below the surface. In the - height of the revel the god struck away the foundations of the hills, and - as the earth sank, bearing the offending men and women, waters rushed in - and filled the chasm, so that every person was drowned, save one good old - woman beneath whose feet the ground held firm. Loon Island, where she - stood, remains in sight to-day. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0159" id="link2H_4_0159"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE NEW HAVEN STORM SHIP - </h2> - <p> - In 1647 the New Haven colonists, who even at that early day exhibited the - enterprise that has been a distinguishing feature of the Yankee, sent a - ship to Ireland to try to develop a commerce, their trading posts on the - Delaware having been broken up by the Swedes. When their agent, Captain - Lamberton, sailed—in January—the harbor was so beset with ice - that a track had to be cut through the floes to open water, five miles - distant. She had, moreover, to be dragged out stern foremost—an ill - omen, the sailors thought—and as she swung before the wind a passing - drift of fog concealed her, for a moment, from the gaze of those on shore, - who, from this, foretold things of evil. Though large and new, the ship - was so “walty”—inclined to roll—that the captain set off with - misgiving, and as she moved away the crew heard this solemn and - disheartening invocation from a clergyman on the wharf:—“Lord, if it - be thy pleasure to bury these, our friends, in the bottom of the sea, take - them; they are thine: save them.” - </p> - <p> - Winter passed; so did spring; still the ship came not; but one afternoon - in June, just as a rain had passed, some children cried, “There's a brave - ship!” for, flying up the harbor, with all sail set and flaunting colors, - was a vessel “the very mould of our ship,” the clergyman said. - </p> - <p> - Strange to tell, she was going flat against the wind; no sailors were on - her deck; she did not toss with the fling of the waves; there was no - ripple at her bow. As she came close to land a single figure appeared on - the quarter, pointing seaward with a cutlass; then suddenly her main-top - fell, her masts toppled from their holdings, the dismantled hulk careened - and went down. A cloud dropped from heaven and brooded for a time above - the place where it had vanished, and when it lifted the surface of the sea - was empty and still. The good folk of New Haven believed that the fate of - the absent ship had been revealed, at last, for she never came back and - Captain Lamberton was never heard from. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0160" id="link2H_4_0160"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WINDAM FROGS - </h2> - <p> - On a cloudy night in July, 1758, the people of Windham, Connecticut, were - awakened by screams and shrill voices. Some sprang up and looked to the - priming of their muskets, for they were sure that the Indians were coming; - others vowed that the voices were those of witches or devils, flying - overhead; a few ran into the streets with knives and fire-arms, while - others fastened their windows and prayerfully shrank under the bedclothes. - A notorious reprobate was heard blubbering for a Bible, and a lawyer - offered half of all the money that he had made dishonestly to any charity - if his neighbors would guarantee to preserve his life until morning. - </p> - <p> - All night the greatest alarm prevailed. At early dawn an armed party - climbed the hill to the eastward, and seeing no sign of Indians, or other - invaders, returned to give comfort to their friends. A contest for office - was waging at that period between two lawyers, Colonel Dyer and Mr. - Elderkin, and sundry of the people vowed that they had heard a challenging - yell of “Colonel Dyer! Colonel Dyer!” answered by a guttural defiance of - “Elderkin, too! Elderkin, too!” Next day the reason of it all came out: A - pond having been emptied by drought, the frogs that had lived there - emigrated by common consent to a ditch nearer the town, and on arriving - there had apparently fought for its possession, for many lay dead on the - bank. The night was still and the voices of the contestants sounded - clearly into the village, the piping of the smaller being construed into - “Colonel Dyer,” and the grumble of the bull-frogs into “Elderkin, too.” - The “frog scare” was a subject of pleasantry directed against Windham for - years afterward. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0161" id="link2H_4_0161"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LAMB OF SACRIFICE - </h2> - <p> - The Revolution was beginning, homes were empty, farms were deserted, - industries were checked, and the levies of a foreign army had consumed the - stores of the people. A messenger rode into the Connecticut Valley with - tidings of the distress that was in the coast towns, and begged the farmer - folk to spare some of their cattle and the millers some of their flour for - the relief of Boston. On reaching Windham he was received with good will - by Parson White, who summoned his flock by peal of bell, and from the - steps of his church urged the needs of his brethren with such eloquence - that by nightfall the messenger had in his charge a flock of sheep, a herd - of cattle, and a load of grain, with which he was to set off in the - morning. The parson's daughter, a shy maid of nine or ten, went to her - father, with her pet lamb, and said to him, “I must give this, too, for - there are little children who are crying for bread and meat.” - </p> - <p> - “No, no,” answered the pastor, patting her head and smiling upon her. - “They do not ask help from babes. Run to bed and you shall play with your - lamb to-morrow.” - </p> - <p> - But in the red of the morning, as he drove his herd through the village - street, the messenger turned at the hail of a childish voice, and looking - over a stone wall he saw the little one with her snow-white lamb beside - her. - </p> - <p> - “Wait,” she cried, “for my lamb must go to the hungry children of Boston. - It is so small, please to carry it for some of the way, and let it have - fresh grass and water. It is all I have.” - </p> - <p> - So saying, she kissed the innocent face of her pet, gave it into the arms - of the young man, and ran away, her cheeks shining with tears. Folding the - little creature to his breast, the messenger looked admiringly after the - girl: he felt a glow of pride and hope for the country whose very children - responded to the call of patriotism. “Now, God help me, I will carry this - lamb to the city as a sacrifice.” So saying, he set his face to the east - and vigorously strode forward. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0162" id="link2H_4_0162"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MOODUS NOISES - </h2> - <p> - The village of Moodus, Connecticut, was troubled with noises. There is no - question as to that. In fact, Machimoodus, the Indian name of the spot, - means Place of Noises. As early as 1700, and for thirty years after, there - were crackings and rumblings that were variously compared to fusillades, - to thunder, to roaring in the air, to the breaking of rocks, to reports of - cannon. A man who was on Mount Tom while the noises were violent describes - the sound as that of rocks falling into immense caverns beneath his feet - and striking against cliffs as they fell. Houses shook and people feared. - </p> - <p> - Rev. Mr. Hosmer, in a letter written to a friend in Boston in 1729, says - that before white settlers appeared there was a large Indian population, - that powwows were frequent, and that the natives “drove a prodigious trade - at worshipping the devil.” He adds:—“An old Indian was asked what - was the reason of the noises in this place, to which he replied that the - Indian's god was angry because Englishman's god was come here. Now, - whether there be anything diabolical in these things I know not, but this - I know, that God Almighty is to be seen and trembled at in what has been - often heard among us. Whether it be fire or air distressed in the - subterranean caverns of the earth cannot be known for there is no - eruption, no explosion perceptible but by sounds and tremors which are - sometimes very fearful and dreadful.” - </p> - <p> - It was finally understood that Haddam witches, who practised black magic, - met the Moodus witches, who used white magic, in a cave beneath Mount Tom, - and fought them in the light of a great carbuncle that was fastened to the - roof. The noises recurred in 1888, when houses rattled in witch-haunted - Salem, eight miles away, and the bell on the village church “sung like a - tuning-fork.” The noises have occurred simultaneously with earthquakes in - other parts of the country, and afterward rocks have been found moved from - their bases and cracks have been discovered in the earth. One sapient - editor said that the pearls in the mussels in Salmon and Connecticut - Rivers caused the disturbance. - </p> - <p> - If the witch-fights were continued too long the king of Machimoddi, who - sat on a throne of solid sapphire in the cave whence the noises came, - raised his wand: then the light of the carbuncle went out, peals of - thunder rolled through the rocky chambers, and the witches rushed into the - air. Dr. Steele, a learned and aged man from England, built a - crazy-looking house in a lonely spot on Mount Tom, and was soon as much a - mystery as the noises, for it was known that he had come to this country - to stop them by magic and to seize the great carbuncle in the cave—if - he could find it. Every window, crack, and keyhole was closed, and nobody - was admitted while he stayed there, but the clang of hammers was heard in - his house all night, sparks shot from his chimney, and strange odors were - diffused. When all was ready for his adventure he set forth, his path - marked by a faint light that moved before him and stopped at the closed - entrance to the cavern. - </p> - <p> - Loud were the Moodus noises that night. The mountain shook and groans and - hisses were heard in the air as he pried up the stone that lay across the - pit-mouth. When he had lifted it off a light poured from it and streamed - into the heaven like a crimson comet or a spear of the northern aurora. It - was the flash of the great carbuncle, and the stars seen through it were - as if dyed in blood. In the morning Steele was gone. He had taken ship for - England. The gem carried with it an evil fate, for the galley sank in - mid-ocean; but, though buried beneath a thousand fathoms of water, the red - ray of the carbuncle sometimes shoots up from the sea, and the glow of it - strikes fear into the hearts of passing sailors. Long after, when the - booming was heard, the Indians said that the hill was giving birth to - another beautiful stone. - </p> - <p> - Such cases are not singular. A phenomenon similar to the Moodus noises, - and locally known as “the shooting of Nashoba Hill,” occurs at times in - the eminence of that name near East Littleton, Massachusetts. The strange, - deep rumbling was attributed by the Indians to whirlwinds trying to escape - from caves. - </p> - <p> - Bald Mountain, North Carolina, was known as Shaking Mountain, for strange - sounds and tremors were heard there, and every moonshiner who had his - cabin on that hill joined the church and was diligent in worship until he - learned that the trembling was due to the slow cracking and separation of - a great ledge. - </p> - <p> - At the end of a hot day on Seneca Lake, New York, are sometimes heard the - “lake guns,” like exploding gas. Two hundred years ago Agayentah, a wise - and honored member of the Seneca tribe, was killed here by a - lightning-stroke. The same bolt that slew him wrenched a tree from the - bank and hurled it into the water, where it was often seen afterward, - going about the lake as if driven by unseen currents, and among the whites - it got the name of the Wandering Jew. It is often missing for weeks - together, and its reappearances are heralded by the low booming of—what? - The Indians said that the sound was but the echo of Agayentah's voice, - warning them of dangers and summoning them to battle, while the Wandering - Jew became his messenger. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0163" id="link2H_4_0163"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HADDAM ENCHANTMENTS - </h2> - <p> - When witchcraft went rampant through New England the Connecticut town of - Haddam owned its share of ugly old women, whom it tried to reform by - lectures and ducking, instead of killing. It was averred that Goody - So-and-So had a black cat for a familiar, that Dame Thus-and-Thus rode on - a broomstick on stormy nights and screeched and gibbered down the - farm-house chimneys, and there were dances of old crones at Devils' Hop - Yard, Witch Woods, Witch Meadows, Giant's Chair, Devil's Footprint, and - Dragon's Rock. Farmers were especially fearful of a bent old hag in a red - hood, who seldom appeared before dusk, but who was apt to be found - crouched on their door-steps if they reached home late, her mole-covered - cheeks wrinkled with a grin, two yellow fangs projecting between her lips, - and a light shining from her eyes that numbed all on whom she looked. On - stormy nights she would drum and rattle at windows, and by firelight and - candle-light her face was seen peering through the panes. - </p> - <p> - At Chapman Falls, where the attrition of a stream had worn pot-holes in - the rocks, there were meetings of Haddam witches, to the number of a - dozen. They brewed poisons in those holes, cast spells, and talked in - harsh tongues with the arch fiend, who sat on the brink of the ravine with - his tail laid against his shoulder, like a sceptre, and a red glow - emanating from his body. - </p> - <p> - In Devils' Hop Yard was a massive oak that never bears leaves or acorns, - for it has been enchanted since the time that one of the witches, in the - form of a crow, perched on the topmost branch, looked to the four points - of the compass, and flew away. That night the leaves fell off, the twigs - shrivelled, sap ceased to run, and moss began to beard its skeleton limbs. - </p> - <p> - The appearance of witches in the guise of birds was no unusual thing, - indeed, and a farmer named Blakesley shot one of them in that form. He was - hunting in a meadow when a rush of wings was heard and he saw pass - overhead a bird with long neck, blue feathers, and feet like scrawny - hands. It uttered a cry so weird, so shrill, so like mocking laughter that - it made him shudder. This bird alighted on a dead tree and he shot at it. - With another laughing yell it circled around his head. Three times he - fired with the same result. Then he resolved to see if it were uncanny, - for nothing evil can withstand silver—except Congress. Having no - bullets of that metal he cut two silver buttons from his shirt and rammed - them home with a piece of cloth and a prayer. This time the bird screamed - in terror, and tried, but vainly, to rise from the limb. He fired. The - creature dropped, with a button in its body, and fell on its right side. - At that moment an old woman living in a cabin five miles distant arose - from her spinning-wheel, gasped, and fell on her right side-dead. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0164" id="link2H_4_0164"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BLOCK ISLAND AND THE PALATINE - </h2> - <p> - Block Island, or Manisees, is an uplift of clayey moorland between Montauk - and Gay Head. It was for sailors an evil place and “bad medicine” for - Indians, for men who had been wrecked there had been likewise robbed and - ill treated—though the honest islanders of to-day deny it—while - the Indians had been driven from their birthright after hundreds of their - number had fallen in its defence. In the winter of 1750-51 the ship - Palatine set forth over the seas with thrifty Dutch merchants and - emigrants, bound for Philadelphia, with all their goods. A gale delayed - them and kept them beating to and fro on the icy seas, unable to reach - land. The captain died—it was thought that he was murdered—and - the sailors, a brutal set even for those days, threw off all discipline, - seized the stores and arms, and starved the passengers into giving up - their money. - </p> - <p> - When those died of hunger whose money had given out—for twenty - guilders were demanded for a cup of water and fifty rix dollars for a - biscuit—their bodies were flung into the sea, and when the crew had - secured all that excited their avarice they took to their boats, leaving - ship and passengers to their fate. It is consoling to know that the - sailors never reached a harbor. The unguided ship, in sight of land, yet - tossed at the mercy of every wind and tenanted by walking skeletons, - struck off Block Island one calm Sunday morning and the wreckers who lived - along the shore set out for her. Their first work was to rescue the - passengers; then they returned to strip everything from the hulk that the - crew had left; but after getting her in tow a gale sprang up, and seeing - that she was doomed to be blown off shore, where she might become a - dangerous obstruction or a derelict, they set her on fire. From the rocks - they watched her drift into misty darkness, but as the flames mounted to - the trucks a scream rang across the whitening sea: a maniac woman had been - left on board. The scream was often repeated, each time more faintly, and - the ship passed into the fog and vanished. - </p> - <p> - A twelvemonth later, on the same evening of the year, the islanders were - startled at the sight of a ship in the offing with flames lapping up her - sides and rigging, and smoke clouds rolling off before the wind. It burned - to the water's edge in sight of hundreds. In the winter following it came - again, and was seen, in fact, for years thereafter at regular intervals, - by those who would gladly have forgotten the sight of it (one of the - community, an Indian, fell into madness whenever he saw the light), while - those who listened caught the sound of a woman's voice raised in agony - above the roar of fire and water. - </p> - <p> - Substantially the same story is told of a point on the North Carolina - coast, save that in the latter case the passengers, who were from the - Bavarian Palatinate, were put to the knife before their goods were taken. - The captain and his crew filled their boats with treasure and pulled away - for land, first firing the ship and committing its ghastly freight to the - flames. The ship followed them almost to the beach, ere it fell to pieces, - as if it were an animate form, bent on vengeance. The pirates landed, but - none profited by the crime, all of them dying poor and forsaken. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0165" id="link2H_4_0165"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE BUCCANEER - </h2> - <p> - Among the natives of Block Island was a man named Lee. Born in the last - century among fishermen and wreckers, he has naturally taken to the sea - for a livelihood, and, never having known the influences of education and - refinement, he is rude and imperious in manner. His ship lies in a Spanish - port fitting for sea, but not with freight, for, tired of peaceful - trading, Lee is equipping his vessel as a privateer. A Spanish lady who - has just been bereaved of her husband comes to him to ask a passage to - America, for she has no suspicion of his intent. Her jewels and - well-filled purse arouse Lee's cupidity, and with pretended sympathy he - accedes to her request, even going so far as to allow Senora's favorite - horse to be brought aboard. - </p> - <p> - Hardly is the ship in deep water before the lady's servants are stabbed in - their sleep and Lee smashes in the door of her cabin. Realizing his - purpose, and preferring to sacrifice life to honor, she eludes him, climbs - the rail, and leaps into the sea, while the ship ploughs on. As a poor - revenge for being thus balked of his prey the pirate has the beautiful - white horse flung overboard, the animal shrilling a neigh that seems to - reach to the horizon, and is like nothing ever heard before. But these - things he affects to forget in dice and drinking. In a dispute over a - division of plunder Lee stabs one of his men and tosses him overboard. - Soon the rovers come to Block Island, where, under cover of night, they - carry ashore their stealings to hide them in pits and caves, reserving - enough gold to buy a welcome from the wreckers, and here they live for a - year, gaming and carousing. Their ship has been reported as a pirate and - to baffle search it is set adrift. - </p> - <p> - One night a ruddy star is seen on the sea-verge and the ruffians leave - their revelling to look at it, for it is growing into sight fast. It - speeds toward them and they can now see that it is a ship—their - shipwrapped in flames. It stops off shore, and out of the ocean at its - prow emerges something white that they say at first is a wave-crest - rolling upon the sands; but it does not dissolve as breakers do: it rushes - on; it scales the bluff it is a milk-white horse, that gallops to the men, - who inly wonder if this is an alcoholic vision, and glares at Lee. A spell - seems to be laid on him, and, unable to resist it, the buccaneer mounts - the animal. It rushes away, snorting and plunging, to the highest bluff, - whence Lee beholds, in the light of the burning ship, the bodies of all - who have been done to death by him, staring into his eyes through the - reddening waves. - </p> - <p> - At dawn the horse sinks under him and he stands there alone. From that - hour even his companions desert him. They fear to share his curse. He - wanders about the island, a broken, miserable man, unwilling to live, - afraid to die, refused shelter and friendship, and unable to reach the - mainland, for no boat will give him passage. After a year of this - existence the ship returns, the spectre horse rises from the deep and - claims Lee again for a rider. He mounts; the animal speeds away to the - cliff, but does not pause at the brink this time: with a sickening jump - and fall he goes into the sea. Spurning the wave-tops in his flight he - makes a circuit of the burning ship, and in the hellish light, that fills - the air and penetrates to the ocean bottom, the pirate sees again his - victims looking up with smiles and arms spread to embrace him. - </p> - <p> - There is a cry of terror as the steed stops short; then a gurgle, and - horse and rider have disappeared. The fire ship vanishes and the night is - dark. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0166" id="link2H_4_0166"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ROBERT LOCKWOOD'S FATE - </h2> - <p> - In the winter of 1779, General Putnam was stationed at Reading, - Connecticut, with a band of ill-fed, unpaid troops. He was quartered at - the Marvin house, and Mary, daughter of farmer Marvin, won her way to the - heart of this rough soldier through the excellence of her dumplings and - the invigorating quality of her flip. He even took her into his - confidence, and, being in want of a spy in an emergency, he playfully - asked her if she knew any brave fellow who could be trusted to take a - false message into the British lines that would avert an impending attack. - Yes, she knew such an one, and would guarantee that he would take the - message if the fortunes of the colonial army would be helped thereby. - Putnam assured her that it would aid the patriot cause, and, farther, that - he would reward her; whereat, with a smile and a twinkling eye, the girl - received the missive and left the room. - </p> - <p> - When daylight had left the sky, Mary slipped out of the house, crossed a - pasture, entered a ravine, and in a field beyond reached a cattle shelter. - On the instant a tall form stepped from the shadows and she sank into its - embrace. There was a kiss, a moment of whispered talk, and the girl - hurriedly asked her lover if he would carry a letter to the British - headquarters, near Ridgefield. Of course he would. But he must not read - it, and he must on no account say from whom he had it. The young man - consented without a question—that she required it was sufficient; - so, thrusting the tiny paper into his hand and bidding him God-speed, she - gave him another kiss and they parted—he to go on his errand, she to - pass the night with the clergyman's daughter at the parsonage. At about - ten o'clock Putnam was disturbed by the tramping of feet and a tall, - goodlooking fellow was thrust into his room by a couple of soldiers. The - captive had been found inside the lines, they said, in consultation with - some unknown person who had escaped the eye of the sentry in the darkness. - When captured he had put a piece of paper into his mouth and swallowed it. - He gave the name of Robert Lockwood, and when Putnam demanded to know what - he had been doing near the camp without a permit he said that he was bound - by a promise not to tell. - </p> - <p> - “Are you a patriot?” asked the general. - </p> - <p> - “I am a royalist. I do not sympathize with rebellion. I have been a man of - peace in this war.” - </p> - <p> - Putnam strode about the room, giving vent to his passion in language - neither choice nor gentle, for he had been much troubled by spies and - informers since he had been there. Then, stopping, he said: - </p> - <p> - “Some one was with you to-night-some of my men. Tell me that traitor's - name and I'll spare your life and hang him before the whole army.” - </p> - <p> - The prisoner turned pale and dropped his head. He would not violate his - promise. - </p> - <p> - “You are a British spy, and I'll hang you at sunrise!” roared Putnam. - </p> - <p> - In vain the young man pleaded for time to appeal to Washington. He was not - a spy, he insisted, and it would be found, perhaps too late, that a - terrible mistake had been committed. His words were unheeded: he was led - away and bound, and as the sun was rising on the next morning the sentence - of courtmartial was executed upon him. - </p> - <p> - At noon Mary returned from the parsonage, her eyes dancing and her mouth - dimpling with smiles. Going to Putnam, she said, with a dash of sauciness, - “I have succeeded, general. I found a lad last night to take your message. - I had to meet him alone, for he is a Tory; so he cannot enter this camp. - The poor fellow had no idea that he was doing a service for the rebels, - for he did not know what was in the letter, and I bound him not to tell - who gave it to him. You see, I punished him for abiding by the king.” - </p> - <p> - The general laughed and gazed at her admiringly. - </p> - <p> - “You're a brave girl,” he said, “and I suppose you've come for your - reward. Well, what is it to be?” - </p> - <p> - “I want a pass for Robert Lockwood. He is the royalist I spoke of, but he - will not betray you, for he is not a soldier; and—his visits make me - very happy.” - </p> - <p> - “The spy you hanged this morning,” whispered an aide in Putnam's ear. - “Give her the pass and say nothing of what has happened.” - </p> - <p> - The general started, changed color, and paused; then he signed the order - with a dash, placed it in the girl's hand, gravely kissed her, watched her - as she ran lightly from the house, and going to his bedroom closed the - door and remained alone for an hour. From that time he never spoke of the - affair, but when his troops were ordered away, soon after, he almost - blenched as he gave good-by to Mary Marvin, and met her sad, reproachful - look, though to his last day he never learned whether or no she had - discovered Robert Lockwood's fate. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0167" id="link2H_4_0167"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LOVE AND RUM - </h2> - <p> - Back in the seventeenth century a number of Yankee traders arrived in - Naugatuck to barter blankets, beads, buttons, Bibles, and brandy for - skins, and there they met chief Toby and his daughter. Toby was not a - pleasing person, but his daughter was well favored, and one of the traders - told the chief that if he would allow the girl to go to Boston with him he - would give to him—Toby—a quart of rum. Toby was willing - enough. He would give a good deal for rum. But the daughter declined to be - sold off in such a fashion unless—she coyly admitted—she could - have half of the rum herself. Loth as he was to do so, Toby was brought to - agree to this proposition, for he knew that rum was rare and good and - girls were common and perverse, so the gentle forest lily took her mug of - liquor and tossed it off. Now, it is not clear whether she wished to nerve - herself for the deed that followed or whether the deed was a result of the - tonic, but she made off from the paternal wigwam and was presently seen on - the ledge of Squaw Rock, locally known also as High Rock, from which in - another moment she had fallen. Toby had pursued her, and on finding her - dead he vented a howl of grief and anger and flung the now empty rum-jug - after her. A huge bowlder arose from the earth where it struck, and there - it remains—a monument to the girl and a warning to Tobies. - </p> - <p> - Another version of the story is that the girl sprang from the rock to - escape the pursuit of a lover who was hateful to her, and who had her - almost in his grasp when she made the fatal leap. In the crevice half-way - up the cliff her spirit has often been seen looking regretfully into the - rich valley that was her home, and on the 20th of March and 20th of - September, in every year, it is imposed on her to take the form of a - seven-headed snake, the large centre head adorned with a splendid - carbuncle. Many have tried to capture the snake and secure this precious - stone, for an old prophecy promises wealth to whoever shall wrest it from - the serpent. But thus far the people of Connecticut have found more wealth - in clocks and tobacco than in snakes and carbuncles. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0168" id="link2H_4_0168"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0169" id="link2H_4_0169"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SWIM AT INDIAN HEAD - </h2> - <p> - At Indian Head, Maryland, are the government proving-grounds, where the - racket of great guns and splintering of targets are a deterrent to the - miscellaneous visitations of picnics. Trouble has been frequently - associated with this neighborhood, as it is now suggested in the noisy - symbolry of war. In prehistoric days it was the site of an aboriginal - town, whose denizens were like other Indians in their love for fight and - their willingness to shed blood. Great was the joy of all these citizens - when a scouting party came in, one day, bringing with them the daughter of - one of their toughest old hunters and a young buck, from another faction, - who had come a-courting; her in the neighboring shades. - </p> - <p> - Capture meant death, usually, and he knew it, but he held himself proudly - and refused to ask for mercy. It was resolved that he should die. The - father's scorn for his daughter, that she should thus consort with an - enemy, was so great that he was on the point of offering her as a joint - sacrifice with her lover, when she fell on her knees before him and began - a fervent appeal, not for herself, but for the prisoner. She would do - anything to prove her strength, her duty, her obedience, if they would set - him free. He had done injury to none. What justice lay in putting him to - the torture? - </p> - <p> - Half in earnest, half in humor, the chief answered, “Suppose we were to - set him on the farther shore of the Potomac, do you love him well enough - to swim to him?” - </p> - <p> - “I do.” - </p> - <p> - “The river is wide and deep.” - </p> - <p> - “I would drown in it rather than that harm should come to him.” - </p> - <p> - The old chief ordered the captive, still bound, to be taken to a point on - the Virginia shore, full two miles away, in one of their canoes, and when - the boat was on the water he gave the word to the girl, who instantly - plunged in and followed it. The chief and the father embarked in another - birch—ostensibly to see that the task was honestly fulfilled; - really, perhaps, to see that the damsel did not drown. It was a long - course, but the maid was not as many of our city misses are, and she - reached the bank, tired, but happy, for she had saved her lover and gained - him for a husband. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0170" id="link2H_4_0170"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE MOANING SISTERS - </h2> - <p> - Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the - Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other—for - they are parts of a submerged reef—but because of a tradition that, - more than a hundred years ago, a boat in which three sisters had gone out - for a row was swung against one of these rocks. The day was gusty and the - boat was upset. All three of the girls were drowned. Either the sisters - remain about this perilous spot or the rocks have prescience; at least, - those who live near them on the shore hold one view or the other, for they - declare that before every death on the river the sisters moan, the sound - being heard above the lapping of the waves. It is different from any other - sound in nature. Besides, it is an unquestioned fact that more accidents - happen here than at any other point on the river. - </p> - <p> - Many are the upsets that have occurred and many are the swimmers who have - gone down, the dark forms of the sisters being the last shapes that their - water-blurred eyes have seen. It is only before a human life is to be - yielded that this low wailing comes from the rocks, and when, on a night - in May, 1889, the sound floated shoreward, just as the clock in Georgetown - struck twelve, good people who were awake sighed and uttered a prayer for - the one whose doom was so near at hand. Twelve hours later, at noon, a - shell came speeding down the Potomac, with a young athlete jauntily - pulling at the oars. As he neared the Three Sisters his boat appeared to - be caught in an eddy; it swerved suddenly, as if struck; then it upset and - the rower sank to his death. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0171" id="link2H_4_0171"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A RIDE FOR A BRIDE - </h2> - <p> - When the story of bloodshed at Bunker Hill reached Bohemia Hall, in Cecil - County, Maryland, Albert De Courcy left his brother Ernest to support the - dignity of the house and make patriotic speeches, while he went to the - front, conscious that Helen Carmichael, his affianced wife, was watching, - in pride and sadness, the departure of his company. Letters came and went, - as they always do, until rumor came of a sore defeat to the colonials at - Long Island; then the letters ceased. - </p> - <p> - It was a year later when a ragged soldier, who had stopped at the hall for - supper, told of Albert's heroism in covering the retreat of Washington. - The gallant young officer had been shot, he said, as he attempted to swim - the morasses of Gowanus. But this soldier was in error. Albert had been - vexatiously bogged on the edge of the creek. While floundering in the mud - a half dozen sturdy red-coats had lugged him out and he was packed off to - the prison-ships anchored in the Wallabout. In these dread hulks, amid - darkness and miasma, living on scant, unwholesome food, compelled to see - his comrades die by dozens every day and their bodies flung ashore where - the tide lapped away the sand thrown over them, De Courcy wished that - death instead of capture had been his lot, for next to his love he prized - his liberty. - </p> - <p> - One day he was told off, with a handful of others, for transfer to a - stockade on the Delaware, and how his heart beat when he learned that the - new prison was within twenty miles of home! His flow of spirits returned, - and his new jailers liked him for his frankness and laughed at his honest - expletives against the king. He had the liberty of the enclosure, and was - not long in finding where the wall was low, the ditch narrow, and the - abatis decayed—knowledge that came useful to him sooner than he - expected, for one day a captured horse was led in that made straight for - him with a whinny and rubbed his nose against his breast. - </p> - <p> - “Why!” he cried,—“it's Cecil! My horse, gentlemen—or, was. Not - a better hunter in Maryland!” - </p> - <p> - “Yes,” answered one of the officers. “We've just taken him from your - brother. He's been stirring trouble with his speeches and has got to be - quieted. But we'll have him to-day, for he's to be married, and a scouting - party is on the road to nab him at the altar.” - </p> - <p> - “Married! My brother! What! Ernest, the lawyer, the orator? Ho, ho! Ah, - but it's rather hard to break off a match in that style!” - </p> - <p> - “Hard for him, maybe; but they say the lady feels no great love for him. - He made it seem like a duty to her, after her lover died.” - </p> - <p> - “How's that? Her own—what's her name?” - </p> - <p> - “Helen—Helen Carmichael, or something like that.” - </p> - <p> - Field and sky swam before De Courcy's eyes for a moment; then he resumed, - in a calm voice, and with a pale, set face, “Well, you're making an - unhappy wedding-day for him. If he had Cecil here he would outride you - all. Ah, when I was in practice I could ride this horse and snatch a - pebble from the ground without losing pace!” - </p> - <p> - “Could you do it now?” - </p> - <p> - “I'm afraid long lodging in your prison-ships has stiffened my joints, but - I'd venture at a handkerchief.” - </p> - <p> - “Then try,” said the commandant. - </p> - <p> - De Courcy mounted into the saddle heavily, crossed the grounds at a - canter, and dropped a handkerchief on the grass. Then, taking a few turns - for practice, he started at a gallop and swept around like the wind. His - seat was so firm, his air so noble, his mastery of the steed so complete, - that a cheer of admiration went up. He seemed to fall headlong from the - saddle, but was up again in a moment, waving the handkerchief gayly in - farewell—for he kept straight on toward the weak place in the wall. - A couple of musket-balls hummed by his ears: it was neck or nothing now! A - tremendous leap! Then a ringing cry told the astonished soldiers that he - had reached the road in safety. Through wood and thicket and field he - dashed as if the fiend were after him, and never once did he cease to urge - his steed till he reached the turnpike, and saw ahead the scouting party - on its way to arrest his brother. - </p> - <p> - Turning into a path that led to the rear of the little church they were so - dangerously near, he plied hands and heels afresh, and in a few moments a - wedding party was startled by the apparition of a black horse, all in a - foam, ridden by a gaunt man, in torn garments, that burst in at the open - chancel-door. The bridegroom cowered, for he knew his brother. The bride - gazed in amazement. “'Tis the dead come to life!” cried one. De Courcy had - little time for words. He rode forward to the altar, swung Helen up behind - him, and exclaimed, “Save yourselves! The British are coming! To horse, - every one, and make for the manor!” There were shrieks and fainting—and - perhaps a little cursing, even if it was in church,—and when the - squadron rode up most of the company were in full flight. Ernest was - taken, and next morning held his brother's place on the prison-list, - while, as arrangements had been made for a wedding, there was one, and a - happy one, but Albert was the bridegroom. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0172" id="link2H_4_0172"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE - </h2> - <p> - The hills about the head of the Hiawassee are filled with “harnts,” among - them many animal ghosts, that ravage about the country from sheer - viciousness. The people of the region, illiterate and superstitious, have - unquestioning faith in them. They tell you about the headless bull and - black dog of the valley of the Chatata, the white stag of the - Sequahatchie, and the bleeding horse of the Great Smoky Mountains—the - last three being portents of illness, death, or misfortune to those who - see them. - </p> - <p> - Other ghosts are those of men. Near the upper Hiawassee is a cave where a - pile of human skulls was found by a man who had put up his cabin near the - entrance. For some reason, which he says he never understood, this farmer - gathered up the old, bleached bones and dumped them into his shed. Quite - possibly he did not dare to confess that he wanted them for fertilizers or - to burn them for his poultry. - </p> - <p> - Night fell dark and still, with a waning moon rising over the mountains—as - calm a night as ever one slept through. Along toward the middle of it a - sound like the coming of a cyclone brought the farmer out of his bed. He - ran to the window to see if the house were to be uprooted, but the forest - was still, with a strange, oppressive stillness—not a twig moving, - not a cloud veiling the stars, not an insect chirping. Filled with a vague - fear, he tried to waken his wife, but she was like one in a state of - catalepsy. - </p> - <p> - Again the sound was heard, and now he saw, without, a shadowy band - circling about his house like leaves whirled on the wind. It seemed to be - made of human shapes, with tossing arms—this circling band—and - the sound was that of many voices, each faint and hollow, by itself, but - loud in aggregate. He who was watching realized then that the wraiths of - the dead whose skulls he had purloined from their place of sepulture were - out in lament and protest. He went on his knees at once and prayed with - vigor until morning. As soon as it was light enough to see his way he - replaced the skulls, and was not troubled by the “haunts” again. All the - gold in America, said he, would not tempt him to remove any more bones - from the cave-tombs of the unknown dead. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0173" id="link2H_4_0173"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP - </h2> - <p> - Drummond's Pond, or the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, is a dark and lonely - tarn that lies in the centre of this noted Virginia morass. It is, in a - century-old tradition, the Styx of two unhappy ghosts that await the end - of time to pass its confines and enjoy the sunshine of serener worlds. A - young woman of a family that had settled near this marsh died of a fever - caused by its malarial exhalations, and was buried near the swamp. The - young man to whom she was betrothed felt her loss so keenly that for days - he neither ate nor slept, and at last broke down in mind and body. He - recovered a measure of physical health, after a time, but his reason was - hopelessly lost. - </p> - <p> - It was his hallucination that the girl was not dead, but had been exiled - to the lonely reaches of this watery wilderness. He was heard to mutter, - “I'll find her, and when Death comes I'll hide her in the hollow of a - cypress until he passes on.” Evading restraint, he plunged into the fen, - and for some days he wandered there, eating berries, sleeping on tussocks - of grass, with water-snakes crawling over him and poisonous plants - shedding their baneful dew on his flesh. He came to the lake at last. A - will-o'the-wisp played along the surface. “'Tis she!” he cried. “I see - her, standing in the light.” Hastily fashioning a raft of cypress boughs - he floated it and pushed toward the centre of the pond, but the eagerness - of his efforts and the rising of a wind dismembered the frail platform, - and he fell into the black water to rise no more. But often, in the night, - is seen the wraith of a canoe, with a fire-fly lamp burning on its prow, - restlessly urged to and fro by two figures that seem to be vainly - searching for an exit from the place, and that are believed to be those of - the maiden and her lover. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0174" id="link2H_4_0174"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE BARGE OF DEFEAT - </h2> - <p> - Rappannock River, in Virginia, used to be vexed with shadowy craft that - some of the populace affirmed to be no boats, but spirits in disguise. One - of these apparitions was held in fear by the Democracy of Essex County, as - it was believed to be a forerunner of Republican victory. The first - recorded appearance of the vessel was shortly after the Civil War, on the - night of a Democratic mass-meeting at Tappahannock. There were music, - refreshments, and jollity, and it was in the middle of a rousing speech - that a man in the crowd cried, “Look, fellows! What is that queer concern - going down the river?” - </p> - <p> - The people moved to the shore, and by the light of their torches a hulk - was seen drifting with the stream—a hulk of fantastic form unlike - anything that sails there in the daytime. As it came opposite the throng, - the torchlight showed gigantic negroes who danced on deck, showing - horrible faces to the multitude. Not a sound came from the barge, the - halloos of the spectators bringing no response, and some boatmen ventured - into the stream, only to pull back in a hurry, for the craft had become so - strangely enveloped in shadow that it seemed to melt into air. - </p> - <p> - Next day the Democracy was defeated at the polls, chiefly by the negro - vote. In 1880 it reappeared, and, as before, the Republicans gained the - day. Just before the election of 1886, Mr. Croxton, Democratic nominee for - Congress, was haranguing the people, when the cry of “The Black Barge!” - arose. Argument and derision were alike ineffectual with the populace. The - meeting broke up in silence and gloom, and Mr. Croxton was defeated by a - majority of two thousand. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0175" id="link2H_4_0175"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - NATURAL BRIDGE - </h2> - <p> - Though several natural bridges are known in this country, there is but one - that is famous the world over, and that is the one which spans Clear - Creek, Virginia—the remnant of a cave-roof, all the rest of the - cavern having collapsed. It is two hundred and fifteen feet above the - water, and is a solid mass of rock forty feet thick, one hundred feet - wide, and ninety feet in span. Thomas Jefferson owned it; George - Washington scaled its side and carved his name on the rock a foot higher - than any one else. Here, too, came the youth who wanted to cut his name - above Washington's, and who found, to his horror, when half-way up, that - he must keep on, for he had left no resting-places for his feet at safe - and reachable distances—who, therefore, climbed on and on, cutting - handhold and foothold in the limestone until he reached the top, in a - fainting state, his knife-blade worn to a stump. Here, too, in another - tunnel of the cavern, flows Lost River, that all must return to, at some - time, if they drink of it. Here, beneath the arch, is the dark stain, so - like a flying eagle that the French officer who saw it during the - Revolution augured from it a success for the united arms of the nations - that used the eagle as their symbol. - </p> - <p> - The Mohegans knew this wonder of natural masonry, for to this point they - were pursued by a hostile tribe, and on reaching the gulf found themselves - on the edge of a precipice that was too steep at that point to descend. - Behind them was the foe; before them, the chasm. At the suggestion of one - of their medicine-men they joined in a prayer to the Great Spirit for - deliverance, and when again they looked about them, there stood the - bridge. Their women were hurried over; then, like so many Horatii, they - formed across this dizzy highway and gave battle. Encouraged by the - knowledge that they had a safe retreat in case of being overmastered, they - fought with such heart that the enemy was defeated, and the grateful - Mohegans named the place the Bridge of God. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0176" id="link2H_4_0176"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SILENCE BROKEN - </h2> - <p> - It was in 1734 that Joist Hite moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with - his wife and boys, and helped to make a settlement on the Shenandoah - twelve miles south of Woodstock. When picking berries at a distance from - the village, one morning, the boys were surprised by Indians, who hurried - with them into the wilderness before their friends could be apprised. - Aaron, the elder, was strong, and big of frame, with coarse, black hair, - and face tanned brown; but his brother was small and fair, with blue eyes - and yellow locks, and it was doubtless because he was a type of the hated - white race that the Indians spent their blows and kicks on him and spared - the sturdy one. Aaron was wild with rage at the injuries put upon his - gentle brother, but he was bound and helpless, and all that he could do - was to encourage him to bear a stout heart and not to fall behind. - </p> - <p> - But Peter was too delicate to keep up, and there came a day when he could - go no farther. The red men consulted for a few moments, then all of them - stood apart but one, who fitted an arrow to his bow. The child's eyes grew - big with fear, and Aaron tore at his bonds, but uselessly, and shouted - that he would take the victim's place, but no one understood his speech, - and in another moment Peter lay dead on the earth, with an arrow in his - heart. Aaron gave one cry of hate and despair, and he, too, sank - unconscious. On coming to himself he found that he was in a hut of boughs, - attended by an old Indian, who told him in rude English that he was - recovering from an illness of several weeks' duration, and that it was the - purpose of his tribe to adopt him. When the lad tried to protest he found - to his amazement that he could not utter a sound, and he learned from the - Indian that the fever had taken away his tongue. In the dulness and - weakness of his state he submitted to be clothed in Indian dress, smeared - with a juice that browned his skin, and greeted by his brother's slayers - as one of themselves. When he looked into a pool he found that he had, to - all intents, become an Indian. In time he became partly reconciled to this - change, for he did not know and could not ask where the white settlements - lay; his appearance and his inability to speak would prevent his - recognition by his friends, the red men were not unkind to him, and every - boy likes a free and out-door life. They taught him to shoot with bow and - arrow, but they kept him back if a white settlement was to be plundered. - </p> - <p> - Three years had elapsed, and Aaron, grown tall and strong, was a good - hunter who stood in favor with the tribe. They had roamed back to the - neighborhood of Woodstock, when, at a council, Aaron overheard a plot to - fall on the village where his parents lived. He begged, by signs, to be - allowed to go with them, and, believing that he could now be trusted, they - offered no objection. Stoic as he had grown to be, he could not repress a - tear as he saw his old home and thought of the peril that it stood in. If - only he could give an alarm! The Indians retired into the forest to cook - their food where the smoke could not be seen, while Aaron lingered at the - edge of the wood and prayed for opportunity. He was not disappointed. Two - girls came up through the perfumed dusk, driving cows from the pasture, - and as they drew near, Aaron, pretending not to see them, crawled out of - the bush with his weapons, and made a show of stealthily examining the - town. The girls came almost upon him and screamed, while he dashed into - the wood in affected surprise and regained the camp. The Indians had heard - and seen nothing. The girls would surely give the alarm in town. - </p> - <p> - One by one the lights of the village went out, and when it seemed locked - in sleep the red marauders crept toward the nearest house—that of - Joist Hite. They arose together and rushed upon it, but at that moment a - gun was fired, an Indian fell, and in a few seconds more the settlers, - whom the girls had not failed to put on their guard, were hurrying from - their hiding-places, firing into the astonished crowd of savages, who - dashed for the woods again, leaving a dozen of their number on the ground. - Aaron remained quietly standing near his father's house, and he was - captured, as he hoped to be. When he saw how his parents had aged with - time and grief he could not repress a tear, but to his grief was added - terror when his father, after looking him steadily in the eye without - recognition, began to load a pistol. “They killed my boys,” said he, “and - I am going to kill him. Bind him to that tree.” - </p> - <p> - In vain the mother pleaded for mercy; in vain the dumb boy's eyes appealed - to his father's. He was not afraid to die, and would do so gladly to have - saved the settlement; but to die by his father's band! He could not endure - it. He was bound to a tree, with the light of a fire shining into his - face. - </p> - <p> - The old man, with hard determination, raised the weapon and aimed it - slowly at the boy's heart. A surge of feeling shook the frame of the - captive—he threw his whole life into the effort—then the - silence of three years was broken, and he cried, “Father!” A moment later - his parents were sobbing joyfully, and he could speak to them once more. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0177" id="link2H_4_0177"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SIREN OF THE FRENCH BROAD - </h2> - <p> - Among the rocks east of Asheville, North Carolina, lives the Lorelei of - the French Broad River. This stream—the Tselica of the Indians—contains - in its upper reaches many pools where the rapid water whirls and deepens, - and where the traveller likes to pause in the heats of afternoon and drink - and bathe. Here, from the time when the Cherokees occupied the country, - has lived the siren, and if one who is weary and downcast sits beside the - stream or utters a wish to rest in it, he becomes conscious of a soft and - exquisite music blending with the plash of the wave. - </p> - <p> - Looking down in surprise he sees—at first faintly, then with - distinctness—the form of a beautiful woman, with hair streaming like - moss and dark eyes looking into his, luring him with a power he cannot - resist. His breath grows short, his gaze is fixed, mechanically he rises, - steps to the brink, and lurches forward into the river. The arms that - catch him are slimy and cold as serpents; the face that stares into his is - a grinning skull. A loud, chattering laugh rings through the wilderness, - and all is still again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0178" id="link2H_4_0178"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HUNTER OF CALAWASSEE - </h2> - <p> - Through brisk November days young Kedar and his trusty slave, Lauto, - hunted along the Calawassee, with hope to get a shot at a buck—a - buck that wore a single horn and that eluded them with easy, baffling gait - whenever they met it in the fens. Kedar was piqued at this. He drained a - deep draught and buttoned his coat with an air of resolution. “Now, by my - soul,” quoth he, “I'll have that buck to-day or die myself!” Then he - laughed at the old slave, who begged him to unsay the oath, for there was - something unusual about that animal—as it ran it left no tracks, and - it passed through the densest wood without halting at trees or - undergrowth. “Bah!” retorted the huntsman. “Have up the dogs. If that buck - is the fiend himself, I'll have him before the day is out!” The twain were - quickly in their saddles, and they had not been long in the wood before - the one-horned buck was seen ahead, trotting with easy pace, yet with - marvellous swiftness. - </p> - <p> - Kedar, who was in advance, whipped up his horse and followed the deer into - a cypress grove near the Chechesee. As the game halted at a pool he fired. - The report sounded dead in the dense wood, and the deer turned calmly, - watched his pursuer until he was close at hand, then trotted away again. - All day long he held the chase. The dogs were nowhere within sound, and he - galloped through the forest, shouting and swearing like a very devil, - beating and spurring the horse until the poor creature's head and flanks - were reddened with blood. It was just at sunset that Kedar found himself - again on the bank of the Calawassee, near the point he had left in the - morning, and heard once more the baying of his hounds. At last his prey - seemed exhausted, and, swimming the river, it ran into a thicket on the - opposite side and stood still. “Now I have him!” cried the hunter. - “Hillio, Lauto! He's mine!” The old negro heard the call and hastened - forward. He heard his master's horse floundering in the swamp that edged - the river—then came a plash, a curse, and as the slave arrived at - the margin a few bubbles floated on the sluggish current. The deer stood - in the thicket, staring with eyes that blazed through the falling - darkness, and, with a wail of fear and sorrow, old Lauto fled the spot. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0179" id="link2H_4_0179"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - REVENGE OF THE ACCABEE - </h2> - <p> - The settlement made by Lord Cardross, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was - beset by Spaniards and Indians, who laid it in ashes and slew every person - in it but one. She, a child of thirteen, had supposed the young chief of - the Accabees to be her father, as he passed in the smoke, and had thrown - herself into his arms. The savage raised his axe to strike, but, catching - her blue eye raised to his, more in grief and wonder than alarm, the - menacing hand fell to his side, and, tossing the girl lightly to a seat on - his shoulder, he strode off into the forest. Mile after mile he bore her, - and if she slept he held her to his breast as a father holds a babe. When - she awoke it was in his lodge on the Ashley, and he was smiling in her - face. The chief became her protector; but those who marked, with the - flight of time, how his fierceness had softened, knew that she was more to - him than a daughter. Years passed, the girl had grown to womanhood, and - her captor declared himself her lover. She seemed not ill pleased at this, - for she consented to be his wife. After the betrothal the chief joined a - hunting party and was absent for a time. On his return the girl was gone. - A trader who had been bartering merchandise for furs had seen her, had - been inspired by passion, and, favored by suave manners and a white skin, - he had won in a day a stronger affection than the Indian could claim after - years of loving watchfulness. - </p> - <p> - When this discovery was made the chief, without a word, set off on the - trail, and by broken twig, by bended grass and footprints at the - brook-edge, he followed their course until he found them resting beneath a - tree. The girl sprang from her new lover's arms with a cry of fear as the - savage, with knife and tomahawk girt upon him, stepped into view, and she - would have clasped his knees, but he motioned her away; then, ordering - them to continue their march, he went behind them until they had reached a - fertile spot on the Ashley, near the present site of Charleston, where he - halted. “Though guilty, you shall not die,” said he to the woman; then, to - his rival, “You shall marry her, and a white priest shall join your hands. - Here is your future home. I give you many acres of my land, but look that - you care for her. As I have been merciful to you, do good to her. If you - treat her ill, I shall not be far away.” - </p> - <p> - The twain were married and went to live on the acres that had been so - generously ceded to them, and for a time all went well; but the true - disposition of the husband, which was sullen and selfish, soon began to - disclose itself; disagreements arose, then quarrels; at last the man - struck his wife, and, seizing the deed of the Accabee land and a paper - that he had forced her to sign without knowing its contents, he started - for the settlements, intending to sell the property and sail for England. - On the edge of the village his flight was stayed by a tall form that arose - in his path-that of the Indian. “I gave you all,” said the chief, “the - woman who should have been my wife, and then my land. This is your thanks. - You shall go no farther.” - </p> - <p> - With a quick stroke of the axe he cleft the skull of the shrinking wretch, - and then, cutting off his scalp, the Indian ran to the cottage where sat - the abandoned wife, weeping before the embers of her fire. He roused her - by tossing on fresh fuel, but she shrank back in grief and shame when she - saw who had come to her. “Do not fear,” he said. “The man who struck you - meant to sell your home to strangers”—and he laid the deed of sale - before her, “but he will never play you false or lay hands on you again. - Look!” He tossed the dripping scalp upon the paper. “Now I leave you - forever. I cannot take you back among my people, who do not know deceit - like yours, nor could I ever love you as I did at first.” Turning, without - other farewell he went out at the door. When this gift of Accabee land was - sold—for the woman could no longer bear to live on it, but went to a - northern city—a handsome house was built by the new owner, who added - game preserves and pleasure grounds to the estate, but it was “haunted by - a grief.” Illness and ill luck followed the purchase, and the house fell - into ruin. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0180" id="link2H_4_0180"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TOCCOA FALLS - </h2> - <p> - Early in the days of the white occupation of Georgia a cabin stood not far - from the Falls of Toccoa (the Beautiful). Its only occupant was a feeble - woman, who found it ill work to get food enough from the wild fruits and - scanty clearing near the house, and she had nigh forgotten the taste of - meat; for her two sons, who were her pride no less than her support, had - been killed by savages. She often said that she would gladly die if she - could harm the red men back, in return for her suffering—which was - not Christian doctrine, but was natural. She was brooding at her fire, one - winter evening, in wonder as to how one so weak and old as she could be - revenged, when her door was flung open and a number of red men filled her - cabin. She hardly changed countenance. She did not rise. “You may take my - life,” she said, “for it is useless, now that you have robbed it of all - that made it worth living.” - </p> - <p> - “Hush!” said the chief. “What does the warrior want with the scalps of - women? We war on your men because they kill our game and steal our land.” - </p> - <p> - “Is it possible that you come to our homes except to kill?” - </p> - <p> - “We are strangers and have lost our way. You must guide us to the foot of - Toccoa and lead us to our friends.” - </p> - <p> - “I lead you? Never!” - </p> - <p> - The chief raised his axe, but the woman did not flinch. There was a pause, - in which the iron still hung menacing. Suddenly the dame looked up and - said, “If you promise to protect me, I will lead you.” - </p> - <p> - The promise was given and the band set forth, the aged guide in advance, - bending against the storm and clasping her poor rags about her. In the - darkest part of the wood, where the roaring of wind and groaning of - branches seemed the louder for the booming of waters, she cautioned the - band to keep in single file, but to make haste, for the way was far and - the gloom was thickening. Bending their heads against the wind they - pressed forward, she in advance. Suddenly, yet stealthily, she sprang - aside and crouched beneath a tree that grew at the very brink of the fall. - The Indians came on, following blindly, and in an instant she descried the - leader as he went whirling over the edge, and one after another the party - followed. When the last had gone to his death she arose to her feet with a - laugh of triumph. “Now I, too, can die!” she cried. So saying, she fell - forward into the grayness of space. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0181" id="link2H_4_0181"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TWO LIVES FOR ONE - </h2> - <p> - The place of Macon, Georgia, in the early part of this century was marked - only by an inn. One of its guests was a man who had stopped there on the - way to Alabama, where he had bought land. The girl who was, to be his wife - was to follow in a few days. In the morning when he paid his reckoning he - produced a well-filled pocket-book, and he did not see the significant - look that passed between two rough black-bearded fellows who had also - spent the night there, and who, when he set forth, mounted their horses - and offered to keep him company. As they rode through the deserted village - of Chilicte one of the twain engaged the traveller in talk while the - other, falling a little behind, dealt him a blow with a loaded whip that - unseated him. Divining their purpose, and lacking weapons for his own - defence, he begged for mercy, and asked to be allowed to return to his - bride to be, but the robbers had already made themselves liable to - penalty, and two knife-thrusts in the breast silenced his appeals. The - money was secured, the body was dropped into a hollow where the wolves - would be likely to find and mangle it, and the outlaws went on their way. - </p> - <p> - Men of their class do not keep money long, and when the proceeds of the - robbery had been wasted at cards and in drink they separated. As in - fulfilment of the axiom that a murderer is sure to revisit the scene of - his crime, one of the men found himself at the Ocmulgee, a long time - afterward, in sight of the new town—Macon. In response to his halloo - a skiff shot forth from the opposite shore, and as it approached the bank - he felt a stir in his hair and a touch of ice at his heart, for the - ferryman was his victim of years ago. Neither spoke a word, but the - criminal felt himself forced to enter the boat when the dead man waved his - hand, and he was rowed across, his horse swimming beside the skiff. As the - jar of the keel was felt on the gravel he leaped out, urged his horse to - the road, sprang to the saddle, and rushed away in an agony of fear, that - was heightened when a hollow voice called, “Stay!” - </p> - <p> - After a little he slackened pace, and a farmer, who was standing at the - roadside, asked, in astonishment, “How did you get across? There is a - freshet, and the ferryman was drowned last night.” With a new thrill he - spurred his horse forward, and made no other halt until he reached the - tavern, where he fell in a faint on the steps, for the strain was no - longer to be endured. A crowd gathered, but he did not see it when he - awoke—he saw only one pair of eyes, that seemed to be looking into - his inmost soul—the eyes of the man he had slain. With a yell of - terror and of insane fury he rushed upon the ghost and thrust a knife into - its breast. The frenzy passed. It was no ghost that lay on the earth - before him, staring up with sightless eyes. It was his fellow-murderer—his - own brother. That night the assassin's body hung from a tree at the - cross-roads. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0182" id="link2H_4_0182"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A GHOSTLY AVENGER - </h2> - <p> - In Cuthbert, Georgia, is a gravestone thus inscribed: “Sacred to the - memory of Jim Brown.” No date, no epitaph—for Jim Brown was hanged. - And this is the story: At the close of the Civil War a company of Federal - soldiers was stationed in Cuthbert, to enforce order pending the return of - its people to peaceful occupations. Charles Murphy was a lieutenant in - this company. His brother, an officer quartered in a neighboring town, was - sent to Cuthbert one day to receive funds for the payment of some men, and - left camp toward evening to return to his troop. That night Charles Murphy - was awakened by a violent flapping of his tent. It sounded as though a - gale was coming, but when he arose to make sure that the pegs and poles of - his canvas house were secure, the noise ceased, and he was surprised to - find that the air was clear and still. On returning to bed the flapping - began again, and this time he dressed himself and went out to make a more - careful examination. In the shadow of a tree a man stood beckoning. It was - his brother, who, in a low, grave voice, told him that he was in trouble, - and asked him to follow where he should lead him. The lieutenant walked - swiftly through fields and woods for some miles with his relative—he - had at once applied for and received a leave of absence for a few hours—and - they descended together a slope to the edge of a swamp, where he stumbled - against something. Looking down at the object on which he had tripped, he - saw that it was his brother's corpse—not newly dead, but cold and - rigid—the pockets rifled, the clothing soaked with mire and blood. - </p> - <p> - Dazed and terrified, he returned to camp, roused some of his men, and at - daybreak secured the body. An effort to gain a clue to the murderer was at - once set on foot. It was not long before evidence was secured that led to - the arrest of Jim Brown, and there was a hint that his responsibility for - the crime was revealed through the same supernatural agency that had - apprised Lieutenant Murphy of his bereavement. Brown was an ignorant farm - laborer, who had conceived that it was right to kill Yankees, and whose - cupidity had been excited by learning that the officer had money concealed - about him. He had offered, for a trifling sum, to take his victim by a - short cut to his camp, but led him to the swamp instead, where he had shot - him through the heart. On the culprit's arrival in Cuthbert he was lynched - by the soldiers, but was cut down by their commander before life was - extinct, and was formally and conclusively hanged in the next week, after - trial and conviction. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0183" id="link2H_4_0183"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WRAITH RINGER OF ATLANTA - </h2> - <p> - A man was killed in Elliott Street, Atlanta, Georgia, by a cowardly stroke - from a stiletto. The assassin escaped. Strange what a humming there was in - the belfry of St. Michael's Church that night! Had the murderer taken - refuge there? Was it a knell for his lost soul, chasing him through the - empty streets and beginning already an eternal punishment of terror? - Perhaps the guilty one did not dare to leave Atlanta, for the chimes sang - in minor chords on several nights after. The old policeman who kept ward - in an antiquated guardhouse that stood opposite the church—it was - afterward shaken down by earthquake—said that he saw a human form, - which he would avouch to be that of the murdered man, though it was - wrapped in a cloak, stalk to the doors, enter without opening them, glide - up the winding stair, albeit he bent neither arm nor knee, pass the ropes - by which the chimes were rung, and mount to the belfry. He could see the - shrouded figure standing beneath the gloomy mouths of metal. It extended - its bony hands to the tongues of the bells and swung them from side to - side, but while they appeared to strike vigorously they seemed as if - muffled, and sent out only a low, musical roar, as if they were rung by - the wind. Was the murderer abroad on those nights? Did he, too, see that - black shadow of his victim in the belfry sounding an alarm to the sleeping - town and appealing to be avenged? It may be. At all events, the apparition - boded ill to others, for, whenever the chimes were rung by spectral hands, - mourners gathered at some bedside within hearing of them and lamented that - the friend they had loved would never know them more on earth. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0184" id="link2H_4_0184"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SWALLOWING EARTHQUAKE - </h2> - <p> - The Indian village that in 1765 stood just below the site of Oxford, - Alabama, was upset when the news was given out that two of the squaws had - given simultaneous birth to a number of children that were spotted like - leopards. Such an incident betokened the existence of some baneful spirit - among them that had no doubt leagued itself with the women, who were at - once tried on the charge of witchcraft, convicted, and sentenced to death - at the stake, while a watch was to be set on the infants, so early - orphaned, lest they, too, should show signs of malevolent possession. The - whole tribe, seventeen hundred in number, assembled to see the execution, - but hardly were the fires alight when a sound like thunder rolled beneath - their feet, and with a hideous crack and groan the earth opened and nearly - every soul was engulfed in a fathomless and smoking pit-all, indeed, save - two, for a couple of young braves who were on the edge of the crowd flung - themselves flat on the heaving ground and remained there until the - earthquake wave had passed. The hollow afterward filled with water and was - called Blue Pond. It is popularly supposed to be fathomless, but it was - shown that a forest once spread across the bottom, when, but a few years - ago, a great tree arose from the water, lifting first its branches, then - turning so as to show its roots above the surface, and afterward - disappeared. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0185" id="link2H_4_0185"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LAST STAND OF THE BILOXI - </h2> - <p> - The southern part of this country was once occupied by a people called the - Biloxi, who had kept pace with the Aztecs in civilization and who - cultivated especially the art of music. In lives of gentleness and peace - they so soon forgot the use of arms that when the Choctaws descended on - their fields they were powerless to prevent the onset. Town after town - they evacuated before the savages, and at last the Biloxi, reduced to a - few thousands, were driven to the mouth of the Pascagoula River, - Mississippi, where they intrenched themselves, and for a few months - withstood the invaders. But the time came when their supplies were - exhausted, and every form was pinched with hunger. Flight was impossible. - Surrender commonly meant slaughter and outrage. They resolved to die - together. - </p> - <p> - On a fair spring morning the river-ward gates of their fort were opened - and the survivors of that hapless tribe marched forth, their chief in - advance, with resolution on his wasted face, then the soldiers and - counsellors, the young men, the women and children, and the babes asleep - on the empty breasts of their mothers. As they emerged from the walls with - slow but steady step they broke into song, and their assailants, who had - retired to their tents for their meal, listened with surprise to the - chorus of defiance and rejoicing set up by the starving people. Without - pause or swerving they entered the bay and kept their march. Now the - waters closed over the chief, then the soldiers—at last only a few - voices of women were heard in the chant, and in a few moments all was - still. Not one shrank from the sacrifice. And for years after the echo of - that death-song floated over he waves. - </p> - <p> - Another version of the legend sets forth that the Biloxi believed - themselves the children of the sea, and that they worshipped the image of - a lovely mermaid with wondrous music. After the Spaniards had come among - this gay and gentle people, they compelled them, by tyranny and murder, to - accept the religion of the white man, but of course it was only - lip-service that they rendered at the altar. The Biloxi were awakened one - night by the sound of wings and the rising of the river. Going forth they - saw the waters of Pascagoula heaped in a quivering mound, and bright on - its moonlit crest stood a mermaid that sang to them, “Come to me, children - of the sea. Neither bell, book, nor cross shall win you from your queen.” - Entranced by her song and the potency of her glances, they moved forward - until they encircled the hill of waters. Then, with hiss and roar, the - river fell back to its level, submerging the whole tribe. The music that - haunts the bay, rising through the water when the moon is out, is the - sound of their revels in the caves below—dusky Tannhausers of a - southern Venusberg. An old priest, who was among them at the time of this - prodigy, feared that the want of result to his teachings was due to his - not being in a perfect state of grace. On his death-bed he declared that - if a priest would row to the spot where the music sounded, at midnight on - Christmas, and drop a crucifix into the water, he would instantly be - swallowed by the waves, but that every soul at the bottom would be - redeemed. The souls have never been ransomed. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0186" id="link2H_4_0186"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SACRED FIRE OF NACHEZ - </h2> - <p> - The Indians of the South, being in contact with the civilized races of - Central America, were among the most progressive and honorable of the red - men. They were ruled by intelligence rather than force, and something of - the respect that Europeans feel for their kingly families made them submit - to woman's rule. The valley of Nacooche, Georgia, indeed, perpetuates in - its name one of these princesses of a royal house, for though she ruled a - large tribe with wisdom she was not impervious to the passions of common - mortals. The “Evening Star” died by her own hand, being disappointed in - love affair. Her story is that of Juliet, and she and her lover—united - in death, as they could not be in life—are buried beneath a mound in - the centre of he valley. - </p> - <p> - The Indians of that region had towns built for permanency, and possessed - some knowledge of the arts, while in religion their belief and rites were - curiously like those of the Persian fire-worshippers. It was on the site - of the present city in Mississippi which bears their name that the Natchez - Indians built their Temple of the Sun. When it was finished a meteor fell - from heaven and kindled the fire on their altar, and from that hour the - priests guarded he flame continually, until one night when it was - extinguished by mischance. This event was believed to be an omen, and the - people so took it to heart that when the white men came, directly after, - they had little courage to prosecute a war, and fell back before the - conqueror, never to hold their ancient home again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0187" id="link2H_4_0187"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PASS CHRISTIAN - </h2> - <p> - Senhor Vineiro, a Portuguese, having wedded Julia Regalea, a Spaniard, in - South America, found it needful to his fortunes to leave Montevideo, for a - revolution was breeding, and no less needful to his happiness to take his - wife with him from that city, for he was old and she was young. But he - chose the wrong ship to sail on, for Captain Dane, of the Nightingale, was - also young, presentable, and well schooled, but heartless. On the voyage - to New Orleans he not only won the affection of the wife, but slew the - husband and flung his body overboard. Vainly the wife tried to repress the - risings of remorse, and vainly, too, she urged Dane to seek absolution - from her church. She had never loved her husband, and she had loved Dane - from the first, but she was not at heart a bad woman and her peace was - gone. The captain was disturbed and suspicious. His sailors glanced at him - out of the corners of their eyes in a way that he did not like. Had the - woman in some unintentional remark betrayed him? Could he conceal his - crime, save with a larger one? - </p> - <p> - Pass Christian was a village then. On a winter night its people saw a - glare in the sky, and hurrying to their doors found a ship burning in the - gulf. Smacks and row-boats put off to the rescue, but hardly were they - under way ere the ship disappeared as suddenly as if the sea had swallowed - it. As the night was thick the boats returned, but next morning five men - were encountered on the shore-all that were left of the crew of the - Nightingale. Captain Dane was so hospitably received by the people of the - district, and seemed to take so great a liking for the place, that he - resolved to live there. He bought a plantation with a roomy old house upon - it and took his fellow-survivors there to live, as he hoped, an easy life. - That was not to be. Yellow fever struck down all the men but Dane, and one - of them, in dying, raved to his negro nurse that Dane had taken all the - treasure from the ship and put it into a boat, after serving grog enough - to intoxicate all save the trusted ones of the crew; that he and his four - associates fired the ship and rowed away, leaving an unhappy woman to a - horrible fate. Senhora Vineiro was pale but composed when she saw the - manner of death she was to die. She brought from her cabin a harp which - had been a solace of her husband and herself and began to play and sing an - air that some of the listeners remembered. It was an “Ave Maria,” and the - sound of it was so plaintive that even Dane stopped rowing; but he set his - teeth when his shoe touched the box of gold at his feet and ordered the - men to row on. There was an explosion and the vessel disappeared. On - reaching shore the treasure was buried at the foot of a large oak. - </p> - <p> - This story was repeated by the nurse, but she was ignorant, she had no - proofs, so it was not generally believed; yet there was a perceptible - difference in the treatment of Dane by his neighbors, and among the - superstitious negroes it was declared that he had sold himself to the - devil. If he had, was it an air from hell that sounded in his ears when he - was alone?—the “Ave Maria” of a sinning but repentant woman. The - coldness and suspicion were more than he could stand. Besides, who could - tell? Evidence might be found against him. He would dig up his treasure - and fly the country. It was a year from the night when he had fired his - ship. Going out after dark, that none might see him, he stole to the tree - and began to dig. Presently a red light grew through the air, and looking - up he saw a flaming vessel advancing over the sea. It stopped, and he - could see men clambering into a boat at its side. They rowed toward him - with such miraculous speed that the ocean seemed to steam with a blue - light as they advanced. He stood like a stone, for now he could see the - faces of the rowers, and every one was the face of a corpse—a corpse - that had been left on board of that vessel and had been in the bottom of - the sea for the last twelvemonth. They sprang on shore and rushed upon - him. Next morning Dane's body was found beneath the oak with his hands - filled with gems and gold. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0188" id="link2H_4_0188"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE UNDER LAND - </h2> - <p> - When the Chatas looked into the still depths of Bayou Lacombe, Louisiana, - they said that the reflection of the sky was the empyrean of the Under - Land, whither all good souls were sure to go after death. Their chief, - Opaleeta, having fallen into this bayou, was so long beneath the water - that he was dead when his fellows found him, but by working over him for - hours, and through resort to prayers and incantations of medicine men, his - life returned and he stood on his feet once more. Then he grieved that his - friends had brought him back, for he had been at the gates of the Under - Land, where the air is blithe and balmy, and so nourishing that people - live on it; where it is never winter; where the sun shines brightly, but - never withers and parches; and where stars dance to the swing of the - breezes. There no white man comes to rob the Indian and teach him to do - wrong. Gorgeous birds fly through changing skies that borrow the tints of - flowers, the fields are spangled with blossoms of red and blue and gold - that load each wind with perfume, the grass is as fine as the hair of - deer, and the streams are thick with honey. - </p> - <p> - At sunset those who loved each other in life are gathered to their lodges, - and raise songs of joy and thankfulness. Their voices are soft and - musical, their faces are young again and beam with smiles, and there is no - death. It was only the chiefs who heard his story, for, had all the tribe - known it, many who were old and ill and weary would have gone to the - bayou, and leaped in, to find that restful, happy Under Land. Those who - had gone before they sometimes tried to see, when the lake was still and - dappled with pictures of sunset clouds, but the dead never came back—they - kept away from the margin of the water lest they should be called again to - a life of toil and sorrow. And Opaleeta lived for many years and ruled his - tribe with wisdom, yet he shared in few of the merry-makings of his - people, and when, at last, his lodge was ready in the Under Land, he gave - up his life without a sigh. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0189" id="link2H_4_0189"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CENRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0190" id="link2H_4_0190"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - AN AVERTED PERIL - </h2> - <p> - In 1786 a little building stood at North Bend, Ohio, near the junction of - the Miami and Ohio Rivers, from which building the stars and stripes were - flying. It was one of a series of blockhouses built for the protecting of - cleared land while the settlers were coming in, yet it was a trading - station rather than a fort, for the attitude of government toward the red - men was pacific. The French of the Mississippi Valley were not reconciled, - however, to the extension of power by a Saxon people, and the English in - Canada were equally jealous of the prosperity of those provinces they had - so lately lost. Both French and English had emissaries among the Shawnees - when it had become known that the United States intended to negotiate a - treaty with them. - </p> - <p> - It was the mild weather that comes for a time in October, when Cantantowit - blesses the land from his home in the southwest with rich colors, - plaintive perfumes of decay, soft airs, and tender lights a time for - peace; but the garrison at the fort realized that the situation was - precarious. The Shawnees had camped about them, and the air was filled - with the neighing of their ponies and the barking of their dogs. To let - them into the fort was to invite massacre; to keep them out after they had - been summoned was to declare war. - </p> - <p> - Colonel George Rogers Clarke, of Virginia, who was in command, scoffed at - the fears of his men, and would not give ear to their appeals for an - adjournment of the meeting or a change of the place of it. At the - appointed hour the doors were opened and the Indians came in. The pipe of - peace was smoked in the usual form, but the red men were sullen and - insolent, and seemed to be seeking a cause of quarrel. Clarke explained - that the whites desired only peace, and he asked the wise men to speak for - their tribe. A stalwart chief arose, glanced contemptuously at the officer - and his little guard, and, striding to the table where Clarke was seated, - threw upon it two girdles of wampum—the peace-belt and the war-belt. - “We offer you these belts,” he said. “You know what they mean. Take which - you like.” - </p> - <p> - It was a deliberate insult and defiance. Both sides knew it, and many of - the men held their breath. Clarke carelessly picked up the war-belt on the - point of his cane and flung it among the assembled chiefs. Every man in - the room sprang to his feet and clutched his weapon. Then, with a - sternness that was almost ferocious, Clarke pointed to the door with an - imperative action, and cried, “Dogs, you may go!” - </p> - <p> - The Indians were foiled in their ill intent by his self-possession and - seeming confidence, which made them believe that he had forces in the - vicinity that they were not prepared to meet. They had already had a - bitter experience of his strength and craft, and in the fear that a trap - had been set for them they fled tumultuously. The treaty was ratified soon - after. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0191" id="link2H_4_0191"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE OBSTINACY OF SAINT CLAIR - </h2> - <p> - When the new First Regiment of United States Infantry paused at Marietta, - Ohio, on its way to garrison Vincennes, its officers made a gay little - court there for a time. The young Major Hamtramck—contemptuously - called by the Indians “the frog on horseback,” because of his round - shoulders—found especial pleasure in the society of Marianne - Navarre, who was a guest at the house of General Arthur St. Clair; but the - old general viewed this predilection with disfavor, because he had hoped - that his own daughter would make a match with the major. But Louisa longed - for the freedom of the woods. She was a horsewoman and a hunter, and she - had a sentimental fondness for Indians. - </p> - <p> - When Joseph Brandt (Thayendanegea) camped with his dreaded band near the - town, it was she who—without her father's knowledge, and in the - disguise of an Indian girl—took the message that had been entrusted - to a soldier asking the tribe to send delegates to a peace council at the - fort. Louisa and Brandt had met in Philadelphia some years before, when - both were students in that city, and he was rejoiced to meet her again, - for he had made no secret of his liking for her, and in view of the - bravery she had shown in thus riding into a hostile camp his fondness - increased to admiration. After she had delivered the message she said, - “Noble warrior, I have risked my life to obtain this interview. You must - send some one back with me.” Brandt replied, “It is fitting that I alone - should guard so courageous a maiden,” and he rode with her through the - lines, under the eyes of a wondering and frowning people, straight to the - general's door. Soon after, Brandt made a formal demand for the hand of - this dashing maid, but the stubborn general refused to consider it. He was - determined that she ought to love Major Hamtramck, and he told her so in - tones so loud that they reached the ears of Marianne, as she sat reading - in her room. Stung by this disclosure of the general's wishes, and - doubting whether the major had been true to her—fearful, too, that - she might be regarded as an interloper—she made a pretext to return - as quickly as possible to her home in Detroit, and left no adieus for her - lover. - </p> - <p> - It was not long after that war broke out between the settlers and the - Indians, for Brandt now had a personal as well as a race grudge to - gratify, though when he defeated St. Clair he spared his life in the hope - that the general would reward his generosity by resigning to him his - daughter. At all events, he resolved that the “frog on horseback,” whom he - conceived to be his rival, should not win her. The poor major, who cared - nothing for Louisa, and who was unable to account for the flight of - Marianne, mourned her absence until it was rumored that she had been - married, when, as much in spite as in love, he took to himself a mate. - After he had been for some time a widower he met Marianne again, and - learned that she was still a maiden. He renewed his court with ardor, but - the woman's love for him had died when she learned of his marriage. - Affecting to make light of this second disappointment, he said, “Since I - cannot be united to you in life, I shall be near you in death.” - </p> - <p> - “A soldier cannot choose where he shall die,” she answered. - </p> - <p> - “No matter. I shall sleep in the shadow of your tomb.” - </p> - <p> - As it fell out they were indeed buried near each other in Detroit. Thus, - the stupidity and obstinacy of General St. Clair, in supposing that he - could make young folks love to order, thwarted the happiness of four - people and precipitated a war. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0192" id="link2H_4_0192"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HUNDREDTH SKULL - </h2> - <p> - In the early part of this century Bill Quick, trapper and frontiersman, - lived in a cabin on the upper Scioto, not far from the present town of - Kenton, Ohio. One evening when he returned from the hunt he found his home - rifled of its contents and his aged father weltering in his blood on the - floor. He then and there took oath that he would be revenged a - hundredfold. His mission was undertaken at once, and for many a year - thereafter the Indians of the region had cause to dread the doom that came - to them from brake and wood and fen,—now death by knife that flashed - at them from behind a tree, and the next instant whirled through the air - and was buried to the hilt in a red man's heart; now, by bullet as they - rowed across the rivers; now, by axe that clove their skulls as they lay - asleep. - </p> - <p> - Bill Quick worked secretly, and, unlike other men of the place and time, - he did not take his trophies Indian-fashion. The scalp was not enough. He - took the head. And presently a row of grinning skulls was ranged upon his - shelves. Ninety-nine of these ghastly prizes occupied his cabin, and the - man was confident that he should accomplish his intent. But the Indians, - in terror, were falling away toward the lakes; they were keeping better - guard; and ere the hundredth man had fallen before his rifle he was seized - with fatal illness. Calling to him his son, Tom, he pointed to the skulls, - and charged him to fulfil the oath he had taken by adding to the list a - hundredth skull. Should he fail in this the murdered ancestor and he - himself would come back to haunt the laggard. Tom accepted the trust, but - everything seemed to work against him. He never was much of a hunter nor a - very true shot, and he had no liking for war; besides, the Indians had - left the country, as he fancied. So he grumbled at the uncongenial task - appointed for him and kept deferring it from week to week and from year to - year. When his conscience pricked him he allayed the smart with drink, and - his conscience seemed to grow more active as he grew older. - </p> - <p> - On returning to the cabin after a carouse he declared that he had heard - voices, that the skulls gibbered and cracked their teeth together as if - mocking his weakness, and that a phosphorescent glare shone through the - sockets of their eyes. In his cups he prattled his secret, and soon the - whole country knew that he was under oath to kill a red-skin-and the - country laughed at him. On a certain day it was reported that a band of - Indians had been seen in the neighborhood, and what with drink and the - taunts of his friends, he was impelled to take his rifle and set out once - more on the war-path. A settler heard a shot fired not long after. Next - day a neighbor passing Tom Quick's cabin tapped at the door, and, - receiving no answer, pushed it open and entered. The hundredth skull was - there, on the shelves, a bullet-hole in the forehead, and the scalp gone. - The head was Quick's. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0193" id="link2H_4_0193"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE CRIME OF BLACK SWAMP - </h2> - <p> - Two miles south of Munger, Ohio, in the heart of what used to be called - the Black Swamp, stood the Woodbury House, a roomy mansion long gone to - decay. John Cleves, the last to live in it, was a man whose evil practices - got him into the penitentiary, but people had never associated him with - the queer sights and sounds in the lower chambers, nor with the fact that - a man named Syms, who had gone to that house in 1842, had never been known - to leave it. Ten years after Syms's disappearance it happened that Major - Ward and his friend John Stow had occasion to take shelter there for the - night—it being then deserted,—and, starting a blaze in the - parlor fireplace, they lit their pipes and talked till late. Stow would - have preferred a happier topic, but the major, who feared neither man nor - devil, constantly turned the talk on the evil reputation of the house. - </p> - <p> - While they chatted a door opened with a creak and a human skeleton - appeared before them. - </p> - <p> - “What do you want? Speak!” cried Ward. But waiting for no answer he drew - his pistols and fired two shots at the grisly object. There was a rattling - sound, but the skeleton was neither dislocated nor disconcerted. Advancing - deliberately, with upraised arm, it said, in a husky voice, “I, that am - dead, yet live in a sense that mortals do not know. In my earthly life I - was James Syms, who was robbed and killed here in my sleep by John - Cleves.” With bony finger it pointed to a rugged gap in its left temple. - “Cleves cut off my head and buried it under the hearth. My body he cast - into his well.” At these words the head disappeared and the voice was - heard beneath the floor, “Take up my skull.” The watchers obeyed the call, - and after digging a minute beneath the hearth a fleshless head with a - wound on the left temple came to view. Ward took it into his hands, but in - a twinkling it left them and reappeared on the shoulders of the skeleton. - </p> - <p> - “I have long wanted to tell my fate,” it resumed, “but could not until one - should be found brave enough to speak to me. I have appeared to many, but - you are the first who has commanded me to break my long silence. Give my - bones a decent burial. Write to my relative, Gilmore Syms, of Columbus, - Georgia, and tell him what I have revealed. I have found peace.” With a - grateful gesture it extended its hand to Ward, who, as he took it, shook - like one with an ague, his wrist locked in its bony clasp. As it released - him it raised its hand impressively. A bluish light burned at the doorway - for an instant. The two men found themselves alone. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0194" id="link2H_4_0194"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE HOUSE ACCURSED - </h2> - <p> - Near Gallipolis, Ohio, there stood within a few years an old house of four - rooms that had been occupied by Herman Deluse. He lived there alone, and, - though his farming was of the crudest sort, he never appeared to lack for - anything. The people had an idea that the place was under ban, and it was - more than suspected that its occupant had been a pirate. In fact, he - called his place the Isle of Pines, after a buccaneers' rendezvous in the - West Indies, and made no attempt to conceal the strange plunder and - curious weapons that he had brought home with him, but of money he never - appeared to have much at once. When it came his time to die he ended his - life alone, so far as any knew—at least, his body was found in his - bed, without trace of violence or disorder. It was buried and the public - administrator took charge of the estate, locking up the house until - possible relatives should come to claim it, and the rustic jury found that - Deluse “came to his death by visitation of God.” - </p> - <p> - It was but a few nights after this that the Rev. Henry Galbraith returned - from a visit of a month to Cincinnati and reached his home after a night - of boisterous storm. The snow was so deep and the roads so blocked with - windfalls that he put up his horse in Gallipolis and started for his house - on foot. - </p> - <p> - “But where did you pass the night?” inquired his wife, after the greetings - were over. “With old Deluse in the Isle of Pines,” he answered. “I saw a - light moving about the house, and rapped. No one came; so, as I was - freezing, I forced open the door, built a fire, and lay down in my coat - before it. Old Deluse came in presently and I apologized, but he paid no - attention to me. He seemed to be walking in his sleep and to be searching - for something. All night long I could hear his footsteps about the house, - in pauses of the storm.” - </p> - <p> - The clergyman's wife and son looked at each other, and a friend who was - present—a lawyer, named Maren—remarked, “You did not know that - Deluse was dead and buried?” The clergyman was speechless with amazement. - “You have been dreaming,” said the lawyer. “Still, if you like, we will go - there to-night and investigate.” - </p> - <p> - The clergyman, his son, and the lawyer went to the house about nine - o'clock, and as they approached it a noise of fighting came from within—blows, - the clink of steel, groans, and curses. Lights appeared, first at one - window, then at another. The men rushed forward, burst in the door, and - were inside—in darkness and silence. They had brought candles and - lighted them, but the light revealed nothing. Dust lay thick on the floor - except in the room where the clergyman had passed the previous night, and - the door that he had then opened stood ajar, but the snow outside was - drifted and unbroken by footsteps. Then came the sound of a fall that - shook the building. At the same moment it was noticed by the other two men - that young Galbraith was absent. They hurried into the room whence the - noise had come. A board was wrenched from the wall there, disclosing a - hollow that had been used for a hiding-place, and on the floor lay young - Galbraith with a sack of Spanish coins in his hand. His father stooped to - pick him up, but staggered back in horror, for the young man's life had - gone. A post-mortem examination revealed no cause of death, and a rustic - jury again laid it to a “visitation of God.” MARQUETTE'S MAN-EATER - </p> - <p> - Until it was worn away by the elements a curious relief was visible on the - bluffs of the Mississippi near Alton, Illinois. It was to be seen as late - as 1860, and represented a monster once famous as the “piasa bird.” Father - Marquette not only believed it but described it as a man-eater in the - account of his explorations, where he mentions other zoological - curiosities, such as unicorns with shaggy mane and land-turtles three feet - long with two heads, “very mischievous and addicted to biting.” He even - showed a picture of the maneater that accorded rudely with the picture on - the rocks. It was said to prey on human flesh, and to be held in fear by - the Indians, who encountered it on and near the Mississippi. It had the - body of a panther, wings like a bat, and head and horns of a deer. Father - Marquette gave it a human face. The sculpture was undoubtedly made by - Indians, but its resemblance to the winged bulls of Assyria and the - sphinxes of Egypt has been quoted as confirmation of a prehistoric - alliance of Old and New World races or the descent of one from the other. - It has also been thought to stand for the totem of some great - chief-symbolizing, by its body, strength; by its wings, speed; by its - head, gentleness and beauty. But may not the tradition of it have - descended from the discovery of comparatively late remains, by primitive - man, of the winged saurians that crawled, swam, dived, or flew, lingering - on till the later geologic period? The legend of the man-eater may even - have been told by those who killed the last of the pterodactyls. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0195" id="link2H_4_0195"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MICHEL DE COUCY'S TROUBLES - </h2> - <p> - Michel De Coucy, of Prairie de Rocher, Illinois, sat before his door - humming thoughtfully, and trying to pull comfort out of a black pipe.. He - was in debt, and he did not like the sensation. As hunter, boatman, - fiddler he had done well enough, but having rashly ventured into trade he - had lost money, and being unable to meet a note had applied to Pedro - Garcia for a loan at usurious interest. Garcia was a black-whiskered - Spaniard who was known to have been a gambler in New Orleans, and as - Michel was in arrears in his payments he was now threatening suit. - Presently the hunter jumped up with a glad laugh, for two horsemen were - approaching his place—the superior of the Jesuit convent at Notre - Dame de Kaskaskia and the governor of the French settlements in Illinois, - of whom he had asked advice, and who had come from Fort Chartres, on the - Mississippi, to give it in person. It was good advice, too, for the effect - of it was that there was no law of that time—1750—by which a - Spaniard could sue a Frenchman on French territory. Moreover, the bond was - invalid because it was drawn up in Spanish, and Garcia could produce no - witness to verify the cross at the bottom of the document as of Michel's - making. - </p> - <p> - Great was the wrath of the Spaniard when Michel told him this, nor was it - lessened when the hunter bade him have no fear—that he might be - obliged to repudiate part of the interest, but that every livre of the - principal would be forthcoming, if only a little time were allowed. The - money lender walked away with clenched fists, muttering to himself, and - Michel lit his pipe again. - </p> - <p> - At supper-time little Genevieve, the twelve-year-old daughter of Michel, - did not appear. The table was kept waiting for an hour. Michel sat down - but could not eat, and, after scolding awhile in a half-hearted fashion, - he went to the clearing down the road, where the child had been playing. A - placard was seen upon a tree beside the way, and he called a passing - neighbor to read to him these words: “Meshell Coosy. French rascal. Pay me - my money and you have your daughter. Pedro Garcia.” - </p> - <p> - Accustomed as he was to perils, and quick as he generally was in - expedient, Michel was overwhelmed by this stroke. The villagers offered to - arm themselves and rescue the child, but he would not consent to this, for - he was afraid that Garcia might kill her, if he knew that force was to be - set against him. In a day or two Michel was told to go to Fort Chartres, - as favorable news awaited him. He rode with all speed to that post, went - to the official quarters, where the governor was sitting, and as he - entered he became almost insane with rage, for Garcia stood before him. - Nothing but the presence of others saved the Spaniard's life, and it was - some time before Michel could be made to understand that Garcia was there - under promise of safe conduct, and that the representatives of King Louis - were in honor bound to see that he was not injured. The points at issue - between the two men were reviewed, and the governor gave it as his - decision that Michel must pay his debt without interest, that being - forfeit by the Spaniard's abduction of Genevieve, and that the Spaniard - was to restore the girl, both parties in the case being remanded to prison - until they had obeyed this judgment. - </p> - <p> - “But I have your promise of safe conduct!” cried the Spaniard, blazing - with wrath. - </p> - <p> - “And you shall have it when the girl returns,” replied the governor. “You - shall be protected in going and coming, but there is no reference in the - paper that you hold as to how long we may wish to keep you with us.” - </p> - <p> - Both men were marched away forthwith, but Michel was released in an hour, - for in that time the people had subscribed enough to pay his debt. The - Spaniard sent a messenger to a renegade who had little Genevieve in - keeping, and next day he too went free, swearing horribly, but glad to - accept the service of an armed escort until he was well out of town. - Michel embraced his child with ardor when once she was in his arms again; - then he lighted his pipe and set out with her for home, convinced that - French law was the best in the world, that Spaniards were not to be - trusted, and that it is safer to keep one's earnings under the floor than - to venture them in trade. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0196" id="link2H_4_0196"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - WALLEN'S RIDGE - </h2> - <p> - A century ago this rough eminence, a dozen miles from Chattanooga, - Tennessee, was an abiding place of Cherokee Indians, among whom was - Arinook, their medicine-man, and his daughter. The girl was pure and fair, - and when a white hunter saw her one day at the door of her father's wigwam - he was so struck with her charm of person and her engaging manner that he - resolved not to return to his people until he had won her for his wife. - She had many lovers, though she favored none of them, and while the - Cherokees were at first loth to admit a stranger to their homes they - forgot their jealousy when they found that this one excelled as a hunter - and fisherman, that he could throw the knife and tomahawk better than - themselves, and that he was apt in their work and their sports. - </p> - <p> - They even submitted to the inevitable with half a grace when they found - that the stranger and the girl of whom they were so fond were in love. - With an obduracy that seems to be characteristic of fathers, the - medicine-man refused his consent to the union, and the hearts of the twain - were heavy. Though the white man pleaded with her to desert her tribe, she - refused to do so, on the score of duty to her father, and the couple - forlornly roamed about the hill, watching the sunset from its top and - passing the bright summer evenings alone, sitting hand in hand, loving, - sorrowing, and speaking not. In one of their long rambles they found - themselves beside the Tennessee River at a point where the current swirls - among rocks and sucks down things that float, discharging them at the - surface in still water, down the stream. Here for a time they stood, when - the girl, with a gush of tears, began to sing—it was her death-song. - The white man grasped her hand and joined his voice to hers. Then they - took a last embrace and flung themselves into the water, still hand in - hand. - </p> - <p> - When the river is low you may hear their death-song sounding there. The - manitous of the river and the wood were offended with the medicine-man - because of his stubbornness and cruelty, although he suffered greatly - because of the death his daughter died, and he the cause of it. For now - strange Indians appeared among the Cherokees and drove the deer and bear - away. Tall, strong, and large were these intruders, and they hung about - the village by day and night—never speaking, yet casting a fear - about them, for they would throw great rocks farther than a warrior could - shoot an arrow with the wind behind him; they had horns springing from - their heads; their eyes were the eyes of wild-cats, and shone in the dark; - they growled like animals, shaking the earth when they did so, and - breathing flame; they were at the bedside, at the council-fire, at the - banquet, seeming only to wait for a show of enmity to annihilate the - tribe. - </p> - <p> - At length the people could endure their company no longer, and taking down - their lodges they left Wallen's Ridge and wandered far away until they - came to a valley where no foot had left its impress, and there they - besought the Great Spirit to forgive the wrong their medicine-man had - done, and to free them from the terrible spirits that had been living - among them. The prayer was granted, and the lodges stood for many years in - a safe and happy valley. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0197" id="link2H_4_0197"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SKY WALKER OF HURON - </h2> - <p> - Here is the myth of Endymion and Diana, as told on the shores of Saginaw - Bay, in Michigan, by Indians who never heard of Greeks. Cloud Catcher, a - handsome youth of the Ojibways, offended his family by refusing to fast - during the ceremony of his coming of age, and was put out of the paternal - wigwam. It was so fine a night that the sky served him as well as a roof, - and he had a boy's confidence in his ability to make a living, and - something of fame and fortune, maybe. He dropped upon a tuft of moss to - plan for his future, and drowsily noted the rising of the moon, in which - he seemed to see a face. On awaking he found that it was not day, yet the - darkness was half dispelled by light that rayed from a figure near him—the - form of a lovely woman. - </p> - <p> - “Cloud Catcher, I have come for you,” she said. And as she turned away he - felt impelled to rise and follow. But, instead of walking, she began to - move into the air with the flight of an eagle, and, endowed with a new - power, he too ascended beside her. The earth was dim and vast below, stars - blazed as they drew near them, yet the radiance of the woman seemed to - dull their glory. Presently they passed through a gate of clouds and stood - on a beautiful plain, with crystal ponds and brooks watering noble trees - and leagues of flowery meadow; birds of brightest colors darted here and - there, singing like flutes; the very stones were agate, jasper, and - chalcedony. An immense lodge stood on the plain, and within were - embroideries and ornaments, couches of rich furs, pipes and arms cut from - jasper and tipped with silver. While the young man was gazing around him - with delight, the brother of his guide appeared and reproved her, advising - her to send the young man back to earth at once, but, as she flatly - refused to do so, he gave a pipe and bow and arrows to Cloud Catcher, as a - token of his consent to their marriage, and wished them happiness, which, - in fact, they had. - </p> - <p> - This brother, who was commanding, tall, and so dazzling in his gold and - silver ornaments that one could hardly look upon him, was abroad all day, - while his sister was absent for a part of the night. He permitted Cloud - Catcher to go with him on one of his daily walks, and as they crossed the - lovely Sky Land they glanced down through open valley bottoms on the green - earth below. The rapid pace they struck gave to Cloud Catcher an appetite - and he asked if there were no game. “Patience,” counselled his companion. - On arriving at a spot where a large hole had been broken through the sky - they reclined on mats, and the tall man loosing one of his silver - ornaments flung it into a group of children playing before a lodge. One of - the little ones fell and was carried within, amid lamentations. Then the - villagers left their sports and labors and looked up at the sky. The tall - man cried, in a voice of thunder, “Offer a sacrifice and the child shall - be well again.” A white dog was killed, roasted, and in a twinkling it - shot up to the feet of Cloud Catcher, who, being empty, attacked it - voraciously. - </p> - <p> - Many such walks and feasts came after, and the sights of earth and taste - of meat filled the mortal with a longing to see his people again. He told - his wife that he wanted to go back. She consented, after a time, saying, - “Since you are better pleased with the cares, the ills, the labor, and the - poverty of the world than with the comfort and abundance of Sky Land, you - may return; but remember you are still my husband, and beware how you - venture to take an earthly maiden for a wife.” - </p> - <p> - She arose lightly, clasped Cloud Catcher by the wrist, and began to move - with him through the air. The motion lulled him and he fell asleep, waking - at the door of his father's lodge. His relatives gathered and gave him - welcome, and he learned that he had been in the sky for a year. He took - the privations of a hunter's and warrior's life less kindly than he - thought to, and after a time he enlivened its monotony by taking to wife a - bright-eyed girl of his tribe. In four days she was dead. The lesson was - unheeded and he married again. Shortly after, he stepped from his lodge - one evening and never came back. The woods were filled with a strange - radiance on that night, and it is asserted that Cloud Catcher was taken - back to the lodge of the Sun and Moon, and is now content to live in - heaven. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0198" id="link2H_4_0198"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE COFFIN OF SNAKES - </h2> - <p> - No one knew how it was that Lizon gained the love of Julienne, at L'Anse - Creuse (near Detroit), for she was a girl of sweet and pious disposition, - the daughter of a God-fearing farmer, while Lizon was a dark, ill-favored - wretch, who had come among the people nobody knew whence, and lived on the - profits of a tap-room where the vilest liquor was sold, and where gaming, - fighting, and carousing were of nightly occurrence. Perhaps they were - right in saying that it was witchcraft. He impudently laid siege to her - heart, and when she showed signs of yielding he told her and her friends - that he had no intention of marrying her, because he did not believe in - religion. - </p> - <p> - Yet Julienne deserted her comfortable home and went to live with this - disreputable scamp in his disreputable tavern, to the scandal of the - community, and especially of the priest, who found Lizon's power for evil - greater than his own for good, for as the tavern gained in hangers-on the - church lost worshippers. One Sunday morning Julienne surprised the people - by appearing in church and publicly asking pardon for her wrong-doing. It - was the first time she had appeared there since her flight, and she was as - one who had roused from a trance or fever-sleep. Her father gladly took - her home again, and all went well until New-Year's eve, when the young men - called d'Ignolee made the rounds of the settlement to sing and beg meat - for the poor—a custom descended from the Druids. They came to the - house of Julienne's father and received his welcome and his goods, but - their song was interrupted by a cry of distress—Lizon was among the - maskers, and Julienne was gone. A crowd of villagers ran to the cabaret - and rescued the girl from the room into which the fellow had thrust her, - but it was too late—she had lost her reason. Cursing and striking - and blaspheming, Lizon was at last confronted by the priest, who told him - he had gone too far; that he had been a plague to the people and an enemy - to the church. He then pronounced against him the edict of - excommunication, and told him that even in his grave he should not rest; - that the church, abandoned by so many victims of his wiles and tyrannies, - should be swept away. - </p> - <p> - The priest left the place forthwith, and the morals of the village fell - lower and lower. Everything was against it, too. Blight and storm and - insect pest ravaged the fields and orchards, as if nature had engaged to - make an expression of the iniquity of the place. Suddenly death came upon - Lizon. A pit was dug near his tavern and he was placed in a coffin, but as - the box was lowered it was felt to grow lighter, while there poured from - it a swarm of fat and filthy snakes. The fog that overspread the earth - that morning seemed to blow by in human forms, the grave rolled like a - wave after it had been covered, and after darkness fell a blue - will-o'-the-wisp danced over it. A storm set in, heaping the billows on - shore until the church was undermined, and with a crash it fell into the - seething flood. But the curse had passed, and when a new chapel was built - the old evils had deserted L'Anse Crease. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0199" id="link2H_4_0199"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MACKINACK - </h2> - <p> - Not only was Mackinack the birthplace of Hiawatha: it was the home of God - himself—Gitchi Manitou, or Mitchi Manitou—who placed there an - Indian Adam and Eve to watch and cultivate his gardens. He also made the - beaver, that his children might eat, and they acknowledged his goodness in - oblations. Bounteous sacrifices insured entrance after death to the happy - hunting-grounds beyond the Rocky Mountains. Those who had failed in these - offerings were compelled to wander about the Great Lakes, shelterless, and - watched by unsleeping giants who were ten times the stature of mortals. - </p> - <p> - These giants still exist, but in the form of conical rocks, one of - which-called Sugar-Loaf, or Manitou's Wigwam—is ninety feet high. A - cave in this obelisk is pointed out as Manitou's abiding-place, and it was - believed that every other spire in the group had its wraith, whence has - come the name of the island—Michillimackinack (place of great - dancing spirits). Arch Rock is the place that Manitou built to reach his - home from Sunrise Land the better. There were many such monuments of - divinities in the north. They are met with all about the lakes and in the - wooded wilderness, the most striking one being the magnificent spire of - basalt in the Black Hills region of Wyoming. It is known as Devil's Tower, - or Mateo's Tepee, and by the red men is held to be the wigwam of a - were-animal that can become man at pleasure. This singular rock towers - above the Belle Fourche River to a height of eight hundred feet. - </p> - <p> - Deep beneath Mackinack was a stately and beautiful cavern hall where - spirits had their revels. An Indian who got leave to quit his body saw it - in company with one of the spirits, and spread glowing reports of its - beauties when he had clothed himself in flesh again. When Adam and Eve - died they, too, became spirits and continued to watch the home of Manitou. - </p> - <p> - Now, there is another version of this tradition which gives the, original - name of the island as Moschenemacenung, meaning “great turtle.” The French - missionaries and traders, finding the word something too large a mouthful, - softened it to Michillimackinack, and, when the English came, three - syllables served them as well as a hundred, so Mackinack it is to this - day. Manitou, having made a turtle from a drop of his own sweat, sent it - to the bottom of Lake Huron, whence it brought a mouthful of mud, and from - this Mackinack was created. As a reward for his service the turtle was - allowed to sleep there in the sun forever. - </p> - <p> - Yet another version has it that the Great Spirit plucked a sand-grain from - the primeval ocean, set it floating on those waters, and tended it until - it grew so large that a young wolf, running constantly, died of old age - before reaching its limits. The sand became the earth. Prophecy has warned - the Winnebagoes that Manibozho (Michabo or Hiawatha) shall smite by - pestilence at the end of their thirteenth generation. Ten are gone. All - shall perish but one pure pair, who will people the recreated world. - Manibozho, or Minnebojou, is called a “culture myth,” but the Indians have - faith in him. They say that he lies asleep on the north shore of Lake - Superior, beneath the “hill of four knobs,” known as the Sleeping Giant. - There offerings are made to him, and it was a hope of his speedy rising - that started the Messiah craze in the West in 1890. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0200" id="link2H_4_0200"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LAKE SUPERIOR WATER GODS - </h2> - <p> - There were many water gods about Lake Superior to whom the Indians paid - homage, casting implements, ornaments, and tobacco into the water whenever - they passed a spot where one of these manitous sat enthroned. At Thunder - Cape, on the north shore, lies Manibozho, and in the pillared recess of La - Chapelle, among the Pictured Rocks, dwelt powerful rulers of the storm to - whose mercy the red men commended themselves with quaint rites whenever - they were to set forth on a voyage over the great unsalted sea. At Le - Grand Portal were hidden a horde of mischievous imps, among whose pranks - was the repetition of every word spoken by the traveller as he rested on - his oars beneath this mighty arch. The Chippewas worked the copper mines - at Keweenaw Point before the white race had learned of a Western land, but - they did so timidly, for they believed that a demon would visit with - injury or death the rash mortal who should presume to pillage his - treasure, unless he had first bestowed gifts upon him. Even then they went - ashore with fear, lighted fires around a surface of native copper, hacked - off a few pounds of the softened metal, and ran to their canoes without - looking behind them. - </p> - <p> - There was another bad manitou at the mouth of Superior Bay, where - conflicting currents make a pother of waters. This spirit sat on the - bottom of the lake, gazing upward, and if any boatman ventured to cross - his domain without dropping a pipe or beads or hatchet into it, woe betide - him, for his boat would be caught in a current and smashed against a rocky - shore. Perhaps the most vexatious god was he who ruled the Floating - Islands. These islands were beautiful with trees and flowers, metal shone - and crystals sparkled on their ledges, sweet fruits grew in plenty, and - song-birds flitted over them. In wonder and delight the hunter would speed - toward them in his canoe, but as he neared their turfy banks the jealous - manitou, who kept these fairy lands for his own pleasure, would throw down - a fog and shut them out of sight. Never could the hunter set foot on them, - no matter how long he kept up his search. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0201" id="link2H_4_0201"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WITCH OF PICTURED ROCKS - </h2> - <p> - On the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior dwelt an Ojibway woman, a widow, - who was cared for by a relative. This relative was a hunter, the husband - of an agreeable wife, the father of two bright children. Being of a mean - and jealous nature, the widow begrudged every kindness that the hunter - showed to his wife—the skins he brought for her clothing, the - moose's lip or other dainty that he saved for her; and one day, in a - pretence of fine good-nature, the old woman offered to give the younger a - swing in a vine pendent from a tree that overhung the lake. - </p> - <p> - The wife accepted, and, seating herself on the vine, was swayed to and - fro, catching her breath, yet laughing as she swept out over the water. - When the momentum was greatest the old woman cut the stem. A splash was - heard—then all was silent. Returning to the lodge, the hag disguised - herself in a dress of the missing woman, and sitting in a shadow, - pretended to nurse the infant of the household. The hunter, returning, was - a little surprised that his wife should keep her face from him, and more - surprised that the old woman did not appear for her share of the food that - he had brought; but after their meal he took his little ones to the lake, - to enjoy the evening breeze, when the elder burst into tears, declaring - that the woman in the lodge was not his mother, and that he feared his own - mother was dead or lost. - </p> - <p> - The hunter hurled his spear into the earth and prayed that, if his wife - were dead, her body might be found, so he could mourn over it and give it - burial. Instantly a bolt of lightning came from a passing cloud and shot - into the lake, while the thunder-peal that followed shook the stones he - stood on. It also disturbed the water and presently something was seen - rising through it. The man stepped into a thicket and watched. In a few - moments a gull arose from the lake and flew to the spot where the children - were seated. Around its body was a leather belt, embroidered with beads - and quills, which the hunter recognized, and, advancing softly, he caught - the bird—that changed at once into the missing woman. The family set - forth toward home, and as they entered the lodge the witch—for such - she was—looked up, with a start, then uttered a cry of despair. - Bending low, she moved her arms in both imprecation and appeal. A moment - later a black, ungainly bird flew from the wigwam and passed from sight - among the trees. The witch never came back to plague them. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0202" id="link2H_4_0202"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE ORIGIN OF WHITE-FISH - </h2> - <p> - An Indian who lived far in the north was so devoted to the chase that he - was never at home for the whole of a day, to the sorrow of his two boys, - who liked nothing so much as to sport with him and to be allowed to - practise with his weapons. Their mother told them that on no account were - they to speak to him of the young man who visited the lodge while their - father was away, and it was not until they were well grown and knew what - the duty of wives should be that they resolved to disobey her. The hunter - struck the woman dead when he learned of her perfidy. So greatly did her - spirit trouble them, however, that they could no longer abide in their old - home in peace and comfort, and they left the country and journeyed - southward until they came to the Sault Sainte Marie. - </p> - <p> - As they stood beside the falls a head came rolling toward them on the - earth—the head of the dead woman. At that moment, too, a crane was - seen riding on the surface of the water, whirling about in its strongest - eddies, and when one of the boys called to it, “O Grandfather, we are - persecuted by a spirit; take us across the falls,” the crane flew to them. - “Cling to my back and do not touch my head,” it said to them, and landed - them safely on the farther shore. - </p> - <p> - But now the head screamed, “Come, grandfather, and carry me over, for I - have lost my children and am sorely distressed,” and the bird flew to her - likewise. “Be careful not to touch my head,” it said. The head promised - obedience, but succumbed to curiosity when half-way over and touched the - bird's head to see what was the matter with him. With a lurch the crane - flung off his burden and it fell into the rapids. As it swept down, - bumping against the rocks, the brains were pounded out and strewn over the - water. “You were useless in life,” cried the crane. “You shall not be so - in death. Become fish!” And the bits of brain changed to roe that - presently hatched to a delicate white fish, the flesh whereof is esteemed - by Indians of the lakes, and white men, likewise. The family pitched a - lodge near the spot and took the crane as their totem or name-mark. Many - of their descendants bear it to this day. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0203" id="link2H_4_0203"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SPIRIT OF CLOUDY - </h2> - <p> - Among the lumbermen of Alger, Michigan, was William Cloud, an Indian, - usually called Cloudy, who was much employed on a chute a mile and a half - out of the village. The rains were heavy one spring, and a large raft of - logs had been floated down to the chute, where they were held back by a - gate until it was time to send them through in a mass. When the creek had - reached its maximum height the foreman gave word to the log-drivers to - lower the gate and let the timber down. This order came on a chilly April - night, and, as it was pitchy dark and rain was falling in sheets, the - lumbermen agreed to draw cuts to decide which of them should venture out - and start the logs. Cloudy drew the fatal slip. He was a quiet fellow, and - without a word he opened the door, bent against the storm, and passed into - the darkness. An hour went by, and the men in the cabin laughed as they - described the probable appearance of their comrade when he should return, - soaked through and through, and they wondered if he was waiting in some - shelter beside the path for the middle of the night to pass, for the - Indians believed that an evil spirit left the stream every night and was - abroad until that hour. - </p> - <p> - As time lengthened the jest and talk subsided and a moody silence - supervened. At length one of the number resolved to sally out and see if - any mishap had fallen to the Indian. He was joined by three others, and - the party repaired to the creek. Above the chute it was seen that the gate—which - was released by the withdrawal of iron pins and sank of its own weight-had - not quite settled into place, and by the light of a lantern held near the - surface of the rushing current an obstruction could be dimly seen. The - gate was slightly raised and the object drawn up with pike-poles. It was - the mangled body of Cloudy. He was buried beside the creek; but the camp - was soon abandoned and the chute is in decay, for between the hours of ten - and twelve each night the wraith of the Indian, accompanied by the bad - spirit of the stream, ranges through the wood, his form shining blue in - the gloom, his groans sounding above the swish and lap of the waters. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0204" id="link2H_4_0204"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SUN FIRE AT SAULT SAINTE MARIE - </h2> - <p> - Father Marquette reached Sault Sainte Marie, in company with Greysolon Du - Lhut, in August, 1670, and was received in a manner friendly enough, but - the Chippewas warned him to turn back from that point, for the Ojibways - beyond were notoriously hostile to Europeans, their chief—White - Otter—having taken it on himself to revenge, by war, his father's - desertion of his mother. His father was a Frenchman. Inspired by his - mission, and full of the enthusiasm of youth and of the faith that had led - him safely through a host of dangers and troubles, Marquette refused to - change his plans, and even ventured the assertion that he could tame the - haughty Otter and bring him to the cross. At dawn he and his doughty - henchman set off in a war-canoe, but, on arriving in White Otter's camp - and speaking their errand, they were seized and bound, to await death on - the morrow. The wife of the chief spoke, out of the kindness of her heart, - and asked mercy for the white men. To no avail. The brute struck her to - the ground. That night his daughter, Wanena, who had seen Du Lhut at the - trading post and had felt the stir of a generous sentiment toward him, - appeared before the prisoners when sleep was heaviest in the camp, cut - their bonds, led them by an obscure path to the river, where she enjoined - them to enter a canoe, and guided the boat to the Holy Isle. This was - where the Ojibways came to lay offerings before the image of Manitou, - whose home was there believed to be. There the friendly red men would be - sure to find and rescue them, she thought, and after a few hours of sleep - she led them into a secluded glen where stood the figure rudely carved - from a pine trunk, six feet high, and tricked with gewgaws. As they stood - there, stealthy steps were heard, and before they could conceal themselves - White Otter and eight of his men were upon them. Du Lhut grasped a club - from among the weapons that—with other offerings—strewed the - earth at the statue's feet and prepared to sell his life dearly. The - priest drew forth his crucifix and prayed. The girl dropped to the ground, - drew her blanket over her head, and began to sing her death-song. - </p> - <p> - “So the black-coat and the woman-stealer have come to die before the - Indian's god?” sneered the chief. - </p> - <p> - “If it be God's will, we will die defying your god and you,” replied - Marquette. “Yet we fear not death, and if God willed he could deliver us - as easily as he could destroy that worthless image.” He spoke in an - undertone to Du Lhut, and continued, confidently, “challenge your god to - withstand mine. I shall pray my God to send his fire from the sky and burn - this thing. If he does so will you set us free and become a Christian?” - </p> - <p> - “I will; but if you fail, you die.” - </p> - <p> - “And if I win you must pardon your daughter.” - </p> - <p> - White Otter grunted his assent. - </p> - <p> - The sun was high and brought spicy odors from the wood; an insect hummed - drowsily, and a bird-song echoed from the distance. Unconscious of what - was being enacted about her, Wanena kept rocking to and fro, singing her - death-song, and waiting the blow that would stretch her at her father's - feet. The savages gathered around the image and watched it with eager - interest. Raising his crucifix with a commanding gesture, the priest - strode close to the effigy, and in a loud voice cried, in Chippewa, “In - the name of God, I command fire to destroy this idol!” - </p> - <p> - A spot of light danced upon the breast of the image. It grew dazzling - bright and steady. Then a smoke began to curl from the dry grass and - feathers it was decked with. The Indians fell back in amazement, and when - a faint breeze passed, fanning the sparks into flame, they fell on their - faces, trembling with apprehension, for Marquette declared, “As my God - treats this idol, so can he treat you!” - </p> - <p> - Then, looking up to see the manitou in flames, White Otter exclaimed, “The - white man's God has won. Spare us, O mighty medicine!” - </p> - <p> - “I will do so, if you promise to become as white men in the faith and be - baptized.” Tamed by fear, the red men laid aside their weapons and knelt - at a brook where Marquette, gathering water in his hands, gave the rite of - baptism to each, and laid down the moral law they were to live by. Wanena, - who had fainted from sheer fright when she saw the idol burning, was - restored, and it may be added that the priest who Christianized her also - married her to Du Lhut, who prospered and left his name to the city of the - lake. News of the triumph of the white men's God went far and wide, and - Marquette found his missions easier after that. Du Lhut alone, of all - those present, was in the father's secret. He had perpetrated a pious - fraud, justified by the results as well as by his peril. A burning-glass - had been fastened to the crucifix, and with that he had destroyed the - idol. - </p> - <p> - Trading thus on native ignorance a Frenchman named Lyons at another time - impressed the Indians at Dubuque and gained his will by setting a creek on - fire. They did not know that he had first poured turpentine over it. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0205" id="link2H_4_0205"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SNAKE GOD OF BELLE ISLE - </h2> - <p> - The Indian demi-god, Sleeping Bear, had a daughter so beautiful that he - kept her out of the sight of men in a covered boat that swung on Detroit - River, tied to a tree on shore; but the Winds, having seen her when her - father had visited her with food, contended so fiercely to possess her - that the little cable was snapped and the boat danced on to the keeper of - the water-gates, who lived at the outlet of Lake Huron. The keeper, filled - with admiration for the girl's beauty, claimed the boat and its charming - freight, but he had barely received her into his lodge when the angry - Winds fell upon him, buffeting him so sorely that he died, and was buried - on Peach Island (properly Isle au Peche), where his spirit remained for - generations—an oracle sought by Indians before emprise in war. His - voice had the sound of wind among the reeds, and its meanings could not be - told except by those who had prepared themselves by fasting and meditation - to receive them. Before planning his campaign against the English, Pontiac - fasted here for seven days to “clear his ear” and hear the wisdom of the - sighing voice. - </p> - <p> - But the Winds were not satisfied with the slaying of the keeper. They tore - away his meadows and swept them out as islands. They smashed the damsel's - boat and the little bark became Belle Isle. Here Manitou placed the girl, - and set a girdle of vicious snakes around the shore to guard her and to - put a stop to further contests. These islands in the straits seem to have - been favorite places of exile and theatres of transformation. The Three - Sisters are so called because of three Indian women who so scolded and - wrangled that their father was obliged to separate them and put one on - each of the islands for the sake of peace. - </p> - <p> - It was at Belle Isle that the red men had put up and worshipped a natural - stone image. Hearing of this idol, on reaching Detroit, Dollier and De - Galinee crossed over to it, tore it down, smashed it, flung the bigger - piece of it into the river, and erected a cross in its place. The sunken - portion of the idol called aloud to the faithful, who had assembled to - wonder at the audacity of the white men and witness their expected - punishment by Manitou, and told them to cast in the other portions. They - did so, and all the fragments united and became a monster serpent that - kept the place from further intrusion. Later, when La Salle ascended the - straits in his ship, the Griffin, the Indians on shore invoked the help of - this, their manitou, and strange forms arose from the water that pushed - the ship into the north, her crew vainly singing hymns with a hope of - staying the demoniac power. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0206" id="link2H_4_0206"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - WERE-WOLVES OF DETROIT - </h2> - <p> - Long were the shores of Detroit vexed by the Snake God of Belle Isle and - his children, the witches, for the latter sold enchantments and were the - terror of good people. Jacques Morand, the <i>coureur de bois</i>, was in - love with Genevieve Parent, but she disliked him and wished only to serve - the church. Courting having proved of no avail, he resolved on force when - she had decided to enter a convent, and he went to one of the witches, who - served as devil's agent, to sell his soul. The witch accepted the slight - commodity and paid for it with a grant of power to change from a man's - form to that of a were-wolf, or <i>loup garou</i>, that he might the - easier bear away his victim. Incautiously, he followed her to Grosse - Pointe, where an image of the Virgin had been set up, and as Genevieve - dropped at the feet of the statue to implore aid, the wolf, as he leaped - to her side, was suddenly turned to stone. - </p> - <p> - Harder was the fate of another maiden, Archange Simonet, for she was - seized by a were-wolf at this place and hurried away while dancing at her - own wedding. The bridegroom devoted his life to the search for her, and - finally lost his reason, but he prosecuted the hunt so vengefully and - shrewdly that he always found assistance. One of the neighbors cut off the - wolf's tail with a silver bullet, the appendage being for many years - preserved by the Indians. The lover finally came upon the creature and - chased it to the shore, where its footprint is still seen in one of the - bowlders, but it leaped into the water and disappeared. In his crazy fancy - the lover declared that it had jumped down the throat of a catfish, and - that is why the French Canadians have a prejudice against catfish as an - article of diet. - </p> - <p> - The man-wolf dared as much for gain as for love. On the night that Jean - Chiquot got the Indians drunk and bore off their beaver-skins, the wood - witches, known as “the white women,” fell upon him and tore a part of his - treasure from him, while a were-wolf pounced so hard on his back that he - lost more. He drove the creatures to a little distance, but was glad to be - safe inside of the fort again, though the officers laughed at him and - called him a coward. When they went back over the route with him they were - astonished to find the grass scorched where the women had fled before him, - and little springs in the turf showed where they had been swallowed up. - Sulphur-water was bubbling from the spot where the wolf dived into the - earth when the trader's rosary fell out of his jacket. Belle Fontaine, the - spot was called, long afterward. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0207" id="link2H_4_0207"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE ESCAPE OF FRANCOIS NAVARRE - </h2> - <p> - When the Hurons came to Sandwich, opposite the Michigan shore, in 1806, - and camped near the church for the annual “festival of savages,” which was - religious primarily, but incidentally gastronomic, athletic, and - alcoholic, an old woman of the tribe foretold to Angelique Couture that, - ere long, blood would be shed freely and white men and Indians would take - each other's lives. That was a reasonably safe prophecy in those days, - and, though Angelique repeated it to her friends, she did not worry over - it. But when the comet of 1812 appeared the people grew afraid—and - with cause, for the war soon began with England. The girl's brothers - fought under the red flag; her lover, Francois Navarre, under the stars - and stripes. - </p> - <p> - The cruel General Proctor one day passed through Sandwich with prisoners - on his way to the Hurons, who were to put them to death in the usual - manner. As they passed by, groaning in anticipation of their fate, - foot-sore and covered with dust, Angelique nearly swooned, for among them - she recognized her lover. He, too, had seen her, and the recognition had - been noticed by Proctor. Whether his savage heart was for the moment - softened by their anguish, or whether he wished to heighten their pain by - a momentary taste of joy, it is certain that on reaching camp he paroled - Francrois until sunset. The young man hastened to the girl's house, and - for one hour they were sadly happy. She tried to make him break his parole - and escape, but he refused, and as the sun sank he tore himself from her - arms and hastened to rejoin his companions in misery. - </p> - <p> - His captors admired him for this act of honor, and had he so willed he - could have been then and there received into their tribe. As it was, they - allowed him to remain unbound. Hardly had the sun gone down when a number - of boats drew up at the beach with another lot of prisoners, and with - yells of rejoicing the Indians ran to the river to drive them into camp. - Francois's opportunity was brief, but he seized it. In the excitement he - had been unobserved. He was not under oath now, and with all speed he - dashed into the wood. Less than a minute had elapsed before his absence - was discovered, but he was a cunning woodman, and by alternately running - and hiding, with gathering darkness in his favor, he had soon put the - savages at a distance. - </p> - <p> - A band of English went to Angelique's home, thinking that he would be sure - to rejoin her; but he was too shrewd for that, and it was in vain that - they fired guns up the chimneys and thrust bayonets into beds. Angelique - was terrified at this intrusion, but the men had been ordered not to - injure the woman, and she was glad, after all, to think that Francois had - escaped. Some days later one of the Hurons came to her door and pointed - significantly to a fresh scalp that hung at his belt. In the belief that - it was her lover's she grew ill and began to fade, but one evening there - came a faint tap at the door. She opened it to find a cap on the - door-step. - </p> - <p> - There was no writing, yet her heart rose in her bosom and the color came - back to her cheeks, for she recognized it as her lover's. Later, she - learned that Francois had kept to the forest until he reached the site of - Walkerville, where he had found a canoe and reached the American side in - safety. She afterward rejoined him in Detroit, and they were married at - the end of the war, through which he served with honor and satisfaction to - himself, being enabled to pay many old scores against the red-coats and - the Indians. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0208" id="link2H_4_0208"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE OLD LODGER - </h2> - <p> - In 1868 there died in Detroit a woman named Marie Louise Thebault, more - usually called Kennette. She was advanced in years, and old residents - remembered when she was one of the quaintest figures and most assertive - spirits in the town, for until a few years before her death she was rude - of speech, untidy in appearance, loved nothing or respected nothing unless - it might be her violin and her money, and lived alone in a little old - house on the river-road to Springwells. Though she made shoes for a - living, she was of so miserly a nature that she accepted food from her - neighbors, and in order to save the expense of light and fuel she spent - her evenings out. Yet she read more or less, and was sufficiently - acquainted with Volney, Voltaire, and other skeptics to shock her church - acquaintances. Love of gain, not of company, induced her to lease one of - her rooms to a pious old woman, from whom she got not only a little rent, - but the incidental use of her fuel and light. - </p> - <p> - When the pious one tried to win her to the church it angered her, and - then, too, she had a way of telling ghost stories that Kennette laughed - at. One of these narratives that she would dwell on with especial - self-conviction was that of Lieutenant Muir, who had left his mistress, - when she said No to his pleadings, supposing that she spoke the truth, - whereas she was merely trying to be coquettish. - </p> - <p> - He fell in an attack on the Americans that night, and came back, bleeding, - to the girl who had made him throw his life away; he pressed her hand, - leaving the mark of skeleton fingers there, so that she always kept it - gloved afterward. Then there was the tale of the two men of Detroit who - were crushed by a falling tree: the married one, who was not fatally hurt, - begged his mate to call his wife, as soon as his soul was free, and the - woman, hearing the mournful voice at her door, as the spirit passed on its - way to space, ran out and rescued her husband from his plight. She told, - too, of the <i>feu follet</i>, or will-o'-the-wisp, that led a girl on - Grosse Isle to the swamp where her lover was engulfed in mire and enabled - her to rescue him. There was Grand'mere Duchene, likewise, who worked at - her spinning-wheel for many a night after death, striking fear to her - son's heart, by its droning, because he had not bought the fifty masses - for the repose of her soul, but when he had fulfilled the promise she came - no more. Another yarn was about the ghost-boat of hunter Sebastian that - ascends the straits once in seven years, celebrating his return, after - death, in accordance with the promise made to Zoe, his betrothed, that—dead - or alive—he would return to her from the hunt at a certain time. - </p> - <p> - To all this Kennette turned the ear of scorning. “Bah!” she cried. “I - don't believe your stories. I don't believe in your hell and your - purgatory. If you die first, come back. If I should, and I can, I will - come. Then we may know whether there is another world.” - </p> - <p> - The bargain was made to this effect, but the women did not get on well - together, and soon Kennette had an open quarrel with her lodger that ended - by her declaring that she never could forgive her, but that she would hold - her to her after-death compact. The lodger died, and while talking of her - death at the house of a neighbor a boy, who had arrived from town, - casually asked Kennette—knowing her saving ways—why she had - left the light burning in her house. Grasping a poker, she set off at once - to punish the intruder who had dared to enter in her absence, but when she - arrived there was no light. On several evenings the light was reported by - others, but as she was gadding in the neighborhood she never saw it until, - one night, resolved to see for herself, she returned early, softly entered - at the back door, and went to bed. Hardly had she done so when she saw a - light coming up-stairs. Sitting bolt upright in bed she waited. The light - came up noiselessly and presently stood in the room—not a lantern or - candle, but a white phosphorescence. It advanced toward her, changing its - form until she saw a cloudy likeness to a human being. For the first time - in her life she feared. “Come no nearer!” she cried. “I know you. I - believe you, and I forgive.” - </p> - <p> - The light vanished. From that night it was remarked that Kennette began to - age fast—she began to change and become more like other women. She - went to church and her face grew softer and kinder. It was the only time - that she saw the spirit, but the effect of the visit was permanent. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0209" id="link2H_4_0209"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE NAIN ROUGE - </h2> - <p> - Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, that - made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded than the - Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared only when - there was to be trouble. In that it delighted. It was a shambling, - red-faced creature, with a cold, glittering eye and teeth protruding from - a grinning mouth. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, having struck at it, - presently lost his seigniory and his fortunes. It was seen scampering - along the shore on the night before the attack on Bloody Run, when the - brook that afterward bore this name turned red with the blood of soldiers. - People saw it in the smoky streets when the city was burned in 1805, and - on the morning of Hull's surrender it was found grinning in the fog. It - rubbed its bony knuckles expectantly when David Fisher paddled across the - strait to see his love, Soulange Gaudet, in the only boat he could find—a - wheel-barrow, namely—but was sobered when David made a safe landing. - </p> - <p> - It chuckled when the youthful bloods set off on Christmas day to race the - frozen strait for the hand of buffer Beauvais's daughter Claire, but when - her lover's horse, a wiry Indian nag, came pacing in it fled before their - happiness. It was twice seen on the roof of the stable where that - sour-faced, evil-eyed old mumbler, Jean Beaugrand, kept his horse, Sans - Souci—a beast that, spite of its hundred years or more, could and - did leap every wall in Detroit, even the twelve-foot stockade of the fort, - to steal corn and watermelons, and that had been seen in the same barn, - sitting at a table, playing seven-up with his master, and drinking a - liquor that looked like melted brass. The dwarf whispered at the sleeping - ear of the old chief who slew Friar Constantine, chaplain of the fort, in - anger at the teachings that had parted a white lover from his daughter and - led her to drown herself—a killing that the red man afterward - confessed, because he could no longer endure the tolling of a mass bell in - his ears and the friar's voice in the wind. - </p> - <p> - The Nain Rouge it was who claimed half of the old mill, on Presque Isle, - that the sick and irritable Josette swore that she would leave to the - devil when her brother Jean pestered her to make her will in his favor, - giving him complete ownership. On the night of her death the mill was - wrecked by a thunder-bolt, and a red-faced imp was often seen among the - ruins, trying to patch the machinery so as to grind the devil's grist. It - directed the dance of black cats in the mill at Pont Rouge, after the - widow's curse had fallen on Louis Robert, her brother-in-law. This man, - succeeding her husband as director of the property, had developed such - miserly traits that she and her children were literally starved to death, - but her dying curse threw such ill luck on the place and set afloat such - evil report about it that he took himself away. The Nain Rouge may have - been the Lutin that took Jacques L'Esperance's ponies from the stable at - Grosse Pointe, and, leaving no tracks in sand or snow, rode them through - the air all night, restoring them at dawn quivering with fatigue, covered - with foam, bloody with the lash of a thorn-bush. It stopped that exercise - on the night that Jacques hurled a font of holy water at it, but to keep - it away the people of Grosse Pointe still mark their houses with the sign - of a cross. - </p> - <p> - It was lurking in the wood on the day that Captain Dalzell went against - Pontiac, only to perish in an ambush, to the secret relief of his - superior, Major Gladwyn, for the major hoped to win the betrothed of - Dalzell; but when the girl heard that her lover had been killed at Bloody - Run, and his head had been carried on a pike, she sank to the ground never - to rise again in health, and in a few days she had followed the victims of - the massacre. There was a suspicion that the Nain Rouge had power to - change his shape for one not less offensive. The brothers Tremblay had no - luck in fishing through the straits and lakes until one of them agreed to - share his catch with St. Patrick, the saint's half to be sold at the - church-door for the benefit of the poor and for buying masses to relieve - souls in purgatory. His brother doubted if this benefit would last, and - feared that they might be lured into the water and turned into fish, for - had not St. Patrick eaten pork chops on a Friday, after dipping them into - holy water and turning them into trout? But his good brother kept on and - prospered and the bad one kept on grumbling. Now, at Grosse Isle was a - strange thing called the rolling muff, that all were afraid of, since to - meet it was a warning of trouble; but, like the <i>feu follet</i>, it - could be driven off by holding a cross toward it or by asking it on what - day of the month came Christmas. The worse of the Tremblays encountered - this creature and it filled him with dismay. When he returned his - neighbors observed an odor—not of sanctity—on his garments, - and their view of the matter was that he had met a skunk. The graceless - man felt convinced, however, that he had received a devil's baptism from - the Nain Rouge, and St. Patrick had no stancher allies than both the - Tremblays, after that. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0210" id="link2H_4_0210"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TWO REVENGES - </h2> - <p> - It is no more possible to predicate the conduct of an Indian than that of - a woman. In Detroit lived Wasson, one of the warriors of the dreaded - Pontiac, who had felt some tender movings of the spirit toward a girl of - his tribe. The keeper of the old red mill that stood at the foot of - Twenty-fourth Street adopted her, with the consent of her people, and did - his best to civilize her. But Wasson kept watch. He presently discovered - that whenever the miller was away a candle shone in the window until a - figure wrapped in a military cloak emerged from the shadows, knocked, and - was admitted. On the night that Wasson identified his rival as Colonel - Campbell, an English officer, he stole into the girl's room through the - window and cut her down with his hatchet. Colonel Campbell, likewise, he - slew after Pontiac had made prisoners of the garrison. The mill was - shunned, after that, for the figure of a girl, with a candle in her hand, - frightened so many people by moving about the place that it was torn down - in 1795. - </p> - <p> - But the red man was not always hostile. Kenen, a Huron, loved a half-breed - girl, whom he could never persuade into a betrothal. One day he - accidentally wounded a white man in the wood, and lifting him on his - shoulder he hurried with him to camp. It was not long before he found that - the soft glances of the half-breed girl were doing more to cure his victim - than the incantations of the medicine-man, and in a fit of anger, one day, - he plucked forth his knife and fell upon the couple. Her look of innocent - surprise shamed him. He rushed away, with an expression of self-contempt, - and flung his weapon far into the river. Soon after, the white man was - captured by the Iroquois. They were preparing to put him to the torture - when a tall Indian leaped in among them, with the cry, “I am Kenen. Let - the pale face go, for a Huron chief will take his place.” And, as the - bonds fell from the prisoner's wrists and ankles, he added, “Go and - comfort the White Fawn.” The white man was allowed to enter a canoe and - row away, but as he did so his heart misgave him: the words of a deathsong - and the crackling of flames had reached his ears. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0211" id="link2H_4_0211"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HIAWATHA - </h2> - <p> - The story of Hiawatha—known about the lakes as Manabozho and in the - East as Glooskapis the most widely disseminated of the Indian legends. He - came to earth on a Messianic mission, teaching justice, fortitude, and - forbearance to the red men, showing them how to improve their handicraft, - ridding the woods and hills of monsters, and finally going up to heaven - amid cries of wonder from those on whose behalf he had worked and - counselled. He was brought up as a child among them, took to wife the - Dakota girl, Minnehaha (“Laughing Water”), hunted, fought, and lived as a - warrior; yet, when need came, he could change his form to any shape of - bird, fish, or plant that he wished. He spoke to friends in the voice of a - woman and to enemies in tones like thunder. A giant in form, few dared to - resist him in battle, yet he suffered the common pains and adversities of - his kind, and while fishing in one of the great lakes in his white stone - canoe, that moved whither he willed it, he and his boat were swallowed by - the king of fishes. He killed the creature by beating at its heart with a - stone club, and when the gulls had preyed on its flesh, as it lay floating - on the surface, until he could see daylight, he clambered through the - opening they had made and returned to his lodge. - </p> - <p> - Believing that his father had killed his mother, he fought against him for - several days, driving him to the edge of the world before peace was made - between them. The evil Pearl Feather had slain one of his relatives, and - to avenge that crime Hiawatha pressed through a guard of fire-breathing - serpents which surrounded that fell personage, shot them with arrows as - they struck at him, and having thus reached the lodge of his enemy he - engaged him in combat. All day long they battled to no purpose, but toward - evening a woodpecker flew overhead and cried, “Your enemy has but one - vulnerable point. Shoot at his scalp-lock.” Hiawatha did so and his foe - fell dead. Anointing his finger with the blood of his foe, he touched the - bird, and the red mark is found on the head of every woodpecker to this - day. A duck having led him a long chase when he was trying to capture it - for food, he angrily kicked it, thus flattening its back, bowing its legs, - despoiling it of half of its tail-feathers, and that is why, to this day, - ducks are awkward. - </p> - <p> - In return for its service in leading him to where the prince of serpents - lived, he invested the kingfisher with a medal and rumpled the feathers of - its head in putting it on; hence all kingfishers have rumpled knots and - white spots on their breasts. After slaying the prince of serpents he - travelled all over America, doing good work, and on reaching Onondaga he - organized a friendly league of thirteen tribes that endured for many - years. This closed his mission. As he stood in the assemblage of chiefs a - white bird, appearing at an immense height, descended like a meteor, - struck Hiawatha's daughter with such force as to drive her remains into - the earth and shattered itself against the ground. Its silvery feathers - were scattered, and these were preserved by the beholders as ornaments for - their hair—so the custom of wearing feather head-dresses endures to - our time. Though filled with consternation, Hiawatha recognized the - summons. He addressed his companions in tones of such sweetness and terms - of such eloquence as had never been heard before, urging them to live - uprightly and to enforce good laws, and unhappy circumstance!—promising - to come back when the time was ripe. The expectancy of his return has led - to ghost-dances and similar demonstrations of enmity against the whites. - When he had ended he entered his stone canoe and began to rise in air to - strains of melting music. Higher and higher he arose, the white vessel - shining in the sunlight, until he disappeared in the spaces of the sky. - </p> - <p> - Incidents of the Hiawatha legend are not all placed, but he is thought to - have been born near the great lakes, perhaps at Mackinack. Some legends, - indeed, credit him with making his home at Mackinack, and from that point, - as a centre, making a new earth around him. The fight with his father - began on the upper Mississippi, and the bowlders found along its banks - were their missiles. The south shore of Lake Superior was the scene of his - conflict with the serpents. He hunted the great beaver around Lake - Superior and brought down his dam at the Sault Sainte Marie. A depression - in a rock on the southern edge of Michipicotea Bay is where he alighted - after a jump across the lake. In a larger depression, near Thunder Bay, he - sat when smoking his last pipe. The big rocks on the east side of Grand - Traverse Bay, near Antrim City, Michigan, are the bones of a stone monster - that he slew. - </p> - <p> - So trifling an incident as the kicking of the duck has been localized at - Lake Itasca. [It is worth passing mention that this name, which sounds as - if it were of Indian origin, is held by some to be composed of the last - syllables of <i>veritas</i> and the first letters of <i>caput</i>, these - words-signifying “the true head”—being applied by early explorers as - showing that they were confident of having found the actual source of the - Mississippi.] Minnehaha lived near the fall in Minneapolis that bears her - name. The final apotheosis took place on the shores of Lake Onondaga, New - York, though Hiawatha lies buried under a mountain, three miles long, on - the east side of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, which, from the water, - resembles a man lying on his back. The red man makes oblation, as he rows - past, by dropping a pinch of tobacco into the water. Some say that - Hiawatha now lives at the top of the earth, amid the ice, and directs the - sun. He has to live in a cold country because, if he were to return, he - would set the earth on fire with his footsteps. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0212" id="link2H_4_0212"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE INDIAN MESSIAH - </h2> - <p> - The promise of the return to earth of various benign spirits has caused - much trouble among the red men, and incidentally to the white men who are - the objects of their fanatic dislike. The New Mexicans believed that when - the Emperor Montezuma was about to leave the earth he planted a tree and - bade them watch it, for when it fell he would come back in glory and lead - them to victory, wealth, and power. The watch was kept in secret on - account of the determination of the Spaniards to breakup all fealty to - tribal heroes and traditions. As late as 1781 they executed a sentence of - death on a descendant of the Peruvian Incas for declaring his royal - origin. When Montezuma's tree fell the people gathered on the house-tops - to watch the east-in vain, for the white man was there. In 1883 the - Sanpoels, a small tribe in Washington, were stirred by the teaching of an - old chief, who told them that the wicked would soon be destroyed, and that - the Great Spirit had ordered him to build an ark for his people. The - remains of this vessel, two hundred and eighty-eight feet long, are still - to be seen near one of the tributaries of the Columbia. - </p> - <p> - A frenzy swept over the West in 1890, inspiring the Indians by promise of - the coming of one of superhuman power, who was generally believed to be - Hiawatha, to threaten the destruction of the white population, since it - had been foretold that the Messiah would drive the white men from their - land. Early in the summer of that year it was reported that the Messiah - had appeared in the north, and the chiefs of many tribes went to Dakota, - as the magi did to Bethlehem, to learn if this were true. Sitting Bull, - the Sioux chief, told them, in assembly, that it was so, and declared that - he had seen the new Christ while hunting in the Shoshone Mountains. One - evening he lost his way and was impelled by a strange feeling to follow a - star that moved before him. At daybreak it paused over a beautiful valley, - and, weary with his walk, he sank on a bed of moss. As he sat there - throngs of Indian warriors appeared and began a spirit dance, led by - chiefs who had long been dead. Presently a voice spoke in his ear, and - turning he saw a strange man dressed in white. The man said he was the - same Christ who had come into the world nineteen hundred years before to - save white men, and that now he would save the red men by driving out the - whites. The Indians were to dance the ghost-dance, or spirit dance, until - the new moon, when the globe would shiver, the wind would glow, and the - white soldiers and their horses would sink into the earth. The Messiah - showed to Sitting Bull the nail-wounds in his hands and feet and the - spear-stab in his side. When night came on the form in white had - disappeared—and, returning, the old chief taught the ghost-dance to - his people. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0213" id="link2H_4_0213"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE VISION OF RESCUE - </h2> - <p> - Surmounting Red Banks, twelve miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the - eastern shore, and one hundred feet above the water, stands an earthwork - that the first settlers found there when they went into that country. It - was built by the Sauks and Outagamies, a family that ruled the land for - many years, rousing the jealousy of neighboring tribes by their wealth and - power. The time came, as it did in the concerns of nearly every band of - Indians, when war was declared against this family, and the enemy came - upon them in the darkness, their canoes patroling the shore while the main - body formed a line about the fort. So silently was this done that but one - person discovered it—a squaw, who cried, “We are all dead!” - </p> - <p> - There was nothing to see or hear, and she was rated for alarming the camp - with foolish dreams; but dawn revealed the beleaguering line, and at the - lifting of the sun a battle began that lasted for days, those within the - earthworks sometimes fighting while ankle-deep in the blood of their - fellows. The greatest lack of the besieged was that of water, and they let - down earthen jars to the lake to get it, but the cords were cut ere they - could be drawn up, the enemy shouting, derisively, “Come down and drink!” - Several times they tried to do so, but were beaten back at every sally, - and it seemed at last as if extermination was to be their fate. - </p> - <p> - When matters were at their darkest one of the young men who had been - fasting for ten days—the Indian custom when divine direction was - sought addressed his companions to this effect: “Last night there stood by - me the form of a young man, clothed in white, who said, 'I was once alive, - but I died, and now I live forever. Trust me and I will deliver you. Be - fearless. At midnight I will cast a sleep on your enemies. Go forth boldly - and you shall escape.'” The condition was too desperate to question any - means of freedom, and that night all but a handful of disbelievers left - the fort, while the enemy was in a slumber of exhaustion, and got away in - safety. When the besiegers, in the morning, found that the fort had been - almost deserted, they fell on the few that remained to repent their folly, - and put them to the knife and axe, for their fury was excessive at the - failure of the siege. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0214" id="link2H_4_0214"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - DEVIL'S LAKE - </h2> - <p> - Any of the noble rivers and secluded lakes of Wisconsin were held in - esteem or fear by the northern tribes, and it was the now-forgotten events - and superstitions connected with them, not less than the frontier tendency - for strong names, that gave a lurid and diabolical nomenclature to parts - of this region. Devils, witches, magicians, and manitous were perpetuated, - and Indians whose prowess was thought to be supernatural left dim records - of themselves here and there—as near the dells of the Wisconsin, - where a chasm fifty feet wide is shown as the ravine leaped by chief Black - Hawk when flying from the whites. Devil's Lake was the home of a manitou - who does not seem to have been a particularly evil genius, though he had - unusual power. The lake fills what is locally regarded as the crater of an - extinct volcano, and the coldness and purity kept by the water, in spite - of its lacking visible inlets or outlets, was one cause for thinking it - uncanny. - </p> - <p> - This manitou piled the heavy blocks of Devil's Door-Way and set up Black - Monument and the Pedestalled Bowlder as thrones where he might sit and - view the landscape by day—for the Indians appreciated the beautiful - in nature and supposed their gods did, too—while at night he could - watch the dance of the frost spirits, the aurora borealis. Cleft Rock was - sundered by one of his darts aimed at an offending Indian, who owed his - life to the manitou's bad aim. The Sacrifice Stone is shown where, at - another time, a girl was immolated to appease his anger. Cleopatra's - Needle, as it is now called, is the body of an ancient chief, who was - turned into stone as a punishment for prying into the mysteries of the - lake, a stone on East Mountain being the remains of a squaw who had - similarly offended. On the St. Croix the Devil's Chair is pointed out - where he sat in state. He had his play spells, too, as you may guess when - you see his toboggan slide in Weber Canon, Utah, while Cinnabar Mountain, - in the Yellowstone country, he scorched red as he coasted down. - </p> - <p> - The hunter wandering through this Wisconsin wilderness paused when he came - within sight of the lake, for all game within its precincts was in the - manitou's protection; not a fish might be taken, and not even a drop of - water could be dipped to cool the lips of the traveller. So strong was - this fear of giving offence to the manitou that Indians who were dying of - wounds or illness, and were longing for a swallow of water, would refuse - to profane the lake by touching their lips to it. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0215" id="link2H_4_0215"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE KEUSCA ELOPEMENT - </h2> - <p> - Keusca was a village of the Dakota Indians on the Wisconsin bluffs of the - Mississippi eighteen hundred miles from its mouth. The name means, to - overthrow, or set aside, for it was here that a tribal law was broken. - Sacred Wind was a coquette of that village, for whose hand came many young - fellows wooing with painted faces. For her they played the bone flute in - the twilight, and in the games they danced and leaped their hardest and - shot their farthest and truest when she was looking on. Though they amused - her she cared not a jot for these suitors, keeping her love for the young - brave named the Shield—and keeping it secret, for he was her cousin, - and cousins might not wed. If a relative urged her to marry some young - fellow for whom she had no liking, she would answer that if forced to do - so she would fling herself into the river, and spoke of Winonah and - Lovers' Leap. - </p> - <p> - She was afraid to wed the Shield, for the medicine-men had threatened all - who dared to break the marriage laws with unearthly terrors; yet when the - Shield had been absent for several weeks on the war-path she realized that - life without his companionship was too hollow to be endured—and she - admired him all the more when he returned with two scalps hanging at his - belt. He renewed his wooing. He allayed her fears by assurances that he, - too, was a medicine-man and could counteract the spells that wizards might - cast on them. Then she no longer repressed the promptings of her heart, - but yielded to his suit. They agreed to elope that night. - </p> - <p> - As they left the little clearing in the wood where their interview had - taken place, a thicket stirred and a girl stole from it, looking intently - at their retreating forms. The Swan, they had named her; but, with a flush - in her dusky cheeks, her brows dark, her eyes glittering, she more - recalled the vulture—for she, too, loved the Shield; and she had now - seen and heard that her love was hopeless. That evening she alarmed the - camp; she told the parents of Sacred Wind of the threatened violation of - custom, and the father rose in anger to seek her. It was too late, for the - flight had taken place. The Swan went to the river and rowed out in a - canoe. From the middle of the stream she saw a speck on the water to the - southward, and knew it to be Sacred Wind and her lover, henceforth - husband. She watched until the speck faded in the twilight—then - leaning over the side of the boat she capsized it, and passed from the - view of men. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0216" id="link2H_4_0216"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PIPESTONE - </h2> - <p> - Pipestone, a smooth, hard, even-textured clay, of lively color, from which - thousands of red men cut their pipe-bowls, forms a wall on the Coteau des - Prairies, in Minnesota, that is two miles long and thirty feet high. In - front of it lie five bowlders, the droppings from an iceberg to the floor - of the primeval sea, and beneath these masses of granite live the spirits - of two squaws that must be consulted before the stone can be dug. This - quarry was neutral ground, and here, as they approached it, the men of all - tribes sheathed their knives and belted up their axes, for to this place - the Great Spirit came to kill and eat the buffalo, and it is the blood of - this animal that has turned the stone to red. Here, too, the Thunder Bird - had her nest, and her brood rent the skies above it with the clashing of - their iron wings. - </p> - <p> - A snake having crawled into this nest to steal the unhatched thunders, - Manitou caught up a piece of pipestone, hastily pressed it between his - hands, giving it the shape of a man, and flung it at the reptile. The - stone man's feet stuck fast in the ground, and there he stood for a - thousand years, growing like a tree and drawing strength and knowledge out - of the earth. Another shape grew up beside him—woman. In time the - snake gnawed them free from their foundations and the red-earth pair - wandered off together. From them sprang all people. - </p> - <p> - Ages after, the Manitou called the red men to the quarry, fashioned a pipe - for them, told them it was a part of their flesh, and smoked it over them, - blowing the smoke to north, south, east, and west, in token that wherever - the influence of the pipe extended there was to be brotherhood and peace. - The place was to be sacred from war and they were to make their pipes from - this rock. As the smoke rolled about him he gradually disappeared from - view. At the last whiff the ashes fell out and the surface of the rock for - miles burst into flame, so that it melted and glazed. Two ovens opened at - its foot, and through the fire entered the two spirits Tsomecostee and - Tsomecostewondee—that are still its guardians, answering the - invocations of the medicine-men and accepting the oblations of those who - go to make pipes or carve their totems on the rock. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0217" id="link2H_4_0217"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE VIRGINS' FEAST - </h2> - <p> - A game of lacrosse was played by Indian girls on the ice near the present - Fort Snelling, one winter day, and the victorious trophies were awarded to - Wenonah, sister of the chief, to the discomfiture of Harpstenah, her - opponent, an ill-favored woman, neglected by her tribe, and jealous of - Wenonah's beauty and popularity. This defeat, added to some fancied - slights, was almost more than she could bear, and during the contest she - had been cut in the head by one of the rackets—an accident that she - falsely attributed to her adversary in the game. She had an opportunity of - proving her hatred, for directly that it was known how Wenonah had refused - to marry Red Cloud, a stalwart boaster, openly preferring a younger - warrior of the tribe, the ill-thinking Harpstenah sought out the - disappointed suitor, who sat moodily apart, and thus advised him, - “To-morrow is the Feast of Virgins, when all who are pure will sit at meat - together. Wenonah will be there. Has she the right to be? Have you not - seen how shamelessly she favors your rival's suit? Among the Dakotas to - accuse is to condemn, and the girl who is accused at the Virgins' Feast is - disgraced forever. She has shown for Red Cloud nothing but contempt. If he - shows no anger at it the girls will laugh at him.” - </p> - <p> - With this she turned away and left Red Cloud to his meditations. Wenonah, - at the door of her brother's wigwam, looked into the north and saw the - stars grow pale through streams of electric fire. “The Woman of the North - warns us of coming evil,” muttered the chief. “Some danger is near. Fire - on the lights!” And a volley of musketry sent a shock through the still - air. - </p> - <p> - “They shine for me,” said Wenonah, sadly. “For I shall soon join our - father, mother, and sister in the land of spirits. Before the leaves fell - I sat beside the Father of Waters and saw a manitou rise among the waves. - It said that my sisters in the sunset world were calling to me and I must - soon go to them.” The chief tried to laugh away her fancies and comforted - her as well as he might, then leading her to the wigwam he urged her to - sleep. - </p> - <p> - Next day is the Virgins' Feast and Wenonah is among those who sit in the - ring, dressed in their gayest. None who are conscious of a fault may share - in the feast; nor, if one were exposed and expelled, might any interpose - to ask for mercy; yet a groan of surprise and horror goes through the - company when Red Cloud, stalking up to the circle, seizes the girl roughly - by the shoulder and orders her away. No use to deny or appeal. An Indian - warrior would not be so treacherous or unjust as to act in this way unless - he had proofs. Without a word she enters the adjacent wood, draws her - knife, and strikes it to her heart. With summer came the fever, and it - ravaged through the band, laying low the infant and the counsellor. Red - Cloud was the first to die, and as he was borne away Harpstenah lifted her - wasted form and followed him with dimming eyes, then cried, “He is dead. - He hated Wenonah because she slighted him. I hated her because she was - happy. I told him to denounce her. But she was innocent.” - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0218" id="link2H_4_0218"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY - </h2> - <p> - Several of the Dakotas, who had been in camp near the site of St. Paul, - left their families and friends, when the hunting season opened, and went - into the north. On their arrival at another village of their tribe, they - stayed to rest for a little, and one of the men used the time to - ill-advantage, as it fell out, for he conceived an attachment for a girl - of this northern family, and on his way southward he wedded her and took - her home with him. Proper enough to do, if he had not been married - already. The first wife knew that any warrior might take a second, if he - could support both; but the woman was stronger than the savage in her - nature, and when her husband came back, with a red-cheeked woman walking - beside him, she felt that she should never know his love again. The man - was all attention to the young wife, whether the tribe tarried or - travelled. When they shifted camp the elder walked or rowed behind with - her boy, a likely lad of ten or twelve. - </p> - <p> - It was when they were returning down the river after a successful hunt - that the whole company was obliged to make a carry around the quick water - near the head of St. Anthony's Falls. While the others were packing the - boats and goods for transportation by hand to the foot of the cataract, - the forsaken wife chose a moment when none were watching to embark with - her boy in one of the canoes. Rowing out to an island, she put on all her - ornaments, and dressed the lad in beads and feathers as if he were a - warrior. Her husband, finding her absent from the party, looked anxiously - about for some time, and was horrified to see her put out from the island - into the rapid current. She had placed the child high in the boat, and was - rowing with a steady stroke down the stream. He called and beckoned - franticly. She did not seem to hear him, nor did she turn her head when - the others joined their cries to his. For a moment those who listened - heard her death-song, then the yeasty flood hid them from sight, and the - husband on the shore fell to the earth with a wail of anguish. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0219" id="link2H_4_0219"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - FLYING SHADOW AND TRACK MAKER - </h2> - <p> - The Chippewas and Sioux had come together at Fort Snelling to make merry - and cement friendships. Flying Shadow was sad when the time came for the - tribes to part, for Track Maker had won her heart, and no less strong than - her love was the love he felt for her. But a Chippewa girl might not marry - among the Sioux, and, if she did, the hand of every one would be against - her should ever the tribes wage war upon each other, and war was nearer - than either of them had expected. The Chippewas left with feelings of good - will, Flying Shadow concealing in her bosom the trinkets that testified to - the love of Track Maker and sighing as she thought of the years that might - elapse ere they met again. - </p> - <p> - Two renegade Chippewas, that had lingered behind the band, played the - villain after this pleasant parting, for they killed a Sioux. Hardly was - the news of this outrage received at the fort ere three hundred warriors - were on the trail of their whilom guests and friends, all clamoring for - revenge. Among them was Track Maker, for he could not, as a warrior, - remain behind after his brother had been shot, and, while his heart sank - within him as he thought of the gentle Flying Shadow, he marched in - advance, and early in the morning the Chippewas were surprised between St. - Anthony's Falls and Rum River, where they had camped without fear, being - alike ignorant and innocent of the murder for which so many were to be - punished. - </p> - <p> - The Sioux fell upon them and cut down all alike—men, women, and - children. In the midst of the carnage Track Maker comes face to face with - Flying Shadow, and with a cry of gladness she throws herself into his - arms. But there is no refuge there. Gladly as he would save her, he knows - too well that the thirst for blood will not be sated until every member of - that band is dead. He folds her to his bosom for an instant, looks into - her eyes with tenderness—then bowing his head he passes on and never - glances back. It is enough. She falls insensible, and a savage, rushing - upon her, tears the scalp from her head. - </p> - <p> - The Sioux win a hundred scalps and celebrate their victory with dance and - song. Track Maker has returned with more scalps than any, and the maidens - welcome him as a hero, but he keeps gravely apart from all, and has no - share in the feasting and merry-making. Ever the trusting, pleading, - wondering face of Flying Shadow comes before him. It looks out at him in - the face of the deer he is about to kill. He sees it in the river, the - leaves, the clouds. It rises before him in dreams. The elder people say he - is bewitched, but he will have none of their curatives. When war breaks - out he is the first to go, the first to open battle. Rushing among his - enemies he lays about him with his axe until he falls, pierced with a - hundred spears and arrows. It is the fate he has courted, and as he falls - his face is lighted with a smile. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0220" id="link2H_4_0220"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SAVED BY A LIGHTNING-STROKE - </h2> - <p> - There was rough justice in the West in the old days. It had to be dealt - severely and quickly, for it was administered to a kind of men that became - dangerous if they saw any advantage or any superiority in their strength - or numbers over the decent people with whom they were cast. They were - uncivilized foreigners and native renegades, for the most part, who had - drifted to the frontier in the hope of making a living without work more - easily than in the cities. As there were no lawyers or courts and few - recognized laws, the whole people constituted themselves a jury, and if a - man were known to be guilty it was foolishness for any one to waste logic - on his case. And there is almost no record of an innocent man being hanged - by lynchers in the West. For minor offences the penalty was to be marched - out of camp, with a warning to be very cautious about coming that way - again, but for graver ones it was death. - </p> - <p> - In 1840 a number of desperate fellows had settled along Cedar River, near - its confluence with the Iowa, who subsisted by means of theft from the - frugal and industrious. Some of these men applied themselves especially to - horse-stealing, and in thinly settled countries, where a man has often to - go twenty or thirty miles for supplies, or his mail, or medical - attendance, it is thought to be a calamity to be without a horse. - </p> - <p> - At last the people organized themselves into a vigilance committee and ran - down the thieves. As the latter were a conscienceless gang of rascals, it - was resolved that the only effectual way of reforming them would be by - hanging. One man of the nine, it is true, was supposed before his arrest - to be a respectable citizen, but his evil communications closed the ears - of his neighbors to his appeals, and it was resolved that he, too, should - hang. - </p> - <p> - Not far away stood an oak with nine stout branches, and to this natural - gallows the rogues were taken. As a squall was coming up the ceremonies - were short, and presently every limb was weighted with the form of a - captive. The formerly respectable citizen was the last one to be drawn up, - and hardly had his halter been secured before the storm burst and a bolt - of lightning ripped off the limb on which he hung. During the delay caused - by this accident the unhappy man pleaded so earnestly for a rehearing that - it was decided to give it to him, and when he had secured it he - conclusively proved his innocence and was set free. The tree is still - standing. To the ruffians it was a warning and they went away. Even the - providential saving of one man did not detract from the value of the - lesson to avoid bad company. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0221" id="link2H_4_0221"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE KILLING OF CLOUDY SKY - </h2> - <p> - In the Dakota camp on the bank of Spirit Lake, or Lake Calhoun, Iowa, - lived Cloudy Sky, a medicine-man, who had been made repellent by age and - accident, but who was feared because of his magic power. At eighty years - of age he looked for a third wife, and chose the daughter of a warrior, - his presents of blankets and calicoes to the parents winning their - consent. The girl, Harpstenah (a common name for a third daughter among - the Sioux), dreaded and hated this man, for it was rumored that he had - killed his first wife and basely sold his second. When she learned what - had been decided for her she rushed from the camp in tears and sat in a - lonely spot near the lake to curse and lament unseen. As she sat there the - waters were troubled. There was no wind, yet great waves were thrown up, - and tumbled hissing on the shore. Presently came a wave higher than the - rest, and a graceful form leaped from it, half shrouded in its own long - hair. - </p> - <p> - “Do not tremble,” said the visitant, for Harpstenah had hidden her face. - “I am the daughter of Unktahe, the water god. In four days your parents - will give you to Cloudy Sky, as his wife, though you love Red Deer. It is - with you to wed the man you hate or the man you love. Cloudy Sky has - offended the water spirits and we have resolved upon his death. If you - will be our agent in destroying him, you shall marry Red Deer and live - long and happily. The medicine-man wandered for years through the air with - the thunder birds, flinging his deadly fire-spears at us, and it was for - killing the son of Unktahe that he was last sent to earth, where he has - already lived twice before. Kill him while he sleeps and we will reward - you.” - </p> - <p> - As Harpstenah went back to the village her prospective bridegroom ogled - her as he sat smoking before his lodge, his face blackened and blanket - torn in mourning for an enemy he had killed. She resolved to heed the - appeal of the manitou. When Red Deer heard how she had been promised to - the old conjurer, he was filled with rage. Still, he became thoughtful and - advised caution when she told him of the water spirit's counsel, for the - dwellers in the lakes were, of all immortals, most deceitful, and had ever - been enemies of the Dakotas. “I will do as I am bidden,” she said, - sternly. “Go away and visit the Tetons for a time. It is now the moon of - strawberries” (June), “but in the moon when we gather wild rice” - (September) “return and I will be your wife.” - </p> - <p> - Red Deer obeyed, after finding that she would not elope with him, and with - the announcement that he was going on a long hunt he took his leave of the - village. Harpstenah made ready for the bridal and greeted her future - husband with apparent pleasure and submissiveness. He gave a medicine - feast in token of the removal of his mourning, and appeared in new - clothing, greased and braided hair, and a white blanket decorated with a - black hand—the record of a slain enemy. - </p> - <p> - On the night before the wedding the girl creeps to his lodge, but - hesitates when she sees his medicine-bag hanging beside the door—the - medicine that has kept its owner from evil and is sacred from the touch of - woman. As she lingers the night-breeze seems to bring a voice from the - water: “Can a Dakota woman want courage when she is forced to marry the - man she hates?” - </p> - <p> - She delays no longer. A knife-blade glitters for an instant in the - moonlight—and Cloudy Sky is dead. Strange, is it not, that the - thunder birds flap so heavily along the west at that moment and a peal of - laughter sounds from the lake? She washes the blood from the blade, steals - to her father's lodge, and pretends to sleep. In the morning she is loud - in her grief when it is made known to her that the medicine-man was no - more, and the doer of the deed is never discovered. In time her wan face - gets its color and when the leaves begin to fall Red Deer returns and weds - her. - </p> - <p> - They seem to be happy for a time, and have two sons who promise to be - famous hunters, but consumption fastens on Red Deer and he dies far from - the village. The sons are shot by enemies, and while their bodies are on - their way to Harpstenah's lodge she, too, is stricken dead by lightning. - The spirit of Cloudy Sky had rejoined the thunder birds, and the water - manitou had promised falsely. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0222" id="link2H_4_0222"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - PROVIDENCE HOLE - </h2> - <p> - The going of white men into the prairies aroused the same sort of - animosity among the Indians that they have shown in other parts of the - country when retiring before the advance of civilization, and many who - tried to plant corn on the rolling lands of Iowa, though they did no harm - to the red men, paid for the attempt with their lives. Such was the fate - of a settler who had built his cabin on the Wyoming hills, near Davenport. - While working in his fields an arrow, shot from a covert, laid him low, - and his scalp was cut away to adorn the belt of a savage. His little - daughter, left alone, began to suffer from fears and loneliness as the sun - went lower and lower, and when it had come to its time of setting she put - on her little bonnet and went in search of him. As she gained the slope - where he had last been seen, an Indian lifted his head from the grass and - looked at her. - </p> - <p> - Starting back to run, she saw another behind her. Escape seemed hopeless, - and killing or captivity would have been her lot had not a crevice opened - in the earth close to where she stood. Dropping on hands and knees she - hastily crawled in, and found herself in what seemed to be an extensive - cavern. Hardly had she time to note the character of the place when the - gap closed as strangely as it had opened and she was left in darkness. Not - daring to cry aloud, lest Indians should hear her, she sat upright until - her young eyes could keep open no longer; then, lying on a mossy rock, she - fell asleep. In the morning the sun was shining in upon her and the way to - escape was open. She ran home, hungry, but thankful, and was found and - cared for by neighbors. “Providence Hole” then passed into the legends of - the country. It has closed anew, however. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0223" id="link2H_4_0223"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SCARE CURE - </h2> - <p> - Early in this century a restless Yankee, who wore the uninspiring name of - Tompkinson, found his way into Carondelet—or Vuide Poche, the French - settlement on the Mississippi since absorbed by St. Louis—and cast - about for something to do. He had been in hard luck on his trip from New - England to the great river. His schemes for self-aggrandizement and the - incidental enlightenment and prosperity of mankind had not thriven, and it - was largely in pity that M. Dunois gave shelter to the ragged, - half-starved, but still jaunty and resourceful adventurer. Dunois was the - one man in the place who could pretend to some education, and the two got - on together famously. - </p> - <p> - As soon as Tompkinson was in clothes and funds—the result of certain - speculations—he took a house, and hung a shingle out announcing that - there he practised medicine. Now, the fellow knew less about doctoring - than any village granny, but a few sick people that he attended had the - rare luck to get well in spite of him, and his reputation expanded to more - than local limits in consequence. In the excess of spirits that prosperity - created he flirted rather openly with a number of virgins in Carondelet, - to the scandal of Dunois, who forbade him his house, and of the priest, - who put him under ban. - </p> - <p> - For the priest he cared nothing, but Dunois's anger was more serious—for - the only maid of all that he really loved was Marie Dunois, his daughter. - He formally proposed for her, but the old man would not listen to him. - Then his “practice” fell away. The future looked as dark for him as his - recent past had been, until a woman came to him with a bone in her throat - and begged to be relieved. His method in such cases was to turn a - wheel-of-fortune and obey it. The arrow this time pointed to the word, - “Bleeding.” - </p> - <p> - He grasped a scalpel and advanced upon his victim, who, supposing that he - intended to cut her throat open to extract the obstacle, fell a-screaming - with such violence that the bone flew out. What was supposed to be his - ready wit in this emergency restored him to confidence, and he was able to - resume the practice that he needed so much. In a couple of years he - displayed to the wondering eyes of Dunois so considerable an accumulation - of cash that he gave Marie to him almost without the asking, and, as - Tompkinson afterward turned Indian trader and quadrupled his wealth by - cheating the red men, he became one of the most esteemed citizens of the - West. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0224" id="link2H_4_0224"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TWELFTH NIGHT AT CAHOKIA - </h2> - <p> - It was Twelfth Night, and the French village of Cahokia, near St. Louis, - was pleasantly agitated at the prospect of a dance in the old court - saloon, which was assembly-room and everything else for the little place. - The thirteen holy fires were alight—a large one, to represent - Christ; a lesser one, to be trampled out by the crowd, typing Judas. The - twelfth cake, one slice with the ring in it, was cut, and there were drink - and laughter, but, as yet, no music. Gwen Malhon, a drift-wood collector, - was the most anxious to get over the delay, for he had begged a dance from - Louison. Louison Florian was pretty, not badly off in possessions and - prospects, and her lover, Beaurain, had gone away. She was beginning to - look a little scornful and impatient, so Gwen set off for a fiddler. - </p> - <p> - He had inquired at nearly every cabin without success, and was on his way - toward the ferry when he heard music. Before him, on the moonlit river, - was a large boat, and near it, on the bank, he saw a company of men - squatted about a fire and bousing together from a bottle. At a little - distance, on a stump, sat a thin, bent man, enveloped in a cloak, and it - was he who played. Gwen complimented him and pleaded the disappointment of - the dancers in excuse of an urgent appeal that he should hurry with him to - the court saloon. The stranger was courteous. He sprang into the road with - a limping bound, shook down his cloak so as to disclose a curled - moustache, shaggy brows, a goat's beard, and a pair of glittering eyes. - “I'll give them a dance!” he exclaimed. “I know one tune. They call it - 'Returned from the Grave.' Pay? We'll see how you like my playing.” - </p> - <p> - On entering the room where the caperish youth were already shuffling in - corners, the musician met Mamzel Florian, who offered him a slice of the - cake. He bent somewhat near to take it, and she gave a little cry. He had - found the ring, and that made him king of the festival, with the right to - choose the prettiest girl as queen. A long drink of red wine seemed to put - him in the best of trim, and he began to fiddle with a verve that was - irresistible. In one minute the whole company—including the priest, - some said—was jigging it lustily. “Whew!” gasped one old fellow. “It - is the devil who plays. Get some holy water and sprinkle the floor.” - </p> - <p> - Gwen watched the musician as closely as his labors would allow, for he did - not like the way the fiddler had of looking at Louison, and he thought to - himself that Louison never blushed so prettily for him. Forgetting himself - when he saw the fiddler smile at the girl, he made a rush for the barrel - where that artist was perched. He bumped against a dancer and fell. At - that moment the light was put out and the hall rang with screams and - laughter. The tones of one voice sounded above the rest: “By right of the - ring the girl is mine.” - </p> - <p> - “He has me,” Louison was heard to say, yet seemingly not in fear. Lights - were brought. Louison and the fiddler were gone, the stranger's cloak and - half of a false moustache were on the floor, while Gwen was jammed into - the barrel and was kicking desperately to get out. When released he rushed - for the river-side where he had seen the boat. Two figures flitted before - him, but he lost sight of them, and in the silence and loneliness his - choler began to cool. Could it really have been the devil? An owl hooted - in the bush. He went away in haste. There was a rumor in after years that - Beaurain was an actor in a company that went up and down the great river - on a barge, and that a woman who resembled Louison was also in the troupe. - But Gwen never told the story of his disappointment without crossing - himself. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0225" id="link2H_4_0225"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SPELL OF CREVE CIUR LAKE - </h2> - <p> - Not far west of St. Louis the Lake of Creve Coeur dimples in the breezes - that bend into its basin of hills, and there, in summer, swains and - maidens go to confirm their vows, for the lake has an influence to - strengthen love and reunite contentious pairs. One reason ascribed for the - presence of this spell concerns a turbulent Peoria, ambitious of - leadership and hungry for conquest, who fell upon the Chawanons at this - place, albeit he was affianced to the daughter of their chief. The girl - herself, enraged at the treachery of the youngster, put herself at the - head of her band—a dusky Joan of Arc,—and the fight waged so - furiously that the combatants, what were left of them, were glad when - night fell that they might crawl away to rest their exhausted bodies and - nurse their wounds. Neither tribe daring to invite a battle after that, - hostilities were stopped, but some time later the young captain met the - girl of his heart on the shore, and before the amazon could prepare for - either fight or flight he had caught her in his arms. They renewed their - oaths of fidelity, and at the wedding the chief proclaimed eternal peace - and blessed the waters they had met beside, the blessing being potent to - this day. - </p> - <p> - Another reason for the enchantments that are worked here may be that the - lake is occupied by a demon-fish or serpent that crawls, slimy and - dripping, through the underbrush, whenever it sees two lovers together, - and listens to their words. If the man prove faithless he would best - beware of returning to this place, for the demon is lurking there to - destroy him. This monster imprisons the soul of an Ozark princess who - flung herself into the lake when she learned that the son of the Spanish - governor, who had vowed his love to her, had married a woman of his own - rank and race in New Orleans. So they call the lake Creve Coeur, or Broken - Heart. On the day after the suicide the Ozark chief gathered his men about - him and paddled to the middle of the water, where he solemnly cursed his - daughter in her death, and asked the Great Spirit to confine her there as - a punishment for giving her heart to the treacherous white man, the enemy - of his people. The Great Spirit gave her the form in which she is - occasionally seen, to warn and punish faithless lovers. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0226" id="link2H_4_0226"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HOW THE CRIME WAS REVEALED - </h2> - <p> - In 1853 a Hebrew peddler, whose pack was light and his purse was full, - asked leave to pass the night at the house of Daniel Baker, near Lebanon, - Missouri. The favor was granted, and that was the last seen of Samuel - Moritz; although, when some neighbors shook their heads and wondered how - it was that Baker was so well in funds, there were others who replied that - it was impossible to keep track of peddlers, and that if Moritz wanted to - start on his travels early in the morning, or to return to St. Louis for - goods, it mattered to nobody. On an evening in 1860 when there was a mist - in the gullies and a new moon hung in the west, Rev. Mr. Cummings, a - clergyman of that region, was driving home, and as he came to a bridge - near “old man” Baker's farm he saw a man standing on it, with a pack on - his back and a stick in his hand, who was staring intently at something - beneath the bridge. The clergyman greeted him cheerily and asked him if he - would like to ride, whereat the man looked him in the face and pointed to - the edge of the bridge. Mr. Cummings glanced down, saw nothing, and when - he looked up again the man with the pack had disappeared. His horse at the - same moment gave a snort and plunged forward at a run, so that the - clergyman's attention was fully occupied until he had brought the animal - under control again; when he glanced back and saw that the man was still - standing in the bridge and looking over the edge of it. The minister told - his neighbors of this adventure, and on returning with two of them to the - spot next morning they found the body of old man Baker swinging by the - neck from a beam of the bridge exactly beneath where the apparition had - stood—for it must have been an apparition, inasmuch as the dust, - damped though it had been with dew, showed no trace of footprint. In - taking down the body the men loosened the earth on a shelving bank, and - the gravel rolling away disclosed a skeleton with some bits of clothing on - it that were identified as belongings of Samuel Moritz. Was it conscience, - craziness, or fate that led old man Baker to hang himself above the grave - of his victim? - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0227" id="link2H_4_0227"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BANSHEE OF THE BAD LANDS - </h2> - <p> - “Hell, with the fires out,” is what the Bad Lands of Dakota have been - called. The fearless Western nomenclature fits the place. It is an ancient - sea-bottom, with its clay strata worn by frost and flood into forms like - pagodas, pyramids, and terraced cities. Labyrinthine canons wind among - these fantastic peaks, which are brilliant in color, but bleak, savage, - and oppressive. Game courses over the castellated hills, rattlesnakes bask - at the edge of the crater above burning coal seams, and wild men have made - despairing stand here against advancing civilization. It may have been the - white victim of a red man's jealousy that haunts the region of the butte - called “Watch Dog,” or it may have been an Indian woman who was killed - there, but there is a banshee in the desert whose cries have chilled the - blood that would not have cooled at the sight of a bear or panther. By - moonlight, when the scenery is most suggestive and unearthly, and the - noises of wolves and owls inspire uneasy feelings, the ghost is seen on a - hill a mile south of the Watch Dog, her hair blowing, her arms tossing in - strange gestures. - </p> - <p> - If war parties, emigrants, cowboys, hunters, any who for good or ill are - going through this country, pass the haunted butte at night, the rocks are - lighted with phosphor flashes and the banshee sweeps upon them. As if - wishing to speak, or as if waiting a question that it has occurred to none - to ask, she stands beside them in an attitude of appeal, but if asked what - she wants she flings her arms aloft and with a shriek that echoes through - the blasted gulches for a mile she disappears and an instant later is seen - wringing her hands on her hill-top. Cattle will not graze near the haunted - butte and the cowboys keep aloof from it, for the word has never been - spoken that will solve the mystery of the region or quiet the unhappy - banshee. - </p> - <p> - The creature has a companion, sometimes, in an unfleshed skeleton that - trudges about the ash and clay and haunts the camps in a search for music. - If he hears it he will sit outside the door and nod in time to it, while a - violin left within his reach is eagerly seized and will be played on - through half the night. The music is wondrous: now as soft as the stir of - wind in the sage, anon as harsh as the cry of a wolf or startling as the - stir of a rattler. As the east begins to brighten the music grows fainter, - and when it is fairly light it has ceased altogether. But he who listens - to it must on no account follow the player if the skeleton moves away, for - not only will it lead him into rocky pitfalls, whence escape is hopeless, - but when there the music will intoxicate, madden, and will finally charm - his soul from his body. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0228" id="link2H_4_0228"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - STANDING ROCK - </h2> - <p> - The stone that juts from one of the high banks of the Missouri, in South - Dakota, gives its name to the Standing Rock Agency, which, by reason of - many councils, treaties, fights, feasts, and dances held there, is the - best known of the frontier posts. It was a favorite gathering place of the - Sioux before the advent of the white man. The rock itself is only - twenty-eight inches high and fifteen inches wide, and could be plucked up - and carried away without difficulty, but no red man is brave enough to do - that, for this is the transformed body of a squaw who was struck into - stone by Manitou for falsely suspecting her husband of unfaithfulness. - </p> - <p> - After her transformation she not only remained sentient but acquired - supernatural powers that the Sioux propitiated by offerings of beads, - tobacco, and ribbons, paint, fur, and game—a practice that was not - abandoned until the teachings of missionaries began to have effect among - them. Soldiers and trappers think the story an ingenious device to prevent - too close inquiry into the lives of some of the nobility of the tribe. The - Arickarees, however, regard this stone as the wife of one of their braves, - who was so pained and mortified when her husband took a second wife that - she went out into the prairie and neither ate nor drank until she died, - when the Great Spirit turned her into the Standing Stone. The squaws still - resort to it in times of domestic trouble. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0229" id="link2H_4_0229"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SALT WITCH - </h2> - <p> - A pillar of snowy salt once stood on the Nebraska plain, about forty miles - above the point where the Saline flows into the Platte, and white men used - to hear of it as the Salt Witch. An Indian tribe was for a long time - quartered at the junction of the rivers, its chief a man of blood and - muscle in whom his people gloried, but so fierce, withal, that nobody made - a companion of him except his wife, who alone could check his tigerish - rages. - </p> - <p> - In sooth, he loved her so well that on her death he became a recluse and - shut himself within his lodge, refusing to see anybody. This mood endured - with him so long that mutterings were heard in the tribe and there was - talk of choosing another chief. Some of this talk he must have heard, for - one morning he emerged in war-dress, and without a word to any one strode - across the plain to westward. On returning a full month later he was more - communicative and had something unusual to relate. He also proved his - prowess by brandishing a belt of fresh scalps before the eyes of his - warriors, and he had also brought a lump of salt. - </p> - <p> - He told them that after travelling far over the prairie he had thrown - himself on the earth to sleep, when he was aroused by a wailing sound - close by. In the light of a new moon he saw a hideous old woman - brandishing a tomahawk over the head of a younger one, who was kneeling, - begging for mercy, and trying to shake off the grip from her throat. The - sight of the women, forty miles from the village, so surprised the chief - that he ran toward them. The younger woman made a desperate effort to free - herself, but in vain, as it seemed, for the hag wound her left hand in her - hair while with the other she raised the axe and was about to strike. - </p> - <p> - At that moment the chief gained a view of the face of the younger woman-it - was that of his dead wife. With a snarl of wrath he leaped upon the hag - and buried his own hatchet in her brain, but before he could catch his - wife in his arms the earth had opened and both women disappeared, but a - pillar of salt stood where he had seen this thing. For years the Indians - maintained that the column was under the custody of the Salt Witch, and - when they went there to gather salt they would beat the ground with clubs, - believing that each blow fell upon her person and kept her from working - other evil. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0230" id="link2H_4_0230"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0231" id="link2H_4_0231"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - OVER THE DIVIDE - </h2> - <p> - The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards who - made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of - Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample - discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief in - this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions of - savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and unlock - the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic business, - prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of precious metal - and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown regions beyond the - Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with magnificent possibilities, - and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate the wilderness, “strike it - rich,” and “make his pile.” - </p> - <p> - Thus, the region indicated as “over the divide” meaning the continental - water-shed-or “over the range” came to signify not a delectable land - alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of - posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: “Poor Bill! He's gone - over the divide.” - </p> - <p> - The Indian's name of heaven—“the happy hunting ground”—is of - similar significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place - in the far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. - Just before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed - on a log. If they had been good in the world of the living they suffered - no harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been evil they - never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a place of - whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the torrent amid - thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid fish. From the - far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path across the divide. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0232" id="link2H_4_0232"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS - </h2> - <p> - Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where they - go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old engineer - named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled the road - with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with no - accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that the - silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than usual. A - defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that morning, and he - began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left the first line of - snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among the ice and rocks, - and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and he applied the - brakes. - </p> - <p> - The conductor ran up and asked, “What did you stop for?” - </p> - <p> - “Why did you signal to stop?” - </p> - <p> - “I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass No. - 19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us.” - </p> - <p> - Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under - way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, - and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him at - a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if something - were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the throttle wide open - and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but the snow was flung off - and the train went roaring through another shed. Here was where the - defective rail had been reported. No matter. A greater danger was pressing - behind. The fireman piled on coal until his clothes were wet with - perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke-stack. The passengers, too, - having been warned of their peril, had dressed themselves and were - anxiously watching at the windows, for talk went among them that a mad - engineer was driving the train behind. - </p> - <p> - As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his train - to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint light - from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were bigger than - his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and gestured - franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other train but two - hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the engineer who - was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His face was like - dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the hollows, but the - trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across them; wind screamed - in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge was reached; Edwards's - heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear the chasm by a bound. Now - the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not there, and as the brakes were - freed the train shot by like a flash. Suddenly a red light appeared ahead, - swinging to and fro on the track. As well be run into behind as to crash - into an obstacle ahead. He heard the whistle of the pursuing locomotive - yelp behind him, yet he reversed the lever and put on brakes, and for a - few seconds lived in a hell of dread. - </p> - <p> - Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost leap - upon his own—yet just before it touched it the track seemed to - spread, the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled into the - canon and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of hurt men or - hiss of steam came up—nothing but the groan of the wind as it rolled - through the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had disappeared. Now - another danger impended, and there was no time to linger, for No. 19 might - be on its way ahead if he did not reach the second switch before it moved - out. The mad run was resumed and the second switch was reached in time. As - Edwards was finishing the run to Green River, which he reached in the - morning ahead of schedule, he found written in the frost of his cab-window - these words: “A frate train was recked as yu saw. Now that yu saw it yu - will never make another run. The enjine was not ounder control and four - sexshun men wor killed. If yu ever run on this road again yu will be - recked.” Edwards quit the road that morning, and returning to Denver found - employment on the Union Pacific. No wreck was discovered next day in the - canon where he had seen it, nor has the phantom train been in chase of any - engineer who has crossed the divide since that night. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0233" id="link2H_4_0233"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS - </h2> - <p> - In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment was - ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to carry - a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. The men - wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of their wives - and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers were directed - to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of the Purgatoire—neither - to reach their destination nor to return. Did they attempt to descend the - stream in boats and go to wreck among the rapids? Were they swept into - eternity by a freshet? Did they lose their provisions and starve in the - desert? Did the Indians revenge themselves for brutality and selfishness - by slaying them at night or from an ambush? Were they killed by banditti? - Did they sink in the quicksands that led the river into subterranean - canals? None will ever know, perhaps; but many years afterward a savage - told a priest in Santa Fe that the regiment had been surrounded by - Indians, as Custer's command was in Montana, and slain, to a man. Seeing - that escape was hopeless, the colonel—so said the narrator—had - buried the gold that he was transporting. Thousands of doubloons are - believed to be hidden in the canon, and thousands of dollars have been - spent in searching for them. - </p> - <p> - After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word came - of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las Animas - Perdidas—the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as it - tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the troopers. - French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title when they - renamed it Purgatoire, and—“bullwhackers” teaming across the plains - twisted the French title into the unmeaning “Picketwire.” But - Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have - ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely - in the valley of Las Animas. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0234" id="link2H_4_0234"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - RIDERS OF THE DESERT - </h2> - <p> - Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge of - Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and brave - in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he was happy - in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver and wild - sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico frontier, - and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the pretty Zecana, - and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission into the heart - of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest securely at the - settlement until his return. - </p> - <p> - On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after - drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its deity. - The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he stared, - distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the surface—the - anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, galloped away, and - paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached the post. The - Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he urged his jaded - horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, flushed with joy - to see his wife before his door and to hear her singing. When he spoke she - looked up carelessly and resumed her song. She did not know him. Reason - was gone. - </p> - <p> - It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro - learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind back - for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and pain, - she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her purpose - she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his feet. For - hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian nature soon - resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding his horse, he - wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept through the night in - sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian stood in the shadow of a - room in the trading fort and watched the Spaniard as he lay asleep. Nobody - knew how he passed the guard. - </p> - <p> - In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across - his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat at - his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was bound hand - and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta-in-ga-ro - pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the ground, - outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at the embers - of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of cottonwood and shot - it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and confusion thus made, his - own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman drowsily pacing his beat - outside the square of buildings. The sentinel would have given the alarm, - had not the Indian pounced on him like a panther and laid him dead with a - knife-stroke. - </p> - <p> - Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and - set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, - where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his - hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and his - appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his door, - Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's clothes, - and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him into his seat - with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its wrapping and tied - it to his prisoner, face to face. - </p> - <p> - Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of his - burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on his - own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he - struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the - ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and blood - dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night he froze - uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes closed in - sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro gave him drink - from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for days. At last - hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into the dead flesh - before him he feasted like a ghoul. - </p> - <p> - Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose - sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard - had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the horse - with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the yellow void. - He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and fro, through the - brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost riders, forever. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0235" id="link2H_4_0235"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES - </h2> - <p> - When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they - found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of - the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This “Saratoga - of the West,” nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the shadow of the - noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground for several - families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, for no Indian - dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath sparkled in the - “medicine waters.” None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago a Shoshone and a - Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to drink. The Shoshone - had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed and ill tempered, - jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging down the fat deer that - he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the Shoshone bent over the - spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a handful of it on the ground, - as a libation to the spirit of the place, he put his lips to the surface. - It needed but faint pretext for his companion to begin a quarrel, and he - did so in this fashion: “Why does a stranger drink at the spring-head when - one of the owners of the fountain contents himself with its overflow? How - does a Shoshone dare to drink above me?” - </p> - <p> - The other replied, “The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that - his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, and - I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let them - drink together.” - </p> - <p> - “No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that - nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people.” - </p> - <p> - “Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is - black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, 'Drink - here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all might - drink.” - </p> - <p> - The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling - surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, - forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was - drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became - agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the - form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer - recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a man - whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these tribes. The - face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in terrible - tones, “Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the mightiest - nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals for - vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their - throats.” - </p> - <p> - Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of the - wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst open - and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is nauseous, - while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote a - neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. The - bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on that day - a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became involved - until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all that region. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0236" id="link2H_4_0236"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BESIEGED BY STARVATION - </h2> - <p> - A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the - Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what - they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the - enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes—for the aggressors - were of that tribe—into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a - castellated rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held their - own for several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt was made - to storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was too secure a - stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped about it, and, by - cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to game and to water, - starved every one of them to death. - </p> - <p> - This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, - Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, with a - slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at the order - of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place and mounted - a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the killing of - Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people—the Ottawas—charged the - crime against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in - number, entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their - enemies at bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. For - a time they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the river at - the end of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in canoes and cut - the cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained there until all - had died of starvation. Bones and relics are found occasionally at the - top. - </p> - <p> - There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is extant—namely, - Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and vertical on all - sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in safety. A company of - Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel and defended the path so - vigorously that their pursuers gave over all attempts to follow them, but - squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded to starve them out. On a dark - night the besieged killed some of their ponies and made lariats of their - hides, by which they reached the ground on the unguarded side of the rock. - They slid down, one at a time, and made off all but one aged Indian, who - stayed to keep the camp-fire burning as a blind. He went down and - surrendered on the next day, but the Sioux, respecting his age and - loyalty, gave him freedom. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0237" id="link2H_4_0237"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY - </h2> - <p> - Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone - country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil - spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the crest - of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy - hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They - loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were - driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now - Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on avenging - acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the sting of - tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band gathered at the - head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand Canon of the - Yellowstone—a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the bullets of - the soldiery,—and with Spartan courage they resolved to die rather - than be taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They built a - raft and placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, and for a - few days they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their privilege in - former times. A short-lived peace, however, for one morning they are - aroused by the crack of rifles—the troops are upon them. - </p> - <p> - Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, - perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is their - intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few among them - have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the troops, who stand - wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, and watch, with - something like dread, the descent of the raft as it passes into the - current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on faster and faster. The - death-song rises triumphant above the lash of the waves and that distant - but awful booming that is to be heard in the canon. Every red man has his - face turned toward the foe with a look of defiance, and the tones of the - death-chant have in them something of mockery no less than hate and - vaunting. - </p> - <p> - The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond and - below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a thousand - feet beneath—their brilliant colors shining in the sun of morning - that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were no such - thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The raft is - galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as the soldiers - are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate that the savages - have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. The raft tips toward - the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are launched over the - cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists weep forever on the - rocks and mosses. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0238" id="link2H_4_0238"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE BROAD HOUSE - </h2> - <p> - Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently coeval - with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good preservation and - is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling god, came on earth - he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a prosperous people, - he envied them and resolved to win their property. To do that he laid off - a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and challenged them to meet him - there in games of chance and strength and skill. They accepted his - challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his own side, he soon won not - their property alone, but their women and children, and, finally, some of - the men themselves. - </p> - <p> - In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives were - a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the people - would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some of the men - and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this performance, - however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to defeat him, for, - now that he had secured his house, he had gone to gambling again. The wind - god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a challenge, and the animals agreed to - help him. - </p> - <p> - When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a large - tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was because the - beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball contest Noqoilpi - drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god sent his far beyond, - for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed itself before touching the - ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was beaten at every point and the - remaining captives left him, with jeers, and returned to their people. - </p> - <p> - The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him to - a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of sight, - and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man lives who - carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals and people - for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon people - becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came northward, - building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the site of Santa - Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his return they made - him their god—Nakai Cigini. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0239" id="link2H_4_0239"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEATH WALTZ - </h2> - <p> - Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post at - Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any of - the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at the - post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, who - enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and enjoyed, - too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women who could - be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young lieutenant - proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted himself to her in - the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His experience with the - world was not large enough to enable him to distinguish between the - womanly woman and the coquette. - </p> - <p> - One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache - outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the - marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, - but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not only - acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if the - fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. As he - bade her good-by he was heard to say, “That is well. Nobody else shall - have you. I will come back and make my claim.” - </p> - <p> - In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. It - was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and nobody - was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a young man - from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at the post, and in - the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As the dance was in - full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a draught of air that - made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike that of any human - creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned to the door. In it - stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the stained uniform of an - officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, the scalp was gone, the - eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible light. - </p> - <p> - Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, who, - like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the power of - motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The musicians, who - afterward declared that they did not know what they were doing, struck up - a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and around, the woman growing - paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw and staring eyes showed that - life was also extinct in her. The dead man allowed her to sink to the - floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his hands as he sounded his - fearful cry again, then vanished through the door. A few days after, a - troop of soldiers who had been to the scene of the Apache encounter - returned with the body of the lieutenant. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0240" id="link2H_4_0240"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE - </h2> - <p> - Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although French - Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year of 1889 - the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, - Pennsylvania, to save her image on the Catholic church in that place, when - it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It was the - wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico long - years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Santa - Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to Juan - Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth century. She - commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the bishop of the - diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told him to go away. - The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the bishop declared that he - had no evidence of the truth of what he said. A third time the - supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb a certain difficult - mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and take them to the - bishop. - </p> - <p> - After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's - amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and - returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before - the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing - picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is - duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. These - treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness and - threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in - procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then - made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin makes - prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results of their - intercession. One year, however, the rain did not begin on time, though - services were almost constantly continued before the sacred picture and - the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image of its silks - and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That night a - violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the populace - hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives. They - cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and addressed - their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness than ever - before. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0241" id="link2H_4_0241"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - GODDESS OF SALT - </h2> - <p> - Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic - rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while - near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess of - salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the - sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any - sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the - mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made it - salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West that - much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the larger - lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from other tribes - that draw from it. - </p> - <p> - Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and - wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they lived - happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had concealed - herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to that land - and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave their view - forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a high wall of - sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which she passed is - plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes was broken off, - and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and became the - monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed his wife, and - his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue stone. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0242" id="link2H_4_0242"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS - </h2> - <p> - Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red - tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and the - white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the precipitous bank - in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night the fairies “little - fellows” sport and slide. Among others, the Noah legend finds a parallel. - Several tribes claim to have emerged from the interior of the earth. The - Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of Oswego River, New York, as their - birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the rocks about Red River; the Creeks - from a knoll in the valley of Big Black River in the Natchez country, - where dwelt the Master of Breath; the Aztecs were one of seven tribes that - came out from the seven caverns of Aztlan, or Place of the Heron; and the - Navajos believe that they emerged at a place known to them in the Navajo - Mountains. - </p> - <p> - In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that - they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers - grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in - the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. - Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had - not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some place - unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the passage to - see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the surface was - reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, they settled - here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen disappeared. - </p> - <p> - Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the - mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, - looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She told - them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only after - death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that the earth - shut together and the place has never since been open to the eye of - mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert lands and - destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having found a refuge - in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their retreat they could see - a beam of light shining from one of the hills above them, and on ascending - to the place they found a beautiful girl babe. - </p> - <p> - This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted - the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a - shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants that - had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his wife to - his floating palace in the western water, which has since been her home. - To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve immortals bear - their petitions to her throne. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0243" id="link2H_4_0243"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS - </h2> - <p> - The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals was - the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from the - clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt Rivers, - and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they grew - selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with his - handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, in the - voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The prophet - Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for listening to the - wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated the command, with an - added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy them all if they did - not reform. - </p> - <p> - Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. - But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the - south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and - should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which he - might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately set out - to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had made a - large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, acorn-meal and - water, and meat of bear and venison. - </p> - <p> - On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into - the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the - song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would - presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and - it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. Swift - came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. Withdrawing - into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. Then for some - days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. Their stores - had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a hole in its side - its occupants stepped forth. - </p> - <p> - There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red - fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night came - on they retired to the ark and slept—a night, a month, a year, - perhaps a century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales were - filled with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The delighted - couple descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark had rested, - and went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand years, and - became the parents of a great tribe. - </p> - <p> - But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the - mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, while - the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were gathering - maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of Suha's - daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its limit, then - made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way he entered the - valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition Mountains; he - drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to him; then, when - he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding and beat out the - brains of the stupefied fiend. - </p> - <p> - Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other evil, - but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been disposed of - than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build adobe houses, - to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave cloth, and avoid - wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that they would grow - arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, and would wage wars - for gain. When that time came there would be another flood and not one - should be saved—the bad should vanish and the good would leave the - earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas rely on this prophecy - that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, for there sits Cherwit - Make—awaiting the culmination of their wickedness to let loose on - the earth a mighty sea that lies dammed behind the range. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0244" id="link2H_4_0244"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING - </h2> - <p> - Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition—the - scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago a - tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended - their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. - They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong - and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the - mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent - than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the Apaches. - </p> - <p> - After they had lived near the mountain for five years the “little people” - learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made preparations - for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure valleys; provisions, - tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles of stone were placed - along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. This work was - superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and commanding - form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it was—the - Helen of a New-World Troy—who was causing this trouble, for the - Zunis claimed her on the ground that they had brought her from the waters - of the rising sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable marriage - with their chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. - </p> - <p> - Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance - until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, - seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the - “little men,” watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the invaders - as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the slope, - brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion of a red - man is—and sometimes of a white one. - </p> - <p> - At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, and - as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her people and - the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred yards away the - Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon she stooped, - picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the pool, and ran - back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from crevices in the - rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. Others plunged - blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. - </p> - <p> - In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not an - arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at these - pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple of - years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the queen - repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even greater - slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, but they - went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in the - mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. - </p> - <p> - Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on Superstition - Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and this cave of the - Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of Salt River. A - skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky texture, were once - found there. It is said that electrical phenomena are frequent on the - mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas lying near together - may account for them. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0245" id="link2H_4_0245"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK - </h2> - <p> - There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, Arizona, - where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. The white - men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their hands they - shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of the cavern, the - fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles illuminating the - interior and exposing to view the objects of their hatred. - </p> - <p> - The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode - away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years had - not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into this pit - of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the entrance, and - took there its everlasting seat. - </p> - <p> - Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when - he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully - upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors - subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred by - “the thing.” They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes - turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading - claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, - recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there - was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, - while the other had never stopped running—at least, he had not - returned to his usual haunts since “the thing” looked at him. Still, it is - haunted country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon Ghost - Mountain, and the “bad men's hunting-grounds” of the Yumas and Navajos are - over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, no unusual thing - to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0246" id="link2H_4_0246"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS - </h2> - <p> - Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and - perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large towns—the - towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of Stones, and - City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that had been - practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in Egypt. - Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were a subject - people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in America the - arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, like other - nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to luxury, to - wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the fierce tribes of - the North were lurking on the confines of their country in a faith of - speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements were against - them. - </p> - <p> - The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire - region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were - heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, - wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. Then - came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. As the - earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, the king - gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be spared, though - he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led away and knew that - in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. - </p> - <p> - The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected—a - cave in Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the - officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade - stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And now, - the end. - </p> - <p> - Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to - consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; a - hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the - storm-struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor - this time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. - It was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the - more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and temples - were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and the rush of - avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through the clouds the - people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke from their - confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had indeed abandoned - them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its flight in company - with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had suffered uselessly. - </p> - <p> - The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal - executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and - the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and pillaged - it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and were - rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was also - found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a sense of - apprehension. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0247" id="link2H_4_0247"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN - </h2> - <p> - The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and - the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find - listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for - example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. - </p> - <p> - While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun - mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. “Aha! - It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?” he cried, looking at the - Sun. “I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't.” - </p> - <p> - And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped to - pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran out - and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the ground - and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, but - Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong breath, for - with it he turned all the arrows aside. “The scamp is in here,” said one - of the party. “Let's get at him another way.” So, getting their flints and - shovels, they began to dig. - </p> - <p> - “That's your game, is it?” mumbled Ta-Vwots. “I know a way out of this - that you don't know.” With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of - his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, and - along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a - niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had made - the hole quite large he shouted, “Be buried in the grave you have dug for - yourselves!” And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he caved the - earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, “To fight is as - good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet will be an - enemy. No one shall escape my wrath.” And he sounded his war-whoop. - </p> - <p> - Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from them. - “Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me,” he said. - </p> - <p> - “You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?” they questioned, with - a jeer. - </p> - <p> - “No ghost,” he answered, “but a better man than you. Hold me on those - rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you.” - </p> - <p> - The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they - placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he - kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising - unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, like - true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half through - and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. - </p> - <p> - On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to - blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they supposed, - but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his face. - </p> - <p> - “You are a ghost!” the women exclaimed. - </p> - <p> - “No ghost,” said he. “Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do no - harm. See, now.” And he puffed thorns into their faces and made them - blind. “Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to kill the - Sun. This is good practice.” And he slew them, sounded his war-whoop, and - went on. - </p> - <p> - The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and - the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill him - by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he pretended to - eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what it was. He - called out, “It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw it up to you.” - With that he tossed something so nearly within their reach that in bending - forward to catch it they crowded too near the brink, lost their balance, - fell over, and were killed. “You are victims of your own greed. One should - never be so anxious as to kill one's self.” This was his only comment, - and, sounding the warwhoop, he went on. - </p> - <p> - A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets - lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, “Here comes that - bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?” - </p> - <p> - “What were you saying?” asked the hare god. - </p> - <p> - “We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'” (A common form of endearment.) - </p> - <p> - “Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you braid - the neck.” - </p> - <p> - He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed - to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, when—puff! - the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not know anything - about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. - </p> - <p> - “Easily enough,” replied the hare god. “These things may hold water, but - they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can.” With their - consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a little - while he had them caged. “Now, come out,” he said. But, try as they might, - not a withe could they break. “Ha, ha! You are wise women, aren't you? - Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. In time I shall - learn how.” Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck them dead with his - magic ball and went on. - </p> - <p> - He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for he - had heard of the hare god and was afraid. “Don't be frightened, friend - Bear,” said the rogue. “I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. How could - a little chap like me hurt so many people?” And he helped the Bear to dig - his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and as the Bear - thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his face and made - an end of him. “I was afraid of this warrior,” said Ta-Vwots, “but he is - dead, now, in his den.” And sounding his war-whoop he went on. - </p> - <p> - It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, - who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not hurt - himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that he had a - pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots thump it out? - Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the soundest kind of a - thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted “Harder,” he guessed that it was - an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his magic ball he finished the - Tarantula at a blow. “That is a stroke of your own seeking,” he remarked. - “I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I know that I can do it.” And - sounding his war-whoop he went on. - </p> - <p> - Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, where - thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the night - under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the instant - that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. The - surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered over - the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under the - tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the - increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his toes, - then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his hands, - and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his arms. At - last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and valley until - it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that gushed forth - spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was conquered, and - at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for his mischievous - pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky every day by the - same trail. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0248" id="link2H_4_0248"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE COMANCHE RIDER - </h2> - <p> - The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground - sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South - Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. Enemies - gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off their - scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of - mutilation in killing. - </p> - <p> - Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut a - Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew there. - It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of Polan from - such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his brothers - placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had pried out - of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, with silver - cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, the weight on - the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its place and - afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the Indian's tomb. - Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in accordance with his wish, - on the summit of a bluff near the upper Missouri, on the back of his - favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, with the scalps that he had - taken hung to the bridle. - </p> - <p> - When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that - his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. - His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony is - killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy - hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort - Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind of - a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They killed - a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the late - unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a - lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a - grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, - formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself - to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and - sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a - stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused - to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay. - Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for protection, - and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their possession - when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. - </p> - <p> - Myths and Legends - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0249" id="link2H_4_0249"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS - </h2> - <p> - The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that they - occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the country from - the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the west and troubled - them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard to get away, for the - monsters could see all over the country from the tops of the mesas. The - king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman in his country and a - thousand horses to any man who would deliver his people from these giants. - This king was eaten like the rest, and the citizens declined to elect - another, because they were beginning to lose faith in kings. Still, there - was one young brave whose single thought was how to defeat the giants and - save his people. - </p> - <p> - As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly - known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone - away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the - earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to - destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. “Then take my horned crest - for a helmet.” - </p> - <p> - Lolomi—that was the name of him—did as he was bid, and found - that in a moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly - that no club could break through it. - </p> - <p> - “Now take my breastplate,” continued the toad. And though it would not - have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased in - bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. - </p> - <p> - “Now take the scales from my eyes,” commanded the toad, and when he had - done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. - </p> - <p> - “Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his eyes, - and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back to a - precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the edge of - the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed.” - </p> - <p> - Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the - distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As he - drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor like - hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this the - giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. Fearing a - blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who manoeuvred so - skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of a cliff he - sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and broke his - bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, because they all - walked back before him, and after they had fallen the people heaped rocks - on their bodies. To this day the place is known as “the giants' fall.” - Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the most beautiful damsel for - a wife. As he was the best king they ever had, they treasured his memory - after he was dead, and used his name as a term of greeting, so that - “Lolomi” is a word of welcome, and will be until the giants come again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0250" id="link2H_4_0250"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SPIDER TOWER - </h2> - <p> - In Dead Man's Canon—a deep gorge that is lateral to the once - populated valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona—stands a stark spire - of weathered sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base - in a sheer uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages - was surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by - them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in the - hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that was - least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with strength - well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch at its top. - Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not fall within - reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into roughnesses of - the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had reached the summit, - where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' eggs, until his - enemies went away, for they could not reach him with their arrows, - defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having gone, he safely - descended by the cord and reached his home. This help had come from a - friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the top of the spire, - and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one end fast to a jag of - rock while the other fell within his grasp—for she, like all other - of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers better than the - remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider Tower. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0251" id="link2H_4_0251"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE LOST TRAIL - </h2> - <p> - The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a - keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells - this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed - his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild roses in - the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his wife—Manetabee - (Rosebud)—in the lodge while he went across the mountains to attend - a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return he found neither wife - nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the ground showed to his keen - eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been there. - </p> - <p> - Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had reached - Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a small fire - ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might have enabled him - to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled about the glow; but it - is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, and, tying his horse, he - crawled forward. - </p> - <p> - There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide the - ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. So - engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like approach of - Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound Manetabee's - wrists and ankles—she did not cry out, for she had expected rescue—and - both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a yell, one of the - gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway the fifteen made - an onset. - </p> - <p> - Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and he - had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he fell - headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst in fury. - A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth with an - appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and a whirlwind - passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time—then he felt the - touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they arose and - looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the canon, - dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. - </p> - <p> - “The trail is gone,” said Acantow. “Manitou has broken it, that the - Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. - Let us thank the Manitou.” So they went back to where the spring burst - amid the rose-bushes. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0252" id="link2H_4_0252"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - A BATTLE IN THE AIR - </h2> - <p> - In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold - by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is - heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it - heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that lived - here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in the - valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where - hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes of - the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. - </p> - <p> - In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John - Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was - belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples - against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region - was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke - him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at - least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good moon, - he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that filled the - air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as if they were - borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of feet, the - striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for nearly an - hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the horse became so - frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he reached the edge - of the valley the sounds were heard going into the distance. Not until he - reached a settlement did he learn of the spell that rested on the place. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0253" id="link2H_4_0253"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - ON THE PACIFIC COAST - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0254" id="link2H_4_0254"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE VOYAGER OF WHULGE - </h2> - <p> - Like the ancient Greeks, the Siwash of the Northwest invest the unseen - world with spiritual intelligence. Every tree has a soul; the forests were - peopled with good and evil genii, the latter receiving oblation at the - devil-dances, for it was not worth while to appease those already good; - and the mountains are the home of tamanouses, or guardian spirits, that - sometimes fight together—as, when the spirits of Mount Tacoma - engaged with those of Mount Hood, fire and melted stone burst from their - peaks, their bellowing was heard afar, and some of the rocks flung by - Tacoma fell short, blocking the Columbia about the Dalles. - </p> - <p> - Across these fantastic reports of older time there come echoes of a later - instruction, adapted and blended into native legend so that the point of - division cannot be indicated. Such is that of the mysterious voyager of - the Whulge—the Siwash name for the sound that takes the name of - Puget from one of Vancouver's officers. Across this body of water the - stranger came in a copper canoe that borrowed the glories of the morning. - When he had landed and sent for all the red men, far and near, he - addressed to them a doctrine that provoked expressions of contempt—a - doctrine of love. - </p> - <p> - To fight and steal no more, to give of their goods to men in need, to - forgive their enemies,—they could not understand such things. He - promised—this radiant stranger—to those who lived right, - eternal life on seas and hills more fair than these of earth, but they did - not heed him. At last, wearying of his talk, they dragged him to a tree - and nailed him fast to it, with pegs through his hands and feet, and - jeered and danced about him, as they did about their victims in the - devil-dance, until his head fell on his breast and his life went out. - </p> - <p> - A great storm, with thunderings and earthquakes! They took the body down - and would have buried it, but, to! it arose to its feet, as the sun burst - forth, and resumed its preaching. Then they took the voyager's word for - truth and never harmed him more, while they grew less warlike as each year - went by until, of all Indians, they were most peaceable. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0255" id="link2H_4_0255"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - TAMANOUS OF TACOMA - </h2> - <p> - Mount Tacoma has always been a place of superstitious regard among the - Siwash (Sauvage) of the Northwest. In their myths it was the place of - refuge for the last man when the Whulge was so swollen after long rain - that its waters covered the earth. All other men were drowned. The waves - pursued the one man as he climbed, rising higher and higher until they - came to his knees, his waist, his breast. Hope was almost gone, and he - felt that the next wave would launch him into the black ocean that raged - about him, when one of the tamanouses of the peak, taking pity on him, - turned his feet to stone. The storm ceased, and the waters fell away. The - man still stood there, his feet a part of the peak, and he mourned that he - could not descend to where the air was balmy and the flowers were opening. - The Spirit of all Things came and bade him sleep, and, after his eyes were - closed, tore out one of his ribs and changed it to a woman. When lifted - out of the rock the man awoke, and, turning with delight to the woman, he - led her to the sea-shore, and there in a forest bower they made their - home. There the human race was recreated. - </p> - <p> - On the shore of the Whulge in after years lived an Indian miser—rare - personage—who dried salmon and jerked the meat that he did not use, - and sold it to his fellow-men for hiaqua—the wampum of the Pacific - tribes. The more of this treasure he got, the more he wanted—even as - if it were dollars. One day, while hunting on the slopes of Mount Tacoma, - he looked along its snow-fields, climbing to the sky, and, instead of - doing homage to the tamanous, or divinity of the mountain, he only sighed, - “If I could only get more hiaqua!” - </p> - <p> - Sounded a voice in his ear: “Dare you go to my treasure caves?” - </p> - <p> - “I dare!” cried the miser. - </p> - <p> - The rocks and snows and woods roared back the words so quick in echoes - that the noise was like that of a mountain laughing. The wind came up - again to whisper the secret in the man's ear, and with an elk-horn for - pick and spade he began the ascent of the peak. Next morning he had - reached the crater's rim, and, hurrying down the declivity, he passed a - rock shaped like a salmon, next, one in the form of a kamas-root, and - presently a third in likeness of an elk's head. “'Tis a tamanous has - spoken!” he exclaimed, as he looked at them. - </p> - <p> - At the foot of the elk's head he began to dig. Under the snow he came to - crusts of rock that gave a hollow sound, and presently he lifted a scale - of stone that covered a cavity brimful of shells more beautiful, more - precious, more abundant than his wildest hopes had pictured. He plunged - his arms among them to the shoulder—he laughed and fondled them, - winding the strings of them about his arms and waist and neck and filling - his hands. Then, heavily burdened, he started homeward. - </p> - <p> - In his eagerness to take away his treasure he made no offerings of hiaqua - strings to the stone tamanouses in the crater, and hardly had he begun the - descent of the mountain's western face before he began to be buffeted with - winds. The angry god wrapped himself in a whirling tower of cloud and fell - upon him, drawing darkness after. Hands seemed to clutch at him out of the - storm: they tore at his treasure, and, in despair, he cast away a cord of - it in sacrifice. The storm paused for a moment, and when it returned upon - him with scream and flash and roar he parted with another. So, going down - in the lulls, he reached timber just as the last handful of his wealth was - wrenched from his grasp and flung upon the winds. Sick in heart and body, - he fell upon a moss-heap, senseless. He awoke and arose stiffly, after a - time, and resumed his journey. - </p> - <p> - In his sleep a change had come to the man. His hair was matted and reached - to his knees; his joints creaked; his food supply was gone; but he picked - kamas bulbs and broke his fast, and the world seemed fresh and good to - him. He looked back at Tacoma and admired the splendor of its snows and - the beauty of its form, and had never a care for the riches in its crater. - The wood was strange to him as he descended, but at sunset he reached his - wigwam, where an aged woman was cooking salmon. Wife and husband - recognized each other, though he had been asleep and she a-sorrowing for - years. In his joy to be at home the miser dug up all his treasure that he - had secreted and gave of his wealth and wisdom to whoso needed them. Life, - love, and nature were enough, he found, and he never braved the tamanous - again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0256" id="link2H_4_0256"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEVIL AND THE DALLES - </h2> - <p> - In days when volcanoes were playing in the Northwest and the sternly - beautiful valley of the Columbia was a hell of ash and lava, the fiend men - of the land met at intervals on the heated rocks to guzzle and riot - together. It was at one of these meetings in the third summer after Tacoma - had stopped spouting that the devil urged a lesson from the growing peace - and joy of nature, and prayed the fiend men to desist from killing and - eating each other and live in love. - </p> - <p> - With a howl of rage at such a proposal they set upon him, tossing their - tails in such a threatening manner that he deemed it best to be off, and - as his hoofs clattered over the country his brain was busy in devising an - escape. Nearing the mountain bulwarks of an inland sea, whose breakers' - rhythmic roar he heard above the yells of his pursuers, a hope came into - his head, and new vigor into his tail, though you might have thought the - latter accession was not needed, for his tail was of prodigious length and - strength. He whirled this limb aloft and beat it on the earth. A chasm - opened at the stroke, and the devil skipped across to the safe side of it. - </p> - <p> - Safe? No; for the fiend men in advance took the leap and came beside him. - The tormented one could thrash any two of them at once, but he was not - equal to a thousand. He brandished his weapon once more and it fell with a - crash. Earth shook, dust arose in clouds, and a deeper cleft than before - yawned through the valley. Again the fiend men tried to reach him, and, - though the gap was bigger and many fell into it, hundreds made the jump - and overtook him. He must make one more attempt. The tail revolved for a - third time, and with the energy of despair he flailed the ground with it. - </p> - <p> - A third ravine was split through the rock, and this time the earth's crust - cracked away to the eastward, giving outlet to the sea, which came pouring - through the canon, breaking rocks from mountains and grinding them to - powder in its terrific progress. Gasping with fatigue, the unhappy one - toiled up a hill and surveyed his work with satisfaction, for the flood - engulfed the fiend men and they left no member of their race behind them. - </p> - <p> - When they had all been happily smashed or drowned, the devil skipped - lightly over the channels he had cut and sought his family, though with a - subdued expression of countenance, for his tail—his strength and - pride—was bruised and broken beyond repair, and all the little imps - that he fathered to the world afterward had little dangling tails like - monkeys' instead of megatheriums', and in time these appendages - disappeared. But what was the use of them? The fiend men they had fought - against were dead and the rising race they could circumvent by subtler - means. The inland sea drained off. Its bed is now the prairie, and the - three strokes of the devil's tail are indelibly recorded in the bed of the - Columbia at the Dalles. And the devil never tried to be good again. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0257" id="link2H_4_0257"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA - </h2> - <p> - When the Siwash, as the Northwestern Indians called themselves, were few, - Mount Hood was kept by the Spirit of Storms, who when he shook his robe - caused rain or snow to fall over the land, while the Fire Spirit flashed - his lightnings from Mount Adams. Across the vale between them stretched a - mighty bridge of stone, joining peak to peak, and on this the Siwash laid - his offering of salmon and dressed skins. Here, too, the tribal festivals - were kept. The priestess of the arch-Mentonee, who fed the fire on the - tribal altar “unimpassioned by a mortal throb”—had won the love of - the wild tamanouses of the mountains, but she was careless alike of - coaxing and threats, and her heart was as marble to them. - </p> - <p> - Jealous of each other, these two spirits fell to fighting, and, appalled - by the whirl of fire and cloud, of splintering trees and crumbling rocks, - the Indians fled in terror toward the lowlands, but she, unhurt and - undaunted, kept in her place, and still offered praise to the one god. Yet - she was not alone, for watchful in the shadow of a rock stood a warrior - who had loved her so long, without the hope of lovers, that he, too, had - outgrown fear. Though she had given him but passing words and never a - smile, his own heart was the warmer and the heavier with its freight, and - it was his way to be ever watching her in some place where she might not - be troubled by the sight of him. - </p> - <p> - The war waxed fiercer, and at last the spirits met at the centre of the - arch, and in roar and quake and deluge the great bridge swayed and - cracked. The young man sprang forward. He seized Mentonee in his arms. - There was time for one embrace that cheated death of sorrow. Then, with a - thunder like a bursting world, the miles of masonry crashed down and - buried the two forever. The Columbia leaps the ruins of the bridge in the - rapids that they call the Cascades, and the waters still brawl on, while - the sulky tamanouses watch the whitened floods from their mountain-tops, - knowing that never again will they see so fair a creature as Mentonee. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0258" id="link2H_4_0258"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE DEATH OF UMATILLA - </h2> - <p> - Umatilla, chief of the Indians at the Cascades of the Columbia, was one of - the few red men of his time who favored peace with the white settlers and - lent no countenance to the fierce revels of the “potlatch.” In these - “feasts of gifts” the savages, believing themselves to be “possessed by - the spirit,” lashed themselves into a frenzy that on several occasions was - only quieted by the shedding of blood. Black Eagle's Feather—or - Benjamin, as he was called by the settlers—was the only one of the - children of the old chief who survived a summer of plague, and on this boy - Umatilla had put all his hopes and affections. - </p> - <p> - The lad had formed a great trust in his white teacher, a college-bred man - from the East, who had built a little school-house beside the Columbia and - was teaching the Indian idea how to shoot something beside white people. - This boy and his teacher had hunted together; they had journeyed in the - same canoe; had tramped over the same trail to the great falls of the - Missouri; and at the Giant Spring had seen the Piegans cast in their - gifts, in the belief that the manitou of the place would deliver them in - the hereafter to the sun-god, whom they worshipped. One day Benjamin fell - ill, and the schoolmaster saw that he, too, was to die of the plague. Old - Umatilla received the news with Indian stoicism, but he went into the - forest to be alone for a time. - </p> - <p> - When he returned day was breaking and a flock of wild-geese trumpeted - overhead. The boy heard them, and said, “Boston tilicum” (white man), - “does the Great Father tell the geese where to go?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes.” - </p> - <p> - “Then he will tell me, too?” - </p> - <p> - “Yes.” - </p> - <p> - “We shall never go back to the Missouri together. My father—” - </p> - <p> - “We will watch over him.” - </p> - <p> - “That is well.” And, in a few hours, he had intrusted the guidance of his - soul through the world of shadows to the white man's unseen father. - </p> - <p> - Umatilla sat beside the body through the night, and in the morning he - called his people together. He told them that he was prepared to follow - his boy out of the world, but that first he wanted to have their promise - that they would no longer war on the whites, but look to them for - friendship and guidance. There was some murmuring at this, for the ruder - fellows were already plotting a descent on the settlers, but Umatilla had - given them great store of goods at the last potlatch, and they reluctantly - consented. The venerable chief ordered them to make a grave for Benjamin - like the white man's, and, when it had been dug, four warriors laid the - body of his son within it. Then, standing at the brink, the chief said, - “My heart is growing cold, for it is in the grave there with my son. When - I take three steps to the side of him, I, too, shall die. Be good to the - white men, as you have said, and bury us both together. Great Spirit, I - come.” And, sinking to the ground, the old man's life ebbed in a breath. - They buried him and his son in a single grave, and next day they went to - the teacher and asked him to lead and instruct them. And with that year - ended all trouble between red and white men along the Columbia. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0259" id="link2H_4_0259"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - HUNGER VALLEY - </h2> - <p> - East of San Francisco is a narrow valley opening to the bay of San Pablo. - In spite of its pleasant situation and fruitful possibilities, it had no - inhabitants until 1820, when Miguel Zamacona and his wife Emilia strayed - into it, while on a journey, and, being delighted with its scenery, - determined to make it their home. In playful mockery of its abundance they - gave to it the name El Hambre [Hunger] valley. - </p> - <p> - After some weeks of such hardship as comes to a Mexican from work, Miguel - had built an adobe cabin and got a garden started, while he caught a fish - or shot a deer now and then, and they got on pretty well. At last it - became necessary that he should go to Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was - then called, for goods. His burros were fat and strong, and there should - be no danger. Emilia cried at being left behind, but the garden had to be - tended, and he was to be back in exactly three weeks. She waited for - twenty-two days; then, her anxiety becoming unendurable, she packed an - outfit on a burro and started on the trail. From time to time she called - his name, and “Miguel!” echoed sweetly from hills and groves, but there - was no other answer, save when an owl would hoot. Rolled in a blanket she - slept on lupin boughs, but was off at peep of day again, calling—calling—high - and clear among the solitudes. - </p> - <p> - During the second day her burro gave a rasping bray, and a hee-haw - answered from the bush. It was Miguel's burro. He had come at last! - Leaping to her feet, in her impatience, she ran to meet him, and found him - lying on the earth, staring silently at the sky. All that day she sat - beside him, caressing his hand, talking, crying, bathing his face with - water from the marsh—the poison marsh—and it was not until - sunset that she could bring herself to admit that he was dead—had - been dead for at least two days. - </p> - <p> - She put the blanket over him, weighted it with stones, and heaped reeds - upon it; then she started for home. A wandering trader heard her story, - but years elapsed before any other settler entered Hunger valley. They - found her skeleton then in the weedy garden. The adobe stands tenantless - in the new village of Martinez, and the people have so often heard that - the ghosts of the Zamaconas haunt the place that they have begun to - disbelieve it. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0260" id="link2H_4_0260"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE WRATH OF MANITOU - </h2> - <p> - The county called Kern, in California, lies mostly in a circular valley, - and long, long before the evil one had created the pale face it was the - home of a nation advanced in arts, who worshipped the Great Spirit in a - building with a lofty dome. But the bravery and wisdom of one of their own - people made them forget the Manitou and idolize the man who seemed the - most like him. They brought him to the temple and prayed and sang to him, - and held their sacred dances there, so angering God that he rent the earth - and swallowed them. Nothing was seen of this people for years after, but - their stone tools were left on neighboring hill-sides. Manitou even poured - water into the valley, and great creatures sported in the inland sea. - </p> - <p> - But, ere long, he repented his anger, and, in a fit of impatience at what - he had done, he threw up quantities of earth that smoked with heat, and - thus created the Sierra Nevada, while he broke away the hills at the foot - of the lake, and the waters drained into the sea at the Golden Gate. This - again made dry land of the valley, and, opening the earth once more, he - released the captive tribe. The imprisoned people had not forgotten their - arts nor their boldness; they made the place blossom again; they conquered - other tribes, and Manitou declared them his chosen ones, from whom alone - he would accept sacrifice. But their chief became so ambitious that he - wanted to supplant the Manitou in the worship of the people, and finally, - in a lunacy of self-conceit, he challenged the god to single combat. - </p> - <p> - Under pretence of accepting the challenge, the Great Spirit set the - offenders to wander through the desert until they reached a valley in the - Sierras, opposite Tehachapi, where he caused them to be exterminated by a - horde of savages from the Mojave desert. Then, in a fit of disgust at - refractory humanity, he evoked a whirlwind and stripped away every living - thing from the country of the savages, declaring that it should be empty - of human beings from that time forward. And it was so. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0261" id="link2H_4_0261"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE SPOOK OF MISERY HILL - </h2> - <p> - Tom Bowers, who mined on Misery Hill, near Pike City, California, never - had a partner, and he never took kindly to the rough crowd about the - place. One day he was missing. They traced his steps through the snow from - his cabin to the brink of a great slope where he had been prospecting, but - there they vanished, for a landslide had blotted them out. His body was - exhumed far below and decently buried, yet it was said that it was so - often seen walking about the mouth of his old shaft that other men avoided - the spot. - </p> - <p> - Thriftless Jim Brandon, in a spasm of industry, began work on the - abandoned mine, and for a while he made it pay, for he got money and - squared accounts with his creditors; but after a time it appeared that - somebody else was working on the claim, for every morning he found that - the sluice had been tampered with and the water turned on. He searched for - the trespasser in vain, and told “the boys” that if they called that - joking it had grown tiresome. - </p> - <p> - One night he loaded his rifle, and, from a convenient nook, he watched for - the intruder. The tamaracks crooned in the wind, the Yuba mumbled in the - canon, the Sierras lay in a line of white against the stars. As he crept - along to a point of better vantage he came to a tree with something tacked - on it—something that shone in the dark like a match. In its own - light he read, “Notice! I, Thomas Bowers, claim this ground for placer - mining.” Raising his hand to tear off the paper, he was amazed to feel a - thrill pass through it, and his arm fell palsied at his side. But the - notice was gone. - </p> - <p> - Now came the sound of water flowing, and, as he angrily caught his gun and - turned toward the sluice, the letters shone again in phosphorescence on - the tree. There was the sound of a pick in the gravel now, and, crawling - stealthily towards the sluice, he saw, at work there, Tom Bowers—dead, - lank, his head and face covered with white hair, his eyes glowing from - black sockets. Half unconsciously Jim brought his rifle to his shoulder - and fired. A yell followed the report, then the dead man came running at - him like the wind, with pick and shovel in either hand. - </p> - <p> - Away went Brandon, and the spectre followed, up hill, in and out of woods, - over ditches, through scrub, on toward Pike City. The miners were - celebrating a new find with liberal potations and a dance in the saloon - when, high above the crash of boots, the shouted jokes, the laughter, and - the clink of glasses, came a sound of falling, a scream-then silence. They - hurried into the road. There lay Brandon's rifle, and a pick and shovel - with “T. B.” cut in the handles. Jim returned no more, and the sluice is - running every night on Misery Hill. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0262" id="link2H_4_0262"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE QUEEN OF DEATH VALLEY - </h2> - <p> - In the southern part of California, near the Arizona line, is the famous - Death Valley—a tract of arid, alkaline plain hemmed in by steep - mountains and lying below the level of the sea. For years it was believed - that no human being could cross that desert and live, for horses sink to - their knees in drifts of soda dust; there is no water, though the - traveller requires much drink; and the heat is terrific. Animals that die - in the neighborhood mummify, but do not decay, and it is surmised that the - remains of many a thoughtless or ignorant prospector lie bleached in the - plain. On the east side of Dead Mountain are points of whitened rock that - at a distance look like sheeted figures, and these, the Indians say, are - the ghosts of their brethren. - </p> - <p> - In the heart of this desert is said to be the ruin of a pueblo, or - village, though the shape and size of it suggest that it was made for a - few persons rather than for a tribe or family. Long ago, the tale runs, - this place of horrors was a fair and fertile kingdom, ruled by a beautiful - but capricious queen. She ordered her subjects to build her a mansion that - should surpass those of her neighbors, the Aztecs, and they worked for - years to make one worthy of her, dragging the stones and timbers for - miles. Fearing lest age, accident, or illness should forbid her to see the - ending of her dream, she ordered so many of her subjects to assist that - her tribe was reduced to practical slavery. - </p> - <p> - In her haste and heartlessness she commanded her own daughter to join the - bearers of burdens, and when the toilers flagged in step in the noonday - heat she strode among them and lashed their naked backs. As royalty was - sacred, they did not complain, but when she struck her daughter the girl - turned, threw down her load of stone, and solemnly cursed her mother and - her kingdom; then, overcome by heat and weariness, she sank to the earth - and died. Vain the regrets and lamentations of the queen. The sun came out - with blinding heat and light, vegetation withered, animals disappeared, - streams and wells dried up, and at last the wretched woman gave up her - life on a bed of fever, with no hand to soothe her dying moments, for her - people, too, were dead. The palace, half-completed, stands in the midst of - this desolation, and sometimes it seems to lift into view of those at a - distance in the shifting mirage that plays along the horizon. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0263" id="link2H_4_0263"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - BRIDAL VEIL FALL - </h2> - <p> - The vast ravine of Yo Semite (Grizzly Bear), formed by tearing apart the - solid Sierras, is graced by many water-falls raining down the mile-high - cliffs. The one called Bridal Veil has this tale attached to it. Centuries - ago, in the shelter of this valley, lived Tutokanula and his tribe—a - good hunter, he, a thoughtful saver of crops and game for winter, a wise - chief, trusted and loved by his people. While hunting, one day, the - tutelary spirit of the valley—the lovely Tisayac—revealed - herself to him, and from that moment he knew no peace, nor did he care for - the well-being of his people; for she was not as they were: her skin was - white, her hair was golden, and her eyes like heaven; her speech was as a - thrush-song and led him to her, but when he opened his arms she rose - lighter than any bird and vanished in the sky. - </p> - <p> - Lacking his direction Yo Semite became a desert, and when Tisayac returned - she wept to see the corn lands grown with bushes and bears rooting where - the huts had been. On a mighty dome of rock she knelt and begged the Great - Spirit to restore its virtue to the land. He did so, for, stooping from - the sky, he spread new life of green on all the valley floor, and smiting - the mountains he broke a channel for the pent-up meltings of the snows, - and the water ran and leaped far down, pooling in a lake below and flowing - off to gladden other land. The birds returned, the flowers sprang up, corn - swayed in the breeze, and the people, coming back, gave the name of - Tisayac to South Dome, where she had knelt. - </p> - <p> - Then came the chief home again, and, hearing that the spirit had appeared, - was smitten with love more strong than ever. Climbing to the crest of a - rock that spires three thousand feet above the valley, he carved his - likeness there with his hunting-knife, so that his memory might live among - his tribe. As he sat, tired with his work, at the foot of the Bridal Veil, - he saw, with a rainbow arching around her, the form of Tisayac shining - from the water. She smiled on him and beckoned. His quest was at an end. - With a cry of joy he sprang into the fall and disappeared with Tisayac. - Two rainbows quivered on the falling water, and the sun went down. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0264" id="link2H_4_0264"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE GOVERNOR'S RIGHT EYE - </h2> - <p> - Old Governor Hermenegildo Salvatierra, of Presidio, California, sported - only one eye—the left—because the other had been shot out by - an Indian arrow. With his sound one he was gazing into the fire, on a - windy afternoon in the rainy season, when a chunky man in a sou'wester - was-ushered into his presence, and after announcing that he was no other - than Captain Peleg Scudder, of the schooner General Court, from Salem, he - was made welcome in a manner quite out of proportion in its warmth to the - importance that such a disclosure would have for the every-day citizen. - </p> - <p> - He was hailed with wassail and even with wine. The joy of the commandant - was so great that at the third bowl he sang a love ballad, in a voice - somewhat cracked, and got on the table to teach the Yankee how to dance - the cachuca. The law forbade any extended stay of Americans in Spanish - waters, and the General Court took herself off that very night—for - this, mind you, was in 1797, when the Spaniard ruled the farther coast. - </p> - <p> - Next day Salvatierra appeared before his astonished people with a right - eye. The priests attached to the fort gave a special service of praise, - and told the miracle to the red men of their neighborhood as an - illustration of the effect of goodness, prayer, and faith. People came - from far and near that they might go to church and see this marvel for - themselves. But, alas, for the governor's repute for piety! It soon began - to be whispered around that the new eye was an evil one; that it read the - deepest thoughts of men with its inflexible, cold stare; that under its - influence some of the fathers had been betrayed into confessing things - that the commandant had never supposed a clergyman to be guilty of. The - people feared that eye, and ascribed such rogueries to the old man as had - been entirely foreign to his nature hitherto. - </p> - <p> - This common fear and suspicion reacted, inevitably, and Salvatierra began, - unconsciously, to exhibit some of the traits that his subjects said he - possessed. He changed slowly from the indulgent parent to the stern and - exacting law-giver. He did not know, however, what the people had been - saying about him, and never suspected that his eye was likely to get him - into trouble. - </p> - <p> - It was a warm night and he had gone to bed with his windows open—windows - that opened from his garden, and were level, at the bottom, with the - floor. A shadowy form stole along the gravel path and entered one of these - windows. It was that of a mission Indian. He had gathered from the talk of - the faithful that it would be a service to the deity as well as to men to - destroy the power of that evil eye. He came beside the bed and looked - attentively at the governor, sleeping there in the light of a candle. Then - he howled with fright—howled so loudly that the old man sprang to - his feet—for while the left eye had been fast asleep the evil one - was broad awake and looking at him with a ghostly glare. - </p> - <p> - In another second the commandant was at the window whirling his trusty - Toledo about his head, lopping ears and noses from the red renegades who - had followed in the track of the first. In the scrimmage he received - another jab in the right eye with a fist. When day dawned it was - discovered, with joy, that the evil eye was darkened—and forever. - The people trusted him once more. Finding that he was no longer an object - of dread, his voice became kinder, his manner more gentle. A heavy and - unusual rain, that had been falling, passed off that very day, so that the - destruction from flood, which had been prophesied at the missions, was - stayed, and the clergy sang “Te Deum” in the church. The old commandant - never, to his dying day, had the heart to confess that the evil eye was - only a glass one. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0265" id="link2H_4_0265"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - THE PRISONER IN AMERICAN SHAFT - </h2> - <p> - An Indian seldom forgets an injury or omits to revenge it, be it a real or - a fancied one. A young native of the New Almaden district, in California, - fell in love with a girl of the same race, and supposed that he was - prospering in his suit, for he was ardent and the girl was, seemingly, not - averse to him; but suddenly she became cold, avoided him, and answered his - greetings, if they met, in single words. He affected to care not greatly - for this change, but he took no rest until he had discovered the cause of - it. Her parents had conceived a dislike to him that later events proved to - be well founded, and had ordered or persuaded her to deny his suit. - </p> - <p> - His retaliation was prompt and Indian-like. He killed the father and - mother at the first opportunity, seized the girl when she was at a - distance from the village, and carried her to the deserted quicksilver - mine near Spanish Camp. In a tunnel that branched from American Shaft he - had fashioned a rude cell of stone and wood, and into that he forced and - fastened her. He had stocked it with water and provisions, and for some - weeks he held the wretched girl a captive in total darkness, visiting her - whenever he felt moved to do so until, his passion sated, he resolved to - leave the country. - </p> - <p> - As an act of partial atonement for the wrong he had done, he hung a - leather coat at the mouth of the tunnel, on which, in picture writing, he - indicated the whereabouts of the girl. Search parties had been out from - the time of her disappearance, and one of them chanced on this clue and - rescued her as she was on the point of death. The savage who had exacted - so brutal and excessive a revenge fled afar, and his whereabouts were - never known. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0266" id="link2H_4_0266"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - AS TO BURIED RICHES - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0267" id="link2H_4_0267"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - KIDD'S TREASURE - </h2> - <p> - Captain Kidd is the most ubiquitous gentleman in history. If his earnings - in the gentle craft of piracy were frugally husbanded, he has possibly - left some pots of money in holes in the ground between Key West and - Halifax. The belief that large deposits of gold were made at Gardiner's - Island, Dunderberg, Cro' Nest, New York City, Coney Island, Ipswich, the - marshes back of Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Isles of Shoals, Money - Island, Ocean Beach, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and elsewhere has - caused reckless expenditure of actual wealth in recovering doubloons and - guineas that disappointed backers of these enterprises are beginning to - look upon—no, not to look upon, but to think about—as - visionary. A hope of getting something for nothing has been the impetus to - these industries, and interest in the subject is now and then revived by - reports of the discovery—usually by a farmer ploughing near the - shore—of an iron kettle with a handful of gold and silver coins in - it, the same having doubtless been buried for purposes of concealment - during the wars of 1776 and 1812. - </p> - <p> - Gardiner's Island, a famous rendezvous for pirates, is the only place - known to have been used as a bank of deposit, for in 1699 the Earl of - Bellomont recovered from it seven hundred and eighty-three ounces of gold, - six hundred and thirty-three ounces of silver, cloth of gold, silks, - satins, and jewels. In the old Gardiner mansion, on this island, was - formerly preserved a costly shawl given to Mrs. Gardiner by Captain Kidd - himself. This illustrious Kidd—or Kydd—was born in New York, - began his naval career as a chaser of pirates, became a robber himself, - was captured in Boston, where he was ruffling boldly about the streets, - and was hanged in London in 1701. In sea superstitions the apparition of - his ship is sometimes confused with that of the Flying Dutchman. - </p> - <p> - At Lion's Rock, near Lyme, Connecticut, a part of his treasure is under - guard of a demon that springs upon intruders unless they recite Scripture - while digging for the money. - </p> - <p> - Charles Island, near Milford, Connecticut, was dug into, one night, by a - company from that town that had learned of Kidd's visit to it—and - what could Kidd be doing ashore unless he was burying money? The lid of an - iron chest had been uncovered when the figure of a headless man came - bounding out of the air, and the work was discontinued right then. The - figure leaped into the pit that had been dug, and blue flames poured out - of it. When the diggers returned, their spades and picks were gone and the - ground was smooth. - </p> - <p> - Monhegan Island, off the Maine coast, contains a cave, opening to the sea, - where it was whispered that treasure had been stored in care of spirits. - Searchers found within it a heavy chest, which they were about to lift - when one of the party—contrary to orders—spoke. The spell was - broken, for the watchful spirits heard and snatched away the treasure. - Some years ago the cave was enlarged by blasting, in a hope of finding - that chest, for an old saying has been handed down among the people of the - island—from whom it came they have forgotten—that was to this - effect: “Dig six feet and you will find iron; dig six more and you will - find money.” - </p> - <p> - On Damariscotta Island, near Kennebec, Maine, is a lake of salt water, - which, like dozens of shallow ones in this country, is locally reputed to - be bottomless. Yet Kidd was believed to have sunk some of his valuables - there, and to have guarded against the entrance of boats by means of a - chain hung from rock to rock at the narrow entrance, bolts on either side - showing the points of attachment, while ring bolts were thought to have - been driven for the purpose of tying buoys, thus marking the spots where - the chests went down. This island, too, has been held in fear as haunted - ground. - </p> - <p> - Appledore, in the Isles of Shoals, was another such a hiding-place, and - Kidd put one of his crew to death that he might haunt the place and - frighten searchers from their quest. For years no fisherman could be - induced to land there after nightfall, for did not an islander once - encounter “Old Bab” on his rounds, with a red ring around his neck, a - frock hanging about him, phosphorescence gleaming from his body, who - peered at the intruder with a white and dreadful face, and nearly scared - him to death? - </p> - <p> - A spot near the Piscataqua River was another hiding-place, and early in - this century the ground was dug over, two of the seekers plying pick and - spade, while another stood within the circle they had drawn about the spot - and loudly read the Bible. Presently their implements clicked on an iron - chest, but it slid sideway into the ground as they tried to uncover it, - and at last an interruption occurred that caused them to stop work so long - that when they went to look for it again it had entirely disappeared. This - diversion was the appearance of a monster horse that flew toward them from - a distance without a sound, but stopped short at the circle where the - process of banning fiends was still going on, and, after grazing and - walking around them for a time, it dissolved into air. - </p> - <p> - Kidd's plug is a part of the craggy steep known as Cro' Nest, on the - Hudson. It is a projecting knob, like a bung closing an orifice, which is - believed to conceal a cavern where the redoubtable captain placed a few - barrels of his wealth. Though it is two hundred feet up the cliff, - inaccessible either from above or below, and weighs many tons, still, as - pirates and devils have always been friendly, it may be that the corking - of the cave was accomplished with supernatural help, and that if blasts or - prayers ever shake the stone from its place a shower of doubloons and - diamonds may come rattling after it. - </p> - <p> - The shore for several hundred feet around Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, has - been examined, for it was once believed that the inscriptions on it were - cut by Kidd to mark the place of burial for part of his hoard. - </p> - <p> - The Rock Hill estate, Medford, Massachusetts, was plagued by a spectre - that some thought to be that of a New Hampshire farmer who was robbed and - murdered there, but others say it is the shade of Kidd, for iron treasure - chests were found in the cellar that behaved like that on the Piscataqua - River, sinking out of sight whenever they were touched by shovels. - </p> - <p> - Misery Islands, near Salem, Massachusetts, were dug over, and under - spiritual guidance, too, for other instalments of Mr. Kidd's acquisitions, - but without avail. - </p> - <p> - It takes no less than half a dozen ghosts to guard what is hidden in Money - Hill, on Shark River, New Jersey, so there must be a good deal of it. Some - of these guardians are in sailor togs, some in their mouldy bones, some - peaceable, some noisy with threats and screams and groans—a “rum - lot,” as an ancient mariner remarked, who lives near their graves and - daytime hiding-places. Many heirlooms are owned by Jerseymen hereabout - that were received from Kidd's sailors in exchange for apple-jack and - provisions, and two sailor-looking men are alleged to have taken a - strong-box out of Money Hill some years ago, from which they abstracted - two bags of gold. After that event the hill was dug over with great - earnestness, but without other result to the prospectors than the - cultivation of their patience. - </p> - <p> - Sandy Hook, New Jersey, near “Kidd's tree,” and the clay banks of the - Atlantic highlands back of that point, are suspected hiding-places; but - the cairn or knoll called Old Woman's Hill, at the highlands, is not - haunted by Kidd's men, as used to be said, but by the spirit of a - discontented squaw. This spirit the Indians themselves drove away with - stones. - </p> - <p> - At Oyster Point, Maryland, lived Paddy Dabney, who recognized Kidd from an - old portrait on meeting him one evening in 1836. He was going home late - from the tavern when a light in a pine thicket caused him to turn from the - road. In a clearing among the trees, pervaded by a pale shine which seemed - to emanate from its occupants, a strange company was playing at bowls. A - fierce-looking reprobate who was superintending the game glanced up, and, - seeing Paddy's pale face, gave such a leap in his direction that the - Irishman fled with a howl of terror and never stopped till he reached his - door, when, on turning about, he found that the phantom of the pirate - chief had vanished. The others, he conceived, were devils, for many a sea - rover had sold himself to Satan. Captain Teach, or Blackbeard, proved as - much to his crew by shutting himself in the hold of his ship, where he was - burning sulphur to destroy rats, and withstanding suffocation for several - hours; while one day a dark man appeared on board who was not one of the - crew at the sailing, and who had gone as mysteriously as he came on the - day before the ship was wrecked. It was known that Kidd had buried his - Bible in order to ingratiate the evil one. - </p> - <p> - A flat rock on the north shore of Liberty Island, in New York harbor, was - also thought to mark the place of this pervasive wealth of the pirates. As - late as 1830, Sergeant Gibbs, one of the garrison at the island, tried to - unearth it, with the aid of a fortune-teller and a recruit, but they had - no sooner reached a box about four feet in length than a being with wings, - horns, tail, and a breath, the latter palpable in blue flames, burst from - the coffer. Gibbs fell unconscious into the water and narrowly escaped - drowning, while his companions ran away, and the treasure may still be - there for aught we know. - </p> - <p> - Back in the days before the Revolution, a negro called Mud Sam, who lived - in a cabin at the Battery, New York City, was benighted at about the place - where One Hundredth Street now touches East River while waiting there for - the tide to take him up the Sound. He beguiled the time by a nap, and, on - waking, he started to leave his sleeping place under the trees to regain - his boat, when the gleam of a lantern and the sound of voices coming up - the bank caused him to shrink back into the shadow. At first he thought - that he might be dreaming, for Hell Gate was a place of such repute that - one might readily have bad dreams there, and the legends of the spot - passed quickly through his mind: the skeletons that lived in the wreck on - Hen and Chickens and looked out at passing ships with blue lights in the - eye-sockets of their skulls; the brown fellow, known as “the pirate's - spuke,” that used to cruise up and down the wrathful torrent, and was - snuffed out of sight for some hours by old Peter Stuyvesant with a silver - bullet; a black-looking scoundrel with a split lip, who used to brattle - about the tavern at Corlaer's Hook, and who tumbled into East River while - trying to lug an iron chest aboard of a suspicious craft that had stolen - in to shore in a fog. This latter bogy was often seen riding up Hell Gate - a-straddle of that very chest, snapping his fingers at the stars and - roaring Bacchanalian odes, just as skipper Onderdonk's boatswain, who had - been buried at sea without prayers, chased the ship for days, sitting on - the waves, with his shroud for a sail, and shoving hills of water after - the vessel with the plash of his hands. - </p> - <p> - These grewsome memories sent a quake through Mud Sam's heart, but when the - bushes cracked under the strangers' tread, he knew that they were of flesh - and bone, and, following them for a quarter-mile into the wood, he saw - them dig a hole, plant a strong-box there, and cover it. A threatening - remark from one of the company forced an exclamation from the negro that - drew a pistol-shot upon him, and he took to his heels. Such a fright did - he receive that he could not for several years be persuaded to return, but - when that persuasion came in the form of a promise of wealth from Wolfert - Webber, a cabbage-grower of the town, and promises of protection from Dr. - Knipperhausen, who was skilled in incantations, he was not proof against - it, and guided the seekers to the spot. - </p> - <p> - After the doctor had performed the proper ceremonies they fell to work, - but no sooner had their spades touched the lid of an iron-bound chest than - a sturdy rogue with a red flannel cap leaped out of the bushes. They said - afterward that he had the face of the brawler who was drowned at Corlaer's - Hook, but, in truth, they hardly looked at him in their flight; nor, when - the place was revisited, could any mark of digging be found, nor any trace - of treasure, so that part of Kidd's wealth may be at this moment snugly - stowed in the cellar of a tenement. Webber had engaged in so many crazy - enterprises of this nature that he had neglected cabbage culture, and had - grown so poor that the last disappointment nearly broke his heart. He - retired to his chamber and made his will, but on learning that a new - street had been run across his farm and that it would presently be worth - ten times as much for building-lots as it ever had been for cabbages, he - leaped out of bed, dressed himself, and prospered for many a day after. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0268" id="link2H_4_0268"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - OTHER BURIED WEALTH - </h2> - <p> - The wealth of the Astors hardly exceeds the treasure that is supposed to - be secreted here and there about the country, and thousands of dollars - have been expended in dredging rivers and shallow seas, and in blasting - caves and cellars. Certain promoters of these schemes have enjoyed - salaries as officers in the stock companies organized for their - furtherance, and they have seen the only tangible results from such - enterprises. - </p> - <p> - One summer evening, in the middle of the seventeenth century, a bark - dropped anchor at the mouth of Saugus River, Massachusetts, and four of - the crew rowed to the woods that skirt its banks and made a landing. The - vessel had disappeared on the following morning, but in the forge at the - settlement was found a paper stating that if a certain number of shackles - and handcuffs were made and secretly deposited at a specified place in the - forest, a sum of money equal to their value would be found in their stead - on the next day. The order was filled and the silver was found, as - promised, but, though a watch was set, nothing further was seen of men or - ship for several months. - </p> - <p> - The four men did return, however, and lived by themselves amid the woods - of Saugus, the gossips reporting that a beautiful woman had been seen in - their company—the mistress of the pirate chief, for, of course, the - mysterious quartette had followed the trade of robbery on the high seas. - Three of these men were captured, taken to England, and hanged, but the - fourth-Thomas Veale—escaped to a cavern in the wood, where, it was - reputed, great treasures were concealed, and there he lived until the - earthquake of 1658, when a rock fell from the roof of the cave, closing - the entrance and burying the guilty man in a tomb where, it is presumed, - he perished of thirst and hunger. Dungeon Rock, of Lynn, is the name that - the place has borne ever since. - </p> - <p> - In 1852 Hiram Marble announced that he had been visited by spirits, who - not only told him that the pirates' spoils were still in their olden - hiding-place, but pointed out the spot where the work of excavation should - begin. Aided by his son he tunnelled the solid granite for a distance of - one hundred and thirty-five feet, the passage being seven feet high and - seven wide. Whenever he was wearied the “mediums” that he consulted would - tell him to make cuttings to the right or left, and for every fresh - discouragement they found fresh work. For thirty years this task was - carried on, both father and son dying without gaining any practical - result, other than the discovery of an ancient scabbard in a rift. The - heiress of the house of Marble alone reaped benefit from their labors, - for-resuming on a petty scale the levies of the first dwellers in the rock—she - boldly placarded the entrance to the workings “Ye who enter here leave - twenty-five cents behind.” - </p> - <p> - In several cases the chasms that have been caused by wear of water or - convulsions of nature (their opposite sides being matched) were believed - to have been hiding-places, but, in the old days in New England, it was - believed that all such fractures were caused by the earthquake at the time - of the crucifixion—a testimony of the power of God to shake sinners. - </p> - <p> - The Heart of Greylock is the name given to the crater-like recess, a - thousand feet deep, in the tallest of the Berkshire peaks, but it was - formerly best known as Money Hole, and the stream that courses through it - as Money Brook, for a gang of counterfeiters worked in that recess, and - there some spurious coinage may still be concealed. The stream is also - known as Spectre Brook, for late wandering hunters and scouting soldiers, - seeing the forgers moving to and fro about their furnaces, took them for - ghosts. - </p> - <p> - Province Island, in Lake Memphremagog, Vermont, is believed to contain - some of the profits of an extensive smuggling enterprise that was carried - on near the lake for several years. - </p> - <p> - A little company of Spanish adventurers passed along the base of the Green - Mountains early in the last century, expecting to return after having some - dealings with the trading stations on the St. Lawrence; so they deposited - a part of their gold on Ludlow Mountain, Vermont, and another pot of it on - Camel's Hump. They agreed that none should return without his companions, - but they were detained in the north and separated, some of them going home - to Spain. Late in life the sole survivor of the company went to Camel's - Hump and tried to recall where the treasure had been hidden, but in vain. - </p> - <p> - While flying from the people whose declaration of independence had already - been written in the blood of the king's troops at Concord, the royal - governor—Wentworth—was embarrassed by a wife and a - treasure-chest. He had left his mansion, at Smith's Pond, New Hampshire, - and was making toward Portsmouth, where he was to enjoy the protection of - the British fleet, but the country was up in arms, time was important, and - as his wearied horses could not go on without a lightening of the burden, - he was forced to leave behind either Lady Wentworth or his other riches. - As the lady properly objected to any risk of her own safety, the chest was - buried at an unknown spot in the forest, and for a century and more the - whereabouts of the Wentworth plate and money-bags have been a matter of - search and conjecture. - </p> - <p> - When the Hessian troops marched from Saratoga to Boston, to take ship - after Burgoyne's surrender, they were in wretched condition-war-worn, - ragged, and ill fed,—and having much with them in the form of plate - and jewels that had been spared by their conquerors, together with some of - the money sent from England for their hire, they were in constant fear of - attack from the farmers, who, though they had been beaten, continued to - regard them with an unfavorable eye. On reaching Dalton, Massachusetts, - the Hessians agreed among themselves to put their valuables into a - howitzer, which they buried in the woods, intending that some of their - number should come back at the close of the war and recover it. An Indian - had silently followed them for a long distance, to gather up any - unconsidered trifles that might be left in their bivouacs, and he marked - the route by blazes on the trees; but if he saw the burial of this novel - treasury it meant nothing to him, and the knowledge of the hiding-place - was lost. For years the populace kept watch of all strangers that came to - town, and shadowed them if they went to the woods, but without result. In - about the year 1800 the supposed hiding-place was examined closely and - excavations were made, but, as before, nothing rewarded the search. - </p> - <p> - A tree of unknown age—the Old Elm—stood on Boston Common until - within a few years. This veteran, torn and broken by many a gale and - lightning-stroke, was a gallows in the last century, and Goody Glover had - swung from it in witch-times. On tempestuous nights, when the boughs - creaked together, it was said that dark shapes might be seen writhing on - the branches and capering about the sward below in hellish glee. On a - gusty autumn evening in 1776 a muffled form presented itself, unannounced, - at the chamber of Mike Wild, and, after that notorious miser had enough - recovered from the fear created by the presence to understand what it said - to him, he realized that it was telling him of something that in life it - had buried at the foot of the Old Elm. After much hesitancy Mike set forth - with his ghostly guide, for he would have risked his soul for money, but - on arriving at his destination he was startled to find himself alone. - Nothing daunted, he set down his lantern and began to dig. Though he - turned up many a rood of soil and sounded with his spade for bags and - chests of gold, he found nothing. Strange noises overhead—for the - wind was high and the twigs seemed to snicker eerily as they crossed each - other-sent thrills along his back from time to time, and he was about to - return, half in anger, half in fear, when his spirit visitor emerged from - behind the tree and stood before him. The mien was threatening, the nose - had reddened and extended, the hair was rumpled, and the brow was - scowling. The frown of the gold monster grew more awful, the stare of his - eye in the starlight more unbearable, and he was crouching and creeping as - if for a spring. Mike could endure no more. He fainted, and awakened in - the morning in his own chamber, where, to a neighbor who made an early - call, he told—with embellishments—the story of the encounter; - but before he had come to the end of the narrative the visitor burst into - a roar of laughter and confessed that he had personated the supernatural - visitant, having wagered a dozen bottles of wine with the landlord of the - Boar's Head that he could get the better of Mike Wild. For all this the - old tree bore, for many years, an evil reputation. - </p> - <p> - A Spanish galleon, the Saints Joseph and Helena, making from Havana to - Cadiz in 1753 was carried from her course by adverse winds and tossed - against a reef, near New London, Connecticut, receiving injuries that - compelled her to run into that port for repairs. To reach her broken ribs - more easily her freight was put on shore in charge of the collector of the - port, but when it was desired to ship the cargo again, behold! the quarter - part of it had disappeared, none could say how. New London got a bad name - from this robbery, and the governor, though besought by the assembly to - make good the shortage, failed to do so, and lost his place at the next - election. It was reputed that some of the treasure was buried on the shore - by the robbers. In 1827 a woman who was understood to have the power of - seership published a vision to a couple of young blades, who had paid for - it, to the effect that hidden under one of the grass-grown wharves was a - box of dollars. By the aid of a crystal pebble she received this really - valuable information, but the pebble was not clear enough to reveal the - exact place of the box. She could see, however, that the dollars were - packed edgewise. When New London was sound asleep the young men stole out - and by lantern-light began their work. They had dug to water-level when - they reached an iron chest, and they stooped to lift it-but, to their - amazement, the iron was too hot to handle! Now they heard deep growls, and - a giant dog peered at them from the pit-mouth; red eyes flashed at them - from the darkness; a wild-goose, with eyes of blazing green, hovered and - screamed above them. Though the witch had promised them safety, nothing - appeared to ward off the fantastic shapes that began to crowd about them. - Too terrified to work longer they sprang out and made away, and - when-taking courage from the sunshine—they renewed the search, next - day, the iron chest had vanished. - </p> - <p> - On Crown Point, Lake Champlain, is the ruin of a fort erected by Lord - Amherst above the site of a French work that had been thrown up in 1731 to - guard a now vanished capital of fifteen hundred people. It was declared - that when the French evacuated the region they buried money and bullion in - a well, in the northwest corner of the bastion, ninety feet deep, in the - full expectancy of regaining it, and half a century ago this belief had - grown to such proportions that fifty men undertook to clear the well, - pushing their investigations into various parts of the enclosure and over - surrounding fields. They found quantities of lead and iron and no gold. - </p> - <p> - Follingsby's Pond, in the Adirondacks, was named for a recluse, who, in - the early part of this century, occupied a lonely but strongly guarded - cabin there. It was believed afterward that he was an English army - officer, of noble birth, who had left his own country in disgust at having - discovered an attachment between his wife and one of his fellow-officers. - He died in a fever, and while raving in a delirium spoke of a concealed - chest. A trapper, who was his only attendant in his last moments, dug over - the ground floor of the hut and found a box containing a jewelled sword, - costly trinkets, and letters that bore out the presumption of Follingsby's - aristocratic origin. What became of these valuables after their exhumation - is not known, and the existence of more has been suspected. - </p> - <p> - Coney Island is declared to have been used by a band of pirates as the - first national sand bank, and, as these rascals were caught and swung off - with short shrift, they do say that the plunder is still to be had—by - the man who finds it. But the hotel-keepers and three-card-monte men are - not waiting for that discovery to grow rich. - </p> - <p> - In Shandaken Valley, in the Catskills, it was affirmed that a party of - British officers buried money somewhere, when they were beset by the - farmers and hunters of that region, and never got it out of the earth - again. - </p> - <p> - On Tea Island, Lake George, the buried treasures of Lord Abercrombie have - remained successfully hidden until this day. - </p> - <p> - The oldest house at Fort Neck, Long Island, was known for years as the - haunted house, and the grave of its owner—Captain Jones—was - called the pirate's grave, for, in the last century, Jones was accused of - piracy and smuggling, and there have been those who suspected worse. A - hope of finding gold and silver about the premises has been yearly growing - fainter. Just before the death of Jones, which occurred here in an orderly - manner, a crow, so big that everybody believed it to be a demon, flew in - at the window and hovered over the bed of the dying man until he had drawn - his last breath, when, with a triumphant cry, it flew through the west end - of the house. The hole that it broke through the masonry could never be - stopped, for, no matter how often it was repaired, the stone and cement - fell out again, and the wind came through with such a chill and such - shriekings that the house had to be abandoned. - </p> - <p> - The owner of an estate on Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, had more wealth than - he thought it was safe or easy to transport when he found the colonies - rising against Britain in 1775, and flight was imperative, for he was - known by his neighbors to be a Tory. Massing his plate, coin, and other - movables into three barrels, he caused his three slaves to bury them in - pits that they had dug beneath his house. Then, as they were shovelling - back the earth, he shot them dead, all three, and buried them, one on each - barrel. His motive for the crime may have been a fear that the slaves - would aid the Americans in the approaching struggle, or that they might - return and dig up the wealth or reveal the hiding-place to the enemies of - the king. Then he made his escape to Nova Scotia, though he might as well - have stayed at home, for the British possessed themselves of Long Island, - and his house became a place of resort for red-coats and loyalists. It was - after the turn of the century when a boat put in, one evening, at Cold - Spring Bay, and next morning the inhabitants found footprints leading to - and from a spot where some children had discovered a knotted rope - projecting from the soil. Something had been removed, for the mould of a - large box was visible at the bottom of a pit. Acres of the neighborhood - were then dug over by treasure hunters, who found a box of cob dollars and - a number of casks. The contents of the latter, though rich and old, were - not solid, and when diffused through the systems of several Long Islanders - imparted to them a spirituous and patriotic glow—for in thus - destroying the secreted stores of a royalist were they not asserting the - triumph of democratic principles? - </p> - <p> - The clay bluffs at Pottery Beach, Brooklyn, were pierced with artificial - caves where lawless men found shelter in the unsettled first years of the - republic. A wreck lay rotting here for many years, and it was said to be - the skeleton of a ship that these fellows had beached by false beacons. - She had costly freight aboard, and on the morning after she went ashore - crew and freight had vanished. It was believed that much of the plunder - was buried in the clay near the water's edge. In the early colonial days, - Grand Island, in Niagara River, was the home of a Frenchman, Clairieux, an - exile or refugee who was attended by a negro servant. During one summer a - sloop visited the island frequently, laden on each trip with chests that - never were taken away in the sight of men, and that are now supposed to be - buried near the site of the Frenchman's cabin. Report had it that these - boxes were filled with money, but if well or ill procured none could say, - unless it were the Frenchman, and he had no remarks to offer on the - subject. In the fall, after these visits of the sloop, Clairieux - disappeared, and when some hunters landed on the island they found that - his cabin had been burned and that a large skeleton, evidently that of the - negro, was chained to the earth in the centre of the place where the house - had stood. The slave had been killed, it was surmised, that his spirit - might watch the hoard and drive away intruders; but the Frenchman met his - fate elsewhere, and his secret, like that of many another miser, perished - with him. In 1888, when a northeast gale had blown back the water of the - river, a farmer living on the island discovered, just under the surface, a - stone foundation built in circular form, as if it had once supported a - tower. In the mud within this circle he found a number of French gold and - silver coins, one of them minted in 1537. Close by, other coins of later - date were found, and a systematic examination of the whole channel has - been proposed, as it was also said that two French frigates, scuttled to - keep them out of the hands of the English, lie bedded in sand below the - island, one of them with a naval paymaster's chest on board. - </p> - <p> - On the shore of Oneida Lake is an Indian's grave, where a ball of light is - wont to swing and dance. A farmer named Belknap dreamed several times of a - buried treasure at this point, and he was told, in his vision, that if he - would dig there at midnight he could make it his own. He made the attempt, - and his pick struck a crock that gave a chink, as of gold. He should, at - that moment, have turned around three times, as his dream directed, but he - was so excited that he forgot to. A flash of lightning rent the air and - stretched him senseless on the grass. When he recovered the crock was - gone, the hole filled in, and ever since then the light has hovered about - the place. Some say that this is but the will-o'-the-wisp: the soul of a - bad fellow who is doomed to wander in desolate regions because, after - dying, Peter would not allow him to enter heaven, and the devil would not - let him go into the other place, lest he should make the little devils - unmanageable; but he is allowed to carry a light in his wanderings. - </p> - <p> - In Indian Gap, near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, the Doane band of Tories - and terrorists hid a chest of gold, the proceeds of many robberies. It is - guarded by witches, and, although it has been seen, no one has been able - to lay hands on it. The seekers are always blinded by blue flame, and - frightened away by roaring noises. The Dutch farmers of the vicinity are - going to dig for it, all the same, for it is said that the watch of evil - spirits will be given over at midnight, but they do not know of what date. - They will be on hand at the spot revealed to them through the vision of a - “hex layer” (a vision that cost them fifty cents), until the night arrives - when there are no blue flames. - </p> - <p> - In the southern part of Chester County, Pennsylvania, is money, too, but - just where nobody knows. A lonely, crabbed man, who died there in a poor - hut after the Revolution, owned that he had served the British as a spy, - but said that he had spent none of the gold that he had taken from them. - He was either too sorry for his deeds, or too mean to do so. He had put it - in a crock and buried it, and, on his death-bed, where he made his - statement, he asked that it might be exhumed and spent for some good - purpose. He was about to tell where it was when the death-rattle choked - his words. - </p> - <p> - The Isle of the Yellow Sands, in Lake Superior, was supposed by Indians to - be made of the dust of gold, but it was protected by vultures that beat - back those who approached, or tore them to pieces if they insisted on - landing. An Indian girl who stole away from her camp to procure a quantity - of this treasure was pursued by her lover, who, frightened at the risk she - was about to run from the vultures, stopped her flight by staving in the - side of her canoe, so that she was compelled to take refuge in his, and he - rowed home with her before the birds had come to the attack. - </p> - <p> - Old Francois Fontenoy, an Indian trader, buried a brass kettle full of - gold at Presque Isle, near Detroit, that is still in the earth. - </p> - <p> - On the banks of the Cumberland, in Tennessee, is a height where a searcher - for gold was seized by invisible defenders and hurled to the bottom of the - cliff, receiving a mortal hurt. - </p> - <p> - The Spaniards were said to have entombed three hundred thousand dollars in - gold near Natchez. A man to whom the secret had descended offered to - reveal it, but, as he was a prisoner, his offer was laughed at. Afterward - an empty vault was found where he said it would be. Somebody had - accidentally opened it and had removed the treasure. - </p> - <p> - Caverns have frequently been used as hiding-places for things of more or - less value—generally less. Saltpetre Cave, in Georgia, for instance, - was a factory and magazine for saltpetre, gunpowder, and other military - stores during the Civil War. The Northern soldiers wrecked the potash - works and broke away tons of rock, so as to make it dangerous to return. - Human bones have been found here, too, but they are thought to be those of - soldiers that entered the cave in pursuit of an Indian chief who had - defied the State in the '40's. He escaped through a hole in the roof, - doubled on his pursuers, fired a pile of dead leaves and wood at the - mouth, and suffocated the white men with the smoke. - </p> - <p> - Spaniards worked the mines in the Ozark Hills of Missouri two hundred - years ago. One of the mines containing lead and silver, eighteen miles - southwest of Galena, was worked by seven men, who could not agree as to a - division of the yield. One by one they were killed in quarrels until but a - single man was left, and he, in turn, was set upon by the resurrected - victims and choked to death by their cold fingers. In 1873 a Vermonter - named Johnson went there and said he would find what it was the Spaniards - had been hiding, in spite of the devil and his imps. He did work there for - one day, and was then found dead at the mouth of the old shaft with marks - of bony fingers on his throat. - </p> - <p> - The seven cities of Cibola, that Coronado and other Spanish adventurers - sought in the vast deserts of the Southwest, were pueblos. A treacherous - guide who had hoped to take Coronado into the waterless plain and lose - him, but who first lost his own head, had told him a tale of the Quivira, - a tribe that had much gold. So far from having gold these Indians did not - know the stuff, but the myth that they had hoarded quantities of it has - survived to this day and has caused waste of lives and money. Towns in New - Mexico that have lain in ruins since 1670, when the Apaches butchered - their people—towns that were well built and were lorded by solid old - churches and monasteries erected by the Spanish missionaries—these - towns have often been dug over, and the ruinous state of Abo, Curari, and - Tabira is due, in part, to their foolish tunnelling and blasting. - </p> - <p> - A Spanish bark, one day in 1841, put in for water off the spot where - Columbia City, Oregon, now stands. She had a rough crew on board, and it - had been necessary for her officers to watch the men closely from the time - the latter discovered that she was carrying a costly cargo. Hardly had the - anchorchains run out before the sailors fell upon the captain, killed him, - seized all of value that they could gather, and took it to the shore. What - happened after is not clear, but it is probable that in a quarrel, arising - over the demands of each man to have most of the plunder, several of the - claimants were slain. Indians were troublesome, likewise, so that it was - thought best to put most of the goods into the ground, and this was done - on the tract known as Hez Copier's farm. Hardly was the task completed - before the Indians appeared in large numbers and set up their tepees, - showing that they meant to remain. The mutineers rowed back to the ship, - and, after vainly waiting for several days for a chance to go on shore - again, they sailed away. Two years of wandering, fighting, and carousal - ensued before the remnant of the crew returned to Oregon. The Indians were - gone, and an earnest search was made for the money—but in vain. It - was as if the ground had never been disturbed. The man who had supervised - its burial was present until the mutineers went back to their boats, when - it was discovered that he was mysteriously missing. - </p> - <p> - More than forty years after these events a meeting of Spiritualists was - held in Columbia City, and a “medium” announced that she had received a - revelation of the exact spot where the goods had been concealed. A company - went to the place, and, after a search of several days, found, under a - foot of soil, a quantity of broken stone. While throwing out these - fragments one of the party fell dead. The spirit of the defrauded and - murdered captain had claimed him, the medium explained. So great was the - fright caused by this accident that the search was again abandoned until - March, 1890, when another party resumed the digging, and after taking out - the remainder of the stone they came on a number of human skeletons. - During the examination of these relics—possibly the bones of - mutineers who had been killed in the fight on shore—a man fell into - a fit of raving madness, and again the search was abandoned, for it is now - said that an immutable curse rests on the treasure. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0269" id="link2H_4_0269"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS - </h2> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0270" id="link2H_4_0270"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - MONSTERS AND SEA-SERPENTS - </h2> - <p> - It is hardly to be wondered at that two prominent scientists should have - declared on behalf of the sea-serpent, for that remarkable creature has - been reported at so many points, and by so many witnesses not addicted to - fish tales nor liquor, that there ought to be some reason for him. He has - been especially numerous off the New England coast. He was sighted off - Cape Ann in 1817, and several times off Nahant. Though alarming in - appearance—for he has a hundred feet of body, a shaggy head, and - goggle eyes—he is of lamb-like disposition, and has never justified - the attempts that have been made to kill or capture him. Rewards were at - one time offered to the seafaring men who might catch him, and revenue - cutters cruising about Massachusetts Bay were ordered to keep a lookout - for him and have a gun double shotted for action. One fisherman emptied - the contents of a ducking gun into the serpent's head, as he supposed, but - the creature playfully wriggled a few fathoms of its tail and made off. - John Josselyn, gentleman, reports that when he stirred about this - neighborhood in 1638 an enormous reptile was seen “quoiled up on a rock at - Cape Ann.” He would have fired at him but for the earnest dissuasion of - his Indian guide, who declared that ill luck would come of the attempt. - The sea-serpent sometimes shows amphibious tendencies and occasionally - leaves the sea for fresh water. Two of him were seen in Devil's Lake, - Wisconsin, in 1892, by four men. They confess, however, that they were - fishing at the time. The snakes had fins and were a matter of fifty feet - long. - </p> - <p> - When one of these reptiles found the other in his vicinage he raised his - head six feet above water and fell upon him tooth and nail—if he had - nails. In their struggles these unpleasant neighbors made such waves that - the fishermen's boat was nearly upset. - </p> - <p> - Even the humble Wabash has its terror, for at Huntington, Indiana, three - truthful damsels of the town saw its waters churned by a tail that - splashed from side to side, while far ahead was the prow of the animal—a - leonine skull, with whiskers, and as large as the head of a boy of a dozen - years. As if realizing what kind of a report was going to be made about - him, the monster was overcome with bashfulness at the sight of the maidens - and sank from view. - </p> - <p> - In April, 1890, a water-snake was reported in one of the Twin Lakes, in - the Berkshire Hills, but the eye-witnesses of his sports let him off with - a length of twenty-five feet. - </p> - <p> - Sysladobosis Lake, in Maine, has a snake with a head like a dog's, but it - is hardly worth mentioning because it is only eight feet long-hardly - longer than the name of the lake. More enterprise is shown across the - border, for Skiff Lake, New Brunswick, has a similar snake thirty feet - long. - </p> - <p> - In Cotton Mather's time a double-headed snake was found at Newbury, - Massachusetts,—it had a head at each end,—and before it was - killed it showed its evil disposition by chasing and striking at the lad - who first met it. - </p> - <p> - A snake haunts Wolf Pond, Pennsylvania, that is an alleged relic of the - Silurian age. It was last seen in September, 1887, when it unrolled thirty - feet of itself before the eyes of an alarmed spectator—again a - fisherman. The beholder struck him with a pole, and in revenge the serpent - capsized his boat; but he forbore to eat his enemy, and, diving to the - bottom, disappeared. The creature had a black body, about six inches - thick, ringed with dingy-yellow bands, and a mottled-green head, long and - pointed, like a pike's. - </p> - <p> - Silver Lake, near Gainesville, New York, was in 1855 reported to be the - lair of a great serpent, and old settlers declare that he still comes to - the surface now and then. - </p> - <p> - A tradition among the poor whites of the South Jruns to the effect that - the sea-monster that swallowed Jonah—not a whale, because the throat - of that animal is hardly large enough to admit a herring—crossed the - Atlantic and brought up at the Carolinas. His passenger was supplied with - tobacco and beguiled the tedium of the voyage by smoking a pipe. The - monster, being unused to that sort of thing, suffered as all beginners in - nicotine poisoning do, and expelled the unhappy man with emphasis. On - being safely landed, Jonah attached himself to one of the tribes that - peopled the barrens, and left a white progeny which antedated Columbus's - arrival by several centuries. God pitied the helplessness of these - ignorant and uncourageous whites and led them to Looking-Glass Mountain, - North Carolina, where He caused corn and game to be created, and while - this race endured it lived in plenty. - </p> - <p> - Santa Barbara Island, off the California coast, was, for a long time, the - supposed head-quarters of swimming and flying monsters and sirens, and no - Mexican would pass in hearing of the yells and screams and strange songs - without crossing himself and begging the captain to give the rock a wide - berth. But the noise is all the noise of cats. A shipwrecked tabby peopled - the place many years ago, and her numerous progeny live there on dead fish - and on the eggs and chicks of sea-fowl. - </p> - <p> - Spirit Canon, a rocky gorge that extends for three miles along Big Sioux - River, Iowa, was hewn through the stone by a spirit that took the form of - a dragon. Such were its size and ferocity that the Indians avoided the - place, lest they should fall victims to its ire. - </p> - <p> - The Hurons believed in a monster serpent—Okniont—who wore a - horn on his head that could pierce trees, rocks, and hills. A piece of - this horn was an amulet of great value, for it insured good luck. - </p> - <p> - The Zunis tell of a plumed serpent that lives in the water of sacred - springs, and they dare not destroy the venomous creatures that infest the - plains of Arizona because, to them, the killing of a snake means a - reduction in their slender water-supply. The gods were not so kind to the - snakes as men were, for the agatized trees of Chalcedony Park, in Arizona, - are held to be arrows shot by the angry deities at the monsters who vexed - this region. - </p> - <p> - Indians living on the shore of Canandaigua Lake, New York, tamed a pretty - spotted snake, and fed and petted it until it took a deer at a meal. It - grew so large that it eventually encircled the camp and began to prey on - its keepers. Vainly they tried to kill the creature, until a small boy - took an arrow of red willow, anointed it with the blood of a young woman, - and shot it from a basswood bow at the creature's heart. It did not enter - at once; it merely stuck to the scales. But presently it began to bore and - twist its way into the serpent's body. The serpent rolled into the lake - and made it foam in its agony. It swallowed water and vomited it up again, - with men dead and alive, before it died. - </p> - <p> - The monster Amhuluk, whose home is a lake near Forked Mountain, Oregon, - had but one passion-to catch and drown all things; and when you look into - the lake you see that he has even drowned the sky in it, and has made the - trees stand upside down in the water. Wherever he set his feet the ground - would soften. As three children were digging roots at the edge of the - water he fell on them and impaled two of them on his horns, the eldest - only contriving to escape. When this boy reached home his body was full of - blotches, and the father suspected how it was, yet he went to the lake at - once. The bodies of the children came out of the mud at his feet to meet - him, but went down again and emerged later across the water. They led him - on in this way until he came to the place where they were drowned. A fog - now began to steam up from the water, but through it he could see the - little ones lifted on the monster's horns, and hear them cry, “We have - changed our bodies.” Five times they came up and spoke to him, and five - times he raised a dismal cry and begged them to return, but they could - not. Next morning he saw them rise through the fog again, and, building a - camp, he stayed there and mourned for several days. For five days they - showed themselves, but after that they went down and he saw and heard no - more of them. Ambuluk had taken the children and they would live with him - for ever after. - </p> - <p> - Crater Lake, Oregon, was a haunt of water-devils who dragged into it and - drowned all who ventured near. Only within a few years could Indians be - persuaded to go to it as guides. Its discoverers saw in it the work of the - Great Spirit, but could not guess its meaning. All but one of these - Klamaths stole away after they had looked into its circular basin and - sheer walls. He fancied that if it was a home of gods they might have some - message for men, so camping on the brink of the lofty cliffs he waited. In - his sleep a vision came to him, and he heard voices, but could neither - make out appearances nor distinguish a word. Every night this dream was - repeated. He finally went down to the lake and bathed, and instantly found - his strength increased and saw that the people of his dreams were the - genii of the waters—whether good or bad he could not guess. One day - he caught a fish for food. A thousand water-devils came to the surface, on - the instant, and seized him. They carried him to a rock on the north side - of the lake, that stands two thousand feet above the water, and from that - they dashed him down, gathering the remains of his shattered body below - and devouring them. Since that taste they have been eager for men's blood. - The rock on the south side of the lake, called the Phantom Ship, is - believed by the Indians to be a destructive monster, innocent as it looks - in the daytime. - </p> - <p> - So with Rock Lake, in Washington. A hideous reptile sports about its - waters and gulps down everything that it finds in or on them. Only in 1853 - a band of Indians, who had fled hither for security against the soldiers, - were overtaken by this creature, lashed to death, and eaten. - </p> - <p> - The Indians of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas believed that the King - Snake, or God Snake, lived in the Gulf of Mexico. It slept in a cavern of - pure crystal at the bottom, and its head, being shaped from a solid - emerald, lighted the ocean for leagues when it arose near the surface. - </p> - <p> - Similar to this is the belief of the Cherokees in the kings of - rattlesnakes, “bright old inhabitants” of the mountains that grew to a - mighty size, and drew to themselves every creature that they looked upon. - Each wore a crown of carbuncle of dazzling brightness. - </p> - <p> - The Indians avoided Klamath Lake because it was haunted by a monster that - was half dragon, half hippopotamus. - </p> - <p> - Hutton Lake, Wyoming, is the home of a serpent queen, whose breathing may - be seen in the bubbles that well up in the centre. She is constantly - watching for her lover, but takes all men who come in her way to her - grotto beneath the water, when she finds that they are not the one she has - expected, and there they become her slaves. To lure victims into the lake - she sets there a decoy of a beautiful red swan, and should the hunter kill - this bird he will become possessed of divine power. Should he see “the - woman,” as the serpent queen is called, he will never live to tell of it, - unless he has seen her from a hiding-place near the shore—for so - surely as he is noticed by this Diana of the depths, so surely will her - spies, the land snakes, sting him to death. In appearance she is a lovely - girl in all but her face, and that is shaped like the head of a monster - snake. Her name is never spoken by the Indians, for fear that it will cost - them their lives. - </p> - <p> - Michael Pauw, brave fisherman of Paterson, New Jersey, hero of the fight - with the biggest snapping-turtle in Dover Slank, wearer of a scar on his - seat of honor as memento of the conflict, member of the Kersey Reds—he - whose presence of mind was shown in holding out a chip of St. Nicholas's - staff when he met the nine witches of the rocks capering in the mists of - Passaic Falls—gave battle from a boat to a monster that had ascended - to the cataract. One of the Kersey Reds, leaning out too far, fell astride - of the horny beast, and was carried at express speed, roaring with fright, - until unhorsed by a projecting rock, up which he scrambled to safety. - Falling to work with bayonets and staves, the company despatched the - creature and dragged it to shore. One Dutchman—who was quite a - traveller, having been as far from home as Albany—said that the - thing was what the Van Rensselaers cut up for beef, and that he believed - they called it a sturgeon. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0271" id="link2H_4_0271"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - STONE-THROWING DEVILS - </h2> - <p> - There is an odd recurrence among American legends of tales relating to - assaults of people or their houses by imps of darkness. The shadowy - leaguers of Gloucester, Massachusetts, kept the garrison of that place in - a state of fright until they were expelled from the neighborhood by a - silver bullet and a chaplain's prayers. Witchcraft was sometimes - manifested in Salem by the hurling of missiles from unseen hands. The - “stone-throwing devil” of Portsmouth is the subject of a tradition more - than two centuries of age, but, as the stone-thrower appears rather as an - avenger than as a gratuitously malignant spirit, he is ill treated in - having the name of devil applied to him. In this New Hampshire port lived - a widow who had a cabin and a bit of land of her own. George Walton, a - neighbor, wanted her land, for its situation pleased him, and as the old - woman had neither money nor influential friends he charged her with - witchcraft, and, whether by legal chicanery or mere force is not recorded, - he got his hands upon her property. - </p> - <p> - The charge of witchcraft was not pressed, because the man had obtained - what he wanted, but the poor, houseless creature laid a ban on the place - and told the thief that he would never have pleasure nor profit out of it. - Walton laughed at her, bade her go her way, and moved his family into the - widow's house. It was Sunday night, and the family had gone to bed, when - at ten o'clock there came a fierce shock of stones against the roof and - doors. All were awake in a moment. A first thought was that Indians were - making an assault, but when the occupants peered cautiously into the - moonlight the fields were seen to be deserted. Yet, even as they looked, a - gate was lifted from its hinges and thrown through the air. - </p> - <p> - Walton ventured out, but a volley of stones, seemingly from a hundred - hands, was delivered at his head, and he ran back to shelter. Doors and - windows were barred and shuttered, but it made no difference. Stones, too - hot to hold a hand upon, were hurled through glass and down the chimney, - objects in the rooms themselves were picked up and flung at Walton, - candles were blown out, a hand without a body tapped at the window, locks - and bars and keys were bent as if by hammer-blows, a cheese-press was - smashed against the wall and the cheese spoiled, hay-stacks in the field - were broken up and the hay tossed into branches of trees. For a long time - Walton could not go out at night without being assailed with stones. Bell, - book, candle, and witch-broth availed nothing, and it was many a day - before peace came to the Walton household. - </p> - <p> - In 1802 an epidemic of assault went through the Berkshire Hills. The - performance began in a tailor's shop in Salisbury, Connecticut, at eleven - of the clock on the night of November 2, when a stick and lumps of stone, - charcoal, and mortar were flung through a window. The moon was up, but - nothing could be seen, and the bombardment was continued until after - daylight. After doing some damage here the assailants went to the house of - Ezekiel Landon and rapped away there for a week. Persons were struck by - the missiles, and quantities of glass were destroyed. Nothing could be - seen coming toward the windows until the glass broke, and it was seldom - that anything passed far into a room. No matter how hard it was thrown, it - dropped softly and surely on the sill, inside, as if a hand had put it - there. Windows were broken on both sides of buildings at the same time, - and many sticks and stones came through the same holes in the panes, as if - aimed carefully by a gunner. - </p> - <p> - A hamlet that stood in Sage's ravine, on the east side of the Dome of the - Taconics, was assailed in the same way after nightfall. One house was - considerably injured. No causes for the performance were ever discovered, - and nobody in the place was known to have an enemy—at least, a - malicious one. - </p> - <p> - At Whitmire Hill, Georgia, the spot where two murders were committed - before the war, is a headless phantom that comes thundering down on the - wayfarer on the back of a giant horse and vanishes at the moment when the - heart of his prospective victim is bumping against his palate. At times, - however, this spook prefers to remain invisible, and then it is a little - worse, for it showers stones and sods on the pedestrian until his legs - have carried him well beyond the phantom's jurisdiction. - </p> - <p> - The legends of buried treasure, instanced in another place, frequently - include assaults by the ghosts of pirates and misers on the daring ones - who try to resurrect their wealth. - </p> - <p> - Forty-seven years ago, in the township of St. Mary's, Illinois, two lads - named Groves and a companion named Kirk were pelted with snowballs while - on their way home from a barn where they had been to care for the stock - for the night. The evening had shut in dark, and the accuracy of the - thrower's aim was the more remarkable because it was hardly possible to - see more than a rod away. The snowballs were packed so tightly that they - did not break on striking, though they were thrown with force, and Kirk - was considerably bruised by them. Mr. Groves went out with a lantern, but - its rays lit up a field of untrodden snow, and there was no sound except - that made by the wind as it whistled past the barn and fences. Toward dawn - another inspection was made, and in the dim light the snowballs were seen - rising from the middle of a field that had not a footprint on it, and - flying toward the spectators like bullets. They ran into the field and - laid about them with pitchforks, but nothing came of that, and not until - the sun arose was the pelting stopped. Young Kirk, who was badly hurt, - died within a year. - </p> - <p> - The men of Sharon, Connecticut, having wheedled their town-site from the - Indians in 1754, were plagued thereafter by whoops and whistlings and the - throwing of stones. Men were seen in the starlight and were fired upon, - but without effect, and the disturbances were not ended until the Indians - had received a sum of money. - </p> - <p> - Without presuming to doubt the veracity of tradition in these matters, an - incident from the writer's boyhood in New England may be instanced. The - house of an unpopular gentleman was assailed—not in the ostentatious - manner just described, yet in a way that gave him a good deal of trouble. - Dead cats appeared mysteriously in his neighborhood; weird noises arose - under his windows; he tried to pick up letters from his doorstep that - became mere chalk-marks at his touch, so that he took up only splinters - under his nails. One night, as a seance was about beginning in his yard, - he emerged from a clump of bushes, flew in the direction of the - disturbance, laid violent hands on the writer's collar, and bumped his - nose on a paving-stone. Then the manifestations were discontinued, for - several nights, for repairs. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0272" id="link2H_4_0272"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - STORIED SPRINGS - </h2> - <p> - Like the Greeks, the red men endowed the woods and waters with tutelary - sprites, and many of the springs that are now resorted to as fountains of - healing were known long before the settlement of Europeans here, the gains - from drinking of them being ascribed to the beneficence of spirit - guardians. The earliest comers to these shores—or, rather, the - earliest of those who entertained such beliefs—fancied that the - fabled fountain of eternal youth would be found among the other blessings - of the land. To the Spaniards Florida was a land of promise and mystery. - Somewhere in its interior was fabled to stand a golden city ruled by a - king whose robes sparkled with precious dust, and this city was named for - the adventurer—El Dorado, or the Place of the Gilded One. Here, they - said, would be found the elixir of life. The beautiful Silver Spring, near - the head of the Ocklawaha, with its sandy bottom plainly visible at the - depth of eighty feet, was thought to be the source of the life-giving - waters, but, though Ponce de Leon heard of this, he never succeeded in - fighting his way to it through the jungle. - </p> - <p> - In Georgia, in the reputed land of Chicora, were a sacred stream that made - all young again who bathed there, and a spring so delectable that a band - of red men, chancing on it in a journey, could not leave it, and are there - forever. - </p> - <p> - In the island of “Bimini,” one of the Lucayos (Bahamas), was another such - a fountain. - </p> - <p> - Between the Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers the Creeks declared was a spring of - life, on an island in a marsh, defended from approach by almost - impenetrable labyrinths,—a heaven where the women were fairer than - any other on earth. - </p> - <p> - The romantic and superstitious Spaniards believed these legends, and spent - years and treasure in searching for these springs. And, surely, if the new - and striking scenes of this Western world caused Columbus to “boast that - he had found the seat of paradise, it will not appear strange that Ponce - de Leon should dream of discovering the fountain of youth.” - </p> - <p> - The Yuma Apaches had been warned by one of their oracles never to enter a - certain canon in Castle Dome range, Arizona, but a company of them forgot - this caution while in chase of deer, and found themselves between walls of - pink and white fluorite with a spring bubbling at the head of the ravine. - Tired and heated, they fell on their faces to drink, when they found that - the crumbling quartz that formed the basin of the spring was filled with - golden nuggets. Eagerly gathering up this precious substance, for they - knew what treasure of beads, knives, arrows, and blankets the Mexicans - would exchange for it, they attempted to make their way out of the canon; - but a cloudburst came, and on the swiftly rising tide all were swept away - but one, who survived to tell the story. White men have frequently but - vainly tried to find that spring. - </p> - <p> - In Southwestern Kansas, on a hill a quarter-mile from Solomon River, is - the Sacred Water, pooled in a basin thirty feet across. When many stand - about the brink it slowly rises. Here two Panis stopped on their return - from a buffalo hunt, and one of them unwittingly stepped on a turtle a - yard long. Instantly he felt his feet glued to the monster's back, for, - try as he might, he could not disengage himself, and the creature lumbered - away to the pool, where it sank with him. There the turtle god remains, - and beads, arrows, ear-rings, and pipes that are dropped in, it swallows - greedily. The Indians use the water to mix their paint with, but never for - drinking. - </p> - <p> - The mail rider, crossing the hot desert of Arizona, through the cacti and - over holes where scorpions hide, makes for Devil's Well, under El Diablo—a - dark pool surrounded with gaunt rocks. Here, coming when the night is on, - he lies down, and the wind swishing in the sage—brush puts him to - sleep. At dawn he wakens with the frightened whinny of his horse in his - ears and, all awake, looks about him. A stranger, wrapped in a tattered - blanket, is huddled in a recess of the stones, arrived there, like - himself, at night, perhaps. Poising his rifle on his knee, the rider - challenges him, but never a sign the other makes. Then, striding over to - him, he pulls away the blanket and sees a shrivelled corpse with a face - that he knows—his brother. Hardly is this meeting made when a hail - of arrows falls around. His horse is gone. The Apaches, who know no - gentleness and have no mercy, have manned every gap and sheltering rock. - With his rifle he picks them off, as they rise in sight with arrows at the - string, and sends them tumbling into the dust; but, when his last bullet - has sped into a red man's heart, they rise in a body and with knives and - hatchets hew him to death. And that is why the Devil's Well still tastes - of blood. - </p> - <p> - Among the Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina is a large spring - that promises refreshment, but, directly that the wayfarer bends over the - water, a grinning face appears at the bottom and as he stoops it rises to - meet his. So hideous is this demon that few of the mountaineers have - courage to drink here, and they refuse to believe that the apparition is - caused by the shape of the basin, or aberrated reflection of their own - faces. They say it is the visage of a “haunt,” for a Cherokee girl, who - had uncommon beauty, once lived hard by, and took delight in luring lovers - from less favored maidens. The braves were jealous of each other, and the - women were jealous of her, while she—the flirt!—rejoiced in - the trouble that she made. A day fell for a wedding—that of a hunter - with a damsel of his tribe, but at the hour appointed the man was missing. - Mortified and hurt, the bride stole away from the village and began a - search of the wood, and she carried bow and arrows in her hand. Presently - she came on the hunter, lying at the feet of the coquette, who was - listening to his words with encouraging smiles. Without warning the - deserted girl drew an arrow to the head and shot her lover through the - heart—then, beside his lifeless body, she begged Manitou to make her - rival's face so hideous that all would be frightened who looked at it. At - the words the beautiful creature felt her face convulse and shrivel, and, - rushing to the mirror of the spring, she looked in, only to start back in - loathing. When she realized that the frightful visage that glared up at - her was her own, she uttered a cry of despair and flung herself into the - water, where she drowned. - </p> - <p> - It is her face—so altered as to disclose the evil once hid behind it—that - peers up at the hardy one who passes there and knows it as the Haunted - Spring. - </p> - <p> - The medicinal properties of the mineral springs at Ballston and Saratoga - were familiar to the Indians, and High Rock Spring, to which Sir William - Johnson was carried by the Mohawks in 1767 to be cured of a wound, was - called “the medicine spring of the Great Spirit,” for it was believed that - the leaping and bubbling of the water came from its agitation by hands not - human, and red men regarded it with reverence. - </p> - <p> - The springs at Manitou, Colorado (see “Division of Two Tribes”), were - always approached with gifts for the manitou that lived in them. - </p> - <p> - The lithia springs of Londonderry, New Hampshire, used to be visited by - Indians from the Merrimack region, who performed incantations and dances - to ingratiate themselves with the healing spirit that lived in the water. - Their stone implements and arrow-heads are often found in adjacent fields. - </p> - <p> - The curative properties of Milford Springs, New Hampshire, were revealed - in the dream of a dying boy. - </p> - <p> - A miracle spring flowed in the old days near the statue of the Virgin at - White Marsh, Maryland. - </p> - <p> - Biddeford Pool, Maine, was a miracle pond once a year, for whoso bathed - there on the 26th of June would be restored to health if he were ill, - because that day was the joint festival of Saints Anthelm and Maxentius. - </p> - <p> - There was a wise and peaceable chief of the Ute tribe who always - counselled his people to refrain from war, but when he grew old the fiery - spirits deposed him and went down to the plains to give battle to the - Arapahoe. News came that they had been defeated in consequence of their - rashness. Then the old man's sorrow was so keen that his heart broke. But - even in death he was beneficent, for his spirit entered the earth and - forthwith came a gush of water that has never ceased to flow—the Hot - Sulphur Springs of Colorado. The Utes often used to go to those springs to - bathe—and be cured of rheumatism—before they were driven away. - </p> - <p> - Spring River, Arkansas, is nearly as large at its source as at its mouth, - for Mammoth Spring, in the Ozark Mountains, where it has its rise, has a - yield of ninety thousand gallons a minute, so that it is, perhaps, the - largest in the world. Here, three hundred years ago, the Indians had - gathered for a month's feast, for chief Wampahseesah's daughter—Nitilita—was - to wed a brave of many ponies, a hundred of which he had given in earnest - of his love. For weeks no rain had fallen, and, while the revel was at its - height, news came that all the rivers had gone dry. Several young men set - off with jars, to fill them at the Mississippi, and, confident that relief - would come, the song and dance went on until the men and women faltered - from exhaustion. At last, Nitilita died, and, in the wildness of his - grief, the husband smote his head upon a rock and perished too. Next day - the hunters came with water, but, incensed by their delay, the chief - ordered them to be slain in sacrifice to the manes of the dead. A large - grave was dug and the last solemnities were begun when there was a roaring - and a shaking in the earth—it parted, and the corpses disappeared in - the abyss. Then from the pit arose a flood of water that went foaming down - the valley. Crazed with grief, remorse, and fear, Wampahseesah flung - himself into the torrent and was borne to his death. The red men built a - dam there later, and often used to sit before it in the twilight, - watching, as they declared, the faces of the dead peering at them through - the foam. - </p> - <p> - During the rush for the California gold-fields in the '50's a party took - the route by Gila River, and set across the desert. The noon temperature - was 120, the way was strewn with skeletons of wagons, horses, and men, and - on the second night after crossing the Colorado the water had given out. - The party had gathered on the sands below Yuma, the men discussing the - advisability of returning, the women full of apprehension, the young ones - crying, the horses panting; but presently the talk fell low, for in one of - the wagons a child's voice was heard in prayer: “Oh, good heavenly Father, - I know I have been a naughty girl, but I am so thirsty, and mamma and papa - and baby all want a drink so much! Do, good God, give us water, and I - never will be naughty again.” One of the men said, earnestly, “May God - grant it!” In a few moments the child cried, “Mother, get me water. Get - some for baby and me. I can hear it running.” The horses and mules nearly - broke from the traces, for almost at their feet a spring had burst from - the sand-warm, but pure. Their sufferings were over. The water continued - to flow, running north for twenty miles, and at one point spreading into a - lake two miles wide and twenty feet deep. When emigration was diverted, - two years later, to the northern route and to the isthmus, New River - Spring dried up. Its mission was over. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0273" id="link2H_4_0273"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - LOVERS' LEAPS - </h2> - <p> - So few States in this country—and so few countries, if it comes to - that—are without a lover's leap that the very name has come to be a - by-word. In most of these places the disappointed ones seem to have gone - to elaborate and unusual pains to commit suicide, neglecting many easy and - equally appropriate methods. But while in some cases the legend has been - made to fit the place, there is no doubt that in many instances the story - antedated the arrival of the white men. The best known lovers' leaps are - those on the upper Mississippi, on the French Broad, Jump Mountain, in - Virginia, Jenny Jump Mountain, New Jersey, Mackinac, Michigan, Monument - Mountain, Massachusetts, on the Wissahickon, near Philadelphia, Muscatine, - Iowa, and Lefferts Height. There are many other declivities,—also, - that are scenes of leaps and adventures, such as the Fawn's Leap, in - Kaaterskill Clove; Rogers's Rock, on Lake George; the rocks in Long - Narrows, on the Juniata, where the ghost of Captain Jack, “the wild - hunter” of colonial days, still ranges; Campbell's Ledge, Pittston, - Pennsylvania, where its name-giver jumped off to escape Indians; and - Peabody's leap, of thirty feet, on Lake Champlain, where Tim Peabody, a - scout, escaped after killing a number of savages. - </p> - <p> - At Jump Mountain, near Lexington, Virginia, an Indian couple sprang off - because there were insuperable bars to their marriage. - </p> - <p> - At the rock on the Wissahickon a girl sought death because her lover was - untrue to her. - </p> - <p> - At Muscatine the cause of a maid's demise and that of her lover was the - severity of her father, who forbade the match because there was no war in - which the young man could prove his courage. - </p> - <p> - At Lefferts Height a girl stopped her recreant lover as he was on his way - to see her rival, and urging his horse to the edge of the bluff she leaped - with him into the air. - </p> - <p> - Monument Mountain, a picturesque height in the Berkshires, is faced on its - western side by a tall precipice, from which a girl flung herself because - the laws of her tribe forbade her marriage with a cousin to whom she had - plighted troth. She was buried where her body was found, and each Indian - as he passed the spot laid a stone on her grave—thus, in time, - forming a monument. - </p> - <p> - “Purgatory,” the chasm at Newport, Rhode Island, through which the sea - booms loudly after a storm, was a scene of self-sacrifice to a hopeless - love on the part of an Indian pair in a later century, though there is an - older tradition of the seizure of a guilty squaw, by no less a person than - the devil himself, who flung her from the cliff and dragged her soul away - as it left her body. His hoof-marks were formerly visible on the rocks. - </p> - <p> - At Hot Springs, North Carolina, two conspicuous cliffs are pointed out on - the right bank of the French Broad River: Paint Rock—where the - aborigines used to get ochre to smear their faces, and which they - decorated with hieroglyphics—and Lover's Leap. It is claimed that - the latter is the first in this country known to bear this sentimental and - tragically suggestive title. There are two traditions concerning it, one - being that an Indian girl was discovered at its top by hostiles who drove - her into the gulf below, the other relating to the wish of an Indian to - marry a girl of a tribe with which his own had been immemorially at war. - The match was opposed on both sides, so, instead of doing as most Indians - and some white men would do nowadays—marry the girl and let - reconciliation come in time,—he scaled the rock in her company and - leaped with her into the stream. They awoke as man and wife in the happy - hunting-ground. - </p> - <p> - In 1700 there lived in the village of Keoxa, below Frontenac, Minnesota, - on the Mississippi River, a Dakota girl named Winona (the First Born), who - was loved by a hunter in her tribe, and loved him in return. Her friends - commended to her affections a young chief who had valiantly defended the - village against an attack of hostiles, but Juliet would none of this dusky - Count de Paris, adhering faithfully to her Romeo. Unable to move her by - argument, her family at length drove her lover away, and used other harsh - measures to force her into a repugnant union, but she replied, “You are - driving me to despair. I do not love this chief, and cannot live with him. - You are my father, my brothers, my relatives, yet you drive from me the - only man with whom I wish to be united. Alone he ranges through the - forest, with no one to build his lodge, none to spread his blanket, none - to wait on him. Soon you will have neither daughter, sister, nor relative - to torment with false professions.” Blazing with anger at this - unsubmissive speech, her father declared that she should marry the chief - on that very day, but while the festival was in preparation she stole to - the top of the crag that has since been known as Maiden's Rock, and there, - four hundred feet above the heads of the people, upbraided those who had - formerly professed regard for her. Then she began her death-song. Some of - the men tried to scale the cliff and avert the tragedy that it was evident - would shortly be enacted, and her father, his displeasure forgotten in an - agony of apprehension, called to her that he would no longer oppose her - choice. She gave no heed to their appeals, but, when the song was - finished, walked to the edge of the rock, leaped out, and rolled lifeless - at the feet of her people. - </p> - <p> - When we say that the real name of Lover's Leap in Mackinac is - Mechenemockenungoqua, we trust that it will not be repeated. It has its - legend, however, as well as its name, for an Ojibway girl stood on this - spire of rock, watching for her lover after a battle had been fought and - her people were returning. Eagerly she scanned the faces of the braves as - their war-canoes swept by, but the face she looked for was not among them. - Her lover was at that moment tied to a tree, with an arrow in his heart. - As she looked at the boats a vision of his fate revealed itself, and the - dead man, floating toward her, beckoned. Her death-song sounded in the - ears of the men, but before they could reach her she had gone swiftly to - the verge, her hands extended, her eyes on vacancy, and her spirit had met - her lover's. - </p> - <p> - From this very rock, in olden time, leaped the red Eve when the red Adam - had been driven away by a devil who had fallen in love with her. Adam, who - was paddling by the shore, saw she was about to fall, rushed forward, - caught her, and saved her life. The law of gravitation in those days did - not act with such distressing promptitude as now. Manitou, hearing of - these doings, restored them to the island and banished the devil, who fell - to a world of evil spirits underground, where he became the father of the - white race, and has ever since persecuted the Indians by proxy. - </p> - <p> - On the same island of Mackinac the English had a fort, the garrison of - which was massacred in 1763. A sole survivor—a young officer named - Robinson—owed his life to a pretty half-breed who gave him hiding in - a secluded wigwam. As the spot assured him of safety, and the girl was his - only companion, they lived together as man and wife, rather happily, for - several years. When the fort had been built again, Robinson re-entered the - service, and appeared at head-quarters with a wife of his own color. His - Indian consort showed no jealousy. On the contrary, she consented to live - apart in a little house belonging to the station, on the cliff, called - Robinson's Folly. She did ask her lover to go there and sit with her for - an hour before they separated forever, and he granted this request. While - they stood at the edge of the rock she embraced him; then, stepping back, - with her arms still around his neck, she fell from the cliff, dragging him - with her, and both were killed. The edge of the rock fell shortly after, - carrying the house with it. - </p> - <p> - Matiwana, daughter of the chief of the Omahas, whose village was near the - mouth of Omaha Creek, married a faithless trader from St. Louis, who had - one wife already, and who returned to her, after an absence among his own - people, with a third, a woman of his own color. He coldly repelled the - Indian woman, though he promised to send her boy—and his—to - the settlements to be educated. She turned away with only a look, and a - few days later was found dead at the foot of a bluff near her home. - </p> - <p> - White Rocks, one hundred and fifty feet above Cheat River, in Fayette - County, Pennsylvania, were the favorite tryst of a handsome girl, the - daughter of a well-to-do farmer of that region, and a dashing fellow who - had gone into that country to hunt. They had many happy days there on the - hill together, but after making arrangements for the wedding they - quarrelled, nobody knew for what. One evening they met by accident on the - rocks, and appeared to be in formal talk when night came on and they could - no longer be seen. The girl did not return, and her father set off with a - search party to look for her. They found her, dead and mangled, at the - foot of the rocks. Her lover, in a fit of impatience, had pushed her and - she had staggered and fallen over. He fled at once, and, under a changed - name and changed appearance, eluded pursuit. When the War of the Rebellion - broke out, he entered the army and fought recklessly, for by that time he - had tired of life and hoped to die. But it was of no use. He was only made - captain for a bravery that he was not conscious of showing, and the old - remorse still preyed on him. It was after the war that something took him - back to Fayette County, and on a pleasant day he climbed the rocks to take - a last look at the scenes that had been brightened by love and saddened by - regret. He had not been long on its summit when an irresistible impulse - came upon him to leap down where the girl had fallen, and atone with his - own blood for the shedding of hers. He gave way to this prompting, and the - fall was fatal. - </p> - <p> - Some years before the outbreak of the Civil War a man with his wife and - daughter took up their residence in a log cabin at the foot of Sunrise - Rock, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. It seemed probable that they had known - better days, for the head of the household was notoriously useless in the - eyes of his neighbors, and was believed to get his living through “writin' - or book-larnin',” but he was so quiet and gentle that they never upbraided - him, and would sometimes, after making a call, wander into his garden and - casually weed it for him for an hour or so. The girl, Stella, was a - well-schooled, quick-witted, rosy-cheeked lass, whom all the shaggy, - big-jointed farmer lads of the neighborhood regarded with hopeless - admiration. A year or two after the settlement of the family it began to - be noticed that she was losing color and had an anxious look, and when a - friendly old farmer saw her talking in the lane with a lawyer from - Chattanooga, who wore broadcloth and had a gold watch, he was puzzled that - the “city chap” did not go home with her, but kissed his hand to her as he - turned away. Afterward the farmer met the pair again, and while the girl - smiled and said, “Howdy, Uncle Joe?” the lawyer turned away and looked - down the river. It was the last time that a smile was seen on Stella's - face. A few evenings later she was seen standing on Sunrise Rock, with her - look bent on Chattanooga. The shadow of night crept up the cliff until - only her figure stood in sunlight, with her hair like a golden halo about - her face. At that moment came on the wind the sound of - bells-wedding-bells. Pressing her hands to her ears, the girl walked to - the edge of the rock, and a few seconds later her lifeless form rolled - through the bushes at its foot into the road. At her funeral the people - came from far and near to offer sympathy to the mother, garbed in black, - and the father, with his hair turned white, but the lawyer from - Chattanooga was not there. - </p> - <p> - The name of Indian Maiden's Cliff—applied to a precipice that hangs - above the wild ravine of Stony Clove, in the Catskills—commemorates - the sequel to an elopement from her tribe of an Indian girl and her lover. - The parents and relatives had opposed the match with that fatal fatuity - that appears to be characteristic of story-book Indians, and as soon as - word of her flight came to the village they set off in chase. While - hurrying through the tangled wood the young couple were separated and the - girl found herself on the edge of the cliff. Farther advance was - impossible. Her pursuers were close behind. She must yield or die. She - chose not to yield, and, with a despairing cry, flung herself into the - shadows. - </p> - <p> - Similar to this is the tale of Lover's Leap in the dells of the Sioux, - among the Black Hills of South Dakota. - </p> - <p> - At New Milford, Connecticut, they show you Falls Mountain, with the cairn - erected by his tribe in 1735 to chief Waramaug, who wished to be buried - there, so that, when he was cold and lonely in the other life, he could - return to his body and muse on the lovely landscape that he so enjoyed. - The will-o'-the-wisp flickered on the mountain's edge at night, and flecks - of dew-vapor that floated from the wood by day were sometimes thought to - be the spirit of the chief. He had a daughter, Lillinonah, whose story is - related to Lover's Leap, on the riverward side of the mountain. She had - led to the camp a white man, who had been wandering beside the Housatonic, - ill and weak, vainly seeking a way out of the wilderness, and, in spite of - the dark looks that were cast at him and her, she succeeded in making him, - for that summer, a member of the tribe. As the man grew strong with her - care he grew happy and he fell in love. In the autumn he said to her, “I - wish to see my people, and when I have done so I will come back to you and - we shall be man and wife.” They parted regretfully and the winter passed - for the girl on leaden feet. With spring came hope. The trails were open, - and daily she watched for her white lover. The summer came and went, and - the autumn was there again. She had grown pale and sad, and old Waramaug - said to young Eagle Feather, who had looked softly on her for many years, - “The girl sickens in loneliness. You shall wed her.” This is repeated to - her, and that evening she slips away to the river, enters a canoe, casts - away the paddle, and drifts down the stream. Slowly, at first, but faster - and faster, as the rapids begin to draw it, skims the boat, but above the - hoarse brawling of the waters she hears a song in a voice that she knows—the - merry troll of a light heart. The branches part at Lover's Leap and her - lover looks down upon her. The joyous glance of recognition changes to a - look of horror, for the boat is caught. The girl rises and holds her arms - toward him in agonized appeal. Life, at any cost! He, with a cry, leaps - into the flood as the canoe is passing. It lurches against a rock and - Lillinonah is thrown out. He reaches her. The falls bellow in their ears. - They take a last embrace, and two lives go out in the growing darkness. - </p> - <p> - <a name="link2H_4_0274" id="link2H_4_0274"> - <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> - </p> - <div style="height: 4em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> - <h2> - GOD ON THE MOUNTAINS - </h2> - <p> - From the oldest time men have associated the mountains with visitations of - God. Their height, their vastness, their majesty made them seem worthy to - be stairs by which the Deity might descend to earth, and they stand in - religious and poetic literature to this day as symbols of the largest - mental conceptions. Scriptural history is intimately associated with them, - and the giving of the law on Sinai, amid thunder and darkness, is one of - the most tremendous pictures that imagination can paint. Ararat, Hermon, - Horeb, Pisgah, Calvary, Adam's Peak, Parnassus, Olympus! How full of - suggestion are these names! And poetic figures in sacred writings are full - of allusion to the beauty, nobility, and endurance of the hills. - </p> - <p> - It is little known that many of our own mountains are associated with - aboriginal legends of the Great Spirit. According to the Indians of - California, Mount Shasta was the first part of the earth to be made. The - Great Spirit broke a hole through the floor of heaven with a rock, and on - the spot where this rock had stopped he flung down more rocks, with earth - and snow and ice, until the mass had gained such a height that he could - step from the sky to its summit. Running his hands over its sides he - caused forests to spring up. The leaves that he plucked he breathed upon, - tossed into the air, and, lo! they were birds. Out of his own staff he - made beasts and fishes, to live on the hills and in the streams, that - began to appear as the work of worldbuilding went on. The earth became so - joyous and so fair that he resolved at last to live on it, and he hollowed - Shasta into a wigwam, where he dwelt for centuries, the smoke of his - lodge-fire (Shasta is a volcano) being often seen pouring from the cone - before the white man came. - </p> - <p> - According to the Oregon Indians the first man was created at the base of - the Cascade Range, near Wood River, by Kmukamtchiksh, “the old man of the - ancients,” who had already made the world. The Klamaths believe - Kmukamtchiksh a treacherous spirit, “a typical beast god,” yet that he - punishes the wicked by turning them into rocks on the mountain-sides or by - putting them into volcanic fires. - </p> - <p> - Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin, was the home of strange beings who occupied - caverns that few dared to enter. Enchanted rivers flowed through these - caves to heaven. The Catskills and Adirondacks were abodes of powerful - beings, and the Highlands of the Hudson were a wall within which Manitou - confined a host of rebellious spirits. When the river burst through this - bulwark and poured into the sea, fifty miles below, these spirits took - flight, and many succeeded in escaping. But others still haunt the ravines - and bristling woods, and when Manitou careers through the Hudson canon on - his car of cloud, crying with thunder voice, and hurling his lightnings to - right and left as he passes, the demons scream and howl in rage and fear - lest they be recaptured and shut up forever beneath the earth. - </p> - <p> - The White Mountains were held in awe by Indians, to whom they were homes - of great and blessed spirits. Mount Washington was their Olympus and - Ararat in one, for there dwelt God, and there, when the earth was covered - with a flood, lived the chief and his wife, whom God had saved, sending - forth a hare, after the waters had subsided, to learn if it were safe to - descend. From them the whole country was peopled with red men. Yet woe - betide the intruder on this high and holy ground, for an angered deity - condemned him to wander for ages over the desolate peaks and through the - shadowy chasms rifted down their sides. The despairing cries of these - condemned ones, in winter storms, even frightened the early white settlers - in this region, and in 1784 the women of Conway petitioned three clergymen - “to lay the spirits.” - </p> - <p> - Other ark and deluge legends relate to the Superstition Mountains, in - Arizona, Caddoes village, on Red River, Cerro Naztarny, on the Rio Grande, - the peak of Old Zuni, in Mexico, Colhuacan, on the Pacific coast, Mount - Apaola, in upper Mixteca, and Mount Neba, in Guaymi. The Northwestern - Indians tell of a flood in which all perished save one man, who fled to - Mount Tacoma. To prevent him from being swept away a spirit turned him - into stone. When the flood had fallen the deity took one of his ribs and - made a woman of it. Then he touched the stone man back to life. - </p> - <p> - There were descendants of Manitou on the mountains, too, of North - Carolina, but the Cherokees believe that those heights are bare because - the devil strode over them on his way to the Devil's Court House - (Transylvania County, North Carolina), where he sat in judgment and - claimed his own. Monsters were found in the White Mountains. Devil's Den, - on the face of Mount Willard, was the lair of one of them—a strange, - winged creature that strewed the floor of its cave with brute and human - skeletons, after preying on their flesh. - </p> - <p> - The ideas of supernatural occurrences in these New Hampshire hills - obtained until a recent date, and Sunday Mountain is a monument to the - dire effects of Sabbath-breaking that was pointed out to several - generations of New Hampshire youth for their moral betterment. The story - goes that a man of the adjacent town of Oxford took a walk one Sunday, - when he should have taken himself to church; and, straying into the woods - here, he was delivered into the claws and maws of an assemblage of bears - that made an immediate and exemplary conclusion of him. - </p> - <p> - The grand portrait in rock in Profile Notch was regarded with reverence by - the few red men who ventured into that lonely defile. When white men saw - it they said it resembled Washington, and a Yankee orator is quoted as - saying, “Men put out signs representing their different trades. Jewellers - hang out a monster watch, shoemakers a huge boot, and, up in Franconia, - God Almighty has hung out a sign that in New England He makes men.” - </p> - <p> - To Echo Lake, close by, the deity was wont to repair that he might - contemplate the beauties of nature, and the clear, repeated echoes were - his voice, speaking in gentleness or anger. Moosilauke—meaning a - bald place, and wrongly called Moose Hillock—was declared by - Waternomee, chief of the Pemigewassets, to be the home of the Great - Spirit, and the first time that red men tried to gain the summit they - returned in fear, crying that Gitche Manitou was riding home in anger on a - storm—which presently, indeed, burst over the whole country. Few - Indians dared to climb the mountain after that, and the first fruits of - the harvest and first victims of the chase were offered in propitiation to - the deity. At Seven Cascades, on its eastern slope, one of Rogers's - Rangers, retreating after the Canadian foray, fell to the ground, too - tired for further motion, when a distant music of harps mingled with the - cascade's plash, and directly the waters were peopled with forms glowing - with silver-white, like the moonstone, that rose and circled, hand in - hand, singing gayly as they did so. The air then seemed to be flooded with - rosy light and thousands of sylvan genii ascended altars of rock, by steps - of rainbow, to offer incense and greet the sun with song. A dark cloud - passed, daylight faded, and a vision arose of the massacre at St. Francis, - a retreat through untried wilderness, a feast on human heads, torture, and - death; then his senses left the worn and starving man. But a trapper who - had seen his trail soon reached him and led him to a friendly settlement, - where he was told that only to those who were about to take their leave of - earth was it given to know those spirits of fountain and forest that - offered their voices, on behalf of nature, in praise of the Great Spirit. - To those of grosser sense, on whom the weight of worldliness still rested, - this halcyon was never revealed. - </p> - <p> - It was to Mount Washington that the Great Spirit summoned Passaconaway, - when his work was done, and there was his apotheosis. - </p> - <p> - The Indians account in this manner for the birth of the White Mountains: A - red hunter who had wandered for days through the forest without finding - game dropped exhausted on the snow, one night, and awaited death. But he - fell asleep and dreamed. In his vision he saw a beautiful mountain country - where birds and beasts and fruits were plenty, and, awaking from his - sleep, he found that day had come. Looking about the frozen wilderness in - despair, he cried, “Great Master of Life, where is this country that I - have seen?” And even as he spoke the Master appeared and gave to him a - spear and a coal. The hunter dropped the coal on the ground, when a fire - spread from it, the rocks burning with dense smoke, out of which came the - Master's voice, in thunder tones, bidding the mountains rise. The earth - heaved and through the reek the terrified man saw hills and crags lifting—lifting—until - their tops reached above the clouds, and from the far summits sounded the - promise, “Here shall the Great Spirit live and watch over his children.” - Water now burst from the rocks and came laughing down the hollows in a - thousand brooks and rills, the valleys unfolded in leaf and bloom, birds - sang in the branches, butterflies-like winged flowers flitted to and fro, - the faint and cheerful noise of insect life came from the herbage, the - smoke rolled away, a genial sun blazed out, and, as the hunter looked in - rapture on the mighty peaks of the Agiochooks, God stood upon their crest. - </p> - <div style="height: 6em;"> - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - </div> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, -Complete, by Charles M. 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Skinner - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete - -Author: Charles M. Skinner - -Release Date: October 22, 2006 [EBook #6615] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS AND LEGENDS *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - -MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OUR OWN LAND - -By Charles M. Skinner - - - - -CONTENTS: - -THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - -Rip Van Winkle -Catskill Gnomes -The Catskill Witch -The Revenge of Shandaken -Condemned to the Noose -Big Indian -The Baker's Dozen -The Devil's Dance-Chamber -The Culprit Fay -Pokepsie -Dunderberg -Anthony's Nose -Moodua Creek -A Trapper's Ghastly Vengeance -The Vanderdecken of Tappan Zee -The Galloping Hessian -Storm Ship on the Hudson -Why Spuyten Duyvil is so Named -The Ramapo Salamander -Chief Croton -The Retreat from Mahopac -Niagara -The Deformed of Zoar -Horseheads -Kayuta and Waneta -The Drop Star -The Prophet of Palmyra -A Villain's Cremation -The Monster Mosquito -The Green Picture -The Nuns of Carthage -The Skull in the Wall -The Haunted Mill -Old Indian Face -The Division of the Saranacs -An Event in Indian Park -The Indian Plume -Birth of the Water-Lily -Rogers's Slide -The Falls at Cohoes -Francis Woolcott's Night-Riders -Polly's Lover -Crosby, the Patriot Spy -The Lost Grave of Paine -The Rising of Gouverneur Morris - - -THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - -Dolph Heyliger -The Knell at the Wedding -Roistering Dirck Van Dara -The Party from Gibbet Island -Miss Britton's Poker -The Devil's Stepping-Stones -The Springs of Blood and Water -The Crumbling Silver -The Cortelyou Elopement -Van Wempel's Goose -The Weary Watcher -The Rival Fiddlers -Wyandank -Mark of the Spirit Hand -The First Liberal Church - - -ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - -The Phantom Dragoon -Delaware Water Gap -The Phantom Drummer -The Missing Soldier of Valley Forge -The Last Shot at Germantown -A Blow in the Dark -The Tory's Conversion -Lord Percy's Dream -Saved by the Bible -Parricide of the Wissahickon -The Blacksmith at Brandywine -Father and Son -The Envy of Manitou -The Last Revel in Printz Hall -The Two Rings -Flame Scalps of the Chartiers -The Consecration of Washington -Marion - - -TALES OF PURITAN LAND - -Evangeline -The Snoring of Swunksus -The Lewiston Hermit -The Dead Ship of Harpswell -The Schoolmaster had not reached Orrington -Jack Welch's Death Light -Mogg Megone -The Lady Ursula -Father Moody's Black Veil -The Home of Thunder -The Partridge Witch -The Marriage of Mount Katahdin -The Moose of Mount Kineo -The Owl Tree -A Chestnut Log -The Watcher on White Island -Chocorua -Passaconaway's Ride to Heaven -The Ball Game by the Saco -The White Mountains -The Vision on Mount Adams -The Great Carbuncle -Skinner's Cave -Yet they call it Lover's Leap -Salem and other Witchcraft -The Gloucester Leaguers -Satan and his Burial-Place -Peter Rugg, the Missing Man -The Loss of Weetamoo -The Fatal Forget-me-not -The Old Mill at Somerville -Edward Randolph's Portrait -Lady Eleanore's Mantle -Howe's Masquerade -Old Esther Dudley -The Loss of Jacob Hurd -The Hobomak -Berkshire Tories -The Revenge of Josiah Breeze -The May-Pole of Merrymount -The Devil and Tom Walker -The Gray Champion -The Forest Smithy -Wahconah Falls -Knocking at the Tomb -The White Deer of Onota -Wizard's Glen -Balanced Rock -Shonkeek-Moonkeek -The Salem Alchemist -Eliza Wharton -Sale of the Southwicks -The Courtship of Myles Standish -Mother Crewe -Aunt Rachel's Curse -Nix's Mate -The Wild Man of Cape Cod -Newbury's Old Elm -Samuel Sewall's Prophecy -The Shrieking Woman -Agnes Surriage -Skipper Ireson's Ride -Heartbreak Hill -Harry Main: The Treasure and the Cats -The Wessaguscus Hanging -The Unknown Champion -Goody Cole -General Moulton and the Devil -The Skeleton in Armor -Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket -Love and Treason -The Headless Skeleton of Swamptown -The Crow and Cat of Hopkins Hill -The Old Stone Mill -Origin of a Name -Micah Rood Apples -A Dinner and its Consequences -The New Haven Storm Ship -The Windham Frogs -The Lamb of Sacrifice -Moodus Noises -Haddam Enchantments -Block Island and the Palatine -The Buccaneer -Robert Lockwood's Fate -Love and Rum - - - -LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - -The Swim at Indian Head -The Moaning Sisters -A Ride for a Bride -Spooks of the Hiawassee -Lake of the Dismal Swamp -The Barge of Defeat -Natural Bridge -The Silence Broken -Siren of the French Broad -The Hunter of Calawassee -Revenge of the Accabee -Toccoa Falls -Two Lives for One -A Ghostly Avenger -The Wraith Ringer of Atlanta -The Swallowing Earthquake -The Last Stand of the Biloxi -The Sacred Fire of Natchez -Pass Christian -The Under Land - - -THE CENTRAL STATES AND GREAT LAKES - -An Averted Peril -The Obstinacy of Saint Clair -The Hundredth Skull -The Crime of Black Swamp -The House Accursed -Marquette's Man-Eater -Michel de Coucy's Troubles -Wallen's Ridge -The Sky Walker of Huron -The Coffin of Snakes -Mackinack -Lake Superior Water Gods -The Witch of Pictured Rocks -The Origin of White Fish -The Spirit of Cloudy -The Sun Fire at Sault Sainte Marie -The Snake God of Belle Isle -Were-Wolves of Detroit -The Escape of Francois Navarre -The Old Lodger -The Nain Rouge -Two Revenges -Hiawatha -The Indian Messiah -The Vision of Rescue -Devil's Lake -The Keusca Elopement -Pipestone -The Virgins' Feast -Falls of St. Anthony -Flying Shadow and Track Maker -Saved by a Lightning-Stroke -The Killing of Cloudy Sky -Providence Hole -The Scare Cure -Twelfth Night at Cahokia -The Spell of Creve Coeur Lake -How the Crime was Revealed -Banshee of the Bad Lands -Standing Rock -The Salt Witch - - -ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - -Over the Divide -The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass -The River of Lost Souls -Riders of the Desert -The Division of Two Tribes -Besieged by Starvation -A Yellowstone Tragedy -The Broad House -The Death Waltz -The Flood at Santa Fe -Goddess of Salt -The Coming of the Navajos -The Ark on Superstition Mountains -The Pale Faced Lightning -The Weird Sentinel at Squaw Peak -Sacrifice of the Toltecs -Ta-Vwots Conquers the Sun -The Comanche Rider -Horned Toad and Giants -The Spider Tower -The Lost Trail -A Battle in the Air - - -ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE - -The Voyager of the Whulge -Tamanous of Tacoma -The Devil and the Dalles -Cascades of the Columbia -The Death of Umatilla -Hunger Valley -The Wrath of Manitou -The Spook of Misery Hill -The Queen of Death Valley -Bridal Veil Fall -The Governor's Right Eye -The Prisoner in American Shaft - - -AS TO BURIED TREASURE - -Kidd's Treasure -Other Buried Wealth - - -STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS - - - - - -PREFACE - -It is unthinkingly said and often, that America is not old enough to have -developed a legendary era, for such an era grows backward as a nation -grows forward. No little of the charm of European travel is ascribed to -the glamour that history and fable have flung around old churches, -castles, and the favored haunts of tourists, and the Rhine and Hudson are -frequently compared, to the prejudice of the latter, not because its -scenery lacks in loveliness or grandeur, but that its beauty has not been -humanized by love of chivalry or faerie, as that of the older stream has -been. Yet the record of our country's progress is of deep import, and as -time goes on the figures seen against the morning twilight of our history -will rise to more commanding stature, and the mists of legend will invest -them with a softness or glory that shall make reverence for them -spontaneous and deep. Washington hurling the stone across the Potomac may -live as the Siegfried of some Western saga, and Franklin invoking the -lightnings may be the Loki of our mythology. The bibliography of American -legends is slight, and these tales have been gathered from sources the -most diverse: records, histories, newspapers, magazines, oral -narrative--in every case reconstructed. The pursuit of them has been so -long that a claim may be set forth for some measure of completeness. - -But, whatever the episodes of our four historic centuries may furnish to -the poet, painter, dramatist, or legend-building idealist of the future, -it is certain that we are not devoid of myth and folk-lore. Some -characters, prosaic enough, perhaps, in daily life, have impinged so -lightly on society before and after perpetrating their one or two great -deeds, that they have already become shadowy and their achievements have -acquired a color of the supernatural. It is where myth and history -combine that legend is most interesting and appeals to our fancy or our -sympathy most strongly; and it is not too early for us to begin the -collation of those quaint happenings and those spoken reports that gain -in picturesqueness with each transmission. An attempt has been made in -this instance to assemble only legends, for, doubtful as some historians -profess to find them, certain occurrences, like the story of Captain -Smith and Pocahontas, and the ride of General Putnam down Breakneck -Stairs, are taught as history; while as to folk-lore, that of the Indian -tribes and of the Southern negro is too copious to be recounted in this -work. It will be noted that traditions do not thrive in brick and -brownstone, and that the stories once rife in the colonial cities have -almost as effectually disappeared as the architectural landmarks of last -century. The field entered by the writer is not untrodden. Hawthorne and -Irving have made paths across it, and it is hoped that others may deem -its farther exploration worthy of their efforts. - - - - -THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS - - - - -RIP VAN WINKLE - -The story of Rip Van Winkle, told by Irving, dramatized by Boucicault, -acted by Jefferson, pictured by Darley, set to music by Bristow, is the -best known of American legends. Rip was a real personage, and the Van -Winkles are a considerable family at this day. An idle, good-natured, -happy-go-lucky fellow, he lived, presumably, in the village of Catskill, -and began his long sleep in 1769. His wife was a shrew, and to escape her -abuse Rip often took his dog and gun and roamed away to the Catskills, -nine miles westward, where he lounged or hunted, as the humor seized him. -It was on a September evening, during a jaunt on South Mountain, that he -met a stubby, silent man, of goodly girth, his round head topped with a -steeple hat, the skirts of his belted coat and flaps of his petticoat -trousers meeting at the tops of heavy boots, and the face--ugh!--green -and ghastly, with unmoving eyes that glimmered in the twilight like -phosphorus. The dwarf carried a keg, and on receiving an intimation, in a -sign, that he would like Rip to relieve him of it, that cheerful vagabond -shouldered it and marched on up the mountain. - -At nightfall they emerged on a little plateau where a score of men in the -garb of long ago, with faces like that of Rip's guide, and equally still -and speechless, were playing bowls with great solemnity, the balls -sometimes rolling over the plateau's edge and rumbling down the rocks -with a boom like thunder. A cloaked and snowy-bearded figure, watching -aloof, turned like the others, and gazed uncomfortably at the visitor who -now came blundering in among them. Rip was at first for making off, but -the sinister glare in the circle of eyes took the run out of his legs, -and he was not displeased when they signed to him to tap the keg and join -in a draught of the ripest schnapps that ever he had tasted,--and he knew -the flavor of every brand in Catskill. While these strange men grew no -more genial with passing of the flagons, Rip was pervaded by a satisfying -glow; then, overcome by sleepiness and resting his head on a stone, he -stretched his tired legs out and fell to dreaming. - -Morning. Sunlight and leaf shadow were dappled over the earth when he -awoke, and rising stiffly from his bed, with compunctions in his bones, -he reached for his gun. The already venerable implement was so far gone -with rot and rust that it fell to pieces in his hand, and looking down at -the fragments of it, he saw that his clothes were dropping from his body -in rags and mould, while a white beard flowed over his breast. Puzzled -and alarmed, shaking his head ruefully as he recalled the carouse of the -silent, he hobbled down the mountain as fast as he might for the grip of -the rheumatism on his knees and elbows, and entered his native village. -What! Was this Catskill? Was this the place that he left yesterday? Had -all these houses sprung up overnight, and these streets been pushed -across the meadows in a day? The people, too: where were his friends? The -children who had romped with him, the rotund topers whom he had left -cooling their hot noses in pewter pots at the tavern door, the dogs that -used to bark a welcome, recognizing in him a kindred spirit of vagrancy: -where were they? - -And his wife, whose athletic arm and agile tongue had half disposed him -to linger in the mountains how happened it that she was not awaiting him -at the gate? But gate there was none in the familiar place: an unfenced -yard of weeds and ruined foundation wall were there. Rip's home was gone. -The idlers jeered at his bent, lean form, his snarl of beard and hair, -his disreputable dress, his look of grieved astonishment. He stopped, -instinctively, at the tavern, for he knew that place in spite of its new -sign: an officer in blue regimentals and a cocked hat replacing the -crimson George III. of his recollection, and labelled "General -Washington." There was a quick gathering of ne'er-do-weels, of -tavern-haunters and gaping 'prentices, about him, and though their faces -were strange and their manners rude, he made bold to ask if they knew -such and such of his friends. - -"Nick Vedder? He's dead and gone these eighteen years." "Brom Dutcher? He -joined the army and was killed at Stony Point." "Van Brummel? He, too, -went to the war, and is in Congress now." - -"And Rip Van Winkle?" - -"Yes, he's here. That's him yonder." - -And to Rip's utter confusion he saw before him a counterpart of himself, -as young, lazy, ragged, and easy-natured as he remembered himself to be, -yesterday--or, was it yesterday? - -"That's young Rip," continued his informer. "His father was Rip Van -Winkle, too, but he went to the mountains twenty years ago and never came -back. He probably fell over a cliff, or was carried off by Indians, or -eaten by bears." - -Twenty years ago! Truly, it was so. Rip had slept for twenty years -without awaking. He had left a peaceful colonial village; he returned to -a bustling republican town. How he eventually found, among the oldest -inhabitants, some who admitted that they knew him; how he found a -comfortable home with his married daughter and the son who took after him -so kindly; how he recovered from the effect of the tidings that his wife -had died of apoplexy, in a quarrel; how he resumed his seat at the tavern -tap and smoked long pipes and told long yarns for the rest of his days, -were matters of record up to the beginning of this century. - -And a strange story Rip had to tell, for he had served as cup-bearer to -the dead crew of the Half Moon. He had quaffed a cup of Hollands with no -other than Henry Hudson himself. Some say that Hudson's spirit has made -its home amid these hills, that it may look into the lovely valley that -he discovered; but others hold that every twenty years he and his men -assemble for a revel in the mountains that so charmed them when first -seen swelling against the western heavens, and the liquor they drink on -this night has the bane of throwing any mortal who lips it into a slumber -whence nothing can arouse him until the day dawns when the crew shall -meet again. As you climb the east front of the mountains by the old -carriage road, you pass, half-way up the height, the stone that Rip Van -Winkle slept on, and may see that it is slightly hollowed by his form. -The ghostly revellers are due in the Catskills in 1909, and let all -tourists who are among the mountains in September of that year beware of -accepting liquor from strangers. - - - - -CATSKILL GNOMES - -Behind the New Grand Hotel, in the Catskills, is an amphitheatre of -mountain that is held to be the place of which the Mohicans spoke when -they told of people there who worked in metals, and had bushy beards and -eyes like pigs. From the smoke of their forges, in autumn, came the haze -of Indian summer; and when the moon was full, it was their custom to -assemble on the edge of a precipice above the hollow and dance and caper -until the night was nigh worn away. They brewed a liquor that had the -effect of shortening the bodies and swelling the heads of all who drank -it, and when Hudson and his crew visited the mountains, the pygmies held -a carouse in his honor and invited him to drink their liquor. The crew -went away, shrunken and distorted by the magic distillation, and thus it -was that Rip Van Winkle found them on the eve of his famous sleep. - - - - -THE CATSKILL WITCH - -When the Dutch gave the name of Katzbergs to the mountains west of the -Hudson, by reason of the wild-cats and panthers that ranged there, they -obliterated the beautiful Indian Ontiora, "mountains of the sky." In one -tradition of the red men these hills were bones of a monster that fed on -human beings until the Great Spirit turned it into stone as it was -floundering toward the ocean to bathe. The two lakes near the summit were -its eyes. These peaks were the home of an Indian witch, who adjusted the -weather for the Hudson Valley with the certainty of a signal service -bureau. It was she who let out the day and night in blessed alternation, -holding back the one when the other was at large, for fear of conflict. -Old moons she cut into stars as soon as she had hung new ones in the sky, -and she was often seen perched on Round Top and North Mountain, spinning -clouds and flinging them to the winds. Woe betide the valley residents if -they showed irreverence, for then the clouds were black and heavy, and -through them she poured floods of rain and launched the lightnings, -causing disastrous freshets in the streams and blasting the wigwams of -the mockers. In a frolic humor she would take the form of a bear or deer -and lead the Indian hunters anything but a merry dance, exposing them to -tire and peril, and vanishing or assuming some terrible shape when they -had overtaken her. Sometimes she would lead them to the cloves and would -leap into the air with a mocking "Ho, ho!" just as they stopped with a -shudder at the brink of an abyss. Garden Rock was a spot where she was -often found, and at its foot a lake once spread. This was held in such -awe that an Indian would never wittingly pursue his quarry there; but -once a hunter lost his way and emerged from the forest at the edge of the -pond. Seeing a number of gourds in crotches of the trees he took one, but -fearing the spirit he turned to leave so quickly that he stumbled and it -fell. As it broke, a spring welled from it in such volume that the -unhappy man was gulfed in its waters, swept to the edge of Kaaterskill -clove and dashed on the rocks two hundred and sixty feet below. Nor did -the water ever cease to run, and in these times the stream born of the -witch's revenge is known as Catskill Creek. - - - - -THE REVENGE OF SHANDAKEN - -On the rock platform where the Catskill Mountain House now stands, -commanding one of the fairest views in the world, old chief Shandaken set -his wigwam,--for it is a mistake to suppose that barbarians are -indifferent to beauty,--and there his daughter, Lotowana, was sought in -marriage by his braves. She, however, kept faith to an early vow -exchanged with a young chief of the Mohawks. A suitor who was -particularly troublesome was Norsereddin, proud, morose, dark-featured, a -stranger to the red man, a descendant, so he claimed, from Egyptian -kings, and who lived by himself on Kaaterskill Creek, appearing among -white settlements but rarely. - -On one of his visits to Catskill, a tavern-lounging Dutchman wagered him -a thousand golden crowns that he could not win Lotowana, and, stung by -avarice as well as inflamed by passion, Norsereddin laid new siege to her -heart. Still the girl refused to listen, and Shandaken counselled him to -be content with the smiles of others, thereby so angering the Egyptian -that he assailed the chief and was driven from the camp with blows; but -on the day of Lotowana's wedding with the Mohawk he returned, and in a -honeyed speech asked leave to give a jewel to the bride to show that he -had stifled jealousy and ill will. The girl took the handsome box he gave -her and drew the cover, when a spring flew forward, driving into her hand -the poisoned tooth of a snake that had been affixed to it. The venom was -strong, and in a few minutes Lotowana lay dead at her husband's feet. - -Though the Egyptian had disappeared into the forest directly on the -acceptance of his treacherous gift, twenty braves set off in pursuit, and -overtaking him on the Kalkberg, they dragged him back to the rock where -father and husband were bewailing the maid's untimely fate. A pile of -fagots was heaped within a few feet of the precipice edge, and tying -their captive on them, they applied the torch, dancing about with cries -of exultation as the shrieks of the wretch echoed from the cliffs. The -dead girl was buried by the mourning tribe, while the ashes of -Norsereddin were left to be blown abroad. On the day of his revenge -Shandaken left his ancient dwelling-place, and his camp-fires never -glimmered afterward on the front of Ontiora. - - - - -CONDEMNED TO THE NOOSE - -Ralph Sutherland, who, early in the last century, occupied a stone house -a mile from Leeds, in the Catskills, was a man of morose and violent -disposition, whose servant, a Scotch girl, was virtually a slave, -inasmuch as she was bound to work for him without pay until she had -refunded to him her passage-money to this country. Becoming weary of -bondage and of the tempers of her master, the girl ran away. The man set -off in a raging chase, and she had not gone far before Sutherland -overtook her, tied her by the wrists to his horse's tail, and began the -homeward journey. Afterward, he swore that the girl stumbled against the -horse's legs, so frightening the animal that it rushed off madly, -pitching him out of the saddle and dashing the servant to death on rocks -and trees; yet, knowing how ugly-tempered he could be, his neighbors were -better inclined to believe that he had driven the horse into a gallop, -intending to drag the girl for a short distance, as a punishment, and to -rein up before he had done serious mischief. On this supposition he was -arrested, tried, and sentenced to die on the scaffold. - -The tricks of circumstantial evidence, together with pleas advanced by -influential relatives of the prisoner, induced the court to delay -sentence until the culprit should be ninety-nine years old, but it was -ordered that, while released on his own recognizance, in the interim, he -should keep a hangman's noose about his neck and show himself before the -judges in Catskill once every year, to prove that he wore his badge of -infamy and kept his crime in mind. This sentence he obeyed, and there -were people living recently who claimed to remember him as he went about -with a silken cord knotted at his throat. He was always alone, he seldom -spoke, his rough, imperious manner had departed. Only when children asked -him what the rope was for were his lips seen to quiver, and then he would -hurry away. After dark his house was avoided, for gossips said that a -shrieking woman passed it nightly, tied at the tail of a giant horse with -fiery eyes and smoking nostrils; that a skeleton in a winding sheet had -been found there; that a curious thing, somewhat like a woman, had been -known to sit on his garden wall, with lights shining from her -finger-tips, uttering unearthly laughter; and that domestic animals -reproached the man by groaning and howling beneath his windows. - -These beliefs he knew, yet he neither grieved, nor scorned, nor answered -when he was told of them. Years sped on. Every year deepened his reserve -and loneliness, and some began to whisper that he would take his own way -out of the world, though others answered that men who were born to be -hanged would never be drowned; but a new republic was created; new laws -were made; new judges sat to minister them; so, on Ralph Sutherland's -ninety-ninth birthday anniversary, there were none who would accuse him -or execute sentence. He lived yet another year, dying in 1801. But was it -from habit, or was it in self-punishment and remorse, that he never took -off the cord? for, when he drew his last breath, though it was in his own -house, his throat was still encircled by the hangman's rope. - - - - -BIG INDIAN - -Intermarriages between white people and red ones in this country were not -uncommon in the days when our ancestors led as rude a life as the -natives, and several places in the Catskills commemorate this fact. Mount -Utsayantha, for example, is named for an Indian woman whose life, with -that of her baby and her white husband, was lost there. For the white men -early found friends among these mountains. As far back as 1663 they -spared Catherine Dubois and her three children, after some rash spirits -had abducted them and carried them to a place on the upper Walkill, to do -them to death; for the captives raised a Huguenot hymn and the hearts of -their captors were softened. - -In Esopus Valley lived Winnisook, whose height was seven feet, and who -was known among the white settlers as "the big Indian." He loved a white -girl of the neighborhood, one Gertrude Molyneux, and had asked for her -hand; but while she was willing, the objections of her family were too -strong to be overcome, and she was teased into marriage with Joseph -Bundy, of her own race, instead. She liked the Indian all the better -after that, however, because Bundy proved to be a bad fellow, and -believing that she could be happier among barbarians than among a people -that approved such marriages, she eloped with Winnisook. For a long time -all trace of the runaway couple was lost, but one day the man having gone -down to the plain to steal cattle, it was alleged, was discovered by some -farmers who knew him, and who gave hot chase, coming up with him at the -place now called Big Indian. - -Foremost in the chase was Bundy. As he came near to the enemy of his -peace he exclaimed, "I think the best way to civilize that yellow serpent -is to let daylight into his heart," and, drawing his rifle to his -shoulder, he fired. Mortally wounded, yet instinctively seeking refuge, -the giant staggered into the hollow of a pine-tree, where the farmers -lost sight of him. There, however, he was found by Gertrude, bolt -upright, yet dead. The unwedded widow brought her dusky children to the -place and spent the remainder of her days near his grave. Until a few -years ago the tree was still pointed out, but a railroad company has now -covered it with an embankment. - - - - -THE BAKER'S DOZEN - -Baas [Boss] Volckert Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam kept a bake-shop in -Albany, and lives in history as the man who invented New Year cakes and -made gingerbread babies in the likeness of his own fat offspring. Good -churchman though he was, the bane of his life was a fear of being -bewitched, and perhaps it was to keep out evil spirits, who might make -one last effort to gain the mastery over him, ere he turned the customary -leaf with the incoming year, that he had primed himself with an extra -glass of spirits on the last night of 1654. His sales had been brisk, and -as he sat in his little shop, meditating comfortably on the gains he -would make when his harmless rivals--the knikkerbakkers (bakers of -marbles)--sent for their usual supply of olie-koeks and mince-pies on the -morrow, he was startled by a sharp rap, and an ugly old woman entered. -"Give me a dozen New Year's cookies!" she cried, in a shrill voice. - -"Vell, den, you needn' sbeak so loud. I aind teaf, den." - -"A dozen!" she screamed. "Give me a dozen. Here are only twelve." - -"Vell, den, dwalf is a dozen." - -"One more! I want a dozen." - -"Vell, den, if you vant anodder, go to de duyvil and ged it." - -Did the hag take him at his word? She left the shop, and from that time -it seemed as if poor Volckert was bewitched, indeed, for his cakes were -stolen; his bread was so light that it went up the chimney, when it was -not so heavy that it fell through the oven; invisible hands plucked -bricks from that same oven and pelted him until he was blue; his wife -became deaf, his children went unkempt, and his trade went elsewhere. -Thrice the old woman reappeared, and each time was sent anew to the -devil; but at last, in despair, the baker called on Saint Nicolaus to -come and advise him. His call was answered with startling quickness, for, -almost while he was making it, the venerable patron of Dutch feasts stood -before him. The good soul advised the trembling man to be more generous -in his dealings with his fellows, and after a lecture on charity he -vanished, when, lo! the old woman was there in his place. - -She repeated her demand for one more cake, and Volckert Jan Pietersen, -etc., gave it, whereupon she exclaimed, "The spell is broken, and from -this time a dozen is thirteen!" Taking from the counter a gingerbread -effigy of Saint Nicolaus, she made the astonished Dutchman lay his hand -upon it and swear to give more liberal measure in the future. So, until -thirteen new States arose from the ruins of the colonies,--when the -shrewd Yankees restored the original measure,--thirteen made a baker's -dozen. - - - - -THE DEVIL'S DANCE-CHAMBER. - -Most storied of our New World rivers is the Hudson. Historic scenes have -been enacted on its shores, and Indian, Dutchman, Briton, and American -have invested it with romance. It had its source, in the red man's fancy, -in a spring of eternal youth; giants and spirits dwelt in its woods and -hills, and before the river-Shatemuc, king of streams, the red men called -it--had broken through the highlands, those mountains were a pent for -spirits who had rebelled against the Manitou. After the waters had forced -a passage to the sea these evil ones sought shelter in the glens and -valleys that open to right and left along its course, but in time of -tempest, when they hear Manitou riding down the ravine on wings of storm, -dashing thunderbolts against the cliffs, it is the fear that he will -recapture them and force them into lightless caverns to expiate their -revolt, that sends them huddling among the rocks and makes the hills -resound with roars and howls. - -At the Devil's Dance-Chamber, a slight plateau on the west bank, between -Newburg and Crom Elbow, the red men performed semi-religious rites as a -preface to their hunting and fishing trips or ventures on the war-path. -They built a fire, painted themselves, and in that frenzy into which -savages are so readily lashed, and that is so like to the action of mobs -in trousers, they tumbled, leaped, danced, yelled, sang, grimaced, and -gesticulated until the Manitou disclosed himself, either as a harmless -animal or a beast of prey. If he came in the former shape the augury was -favorable, but if he showed himself as a bear or panther, it was a -warning of evil that they seldom dared to disregard. - -The crew of Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, having chanced on one of these -orgies, were so impressed by the fantastic spectacle that they gave the -name Duyvels Dans-Kamer to the spot. Years afterwards, when Stuyvesant -ascended the river, his doughty retainers were horrified, on landing -below the Dans-Kamer, to discover hundreds of painted figures frisking -there in the fire-light. A few surmised that they were but a new -generation of savages holding a powwow, but most of the sailors fancied -that the assemblage was demoniac, and that the figures were spirits of -bad Indians repeating a scalp-dance and revelling in the mysterious -fire-water that they had brought down from the river source in jars and -skins. The spot was at least once profaned with blood, for a young -Dutchman and his wife, of Albany, were captured here by an angry Indian, -and although the young man succeeded in stabbing his captor to death, he -was burned alive on the rock by the friends of the Indian whose wrath he -had provoked. The wife, after being kept in captivity for a time, was -ransomed. - - - - -THE CULPRIT FAY - -The wood-tick's drum convokes the elves at the noon of night on Cro' Nest -top, and, clambering out of their flower-cup beds and hammocks of cobweb, -they fly to the meeting, not to freak about the grass or banquet at the -mushroom table, but to hear sentence passed on the fay who, forgetting -his vestal vow, has loved an earthly maid. From his throne under a canopy -of tulip petals, borne on pillars of shell, the king commands silence, -and with severe eye but softened voice he tells the culprit that while he -has scorned the royal decree he has saved himself from the extreme -penalty, of imprisonment in walnut shells and cobweb dungeons, by loving -a maid who is gentle and pure. So it shall be enough if he will go down -to the Hudson and seize a drop from the bow of mist that a sturgeon -leaves when he makes his leap; and after, to kindle his darkened -flame-wood lamp at a meteor spark. The fairy bows, and without a word -slowly descends the rocky steep, for his wing is soiled and has lost its -power; but once at the river, he tugs amain at a mussel shell till he has -it afloat; then, leaping in, he paddles out with a strong grass blade -till he comes to the spot where the sturgeon swims, though the -watersprites plague him and toss his boat, and the fish and the leeches -bunt and drag; but, suddenly, the sturgeon shoots from the water, and ere -the arch of mist that he tracks through the air has vanished, the sprite -has caught a drop of the spray in a tiny blossom, and in this he washes -clean his wings. - -The water-goblins torment him no longer. They push his boat to the shore, -where, alighting, he kisses his hand, then, even as a bubble, he flies -back to the mountain top, dons his acorn helmet, his corselet of -bee-hide, his shield of lady-bug shell, and grasping his lance, tipped -with wasp sting, he bestrides his fire-fly steed and off he goes like a -flash. The world spreads out and then grows small, but he flies straight -on. The ice-ghosts leer from the topmost clouds, and the mists surge -round, but he shakes his lance and pipes his call, and at last he comes -to the Milky Way, where the sky-sylphs lead him to their queen, who lies -couched in a palace ceiled with stars, its dome held up by northern -lights and the curtains made of the morning's flush. Her mantle is -twilight purple, tied with threads of gold from the eastern dawn, and her -face is as fair as the silver moon. - -She begs the fay to stay with her and taste forever the joys of heaven, -but the knightly elf keeps down the beating of his heart, for he -remembers a face on earth that is fairer than hers, and he begs to go. -With a sigh she fits him a car of cloud, with the fire-fly steed chained -on behind, and he hurries away to the northern sky whence the meteor -comes, with roar and whirl, and as it passes it bursts to flame. He -lights his lamp at a glowing spark, then wheels away to the fairy-land. -His king and his brothers hail him stoutly, with song and shout, and -feast and dance, and the revel is kept till the eastern sky has a ruddy -streak. Then the cock crows shrill and the fays are gone. - - - - -POKEPSIE - -The name of this town has forty-two spellings in old records, and with -singular pertinacity in ill-doing, the inhabitants have fastened on it -the longest and clumsiest of all. It comes from the Mohegan words -Apo-keep-sink, meaning a safe, pleasant harbor. Harbor it might be for -canoes, but for nothing bigger, for it was only the little cove that was -so called between Call Rock and Adder Cliff,--the former indicating where -settlers awaiting passage hailed the masters of vessels from its top, and -the latter taking its name from the snakes that abounded there. - -Hither came a band of Delawares with Pequot captives, among them a young -chief to whom had been offered not only life but leadership if he would -renounce his tribe, receive the mark of the turtle on his breast, and -become a Delaware. On his refusal, he was bound to a tree, and was about -to undergo the torture, when a girl among the listeners sprang to his -side. She, too, was a Pequot, but the turtle totem was on her bosom, and -when she begged his life, because they had been betrothed, the captors -paused to talk of it. She had chosen well the time to interfere, for a -band of Hurons was approaching, and even as the talk went on their yell -was heard in the wood. Instant measures for defence were taken, and in -the fight that followed both chief and maiden were forgotten; but though -she cut the cords that bound him, they were separated in the confusion, -he disappearing, she falling captive to the Hurons, who, sated with -blood, retired from the field. In the fantastic disguise of a wizard the -young Pequot entered their camp soon after, and on being asked to try his -enchantments for the cure of a young woman, he entered her tent, showing -no surprise at finding her to be the maiden of his choice, who was -suffering from nothing worse than nerves, due to the excitement of the -battle. Left alone with his patient, he disclosed his identity, and -planned a way of escape that proved effective on that very night, for, -though pursued by the angry Hurons, the couple reached "safe harbor," -thence making a way to their own country in the east, where they were -married. - - - - -DUNDERBERG - -Dunderberg, "Thunder Mountain," at the southern gate of the Hudson -Highlands, is a wooded eminence, chiefly populated by a crew of imps of -stout circumference, whose leader, the Heer, is a bulbous goblin clad in -the dress worn by Dutch colonists two centuries ago, and carrying a -speaking-trumpet, through which he bawls his orders for the blowing of -winds and the touching off of lightnings. These orders are given in Low -Dutch, and are put into execution by the imps aforesaid, who troop into -the air and tumble about in the mist, sometimes smiting the flag or -topsail of a ship to ribbons, or laying the vessel over before the wind -until she is in peril of going on beam ends. At one time a sloop passing -the Dunderberg had nearly foundered, when the crew discovered the -sugar-loaf hat of the Heer at the mast-head. None dared to climb for it, -and it was not until she had driven past Pollopel's Island--the limit of -the Heer's jurisdiction--that she righted. As she did so the little hat -spun into the air like a top, creating a vortex that drew up the -storm-clouds, and the sloop kept her way prosperously for the rest of the -voyage. The captain had nailed a horse-shoe to the mast. The "Hat Rogue" -of the Devil's Bridge in Switzerland must be a relative of this gamesome -sprite, for his mischief is usually of a harmless sort; but, to be on the -safe side, the Dutchmen who plied along the river lowered their peaks in -homage to the keeper of the mountain, and for years this was a common -practice. Mariners who paid this courtesy to the Heer of the Donder Berg -were never molested by his imps, though skipper Ouselsticker, of -Fishkill,--for all he had a parson on board,--was once beset by a heavy -squall, and the goblin came out of the mist and sat astraddle of his -bowsprit, seeming to guide his schooner straight toward the rocks. The -dominie chanted the song of Saint Nicolaus, and the goblin, unable to -endure either its spiritual potency or the worthy parson's singing, shot -upward like a ball and rode off on the gale, carrying with him the -nightcap of the parson's wife, which he hung on the weathercock of Esopus -steeple, forty miles away. - - - - -ANTHONY'S NOSE - -The Hudson Highlands are suggestively named Bear Mountain, Sugar Loaf, -Cro' Nest, Storm King, called by the Dutch Boterberg, or Butter Hill, -from its likeness to a pat of butter; Beacon Hill, where the fires blazed -to tell the country that the Revolutionary war was over; Dunderberg, -Mount Taurus, so called because a wild bull that had terrorized the -Highlands was chased out of his haunts on this height, and was killed by -falling from a cliff on an eminence to the northward, known, in -consequence, as Breakneck Hill. These, with Anthony's Nose, are the -principal points of interest in the lovely and impressive panorama that -unfolds before the view as the boats fly onward. - -Concerning the last-named elevation, the aquiline promontory that abuts -on the Hudson opposite Dunderberg, it takes title from no resemblance to -the human feature, but is so named because Anthony Van Corlaer, the -trumpeter, who afterwards left a reason for calling the upper boundary of -Manhattan Island Spuyten Duyvil Creek, killed the first sturgeon ever -eaten at the foot of this mountain. It happened in this wise: By -assiduous devotion to keg and flagon Anthony had begotten a nose that was -the wonder and admiration of all who knew it, for its size was -prodigious; in color it rivalled the carbuncle, and it shone like -polished copper. As Anthony was lounging over the quarter of Peter -Stuyvesant's galley one summer morning this nose caught a ray from the -sun and reflected it hissing into the water, where it killed a sturgeon -that was rising beside the vessel. The fish was pulled aboard, eaten, and -declared good, though the singed place savored of brimstone, and in -commemoration of the event Stuyvesant dubbed the mountain that rose above -his vessel Anthony's Nose. - - - - -MOODUA CREEK - -Moodua is an evolution, through Murdy's and Moodna, from Murderer's -Creek, its present inexpressive name having been given to it by N. P. -Willis. One Murdock lived on its shore with his wife, two sons, and a -daughter; and often in the evening Naoman, a warrior of a neighboring -tribe, came to the cabin, caressed the children, and shared the woodman's -hospitality. One day the little girl found in the forest an arrow wrapped -in snake-skin and tipped with crow's feather; then the boy found a -hatchet hanging by a hair from a bough above the door; then a glare of -evil eyes was caught for an instant in a thicket. Naoman, when he came, -was reserved and stern, finding voice only to warn the family to fly that -night; so, when all was still, the threatened family made its way softly, -but quickly, to the Hudson shore, and embarked for Fisher's Kill, across -the river. - -The wind lagged and their boat drew heavily, and when, from the shade of -Pollopel's Island, a canoe swept out, propelled by twelve men, the hearts -of the people in the boat sank in despair. The wife was about to leap -over, but Murdock drew her back; then, loading and firing as fast as -possible, he laid six of his pursuers low; but the canoe was savagely -urged forward, and in another minute every member of the family was a -helpless captive. When the skiff had been dragged back, the prisoners -were marched through the wood to an open spot where the principal members -of the tribe sat in council. - -The sachem arose, twisted his hands in the woman's golden hair, bared his -knife, and cried, "Tell us what Indian warned you and betrayed his tribe, -or you shall see husband and children bleed before your eyes." The woman -answered never a word, but after a little Naoman arose and said, "'Twas -I;" then drew his blanket about him and knelt for execution. An axe cleft -his skull. Drunk with the sight of blood, the Indians rushed upon the -captives and slew them, one by one. The prisoners neither shrank nor -cried for mercy, but met their end with hymns upon their lips, and, -seeing that they could so meet death, one member of the band let fall his -arm and straight became a Christian. The cabin was burned, the bodies -flung into the stream, and the stain of blood was seen for many a year in -Murderer's Creek. - - - - -A TRAPPER'S GHASTLY VENGEANCE - -About a mile back from the Hudson, at Coxsackie, stood the cabin of Nick -Wolsey, who, in the last century, was known to the river settlements as a -hunter and trapper of correct aim, shrewdness, endurance, and taciturn -habit. For many years he lived in this cabin alone, except for the -company of his dog; but while visiting a camp of Indians in the -wilderness he was struck with the engaging manner of one of the girls of -the tribe; he repeated the visit; he found cause to go to the camp -frequently; he made presents to the father of the maid, and at length won -her consent to be his wife. The simple marriage ceremony of the tribe was -performed, and Wolsey led Minamee to his home; but the wedding was -interrupted in an almost tragic manner, for a surly fellow who had loved -the girl, yet who never had found courage to declare himself, was wrought -to such a jealous fury at the discovery of Wolsey's good fortune that he -sprang at him with a knife, and would have despatched him on the spot had -not the white man's faithful hound leaped at his throat and borne him to -the ground. - -Wolsey disarmed the fellow and kicked and cuffed him to the edge of the -wood, while the whole company shouted with laughter at this ignominious -punishment, and approved it. A year or more passed. Wolsey and his Indian -wife were happy in their free and simple life; happy, too, in their -little babe. Wolsey was seldom absent from his cabin for any considerable -length of time, and usually returned to it before the night set in. One -evening he noticed that the grass and twigs were bent near his house by -some passing foot that, with the keen eye of the woodman, he saw was not -his wife's. - -"Some hunter," he said, "saw the house when he passed here, and as, -belike, he never saw one before, he stopped to look in." For the trail -led to his window, and diverged thence to the forest again. A few days -later, as he was returning, he came on the footprints that were freshly -made, and a shadow crossed his face. On nearing the door he stumbled on -the body of his dog, lying rigid on the ground. "How did this happen, -Minamee?" he cried, as he flung open the door. The wife answered, in a -low voice, "O Hush! you'll wake the child." - -Nick Wolsey entered the cabin and stood as one turned to marble. Minamee, -his wife, sat on the gold hearth, her face and hands cut and blackened, -her dress torn, her eyes glassy, a meaningless smile on her lips. In her -arms she pressed the body of her infant, its dress soaked with blood, and -the head of the little creature lay on the floor beside her. She crooned -softly over the cold clay as if hushing it to sleep, and when Wolsey at -length found words, she only whispered, "Hush! you will wake him." The -night went heavily on; day dawned, and the crooning became lower and -lower; still, through all that day the bereft woman rocked to and fro -upon the floor, and the agonized husband hung about her, trying in vain -to give comfort, to bind her wounds, to get some explanation of the -mystery that confronted him. The second night set in, and it was evident -that it would be the last for Minamee. Her strength failed until she -allowed herself to be placed on a couch of skins, while the body of her -child was gently lifted from her arms. Then, for a few brief minutes, her -reason was restored, and she found words to tell her husband how the -Indian whose murderous attack he had thwarted at the wedding had come to -the cabin, shot the dog that had rushed out to defend the place, beat the -woman back from the door, tore the baby from its bed, slashed its head -off with a knife, and, flinging the little body into her lap, departed -with the words, "This is my revenge. I am satisfied." Before the sun was -in the east again Minamee was with her baby. - -Wolsey sat for hours in the ruin of his happiness, his breathing alone -proving that he was alive, and when at last he arose and went out of the -house, there were neither tears nor outcry; he saddled his horse and rode -off to the westward. At nightfall he came to the Indian village where he -had won his wife, and relating to the assembled tribe what had happened, -he demanded that the murderer be given up to him. His demand was readily -granted, whereupon the white man advanced on the cowering wretch, who had -confidently expected the protection of his people, and with the quick -fling and jerk of a raw-hide rope bound his arms to his side. Then -casting a noose about his neck and tying the end of it to his saddle-bow, -he set off for the Hudson. All that night he rode, the Indian walking and -running at the horse's heels, and next day he reached his cabin. Tying -his prisoner to a tree, the trapper cut a quantity of young willows, from -which he fashioned a large cradle-like receptacle; in this he placed the -culprit, face upward, and tied so stoutly that he could not move a -finger; then going into his house, he emerged with the body of Minamee, -and laid it, face downward, on the wretch, who could not repress a groan -of horror as the awful burden sank on his breast. Wolsey bound together -the living and the dead, and with a swing of his powerful arms he flung -them on his horse's back, securing them there with so many turns of rope -that nothing could displace them. Now he began to lash his horse until -the poor beast trembled with anger and pain, when, flinging off the -halter, he gave it a final lash, and the animal plunged, foaming and -snorting, into the wilderness. When it had vanished and the hoof-beats -were no longer heard, Nick Wolsey took his rifle on his arm and left his -home forever. And tradition says that the horse never stopped in its mad -career, but that on still nights it can be heard sweeping through the -woods along the Hudson and along the Mohawk like a whirlwind, and that as -the sound goes by a smothered voice breaks out in cursing, in appeal, -then in harsh and dreadful laughter. - - - - -THE VANDERDECKEN OF TAPPAN ZEE - -It is Saturday night; the swell of the Hudson lazily heaves against the -shores of Tappan Zee, the cliff above Tarrytown where the white lady -cries on winter nights is pale in starlight, and crickets chirp in the -boskage. It is so still that the lap of oars can be heard coming across -the water at least a mile away. Some small boat, evidently, but of heavy -build, for it takes a vigorous hand to propel it, and now there is a -grinding of oars on thole-pins. Strange that it is not yet seen, for the -sound is near. Look! Is that a shadow crossing that wrinkle of starlight -in the water? The oars have stopped, and there is no wind to make that -sound of a sigh. - -Ho, Rambout Van Dam! Is it you? Are you still expiating your oath to pull -from Kakiat to Spuyten Duyvil before the dawn of Sabbath, if it takes you -a month of Sundays? Better for you had you passed the night with your -roistering friends at Kakiat, or started homeward earlier, for -Sabbath-breaking is no sin now, and you, poor ghost, will find little -sympathy for your plight. Grant that your month of Sundays, or your cycle -of months of Sundays, be soon up, for it is sad to be reminded that we -may be punished for offences many years forgotten. When the sun is high -to-morrow a score of barges will vex the sea of Tappan, each crowded with -men and maids from New Amsterdam, jigging to profane music and refreshing -themselves with such liquors as you, Rambout, never even smelled--be -thankful for that much. If your shade sits blinking at them from the -wooded buttresses of the Palisades, you must repine, indeed, at the -hardness of your fate. - - - - -THE GALLOPING HESSIAN - -In the flower-gemmed cemetery of Tarrytown, where gentle Irving sleeps, a -Hessian soldier was interred after sustaining misfortune in the loss of -his head in one of the Revolutionary battles. For a long time after he -was buried it was the habit of this gentleman to crawl from his grave at -unseemly hours and gallop about the country, sending shivers through the -frames of many worthy people, who shrank under their blankets when they -heard the rush of hoofs along the unlighted roads. - -In later times there lived in Tarrytown--so named because of the tarrying -habits of Dutch gossips on market days, though some hard-minded people -insist that Tarwe-town means Wheat-towna gaunt schoolmaster, one Ichabod -Crane, who cherished sweet sentiments for Katrina Van Tassell, the buxom -daughter of a farmer, also a famous maker of pies and doughnuts. Ichabod -had been calling late one evening, and, his way home being long, -Katrina's father lent him a horse to make the journey; but even with this -advantage the youth set out with misgivings, for he had to pass the -graveyard. - -As it was near the hour when the Hessian was to ride, he whistled feebly -to keep his courage up, but when he came to the dreaded spot the whistle -died in a gasp, for he heard the tread of a horse. On looking around, his -hair bristled and his heart came up like a plug in his throat to hinder -his breathing, for he saw a headless horseman coming over the ridge -behind him, blackly defined against the starry sky. Setting spurs to his -nag with a hope of being first to reach Sleepy Hollow bridge, which the -spectre never passed, the unhappy man made the best possible time in that -direction, for his follower was surely overtaking him. Another minute and -the bridge would be reached; but, to Ichabod's horror, the Hessian dashed -alongside and, rising in his stirrups, flung his head full at the -fugitive's back. With a squeal of fright the schoolmaster rolled into a -mass of weeds by the wayside, and for some minutes he remained there, -knowing and remembering nothing. - -Next morning farmer Van Tassell's horse was found grazing in a field near -Sleepy Hollow, and a man who lived some miles southward reported that he -had seen Mr. Crane striding as rapidly along the road to New York as his -lean legs could take him, and wearing a pale and serious face as he kept -his march. There were yellow stains on the back of his coat, and the man -who restored the horse found a smashed pumpkin in the broken bushes -beside the road. Ichabod never returned to Tarrytown, and when Brom -Bones, a stout young ploughman and taphaunter, married Katrina, people -made bold to say that he knew more about the galloping Hessian than any -one else, though they believed that he never had reason to be jealous of -Ichabod Crane. - - - - -STORM SHIP OF THE HUDSON - -It was noised about New Amsterdam, two hundred years ago, that a round -and bulky ship flying Dutch colors from her lofty quarter was careering -up the harbor in the teeth of a north wind, through the swift waters of -an ebbing tide, and making for the Hudson. A signal from the Battery to -heave to and account for herself being disregarded, a cannon was trained -upon her, and a ball went whistling through her cloudy and imponderable -mass, for timbers she had none. Some of the sailor-folk talked of mirages -that rose into the air of northern coasts and seas, but the wise ones put -their fingers beside their noses and called to memory the Flying -Dutchman, that wanderer of the seas whose captain, having sworn that he -would round Cape Horn in spite of heaven and hell, has been beating to -and fro along the bleak Fuegian coast and elsewhere for centuries, being -allowed to land but once in seven years, when he can break the curse if -he finds a girl who will love him. Perhaps Captain Vanderdecken found -this maiden of his hopes in some Dutch settlement on the Hudson, or -perhaps he expiated his rashness by prayer and penitence; howbeit, he -never came down again, unless he slipped away to sea in snow or fog so -dense that watchers and boatmen saw nothing of his passing. A few old -settlers declared the vessel to be the Half Moon, and there were some who -testified to seeing that identical ship with Hudson and his spectre crew -on board making for the Catskills to hold carouse. - -This fleeting vision has been confounded with the storm ship that lurks -about the foot of the Palisades and Point-no-Point, cruising through -Tappan Zee at night when a gale is coming up. The Hudson is four miles -wide at Tappan, and squalls have space enough to gather force; hence, -when old skippers saw the misty form of a ship steal out from the shadows -of the western hills, then fly like a gull from shore to shore, catching -the moonlight on her topsails, but showing no lanterns, they made to -windward and dropped anchor, unless their craft were stanch and their -pilot's brains unvexed with liquor. On summer nights, when falls that -curious silence which is ominous of tempest, the storm ship is not only -seen spinning across the mirror surface of the river, but the voices of -the crew are heard as they chant at the braces and halyards in words -devoid of meaning to the listeners. - - - - -WHY SPUYTEN DUYVIL IS SO NAMED - -The tide-water creek that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island is -known to dwellers in tenements round about as "Spittin' Divvle." The -proper name of it is Spuyten Duyvil, and this, in turn, is the -compression of a celebrated boast by Anthony Van Corlaer. This -redoubtable gentleman, famous for fat, long wind, and long whiskers, was -trumpeter for the garrison at New Amsterdam, which his countrymen had -just bought for twenty-four dollars, and he sounded the brass so sturdily -that in the fight between the Dutch and Indians at the Dey Street peach -orchard his blasts struck more terror into the red men's hearts than did -the matchlocks of his comrades. William the Testy vowed that Anthony and -his trumpet were garrison enough for all Manhattan Island, for he argued -that no regiment of Yankees would approach near enough to be struck with -lasting deafness, as must have happened if they came when Anthony was -awake. - -Peter Stuyvesant-Peter the Headstrong--showed his appreciation of -Anthony's worth by making him his esquire, and when he got news of an -English expedition on its way to seize his unoffending colony, he at once -ordered Anthony to rouse the villages along the Hudson with a trumpet -call to war. The esquire took a hurried leave of six or eight ladies, -each of whom delighted to believe that his affections were lavished on -her alone, and bravely started northward, his trumpet hanging on one -side, a stone bottle, much heavier, depending from the other. It was a -stormy evening when he arrived at the upper end of the island, and there -was no ferryman in sight, so, after fuming up and down the shore, he -swallowed a mighty draught of Dutch courage,--for he was as accomplished -a performer on the horn as on the trumpet,--and swore with ornate and -voluminous oaths that he would swim the stream "in spite of the devil" -[En spuyt den Duyvil]. - -He plunged in, and had gone half-way across when the Evil One, not to be -spited, appeared as a huge moss-bunker, vomiting boiling water and -lashing a fiery tail. This dreadful fish seized Anthony by the leg; but -the trumpeter was game, for, raising his instrument to his lips, he -exhaled his last breath through it in a defiant blast that rang through -the woods for miles and made the devil himself let go for a moment. Then -he was dragged below, his nose shining through the water more and more -faintly, until, at last, all sight of him was lost. The failure of his -mission resulted in the downfall of the Dutch in America, for, soon -after, the English won a bloodless victory, and St. George's cross -flaunted from the ramparts where Anthony had so often saluted the setting -sun. But it was years, even then, before he was hushed, for in stormy -weather it was claimed that the shrill of his trumpet could be heard near -the creek that he had named, sounding above the deeper roar of the blast. - - - - -THE RAMAPO SALAMANDER - -A curious tale of the Rosicrucians runs to the effect that more than two -centuries ago a band of German colonists entered the Ramapo valley and -put up houses of stone, like those they had left in the Hartz Mountains, -and when the Indians saw how they made knives and other wonderful things -out of metal, which they extracted from the rocks by fire, they believed -them to be manitous and went away, not wishing to resist their possession -of the land. There was treasure here, for High Tor, or Torn Mountain, had -been the home of Amasis, youngest of the magi who had followed the star -of Bethlehem. He had found his way, through Asia and Alaska, to this -country, had taken to wife a native woman, by whom he had a child, and -here on the summit he had built a temple. Having refused the sun worship, -when the Indians demanded that he should take their faith, he was set -upon, and would have been killed had not an earthquake torn the ground at -his feet, opening a new channel for the Hudson and precipitating into it -every one but the magus and his daughter. To him had been revealed in -magic vision the secrets of wealth in the rocks. - -The leader in the German colony, one Hugo, was a man of noble origin, who -had a wife and two children: a boy, named after himself; a girl,--Mary. -Though it had been the custom in the other country to let out the forge -fires once in seven years, Hugo opposed that practice in the forge he had -built as needless. But his men murmured and talked of the salamander that -once in seven years attains its growth in unquenched flame and goes forth -doing mischief. On the day when that period was ended the master entered -his works and saw the men gazing into the furnace at a pale form that -seemed made from flame, that was nodding and turning in the fire, -occasionally darting its tongue at them or allowing its tail to fall out -and lie along the stone floor. As he came to the door he, too, was -transfixed, and the fire seemed burning his vitals, until he felt water -sprinkled on his face, and saw that his wife, whom he had left at home -too ill to move, stood behind him and was casting holy water into the -furnace, speaking an incantation as she did so. At that moment a storm -arose, and a rain fell that put out the fire; but as the last glow faded -the lady fell dead. - -When her children were to be consecrated, seven years later, those who -stood outside of the church during the ceremony saw a vivid flash, and -the nurse turned from the boy in her fright. She took her hands from her -eyes. The child was gone. Twice seven years had passed and the daughter -remained unspotted by the world, for, on the night when her father had -led her to the top of High Torn Mountain and shown her what Amasis had -seen,--the earth spirits in their caves heaping jewels and offering to -give them if Hugo would speak the word that binds the free to the earth -forces and bars his future for a thousand years,--it was her prayer that -brought him to his senses and made the scene below grow dim, though the -baleful light of the salamander clinging to the rocks at the bottom of -the cave sent a glow into the sky. - -Many nights after that the glow was seen on the height and Hugo was -missing from his home, but for lack of a pure soul to stand as -interpreter he failed to read the words that burned in the triangle on -the salamander's back, and returned in rage and jealousy. A knightly man -had of late appeared in the settlement, and between him and Mary a tender -feeling had arisen, that, however, was unexpressed until, after saving -her from the attack of a panther, he had allowed her to fall into his -arms. She would willingly then have declared her love for him, but he -placed her gently and regretfully from him and said, "When you slept I -came to you and put a crown of gems on your head: that was because I was -in the power of the earth spirit. Then I had power only over the element -of fire, that either consumes or hardens to stone; but now water and life -are mine. Behold! Wear these, for thou art worthy." And touching the -tears that had fallen from her eyes, they turned into lilies in his -hands, and he put them on her brow. - -"Shall we meet again?" asked the girl. - -"I do not know," said he. "I tread the darkness of the universe alone, -and I peril my redemption by yielding to this love of earth. Thou art -redeemed already, but I must make my way back to God through obedience -tested in trial. Know that I am one of those that left heaven for love of -man. We were of that subtle element which is flame, burning and glowing -with love,--and when thy mother came to me with the power of purity to -cast me out of the furnace, I lost my shape of fire and took that of a -human being,--a child. I have been with thee often, and was rushing to -annihilation, because I could not withstand the ordeal of the senses. Had -I yielded, or found thee other than thou art, I should have become again -an earth spirit. I have been led away by wish for power, such as I have -in my grasp, and forgot the mission to the suffering. I became a wanderer -over the earth until I reached this land, the land that you call new. -Here was to be my last trial and here I am to pass the gate of fire." - -As he spoke voices arose from the settlement. - -"They are coming," said he. The stout form of Hugo was in advance. With a -fierce oath he sprang on the young man. "He has ruined my household," he -cried. "Fling him into the furnace!" The young man stood waiting, but his -brow was serene. He was seized, and in a few moments had disappeared -through the mouth of the burning pit. But Mary, looking up, saw a shape -in robes of silvery light, and it drifted upward until it vanished in the -darkness. The look of horror on her face died away, and a peace came to -it that endured until the end. - - - - -CHIEF CROTON - -Between the island of Manhattoes and the Catskills the Hudson shores were -plagued with spooks, and even as late as the nineteenth century Hans -Anderson, a man who tilled a farm back of Peekskill, was worried into his -grave by the leaden-face likeness of a British spy whom he had hanged on -General Putnam's orders. "Old Put" doubtless enjoyed immunity from this -vexatious creature, because he was born with few nerves. A region -especially afflicted was the confluence of the Croton and the Hudson, for -the Kitchawan burying-ground was here, and the red people being disturbed -by the tramping of white men over their graves, "the walking sachems of -Teller's Point" were nightly to be met on their errands of protest. - -These Indians had built a palisade on Croton Point, and here they made -their last stand against their enemies from the north. Throughout the -fight old chief Croton stood on the wall with arrows showering around -him, and directed the resistance with the utmost calm. Not until every -one of his men was dead and the fort was going up in flame about him did -he confess defeat. Then standing amid the charring timbers, he used his -last breath in calling down the curse of the Great Spirit against the -foe. As the victorious enemy rushed into the enclosure to secure the -scalps of the dead he fell lifeless into the fire, and their jubilant -yell was lost upon his ears. Yet, he could not rest nor bear to leave his -ancient home, even after death, and often his form, in musing attitude, -was seen moving through the woods. When a manor was built on the ruins of -his fort, he appeared to the master of it, to urge him into the -Continental army, and having seen this behest obeyed and laid a solemn -injointure to keep the freedom of the land forever, he vanished, and -never appeared again. - - - - -THE RETREAT FROM MAHOPAC - -After the English had secured the city of New Amsterdam and had begun to -extend their settlements along the Hudson, the Indians congregated in -large numbers about Lake Mahopac, and rejected all overtures for the -purchase of that region. In their resolution they were sustained by their -young chief Omoyao, who refused to abandon on on any terms the country -where his fathers had solong hunted, fished, and built their lodges. A -half-breed, one Joliper, a member of this tribe, was secretly in the pay -of the English, but the allurements and insinuations that he put forth on -their behalf were as futile as the breathing of wind in the leaves. At -last the white men grew angry. Have the land they would, by evil course -if good ways were refused, and commissioning Joliper to act for them in a -decisive manner, they guaranteed to supply him with forces if his -negotiations fell through. This man never thought it needful to -negotiate. He knew the temper of his tribe and he was too jealous of his -chief to go to him for favors, because he loved Maya, the chosen one of -Omoyao. - -At the door of Maya's tent he entreated her to go with him to the white -settlements, and on her refusal he broke into angry threats, declaring, -in the self-forgetfulness of passion, that he would kill her lover and -lead the English against the tribe. Unknown to both Omoyao had overheard -this interview, and he immediately sent runners to tell all warriors of -his people to meet him at once on the island in the lake. Though the -runners were cautioned to keep their errand secret, it is probable that -Joliper suspected that the alarm had gone forth, and he resolved to -strike at once; so he summoned his renegades, stole into camp next -evening and made toward Maya's wigwam, intending to take her to a place -of safety. Seeing the chief at the door, he shot an arrow at him, but the -shaft went wide and slew the girl's father. Realizing, upon this assault, -that he was outwitted and that his people were outnumbered, the chief -called to Maya to meet him at the island, and plunged into the brush, -after seeing that she had taken flight in an opposite direction. The -vengeful Joliper was close behind him with his renegades, and the chief -was captured; then, that he might not communicate with his people or -delay the operations against them, it was resolved to put him to death. - -He was tied to a tree, the surrounding wood was set on fire, and he was -abandoned to his fate, his enemies leaving him to destruction in their -haste to reach the place of the council and slay or capture all who were -there. Hardly were they out of hearing ere the plash of a paddle sounded -through the roar of flame and Maya sprang upon the bank, cut her lover's -bonds, and with him made toward the island, which they reached by a -protected way before the assailants had arrived. They told the story of -Joliper's cruelty and treason, and when his boats were seen coming in to -shore they had eyes and hands only for Joliper. He was the first to land. -Hardly had he touched the strand before he was surrounded by a frenzied -crowd and had fallen bleeding from a hundred gashes. - -The Indians were overpowered after a brief and bloody resistance. They -took safety in flight. Omoyao and Maya, climbing upon the rock above -their "council chamber," found that while most of their people had -escaped their own retreat was cut off, and that it would be impossible to -reach any of the canoes. They preferred death to torture and captivity, -so, hand in hand, they leaped together down the cliff, and the English -claimed the land next day. - - - - -NIAGARA - -The cataract of Niagara (properly pronounced Nee-ah-gah-rah), or -Oniahgarah, is as fatal as it is fascinating, beautiful, sublime, and the -casualties occurring there justify the tradition that "the Thundering -Water asks two victims every year." It was reputed, before white men -looked for the first time on these falls--and what thumping yarns they -told about them!--that two lives were lost here annually, and this -average has been kept up by men and women who fall into the flood through -accident, recklessness or despair, while bloody battles have been fought -on the shores, and vessels have been hurled over the brink, to be dashed -to splinters on the rocks. - -The sound of the cataract was declared to be the voice of a mighty spirit -that dwelt in the waters, and in former centuries the Indians offered to -it a yearly sacrifice. This sacrifice was a maiden of the tribe, who was -sent over in a white canoe, decorated with fruit and flowers, and the -girls contended for this honor, for the brides of Manitou were objects of -a special grace in the happy hunting-grounds. The last recorded sacrifice -was in 1679, when Lelawala, the daughter of chief Eagle Eye, was chosen, -in spite of the urgings and protests of the chevalier La Salle, who had -been trying to restrain the people from their idolatries by an exposition -of the Christian dogma. To his protests he received the unexpected -answer, "Your words witness against you. Christ, you say, set us an -example. We will follow it. Why should one death be great, while our -sacrifice is horrible?" So the tribe gathered at the bank to watch the -sailing of the white canoe. The chief watched the embarkation with the -stoicism usual to the Indian when he is observed by others, but when the -little bark swung out into the current his affection mastered him, and he -leaped into his own canoe and tried to overtake his daughter. In a moment -both were beyond the power of rescue. After their death they were changed -into spirits of pure strength and goodness, and live in a crystal heaven -so far beneath the fall that its roaring is a music to them: she, the -maid of the mist; he, the ruler of the cataract. Another version of the -legend makes a lover and his mistress the chief actors. Some years later -a patriarch of the tribe and all his sons went over the fall when the -white men had seized their lands, preferring death to flight or war. - -In about the year 200 the Stone Giants waded across the river below the -falls on their northward march. These beings were descended from an -ancient family, and being separated from their stock in the year 150 by -the breaking of a vine bridge across the Mississippi, they left that -region. Indian Pass, in the Adirondacks, bore the names of Otneyarheh, -Stony Giants; Ganosgwah, Giants Clothed in Stone; and Dayohjegago, Place -Where the Storm Clouds Fight the Great Serpent. Giants and serpents were -held to be harmful inventions of the Evil Spirit, and the Lightning god, -catching up clouds as he stood on the crags, broke them open, tore their -lightnings out and hurled them against the monsters. These cannibals had -almost exterminated the Iroquois, for they were of immense size and had -made themselves almost invincible by rolling daily in the sand until -their flesh was like stone. The Holder of the Heavens, viewing their evil -actions from on high, came down disguised as one of their number--he used -often to meditate on Manitou Rock, at the Whirlpool--and leading them to -a valley near Onondaga, on pretence of guiding them to a fairer country, -he stood on a hill above them and hurled rocks upon their heads until -all, save one, who fled into the north, were dead. Yet, in the fulness of -time, new children of the Stone Giants (mail-clad Europeans?) entered the -region again and were destroyed by the Great Spirit,--oddly enough where -the famous fraud known as the Cardiff giant was alleged to have been -found. The Onondagas believed this statue to be one of their ancient -foes. - - - - -THE DEFORMED OF ZOAR - -The valley of Zoar, in western New York, is so surrounded by hills that -its discoverers--a religious people, who gave it a name from Scripture -said, "This is Zoar; it is impregnable. From her we will never go." And -truly, for lack of roads, they found it so hard to get out, having got -in, that they did not leave it. Among the early settlers here were people -of a family named Wright, whose house became a sort of inn for the -infrequent traveller, inasmuch as they were not troubled with piety, and -had no scruples against the selling of drink and the playing of cards at -late hours. A peddler passed through the valley on his way to Buffalo and -stopped at the Wright house for a lodging, but before he went to bed he -incautiously showed a number of golden trinkets from his pack and drew a -considerable quantity of money out of his pocket when he paid the fee for -his lodging. Hardly had he fallen asleep before his greedy hosts were in -the room, searching for his money. Their lack of caution caused him to -awake, and as he found them rifling his pockets and his pack he sprang up -and showed fight. - -A blow sent him to the bottom of the stairs, where his attempt to escape -was intercepted, and the family closed around him and bound his arms and -legs. They showed him the money they had taken and asked where he had -concealed the rest. He vowed that it was all he had. They insisted that -he had more, and seizing a knife from the table the elder Wright slashed -off one of his toes "to make him confess." No result came from this, and -six toes were cut off,--three from each foot; then, in disgust, the -unhappy peddler was knocked on the head and flung through a trap-door -into a shallow cellar. Presently he arose and tried to draw himself out, -but with hatchet and knife they chopped away his fingers and he fell -back. Even the women shared in this work, and leaned forward to gaze into -the cellar to see if he might yet be dead. While listening, they heard -the man invoke the curse of heaven on them: he asked that they should -wear the mark of crime even to the fourth generation, by coming into the -world deformed and mutilated as he was then. And it was so. The next -child born in that house had round, hoof-like feet, with only two toes, -and hands that tapered from the wrist into a single long finger. And in -time there were twenty people so deformed in the valley: The "crab-clawed -Zoarites" they were called. - - - - -HORSEHEADS - -The feeling recently created by an attempt to fasten the stupid names of -Fairport or of North Elmira on the village in central New York that, off -and on for fifty years, had been called Horseheads, caused an inquiry as -to how that singular name chanced to be adopted for a settlement. In -1779, when General Sullivan was retiring toward the base of his supplies -after a destructive campaign against the Indians in Genesee County, he -stopped near this place and rested his troops. The country was then rude, -unbroken, and still beset with enemies, however, and when the march was -resumed it was thought best to gain time over a part of the way by -descending the Chemung River on rafts. - -As there were no appliances for building large floats, and the depth of -the water was not known, the general ordered a destruction of all -impedimenta that could be got rid of, and commanded that the poor and -superfluous horses should be killed. His order was obeyed. As soon as the -troops had gone, the wolves, that were then abundant, came forth and -devoured the carcasses of the steeds, so that the clean-picked bones were -strewn widely over the camp-ground. When the Indians ventured back into -this region, some of them piled the skulls of the horses into heaps, and -these curious monuments were found by white settlers who came into the -valley some years later, and who named their village Horseheads, in -commemoration of these relics. The Indians were especially loth to leave -this region, for their tradition was that it had been the land of the -Senecas from immemorial time, the tribe being descended from a couple -that had a home on a hill near Horseheads. - - - - -KAYUTA AND WANETA - -The Indians loved our lakes. They had eyes for their beauty, and to them -they were abodes of gracious spirits. They used to say of Oneida Lake, -that when the Great Spirit formed the world "his smile rested on its -waters and Frenchman's Island rose to greet it; he laughed and Lotus -Island came up to listen." So they built lodges on their shores and -skimmed their waters in canoes. Much of their history relates to them, -and this is a tale of the Senecas that was revived a few years ago by the -discovery of a deer-skin near Lakes Waneta and Keuka, New York, on which -some facts of the history were rudely drawn, for all Indians are artists. - -Waneta, daughter of a chief, had plighted her troth to Kayuta, a hunter -of a neighboring tribe with which her people were at war. Their tryst was -held at twilight on the farther shore of the lake from her village, and -it was her gayety and happiness, after these meetings had taken place, -that roused the suspicion and jealousy of Weutha, who had marked her for -his bride against the time when he should have won her father's consent -by some act of bravery. Shadowing the girl as she stole into the forest -one evening, he saw her enter her canoe and row to a densely wooded spot; -he heard a call like the note of a quail, then an answer; then Kayuta -emerged on the shore, lifted the maiden from her little bark, and the -twain sat down beside the water to listen to the lap of its waves and -watch the stars come out. - -Hurrying back to camp, the spy reported that an enemy was near them, and -although Waneta had regained her wigwam by another route before the -company of warriors had reached the lake, Kayuta was seen, pursued, and -only escaped with difficulty. Next evening, not knowing what had happened -after her homeward departure on the previous night--for the braves deemed -it best to keep the knowledge of their military operations from the -women--the girl crept away to the lake again and rowed to the accustomed -place, but while waiting for the quail call a twig dropped on the water -beside her. With a quick instinct that civilization has spoiled she -realized this to be a warning, and remaining perfectly still, she allowed -her boat to drift toward shore, presently discovering that her lover was -standing waist-deep in the water. In a whisper he told her that they were -watched, and bade her row to a dead pine that towered at the foot of the -lake, where he would soon meet her. At that instant an arrow grazed his -side and flew quivering into the canoe. - -Pushing the boat on its course and telling her to hasten, Kayuta sprang -ashore, sounded the warwhoop, and as Weutha rose into sight he clove his -skull with a tomahawk. Two other braves now leaped forward, but, after a -struggle, Kayuta left them dead or senseless, too. He would have stayed -to tear their scalps off had he not heard his name uttered in a shriek of -agony from the end of the lake, and, tired and bleeding though he was, he -bounded along its margin like a deer, for the voice that he heard was -Waneta's. He reached the blasted pine, gave one look, and sank to the -earth. Presently other Indians came, who had heard the noise of fighting, -and burst upon him with yells and brandished weapons, but something in -his look restrained them from a close advance. His eyes were fixed on a -string of beads that lay on the bottom of the lake, just off shore, and -when the meaning of it came to them, the savages thought no more of -killing, but moaned their grief; for Waneta, in stepping from her canoe -to wade ashore, had been caught and swallowed by a quagmire. All night -and all next day Kayuta sat there like a man of stone. Then, just as the -hour fell when he was used to meet his love, his heart broke, and he -joined her in the spiritland. - - - - -THE DROP STAR - -A little maid of three years was missing from her home on the Genesee. -She had gone to gather water-lilies and did not return. Her mother, -almost crazed with grief, searched for days, weeks, months, before she -could resign herself to the thought that her little one--Kayutah, the -Drop Star, the Indians called her--had indeed been drowned. Years went -by. The woman's home was secure against pillage, for it was no longer the -one house of a white family in that region, and the Indians had retired -farther and farther into the wilderness. One day a hunter came to the -woman and said, "I have seen old Skenandoh,--the last of his tribe, thank -God! who bade me say this to you: that the ice is broken, and he knows of -a hill of snow where a red berry grows that shall be yours if you will -claim it." When the meaning of this message came upon her the woman -fainted, but on recovering speech she despatched her nephew to the hut of -the aged chief and passed that night in prayer. - -The young man set off at sunset, and by hard riding, over dim trails, -with only stars for light, he came in the gray of dawn to an upright -timber, colored red and hung with scalps, that had been cut from white -men's heads at the massacre of Wyoming. The place they still call Painted -Post. Without drawing rein he sped along the hills that hem Lake Seneca, -then, striking deeper into the wilds, he reached a smaller lake, and -almost fell from his saddle before a rude tent near the shore. A new -grave had been dug close by, and he shuddered to think that perhaps he -had come too late, but a wrinkled Indian stepped forth at that moment and -waited his word. - -"I come," cried the youth,--"to see the berry that springs from snow." - -"You come in time," answered Skenandoh. "No, 'tis not in that grave. It -is my own child that is buried there. She was as a sister to the one you -seek, and she bade me restore the Drop Star to her mother,--the squaw -that we know as the New Moon's Light." - -Stepping into the wigwam, he emerged again, clasping the wrist of a girl -of eighteen, whose robe he tore asunder at the throat, showing the white -breast, and on it a red birth-mark; then, leading her to the young man, -he said,--"And now I must go to the setting sun." He slung a pouch about -him, loaded, not with arms and food, but stones, stepped into his canoe, -and paddled out upon the water, singing as he went a melancholy -chant--his deathsong. On gaining the middle of the lake he swung his -tomahawk and clove the bottom of the frail boat, so that it filled in a -moment and the chief sank from sight. The young man took his cousin to -her overjoyed mother, helped to win her back to the ways of civilized -life, and eventually married her. She took her Christian name again, but -left to the lake on whose banks she had lived so long her Indian name of -Drop Star--Kayutah. - - - - -THE PROPHET OF PALMYRA - -It was at Palmyra, New York, that the principles of Mormonism were first -enunciated by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found the golden plates -of the Book of Mormon in a hill-side in neighboring Manchester,--the -"Hill of Cumorah,"--to which he was led by angels. The plates were -written in characters similar to the masonic cabala, and he translated -them by divine aid, giving to the world the result of his discovery. The -Hebrew prophet Mormon was the alleged author of the record, and his son -Moroni buried it. The basis of Mormonism was, however, an unpublished -novel, called "The Manuscript Found," that was read to Sidney Rigdon -(afterwards a Mormon elder) by its author, a clergyman, and that -formulated a creed for a hypothetical church. Smith had a slight local -celebrity, for he and his father were operators with the divining-rod, -and when he appropriated this creed a harmless and beneficent one, for -polygamy was a later "inspiration" of Brigham Young--and began to preach -it, in 1844, it gained many converts. His arrogation of the presidency of -the "Church of Latter Day Saints" and other rash performances won for him -the enmity of the Gentiles, who imprisoned and killed him at Carthage, -Missouri, leaving Brigham Young to lead the people across the deserts to -Salt Lake, where they prospered through thrift and industry. - -It was claimed that in the van of this army, on the march to Utah, was -often seen a venerable man with silver beard, who never spoke, but who -would point the way whenever the pilgrims were faint or discouraged. When -they reached the spot where the temple was afterwards built, he struck -his staff into the earth and vanished. - -At Hydesville, near Palmyra, spiritualism, as it is commonly called, came -into being on March 31, 1849, when certain of the departed announced -themselves by thumping on doors and tables in the house of the Fox -family, the survivors of which confessed the fraud nearly forty years -after. It is of interest to note that the ground whence these new -religions sprang was peopled by the Onondagas, the sacerdotal class of -the Algonquin tribe, who have preserved the ancient religious rites of -that great family until this day. - - - - -A VILLAIN'S CREMATION - -Bramley's Mountain, near the present village of Bloomfield, New York, on -the edge of the Catskill group, was the home of a young couple that had -married with rejoicing and had taken up the duties and pleasures of -housekeeping with enthusiasm. To be sure, in those days housekeeping was -not a thing to be much afraid of, and the servant question had not come -up for discussion. The housewives did the work themselves, and the -husband had no valets. The domicile of this particular pair was merely a -tent of skins stretched around a frame of poles, and their furniture -consisted principally of furs strewn over the earth floor; but they loved -each other truly. The girl was thankful to be taken from her home to -live, because, up to the time of her marriage, she had been persecuted by -a morose and ill-looking fellow of her tribe, who laid siege to her -affection with such vehemence that the more he pleaded the greater was -her dislike; and now she hoped that she had seen the last of him. But -that was not to be. He lurked about the wigwam of the pair, torturing -himself with the sight of their felicity, and awaiting his chance to -prove his hate. This chance came when the husband had gone to Lake -Delaware to fish, for he rowed after and gave battle in the middle of the -pond. Taken by surprise, and being insufficiently armed, the husband was -killed and his body flung into the water. Then, casting an affectionate -leer at the wife who had watched this act of treachery and malice with -speechless horror from the mountain-side, he drove his canoe ashore and -set off in pursuit of her. She retreated so slowly as to allow him to -keep her in sight, and when she entered a cave he pressed forward -eagerly, believing that now her escape was impossible; but she had -purposely trapped him there, for she had already explored a tortuous -passage that led to the upper air, and by this she had left the cavern in -safety while he was groping and calling in the dark. Returning to the -entrance, she loosened, by a jar, a ledge that overhung it, so that the -door was almost blocked; then, gathering light wood from the dry trees -around her, she made a fire and hurled the burning sticks into the prison -where the wretch was howling, until he was dead in smoke and flame. When -his yells and curses had been silenced she told a friend what she had -done, then going back to the lake, she sang her death-song and cast -herself into the water, hoping thus to rejoin her husband. - - - - -THE MONSTER MOSQUITOE - -They have some pretty big mosquitoes in New Jersey and on Long Island, -but, if report of their ancestry is true, they have degenerated in size -and voracity; for the grandfather of all mosquitoes used to live in the -neighborhood of Fort Onondaga, New York, and sallying out whenever he was -hungry, would eat an Indian or two and pick his teeth with their ribs. -The red men had no arms that could prevail against it, but at last the -Holder of the Heavens, hearing their cry for aid, came down and attacked -the insect. Finding that it had met its match, the mosquito flew away so -rapidly that its assailant could hardly keep it in sight. It flew around -the great lake, then turned eastward again. It sought help vainly of the -witches that brooded in the sink-holes, or Green Lakes (near Janesville, -New York), and had reached the salt lake of Onondaga when its pursuer -came up and killed it, the creature piling the sand into hills in its -dying struggles. - -As its blood poured upon the earth it became small mosquitoes, that -gathered about the Holder of the Heavens and stung him so sorely that he -half repented the service that he had done to men. The Tuscaroras say -that this was one of two monsters that stood on opposite banks of the -Seneca River and slew all men that passed. Hiawatha killed the other one. -On their reservation is a stone, marked by the form of the Sky Holder, -that shows where he rested during the chase, while his tracks were until -lately seen south of Syracuse, alternating with footprints of the -mosquito, which were shaped like those of a bird, and twenty inches long. -At Brighton, New York, where these marks appeared, they were -reverentially renewed by the Indians for many years. - - - - -THE GREEN PICTURE - -In a cellar in Green Street, Schenectady, there appeared, some years ago, -the silhouette of a human form, painted on the floor in mould. It was -swept and scrubbed away, but presently it was there again, and month by -month, after each removal, it returned: a mass of fluffy mould, always in -the shape of a recumbent man. When it was found that the house stood on -the site of the old Dutch burial ground, the gossips fitted this and that -together and concluded that the mould was planted by a spirit whose -mortal part was put to rest a century and more ago, on the spot covered -by the house, and that the spirit took this way of apprising people that -they were trespassing on its grave. Others held that foul play had been -done, and that a corpse, hastily and shallowly buried, was yielding -itself back to the damp cellar in vegetable form, before its resolution -into simpler elements. But a darker meaning was that it was the outline -of a vampire that vainly strove to leave its grave, and could not because -a virtuous spell had been worked about the place. - -A vampire is a dead man who walks about seeking for those whose blood he -can suck, for only by supplying new life to its cold limbs can he keep -the privilege of moving about the earth. He fights his way from his -coffin, and those who meet his gray and stiffened shape, with fishy eyes -and blackened mouth, lurking by open windows, biding his time to steal in -and drink up a human life, fly from him in terror and disgust. In -northern Rhode Island those who die of consumption are believed to be -victims of vampires who work by charm, draining the blood by slow -draughts as they lie in their graves. To lay this monster he must be -taken up and burned; at least, his heart must be; and he must be -disinterred in the daytime when he is asleep and unaware. If he died with -blood in his heart he has this power of nightly resurrection. As late as -1892 the ceremony of heart-burning was performed at Exeter, Rhode Island, -to save the family of a dead woman that was threatened with the same -disease that removed her, namely, consumption. But the Schenectady -vampire has yielded up all his substance, and the green picture is no -more. - - - - -THE NUNS OF CARTHAGE - -At Carthage, New York, where the Black River bends gracefully about a -point, there was a stanch old house, built in the colonial fashion and -designed for the occupancy of some family of hospitality and wealth, but -the family died out or moved away, and for some years it remained -deserted. During the war of 1812 the village gossips were excited by the -appearance of carpenters, painters and upholsterers, and it was evident -that the place was to be restored to its manorial dignities; but their -curiosity was deepened instead of satisfied when, after the house had -been put in order and high walls built around it, the occupants presented -themselves as four young women in the garb of nuns. Were they daughters -of the family? Were they English sympathizers in disguise, seeking asylum -in the days of trouble? Had they registered a vow of celibacy until their -lovers should return from the war? Were they on a secret and diplomatic -errand? None ever knew, at least in Carthage. The nuns lived in great -privacy, but in a luxury before unequalled in that part of the country. -They kept a gardener, they received from New York wines and delicacies -that others could not afford, and when they took the air, still veiled, -it was behind a splendid pair of bays. - -One afternoon, just after the close of the war, a couple of young -American officers went to the convent, and, contrary to all precedent, -were admitted. They remained within all that day, and no one saw them -leave, but a sound of wheels passed through the street that evening. Next -day there were no signs of life about the place, nor the day following, -nor the next. The savage dog was quiet and the garden walks had gone -unswept. Some neighbors climbed over the wall and reported that the place -had been deserted. Why and by whom no one ever knew, but a cloud remained -upon its title until a recent day, for it was thought that at some time -the nuns might return. - - - - -THE SKULL IN THE WALL - -A skull is built into the wall above the door of the court-house at -Goshen, New York. It was taken from a coffin unearthed in 1842, when the -foundation of the building was laid. People said there was no doubt about -it, only Claudius Smith could have worn that skull, and he deserved to be -publicly pilloried in that manner. Before the Revolutionary war Smith was -a farmer in Monroe, New York, and being prosperous enough to feel the -king's taxes no burden, to say nothing of his jealousy of the advantage -that an independent government would be to the hopes of his poorer -neighbors, he declared for the king. After the declaration of -independence had been published, his sympathies were illustrated in an -unpleasantly practical manner by gathering a troop of other Tories about -him, and, emboldened by the absence of most of the men of his vicinage in -the colonial army, he began to harass the country as grievously in foray -as the red-coats were doing in open field. - -He pillaged houses and barns, then burned them; he insulted women, he -drove away cattle and horses, he killed several persons who had -undertaken to defend their property. His "campaigns" were managed with -such secrecy that nobody knew when or whence to look for him. His murder -of Major Nathaniel Strong, of Blooming Grove, roused indignation to such -a point that a united effort was made to catch him, a money reward for -success acting as a stimulus to the vigilance of the hunters, and at last -he was captured on Long Island. He was sent back to Goshen, tried, -convicted, and on January 22, 1779, was hanged, with five of his band. -The bodies of the culprits were buried in the jail-yard, on the spot -where the court-house stands, and old residents identified Smith's -skeleton, when it was accidentally exhumed, by its uncommon size. A -farmer from an adjacent town made off with a thigh bone, and a mason -clapped mortar into the empty skull and cemented it into the wall, where -it long remained. - - - - -THE HAUNTED MILL - -Among the settlers in the Adirondacks, forty or fifty years ago, was -Henry Clymer, from Brooklyn, who went up to Little Black Creek and tried -to make a farm out of the gnarly, stumpy land; but being a green hand at -that sort of thing, he soon gave it up and put up the place near -Northwood, that is locally referred to as the haunted mill. When the -first slab was cut, a big party was on hand to cheer and eat pie in honor -of the Clymers, for Mr. Clymer, who was a dark, hearty, handsome fellow, -and his bright young wife had been liberal in their hospitality. The -couple had made some talk, they were so loving before folks--too loving -to last; and, besides, it was evident that Mrs. Clymer was used to a -better station in life than her husband. It was while the crowd was -laughing and chattering at the picnic-table of new boards from the mill -that Mrs. Clymer stole away to her modest little house, and a neighbor -who had followed her was an accidental witness to a singular episode. -Mrs. Clymer was kneeling beside her bed, crying over the picture of a -child, when Clymer entered unexpectedly and attempted to take the picture -from her. - -She faced him defiantly. "You kept that because it looked like him, I -reckon," he said. "You might run back to him. You know what he'd call you -and where you'd stand with your aristocracy." - -The woman pointed to the door, and the man left without another word, and -so did the listener. Next morning the body of Mrs. Clymer was found -hanging to a beam in the mill. At the inquest the husband owned that he -had "had a few words" with her on the previous day, and thought that she -must have suddenly become insane. The jury took this view. News of the -suicide was printed in some of the city papers, and soon after that the -gossips had another sensation, for a fair-haired man, also from Brooklyn, -arrived at the place and asked where the woman was buried. When he found -the grave he sat beside it for some time, his head resting on his hand; -then he inquired for Clymer, but Clymer, deadly pale, had gone into the -woods as soon as he heard that a stranger had arrived. The new-comer went -to Trenton, where he ordered a gravestone bearing the single word -"Estella" to be placed where the woman's body had been interred. Clymer -quickly sold out and disappeared. The mill never prospered, and has long -been in a ruinous condition. People of the neighborhood think that the -ghost of Mrs. Clymer--was that her name?--still troubles it, and they -pass the place with quickened steps. - - - - -OLD INDIAN FACE - -On Lower Ausable Pond is a large, ruddy rock showing a huge profile, with -another, resembling a pappoose, below it. When the Tahawi ruled this -region their sachem lived here at "the Dark Cup," as they called this -lake, a man renowned for virtue and remarkable, in his age, for -gentleness. When his children had died and his manly grandson, who was -the old man's hope, had followed them to the land of the cloud mountains, -Adota's heart withered within him, and standing beneath this rock, he -addressed his people, recounting what he had done for them, how he had -swept their enemies from the Lakes of the Clustered Stars (the Lower -Saranac) and Silver Sky (Upper Saranac) to the Lake of Wandah, gaining a -land where they might hunt and fish in peace. The little one, the Star, -had been ravished away to crown the brow of the thunder god, who, even -now, was advancing across the peaks, bending the woods and lighting the -valleys with his jagged torches. - -Life was nothing to him longer; he resigned it. - -As he spoke these words he fell back, and the breath passed out of him. -Then came the thunder god, and with an appalling burst of fire sent the -people cowering. The roar that followed seemed to shake the earth, but -the medicine-man of the tribe stood still, listening to the speech of the -god in the clouds. "Tribe of the Tahawi," he translated, "Adota treads -the star-path to the happy hunting-grounds, and the sun is shining on his -heart. He will never walk among you again, but the god loves both him and -you, and he will set his face on the mountains. Look!" And, raising their -eyes, they beheld the likeness of Adota and of his beloved child, the -Star, graven by lightning-stroke on the cliff. There they buried the body -of Adota and held their solemn festivals until the white men drove them -out of the country. - - - - -THE DIVISION OF THE SARANACS - -In the middle of the last century a large body of Saranac Indians -occupied the forests of the Upper Saranac through which ran the Indian -carrying-place, called by them the Eagle Nest Trail. Whenever they raided -the Tahawi on the slopes of Mount Tahawus (Sky-splitter), there was a -pleasing rivalry between two young athletes, called the Wolf and the -Eagle, as to which would carry off the more scalps, and the tribe was -divided in admiration of them. There was one who did not share this -liking: an old sachem, one of the wizards who had escaped when the Great -Spirit locked these workers of evil in the hollow trees that stood beside -the trail. In their struggles to escape the less fortunate ones thrust -their arms through the closing bark, and they are seen there, as withered -trunks and branches, to this day. Oquarah had not been softened by this -exhibition of danger nor the qualification of mercy that allowed him -still to exist. Rather he was more bitter when he saw, as he fancied, -that the tribe thought more of the daring and powerful warriors than it -did of the bent and malignant-minded counsellor. - -It was in the moon of green leaves that the two young men set off to hunt -the moose, and on the next day the Wolf returned alone. He explained that -in the hunt they had been separated; he had called for hours for his -friend, and had searched so long that he concluded he must have returned -ahead of him. But he was not at the camp. Up rose the sachem with visage -dark. "I hear a forked tongue," he cried. "The Wolf was jealous of the -Eagle and his teeth have cut into his heart." - -"The Wolf cannot lie," answered the young man. - -"Where is the Eagle?" angrily shouted the sachem, clutching his hatchet. - -"The Wolf has said," replied the other. - -The old sachem advanced upon him, but as he raised his axe to strike, the -wife of the Wolf threw herself before her husband, and the steel sank -into her brain. The sachem fell an instant later with the Wolf's knife in -his heart, and instantly the camp was in turmoil. Before the day had -passed it had been broken up, and the people were divided into factions, -for it was no longer possible to hold it together in peace. The Wolf, -with half of the people, went down the Sounding River to new -hunting-grounds, and the earth that separated the families was reddened -whenever one side met the other. - -Years had passed when, one morning, the upper tribe saw a canoe advancing -across the Lake of the Silver Sky. An old man stepped from it: he was the -Eagle. After the Wolf had left him he had fallen into a cleft in a rock, -and had lain helpless until found by hunters who were on their way to -Canada. He had joined the British against the French, had married a -northern squaw, but had returned to die among the people of his early -love. Deep was his sorrow that his friend should have been accused of -doing him an injury, and that the once happy tribe should have been -divided by that allegation. The warriors and sachems of both branches -were summoned to a council, and in his presence they swore a peace, so -that in the fulness of time he was able to die content. That peace was -always kept. - - - - -AN EVENT IN INDIAN PARK - -It was during the years when the Saranacs were divided that Howling Wind, -one of the young men of Indian Carry, saw and fell in love with a girl of -the family on Tupper Lake. He quickly found a way to tell his liking, and -the couple met often in the woods and on the shore. He made bold to row -her around the quieter bays, and one moonlight evening he took her to -Devil's Rock, or Devil's Pulpit, where he told her the story of the -place. This was to the effect that the fiend had paddled, on timbers, by -means of his tail, to that rock, and had assembled fish and game about -him in large numbers by telling them that he was going to preach to them, -instead of which moral procedure he pounced upon and ate all that were -within his grasp. - -As so often happened in Indian history, the return of these lovers was -seen by a disappointed rival, who had hurried back to camp and secured -the aid of half a dozen men to arrest the favored one as soon as he -should land. The capture was made after a struggle, and Howling Wind was -dragged to the chief's tent for sentence. That sentence was death, and -with a refinement of cruelty that was rare even among the Indians, the -girl was ordered to execute it. She begged and wept to no avail. An axe -was put into her hands, and she was ordered to despatch the prisoner. She -took the weapon; her face grew stern and the tears dried on her cheeks; -her lover, bound to a tree, gazed at her in amazement; his rival watched, -almost in glee. Slowly the girl crossed the open space to her lover. She -raised the tomahawk and at a blow severed the thongs that held him, then, -like a flash, she leaped upon his rival, who had sprung forward to -interfere, and clove his skull with a single stroke. The lovers fled as -only those can fly who run for life. Happily for them, they met a party -from the Carry coming to rescue Howling Wind from the danger to which his -courtship had exposed him, and it was even said that this party entered -the village and by presenting knives and arrows at the breast of the -chief obtained his now superfluous consent to the union of the fugitives. -The pair reached the Carry in safety and lived a long and happy life -together. - - - - -THE INDIAN PLUME - -Brightest flower that grows beside the brooks is the scarlet blossom of -the Indian plume: the blood of Lenawee. Hundreds of years ago she lived -happily among her brother and sister Saranacs beside Stony Creek, the -Stream of the Snake, and was soon to marry the comely youth who, for the -speed of his foot, was called the Arrow. But one summer the Quick Death -came on the people, and as the viewless devil stalked through the village -young and old fell before him. The Arrow was the first to die. In vain -the Prophet smoked the Great Calumet: its smoke ascending took no shape -that he could read. In vain was the white dog killed to take aloft the -people's sins. But at last the Great Spirit himself came down to the -mountain called the Storm Darer, splendid in lightning, awful in his -thunder voice and robe of cloud. "My wrath is against you for your sins," -he cried, "and naught but human blood will appease it." - -In the morning the Prophet told his message, and all sat silent for a -time. Then Lenawee entered the circle. "Lenawee is a blighted flower," -she sobbed. "Let her blood flow for her people." And catching a knife -from the Prophet's belt, she ran with it to the stream on which she and -the Arrow had so often floated in their canoe. In another moment her -blood had bedewed the earth. "Lay me with the Arrow," she murmured, and, -smiling in their sad faces, breathed her last. The demon of the quick -death shrank from the spot, and the Great Spirit smiled once more on the -tribe that could produce such heroism. Lenawee's body was placed beside -her lover's, and next morning, where her blood had spilt, the ground was -pure, and on it grew in slender spires a new flower,--the Indian plume: -the transformed blood of sacrifice. The people loved that flower in all -years after. They decked their hair and dresses with it and made a feast -in its honor. When parents taught their children the beauty of -unselfishness they used as its emblem a stalk of Indian plume. - - - - -BIRTH OF THE WATER-LILY - -Back from his war against the Tahawi comes the Sun, chief of the Lower -Saranacs,--back to the Lake of the Clustered Stars, afterward called, by -dullards, Tupper's Lake. Tall and invincible he comes among his people, -boasting of his victories, Indian fashion, and stirring the scalps that -hang at his breast. "The Eagle screams," he cries. "He greets the chief, -the Blazing Sun. Wayotah has made the Tahawi tremble. They fly from him. -Hooh, hooh! He is the chief." Standing apart with wistful glance stands -Oseetah, the Bird. She loves the strong young chief, but she knows that -another has his promise, and she dares not hope; yet the chief loves her, -and when the feasting is over he follows her footprints to the shore, -where he sees her canoe turning the point of an island. He silently -pursues and comes upon her as she sits waving and moaning. He tries to -embrace her, but she draws apart. He asks her to sing to him; she bids -him begone. - -He takes a more imperious tone and orders her to listen to her chief. She -moves away. He darts toward her. Turning on him a face of sorrow, she -runs to the edge of a steep rock and waves him back. He hastens after. -Then she springs and disappears in the deep water. The Sun plunges after -her and swims with mad strength here and there. He calls. There is no -answer. Slowly he returns to the village and tells the people what has -happened. The Bird's parents are stricken and the Sun moans in his sleep. -At noon a hunter comes in with strange tidings: flowers are growing on -the water! The people go to their canoes and row to the Island of Elms. -There, in a cove, the still water is enamelled with flowers, some as -white as snow, filling the air with perfume, others strong and yellow, -like the lake at sunset. - -"Explain to us," they cry, turning to the old Medicine of his tribe, "for -this was not so yesterday." - -"It is our daughter," he answered. "These flowers are the form she -takes. The white is her purity, the yellow her love. You shall see that -her heart will close when the sun sets, and will reopen at his coming." -And the young chief went apart and bowed his head. - - - - -ROGERS'S SLIDE - -The shores of Lakes George and Champlain were ravaged by war. Up and down -those lovely waters swept the barges of French and English, and the green -hills rang to the shrill of bugles, the boom of cannon, and the yell of -savages. Fiction and history have been weft across the woods and the -memory of deeds still echoes among the heights. It was at Glen's Falls, -in the cave on the rock in the middle of the river, that the brave Uncas -held the watch with Hawkeye. Bloody Defile and Bloody Pond, between there -and Lake George, take their names from the "Bloody morning scout" sent -out by Sir William Johnson on a September day in 1755 to check Dieskau -until Fort William Henry could be completed. In the action that ensued, -Colonel Williams, founder of Williams College, and Captain Grant, of the -Connecticut line, great-grandfather of the President who bore that name, -were killed. The victims, dead and wounded alike, having been flung into -Bloody Pond, it was thick and red for days, and tradition said that in -after years it resumed its hue of crimson at sunset and held it until -dawn. The captured, who were delivered to the Indians, had little to -hope, for their white allies could not stay their savagery. Blind Rock -was so called because the Indians brought a white man there, and tearing -his eyes out, flung them into embers at the foot of the stone. Captives -were habitually tortured, blazing splinters of pine being thrust into -their flesh, their nails torn out, and their bodies slashed with knives -before they went to the stake. An English prisoner was allowed to run the -gauntlet here. They had already begun to strike at him as he sped between -the lines, when he seized a pappoose, flung it on a fire, and, in the -instant of confusion that followed, snatched an axe, cut the bonds of a -comrade who had been doomed to die, and both escaped. - -But the best-known history of this region is that of Rogers's Rock, or -Rogers's Slide, a lofty precipice at the lower end of Lake George. Major -Rogers did not toboggan down this rock in leather trousers, but his -escape was no less remarkable than if he had. On March 13, 1758, while -reconnoitring near Ticonderoga with two hundred rangers, he was surprised -by a force of French and Indians. But seventeen of his men escaped death -or capture, and he was pursued nearly to the brink of this cliff. During -a brief delay among the red men, arising from the loss of his trail, he -had time to throw his pack down the slide, reverse his snow-shoes, and go -back over his own track to the head of a ravine before they emerged from -the woods, and, seeing that his shoe-marks led to the rock, while none -pointed back, they concluded that he had flung himself off and committed -suicide to avoid capture. Great was their disappointment when they saw -the major on the frozen surface of the lake beneath going at a lively -rate toward Fort William Henry. He had gained the ice by way of the cleft -in the rocks, but the savages, believing that he had leaped over the -precipice, attributed his preservation to the Great Spirit and forbore to -fire on him. Unconsciously, he had chosen the best possible place to -disappear from, for the Indians held it in superstitious regard, -believing that spirits haunted the wood and hurled bad souls down the -cliff, drowning them in the lake, instead of allowing them to go to the -happy hunting grounds. The major reached his quarters in safety, and -lived to take up arms against the land of his birth when the colonies -revolted, seventeen years later. - - - - -THE FALLS AT COHOES - -When Occuna, a young Seneca, fell in love with a girl whose cabin was -near the present town of Cohoes, he behaved very much as Americans of a -later date have done. He picked wild flowers for her; he played on the -bone pipe and sang sentimental songs in the twilight; he roamed the hills -with her, gathering the loose quartz crystals that the Indians believed -to be the tears of stricken deer, save on Diamond Rock, in Lansingburgh, -where they are the tears of Moneta, a bereaved mother and wife; and in -fine weather they went boating on the Mohawk above the rapids. They liked -to drift idly on the current, because it gave them time to gaze into each -other's eyes, and to build air castles that they would live in in the -future. They were suddenly called to a realization of danger one evening, -for the stream had been subtly drawing them on and on until it had them -in its power. The stroke of the paddle failed and the air castles fell in -dismal ruin. Sitting erect they began their death-song in this wise: - -Occuna: "Daughter of a mighty warrior, the Manitou calls me hence. I hear -the roaring of his voice; I see the lightning of his glance along the -river; he walks in clouds and spray upon the waters." - -The Maiden: "Thou art thyself a warrior, O Occuna. Hath not thine axe -been often bathed in blood? Hath the deer ever escaped thine arrow or the -beaver avoided thy chase? Thou wilt not fear to go into the presence of -Manitou." - -Occuna: "Manitou, indeed, respects the strong. When I chose thee from the -women of our tribe I promised that we should live and die together. The -Thunderer calls us now. Welcome, O ghost of Oriska, chief of the -invincible Senecas! A warrior and the daughter of a warrior come to join -you in the feast of the blessed!" - -The boat leaped over the falls, and Occuna, striking on the rocks below, -was killed at once; but, as by a miracle, the girl fell clear of them and -was whirled on the seething current to shoal water, where she made her -escape. For his strength and his virtues the dead man was canonized. His -tribe raised him above the regions of the moon, whence he looked down on -the scenes of his youth with pleasure, and in times of war gave pleasant -dreams and promises to his friends, while he confused the enemy with evil -omens. Whenever his tribe passed the falls they halted and with brief -ceremonials commemorated the death of Occuna. - - - - -FRANCIS WOOLCOTT'S NIGHT-RIDERS - -In Copake, New York, among the Berkshire Hills, less than a century ago, -lived Francis Woolcott, a dark, tall man, with protruding teeth, whose -sinister laugh used to give his neighbors a creep along their spines. He -had no obvious trade or calling, but the farmers feared him so that he -had no trouble in making levies: pork, flour, meal, cider, he could have -what he chose for the asking, for had he not halted horses at the plow so -that neither blows nor commands could move them for two hours? Had he not -set farmer Raught's pigs to walking on their hind legs and trying to -talk? When he shouted "Hup! hup! hup!" to farmer Williams's children, had -they not leaped to the moulding of the parlor wainscot,--a yard above the -floor and only an inch wide,--and walked around it, afterward skipping -like birds from chair-back to chair-back, while the furniture stood as if -nailed to the floor? And was he not the chief of thirteen night-riders, -whose faces no man had seen, nor wanted to see, and whom he sent about -the country on errands of mischief every night when the moon was growing -old? As to moons, had he not found a mystic message from our satellite on -Mount Riga, graven on a meteor? - -Horses' tails were tied, hogs foamed at the mouth and walked like men, -cows gave blood for milk. These night-riders met Woolcott in a grove of -ash and chestnut trees, each furnished with a stolen bundle of oat straw, -and these bundles Woolcott changed to black horses when the night had -grown dark enough not to let the way of the change be seen. These horses -could not cross streams of water, and on the stroke of midnight they fell -to pieces and were oaten sheaves once more, but during their time of -action they rushed through woods, bearing their riders safely, and tore -like hurricanes across the fields, leaping bushes, fences, even trees, -without effort. Never could traces be found of them the next day. At last -the devil came to claim his own. Woolcott, who was ninety years old, lay -sick and helpless in his cabin. Clergymen refused to see him, but two or -three of his neighbors stifled their fears and went to the wizard's house -to soothe his dying moments. With the night came storm, and with its -outbreak the old man's face took on such a strange and horrible look that -the watchers fell back in alarm. There was a burst of purple flame at the -window, a frightful peal, a smell of sulphur, and Woolcott was dead. When -the watchers went out the roads were dry, and none in the village had -heard wind, rain, or thunder. It was the coming of the fiend. - - - - -POLLY'S LOVER - -In about the middle of this century a withered woman of ninety was buried -from a now deserted house in White Plains, New York, Polly Carter the -name of her, but "Crazy Polly" was what the neighbors called her, for she -was eccentric and not fond of company. Among the belongings of her house -was a tall clock, such as relic hunters prize, that ticked solemnly in a -landing on the stairs. - -For a time, during the Revolution, the house stood within the British -lines, and as her father was a colonel in Washington's army she was left -almost alone in it. The British officers respected her sex, but they had -an unpleasant way of running in unannounced and demanding entertainment, -in the king's name, which she felt forced to grant. One rainy afternoon -the door was flung open, then locked on the inside, and she found herself -in the arms of a stalwart, handsome lieutenant, who wore the blue. It was -her cousin and fiance. Their glad talk had not been going long when there -came a rousing summons at the door. Three English officers were awaiting -admittance. - -Perhaps they had seen Lawrence Carter go into the house, and if caught he -would be killed as a spy. He must be hidden, but in some place where they -would not think of looking. The clock! That was the place. With a laugh -and a kiss the young man submitted to be shut in this narrow quarter, and -throwing his coat and hat behind some furniture the girl admitted the -officers, who were wet and surly and demanded dinner. They tramped about -the best room in their muddy boots, talking loudly, and in order to break -the effect of the chill weather they passed the brandy bottle freely. -Polly served them with a dinner as quickly as possible, for she wanted to -get them out of the house, but they were in no mood to go, and the bottle -passed so often that before the dinner was over they were noisy and tipsy -and were using language that drove Polly from the room. - -At last, to her relief, she heard them preparing to leave the house, but -as they were about to go the senior officer, looking up at the landing, -now dim in the paling light, said to one of the others, "See what time it -is." The officer addressed, who happened to be the drunkest of the party, -staggered up the stair and exclaimed, "The d---d thing's stopped." Then, -as if he thought it a good joke, he added, "It'll never go again." -Drawing his sabre he gave the clock a careless cut and ran the blade -through the panel of the door; after this the three passed out. When -their voices had died in distant brawling, Polly ran to release her -lover. Something thick and dark was creeping from beneath the clock-case. -With trembling fingers she pulled open the door, and Lawrence, her lover, -fell heavily forward into her arms, dead. The officer was right: the -clock never went again. - - - - -CROSBY, THE PATRIOT SPY - -It was at the Jay house, in Westchester, New York, that Enoch Crosby met -Washington and offered his services to the patriot army. Crosby was a -cobbler, and not a very thriving one, but after the outbreak of -hostilities he took a peddler's outfit on his back and, as a -non-combatant, of Tory sympathies, he obtained admission through the -British lines. After his first visit to head quarters it is certain that -he always carried Sir Henry Clinton's passport in the middle of his pack, -and so sure were his neighbors that he was in the service of the British -that they captured him and took him to General Washington, but while his -case was up for debate he managed to slip his handcuffs, which were not -secure, and made off. Clinton, on the other hand, was puzzled by the -unaccountable foresight of the Americans, for every blow that he prepared -to strike was met, and he lost time and chance and temper. As if the -suspicion of both armies and the hatred of his neighbors were not enough -to contend against, Crosby now became an object of interest to the -Skinners and Cowboys, who were convinced that he was making money, -somehow, and resolved to have it. - -The Skinners were camp-followers of the American troops and the Cowboys a -band of Tories and renegade British. Both factions were employed, -ostensibly, in foraging for their respective armies, but, in reality, for -themselves, and the farmers and citizens occupying the neutral belt north -of Manhattan Island had reason to curse them both impartially. While -these fellows were daring thieves, they occasionally got the worst of it, -even in the encounters with the farmers, as on the Neperan, near -Tarrytown, where the Cowboys chased a woman to death, but were afterward -cut to pieces by the enraged neighbors. Hers is but one of the many -ghosts that haunt the neutral ground, and the croaking of the birds of -ill luck that nest at Raven rock is blended with the cries of her dim -figure. Still, graceless as these fellows were, they affected a loyalty -to their respective sides, and were usually willing to fight each other -when they met, especially for the plunder that was to be got by fighting. - -In October, 1780, Claudius Smith, "king of the Cowboys," and three -scalawag sons came to the conclusion that it was time for Crosby's money -to revert to the crown, and they set off toward his little house one -evening, sure of finding him in, for his father was seriously ill. The -Smiths arrived there to find that the Skinners had preceded them on the -same errand, and they recognized through the windows, in the leader of -the band, a noted brigand on whose head a price was laid. He was -searching every crack and cranny of the room, while Crosby, stripped to -shirt and trousers, stood before the empty fireplace and begged for that -night to be left alone with his dying father. - -"To hell with the old man!" roared the Skinner. "Give up your gold, or -we'll put you to the torture," and he significantly whirled the end of a -rope that he carried about his waist. At that moment the faint voice of -the old man was heard calling from another room. - -"Take all that I have and let me go!" cried Crosby, and turning up a -brick in the fire-place he disclosed a handful of gold, his life savings. -The leader still tried to oppose his exit, but Crosby flung him to the -floor and rushed away to his father, while the brigand, deeming it well -to delay rising, dug his fingers into the hollow and began to extract the -sovereigns. At that instant four muskets were discharged from without: -there was a crash of glass, a yell of pain, and four of the Skinners -rolled bleeding on the floor; two others ran into the darkness and -escaped; their leader, trying to follow, was met at the threshold by the -Smiths, who clutched the gold out of his hand and pinioned his elbows in -a twinkling. - -"I thought ye'd like to know who's got ye," said old Smith, peering into -the face of the astonished and crestfallen robber, "for I've told ye many -a time to keep out of my way, and now ye've got to swing for getting into -it." - -Within five minutes of the time that he had got his clutch on Crosby's -money the bandit was choking to death at the end of his own rope, hung -from the limb of an apple-tree, and, having secured the gold, the Cowboys -went their way into the darkness. Crosby soon made his appearance in the -ranks of the Continentals, and, though they looked askant at him for a -time, they soon discovered the truth and hailed him as a hero, for the -information he had carried to Washington from Clinton's camp had often -saved them from disaster. He had survived attack in his own house through -the falling out of rogues, and he survived the work and hazard of war -through luck and a sturdy frame. Congress afterwards gave him a sum of -money larger than had been taken from him, for his chief had commended -him in these lines: "Circumstances of political importance, which -involved the lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what -this paper now reveals. Enoch Crosby has for years been a faithful and -unrequited servant of his country. Though man does not, God may reward -him for his conduct. GEORGE WASHINGTON." - -Associated with Crosby in his work of getting information from the enemy -was a man named Gainos, who kept an inn on the neutral ground, that was -often raided. Being assailed by Cowboys once, Gainos, with his tenant and -stable-boys, fired at the bandits together, just as the latter had forced -his front door, then stepping quickly forward he slashed off the head of -the leader with a cutlass. The retreating crew dumped the body into a -well on the premises, and there it sits on the crumbling curb o' nights -looking disconsolately for its head. - -It may also be mentioned that the Skinners had a chance to revenge -themselves on the Cowboys for their defeat at the Crosby house. They fell -upon the latter at the tent-shaped cave in Yonkers,--it is called -Washington's Cave, because the general napped there on bivouac,--and not -only routed them, but secured so much of their treasure that they were -able to be honest for several years after. - - - - -THE LOST GRAVE OF PAINE - -Failure to mark the resting-places of great men and to indicate the -scenes of their deeds has led to misunderstanding and confusion among -those who discover a regard for history and tradition in this practical -age. Robert Fulton, who made steam navigation possible, lies in an -unmarked tomb in the yard of Trinity Church--the richest church in -America. The stone erected to show where Andre was hanged was destroyed -by a cheap patriot, who thought it represented a compliment to the spy. -The spot where Alexander Hamilton was shot in the duel by Aaron Burr is -known to few and will soon be forgotten. It was not until a century of -obloquy had been heaped on the memory of Thomas Paine that his once -enemies were brought to know him as a statesman of integrity, a -philanthropist, and philosopher. His deistic religion, proclaimed in "The -Age of Reason," is unfortunately no whit more independent than is -preached in dozens of pulpits to-day. He died ripe in honors, despite his -want of creed, and his mortal part was buried in New Rochelle, New York, -under a large walnut-tree in a hay-field. Some years later his friends -removed the body to a new grave in higher ground, and placed over it a -monument that the opponents of his principles quickly hacked to pieces. -Around the original grave there still remains a part of the old -inclosure, and it was proposed to erect a suitable memorial--the Hudson -and its Hills the spot, but the owner of the tract would neither give nor -sell an inch of his land for the purpose of doing honor to the man. Some -doubt has already been expressed as to whether the grave is beneath the -monument or in the inclosure; and it is also asserted that Paine's ghost -appears at intervals, hovering in the air between the two burial-places, -or flitting back and forth from one to the other, lamenting the -forgetfulness of men and wailing, "Where is my grave? I have lost my -grave!" - - - - -THE RISING OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS - -Gouverneur Morris, American minister to the court of Louis XVI, was -considerably enriched, at the close of the reign of terror, by plate, -jewels, furniture, paintings, coaches, and so on, left in his charge by -members of the French nobility, that they might not be confiscated in the -sack of the city by the _sans culottes_; for so many of the aristocracy -were killed and so many went into exile or disguised their names, that it -was impossible to find heirs or owners for these effects. Some of the -people who found France a good country to be out of came to America, -where adventurers had found prosperity and refugees found peace so many -times before. Marshal Ney and Bernadotte are alleged to have served in -the American army during the Revolution, and at Hogansburg, New York, the -Reverend Eleazer Williams, an Episcopal missionary, who lies buried in -the church-yard there, was declared to be the missing son of Louis XVI. -The question, "Have we a Bourbon among us?" was frequently canvassed; but -he avoided publicity and went quietly on with his pastoral work. - -All property left in Mr. Morris's hands that had not been claimed was -removed to his mansion at Port Morris, when he returned from his -ministry, and he gained in the esteem and envy of his neighbors when the -extent of these riches was seen. Once, at the wine, he touched glasses -with his wife, and said that if she bore a male child that son should be -heir to his wealth. Two relatives who sat at the table exchanged looks at -this and cast a glance of no gentle regard on his lady. A year went by. -The son was born, but Gouverneur Morris was dead. - -It is the first night of the year 1817, the servants are asleep, and the -widow sits late before the fire, her baby in her arms, listening betimes -to the wind in the chimney, the beat of hail on the shutters, the -brawling of the Bronx and the clash of moving ice upon it; yet thinking -of her husband and the sinister look his promise had brought to the faces -of his cousins, when a tramp of horses is heard without, and anon a -summons at the door. The panels are beaten by loaded riding-whips, and a -man's voice cries, "Anne Morris, fetch us our cousin's will, or we'll -break into the house and take it." The woman clutches the infant to her -breast, but makes no answer. Again the clatter of the whips; but now a -mist is gathering in the room, and a strange enchantment comes over her, -for are not the lions breathing on the coat of arms above the door, and -are not the portraits stirring in their frames? - -They are, indeed. There is a rustle of robes and clink of steel and one -old warrior leaps down, his armor sounding as he alights, and striking -thrice his sword and shield together he calls on Gouverneur Morris to -come forth. Somebody moves in the room where Morris died; there is a -measured footfall in the corridor, with the clank of a scabbard keeping -time; the door is opened, and on the blast that enters the widow hears a -cry, then a double gallop, passing swiftly into distance. As she gazes, -her husband appears, apparelled as in life, and with a smile he takes a -candelabrum from the mantel and, beckoning her to follow, moves from room -to room. Then, for the first time, the widow knows to what wealth her -baby has been born, for the ghost discloses secret drawers in escritoires -where money, title deeds, and gems are hidden, turns pictures and -wainscots on unsuspected hinges, revealing shelves heaped with fabrics, -plate, and lace; then, returning to the fireside, he stoops as if to kiss -his wife and boy, but a bell strikes the first hour of morning and he -vanishes into his portrait on the wall. - - - - -THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY - - - - -DOLPH HEYLIGER - -New York was New Amsterdam when Dolph Heyliger got himself born there,--a -graceless scamp, though a brave, good-natured one, and being left -penniless on his father's death he was fain to take service with a -doctor, while his mother kept a shop. This doctor had bought a farm on -the island of Manhattoes--away out of town, where Twenty-third Street now -runs, most likely--and, because of rumors that its tenants had noised -about it, he seemed likely to enjoy the responsibilities of landholding -and none of its profits. It suited Dolph's adventurous disposition that -he should be deputed to investigate the reason for these rumors, and for -three nights he kept his abode in the desolate old manor, emerging after -daybreak in a lax and pallid condition, but keeping his own counsel, to -the aggravation of the populace, whose ears were burning for his news. - -Not until long after did he tell of the solemn tread that woke him in the -small hours, of his door softly opening, though he had bolted and locked -it, of a portly Fleming, with curly gray hair, reservoir boots, slouched -hat, trunk and doublet, who entered and sat in the arm-chair, watching -him until the cock crew. Nor did he tell how on the third night he -summoned courage, hugging a Bible and a catechism to his breast for -confidence, to ask the meaning of the visit, and how the Fleming arose, -and drawing Dolph after him with his eyes, led him downstairs, went -through the front door without unbolting it, leaving that task for the -trembling yet eager youth, and how, after he had proceeded to a disused -well at the bottom of the garden, he vanished from sight. - -Dolph brooded long upon these things and dreamed of them in bed. He -alleged that it was in obedience to his dreams that he boarded a schooner -bound up the Hudson, without the formality of adieu to his employer, and -after being spilled ashore in a gale at the foot of Storm King, he fell -into the company of Anthony Vander Hevden, a famous landholder and -hunter, who achieved a fancy for Dolph as a lad who could shoot, fish, -row, and swim, and took him home with him to Albany. The Heer had -commodious quarters, good liquor, and a pretty daughter, and Dolph felt -himself in paradise until led to the room he was to occupy, for one of -the first things that he set eyes on in that apartment was a portrait of -the very person who had kept him awake for the worse part of three nights -at the bowerie in Manhattoes. He demanded to know whose picture it was, -and learned that it was that of Killian Vander Spiegel, burgomaster and -curmudgeon, who buried his money when the English seized New Amsterdam -and fretted himself to death lest it should be discovered. He remembered -that his mother had spoken of this Spiegel and that her father was the -miser's rightful heir, and it now appeared that he was one of Heyden's -forbears too. In his dream that night the Fleming stepped out of the -portrait, led him, as he had done before, to the well, where he smiled -and vanished. Dolph reflected, next morning, that these things had been -ordered to bring together the two branches of the family and disclose the -whereabouts of the treasure that it should inherit. So full was he of -this idea that he went back to New Amsterdam by the first schooner, to -the surprise of the Heer and the regret of his daughter. - -After the truant had been received with execrations by the doctor and -with delight by his mother, who believed that spooks had run off with -him, and with astonishment, as a hero of romance, by the public, he made -for the haunted premises at the first opportunity and began to angle at -the disused well. Presently he found his hook entangled in something at -the bottom, and on lifting slowly he discovered that he had secured a -fine silver porringer, with lid held down by twisted wire. It was the -work of a moment to wrench off the lid, when he found the vessel to be -filled with golden pieces. His fishing that day was attended with such -luck as never fell to an angler before, for there were other pieces of -plate down there, all engraved with the Spiegel arms and all containing -treasure. - -By encouraging the most dreadful stories about the spot, in order to keep -the people wide away from it, he accomplished the removal of his prizes -bit by bit from their place of concealment to his home. His unaccounted -absence in Albany and his dealings with the dead had prepared his -neighbors for any change in himself or his condition, and now that he -always had a bottle of schnapps for the men and a pot of tea for the -women, and was good to his mother, they said that they had always known -that when he changed it would be for the better,--at which his old -detractors lifted their eyebrows significantly--and when asked to dinner -by him they always accepted. - -Moreover, they made merry when the day came round for his wedding with -the little maid of Albany. They likewise elected him a member of the -corporation, to which he bequeathed some of the Spiegel plate and often -helped the other city fathers to empty the big punch-bowl. Indeed, it was -at one of these corporation feasts that he died of apoplexy. He was -buried with honors in the yard of the Dutch church in Garden Street. - - - - -THE KNELL AT THE WEDDING - -A young New Yorker had laid such siege to the heart of a certain -belle--this was back in the Knickerbocker days when people married for -love--that everybody said the banns were as good as published; but -everybody did not know, for one fine morning my lady went to church with -another gentleman--not her father, though old enough to be--and when the -two came out they were man and wife. The elderly man was rich. After the -first paroxysm of rage and disappointment had passed, the lover withdrew -from the world and devoted himself to study; nor when he learned that she -had become a widow, with comfortable belongings derived from the estate -of the late lamented, did he renew acquaintance with her, and he smiled -bitterly when he heard of her second marriage to a young adventurer who -led her a wretched life, but atoned for his sins, in a measure, by dying -soon enough afterward to leave a part of her fortune unspent. - -In the lapse of time the doubly widowed returned to New York, where she -met again the lover of her youth. Mr. Ellenwood had acquired the reserve -of a scholar, and had often puzzled his friends with his eccentricities; -but after a few meetings with the object of his young affection he came -out of his glooms, and with respectful formality laid again at her feet -the heart she had trampled on forty years before. Though both of them -were well on in life, the news of their engagement made little of a -sensation. The widow was still fair; the wooer was quiet, refined, and -courtly, and the union of their fortunes would assure a competence for -the years that might be left to them. The church of St. Paul, on -Broadway, was appointed for the wedding, and it was a whim of the groom -that his bride should meet him there. At the appointed hour a company of -the curious had assembled in the edifice; a rattle of wheels was heard, -and a bevy of bridesmaids and friends in hoop, patch, velvet, silk, -powder, swords, and buckles walked down the aisle; but just as the bride -had come within the door, out of the sunlight that streamed so -brilliantly on the mounded turf and tombstones in the churchyard, the -bell in the steeple gave a single boom. - -The bride walked to the altar, and as she took her place before it -another clang resounded from the belfry. The bridegroom was not there. -Again and again the brazen throat and iron tongue sent out a doleful -knell, and faces grew pale and anxious, for the meaning of it could not -be guessed. With eyes fixed on the marble tomb of her first husband, the -woman tremblingly awaited the solution of the mystery, until the door was -darkened by something that made her catch her breath--a funeral. The -organ began a solemn dirge as a black-cloaked cortege came through the -aisle, and it was with amazement that the bride discovered it to be -formed of her oldest friends,--bent, withered; paired, man and woman, as -in mockery--while behind, with white face, gleaming eyes, disordered -hair, and halting step, came the bridegroom, in his shroud. - -"Come," he said,--"let us be married. The coffins are ready. Then, home -to the tomb." - -"Cruel!" murmured the woman. - -"Now, Heaven judge which of us has been cruel. Forty years ago you took -away my faith, destroyed my hopes, and gave to others your youth and -beauty. Our lives have nearly run their course, so I am come to wed you -as with funeral rites." Then, in a softer manner, he took her hand, and -said, "All is forgiven. If we cannot live together we will at least be -wedded in death. Time is almost at its end. We will marry for eternity. -Come." And tenderly embracing her, he led her forward. Hard as was the -ordeal, confusing, frightening, humiliating, the bride came through it a -better woman. - -"It is true," she said, "I have been vain and worldly, but now, in my -age, the truest love I ever knew has come back to me. It is a holy love. -I will cherish it forever." Their eyes met, and they saw each other -through tears. Solemnly the clergyman read the marriage service, and when -it was concluded the low threnody that had come from the organ in key -with the measured clang of the bell, merged into a nobler motive, until -at last the funeral measures were lost in a burst of exultant harmony. -Sobs of pent feeling and sighs of relief were heard as the bridal party -moved away, and when the newmade wife and husband reached the portal the -bell was silent and the sun was shining. - - - - -ROISTERING DIRCK VAN DARA - -In the days when most of New York stood below Grand Street, a roistering -fellow used to make the rounds of the taverns nightly, accompanied by a -friend named Rooney. This brave drinker was Dirck Van Dara, one of the -last of those swag-bellied topers that made merry with such solemnity -before the English seized their unoffending town. It chanced that Dirck -and his chum were out later than usual one night, and by eleven o'clock, -when all good people were abed, a drizzle set in that drove the watch to -sleep in doorways and left Broadway tenantless. As the two choice spirits -reeled out of a hostelry near Wall Street and saw the lights go out in -the tap-room windows they started up town to their homes in Leonard -Street, but hardly had they come abreast of old St. Paul's when a strange -thing stayed them: crying was heard in the churchyard and a -phosphorescent light shone among the tombs. Rooney was sober in a moment, -but not so Dirck Van Dara, who shouted, "Here is sport, friend Rooney. -Let's climb the wall. If the dead are for a dance, we will take partners -and show them how pigeons' wings are cut nowadays." - -"No," exclaimed the other; "those must perish who go among the dead when -they come out of their graves. I've heard that if you get into their -clutches, you must stay in purgatory for a hundred years, and no priest -can pray you out." - -"Bah! old wives' tales! Come on!" And pulling his friend with him, they -were over the fence. "Hello! what have we here?" As he spoke a haggard -thing arose from behind a tombstone, a witchlike creature, with rags -falling about her wasted form and hair that almost hid her face. The -twain were set a-sneezing by the fumes of sulphur, and Rooney swore -afterwards that there were little things at the end of the yard with -grinning faces and lights on the ends of their tails. Old Hollands are -heady. Dirck began to chaff the beldam on her dilapidation, but she -stopped his talk by dipping something from a caldron behind her and -flinging it over both of her visitors. Whatever it was, it burned -outrageously, and with a yell of pain they leaped the wall more briskly -than they had jumped it the other way, and were soon in full flight. They -had not gone far when the clock struck twelve. - -"Arrah! there's a crowd of them coming after," panted Rooney. "Ave Mary! -I've heard that if you die with witch broth being thrown over you, you're -done for in the next world, as well as this. Let us get to Father -Donagan's. Wow!" - -As he made this exclamation the fugitives found their way opposed by a -woman, who looked at them with immodest eyes and said, "Dirck Van Dara, -your sire, in wig and bob, turned us Cyprians out of New York, after -ducking us in the Collect. But we forgive him, and to prove it we ask you -to our festival." - -At the stroke of midnight the street before the church had swarmed with a -motley throng, that now came onward, waving torches that sparkled like -stars. They formed a ring about Dirck and began to dance, and he, nothing -loth, seized the nymph who had addressed him and joined in the revel. Not -a soul was out or awake except themselves, and no words were said as the -dance went wilder to strains of weird and unseen instruments. Now and -then one would apply a torch to the person of Dirck, meanly assailing him -in the rear, and the smart of the burn made him feet it the livelier. At -last they turned toward the Battery as by common consent, and went -careering along the street in frolic fashion. Rooney, whose senses had -thus far been pent in a stupor, fled with a yell of terror, and as he -looked back he saw the unholy troop disappearing in the mist like a -moving galaxy. Never from that night was Dirck Van Data seen or heard of -more, and the publicans felt that they had less reason for living. - - - - -THE PARTY FROM GIBBET ISLAND - -Ellis Island, in New York harbor, once bore the name of Gibbet Island, -because pirates and mutineers were hanged there in chains. During the -times when it was devoted to this fell purpose there stood in Communipaw -the Wild Goose tavern, where Dutch burghers resorted, to smoke, drink -Hollands, and grow fat, wise, and sleepy in each others' company. The -plague of this inn was Yan Yost Vanderscamp, a nephew of the landlord, -who frequently alarmed the patrons of the house by putting powder into -their pipes and attaching briers beneath their horses' tails, and who -naturally turned pirate when he became older, taking with him to sea his -boon companion, an ill-disposed, ill-favored blackamoor named Pluto, who -had been employed about the tavern. When the landlord died, Vanderscamp -possessed himself of this property, fitted it up with plunder, and at -intervals he had his gang ashore,--such a crew of singing, swearing, -drinking, gaming devils as Communipaw had never seen the like of; yet the -residents could not summon activity enough to stop the goings-on that -made the Wild Goose a disgrace to their village. The British authorities, -however, caught three of the swashbucklers and strung them up on Gibbet -Island, and things that went on badly in Communipaw after that went on -with quiet and secrecy. - -The pirate and his henchmen were returning to the tavern one night, after -a visit to a rakish-looking vessel in the offing, when a squall broke in -such force as to give their skiff a leeway to the place of executions. As -they rounded that lonely reef a creaking noise overhead caused -Vanderscamp to look up, and he could not repress a shudder as he saw the -bodies of his three messmates, their rags fluttering and their chains -grinding in the wind. - -"Don't you want to see your friends?" sneered Pluto. "You, who are never -afraid of living men, what do you fear from the dead?" - -"Nothing," answered the pirate. Then, lugging forth his bottle, he took a -long pull at it, and holding it toward the dead felons, he shouted, -"Here's fair weather to you, my lads in the wind, and if you should be -walking the rounds to-night, come in to supper." - -A clatter of bones and a creak of chains sounded like a laugh. It was -midnight when the boat pulled in at Communipaw, and as the storm -continued Vanderscamp, drenched to the skin, made quick time to the Wild -Goose. As he entered, a sound of revelry overhead smote his ear, and, -being no less astonished than in need of cordials, he hastened up-stairs -and flung open the door. A table stood there, furnished with jugs and -pipes and cans, and by light of candles that burned as blue as brimstone -could be seen the three gallows-birds from Gibbet Island, with halters on -their necks, clinking their tankards together and trolling forth a -drinking-song. - -Starting back with affright as the corpses hailed him with lifted arms -and turned their fishy eyes on him, Vanderscamp slipped at the door and -fell headlong to the bottom of the stairs. Next morning he was found -there by the neighbors, dead to a certainty, and was put away in the -Dutch churchyard at Bergen on the Sunday following. As the house was -rifled and deserted by its occupants, it was hinted that the negro had -betrayed his master to his fellow-buccaneers, and that he, Pluto, was no -other than the devil in disguise. But he was not, for his skiff was seen -floating bottom up in the bay soon after, and his drowned body lodged -among the rocks at the foot of the pirates' gallows. - -For a long time afterwards the island was regarded as a place that -required purging with bell, book, and candle, for shadows were reported -there and faint lights that shot into the air, and to this day, with the -great immigrant station on it and crowds going and coming all the time, -the Battery boatmen prefer not to row around it at night, for they are -likely to see the shades of the soldier and his mistress who were drowned -off the place one windy night, when the girl was aiding the fellow to -escape confinement in the guard-house, to say nothing of Vanderscamp and -his felons. - - - - -MISS BRITTON'S POKER - -The maids of Staten Island wrought havoc among the royal troops who were -quartered among them during the Revolution. Near quarantine, in an old -house,--the Austen mansion,--a soldier of King George hanged himself -because a Yankee maid who lived there would not have him for a husband, -nor any gentleman whose coat was of his color; and, until ghosts went out -of fashion, his spirit, in somewhat heavy boots, with jingling spurs, -often disturbed the nightly quiet of the place. - -The conduct of a damsel in the old town of Richmond was even more stern. -She was the granddaughter, and a pretty one, of a farmer named Britton; -but though Britton by descent and name, she was no friend of Britons, -albeit she might have had half the officers in the neighboring camp at -her feet, if she had wished them there. Once, while mulling a cup of -cider for her grandfather, she was interrupted by a self-invited -myrmidon, who undertook, in a fashion rude and unexpected, to show the -love in which he held her. Before he could kiss her, the girl drew the -hot poker from the mug of drink and jabbed at the vitals of her amorous -foe, burning a hole through his scarlet uniform and printing on his burly -person a lasting memento of the adventure. With a howl of pain the fellow -rushed away, and the privacy of the Britton family was never again -invaded, at least whilst cider was being mulled. - - - - -THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES - -When the devil set a claim to the fair lands at the north of Long Island -Sound, his claim was disputed by the Indians, who prepared to fight for -their homes should he attempt to serve his writ of ejectment. Parley -resulted in nothing, so the bad one tried force, but he was routed in -open fight and found it desirable to get away from the scene of action as -soon as possible. He retreated across the Sound near the head of East -River. The tide was out, so he stepped from island to island, without -trouble, and those reefs and islands are to this day the Devil's -Stepping-Stones. On reaching Throgg's Neck he sat down in a despairing -attitude and brooded on his defeat, until, roused to a frenzy at the -thought of it, he resolved to renew the war on terms advantageous -entirely to himself. In that day Connecticut was free from rocks, but -Long Island was covered with them; so he gathered all he could lay his -hands on and tossed them at the Indians that he could see across the -Sound near Cold Spring until the supply had given out. The red men who -last inhabited Connecticut used to show white men where the missiles -landed and where the devil struck his heel into the ground as he sprang -from the shore in his haste to reach Long Island. At Cold Spring other -footprints and one of his toes are shown. Establishing himself at Coram, -he troubled the people of the country for many years, so that between the -devil on the west and the Montauks on the east they were plagued indeed; -for though their guard at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, and other places -often apprised them of the coming of the Montauks, they never knew which -way to look for the devil. - - - - -THE SPRINGS OF BLOOD AND WATER - -A great drought had fallen on Long Island, and the red men prayed for -water. It is true that they could get it at Lake Ronkonkoma, but some of -them were many miles from there, and, beside, they feared the spirits at -that place: the girl who plied its waters in a phosphor-shining birch, -seeking her recreant lover; and the powerful guardians that the Great -Spirit had put in charge to keep the fish from being caught, for these -fish were the souls of men, awaiting deliverance into another form. The -people gathered about their villages in bands and besought the Great -Spirit to give them drink. His voice was heard at last, bidding their -chief to shoot an arrow into the air and to watch where it fell, for -there would water gush out. The chief obeyed the deity, and as the arrow -touched the earth a spring of sweet water spouted into the air. Running -forward with glad cries the red men drank eagerly of the liquor, laved -their faces in it, and were made strong again; and in memory of that -event they called the place the Hill of God, or Manitou Hill, and Manet -or Manetta Hill it is to this day. Hereabouts the Indians settled and -lived in peace, thriving under the smile of their deity, making wampum -for the inland tribes and waxing rich with gains from it. They made the -canal from bay to sea at Canoe Place, that they might reach open water -without dragging their boats across the sand-bars, and in other ways they -proved themselves ingenious and strong. - -When the English landed on the island they saw that the Indians were not -a people to be trifled with, and in order to properly impress them with -their superiority, they told them that John Bull desired a treaty with -them. The officers got them to sit in line in front of a cannon, the -nature of which instrument was unknown to them, and during the talk the -gun was fired, mowing down so many of the red people that the survivors -took to flight, leaving the English masters at the north shore, for this -heartless and needless massacre took place at Whale's Neck. So angry was -the Great Spirit at this act of cruelty and treachery that he caused -blood to ooze from the soil, as he had made water leap for his thirsting -children, and never again would grass grow on the spot where the murder -had been done. - - - - -THE CRUMBLING SILVER - -There is a clay bank on Little Neck, Long Island, where metallic nodules -are now and then exposed by rain. Rustics declare them to be silver, and -account for their crumbling on the theory that the metal is under a -curse. A century ago the Montauks mined it, digging over enough soil to -unearth these pellets now and again, and exchanging them at the nearest -settlements for tobacco and rum. The seeming abundance of these lumps of -silver aroused the cupidity of one Gardiner, a dweller in the central -wilderness of the island, but none of the Indians would reveal the source -of their treasure. One day Gardiner succeeded in getting an old chief so -tipsy that, without realizing what he was doing, he led the white man to -the clay bed and showed him the metallic spots glittering in the sun. -With a cry of delight Gardiner sprang forward and tore at the earth with -his fingers, while the Indian stood by laughing at his eagerness. - -Presently a shade crossed the white man's face, for he thought that this -vast treasure would have to be shared by others. It was too much to -endure. He wanted all. He would be the richest man on earth. Stealing -behind the Indian as he stood swaying and chuckling, he wrenched the -hatchet from his belt and clove his skull at a blow. Then, dragging the -body to a thicket and hiding it under stones and leaves, he hurried to -his house for cart and pick and shovel, and returning with speed he dug -out a half ton of the silver before sunset. The cart was loaded, and he -set homeward, trembling with excitement and conjuring bright visions for -his future, when a wailing sound from a thicket made him halt and turn -pale. Noiselessly a figure glided from the bush. It was the Indian he had -killed. The form approached the treasure, flung up its arm, uttered a few -guttural words; then a rising wind seemed to lift it from the ground and -it drifted toward the Sound, fading like a cloud as it receded. - -Full of misgiving, Gardiner drove to his home, and, by light of a -lantern, transferred his treasure to his cellar. Was it the dulness of -the candle that made the metal look so black? After a night of feverish -tossing on his bed he arose and went to the cellar to gloat upon his -wealth. The light of dawn fell on a heap of gray dust, a few brassy -looking particles showing here and there. The curse of the ghost had been -of power and the silver was silver no more. Mineralogists say that the -nodules are iron pyrites. Perhaps so; but old residents know that they -used to be silver. - - - - -THE CORTELYOU ELOPEMENT - -In the Bath district of Brooklyn stands Cortelyou manor, built one -hundred and fifty years ago, and a place of defence during the Revolution -when the British made sallies from their camp in Flatbush and worried the -neighborhood. It was in one of these forays on pigs and chickens that a -gallant officer of red-coats met a pretty lass in the fields of -Cortelyou. He stilled her alarm by aiding her to gather wild-flowers, and -it came about that the girl often went into the fields and came back with -prodigious bouquets of daisies. The elder Cortelyou had no inkling of -this adventure until one of his sons saw her tryst with the red-coat at a -distance. Be sure the whole family joined him in remonstrance. As the -girl declared that she would not forego the meetings with her lover, the -father swore that she should never leave his roof again, and he tried to -be as good, or bad, as his word. The damsel took her imprisonment as any -girl of spirit would, but was unable to effect her escape until one -evening, as she sat at her window, watching the moon go down and paint -the harbor with a path of light. A tap at the pane, as of a pebble thrown -against it, roused her from her revery. It was her lover on the lawn. - -At her eager signal he ran forward with a light ladder, planted it -against the window-sill, and in less than a minute the twain were running -toward the beach; but the creak of the ladder had been heard, and -grasping their muskets two of the men hurried out. In the track of the -moon the pursuers descried a moving form, and, without waiting to -challenge, they levelled the guns and fired. A woman's cry followed the -report; then a dip of oars was heard that fast grew fainter until it -faded from hearing. On returning to the house they found the girl's room -empty, and next morning her slipper was brought in from the mud at the -landing. Nobody inside of the American lines ever learned what that shot -had done, but if it failed to take a life it robbed Cortelyou of his -mind. He spent the rest of his days in a single room, chained to a staple -in the floor, tramping around and around, muttering and gesturing, and -sometimes startling the passer-by as he showed his white face and ragged -beard at the window. - - - - -VAN WEMPEL'S GOOSE - -Allow us to introduce Nicholas Van Wempel, of Flatbush: fat, phlegmatic, -rich, and henpecked. He would like to be drunk because he is henpecked, -but the wife holds the purse-strings and only doles out money to him when -she wants groceries or he needs clothes. It was New Year's eve, the eve -of 1739, when Vrouw Van Wempel gave to her lord ten English shillings and -bade him hasten to Dr. Beck's for the fat goose that had been bespoken. -"And mind you do not stop at the tavern," she screamed after him in her -shrillest tone. But poor Nicholas! As he went waddling down the road, -snapping through an ice-crust at every step, a roguish wind--or perhaps -it was one of the bugaboos that were known to haunt the shores of -Gravesend Bay--snatched off his hat and rolled it into the very doorway -of the tavern that he had been warned, under terrible penalties, to -avoid. - -As he bent to pick it up the door fell ajar, and a pungency of schnapps -and tobacco went into his nostrils. His resolution, if he had one, -vanished. He ordered one glass of schnapps; friends came in and treated -him to another; he was bound to do as much for them; shilling by shilling -the goose money passed into the till of the landlord. Nicholas was heard -to make a muttered assertion that it was his own money anyhow, and that -while he lived he would be the head of his own house; then the mutterings -grew faint and merged into snores. When he awoke it was at the low sound -of voices in the next room, and drowsily turning his head he saw there -two strangers,--sailors, he thought, from their leather jackets, black -beards, and the rings in their ears. What was that they said? Gold? On -the marshes? At the old Flatlands tide-mill? The talkers had gone before -his slow and foggy brain could grasp it all, but when the idea had fairly -eaten its way into his intellect, he arose with the nearest approach to -alacrity that he had exhibited in years, and left the place. He crunched -back to his home, and seeing nobody astir went softly into his shed, -where he secured a shovel and lantern, and thence continued with all -consistent speed to the tumbledown tide-mill on the marsh,--a trying -journey for his fat legs on a sharp night, but hope and schnapps impelled -him. - -He reached the mill, and, hastening to the cellar, began to probe in the -soft, unfrozen earth. Presently his spade struck something, and he dug -and dug until he had uncovered the top of a canvas bag,--the sort that -sailors call a "round stern-chest." It took all his strength to lug it -out, and as he did so a seam burst, letting a shower of gold pieces over -the ground. He loosed the band of his breeches, and was filling the legs -thereof with coin, when a tread of feet sounded overhead and four men -came down the stair. Two of them he recognized as the fellows of the -tavern. They saw the bag, the lantern, then Nicholas. Laden though he was -with gold until he could hardly budge, these pirates, for such they were, -got him up-stairs, forced him to drink hot Hollands to the success of -their flag, then shot him through the window into the creek. As he was -about to make this unceremonious exit he clutched something to save -himself, and it proved to be a plucked goose that the pirates had stolen -from a neighboring farm and were going to sup on when they had scraped -their gold together. He felt the water and mud close over him; he -struggled desperately; he was conscious of breathing more freely and of -staggering off at a vigorous gait; then the power of all the schnapps -seemed to get into his head, and he remembered no more until he heard his -wife shrilling in his ears, when he sat up and found himself in a -snow-bank close to his house, with a featherless goose tight in his -grasp. - -Vrouw Van Wempel cared less about the state of her spouse when she saw -that he had secured the bird, and whenever he told his tale of the -pirates she turned a deaf ear to him, for if he had found the gold why -did he not manage to bring home a few pieces of it? He, in answer, asked -how, as he had none of his own money, she could have come by the goose? -He often told his tale to sympathetic ears, and would point to the old -mill to prove that it was true. - - - - -THE WEARY WATCHER - -Before the opening of the great bridge sent commerce rattling up -Washington Street in Brooklyn that thoroughfare was a shaded and -beautiful avenue, and among the houses that attested its respectability -was one, between Tillary and Concord Streets, that was long declared to -be haunted. A man and his wife dwelt there who seemed to be fondly -attached to each other, and whose love should have been the stronger -because of their three children none grew to years. A mutual sorrow is as -close a tie as a common affection. One day, while on a visit to a friend, -the wife saw her husband drive by in a carriage with a showy woman beside -him. She went home at once, and when the supposed recreant returned she -met him with bitter reproaches. He answered never a word, but took his -hat and left the house, never to be seen again in the places that had -known him. - -The wife watched and waited, daily looking for his return, but days -lengthened into weeks, months, years, and still he came not. Sometimes -she lamented that she had spoken hastily and harshly, thinking that, had -she known all, she might have found him blameless. There was no family to -look after, no wholesome occupation that she sought, so the days went by -in listening and watching, until, at last, her body and mind gave way, -and the familiar sight of her face, watching from a second floor window, -was seen no longer. Her last day came. She had risen from her bed; life -and mind seemed for a moment to be restored to her; and standing where -she had stood so often, her form supported by a half-closed shutter and a -grasp on the sash, she looked into the street once more, sighed -hopelessly, and so died. It was her shade that long watched at the -windows; it was her waxen face, heavy with fatigue and pain, that was -dimly seen looking over the balusters in the evening. - - - - -THE RIVAL FIDDLERS - -Before Brooklyn had spread itself beyond Greenwood Cemetery a stone could -be seen in Martense's Lane, south of that burial-ground, that bore a hoof -mark. A negro named Joost, in the service of the Van Der -Something-or-others, was plodding home on Saturday night, his fiddle -under his arm. He had been playing for a wedding in Flatbush and had been -drinking schnapps until he saw stars on the ground and fences in the sky; -in fact, the universe seemed so out of order that he seated himself -rather heavily on this rock to think about it. The behavior of the stars -in swimming and rolling struck him as especially curious, and he -conceived the notion that they wanted to dance. Putting his fiddle to his -chin, he began a wild jig, and though he made it up as he went along, he -was conscious of doing finely, when the boom of a bell sent a shiver down -his spine. It was twelve o'clock, and here he was playing a dance tune on -Sunday. However, the sin of playing for one second on the Sabbath was as -great as that of playing all day; so, as long as he was in for it, he -resolved to carry the tune to the end, and he fiddled away with a -reckless vehemence. Presently he became aware that the music was both -wilder and sweeter than before, and that there was more of it. Not until -then did he observe that a tall, thin stranger stood beside him; and that -he was fiddling too,--composing a second to Joost's air, as if he could -read his thought before he put it into execution on the strings. Joost -paused, and the stranger did likewise. - -"Where de debble did you come frum?" asked the first. The other smiled. - -"And how did you come to know dat music?" Joost pursued. - -"Oh, I've known that tune for years," was the reply. "It's called 'The -Devil's joy at Sabbath Breaking.'" - -"You're a liar!" cried the negro. The stranger bowed and burst into a -roar of laughter. "A liar!" repeated Joost,--"for I made up dat music dis -very minute." - -"Yet you notice that I could follow when you played." - -"Humph! Yes, you can follow." - -"And I can lead, too. Do you know the tune 'Go to the Devil and Shake -Yourself?'" - -"Yes; but I play second to nobody." - -"Very well, I'll beat you at any air you try." - -"Done!" said Joost. And then began a contest that lasted until daybreak. -The stranger was an expert, but Joost seemed to be inspired, and just as -the sun appeared he sounded, in broad and solemn harmonies, the hymn of -Von Catts: - - "Now behold, at dawn of day, - Pious Dutchmen sing and pray." - -At that the stranger exclaimed, "Well, that beats the devil!" and -striking his foot angrily on the rock, disappeared in a flash of fire -like a burst bomb. Joost was hurled twenty feet by the explosion, and lay -on the ground insensible until a herdsman found him some hours later. As -he suffered no harm from the contest and became a better fiddler than -ever, it is supposed that the recording angel did not inscribe his feat -of Sabbath breaking against him in large letters. There were a few who -doubted his story, but they had nothing more to say when he showed them -the hoof-mark on the rock. Moreover, there are fewer fiddlers among the -negroes than there used to be, because they say that the violin is the -devil's instrument. - - - - -WYANDANK - -From Brooklyn Heights, or Ihpetonga, "highplace of trees," where the -Canarsie Indians made wampum or sewant, and where they contemplated the -Great Spirit in the setting of the sun across the meeting waters, to -Montauk Point, Long Island has been swept by the wars of red men, and -many are the tokens of their occupancy. A number of their graves were to -be seen until within fifty years, as clearly marked as when the warriors -were laid there in the hope of resurrection among the happy hunting -grounds that lay to the west and south. The casting of stones on the -death-spots or graves of some revered or beloved Indians was long -continued, and was undoubtedly for the purpose of raising monuments to -them, though at Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, Sacrifice Rock, between -Plymouth and Sandwich, Massachusetts, and some other places the cairns -merely mark a trail. Even the temporary resting-place of Sachem -Poggatacut, near Sag Harbor, was kept clear of weeds and leaves by -Indians who passed it in the two centuries that lapsed between the death -of the chief and the laying of the road across it in 1846. This spot is -not far from Whooping Boy's Hollow, so named because of a boy who was -killed by Indians, and because the rubbing of two trees there in a storm -gave forth a noise like crying. An older legend has it that this noise is -the angry voice of the magician who tried to slay Wyandank, the -"Washington of the Montauks," who is buried on the east end of the -island. Often he led his men into battle, sounding the warwhoop, copied -from the scream of the eagle, so loudly that those who heard it said that -the Montauks were crying for prey. - -It was while killing an eagle on Block Island, that he might use the -plumes for his hair, that this chief disclosed himself to the hostiles -and brought on a fight in which every participant except himself was -slain. He was secretly followed back to Long Island by a magician who had -hopes of enlisting the evil ones of that region against him,--the giants -that left their tracks in "Blood-stone Rock" and "Printed Rock," near -Napeague, and such renegades as he who, having betrayed his people, was -swallowed by the earth, his last agony being marked by a stamp of the -foot that left its print on a slab near the Indian burial-ground at -Kongonok. Failing in these alliances the wizard hid among the hollows of -the moors, and there worked spells of such malice that the chief's hand -lost steadiness in the hunt and his voice was seldom heard in council. -When the haunt of this evil one was made known, a number of young men -undertook to trap him. They went to the hills by night, and moved -stealthily through the shrubbery until they were almost upon him; but his -familiars had warned him of their approach, though they had wakened him -only to betray him for a cloud swept in from the sea, fell about the -wretch, burst into flame, and rolled back toward the ocean, bearing him -in the centre of its burning folds. Because of the cry he uttered the -place long bore the name of Whooping Hollow, and it used to be said that -the magician visited the scene of his ill-doing every winter, when his -shrieks could be heard ringing over the hills. - - - - -MARK OF THE SPIRIT HAND - -Andover, New Jersey, was quaint and quiet in the days before the -Revolution--it is not a roaring metropolis, even yet--and as it offered -few social advantages there was more gathering in taprooms and more -drinking of flip than there should have been. Among those who were not -averse to a cheering cup were three boon companions, Bailey, Hill, and -Evans, farmers of the neighborhood. They loved the tavern better than the -church, and in truth the church folk did not love them well, for they -were suspected of entertaining heresies of the most forbidden character. -It was while they were discussing matters of belief over their glasses -that one of them proposed, in a spirit of bravado, that whichever of the -trio might be first to die should come back from the grave and reveal -himself to the others--if he could--thus settling the question as to -whether there was a future. - -Not long after this agreement--for consent was unanimous--Hill departed -this life. His friends lamented his absence, especially at the tavern, -but they anticipated no attempt on his part to express the distinguished -consideration that he had felt for his old chums. Some weeks passed, yet -there was no sign, and the two survivors of the party, as they jogged -homeward to the house where both lived, had begun to think and speak less -frequently of the absent one. But one night the household was alarmed by -a terrible cry. Bailey got a light and hurried to the bedside of his -friend, whom he found deathly white and holding his chest as if in pain. -"He has been here!" gasped Evans. "He stood here just now." - -"Who?" asked Bailey, a creep passing down his spine. - -"Hill! He stood there, where you are now, and touched me with a hand that -was so cold--cold--" and Evans shivered violently. On turning back the -collar of his shirt the impression of a hand appeared on the flesh near -the shoulder: a hand in white, with one finger missing. Hill had lost a -finger. There was less of taverns after that night, for Evans carried the -token of that ghostly visit on his person until he, too, had gone to -solve the great secret. - - - - -THE FIRST LIBERAL CHURCH - -In 1770 the brig Hand-in-Hand went ashore at Good Luck, New Jersey. Among -the passengers on board the vessel, that it would perhaps be wrong to -call ill fated, was John Murray, founder of Universalism in America. He -had left England in despair, for his wife and children were dead, and so -broken was he in his power of thought and purpose that he felt as if he -should never preach again. - -In fact, his rescue from the wreck was passive, on his part, and he -suffered himself to be carried ashore, recking little whether he reached -it or no. After he had been for half an hour or so on the soil of the new -country, to which he had made his entrance in so unexpected a manner, he -began to feel hungry, and set off afoot along the desolate beach. He came -to a cabin where an old man stood in a doorway with a basket of fish -beside him. "Will you sell me a fish?" asked Murray. - -"No. The fish is all yours. I expected you." - -"You do not know me." - -"You are the man who is to tell us of God." - -"I will never preach of Him again." - -"I built that log church yonder. Don't say that you will not preach in -it. Whenever a clergyman, Presbyterian, Methody, or Baptist, came here, I -asked him to preach in my kitchen. I tried to get him to stay; but no--he -always had work elsewhere. Last night I saw the brig driven on the bar, -and a voice said to me, 'In that ship is the man who will teach of God. -Not the old God of terrors, but one of love and mercy. He has come -through great sorrow to do this work.' I have made ready for you. Do not -go away." - -The minister felt a strange lifting in his heart. He fell on his knees -before the little house and offered up a prayer. Long he staid in that -place, preaching gentle doctrines and ministering to the men and women of -that lonely village, and when the fisherman apostle, Thomas Potter, died -he left the church to Murray, who, in turn, bequeathed it, "free, for the -use of all Christian people." - - - - -ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE - - - - -THE PHANTOM DRAGOON - -The height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark, Delaware, is -called Iron Hill, because it is rich in hematite ore, but about the time -of General Howe's advance to the Brandywine it might well have won its -name because of the panoply of war--the sullen guns, the flashing swords, -and glistening bayonets--that appeared among the British tents pitched on -it. After the red-coats had established camp here the American outposts -were advanced and one of the pickets was stationed at Welsh Tract Church. -On his first tour of duty the sentry was thrown into great alarm by the -appearance of a figure robed from head to foot in white, that rode a -horse at a charging gait within ten feet of his face. When guard was -relieved the soldier begged that he might never be assigned to that post -again. His nerves were strong in the presence of an enemy in the -flesh--but an enemy out of the grave! Ugh! He would desert rather than -encounter that shape again. His request was granted. The sentry who -succeeded him was startled, in the small hours, by a rush of hoofs and -the flash of a pallid form. He fired at it, and thought that he heard the -sound of a mocking laugh come back. - -Every night the phantom horseman made his rounds, and several times the -sentinels shot at him without effect, the white horse and white rider -showing no annoyance at these assaults. When it came the turn of a -sceptical and unimaginative old corporal to take the night detail, he -took the liberty of assuming the responsibilities of this post himself. -He looked well to the priming of his musket, and at midnight withdrew out -of the moonshine and waited, with his gun resting on a fence. It was not -long before the beat of hoofs was heard approaching, and in spite of -himself the corporal felt a thrill along his spine as a mounted figure -that might have represented Death on the pale horse came into view; but -he jammed his hat down, set his teeth, and sighted his flint-lock with -deliberation. The rider was near, when bang went the corporal's musket, -and a white form was lying in the road, a horse speeding into the -distance. Scrambling over the fence, the corporal, reassured, ran to the -form and turned it over: a British scout, quite dead. The daring fellow, -relying on the superstitious fears of the rustics in his front, had made -a nightly ride as a ghost, in order to keep the American outposts from -advancing, and also to guess, from elevated points, at the strength and -disposition of their troops. He wore a cuirass of steel, but that did not -protect his brain from the corporal's bullet. - - - - -DELAWARE WATER GAP - -The Indian name of this beautiful region, Minisink, "the water is gone," -agrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind the -Blue Ridge, and that it burst its way through the hills at this point. -Similar results were produced by a cataclysm on the Connecticut at Mount -Holyoke, on the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk, and Runaway Pond, New Hampshire, -got its name by a like performance. The aborigines, whatever may be said -against them, enjoyed natural beauty, and their habitations were often -made in this delightful region, their councils being attended by chief -Tamanend, or Tammany, a Delaware, whose wisdom and virtues were such as -to raise him to the place of patron saint of America. The notorious -Tammany Society of New York is named for him. When this chief became old -and feeble his tribe abandoned him in a hut at New Britain, Pennsylvania, -and there he tried to kill himself by stabbing, but failing in that, he -flung burning leaves over himself, and so perished. He was buried where -he died. It was a princess of his tribe that gave the name of Lover's -Leap to a cliff on Mount Tammany, by leaping from it to her death, -because her love for a young European was not reciprocated. - -There is a silver-mine somewhere on the opposite mountain of Minsi, the -knowledge of its location having perished with the death of a recluse, -who coined the metal he took from it into valuable though illegal -dollars, going townward every winter to squander his earnings. During the -Revolution "Oran the Hawk," a Tory and renegade, was vexatious to the -people of Delaware Valley, and a detachment of colonial troops was sent -in pursuit of him. They overtook him at the Gap and chased him up the -slopes of Tammany, though he checked their progress by rolling stones -among them. One rock struck a trooper, crushed him, and bore him down to -the base of a cliff, his blood smearing it in his descent. But though he -seemed to have eluded his pursuers, Oran was shot in several places -during his flight, and when at last he cast himself into a thicket, to -rest and get breath, it was never to rise again. His bones, cracked by -bullets and gnawed by beasts, were found there when the leaves fell. - - - - -THE PHANTOM DRUMMER - -Colonel Howell, of the king's troops, was a gay fellow, framed to make -women false; but when he met the rosy, sweet-natured daughter of farmer -Jarrett, near Valley Forge, he attempted no dalliance, for he fell too -seriously in love. He might not venture into the old man's presence, for -Jarrett had a son with Washington, and he hated a red-coat as he did the -devil; but the young officer met the girl in secret, and they plighted -troth beneath the garden trees, hidden in gray mist. As Howell bent to -take his first kiss that night, a rising wind went past, bringing from -afar the roll of a drum, and as they talked the drum kept drawing nearer, -until it seemed at hand. The officer peered across the wall, then hurried -to his mistress' side, as pale as death. The fields outside were empty of -life. - -Louder came the rattling drum; it seemed to enter the gate, pass but a -yard away, go through the wall, and die in the distance. When it ceased, -Howell started as if a spell had been lifted, laxed his grip on the -maiden's hand, then drew her to his breast convulsively. Ruth's terror -was more vague but no less genuine than his own, and some moments passed -before she could summon voice to ask him what this visitation meant. He -answered, "Something is about to change my fortunes for good or ill; -probably for ill. Important events in my family for the past three -generations have been heralded by that drum, and those events were -disasters oftener than benefits." Few more words passed, and with another -kiss the soldier scaled the wall and galloped away, the triple beat of -his charger's hoofs sounding back into the maiden's ears like drum-taps. -In a skirmish next day Colonel Howell was shot. He was carried to farmer -Jarrett's house and left there, in spite of the old man's protest, for he -was willing to give no shelter to his country's enemies. When Ruth saw -her lover in this strait she was like to have fallen, but when she -learned that it would take but a few days of quiet and care to restore -him to health, she was ready to forgive her fellow-countrymen for -inflicting an injury that might result in happiness for both of them. - -It took a great deal of teasing to overcome the scruples of the farmer, -but he gruffly consented to receive the young man until his hurt should -heal. Ruth attended him faithfully, and the cheerful, manly nature of the -officer so won the farmer's heart that he soon forgot the color of -Howell's coat. Nor was he surprised when Howell told him that he loved -his daughter and asked for her hand; indeed, it had been easy to guess -their affection, and the old man declared that but for his allegiance to -a tyrant he would gladly own him as a son-in-law. It was a long struggle -between love and duty that ensued in Howell's breast, and love was -victor. If he might marry Ruth he would leave the army. The old man gave -prompt consent, and a secret marriage was arranged. Howell had been -ordered to rejoin his regiment; he could not honorably resign on the eve -of an impending battle, and, even had he done so, a long delay must have -preceded his release. He would marry the girl, go to the country, live -there quietly until the British evacuated Philadelphia, when he would -return and cast his lot with the Jarrett household. - -Howell donned citizen's dress, and the wedding took place in the spacious -best room of the mansion, but as he slipped the ring on the finger of his -bride the roll of a drum was heard advancing up the steps into the room, -then on and away until all was still again. The young colonel was pale; -Ruth clung to him in terror; clergymen and guests looked at each other in -amazement. Now there were voices at the porch, the door was flung open, -armed men entered, and the bridegroom was a prisoner. He was borne to his -quarters, and afterward tried for desertion, for a servant in the Jarrett -household, hating all English and wishing them to suffer, even at each -other's hands, had betrayed the plan of his master's guest. The -court-martial found him guilty and condemned him to be shot. When the -execution took place, Ruth, praying and sobbing in her chamber, knew that -her husband was no more. The distant sound of musketry reverberated like -the roll of a drum. - - - - -THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE - -During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge six -or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that little -was to be hoped for near the camp of their starving comrades, they set -off in the direction of French Creek. At this stream the party separated, -and a little later two of the men were attacked by Tory farmers. Flying -along the creek for some distance they came to a small cave in a bluff, -and one of them, a young Southerner named Carrington, scrambled into it. -His companion was not far behind, and was hurrying toward the cave, when -he was arrested by a rumble and a crash: a block of granite, tons in -weight, that had hung poised overhead, slid from its place and completely -blocked the entrance. The stifled cry of despair from the living occupant -of the tomb struck to his heart. He hid in a neighboring wood until the -Tories had dispersed, then, returning to the cave, he strove with might -and main to stir the boulder from its place, but without avail. - -When he reached camp, as he did next day, he told of this disaster, but -the time for rescue was believed to be past, or the work was thought to -be too exhausting and dangerous for a body of men who had much ado to -keep life in their own weak frames. It was a double tragedy, for the -young man's sweetheart never recovered from the shock that the news -occasioned, and on her tomb, near Richmond, Virginia, these words are -chiselled: "Died, of a broken heart, on the 1st of March, 1780, Virginia -Randolph, aged 21 years, 9 days. Faithful unto death." In the summer of -1889 some workmen, blasting rock near the falls on French Creek, -uncovered the long-concealed cavern and found there a skeleton with a few -rags of a Continental uniform. In a bottle beside it was an account, -signed by Arthur L. Carrington, of the accident that had befallen him, -and a letter declaring undying love for his sweetheart. - -He had starved to death. The bones were neatly coffined, and were sent to -Richmond to be buried beside those of the faithful Miss Randolph. - - - - -THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN - -Many are the tales of prophecy that have been preserved to us from war -times. In the beginning of King Philip's war in Connecticut, in 1675, it -was reported that the firing of the first gun was heard all over the -State, while the drumbeats calling settlers to defence were audible eight -miles away. Braddock's defeat and the salvation of Washington were -foretold by a Miami chief at a council held in Fort Ponchartrain, on -Detroit River, the ambush and the slaughter having been revealed to him -in a dream. The victims of that battle, too, had been apprised, for one -or two nights before the disaster a young lieutenant in Braddock's -command saw his fellow-officers pass through his tent, bloody and torn, -and when the first gun sounded he knew that it spoke the doom of nearly -all his comrades. At Killingly, Connecticut, in the autumn before the -outbreak of the Revolution, a distant roar of artillery was heard for a -whole day and night in the direction of Boston, mingled with a rattle of -musketry, and so strong was the belief that war had begun and the British -were advancing, that the minute men mustered to await orders. It was -afterward argued that these noises came from an explosion of meteors, a -shower of these missiles being then in progress, invisible, of course, in -the day-time. Just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence -the royal arms on the spire of the Episcopal church at Hampton, Virginia, -were struck off by lightning. Shortly before the surrender of Cornwallis -a display of northern lights was seen in New England, the rays taking the -form of cannon, facing southward. In Connecticut sixty-four of these guns -were counted. - -At the battle of Germantown the Americans were enraged by the killing of -one of their men who had gone out with a flag of truce. He was shot from -the windows of Judge Chew's house, which was crowded with British -soldiers, and as he fell to the lawn, dyeing the peaceful emblem with his -blood, at least one of the Continentals swore that his death should be -well avenged. The British reinforcements, sixteen thousand strong, came -hurrying through the street, their officers but half-dressed, so urgent -had been the summons for their aid. Except for their steady tramp the -place was silent; doors were locked and shutters bolted, and if people -were within doors no sign of them was visible. General Agnew alone of all -the troop seemed depressed and anxious. Turning to an aide as they passed -the Mennonist graveyard, he said, "This field is the last I shall fight -on." - -An eerie face peered over the cemetery wall, a scarred, unshaven face -framed in long hair and surmounting a body clothed in skins, with the -question, "Is that the brave General Gray who beat the rebels at Paoli?" -One of the soldiers, with a careless toss of the hand, seemed to indicate -General Agnew. A moment later there was a report, a puff of smoke from -the cemetery wall, and a bullet whizzed by the head of the general, who -smiled wanly, to encourage his men. Summary execution would have been -done upon the stranger had not a body of American cavalry dashed against -the red-coats at that moment, and a fierce contest was begun. When the -day was over, General Agnew, who had been separated from his command in -the confusion of battle, came past the graves again. Tired and depressed, -he drew rein for a moment to breathe the sweet air, so lately fouled with -dust and smoke, and to watch the gorgeous light of sunset. Again, like a -malignant genius of the place, the savage-looking stranger arose from -behind the wall. A sharp report broke the quiet of evening and awoke -clattering echoes from the distant houses. A horse plunged and General -Agnew rolled from his saddle, dead: the last victim in the strife at -Germantown. - - - - -A BLOW IN THE DARK - -The Tory Manheim sits brooding in his farmhouse near Valley Forge, and -his daughter, with a hectic flush on her cheek, looks out into the -twilight at the falling snow. She is worn and ill; she has brought on a -fever by exposure incurred that very day in a secret journey to the -American camp, made to warn her lover of another attempt on the life of -Washington, who must pass her father's house on his return from a distant -settlement. The Tory knows nothing of this; but he starts whenever the -men in the next room rattle the dice or break into a ribald song, and a -frown of apprehension crosses his face as the foragers crunch by, -half-barefoot, through the snow. The hours go on, and the noise in the -next room increases; but it hushes suddenly when a knock at the door is -heard. The Tory opens it, and trembles as a tall, grave man, with the -figure of an athlete, steps into the fire-light and calmly removes his -gloves. "I have been riding far," said he. "Can you give me some food and -the chance to sleep for an hour, until the storm clears up?" - -Manheim says that he can, and shuffling into the next room, he whispers, -"Washington!" The girl is sent out to get refreshments. It is in vain -that she seeks to sign or speak to the man who sits there so calmly -before the fire, for her father is never out of sight or hearing. After -Washington has finished his modest repast he asks to be left to himself -for a while, but the girl is told to conduct him to the room on the left -of the landing on the next floor. - -Her father holds the candle at the foot of the stairs until he sees his -guest enter; then he bids his daughter go to her own bed, which is in the -chamber on the right of the landing. There is busy whispering in the room -below after that, and the dice box is shaken to see to whose lot it shall -fall to steal up those stairs and stab Washington in his sleep. An hour -passes and all in the house appear to be at rest, but the stairs creak -slightly as Manheim creeps upon his prey. He blows his candle out and -softly enters the chamber on the left. The men, who listen in the dark at -the foot of the stair, hear a moan, and the Tory hurries back with a -shout of gladness, for the rebel chief is no more and Howe's reward will -enrich them for life. - -Glasses are filled, and in the midst of the rejoicing a step is heard on -the stair. Washington stands before them. In calm, deep tones he thanks -the farmer for his shelter, and asks that his horse be brought to the -door and his reckoning be made out. The Tory stares as one bereft. Then -he rushes aloft, flings open the door of the room on the left, and gazes -at the face that rests on the pillow,--a pillow that is dabbled with red. -The face is that of his daughter. The name of father is one that he will -never hear again in this world. The candle falls from his hand; he sinks -to the floor; be his sin forgiven! Outside is heard the tramp of a horse. -It is that of Washington, who rides away, ignorant of the peril he has -passed and the sacrifice that averted it. - - - - -THE TORY'S CONVERSION - -In his firelit parlor, in his little house at Valley Forge, old Michael -Kuch sits talking with his daughter. But though it is Christmas eve the -talk has little cheer in it. The hours drag on until the clock strikes -twelve, and the old man is about to offer his evening prayer for the -safety of his son, who is one of Washington's troopers, when hurried -steps are heard in the snow, there is a fumbling at the latch, then the -door flies open and admits a haggard, panting man who hastily closes it -again, falls into a seat, and shakes from head to foot. The girl goes to -him. "John!" she says. But he only averts his face. "What is wrong with -thee, John Blake?" asks the farmer. But he has to ask again and again ere -he gets an answer. Then, in a broken voice, the trembling man confesses -that he has tried to shoot Washington, but the bullet struck and killed -his only attendant, a dragoon. He has come for shelter, for men are on -his track already. "Thou know'st I am neutral in this war, John Blake," -answered the farmer,--"although I have a boy down yonder in the camp. It -was a cowardly thing to do, and I hate you Tories that you do not fight -like men; yet, since you ask me for a hiding-place, you shall have it, -though, mind you, 'tis more on the girl's account than yours. The men are -coming. Out--this way--to the spring-house. So!" - -Before old Michael has time to return to his chair the door is again -thrust open, this time by men in blue and buff. They demand the assassin, -whose footsteps they have tracked there through the snow. Michael does -not answer. They are about to use violence when, through the open door, -comes Washington, who checks them with a word. The general bears a -drooping form with a blood splash on its breast, and deposits it on the -hearth as gently as a mother puts a babe into its cradle. As the -firelight falls on the still face the farmer's eyes grow round and big; -then he shrieks and drops upon his knees, for it is his son who is lying -there. Beside him is a pistol; it was dropped by the Tory when he -entered. Grasping it eagerly the farmer leaps to his feet. His years have -fallen from him. With a tiger-like bound he gains the door, rushes to the -spring-house where John Blake is crouching, his eyes sunk and shining, -gnawing his fingers in a craze of dismay. But though hate is swift, love -is swifter, and the girl is there as soon as he. She strikes his arm -aside, and the bullet he has fired lodges in the wood. He draws out his -knife, and the murderer, to whom has now come the calmness of despair, -kneels and offers his breast to the blade. Before he can strike, the -soldiers hasten up, and seizing Blake, they drag him to the house--the -little room--where all had been so peaceful but a few minutes before. - -The culprit is brought face to face with Washington, who asks him what -harm he has ever suffered from his fellow countrymen that he should turn -against them thus. Blake hangs his head and owns his willingness to die. -His eyes rest on the form extended on the floor, and he shudders; but his -features undergo an almost joyous change, for the figure lifts itself, -and in a faint voice calls, "Father!" The young man lives. With a cry of -delight both father and sister raise him in their arms. "You are not yet -prepared to die," says Washington to the captive. "I will put you under -guard until you are wanted. Take him into custody, my dear young lady, -and try to make an American of him. See, it is one o'clock, and this is -Christmas morning. May all be happy here. Come." And beckoning to his men -he rides away, though Blake and his affianced would have gone on their -knees before him. Revulsion of feeling, love, thankfulness and a latent -patriotism wrought a quick change in Blake. When young Kuch recovered -Blake joined his regiment, and no soldier served the flag more honorably. - - - - -LORD PERCY'S DREAM - -Leaving the dissipations of the English court, Lord Percy came to America -to share the fortunes of his brethren in the contest then raging on our -soil. His father had charged him with the delivery of a certain package -to an Indian woman, should he meet her in his rambles through the western -wilds, and, without inquiring into the nature of the gift -or its occasion, he accepted the trust. At the battle of the -Brandywine--strangely foretold by Quaker prophecy forty years before--he -was detailed by Cornwallis to drive the colonial troops out of a -graveyard where they had intrenched themselves, and though he set upon -this errand with the enthusiasm of youth, his cheek paled as he drew near -the spot where the enemy was waiting. - -It was not that he had actual physical fear of the onset: he had dreamed -a dream a few nights before, the purport of which he had hinted to his -comrades, and as he rode into the clearing at the top of Osborn's Hill he -drew rein and exclaimed, "My dream! Yonder is the graveyard. I am fated -to die there." Giving a few of his effects to his brother officers, and -charging one of them to take a message of love to his betrothed in -England, he set his lips and rode forward. - -His cavalry bound toward the scene of action and are within thirty paces -of the cemetery wall, when from behind it rises a battalion of men in the -green uniform of the Santee Rangers and pours a withering fire into the -ranks. The shock is too great to withstand, and the red-coats stagger -away with broken ranks, leaving many dead and wounded on the ground. Lord -Percy is the coolest of all. He urges the broken columns forward, and -almost alone holds the place until the infantry, a hundred yards behind, -come up. Thereupon ensues one of those hand-to-hand encounters that are -so rare in recent war, and that are the sorest test of valor and -discipline. Now rides forward Captain Waldemar, chief of the rangers and -a half-breed Indian, who, seeing Percy, recognizes him as an officer and -engages him in combat. There is for a minute a clash of steel on steel; -then the nobleman falls heavily to the earth--dead. His dream has come -true. That night the captain Waldemar seeks out the body of this officer, -attracted by something in the memory of his look, and from his bosom -takes the packet that was committed to his care. - -By lantern-light he reads, carelessly at first, then rapidly and eagerly, -and at the close he looks long and earnestly at the dead man, and seems -to brush away a tear. Strange thing to do over the body of an enemy! Why -had fate decreed that they should be enemies? For Waldemar is the -half-brother of Percy. His mother was the Indian girl that the earl, now -passing his last days in England, had deceived with a pretended marriage, -and the letters promise patronage to her son. The half-breed digs a grave -that night with his own hands and lays the form of his brother in it. - - - - -SAVED BY THE BIBLE - -It was on the day after the battle of Germantown that Warner, who wore -the blue, met his hated neighbor, the Tory Dabney, near that bloody -field. - -By a common impulse the men fell upon each other with their knives, and -Warner soon had his enemy in a position to give him the death-stroke, but -Dabney began to bellow for quarter. "My brother cried for quarter at -Paoli," answered the other, "and you struck him to the heart." - -"I have a wife and child. Spare me for their sakes." - -"My brother had a wife and two children. Perhaps you would like to beg -your life of them." - -Though made in mockery, this proposition was caught at so earnestly that -Warner at length consented to take his adversary, firmly bound, to the -house where the bereaved family was living. The widow was reading the -Bible to her children, but her grief was too fresh to gather comfort from -it. When Dabney was flung into the room he grovelled at her feet and -begged piteously for mercy. Her face did not soften, but there was a kind -of contempt in the settled sadness of her tone as she said, "It shall be -as God directs. I will close this Bible, open it at chance, and when this -boy shall put his finger at random on a line, by that you must live or -die." - -The book was opened, and the child put his finger on a line: "That man -shall die." - -Warner drew his knife and motioned his prisoner to the door. He was going -to lead him into the wood to offer him as a sacrifice to his brother's -spirit. - -"No, no!" shrieked the wretch. "Give me one more chance; one more! Let -the girl open the book." - -The woman coldly consents, and when the book is opened for the second -time she reads, "Love your enemies." There are no other words. The knife -is used, but it is to cut the prisoner's bonds, and he walks away with -head hung down, never more to take arms against his countrymen. And glad -are they all at this, when the husband is brought home--not dead, though -left among the corpses at Paoli, but alive and certain of recovery, with -such nursing as his wife will give him. After tears of joy have been shed -she tells him the story of the Bible judgment, and all the members of the -family fall on their knees in thanksgiving that the blood of Dabney is -not upon their heads. - - - - -PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON - -Farmer Derwent and his four stout sons set off on an autumn night for the -meeting of patriots at a house on the Wissahickon,--a meeting that bodes -no good to the British encamped in Philadelphia, let the red-coats laugh -as they will at the rag-tag and bob-tail that are joining the army of Mr. -Washington in the wilds of the Skippack. The farmer sighs as he thinks -that his younger son alone should be missing from the company, and -wonders for the thousandth time what has become of the boy. They sit by a -rock that juts into the road to trim their lantern, and while they talk -together they are startled by an exclamation. It is from Ellen, the -adopted daughter of Derwent and the betrothed of his missing son. On the -night that the boy stole away from his father's house he asked her to -meet him in this place in a year's time, and the year is up to-night. - -But it is not to meet him that she is hastening now: she has heard that -the British have learned of the patriot gathering and will try to make -prisoners of the company. Even as she tells of this there is a sound to -the southward: the column is on the march. The farmer's eye blazes with -rage and hate. "Boys," he says, "yonder come those who intend to kill us. -Let them taste of their own warfare. Stand here in the shadow and fire as -they pass this rock." - -The troopers ride on, chuckling over their sure success, when there is a -report of rifles and four of the red-coats are in the dust. The -survivors, though taken by surprise, prove their courage by halting to -answer the volley, and one of them springs from his saddle, seizes -Derwent, and plunges a knife into his throat. The rebel falls. His blood -pools around him. The British are successful, for two of the young men -are bound and two of them have fallen, and there is a cheer of victory, -but the trooper with the knife in his hand does not raise his voice. He -bends above the farmer as still as one dead, until his captain claps him -on the shoulder. As he rises, the prisoners start in wonder, for the face -they see in the lantern-light is that of their brother, yet strange in -its haggardness and its smear of blood on the cheek. The girl runs from -her hiding-place with a cry, but stands in horror when her foot touches -the gory pool in the road. The trooper opens his coat and offers her a -locket. It contains her picture, and he has worn it above his heart for a -year, but she lets it fall and sinks down, moaning. The soldier tears off -his red coat, tramples it in the dust, then vaulting to his saddle he -plunges into the river, fords it, and crashes through the underbrush on -the other side. In a few minutes he has reached the summit of a rock that -rises nearly a hundred feet above the stream. The horse halts at the -edge, but on a fierce stab of the spur into his flank he takes the leap. -With a despairing yell the traitor and parricide goes into eternity. - - - - -THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE - -Terrible in the field at Brandywine was the figure of a man armed only -with a hammer, who plunged into the ranks of the enemy, heedless of his -own life, yet seeming to escape their shots and sabre cuts by magic, and -with Thor strokes beat them to the earth. But yesterday war had been to -him a distant rumor, a thing as far from his cottage at Dilworth as if it -had been in Europe, but he had revolted at a plot that he had overheard -to capture Washington and had warned the general. In revenge the Tories -had burned his cottage, and his wife and baby had perished in the flames. -All day he had sat beside the smoking ruins, unable to weep, unable to -think, unable almost to suffer, except dumbly, for as yet he could not -understand it. But when the drums were heard they roused the tiger in -him, and gaunt with sleeplessness and hunger he joined his countrymen and -ranged like Ajax on the field. Every cry for quarter was in vain: to -every such appeal he had but one reply, his wife's name--Mary. - -Near the end of the fight he lay beside the road, his leg broken, his -flesh torn, his life ebbing from a dozen wounds. A wagoner, hasting to -join the American retreat, paused to give him drink. "I've only five -minutes more of life in me," said the smith. "Can you lift me into that -tree and put a rifle in my hands?" The powerful teamster raised him to -the crotch of an oak, and gave him the rifle and ammunition that a dying -soldier had dropped there. A band of red-coats came running down the -road, chasing some farmers. The blacksmith took careful aim; there was a -report, and the leader of the band fell dead. A pause; again a report -rang out, and a trooper sprawled upon the ground. The marksman had been -seen, and a lieutenant was urging his men to hurry on and cut him down. -There was a third report, and the lieutenant reeled forward into the -road, bleeding and cursing. "That's for Mary," gasped the blacksmith. The -rifle dropped from his hands, and he, too, sank lifeless against the -boughs. - - - - -FATHER AND SON - -It was three soldiers, escaping from the rout of Braddock's forces, who -caught the alleged betrayer of their general and put him to the death. -They threw his purse of ill-gotten louis d'or into the river, and sent -him swinging from the edge of a ravine, with a vine about his neck and a -placard on his breast. And so they left him. - -Twenty years pass, and the war-fires burn more fiercely in the vales of -Pennsylvania, but, too old to fight, the schoolmaster sits at his door -near Chad's Ford and smokes and broods upon the past. He thinks of the -time when he marched with Washington, when with two wounded comrades he -returned along the lonely trail; then comes the vision of a blackening -face, and he rises and wipes his brow. "It was right," he mutters. "He -sent a thousand of his brothers to their deaths." - -Gilbert Gates comes that evening to see the old man's daughter: a smooth, -polite young fellow, but Mayland cannot like him, and after some short -talk he leaves him, pleading years and rheumatism, and goes to bed. But -not to sleep; for toward ten o'clock his daughter goes to him and urges -him to fly, for men are gathering near the house--Tories, she is -sure,--and they mean no good. Laughing at her fears, but willing to -relieve her anxiety, the old man slips into his clothes, goes into the -cellar, and thence starts for the barn, while the girl remains for a few -minutes to hide the silver. - -He does not go far before Gates is at his elbow with the whispered words, -"Into the stack-quick. They are after you." Mayland hesitates with -distrust, but the appearance of men with torches leaves no time for talk. -With Gilbert's help he crawls deep into the straw and is covered up. -Presently a rough voice asks which way he has gone. Gilbert replies that -he has gone to the wood, but there is no need for getting into a passion, -and that on no account would it be advisable to fire the stack. "Won't we -though?" cries one of the party. "We'll burn the rebel out of house and -home," and thrusting his torch into the straw it is ablaze in an instant. -The crowd hurries away toward the wood, and does not hear the stifled -groan that comes out of the middle of the fire. Gates takes a paper from -his pocket, and, after reading it for the last time, flings it upon the -flame. It bears the inscription, "Isaac Gates, Traitor and Spy, hung by -three soldiers of his majesty's army. Isaac Mayland." - -From his moody contemplation he rouses with a start, for Mayland's -daughter is there. Her eyes are bent on a distorted thing that lies among -the embers, and in the dying light of the flames it seems to move. She -studies it close, then with a cry of pain and terror she falls upon the -hot earth, and her senses go out, not to be regained in woful years. With -head low bowed, Gilbert Gates trudges away. In the fight at Brandywine -next day, Black Samson, a giant negro, armed with a scythe, sweeps his -way through the red ranks like a sable figure of Time. Mayland had taught -him; his daughter had given him food. It is to avenge them that he is -fighting. In the height of the conflict he enters the American ranks -leading a prisoner--Gilbert Gates. The young man is pale, stern, and -silent. His deed is known, he is a spy as well as a traitor, but he asks -no mercy. It is rumored that next day he alone, of the prisoners, was led -to a wood and lashed by arms and legs to a couple of hickory trees that -had been bent by a prodigious effort and tied together by their tops. The -lashing was cut by a rifle-ball, the trees regained their straight -position with a snap like whips, and that was the way Gilbert Gates came -to his end. - - - - -THE ENVY OF MANITOU - -Behind the mountains that gloom about the romantic village of Mauch -Chunk, Pennsylvania, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding -loops and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its prettiest -bits of shore stood a village of the Leni Lenape, and largest of its -wigwams, most richly pictured without, most luxurious in its couching of -furs within, was that of the young chief, Onoko. This Indian was a man of -great size, strength, and daring. Single-handed he had slain the bear on -Mauch Chunk [Bear Mountain], and it was no wonder that Wenonah, the -fairest of her tribe, was flattered when he sued for her hand, and -promptly consented to be his wife. It was Onoko's fortune in war, the -chase, and love that roused the envy of Mitche Manitou. - -One day, as the couple were floating in their shallop of bark on the calm -lake, idly enjoying the sunshine and saying pretty things to each other, -the Manitou arose among the mountains. Terrible was his aspect, for the -scowl of hatred was on his face, thunder crashed about his head, and fire -snapped from his eyes. Covering his right hand with his invincible magic -mitten, he dealt a blow on the hills that made the earth shake, and rived -them to a depth of a thousand feet. Through the chasm thus created the -lake poured a foaming deluge, and borne with it was the canoe of Onoko -and Wenonah. One glance at the wrathful face in the clouds above them and -they knew that escape was hopeless, so, clasping each other in a close -embrace, they were whirled away to death. Manitou strode away moodily -among the hills, and ever since that time the Lehigh has rolled through -the chasm that he made. The memory of Onoko is preserved in the name of a -glen and cascade a short distance above Mauch Chunk. - -It is not well to be too happy in this world. It rouses the envy of the -gods. - - - - -THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL - -"Young man, I'll give thee five dollars a week to be care-taker in Printz -Hall," said Quaker Quidd to fiddler Matthews, on an autumn evening. - -Young Matthews had just been taunting the old gentleman with being afraid -to sleep on his own domain, and as the eyes of all the tavern loungers -were on him he could hardly decline so flattering a proposition, so, -after some hemming and hawing, he said he would take the Quaker at his -word. He played but two or three more tunes that evening, did Peter -Matthews, and played them rather sadly; then, as Quidd had finished his -mulled cider and departed, he took his homeward way in thoughtful mood. -Printz Hall stood in a lonely, weed-grown garden near Chester, -Pennsylvania, and thither repaired Peter, as next day's twilight shut -down, with a mattress, blanket, comestibles, his beloved fiddle, and a -flask of whiskey. Ensconcing himself in the room that was least -depressing in appearance he stuffed rags into the vacant panes, lighted a -candle, started a blaze in the fireplace, and ate his supper. - -"Not so bad a place, after all," mumbled Peter, as he warmed himself at -the fire and the flask; then, taking out his violin, he began to play. -The echo of his music emphasized the emptiness of the house, the damp got -into the strings so that they sounded tubby, and there were unintentional -quavers in the melody whenever the trees swung against the windows and -splashed them with rain, or when a distant shutter fell a-creaking. -Finally, he stirred the fire, bolted the door, snuffed his candle, took a -courageous pull at the liquor, flung off his coat and shoes, rolled his -blanket around him, stretched himself on the mattress, and fell asleep. -He was awakened by--well, he could not say what, exactly, only he became -suddenly as wide awake as ever he had been in his life, and listened for -some sound that he knew was going to come out of the roar of the wind and -the slamming, grating, and whistling about the house. Yes, there it was: -a tread and a clank on the stair. The door, so tightly bolted, flew open, -and there entered a dark figure with steeple-crowned hat, cloak, -jack-boots, sword, and corselet. The terrified fiddler wanted to howl, -but his voice was gone. "I am Peter Printz, governor-general of his -Swedish Majesty's American colonies, and builder of this house," said the -figure. "'Tis the night of the autumnal equinox, when my friends meet -here for revel. Take thy fiddle and come. Play, but speak not." - -And whether he wished or no, Peter was drawn to follow the figure, which -he could make out by the phosphor gleam of it. Down-stairs they went, -doors swinging open before them, and along corridors that clanged to the -stroke of the spectre's boot heels. Now they came to the ancient -reception-room, and as they entered it Peter was dazzled. The floor was -smooth with wax, logs snapped in the fireplace, though the flame was -somewhat blue, the old hangings and portraits looked fresh, and in the -light of wax candles a hundred people, in the brave array of old times, -walked, courtesied, and seemed to laugh and talk together. As the fiddler -appeared, every eye was turned on him in a disquieting way, and when he -addressed himself to his bottle, from every throat came a hollow laugh. -Finding his way to a chair he sank into it and put his instrument in -position. At the first note the couples took hands, and as he struck into -a jig they began to circle swiftly, leaping wondrous high. - -Faster went the music, for the whiskey was at work in Peter's noddle, and -wilder grew the dance. It was as if the storm had come in through the -windows and was blowing these people hither and yon, around and around. -The fiddler vaguely wondered at himself, for he had never played so well, -though he had never heard the tune before. Now loomed Governor Printz in -the middle of the room, and extending his hand he ordered the dance to -cease. "Thou bast played well, fiddler," he said, "and shalt be paid." -Then, at his signal, came two negro men tugging at a strong box that -Printz unlocked. It was filled with gold pieces. "Hold thy fiddle bag," -commanded the governor, and Peter did so, watching, open mouthed, the -transfer of a double handful of treasure from box to sack. Another such -handful followed, and another. At the fourth Peter could no longer -contain himself. He forgot the injunction not to speak, and shouted -gleefully, "Lord Harry! Here's luck!" - -There was a shriek of demon laughter, the scene was lost in darkness, and -Peter fell insensible. In the morning a tavern-haunting friend, anxious -to know if Peter had met with any adventure, entered the house and went -cautiously from room to room, calling on the watcher to show himself. -There was no response. At last he stumbled on the whiskey bottle, empty, -and knew that Peter must be near. Sure enough, there he lay in the great -room, with dust and mould thick on everything, and his fiddle smashed -into a thousand pieces. Peter on being awakened looked ruefully about -him, then sprang up and eagerly demanded his money. "What money?" asked -his friend. The fiddler clutched at his green bag, opened it, shook it; -there was nothing. Nor was there any delay in Peter's exit from that -mansion, and when, twenty-four hours after, the house went up in flames, -he averred that the ghosts had set it afire, and that he knew where they -brought their coals from. - - - - -THE TWO RINGS - -Gabrielle de St. Pierre, daughter of the commandant of Fort Le Boeuf, -now--Waterford, Pennsylvania, that the French had setup on the Ohio -River, was Parisian by birth and training, but American by choice, for -she had enjoyed on this lonesome frontier a freedom equal to that of the -big-handed, red-faced half-breeds, and she was as wild as an Indian in -her sports. Returning from a hunt, one day, she saw three men advancing -along the trail, and, as it was easy to see that they were not Frenchmen, -her guide slipped an arrow to the cord and discharged it; but Gabrielle -was as quick as he, for she struck the missile as it was leaving the bow -and it quivered harmlessly into a beech. The younger of the men who were -advancing--he was Harry Fairfax, of Virginia--said to his chief, "Another -escape for you, George. Heaven sent one of its angels to avert that -stroke." - -Washington, for it was he, answered lightly, and, as no other hostile -demonstrations were made, the new-comers pressed on to the fort, where -St. Pierre received them cordially, though he knew that their errand was -to claim his land on behalf of the English and urge the French to retire -to the southwest. The days that were spent in futile negotiation passed -all too swiftly for Fairfax, for he had fallen in love with Gabrielle. -She would not consent to a betrothal until time had tried his affection, -but as a token of friendship she gave him a stone circlet of Indian -manufacture, and received in exchange a ring that had been worn by the -mother of Fairfax. - -After the diplomats had returned the English resolved to enforce their -demand with arms, and Fairfax was one of the first to be despatched to -the front. - -Early in the campaign his company engaged the enemy near the Ohio River, -and in the heat of battle he had time to note and wonder at the strange -conduct of one of the French officers, a mere stripling, who seemed more -concerned to check the fire of his men than to secure any advantage in -the fight. Presently the French gave way, and with a cheer the English -ran forward to claim the field, the ruder spirits among them at once -beginning to plunder the wounded. A cry for quarter drew Fairfax with a -bound to the place whence it came, and, dashing aside a pilfering -soldier, he bent above a slight form that lay extended on the earth: the -young officer whose strange conduct had so surprised him. In another -moment he recognized his mother's ring on one of the slender hands. It -was Gabrielle. Her father had perished in the fight, but she had saved -her lover. - -In due time she went with her affianced to his home in Williamsburg, -Virginia, and became mistress of the Fairfax mansion. But she never liked -the English, as a people, and when, in later years, two sturdy sons of -hers asked leave to join the Continental army, she readily consented. - - - - -FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS - -Before Pittsburg had become worthy to be called a settlement, a white man -rowed his boat to the mouth of Chartiers creek, near that present city. -He was seeking a place in which to make his home, and a little way -up-stream, where were timber, water, and a southern slope, he marked a -"tomahawk claim," and set about clearing the land. Next year his wife, -two children, and his brother came to occupy the cabin he had built, and -for a long time all went happily, but on returning from a long hunt the -brothers found the little house in ashes and the charred remains of its -occupants in the ruins. Though nearly crazed by this catastrophe they -knew that their own lives were in hourly peril, and they wished to live -until they could punish the savages for this crime. After burying the -bodies, they started east across the hills, leaving a letter on birch -bark in a cleft stick at the mouth of Chartiers creek, in which the -tragedy was recounted. - -This letter was afterward found by trappers. The men themselves were -never heard from, and it is believed that they, too, fell at the hands of -the Indians. Old settlers used to affirm that on summer nights the cries -of the murdered innocents could be heard in the little valley where the -cabin stood, and when storms were coming up these cries were often -blended with the yells of savages. More impressive are the death -lights--the will-o'-the-wisps--that wander over the scene of the tragedy, -and up and down the neighboring slopes. These apparitions are said to be -the spirits of husband and wife seeking each other, or going together in -search of their children; but some declare that in their upward streaming -rays it can readily be seen that they are the scalps of the slain. Two of -them have a golden hue, and these are the scalps of the children. From -beneath them drops of red seem to distil on the grass and are found to -have bedewed the flowers on the following morning. - - - - -THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON - -In 1773 some of the Pietist monks were still living in their rude -monastery whose ruins are visible on the banks of the Wissahickon. Chief -among these mystics was an old man who might have enjoyed the wealth and -distinction warranted by a title had he chosen to remain in Germany, but -he had forsworn vanities, and had come to the new world to pray, to rear -his children, and to live a simple life. Some said he was an alchemist, -and many believed him to be a prophet. The infrequent wanderer beside the -romantic river had seen lights burning in the window of his cell and had -heard the solemn sound of song and prayer. On a winter night, when snow -lay untrodden about the building and a sharp air stirred in the trees -with a sound like harps, the old man sat in a large room of the place, -with his son and daughter, waiting. For a prophecy had run that on that -night, at the third hour of morning, the Deliverer would present himself. -In a dream was heard a voice, saying, "I will send a deliverer to the new -world who shall save my people from bondage, as my Son saved them from -spiritual death." The night wore on in prayer and meditation, and the -hours tolled heavily across the frozen wilderness, but, at the stroke of -three, steps were heard in the snow and the door swung open. The man who -entered was of great stature, with a calm, strong face, a powerful frame, -and a manner of dignity and grace. - -"Friends, I have lost my way," said he. "Can you direct me?" - -The old man started up in a kind of rapture. "You have not lost your -way," he cried, "but found it. You are called to a great mission. Kneel -at this altar and receive it." - -The stranger looked at the man in surprise and a doubt passed over his -face. "Nay, I am not mad," urged the recluse, with a slight smile. -"Listen: to-night, disturbed for the future of your country, and unable -to sleep, you mounted horse and rode into the night air to think on the -question that cannot be kept out of your mind, Is it lawful for the -subject to draw sword against his king? The horse wandered, you knew and -cared not whither, until he brought you here." - -"How do you know this?" asked the stranger, in amazement. - -"Be not surprised, but kneel while I anoint thee deliverer of this land." - -Moved and impressed, the man bowed his knee before one of his fellows for -the first time in his life. The monk touched his finger with oil, and -laying it on the brow of the stranger said, "Do you promise, when the -hour shall strike, to take the sword in defence of your country? Do you -promise, when you shall see your soldiers suffer for bread and fire, and -when the people you have led to victory shall bow before you, to remember -that you are but the minister of God in the work of a nation's freedom?" - -With a new light burning in his eyes, the stranger bent his head. - -"Then, in His name, I consecrate thee deliverer of this oppressed people. -When the time comes, go forth to victory, for, as you are faithful, be -sure that God will grant it. Wear no crown, but the blessings and honor -of a free people, save this." As he finished, his daughter, a girl of -seventeen, came forward and put a wreath of laurel on the brow of the -kneeling man. "Rise," continued the prophet, "and take my hand, which I -have never before offered to any man, and accept my promise to be -faithful to you and to this country, even if it cost my life." - -As he arose, the son of the priest stepped to him and girt a sword upon -his hip, and the old man held up his hands in solemn benediction. The -stranger laid his hand on the book that stood open on the altar and -kissed the hilt of his sword. "I will keep the faith," said he. At dawn -he went his way again, and no one knew his name, but when the fires of -battle lighted the western world America looked to him for its -deliverance from tyranny. Years later it was this spot that he revisited, -alone, to pray, and here Sir William Howe offered to him, in the name of -his king, the title of regent of America. He took the parchment and -ground it into a rag in the earth at his feet. For this was Washington. -MARION - -Blooming and maidenly, though she dressed in leather and used a rifle -like a man, was Marion, grand-daughter of old Abraham, who counted his -years as ninety, and who for many of those years had lived with his books -in the tidy cabin where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela come together. -This place stood near the trail along which Braddock marched to his -defeat, and it was one of the stragglers from this command, a bony -half-breed with red hair, called Red Wolf, that knocked at the door and -asked for water. Seeing no one but Marion he ventured in, and would have -tried not only to make free with the contents of the little house but -would have kissed the girl as well, only that she seized her rifle and -held him at bay. Still, the fellow would have braved a shot, had not a -young officer in a silver-laced uniform glanced through the open door in -passing and discovered the situation. He doffed his chapeau to Marion, -then said sternly to the rogue, "Retire. Your men are waiting for you." -Red Wolf slunk away, and Washington, for it was he, begged that he might -rest for a little time under the roof. - -This request was gladly complied with, both by the girl and by her -grandfather, who presently appeared, and the fever that threatened the -young soldier was averted by a day of careful nursing. Marion's innate -refinement, her gentleness, her vivacity, could not fail to interest -Washington, and the vision of her face was with him for many a day. He -promised to return, then he rode forward and caught up with the troops. -He survived the battle in which seven hundred of his comrades were shot -or tomahawked and scalped. One Indian fired at him eleven times, and five -of the bullets scratched him; after that the savage forbore, believing -that the officer was under Manitou's protection. When the retreating -column approached the place where Marion lived he hastened on in advance -to see her. The cabin was in ashes. He called, but there was no answer. -When he turned away, with sad and thoughtful mien, a brown tress was -wrapped around his finger, and in his cabinet he kept it until his death, -folded in a paper marked "Marion, July 11, 1755." - - - - -TALES OF PURITAN LAND - - - - -EVANGALINE - -The seizure by England of the country that soon afterward was -rechristened Nova Scotia was one of the cruellest events in history. The -land was occupied by a good and happy people who had much faith and few -laws, plenty to eat and drink, no tax collectors nor magistrates, in -brief, a people who were entitled to call themselves Acadians, for they -made their land an Arcady. Upon them swooped the British ships, took them -unarmed and unoffending, crowded them aboard their transports,--often -separating husband and wife, parents and children,--scattered them far -and wide, beyond hope of return, and set up the cross of St. George on -the ruins of prosperity and peace. On the shore of the Basin of Minas can -still be traced the foundations of many homes that were perforce deserted -at that time, and among them are the ruins of Grand Pre. - -Here lived Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, who were -betrothed with the usual rejoicings just before the coming of the -English. They had expected, when their people were arrested, to be sent -away together; but most of the men were kept under guard, and Gabriel was -at sea, bound neither he nor she knew whither, when Evangeline found -herself in her father's house alone, for grief and excitement had been -more than her aged parent could bear, and he was buried at the shore just -before the women of the place were crowded on board of a transport. As -the ship set off her sorrowing passengers looked behind them to see their -homes going up in flame and smoke, and Acadia knew them no more. The -English had planned well to keep these people from coming together for -conspiracy or revenge: they scattered them over all America, from -Newfoundland to the southern savannas. - -Evangeline was not taken far away, only to New England; but without -Gabriel all lands were drear, and she set off in the search for him, -working here and there, sometimes looking timidly at the headstones on -new graves, then travelling on. Once she heard that he was a _coureur des -bois_ on the prairies, again that he was a voyageur in the Louisiana -lowlands; but those of his people who kept near her inclined to jest at -her faith and urged her to marry Leblanc, the notary's son, who truly -loved her. To these she only replied, "I cannot." - -Down the Ohio and Mississippi she went--on a raft--with a little band of -those who were seeking the French settlements, where the language, -religion, and simplicity of life recalled Acadia. They found it on the -banks of the Teche, and they reached the house of the herdsman Gabriel on -the day that he had departed for the north to seek Evangeline. She and -the good priest who had been her stay in a year of sorrow turned back in -pursuit, and for weary months, over prairie and through forest, skirting -mountain and morass, going freely among savages, they followed vain -clues, and at last arrived in Philadelphia. Broken in spirit then, but -not less sweet of nature for the suffering that she had known, she who -had been named for the angels became a minister of mercy, and in the -black robe of a nun went about with comforts to the sick and poor. A -pestilence was sweeping through the city, and those who had no friends -nor attendants were taken to the almshouse, whither, as her way was, -Evangeline went on a soft Sabbath morning to calm the fevered and -brighten the hearts of the dying. - -Some of the patients of the day before had gone and new were in their -places. Suddenly she turned white and sank on her knees at a bedside, -with a cry of "Gabriel, my beloved!" breathed into the ears of a -prematurely aged man who lay gasping in death before her. He came out of -his stupor, slowly, and tried to speak her name. She drew his head to her -bosom, kissed him, and for one moment they were happy. Then the light -went out of his eyes and the warmth from his heart. She pressed his -eyelids down and bowed her head, for her way was plainer now, and she -thanked God that it was so. - - - - -THE SNORING OF SWUNKSUS - -The original proprietor of Deer Isle, off the coast of Maine--at least, -the one who was in possession one hundred and thirty years ago--had the -liquid name of Swunksus. His name was not the only liquid thing in the -neighborhood, however, for, wherever Swunksus was, fire-water was not -far. Shortly before the Revolution a renegade from Boston, one Conary, -moved up to the island and helped himself to as much of it as he chose, -but the longer he lived there the more he wanted. Swunksus was willing -enough to divide his domain with the white intruder, but Conary was not -satisfied with half. He did not need it all; he just wanted it. Moreover, -he grew quarrelsome and was continually nagging poor Swunksus, until at -last he forced the Indian to accept a challenge, not to immediate combat, -but to fight to the death should they meet thereafter. - -The red man retired to his half of the island and hid among the bushes -near his home to await the white man, but in this little fastness he -discovered a jug of whiskey that either fate or Conary had placed there. -Before an hour was over he was "as full and mellow as a harvest moon," -and it was then that his enemy appeared. There was no trouble in finding -Swunksus, for he was snoring like a fog horn, and walking boldly up to -him, Conary blew his head off with a load of slugs. Then he took -possession of the place and lived happily ever after. Swunksus takes his -deposition easily, for, although he has more than once paraded along the -beaches, his ghost spends most of the time in slumber, and terrific -snores have been heard proceeding from the woods in daylight. - - - - -THE LEWISTON HERMIT - -On an island above the falls of the Androscoggin, at Lewiston, Maine, -lived a white recluse at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The -natives, having had good reason to mistrust all palefaces, could think no -good of the man who lived thus among but not with them. Often they -gathered at the bank and looked across at his solitary candle twinkling -among the leaves, and wondered what manner of evil he could be planning -against them. Wherever there are many conspirators one will be a gabbler -or a traitor; so, when the natives had resolved on his murder, he, -somehow, learned of their intent and set himself to thwart it. So great -was their fear of this lonely man, and of the malignant powers he might -conjure to his aid, that nearly fifty Indians joined the expedition, to -give each other courage. - -Their plan was to go a little distance up the river and come down with -the current, thus avoiding the dip of paddles that he might hear in a -direct crossing. When it was quite dark they set off, and keeping headway -on their canoes aimed them toward the light that glimmered above the -water. But the cunning hermit had no fire in his cabin that night. It was -burning on a point below his shelter, and from his hiding-place among the -rocks he saw their fleet, as dim and silent as shadows, go by him on the -way to the misguiding beacon. - -Presently a cry arose. The savages had passed the point of safe sailing; -their boats had become unmanageable. Forgetting their errand, their only -hope now was to save themselves, but in vain they tried to reach the -shore: the current was whirling them to their doom. Cries and death-songs -mingled with the deepening roar of the waters, the light barks reached -the cataract and leaped into the air. Then the night was still again, -save for the booming of the flood. Not one of the Indians who had set out -on this errand of death survived the hermit's stratagem. - - - - -THE DEAD SHIP OF HARPSWELL - -At times the fisher-folk of Maine are startled to see the form of a ship, -with gaunt timbers showing through the planks, like lean limbs through -rents in a pauper's garb, float shoreward in the sunset. She is a ship of -ancient build, with tall masts and sails of majestic spread, all torn; -but what is her name, her port, her flag, what harbor she is trying to -make, no man can tell, for on her deck no sailor has ever been seen to -run up colors or heard to answer a hail. Be it in calm or storm, in-come -or ebb of tide, the ship holds her way until she almost touches shore. - -There is no creak of spars or whine of cordage, no spray at the bow, no -ripple at the stern--no voice, and no figure to utter one. As she nears -the rocks she pauses, then, as if impelled by a contrary current, floats -rudder foremost off to sea, and vanishes in twilight. Harpswell is her -favorite cruising-ground, and her appearance there sets many heads to -shaking, for while it is not inevitable that ill luck follows her visits, -it has been seen that burial-boats have sometimes had occasion to cross -the harbor soon after them, and that they were obliged by wind or tide or -current to follow her course on leaving the wharf. - - - - -THE SCHOOLMASTER HAD NOT REACHED ORRINGTON. - -The quiet town of Orrington, in Maine, was founded by Jesse Atwood, of -Wellfleet, Cape Cod, in 1778, and has become known, since then, as a -place where skilful farmers and brave sailors could always be found. It -also kept Maine supplied for years with oldest inhabitants. It is said -that the name was an accident of illiteracy, and that it is the only -place in the world that owes its title to bad spelling. The settlers who -followed Atwood there were numerous enough to form a township after ten -years, and the name they decided on for their commonwealth was -Orangetown, so called for a village in Maryland where some of the people -had associations, but the clerk of the town meeting was not a college -graduate and his spelling of Orange was Orring, and of town, ton. His -draft of the resolutions went before the legislature, and the people -directly afterward found themselves living in Orrington. - - - - -JACK WELCH'S DEATH LIGHT - -Pond Cove, Maine, is haunted by a light that on a certain evening, every -summer, rises a mile out at sea, drifts to a spot on shore, then whirls -with a buzz and a glare to an old house, where it vanishes. Its first -appearance was simultaneous with the departure of Jack Welch, a -fisherman. He was seen one evening at work on his boat, but in the -morning he was gone, nor has he since shown himself in the flesh. - -On the tenth anniversary of this event three fishermen were hurrying up -the bay, hoping to reach home before dark, for they dreaded that uncanny -light, but a fog came in and it was late before they reached the wharf. -As they were tying their boat a channel seemed to open through the mist, -and along that path from the deep came a ball of pallid flame with the -rush of a meteor. There was one of the men who cowered at the bottom of -the boat with ashen face and shaking limbs, and did not watch the light, -even though it shot above his head, played through the rigging, and after -a wide sweep went shoreward and settled on his house. Next day one of his -comrades called for him, but Tom Wright was gone, gone, his wife said, -before the day broke. Like Jack Welch's disappearance, this departure was -unexplained, and in time he was given up for dead. - -Twenty years had passed, when Wright's presumptive widow was startled by -the receipt of a letter in a weak, trembling hand, signed with her -husband's name. It was written on his death-bed, in a distant place, and -held a confession. Before their marriage, Jack Welch had been a suitor -for her hand, and had been the favored of the two. To remove his rival -and prosper in his place, Wright stole upon the other at his work, killed -him, took his body to sea, and threw it overboard. Since that time the -dead man had pursued him, and he was glad that the end of his days was -come. But, though Tom Wright is no more, his victim's light comes yearly -from the sea, above the spot where his body sank, floats to the scene of -the murder on the shore, then flits to the house where the assassin lived -and for years simulated the content that comes of wedded life. -MOGG MEGONE - -Hapless daughter of a renegade is Ruth Bonython. Her father is as unfair -to his friends as to his enemies, but to neither of them so merciless as -to Ruth. Although he knows that she loves Master Scammon--in spite of his -desertion and would rather die than wed another, he has promised her to -Mogg Megone, the chief who rules the Indians at the Saco mouth. He, -blundering savage, fancies that he sees to the bottom of her grief, and -one day, while urging his suit, he opens his blanket and shows the scalp -of Scammon, to prove that he has avenged her. She looks in horror, but -when he flings the bloody trophy at her feet she baptizes it with a -forgiving tear. What villainy may this lead to? Ah, none for him, for -Bonython now steps in and plies him with flattery and drink, gaining from -the chief, at last, his signature--the bow totem--to a transfer of the -land for which he is willing to sell his daughter. Ruth, maddened at her -father's meanness and the Indian's brutality, rushes on the imbruted -savage, grasps from his belt the knife that has slain her lover, cleaves -his heart in twain, and flies into the wood, leaving Bonython stupid with -amazement. - -Father Rasles, in his chapel at Norridgewock, is affecting his Indian -converts against the Puritans, who settled to the southward of him fifty -years before. To him comes a woman with torn garments and frightened -face. Her dead mother stood before her last night, she says, and looked -at her reprovingly, for she had killed Mogg Megone. The priest starts -back in wrath, for Mogg was a hopeful agent of the faith, and bids her -go, for she can ask no pardon. Brooding within his chapel, then, he is -startled by the sound of shot and hum of arrows. Harmon and Moulton are -advancing with their men and crying, "Down with the beast of Rome! Death -to the Babylonish dog!" Ruth, knowing not what this new misfortune may -mean, runs from the church and disappears. - -Some days later, old Baron Castine, going to Norridgewock to bury and -revenge the dead, finds a woman seated on the earth and gazing over a -field strewn with ashes and with human bones. He touches her. She is -cold. There has been no life for days. It is Ruth. - - - - -THE LADY URSULA - -In 1690 a stately house stood in Kittery, Maine, a strongly guarded place -with moat and drawbridge (which was raised at night) and a moated grange -adjacent where were cattle, sheep, and horses. Here, in lonely dignity, -lived Lady Ursula, daughter of the lord of Grondale Abbey, across the -water, whose distant grandeurs were in some sort reflected in this manor -of the wilderness. Silver, mahogany, paintings, tapestries, waxed floors, -and carven chests of linen represented wealth; prayers were said by a -chaplain every morning and evening in the chapel, and, though the main -hall would accommodate five hundred people, the lady usually sat at meat -there with her thirty servants, her part of the table being raised two -feet above theirs. - -It was her happiness to believe that Captain Fowler, now absent in -conflict with the French, would return and wed her according to his -promise, but one day came a tattered messenger with bitter news of the -captain's death. She made no talk of her grief, and, while her face was -pale and step no longer light, she continued in the work that custom -exacted from women of that time: help for the sick, alms for the poor, -teaching for the ignorant, religion for the savage. Great was her joy, -then, when a ship came from England bringing a letter from Captain Fowler -himself, refuting the rumor of defeat and telling of his coming. Now the -hall took on new life, reflecting the pleasure of its mistress; color -came back to her cheek and sparkle to her eye, and she could only control -her impatience by more active work and more aggressive charities. The day -was near at hand for the arrival of her lover, when Ursula and her -servants were set upon by Indians, while away from the protection of the -manor, and slain. They were buried where they fell, and Captain Fowler -found none to whom his love or sorrow could be told. - - - - -FATHER MOODY'S BLACK VEIL - -In 1770 the Reverend Joseph Moody died at York, Maine, where he had long -held the pastorate of a church, and where in his later years his face was -never seen by friend or relative. At home, when any one was by, on the -street, and in the pulpit his visage was concealed by a double fold of -crape that was knotted above his forehead and fell to his chin, the lower -edge of it being shaken by his breath. When first he presented himself to -his congregation with features masked in black, great was the wonder and -long the talk about it. Was he demented? His sermons were too logical for -that. Had he been crossed in love? He could smile, though the smile was -sad. Had he been scarred by accident or illness? If so, no physician knew -of it. - -After a time it was given out that his eyes were weakened by reading and -writing at night, and the wonder ceased, though the veiled parson was -less in demand for weddings, christenings, and social gatherings, and -more besought for funerals than he had been. If asked to take off his -crape he only replied, "We all wear veils of one kind or another, and the -heaviest and darkest are those that hang about our hearts. This is but a -material veil. Let it stay until the hour strikes when all faces shall be -seen and all souls reveal their secrets." - -Little by little the clergyman felt himself enforced to withdraw from the -public gaze. There were rough people who were impertinent and timid -people who turned out of their road to avoid him, so that he found his -out-door walks and meditations almost confined to the night, unless he -chose the grave-yard for its seclusion or strolled on the beach and -listened to the wallowing and grunting of the Black Boars--the rocks off -shore that had laughed on the night when the York witch went up the -chimney in a gale. But his life was long and kind and useful, and when at -last the veiled head lay on the pillow it was never to rise from -consciously, a fellow-clergyman came to soothe his dying moments and -commend his soul to mercy. - -To him, one evening, Father Moody said, "Brother, my hour is come and the -veil of eternal darkness is falling over my eyes. Men have asked me why I -wear this piece of crape about my face, as if it were not for them a -reminder and a symbol, and I have borne the reason so long within me that -only now have I resolved to tell it. Do you recall the finding of young -Clark beside the river, years ago? He had been shot through the head. The -man who killed him did so by accident, for he was a bosom friend; yet he -could never bring himself to confess the fact, for he dreaded the blame -of his townsmen, the anguish of the dead man's parents, the hate of his -betrothed. It was believed that the killing was a murder, and that some -roving Indian had done it. After years of conscience-darkened life, in -which the face of his dead friend often arose accusingly before him, the -unhappy wretch vowed that he would never again look his fellows openly in -the face: he would pay a penalty and conceal his shame. Then it was that -I put a veil between myself and the world." - -Joseph Moody passed away and, as he wished, the veil still hid his face -in the coffin, but the clergyman who had raised it for a moment to -compose his features, found there a serenity and a beauty that were -majestic. - - - - -THE HOME OF THUNDER - -Some Indians believe that the Thunder Bird is the agent of storm; that -the flashes of his eyes cause lightning and the flapping of his -cloud-vast wings make thunder. Not so the Passamaquoddies, for they hold -that Katahdin's spirit children are Thunders, and in this way an Indian -found them: He had been seeking game along the Penobscot and for weeks -had not met one of his fellow creatures. On a winter day he came on the -print of a pair of snow-shoes; next morning the tracks appeared in -another part of the forest, and so for many days he found them. - -After a time it occurred to him to see where these tracks went to, and he -followed them until they merged with others in a travelled road, ending -at a precipice on the side of Katahdin (Great Mountain). - -While lost in wonder that so many tracks should lead nowhere, he was -roused by a footfall, and a maiden stepped from the precipice to the -ledge beside him. Though he said nothing, being in awe of her stateliness -and beauty, she replied in kind words to every unspoken thought and bade -him go with her. He approached the rock with fear, but at a touch from -the woman it became as mist, and they entered it together. - -Presently they were in a great cave in the heart of Katahdin, where sat -the spirit of the mountain, who welcomed them and asked the girl if her -brothers had come. "I hear them coming," she replied. A blinding flash, a -roar of thunder, and there stepped into the cave two men of giant size -and gravely beautiful faces, hardened at the cheeks and brows to stone. -"These," said the girl to the hunter, "are my brothers, the Thunder and -the Lightning. My father sends them forth whenever there is wrong to -redress, that those who love us may not be smitten. When you hear -Thunder, know that they are shooting at our enemies." - -At the end of that day the hunter returned to his home, and behold, he -had been gone seven years. Another legend says that the stone-faced sons -of the mountain adopted him, and that for seven years he was a roaming -Thunder, but at the end of that time while a storm was raging he was -allowed to fall, unharmed, into his own village. - - - - -THE PARTRIDGE WITCH - -Two brothers, having hunted at the head of the Penobscot until their -snow-shoes and moccasins gave out, looked at each other ruefully and -cried, "Would that there was a woman to help us!" The younger brother -went to the lodge that evening earlier than the elder, in order to -prepare the supper, and great was his surprise on entering the wigwam to -find the floor swept, a fire built, a pot boiling, and their clothing -mended. Returning to the wood he watched the place from a covert until he -saw a graceful girl enter the lodge and take up the tasks of -housekeeping. - -When he entered she was confused, but he treated her with respect, and -allowed her to have her own way so far as possible, so that they became -warm friends, sporting together like children when the work of the day -was over. But one evening she said, "Your brother is coming. I fear him. -Farewell." And she slipped into the wood. When the young man told his -elder brother what had happened there--the elder having been detained for -a few days in the pursuit of a deer--he declared that he would wish the -woman to come back, and presently, without any summons, she returned, -bringing a toboggan-load of garments and arms. The luck of the hunters -improved, and they remained happily together until spring, when it was -time to return with their furs. - -They set off down the Penobscot in their canoe and rowed merrily along, -but as they neared the home village the girl became uneasy, and presently -"threw out her soul"--became clairvoyant--and said, "Let me land here. I -find that your father would not like me, so do not speak to him about -me." But the elder brother told of her when they reached home, whereon -the father exclaimed, "I had feared this. That woman is a sister of the -goblins. She wishes to destroy men." - -At this the elder brother was afraid, lest she should cast a spell on -him, and rowing up the river for a distance he came upon her as she was -bathing and shot at her. The arrow seemed to strike, for there was a -flutter of feathers and the woman flew away as a partridge. But the -younger did not forget the good she had done and sought her in the wood, -where for many days they played together as of old. - -"I do not blame your father: it is an affair of old, this hate he bears -me," she said. "He will choose a wife for you soon, but do not marry her, -else all will come to an end for you." The man could not wed the witch, -and he might not disobey his father, in spite of this adjuration; so when -the old man said to him, "I have a wife for you, my son," he answered, -"It is well." - -They brought the bride to the village, and for four days the -wedding-dance was held, with a feast that lasted four days more. Then -said the young man, "Now comes the end," and lying down on a bear-skin he -sighed a few times and his spirit ascended to the Ghosts' road--the milky -way. The father shook his head, for he knew that this was the witch's -work, and, liking the place no longer, he went away and the tribe was -scattered. - - - - -THE MARRIAGE OF MOUNT KATAHDIN - -An Indian girl gathering berries on the side of Mount Katahdin looked up -at its peak, rosy in the afternoon light, and sighed, "I wish that I had -a husband. If Katahdin were a man he might marry me." Her companions -laughed at this quaint conceit, and, filled with confusion at being -overheard, she climbed higher up the slope and was lost to sight. For -three years her tribe lost sight of her; then she came back with a child -in her arms a beautiful boy with brows of stone. The boy had wonderful -power: he had only to point at a moose or a duck or a bear, and it fell -dead, so that the tribe never wanted food. For he was the son of the -Indian girl and the spirit of the mountain, who had commanded her not to -reveal the boy's paternity. Through years she held silence on this point, -holding in contempt, like other Indians, the prying inquiries of gossips -and the teasing of young people, and knowing that Katahdin had designed -the child for the founder of a mighty race, with the sinews of the very -mountains in its frame, that should fill and rule the earth. Yet, one -day, in anger at some slight, the mother spoke: "Fools! Wasps who sting -the fingers that pick you from the water! Why do you torment me about -what you might all see? Look at the boy's face--his brows: in them do you -not see Katahdin? Now you have brought the curse upon yourselves, for you -shall hunt your own venison from this time forth." Leading the child by -the hand she turned toward the mountain and went out from their sight. -And since then the Indians who could not hold their tongues, and who -might otherwise have been great, have dwindled to a little people. - - - - -THE MOOSE OF MOUNT KINEO - -Eastern traditions concerning Hiawatha differ in many respects from those -of the West. In the East he is known as Glooskap, god of the -Passamaquoddies, and his marks are left in many places in the maritime -provinces and Maine. It was he who gave names to things, created men, -filled them with life, and moved their wonder with storms. He lived on -the rocky height of Blomidon, at the entrance to Minas Basin, Nova -Scotia, and the agates to be found along its foot are jewels that he made -for his grandmother's necklace, when he restored her youth. He threw up a -ridge between Fort Cumberland and Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, that he might -cross, dry shod, the lake made by the beavers when they dammed the strait -at Blomidon, but he afterward killed the beavers, and breaking down their -dam he let the lake flow into the sea, and went southward on a hunting -tour. At Mount Desert he killed a moose, whose bones he flung to the -ground at Bar Harbor, where they are still to be seen, turned to stone, -while across the bay he threw the entrails, and they, too, are visible as -rocks, dented with his arrow-points. Mount Kineo was anciently a cow -moose of colossal size that he slew and turned into a height of land, and -the Indians trace the outline of the creature in the uplift to this day. -Little Kineo was a calf moose that he slew at the same time, and Kettle -Mountain is his camp-caldron that he flung to the ground in the ardor of -the chase. - - - - -THE OWL TREE - -One day in October, 1827, Rev. Charles Sharply rode into Alfred, Maine, -and held service in the meeting-house. After the sermon he announced that -he was going to Waterborough to preach, and that on his circuit he had -collected two hundred and seventy dollars to help build a church in that -village. Would not his hearers add to that sum? They would and did, and -that evening the parson rode away with over three hundred dollars in his -saddlebags. He never appeared in Waterborough. Some of the country people -gave tongue to their fear that the possession of the money had made him -forget his sacred calling and that he had fled the State. - -On the morning after his disappearance, however, Deacon Dickerman -appeared in Alfred riding on a horse that was declared to be the -minister's, until the tavern hostler affirmed that the minister's horse -had a white star on forehead and breast, whereas this horse was all -black. The deacon said that he found the horse grazing in his yard at -daybreak, and that he would give it to whoever could prove it to be his -property. Nobody appeared to demand it, and people soon forgot that it -was not his. He extended his business at about that time and prospered; -he became a rich man for a little place; though, as his wealth increased, -he became morose and averse to company. - -One day a rumor went around that a belated traveller had seen a misty -thing under "the owl tree" at a turn of a road where owls were hooting, -and that it took on a strange likeness to the missing clergyman. -Dickerman paled when he heard this story, but he shook his head and -muttered of the folly of listening to boy nonsense. Ten years had gone -by-during that time the boys had avoided the owl tree after dark--when a -clergyman of the neighborhood was hastily summoned to see Mr. Dickerman, -who was said to be suffering from overwork. He found the deacon in his -house alone, pacing the floor, his dress disordered, his cheek hectic. - -"I have not long to live," said he, "nor would I live longer if I could. -I am haunted day and night, and there is no peace, no rest for me on -earth. They say that Sharply's spirit has appeared at the owl tree. Well, -his body lies there. They accused me of taking his horse. It is true. A -little black dye on his head and breast was all that was needed to -deceive them. Pray for me, for I fear my soul is lost. I killed Sharply." -The clergyman recoiled. "I killed him," the wretched man went on, "for -the money that he had. The devil prospered me with it. In my will I leave -two thousand dollars to his widow and five thousand dollars to the church -he was collecting for. Will there be mercy for me there? I dare not think -it. Go and pray for me." The clergyman hastened away, but was hardly -outside the door when the report of a pistol brought him back. Dickerman -lay dead on the floor. Sharply's body was exhumed from the shade of the -owl tree, and the spot was never haunted after. - - - - -A CHESTNUT LOG - -There is no doubt that farmer Lovel had read ancient history or he would -not have been so ready in the emergency that befell him one time in the -last century. He had settled among the New Hampshire hills near the site -that is now occupied by the village of Washington and had a real good -time there with bears and Indians. It was when he was splitting rails on -Lovel Mountain--they named it for him afterward--that he found himself -surrounded by six Indians, who told him that he was their prisoner. He -agreed that they had the advantage over him and said that he would go -quietly along if they would allow him to finish the big chestnut log that -he was at work on. As he was a powerful fellow and was armed with an axe -worth any two of their tomahawks, and as he would be pretty sure to have -the life of at least one of them if they tried to drive him faster than -he wanted to go, they consented. He said that he would be ready all the -sooner if they would help him to pull the big log apart, and they agreed -to help him. Driving a wedge into the long split he asked them to take -hold, and when they had done this he knocked out the wedge with a single -blow and the twelve hands were caught tight in the closing wood. Struggle -as the savages might, they could not get free, and after calmly enjoying -the situation for a few minutes he walked slowly from one to the other -and split open the heads of all six. Then he went to work again splitting -up more chestnuts. - - - - -THE WATCHER ON WHITE ISLAND - -The isles of Shoals, a little archipelago of wind and wave-swept rocks -that may be seen on clear days from the New Hampshire coast, have been -the scene of some mishaps and some crimes. On Boone Island, where the -Nottingham galley went down one hundred and fifty years ago, the -survivors turned cannibals to escape starvation, while Haley's Island is -peopled by shipwrecked Spanish ghosts that hail vessels and beg for -passage back to their country. The pirate Teach, or Blackbeard, used to -put in at these islands to hide his treasure, and one of his lieutenants -spent some time on White Island with a beautiful girl whom he had -abducted from her home in Scotland and who, in spite of his rough life, -had learned to love him. It was while walking with her on this rock, -forgetful of his trade and the crimes he had been stained with, that one -of his men ran up to report a sail that was standing toward the islands. -The pirate ship was quickly prepared for action, but before embarking, -mindful of possible flight or captivity, the lieutenant made his mistress -swear that she would guard the buried treasure if it should be till -doomsday. - -The ship he was hurrying to meet came smoothly on until the pirate craft -was well in range, when ports flew open along the stranger's sides, guns -were run out, and a heavy broadside splintered through the planks of the -robber galley. It was a man-of-war, not a merchantman, that had run -Blackbeard down. The war-ship closed and grappled with the corsair, but -while the sailors were standing at the chains ready to leap aboard and -complete the subjugation of the outlaws a mass of flame burst from the -pirate ship, both vessels were hurled in fragments through the air, and a -roar went for miles along the sea. Blackbeard's lieutenant had fired the -magazine rather than submit to capture, and had blown the two ships into -a common ruin. A few of both crews floated to the islands on planks, sore -from burns and bruises, but none survived the cold and hunger of the -winter. The pirate's mistress was among the first to die; still, true to -her promise, she keeps her watch, and at night is dimly seen on a rocky -point gazing toward the east, her tall figure enveloped in a cloak, her -golden hair unbound upon her shoulders, her pale face still as marble. - - - - -CHOCORUA - -This beautiful alp in the White Mountains commemorates in its name a -prophet of the Pequawket tribe who, prior to undertaking a journey, had -confided his son to a friendly settler, Cornelius Campbell, of Tamworth. -The boy found some poison in the house that had been prepared for foxes, -and, thinking it to be some delicacy, he drank of it and died. When -Chocorua returned he could not be persuaded that his son had fallen -victim to his own ignorance, but ascribed his death to the white man's -treachery, and one day, when Campbell entered his cabin from the fields, -he found there the corpses of his wife and children scalped and mangled. - -He was not a man to lament at such a time: hate was stronger than sorrow. -A fresh trail led from his door. Seizing his rifle he set forth in -pursuit of the murderer. A mark in the dust, a bent grass blade, a torn -leaf-these were guides enough, and following on through bush and swamp -and wood they led him to this mountain, and up the slope he scrambled -breathlessly. At the summit, statue-like, Chocorua stood. He saw the -avenger coming, and knew himself unarmed, but he made no attempt to -escape his doom. Drawing himself erect and stretching forth his hands he -invoked anathema on his enemies in these words: "A curse upon you, white -men! May the Great Spirit curse you when he speaks in the clouds, and his -words are fire! Chocorua had a son and you killed him while the sky -looked bright. Lightning blast your crops! Winds and fire destroy your -dwellings! The Evil One breathe death upon your cattle! Your graves lie -in the war-path of the Indian! Panthers howl and wolves fatten over your -bones! Chocorua goes to the Great Spirit. His curse stays with the white -man." - -The report of Campbell's rifle echoed from the ledges and Chocorua leaped -into the air, plunging to the rocks below. His mangled remains were -afterward found and buried near the Tamworth path. The curse had its -effect, for pestilence and storm devastated the surrounding country and -the smaller settlements were abandoned. Campbell became a morose hermit, -and was found dead in his bed two years afterward. - - - - -PASSACONAWAY'S RIDE TO HEAVEN - -The personality of Passaconaway, the powerful chief and prophet, is -involved in doubt, but there can be no misprision of his wisdom. By some -historians he has been made one with St. Aspenquid, the earliest of -native missionaries among the Indians, who, after his conversion by -French Jesuits, travelled from Maine to the Pacific, preaching to -sixty-six tribes, healing the sick and working miracles, returning to die -at the age of ninety-four. He was buried on the top of Agamenticus, -Maine, where his manes were pacified with offerings of three thousand -slain animals, and where his tombstone stood for a century after, bearing -the legend, "Present, useful; absent, wanted; living, desired; dying, -lamented." - -By others Passaconaway is regarded as a different person. The Child of -the Bear--to English his name--was the chief of the Merrimacs and a -convert of the apostle Eliot. Natives and colonists alike admired him for -his eloquence, his bravery, and his virtue. Before his conversion he was -a reputed wizard who sought by magic arts to repel the invasion of his -woods and mountains by the white men, invoking the spirits of nature -against them from the topmost peak of the Agiochooks, and his native -followers declared that in pursuance of this intent he made water burn, -rocks move, trees dance, and transformed himself into a mass of flame. - -Such was his power over the forces of the earth that he could burn a tree -in winter and from its ashes bring green leaves; he made dead wood -blossom and a farmer's flail to bud, while a snake's skin he could cause -to run. At the age of one hundred and twenty he retired from his tribe -and lived in a lonely wigwam among the Pennacooks. One winter night the -howling of wolves was heard, and a pack came dashing through the village -harnessed by threes to a sledge of hickory saplings that bore a tall -throne spread with furs. The wolves paused at Passaconaway's door. The -old chief came forth, climbed upon the sledge, and was borne away with a -triumphal apostrophe that sounded above the yelping and snarling of his -train. Across Winnepesaukee's frozen surface they sped like the wind, and -the belated hunter shrank aside as he saw the giant towering against the -northern lights and heard his death-song echo from the cliffs. Through -pathless woods, across ravines, the wolves sped on, with never slackened -speed, into the mazes of the Agiochooks to that highest peak we now call -Washington. Up its steep wilderness of snow the ride went furiously; the -summit was neared, the sledge burst into flame, still there was no pause; -the height was gained, the wolves went howling into darkness, but the -car, wrapped in sheaves of fire, shot like a meteor toward the sky and -was lost amid the stars of the winter night. So passed the Indian king to -heaven. - - - - -THE BALL GAME BY THE SACO - -Water-Goblins from the streams about Katahdin had left their birthplace -and journeyed away to the Agiochooks, making their presence known to the -Indians of that region by thefts and loss of life. When the manitou, -Glooskap, learned that these goblins were eating human flesh and -committing other outrages, he took on their own form, turning half his -body into stone, and went in search of them. The wigwam had been pitched -near the Home of the Water Fairies,--a name absurdly changed by the -people of North Conway to Diana's Bath,--and on entering he was invited -to take meat. The tail of a whale was cooked and offered to him, but -after he had taken it upon his knees one of the goblins exclaimed, "That -is too good for a beggar like you," and snatched it away. Glooskap had -merely to wish the return of the dainty when it flew back into his -platter. Then he took the whale's jaw, and snapped it like a reed; he -filled his pipe and burned the tobacco to ashes in one inhalation; when -his hosts closed the wigwam and smoked vigorously, intending to foul the -air and stupefy him, he enjoyed it, while they grew sick; so they -whispered to each other, "This is a mighty magician, and we must try his -powers in another way." - -A game of ball was proposed, and, adjourning to a sandy level at the bend -of the Saco, they began to play, but Glooskap found that the ball was a -hideous skull that rolled and snapped at him and would have torn his -flesh had it not been immortal and immovable from his bones. He crushed -it at a blow, and breaking off the bough of a tree he turned it by a word -into a skull ten times larger than the other that flew after the wicked -people as a wildcat leaps upon a rabbit. Then the god stamped on the -sands and all the springs were opened in the mountains, so that the Saco -came rising through the valley with a roar that made the nations tremble. -The goblins were caught in the flood and swept into the sea, where -Glooskap changed them into fish. - - - - -THE WHITE MOUNTAINS - -From times of old these noble hills have been the scenes of supernatural -visitations and mysterious occurrences. The tallest peak of the -Agiochooks--as they were, in Indian naming--was the seat of God himself, -and the encroachment there of the white man was little liked. Near -Fabyan's was once a mound, since levelled by pick and spade, that was -known as the Giant's Grave. Ethan Allen Crawford, a skilful hunter, -daring explorer, and man of herculean frame, lived, died, and is buried -here, and near the ancient hillock he built one of the first public -houses in the mountains. It was burned. Another, and yet another hostelry -was builded on the site, but they likewise were destroyed by fire. Then -the enterprise was abandoned, for it was remembered that an Indian once -mounted this grave, waved a torch from its top, and cried in a loud -voice, "No pale-face shall take root on this spot. This has the Great -Spirit whispered in my ear." - -Governor Wentworth, while on a lonely tour through his province, found -this cabin of Crawford's and passed a night there, tendering many -compliments to the austere graces of the lady of the house and drinking -himself into the favor of the husband, who proclaimed him the prince of -good fellows. On leaving, the guest exacted of Crawford a visit to -Wolfeborough, where he was to inquire for "Old Wentworth." This visit was -undertaken soon after, and the sturdy frontiersman was dismayed at -finding himself in the house of the royal governor; but his reception was -hearty enough to put him at his ease, and when he returned to the -mountains he carried in his pocket a deed of a thousand acres of forest -about his little farm. The family that he founded became wealthy and -increased, by many an acre, the measure of that royal grant. - -Not far below this spot, in the wildest part of the Notch, shut in by -walls of rock thousands of feet high, is the old Willey House, and this, -too, was the scene of a tragedy, for in 1826 a storm loosened the soil on -Mount Willey and an enormous landslide occurred. The people in the house -rushed forth on hearing the approach of the slide and met death almost at -their door. Had they remained within they would have been unharmed, for -the avalanche was divided by a wedge of rock behind the house, and the -little inn was saved. Seven people are known to have been killed, and it -was rumored that there was another victim in a young man whose name was -unknown and who was walking through the mountains to enjoy their beauty. -The messenger who bore the tidings of the destruction of the family was -barred from reaching North Conway by the flood in the Saco, so he stood -at the brink of the foaming river and rang a peal on a trumpet. This -blast echoing around the hills in the middle of the night roused several -men from their beds to know its meaning. The dog belonging to the inn is -said to have given first notice to people below the Notch that something -was wrong, but his moaning and barking were misunderstood, and after -running back and forth, as if to summon help, he disappeared. At the hour -of the accident James Willey, of Conway, had a dream in which he saw his -dead brother standing by him. He related the story of the catastrophe to -the sleeping man and said that when "the world's last knell" sounded they -were going for safety to the foot of the steep mountain, for the Saco had -risen twenty-four feet in seven hours and threatened to ingulf them in -front. - -Another spot of interest in the Notch is Nancy's Brook. It was at the -point where this stream comes foaming from Mount Nancy into the great -ravine that the girl whose name is given to it was found frozen to death -in a shroud of snow in the fall of 1788. She had set out alone from -Jefferson in search of a young farmer who was to have married her, and -walked thirty miles through trackless snow between sunset and dawn. Then -her strength gave out and she sank beside the road never to rise again. -Her recreant lover went mad with remorse when he learned the manner of -her death and did not long survive her, and men who have traversed the -savage passes of the Notch on chill nights in October have fancied that -they heard, above the clash of the stream and whispering of the woods, -long, shuddering groans mingled with despairing cries and gibbering -laughter. - -The birth of Peabody River came about from a cataclysm of less violent -nature than some of the avalanches that have so scarred the mountains. In -White's "History of New England," Mr. Peabody, for whom the stream is -named, is reported as having taken shelter in an Indian cabin on the -heights where the river has its source. During the night a loud roaring -waked the occupants of the hut and they sprang forth, barely in time to -save their lives; for, hardly had they gained the open ground before a -cavern burst open in the hill and a flood of water gushed out, sweeping -away the shelter and cutting a broad swath through the forest. - -Although the Pilot Mountains are supposed to have taken their name from -the fact that they served as landmarks to hunters who were seeking the -Connecticut River from the Lancaster district, an old story is still told -of one Willard, who was lost amid the defiles of this range, and nearly -perished with hunger. While lying exhausted on the mountainside his dog -would leave him every now and then and return after a couple of hours. -Though Willard was half dead, he determined to use his last strength in -following the animal, and as a result was led by a short cut to his own -camp, where provisions were plenty, and where the intelligent creature -had been going for food. The dog was christened Pilot, in honor of this -service, and the whole range is thought by many to be named in his honor. - -Waternomee Falls, on Hurricane Creek, at Warren, are bordered with rich -moss where fairies used to dance and sing in the moonlight. These sprites -were the reputed children of Indians that had been stolen from their -wigwams and given to eat of fairy bread, that dwarfed and changed them in -a moment. Barring their kidnapping practices the elves were an innocent -and joyous people, and they sought more distant hiding-places in the -wilderness when the stern churchmen and cruel rangers penetrated their -sylvan precincts. - -An old barrack story has it that Lieutenant Chamberlain, who fought under -Lovewell, was pursued along the base of Melvin Peak by Indians and was -almost in their grasp when he reached Ossipee Falls. It seemed as if -there were no alternative between death by the tomahawk and death by a -fall to the rocks below, for the chasm here is eighteen feet wide; but -without stopping to reckon chances he put his strength into a running -jump, and to the amazement of those in pursuit and perhaps to his own -surprise he cleared the gap and escaped into the woods. The foremost of -the Indians attempted the leap, but plunged to his death in the ravine. - -The Eagle Range was said to be the abode, two hundred years ago, of a man -of strange and venerable appearance, whom the Indians regarded with -superstitious awe and never tried to molest. He slept in a cave on the -south slope and ranged the forest in search of game, muttering and -gesturing to himself. He is thought to be identified with Thomas Crager, -whose wife had been hanged in Salem as a witch, and whose only child had -been stolen by Indians. After a long, vain search for the little one he -gave way to a bitter moroseness, and avoided the habitations of civilized -man and savages alike. It is a satisfaction to know that before he died -he found his daughter, though she was the squaw of an Indian hunter and -was living with his tribe on the shore of the St. Lawrence. - - - - -THE VISION ON MOUNT ADAMS - -There are many traditions connected with Mount Adams that have faded out -of memory. Old people remember that in their childhood there was talk of -the discovery of a magic stone; of an Indian's skeleton that appeared in -a speaking storm; of a fortune-teller that set off on a midnight quest, -far up among the crags and eyries. In October, 1765, a detachment of nine -of Rogers's Rangers began the return from a Canadian foray, bearing with -them plate, candlesticks, and a silver statue that they had rifled from -the Church of St. Francis. An Indian who had undertaken to guide the -party through the Notch proved faithless, and led them among labyrinthine -gorges to the head of Israel's River, where he disappeared, after -poisoning one of the troopers with a rattlesnake's fang. Losing all -reckoning, the Rangers tramped hither and thither among the snowy hills -and sank down, one by one, to die in the wilderness, a sole survivor -reaching a settlement after many days, with his knapsack filled with -human flesh. - -In 1816 the candlesticks were recovered near Lake Memphremagog, but the -statue has never been laid hold upon. The spirits of the famished men -were wont, for many winters, to cry in the woods, and once a hunter, -camped on the side of Mount Adams, was awakened at midnight by the notes -of an organ. The mists were rolling off, and he found that he had gone to -sleep near a mighty church of stone that shone in soft light. The doors -were flung back, showing a tribe of Indians kneeling within. Candles -sparkled on the altar, shooting their rays through clouds of incense, and -the rocks shook with thunder-gusts of music. Suddenly church, lights, -worshippers vanished, and from the mists came forth a line of uncouth -forms, marching in silence. As they started to descend the mountain a -silver image, floating in the air, spread a pair of gleaming pinions and -took flight, disappearing in the chaos of battlemented rocks above. - - - - -THE GREAT CARBUNCLE - -High on the eastern face of Mount Monroe shone the Great Carbuncle, its -flash scintillating for miles by day, its dusky crimson glowing among the -ledges at night. The red men said that it hung in the air, and that the -soul of an Indian--killed, that he might guard the spot--made approach -perilous to men of all complexions and purposes. As late as Ethan -Crawford's time one search band took a "good man" to lay the watcher, -when they strove to scale the height, but they returned "sorely bruised, -treasureless, and not even saw that wonderful sight." The value of the -stone tempted many, but those who sought it had to toil through a dense -forest, and on arriving at the mountain found its glories eclipsed by -intervening abutments, nor could they get near it. Rocks covered with -crystals, at first thought to be diamonds, were readily despoiled of -their treasure, but the Great Carbuncle burned on, two thousand feet -above them, at the head of the awful chasm of Oakes Gulf, and baffled -seekers likened it to the glare of an evil eye. - -There was one who had grown old in searching for this gem, often -scrambling over the range in wind and snow and cloud, and at last he -reached a precipitous spot he had never attained before. Great was his -joy, for the Carbuncle was within his reach, blazing into his eyes in the -noon sunlight as if it held, crystallized in its depths, the brightness -of all the wine that had ever gladdened the tired hearts of men. There -were rivals in the search, and on reaching the plateau they looked up and -saw him kneeling on a narrow ledge with arms extended as in rapture. They -called to him. He answered not. He was dead--dead of joy and triumph. -While they looked a portion of the crag above him fell away and rolled -from rock to rock, marking its course with flashes of bloody fire, until -it reached the Lake of the Clouds, and the waters of that tarn drowned -its glory. Yet those waters are not always black, and sometimes the -hooked crest of Mount Monroe is outlined against the night sky in a ruddy -glow. - - - - -SKINNER'S CAVE - -The abhorrence to paying taxes and duties--or any other levy from which -an immediate and personal good is not promised--is too deeply rooted in -human nature to be affected by statutes, and whenever it is possible to -buy commodities that have escaped the observation of the revenue officers -many are tempted to do so for the mere pleasure of defying the law. In -the early part of this century the northern farmers and their wives were, -in a way, providing themselves with laces, silver-ware, brandy, and other -protected and dreadful articles, on which it was evident that somebody -had forgotten to pay duty. The customs authorities on the American side -of the border were long puzzled by the irruption of these forbidden -things, but suspicion ultimately fell on a fellow of gigantic size, named -Skinner. - -It was believed that this outlaw carried on the crime of free trade after -sunset, hiding his merchandise by day on the islands of Lake -Memphremagog. This delightful sheet of water lies half in Canada and half -in Vermont--agreeably to the purpose of such as he. Province Island is -still believed to contain buried treasure, but the rock that contains -Skinner's Cave was the smuggler's usual haunt, and when pursued he rowed -to this spot and effected a disappearance, because he entered the cave on -the northwest side, where it was masked by shrubbery. One night the -officers landed on this island after he had gone into hiding, and after -diligent search discovered his boat drawn up in a covert. They pushed it -into the lake, where the winds sent it adrift, and, his communication -with the shore thus cut off, the outlaw perished miserably of hunger. His -skeleton was found in the cavern some years later. - - - - -YET THEY CALL IT LOVER'S LEAP - -In the lower part of the township of Cavendish, Vermont, the Black River -seeks a lower level through a gorge in the foot-hills of the Green -Mountains. The scenery here is romantic and impressive, for the river -makes its way along the ravine in a series of falls and rapids that are -overhung by trees and ledges, while the geologist finds something worth -looking at in the caves and pot-holes that indicate an older level of the -river. At a turn in the ravine rises the sheer precipice of Lover's Leap. -It is a vertical descent of about eighty feet, the water swirling at its -foot in a black and angry maelstrom. It is a spot whence lovers might -easily step into eternity, were they so disposed, and the name fits -delightfully into the wild and somber scene; but ask any good villager -thereabout to relate the legend of the place and he will tell you this: - -About forty years ago a couple of young farmers went to the Leap--which -then had no name--to pry out some blocks of the schistose rock for a -foundation wall. They found a good exposure of the rock beneath the turf -and began to quarry it. In the earnestness of the work one of the men -forgot that he was standing on the verge of a precipice, and through a -slip of his crowbar he lost his balance and went reeling into the gulf. -His horrified companion crept to the edge, expecting to see his mangled -corpse tossing in the whirlpool, but, to his amazement, the unfortunate -was crawling up the face of a huge table of stone that had fallen from -the opposite wall and lay canted against it. - -"Hello!" shouted the man overhead. "Are you hurt much?" - -The victim of the accident slowly got upon his feet, felt cautiously of -his legs and ribs, and began to search through his pockets, his face -betraying an anxiety that grew deeper and deeper as the search went on. -In due time the answer came back, deliberate, sad, and nasal, but -distinct above the roar of the torrent: "Waal, I ain't hurt much, but -I'll be durned if I haven't lost my jack-knife!" - -And he was pulled out of the gorge without it. - - - - -SALEM AND OTHER WITCHCRAFT - -The extraordinary delusion recorded as Salem witchcraft was but a -reflection of a kindred insanity in the Old World that was not extirpated -until its victims had been counted by thousands. That human beings should -be accused of leaguing themselves with Satan to plague their fellows and -overthrow the powers of righteousness is remarkable, but that they should -admit their guilt is incomprehensible, albeit the history of every -popular delusion shows that weak minds are so affected as to lose control -of themselves and that a whimsey can be as epidemic as small-pox. - -Such was the case in 1692 when the witchcraft madness, which might have -been stayed by a seasonable spanking, broke out in Danvers, -Massachusetts, the first victim being a wild Irishwoman, named Glover, -and speedily involved the neighboring community of Salem. The mischiefs -done by witches were usually trifling, and it never occurred to their -prosecutors that there was an inconsistency between their pretended -powers and their feeble deeds, or that it was strange that those who -might live in regal luxury should be so wretchedly poor. Aches and pains, -blight of crops, disease of cattle, were charged to them; children -complained of being pricked with thorns and pins (the pins are still -preserved in Salem), and if hysterical girls spoke the name of any feeble -old woman, while in flighty talk, they virtually sentenced her to die. -The word of a child of eleven years sufficed to hang, burn, or drown a -witch. - -Giles Corey, a blameless man of eighty, was condemned to the mediaeval -_peine forte et dure_, his body being crushed beneath a load of rocks and -timbers. He refused to plead in court, and when the beams were laid upon -him he only cried, "More weight!" The shade of the unhappy victim haunted -the scene of his execution for years, and always came to warn the people -of calamities. A child of five and a dog were also hanged after formal -condemnation. Gallows Hill, near Salem, witnessed many sad tragedies, and -the old elm that stood on Boston Common until 1876 was said to have -served as a gallows for witches and Quakers. The accuser of one day was -the prisoner of the next, and not even the clergy were safe. - -A few escapes were made, like that of a blue-eyed maid of Wenham, whose -lover aided her to break the wooden jail and carried her safely beyond -the Merrimac, finding a home for her among the Quakers; and that of Miss -Wheeler, of Salem, who had fallen under suspicion, and whose brothers -hurried her into a boat, rowed around Cape Ann, and safely bestowed her -in "the witch house" at Pigeon Cove. Many, however, fled to other towns -rather than run the risk of accusation, which commonly meant death. - -When the wife of Philip English was arrested he, too, asked to share her -fate, and both were, through friendly intercession, removed to Boston, -where they were allowed to have their liberty by day on condition that -they would go to jail every night. Just before they were to be taken back -to Salem for trial they went to church and heard the Rev. Joshua Moody -preach from the text, "If they persecute you in one city, flee unto -another." The good clergyman not only preached goodness, but practised -it, and that night the door of their prison was opened. Furnished with an -introduction from Governor Phipps to Governor Fletcher, of New York, they -made their way to that settlement, and remained there in safe and -courteous keeping until the people of Salem had regained their senses, -when they returned. Mrs. English died, soon after, from the effects of -cruelty and anxiety, and although Mr. Moody was generally commended for -his substitution of sense and justice for law, there were bigots who -persecuted him so constantly that he removed to Plymouth. - -According to the belief of the time a witch or wizard compacted with -Satan for the gift of supernatural power, and in return was to give up -his soul to the evil one after his life was over. The deed was signed in -blood of the witch and horrible ceremonies confirmed the compact. Satan -then gave his ally a familiar in the form of a dog, ape, cat, or other -animal, usually small and black, and sometimes an undisguised imp. To -suckle these "familiars" with the blood of a witch was forbidden in -English law, which ranked it as a felony; but they were thus nourished in -secret, and by their aid the witch might raise storms, blight crops, -abort births, lame cattle, topple over houses, and cause pains, -convulsions, and illness. If she desired to hurt a person she made a clay -or waxen image in his likeness, and the harms and indignities wreaked on -the puppet would be suffered by the one bewitched, a knife or needle -thrust in the waxen body being felt acutely by the living one, no matter -how far distant he might be. By placing this image in running water, hot -sunshine, or near a fire, the living flesh would waste as this melted or -dissolved, and the person thus wrought upon would die. This belief is -still current among negroes affected by the voodoo superstitions of the -South. The witch, too, had the power of riding winds, usually with a -broomstick for a conveyance, after she had smeared the broom or herself -with magic ointment, and the flocking of the unhallowed to their sabbaths -in snaky bogs or on lonely mountain tops has been described minutely by -those who claim to have seen the sight. Sometimes they cackled and -gibbered through the night before the houses of the clergy, and it was -only at Christmas that their power failed them. The meetings were devoted -to wild and obscene orgies, and the intercourse of fiends and witches -begot a progeny of toads and snakes. - -Naturally the Indians were accused, for they recognized the existence of -both good and evil spirits, their medicine-men cured by incantations in -the belief that devils were thus driven out of their patients, and in the -early history of the country the red man was credited by white settlers -with powers hardly inferior to those of the oriental and European -magicians of the middle ages. Cotton Mather detected a relation between -Satan and the Indians, and he declares that certain of the Algonquins -were trained from boyhood as powahs, powwows, or wizards, acquiring -powers of second sight and communion with gods and spirits through -abstinence from food and sleep and the observance of rites. Their severe -discipline made them victims of nervous excitement and the -responsibilities of conjuration had on their minds an effect similar to -that produced by gases from the rift in Delphos on the Apollonian -oracles, their manifestations of insanity or frenzy passing for deific or -infernal possession. When John Gibb, a Scotchman, who had gone mad -through religious excitement, was shipped to this country by his tired -fellow-countrymen, the Indians hailed him as a more powerful wizard than -any of their number, and he died in 1720, admired and feared by them -because of the familiarity with spirits out of Hobbomocko (hell) that his -ravings and antics were supposed to indicate. Two Indian servants of the -Reverend Mr. Purvis, of Salem, having tried by a spell to discover a -witch, were executed as witches themselves. The savages, who took Salem -witchcraft at its worth, were astonished at its deadly effect, and the -English may have lost some influence over the natives in consequence of -this madness. "The Great Spirit sends no witches to the French," they -said. Barrow Hill, near Amesbury, was said to be the meeting-place for -Indian powwows and witches, and at late hours of the night the light of -fires gleamed from its top, while shadowy forms glanced athwart it. Old -men say that the lights are still there in winter, though modern doubters -declare that they were the aurora borealis. - -But the belief in witches did not die even when the Salem people came to -their senses. In the Merrimac valley the devil found converts for many -years after: Goody Mose, of Rocks village, who tumbled down-stairs when a -big beetle was killed at an evening party, some miles away, after it had -been bumping into the faces of the company; Goody Whitcher, of Ameshury, -whose loom kept banging day and night after she was dead; Goody Sloper, -of West Newbury, who went home lame directly that a man had struck his -axe into the beam of a house that she had bewitched, but who recovered -her strength and established an improved reputation when, in 1794, she -swam out to a capsized boat and rescued two of the people who were in -peril; Goodman Nichols, of Rocks village, who "spelled" a neighbor's son, -compelling him to run up one end of the house, along the ridge, and down -the other end, "troubling the family extremely by his strange -proceedings;" Susie Martin, also of Rocks, who was hanged in spite of her -devotions in jail, though the rope danced so that it could not be tied, -but a crow overhead called for a withe and the law was executed with -that; and Goody Morse, of Market and High Streets, Newburyport, whose -baskets and pots danced through her house continually and who was seen -"flying about the sun as if she had been cut in twain, or as if the devil -did hide the lower part of her." The hill below Easton, Pennsylvania, -called Hexenkopf (Witch's head), was described by German settlers as a -place of nightly gathering for weird women, who whirled about its top in -"linked dances" and sang in deep tones mingled with awful laughter. After -one of these women, in Williams township, had been punished for -enchanting a twenty-dollar horse, their sabbaths were held more quietly. -Mom Rinkle, whose "rock" is pointed out beside the Wissahickon, in -Philadelphia, "drank dew from acorn-cups and had the evil eye." Juan -Perea, of San Mateo, New Mexico, would fly with his chums to meetings in -the mountains in the shape of a fire-ball. During these sallies he left -his own eyes at home and wore those of some brute animal. It was because -his dog ate his eyes when he had carelessly put them on a table that he -had always afterward to wear those of a cat. Within the present century -an old woman who lived in a hut on the Palisades of the Hudson was held -to be responsible for local storms and accidents. As late as 1889 two -Zuni Indians were hanged on the wall of an old Spanish church near their -pueblo in Arizona on a charge of having blown away the rainclouds in a -time of drouth. It was held that there was something uncanny in the event -that gave the name of Gallows Hill to an eminence near Falls Village, -Connecticut, for a strange black man was found hanging, dead, to a tree -near its top one morning. - -Moll Pitcher, a successful sorcerer and fortune-teller of old Lynn, has -figured in obsolete poems, plays, and romances. She lived in a cottage at -the foot of High Rock, where she was consulted, not merely by people of -respectability, but by those who had knavish schemes to prosecute and who -wanted to learn in advance the outcome of their designs. Many a ship was -deserted at the hour of sailing because she boded evil of the voyage. She -was of medium height, big-headed, tangle-haired, long-nosed, and had a -searching black eye. The sticks that she carried were cut from a hazel -that hung athwart a brook where an unwedded mother had drowned her child. -A girl who went to her for news of her lover lost her reason when the -witch, moved by a malignant impulse, described his death in a fiercely -dramatic manner. One day the missing ship came bowling into port, and the -shock of joy that the girl experienced when the sailor clasped her in his -arms restored her erring senses. When Moll Pitcher died she was attended -by the little daughter of the woman she had so afflicted. - -John, or Edward, Dimond, grandfather of Moll Pitcher, was a benevolent -wizard. When vessels were trying to enter the port of Marblehead in a -heavy gale or at night, their crews were startled to hear a trumpet voice -pealing from the skies, plainly audible above the howling and hissing of -any tempest, telling them how to lay their course so as to reach smooth -water. This was the voice of Dimond, speaking from his station, miles -away in the village cemetery. He always repaired to this place in -troublous weather and shouted orders to the ships that were made visible -to him by mystic power as he strode to and fro among the graves. When -thieves came to him for advice he charmed them and made them take back -their plunder or caused them to tramp helplessly about the streets -bearing heavy burdens. - -"Old Mammy Redd, of Marblehead, Sweet milk could turn to mould in churn." - -Being a witch, and a notorious one, she could likewise curdle the milk as -it came from the cow, and afterward transform it into blue wool. She had -the evil eye, and, if she willed, her glance or touch could blight like -palsy. It only needed that she should wish a bloody cleaver to be found -in a cradle to cause the little occupant to die, while the whole town -ascribed to her the annoyances of daily housework and business. Her -unpleasant celebrity led to her death at the hands of her fellow-citizens -who had been "worrited" by no end of queer happenings: ships had appeared -just before they were wrecked and had vanished while people looked at -them; men were seen walking on the water after they had been comfortably -buried; the wind was heard to name the sailors doomed never to return; -footsteps and voices were heard in the streets before the great were to -die; one man was chased by a corpse in its coffin; another was pursued by -the devil in a carriage drawn by four white horses; a young woman who had -just received a present of some fine fish from her lover was amazed to -see him melt into the air, and was heart-broken when she learned next -morning that he had died at sea. So far away as Amesbury the devil's -power was shown by the appearance of a man who walked the roads carrying -his head under his arm, and by the freak of a windmill that the miller -always used to shut up at sundown but that started by itself at midnight. -Evidently it was high time to be rid of Mammy Redd. - -Margaret Wesson, "old Meg," lived in Gloucester until she came to her -death by a shot fired at the siege of Louisburg, five hundred miles away, -in 1745. Two soldiers of Gloucester, while before the walls of the French -town, were annoyed by a crow, that flew over and around them, cawing -harshly and disregarding stones and shot, until it occurred to them that -the bird could be no other than old Meg in another form, and, as silver -bullets are an esteemed antidote for the evils of witchcraft, they cut -two silver buttons from their uniforms and fired them at the crow. At the -first shot its leg was broken; at the second, it fell dead. On returning -to Gloucester they learned that old Meg had fallen and broken her leg at -the moment when the crow was fired on, and that she died quickly after. -An examination of her body was made, and the identical buttons were -extracted from her flesh that had been shot into the crow at Louisburg. - -As a citizen of New Haven was riding home--this was at the time of the -goings on at Salem--he saw shapes of women near his horse's head, -whispering earnestly together and keeping time with the trot of his -animal without effort of their own. "In the name of God, tell me who you -are," cried the traveller, and at the name of God they vanished. Next day -the man's orchard was shaken by viewless hands and the fruit thrown down. -Hogs ran about the neighborhood on their hind legs; children cried that -somebody was sticking pins into them; one man would roll across the floor -as if pushed, and he had to be watched lest he should go into the fire; -when housewives made their bread they found it as full of hair as food in -a city boarding-house; when they made soft soap it ran from the kettle -and over the floor like lava; stones fell down chimneys and smashed -crockery. One of the farmers cut off an ear from a pig that was walking -on its hind legs, and an eccentric old body of the neighborhood appeared -presently with one of her ears in a muffle, thus satisfying that -community that she had caused the troubles. When a woman was making -potash it began to leap about, and a rifle was fired into the pot, -causing a sudden calm. In the morning the witch was found dead on her -floor. Yet killing only made her worse, for she moved to a deserted house -near her own, and there kept a mad revel every night; fiddles were heard, -lights flashed, stones were thrown, and yells gave people at a distance a -series of cold shivers; but the populace tried the effect of tearing down -the house, and quiet was brought to the town. - -In the early days of this century a skinny old woman known as Aunt -Woodward lived by herself in a log cabin at Minot Corner, Maine, enjoying -the awe of the people in that secluded burg. They moved around but little -at night, on her account, and one poor girl was in mortal fear lest by -mysterious arts she should be changed, between two days, into a white -horse. One citizen kept her away from his house by nailing a horseshoe to -his door, while another took the force out of her spells by keeping a -branch of "round wood" at his threshold. At night she haunted a big, -square house where the ghost of a murdered infant was often heard to cry, -and by day she laid charms on her neighbors' provisions and utensils, and -turned their cream to buttermilk. "Uncle" Blaisdell hurried into the -settlement to tell the farmers that Aunt Woodward had climbed into his -sled in the middle of the road, and that his four yoke of oxen could not -stir it an inch, but that after she had leaped down one yoke of cattle -drew the load of wood without an effort. Yet she died in her bed. - - - - -THE GLOUCESTER LEAGUERS - -Strange things had been reported in Gloucester. On the eve of King -Philip's War the march of men was heard in its streets and an Indian bow -and scalp were seen on the face of the moon, while the boom of cannon and -roll of drums were heard at Malden and the windows of Plymouth rattled to -the passage of unseen horsemen. But the strangest thing was the arrival -on Cape Ann of a force of French and Indians that never could be caught, -killed, or crippled, though two regiments were hurried into Gloucester -and battled with them for a fortnight. Thus, the rumor went around that -these were not an enemy of flesh and blood, but devils who hoped to work -a moral perversion of the colony. From 1692, when they appeared, until -Salem witchcraft was at an end, Cape Ann was under military and spiritual -guard against "the spectre leaguers." - -Another version of the episode, based on sworn evidence, has it that -Ebenezer Babson, returning late on a summer night, saw two men run from -his door and vanish in a field. His family denied that visitors had -called, so he gave chase, for he believed the men to have a mischievous -intention. As he left the threshold they sprang from behind a log, one -saying to the other, "The master of the house is now come, else we might -have taken the house," and again they disappeared in a swamp. Babson woke -the guard, and on entering the quarters of the garrison the sound of many -feet was heard without, but when the doors were flung open only the two -men were visible and they were retreating. Next evening the yeoman was -chased by these elusive gentry, who were believed to be scouts of the -enemy, for they wore white breeches and waistcoats and carried bright -guns. - -For several nights they appeared, and on the 4th of July half a dozen of -them were seen so plainly that the soldiers made a sally, Babson bringing -three of "ye unaccountable troublers" to the ground with a single shot, -and getting a response in kind, for a bullet hissed by his ear and buried -itself in a tree. When the company approached the place where lay the -victims of that remarkable shot, behold, they arose and scampered away as -blithely as if naught had happened to them. One of the trio was cornered -and shot anew, but when they would pick him up he melted into air. There -was fierce jabbering in an unknown tongue, through all the swamp, and by -the time the garrison had returned the fellows were skulking in the -shrubbery again. Richard Dolliver afterward came on eleven of them -engaged in incantations and scattered them with a gunshot, but they would -not down. They lurked about the cape until terror fell on all the people, -remaining for "the best part of a month together," so it was deemed that -"Satan had set ambushments against the good people of Gloucester, with -demons in the shape of armed Indians and Frenchmen." - -Stones were thrown, barns were beaten with clubs, the marching of unseen -hosts was heard after dark, the mockers grew so bold that they ventured -close to the redoubtable Babson, gazed scornfully down the barrel of his -gun, and laid a charm on the weapon, so that, no matter how often he -snapped it at them, it flashed in the pan. Neighboring garrisons were -summoned, but all battling with goblins was fruitless. One night a dark -and hostile throng emerged from the wood and moved toward the blockhouse, -where twenty musketeers were keeping guard. "If you be ghosts or devils I -will foil you," cried the captain, and tearing a silver button from his -doublet he rammed it into his gun and fired on the advancing host. Even -as the smoke of his musket was blown on the wind, so did the beleaguering -army vanish, the silver bullet proving that they were not of human kind. -The night was wearing on when a cry went out that the devils were coming -again. Arms were laid aside this time, and the watchers sank to their -knees in prayer. Directly that the name of God was uttered the marching -ceased and heaven rang with the howls of the angry fiends. Never again -were leaguers seen in Gloucester. - - - - -SATAN AND HIS BURIAL-PLACE - -Satan appears to have troubled the early settlers in America almost as -grievously as he did the German students. He came in many shapes to many -people, and sometimes he met his match. Did he not try to stop old Peter -Stuyvesant from rowing through Hell Gate one moonlight night, and did not -that tough old soldier put something at his shoulder that Satan thought -must be his wooden leg? But it wasn't a leg: it was a gun, loaded with a -silver bullet that had been charged home with prayer. Peter fired and the -missile whistled off to Ward's Island, where three boys found it -afterward and swapped it for double handfuls of doughnuts and bulls' -eyes. Incidentally it passed between the devil's ribs and the fiend -exploded with a yell and a smell, the latter of sulphur, to Peter's -blended satisfaction and alarm. And did not the same spirit of evil -plague the old women of Massachusetts Bay and craze the French and -Spaniards in the South? At Hog Rock, west of Milford, Connecticut, he -broke up a pleasant diversion: - - "Once four young men upon ye rock - Sate down at chuffle board to play - When ye Deuill appearde in shape of a hogg - And frightend ym so they scampered away - And left Old Nick to finish ye play." - -One of the first buildings to be put up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was a -church built on a ledge above the river, and in that church Satan tried -to conceal himself for purposes of mischief. For this act he was hurled -from the steeple-top by some unseen instrument of righteousness with such -force that his hoofmark was stamped into a solid stone near by. This did -not deter him from mounting to the ridge-pole and assuming a defiant air, -with folded arms, when Whitefield began to preach, but when that -clergyman's tremendous voice was loosed below him he bounced into the air -in terror and disappeared. - -The Shakers report that in the waning of the eighteenth century they -chased the evil one through the coverts of Mount Sinai, Massachusetts, -and just before dawn of a summer morning they caught and killed and -buried him. Shakers are spiritualists, and they believe their numbers to -have been augmented by distinguished dead, among whom they already number -Washington, Lafayette, Napoleon, Tamerlane, and Pocahontas. The two first -named of these posthumous communists are still seen by members of the -faith who pass Satan's grave at night, for they sit astride of white -horses and watch the burial spot, lest the enemy of man arise and begin -anew his career of trouble. Some members of the brotherhood say that this -legend typifies a burial of evil tendencies in the hearts of those who -hunted the fiend, but it has passed down among others as a circumstance. -The Shakers have many mystic records, transmitted verbally to the present -disciples of "Mother Ann," but seldom told to scoffers "in the world," as -those are called who live without their pure and peaceful communes. Among -these records is that of the appearance of John the Baptist in the -meeting-house at Mount Lebanon, New York, one Sunday, clothed in light -and leading the sacred dance of the worshippers, by which they signify -the shaking out of all carnal things from the heart. - - - - -PETER RUGG, THE MISSING MAN - -The idea of long wandering as a penalty, symbolized in "The Wandering -Jew," "The Flying Dutchman," and the character of Kundry, in "Parsifal," -has application in the legend of Peter Rugg. This strange man, who lived -in Middle Street, Boston, with his wife and daughter, was esteemed, as a -person of probity and good manners except in his swearing fits, for he -was subject to outbursts of passion, when he would kick his way through -doors instead of opening them, bite tenpenny nails in two, and curse his -wig off In the autumn of 1770 he visited Concord, with his little girl, -and on the way home was overtaken by a violent storm. He took shelter -with a friend at Menotomy, who urged him to stay all night, for the rain -was falling heavier every moment; but Rugg would not be stayed, and -seeing that there was no hope of a dry journey back to town he roared a -fearful oath and cried, "Let the storm increase. I will see home to-night -in spite of it, or may I never see home!" With that he tossed the child -into the open chaise, leaped in after her, lashed his horse, and was off. - -Several nights afterward, while Rugg's neighbors were out with lanterns -trying to discover the cause of a heavy jarring that had begun to disturb -them in bad weather, the excitable gentleman, who had not been seen since -his Concord visit, came whirling along the pavement in his carriage, his -daughter beside him, his black horse plunging on in spite of his efforts -to stop him. The lanterns that for a moment twinkled in Peter's face -showed him as a wet and weary man, with eyes turned up longingly at the -windows where his wife awaited him; then he was gone, and the ground -trembled as with an earthquake, while the rain fell more heavily. - -Mrs. Rugg died within a twelvemonth, and Peter never reached home, but -from all parts of New England came stories of a man and child driving -rapidly along the highways, never stopping except to inquire the way to -Boston. Half of the time the man would be headed in a direction opposite -to the one he seemed to want to follow, and when set right would cry that -he was being deceived, and was sometimes heard to mutter, "No home -to-night." In Hartford, Providence, Newburyport, and among the New -Hampshire hills the anxious face of the man became known, and he was -referred to as "the stormbreeder," for so surely as he passed there would -be rain, wind, lightning, thunder, and darkness within the hour. - -Some years ago a man in a Connecticut town stopped this hurrying -traveller, who said, in reply to a question, "I have lost the road to -Boston. My name is Peter Rugg." Then Rugg's disappearance half a century -before was cited by those who had long memories, and people began to look -askant at Peter and gave him generous road room when they met him. The -toll-taker on Charlestown bridge declared that he had been annoyed and -alarmed by a prodigious tramping of hoofs and rattling of wheels that -seemed to pass toward Boston before his very face, yet he could see -nothing. He took courage one night to plant himself in the middle of the -bridge with a three-legged stool, and when the sound approached he dimly -saw a large black horse driven by a weary looking man with a child beside -him. The stool was flung at the horse's head, but passed through the -animal as through smoke and skipped across the floor of the bridge. Thus -much the toll-collector said, but when asked if Rugg had appeared again -he made no reply. - - - - -THE LOSS OF WEETAMOO - -Winnepurkit, sagamore of the coast settlements between Nahant and Cape -Ann, had married Weetamoo, daughter of Passaconaway, king of the -Pennacooks, and had taken her to his home. Their honeymoon was happy, but -old ties are strong, and after a little time the bride felt a longing to -see her people again. When she made known this wish the husband not only -consented to her visit, but gave her a guard of his most trusty hunters -who saw her safe in her father's lodge (near the site of Concord, New -Hampshire), and returned directly. Presently came a messenger from -Passaconaway, informing his son-in-law that Weetamoo had finished her -visit and wished again to be with her husband, to whom he looked for an -escort to guide her through the wilderness. Winnepurkit felt that his -dignity as a chief was slighted by this last request, and he replied that -as he had supplied her with a guard for the outward journey it was her -father's place to send her back, "for it stood not with Winnepurkit's -reputation either to make himself or his men so servile as to fetch her -again." - -Passaconaway returned a sharp answer that irritated Winnepurkit still -more, and he was told by the young sagamore that he might send his -daughter or keep her, for she would never be sent for. In this unhappy -strife for precedent, which has been repeated on later occasions by -princes and society persons, the young wife seemed to be fated as an -unwilling sacrifice; but summoning spirit to leave her father's wigwam -she launched a canoe on the Merrimack, hoping to make her way along that -watery highway to her husband's domain. It was winter, and the stream was -full of floating ice; at the best of times it was not easy to keep a -frail vessel of bark in the current away from the rapids, and a wandering -hunter reported that a canoe had come down the river guided by a woman, -that it had swung against the Amoskeag rocks, where Manchester stands -now, and a few moments later was in a quieter reach of water, broken and -empty. No more was seen of Weetamoo. - - - - -THE FATAL FORGET-ME-NOT - -Three miles out from the Nahant shore, Massachusetts, rises Egg Rock, a -dome of granite topped by a light-house. In the last century the -forget-me-nots that grew in a little marsh at its summit were much -esteemed, for it was reported that if a girl should receive one of these -little flowers from her lover the two would be faithful to each other -through all their married life. It was before a temporary separation that -a certain young couple strolled together on the Nahant cliffs. The man -was to sail for Italy next day, to urge parental consent to their union. -As he looked dreamily into the sea the legend of the forget-me-not came -into his mind, and in a playful tone he offered to gather a bunch as a -memento. Unthinkingly the girl consented. He ran down the cliff to his -boat, pushed out, and headed toward the rock, but a fisherman shouted -that a gale was rising and the tide was coming in; indeed, the horizon -was whitening and the rote was growing plain. - -Alice had heard the cry of warning and would have called him back, but -she was forsaken by the power of speech, and watched, with pale face and -straining eyes, the boat beating smartly across the surges. It was seen -to reach Egg Rock, and after a lapse came dancing toward the shore again; -but the tide, was now swirling in rapidly, the waves were running high, -and the wind freshened as the sun sank. At times the boat was out of -sight in the hollowed water, and as it neared Nahant it became -unmanageable. Apparently it had filled with water and the tiller-rope had -broken. Nothing could be done by the spectators who had gathered on the -rocks, except to shout directions that were futile, even if they could be -heard. At last the boat was lifted by a breaker and hurled against a mass -of granite at the very feet of the man's mistress. When the body was -recovered next day, a bunch of forget-me-not was clasped in the rigid -hand. - - - - -THE OLD MILL AT SOMERVILLE - -The "old powder-house," as the round stone tower is called that stands on -a gravel ridge in Somerville, Massachusetts, is so named because at the -outbreak of the Revolutionary War it was used temporarily as a magazine; -but long before that it was a wind-mill. Here in the old days two lovers -held their tryst: a sturdy and honest young farmer of the neighborhood -and the daughter of a man whose wealth puffed him with purse-pride. It -was the plebeian state of the farmer that made him look at him with an -unfavorable countenance, and when it was whispered to him that the young -people were meeting each other almost every evening at the mill, he -resolved to surprise them there and humiliate, if he did not punish them. -From the shadow of the door they saw his approach, and, yielding to the -girl's imploring, the lover secreted himself while she climbed to the -loft. The flutter of her dress caught the old man's eye and he hastened, -panting, into the mill. For some moments he groped about, for his eyes -had not grown used to the darkness of the place, and hearing his muttered -oaths, the girl crept backward from the stair. - -She was beginning to hope that she had not been seen, when her foot -caught in a loose board and she stumbled, but in her fall she threw out -her hand to save herself and found a rope within her grasp. Directly that -her weight had been applied to it there was a whir and a clank. The cord -had set the great fans in motion. At the same moment a fall was heard, -then a cry, passing from anger into anguish. She rushed down the stair, -the lover appeared from his hiding-place at the same moment, and together -they dragged the old man to his feet. At the moment when the wind had -started the sails he had been standing on one of the mill-stones and the -sudden jerk had thrown him down. His arm caught between the grinding -surfaces and had been crushed to pulp. He was carried home and tenderly -nursed, but he did not live long; yet before he died he was made to see -the folly of his course, and he consented to the marriage that it had -cost him so dear to try to prevent. Before she could summon heart to fix -the wedding-day the girl passed many months of grief and repentance, and -for the rest of her life she avoided the old mill. There was good reason -for doing so, people said, for on windy nights the spirit of the old man -used to haunt the place, using such profanity that it became visible in -the form of blue lights, dancing and exploding about the building. - - - - -EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT - -Nothing is left of Province House, the old home of the royal governors, -in Boston, but the gilded Indian that served as its weathercock and aimed -his arrow at the winds from the cupola. The house itself was swept away -long ago in the so-called march of improvement. In one of its rooms hung -a picture so dark that when Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson went to live -there hardly anybody could say what it represented. There were hints that -it was a portrait of the devil, painted at a witch-meeting near Salem, -and that on the eve of disasters in the province a dreadful face had -glared from the canvas. Shirley had seen it on the night of the fall of -Ticonderoga, and servants had gone shuddering from the room, certain that -they had caught the glance of a malignant eye. - -It was known to the governors, however, that the portrait, if not that of -the arch fiend, was that of one who in the popular mind was none the less -a devil: Edward Randolph, the traitor, who had repealed the first -provincial charter and deprived the colonists of their liberties. Under -the curse of the people he grew pale and pinched and ugly, his face at -last becoming so hateful that men were unwilling to look at it. Then it -was that he sat for his portrait. Threescore or odd years afterward, -Hutchinson sat in the hall wondering vaguely if coming events would -consign him to the obloquy that had fallen on his predecessor, for at his -bidding a fleet had come into the harbor with three regiments of red -coats on board, despatched from Halifax to overawe the city. The coming -of the selectmen to protest against quartering these troops on the people -and the substitution of martial for civic law, interrupted his reverie, -and a warm debate arose. At last the governor seized his pen impatiently, -and cried, "The king is my master and England is my home. Upheld by them, -I defy the rabble." - -He was about to sign the order for bringing in the troops when a curtain -that had hung before the picture was drawn aside. Hutchinson stared at -the canvas in amazement, then muttered, "It is Randolph's spirit! It -wears the look of hell." The picture was seen to be that of a man in -antique garb, with a despairing, hunted, yet evil expression in the face, -and seemed to stare at Hutchinson. - -"It is a warning," said one of the company. - -Hutchinson recovered himself with an effort and turned away. "It is a -trick," he cried; and bending over the paper he fixed his name, as if in -desperate haste. Then he trembled, turned white, and wiped a sweat from -his brow. The selectmen departed in silence but in anger, and those who -saw Hutchinson on the streets next day affirmed that the portrait had -stepped out of its canvas and stood at his side through the night. -Afterward, as he lay on his death-bed, he cried that the blood of the -Boston massacre was filling his throat, and as his soul passed from him -his face, in its agony and rage, was the face of Edward Randolph. - - - - -LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE - -Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe, being orphaned, was admitted to the family of -her distant relative, Governor Shute, of Massachusetts Bay, and came to -America to take her home with him. She arrived at the gates of Province -House, in Boston, in the governor's splendid coach, with outriders and -guards, and as the governor went to receive her, a pale young man, with -tangled hair, sprang from the crowd and fell in the dust at her feet, -offering himself as a footstool for her to tread upon. Her proud face -lighted with a smile of scorn, and she put out her hand to stay the -governor, who was in the act of striking the fellow with his cane. - -"Do not strike him," she said. "When men seek to be trampled, it is a -favor they deserve." - -For a moment she bore her weight on the prostrate form, "emblem of -aristocracy trampling on human sympathies and the kindred of nature," and -as she stood there the bell on South Church began to toll for a funeral -that was passing at the moment. The crowd started; some looked annoyed; -Lady Eleanore remained calm and walked in stately fashion up the passage -on the arm of His Excellency. "Who was that insolent fellow?" was asked -of Dr. Clarke, the governor's physician. - -"Gervase Helwyse," replied the doctor; "a youth of no fortune, but of -good mind until he met this lady in London, when he fell in love with -her, and her pride and scorn have crazed him." - -A few nights after a ball was given in honor of the governor's ward, and -Province House was filled with the elect of the city. Commanding in -figure, beautiful in face, richly dressed and jewelled, the Lady Eleanore -was the admired of the whole assembly, and the women were especially -curious to see her mantle, for a rumor went out that it had been made by -a dying girl, and had the magic power of giving new beauty to the wearer -every time it was put on. While the guests were taking refreshment, a -young man stole into the room with a silver goblet, and this he offered -on his knee to Lady Eleanore. As she looked down she recognized the face -of Helwyse. - -"Drink of this sacramental wine," he said, eagerly, "and pass it among -the guests." - -"Perhaps it is poisoned," whispered a man, and in another moment the -liquor was overturned, and Helwyse was roughly dragged away. - -"Pray, gentlemen, do not hurt my poor admirer," said the lady, in a tone -of languor and condescension that was unusual to her. Breaking from his -captives, Helwyse ran back and begged her to cast her mantle into the -fire. She replied by throwing a fold of it above her head and smiling as -she said, "Farewell. Remember me as you see me now." - -Helwyse shook his head sadly and submitted to be led away. The weariness -in Eleanore's manner increased; a flush was burning on her cheek; her -laugh had grown infrequent. Dr. Clarke whispered something in the -governor's ear that made that gentleman start and look alarmed. It was -announced that an unforeseen circumstance made it necessary to close the -festival at once, and the company went home. A few days after the city -was thrown into a panic by an outbreak of small-pox, a disease that in -those times could not be prevented nor often cured, and that gathered its -victims by thousands. Graves were dug in rows, and every night the earth -was piled hastily on fresh corpses. Before all infected houses hung a red -flag of warning, and Province House was the first to show it, for the -plague had come to town in Lady Eleanore's mantle. The people cursed her -pride and pointed to the flags as her triumphal banners. The pestilence -was at its height when Gervase Helwyse appeared in Province House. There -were none to stay him now, and he climbed the stairs, peering from room -to room, until he entered a darkened chamber, where something stirred -feebly under a silken coverlet and a faint voice begged for water. -Helwyse tore apart the curtains and exclaimed, "Fie! What does such a -thing as you in Lady Eleanore's apartment?" - -The figure on the bed tried to hide its hideous face. "Do not look on -me," it cried. "I am cursed for my pride that I wrapped about me as a -mantle. You are avenged. I am Eleanore Rochcliffe." - -The lunatic stared for a moment, then the house echoed with his laughter. -The deadly mantle lay on a chair. He snatched it up, and waving also the -red flag of the pestilence ran into the street. In a short time an effigy -wrapped in the mantle was borne to Province House and set on fire by a -mob. From that hour the pest abated and soon disappeared, though graves -and scars made a bitter memory of it for many a year. Unhappiest of all -was the disfigured creature who wandered amid the shadows of Province -House, never showing her face, unloved, avoided, lonely. - - - - -HOWE'S MASQUERADE - -During the siege of Boston Sir William Howe undertook to show his -contempt for the raw fellows who were disrespectfully tossing -cannon-balls at him from the batteries in Cambridge and South Boston, by -giving a masquerade. It was a brilliant affair, the belles and blades of -the loyalist set being present, some in the garb of their ancestors, for -the past is ever more picturesque than the present, and a few roisterers -caricaturing the American generals in ragged clothes, false noses, and -absurd wigs. At the height of the merriment a sound of a dirge echoing -through the streets caused the dance to stop. The funeral music paused -before the doors of Province House, where the dance was going on, and -they were flung open. Muffled drums marked time for a company that began -to file down the great stair from the floor above the ball-room: dark men -in steeple-hats and pointed beards, with Bibles, swords, and scrolls, who -looked sternly at the guests and descended to the street. - -Colonel Joliffe, a Whig, whose age and infirmity had prevented him from -joining Washington, and whose courtesy and intelligence had made him -respected by his foes, acted as chorus: "These I take to be the Puritan -governors of Massachusetts: Endicott, Winthrop, Vane, Dudley, Haynes, -Bellingham, Leverett, Bradstreet." Then came a rude soldier, mailed, -begirt with arms: the tyrant Andros; a brown-faced man with a sailor's -gait: Sir William Phipps; a courtier wigged and jewelled: Earl Bellomont; -the crafty, well-mannered Dudley; the twinkling, red-nosed Shute; the -ponderous Burnet; the gouty Belcher; Shirley, Pownall, Bernard, -Hutchinson; then a soldier, whose cocked hat he held before his face. -"'Tis the shape of Gage!" cried an officer, turning pale. The lights were -dull and an uncomfortable silence had fallen on the company. Last, came a -tall man muffled in a military cloak, and as he paused on the landing the -guests looked from him to their host in amazement, for it was the figure -of Howe himself. The governor's patience was at an end, for this was a -part of the masquerade that had not been looked for. He fiercely cried to -Joliffe, "There is a plot in this. Your head has stood too long on a -traitor's shoulders." - -"Make haste to cut it off, then," was the reply, "for the power of Sir -William Howe and of the king, his master, is at an end. These shadows are -mourners at his funeral. Look! The last of the governors." - -Howe rushed with drawn sword on the figure of himself, when it turned and -looked at him. The blade clanged to the floor and Howe fell back with a -gasp of horror, for the face was his own. Hand nor voice was raised to -stay the double-goer as it mournfully passed on. At the threshold it -stamped its foot and shook its fists in air; then the door closed. -Mingled with the strains of the funeral march, as it died along the empty -streets, came the tolling of the bell on South Church steeple, striking -the hour of midnight. The festivities were at an end and, oppressed by a -nameless fear, the spectators of this strange pageant made ready for -departure; but before they left the booming of cannon at the southward -announced that Washington had advanced. The glories of Province House -were over. When the last of the royal governors left it he paused on the -threshold, beat his foot on the stone, and flung up his hands in an -attitude of grief and rage. - - - - -OLD ESTHER DUDLEY - -Boston had surrendered. Washington was advancing from the heights where -he had trained his guns on the British works, and Sir William Howe -lingered at the door of Province House,--last of the royal governors who -would stand there,--and cursed and waved his hands and beat his heel on -the step, as if he were crushing rebellion by that act. The sound brought -an old woman to his side. "Esther Dudley!" he exclaimed. "Why are you not -gone?" - -"I shall never leave. As housekeeper for the governors and pensioner of -the king, this has been my home; the only home I know. Go back, but send -more troops. I will keep the house till you return." - -"Grant that I may return," he cried. "Since you will stay, take this bag -of guineas and keep this key until a governor shall demand it." - -Then, with fierce and moody brow, the governor went forth, and the faded -eyes of Esther Dudley saw him nevermore. When the soldiers of the -republic cast about for quarters in Boston town, they spared the official -mansion to this old woman. Her bridling toryism and assumption of old -state amused them and did no harm; indeed, her loyalty was half admired; -beside, nobody took the pride in the place that she did, or would keep it -in better order. That she sometimes had a half-dozen of unrepentant -codgers in to dinner, and that they were suspected of drinking healths to -George III. in crusted port, was a fact to blink. Rumor had it that not -all her guests were flesh and blood, but that she had an antique mirror -across which ancient occupants of the house would pass in shadowy -procession at her command, and that she was wont to have the Shirleys, -Olivers, Hutchinsons, and Dudleys out of their graves to hold receptions -there; so a touch of dread may have mingled in the feeling that kept the -populace aloof. - -Living thus by herself, refusing to hear of rebel victories, construing -the bonfires, drumming, hurrahs, and bell-ringing to signify fresh -triumphs for England, she drifted farther and farther out of her time and -existed in the shadows of the past. She lighted the windows for the -king's birthday, and often from the cupola watched for a British fleet, -heeding not the people below, who, as they saw her withered face, -repeated the prophecy, with a laugh "When the golden Indian on Province -House shall shoot his arrow and the cock on South Church spire shall -crow, look for a royal governor again." So, when it was bandied about the -streets that the governor was coming, she took it in no wise strange, but -dressed herself in silk and hoops, with store of ancient jewels, and made -ready to receive him. In truth, there was a function, for already a man -of stately mien, and richly dressed, was advancing through the court, -with a staff of men in wigs and laced coats behind him, and a company of -troops at a little distance. Esther Dudley flung the door wide and -dropping on her knees held forth the key with the cry, "Thank heaven for -this hour! God save the king!" - -The governor put off his hat and helped the woman to her feet. "A strange -prayer," said he; "yet we will echo it to this effect: For the good of -the realm that still owns him to be its ruler, God save King George." - -Esther Dudley stared wildly. That face she remembered now,--the -proscribed rebel, John Hancock; governor, not by royal grant, but by the -people's will. - -"Have I welcomed a traitor? Then let me die." - -"Alas! Mistress Dudley, the world has changed for you in these later -years. America has no king." He offered her his arm, and she clung to it -for a moment, then, sinking down, the great key, that she so long had -treasured, clanked to the floor. - -"I have been faithful unto death," she gasped. "God save the king!" - -The people uncovered, for she was dead. - -"At her tomb," said Hancock, "we will bid farewell forever to the past. A -new day has come for us. In its broad light we will press onward." - - - - -THE LOSS OF JACOB HURD - -Jacob Hurd, stern witch-harrier of Ipswich, can abide nothing out of the -ordinary course of things, whether it be flight on a broomstick or the -wrong adding of figures; so his son gives him trouble, for he is an -imaginative boy, who walks alone, talking to the birds, making rhymes, -picking flowers, and dreaming. That he will never be a farmer, mechanic, -or tradesman is as good as certain, and one day when the child runs in -with a story of a golden horse, with tail and mane of silver, on which he -has ridden over land and sea, climbing mountains and swimming rivers, he -turns pale with fright lest the boy be bewitched; then, as the awfulness -of the invention becomes manifest, he cries, "Thou knowest thou art -lying," and strikes the little fellow. - -The boy staggers into his mother's arms, and that night falls into a -fever, in which he raves of his horse and the places he will see, while -Jacob sits by his side, too sore in heart for words, and he never leaves -the cot for food or sleep till the fever is burned out. Just before he -closes his eyes the child looks about him and says that he hears the -horse pawing in the road, and, either for dust or cloud or sun gleam, it -seems for an instant as if the horse were there. The boy gives a cry of -joy, then sinks upon his pillow, lifeless. - -Some time after this Jacob sets off one morning, while the stars are out, -to see three witches hanged, but at evening his horse comes flying up the -road, splashed with blood and foam, and the neighbors know from that of -Jacob's death, for he is lying by the wayside with an Indian arrow in his -heart and an axemark on his head. The wife runs to the door, and, though -she shakes with fear at its approach, she sees that in the sunset glow -the horse's sides have a shine like gold, and its mane and tail are -silver white. Now the animal is before the house, but the woman does not -faint or cry at the blood splash on the saddle, for--is it the dust-cloud -that takes that shape?--she sees on its back a boy with a shining face, -who throws a kiss at her,--her Paul. He, little poet, lives in spirit, -and has found happiness. - - - - -THE HOBOMAK - -Such was the Indian name of the site of Westboro, Massachusetts, and the -neighboring pond was Hochomocko. The camp of the red men near the shore -was full of bustle one day, for their belle, Iano, was to marry the young -chief, Sassacus. The feast was spread and all were ready to partake of -it, when it was found that the bride was missing. One girl had seen her -steal into the wood with a roguish smile on her lip, and knew that she -intended to play hide-and-seek with Sassacus before she should be -proclaimed a wife, but the day wore on and she did not come. Among those -who were late in reaching camp was Wequoash, who brought a panther in -that he had slain on Boston Hill, and he bragged about his skill, as -usual. There had been a time when he was a rival of the chief for the -hand of Iano, and he showed surprise and concern at her continued -absence. The search went on for two days, and, at the end of that time, -the girl's body was taken from the lake. - -At the funeral none groaned so piteously as Wequoash. Yet Sassacus felt -his loss so keenly that he fell into a sickness next day, and none was -found so constant in his ministrations as Wequoash; but all to no avail, -for within a week Sassacus, too, was dead. As the strongest and bravest -remaining in the tribe, Wequoash became heir to his honors by election. - -A year later he sat moodily by the lakeside, when a flame burst up from -the water, and a canoe floated toward him that a mysterious agency -impelled him to enter. The boat sped toward the flame, that, at his -approach, assumed Iano's form. He heard the water gurgle as he passed -over the spot where the shape had glimmered, but there was no other sound -or check. Next year this thing occurred again, and then the spirit spoke: -"Only once more." - -Yet a third time his fate took him to the spot, and as the hour came on -he called his people to him: "This," said he, "is my death-day. I have -done evil, and the time comes none too soon. Sassacus was your chief. I -envied him his happiness, and gave him poison when I nursed him. Worse -than that, I saw Iano in her canoe on her wedding-day. She had refused my -hand. I entered my canoe and chased her over the water, in pretended -sport, but in the middle of the lake I upset her birch and she was -drowned. See! she comes!" - -For, as he spoke, the light danced up again, and the boat came, -self-impelled, to the strand. Wequoash entered it, and with head bent -down was hurried away. Those on the shore saw the flame condense to a -woman's shape, and a voice issued from it: "It is my hour!" A blinding -bolt of lightning fell, and at the appalling roar of thunder all hid -their faces. When they looked up, boat and flame had vanished. Whenever, -afterward, an Indian rowed across the place where the murderer had sunk, -he dropped a stone, and the monument that grew in that way can be seen on -the pond floor to this day. - - - - -BERKSHIRE TORIES - -The tories of Berkshire, Massachusetts, were men who had been endeared to -the king by holding office under warrant from that sacred personage. They -have been gently dealt with by historians, but that is "overstrained -magnanimity which concentrates its charities and praises for defeated -champions of the wrong, and reserves its censures for triumphant -defenders of the right." While the following incidents have been so well -avouched that they deserve to stand as history, their picturesqueness -justifies renewed acquaintance. - -Among the loyalists was Gideon Smith, of Stockbridge, who had helped -British prisoners to escape, and had otherwise made himself so obnoxious -that he was forced for a time to withdraw and pass a season of penitence -and meditation in a cavern near Lenox, that is called the Tories' Glen. -Here he lay for weeks, none but his wife knowing where he was, but at his -request she walked out every day with her children, leading them past his -cave, where he fed on their faces with hungry eyes. They prattled on, -never dreaming that their father was but a few feet from them. Smith -survived the war and lived to be on good terms with his old foes. - -In Lenox lived a Tory, one of those respectable buffers to whom wealth -and family had given immunity in the early years of the war, but who -sorely tried the temper of his neighbors by damning everything American -from Washington downward. At last they could endure his abuse no longer; -his example had affected other Anglomaniacs, and a committee waited on -him to tell him that he could either swear allegiance to the colonies or -be hanged. He said he would be hanged if he would swear, or words to that -effect, and hanged he was, on a ready-made gallows in the street. He was -let down shortly, "brought around" with rum, and the oath was offered -again. He refused it. This had not been looked for. It had been taken for -granted that he would abjure his fealty to the king at the first -tightening of the cord. A conference was held, and it was declared that -retreat would be undignified and unsafe, so the Tory was swung up again, -this time with a yank that seemed to "mean business." He hung for some -time, and when lowered gave no sign of life. There was some show of alarm -at this, for nobody wanted to kill the old fellow, and every effort was -made to restore consciousness. At last the lungs heaved, the purple faded -from his cheek, his eyes opened, and he gasped, "I'll swear." With a -shout of joy the company hurried him to the tavern, seated him before the -fire, and put a glass of punch in his hand. He drank the punch to -Washington's health, and after a time was heard to remark to himself, -"It's a hard way to make Whigs, but it'll do it." - -Nathan Jackson, of Tyringham, was another Yankee who had seen fit to take -arms against his countrymen, and when captured he was charged with -treason and remanded for trial. The jail, in Great Barrington, was so -little used in those days of sturdy virtue that it had become a mere -shed, fit to hold nobody, and Jackson, after being locked into it, might -have walked out whenever he felt disposed; but escape, he thought, would -have been a confession of the wrongness of Tory principles, or of a fear -to stand trial. He found life so monotonous, however, that he asked the -sheriff to let him go out to work during the day, promising to sleep in -his cell, and such was his reputation for honesty that his request was -granted without a demur, the prisoner returning every night to be locked -up. When the time approached for the court to meet in Springfield heavy -harvesting had begun, and, as there was no other case from Berkshire -County to present, the sheriff grumbled at the bother of taking his -prisoner across fifty miles of rough country, but Jackson said that he -would make it all right by going alone. The sheriff was glad to be -released from this duty, so off went the Tory to give himself up and be -tried for his life. On the way he was overtaken by Mr. Edwards, of the -Executive Council, then about to meet in Boston, and without telling his -own name or office, he learned the extraordinary errand of this lonely -pedestrian. Jackson was tried, admitted the charges against him, and was -sentenced to death. While he awaited execution of the law upon him, the -council in Boston received petitions for clemency, and Mr. Edwards asked -if there was none in favor of Nathan Jackson. There was none. Mr. Edwards -related the circumstance of his meeting with the condemned man, and a -murmur of surprise and admiration went around the room. A despatch was -sent to Springfield. When it reached there the prison door was flung open -and Jackson walked forth free. - - - - -THE REVENGE OF JOSIAH BREEZE - -Two thousand Cape Cod fishermen had gone to join the colonial army, and -in their absence the British ships had run in shore to land crews on -mischievous errands. No man, woman, or child on the Cape but hated the -troops and sailors of King George, and would do anything to work them -harm. When the Somerset was wrecked off Truro, in 1778, the crew were -helped ashore, 'tis true, but they were straightway marched to prison, -and it was thought that no other frigate would venture near the shifting -dunes where she had laid her skeleton, as many a good ship had done -before and has done since. It was November, and ugly weather was shutting -in, when a three-decker, that had been tacking off shore and that flew -the red flag, was seen to yaw wildly while reefing sail and drift toward -land with a broken tiller. No warning signal was raised on the bluffs; -not a hand was stirred to rescue. Those who saw the accident watched with -sullen satisfaction the on-coming of the vessel, nor did they cease to -look for disaster when the ship anchored and stowed sail. - -Ezekiel and Josiah Breeze, father and son, stood at the door of their -cottage and watched her peril until three lights twinkling faintly -through the gray of driving snow were all that showed where the enemy -lay, straining at her cables and tossing on a wrathful sea. They stood -long in silence, but at last the boy exclaimed, "I'm going to the ship." - -"If you stir from here, you're no son of mine," said Ezekiel. - -"But she's in danger, dad." - -"As she oughter be. By mornin' she'll be strewed along the shore and not -a spar to mark where she's a-swingin' now." - -"And the men?" - -"It's a jedgment, boy." - -The lad remembered how the sailors of the Ajax had come ashore to burn -the homes of peaceful fishermen and farmers; how women had been insulted; -how his friends and mates had been cut down at Long Island with British -lead and steel; how, when he ran to warn away a red-faced fellow that was -robbing his garden, the man had struck him on the shoulder with a -cutlass. He had sworn then to be revenged. But to let a host go down to -death and never lift a helping hand--was that a fair revenge? "I've got -to go, dad," he burst forth. "Tomorrow morning there'll be five hundred -faces turned up on the beach, covered with ice and staring at the sky, -and five hundred mothers in England will wonder when they're goin' to see -those faces again. If ever they looked at me the sight of 'em would never -go out of my eyes. I'd be harnted by 'em, awake and asleep. And to-morrow -is Thanksgiving. I've got to go, dad, and I will." So speaking, he rushed -away and was swallowed in the gloom. - -The man stared after him; then, with a revulsion of feeling, he cried, -"You're right, 'Siah. I'll go with you." But had he called in tones of -thunder he would not have been heard in the roar of the wind and crash of -the surf. As he reached the shore he saw faintly on the phosphorescent -foam a something that climbed a hill of water; it was lost over its crest -and reappeared on the wave beyond; it showed for a moment on the third -wave, then it vanished in the night. "Josiah!" It was a long, querulous -cry. No answer. In half an hour a thing rode by the watcher on the sands -and fell with a crash beside him--a boat bottom up: his son's. - -Next day broke clear, with new snow on the ground. In his house at -Provincetown, Captain Breeze was astir betimes, for his son Ezekiel, his -grandson Josiah, and all other relatives who were not at the front with -Washington were coming for the family reunion. Plump turkeys were ready -for the roasting, great loaves of bread and cake stood beside the oven, -redoubtable pies of pumpkin and apple filled the air with maddening -odors. The people gathered and chattered around his cheery fire of the -damage that the storm had done, when Ezekiel stumbled in, his brown face -haggard, his lips working, and a tremor in his hands. He said, "Josiah!" -in a thick voice, then leaned his arms against the chimney and pressed -his face upon them. Among fishermen whose lives are in daily peril the -understanding of misfortune is quick, and the old man put his hand on the -shoulder of his son and bent his head. The day of joy was become a day of -gloom. As the news went out, the house began to fill with sympathizing -friends, and there was talking in low voices through the rooms, when a -cry of surprise was heard outside. A ship, cased in tons of ice, was -forging up the harbor, her decks swarming with blue jackets, some of whom -were beating off the frozen masses from lower spars and rigging. She -followed the channel so steadily, it was plain to be seen that a wise -hand was at her helm; her anchor ran out and she swung on the tide. "The -Ajax, as I'm a sinner!" exclaimed a sailor on shore. A boat put off from -her, and people angrily collected at the wharf, with talk of getting out -their guns, when a boyish figure arose in the stern, and was greeted with -a shout of surprise and welcome. - -The boat touched the beach, Josiah Breeze leaped out of it, and in -another minute his father had him in a bear's embrace, making no attempt -to stop the tears that welled out of his eyes. An officer had followed -Josiah on shore, and going to the group he said, "That boy is one to be -proud of. He put out in a sea that few men could face, to save an enemy's -ship and pilot it into the harbor. I could do no less than bring him -back." There was praise and laughter and clasping of hands, and when the -Thanksgiving dinner was placed, smoking, on the board, the commander of -H. M. S. Ajax was among the jolliest of the guests at Captain Breeze's -table. - - - - -THE MAY-POLE OF MERRYMOUNT - -The people of Merrymount--unsanctified in the eyes of their Puritan -neighbors, for were they not Episcopals, who had pancakes at Shrovetide -and wassail at Christmas?--were dancing about their May-pole one summer -evening, for they tried to make it May throughout the year. Some were -masked like animals, and all were tricked with flowers and ribbons. -Within their circle, sharing in song and jest, were the lord and lady of -the revels, and an English clergyman waiting to join the pair in wedlock. -Life, they sang, should be all jollity: away with care and duty; leave -wisdom to the weak and old, and sanctity for fools. Watching the sport -from a neighboring wood stood a band of frowning Puritans, and as the sun -set they stalked forth and broke through the circle. All was dismay. The -bells, the laughter, the song were silent, and some who had tasted -Puritan wrath before shrewdly smelled the stocks. A Puritan of iron -face--it was Endicott, who had cut the cross from the flag of -England--warning aside the "priest of Baal," proceeded to hack the pole -down with his sword. A few swinging blows, and down it sank, with its -ribbons and flowers. - -"So shall fall the pride of vain people; so shall come to grief the -preachers of false religion," quoth he. "Truss those fellows to the trees -and give them half a dozen of blows apiece as token that we brook no -ungodly conduct and hostility to our liberties. And you, king and queen -of the May, have you no better things to think about than fiddling and -dancing? How if I punish you both?" - -"Had I the power I'd punish you for saying it," answered the swain; "but, -as I have not, I am compelled to ask that the girl go unharmed." - -"Will you have it so, or will you share your lover's punishment?" asked -Endicott. - -"I will take all upon myself," said the woman. - -The face of the governor softened. "Let the young fellow's hair be cut, -in pumpkin-shell fashion," he commanded; "then bring them to me but -gently." - -He was obeyed, and as the couple came before him, hand in hand, he took a -chain of roses from the fallen pole and cast it about their necks. And so -they were married. Love had softened rigor and all were better for the -assertion of a common humanity. But the May-pole of Merrymount was never -set up again. There were no more games and plays and dances, nor singing -of worldly music. The town went to ruin, the merrymakers were scattered, -and the gray sobriety of religion and toil fell on Pilgrim land again. - - - - -THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER - -When Charles River was lined with groves and marshes there lived in a -cabin, near Brighton, Massachusetts, an ill-fed rascal named Tom Walker. -There was but one in the commonwealth who was more penurious, and that -was his wife. They squabbled over the spending of a penny and each -grudged food to the other. One day as Tom walked through the pine wood -near his place, by habit watching the ground--for even there a farthing -might be discovered--he prodded his stick into a skull, cloven deep by an -Indian tomahawk. He kicked it, to shake the dirt off, when a gruff voice -spake: "What are you doing in my grounds?" A swarthy fellow, with the -face of a charcoal burner, sat on a stump, and Tom wondered that he had -not seen him as he approached. - -He replied, "Your grounds! They belong to Deacon Peabody." - -"Deacon Peabody be damned!" cried the black fellow; "as I think he will -be, anyhow, if he does not look after his own sins a little sharper and a -little less curiously after his neighbors'. Look, if you want to see how -he is faring," and, pointing to a tree, he called Tom to notice that the -deacon's name was written on the bark and that it was rotten at the core. -To his surprise, Tom found that nearly every tree had the name of some -prominent man cut upon it. - -"Who are you?" he asked. - -"I go by different names in different places," replied the dark one. "In -some countries I am the black miner; in some the wild huntsman; here I am -the black woodman. I am the patron of slave dealers and master of Salem -witches." - -"I think you are the devil," blurted Tom. - -"At your service," replied his majesty. - -Now, Tom, having lived long with Mrs. Walker, had no fear of the devil, -and he stopped to have a talk with him. The devil remarked, in a careless -tone, that Captain Kidd had buried his treasure in that wood, under his -majesty's charge, and that whoever wished could find and keep it by -making the usual concession. This Tom declined. He told his wife about -it, however, and she was angry with him for not having closed the bargain -at once, declaring that if he had not courage enough to add this treasure -to their possessions she would not hesitate to do it. Tom showed no -disposition to check her. If she got the money he would try to get a -share of it, and if the devil took away his helpmate--well, there were -things that he had made his mind to endure, when he had to. True enough, -the woman started for the wood before sundown, with her spoons in her -apron. When Tom discovered that the spoons were gone he, too, set off, -for he wanted those back, anyway; but he did not overtake his wife. An -apron was found in a tree containing a dried liver and a withered heart, -and near that place the earth had been trampled and strewn with handfuls -of coarse hair that reminded Tom of the man that he had met in the woods. -"Egad!" he muttered, "Old Nick must have had a tough time with her." Half -in gratitude and half in curiosity, Tom waited to speak to the dark man, -and was next day rewarded by seeing that personage come through the wood -with an axe, whistling carelessly. Tom at once approached him on the -subject of the buried treasure--not the vanished wife, for her he no -longer regarded as a treasure. - -After some haggling the devil proposed that Tom should start a loan -office in Boston and use Kidd's money in exacting usury. This suited Tom, -who promised to screw four per cent. a month out of the unfortunates who -might ask his aid, and he was seen to start for town with a bag which his -neighbors thought to hold his crop of starveling turnips, but which was -really a king's ransom in gold and jewels--the earnings of Captain Kidd -in long years of honest piracy. It was in Governor Belcher's time, and -cash was scarce. Merchants and professional men as well as the thriftless -went to Tom for money, and, as he always had it, his business grew until -he seemed to have a mortgage on half the men in Boston who were rich -enough to be in debt. He even went so far as to move into a new house, to -ride in his own carriage, and to eat enough to keep body and soul -together, for he did not want to give up his soul to the one who would -claim it just yet. - -The most singular proof of his thrift--showing that he wanted to save -soul and money both--was shown in his joining the church and becoming a -prayerful Christian. He kept a Bible in his pocket and another on his -desk, resolved to be prepared if a certain gentleman should call. He -buried his old horse feet uppermost, for he was taught that on -resurrection day the world would be turned upside down, and he was -resolved, if his enemy appeared, to give him a run for it. While employed -one afternoon in the congenial task of foreclosing a mortgage his -creditor begged for another day to raise the money. Tom was irritable on -account of the hot weather and talked to him as a good man of the church -ought not to do. - -"You have made so much money out of me," wailed the victim of Tom's -philanthropies. - -"Now, the devil take me if I have made a farthing!" exclaimed Tom. - -At that instant there were three knocks at the door, and, stepping out to -see who was there, the money lender found himself in presence of his -fate. His little Bible was in a coat on a nail, and the bigger one was on -his desk. He was without defence. The evil one caught him up like a -child, had him on the back of his snorting steed in no time, and giving -the beast a cut he flew like the wind in the teeth of a rising storm -toward the marshes of Brighton. As he reached there a lightning flash -descended into the wood and set it on fire. At the same moment Tom's -house was discovered to be in flames. When his effects were examined -nothing was found in his strong boxes but cinders and shavings. - - - - -THE GRAY CHAMPION - -It befell Sir Edmund Andros to make himself the most hated of the -governors sent to represent the king in New England. A spirit of -independence, born of a free soil, was already moving in the people's -hearts, and the harsh edicts of this officer, as well as the oppressive -measures of his master, brought him into continual conflict with the -people. He it was who went to Hartford to demand the surrender of the -liberties of that colony. The lights were blown out and the patent of -those liberties was hurried away from under his nose and hidden from his -reach in a hollow of the Charter Oak. - -In Boston, too, he could call no American his friend, and it was there -that he met one of the first checks to his arrogance. It was an April -evening in 1689, and there was an unusual stir in the streets. People -were talking in low tones, and one caught such phrases as, "If the Prince -of Orange is successful, this Andros will lose his head." "Our pastors -are to be burned alive in King Street." "The pope has ordered Andros to -celebrate the eve of St. Bartholomew in Boston: we are to be killed." -"Our old Governor Bradstreet is in town, and Andros fears him." While -talk was running in this excited strain the sound of a drum was heard -coming through Cornhill. Now was seen a file of soldiers with guns on -shoulder, matches twinkling in the falling twilight, and behind them, on -horseback, Andros and his councillors, including the priest of King's -Chapel, all wearing crucifixes at their throats, all flushed with wine, -all looking down with indifference at the people in their dark cloaks and -broadbrimmed hats, who looked back at them with suspicion and hate. The -soldiers trod the streets like men unused to giving way, and the crowd -fell back, pressed against the buildings. Groans and hisses were heard, -and a voice sent up this cry, "Lord of Hosts, provide a champion for thy -people!" - -Ere the echo of that call had ceased there came from the other end of the -street, stepping as in time to the drum, an aged man, in cloak and -steeple hat, with heavy sword at his thigh. His port was that of a king, -and his dignity was heightened by a snowy beard that fell to his waist. -Taking the middle of the way he marched on until he was but a few paces -from the advancing column. None knew him and he seemed to recognize none -among the crowd. As he drew himself to his height, it seemed in the dusk -as if he were of no mortal mould. His eye blazed, he thrust his staff -before him, and in a voice of invincible command cried, "Halt!" - -Half because it was habit to obey the word, half because they were cowed -by the majestic presence, the guard stood still and the drum was -silenced. Andros spurred forward, but even he made a pause when he saw -the staff levelled at his breast. "Forward!" he blustered. "Trample the -dotard into the street. How dare you stop the king's governor?" - -"I have stayed the march of a king himself," was the answer. "The king -you serve no longer sits on the throne of England. To-morrow you will be -a prisoner. Back, lest you reach the scaffold!" - -A moment of hesitation on Andros's part encouraged the people to press -closer, and many of them took no pains to hide the swords and pistols -that were girt upon them. The groans and hisses sounded louder. "Down -with Andros! Death to tyrants! A curse on King James!" came from among -the throng, and some of them stooped as if to tear up the pavings. -Doubtful, yet overawed, the governor wheeled about and gloomily marched -back through the streets where he had ridden so arrogantly. In truth, his -next night was spent in prison, for James had fled from England, and -William held the throne. All eyes being on the retreating company, the -champion of the people was not seen to depart, but when they turned to -praise and thank him he had vanished, and there were those who said that -he had melted into twilight. - -The incident had passed into legend, and fourscore years had followed it, -when the soldiers of another king of England marched down State Street, -and fired on the people of Boston who were gathered below the old State -House. Again it was said that the form of a tall, white-bearded man in -antique garb was seen in that street, warning back the troops and -encouraging the people to resist them. On the little field of Lexington -in early dawn, and at the breastwork on Bunker Hill, where farmers worked -by lantern-light, this dark form was seen--the spirit of New England. And -it is told that whenever any foreign foe or domestic oppressor shall dare -the temper of the people, in the van of the resisting army shall be found -this champion. - - - - -THE FOREST SMITHY - -Early in this century a man named Ainsley appeared at Holyoke, -Massachusetts, and set up a forge in a wood at the edge of the village, -with a two-room cottage to live in. A Yankee peddler once put up at his -place for shelter from a storm, and as the rain increased with every hour -he begged to remain in the house over night, promising to pay for his -accommodation in the morning. The blacksmith, who seemed a mild, -considerate man, said that he was willing, but that, as the rooms were -small, it would be well to refer the matter to his wife. As the peddler -entered the house the wife--a weary-looking woman with white hair--seated -herself at once in a thickly-cushioned arm-chair, and, as if loath to -leave it, told the peddler that if he would put up with simple fare and a -narrow berth he was welcome. After a candle had been lighted the three -sat together for some time, talking of crops and trade, when there came a -rush of hoofs without and a hard-looking man, who had dismounted at the -door, entered without knocking. The blacksmith turned pale and the wife's -face expressed sore anxiety. - -"What brings you here?" asked the smith. - -"I must pass the night here," answered the man. - -"But, stranger, I can't accommodate you. We have but one spare room, and -that has been taken by the man who is sitting there." - -"Then give me a bit to eat." - -"Get the stranger something," said the woman to her husband, without -rising. - -"Are you lame, that you don't get it yourself?" - -The woman paused; then said, "Husband, you are tired. Sit here and I will -wait on the stranger." - -The blacksmith took the seat, when the stranger again blustered, "It -would be courtesy to offer me that chair, tired as I am. Perhaps you -don't know that I am an officer of the law?" - -When supper was ready they took their places, the woman drawing up the -arm-chair for her own use, but, as the custom was, they all knelt to say -grace, and while their faces were buried in their hands the candle was -blown out. The stranger jumped up and began walking around the room. When -a light could be found he had gone and the cushion had disappeared from -the chair. "Oh! After all these years!" wailed the woman, and falling on -her knees she sobbed like a child, while her husband in vain tried to -comfort her. The peddler, who had already gone to bed, but who had seen a -part of this puzzling drama through the open door, knew not what to do, -but, feeling some concern for the safety of his own possessions, he drew -his pack into bed with him, and, being tired, fell asleep with the sobs -of the woman sounding in his ears. - -When he awoke it was broad day and the earth was fresh and bright from -its bath. After dressing he passed into the other room, finding the table -still set, the chair before it without its cushion, the fire out, and -nobody in or about the house. The smithy was deserted, and to his call -there was no response but the chattering of jays in the trees; so, -shouldering his pack, he resumed his journey. He opened his pack at a -farm-house to repair a clock, when he discovered that his watches were -gone, and immediately lodged complaint with the sheriff, but nothing was -ever seen again of Ainsley, his wife, or the rough stranger. Who was the -thief? What was in the cushion? And what brought the stranger to the -house? - - - - -WAHCONAH FALLS - -The pleasant valley of Dalton, in the Berkshire Hills, had been under the -rule of Miacomo for forty years when a Mohawk dignitary of fifty scalps -and fifty winters came a-wooing his daughter Wahconah. On a June day in -1637, as the girl sat beside the cascade that bears her name, twining -flowers in her hair and watching leaves float down the stream, she became -conscious of a pair of eyes bent on her from a neighboring coppice, and -arose in some alarm. Finding himself discovered, the owner of the eyes, a -handsome young fellow, stepped forward with a quieting air of -friendliness, and exclaimed, "Hail, Bright Star!" - -"Hail, brother," answered Wahconah. - -"I am Nessacus," said the man, "one of King Philip's soldiers. Nessacus -is tired with his flight from the Long Knives (the English), and his -people faint. Will Bright Star's people shut their lodges against him and -his friends?" - -The maiden answered, "My father is absent, in council with the Mohawks, -but his wigwams are always open. Follow." - -Nessacus gave a signal, and forth from the wood came a sad-eyed, -battle-worn troop that mustered about him. Under the girl's lead they -went down to the valley and were hospitably housed. Five days later -Miacomo returned, with him the elderly Mohawk lover, and a priest, -Tashmu, of repute a cringing schemer, with whom hunters and soldiers -could have nothing in common, and whom they would gladly have put out of -the way had they not been deterred by superstitious fears. The strangers -were welcomed, though Tashmu looked at them gloomily, and there were -games in their honor, Nessacus usually proving the winner, to Wahconah's -joy, for she and the young warrior had fallen in love at first sight, and -it was not long before he asked her father for her hand. Miacomo favored -the suit, but the priest advised him, for politic reasons, to give the -girl to the old Mohawk, and thereby cement a tribal friendship that in -those days of English aggression might be needful. The Mohawk had three -wives already, but he was determined to add Wahconah to his collection, -and he did his best, with threats and flattery, to enforce his suit. -Nessacus offered to decide the matter in a duel with his rival, and the -challenge was accepted, but the wily Tashmu discovered in voices of wind -and thunder, flight of birds and shape of clouds, such omens that the -scared Indians unanimously forbade a resort to arms. "Let the Great -Spirit speak," cried Tashmu, and all yielded their consent. - -Invoking a ban on any who should follow, Tashmu proclaimed that he would -pass that night in Wizard's Glen, where, by invocations, he would learn -the divine will. At sunset he stalked forth, but he had not gone far ere -the Mohawk joined him, and the twain proceeded to Wahconah Falls. There -was no time for magical hocus-pocus that night, for both of them toiled -sorely in deepening a portion of the stream bed, so that the current ran -more swiftly and freely on that side, and in the morning Tashmu announced -in what way the Great Spirit would show his choice. Assembling the tribe -on the river-bank, below a rock that midway split the current, a canoe, -with symbols painted on it, was set afloat near the falls. If it passed -the dividing rock on the side where Nessacus waited, he should have -Wahconah. If it swerved to the opposite shore, where the Mohawk and his -counsellor stood, the Great Spirit had chosen the old chief for her -husband. Of course, the Mohawk stood on the deeper side. On came the -little boat, keeping the centre of the stream. It struck the rock, and -all looked eagerly, though Tashmu and the Mohawk could hardly suppress an -exultant smile. A little wave struck the canoe: it pivoted against the -rock and drifted to the feet of Nessacus. A look of blank amazement came -over the faces of the defeated wooer and his friend, while a shout of -gladness went up, that the Great Spirit had decided so well. The young -couple were wed with rejoicings; the Mohawk trudged homeward, and, to the -general satisfaction, Tashmu disappeared with him. Later, when Tashmu was -identified as the one who had guided Major Talcott's soldiers to the -valley, the priest was caught and slain by Miacomo's men. - - - - -KNOCKING AT THE TOMB - -Knock, knock, knock! The bell has just gone twelve, and there is the -clang again upon the iron door of the tomb. The few people of Lanesboro -who are paying the penance of misdeeds or late suppers, by lying awake at -that dread hour, gather their blankets around their shoulders and mutter -a word of prayer for deliverance against unwholesome visitors of the -night. Why is the old Berkshire town so troubled? Who is it that lies -buried in that tomb, with its ornament of Masonic symbols? Why was the -heavy iron knocker placed on the door? The question is asked, but no one -will answer it, nor will any say who the woman is that so often visits -the cemetery at the stroke of midnight and sounds the call into the -chamber of the dead. Starlight, moonlight, or storm--it makes no -difference to the woman. There she goes, in her black cloak, seen dim in -the night, except where there are snow and moon together, and there she -waits, her hand on the knocker, for the bell to strike to set up her -clangor. Some say that she is crazy, and it is her freak to do this -thing. Is she calling on the corpses to rise and have a dance among the -graves? or has she been asked to call the occupant of that house at a -given hour? Perhaps, weary of life, she is asking for admittance to the -rest and silence of the tomb. She has long been beneath the sod, this -troubler of dreams. Who knows her secret? - - - - -THE WHITE DEER OF ONOTA - -Beside quiet Onota, in the Berkshire Hills, dwelt a band of Indians, and -while they lived here a white deer often came to drink. So rare was the -appearance of an animal like this that its visits were held as good -omens, and no hunter of the tribe ever tried to slay it. A prophet of the -race had said, "So long as the white doe drinks at Onota, famine shall -not blight the Indian's harvest, nor pestilence come nigh his lodge, nor -foeman lay waste his country." And this prophecy held true. That summer -when the deer came with a fawn as white and graceful as herself, it was a -year of great abundance. On the outbreak of the French and Indian War a -young officer named Montalbert was despatched to the Berkshire country to -persuade the Housatonic Indians to declare hostility to the English, and -it was as a guest in the village of Onota that he heard of the white -deer. Sundry adventurers had made valuable friendships by returning to -the French capital with riches and curiosities from the New World. Even -Indians had been abducted as gifts for royalty, and this young ambassador -resolved that when he returned to his own country the skin of the white -deer should be one of the trophies that would win him a smile from Louis. - -He offered a price for it--a price that would have bought all their -possessions and miles of the country roundabout, but their deer was -sacred, and their refusal to sacrifice it was couched in such indignant -terms that he wisely said no more about it in the general hearing. There -was in the village a drunken fellow, named Wondo, who had come to that -pass when he would almost have sold his soul for liquor, and him the -officer led away and plied with rum until he promised to bring the white -doe to him. The pretty beast was so familiar with men that she suffered -Wondo to catch her and lead her to Montalbert. Making sure that none was -near, the officer plunged his sword into her side and the innocent -creature fell. The snowy skin, now splashed with red, was quickly -stripped off, concealed among the effects in Montalbert's outfit, and he -set out for Canada; but he had not been many days on his road before -Wondo, in an access of misery and repentance, confessed to his share of -the crime that had been done and was slain on the moment. - -With the death of the deer came an end to good fortune. Wars, blights, -emigration followed, and in a few years not a wigwam was left standing -beside Onota. - -There is a pendant to this legend, incident to the survival of the deer's -white fawn. An English hunter, visiting the lake with dog and gun, was -surprised to see on its southern bank a white doe. The animal bent to -drink and at the same moment the hunter put his gun to his shoulder. -Suddenly a howl was heard, so loud, so long, that the woods echoed it, -and the deer, taking alarm, fled like the wind. The howl came from the -dog, and, as that animal usually showed sagacity in the presence of game, -the hunter was seized with a fear that its form was occupied, for the -time, by a hag who lived alone in the "north woods," and who was reputed -to have appeared in many shapes--for this was not so long after witch -times that their influence was forgotten. - -Drawing his ramrod, the man gave his dog such a beating that the poor -creature had something worth howling for, because it might be the witch -that he was thrashing. Then running to the shanty of the suspected woman -he flung open her door and demanded to see her back, for, if she had -really changed her shape, every blow that he had given to the dog would -have been scored on her skin. When he had made his meaning clear, the -crone laid hold on the implement that served her for horse at night, and -with the wooden end of it rained blows on him so rapidly that, if the dog -had had half the meanness in his nature that some people have, the -spectacle would have warmed his heart, for it was a prompt and severe -revenge for his sufferings. And to the last the hunter could not decide -whether the beating that he received was prompted by indignation or -vengeance. - - - - -WIZARD'S GLEN - -Four miles from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, among the Berkshire Hills, is -a wild valley, noted for its echoes, that for a century and more has been -called Wizard's Glen. Here the Indian priests performed their -incantations, and on the red-stained Devil's Altar, it was said, they -offered human sacrifice to Hobomocko and his demons of the wood. In -Berkshire's early days a hunter, John Chamberlain, of Dalton, who had -killed a deer and was carrying it home on his shoulders, was overtaken on -the hills by a storm and took shelter from it in a cavernous recess in -Wizard's Glen. In spite of his fatigue he was unable to sleep, and while -lying on the earth with open eyes he was amazed to see the wood bend -apart before him, disclosing a long aisle that was mysteriously lighted -and that contained hundreds of capering forms. As his eyes grew -accustomed to the faint light he made out tails and cloven feet on the -dancing figures; and one tall form with wings, around whose head a wreath -of lightning glittered, and who received the deference of the rest, he -surmised to be the devil himself. It was such a night and such a place as -Satan and his imps commonly chose for high festivals. - -As he lay watching them through the sheeted rain a tall and painted -Indian leaped on Devil's Altar, fresh scalps dangling round his body in -festoons, and his eyes blazing with fierce command. In a brief -incantation he summoned the shadow hordes around him. They came, with -torches that burned blue, and went around and around the rock singing a -harsh chant, until, at a sign, an Indian girl was dragged in and flung on -the block of sacrifice. The figures rushed toward her with extended arms -and weapons, and the terrified girl gave one cry that rang in the -hunter's ears all his life after. The wizard raised his axe: the devils -and vampires gathered to drink the blood and clutch the escaping soul, -when in a lightning flash the girl's despairing glance fell on the face -of Chamberlain. That look touched his manhood, and drawing forth his -Bible he held it toward the rabble while he cried aloud the name of God. -There was a crash of thunder. The light faded, the demons vanished, the -storm swept past, and peace settled on the hills. - - - - -BALANCED ROCK - -Balanced Rock, or Rolling Rock, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a mass -of limestone that was deposited where it stands by the great continental -glacier during the ice age, and it weighs four hundred and eighty tons -(estimated) in spite of its centuries of weathering. Here one of the -Atotarhos, kings of the Six Nations, had his camp. He was a fierce man, -who ate and drank from bowls made of the skulls of enemies, and who, when -he received messages and petitions, wreathed himself from head to foot -with poison snakes. The son of this ferocious being inherited none of his -war-like tendencies; indeed, the lad was almost feminine in appearance, -and on succeeding to power he applied himself to the cultivation of -peaceful arts. Later historians have uttered a suspicion that he was a -natural son of Count Frontenac, but that does not suit with this legend. - -The young Atotarho stood near Balanced Rock watching a number of big boys -play duff. In this game one stone is placed upon another and the players, -standing as far from it as they fancy they can throw, attempt to knock it -out of place with other stones. The silence of Atotarho and his slender, -girlish look called forth rude remarks from the boys, who did not know -him, and who dared him to test his skill. The young chief came forward, -and as he did so the jeers and laughter changed to cries of astonishment -and fear, for at each step he grew in size until he towered above them, a -giant. Then they knew him, and fell down in dread, but he took no -revenge. Catching up great bowlders he tossed them around as easily as if -they had been beechnuts, and at last, lifting the balanced rock, he -placed it lightly where it stands to-day, gave them a caution against ill -manners and hasty judgments, and resumed his slender form. For many years -after, the old men of the tribe repeated this story and its lesson from -the top of Atotarho's duff. - - - - -SHONKEEK-MOONKEEK - -This is the Mohegan name of the pretty lake in the Berkshires now called -Pontoosuc. Shonkeek was a boy, Moonkeek a girl, and they were cousins who -grew up as children commonly do, whether in house or wigwam: they roamed -the woods and hills together, filled their baskets with flowers and -berries, and fell in love. But the marriage of cousins was forbidden in -the Mohegan polity, and when they reached an age in which they found -companionship most delightful their rambles were interdicted and they -were even told to avoid each other. This had the usual effect, and they -met on islands in the lake at frequent intervals, to the torment of one -Nockawando, who wished to wed the girl himself, and who reported her -conduct to her parents. - -The lovers agreed, after this, to fly to an Eastern tribe into which they -would ask to be adopted, but they were pledged, if aught interfered with -their escape, to meet beneath the lake. Nockawando interfered. On the -next night, as the unsuspecting Shonkeek was paddling over to the island -where the maid awaited him, the jealous rival, rowing softly in his wake, -sent an arrow into his back, and Shonkeek, without a cry, pitched -headlong into the water. Yet, to the eyes of Nockawando, he appeared to -keep his seat and urge his canoe forward. The girl saw the boat approach: -it sped, now, like an eagle's flight. One look, as it passed the rock; -one glance at the murderer, crouching in his birchen vessel, and with her -lover's name on her lips she leaped into her own canoe and pushed out -from shore. Nockawando heard her raise the death-song and rowed forward -as rapidly as he could, but near the middle of the lake his arm fell -palsied. - -The song had ended and the night had become strangely, horribly still. -Not a chirp of cricket, not a lap of wave, not a rustle of leaf. -Motionless the girl awaited, for his boat was still moving by the impetus -of his last stroke of the paddle. The evening star was shining low on the -horizon, and as her figure loomed in the darkness the star shone through -at the point where her eye had looked forth. It was no human creature -that sat there. Then came the dead man's boat. The two shadows rowed -noiselessly together, and as they disappeared in the mist that was now -settling on the landscape, an unearthly laugh rang over the lake; then -all was still. When Nockawando reached the camp that night he was a -raving maniac. The Indians never found the bodies of the pair, but they -believed that while water remains in Pontoosuc its surface will be vexed -by these journeys of the dead. - - - - -THE SALEM ALCHEMIST - -In 1720 there lived in a turreted house at North and Essex Streets, in -Salem, a silent, dark-visaged man,--a reputed chemist. He gathered -simples in the fields, and parcels and bottles came and went between him -and learned doctors in Boston; but report went around that it was not -drugs alone that he worked with, nor medicines for passing ailments that -he distilled. The watchman, drowsily pacing the streets in the small -hours, saw his shadow move athwart the furnace glare in his tower, and -other shadows seemed at the moment to flit about it--shadows that could -be thrown by no tangible form, yet that had a grotesque likeness to the -human kind. A clink of hammers and a hiss of steam were sometimes heard, -and his neighbors devoutly hoped that if he secured the secret of the -philosopher's stone or the universal solvent, it would be honestly come -by. - -But it was neither gold nor the perilous strong water that he wanted. It -was life: the elixir that would dispel the chill and decrepitude of age, -that would bring back the youthful sparkle to the eye and set the pulses -bounding. He explored the surrounding wilderness day after day; the -juices of its trees and plants he compounded, night after night, long -without avail. Not until after a thousand failures did he conceive that -he had secured the ingredients but they were many, they were perishable, -they must be distilled within five days, for fermentation and decay would -set in if he delayed longer. Gathering the herbs and piling his floor -with fuel, he began his work, alone; the furnace glowed, the retorts -bubbled, and through their long throats trickled drops--golden, ruddy, -brown, and crystal--that would be combined into that precious draught. - -And none too soon, for under the strain of anxiety he seemed to be aging -fast. He took no sleep, except while sitting upright in his chair, for, -should he yield entirely to nature's appeal, his fire would die and his -work be spoiled. With heavy eyes and aching head he watched his furnace -and listened to the constant drip, drip of the precious liquor. It was -the fourth day. He had knelt to stir his fire to more active burning. Its -brightness made him blink, its warmth was grateful, and he reclined -before it, with elbow on the floor and head resting on his hand. How -cheerily the logs hummed and crackled, yet how drowsily--how slow the -hours were--how dull the watch! Lower, lower sank the head, and heavier -grew the eyes. At last he lay full length on the floor, and the long -sleep of exhaustion had begun. - -He was awakened by the sound of a bell. "The church bell!" he cried, -starting up. "And people going through the streets to meeting. How is -this? The sun is in the east! My God! I have been asleep! The furnace is -cold. The elixir!" He hastily blended the essences that he had made, -though one or two ingredients were still lacking, and drank them off. -"Faugh!" he exclaimed. "Still unfinished-perhaps spoiled. I must begin -again." Taking his hat and coat he uttered a weary sigh and was about to -open the door when his cheek blenched with pain, sight seemed to leave -him, the cry for help that rose to his lips was stifled in a groan of -anguish, a groping gesture brought a shelf of retorts and bottles to the -floor, and he fell writhing among their fragments. The elixir of life, -unfinished, was an elixir of death. - - - - -ELIZA WHARTON - -Under the name of Eliza Wharton for a brief time lived a woman whose name -was said to be Elizabeth Whitman. Little is known of her, and it is -thought that she had gone among strangers to conceal disgrace. She died -without telling her story. In 1788 she arrived at the Bell Tavern, -Danvers, in company with a man, who, after seeing her properly bestowed, -drove away and never returned. A graceful, beautiful, well-bred woman, -with face overcast by a tender melancholy, she kept indoors with her -books, her sewing, and a guitar, avoiding the gossip of the idle. She -said that her husband was absent on a journey, and a letter addressed to -"Mrs. Eliza Wharton" was to be seen on her table when she received -callers. Once a stranger paused at her door and read the name thereon. As -he passed on the woman groaned, "I am undone!" One good woman, seeing her -need of care and defiant of village prattling, took her to her home, and -there, after giving birth to a dead child, she passed away. Among her -effects were letters full of pathetic appeal, and some verses, closing -thus: - - "O thou for whose dear sake I bear - A doom so dreadful, so severe, - May happy fates thy footsteps guide - And o'er thy peaceful home preside. - Nor let Eliza's early tomb - Infect thee with its baleful gloom." - -A stone was raised above her grave, by whom it is not known, and this -inscription was engraved thereon: "This humble stone, in memory of -Elizabeth Whitman, is inscribed by her weeping friends, to whom she -endeared herself by uncommon tenderness and affection. Endowed with -superior genius and acquirements, she was still more endeared by humility -and benevolence. Let candor throw a veil over her frailties, for great -was her charity for others. She sustained the last painful scene far from -every friend, and exhibited an example of calm resignation. Her departure -was on the 25th of July, 1788, in the thirty-seventh year of her age, and -the tears of strangers watered her grave." - - - - -SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS - -Bitter were the persecutions endured by Quakers at the hands of the -Puritans. They were flogged if they were restless in church, and flogged -if they did not go to it. Their ears were slit and they were set in the -stocks if they preached, and if any tender-hearted person gave them bed, -bite, or sup, he, too, was liable to punishment. They were charged with -the awful offence of preaching false doctrine, and no matter how pure -their lives might be, the stern Salemite would concede no good of them -while their faith was different from his. They even suspected Cobbler -Keezar of mischief when he declared that his magic lapstone which Agrippa -had torn from the tower at Nettesheim--gave him a vision of the time when -men would be as glad as nature, when the "snuffler of psalms" would sing -for joy, when priests and Quakers would talk together kindly, when -pillory and gallows should be gone. Poor Keezar! In ecstasy at that -prospect he flung up his arms, and his lapstone rolled into the -Merrimack. The tired mill-girls of Lowell still frequent the spot to seek -some dim vision of future comfort. - -In contrast to the tales of habitual tyranny toward the Quakers is the -tradition of the Southwicks. Lawrence and Cassandra, of that name, were -banished from Salem, in spite of their blameless lives, for they had -embraced Quakerism. They died within three days of each other on Shelter -Island, but their son and daughter, Daniel and Provided, returned to -their birthplace, and were incessantly fined for not going to church. At -last, having lost their property through seizures made to satisfy their -fines, the General Court of Boston issued an order for their sale, as -slaves, to any Englishman of Virginia or Barbadoes. Edward Butter was -assigned to sell and take them to their master. The day arrived and Salem -market-place was crowded with a throng of the curious. Provided Southwick -mounted the block and Butter began to call for bids. While expatiating on -the aptness of the girl for field or house-service, the master of the -Barbadoes ship on which Butter had engaged passage for himself and his -two charges looked into her innocent face, and roared, in noble dudgeon, -"If my ship were filled with silver, by God, I'd sink her in harbor -rather than take away this child!" The multitude experienced a quick -change of feeling and applauded the sentiment. As the judges and officers -trudged away with gloomy faces, Provided Southwick descended from the -auction-block, and brother and sister went forth into the town free and -unharmed. - - - - -THE COURTSHIP OF MYLES STANDISH - -Myles Standish, compact, hard-headed little captain of the Puritan guard -at Plymouth, never knew the meaning of fear until he went a-courting -Priscilla Mullins--or was she a Molines, as some say? He had fought white -men and red men and never reeked of danger in the doing it, but his -courage sank to his boots whenever this demure maiden glanced at him, as -he thought, with approval. Odd, too, for he had been married once, and -Rose was not so long dead that he had forgotten the ways and likings of -women; but he made no progress in his suit, and finally chose John Alden -to urge it for him. John--who divides with Mary Chilton the honor of -being first to land on Plymouth Rock--was a well-favored lad of -twenty-two. Until he could build a house for himself he shared Standish's -cottage and looked up to that worthy as a guardian, but it was a hard -task that was set for him now. He went to goodman Mullins with a slow -step and sober countenance and asked leave to plead his protector's -cause. The father gave it, called his daughter in, and left them -together; then, with noble faith to his mission, the young man begged the -maiden's hand for the captain, dwelling on his valor, strength, wisdom, -his military greatness, his certainty of promotion, his noble lineage, -and all good attributes he could endow him with. - -Priscilla kept at her spinning while this harangue went on, but the drone -of the wheel did not prevent her noting a sigh and a catch of the breath -that interrupted the discourse now and then. She flushed as she replied, -"Why does not Captain Standish come to me himself? If I am worth the -winning I ought to be worth the wooing." - -But John Alden seemed not to notice the girl's confusion until, in a -pause in his eloquence, Priscilla bent her head a little, as if to mend a -break in the flax, and said, "Prithee, John, why don't you speak for -yourself?" - -Then a great light broke on the understanding of John Alden, and a great -warmth welled up in his heart, and--they were married. Myles -Standish--well, some say that he walked in the wedding procession, while -one narrator holds that the sturdy Roundhead tramped away to the woods, -where he sat for a day, hating himself, and that he never forgave his -protege nor the maiden who took advantage of leap year. However that may -be, the wedding was a happy one, and the Aldens of all America claim John -and Priscilla for their ancestors. - - - - -MOTHER CREWE - -Mother Crewe was of evil repute in Plymouth in the last century. It was -said that she had taken pay for luring a girl into her old farm-house, -where a man lay dead of small-pox, with intent to harm her beauty; she -was accused of blighting land and driving ships ashore with spells; in -brief, she was called a witch, and people, even those who affected to -ignore the craft of wizardry, were content to keep away from her. When -the Revolution ended, Southward Howland demanded Dame Crewe's house and -acre, claiming under law of entail, though primogeniture had been little -enforced in America, where there was room and to spare for all. But -Howland was stubborn and the woman's house had good situation, so one day -he rode to her door and summoned her with a tap of his whip. - -"What do you here on my land?" said he. - -"I live on land that is my own. I cleared it, built my house here, and no -other has claim to it." - -"Then I lay claim. The place is mine. I shall tear your cabin down on -Friday." - -"On Friday they'll dig your grave on Burying Hill. I see the shadow -closing round you. You draw it in with every breath. Quick! Home and make -your peace!" The hag's withered face was touched with spots of red and -her eyes glared in their sunken sockets. - -"Bandy no witch words with me, woman. On Friday I will return." And he -swung himself into his saddle. As he did so a black cat leaped on Mother -Crewe's shoulder and stood there, squalling. The woman listened to its -cries as if they were words. Her look of hate deepened. Raising her hand, -she cried, "Your day is near its end. Repent!" - -"Bah! You have heard what I have said. If on Friday you are not -elsewhere, I'll tear the timbers down and bury you in the ruins." - -"Enough!" cried the woman, her form straightening, her voice grown -shrill. "My curse is on you here and hereafter. Die! Then go down to -hell!" - -As she said this the cat leaped from her shoulder to the flank of the -horse, spitting and clawing, and the frightened steed set off at a -furious pace. As he disappeared in the scrub oaks his master was seen -vainly trying to stop him. The evening closed in with fog and chill, and -before the light waned a man faring homeward came upon the corpse of -Southward Howland stretched along the ground. - - - - -AUNT RACHEL'S CURSE - -On a headland near Plymouth lived "Aunt Rachel," a reputed seer, who made -a scant livelihood by forecasting the future for such seagoing people as -had crossed her palm. The crew of a certain brig came to see her on the -day before sailing, and she reproached one of the lads for keeping bad -company. "Avast, there, granny," interrupted another, who took the -chiding to himself. "None of your slack, or I'll put a stopper on your -gab." The old woman sprang erect. Levelling her skinny finger at the man, -she screamed, "Moon cursers! You have set false beacons and wrecked ships -for plunder. It was your fathers and mothers who decoyed a brig to these -sands and left me childless and a widow. He who rides the pale horse be -your guide, and you be of the number who follow him!" - -That night old Rachel's house was burned, and she barely escaped with her -life, but when it was time for the brig to sail she took her place among -the townfolk who were to see it off. The owner of the brig tried to -console her for the loss of the house. "I need it no longer," she -answered, "for the narrow house will soon be mine, and you wretches -cannot burn that. But you! Who will console you for the loss of your -brig?" - -"My brig is stanch. She has already passed the worst shoal in the bay." - -"But she carries a curse. She cannot swim long." - -As each successive rock and bar was passed the old woman leaned forward, -her hand shaking, her gray locks flying, her eyes starting, her lips -mumbling maledictions, "like an evil spirit, chiding forth the storms as -ministers of vengeance." The last shoal was passed, the merchant sighed -with relief at seeing the vessel now safely on her course, when the woman -uttered a harsh cry, and raised her hand as if to command silence until -something happened that she evidently expected. For this the onlookers -had not long to wait: the brig halted and trembled--her sails shook in -the wind, her crew were seen trying to free the cutter--then she careened -and sank until only her mast-heads stood out of the water. Most of the -company ran for boats and lines, and few saw Rachel pitch forward on the -earth-dead, with a fierce smile of exultation on her face. The rescuers -came back with all the crew, save one--the man who had challenged the old -woman and revengefully burned her cabin. Rachel's body was buried where -her house had stood, and the rock--before unknown--where the brig had -broken long bore the name of Rachel's Curse. - - - - -NIX'S MATE - -The black, pyramidal beacon, called Nix's Mate, is well known to -yachtsmen, sailors, and excursionists in Boston harbor. It rises above a -shoal,--all that is left of a fair, green island which long ago -disappeared in the sea. In 1636 it had an extent of twelve acres, and on -its highest point was a gallows where pirates were hanged in chains. One -night cries were heard on board of a ship that lay at anchor a little way -off shore, and when the watch put off, to see what might be amiss, the -captain, named Nix, was found murdered in his bed. There was no direct -evidence in the case, and no motive could be assigned for the deed, -unless it was the expectancy of promotion on the part of the mate, in -case of his commander's death. - -It was found, however, that this possibility gave significance to certain -acts and sayings of that officer during the voyage, and on circumstantial -evidence so slight as this he was convicted and sentenced to death. As he -was led to execution he swore that he was not guilty, as he had done -before, and from the scaffold he cried aloud, "God, show that I am -innocent. Let this island sink and prove to these people that I have -never stained my hands with human blood." Soon after the execution of his -sentence it was noticed that the surf was going higher on the shore, that -certain rocks were no longer uncovered at low tide, and in time the -island wasted away. The colonists looked with awe on this manifestation -and confessed that God had shown their wrong. - - - - -THE WILD MAN OF CAPE COD - -For years after Bellamy's pirate ship was wrecked at Wellfleet, by false -pilotage on the part of one of his captives, a strange-looking man used -to travel up and down the cape, who was believed to be one of the few -survivors of that night of storm, and of the hanging that others -underwent after getting ashore. The pirates had money when the ship -struck; it was found in the pockets of a hundred drowned who were cast on -the beach, as well as among the sands of the cape, for coin was gathered -there long after. They supposed the stranger had his share, or more, and -that he secreted a quantity of specie near his cabin. After his death -gold was found under his clothing in a girdle. He was often received at -the houses of the fishermen, both because the people were hospitable and -because they feared harm if they refused to feed or shelter him; but if -his company grew wearisome he was exorcised by reading aloud a portion of -the Bible. When he heard the holy words he invariably departed. - -And it was said that fiends came to him at night, for in his room, -whether he appeared to sleep or wake, there were groans and blasphemy, -uncanny words and sounds that stirred the hair of listeners on their -scalps. The unhappy creature cried to be delivered from his tormenters -and begged to be spared from seeing a rehearsal of the murders he had -committed. For some time he was missed from his haunts, and it was -thought that he had secured a ship and set to sea again; but a traveller -on the sands, while passing his cabin in the small hours, had heard a -more than usual commotion, and could distinguish the voice of the wild -man raised in frantic appeal to somebody, or something; still, knowing -that it was his habit to cry out so, and having misgivings about -approaching the house, the traveller only hurried past. A few neighbors -went to the lonely cabin and looked through the windows, which, as well -as the doors, were locked on the inside. The wild man lay still and white -on the floor, with the furniture upset and pieces of gold clutched in his -fingers and scattered about him. There were marks of claws about his -neck. - - - - -NEWBURY'S OLD ELM - -Among the venerable relics of Newbury few are better known and more -prized than the old elm. It is a stout tree, with a girth of twenty-four -and a half feet, and is said to have been standing since 1713. In that -year it was planted by Richard Jacques, then a youthful rustic, who had a -sweetheart, as all rustics have, and adored her as rustics and other men -should do. On one of his visits he stayed uncommonly late. It was nearly -ten o'clock when he set off for home. The town had been abed an hour or -more; the night was murky and oppressively still, and corpse-candles were -dancing in the graveyard. Witch times had not been so far agone that he -felt comfortable, and, lest some sprite, bogie, troll, or goblin should -waylay him, he tore an elm branch from a tree that grew before his -sweetheart's house, and flourished it as he walked. He reached home -without experiencing any of the troubles that a superstitious fancy had -conjured. As he was about to cast the branch away a comforting vision of -his loved one came into his mind, and he determined to plant the branch -at his own door, that in the hours of their separation he might be -reminded of her who dwelt beneath the parent tree. He did so. It rooted -and grew, and when the youth and maid had long been married, their -children and grandchildren sported beneath its branches. - - - - -SAMUEL SEWALL'S PROPHECY - -The peace of Newbury is deemed to be permanently secured by the prophecy -of Samuel Sewall, the young man who married the buxom daughter of -Mint-Master John Hull, and received, as wedding portion, her weight in -fresh-coined pine-tree shillings. He afterward became notorious as one of -the witchcraft judges. The prophecy has not been countervailed, nor is it -likely to be, whether the conditions are kept or not. It runs in this -wise: - -"As long as Plum island shall faithfully keep the commanded Post, -Notwithstanding the hectoring words and hard blows of the proud and -boisterous ocean; As long as any Salmon or Sturgeon shall swim in the -streams of Merrimack, or any Perch or Pickeril in Crane Pond; As long as -the Sea Fowl shall know the time of their coming, and not neglect -seasonably to visit the places of their acquaintance; As long as any -Cattel shall be fed with Grass growing in the meadows which doe humbly -bow themselves before Turkie Hill; As long as any Sheep shall walk upon -Old town Hills, and shall from thence look pleasantly down upon the River -Parker and the fruitful Marishes lying beneath; As long as any free and -harmless Doves shall find a White Oak or other Tree within the township -to perch or feed, or build a careless Nest upon, and shall voluntarily -present themselves to perform the office of Gleaners after Barley -Harvest; As long as Nature shall not grow old and dote, but shall -constantly remember to give the rows of Indian Corn their education by -Pairs; So long shall Christians be born there and being first made meet, -shall from thence be translated to be made partakers of the Saints of -Light." - - - - -THE SHRIEKING WOMAN - -During the latter part of the seventeenth century a Spanish ship, richly -laden, was beset off Marblehead by English pirates, who killed every -person on board, at the time of the capture, except a beautiful English -lady, a passenger on the ship, who was brought ashore at night and -brutally murdered at a ledge of rocks near Oakum Bay. As the fishermen -who lived near were absent in their boats, the women and children, who -were startled from their sleep by her piercing shrieks, dared not attempt -a rescue. Taking her a little way from shore in their boat, the pirates -flung her into the sea, and as she came to the surface and clutched the -gunwale they hewed at her hands with cutlasses. She was heard to cry, -"Lord, save me! Mercy! O, Lord Jesus, save me!" Next day the people found -her mangled body on the rocks, and, with bitter imprecations at the worse -than beasts that had done this wrong, they prepared it for burial. It was -interred where it was found, but, although it was committed to the earth -with Christian forms, for one hundred and fifty years the victim's cries -and appeals were repeated, on each anniversary of the crime, with such -distinctness as to affright all who heard them--and most of the citizens -of Marblehead claimed to be of that number. - - - - -AGNES SURRIAGE - -When, in 1742, Sir Henry Frankland, collector of the port of Boston, went -to Marblehead to inquire into the smuggling that was pretty boldly -carried on, he put up at the Fountain Inn. As he entered that hostelry a -barefooted girl, of sixteen, who was scrubbing the floor, looked at him. -The young man was handsome, well dressed, gallant in bearing, while Agnes -Surriage, maid of all work, was of good figure, beautiful face, and -modest demeanor. Sir Henry tossed out a coin, bidding her to buy shoes -with it, and passed to his room. But the image of Agnes rose constantly -before him. He sought her company, found her of ready intelligence for -one unschooled, and shortly after this visit he obtained the consent of -her parents--humble folk--to take this wild flower to the city and -cultivate it. - -He gave her such an education as the time and place afforded, dressed her -well, and behaved with kindness toward her, while she repaid this care -with the frank bestowal of her heart. The result was not foreseen--not -intended--but they became as man and wife without having wedded. Colonial -society was scandalized, yet the baronet loved the girl sincerely and -could not be persuaded to part from her. Having occasion to visit England -he took Agnes with him and introduced her as Lady Frankland, but the -nature of their alliance had been made known to his relatives and they -refused to receive her. The thought of a permanent union with the girl -had not yet presented itself to the young man. An aristocrat could not -marry a commoner. A nobleman might destroy the honor of a girl for -amusement, but it was beneath his dignity to make reparation for the act. - -Sir Henry was called to Portugal in 1755, and Agnes went with him. They -arrived inopportunely in one respect, though the sequel showed a blessing -in the accident; for while they were sojourning in Lisbon the earthquake -occurred that laid the city in ruins and killed sixty thousand people. -Sir Henry was in his carriage at the time and was buried beneath a -falling wall, but Agnes, who had hurried from her lodging at the first -alarm, sped through the rocking streets in search of her lover. She found -him at last, and, instead of crying or fainting, she set to work to drag -away the stones and timbers that were piled upon him. Had she been a -delicate creature, her lover's equal in birth, such as Frankland was used -to dance with at the state balls, she could not have done this, but her -days of service at the inn had given her a strength that received fresh -accessions from hope and love. In an hour she had liberated him, and, -carrying him to a place of safety, she cherished the spark of life until -health returned. The nobleman had received sufficient proof of Agnes's -love and courage. He realized, at last, the superiority of worth to -birth. He gave his name, as he had already given his heart, to her, and -their married life was happy. - - - - -SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE - -Flood, Fluid, or Floyd Ireson (in some chronicles his name is Benjamin) -was making for Marblehead in a furious gale, in the autumn of 1808, in -the schooner Betsy. Off Cape Cod he fell in with the schooner Active, of -Beverly, in distress, for she had been disabled in the heavy sea and was -on her beam ends, at the mercy of the tempest. The master of the Active -hailed Ireson and asked to be taken off, for his vessel could not last -much longer, but the Betsy, after a parley, laid her course again -homeward, leaving the exhausted and despairing crew of the sinking vessel -to shift as best they might. The Betsy had not been many hours in port -before it was known that men were in peril in the bay, and two crews of -volunteers set off instantly to the rescue. But it was too late. The -Active was at the bottom of the sea. The captain and three of his men -were saved, however, and their grave accusation against the Betsy's -skipper was common talk in Marblehead ere many days. - -On a moonlight night Flood Ireson was roused by knocking at his door. On -opening it he was seized by a band of his townsmen, silently hustled to a -deserted spot, stripped, bound, and coated with tar and feathers. At -break of day he was pitched into an old dory and dragged along the roads -until the bottom of the boat dropped out, when he was mounted in a cart -and the procession continued until Salem was reached. The selectmen of -that town turned back the company, and for a part of the way home the -cart was drawn by a jeering crowd of fishwives. Ireson was released only -when nature had been taxed to the limit of endurance. As his bonds were -cut he said, quietly, "I thank you for my ride, gentlemen, but you will -live to regret it." - -Some of the cooler heads among his fellows have believed the skipper -innocent and throw the blame for the abandonment of the sinking vessel on -Ireson's mutinous crew. There are others, the universal deniers, who -believe that the whole thing is fiction. Those people refuse to believe -in their own grandfathers. Ireson became moody and reckless after this -adventure. He did not seem to think it worth the attempt to clear -himself. At times he seemed trying, by his aggressive acts and bitter -speeches, to tempt some hot-tempered townsman to kill him. He died after -a severe freezing, having been blown to sea--as some think by his own -will--in a smack. - - - - -HEARTBREAK HILL - -The name of Heartbreak Hill pertains, in the earliest records of Ipswich, -to an eminence in the middle of that town on which there was a large -Indian settlement, called Agawam, before the white men settled there and -drove the inhabitants out. Ere the English colony had been firmly planted -a sailor straying ashore came among the simple natives of Agawam, and -finding their ways full of novelty he lived with them for a time. When he -found means to return to England he took with him the love of a maiden of -the tribe, but the girl herself he left behind, comforting her on his -departure with an assurance that before many moons he would return. -Months went by and extended into years, and every day the girl climbed -Heartbreak Hill to look seaward for some token of her lover. At last a -ship was seen trying to make harbor, with a furious gale running her -close to shore, where breakers were lashing the rocks and sand. The girl -kept her station until the vessel, becoming unmanageable, was hurled -against the shore and smashed into a thousand pieces. As its timbers went -tossing away on the frothing billows a white, despairing face was lifted -to hers for an instant; then it sank and was seen nevermore--her lover's -face. The "dusky Ariadne" wasted fast from that day, and she lies buried -beside the ledge that was her watch-tower. - - - - -HARRY MAIN: THE TREASURE AND THE CATS - -Ipswich had a very Old Harry in the person of Harry Main, a dark-souled -being, who, after a career of piracy, smuggling, blasphemy, and -dissipation, became a wrecker, and lured vessels to destruction with -false lights. For his crimes he was sent, after death, to do penance on -Ipswich bar, where he had sent many a ship ashore, his doom being to -twine ropes of sand, though some believe it was to shovel back the sea. -Whenever his rope broke he would roar with rage and anguish, so that he -was heard for miles, whereon the children would run to their trembling -mothers and men would look troubled and shake their heads. After a good -bit of cable had been coiled, Harry had a short respite that he enjoyed -on Plum Island, to the terror of the populace. When the tide and a gale -are rising together people say, as they catch the sound of moaning from -the bar, "Old Harry's grumbling again." - -Now, Harry Main--to say nothing of Captain Kidd--was believed to have -buried his ill-gotten wealth in Ipswich, and one man dreamed for three -successive nights that it had been interred in a mill. Believing that a -revelation had been made to him he set off with spade, lantern, and -Bible, on the first murky night--for he wanted no partner in the -discovery--and found a spot which he recognized as the one that had been -pictured to his sleeping senses. He set to work with alacrity and a -shovel, and soon he unearthed a flat stone and an iron bar. He was about -to pry up the stone when an army of black cats encircled the pit and -glared into it with eyes of fire. - -The poor man, in an access both of alarm and courage, whirled the bar -about his head and shouted "Scat!" The uncanny guards of the treasure -disappeared instanter, and at the same moment the digger found himself up -to his middle in icy water that had poured into the hole as he spoke. - -The moral is that you should never talk when you are hunting for -treasure. Wet, scared, and disheartened, the man crawled out and made -homeward, carrying with him, as proof of his adventure, a case of -influenza and the iron bar. The latter trophy he fashioned into a latch, -in which shape it still does service on one of the doors of Ipswich. - - - - -THE WESSAGUSCUS HANGING - -Among the Puritans who settled in Wessaguscus, now Weymouth, -Massachusetts, was a brash young fellow, of remarkable size and strength, -who, roaming the woods one day, came on a store of corn concealed in the -ground, in the fashion of the Indians. As anybody might have done, he -filled his hat from the granary and went his way. When the red man who -had dug the pit came back to it he saw that his cache had been levied on, -and as the footprints showed the marauder to be an Englishman he went to -the colonists and demanded justice. The matter could have been settled by -giving a pennyworth of trinkets to the Indian, but, as the moral law had -been broken, the Puritans deemed it right that the pilferer should -suffer. - -They held a court and a proposition was made and seriously considered -that, as the culprit was young, hardy, and useful to the colony, his -clothes should be stripped off and put on the body of a bedridden weaver, -who would be hanged in his stead in sight of the offended savages. Still, -it was feared that if they learned the truth about that execution the -Indians would learn a harmful lesson in deceit, and it was, therefore, -resolved to punish the true offender. He, thinking they were in jest, -submitted to be bound, though before doing so he could have "cleaned out" -the court-room, and ere he was really aware of the purpose of his judges -he was kicking at vacancy. - -Butler, in "Hudibras," quotes the story, but makes the offence more -serious-- - - "This precious brother, having slain, - In time of peace, an Indian, - Not out of malice, but mere zeal, - Because he was an infidel, - The mighty Tottipotimoy - Sent to our elders an envoy - Complaining sorely of the breach Of league." - -But the Puritans, having considered that the offender was a teacher and a -cobbler, - - "Resolved to spare him; yet, to do - The Indian Hoghan Moghan, too, - Impartial justice, in his stead did - Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid." - -The whole circumstance is cloudy, and the reader may accept either -version that touches his fancy. - - - - -THE UNKNOWN CHAMPION - -There was that in the very air of the New World that made the Pilgrims -revolt against priests and kings. The Revolution was long a-breeding -before shots were fired at Lexington. Stout old Endicott, having -conceived a dislike to the British flag because to his mind the cross was -a relic of popery, paraded his soldiers and with his sword ripped out the -offending emblem in their presence. There was a faint cry of "Treason!" -but he answered, "I will avouch the deed before God and man. Beat a -flourish, drummer. Shout for the ensign of New England. Pope nor tyrant -hath part in it now." And a loud huzza of independence went forth. - -With this sentiment confirmed among the people, it is not surprising that -the judges who had condemned a papist king--Charles I.--to the block -should find welcome in this land. For months at a time they lived in -cellars and garrets in various parts of New England, their hiding-places -kept secret from the royal sheriffs who were seeking them. For a time -they had shelter in a cave in West Rock, New Haven, and once in that town -they were crouching beneath the bridge that a pursuing party crossed in -search of them. In Ipswich the house is pointed out where they were -concealed in the cellar, and the superstitious believed that, as a -penalty for their regicidal decision, they are doomed to stay there, -crying vainly for deliverance. - -Philip, the Narragansett chief, had declared war on the people of New -England, and was waging it with a persistence and fury that spread terror -through the country. It was a struggle against manifest destiny, such as -must needs be repeated whenever civilization comes to dispute a place in -new lands with savagery, and which has been continued, more and more -feebly, to our own day. The war was bloody, and for a long time the issue -hung in the balance. At last the Indian king was driven westward. The -Nipmucks joined him in the Connecticut Valley, and he laid siege to the -lonely settlements of Brookfield, Northfield, Deerfield, and Springfield, -killing, scalping, and burning without mercy. On the 1st of September, -1675, he attacked Hadley while its people were at church, the war-yelp -interrupting a prayer of the pastor. All the men of the congregation -sallied out with pikes and guns and engaged the foe, but so closely were -they pressed that a retreat was called, when suddenly there appeared -among them a tall man, of venerable and commanding aspect, clad in -leather, and armed with sword and gun. - -His hair and beard were long and white, but his eye was dark and -resolute, and his voice was strong. "Why sink your hearts?" he cried. -"Fear ye that God will give you up to yonder heathen dogs? Follow me, and -ye shall see that this day there is a champion in Israel." - -Posting half the force at his command to sustain the fight, he led the -others quickly by a detour to the rear of the Indians, on whom he fell -with such energy that the savages, believing themselves overtaken by -reinforcements newly come, fled in confusion. When the victors returned -to the village the unknown champion signed to the company to fall to -their knees while he offered thanks and prayer. Then he was silent for a -little, and when they looked up he was gone. - -They believed him to be an angel sent for their deliverance, nor, till he -had gone to his account, did they know that their captain in that crisis -was Colonel William Goffe, one of the regicide judges, who, with his -associate Whalley, was hiding from the vengeance of the son of the king -they had rebelled against. After leaving their cave in New Haven, being -in peril from beasts and human hunters, they went up the Connecticut -Valley to Hadley, where the clergyman of the place, Rev. John Russell, -gave them shelter for fifteen years. Few were aware of their existence, -and when Goffe, pale with seclusion from the light, appeared among the -people near whom he had long been living, it is no wonder that they -regarded him with awe. - -Whalley died in the minister's house and was buried in a crypt outside of -the cellar-wall, while Goffe kept much abroad, stopping in many places -and under various disguises until his death, which occurred soon after -that of his associate. He was buried in New Haven. - - - - -GOODY COLE - -Goodwife Eunice Cole, of Hampton, Massachusetts, was so "vehemently -suspected to be a witch" that in 1680 she was thrown into jail with a -chain on her leg. She had a mumbling habit, which was bad, and a wild -look, which was worse. The death of two calves had been charged to her -sorceries, and she was believed to have raised the cyclone that sent a -party of merrymakers to the sea-bottom off the Isles of Shoals, for -insulting her that morning. Some said that she took the shapes of eagles, -dogs, and cats, and that she had the aspect of an ape when she went -through the mummeries that caused Goody Marston's child to die, yet while -she was in Ipswich jail a likeness of her was stumping about the -graveyard on the day when they buried the child. For such offences as -that of making bread ferment and give forth evil odors, that housekeepers -could only dispel by prayer, she was several times whipped and ducked by -the constable. - -At last she lay under sentence of death, for Anna Dalton declared that -her child had been changed in its cradle and that she hated and feared -the thing that had been left there. Her husband, Ezra, had pleaded with -her in vain. "'Tis no child of mine," she cried. "'Tis an imp. Don't you -see how old and shrewd it is? How wrinkled and ugly? It does not take my -milk: it is sucking my blood and wearing me to skin and bone." Once, as -she sat brooding by the fire, she turned to her husband and said, "Rake -the coals out and put the child in them. Goody Cole will fly fast enough -when she hears it screaming, and will come down chimney in the shape of -an owl or a bat, and take the thing away. Then we shall have our little -one back." - -Goodman Dalton sighed as he looked into the worn, scowling face of his -wife; then, laying his hands on her head, he prayed to God that she might -be led out of the shadow and made to love her child again. As he prayed a -gleam of sunset shone in at the window and made a halo around the face of -the smiling babe. Mistress Dalton looked at the little thing in doubt; -then a glow of recognition came into her eyes, and with a sob of joy she -caught the child to her breast, while Dalton embraced them both, deeply -happy, for his wife had recovered her reason. In the midst of tears and -kisses the woman started with a faint cry: she remembered that a poor old -creature was about to expiate on the gallows a crime that had never been -committed. She urged her husband to ride with all speed to justice Sewall -and demand that Goody Cole be freed. This the goodman did, arriving at -Newbury at ten o'clock at night, when the town had long been abed and -asleep. By dint of alarms at the justice's door he brought forth that -worthy in gown and night-cap, and, after the case had been explained to -him, he wrote an order for Mistress Cole's release. - -With this paper in his hand Dalton rode at once to Ipswich, and when the -cock crew in the dawning the victim of that horrible charge walked forth, -without her manacles. Yet dark suspicion hung about the beldam to the -last, and she died, as she had lived, alone in the little cabin that -stood near the site of the academy. Even after her demise the villagers -could with difficulty summon courage to enter her cot and give her -burial. Her body was tumbled into a pit, hastily dug near her door, and a -stake was driven through the heart to exorcise the powers of evil that -possessed her in life. - - - - -GENERAL MOULTON AND THE DEVIL - -Jonathan Moulton, of Hampton, was a general of consequence in the -colonial wars, but a man not always trusted in other than military -matters. It was even hinted that his first wife died before her time, for -he quickly found consolation in his bereavement by marrying her -companion. In the middle of the night the bride was awakened with a -start, for she felt a cold hand plucking at the wedding-ring that had -belonged to the buried Mrs. Moulton, and a voice whispered in her ear, -"Give the dead her own." With a scream of terror she leaped out of bed, -awaking her husband and causing candles to be brought. The ring was gone. - -It was long after this occurrence that the general sat musing at his -fireside on the hardness of life in new countries and the difficulty of -getting wealth, for old Jonathan was fond of money, and the lack of it -distressed him worse than a conscience. "If only I could have gold -enough," he muttered, "I'd sell my soul for it." Whiz! came something -down the chimney. The general was dazzled by a burst of sparks, from -which stepped forth a lank personage in black velvet with clean ruffles -and brave jewels. "Talk quick, general," said the unknown, "for in -fifteen minutes I must be fifteen miles away, in Portsmouth." And picking -up a live coal in his fingers he looked at his watch by its light. "Come. -You know me. Is it a bargain?" - -The general was a little slow to recover his wits, but the word "bargain" -put him on his mettle, and he began to think of advantageous terms. "What -proof may there be that you can do your part in the compact?" he -inquired. The unknown ran his fingers through his hair and a shower of -guineas jingled on the floor. They were pretty warm, but Moulton, in his -eagerness, fell on hands and knees and gathered them to his breast. - -"Give me some liquor," then demanded Satan, for of course he was no -other, and filling a tankard with rum he lighted it with the candle, -remarked, affably, "To our better acquaintance," and tossed off the -blazing dram at a gulp. "I will make you," said he, "the richest man in -the province. Sign this paper and on the first day of every month I will -fill your boots with gold; but if you try any tricks with me you will -repent it. For I know you, Jonathan. Sign." - -Moulton hesitated. "Humph!" sneered his majesty. "You have put me to all -this trouble for nothing." And he began to gather up the guineas that -Moulton had placed on the table. This was more than the victim of his -wiles could stand. He swallowed a mouthful of rum, seized a pen that was -held out to him, and trembled violently as a paper was placed before him; -but when he found that his name was to appear with some of the most -distinguished in the province his nerves grew steadier and he placed his -autograph among those of the eminent company, with a few crooked -embellishments and all the t's crossed. "Good!" exclaimed the devil, and -wrapping his cloak about him he stepped into the fire and was up the -chimney in a twinkling. - -Shrewd Jonathan went out the next day and bought the biggest pair of -jack-boots he could find in Hampton. He hung them on the crane on the -last night of that and all the succeeding months so long as he lived, and -on the next morning they brimmed with coins. Moulton rolled in wealth. -The neighbors regarded his sudden prosperity with amazement, then with -envy, but afterward with suspicion. All the same, Jonathan was not -getting rich fast enough to suit himself. - -When the devil came to make a certain of his periodical payments he -poured guineas down the chimney for half an hour without seeming to fill -the boots. Bushel after bushel of gold he emptied into those spacious -money-bags without causing an overflow, and he finally descended to the -fireplace to see why. Moulton had cut the soles from the boots and the -floor was knee-deep in money. With a grin at the general's smartness the -devil disappeared, but in a few minutes a smell of sulphur pervaded the -premises and the house burst into flames. Moulton escaped in his shirt, -and tore his hair as he saw the fire crawl, serpent-like, over the beams, -and fantastic smoke-forms dance in the windows. Then a thought crossed -his mind and he grew calm: his gold, that was hidden in wainscot, -cupboard, floor, and chest, would only melt and could be quarried out by -the hundred weight, so that he could be well-to-do again. Before the -ruins were cool he was delving amid the rubbish, but not an ounce of gold -could he discover. Every bit of his wealth had disappeared. It was not -long after that the general died, and to quiet some rumors of disturbance -in the graveyard his coffin was dug up. It was empty. - - - - -THE SKELETON IN ARMOR - -The skeleton of a man wearing a breastplate of brass, a belt made of -tubes of the same metal, and lying near some copper arrow-heads, was -exhumed at Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1834. The body had been -artificially embalmed or else preserved by salts in the soil. His arms -and armor suggest Phoenician origin, but the skeleton is thought to be -that of a Dane or Norwegian who spent the last winter of his life at -Newport. He may have helped to carve the rock at West Newbury, or the -better-known Dighton rock at Taunton River that is covered with -inscriptions which the tides and frosts are fast effacing, and which have -been construed into a record of Norse exploration and discovery, though -some will have it that the inevitable Captain Kidd cut the figures there -to tell of buried treasure. The Indians have a legend of the arrival of -white men in a "bird," undoubtedly a ship, from which issued thunder and -lightning. A battle ensued when the visitors landed, and the white men -wrote the story of it on the rock. Certain scholars of the eighteenth -century declared that the rock bore an account of the arrival of -Phoenician sailors, blown across the Atlantic and unable or unwilling to -return. A representation of the pillars of Hercules was thought to be -included among the sculptures, showing that the castaways were familiar -with the Mediterranean. Only this is known about Dighton Rock, however: -that it stood where it does, and as it does, when the English settled in -this neighborhood. The Indians said there were other rocks near it which -bore similar markings until effaced by tides and drifting ice. - -Longfellow makes the wraith of the long-buried exile of the armor appear -and tell his story: He was a viking who loved the daughter of King -Hildebrand, and as royal consent to their union was withheld he made off -with the girl, hotly followed by the king and seventy horsemen. The -viking reached his vessel first, and hoisting sail continued his flight -over the sea, but the chase was soon upon him, and, having no alternative -but to fight or be taken, he swung around before the wind and rammed the -side of Hildebrand's galley, crushing in its timbers. The vessel tipped -and sank, and every soul on board went with her, while the viking's boat -kept on her course, and after a voyage of three weeks put in at -Narragansett Bay. The round tower at Newport this impetuous lover built -as a bower for his lady, and there he guarded her from the dangers that -beset those who are first in savage countries. When the princess died she -was buried in the tower, and the lonely viking, arraying himself in his -armor, fell on his spear, like Brutus, and expired. - - - - -MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET - -There is no such place as Martha's Vineyard, except in geography and -common speech. It is Martin Wyngaard's Island, and so was named by -Skipper Block, an Albany Dutchman. But they would English his name, even -in his own town, for it lingers there in Vineyard Point. Bartholomew -Gosnold was one of the first white visitors here, for he landed in 1602, -and lived on the island for a time, collecting a cargo of sassafras and -returning thence to England because he feared the savages. - -This scarred and windy spot was the home of the Indian giant, Maushope, -who could wade across the sound to the mainland without wetting his -knees, though he once started to build a causeway from Gay Head to -Cuttyhunk and had laid the rocks where you may now see them, when a crab -bit his toe and he gave up the work in disgust. He lived on whales, -mostly, and broiled his dinners on fires made at Devil's Den from trees -that he tore up by the roots like weeds. In his tempers he raised mists -to perplex sea-wanderers, and for sport he would show lights on Gay Head, -though these may have been only the fires he made to cook his supper -with, and of which some beds of lignite are to be found as remains. He -clove No-Man's Land from Gay Head, turned his children into fish, and -when his wife objected he flung her to Seconnet Point, where she preyed -on all who passed before she hardened into a ledge. - -It is reported that he found the island by following a bird that had been -stealing children from Cape Cod, as they rolled in the warm sand or -paddled on the edge of the sea. He waded after this winged robber until -he reached Martha's Vineyard, where he found the bones of all the -children that had been stolen. Tired with his hunt he sat down to fill -his pipe; but as there was no tobacco he plucked some tons of poke that -grew thickly and that Indians sometimes used as a substitute for the -fragrant weed. His pipe being filled and lighted, its fumes rolled over -the ocean like a mist--in fact, the Indians would say, when a fog was -rising, "Here comes old Maushope's smoke"--and when he finished he -emptied his pipe into the sea. Falling on a shallow, the ashes made the -island of Nantucket. The first Indians to reach the latter place were the -parents of a babe that had been stolen by an eagle. They followed the -bird in their canoe, but arrived too late, for the little bones had been -picked clean. The Norsemen rediscovered the island and called it -Naukiton. Is Nantucket a corruption of that word, or was that word the -result of a struggle to master the Indian name? - - - - -LOVE AND TREASON - -The tribes that inhabited Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before the -whites settled the country were constantly at war, and the people of the -western island once resolved to surprise those of Nantucket and slay as -many as possible before they could arm or organize for battle. The attack -was to be made before daybreak, at an hour when their intended victims -would be asleep in their wigwams, but on rowing softly to the hostile -shore, while the stars were still lingering in the west, the warriors -were surprised at finding the enemy alert and waiting their arrival with -bows and spears in hand. To proceed would have been suicidal, and they -returned to their villages, puzzled and disheartened. Not for some years -did they learn how the camp had been apprised, but at the end of that -time, the two tribes being at peace, one of their young men married a -girl of Nantucket, with whom he had long been in love, and confessed that -on the night preceding the attack he had stolen to the beach, crossed to -Nantucket on a neck of sand that then joined the islands, and was -uncovered only at low tide, sought his mistress, warned her of the -attack, that she, at least, might not be killed; then, at a mad run, with -waves of the rising tide lapping his feet, he returned to his people, who -had not missed him. He set off with a grave and innocent face in the -morning, and was as much surprised as any one when he found the enemy in -arms. - - - - -THE HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTOWN - -The boggy portion of North Kingston, Rhode Island, known as Swamptown, is -of queer repute in its neighborhood, for Hell Hollow, Pork Hill, Indian -Corner, and Kettle Hole have their stories of Indian crimes and -witch-meetings. Here the headless figure of a negro boy was seen by a -belated traveller on a path that leads over the hills. It was a dark -night and the figure was revealed in a blaze of blue light. It swayed to -and fro for a time, then rose from the ground with a lurch and shot into -space, leaving a trail of illumination behind it. Here, too, is -Goose-Nest Spring, where the witches dance at night. It dries up every -winter and flows through the summer, gushing forth on the same day of -every year, except once, when a goose took possession of the empty bed -and hatched her brood there. That time the water did not flow until she -got away with her progeny. - -But the most grewsome story of the place is that of the Indian whose -skull was found by a roadmender. This unsuspecting person took it home, -and, as the women would not allow him to carry it into the house, he hung -it on a pole outside. Just as the people were starting for bed, there -came a rattling at the door, and, looking out of the windows, they saw a -skeleton stalking around in quick and angry strides, like those of a -person looking for something. But how could that be when the skeleton had -neither eyes nor a place to carry them? It thrashed its bony arms -impatiently and its ribs rattled like a xylophone. The spectators were -transfixed with fear, all except the culprit, who said, through the -window, in a matter-of-fact way, "I left your head on the pole at the -back door." The skeleton started in that direction, seized the skull, -clapped it into the place where a head should have grown on its own -shoulders, and, after shaking its fists in a threatening way at the -house, disappeared in the darkness. It is said that he acts as a kind of -guard in the neighborhood, to see that none of the other Indians buried -there shall be disturbed, as he was. His principal lounging place is -Indian Corner, where there is a rock from which blood flows when the moon -shines--a memento, doubtless, of some tragedy that occurred there in -times before the white men knew the place. There is iron in the soil, and -visitors say that the red color is due to that, and that the spring would -flow just as freely on dark nights as on bright ones, if any were there -to see it, but the natives, who have given some thought to these matters, -know better. - - - - -THE CROW AND CAT OF HOPKINSHILL - -In a wood near Hopkins Hill, Rhode Island, is a bowlder, four feet in -diameter, scored with a peculiar furrow. Witch Rock, as it is called, -gained its name two centuries ago, when an old woman abode in a deserted -cabin close by and made the forest dreaded. Figures were seen flitting -through its shadows; articles left out o' nights in neighboring -settlements were missing in the morning, though tramps were unknown; -cattle were afflicted with diseases; stones were flung in at windows by -unseen hands; crops were blighted by hail and frost; and in stormy -weather the old woman was seen to rise out of the woods and stir and push -the clouds before her with a broom. For a hundred yards around Witch Rock -the ground is still accursed, and any attempt to break it up is -unavailing. Nearly a century ago a scoffer named Reynolds declared that -he would run his plough through the enchanted boundary, and the neighbors -watched the attempt from a distance. - -He started well, but on arriving at the magic circle the plough shied and -the wooden landside--or chip, as it was called--came off. It was replaced -and the team started again. In a moment the oxen stood unyoked, while the -chip jumped off and whirled away out of sight. On this, most of the -people edged away in the direction of home, and directly there came from -the north a crow that perched on a dead tree and cawed. John Hopkins, -owner of the land, cried to the bird, "Squawk, you damned old Pat -Jenkins!" and the crow took flight, dropping the chip at Reynolds's feet, -at the same moment turning into a beldam with a cocked hat, who descended -upon the rock. Before the men could reach her she changed into a black -cat and disappeared in the ground. Hunting and digging came to naught, -though the pursuers were so earnest and excited that one of them made the -furrow in the rock with a welt from his shovel. After that few people -cared to go near the place, and it became overgrown with weeds and trees -and bushes. - - - - -THE OLD STONE MILL - -If the round tower at Newport was not Benedict Arnold's wind-mill, and -any one or two of several other things, it is probably a relic of the -occupancy of this country by Thorwald and his Norsemen. After coasting -Wonderstrands (Cape Cod), in the year 1007, they built a town that is -known to historians--if not in their histories--as Norumbega, the lost -city of New England. It is now fancied that the city stood on the Charles -River, near Waltham, Massachusetts, where a monument may be erected, but -it is also believed that they reached the neighborhood of Newport, Rhode -Island. After this tower--popularly called the old stone mill-was built, -a seer among the Narragansetts had a vision in which he foresaw that when -the last remnant of the structure had fallen, and not one stone had been -left on another, the Indian race would vanish from this continent. The -work of its extermination seems, indeed, to have begun with the -possession of the coast by white men, and the fate of the aborigines is -easily read. - - - - -ORIGIN OF A NAME - -The origin of many curious geographical names has become an object of -mere surmise, and this is the more the pity because they suggest such -picturesque possibilities. We would like to know, for instance, how Burnt -Coat and Smutty Nose came by such titles. The conglomerate that strews -the fields south of Boston is locally known as Roxbury pudding-stone, -and, according to Dr. Holmes, the masses are fragments of a pudding, as -big as the State-house dome, that the family of a giant flung about, in a -fit of temper, and that petrified where it fell. But that would have been -called pudding-stone, anyway, from its appearance. The circumstance that -named the reef of Norman's Woe has passed out of record, though it is -known that goodman Norman and his son settled there in the seventeenth -century. It is Longfellow who has endowed the rock with this legend, for -he depicts a wreck there in the fury of a winter storm in 1680--the wreck -of the Hesperus, Richard Norman, master, from which went ashore next -morning the body of an unknown and beautiful girl, clad in ice and lashed -to a broken mast. - -But one of the oddest preservations of an apposite in name is found in -the legend of Point Judith, Rhode Island, an innocent _double entendre_. -About two centuries ago a vessel was driving toward the coast in a gale, -with rain and mist. The skipper's eyes were old and dim, so he got his -daughter Judith to stand beside him at the helm, as he steered the vessel -over the foaming surges. Presently she cried, "Land, father! I see land!" -"Where away?" he asked. But he could not see what she described, and the -roar of the wind drowned her voice, so he shouted, "Point, Judith! -Point!" The girl pointed toward the quarter where she saw the breakers, -and the old mariner changed his course and saved his ship from wreck. On -reaching port he told the story of his daughter's readiness, and other -captains, when they passed the cape in later days, gave to it the name of -Point Judith. - - - - -MICAH ROOD APPLES - -In Western Florida they will show roses to you that drop red dew, like -blood, and have been doing so these many years, for they sprang out of -the graves of women and children who had been cruelly killed by Indians. -But there is something queerer still about the Micah Rood--or -"Mike"--apples of Franklin, Connecticut, which are sweet, red of skin, -snowy of pulp, and have a red spot, like a blood-drop, near the core; -hence they are sometimes known as bloody-hearts. Micah Rood was a farmer -in Franklin in 1693. Though avaricious he was somewhat lazy, and was more -prone to dream of wealth than to work for it. But people whispered that -he did some hard and sharp work on the night after the peddler came to -town--the slender man with a pack filled with jewelry and -knickknacks--because on the morning after that visit the peddler was -found, beneath an apple-tree on Rood farm, with his pack rifled and his -skull split open. - -Suspicion pointed at Rood, and, while nothing was proved against him, he -became gloomy, solitary, and morose, keeping his own counsels more -faithfully than ever--though he never was disposed to take counsel of -other people. If he had expected to profit by the crime he was obviously -disappointed, for he became poorer than ever, and his farm yielded less -and less. To be sure, he did little work on it. When the apples ripened -on the tree that had spread its branches above the peddler's body, the -neighbors wagged their heads and whispered the more, for in the centre of -each apple was a drop of the peddler's blood: a silent witness and -judgment, they said, and the result of a curse that the dying man had -invoked against his murderer. Micah Rood died soon after, without saying -anything that his fellow-villagers might be waiting to hear, but his tree -is still alive and its strange fruit has been grafted on hundreds of -orchards. - - - - -A DINNER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - -The Nipmucks were populous at Thompson, Connecticut, where they skilfully -tilled the fields, and where their earthworks, on Fort Hill, provided -them with a refuge in case of invasion. Their chief, Quinatisset, had his -lodge on the site of the Congregational church in Thompson. They believed -that Chargoggagmanchogagog Pond was paradise--the home of the Great -Spirit and departed souls--and that it would always yield fish to them, -as the hills did game. They were fond of fish, and would barter deer-meat -and corn for it, occasionally, with the Narragansetts. - -Now, these last-named Indians were a waterloving people, and to this day -their "fishing fire"--a column of pale flame--rises out of Quinebaug Lake -once in seven years, as those say who have watched beside its waters -through the night. Knowing their fondness for blue-fish and clams, the -Narragansetts asked the Nipmucks to dine with them on one occasion, and -this courtesy was eagerly accepted, the up-country people distinguishing -themselves by valiant trencher deeds; but, alas, that it should be so! -they disgraced themselves when, soon after, they invited the -Narragansetts to a feast of venison at Killingly, and quarrelled with -their guests over the dressing of the food. This rumpus grew into a -battle in which all but two of the invites were slain. Their hosts buried -them decently, but grass would never grow above their graves. - -This treachery the Great Spirit avenged soon after, when the Nipmucks had -assembled for a powwow, with accessory enjoyments, in the grassy vale -where Mashapaug Lake now reflects the charming landscape, and where, -until lately, the remains of a forest could be seen below the surface. In -the height of the revel the god struck away the foundations of the hills, -and as the earth sank, bearing the offending men and women, waters rushed -in and filled the chasm, so that every person was drowned, save one good -old woman beneath whose feet the ground held firm. Loon Island, where she -stood, remains in sight to-day. - - - - -THE NEW HAVEN STORM SHIP - -In 1647 the New Haven colonists, who even at that early day exhibited the -enterprise that has been a distinguishing feature of the Yankee, sent a -ship to Ireland to try to develop a commerce, their trading posts on the -Delaware having been broken up by the Swedes. When their agent, Captain -Lamberton, sailed--in January--the harbor was so beset with ice that a -track had to be cut through the floes to open water, five miles distant. -She had, moreover, to be dragged out stern foremost--an ill omen, the -sailors thought--and as she swung before the wind a passing drift of fog -concealed her, for a moment, from the gaze of those on shore, who, from -this, foretold things of evil. Though large and new, the ship was so -"walty"--inclined to roll--that the captain set off with misgiving, and -as she moved away the crew heard this solemn and disheartening invocation -from a clergyman on the wharf:--"Lord, if it be thy pleasure to bury -these, our friends, in the bottom of the sea, take them; they are thine: -save them." - -Winter passed; so did spring; still the ship came not; but one afternoon -in June, just as a rain had passed, some children cried, "There's a brave -ship!" for, flying up the harbor, with all sail set and flaunting colors, -was a vessel "the very mould of our ship," the clergyman said. - -Strange to tell, she was going flat against the wind; no sailors were on -her deck; she did not toss with the fling of the waves; there was no -ripple at her bow. As she came close to land a single figure appeared on -the quarter, pointing seaward with a cutlass; then suddenly her main-top -fell, her masts toppled from their holdings, the dismantled hulk careened -and went down. A cloud dropped from heaven and brooded for a time above -the place where it had vanished, and when it lifted the surface of the -sea was empty and still. The good folk of New Haven believed that the -fate of the absent ship had been revealed, at last, for she never came -back and Captain Lamberton was never heard from. - - - - -THE WINDAM FROGS - -On a cloudy night in July, 1758, the people of Windham, Connecticut, were -awakened by screams and shrill voices. Some sprang up and looked to the -priming of their muskets, for they were sure that the Indians were -coming; others vowed that the voices were those of witches or devils, -flying overhead; a few ran into the streets with knives and fire-arms, -while others fastened their windows and prayerfully shrank under the -bedclothes. A notorious reprobate was heard blubbering for a Bible, and a -lawyer offered half of all the money that he had made dishonestly to any -charity if his neighbors would guarantee to preserve his life until -morning. - -All night the greatest alarm prevailed. At early dawn an armed party -climbed the hill to the eastward, and seeing no sign of Indians, or other -invaders, returned to give comfort to their friends. A contest for office -was waging at that period between two lawyers, Colonel Dyer and Mr. -Elderkin, and sundry of the people vowed that they had heard a -challenging yell of "Colonel Dyer! Colonel Dyer!" answered by a guttural -defiance of "Elderkin, too! Elderkin, too!" Next day the reason of it all -came out: A pond having been emptied by drought, the frogs that had lived -there emigrated by common consent to a ditch nearer the town, and on -arriving there had apparently fought for its possession, for many lay -dead on the bank. The night was still and the voices of the contestants -sounded clearly into the village, the piping of the smaller being -construed into "Colonel Dyer," and the grumble of the bull-frogs into -"Elderkin, too." The "frog scare" was a subject of pleasantry directed -against Windham for years afterward. - - - - -THE LAMB OF SACRIFICE - -The Revolution was beginning, homes were empty, farms were deserted, -industries were checked, and the levies of a foreign army had consumed -the stores of the people. A messenger rode into the Connecticut Valley -with tidings of the distress that was in the coast towns, and begged the -farmer folk to spare some of their cattle and the millers some of their -flour for the relief of Boston. On reaching Windham he was received with -good will by Parson White, who summoned his flock by peal of bell, and -from the steps of his church urged the needs of his brethren with such -eloquence that by nightfall the messenger had in his charge a flock of -sheep, a herd of cattle, and a load of grain, with which he was to set -off in the morning. The parson's daughter, a shy maid of nine or ten, -went to her father, with her pet lamb, and said to him, "I must give -this, too, for there are little children who are crying for bread and -meat." - -"No, no," answered the pastor, patting her head and smiling upon her. -"They do not ask help from babes. Run to bed and you shall play with your -lamb to-morrow." - -But in the red of the morning, as he drove his herd through the village -street, the messenger turned at the hail of a childish voice, and looking -over a stone wall he saw the little one with her snow-white lamb beside -her. - -"Wait," she cried, "for my lamb must go to the hungry children of Boston. -It is so small, please to carry it for some of the way, and let it have -fresh grass and water. It is all I have." - -So saying, she kissed the innocent face of her pet, gave it into the arms -of the young man, and ran away, her cheeks shining with tears. Folding -the little creature to his breast, the messenger looked admiringly after -the girl: he felt a glow of pride and hope for the country whose very -children responded to the call of patriotism. "Now, God help me, I will -carry this lamb to the city as a sacrifice." So saying, he set his face -to the east and vigorously strode forward. - - - - -MOODUS NOISES - -The village of Moodus, Connecticut, was troubled with noises. There is no -question as to that. In fact, Machimoodus, the Indian name of the spot, -means Place of Noises. As early as 1700, and for thirty years after, -there were crackings and rumblings that were variously compared to -fusillades, to thunder, to roaring in the air, to the breaking of rocks, -to reports of cannon. A man who was on Mount Tom while the noises were -violent describes the sound as that of rocks falling into immense caverns -beneath his feet and striking against cliffs as they fell. Houses shook -and people feared. - -Rev. Mr. Hosmer, in a letter written to a friend in Boston in 1729, says -that before white settlers appeared there was a large Indian population, -that powwows were frequent, and that the natives "drove a prodigious -trade at worshipping the devil." He adds:--"An old Indian was asked what -was the reason of the noises in this place, to which he replied that the -Indian's god was angry because Englishman's god was come here. Now, -whether there be anything diabolical in these things I know not, but this -I know, that God Almighty is to be seen and trembled at in what has been -often heard among us. Whether it be fire or air distressed in the -subterranean caverns of the earth cannot be known for there is no -eruption, no explosion perceptible but by sounds and tremors which are -sometimes very fearful and dreadful." - -It was finally understood that Haddam witches, who practised black magic, -met the Moodus witches, who used white magic, in a cave beneath Mount -Tom, and fought them in the light of a great carbuncle that was fastened -to the roof. The noises recurred in 1888, when houses rattled in -witch-haunted Salem, eight miles away, and the bell on the village church -"sung like a tuning-fork." The noises have occurred simultaneously with -earthquakes in other parts of the country, and afterward rocks have been -found moved from their bases and cracks have been discovered in the -earth. One sapient editor said that the pearls in the mussels in Salmon -and Connecticut Rivers caused the disturbance. - -If the witch-fights were continued too long the king of Machimoddi, who -sat on a throne of solid sapphire in the cave whence the noises came, -raised his wand: then the light of the carbuncle went out, peals of -thunder rolled through the rocky chambers, and the witches rushed into -the air. Dr. Steele, a learned and aged man from England, built a -crazy-looking house in a lonely spot on Mount Tom, and was soon as much a -mystery as the noises, for it was known that he had come to this country -to stop them by magic and to seize the great carbuncle in the cave--if he -could find it. Every window, crack, and keyhole was closed, and nobody -was admitted while he stayed there, but the clang of hammers was heard in -his house all night, sparks shot from his chimney, and strange odors were -diffused. When all was ready for his adventure he set forth, his path -marked by a faint light that moved before him and stopped at the closed -entrance to the cavern. - -Loud were the Moodus noises that night. The mountain shook and groans and -hisses were heard in the air as he pried up the stone that lay across the -pit-mouth. When he had lifted it off a light poured from it and streamed -into the heaven like a crimson comet or a spear of the northern aurora. -It was the flash of the great carbuncle, and the stars seen through it -were as if dyed in blood. In the morning Steele was gone. He had taken -ship for England. The gem carried with it an evil fate, for the galley -sank in mid-ocean; but, though buried beneath a thousand fathoms of -water, the red ray of the carbuncle sometimes shoots up from the sea, and -the glow of it strikes fear into the hearts of passing sailors. Long -after, when the booming was heard, the Indians said that the hill was -giving birth to another beautiful stone. - -Such cases are not singular. A phenomenon similar to the Moodus noises, -and locally known as "the shooting of Nashoba Hill," occurs at times in -the eminence of that name near East Littleton, Massachusetts. The -strange, deep rumbling was attributed by the Indians to whirlwinds trying -to escape from caves. - -Bald Mountain, North Carolina, was known as Shaking Mountain, for strange -sounds and tremors were heard there, and every moonshiner who had his -cabin on that hill joined the church and was diligent in worship until he -learned that the trembling was due to the slow cracking and separation of -a great ledge. - -At the end of a hot day on Seneca Lake, New York, are sometimes heard the -"lake guns," like exploding gas. Two hundred years ago Agayentah, a wise -and honored member of the Seneca tribe, was killed here by a -lightning-stroke. The same bolt that slew him wrenched a tree from the -bank and hurled it into the water, where it was often seen afterward, -going about the lake as if driven by unseen currents, and among the -whites it got the name of the Wandering Jew. It is often missing for -weeks together, and its reappearances are heralded by the low booming -of--what? The Indians said that the sound was but the echo of Agayentah's -voice, warning them of dangers and summoning them to battle, while the -Wandering Jew became his messenger. - - - - -HADDAM ENCHANTMENTS - -When witchcraft went rampant through New England the Connecticut town of -Haddam owned its share of ugly old women, whom it tried to reform by -lectures and ducking, instead of killing. It was averred that Goody -So-and-So had a black cat for a familiar, that Dame Thus-and-Thus rode on -a broomstick on stormy nights and screeched and gibbered down the -farm-house chimneys, and there were dances of old crones at Devils' Hop -Yard, Witch Woods, Witch Meadows, Giant's Chair, Devil's Footprint, and -Dragon's Rock. Farmers were especially fearful of a bent old hag in a red -hood, who seldom appeared before dusk, but who was apt to be found -crouched on their door-steps if they reached home late, her mole-covered -cheeks wrinkled with a grin, two yellow fangs projecting between her -lips, and a light shining from her eyes that numbed all on whom she -looked. On stormy nights she would drum and rattle at windows, and by -firelight and candle-light her face was seen peering through the panes. - -At Chapman Falls, where the attrition of a stream had worn pot-holes in -the rocks, there were meetings of Haddam witches, to the number of a -dozen. They brewed poisons in those holes, cast spells, and talked in -harsh tongues with the arch fiend, who sat on the brink of the ravine -with his tail laid against his shoulder, like a sceptre, and a red glow -emanating from his body. - -In Devils' Hop Yard was a massive oak that never bears leaves or acorns, -for it has been enchanted since the time that one of the witches, in the -form of a crow, perched on the topmost branch, looked to the four points -of the compass, and flew away. That night the leaves fell off, the twigs -shrivelled, sap ceased to run, and moss began to beard its skeleton -limbs. - -The appearance of witches in the guise of birds was no unusual thing, -indeed, and a farmer named Blakesley shot one of them in that form. He -was hunting in a meadow when a rush of wings was heard and he saw pass -overhead a bird with long neck, blue feathers, and feet like scrawny -hands. It uttered a cry so weird, so shrill, so like mocking laughter -that it made him shudder. This bird alighted on a dead tree and he shot -at it. With another laughing yell it circled around his head. Three times -he fired with the same result. Then he resolved to see if it were -uncanny, for nothing evil can withstand silver--except Congress. Having -no bullets of that metal he cut two silver buttons from his shirt and -rammed them home with a piece of cloth and a prayer. This time the bird -screamed in terror, and tried, but vainly, to rise from the limb. He -fired. The creature dropped, with a button in its body, and fell on its -right side. At that moment an old woman living in a cabin five miles -distant arose from her spinning-wheel, gasped, and fell on her right -side-dead. - - - - -BLOCK ISLAND AND THE PALATINE - -Block Island, or Manisees, is an uplift of clayey moorland between -Montauk and Gay Head. It was for sailors an evil place and "bad medicine" -for Indians, for men who had been wrecked there had been likewise robbed -and ill treated--though the honest islanders of to-day deny it--while the -Indians had been driven from their birthright after hundreds of their -number had fallen in its defence. In the winter of 1750-51 the ship -Palatine set forth over the seas with thrifty Dutch merchants and -emigrants, bound for Philadelphia, with all their goods. A gale delayed -them and kept them beating to and fro on the icy seas, unable to reach -land. The captain died--it was thought that he was murdered--and the -sailors, a brutal set even for those days, threw off all discipline, -seized the stores and arms, and starved the passengers into giving up -their money. - -When those died of hunger whose money had given out--for twenty guilders -were demanded for a cup of water and fifty rix dollars for a -biscuit--their bodies were flung into the sea, and when the crew had -secured all that excited their avarice they took to their boats, leaving -ship and passengers to their fate. It is consoling to know that the -sailors never reached a harbor. The unguided ship, in sight of land, yet -tossed at the mercy of every wind and tenanted by walking skeletons, -struck off Block Island one calm Sunday morning and the wreckers who -lived along the shore set out for her. Their first work was to rescue the -passengers; then they returned to strip everything from the hulk that the -crew had left; but after getting her in tow a gale sprang up, and seeing -that she was doomed to be blown off shore, where she might become a -dangerous obstruction or a derelict, they set her on fire. From the rocks -they watched her drift into misty darkness, but as the flames mounted to -the trucks a scream rang across the whitening sea: a maniac woman had -been left on board. The scream was often repeated, each time more -faintly, and the ship passed into the fog and vanished. - -A twelvemonth later, on the same evening of the year, the islanders were -startled at the sight of a ship in the offing with flames lapping up her -sides and rigging, and smoke clouds rolling off before the wind. It -burned to the water's edge in sight of hundreds. In the winter following -it came again, and was seen, in fact, for years thereafter at regular -intervals, by those who would gladly have forgotten the sight of it (one -of the community, an Indian, fell into madness whenever he saw the -light), while those who listened caught the sound of a woman's voice -raised in agony above the roar of fire and water. - -Substantially the same story is told of a point on the North Carolina -coast, save that in the latter case the passengers, who were from the -Bavarian Palatinate, were put to the knife before their goods were taken. -The captain and his crew filled their boats with treasure and pulled away -for land, first firing the ship and committing its ghastly freight to the -flames. The ship followed them almost to the beach, ere it fell to -pieces, as if it were an animate form, bent on vengeance. The pirates -landed, but none profited by the crime, all of them dying poor and -forsaken. - - - - -THE BUCCANEER - -Among the natives of Block Island was a man named Lee. Born in the last -century among fishermen and wreckers, he has naturally taken to the sea -for a livelihood, and, never having known the influences of education and -refinement, he is rude and imperious in manner. His ship lies in a -Spanish port fitting for sea, but not with freight, for, tired of -peaceful trading, Lee is equipping his vessel as a privateer. A Spanish -lady who has just been bereaved of her husband comes to him to ask a -passage to America, for she has no suspicion of his intent. Her jewels -and well-filled purse arouse Lee's cupidity, and with pretended sympathy -he accedes to her request, even going so far as to allow Senora's -favorite horse to be brought aboard. - -Hardly is the ship in deep water before the lady's servants are stabbed -in their sleep and Lee smashes in the door of her cabin. Realizing his -purpose, and preferring to sacrifice life to honor, she eludes him, -climbs the rail, and leaps into the sea, while the ship ploughs on. As a -poor revenge for being thus balked of his prey the pirate has the -beautiful white horse flung overboard, the animal shrilling a neigh that -seems to reach to the horizon, and is like nothing ever heard before. But -these things he affects to forget in dice and drinking. In a dispute over -a division of plunder Lee stabs one of his men and tosses him overboard. -Soon the rovers come to Block Island, where, under cover of night, they -carry ashore their stealings to hide them in pits and caves, reserving -enough gold to buy a welcome from the wreckers, and here they live for a -year, gaming and carousing. Their ship has been reported as a pirate and -to baffle search it is set adrift. - -One night a ruddy star is seen on the sea-verge and the ruffians leave -their revelling to look at it, for it is growing into sight fast. It -speeds toward them and they can now see that it is a ship--their -shipwrapped in flames. It stops off shore, and out of the ocean at its -prow emerges something white that they say at first is a wave-crest -rolling upon the sands; but it does not dissolve as breakers do: it -rushes on; it scales the bluff it is a milk-white horse, that gallops to -the men, who inly wonder if this is an alcoholic vision, and glares at -Lee. A spell seems to be laid on him, and, unable to resist it, the -buccaneer mounts the animal. It rushes away, snorting and plunging, to -the highest bluff, whence Lee beholds, in the light of the burning ship, -the bodies of all who have been done to death by him, staring into his -eyes through the reddening waves. - -At dawn the horse sinks under him and he stands there alone. From that -hour even his companions desert him. They fear to share his curse. He -wanders about the island, a broken, miserable man, unwilling to live, -afraid to die, refused shelter and friendship, and unable to reach the -mainland, for no boat will give him passage. After a year of this -existence the ship returns, the spectre horse rises from the deep and -claims Lee again for a rider. He mounts; the animal speeds away to the -cliff, but does not pause at the brink this time: with a sickening jump -and fall he goes into the sea. Spurning the wave-tops in his flight he -makes a circuit of the burning ship, and in the hellish light, that fills -the air and penetrates to the ocean bottom, the pirate sees again his -victims looking up with smiles and arms spread to embrace him. - -There is a cry of terror as the steed stops short; then a gurgle, and -horse and rider have disappeared. The fire ship vanishes and the night is -dark. - - - - -ROBERT LOCKWOOD'S FATE - -In the winter of 1779, General Putnam was stationed at Reading, -Connecticut, with a band of ill-fed, unpaid troops. He was quartered at -the Marvin house, and Mary, daughter of farmer Marvin, won her way to the -heart of this rough soldier through the excellence of her dumplings and -the invigorating quality of her flip. He even took her into his -confidence, and, being in want of a spy in an emergency, he playfully -asked her if she knew any brave fellow who could be trusted to take a -false message into the British lines that would avert an impending -attack. Yes, she knew such an one, and would guarantee that he would take -the message if the fortunes of the colonial army would be helped thereby. -Putnam assured her that it would aid the patriot cause, and, farther, -that he would reward her; whereat, with a smile and a twinkling eye, the -girl received the missive and left the room. - -When daylight had left the sky, Mary slipped out of the house, crossed a -pasture, entered a ravine, and in a field beyond reached a cattle -shelter. On the instant a tall form stepped from the shadows and she sank -into its embrace. There was a kiss, a moment of whispered talk, and the -girl hurriedly asked her lover if he would carry a letter to the British -headquarters, near Ridgefield. Of course he would. But he must not read -it, and he must on no account say from whom he had it. The young man -consented without a question--that she required it was sufficient; so, -thrusting the tiny paper into his hand and bidding him God-speed, she -gave him another kiss and they parted--he to go on his errand, she to -pass the night with the clergyman's daughter at the parsonage. At about -ten o'clock Putnam was disturbed by the tramping of feet and a tall, -goodlooking fellow was thrust into his room by a couple of soldiers. The -captive had been found inside the lines, they said, in consultation with -some unknown person who had escaped the eye of the sentry in the -darkness. When captured he had put a piece of paper into his mouth and -swallowed it. He gave the name of Robert Lockwood, and when Putnam -demanded to know what he had been doing near the camp without a permit he -said that he was bound by a promise not to tell. - -"Are you a patriot?" asked the general. - -"I am a royalist. I do not sympathize with rebellion. I have been a man -of peace in this war." - -Putnam strode about the room, giving vent to his passion in language -neither choice nor gentle, for he had been much troubled by spies and -informers since he had been there. Then, stopping, he said: - -"Some one was with you to-night-some of my men. Tell me that traitor's -name and I'll spare your life and hang him before the whole army." - -The prisoner turned pale and dropped his head. He would not violate his -promise. - -"You are a British spy, and I'll hang you at sunrise!" roared Putnam. - -In vain the young man pleaded for time to appeal to Washington. He was -not a spy, he insisted, and it would be found, perhaps too late, that a -terrible mistake had been committed. His words were unheeded: he was led -away and bound, and as the sun was rising on the next morning the -sentence of courtmartial was executed upon him. - -At noon Mary returned from the parsonage, her eyes dancing and her mouth -dimpling with smiles. Going to Putnam, she said, with a dash of -sauciness, "I have succeeded, general. I found a lad last night to take -your message. I had to meet him alone, for he is a Tory; so he cannot -enter this camp. The poor fellow had no idea that he was doing a service -for the rebels, for he did not know what was in the letter, and I bound -him not to tell who gave it to him. You see, I punished him for abiding -by the king." - -The general laughed and gazed at her admiringly. - -"You're a brave girl," he said, "and I suppose you've come for your -reward. Well, what is it to be?" - -"I want a pass for Robert Lockwood. He is the royalist I spoke of, but he -will not betray you, for he is not a soldier; and--his visits make me -very happy." - -"The spy you hanged this morning," whispered an aide in Putnam's ear. -"Give her the pass and say nothing of what has happened." - -The general started, changed color, and paused; then he signed the order -with a dash, placed it in the girl's hand, gravely kissed her, watched -her as she ran lightly from the house, and going to his bedroom closed -the door and remained alone for an hour. From that time he never spoke of -the affair, but when his troops were ordered away, soon after, he almost -blenched as he gave good-by to Mary Marvin, and met her sad, reproachful -look, though to his last day he never learned whether or no she had -discovered Robert Lockwood's fate. - - - - -LOVE AND RUM - -Back in the seventeenth century a number of Yankee traders arrived in -Naugatuck to barter blankets, beads, buttons, Bibles, and brandy for -skins, and there they met chief Toby and his daughter. Toby was not a -pleasing person, but his daughter was well favored, and one of the -traders told the chief that if he would allow the girl to go to Boston -with him he would give to him--Toby--a quart of rum. Toby was willing -enough. He would give a good deal for rum. But the daughter declined to -be sold off in such a fashion unless--she coyly admitted--she could have -half of the rum herself. Loth as he was to do so, Toby was brought to -agree to this proposition, for he knew that rum was rare and good and -girls were common and perverse, so the gentle forest lily took her mug of -liquor and tossed it off. Now, it is not clear whether she wished to -nerve herself for the deed that followed or whether the deed was a result -of the tonic, but she made off from the paternal wigwam and was presently -seen on the ledge of Squaw Rock, locally known also as High Rock, from -which in another moment she had fallen. Toby had pursued her, and on -finding her dead he vented a howl of grief and anger and flung the now -empty rum-jug after her. A huge bowlder arose from the earth where it -struck, and there it remains--a monument to the girl and a warning to -Tobies. - -Another version of the story is that the girl sprang from the rock to -escape the pursuit of a lover who was hateful to her, and who had her -almost in his grasp when she made the fatal leap. In the crevice half-way -up the cliff her spirit has often been seen looking regretfully into the -rich valley that was her home, and on the 20th of March and 20th of -September, in every year, it is imposed on her to take the form of a -seven-headed snake, the large centre head adorned with a splendid -carbuncle. Many have tried to capture the snake and secure this precious -stone, for an old prophecy promises wealth to whoever shall wrest it from -the serpent. But thus far the people of Connecticut have found more -wealth in clocks and tobacco than in snakes and carbuncles. - - - - -LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH - - - - -THE SWIM AT INDIAN HEAD - -At Indian Head, Maryland, are the government proving-grounds, where the -racket of great guns and splintering of targets are a deterrent to the -miscellaneous visitations of picnics. Trouble has been frequently -associated with this neighborhood, as it is now suggested in the noisy -symbolry of war. In prehistoric days it was the site of an aboriginal -town, whose denizens were like other Indians in their love for fight and -their willingness to shed blood. Great was the joy of all these citizens -when a scouting party came in, one day, bringing with them the daughter -of one of their toughest old hunters and a young buck, from another -faction, who had come a-courting; her in the neighboring shades. - -Capture meant death, usually, and he knew it, but he held himself proudly -and refused to ask for mercy. It was resolved that he should die. The -father's scorn for his daughter, that she should thus consort with an -enemy, was so great that he was on the point of offering her as a joint -sacrifice with her lover, when she fell on her knees before him and began -a fervent appeal, not for herself, but for the prisoner. She would do -anything to prove her strength, her duty, her obedience, if they would -set him free. He had done injury to none. What justice lay in putting him -to the torture? - -Half in earnest, half in humor, the chief answered, "Suppose we were to -set him on the farther shore of the Potomac, do you love him well enough -to swim to him?" - -"I do." - -"The river is wide and deep." - -"I would drown in it rather than that harm should come to him." - -The old chief ordered the captive, still bound, to be taken to a point on -the Virginia shore, full two miles away, in one of their canoes, and when -the boat was on the water he gave the word to the girl, who instantly -plunged in and followed it. The chief and the father embarked in another -birch--ostensibly to see that the task was honestly fulfilled; really, -perhaps, to see that the damsel did not drown. It was a long course, but -the maid was not as many of our city misses are, and she reached the -bank, tired, but happy, for she had saved her lover and gained him for a -husband. - - - - -THE MOANING SISTERS - -Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the -Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other--for -they are parts of a submerged reef--but because of a tradition that, more -than a hundred years ago, a boat in which three sisters had gone out for -a row was swung against one of these rocks. The day was gusty and the -boat was upset. All three of the girls were drowned. Either the sisters -remain about this perilous spot or the rocks have prescience; at least, -those who live near them on the shore hold one view or the other, for -they declare that before every death on the river the sisters moan, the -sound being heard above the lapping of the waves. It is different from -any other sound in nature. Besides, it is an unquestioned fact that more -accidents happen here than at any other point on the river. - -Many are the upsets that have occurred and many are the swimmers who have -gone down, the dark forms of the sisters being the last shapes that their -water-blurred eyes have seen. It is only before a human life is to be -yielded that this low wailing comes from the rocks, and when, on a night -in May, 1889, the sound floated shoreward, just as the clock in -Georgetown struck twelve, good people who were awake sighed and uttered a -prayer for the one whose doom was so near at hand. Twelve hours later, at -noon, a shell came speeding down the Potomac, with a young athlete -jauntily pulling at the oars. As he neared the Three Sisters his boat -appeared to be caught in an eddy; it swerved suddenly, as if struck; then -it upset and the rower sank to his death. - - - - -A RIDE FOR A BRIDE - -When the story of bloodshed at Bunker Hill reached Bohemia Hall, in Cecil -County, Maryland, Albert De Courcy left his brother Ernest to support the -dignity of the house and make patriotic speeches, while he went to the -front, conscious that Helen Carmichael, his affianced wife, was watching, -in pride and sadness, the departure of his company. Letters came and -went, as they always do, until rumor came of a sore defeat to the -colonials at Long Island; then the letters ceased. - -It was a year later when a ragged soldier, who had stopped at the hall -for supper, told of Albert's heroism in covering the retreat of -Washington. The gallant young officer had been shot, he said, as he -attempted to swim the morasses of Gowanus. But this soldier was in error. -Albert had been vexatiously bogged on the edge of the creek. While -floundering in the mud a half dozen sturdy red-coats had lugged him out -and he was packed off to the prison-ships anchored in the Wallabout. In -these dread hulks, amid darkness and miasma, living on scant, unwholesome -food, compelled to see his comrades die by dozens every day and their -bodies flung ashore where the tide lapped away the sand thrown over them, -De Courcy wished that death instead of capture had been his lot, for next -to his love he prized his liberty. - -One day he was told off, with a handful of others, for transfer to a -stockade on the Delaware, and how his heart beat when he learned that the -new prison was within twenty miles of home! His flow of spirits returned, -and his new jailers liked him for his frankness and laughed at his honest -expletives against the king. He had the liberty of the enclosure, and was -not long in finding where the wall was low, the ditch narrow, and the -abatis decayed--knowledge that came useful to him sooner than he -expected, for one day a captured horse was led in that made straight for -him with a whinny and rubbed his nose against his breast. - -"Why!" he cried,--"it's Cecil! My horse, gentlemen--or, was. Not a better -hunter in Maryland!" - -"Yes," answered one of the officers. "We've just taken him from your -brother. He's been stirring trouble with his speeches and has got to be -quieted. But we'll have him to-day, for he's to be married, and a -scouting party is on the road to nab him at the altar." - -"Married! My brother! What! Ernest, the lawyer, the orator? Ho, ho! Ah, -but it's rather hard to break off a match in that style!" - -"Hard for him, maybe; but they say the lady feels no great love for him. -He made it seem like a duty to her, after her lover died." - -"How's that? Her own--what's her name?" - -"Helen--Helen Carmichael, or something like that." - -Field and sky swam before De Courcy's eyes for a moment; then he resumed, -in a calm voice, and with a pale, set face, "Well, you're making an -unhappy wedding-day for him. If he had Cecil here he would outride you -all. Ah, when I was in practice I could ride this horse and snatch a -pebble from the ground without losing pace!" - -"Could you do it now?" - -"I'm afraid long lodging in your prison-ships has stiffened my joints, -but I'd venture at a handkerchief." - -"Then try," said the commandant. - -De Courcy mounted into the saddle heavily, crossed the grounds at a -canter, and dropped a handkerchief on the grass. Then, taking a few turns -for practice, he started at a gallop and swept around like the wind. His -seat was so firm, his air so noble, his mastery of the steed so complete, -that a cheer of admiration went up. He seemed to fall headlong from the -saddle, but was up again in a moment, waving the handkerchief gayly in -farewell--for he kept straight on toward the weak place in the wall. A -couple of musket-balls hummed by his ears: it was neck or nothing now! A -tremendous leap! Then a ringing cry told the astonished soldiers that he -had reached the road in safety. Through wood and thicket and field he -dashed as if the fiend were after him, and never once did he cease to -urge his steed till he reached the turnpike, and saw ahead the scouting -party on its way to arrest his brother. - -Turning into a path that led to the rear of the little church they were -so dangerously near, he plied hands and heels afresh, and in a few -moments a wedding party was startled by the apparition of a black horse, -all in a foam, ridden by a gaunt man, in torn garments, that burst in at -the open chancel-door. The bridegroom cowered, for he knew his brother. -The bride gazed in amazement. "'Tis the dead come to life!" cried one. De -Courcy had little time for words. He rode forward to the altar, swung -Helen up behind him, and exclaimed, "Save yourselves! The British are -coming! To horse, every one, and make for the manor!" There were shrieks -and fainting--and perhaps a little cursing, even if it was in -church,--and when the squadron rode up most of the company were in full -flight. Ernest was taken, and next morning held his brother's place on -the prison-list, while, as arrangements had been made for a wedding, -there was one, and a happy one, but Albert was the bridegroom. - - - - -SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE - -The hills about the head of the Hiawassee are filled with "harnts," among -them many animal ghosts, that ravage about the country from sheer -viciousness. The people of the region, illiterate and superstitious, have -unquestioning faith in them. They tell you about the headless bull and -black dog of the valley of the Chatata, the white stag of the -Sequahatchie, and the bleeding horse of the Great Smoky Mountains--the -last three being portents of illness, death, or misfortune to those who -see them. - -Other ghosts are those of men. Near the upper Hiawassee is a cave where a -pile of human skulls was found by a man who had put up his cabin near the -entrance. For some reason, which he says he never understood, this farmer -gathered up the old, bleached bones and dumped them into his shed. Quite -possibly he did not dare to confess that he wanted them for fertilizers -or to burn them for his poultry. - -Night fell dark and still, with a waning moon rising over the -mountains--as calm a night as ever one slept through. Along toward the -middle of it a sound like the coming of a cyclone brought the farmer out -of his bed. He ran to the window to see if the house were to be uprooted, -but the forest was still, with a strange, oppressive stillness--not a -twig moving, not a cloud veiling the stars, not an insect chirping. -Filled with a vague fear, he tried to waken his wife, but she was like -one in a state of catalepsy. - -Again the sound was heard, and now he saw, without, a shadowy band -circling about his house like leaves whirled on the wind. It seemed to be -made of human shapes, with tossing arms--this circling band--and the -sound was that of many voices, each faint and hollow, by itself, but loud -in aggregate. He who was watching realized then that the wraiths of the -dead whose skulls he had purloined from their place of sepulture were out -in lament and protest. He went on his knees at once and prayed with vigor -until morning. As soon as it was light enough to see his way he replaced -the skulls, and was not troubled by the "haunts" again. All the gold in -America, said he, would not tempt him to remove any more bones from the -cave-tombs of the unknown dead. - - - - -LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP - -Drummond's Pond, or the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, is a dark and lonely -tarn that lies in the centre of this noted Virginia morass. It is, in a -century-old tradition, the Styx of two unhappy ghosts that await the end -of time to pass its confines and enjoy the sunshine of serener worlds. A -young woman of a family that had settled near this marsh died of a fever -caused by its malarial exhalations, and was buried near the swamp. The -young man to whom she was betrothed felt her loss so keenly that for days -he neither ate nor slept, and at last broke down in mind and body. He -recovered a measure of physical health, after a time, but his reason was -hopelessly lost. - -It was his hallucination that the girl was not dead, but had been exiled -to the lonely reaches of this watery wilderness. He was heard to mutter, -"I'll find her, and when Death comes I'll hide her in the hollow of a -cypress until he passes on." Evading restraint, he plunged into the fen, -and for some days he wandered there, eating berries, sleeping on tussocks -of grass, with water-snakes crawling over him and poisonous plants -shedding their baneful dew on his flesh. He came to the lake at last. A -will-o'the-wisp played along the surface. "'Tis she!" he cried. "I see -her, standing in the light." Hastily fashioning a raft of cypress boughs -he floated it and pushed toward the centre of the pond, but the eagerness -of his efforts and the rising of a wind dismembered the frail platform, -and he fell into the black water to rise no more. But often, in the -night, is seen the wraith of a canoe, with a fire-fly lamp burning on its -prow, restlessly urged to and fro by two figures that seem to be vainly -searching for an exit from the place, and that are believed to be those -of the maiden and her lover. - - - - -THE BARGE OF DEFEAT - -Rappannock River, in Virginia, used to be vexed with shadowy craft that -some of the populace affirmed to be no boats, but spirits in disguise. -One of these apparitions was held in fear by the Democracy of Essex -County, as it was believed to be a forerunner of Republican victory. The -first recorded appearance of the vessel was shortly after the Civil War, -on the night of a Democratic mass-meeting at Tappahannock. There were -music, refreshments, and jollity, and it was in the middle of a rousing -speech that a man in the crowd cried, "Look, fellows! What is that queer -concern going down the river?" - -The people moved to the shore, and by the light of their torches a hulk -was seen drifting with the stream--a hulk of fantastic form unlike -anything that sails there in the daytime. As it came opposite the throng, -the torchlight showed gigantic negroes who danced on deck, showing -horrible faces to the multitude. Not a sound came from the barge, the -halloos of the spectators bringing no response, and some boatmen ventured -into the stream, only to pull back in a hurry, for the craft had become -so strangely enveloped in shadow that it seemed to melt into air. - -Next day the Democracy was defeated at the polls, chiefly by the negro -vote. In 1880 it reappeared, and, as before, the Republicans gained the -day. Just before the election of 1886, Mr. Croxton, Democratic nominee -for Congress, was haranguing the people, when the cry of "The Black -Barge!" arose. Argument and derision were alike ineffectual with the -populace. The meeting broke up in silence and gloom, and Mr. Croxton was -defeated by a majority of two thousand. - - - - -NATURAL BRIDGE - -Though several natural bridges are known in this country, there is but -one that is famous the world over, and that is the one which spans Clear -Creek, Virginia--the remnant of a cave-roof, all the rest of the cavern -having collapsed. It is two hundred and fifteen feet above the water, and -is a solid mass of rock forty feet thick, one hundred feet wide, and -ninety feet in span. Thomas Jefferson owned it; George Washington scaled -its side and carved his name on the rock a foot higher than any one else. -Here, too, came the youth who wanted to cut his name above Washington's, -and who found, to his horror, when half-way up, that he must keep on, for -he had left no resting-places for his feet at safe and reachable -distances--who, therefore, climbed on and on, cutting handhold and -foothold in the limestone until he reached the top, in a fainting state, -his knife-blade worn to a stump. Here, too, in another tunnel of the -cavern, flows Lost River, that all must return to, at some time, if they -drink of it. Here, beneath the arch, is the dark stain, so like a flying -eagle that the French officer who saw it during the Revolution augured -from it a success for the united arms of the nations that used the eagle -as their symbol. - -The Mohegans knew this wonder of natural masonry, for to this point they -were pursued by a hostile tribe, and on reaching the gulf found -themselves on the edge of a precipice that was too steep at that point to -descend. Behind them was the foe; before them, the chasm. At the -suggestion of one of their medicine-men they joined in a prayer to the -Great Spirit for deliverance, and when again they looked about them, -there stood the bridge. Their women were hurried over; then, like so many -Horatii, they formed across this dizzy highway and gave battle. -Encouraged by the knowledge that they had a safe retreat in case of being -overmastered, they fought with such heart that the enemy was defeated, -and the grateful Mohegans named the place the Bridge of God. - - - - -THE SILENCE BROKEN - -It was in 1734 that Joist Hite moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with -his wife and boys, and helped to make a settlement on the Shenandoah -twelve miles south of Woodstock. When picking berries at a distance from -the village, one morning, the boys were surprised by Indians, who hurried -with them into the wilderness before their friends could be apprised. -Aaron, the elder, was strong, and big of frame, with coarse, black hair, -and face tanned brown; but his brother was small and fair, with blue eyes -and yellow locks, and it was doubtless because he was a type of the hated -white race that the Indians spent their blows and kicks on him and spared -the sturdy one. Aaron was wild with rage at the injuries put upon his -gentle brother, but he was bound and helpless, and all that he could do -was to encourage him to bear a stout heart and not to fall behind. - -But Peter was too delicate to keep up, and there came a day when he could -go no farther. The red men consulted for a few moments, then all of them -stood apart but one, who fitted an arrow to his bow. The child's eyes -grew big with fear, and Aaron tore at his bonds, but uselessly, and -shouted that he would take the victim's place, but no one understood his -speech, and in another moment Peter lay dead on the earth, with an arrow -in his heart. Aaron gave one cry of hate and despair, and he, too, sank -unconscious. On coming to himself he found that he was in a hut of -boughs, attended by an old Indian, who told him in rude English that he -was recovering from an illness of several weeks' duration, and that it -was the purpose of his tribe to adopt him. When the lad tried to protest -he found to his amazement that he could not utter a sound, and he learned -from the Indian that the fever had taken away his tongue. In the dulness -and weakness of his state he submitted to be clothed in Indian dress, -smeared with a juice that browned his skin, and greeted by his brother's -slayers as one of themselves. When he looked into a pool he found that he -had, to all intents, become an Indian. In time he became partly -reconciled to this change, for he did not know and could not ask where -the white settlements lay; his appearance and his inability to speak -would prevent his recognition by his friends, the red men were not unkind -to him, and every boy likes a free and out-door life. They taught him to -shoot with bow and arrow, but they kept him back if a white settlement -was to be plundered. - -Three years had elapsed, and Aaron, grown tall and strong, was a good -hunter who stood in favor with the tribe. They had roamed back to the -neighborhood of Woodstock, when, at a council, Aaron overheard a plot to -fall on the village where his parents lived. He begged, by signs, to be -allowed to go with them, and, believing that he could now be trusted, -they offered no objection. Stoic as he had grown to be, he could not -repress a tear as he saw his old home and thought of the peril that it -stood in. If only he could give an alarm! The Indians retired into the -forest to cook their food where the smoke could not be seen, while Aaron -lingered at the edge of the wood and prayed for opportunity. He was not -disappointed. Two girls came up through the perfumed dusk, driving cows -from the pasture, and as they drew near, Aaron, pretending not to see -them, crawled out of the bush with his weapons, and made a show of -stealthily examining the town. The girls came almost upon him and -screamed, while he dashed into the wood in affected surprise and regained -the camp. The Indians had heard and seen nothing. The girls would surely -give the alarm in town. - -One by one the lights of the village went out, and when it seemed locked -in sleep the red marauders crept toward the nearest house--that of Joist -Hite. They arose together and rushed upon it, but at that moment a gun -was fired, an Indian fell, and in a few seconds more the settlers, whom -the girls had not failed to put on their guard, were hurrying from their -hiding-places, firing into the astonished crowd of savages, who dashed -for the woods again, leaving a dozen of their number on the ground. Aaron -remained quietly standing near his father's house, and he was captured, -as he hoped to be. When he saw how his parents had aged with time and -grief he could not repress a tear, but to his grief was added terror when -his father, after looking him steadily in the eye without recognition, -began to load a pistol. "They killed my boys," said he, "and I am going -to kill him. Bind him to that tree." - -In vain the mother pleaded for mercy; in vain the dumb boy's eyes -appealed to his father's. He was not afraid to die, and would do so -gladly to have saved the settlement; but to die by his father's band! He -could not endure it. He was bound to a tree, with the light of a fire -shining into his face. - -The old man, with hard determination, raised the weapon and aimed it -slowly at the boy's heart. A surge of feeling shook the frame of the -captive--he threw his whole life into the effort--then the silence of -three years was broken, and he cried, "Father!" A moment later his -parents were sobbing joyfully, and he could speak to them once more. - - - - -SIREN OF THE FRENCH BROAD - -Among the rocks east of Asheville, North Carolina, lives the Lorelei of -the French Broad River. This stream--the Tselica of the Indians--contains -in its upper reaches many pools where the rapid water whirls and deepens, -and where the traveller likes to pause in the heats of afternoon and -drink and bathe. Here, from the time when the Cherokees occupied the -country, has lived the siren, and if one who is weary and downcast sits -beside the stream or utters a wish to rest in it, he becomes conscious of -a soft and exquisite music blending with the plash of the wave. - -Looking down in surprise he sees--at first faintly, then with -distinctness--the form of a beautiful woman, with hair streaming like -moss and dark eyes looking into his, luring him with a power he cannot -resist. His breath grows short, his gaze is fixed, mechanically he rises, -steps to the brink, and lurches forward into the river. The arms that -catch him are slimy and cold as serpents; the face that stares into his -is a grinning skull. A loud, chattering laugh rings through the -wilderness, and all is still again. - - - - -THE HUNTER OF CALAWASSEE - -Through brisk November days young Kedar and his trusty slave, Lauto, -hunted along the Calawassee, with hope to get a shot at a buck--a buck -that wore a single horn and that eluded them with easy, baffling gait -whenever they met it in the fens. Kedar was piqued at this. He drained a -deep draught and buttoned his coat with an air of resolution. "Now, by my -soul," quoth he, "I'll have that buck to-day or die myself!" Then he -laughed at the old slave, who begged him to unsay the oath, for there was -something unusual about that animal--as it ran it left no tracks, and it -passed through the densest wood without halting at trees or undergrowth. -"Bah!" retorted the huntsman. "Have up the dogs. If that buck is the -fiend himself, I'll have him before the day is out!" The twain were -quickly in their saddles, and they had not been long in the wood before -the one-horned buck was seen ahead, trotting with easy pace, yet with -marvellous swiftness. - -Kedar, who was in advance, whipped up his horse and followed the deer -into a cypress grove near the Chechesee. As the game halted at a pool he -fired. The report sounded dead in the dense wood, and the deer turned -calmly, watched his pursuer until he was close at hand, then trotted away -again. All day long he held the chase. The dogs were nowhere within -sound, and he galloped through the forest, shouting and swearing like a -very devil, beating and spurring the horse until the poor creature's head -and flanks were reddened with blood. It was just at sunset that Kedar -found himself again on the bank of the Calawassee, near the point he had -left in the morning, and heard once more the baying of his hounds. At -last his prey seemed exhausted, and, swimming the river, it ran into a -thicket on the opposite side and stood still. "Now I have him!" cried the -hunter. "Hillio, Lauto! He's mine!" The old negro heard the call and -hastened forward. He heard his master's horse floundering in the swamp -that edged the river--then came a plash, a curse, and as the slave -arrived at the margin a few bubbles floated on the sluggish current. The -deer stood in the thicket, staring with eyes that blazed through the -falling darkness, and, with a wail of fear and sorrow, old Lauto fled the -spot. - - - - -REVENGE OF THE ACCABEE - -The settlement made by Lord Cardross, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was -beset by Spaniards and Indians, who laid it in ashes and slew every -person in it but one. She, a child of thirteen, had supposed the young -chief of the Accabees to be her father, as he passed in the smoke, and -had thrown herself into his arms. The savage raised his axe to strike, -but, catching her blue eye raised to his, more in grief and wonder than -alarm, the menacing hand fell to his side, and, tossing the girl lightly -to a seat on his shoulder, he strode off into the forest. Mile after mile -he bore her, and if she slept he held her to his breast as a father holds -a babe. When she awoke it was in his lodge on the Ashley, and he was -smiling in her face. The chief became her protector; but those who -marked, with the flight of time, how his fierceness had softened, knew -that she was more to him than a daughter. Years passed, the girl had -grown to womanhood, and her captor declared himself her lover. She seemed -not ill pleased at this, for she consented to be his wife. After the -betrothal the chief joined a hunting party and was absent for a time. On -his return the girl was gone. A trader who had been bartering merchandise -for furs had seen her, had been inspired by passion, and, favored by -suave manners and a white skin, he had won in a day a stronger affection -than the Indian could claim after years of loving watchfulness. - -When this discovery was made the chief, without a word, set off on the -trail, and by broken twig, by bended grass and footprints at the -brook-edge, he followed their course until he found them resting beneath -a tree. The girl sprang from her new lover's arms with a cry of fear as -the savage, with knife and tomahawk girt upon him, stepped into view, and -she would have clasped his knees, but he motioned her away; then, -ordering them to continue their march, he went behind them until they had -reached a fertile spot on the Ashley, near the present site of -Charleston, where he halted. "Though guilty, you shall not die," said he -to the woman; then, to his rival, "You shall marry her, and a white -priest shall join your hands. Here is your future home. I give you many -acres of my land, but look that you care for her. As I have been merciful -to you, do good to her. If you treat her ill, I shall not be far away." - -The twain were married and went to live on the acres that had been so -generously ceded to them, and for a time all went well; but the true -disposition of the husband, which was sullen and selfish, soon began to -disclose itself; disagreements arose, then quarrels; at last the man -struck his wife, and, seizing the deed of the Accabee land and a paper -that he had forced her to sign without knowing its contents, he started -for the settlements, intending to sell the property and sail for England. -On the edge of the village his flight was stayed by a tall form that -arose in his path-that of the Indian. "I gave you all," said the chief, -"the woman who should have been my wife, and then my land. This is your -thanks. You shall go no farther." - -With a quick stroke of the axe he cleft the skull of the shrinking -wretch, and then, cutting off his scalp, the Indian ran to the cottage -where sat the abandoned wife, weeping before the embers of her fire. He -roused her by tossing on fresh fuel, but she shrank back in grief and -shame when she saw who had come to her. "Do not fear," he said. "The man -who struck you meant to sell your home to strangers"--and he laid the -deed of sale before her, "but he will never play you false or lay hands on -you again. Look!" He tossed the dripping scalp upon the paper. "Now I -leave you forever. I cannot take you back among my people, who do not -know deceit like yours, nor could I ever love you as I did at first." -Turning, without other farewell he went out at the door. When this gift -of Accabee land was sold--for the woman could no longer bear to live on -it, but went to a northern city--a handsome house was built by the new -owner, who added game preserves and pleasure grounds to the estate, but -it was "haunted by a grief." Illness and ill luck followed the purchase, -and the house fell into ruin. - - - - -TOCCOA FALLS - -Early in the days of the white occupation of Georgia a cabin stood not -far from the Falls of Toccoa (the Beautiful). Its only occupant was a -feeble woman, who found it ill work to get food enough from the wild -fruits and scanty clearing near the house, and she had nigh forgotten the -taste of meat; for her two sons, who were her pride no less than her -support, had been killed by savages. She often said that she would gladly -die if she could harm the red men back, in return for her -suffering--which was not Christian doctrine, but was natural. She was -brooding at her fire, one winter evening, in wonder as to how one so weak -and old as she could be revenged, when her door was flung open and a -number of red men filled her cabin. She hardly changed countenance. She -did not rise. "You may take my life," she said, "for it is useless, now -that you have robbed it of all that made it worth living." - -"Hush!" said the chief. "What does the warrior want with the scalps of -women? We war on your men because they kill our game and steal our land." - -"Is it possible that you come to our homes except to kill?" - -"We are strangers and have lost our way. You must guide us to the foot of -Toccoa and lead us to our friends." - -"I lead you? Never!" - -The chief raised his axe, but the woman did not flinch. There was a -pause, in which the iron still hung menacing. Suddenly the dame looked up -and said, "If you promise to protect me, I will lead you." - -The promise was given and the band set forth, the aged guide in advance, -bending against the storm and clasping her poor rags about her. In the -darkest part of the wood, where the roaring of wind and groaning of -branches seemed the louder for the booming of waters, she cautioned the -band to keep in single file, but to make haste, for the way was far and -the gloom was thickening. Bending their heads against the wind they -pressed forward, she in advance. Suddenly, yet stealthily, she sprang -aside and crouched beneath a tree that grew at the very brink of the -fall. The Indians came on, following blindly, and in an instant she -descried the leader as he went whirling over the edge, and one after -another the party followed. When the last had gone to his death she arose -to her feet with a laugh of triumph. "Now I, too, can die!" she cried. So -saying, she fell forward into the grayness of space. - - - - -TWO LIVES FOR ONE - -The place of Macon, Georgia, in the early part of this century was marked -only by an inn. One of its guests was a man who had stopped there on the -way to Alabama, where he had bought land. The girl who was, to be his -wife was to follow in a few days. In the morning when he paid his -reckoning he produced a well-filled pocket-book, and he did not see the -significant look that passed between two rough black-bearded fellows who -had also spent the night there, and who, when he set forth, mounted their -horses and offered to keep him company. As they rode through the deserted -village of Chilicte one of the twain engaged the traveller in talk while -the other, falling a little behind, dealt him a blow with a loaded whip -that unseated him. Divining their purpose, and lacking weapons for his -own defence, he begged for mercy, and asked to be allowed to return to -his bride to be, but the robbers had already made themselves liable to -penalty, and two knife-thrusts in the breast silenced his appeals. The -money was secured, the body was dropped into a hollow where the wolves -would be likely to find and mangle it, and the outlaws went on their way. - -Men of their class do not keep money long, and when the proceeds of the -robbery had been wasted at cards and in drink they separated. As in -fulfilment of the axiom that a murderer is sure to revisit the scene of -his crime, one of the men found himself at the Ocmulgee, a long time -afterward, in sight of the new town--Macon. In response to his halloo a -skiff shot forth from the opposite shore, and as it approached the bank -he felt a stir in his hair and a touch of ice at his heart, for the -ferryman was his victim of years ago. Neither spoke a word, but the -criminal felt himself forced to enter the boat when the dead man waved -his hand, and he was rowed across, his horse swimming beside the skiff. -As the jar of the keel was felt on the gravel he leaped out, urged his -horse to the road, sprang to the saddle, and rushed away in an agony of -fear, that was heightened when a hollow voice called, "Stay!" - -After a little he slackened pace, and a farmer, who was standing at the -roadside, asked, in astonishment, "How did you get across? There is a -freshet, and the ferryman was drowned last night." With a new thrill he -spurred his horse forward, and made no other halt until he reached the -tavern, where he fell in a faint on the steps, for the strain was no -longer to be endured. A crowd gathered, but he did not see it when he -awoke--he saw only one pair of eyes, that seemed to be looking into his -inmost soul--the eyes of the man he had slain. With a yell of terror and -of insane fury he rushed upon the ghost and thrust a knife into its -breast. The frenzy passed. It was no ghost that lay on the earth before -him, staring up with sightless eyes. It was his fellow-murderer--his own -brother. That night the assassin's body hung from a tree at the -cross-roads. - - - - -A GHOSTLY AVENGER - -In Cuthbert, Georgia, is a gravestone thus inscribed: "Sacred to the -memory of Jim Brown." No date, no epitaph--for Jim Brown was hanged. And -this is the story: At the close of the Civil War a company of Federal -soldiers was stationed in Cuthbert, to enforce order pending the return -of its people to peaceful occupations. Charles Murphy was a lieutenant in -this company. His brother, an officer quartered in a neighboring town, -was sent to Cuthbert one day to receive funds for the payment of some -men, and left camp toward evening to return to his troop. That night -Charles Murphy was awakened by a violent flapping of his tent. It sounded -as though a gale was coming, but when he arose to make sure that the pegs -and poles of his canvas house were secure, the noise ceased, and he was -surprised to find that the air was clear and still. On returning to bed -the flapping began again, and this time he dressed himself and went out -to make a more careful examination. In the shadow of a tree a man stood -beckoning. It was his brother, who, in a low, grave voice, told him that -he was in trouble, and asked him to follow where he should lead him. The -lieutenant walked swiftly through fields and woods for some miles with -his relative--he had at once applied for and received a leave of absence -for a few hours--and they descended together a slope to the edge of a -swamp, where he stumbled against something. Looking down at the object on -which he had tripped, he saw that it was his brother's corpse--not newly -dead, but cold and rigid--the pockets rifled, the clothing soaked with -mire and blood. - -Dazed and terrified, he returned to camp, roused some of his men, and at -daybreak secured the body. An effort to gain a clue to the murderer was -at once set on foot. It was not long before evidence was secured that led -to the arrest of Jim Brown, and there was a hint that his responsibility -for the crime was revealed through the same supernatural agency that had -apprised Lieutenant Murphy of his bereavement. Brown was an ignorant farm -laborer, who had conceived that it was right to kill Yankees, and whose -cupidity had been excited by learning that the officer had money -concealed about him. He had offered, for a trifling sum, to take his -victim by a short cut to his camp, but led him to the swamp instead, -where he had shot him through the heart. On the culprit's arrival in -Cuthbert he was lynched by the soldiers, but was cut down by their -commander before life was extinct, and was formally and conclusively -hanged in the next week, after trial and conviction. - - - - -THE WRAITH RINGER OF ATLANTA - -A man was killed in Elliott Street, Atlanta, Georgia, by a cowardly -stroke from a stiletto. The assassin escaped. Strange what a humming -there was in the belfry of St. Michael's Church that night! Had the -murderer taken refuge there? Was it a knell for his lost soul, chasing -him through the empty streets and beginning already an eternal punishment -of terror? Perhaps the guilty one did not dare to leave Atlanta, for the -chimes sang in minor chords on several nights after. The old policeman -who kept ward in an antiquated guardhouse that stood opposite the -church--it was afterward shaken down by earthquake--said that he saw a -human form, which he would avouch to be that of the murdered man, though -it was wrapped in a cloak, stalk to the doors, enter without opening -them, glide up the winding stair, albeit he bent neither arm nor knee, -pass the ropes by which the chimes were rung, and mount to the belfry. He -could see the shrouded figure standing beneath the gloomy mouths of -metal. It extended its bony hands to the tongues of the bells and swung -them from side to side, but while they appeared to strike vigorously they -seemed as if muffled, and sent out only a low, musical roar, as if they -were rung by the wind. Was the murderer abroad on those nights? Did he, -too, see that black shadow of his victim in the belfry sounding an alarm -to the sleeping town and appealing to be avenged? It may be. At all -events, the apparition boded ill to others, for, whenever the chimes were -rung by spectral hands, mourners gathered at some bedside within hearing -of them and lamented that the friend they had loved would never know them -more on earth. - - - - -THE SWALLOWING EARTHQUAKE - -The Indian village that in 1765 stood just below the site of Oxford, -Alabama, was upset when the news was given out that two of the squaws had -given simultaneous birth to a number of children that were spotted like -leopards. Such an incident betokened the existence of some baneful spirit -among them that had no doubt leagued itself with the women, who were at -once tried on the charge of witchcraft, convicted, and sentenced to death -at the stake, while a watch was to be set on the infants, so early -orphaned, lest they, too, should show signs of malevolent possession. The -whole tribe, seventeen hundred in number, assembled to see the execution, -but hardly were the fires alight when a sound like thunder rolled beneath -their feet, and with a hideous crack and groan the earth opened and -nearly every soul was engulfed in a fathomless and smoking pit-all, -indeed, save two, for a couple of young braves who were on the edge of -the crowd flung themselves flat on the heaving ground and remained there -until the earthquake wave had passed. The hollow afterward filled with -water and was called Blue Pond. It is popularly supposed to be -fathomless, but it was shown that a forest once spread across the bottom, -when, but a few years ago, a great tree arose from the water, lifting -first its branches, then turning so as to show its roots above the -surface, and afterward disappeared. - - - - -LAST STAND OF THE BILOXI - -The southern part of this country was once occupied by a people called -the Biloxi, who had kept pace with the Aztecs in civilization and who -cultivated especially the art of music. In lives of gentleness and peace -they so soon forgot the use of arms that when the Choctaws descended on -their fields they were powerless to prevent the onset. Town after town -they evacuated before the savages, and at last the Biloxi, reduced to a -few thousands, were driven to the mouth of the Pascagoula River, -Mississippi, where they intrenched themselves, and for a few months -withstood the invaders. But the time came when their supplies were -exhausted, and every form was pinched with hunger. Flight was impossible. -Surrender commonly meant slaughter and outrage. They resolved to die -together. - -On a fair spring morning the river-ward gates of their fort were opened -and the survivors of that hapless tribe marched forth, their chief in -advance, with resolution on his wasted face, then the soldiers and -counsellors, the young men, the women and children, and the babes asleep -on the empty breasts of their mothers. As they emerged from the walls -with slow but steady step they broke into song, and their assailants, who -had retired to their tents for their meal, listened with surprise to the -chorus of defiance and rejoicing set up by the starving people. Without -pause or swerving they entered the bay and kept their march. Now the -waters closed over the chief, then the soldiers--at last only a few -voices of women were heard in the chant, and in a few moments all was -still. Not one shrank from the sacrifice. And for years after the echo of -that death-song floated over he waves. - -Another version of the legend sets forth that the Biloxi believed -themselves the children of the sea, and that they worshipped the image of -a lovely mermaid with wondrous music. After the Spaniards had come among -this gay and gentle people, they compelled them, by tyranny and murder, -to accept the religion of the white man, but of course it was only -lip-service that they rendered at the altar. The Biloxi were awakened one -night by the sound of wings and the rising of the river. Going forth they -saw the waters of Pascagoula heaped in a quivering mound, and bright on -its moonlit crest stood a mermaid that sang to them, "Come to me, -children of the sea. Neither bell, book, nor cross shall win you from -your queen." Entranced by her song and the potency of her glances, they -moved forward until they encircled the hill of waters. Then, with hiss -and roar, the river fell back to its level, submerging the whole tribe. -The music that haunts the bay, rising through the water when the moon is -out, is the sound of their revels in the caves below--dusky Tannhausers -of a southern Venusberg. An old priest, who was among them at the time of -this prodigy, feared that the want of result to his teachings was due to -his not being in a perfect state of grace. On his death-bed he declared -that if a priest would row to the spot where the music sounded, at -midnight on Christmas, and drop a crucifix into the water, he would -instantly be swallowed by the waves, but that every soul at the bottom -would be redeemed. The souls have never been ransomed. - - - - -THE SACRED FIRE OF NACHEZ - -The Indians of the South, being in contact with the civilized races of -Central America, were among the most progressive and honorable of the red -men. They were ruled by intelligence rather than force, and something of -the respect that Europeans feel for their kingly families made them -submit to woman's rule. The valley of Nacooche, Georgia, indeed, -perpetuates in its name one of these princesses of a royal house, for -though she ruled a large tribe with wisdom she was not impervious to the -passions of common mortals. The "Evening Star" died by her own hand, -being disappointed in love affair. Her story is that of Juliet, and she -and her lover--united in death, as they could not be in life--are buried -beneath a mound in the centre of he valley. - -The Indians of that region had towns built for permanency, and possessed -some knowledge of the arts, while in religion their belief and rites were -curiously like those of the Persian fire-worshippers. It was on the site -of the present city in Mississippi which bears their name that the -Natchez Indians built their Temple of the Sun. When it was finished a -meteor fell from heaven and kindled the fire on their altar, and from -that hour the priests guarded he flame continually, until one night when -it was extinguished by mischance. This event was believed to be an omen, -and the people so took it to heart that when the white men came, directly -after, they had little courage to prosecute a war, and fell back before -the conqueror, never to hold their ancient home again. - - - - -PASS CHRISTIAN - -Senhor Vineiro, a Portuguese, having wedded Julia Regalea, a Spaniard, in -South America, found it needful to his fortunes to leave Montevideo, for -a revolution was breeding, and no less needful to his happiness to take -his wife with him from that city, for he was old and she was young. But -he chose the wrong ship to sail on, for Captain Dane, of the Nightingale, -was also young, presentable, and well schooled, but heartless. On the -voyage to New Orleans he not only won the affection of the wife, but slew -the husband and flung his body overboard. Vainly the wife tried to -repress the risings of remorse, and vainly, too, she urged Dane to seek -absolution from her church. She had never loved her husband, and she had -loved Dane from the first, but she was not at heart a bad woman and her -peace was gone. The captain was disturbed and suspicious. His sailors -glanced at him out of the corners of their eyes in a way that he did not -like. Had the woman in some unintentional remark betrayed him? Could he -conceal his crime, save with a larger one? - -Pass Christian was a village then. On a winter night its people saw a -glare in the sky, and hurrying to their doors found a ship burning in the -gulf. Smacks and row-boats put off to the rescue, but hardly were they -under way ere the ship disappeared as suddenly as if the sea had -swallowed it. As the night was thick the boats returned, but next morning -five men were encountered on the shore-all that were left of the crew of -the Nightingale. Captain Dane was so hospitably received by the people of -the district, and seemed to take so great a liking for the place, that he -resolved to live there. He bought a plantation with a roomy old house -upon it and took his fellow-survivors there to live, as he hoped, an easy -life. That was not to be. Yellow fever struck down all the men but Dane, -and one of them, in dying, raved to his negro nurse that Dane had taken -all the treasure from the ship and put it into a boat, after serving grog -enough to intoxicate all save the trusted ones of the crew; that he and -his four associates fired the ship and rowed away, leaving an unhappy -woman to a horrible fate. Senhora Vineiro was pale but composed when she -saw the manner of death she was to die. She brought from her cabin a harp -which had been a solace of her husband and herself and began to play and -sing an air that some of the listeners remembered. It was an "Ave Maria," -and the sound of it was so plaintive that even Dane stopped rowing; but -he set his teeth when his shoe touched the box of gold at his feet and -ordered the men to row on. There was an explosion and the vessel -disappeared. On reaching shore the treasure was buried at the foot of a -large oak. - -This story was repeated by the nurse, but she was ignorant, she had no -proofs, so it was not generally believed; yet there was a perceptible -difference in the treatment of Dane by his neighbors, and among the -superstitious negroes it was declared that he had sold himself to the -devil. If he had, was it an air from hell that sounded in his ears when -he was alone?--the "Ave Maria" of a sinning but repentant woman. The -coldness and suspicion were more than he could stand. Besides, who could -tell? Evidence might be found against him. He would dig up his treasure -and fly the country. It was a year from the night when he had fired his -ship. Going out after dark, that none might see him, he stole to the tree -and began to dig. Presently a red light grew through the air, and looking -up he saw a flaming vessel advancing over the sea. It stopped, and he -could see men clambering into a boat at its side. They rowed toward him -with such miraculous speed that the ocean seemed to steam with a blue -light as they advanced. He stood like a stone, for now he could see the -faces of the rowers, and every one was the face of a corpse--a corpse -that had been left on board of that vessel and had been in the bottom of -the sea for the last twelvemonth. They sprang on shore and rushed upon -him. Next morning Dane's body was found beneath the oak with his hands -filled with gems and gold. - - - - -THE UNDER LAND - -When the Chatas looked into the still depths of Bayou Lacombe, Louisiana, -they said that the reflection of the sky was the empyrean of the Under -Land, whither all good souls were sure to go after death. Their chief, -Opaleeta, having fallen into this bayou, was so long beneath the water -that he was dead when his fellows found him, but by working over him for -hours, and through resort to prayers and incantations of medicine men, -his life returned and he stood on his feet once more. Then he grieved -that his friends had brought him back, for he had been at the gates of -the Under Land, where the air is blithe and balmy, and so nourishing that -people live on it; where it is never winter; where the sun shines -brightly, but never withers and parches; and where stars dance to the -swing of the breezes. There no white man comes to rob the Indian and -teach him to do wrong. Gorgeous birds fly through changing skies that -borrow the tints of flowers, the fields are spangled with blossoms of red -and blue and gold that load each wind with perfume, the grass is as fine -as the hair of deer, and the streams are thick with honey. - -At sunset those who loved each other in life are gathered to their -lodges, and raise songs of joy and thankfulness. Their voices are soft -and musical, their faces are young again and beam with smiles, and there -is no death. It was only the chiefs who heard his story, for, had all the -tribe known it, many who were old and ill and weary would have gone to -the bayou, and leaped in, to find that restful, happy Under Land. Those -who had gone before they sometimes tried to see, when the lake was still -and dappled with pictures of sunset clouds, but the dead never came -back--they kept away from the margin of the water lest they should be -called again to a life of toil and sorrow. And Opaleeta lived for many -years and ruled his tribe with wisdom, yet he shared in few of the -merry-makings of his people, and when, at last, his lodge was ready in -the Under Land, he gave up his life without a sigh. - - - - -THE CENRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES - - - - -AN AVERTED PERIL - -In 1786 a little building stood at North Bend, Ohio, near the junction of -the Miami and Ohio Rivers, from which building the stars and stripes were -flying. It was one of a series of blockhouses built for the protecting of -cleared land while the settlers were coming in, yet it was a trading -station rather than a fort, for the attitude of government toward the red -men was pacific. The French of the Mississippi Valley were not -reconciled, however, to the extension of power by a Saxon people, and the -English in Canada were equally jealous of the prosperity of those -provinces they had so lately lost. Both French and English had emissaries -among the Shawnees when it had become known that the United States -intended to negotiate a treaty with them. - -It was the mild weather that comes for a time in October, when -Cantantowit blesses the land from his home in the southwest with rich -colors, plaintive perfumes of decay, soft airs, and tender lights a time -for peace; but the garrison at the fort realized that the situation was -precarious. The Shawnees had camped about them, and the air was filled -with the neighing of their ponies and the barking of their dogs. To let -them into the fort was to invite massacre; to keep them out after they -had been summoned was to declare war. - -Colonel George Rogers Clarke, of Virginia, who was in command, scoffed at -the fears of his men, and would not give ear to their appeals for an -adjournment of the meeting or a change of the place of it. At the -appointed hour the doors were opened and the Indians came in. The pipe of -peace was smoked in the usual form, but the red men were sullen and -insolent, and seemed to be seeking a cause of quarrel. Clarke explained -that the whites desired only peace, and he asked the wise men to speak -for their tribe. A stalwart chief arose, glanced contemptuously at the -officer and his little guard, and, striding to the table where Clarke was -seated, threw upon it two girdles of wampum--the peace-belt and the -war-belt. "We offer you these belts," he said. "You know what they mean. -Take which you like." - -It was a deliberate insult and defiance. Both sides knew it, and many of -the men held their breath. Clarke carelessly picked up the war-belt on -the point of his cane and flung it among the assembled chiefs. Every man -in the room sprang to his feet and clutched his weapon. Then, with a -sternness that was almost ferocious, Clarke pointed to the door with an -imperative action, and cried, "Dogs, you may go!" - -The Indians were foiled in their ill intent by his self-possession and -seeming confidence, which made them believe that he had forces in the -vicinity that they were not prepared to meet. They had already had a -bitter experience of his strength and craft, and in the fear that a trap -had been set for them they fled tumultuously. The treaty was ratified -soon after. - - - - -THE OBSTINACY OF SAINT CLAIR - -When the new First Regiment of United States Infantry paused at Marietta, -Ohio, on its way to garrison Vincennes, its officers made a gay little -court there for a time. The young Major Hamtramck--contemptuously called -by the Indians "the frog on horseback," because of his round -shoulders--found especial pleasure in the society of Marianne Navarre, -who was a guest at the house of General Arthur St. Clair; but the old -general viewed this predilection with disfavor, because he had hoped that -his own daughter would make a match with the major. But Louisa longed for -the freedom of the woods. She was a horsewoman and a hunter, and she had -a sentimental fondness for Indians. - -When Joseph Brandt (Thayendanegea) camped with his dreaded band near the -town, it was she who--without her father's knowledge, and in the disguise -of an Indian girl--took the message that had been entrusted to a soldier -asking the tribe to send delegates to a peace council at the fort. Louisa -and Brandt had met in Philadelphia some years before, when both were -students in that city, and he was rejoiced to meet her again, for he had -made no secret of his liking for her, and in view of the bravery she had -shown in thus riding into a hostile camp his fondness increased to -admiration. After she had delivered the message she said, "Noble warrior, -I have risked my life to obtain this interview. You must send some one -back with me." Brandt replied, "It is fitting that I alone should guard -so courageous a maiden," and he rode with her through the lines, under -the eyes of a wondering and frowning people, straight to the general's -door. Soon after, Brandt made a formal demand for the hand of this -dashing maid, but the stubborn general refused to consider it. He was -determined that she ought to love Major Hamtramck, and he told her so in -tones so loud that they reached the ears of Marianne, as she sat reading -in her room. Stung by this disclosure of the general's wishes, and -doubting whether the major had been true to her--fearful, too, that she -might be regarded as an interloper--she made a pretext to return as -quickly as possible to her home in Detroit, and left no adieus for her -lover. - -It was not long after that war broke out between the settlers and the -Indians, for Brandt now had a personal as well as a race grudge to -gratify, though when he defeated St. Clair he spared his life in the hope -that the general would reward his generosity by resigning to him his -daughter. At all events, he resolved that the "frog on horseback," whom -he conceived to be his rival, should not win her. The poor major, who -cared nothing for Louisa, and who was unable to account for the flight of -Marianne, mourned her absence until it was rumored that she had been -married, when, as much in spite as in love, he took to himself a mate. -After he had been for some time a widower he met Marianne again, and -learned that she was still a maiden. He renewed his court with ardor, but -the woman's love for him had died when she learned of his marriage. -Affecting to make light of this second disappointment, he said, "Since I -cannot be united to you in life, I shall be near you in death." - -"A soldier cannot choose where he shall die," she answered. - -"No matter. I shall sleep in the shadow of your tomb." - -As it fell out they were indeed buried near each other in Detroit. Thus, -the stupidity and obstinacy of General St. Clair, in supposing that he -could make young folks love to order, thwarted the happiness of four -people and precipitated a war. - - - - -THE HUNDREDTH SKULL - -In the early part of this century Bill Quick, trapper and frontiersman, -lived in a cabin on the upper Scioto, not far from the present town of -Kenton, Ohio. One evening when he returned from the hunt he found his -home rifled of its contents and his aged father weltering in his blood on -the floor. He then and there took oath that he would be revenged a -hundredfold. His mission was undertaken at once, and for many a year -thereafter the Indians of the region had cause to dread the doom that -came to them from brake and wood and fen,--now death by knife that -flashed at them from behind a tree, and the next instant whirled through -the air and was buried to the hilt in a red man's heart; now, by bullet -as they rowed across the rivers; now, by axe that clove their skulls as -they lay asleep. - -Bill Quick worked secretly, and, unlike other men of the place and time, -he did not take his trophies Indian-fashion. The scalp was not enough. He -took the head. And presently a row of grinning skulls was ranged upon his -shelves. Ninety-nine of these ghastly prizes occupied his cabin, and the -man was confident that he should accomplish his intent. But the Indians, -in terror, were falling away toward the lakes; they were keeping better -guard; and ere the hundredth man had fallen before his rifle he was -seized with fatal illness. Calling to him his son, Tom, he pointed to the -skulls, and charged him to fulfil the oath he had taken by adding to the -list a hundredth skull. Should he fail in this the murdered ancestor and -he himself would come back to haunt the laggard. Tom accepted the trust, -but everything seemed to work against him. He never was much of a hunter -nor a very true shot, and he had no liking for war; besides, the Indians -had left the country, as he fancied. So he grumbled at the uncongenial -task appointed for him and kept deferring it from week to week and from -year to year. When his conscience pricked him he allayed the smart with -drink, and his conscience seemed to grow more active as he grew older. - -On returning to the cabin after a carouse he declared that he had heard -voices, that the skulls gibbered and cracked their teeth together as if -mocking his weakness, and that a phosphorescent glare shone through the -sockets of their eyes. In his cups he prattled his secret, and soon the -whole country knew that he was under oath to kill a red-skin-and the -country laughed at him. On a certain day it was reported that a band of -Indians had been seen in the neighborhood, and what with drink and the -taunts of his friends, he was impelled to take his rifle and set out once -more on the war-path. A settler heard a shot fired not long after. Next -day a neighbor passing Tom Quick's cabin tapped at the door, and, -receiving no answer, pushed it open and entered. The hundredth skull was -there, on the shelves, a bullet-hole in the forehead, and the scalp gone. -The head was Quick's. - - - - -THE CRIME OF BLACK SWAMP - -Two miles south of Munger, Ohio, in the heart of what used to be called -the Black Swamp, stood the Woodbury House, a roomy mansion long gone to -decay. John Cleves, the last to live in it, was a man whose evil -practices got him into the penitentiary, but people had never associated -him with the queer sights and sounds in the lower chambers, nor with the -fact that a man named Syms, who had gone to that house in 1842, had never -been known to leave it. Ten years after Syms's disappearance it happened -that Major Ward and his friend John Stow had occasion to take shelter -there for the night--it being then deserted,--and, starting a blaze in -the parlor fireplace, they lit their pipes and talked till late. Stow -would have preferred a happier topic, but the major, who feared neither -man nor devil, constantly turned the talk on the evil reputation of the -house. - -While they chatted a door opened with a creak and a human skeleton -appeared before them. - -"What do you want? Speak!" cried Ward. But waiting for no answer he drew -his pistols and fired two shots at the grisly object. There was a -rattling sound, but the skeleton was neither dislocated nor disconcerted. -Advancing deliberately, with upraised arm, it said, in a husky voice, "I, -that am dead, yet live in a sense that mortals do not know. In my earthly -life I was James Syms, who was robbed and killed here in my sleep by John -Cleves." With bony finger it pointed to a rugged gap in its left temple. -"Cleves cut off my head and buried it under the hearth. My body he cast -into his well." At these words the head disappeared and the voice was -heard beneath the floor, "Take up my skull." The watchers obeyed the -call, and after digging a minute beneath the hearth a fleshless head with -a wound on the left temple came to view. Ward took it into his hands, but -in a twinkling it left them and reappeared on the shoulders of the -skeleton. - -"I have long wanted to tell my fate," it resumed, "but could not until -one should be found brave enough to speak to me. I have appeared to many, -but you are the first who has commanded me to break my long silence. Give -my bones a decent burial. Write to my relative, Gilmore Syms, of -Columbus, Georgia, and tell him what I have revealed. I have found -peace." With a grateful gesture it extended its hand to Ward, who, as he -took it, shook like one with an ague, his wrist locked in its bony clasp. -As it released him it raised its hand impressively. A bluish light burned -at the doorway for an instant. The two men found themselves alone. - - - - -THE HOUSE ACCURSED - -Near Gallipolis, Ohio, there stood within a few years an old house of -four rooms that had been occupied by Herman Deluse. He lived there alone, -and, though his farming was of the crudest sort, he never appeared to -lack for anything. The people had an idea that the place was under ban, -and it was more than suspected that its occupant had been a pirate. In -fact, he called his place the Isle of Pines, after a buccaneers' -rendezvous in the West Indies, and made no attempt to conceal the strange -plunder and curious weapons that he had brought home with him, but of -money he never appeared to have much at once. When it came his time to -die he ended his life alone, so far as any knew--at least, his body was -found in his bed, without trace of violence or disorder. It was buried -and the public administrator took charge of the estate, locking up the -house until possible relatives should come to claim it, and the rustic -jury found that Deluse "came to his death by visitation of God." - -It was but a few nights after this that the Rev. Henry Galbraith returned -from a visit of a month to Cincinnati and reached his home after a night -of boisterous storm. The snow was so deep and the roads so blocked with -windfalls that he put up his horse in Gallipolis and started for his -house on foot. - -"But where did you pass the night?" inquired his wife, after the -greetings were over. "With old Deluse in the Isle of Pines," he answered. -"I saw a light moving about the house, and rapped. No one came; so, as I -was freezing, I forced open the door, built a fire, and lay down in my -coat before it. Old Deluse came in presently and I apologized, but he -paid no attention to me. He seemed to be walking in his sleep and to be -searching for something. All night long I could hear his footsteps about -the house, in pauses of the storm." - -The clergyman's wife and son looked at each other, and a friend who was -present--a lawyer, named Maren--remarked, "You did not know that Deluse -was dead and buried?" The clergyman was speechless with amazement. "You -have been dreaming," said the lawyer. "Still, if you like, we will go -there to-night and investigate." - -The clergyman, his son, and the lawyer went to the house about nine -o'clock, and as they approached it a noise of fighting came from -within--blows, the clink of steel, groans, and curses. Lights appeared, -first at one window, then at another. The men rushed forward, burst in -the door, and were inside--in darkness and silence. They had brought -candles and lighted them, but the light revealed nothing. Dust lay thick -on the floor except in the room where the clergyman had passed the -previous night, and the door that he had then opened stood ajar, but the -snow outside was drifted and unbroken by footsteps. Then came the sound -of a fall that shook the building. At the same moment it was noticed by -the other two men that young Galbraith was absent. They hurried into the -room whence the noise had come. A board was wrenched from the wall there, -disclosing a hollow that had been used for a hiding-place, and on the -floor lay young Galbraith with a sack of Spanish coins in his hand. His -father stooped to pick him up, but staggered back in horror, for the -young man's life had gone. A post-mortem examination revealed no cause of -death, and a rustic jury again laid it to a "visitation of God." -MARQUETTE'S MAN-EATER - -Until it was worn away by the elements a curious relief was visible on -the bluffs of the Mississippi near Alton, Illinois. It was to be seen as -late as 1860, and represented a monster once famous as the "piasa bird." -Father Marquette not only believed it but described it as a man-eater in -the account of his explorations, where he mentions other zoological -curiosities, such as unicorns with shaggy mane and land-turtles three -feet long with two heads, "very mischievous and addicted to biting." He -even showed a picture of the maneater that accorded rudely with the -picture on the rocks. It was said to prey on human flesh, and to be held -in fear by the Indians, who encountered it on and near the Mississippi. -It had the body of a panther, wings like a bat, and head and horns of a -deer. Father Marquette gave it a human face. The sculpture was -undoubtedly made by Indians, but its resemblance to the winged bulls of -Assyria and the sphinxes of Egypt has been quoted as confirmation of a -prehistoric alliance of Old and New World races or the descent of one -from the other. It has also been thought to stand for the totem of some -great chief-symbolizing, by its body, strength; by its wings, speed; by -its head, gentleness and beauty. But may not the tradition of it have -descended from the discovery of comparatively late remains, by primitive -man, of the winged saurians that crawled, swam, dived, or flew, lingering -on till the later geologic period? The legend of the man-eater may even -have been told by those who killed the last of the pterodactyls. - - - - -MICHEL DE COUCY'S TROUBLES - -Michel De Coucy, of Prairie de Rocher, Illinois, sat before his door -humming thoughtfully, and trying to pull comfort out of a black pipe.. He -was in debt, and he did not like the sensation. As hunter, boatman, -fiddler he had done well enough, but having rashly ventured into trade he -had lost money, and being unable to meet a note had applied to Pedro -Garcia for a loan at usurious interest. Garcia was a black-whiskered -Spaniard who was known to have been a gambler in New Orleans, and as -Michel was in arrears in his payments he was now threatening suit. -Presently the hunter jumped up with a glad laugh, for two horsemen were -approaching his place--the superior of the Jesuit convent at Notre Dame -de Kaskaskia and the governor of the French settlements in Illinois, of -whom he had asked advice, and who had come from Fort Chartres, on the -Mississippi, to give it in person. It was good advice, too, for the -effect of it was that there was no law of that time--1750--by which a -Spaniard could sue a Frenchman on French territory. Moreover, the bond -was invalid because it was drawn up in Spanish, and Garcia could produce -no witness to verify the cross at the bottom of the document as of -Michel's making. - -Great was the wrath of the Spaniard when Michel told him this, nor was it -lessened when the hunter bade him have no fear--that he might be obliged -to repudiate part of the interest, but that every livre of the principal -would be forthcoming, if only a little time were allowed. The money -lender walked away with clenched fists, muttering to himself, and Michel -lit his pipe again. - -At supper-time little Genevieve, the twelve-year-old daughter of Michel, -did not appear. The table was kept waiting for an hour. Michel sat down -but could not eat, and, after scolding awhile in a half-hearted fashion, -he went to the clearing down the road, where the child had been playing. -A placard was seen upon a tree beside the way, and he called a passing -neighbor to read to him these words: "Meshell Coosy. French rascal. Pay -me my money and you have your daughter. Pedro Garcia." - -Accustomed as he was to perils, and quick as he generally was in -expedient, Michel was overwhelmed by this stroke. The villagers offered -to arm themselves and rescue the child, but he would not consent to this, -for he was afraid that Garcia might kill her, if he knew that force was -to be set against him. In a day or two Michel was told to go to Fort -Chartres, as favorable news awaited him. He rode with all speed to that -post, went to the official quarters, where the governor was sitting, and -as he entered he became almost insane with rage, for Garcia stood before -him. Nothing but the presence of others saved the Spaniard's life, and it -was some time before Michel could be made to understand that Garcia was -there under promise of safe conduct, and that the representatives of King -Louis were in honor bound to see that he was not injured. The points at -issue between the two men were reviewed, and the governor gave it as his -decision that Michel must pay his debt without interest, that being -forfeit by the Spaniard's abduction of Genevieve, and that the Spaniard -was to restore the girl, both parties in the case being remanded to -prison until they had obeyed this judgment. - -"But I have your promise of safe conduct!" cried the Spaniard, blazing -with wrath. - -"And you shall have it when the girl returns," replied the governor. "You -shall be protected in going and coming, but there is no reference in the -paper that you hold as to how long we may wish to keep you with us." - -Both men were marched away forthwith, but Michel was released in an hour, -for in that time the people had subscribed enough to pay his debt. The -Spaniard sent a messenger to a renegade who had little Genevieve in -keeping, and next day he too went free, swearing horribly, but glad to -accept the service of an armed escort until he was well out of town. -Michel embraced his child with ardor when once she was in his arms again; -then he lighted his pipe and set out with her for home, convinced that -French law was the best in the world, that Spaniards were not to be -trusted, and that it is safer to keep one's earnings under the floor than -to venture them in trade. - - - - -WALLEN'S RIDGE - -A century ago this rough eminence, a dozen miles from Chattanooga, -Tennessee, was an abiding place of Cherokee Indians, among whom was -Arinook, their medicine-man, and his daughter. The girl was pure and -fair, and when a white hunter saw her one day at the door of her father's -wigwam he was so struck with her charm of person and her engaging manner -that he resolved not to return to his people until he had won her for his -wife. She had many lovers, though she favored none of them, and while the -Cherokees were at first loth to admit a stranger to their homes they -forgot their jealousy when they found that this one excelled as a hunter -and fisherman, that he could throw the knife and tomahawk better than -themselves, and that he was apt in their work and their sports. - -They even submitted to the inevitable with half a grace when they found -that the stranger and the girl of whom they were so fond were in love. -With an obduracy that seems to be characteristic of fathers, the -medicine-man refused his consent to the union, and the hearts of the -twain were heavy. Though the white man pleaded with her to desert her -tribe, she refused to do so, on the score of duty to her father, and the -couple forlornly roamed about the hill, watching the sunset from its top -and passing the bright summer evenings alone, sitting hand in hand, -loving, sorrowing, and speaking not. In one of their long rambles they -found themselves beside the Tennessee River at a point where the current -swirls among rocks and sucks down things that float, discharging them at -the surface in still water, down the stream. Here for a time they stood, -when the girl, with a gush of tears, began to sing--it was her -death-song. The white man grasped her hand and joined his voice to hers. -Then they took a last embrace and flung themselves into the water, still -hand in hand. - -When the river is low you may hear their death-song sounding there. The -manitous of the river and the wood were offended with the medicine-man -because of his stubbornness and cruelty, although he suffered greatly -because of the death his daughter died, and he the cause of it. For now -strange Indians appeared among the Cherokees and drove the deer and bear -away. Tall, strong, and large were these intruders, and they hung about -the village by day and night--never speaking, yet casting a fear about -them, for they would throw great rocks farther than a warrior could shoot -an arrow with the wind behind him; they had horns springing from their -heads; their eyes were the eyes of wild-cats, and shone in the dark; they -growled like animals, shaking the earth when they did so, and breathing -flame; they were at the bedside, at the council-fire, at the banquet, -seeming only to wait for a show of enmity to annihilate the tribe. - -At length the people could endure their company no longer, and taking -down their lodges they left Wallen's Ridge and wandered far away until -they came to a valley where no foot had left its impress, and there they -besought the Great Spirit to forgive the wrong their medicine-man had -done, and to free them from the terrible spirits that had been living -among them. The prayer was granted, and the lodges stood for many years -in a safe and happy valley. - - - - -THE SKY WALKER OF HURON - -Here is the myth of Endymion and Diana, as told on the shores of Saginaw -Bay, in Michigan, by Indians who never heard of Greeks. Cloud Catcher, a -handsome youth of the Ojibways, offended his family by refusing to fast -during the ceremony of his coming of age, and was put out of the paternal -wigwam. It was so fine a night that the sky served him as well as a roof, -and he had a boy's confidence in his ability to make a living, and -something of fame and fortune, maybe. He dropped upon a tuft of moss to -plan for his future, and drowsily noted the rising of the moon, in which -he seemed to see a face. On awaking he found that it was not day, yet the -darkness was half dispelled by light that rayed from a figure near -him--the form of a lovely woman. - -"Cloud Catcher, I have come for you," she said. And as she turned away he -felt impelled to rise and follow. But, instead of walking, she began to -move into the air with the flight of an eagle, and, endowed with a new -power, he too ascended beside her. The earth was dim and vast below, -stars blazed as they drew near them, yet the radiance of the woman seemed -to dull their glory. Presently they passed through a gate of clouds and -stood on a beautiful plain, with crystal ponds and brooks watering noble -trees and leagues of flowery meadow; birds of brightest colors darted -here and there, singing like flutes; the very stones were agate, jasper, -and chalcedony. An immense lodge stood on the plain, and within were -embroideries and ornaments, couches of rich furs, pipes and arms cut from -jasper and tipped with silver. While the young man was gazing around him -with delight, the brother of his guide appeared and reproved her, -advising her to send the young man back to earth at once, but, as she -flatly refused to do so, he gave a pipe and bow and arrows to Cloud -Catcher, as a token of his consent to their marriage, and wished them -happiness, which, in fact, they had. - -This brother, who was commanding, tall, and so dazzling in his gold and -silver ornaments that one could hardly look upon him, was abroad all day, -while his sister was absent for a part of the night. He permitted Cloud -Catcher to go with him on one of his daily walks, and as they crossed the -lovely Sky Land they glanced down through open valley bottoms on the -green earth below. The rapid pace they struck gave to Cloud Catcher an -appetite and he asked if there were no game. "Patience," counselled his -companion. On arriving at a spot where a large hole had been broken -through the sky they reclined on mats, and the tall man loosing one of -his silver ornaments flung it into a group of children playing before a -lodge. One of the little ones fell and was carried within, amid -lamentations. Then the villagers left their sports and labors and looked -up at the sky. The tall man cried, in a voice of thunder, "Offer a -sacrifice and the child shall be well again." A white dog was killed, -roasted, and in a twinkling it shot up to the feet of Cloud Catcher, who, -being empty, attacked it voraciously. - -Many such walks and feasts came after, and the sights of earth and taste -of meat filled the mortal with a longing to see his people again. He told -his wife that he wanted to go back. She consented, after a time, saying, -"Since you are better pleased with the cares, the ills, the labor, and -the poverty of the world than with the comfort and abundance of Sky Land, -you may return; but remember you are still my husband, and beware how you -venture to take an earthly maiden for a wife." - -She arose lightly, clasped Cloud Catcher by the wrist, and began to move -with him through the air. The motion lulled him and he fell asleep, -waking at the door of his father's lodge. His relatives gathered and gave -him welcome, and he learned that he had been in the sky for a year. He -took the privations of a hunter's and warrior's life less kindly than he -thought to, and after a time he enlivened its monotony by taking to wife -a bright-eyed girl of his tribe. In four days she was dead. The lesson -was unheeded and he married again. Shortly after, he stepped from his -lodge one evening and never came back. The woods were filled with a -strange radiance on that night, and it is asserted that Cloud Catcher was -taken back to the lodge of the Sun and Moon, and is now content to live -in heaven. - - - - -THE COFFIN OF SNAKES - -No one knew how it was that Lizon gained the love of Julienne, at L'Anse -Creuse (near Detroit), for she was a girl of sweet and pious disposition, -the daughter of a God-fearing farmer, while Lizon was a dark, ill-favored -wretch, who had come among the people nobody knew whence, and lived on -the profits of a tap-room where the vilest liquor was sold, and where -gaming, fighting, and carousing were of nightly occurrence. Perhaps they -were right in saying that it was witchcraft. He impudently laid siege to -her heart, and when she showed signs of yielding he told her and her -friends that he had no intention of marrying her, because he did not -believe in religion. - -Yet Julienne deserted her comfortable home and went to live with this -disreputable scamp in his disreputable tavern, to the scandal of the -community, and especially of the priest, who found Lizon's power for evil -greater than his own for good, for as the tavern gained in hangers-on the -church lost worshippers. One Sunday morning Julienne surprised the people -by appearing in church and publicly asking pardon for her wrong-doing. It -was the first time she had appeared there since her flight, and she was -as one who had roused from a trance or fever-sleep. Her father gladly -took her home again, and all went well until New-Year's eve, when the -young men called d'Ignolee made the rounds of the settlement to sing and -beg meat for the poor--a custom descended from the Druids. They came to -the house of Julienne's father and received his welcome and his goods, -but their song was interrupted by a cry of distress--Lizon was among the -maskers, and Julienne was gone. A crowd of villagers ran to the cabaret -and rescued the girl from the room into which the fellow had thrust her, -but it was too late--she had lost her reason. Cursing and striking and -blaspheming, Lizon was at last confronted by the priest, who told him he -had gone too far; that he had been a plague to the people and an enemy to -the church. He then pronounced against him the edict of excommunication, -and told him that even in his grave he should not rest; that the church, -abandoned by so many victims of his wiles and tyrannies, should be swept -away. - -The priest left the place forthwith, and the morals of the village fell -lower and lower. Everything was against it, too. Blight and storm and -insect pest ravaged the fields and orchards, as if nature had engaged to -make an expression of the iniquity of the place. Suddenly death came upon -Lizon. A pit was dug near his tavern and he was placed in a coffin, but -as the box was lowered it was felt to grow lighter, while there poured -from it a swarm of fat and filthy snakes. The fog that overspread the -earth that morning seemed to blow by in human forms, the grave rolled -like a wave after it had been covered, and after darkness fell a blue -will-o'-the-wisp danced over it. A storm set in, heaping the billows on -shore until the church was undermined, and with a crash it fell into the -seething flood. But the curse had passed, and when a new chapel was built -the old evils had deserted L'Anse Crease. - - - - -MACKINACK - -Not only was Mackinack the birthplace of Hiawatha: it was the home of God -himself--Gitchi Manitou, or Mitchi Manitou--who placed there an Indian -Adam and Eve to watch and cultivate his gardens. He also made the beaver, -that his children might eat, and they acknowledged his goodness in -oblations. Bounteous sacrifices insured entrance after death to the happy -hunting-grounds beyond the Rocky Mountains. Those who had failed in these -offerings were compelled to wander about the Great Lakes, shelterless, -and watched by unsleeping giants who were ten times the stature of -mortals. - -These giants still exist, but in the form of conical rocks, one of -which-called Sugar-Loaf, or Manitou's Wigwam--is ninety feet high. A cave -in this obelisk is pointed out as Manitou's abiding-place, and it was -believed that every other spire in the group had its wraith, whence has -come the name of the island--Michillimackinack (place of great dancing -spirits). Arch Rock is the place that Manitou built to reach his home -from Sunrise Land the better. There were many such monuments of -divinities in the north. They are met with all about the lakes and in the -wooded wilderness, the most striking one being the magnificent spire of -basalt in the Black Hills region of Wyoming. It is known as Devil's -Tower, or Mateo's Tepee, and by the red men is held to be the wigwam of a -were-animal that can become man at pleasure. This singular rock towers -above the Belle Fourche River to a height of eight hundred feet. - -Deep beneath Mackinack was a stately and beautiful cavern hall where -spirits had their revels. An Indian who got leave to quit his body saw it -in company with one of the spirits, and spread glowing reports of its -beauties when he had clothed himself in flesh again. When Adam and Eve -died they, too, became spirits and continued to watch the home of -Manitou. - -Now, there is another version of this tradition which gives the, original -name of the island as Moschenemacenung, meaning "great turtle." The -French missionaries and traders, finding the word something too large a -mouthful, softened it to Michillimackinack, and, when the English came, -three syllables served them as well as a hundred, so Mackinack it is to -this day. Manitou, having made a turtle from a drop of his own sweat, -sent it to the bottom of Lake Huron, whence it brought a mouthful of mud, -and from this Mackinack was created. As a reward for his service the -turtle was allowed to sleep there in the sun forever. - -Yet another version has it that the Great Spirit plucked a sand-grain -from the primeval ocean, set it floating on those waters, and tended it -until it grew so large that a young wolf, running constantly, died of old -age before reaching its limits. The sand became the earth. Prophecy has -warned the Winnebagoes that Manibozho (Michabo or Hiawatha) shall smite -by pestilence at the end of their thirteenth generation. Ten are gone. -All shall perish but one pure pair, who will people the recreated world. -Manibozho, or Minnebojou, is called a "culture myth," but the Indians -have faith in him. They say that he lies asleep on the north shore of -Lake Superior, beneath the "hill of four knobs," known as the Sleeping -Giant. There offerings are made to him, and it was a hope of his speedy -rising that started the Messiah craze in the West in 1890. - - - - -LAKE SUPERIOR WATER GODS - -There were many water gods about Lake Superior to whom the Indians paid -homage, casting implements, ornaments, and tobacco into the water -whenever they passed a spot where one of these manitous sat enthroned. At -Thunder Cape, on the north shore, lies Manibozho, and in the pillared -recess of La Chapelle, among the Pictured Rocks, dwelt powerful rulers of -the storm to whose mercy the red men commended themselves with quaint -rites whenever they were to set forth on a voyage over the great unsalted -sea. At Le Grand Portal were hidden a horde of mischievous imps, among -whose pranks was the repetition of every word spoken by the traveller as -he rested on his oars beneath this mighty arch. The Chippewas worked the -copper mines at Keweenaw Point before the white race had learned of a -Western land, but they did so timidly, for they believed that a demon -would visit with injury or death the rash mortal who should presume to -pillage his treasure, unless he had first bestowed gifts upon him. Even -then they went ashore with fear, lighted fires around a surface of native -copper, hacked off a few pounds of the softened metal, and ran to their -canoes without looking behind them. - -There was another bad manitou at the mouth of Superior Bay, where -conflicting currents make a pother of waters. This spirit sat on the -bottom of the lake, gazing upward, and if any boatman ventured to cross -his domain without dropping a pipe or beads or hatchet into it, woe -betide him, for his boat would be caught in a current and smashed against -a rocky shore. Perhaps the most vexatious god was he who ruled the -Floating Islands. These islands were beautiful with trees and flowers, -metal shone and crystals sparkled on their ledges, sweet fruits grew in -plenty, and song-birds flitted over them. In wonder and delight the -hunter would speed toward them in his canoe, but as he neared their turfy -banks the jealous manitou, who kept these fairy lands for his own -pleasure, would throw down a fog and shut them out of sight. Never could -the hunter set foot on them, no matter how long he kept up his search. - - - - -THE WITCH OF PICTURED ROCKS - -On the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior dwelt an Ojibway woman, a widow, -who was cared for by a relative. This relative was a hunter, the husband -of an agreeable wife, the father of two bright children. Being of a mean -and jealous nature, the widow begrudged every kindness that the hunter -showed to his wife--the skins he brought for her clothing, the moose's -lip or other dainty that he saved for her; and one day, in a pretence of -fine good-nature, the old woman offered to give the younger a swing in a -vine pendent from a tree that overhung the lake. - -The wife accepted, and, seating herself on the vine, was swayed to and -fro, catching her breath, yet laughing as she swept out over the water. -When the momentum was greatest the old woman cut the stem. A splash was -heard--then all was silent. Returning to the lodge, the hag disguised -herself in a dress of the missing woman, and sitting in a shadow, -pretended to nurse the infant of the household. The hunter, returning, -was a little surprised that his wife should keep her face from him, and -more surprised that the old woman did not appear for her share of the -food that he had brought; but after their meal he took his little ones to -the lake, to enjoy the evening breeze, when the elder burst into tears, -declaring that the woman in the lodge was not his mother, and that he -feared his own mother was dead or lost. - -The hunter hurled his spear into the earth and prayed that, if his wife -were dead, her body might be found, so he could mourn over it and give it -burial. Instantly a bolt of lightning came from a passing cloud and shot -into the lake, while the thunder-peal that followed shook the stones he -stood on. It also disturbed the water and presently something was seen -rising through it. The man stepped into a thicket and watched. In a few -moments a gull arose from the lake and flew to the spot where the -children were seated. Around its body was a leather belt, embroidered -with beads and quills, which the hunter recognized, and, advancing -softly, he caught the bird--that changed at once into the missing woman. -The family set forth toward home, and as they entered the lodge the -witch--for such she was--looked up, with a start, then uttered a cry of -despair. Bending low, she moved her arms in both imprecation and appeal. -A moment later a black, ungainly bird flew from the wigwam and passed -from sight among the trees. The witch never came back to plague them. - - - - -THE ORIGIN OF WHITE-FISH - -An Indian who lived far in the north was so devoted to the chase that he -was never at home for the whole of a day, to the sorrow of his two boys, -who liked nothing so much as to sport with him and to be allowed to -practise with his weapons. Their mother told them that on no account were -they to speak to him of the young man who visited the lodge while their -father was away, and it was not until they were well grown and knew what -the duty of wives should be that they resolved to disobey her. The hunter -struck the woman dead when he learned of her perfidy. So greatly did her -spirit trouble them, however, that they could no longer abide in their -old home in peace and comfort, and they left the country and journeyed -southward until they came to the Sault Sainte Marie. - -As they stood beside the falls a head came rolling toward them on the -earth--the head of the dead woman. At that moment, too, a crane was seen -riding on the surface of the water, whirling about in its strongest -eddies, and when one of the boys called to it, "O Grandfather, we are -persecuted by a spirit; take us across the falls," the crane flew to -them. "Cling to my back and do not touch my head," it said to them, and -landed them safely on the farther shore. - -But now the head screamed, "Come, grandfather, and carry me over, for I -have lost my children and am sorely distressed," and the bird flew to her -likewise. "Be careful not to touch my head," it said. The head promised -obedience, but succumbed to curiosity when half-way over and touched the -bird's head to see what was the matter with him. With a lurch the crane -flung off his burden and it fell into the rapids. As it swept down, -bumping against the rocks, the brains were pounded out and strewn over -the water. "You were useless in life," cried the crane. "You shall not be -so in death. Become fish!" And the bits of brain changed to roe that -presently hatched to a delicate white fish, the flesh whereof is esteemed -by Indians of the lakes, and white men, likewise. The family pitched a -lodge near the spot and took the crane as their totem or name-mark. Many -of their descendants bear it to this day. - - - - -THE SPIRIT OF CLOUDY - -Among the lumbermen of Alger, Michigan, was William Cloud, an Indian, -usually called Cloudy, who was much employed on a chute a mile and a half -out of the village. The rains were heavy one spring, and a large raft of -logs had been floated down to the chute, where they were held back by a -gate until it was time to send them through in a mass. When the creek had -reached its maximum height the foreman gave word to the log-drivers to -lower the gate and let the timber down. This order came on a chilly April -night, and, as it was pitchy dark and rain was falling in sheets, the -lumbermen agreed to draw cuts to decide which of them should venture out -and start the logs. Cloudy drew the fatal slip. He was a quiet fellow, -and without a word he opened the door, bent against the storm, and passed -into the darkness. An hour went by, and the men in the cabin laughed as -they described the probable appearance of their comrade when he should -return, soaked through and through, and they wondered if he was waiting -in some shelter beside the path for the middle of the night to pass, for -the Indians believed that an evil spirit left the stream every night and -was abroad until that hour. - -As time lengthened the jest and talk subsided and a moody silence -supervened. At length one of the number resolved to sally out and see if -any mishap had fallen to the Indian. He was joined by three others, and -the party repaired to the creek. Above the chute it was seen that the -gate--which was released by the withdrawal of iron pins and sank of its -own weight-had not quite settled into place, and by the light of a -lantern held near the surface of the rushing current an obstruction could -be dimly seen. The gate was slightly raised and the object drawn up with -pike-poles. It was the mangled body of Cloudy. He was buried beside the -creek; but the camp was soon abandoned and the chute is in decay, for -between the hours of ten and twelve each night the wraith of the Indian, -accompanied by the bad spirit of the stream, ranges through the wood, his -form shining blue in the gloom, his groans sounding above the swish and -lap of the waters. - - - - -THE SUN FIRE AT SAULT SAINTE MARIE - -Father Marquette reached Sault Sainte Marie, in company with Greysolon Du -Lhut, in August, 1670, and was received in a manner friendly enough, but -the Chippewas warned him to turn back from that point, for the Ojibways -beyond were notoriously hostile to Europeans, their chief--White -Otter--having taken it on himself to revenge, by war, his father's -desertion of his mother. His father was a Frenchman. Inspired by his -mission, and full of the enthusiasm of youth and of the faith that had -led him safely through a host of dangers and troubles, Marquette refused -to change his plans, and even ventured the assertion that he could tame -the haughty Otter and bring him to the cross. At dawn he and his doughty -henchman set off in a war-canoe, but, on arriving in White Otter's camp -and speaking their errand, they were seized and bound, to await death on -the morrow. The wife of the chief spoke, out of the kindness of her -heart, and asked mercy for the white men. To no avail. The brute struck -her to the ground. That night his daughter, Wanena, who had seen Du Lhut -at the trading post and had felt the stir of a generous sentiment toward -him, appeared before the prisoners when sleep was heaviest in the camp, -cut their bonds, led them by an obscure path to the river, where she -enjoined them to enter a canoe, and guided the boat to the Holy Isle. -This was where the Ojibways came to lay offerings before the image of -Manitou, whose home was there believed to be. There the friendly red men -would be sure to find and rescue them, she thought, and after a few hours -of sleep she led them into a secluded glen where stood the figure rudely -carved from a pine trunk, six feet high, and tricked with gewgaws. As -they stood there, stealthy steps were heard, and before they could -conceal themselves White Otter and eight of his men were upon them. Du -Lhut grasped a club from among the weapons that--with other -offerings--strewed the earth at the statue's feet and prepared to sell -his life dearly. The priest drew forth his crucifix and prayed. The girl -dropped to the ground, drew her blanket over her head, and began to sing -her death-song. - -"So the black-coat and the woman-stealer have come to die before the -Indian's god?" sneered the chief. - -"If it be God's will, we will die defying your god and you," replied -Marquette. "Yet we fear not death, and if God willed he could deliver us -as easily as he could destroy that worthless image." He spoke in an -undertone to Du Lhut, and continued, confidently, "challenge your god to -withstand mine. I shall pray my God to send his fire from the sky and -burn this thing. If he does so will you set us free and become a -Christian?" - -"I will; but if you fail, you die." - -"And if I win you must pardon your daughter." - -White Otter grunted his assent. - -The sun was high and brought spicy odors from the wood; an insect hummed -drowsily, and a bird-song echoed from the distance. Unconscious of what -was being enacted about her, Wanena kept rocking to and fro, singing her -death-song, and waiting the blow that would stretch her at her father's -feet. The savages gathered around the image and watched it with eager -interest. Raising his crucifix with a commanding gesture, the priest -strode close to the effigy, and in a loud voice cried, in Chippewa, "In -the name of God, I command fire to destroy this idol!" - -A spot of light danced upon the breast of the image. It grew dazzling -bright and steady. Then a smoke began to curl from the dry grass and -feathers it was decked with. The Indians fell back in amazement, and when -a faint breeze passed, fanning the sparks into flame, they fell on their -faces, trembling with apprehension, for Marquette declared, "As my God -treats this idol, so can he treat you!" - -Then, looking up to see the manitou in flames, White Otter exclaimed, -"The white man's God has won. Spare us, O mighty medicine!" - -"I will do so, if you promise to become as white men in the faith and be -baptized." Tamed by fear, the red men laid aside their weapons and knelt -at a brook where Marquette, gathering water in his hands, gave the rite -of baptism to each, and laid down the moral law they were to live by. -Wanena, who had fainted from sheer fright when she saw the idol burning, -was restored, and it may be added that the priest who Christianized her -also married her to Du Lhut, who prospered and left his name to the city -of the lake. News of the triumph of the white men's God went far and -wide, and Marquette found his missions easier after that. Du Lhut alone, -of all those present, was in the father's secret. He had perpetrated a -pious fraud, justified by the results as well as by his peril. A -burning-glass had been fastened to the crucifix, and with that he had -destroyed the idol. - -Trading thus on native ignorance a Frenchman named Lyons at another time -impressed the Indians at Dubuque and gained his will by setting a creek -on fire. They did not know that he had first poured turpentine over it. - - - - -THE SNAKE GOD OF BELLE ISLE - -The Indian demi-god, Sleeping Bear, had a daughter so beautiful that he -kept her out of the sight of men in a covered boat that swung on Detroit -River, tied to a tree on shore; but the Winds, having seen her when her -father had visited her with food, contended so fiercely to possess her -that the little cable was snapped and the boat danced on to the keeper of -the water-gates, who lived at the outlet of Lake Huron. The keeper, -filled with admiration for the girl's beauty, claimed the boat and its -charming freight, but he had barely received her into his lodge when the -angry Winds fell upon him, buffeting him so sorely that he died, and was -buried on Peach Island (properly Isle au Peche), where his spirit -remained for generations--an oracle sought by Indians before emprise in -war. His voice had the sound of wind among the reeds, and its meanings -could not be told except by those who had prepared themselves by fasting -and meditation to receive them. Before planning his campaign against the -English, Pontiac fasted here for seven days to "clear his ear" and hear -the wisdom of the sighing voice. - -But the Winds were not satisfied with the slaying of the keeper. They -tore away his meadows and swept them out as islands. They smashed the -damsel's boat and the little bark became Belle Isle. Here Manitou placed -the girl, and set a girdle of vicious snakes around the shore to guard -her and to put a stop to further contests. These islands in the straits -seem to have been favorite places of exile and theatres of -transformation. The Three Sisters are so called because of three Indian -women who so scolded and wrangled that their father was obliged to -separate them and put one on each of the islands for the sake of peace. - -It was at Belle Isle that the red men had put up and worshipped a natural -stone image. Hearing of this idol, on reaching Detroit, Dollier and De -Galinee crossed over to it, tore it down, smashed it, flung the bigger -piece of it into the river, and erected a cross in its place. The sunken -portion of the idol called aloud to the faithful, who had assembled to -wonder at the audacity of the white men and witness their expected -punishment by Manitou, and told them to cast in the other portions. They -did so, and all the fragments united and became a monster serpent that -kept the place from further intrusion. Later, when La Salle ascended the -straits in his ship, the Griffin, the Indians on shore invoked the help -of this, their manitou, and strange forms arose from the water that -pushed the ship into the north, her crew vainly singing hymns with a hope -of staying the demoniac power. - - - - -WERE-WOLVES OF DETROIT - -Long were the shores of Detroit vexed by the Snake God of Belle Isle and -his children, the witches, for the latter sold enchantments and were the -terror of good people. Jacques Morand, the _coureur de bois_, was in love -with Genevieve Parent, but she disliked him and wished only to serve the -church. Courting having proved of no avail, he resolved on force when she -had decided to enter a convent, and he went to one of the witches, who -served as devil's agent, to sell his soul. The witch accepted the slight -commodity and paid for it with a grant of power to change from a man's -form to that of a were-wolf, or _loup garou_, that he might the easier -bear away his victim. Incautiously, he followed her to Grosse Pointe, -where an image of the Virgin had been set up, and as Genevieve dropped at -the feet of the statue to implore aid, the wolf, as he leaped to her -side, was suddenly turned to stone. - -Harder was the fate of another maiden, Archange Simonet, for she was -seized by a were-wolf at this place and hurried away while dancing at her -own wedding. The bridegroom devoted his life to the search for her, and -finally lost his reason, but he prosecuted the hunt so vengefully and -shrewdly that he always found assistance. One of the neighbors cut off -the wolf's tail with a silver bullet, the appendage being for many years -preserved by the Indians. The lover finally came upon the creature and -chased it to the shore, where its footprint is still seen in one of the -bowlders, but it leaped into the water and disappeared. In his crazy -fancy the lover declared that it had jumped down the throat of a catfish, -and that is why the French Canadians have a prejudice against catfish as -an article of diet. - -The man-wolf dared as much for gain as for love. On the night that Jean -Chiquot got the Indians drunk and bore off their beaver-skins, the wood -witches, known as "the white women," fell upon him and tore a part of his -treasure from him, while a were-wolf pounced so hard on his back that he -lost more. He drove the creatures to a little distance, but was glad to -be safe inside of the fort again, though the officers laughed at him and -called him a coward. When they went back over the route with him they -were astonished to find the grass scorched where the women had fled -before him, and little springs in the turf showed where they had been -swallowed up. Sulphur-water was bubbling from the spot where the wolf -dived into the earth when the trader's rosary fell out of his jacket. -Belle Fontaine, the spot was called, long afterward. - - - - -THE ESCAPE OF FRANCOIS NAVARRE - -When the Hurons came to Sandwich, opposite the Michigan shore, in 1806, -and camped near the church for the annual "festival of savages," which -was religious primarily, but incidentally gastronomic, athletic, and -alcoholic, an old woman of the tribe foretold to Angelique Couture that, -ere long, blood would be shed freely and white men and Indians would take -each other's lives. That was a reasonably safe prophecy in those days, -and, though Angelique repeated it to her friends, she did not worry over -it. But when the comet of 1812 appeared the people grew afraid--and with -cause, for the war soon began with England. The girl's brothers fought -under the red flag; her lover, Francois Navarre, under the stars and -stripes. - -The cruel General Proctor one day passed through Sandwich with prisoners -on his way to the Hurons, who were to put them to death in the usual -manner. As they passed by, groaning in anticipation of their fate, -foot-sore and covered with dust, Angelique nearly swooned, for among them -she recognized her lover. He, too, had seen her, and the recognition had -been noticed by Proctor. Whether his savage heart was for the moment -softened by their anguish, or whether he wished to heighten their pain by -a momentary taste of joy, it is certain that on reaching camp he paroled -Francrois until sunset. The young man hastened to the girl's house, and -for one hour they were sadly happy. She tried to make him break his -parole and escape, but he refused, and as the sun sank he tore himself -from her arms and hastened to rejoin his companions in misery. - -His captors admired him for this act of honor, and had he so willed he -could have been then and there received into their tribe. As it was, they -allowed him to remain unbound. Hardly had the sun gone down when a number -of boats drew up at the beach with another lot of prisoners, and with -yells of rejoicing the Indians ran to the river to drive them into camp. -Francois's opportunity was brief, but he seized it. In the excitement he -had been unobserved. He was not under oath now, and with all speed he -dashed into the wood. Less than a minute had elapsed before his absence -was discovered, but he was a cunning woodman, and by alternately running -and hiding, with gathering darkness in his favor, he had soon put the -savages at a distance. - -A band of English went to Angelique's home, thinking that he would be -sure to rejoin her; but he was too shrewd for that, and it was in vain -that they fired guns up the chimneys and thrust bayonets into beds. -Angelique was terrified at this intrusion, but the men had been ordered -not to injure the woman, and she was glad, after all, to think that -Francois had escaped. Some days later one of the Hurons came to her door -and pointed significantly to a fresh scalp that hung at his belt. In the -belief that it was her lover's she grew ill and began to fade, but one -evening there came a faint tap at the door. She opened it to find a cap -on the door-step. - -There was no writing, yet her heart rose in her bosom and the color came -back to her cheeks, for she recognized it as her lover's. Later, she -learned that Francois had kept to the forest until he reached the site of -Walkerville, where he had found a canoe and reached the American side in -safety. She afterward rejoined him in Detroit, and they were married at -the end of the war, through which he served with honor and satisfaction -to himself, being enabled to pay many old scores against the red-coats -and the Indians. - - - - -THE OLD LODGER - -In 1868 there died in Detroit a woman named Marie Louise Thebault, more -usually called Kennette. She was advanced in years, and old residents -remembered when she was one of the quaintest figures and most assertive -spirits in the town, for until a few years before her death she was rude -of speech, untidy in appearance, loved nothing or respected nothing -unless it might be her violin and her money, and lived alone in a little -old house on the river-road to Springwells. Though she made shoes for a -living, she was of so miserly a nature that she accepted food from her -neighbors, and in order to save the expense of light and fuel she spent -her evenings out. Yet she read more or less, and was sufficiently -acquainted with Volney, Voltaire, and other skeptics to shock her church -acquaintances. Love of gain, not of company, induced her to lease one of -her rooms to a pious old woman, from whom she got not only a little rent, -but the incidental use of her fuel and light. - -When the pious one tried to win her to the church it angered her, and -then, too, she had a way of telling ghost stories that Kennette laughed -at. One of these narratives that she would dwell on with especial -self-conviction was that of Lieutenant Muir, who had left his mistress, -when she said No to his pleadings, supposing that she spoke the truth, -whereas she was merely trying to be coquettish. - -He fell in an attack on the Americans that night, and came back, -bleeding, to the girl who had made him throw his life away; he pressed -her hand, leaving the mark of skeleton fingers there, so that she always -kept it gloved afterward. Then there was the tale of the two men of -Detroit who were crushed by a falling tree: the married one, who was not -fatally hurt, begged his mate to call his wife, as soon as his soul was -free, and the woman, hearing the mournful voice at her door, as the -spirit passed on its way to space, ran out and rescued her husband from -his plight. She told, too, of the _feu follet_, or will-o'-the-wisp, that -led a girl on Grosse Isle to the swamp where her lover was engulfed in -mire and enabled her to rescue him. There was Grand'mere Duchene, -likewise, who worked at her spinning-wheel for many a night after death, -striking fear to her son's heart, by its droning, because he had not -bought the fifty masses for the repose of her soul, but when he had -fulfilled the promise she came no more. Another yarn was about the -ghost-boat of hunter Sebastian that ascends the straits once in seven -years, celebrating his return, after death, in accordance with the -promise made to Zoe, his betrothed, that--dead or alive--he would return -to her from the hunt at a certain time. - -To all this Kennette turned the ear of scorning. "Bah!" she cried. "I -don't believe your stories. I don't believe in your hell and your -purgatory. If you die first, come back. If I should, and I can, I will -come. Then we may know whether there is another world." - -The bargain was made to this effect, but the women did not get on well -together, and soon Kennette had an open quarrel with her lodger that -ended by her declaring that she never could forgive her, but that she -would hold her to her after-death compact. The lodger died, and while -talking of her death at the house of a neighbor a boy, who had arrived -from town, casually asked Kennette--knowing her saving ways--why she had -left the light burning in her house. Grasping a poker, she set off at -once to punish the intruder who had dared to enter in her absence, but -when she arrived there was no light. On several evenings the light was -reported by others, but as she was gadding in the neighborhood she never -saw it until, one night, resolved to see for herself, she returned early, -softly entered at the back door, and went to bed. Hardly had she done so -when she saw a light coming up-stairs. Sitting bolt upright in bed she -waited. The light came up noiselessly and presently stood in the -room--not a lantern or candle, but a white phosphorescence. It advanced -toward her, changing its form until she saw a cloudy likeness to a human -being. For the first time in her life she feared. "Come no nearer!" she -cried. "I know you. I believe you, and I forgive." - -The light vanished. From that night it was remarked that Kennette began -to age fast--she began to change and become more like other women. She -went to church and her face grew softer and kinder. It was the only time -that she saw the spirit, but the effect of the visit was permanent. - - - - -THE NAIN ROUGE - -Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, -that made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded -than the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared -only when there was to be trouble. In that it delighted. It was a -shambling, red-faced creature, with a cold, glittering eye and teeth -protruding from a grinning mouth. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, having -struck at it, presently lost his seigniory and his fortunes. It was seen -scampering along the shore on the night before the attack on Bloody Run, -when the brook that afterward bore this name turned red with the blood of -soldiers. People saw it in the smoky streets when the city was burned in -1805, and on the morning of Hull's surrender it was found grinning in the -fog. It rubbed its bony knuckles expectantly when David Fisher paddled -across the strait to see his love, Soulange Gaudet, in the only boat he -could find--a wheel-barrow, namely--but was sobered when David made a -safe landing. - -It chuckled when the youthful bloods set off on Christmas day to race the -frozen strait for the hand of buffer Beauvais's daughter Claire, but when -her lover's horse, a wiry Indian nag, came pacing in it fled before their -happiness. It was twice seen on the roof of the stable where that -sour-faced, evil-eyed old mumbler, Jean Beaugrand, kept his horse, Sans -Souci--a beast that, spite of its hundred years or more, could and did -leap every wall in Detroit, even the twelve-foot stockade of the fort, to -steal corn and watermelons, and that had been seen in the same barn, -sitting at a table, playing seven-up with his master, and drinking a -liquor that looked like melted brass. The dwarf whispered at the sleeping -ear of the old chief who slew Friar Constantine, chaplain of the fort, in -anger at the teachings that had parted a white lover from his daughter -and led her to drown herself--a killing that the red man afterward -confessed, because he could no longer endure the tolling of a mass bell -in his ears and the friar's voice in the wind. - -The Nain Rouge it was who claimed half of the old mill, on Presque Isle, -that the sick and irritable Josette swore that she would leave to the -devil when her brother Jean pestered her to make her will in his favor, -giving him complete ownership. On the night of her death the mill was -wrecked by a thunder-bolt, and a red-faced imp was often seen among the -ruins, trying to patch the machinery so as to grind the devil's grist. It -directed the dance of black cats in the mill at Pont Rouge, after the -widow's curse had fallen on Louis Robert, her brother-in-law. This man, -succeeding her husband as director of the property, had developed such -miserly traits that she and her children were literally starved to death, -but her dying curse threw such ill luck on the place and set afloat such -evil report about it that he took himself away. The Nain Rouge may have -been the Lutin that took Jacques L'Esperance's ponies from the stable at -Grosse Pointe, and, leaving no tracks in sand or snow, rode them through -the air all night, restoring them at dawn quivering with fatigue, covered -with foam, bloody with the lash of a thorn-bush. It stopped that exercise -on the night that Jacques hurled a font of holy water at it, but to keep -it away the people of Grosse Pointe still mark their houses with the sign -of a cross. - -It was lurking in the wood on the day that Captain Dalzell went against -Pontiac, only to perish in an ambush, to the secret relief of his -superior, Major Gladwyn, for the major hoped to win the betrothed of -Dalzell; but when the girl heard that her lover had been killed at Bloody -Run, and his head had been carried on a pike, she sank to the ground -never to rise again in health, and in a few days she had followed the -victims of the massacre. There was a suspicion that the Nain Rouge had -power to change his shape for one not less offensive. The brothers -Tremblay had no luck in fishing through the straits and lakes until one -of them agreed to share his catch with St. Patrick, the saint's half to -be sold at the church-door for the benefit of the poor and for buying -masses to relieve souls in purgatory. His brother doubted if this benefit -would last, and feared that they might be lured into the water and turned -into fish, for had not St. Patrick eaten pork chops on a Friday, after -dipping them into holy water and turning them into trout? But his good -brother kept on and prospered and the bad one kept on grumbling. Now, at -Grosse Isle was a strange thing called the rolling muff, that all were -afraid of, since to meet it was a warning of trouble; but, like the _feu -follet_, it could be driven off by holding a cross toward it or by asking -it on what day of the month came Christmas. The worse of the Tremblays -encountered this creature and it filled him with dismay. When he returned -his neighbors observed an odor--not of sanctity--on his garments, and -their view of the matter was that he had met a skunk. The graceless man -felt convinced, however, that he had received a devil's baptism from the -Nain Rouge, and St. Patrick had no stancher allies than both the -Tremblays, after that. - - - - -TWO REVENGES - -It is no more possible to predicate the conduct of an Indian than that of -a woman. In Detroit lived Wasson, one of the warriors of the dreaded -Pontiac, who had felt some tender movings of the spirit toward a girl of -his tribe. The keeper of the old red mill that stood at the foot of -Twenty-fourth Street adopted her, with the consent of her people, and did -his best to civilize her. But Wasson kept watch. He presently discovered -that whenever the miller was away a candle shone in the window until a -figure wrapped in a military cloak emerged from the shadows, knocked, and -was admitted. On the night that Wasson identified his rival as Colonel -Campbell, an English officer, he stole into the girl's room through the -window and cut her down with his hatchet. Colonel Campbell, likewise, he -slew after Pontiac had made prisoners of the garrison. The mill was -shunned, after that, for the figure of a girl, with a candle in her hand, -frightened so many people by moving about the place that it was torn down -in 1795. - -But the red man was not always hostile. Kenen, a Huron, loved a -half-breed girl, whom he could never persuade into a betrothal. One day -he accidentally wounded a white man in the wood, and lifting him on his -shoulder he hurried with him to camp. It was not long before he found -that the soft glances of the half-breed girl were doing more to cure his -victim than the incantations of the medicine-man, and in a fit of anger, -one day, he plucked forth his knife and fell upon the couple. Her look of -innocent surprise shamed him. He rushed away, with an expression of -self-contempt, and flung his weapon far into the river. Soon after, the -white man was captured by the Iroquois. They were preparing to put him to -the torture when a tall Indian leaped in among them, with the cry, "I am -Kenen. Let the pale face go, for a Huron chief will take his place." And, -as the bonds fell from the prisoner's wrists and ankles, he added, "Go -and comfort the White Fawn." The white man was allowed to enter a canoe -and row away, but as he did so his heart misgave him: the words of a -deathsong and the crackling of flames had reached his ears. - - - - -HIAWATHA - -The story of Hiawatha--known about the lakes as Manabozho and in the East -as Glooskapis the most widely disseminated of the Indian legends. He came -to earth on a Messianic mission, teaching justice, fortitude, and -forbearance to the red men, showing them how to improve their handicraft, -ridding the woods and hills of monsters, and finally going up to heaven -amid cries of wonder from those on whose behalf he had worked and -counselled. He was brought up as a child among them, took to wife the -Dakota girl, Minnehaha ("Laughing Water"), hunted, fought, and lived as a -warrior; yet, when need came, he could change his form to any shape of -bird, fish, or plant that he wished. He spoke to friends in the voice of -a woman and to enemies in tones like thunder. A giant in form, few dared -to resist him in battle, yet he suffered the common pains and adversities -of his kind, and while fishing in one of the great lakes in his white -stone canoe, that moved whither he willed it, he and his boat were -swallowed by the king of fishes. He killed the creature by beating at its -heart with a stone club, and when the gulls had preyed on its flesh, as -it lay floating on the surface, until he could see daylight, he clambered -through the opening they had made and returned to his lodge. - -Believing that his father had killed his mother, he fought against him -for several days, driving him to the edge of the world before peace was -made between them. The evil Pearl Feather had slain one of his relatives, -and to avenge that crime Hiawatha pressed through a guard of -fire-breathing serpents which surrounded that fell personage, shot them -with arrows as they struck at him, and having thus reached the lodge of -his enemy he engaged him in combat. All day long they battled to no -purpose, but toward evening a woodpecker flew overhead and cried, "Your -enemy has but one vulnerable point. Shoot at his scalp-lock." Hiawatha -did so and his foe fell dead. Anointing his finger with the blood of his -foe, he touched the bird, and the red mark is found on the head of every -woodpecker to this day. A duck having led him a long chase when he was -trying to capture it for food, he angrily kicked it, thus flattening its -back, bowing its legs, despoiling it of half of its tail-feathers, and -that is why, to this day, ducks are awkward. - -In return for its service in leading him to where the prince of serpents -lived, he invested the kingfisher with a medal and rumpled the feathers -of its head in putting it on; hence all kingfishers have rumpled knots -and white spots on their breasts. After slaying the prince of serpents he -travelled all over America, doing good work, and on reaching Onondaga he -organized a friendly league of thirteen tribes that endured for many -years. This closed his mission. As he stood in the assemblage of chiefs a -white bird, appearing at an immense height, descended like a meteor, -struck Hiawatha's daughter with such force as to drive her remains into -the earth and shattered itself against the ground. Its silvery feathers -were scattered, and these were preserved by the beholders as ornaments -for their hair--so the custom of wearing feather head-dresses endures to -our time. Though filled with consternation, Hiawatha recognized the -summons. He addressed his companions in tones of such sweetness and terms -of such eloquence as had never been heard before, urging them to live -uprightly and to enforce good laws, and unhappy circumstance!--promising -to come back when the time was ripe. The expectancy of his return has led -to ghost-dances and similar demonstrations of enmity against the whites. -When he had ended he entered his stone canoe and began to rise in air to -strains of melting music. Higher and higher he arose, the white vessel -shining in the sunlight, until he disappeared in the spaces of the sky. - -Incidents of the Hiawatha legend are not all placed, but he is thought to -have been born near the great lakes, perhaps at Mackinack. Some legends, -indeed, credit him with making his home at Mackinack, and from that -point, as a centre, making a new earth around him. The fight with his -father began on the upper Mississippi, and the bowlders found along its -banks were their missiles. The south shore of Lake Superior was the scene -of his conflict with the serpents. He hunted the great beaver around Lake -Superior and brought down his dam at the Sault Sainte Marie. A depression -in a rock on the southern edge of Michipicotea Bay is where he alighted -after a jump across the lake. In a larger depression, near Thunder Bay, -he sat when smoking his last pipe. The big rocks on the east side of -Grand Traverse Bay, near Antrim City, Michigan, are the bones of a stone -monster that he slew. - -So trifling an incident as the kicking of the duck has been localized at -Lake Itasca. [It is worth passing mention that this name, which sounds as -if it were of Indian origin, is held by some to be composed of the last -syllables of _veritas_ and the first letters of _caput_, these -words-signifying "the true head"--being applied by early explorers as -showing that they were confident of having found the actual source of the -Mississippi.] Minnehaha lived near the fall in Minneapolis that bears her -name. The final apotheosis took place on the shores of Lake Onondaga, New -York, though Hiawatha lies buried under a mountain, three miles long, on -the east side of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, which, from the water, -resembles a man lying on his back. The red man makes oblation, as he rows -past, by dropping a pinch of tobacco into the water. Some say that -Hiawatha now lives at the top of the earth, amid the ice, and directs the -sun. He has to live in a cold country because, if he were to return, he -would set the earth on fire with his footsteps. - - - - -THE INDIAN MESSIAH - -The promise of the return to earth of various benign spirits has caused -much trouble among the red men, and incidentally to the white men who are -the objects of their fanatic dislike. The New Mexicans believed that when -the Emperor Montezuma was about to leave the earth he planted a tree and -bade them watch it, for when it fell he would come back in glory and lead -them to victory, wealth, and power. The watch was kept in secret on -account of the determination of the Spaniards to breakup all fealty to -tribal heroes and traditions. As late as 1781 they executed a sentence of -death on a descendant of the Peruvian Incas for declaring his royal -origin. When Montezuma's tree fell the people gathered on the house-tops -to watch the east-in vain, for the white man was there. In 1883 the -Sanpoels, a small tribe in Washington, were stirred by the teaching of an -old chief, who told them that the wicked would soon be destroyed, and -that the Great Spirit had ordered him to build an ark for his people. The -remains of this vessel, two hundred and eighty-eight feet long, are still -to be seen near one of the tributaries of the Columbia. - -A frenzy swept over the West in 1890, inspiring the Indians by promise of -the coming of one of superhuman power, who was generally believed to be -Hiawatha, to threaten the destruction of the white population, since it -had been foretold that the Messiah would drive the white men from their -land. Early in the summer of that year it was reported that the Messiah -had appeared in the north, and the chiefs of many tribes went to Dakota, -as the magi did to Bethlehem, to learn if this were true. Sitting Bull, -the Sioux chief, told them, in assembly, that it was so, and declared -that he had seen the new Christ while hunting in the Shoshone Mountains. -One evening he lost his way and was impelled by a strange feeling to -follow a star that moved before him. At daybreak it paused over a -beautiful valley, and, weary with his walk, he sank on a bed of moss. As -he sat there throngs of Indian warriors appeared and began a spirit -dance, led by chiefs who had long been dead. Presently a voice spoke in -his ear, and turning he saw a strange man dressed in white. The man said -he was the same Christ who had come into the world nineteen hundred years -before to save white men, and that now he would save the red men by -driving out the whites. The Indians were to dance the ghost-dance, or -spirit dance, until the new moon, when the globe would shiver, the wind -would glow, and the white soldiers and their horses would sink into the -earth. The Messiah showed to Sitting Bull the nail-wounds in his hands -and feet and the spear-stab in his side. When night came on the form in -white had disappeared--and, returning, the old chief taught the -ghost-dance to his people. - - - - -THE VISION OF RESCUE - -Surmounting Red Banks, twelve miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the -eastern shore, and one hundred feet above the water, stands an earthwork -that the first settlers found there when they went into that country. It -was built by the Sauks and Outagamies, a family that ruled the land for -many years, rousing the jealousy of neighboring tribes by their wealth -and power. The time came, as it did in the concerns of nearly every band -of Indians, when war was declared against this family, and the enemy came -upon them in the darkness, their canoes patroling the shore while the -main body formed a line about the fort. So silently was this done that -but one person discovered it--a squaw, who cried, "We are all dead!" - -There was nothing to see or hear, and she was rated for alarming the camp -with foolish dreams; but dawn revealed the beleaguering line, and at the -lifting of the sun a battle began that lasted for days, those within the -earthworks sometimes fighting while ankle-deep in the blood of their -fellows. The greatest lack of the besieged was that of water, and they -let down earthen jars to the lake to get it, but the cords were cut ere -they could be drawn up, the enemy shouting, derisively, "Come down and -drink!" Several times they tried to do so, but were beaten back at every -sally, and it seemed at last as if extermination was to be their fate. - -When matters were at their darkest one of the young men who had been -fasting for ten days--the Indian custom when divine direction was sought -addressed his companions to this effect: "Last night there stood by me -the form of a young man, clothed in white, who said, 'I was once alive, -but I died, and now I live forever. Trust me and I will deliver you. Be -fearless. At midnight I will cast a sleep on your enemies. Go forth -boldly and you shall escape.'" The condition was too desperate to -question any means of freedom, and that night all but a handful of -disbelievers left the fort, while the enemy was in a slumber of -exhaustion, and got away in safety. When the besiegers, in the morning, -found that the fort had been almost deserted, they fell on the few that -remained to repent their folly, and put them to the knife and axe, for -their fury was excessive at the failure of the siege. - - - - -DEVIL'S LAKE - -Any of the noble rivers and secluded lakes of Wisconsin were held in -esteem or fear by the northern tribes, and it was the now-forgotten -events and superstitions connected with them, not less than the frontier -tendency for strong names, that gave a lurid and diabolical nomenclature -to parts of this region. Devils, witches, magicians, and manitous were -perpetuated, and Indians whose prowess was thought to be supernatural -left dim records of themselves here and there--as near the dells of the -Wisconsin, where a chasm fifty feet wide is shown as the ravine leaped by -chief Black Hawk when flying from the whites. Devil's Lake was the home -of a manitou who does not seem to have been a particularly evil genius, -though he had unusual power. The lake fills what is locally regarded as -the crater of an extinct volcano, and the coldness and purity kept by the -water, in spite of its lacking visible inlets or outlets, was one cause -for thinking it uncanny. - -This manitou piled the heavy blocks of Devil's Door-Way and set up Black -Monument and the Pedestalled Bowlder as thrones where he might sit and -view the landscape by day--for the Indians appreciated the beautiful in -nature and supposed their gods did, too--while at night he could watch -the dance of the frost spirits, the aurora borealis. Cleft Rock was -sundered by one of his darts aimed at an offending Indian, who owed his -life to the manitou's bad aim. The Sacrifice Stone is shown where, at -another time, a girl was immolated to appease his anger. Cleopatra's -Needle, as it is now called, is the body of an ancient chief, who was -turned into stone as a punishment for prying into the mysteries of the -lake, a stone on East Mountain being the remains of a squaw who had -similarly offended. On the St. Croix the Devil's Chair is pointed out -where he sat in state. He had his play spells, too, as you may guess when -you see his toboggan slide in Weber Canon, Utah, while Cinnabar Mountain, -in the Yellowstone country, he scorched red as he coasted down. - -The hunter wandering through this Wisconsin wilderness paused when he -came within sight of the lake, for all game within its precincts was in -the manitou's protection; not a fish might be taken, and not even a drop -of water could be dipped to cool the lips of the traveller. So strong was -this fear of giving offence to the manitou that Indians who were dying of -wounds or illness, and were longing for a swallow of water, would refuse -to profane the lake by touching their lips to it. - - - - -THE KEUSCA ELOPEMENT - -Keusca was a village of the Dakota Indians on the Wisconsin bluffs of the -Mississippi eighteen hundred miles from its mouth. The name means, to -overthrow, or set aside, for it was here that a tribal law was broken. -Sacred Wind was a coquette of that village, for whose hand came many -young fellows wooing with painted faces. For her they played the bone -flute in the twilight, and in the games they danced and leaped their -hardest and shot their farthest and truest when she was looking on. -Though they amused her she cared not a jot for these suitors, keeping her -love for the young brave named the Shield--and keeping it secret, for he -was her cousin, and cousins might not wed. If a relative urged her to -marry some young fellow for whom she had no liking, she would answer that -if forced to do so she would fling herself into the river, and spoke of -Winonah and Lovers' Leap. - -She was afraid to wed the Shield, for the medicine-men had threatened all -who dared to break the marriage laws with unearthly terrors; yet when the -Shield had been absent for several weeks on the war-path she realized -that life without his companionship was too hollow to be endured--and she -admired him all the more when he returned with two scalps hanging at his -belt. He renewed his wooing. He allayed her fears by assurances that he, -too, was a medicine-man and could counteract the spells that wizards -might cast on them. Then she no longer repressed the promptings of her -heart, but yielded to his suit. They agreed to elope that night. - -As they left the little clearing in the wood where their interview had -taken place, a thicket stirred and a girl stole from it, looking intently -at their retreating forms. The Swan, they had named her; but, with a -flush in her dusky cheeks, her brows dark, her eyes glittering, she more -recalled the vulture--for she, too, loved the Shield; and she had now -seen and heard that her love was hopeless. That evening she alarmed the -camp; she told the parents of Sacred Wind of the threatened violation of -custom, and the father rose in anger to seek her. It was too late, for -the flight had taken place. The Swan went to the river and rowed out in a -canoe. From the middle of the stream she saw a speck on the water to the -southward, and knew it to be Sacred Wind and her lover, henceforth -husband. She watched until the speck faded in the twilight--then leaning -over the side of the boat she capsized it, and passed from the view of -men. - - - - -PIPESTONE - -Pipestone, a smooth, hard, even-textured clay, of lively color, from -which thousands of red men cut their pipe-bowls, forms a wall on the -Coteau des Prairies, in Minnesota, that is two miles long and thirty feet -high. In front of it lie five bowlders, the droppings from an iceberg to -the floor of the primeval sea, and beneath these masses of granite live -the spirits of two squaws that must be consulted before the stone can be -dug. This quarry was neutral ground, and here, as they approached it, the -men of all tribes sheathed their knives and belted up their axes, for to -this place the Great Spirit came to kill and eat the buffalo, and it is -the blood of this animal that has turned the stone to red. Here, too, the -Thunder Bird had her nest, and her brood rent the skies above it with the -clashing of their iron wings. - -A snake having crawled into this nest to steal the unhatched thunders, -Manitou caught up a piece of pipestone, hastily pressed it between his -hands, giving it the shape of a man, and flung it at the reptile. The -stone man's feet stuck fast in the ground, and there he stood for a -thousand years, growing like a tree and drawing strength and knowledge -out of the earth. Another shape grew up beside him--woman. In time the -snake gnawed them free from their foundations and the red-earth pair -wandered off together. From them sprang all people. - -Ages after, the Manitou called the red men to the quarry, fashioned a -pipe for them, told them it was a part of their flesh, and smoked it over -them, blowing the smoke to north, south, east, and west, in token that -wherever the influence of the pipe extended there was to be brotherhood -and peace. The place was to be sacred from war and they were to make -their pipes from this rock. As the smoke rolled about him he gradually -disappeared from view. At the last whiff the ashes fell out and the -surface of the rock for miles burst into flame, so that it melted and -glazed. Two ovens opened at its foot, and through the fire entered the -two spirits Tsomecostee and Tsomecostewondee--that are still its -guardians, answering the invocations of the medicine-men and accepting -the oblations of those who go to make pipes or carve their totems on the -rock. - - - - -THE VIRGINS' FEAST - -A game of lacrosse was played by Indian girls on the ice near the present -Fort Snelling, one winter day, and the victorious trophies were awarded -to Wenonah, sister of the chief, to the discomfiture of Harpstenah, her -opponent, an ill-favored woman, neglected by her tribe, and jealous of -Wenonah's beauty and popularity. This defeat, added to some fancied -slights, was almost more than she could bear, and during the contest she -had been cut in the head by one of the rackets--an accident that she -falsely attributed to her adversary in the game. She had an opportunity -of proving her hatred, for directly that it was known how Wenonah had -refused to marry Red Cloud, a stalwart boaster, openly preferring a -younger warrior of the tribe, the ill-thinking Harpstenah sought out the -disappointed suitor, who sat moodily apart, and thus advised him, -"To-morrow is the Feast of Virgins, when all who are pure will sit at -meat together. Wenonah will be there. Has she the right to be? Have you -not seen how shamelessly she favors your rival's suit? Among the Dakotas -to accuse is to condemn, and the girl who is accused at the Virgins' -Feast is disgraced forever. She has shown for Red Cloud nothing but -contempt. If he shows no anger at it the girls will laugh at him." - -With this she turned away and left Red Cloud to his meditations. Wenonah, -at the door of her brother's wigwam, looked into the north and saw the -stars grow pale through streams of electric fire. "The Woman of the North -warns us of coming evil," muttered the chief. "Some danger is near. Fire -on the lights!" And a volley of musketry sent a shock through the still -air. - -"They shine for me," said Wenonah, sadly. "For I shall soon join our -father, mother, and sister in the land of spirits. Before the leaves fell -I sat beside the Father of Waters and saw a manitou rise among the waves. -It said that my sisters in the sunset world were calling to me and I must -soon go to them." The chief tried to laugh away her fancies and comforted -her as well as he might, then leading her to the wigwam he urged her to -sleep. - -Next day is the Virgins' Feast and Wenonah is among those who sit in the -ring, dressed in their gayest. None who are conscious of a fault may -share in the feast; nor, if one were exposed and expelled, might any -interpose to ask for mercy; yet a groan of surprise and horror goes -through the company when Red Cloud, stalking up to the circle, seizes the -girl roughly by the shoulder and orders her away. No use to deny or -appeal. An Indian warrior would not be so treacherous or unjust as to act -in this way unless he had proofs. Without a word she enters the adjacent -wood, draws her knife, and strikes it to her heart. With summer came the -fever, and it ravaged through the band, laying low the infant and the -counsellor. Red Cloud was the first to die, and as he was borne away -Harpstenah lifted her wasted form and followed him with dimming eyes, -then cried, "He is dead. He hated Wenonah because she slighted him. I -hated her because she was happy. I told him to denounce her. But she was -innocent." - - - - -FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY - -Several of the Dakotas, who had been in camp near the site of St. Paul, -left their families and friends, when the hunting season opened, and went -into the north. On their arrival at another village of their tribe, they -stayed to rest for a little, and one of the men used the time to -ill-advantage, as it fell out, for he conceived an attachment for a girl -of this northern family, and on his way southward he wedded her and took -her home with him. Proper enough to do, if he had not been married -already. The first wife knew that any warrior might take a second, if he -could support both; but the woman was stronger than the savage in her -nature, and when her husband came back, with a red-cheeked woman walking -beside him, she felt that she should never know his love again. The man -was all attention to the young wife, whether the tribe tarried or -travelled. When they shifted camp the elder walked or rowed behind with -her boy, a likely lad of ten or twelve. - -It was when they were returning down the river after a successful hunt -that the whole company was obliged to make a carry around the quick water -near the head of St. Anthony's Falls. While the others were packing the -boats and goods for transportation by hand to the foot of the cataract, -the forsaken wife chose a moment when none were watching to embark with -her boy in one of the canoes. Rowing out to an island, she put on all her -ornaments, and dressed the lad in beads and feathers as if he were a -warrior. Her husband, finding her absent from the party, looked anxiously -about for some time, and was horrified to see her put out from the island -into the rapid current. She had placed the child high in the boat, and -was rowing with a steady stroke down the stream. He called and beckoned -franticly. She did not seem to hear him, nor did she turn her head when -the others joined their cries to his. For a moment those who listened -heard her death-song, then the yeasty flood hid them from sight, and the -husband on the shore fell to the earth with a wail of anguish. - - - - -FLYING SHADOW AND TRACK MAKER - -The Chippewas and Sioux had come together at Fort Snelling to make merry -and cement friendships. Flying Shadow was sad when the time came for the -tribes to part, for Track Maker had won her heart, and no less strong -than her love was the love he felt for her. But a Chippewa girl might not -marry among the Sioux, and, if she did, the hand of every one would be -against her should ever the tribes wage war upon each other, and war was -nearer than either of them had expected. The Chippewas left with feelings -of good will, Flying Shadow concealing in her bosom the trinkets that -testified to the love of Track Maker and sighing as she thought of the -years that might elapse ere they met again. - -Two renegade Chippewas, that had lingered behind the band, played the -villain after this pleasant parting, for they killed a Sioux. Hardly was -the news of this outrage received at the fort ere three hundred warriors -were on the trail of their whilom guests and friends, all clamoring for -revenge. Among them was Track Maker, for he could not, as a warrior, -remain behind after his brother had been shot, and, while his heart sank -within him as he thought of the gentle Flying Shadow, he marched in -advance, and early in the morning the Chippewas were surprised between -St. Anthony's Falls and Rum River, where they had camped without fear, -being alike ignorant and innocent of the murder for which so many were to -be punished. - -The Sioux fell upon them and cut down all alike--men, women, and -children. In the midst of the carnage Track Maker comes face to face with -Flying Shadow, and with a cry of gladness she throws herself into his -arms. But there is no refuge there. Gladly as he would save her, he knows -too well that the thirst for blood will not be sated until every member -of that band is dead. He folds her to his bosom for an instant, looks -into her eyes with tenderness--then bowing his head he passes on and -never glances back. It is enough. She falls insensible, and a savage, -rushing upon her, tears the scalp from her head. - -The Sioux win a hundred scalps and celebrate their victory with dance and -song. Track Maker has returned with more scalps than any, and the maidens -welcome him as a hero, but he keeps gravely apart from all, and has no -share in the feasting and merry-making. Ever the trusting, pleading, -wondering face of Flying Shadow comes before him. It looks out at him in -the face of the deer he is about to kill. He sees it in the river, the -leaves, the clouds. It rises before him in dreams. The elder people say -he is bewitched, but he will have none of their curatives. When war -breaks out he is the first to go, the first to open battle. Rushing among -his enemies he lays about him with his axe until he falls, pierced with a -hundred spears and arrows. It is the fate he has courted, and as he falls -his face is lighted with a smile. - - - - -SAVED BY A LIGHTNING-STROKE - -There was rough justice in the West in the old days. It had to be dealt -severely and quickly, for it was administered to a kind of men that -became dangerous if they saw any advantage or any superiority in their -strength or numbers over the decent people with whom they were cast. They -were uncivilized foreigners and native renegades, for the most part, who -had drifted to the frontier in the hope of making a living without work -more easily than in the cities. As there were no lawyers or courts and -few recognized laws, the whole people constituted themselves a jury, and -if a man were known to be guilty it was foolishness for any one to waste -logic on his case. And there is almost no record of an innocent man being -hanged by lynchers in the West. For minor offences the penalty was to be -marched out of camp, with a warning to be very cautious about coming that -way again, but for graver ones it was death. - -In 1840 a number of desperate fellows had settled along Cedar River, near -its confluence with the Iowa, who subsisted by means of theft from the -frugal and industrious. Some of these men applied themselves especially -to horse-stealing, and in thinly settled countries, where a man has often -to go twenty or thirty miles for supplies, or his mail, or medical -attendance, it is thought to be a calamity to be without a horse. - -At last the people organized themselves into a vigilance committee and -ran down the thieves. As the latter were a conscienceless gang of -rascals, it was resolved that the only effectual way of reforming them -would be by hanging. One man of the nine, it is true, was supposed before -his arrest to be a respectable citizen, but his evil communications -closed the ears of his neighbors to his appeals, and it was resolved that -he, too, should hang. - -Not far away stood an oak with nine stout branches, and to this natural -gallows the rogues were taken. As a squall was coming up the ceremonies -were short, and presently every limb was weighted with the form of a -captive. The formerly respectable citizen was the last one to be drawn -up, and hardly had his halter been secured before the storm burst and a -bolt of lightning ripped off the limb on which he hung. During the delay -caused by this accident the unhappy man pleaded so earnestly for a -rehearing that it was decided to give it to him, and when he had secured -it he conclusively proved his innocence and was set free. The tree is -still standing. To the ruffians it was a warning and they went away. Even -the providential saving of one man did not detract from the value of the -lesson to avoid bad company. - - - - -THE KILLING OF CLOUDY SKY - -In the Dakota camp on the bank of Spirit Lake, or Lake Calhoun, Iowa, -lived Cloudy Sky, a medicine-man, who had been made repellent by age and -accident, but who was feared because of his magic power. At eighty years -of age he looked for a third wife, and chose the daughter of a warrior, -his presents of blankets and calicoes to the parents winning their -consent. The girl, Harpstenah (a common name for a third daughter among -the Sioux), dreaded and hated this man, for it was rumored that he had -killed his first wife and basely sold his second. When she learned what -had been decided for her she rushed from the camp in tears and sat in a -lonely spot near the lake to curse and lament unseen. As she sat there -the waters were troubled. There was no wind, yet great waves were thrown -up, and tumbled hissing on the shore. Presently came a wave higher than -the rest, and a graceful form leaped from it, half shrouded in its own -long hair. - -"Do not tremble," said the visitant, for Harpstenah had hidden her face. -"I am the daughter of Unktahe, the water god. In four days your parents -will give you to Cloudy Sky, as his wife, though you love Red Deer. It is -with you to wed the man you hate or the man you love. Cloudy Sky has -offended the water spirits and we have resolved upon his death. If you -will be our agent in destroying him, you shall marry Red Deer and live -long and happily. The medicine-man wandered for years through the air -with the thunder birds, flinging his deadly fire-spears at us, and it was -for killing the son of Unktahe that he was last sent to earth, where he -has already lived twice before. Kill him while he sleeps and we will -reward you." - -As Harpstenah went back to the village her prospective bridegroom ogled -her as he sat smoking before his lodge, his face blackened and blanket -torn in mourning for an enemy he had killed. She resolved to heed the -appeal of the manitou. When Red Deer heard how she had been promised to -the old conjurer, he was filled with rage. Still, he became thoughtful -and advised caution when she told him of the water spirit's counsel, for -the dwellers in the lakes were, of all immortals, most deceitful, and had -ever been enemies of the Dakotas. "I will do as I am bidden," she said, -sternly. "Go away and visit the Tetons for a time. It is now the moon of -strawberries" (June), "but in the moon when we gather wild rice" -(September) "return and I will be your wife." - -Red Deer obeyed, after finding that she would not elope with him, and -with the announcement that he was going on a long hunt he took his leave -of the village. Harpstenah made ready for the bridal and greeted her -future husband with apparent pleasure and submissiveness. He gave a -medicine feast in token of the removal of his mourning, and appeared in -new clothing, greased and braided hair, and a white blanket decorated -with a black hand--the record of a slain enemy. - -On the night before the wedding the girl creeps to his lodge, but -hesitates when she sees his medicine-bag hanging beside the door--the -medicine that has kept its owner from evil and is sacred from the touch -of woman. As she lingers the night-breeze seems to bring a voice from the -water: "Can a Dakota woman want courage when she is forced to marry the -man she hates?" - -She delays no longer. A knife-blade glitters for an instant in the -moonlight--and Cloudy Sky is dead. Strange, is it not, that the thunder -birds flap so heavily along the west at that moment and a peal of -laughter sounds from the lake? She washes the blood from the blade, -steals to her father's lodge, and pretends to sleep. In the morning she -is loud in her grief when it is made known to her that the medicine-man -was no more, and the doer of the deed is never discovered. In time her -wan face gets its color and when the leaves begin to fall Red Deer -returns and weds her. - -They seem to be happy for a time, and have two sons who promise to be -famous hunters, but consumption fastens on Red Deer and he dies far from -the village. The sons are shot by enemies, and while their bodies are on -their way to Harpstenah's lodge she, too, is stricken dead by lightning. -The spirit of Cloudy Sky had rejoined the thunder birds, and the water -manitou had promised falsely. - - - - -PROVIDENCE HOLE - -The going of white men into the prairies aroused the same sort of -animosity among the Indians that they have shown in other parts of the -country when retiring before the advance of civilization, and many who -tried to plant corn on the rolling lands of Iowa, though they did no harm -to the red men, paid for the attempt with their lives. Such was the fate -of a settler who had built his cabin on the Wyoming hills, near -Davenport. While working in his fields an arrow, shot from a covert, laid -him low, and his scalp was cut away to adorn the belt of a savage. His -little daughter, left alone, began to suffer from fears and loneliness as -the sun went lower and lower, and when it had come to its time of setting -she put on her little bonnet and went in search of him. As she gained the -slope where he had last been seen, an Indian lifted his head from the -grass and looked at her. - -Starting back to run, she saw another behind her. Escape seemed hopeless, -and killing or captivity would have been her lot had not a crevice opened -in the earth close to where she stood. Dropping on hands and knees she -hastily crawled in, and found herself in what seemed to be an extensive -cavern. Hardly had she time to note the character of the place when the -gap closed as strangely as it had opened and she was left in darkness. -Not daring to cry aloud, lest Indians should hear her, she sat upright -until her young eyes could keep open no longer; then, lying on a mossy -rock, she fell asleep. In the morning the sun was shining in upon her and -the way to escape was open. She ran home, hungry, but thankful, and was -found and cared for by neighbors. "Providence Hole" then passed into the -legends of the country. It has closed anew, however. - - - - -THE SCARE CURE - -Early in this century a restless Yankee, who wore the uninspiring name of -Tompkinson, found his way into Carondelet--or Vuide Poche, the French -settlement on the Mississippi since absorbed by St. Louis--and cast about -for something to do. He had been in hard luck on his trip from New -England to the great river. His schemes for self-aggrandizement and the -incidental enlightenment and prosperity of mankind had not thriven, and -it was largely in pity that M. Dunois gave shelter to the ragged, -half-starved, but still jaunty and resourceful adventurer. Dunois was the -one man in the place who could pretend to some education, and the two got -on together famously. - -As soon as Tompkinson was in clothes and funds--the result of certain -speculations--he took a house, and hung a shingle out announcing that -there he practised medicine. Now, the fellow knew less about doctoring -than any village granny, but a few sick people that he attended had the -rare luck to get well in spite of him, and his reputation expanded to -more than local limits in consequence. In the excess of spirits that -prosperity created he flirted rather openly with a number of virgins in -Carondelet, to the scandal of Dunois, who forbade him his house, and of -the priest, who put him under ban. - -For the priest he cared nothing, but Dunois's anger was more serious--for -the only maid of all that he really loved was Marie Dunois, his daughter. -He formally proposed for her, but the old man would not listen to him. -Then his "practice" fell away. The future looked as dark for him as his -recent past had been, until a woman came to him with a bone in her throat -and begged to be relieved. His method in such cases was to turn a -wheel-of-fortune and obey it. The arrow this time pointed to the word, -"Bleeding." - -He grasped a scalpel and advanced upon his victim, who, supposing that he -intended to cut her throat open to extract the obstacle, fell a-screaming -with such violence that the bone flew out. What was supposed to be his -ready wit in this emergency restored him to confidence, and he was able -to resume the practice that he needed so much. In a couple of years he -displayed to the wondering eyes of Dunois so considerable an accumulation -of cash that he gave Marie to him almost without the asking, and, as -Tompkinson afterward turned Indian trader and quadrupled his wealth by -cheating the red men, he became one of the most esteemed citizens of the -West. - - - - -TWELFTH NIGHT AT CAHOKIA - -It was Twelfth Night, and the French village of Cahokia, near St. Louis, -was pleasantly agitated at the prospect of a dance in the old court -saloon, which was assembly-room and everything else for the little place. -The thirteen holy fires were alight--a large one, to represent Christ; a -lesser one, to be trampled out by the crowd, typing Judas. The twelfth -cake, one slice with the ring in it, was cut, and there were drink and -laughter, but, as yet, no music. Gwen Malhon, a drift-wood collector, was -the most anxious to get over the delay, for he had begged a dance from -Louison. Louison Florian was pretty, not badly off in possessions and -prospects, and her lover, Beaurain, had gone away. She was beginning to -look a little scornful and impatient, so Gwen set off for a fiddler. - -He had inquired at nearly every cabin without success, and was on his way -toward the ferry when he heard music. Before him, on the moonlit river, -was a large boat, and near it, on the bank, he saw a company of men -squatted about a fire and bousing together from a bottle. At a little -distance, on a stump, sat a thin, bent man, enveloped in a cloak, and it -was he who played. Gwen complimented him and pleaded the disappointment -of the dancers in excuse of an urgent appeal that he should hurry with -him to the court saloon. The stranger was courteous. He sprang into the -road with a limping bound, shook down his cloak so as to disclose a -curled moustache, shaggy brows, a goat's beard, and a pair of glittering -eyes. "I'll give them a dance!" he exclaimed. "I know one tune. They call -it 'Returned from the Grave.' Pay? We'll see how you like my playing." - -On entering the room where the caperish youth were already shuffling in -corners, the musician met Mamzel Florian, who offered him a slice of the -cake. He bent somewhat near to take it, and she gave a little cry. He had -found the ring, and that made him king of the festival, with the right to -choose the prettiest girl as queen. A long drink of red wine seemed to -put him in the best of trim, and he began to fiddle with a verve that was -irresistible. In one minute the whole company--including the priest, some -said--was jigging it lustily. "Whew!" gasped one old fellow. "It is the -devil who plays. Get some holy water and sprinkle the floor." - -Gwen watched the musician as closely as his labors would allow, for he -did not like the way the fiddler had of looking at Louison, and he -thought to himself that Louison never blushed so prettily for him. -Forgetting himself when he saw the fiddler smile at the girl, he made a -rush for the barrel where that artist was perched. He bumped against a -dancer and fell. At that moment the light was put out and the hall rang -with screams and laughter. The tones of one voice sounded above the rest: -"By right of the ring the girl is mine." - -"He has me," Louison was heard to say, yet seemingly not in fear. Lights -were brought. Louison and the fiddler were gone, the stranger's cloak and -half of a false moustache were on the floor, while Gwen was jammed into -the barrel and was kicking desperately to get out. When released he -rushed for the river-side where he had seen the boat. Two figures flitted -before him, but he lost sight of them, and in the silence and loneliness -his choler began to cool. Could it really have been the devil? An owl -hooted in the bush. He went away in haste. There was a rumor in after -years that Beaurain was an actor in a company that went up and down the -great river on a barge, and that a woman who resembled Louison was also -in the troupe. But Gwen never told the story of his disappointment -without crossing himself. - - - - -THE SPELL OF CREVE CIUR LAKE - -Not far west of St. Louis the Lake of Creve Coeur dimples in the breezes -that bend into its basin of hills, and there, in summer, swains and -maidens go to confirm their vows, for the lake has an influence to -strengthen love and reunite contentious pairs. One reason ascribed for -the presence of this spell concerns a turbulent Peoria, ambitious of -leadership and hungry for conquest, who fell upon the Chawanons at this -place, albeit he was affianced to the daughter of their chief. The girl -herself, enraged at the treachery of the youngster, put herself at the -head of her band--a dusky Joan of Arc,--and the fight waged so furiously -that the combatants, what were left of them, were glad when night fell -that they might crawl away to rest their exhausted bodies and nurse their -wounds. Neither tribe daring to invite a battle after that, hostilities -were stopped, but some time later the young captain met the girl of his -heart on the shore, and before the amazon could prepare for either fight -or flight he had caught her in his arms. They renewed their oaths of -fidelity, and at the wedding the chief proclaimed eternal peace and -blessed the waters they had met beside, the blessing being potent to this -day. - -Another reason for the enchantments that are worked here may be that the -lake is occupied by a demon-fish or serpent that crawls, slimy and -dripping, through the underbrush, whenever it sees two lovers together, -and listens to their words. If the man prove faithless he would best -beware of returning to this place, for the demon is lurking there to -destroy him. This monster imprisons the soul of an Ozark princess who -flung herself into the lake when she learned that the son of the Spanish -governor, who had vowed his love to her, had married a woman of his own -rank and race in New Orleans. So they call the lake Creve Coeur, or -Broken Heart. On the day after the suicide the Ozark chief gathered his -men about him and paddled to the middle of the water, where he solemnly -cursed his daughter in her death, and asked the Great Spirit to confine -her there as a punishment for giving her heart to the treacherous white -man, the enemy of his people. The Great Spirit gave her the form in which -she is occasionally seen, to warn and punish faithless lovers. - - - - -HOW THE CRIME WAS REVEALED - -In 1853 a Hebrew peddler, whose pack was light and his purse was full, -asked leave to pass the night at the house of Daniel Baker, near Lebanon, -Missouri. The favor was granted, and that was the last seen of Samuel -Moritz; although, when some neighbors shook their heads and wondered how -it was that Baker was so well in funds, there were others who replied -that it was impossible to keep track of peddlers, and that if Moritz -wanted to start on his travels early in the morning, or to return to St. -Louis for goods, it mattered to nobody. On an evening in 1860 when there -was a mist in the gullies and a new moon hung in the west, Rev. Mr. -Cummings, a clergyman of that region, was driving home, and as he came to -a bridge near "old man" Baker's farm he saw a man standing on it, with a -pack on his back and a stick in his hand, who was staring intently at -something beneath the bridge. The clergyman greeted him cheerily and -asked him if he would like to ride, whereat the man looked him in the -face and pointed to the edge of the bridge. Mr. Cummings glanced down, -saw nothing, and when he looked up again the man with the pack had -disappeared. His horse at the same moment gave a snort and plunged -forward at a run, so that the clergyman's attention was fully occupied -until he had brought the animal under control again; when he glanced back -and saw that the man was still standing in the bridge and looking over -the edge of it. The minister told his neighbors of this adventure, and on -returning with two of them to the spot next morning they found the body -of old man Baker swinging by the neck from a beam of the bridge exactly -beneath where the apparition had stood--for it must have been an -apparition, inasmuch as the dust, damped though it had been with dew, -showed no trace of footprint. In taking down the body the men loosened -the earth on a shelving bank, and the gravel rolling away disclosed a -skeleton with some bits of clothing on it that were identified as -belongings of Samuel Moritz. Was it conscience, craziness, or fate that -led old man Baker to hang himself above the grave of his victim? - - - - -BANSHEE OF THE BAD LANDS - -"Hell, with the fires out," is what the Bad Lands of Dakota have been -called. The fearless Western nomenclature fits the place. It is an -ancient sea-bottom, with its clay strata worn by frost and flood into -forms like pagodas, pyramids, and terraced cities. Labyrinthine canons -wind among these fantastic peaks, which are brilliant in color, but -bleak, savage, and oppressive. Game courses over the castellated hills, -rattlesnakes bask at the edge of the crater above burning coal seams, and -wild men have made despairing stand here against advancing civilization. -It may have been the white victim of a red man's jealousy that haunts the -region of the butte called "Watch Dog," or it may have been an Indian -woman who was killed there, but there is a banshee in the desert whose -cries have chilled the blood that would not have cooled at the sight of a -bear or panther. By moonlight, when the scenery is most suggestive and -unearthly, and the noises of wolves and owls inspire uneasy feelings, the -ghost is seen on a hill a mile south of the Watch Dog, her hair blowing, -her arms tossing in strange gestures. - -If war parties, emigrants, cowboys, hunters, any who for good or ill are -going through this country, pass the haunted butte at night, the rocks -are lighted with phosphor flashes and the banshee sweeps upon them. As if -wishing to speak, or as if waiting a question that it has occurred to -none to ask, she stands beside them in an attitude of appeal, but if -asked what she wants she flings her arms aloft and with a shriek that -echoes through the blasted gulches for a mile she disappears and an -instant later is seen wringing her hands on her hill-top. Cattle will not -graze near the haunted butte and the cowboys keep aloof from it, for the -word has never been spoken that will solve the mystery of the region or -quiet the unhappy banshee. - -The creature has a companion, sometimes, in an unfleshed skeleton that -trudges about the ash and clay and haunts the camps in a search for -music. If he hears it he will sit outside the door and nod in time to it, -while a violin left within his reach is eagerly seized and will be played -on through half the night. The music is wondrous: now as soft as the stir -of wind in the sage, anon as harsh as the cry of a wolf or startling as -the stir of a rattler. As the east begins to brighten the music grows -fainter, and when it is fairly light it has ceased altogether. But he who -listens to it must on no account follow the player if the skeleton moves -away, for not only will it lead him into rocky pitfalls, whence escape is -hopeless, but when there the music will intoxicate, madden, and will -finally charm his soul from his body. - - - - -STANDING ROCK - -The stone that juts from one of the high banks of the Missouri, in South -Dakota, gives its name to the Standing Rock Agency, which, by reason of -many councils, treaties, fights, feasts, and dances held there, is the -best known of the frontier posts. It was a favorite gathering place of -the Sioux before the advent of the white man. The rock itself is only -twenty-eight inches high and fifteen inches wide, and could be plucked up -and carried away without difficulty, but no red man is brave enough to do -that, for this is the transformed body of a squaw who was struck into -stone by Manitou for falsely suspecting her husband of unfaithfulness. - -After her transformation she not only remained sentient but acquired -supernatural powers that the Sioux propitiated by offerings of beads, -tobacco, and ribbons, paint, fur, and game--a practice that was not -abandoned until the teachings of missionaries began to have effect among -them. Soldiers and trappers think the story an ingenious device to -prevent too close inquiry into the lives of some of the nobility of the -tribe. The Arickarees, however, regard this stone as the wife of one of -their braves, who was so pained and mortified when her husband took a -second wife that she went out into the prairie and neither ate nor drank -until she died, when the Great Spirit turned her into the Standing Stone. -The squaws still resort to it in times of domestic trouble. - - - - -THE SALT WITCH - -A pillar of snowy salt once stood on the Nebraska plain, about forty -miles above the point where the Saline flows into the Platte, and white -men used to hear of it as the Salt Witch. An Indian tribe was for a long -time quartered at the junction of the rivers, its chief a man of blood -and muscle in whom his people gloried, but so fierce, withal, that nobody -made a companion of him except his wife, who alone could check his -tigerish rages. - -In sooth, he loved her so well that on her death he became a recluse and -shut himself within his lodge, refusing to see anybody. This mood endured -with him so long that mutterings were heard in the tribe and there was -talk of choosing another chief. Some of this talk he must have heard, for -one morning he emerged in war-dress, and without a word to any one strode -across the plain to westward. On returning a full month later he was more -communicative and had something unusual to relate. He also proved his -prowess by brandishing a belt of fresh scalps before the eyes of his -warriors, and he had also brought a lump of salt. - -He told them that after travelling far over the prairie he had thrown -himself on the earth to sleep, when he was aroused by a wailing sound -close by. In the light of a new moon he saw a hideous old woman -brandishing a tomahawk over the head of a younger one, who was kneeling, -begging for mercy, and trying to shake off the grip from her throat. The -sight of the women, forty miles from the village, so surprised the chief -that he ran toward them. The younger woman made a desperate effort to -free herself, but in vain, as it seemed, for the hag wound her left hand -in her hair while with the other she raised the axe and was about to -strike. - -At that moment the chief gained a view of the face of the younger -woman-it was that of his dead wife. With a snarl of wrath he leaped upon -the hag and buried his own hatchet in her brain, but before he could -catch his wife in his arms the earth had opened and both women -disappeared, but a pillar of salt stood where he had seen this thing. For -years the Indians maintained that the column was under the custody of the -Salt Witch, and when they went there to gather salt they would beat the -ground with clubs, believing that each blow fell upon her person and kept -her from working other evil. - - - - -ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE - - - - -OVER THE DIVIDE - -The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards -who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of -Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample -discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief -in this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions -of savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and -unlock the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic -business, prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of -precious metal and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown -regions beyond the Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with -magnificent possibilities, and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate -the wilderness, "strike it rich," and "make his pile." - -Thus, the region indicated as "over the divide" meaning the continental -water-shed-or "over the range" came to signify not a delectable land -alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of -posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: "Poor Bill! He's -gone over the divide." - -The Indian's name of heaven--"the happy hunting ground"--is of similar -significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place in the -far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. Just -before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed on a -log. If they had been good in the world of the living they suffered no -harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been evil they -never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a place of -whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the torrent -amid thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid fish. -From the far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path across the -divide. - - - - -THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS - -Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where they -go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old engineer -named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled the road -with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with no -accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that the -silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than usual. A -defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that morning, and -he began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left the first line -of snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among the ice and -rocks, and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and he applied -the brakes. - -The conductor ran up and asked, "What did you stop for?" - -"Why did you signal to stop?" - -"I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass No. -19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us." - -Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under -way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, -and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him -at a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if -something were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the throttle -wide open and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but the snow was -flung off and the train went roaring through another shed. Here was where -the defective rail had been reported. No matter. A greater danger was -pressing behind. The fireman piled on coal until his clothes were wet -with perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke-stack. The passengers, -too, having been warned of their peril, had dressed themselves and were -anxiously watching at the windows, for talk went among them that a mad -engineer was driving the train behind. - -As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his train -to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint light -from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were bigger than -his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and gestured -franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other train but two -hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the engineer who -was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His face was like -dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the hollows, but the -trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across them; wind -screamed in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge was reached; -Edwards's heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear the chasm by a -bound. Now the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not there, and as the -brakes were freed the train shot by like a flash. Suddenly a red light -appeared ahead, swinging to and fro on the track. As well be run into -behind as to crash into an obstacle ahead. He heard the whistle of the -pursuing locomotive yelp behind him, yet he reversed the lever and put on -brakes, and for a few seconds lived in a hell of dread. - -Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost leap -upon his own--yet just before it touched it the track seemed to spread, -the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled into the canon -and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of hurt men or hiss -of steam came up--nothing but the groan of the wind as it rolled through -the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had disappeared. Now another -danger impended, and there was no time to linger, for No. 19 might be on -its way ahead if he did not reach the second switch before it moved out. -The mad run was resumed and the second switch was reached in time. As -Edwards was finishing the run to Green River, which he reached in the -morning ahead of schedule, he found written in the frost of his -cab-window these words: "A frate train was recked as yu saw. Now that yu -saw it yu will never make another run. The enjine was not ounder control -and four sexshun men wor killed. If yu ever run on this road again yu -will be recked." Edwards quit the road that morning, and returning to -Denver found employment on the Union Pacific. No wreck was discovered -next day in the canon where he had seen it, nor has the phantom train -been in chase of any engineer who has crossed the divide since that -night. - - - - -THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS - -In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment was -ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to carry -a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. The men -wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of their wives -and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers were -directed to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of the -Purgatoire--neither to reach their destination nor to return. Did they -attempt to descend the stream in boats and go to wreck among the rapids? -Were they swept into eternity by a freshet? Did they lose their -provisions and starve in the desert? Did the Indians revenge themselves -for brutality and selfishness by slaying them at night or from an ambush? -Were they killed by banditti? Did they sink in the quicksands that led -the river into subterranean canals? None will ever know, perhaps; but -many years afterward a savage told a priest in Santa Fe that the regiment -had been surrounded by Indians, as Custer's command was in Montana, and -slain, to a man. Seeing that escape was hopeless, the colonel--so said -the narrator--had buried the gold that he was transporting. Thousands of -doubloons are believed to be hidden in the canon, and thousands of -dollars have been spent in searching for them. - -After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word -came of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las -Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as it -tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the troopers. -French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title when they -renamed it Purgatoire, and--"bullwhackers" teaming across the plains -twisted the French title into the unmeaning "Picketwire." But -Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have -ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely -in the valley of Las Animas. - - - - -RIDERS OF THE DESERT - -Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge of -Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and brave -in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he was -happy in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver and -wild sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico -frontier, and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the -pretty Zecana, and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission -into the heart of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest -securely at the settlement until his return. - -On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after -drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its deity. -The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he stared, -distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the surface--the -anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, galloped away, and -paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached the post. The -Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he urged his jaded -horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, flushed with joy -to see his wife before his door and to hear her singing. When he spoke -she looked up carelessly and resumed her song. She did not know him. -Reason was gone. - -It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro -learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind back -for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and pain, -she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her purpose -she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his feet. For -hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian nature soon -resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding his horse, he -wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept through the night in -sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian stood in the shadow of -a room in the trading fort and watched the Spaniard as he lay asleep. -Nobody knew how he passed the guard. - -In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across -his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat at -his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was bound -hand and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta-in-ga-ro -pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the ground, -outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at the embers -of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of cottonwood and shot -it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and confusion thus made, -his own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman drowsily pacing his beat -outside the square of buildings. The sentinel would have given the alarm, -had not the Indian pounced on him like a panther and laid him dead with a -knife-stroke. - -Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and -set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, -where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his -hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and his -appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his door, -Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's -clothes, and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him into -his seat with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its wrapping -and tied it to his prisoner, face to face. - -Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of his -burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on his -own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he -struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the -ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and blood -dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night he froze -uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes closed in -sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro gave him drink -from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for days. At last -hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into the dead flesh -before him he feasted like a ghoul. - -Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose -sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard -had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the horse -with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the yellow -void. He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and fro, through -the brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost riders, -forever. - - - - -THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES - -When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they -found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of -the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This "Saratoga -of the West," nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the shadow of the -noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground for several -families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, for no Indian -dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath sparkled in the -"medicine waters." None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago a Shoshone and a -Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to drink. The Shoshone -had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed and ill tempered, -jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging down the fat deer that -he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the Shoshone bent over the -spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a handful of it on the ground, -as a libation to the spirit of the place, he put his lips to the surface. -It needed but faint pretext for his companion to begin a quarrel, and he -did so in this fashion: "Why does a stranger drink at the spring-head -when one of the owners of the fountain contents himself with its -overflow? How does a Shoshone dare to drink above me?" - -The other replied, "The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that -his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, -and I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let -them drink together." - -"No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that -nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people." - -"Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is -black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, 'Drink -here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all might -drink." - -The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling -surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, -forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was -drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became -agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the -form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer -recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a -man whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these -tribes. The face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in -terrible tones, "Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the -mightiest nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals -for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their -throats." - -Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of the -wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst open -and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is nauseous, -while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote a -neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. The -bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on that -day a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became involved -until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all that -region. - - - - -BESIEGED BY STARVATION - -A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the -Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what -they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the -enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes--for the aggressors were -of that tribe--into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a castellated -rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held their own for -several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt was made to -storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was too secure a -stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped about it, and, -by cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to game and to water, -starved every one of them to death. - -This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, -Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, with -a slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at the -order of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place and -mounted a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the killing -of Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people--the Ottawas--charged the crime -against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in number, -entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their enemies at -bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. For a time -they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the river at the end -of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in canoes and cut the -cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained there until all had -died of starvation. Bones and relics are found occasionally at the top. - -There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is -extant--namely, Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and -vertical on all sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in -safety. A company of Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel -and defended the path so vigorously that their pursuers gave over all -attempts to follow them, but squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded -to starve them out. On a dark night the besieged killed some of their -ponies and made lariats of their hides, by which they reached the ground -on the unguarded side of the rock. They slid down, one at a time, and -made off all but one aged Indian, who stayed to keep the camp-fire -burning as a blind. He went down and surrendered on the next day, but the -Sioux, respecting his age and loyalty, gave him freedom. - - - - -A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY - -Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone -country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil -spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the -crest of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy -hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They -loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were -driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now -Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on avenging -acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the sting of -tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band gathered at the -head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand Canon of the -Yellowstone--a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the bullets of the -soldiery,--and with Spartan courage they resolved to die rather than be -taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They built a raft and -placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, and for a few days -they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their privilege in former -times. A short-lived peace, however, for one morning they are aroused by -the crack of rifles--the troops are upon them. - -Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, -perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is -their intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few among -them have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the troops, who -stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, and watch, -with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it passes into the -current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on faster and faster. -The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of the waves and that -distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the canon. Every red man -has his face turned toward the foe with a look of defiance, and the tones -of the death-chant have in them something of mockery no less than hate -and vaunting. - -The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond -and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a -thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of -morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were -no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The -raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as the -soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate that the -savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. The raft -tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are launched -over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists weep forever -on the rocks and mosses. - - - - -THE BROAD HOUSE - -Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently -coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good -preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling -god, came on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a -prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property. To -do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and -challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and -skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his own -side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and children, -and, finally, some of the men themselves. - -In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives -were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the -people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some of -the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this -performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to -defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had gone to -gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a challenge, -and the animals agreed to help him. - -When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a -large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was -because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball contest -Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god sent his -far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed itself before -touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was beaten at every -point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, and returned to -their people. - -The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him to -a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of -sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man -lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals -and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon -people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came -northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the -site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his -return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini. - - - - -THE DEATH WALTZ - -Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post at -Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any of -the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at the -post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, who -enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and -enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women -who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young -lieutenant proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted -himself to her in the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His -experience with the world was not large enough to enable him to -distinguish between the womanly woman and the coquette. - -One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache -outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the -marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, -but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not only -acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if the -fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. As he -bade her good-by he was heard to say, "That is well. Nobody else shall -have you. I will come back and make my claim." - -In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. -It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and -nobody was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a young -man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at the post, -and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As the dance -was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a draught of -air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike that of any -human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned to the door. -In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the stained uniform -of an officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, the scalp was -gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible light. - -Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, who, -like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the power of -motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The musicians, who -afterward declared that they did not know what they were doing, struck up -a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and around, the woman -growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw and staring eyes -showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead man allowed her to -sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his hands as he -sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished through the door. A few days -after, a troop of soldiers who had been to the scene of the Apache -encounter returned with the body of the lieutenant. - - - - -THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE - -Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although -French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year -of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, -Pennsylvania, to save her image on the Catholic church in that place, when -it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It was -the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico long -years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Santa -Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to Juan -Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth century. She -commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the bishop of the -diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told him to go away. -The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the bishop declared that -he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. A third time the -supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb a certain difficult -mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and take them to the -bishop. - -After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's -amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and -returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before -the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing -picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is -duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. These -treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness and -threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in -procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then -made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin makes -prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results of -their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not begin on time, -though services were almost constantly continued before the sacred -picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image of -its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That -night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the -populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives. -They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and -addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness -than ever before. - - - - -GODDESS OF SALT - -Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic -rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while -near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess -of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the -sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any -sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the -mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made -it salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West that -much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the -larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from -other tribes that draw from it. - -Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and -wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they lived -happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had concealed -herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to that land -and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave their view -forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a high wall of -sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which she passed is -plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes was broken off, -and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and became the -monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed his wife, and -his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue stone. - - - - -THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS - -Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red -tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and -the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the precipitous -bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night the fairies -"little fellows" sport and slide. Among others, the Noah legend finds a -parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the interior of the -earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of Oswego River, New -York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the rocks about Red -River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big Black River in the -Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath; the Aztecs were one of -seven tribes that came out from the seven caverns of Aztlan, or Place of -the Heron; and the Navajos believe that they emerged at a place known to -them in the Navajo Mountains. - -In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that -they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers -grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in -the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. -Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had -not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some place -unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the passage to -see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the surface was -reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, they settled -here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen disappeared. - -Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the -mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, -looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She -told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only -after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that -the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the -eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert -lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having -found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their -retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills -above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl -babe. - -This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted -the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a -shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants that -had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his wife to -his floating palace in the western water, which has since been her home. -To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve immortals bear -their petitions to her throne. - - - - -THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS - -The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals -was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from -the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt -Rivers, and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they -grew selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with his -handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, in the -voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The prophet -Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for listening to the -wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated the command, with an -added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy them all if they did -not reform. - -Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. -But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the -south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and -should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which -he might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately set -out to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had made a -large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, acorn-meal -and water, and meat of bear and venison. - -On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into -the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the -song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would -presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and -it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. Swift -came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. -Withdrawing into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. -Then for some days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. -Their stores had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a -hole in its side its occupants stepped forth. - -There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red -fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night came -on they retired to the ark and slept--a night, a month, a year, perhaps a -century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales were filled -with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The delighted couple -descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark had rested, and -went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand years, and became -the parents of a great tribe. - -But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the -mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, while -the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were gathering -maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of Suha's -daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its limit, -then made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way he -entered the valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition -Mountains; he drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to -him; then, when he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding -and beat out the brains of the stupefied fiend. - -Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other evil, -but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been disposed -of than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build adobe -houses, to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave cloth, and -avoid wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that they would grow -arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, and would wage -wars for gain. When that time came there would be another flood and not -one should be saved--the bad should vanish and the good would leave the -earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas rely on this prophecy -that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, for there sits Cherwit -Make--awaiting the culmination of their wickedness to let loose on the -earth a mighty sea that lies dammed behind the range. - - - - -THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING - -Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the -scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago a -tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended -their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. -They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong -and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the -mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent -than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the -Apaches. - -After they had lived near the mountain for five years the "little people" -learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made -preparations for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure valleys; -provisions, tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles of stone -were placed along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. This work -was superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and commanding -form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it was--the Helen -of a New-World Troy--who was causing this trouble, for the Zunis claimed -her on the ground that they had brought her from the waters of the rising -sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable marriage with their -chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. - -Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance -until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, -seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the -"little men," watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the -invaders as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the -slope, brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion -of a red man is--and sometimes of a white one. - -At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, -and as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her -people and the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred -yards away the Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon -she stooped, picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the -pool, and ran back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from -crevices in the rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. -Others plunged blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. - -In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not -an arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at these -pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple of -years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the queen -repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even greater -slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, but they -went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in the -mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. - -Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on -Superstition Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and -this cave of the Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of -Salt River. A skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky texture, -were once found there. It is said that electrical phenomena are frequent -on the mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas lying near -together may account for them. - - - - -THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK - -There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, Arizona, -where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. The white -men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their hands they -shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of the cavern, -the fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles illuminating the -interior and exposing to view the objects of their hatred. - -The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode -away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years -had not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into this -pit of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the entrance, -and took there its everlasting seat. - -Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when -he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully -upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors -subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred -by "the thing." They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes -turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading -claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, -recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there -was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, -while the other had never stopped running--at least, he had not returned -to his usual haunts since "the thing" looked at him. Still, it is haunted -country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon Ghost -Mountain, and the "bad men's hunting-grounds" of the Yumas and Navajos -are over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, no unusual -thing to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. - - - - -SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS - -Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and -perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large -towns--the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of -Stones, and City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that -had been practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in -Egypt. Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were a -subject people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in -America the arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, -like other nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to -luxury, to wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the -fierce tribes of the North were lurking on the confines of their country -in a faith of speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements -were against them. - -The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire -region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were -heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, -wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. Then -came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. As the -earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, the -king gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be spared, -though he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led away and -knew that in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. - -The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected--a cave in -Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the -officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade -stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And now, -the end. - -Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to -consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; -a hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the -storm-struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor -this time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. -It was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the -more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and temples -were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and the rush -of avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through the clouds -the people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke from their -confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had indeed abandoned -them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its flight in company -with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had suffered uselessly. - -The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal -executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and -the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and -pillaged it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and -were rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was -also found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a -sense of apprehension. - - - - -TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN - -The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and -the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find -listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for -example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. - -While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun -mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. "Aha! -It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?" he cried, looking at the -Sun. "I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't." - -And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped -to pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran -out and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the -ground and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, -but Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong -breath, for with it he turned all the arrows aside. "The scamp is in -here," said one of the party. "Let's get at him another way." So, getting -their flints and shovels, they began to dig. - -"That's your game, is it?" mumbled Ta-Vwots. "I know a way out of this -that you don't know." With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of -his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, -and along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a -niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had made -the hole quite large he shouted, "Be buried in the grave you have dug for -yourselves!" And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he caved the -earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, "To fight is as -good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet will be an -enemy. No one shall escape my wrath." And he sounded his war-whoop. - -Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from them. -"Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me," he said. - -"You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?" they questioned, -with a jeer. - -"No ghost," he answered, "but a better man than you. Hold me on those -rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you." - -The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they -placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he -kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising -unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, -like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half -through and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. - -On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to -blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they supposed, -but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his face. - -"You are a ghost!" the women exclaimed. - -"No ghost," said he. "Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do no -harm. See, now." And he puffed thorns into their faces and made them -blind. "Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to kill -the Sun. This is good practice." And he slew them, sounded his war-whoop, -and went on. - -The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and -the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill him -by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he pretended to -eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what it was. He -called out, "It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw it up to -you." With that he tossed something so nearly within their reach that in -bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the brink, lost their -balance, fell over, and were killed. "You are victims of your own greed. -One should never be so anxious as to kill one's self." This was his only -comment, and, sounding the warwhoop, he went on. - -A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets -lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, "Here comes that -bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?" - -"What were you saying?" asked the hare god. - -"We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'" (A common form of endearment.) - -"Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you -braid the neck." - -He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed -to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, -when--puff! the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not -know anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. - -"Easily enough," replied the hare god. "These things may hold water, but -they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can." With their -consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a little -while he had them caged. "Now, come out," he said. But, try as they -might, not a withe could they break. "Ha, ha! You are wise women, aren't -you? Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. In time I -shall learn how." Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck them dead with -his magic ball and went on. - -He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for he -had heard of the hare god and was afraid. "Don't be frightened, friend -Bear," said the rogue. "I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. How -could a little chap like me hurt so many people?" And he helped the Bear -to dig his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and as the -Bear thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his face and -made an end of him. "I was afraid of this warrior," said Ta-Vwots, "but -he is dead, now, in his den." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. - -It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, -who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not hurt -himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that he had a -pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots thump it -out? Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the soundest kind -of a thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted "Harder," he guessed that -it was an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his magic ball he -finished the Tarantula at a blow. "That is a stroke of your own seeking," -he remarked. "I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I know that I can do -it." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. - -Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, -where thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the -night under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the -instant that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. -The surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered -over the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under -the tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the -increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his toes, -then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his hands, -and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his arms. -At last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and valley -until it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that gushed -forth spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was -conquered, and at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for his -mischievous pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky -every day by the same trail. - - - - -THE COMANCHE RIDER - -The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground -sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South -Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. Enemies -gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off their -scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of -mutilation in killing. - -Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut -a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew -there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of Polan -from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his -brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had -pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, with -silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, the -weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its place -and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the Indian's -tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in accordance with his -wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper Missouri, on the back of -his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, with the scalps that he -had taken hung to the bridle. - -When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that -his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. -His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony -is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy -hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort -Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind -of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They -killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the -late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a -lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a -grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, -formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself -to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and -sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a -stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused -to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay. -Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for protection, -and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their possession -when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. - -Myths and Legends - - - - -HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS - -The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that -they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the -country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the -west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard to -get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the tops -of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman in his -country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his people -from these giants. This king was eaten like the rest, and the citizens -declined to elect another, because they were beginning to lose faith in -kings. Still, there was one young brave whose single thought was how to -defeat the giants and save his people. - -As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly -known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone -away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the -earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to -destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. "Then take my horned -crest for a helmet." - -Lolomi--that was the name of him--did as he was bid, and found that in a -moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly that no club -could break through it. - -"Now take my breastplate," continued the toad. And though it would not -have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased -in bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. - -"Now take the scales from my eyes," commanded the toad, and when he had -done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. - -"Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his -eyes, and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back to -a precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the edge of -the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed." - -Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the -distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As he -drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor like -hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this the -giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. Fearing a -blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who manoeuvred so -skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of a cliff he -sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and broke his -bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, because they all -walked back before him, and after they had fallen the people heaped rocks -on their bodies. To this day the place is known as "the giants' fall." -Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the most beautiful damsel -for a wife. As he was the best king they ever had, they treasured his -memory after he was dead, and used his name as a term of greeting, so -that "Lolomi" is a word of welcome, and will be until the giants come -again. - - - - -THE SPIDER TOWER - -In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated -valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered -sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer -uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was -surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by -them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in the -hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that was -least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with strength -well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch at its -top. Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not fall -within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into -roughnesses of the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had -reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' -eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with -their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having -gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help had -come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the top -of the spire, and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one end -fast to a jag of rock while the other fell within his grasp--for she, -like all other of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers better -than the remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider Tower. - - - - -THE LOST TRAIL - -The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a -keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells -this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed -his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild roses in -the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his -wife--Manetabee (Rosebud)--in the lodge while he went across the -mountains to attend a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return he -found neither wife nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the ground -showed to his keen eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been there. - -Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had -reached Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a -small fire ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might have -enabled him to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled about the -glow; but it is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, and, tying his -horse, he crawled forward. - -There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide the -ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. So -engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like approach of -Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound Manetabee's -wrists and ankles--she did not cry out, for she had expected rescue--and -both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a yell, one of the -gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway the fifteen made -an onset. - -Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and -he had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he -fell headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst in -fury. A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth with an -appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and a -whirlwind passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time--then he felt -the touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they arose and -looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the canon, -dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. - -"The trail is gone," said Acantow. "Manitou has broken it, that the -Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. -Let us thank the Manitou." So they went back to where the spring burst -amid the rose-bushes. - - - - -A BATTLE IN THE AIR - -In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold -by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is -heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it -heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that lived -here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in the -valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where -hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes of -the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. - -In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John -Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was -belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples -against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region -was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke -him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at -least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good moon, -he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that filled the -air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as if they -were borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of feet, the -striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for nearly an -hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the horse became so -frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he reached the edge -of the valley the sounds were heard going into the distance. Not until he -reached a settlement did he learn of the spell that rested on the place. - - - - -ON THE PACIFIC COAST - - - - -THE VOYAGER OF WHULGE - -Like the ancient Greeks, the Siwash of the Northwest invest the unseen -world with spiritual intelligence. Every tree has a soul; the forests -were peopled with good and evil genii, the latter receiving oblation at -the devil-dances, for it was not worth while to appease those already -good; and the mountains are the home of tamanouses, or guardian spirits, -that sometimes fight together--as, when the spirits of Mount Tacoma -engaged with those of Mount Hood, fire and melted stone burst from their -peaks, their bellowing was heard afar, and some of the rocks flung by -Tacoma fell short, blocking the Columbia about the Dalles. - -Across these fantastic reports of older time there come echoes of a later -instruction, adapted and blended into native legend so that the point of -division cannot be indicated. Such is that of the mysterious voyager of -the Whulge--the Siwash name for the sound that takes the name of Puget -from one of Vancouver's officers. Across this body of water the stranger -came in a copper canoe that borrowed the glories of the morning. When he -had landed and sent for all the red men, far and near, he addressed to -them a doctrine that provoked expressions of contempt--a doctrine of -love. - -To fight and steal no more, to give of their goods to men in need, to -forgive their enemies,--they could not understand such things. He -promised--this radiant stranger--to those who lived right, eternal life -on seas and hills more fair than these of earth, but they did not heed -him. At last, wearying of his talk, they dragged him to a tree and nailed -him fast to it, with pegs through his hands and feet, and jeered and -danced about him, as they did about their victims in the devil-dance, -until his head fell on his breast and his life went out. - -A great storm, with thunderings and earthquakes! They took the body down -and would have buried it, but, to! it arose to its feet, as the sun burst -forth, and resumed its preaching. Then they took the voyager's word for -truth and never harmed him more, while they grew less warlike as each -year went by until, of all Indians, they were most peaceable. - - - - -TAMANOUS OF TACOMA - -Mount Tacoma has always been a place of superstitious regard among the -Siwash (Sauvage) of the Northwest. In their myths it was the place of -refuge for the last man when the Whulge was so swollen after long rain -that its waters covered the earth. All other men were drowned. The waves -pursued the one man as he climbed, rising higher and higher until they -came to his knees, his waist, his breast. Hope was almost gone, and he -felt that the next wave would launch him into the black ocean that raged -about him, when one of the tamanouses of the peak, taking pity on him, -turned his feet to stone. The storm ceased, and the waters fell away. The -man still stood there, his feet a part of the peak, and he mourned that -he could not descend to where the air was balmy and the flowers were -opening. The Spirit of all Things came and bade him sleep, and, after his -eyes were closed, tore out one of his ribs and changed it to a woman. -When lifted out of the rock the man awoke, and, turning with delight to -the woman, he led her to the sea-shore, and there in a forest bower they -made their home. There the human race was recreated. - -On the shore of the Whulge in after years lived an Indian miser--rare -personage--who dried salmon and jerked the meat that he did not use, and -sold it to his fellow-men for hiaqua--the wampum of the Pacific tribes. -The more of this treasure he got, the more he wanted--even as if it were -dollars. One day, while hunting on the slopes of Mount Tacoma, he looked -along its snow-fields, climbing to the sky, and, instead of doing homage -to the tamanous, or divinity of the mountain, he only sighed, "If I could -only get more hiaqua!" - -Sounded a voice in his ear: "Dare you go to my treasure caves?" - -"I dare!" cried the miser. - -The rocks and snows and woods roared back the words so quick in echoes -that the noise was like that of a mountain laughing. The wind came up -again to whisper the secret in the man's ear, and with an elk-horn for -pick and spade he began the ascent of the peak. Next morning he had -reached the crater's rim, and, hurrying down the declivity, he passed a -rock shaped like a salmon, next, one in the form of a kamas-root, and -presently a third in likeness of an elk's head. "'Tis a tamanous has -spoken!" he exclaimed, as he looked at them. - -At the foot of the elk's head he began to dig. Under the snow he came to -crusts of rock that gave a hollow sound, and presently he lifted a scale -of stone that covered a cavity brimful of shells more beautiful, more -precious, more abundant than his wildest hopes had pictured. He plunged -his arms among them to the shoulder--he laughed and fondled them, winding -the strings of them about his arms and waist and neck and filling his -hands. Then, heavily burdened, he started homeward. - -In his eagerness to take away his treasure he made no offerings of hiaqua -strings to the stone tamanouses in the crater, and hardly had he begun -the descent of the mountain's western face before he began to be buffeted -with winds. The angry god wrapped himself in a whirling tower of cloud -and fell upon him, drawing darkness after. Hands seemed to clutch at him -out of the storm: they tore at his treasure, and, in despair, he cast -away a cord of it in sacrifice. The storm paused for a moment, and when -it returned upon him with scream and flash and roar he parted with -another. So, going down in the lulls, he reached timber just as the last -handful of his wealth was wrenched from his grasp and flung upon the -winds. Sick in heart and body, he fell upon a moss-heap, senseless. He -awoke and arose stiffly, after a time, and resumed his journey. - -In his sleep a change had come to the man. His hair was matted and -reached to his knees; his joints creaked; his food supply was gone; but -he picked kamas bulbs and broke his fast, and the world seemed fresh and -good to him. He looked back at Tacoma and admired the splendor of its -snows and the beauty of its form, and had never a care for the riches in -its crater. The wood was strange to him as he descended, but at sunset he -reached his wigwam, where an aged woman was cooking salmon. Wife and -husband recognized each other, though he had been asleep and she -a-sorrowing for years. In his joy to be at home the miser dug up all his -treasure that he had secreted and gave of his wealth and wisdom to whoso -needed them. Life, love, and nature were enough, he found, and he never -braved the tamanous again. - - - - -THE DEVIL AND THE DALLES - -In days when volcanoes were playing in the Northwest and the sternly -beautiful valley of the Columbia was a hell of ash and lava, the fiend -men of the land met at intervals on the heated rocks to guzzle and riot -together. It was at one of these meetings in the third summer after -Tacoma had stopped spouting that the devil urged a lesson from the -growing peace and joy of nature, and prayed the fiend men to desist from -killing and eating each other and live in love. - -With a howl of rage at such a proposal they set upon him, tossing their -tails in such a threatening manner that he deemed it best to be off, and -as his hoofs clattered over the country his brain was busy in devising an -escape. Nearing the mountain bulwarks of an inland sea, whose breakers' -rhythmic roar he heard above the yells of his pursuers, a hope came into -his head, and new vigor into his tail, though you might have thought the -latter accession was not needed, for his tail was of prodigious length -and strength. He whirled this limb aloft and beat it on the earth. A -chasm opened at the stroke, and the devil skipped across to the safe side -of it. - -Safe? No; for the fiend men in advance took the leap and came beside him. -The tormented one could thrash any two of them at once, but he was not -equal to a thousand. He brandished his weapon once more and it fell with -a crash. Earth shook, dust arose in clouds, and a deeper cleft than -before yawned through the valley. Again the fiend men tried to reach him, -and, though the gap was bigger and many fell into it, hundreds made the -jump and overtook him. He must make one more attempt. The tail revolved -for a third time, and with the energy of despair he flailed the ground -with it. - -A third ravine was split through the rock, and this time the earth's -crust cracked away to the eastward, giving outlet to the sea, which came -pouring through the canon, breaking rocks from mountains and grinding -them to powder in its terrific progress. Gasping with fatigue, the -unhappy one toiled up a hill and surveyed his work with satisfaction, for -the flood engulfed the fiend men and they left no member of their race -behind them. - -When they had all been happily smashed or drowned, the devil skipped -lightly over the channels he had cut and sought his family, though with a -subdued expression of countenance, for his tail--his strength and -pride--was bruised and broken beyond repair, and all the little imps that -he fathered to the world afterward had little dangling tails like -monkeys' instead of megatheriums', and in time these appendages -disappeared. But what was the use of them? The fiend men they had fought -against were dead and the rising race they could circumvent by subtler -means. The inland sea drained off. Its bed is now the prairie, and the -three strokes of the devil's tail are indelibly recorded in the bed of -the Columbia at the Dalles. And the devil never tried to be good again. - - - - -CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA - -When the Siwash, as the Northwestern Indians called themselves, were few, -Mount Hood was kept by the Spirit of Storms, who when he shook his robe -caused rain or snow to fall over the land, while the Fire Spirit flashed -his lightnings from Mount Adams. Across the vale between them stretched a -mighty bridge of stone, joining peak to peak, and on this the Siwash laid -his offering of salmon and dressed skins. Here, too, the tribal festivals -were kept. The priestess of the arch-Mentonee, who fed the fire on the -tribal altar "unimpassioned by a mortal throb"--had won the love of the -wild tamanouses of the mountains, but she was careless alike of coaxing -and threats, and her heart was as marble to them. - -Jealous of each other, these two spirits fell to fighting, and, appalled -by the whirl of fire and cloud, of splintering trees and crumbling rocks, -the Indians fled in terror toward the lowlands, but she, unhurt and -undaunted, kept in her place, and still offered praise to the one god. -Yet she was not alone, for watchful in the shadow of a rock stood a -warrior who had loved her so long, without the hope of lovers, that he, -too, had outgrown fear. Though she had given him but passing words and -never a smile, his own heart was the warmer and the heavier with its -freight, and it was his way to be ever watching her in some place where -she might not be troubled by the sight of him. - -The war waxed fiercer, and at last the spirits met at the centre of the -arch, and in roar and quake and deluge the great bridge swayed and -cracked. The young man sprang forward. He seized Mentonee in his arms. -There was time for one embrace that cheated death of sorrow. Then, with a -thunder like a bursting world, the miles of masonry crashed down and -buried the two forever. The Columbia leaps the ruins of the bridge in the -rapids that they call the Cascades, and the waters still brawl on, while -the sulky tamanouses watch the whitened floods from their mountain-tops, -knowing that never again will they see so fair a creature as Mentonee. - - - - -THE DEATH OF UMATILLA - -Umatilla, chief of the Indians at the Cascades of the Columbia, was one -of the few red men of his time who favored peace with the white settlers -and lent no countenance to the fierce revels of the "potlatch." In these -"feasts of gifts" the savages, believing themselves to be "possessed by -the spirit," lashed themselves into a frenzy that on several occasions -was only quieted by the shedding of blood. Black Eagle's Feather--or -Benjamin, as he was called by the settlers--was the only one of the -children of the old chief who survived a summer of plague, and on this -boy Umatilla had put all his hopes and affections. - -The lad had formed a great trust in his white teacher, a college-bred man -from the East, who had built a little school-house beside the Columbia -and was teaching the Indian idea how to shoot something beside white -people. This boy and his teacher had hunted together; they had journeyed -in the same canoe; had tramped over the same trail to the great falls of -the Missouri; and at the Giant Spring had seen the Piegans cast in their -gifts, in the belief that the manitou of the place would deliver them in -the hereafter to the sun-god, whom they worshipped. One day Benjamin fell -ill, and the schoolmaster saw that he, too, was to die of the plague. Old -Umatilla received the news with Indian stoicism, but he went into the -forest to be alone for a time. - -When he returned day was breaking and a flock of wild-geese trumpeted -overhead. The boy heard them, and said, "Boston tilicum" (white man), -"does the Great Father tell the geese where to go?" - -"Yes." - -"Then he will tell me, too?" - -"Yes." - -"We shall never go back to the Missouri together. My father--" - -"We will watch over him." - -"That is well." And, in a few hours, he had intrusted the guidance of his -soul through the world of shadows to the white man's unseen father. - -Umatilla sat beside the body through the night, and in the morning he -called his people together. He told them that he was prepared to follow -his boy out of the world, but that first he wanted to have their promise -that they would no longer war on the whites, but look to them for -friendship and guidance. There was some murmuring at this, for the ruder -fellows were already plotting a descent on the settlers, but Umatilla had -given them great store of goods at the last potlatch, and they -reluctantly consented. The venerable chief ordered them to make a grave -for Benjamin like the white man's, and, when it had been dug, four -warriors laid the body of his son within it. Then, standing at the brink, -the chief said, "My heart is growing cold, for it is in the grave there -with my son. When I take three steps to the side of him, I, too, shall -die. Be good to the white men, as you have said, and bury us both -together. Great Spirit, I come." And, sinking to the ground, the old -man's life ebbed in a breath. They buried him and his son in a single -grave, and next day they went to the teacher and asked him to lead and -instruct them. And with that year ended all trouble between red and white -men along the Columbia. - - - - -HUNGER VALLEY - -East of San Francisco is a narrow valley opening to the bay of San Pablo. -In spite of its pleasant situation and fruitful possibilities, it had no -inhabitants until 1820, when Miguel Zamacona and his wife Emilia strayed -into it, while on a journey, and, being delighted with its scenery, -determined to make it their home. In playful mockery of its abundance -they gave to it the name El Hambre [Hunger] valley. - -After some weeks of such hardship as comes to a Mexican from work, Miguel -had built an adobe cabin and got a garden started, while he caught a fish -or shot a deer now and then, and they got on pretty well. At last it -became necessary that he should go to Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was -then called, for goods. His burros were fat and strong, and there should -be no danger. Emilia cried at being left behind, but the garden had to be -tended, and he was to be back in exactly three weeks. She waited for -twenty-two days; then, her anxiety becoming unendurable, she packed an -outfit on a burro and started on the trail. From time to time she called -his name, and "Miguel!" echoed sweetly from hills and groves, but there -was no other answer, save when an owl would hoot. Rolled in a blanket she -slept on lupin boughs, but was off at peep of day again, -calling--calling--high and clear among the solitudes. - -During the second day her burro gave a rasping bray, and a hee-haw -answered from the bush. It was Miguel's burro. He had come at last! -Leaping to her feet, in her impatience, she ran to meet him, and found -him lying on the earth, staring silently at the sky. All that day she sat -beside him, caressing his hand, talking, crying, bathing his face with -water from the marsh--the poison marsh--and it was not until sunset that -she could bring herself to admit that he was dead--had been dead for at -least two days. - -She put the blanket over him, weighted it with stones, and heaped reeds -upon it; then she started for home. A wandering trader heard her story, -but years elapsed before any other settler entered Hunger valley. They -found her skeleton then in the weedy garden. The adobe stands tenantless -in the new village of Martinez, and the people have so often heard that -the ghosts of the Zamaconas haunt the place that they have begun to -disbelieve it. - - - - -THE WRATH OF MANITOU - -The county called Kern, in California, lies mostly in a circular valley, -and long, long before the evil one had created the pale face it was the -home of a nation advanced in arts, who worshipped the Great Spirit in a -building with a lofty dome. But the bravery and wisdom of one of their -own people made them forget the Manitou and idolize the man who seemed -the most like him. They brought him to the temple and prayed and sang to -him, and held their sacred dances there, so angering God that he rent the -earth and swallowed them. Nothing was seen of this people for years -after, but their stone tools were left on neighboring hill-sides. Manitou -even poured water into the valley, and great creatures sported in the -inland sea. - -But, ere long, he repented his anger, and, in a fit of impatience at what -he had done, he threw up quantities of earth that smoked with heat, and -thus created the Sierra Nevada, while he broke away the hills at the foot -of the lake, and the waters drained into the sea at the Golden Gate. This -again made dry land of the valley, and, opening the earth once more, he -released the captive tribe. The imprisoned people had not forgotten their -arts nor their boldness; they made the place blossom again; they -conquered other tribes, and Manitou declared them his chosen ones, from -whom alone he would accept sacrifice. But their chief became so ambitious -that he wanted to supplant the Manitou in the worship of the people, and -finally, in a lunacy of self-conceit, he challenged the god to single -combat. - -Under pretence of accepting the challenge, the Great Spirit set the -offenders to wander through the desert until they reached a valley in the -Sierras, opposite Tehachapi, where he caused them to be exterminated by a -horde of savages from the Mojave desert. Then, in a fit of disgust at -refractory humanity, he evoked a whirlwind and stripped away every living -thing from the country of the savages, declaring that it should be empty -of human beings from that time forward. And it was so. - - - - -THE SPOOK OF MISERY HILL - -Tom Bowers, who mined on Misery Hill, near Pike City, California, never -had a partner, and he never took kindly to the rough crowd about the -place. One day he was missing. They traced his steps through the snow -from his cabin to the brink of a great slope where he had been -prospecting, but there they vanished, for a landslide had blotted them -out. His body was exhumed far below and decently buried, yet it was said -that it was so often seen walking about the mouth of his old shaft that -other men avoided the spot. - -Thriftless Jim Brandon, in a spasm of industry, began work on the -abandoned mine, and for a while he made it pay, for he got money and -squared accounts with his creditors; but after a time it appeared that -somebody else was working on the claim, for every morning he found that -the sluice had been tampered with and the water turned on. He searched -for the trespasser in vain, and told "the boys" that if they called that -joking it had grown tiresome. - -One night he loaded his rifle, and, from a convenient nook, he watched -for the intruder. The tamaracks crooned in the wind, the Yuba mumbled in -the canon, the Sierras lay in a line of white against the stars. As he -crept along to a point of better vantage he came to a tree with something -tacked on it--something that shone in the dark like a match. In its own -light he read, "Notice! I, Thomas Bowers, claim this ground for placer -mining." Raising his hand to tear off the paper, he was amazed to feel a -thrill pass through it, and his arm fell palsied at his side. But the -notice was gone. - -Now came the sound of water flowing, and, as he angrily caught his gun -and turned toward the sluice, the letters shone again in phosphorescence -on the tree. There was the sound of a pick in the gravel now, and, -crawling stealthily towards the sluice, he saw, at work there, Tom -Bowers--dead, lank, his head and face covered with white hair, his eyes -glowing from black sockets. Half unconsciously Jim brought his rifle to -his shoulder and fired. A yell followed the report, then the dead man -came running at him like the wind, with pick and shovel in either hand. - -Away went Brandon, and the spectre followed, up hill, in and out of -woods, over ditches, through scrub, on toward Pike City. The miners were -celebrating a new find with liberal potations and a dance in the saloon -when, high above the crash of boots, the shouted jokes, the laughter, and -the clink of glasses, came a sound of falling, a scream-then silence. -They hurried into the road. There lay Brandon's rifle, and a pick and -shovel with "T. B." cut in the handles. Jim returned no more, and the -sluice is running every night on Misery Hill. - - - - -THE QUEEN OF DEATH VALLEY - -In the southern part of California, near the Arizona line, is the famous -Death Valley--a tract of arid, alkaline plain hemmed in by steep -mountains and lying below the level of the sea. For years it was believed -that no human being could cross that desert and live, for horses sink to -their knees in drifts of soda dust; there is no water, though the -traveller requires much drink; and the heat is terrific. Animals that die -in the neighborhood mummify, but do not decay, and it is surmised that -the remains of many a thoughtless or ignorant prospector lie bleached in -the plain. On the east side of Dead Mountain are points of whitened rock -that at a distance look like sheeted figures, and these, the Indians say, -are the ghosts of their brethren. - -In the heart of this desert is said to be the ruin of a pueblo, or -village, though the shape and size of it suggest that it was made for a -few persons rather than for a tribe or family. Long ago, the tale runs, -this place of horrors was a fair and fertile kingdom, ruled by a -beautiful but capricious queen. She ordered her subjects to build her a -mansion that should surpass those of her neighbors, the Aztecs, and they -worked for years to make one worthy of her, dragging the stones and -timbers for miles. Fearing lest age, accident, or illness should forbid -her to see the ending of her dream, she ordered so many of her subjects -to assist that her tribe was reduced to practical slavery. - -In her haste and heartlessness she commanded her own daughter to join the -bearers of burdens, and when the toilers flagged in step in the noonday -heat she strode among them and lashed their naked backs. As royalty was -sacred, they did not complain, but when she struck her daughter the girl -turned, threw down her load of stone, and solemnly cursed her mother and -her kingdom; then, overcome by heat and weariness, she sank to the earth -and died. Vain the regrets and lamentations of the queen. The sun came -out with blinding heat and light, vegetation withered, animals -disappeared, streams and wells dried up, and at last the wretched woman -gave up her life on a bed of fever, with no hand to soothe her dying -moments, for her people, too, were dead. The palace, half-completed, -stands in the midst of this desolation, and sometimes it seems to lift -into view of those at a distance in the shifting mirage that plays along -the horizon. - - - - -BRIDAL VEIL FALL - -The vast ravine of Yo Semite (Grizzly Bear), formed by tearing apart the -solid Sierras, is graced by many water-falls raining down the mile-high -cliffs. The one called Bridal Veil has this tale attached to it. -Centuries ago, in the shelter of this valley, lived Tutokanula and his -tribe--a good hunter, he, a thoughtful saver of crops and game for -winter, a wise chief, trusted and loved by his people. While hunting, one -day, the tutelary spirit of the valley--the lovely Tisayac--revealed -herself to him, and from that moment he knew no peace, nor did he care -for the well-being of his people; for she was not as they were: her skin -was white, her hair was golden, and her eyes like heaven; her speech was -as a thrush-song and led him to her, but when he opened his arms she rose -lighter than any bird and vanished in the sky. - -Lacking his direction Yo Semite became a desert, and when Tisayac -returned she wept to see the corn lands grown with bushes and bears -rooting where the huts had been. On a mighty dome of rock she knelt and -begged the Great Spirit to restore its virtue to the land. He did so, -for, stooping from the sky, he spread new life of green on all the valley -floor, and smiting the mountains he broke a channel for the pent-up -meltings of the snows, and the water ran and leaped far down, pooling in -a lake below and flowing off to gladden other land. The birds returned, -the flowers sprang up, corn swayed in the breeze, and the people, coming -back, gave the name of Tisayac to South Dome, where she had knelt. - -Then came the chief home again, and, hearing that the spirit had -appeared, was smitten with love more strong than ever. Climbing to the -crest of a rock that spires three thousand feet above the valley, he -carved his likeness there with his hunting-knife, so that his memory -might live among his tribe. As he sat, tired with his work, at the foot -of the Bridal Veil, he saw, with a rainbow arching around her, the form -of Tisayac shining from the water. She smiled on him and beckoned. His -quest was at an end. With a cry of joy he sprang into the fall and -disappeared with Tisayac. Two rainbows quivered on the falling water, and -the sun went down. - - - - -THE GOVERNOR'S RIGHT EYE - -Old Governor Hermenegildo Salvatierra, of Presidio, California, sported -only one eye--the left--because the other had been shot out by an Indian -arrow. With his sound one he was gazing into the fire, on a windy -afternoon in the rainy season, when a chunky man in a sou'wester -was-ushered into his presence, and after announcing that he was no other -than Captain Peleg Scudder, of the schooner General Court, from Salem, he -was made welcome in a manner quite out of proportion in its warmth to the -importance that such a disclosure would have for the every-day citizen. - -He was hailed with wassail and even with wine. The joy of the commandant -was so great that at the third bowl he sang a love ballad, in a voice -somewhat cracked, and got on the table to teach the Yankee how to dance -the cachuca. The law forbade any extended stay of Americans in Spanish -waters, and the General Court took herself off that very night--for this, -mind you, was in 1797, when the Spaniard ruled the farther coast. - -Next day Salvatierra appeared before his astonished people with a right -eye. The priests attached to the fort gave a special service of praise, -and told the miracle to the red men of their neighborhood as an -illustration of the effect of goodness, prayer, and faith. People came -from far and near that they might go to church and see this marvel for -themselves. But, alas, for the governor's repute for piety! It soon began -to be whispered around that the new eye was an evil one; that it read the -deepest thoughts of men with its inflexible, cold stare; that under its -influence some of the fathers had been betrayed into confessing things -that the commandant had never supposed a clergyman to be guilty of. The -people feared that eye, and ascribed such rogueries to the old man as had -been entirely foreign to his nature hitherto. - -This common fear and suspicion reacted, inevitably, and Salvatierra -began, unconsciously, to exhibit some of the traits that his subjects -said he possessed. He changed slowly from the indulgent parent to the -stern and exacting law-giver. He did not know, however, what the people -had been saying about him, and never suspected that his eye was likely to -get him into trouble. - -It was a warm night and he had gone to bed with his windows open--windows -that opened from his garden, and were level, at the bottom, with the -floor. A shadowy form stole along the gravel path and entered one of -these windows. It was that of a mission Indian. He had gathered from the -talk of the faithful that it would be a service to the deity as well as -to men to destroy the power of that evil eye. He came beside the bed and -looked attentively at the governor, sleeping there in the light of a -candle. Then he howled with fright--howled so loudly that the old man -sprang to his feet--for while the left eye had been fast asleep the evil -one was broad awake and looking at him with a ghostly glare. - -In another second the commandant was at the window whirling his trusty -Toledo about his head, lopping ears and noses from the red renegades who -had followed in the track of the first. In the scrimmage he received -another jab in the right eye with a fist. When day dawned it was -discovered, with joy, that the evil eye was darkened--and forever. The -people trusted him once more. Finding that he was no longer an object of -dread, his voice became kinder, his manner more gentle. A heavy and -unusual rain, that had been falling, passed off that very day, so that -the destruction from flood, which had been prophesied at the missions, -was stayed, and the clergy sang "Te Deum" in the church. The old -commandant never, to his dying day, had the heart to confess that the -evil eye was only a glass one. - - - - -THE PRISONER IN AMERICAN SHAFT - -An Indian seldom forgets an injury or omits to revenge it, be it a real -or a fancied one. A young native of the New Almaden district, in -California, fell in love with a girl of the same race, and supposed that -he was prospering in his suit, for he was ardent and the girl was, -seemingly, not averse to him; but suddenly she became cold, avoided him, -and answered his greetings, if they met, in single words. He affected to -care not greatly for this change, but he took no rest until he had -discovered the cause of it. Her parents had conceived a dislike to him -that later events proved to be well founded, and had ordered or persuaded -her to deny his suit. - -His retaliation was prompt and Indian-like. He killed the father and -mother at the first opportunity, seized the girl when she was at a -distance from the village, and carried her to the deserted quicksilver -mine near Spanish Camp. In a tunnel that branched from American Shaft he -had fashioned a rude cell of stone and wood, and into that he forced and -fastened her. He had stocked it with water and provisions, and for some -weeks he held the wretched girl a captive in total darkness, visiting her -whenever he felt moved to do so until, his passion sated, he resolved to -leave the country. - -As an act of partial atonement for the wrong he had done, he hung a -leather coat at the mouth of the tunnel, on which, in picture writing, he -indicated the whereabouts of the girl. Search parties had been out from -the time of her disappearance, and one of them chanced on this clue and -rescued her as she was on the point of death. The savage who had exacted -so brutal and excessive a revenge fled afar, and his whereabouts were -never known. - - - - -AS TO BURIED RICHES - - - - -KIDD'S TREASURE - -Captain Kidd is the most ubiquitous gentleman in history. If his earnings -in the gentle craft of piracy were frugally husbanded, he has possibly -left some pots of money in holes in the ground between Key West and -Halifax. The belief that large deposits of gold were made at Gardiner's -Island, Dunderberg, Cro' Nest, New York City, Coney Island, Ipswich, the -marshes back of Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Isles of Shoals, Money -Island, Ocean Beach, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and elsewhere has -caused reckless expenditure of actual wealth in recovering doubloons and -guineas that disappointed backers of these enterprises are beginning to -look upon--no, not to look upon, but to think about--as visionary. A hope -of getting something for nothing has been the impetus to these -industries, and interest in the subject is now and then revived by -reports of the discovery--usually by a farmer ploughing near the -shore--of an iron kettle with a handful of gold and silver coins in it, -the same having doubtless been buried for purposes of concealment during -the wars of 1776 and 1812. - -Gardiner's Island, a famous rendezvous for pirates, is the only place -known to have been used as a bank of deposit, for in 1699 the Earl of -Bellomont recovered from it seven hundred and eighty-three ounces of -gold, six hundred and thirty-three ounces of silver, cloth of gold, -silks, satins, and jewels. In the old Gardiner mansion, on this island, -was formerly preserved a costly shawl given to Mrs. Gardiner by Captain -Kidd himself. This illustrious Kidd--or Kydd--was born in New York, began -his naval career as a chaser of pirates, became a robber himself, was -captured in Boston, where he was ruffling boldly about the streets, and -was hanged in London in 1701. In sea superstitions the apparition of his -ship is sometimes confused with that of the Flying Dutchman. - -At Lion's Rock, near Lyme, Connecticut, a part of his treasure is under -guard of a demon that springs upon intruders unless they recite Scripture -while digging for the money. - -Charles Island, near Milford, Connecticut, was dug into, one night, by a -company from that town that had learned of Kidd's visit to it--and what -could Kidd be doing ashore unless he was burying money? The lid of an -iron chest had been uncovered when the figure of a headless man came -bounding out of the air, and the work was discontinued right then. The -figure leaped into the pit that had been dug, and blue flames poured out -of it. When the diggers returned, their spades and picks were gone and -the ground was smooth. - -Monhegan Island, off the Maine coast, contains a cave, opening to the -sea, where it was whispered that treasure had been stored in care of -spirits. Searchers found within it a heavy chest, which they were about -to lift when one of the party--contrary to orders--spoke. The spell was -broken, for the watchful spirits heard and snatched away the treasure. -Some years ago the cave was enlarged by blasting, in a hope of finding -that chest, for an old saying has been handed down among the people of -the island--from whom it came they have forgotten--that was to this -effect: "Dig six feet and you will find iron; dig six more and you will -find money." - -On Damariscotta Island, near Kennebec, Maine, is a lake of salt water, -which, like dozens of shallow ones in this country, is locally reputed to -be bottomless. Yet Kidd was believed to have sunk some of his valuables -there, and to have guarded against the entrance of boats by means of a -chain hung from rock to rock at the narrow entrance, bolts on either side -showing the points of attachment, while ring bolts were thought to have -been driven for the purpose of tying buoys, thus marking the spots where -the chests went down. This island, too, has been held in fear as haunted -ground. - -Appledore, in the Isles of Shoals, was another such a hiding-place, and -Kidd put one of his crew to death that he might haunt the place and -frighten searchers from their quest. For years no fisherman could be -induced to land there after nightfall, for did not an islander once -encounter "Old Bab" on his rounds, with a red ring around his neck, a -frock hanging about him, phosphorescence gleaming from his body, who -peered at the intruder with a white and dreadful face, and nearly scared -him to death? - -A spot near the Piscataqua River was another hiding-place, and early in -this century the ground was dug over, two of the seekers plying pick and -spade, while another stood within the circle they had drawn about the -spot and loudly read the Bible. Presently their implements clicked on an -iron chest, but it slid sideway into the ground as they tried to uncover -it, and at last an interruption occurred that caused them to stop work so -long that when they went to look for it again it had entirely -disappeared. This diversion was the appearance of a monster horse that -flew toward them from a distance without a sound, but stopped short at -the circle where the process of banning fiends was still going on, and, -after grazing and walking around them for a time, it dissolved into air. - -Kidd's plug is a part of the craggy steep known as Cro' Nest, on the -Hudson. It is a projecting knob, like a bung closing an orifice, which is -believed to conceal a cavern where the redoubtable captain placed a few -barrels of his wealth. Though it is two hundred feet up the cliff, -inaccessible either from above or below, and weighs many tons, still, as -pirates and devils have always been friendly, it may be that the corking -of the cave was accomplished with supernatural help, and that if blasts -or prayers ever shake the stone from its place a shower of doubloons and -diamonds may come rattling after it. - -The shore for several hundred feet around Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, -has been examined, for it was once believed that the inscriptions on it -were cut by Kidd to mark the place of burial for part of his hoard. - -The Rock Hill estate, Medford, Massachusetts, was plagued by a spectre -that some thought to be that of a New Hampshire farmer who was robbed and -murdered there, but others say it is the shade of Kidd, for iron treasure -chests were found in the cellar that behaved like that on the Piscataqua -River, sinking out of sight whenever they were touched by shovels. - -Misery Islands, near Salem, Massachusetts, were dug over, and under -spiritual guidance, too, for other instalments of Mr. Kidd's -acquisitions, but without avail. - -It takes no less than half a dozen ghosts to guard what is hidden in -Money Hill, on Shark River, New Jersey, so there must be a good deal of -it. Some of these guardians are in sailor togs, some in their mouldy -bones, some peaceable, some noisy with threats and screams and groans--a -"rum lot," as an ancient mariner remarked, who lives near their graves -and daytime hiding-places. Many heirlooms are owned by Jerseymen -hereabout that were received from Kidd's sailors in exchange for -apple-jack and provisions, and two sailor-looking men are alleged to have -taken a strong-box out of Money Hill some years ago, from which they -abstracted two bags of gold. After that event the hill was dug over with -great earnestness, but without other result to the prospectors than the -cultivation of their patience. - -Sandy Hook, New Jersey, near "Kidd's tree," and the clay banks of the -Atlantic highlands back of that point, are suspected hiding-places; but -the cairn or knoll called Old Woman's Hill, at the highlands, is not -haunted by Kidd's men, as used to be said, but by the spirit of a -discontented squaw. This spirit the Indians themselves drove away with -stones. - -At Oyster Point, Maryland, lived Paddy Dabney, who recognized Kidd from -an old portrait on meeting him one evening in 1836. He was going home -late from the tavern when a light in a pine thicket caused him to turn -from the road. In a clearing among the trees, pervaded by a pale shine -which seemed to emanate from its occupants, a strange company was playing -at bowls. A fierce-looking reprobate who was superintending the game -glanced up, and, seeing Paddy's pale face, gave such a leap in his -direction that the Irishman fled with a howl of terror and never stopped -till he reached his door, when, on turning about, he found that the -phantom of the pirate chief had vanished. The others, he conceived, were -devils, for many a sea rover had sold himself to Satan. Captain Teach, or -Blackbeard, proved as much to his crew by shutting himself in the hold of -his ship, where he was burning sulphur to destroy rats, and withstanding -suffocation for several hours; while one day a dark man appeared on board -who was not one of the crew at the sailing, and who had gone as -mysteriously as he came on the day before the ship was wrecked. It was -known that Kidd had buried his Bible in order to ingratiate the evil one. - -A flat rock on the north shore of Liberty Island, in New York harbor, was -also thought to mark the place of this pervasive wealth of the pirates. -As late as 1830, Sergeant Gibbs, one of the garrison at the island, tried -to unearth it, with the aid of a fortune-teller and a recruit, but they -had no sooner reached a box about four feet in length than a being with -wings, horns, tail, and a breath, the latter palpable in blue flames, -burst from the coffer. Gibbs fell unconscious into the water and narrowly -escaped drowning, while his companions ran away, and the treasure may -still be there for aught we know. - -Back in the days before the Revolution, a negro called Mud Sam, who lived -in a cabin at the Battery, New York City, was benighted at about the -place where One Hundredth Street now touches East River while waiting -there for the tide to take him up the Sound. He beguiled the time by a -nap, and, on waking, he started to leave his sleeping place under the -trees to regain his boat, when the gleam of a lantern and the sound of -voices coming up the bank caused him to shrink back into the shadow. At -first he thought that he might be dreaming, for Hell Gate was a place of -such repute that one might readily have bad dreams there, and the legends -of the spot passed quickly through his mind: the skeletons that lived in -the wreck on Hen and Chickens and looked out at passing ships with blue -lights in the eye-sockets of their skulls; the brown fellow, known as -"the pirate's spuke," that used to cruise up and down the wrathful -torrent, and was snuffed out of sight for some hours by old Peter -Stuyvesant with a silver bullet; a black-looking scoundrel with a split -lip, who used to brattle about the tavern at Corlaer's Hook, and who -tumbled into East River while trying to lug an iron chest aboard of a -suspicious craft that had stolen in to shore in a fog. This latter bogy -was often seen riding up Hell Gate a-straddle of that very chest, -snapping his fingers at the stars and roaring Bacchanalian odes, just as -skipper Onderdonk's boatswain, who had been buried at sea without -prayers, chased the ship for days, sitting on the waves, with his shroud -for a sail, and shoving hills of water after the vessel with the plash of -his hands. - -These grewsome memories sent a quake through Mud Sam's heart, but when -the bushes cracked under the strangers' tread, he knew that they were of -flesh and bone, and, following them for a quarter-mile into the wood, he -saw them dig a hole, plant a strong-box there, and cover it. A -threatening remark from one of the company forced an exclamation from the -negro that drew a pistol-shot upon him, and he took to his heels. Such a -fright did he receive that he could not for several years be persuaded to -return, but when that persuasion came in the form of a promise of wealth -from Wolfert Webber, a cabbage-grower of the town, and promises of -protection from Dr. Knipperhausen, who was skilled in incantations, he -was not proof against it, and guided the seekers to the spot. - -After the doctor had performed the proper ceremonies they fell to work, -but no sooner had their spades touched the lid of an iron-bound chest -than a sturdy rogue with a red flannel cap leaped out of the bushes. They -said afterward that he had the face of the brawler who was drowned at -Corlaer's Hook, but, in truth, they hardly looked at him in their flight; -nor, when the place was revisited, could any mark of digging be found, -nor any trace of treasure, so that part of Kidd's wealth may be at this -moment snugly stowed in the cellar of a tenement. Webber had engaged in -so many crazy enterprises of this nature that he had neglected cabbage -culture, and had grown so poor that the last disappointment nearly broke -his heart. He retired to his chamber and made his will, but on learning -that a new street had been run across his farm and that it would -presently be worth ten times as much for building-lots as it ever had -been for cabbages, he leaped out of bed, dressed himself, and prospered -for many a day after. - - - - -OTHER BURIED WEALTH - -The wealth of the Astors hardly exceeds the treasure that is supposed to -be secreted here and there about the country, and thousands of dollars -have been expended in dredging rivers and shallow seas, and in blasting -caves and cellars. Certain promoters of these schemes have enjoyed -salaries as officers in the stock companies organized for their -furtherance, and they have seen the only tangible results from such -enterprises. - -One summer evening, in the middle of the seventeenth century, a bark -dropped anchor at the mouth of Saugus River, Massachusetts, and four of -the crew rowed to the woods that skirt its banks and made a landing. The -vessel had disappeared on the following morning, but in the forge at the -settlement was found a paper stating that if a certain number of shackles -and handcuffs were made and secretly deposited at a specified place in -the forest, a sum of money equal to their value would be found in their -stead on the next day. The order was filled and the silver was found, as -promised, but, though a watch was set, nothing further was seen of men or -ship for several months. - -The four men did return, however, and lived by themselves amid the woods -of Saugus, the gossips reporting that a beautiful woman had been seen in -their company--the mistress of the pirate chief, for, of course, the -mysterious quartette had followed the trade of robbery on the high seas. -Three of these men were captured, taken to England, and hanged, but the -fourth-Thomas Veale--escaped to a cavern in the wood, where, it was -reputed, great treasures were concealed, and there he lived until the -earthquake of 1658, when a rock fell from the roof of the cave, closing -the entrance and burying the guilty man in a tomb where, it is presumed, -he perished of thirst and hunger. Dungeon Rock, of Lynn, is the name that -the place has borne ever since. - -In 1852 Hiram Marble announced that he had been visited by spirits, who -not only told him that the pirates' spoils were still in their olden -hiding-place, but pointed out the spot where the work of excavation -should begin. Aided by his son he tunnelled the solid granite for a -distance of one hundred and thirty-five feet, the passage being seven -feet high and seven wide. Whenever he was wearied the "mediums" that he -consulted would tell him to make cuttings to the right or left, and for -every fresh discouragement they found fresh work. For thirty years this -task was carried on, both father and son dying without gaining any -practical result, other than the discovery of an ancient scabbard in a -rift. The heiress of the house of Marble alone reaped benefit from their -labors, for-resuming on a petty scale the levies of the first dwellers in -the rock--she boldly placarded the entrance to the workings "Ye who enter -here leave twenty-five cents behind." - -In several cases the chasms that have been caused by wear of water or -convulsions of nature (their opposite sides being matched) were believed -to have been hiding-places, but, in the old days in New England, it was -believed that all such fractures were caused by the earthquake at the -time of the crucifixion--a testimony of the power of God to shake -sinners. - -The Heart of Greylock is the name given to the crater-like recess, a -thousand feet deep, in the tallest of the Berkshire peaks, but it was -formerly best known as Money Hole, and the stream that courses through it -as Money Brook, for a gang of counterfeiters worked in that recess, and -there some spurious coinage may still be concealed. The stream is also -known as Spectre Brook, for late wandering hunters and scouting soldiers, -seeing the forgers moving to and fro about their furnaces, took them for -ghosts. - -Province Island, in Lake Memphremagog, Vermont, is believed to contain -some of the profits of an extensive smuggling enterprise that was carried -on near the lake for several years. - -A little company of Spanish adventurers passed along the base of the -Green Mountains early in the last century, expecting to return after -having some dealings with the trading stations on the St. Lawrence; so -they deposited a part of their gold on Ludlow Mountain, Vermont, and -another pot of it on Camel's Hump. They agreed that none should return -without his companions, but they were detained in the north and -separated, some of them going home to Spain. Late in life the sole -survivor of the company went to Camel's Hump and tried to recall where -the treasure had been hidden, but in vain. - -While flying from the people whose declaration of independence had -already been written in the blood of the king's troops at Concord, the -royal governor--Wentworth--was embarrassed by a wife and a -treasure-chest. He had left his mansion, at Smith's Pond, New Hampshire, -and was making toward Portsmouth, where he was to enjoy the protection of -the British fleet, but the country was up in arms, time was important, -and as his wearied horses could not go on without a lightening of the -burden, he was forced to leave behind either Lady Wentworth or his other -riches. As the lady properly objected to any risk of her own safety, the -chest was buried at an unknown spot in the forest, and for a century and -more the whereabouts of the Wentworth plate and money-bags have been a -matter of search and conjecture. - -When the Hessian troops marched from Saratoga to Boston, to take ship -after Burgoyne's surrender, they were in wretched condition-war-worn, -ragged, and ill fed,--and having much with them in the form of plate and -jewels that had been spared by their conquerors, together with some of -the money sent from England for their hire, they were in constant fear of -attack from the farmers, who, though they had been beaten, continued to -regard them with an unfavorable eye. On reaching Dalton, Massachusetts, -the Hessians agreed among themselves to put their valuables into a -howitzer, which they buried in the woods, intending that some of their -number should come back at the close of the war and recover it. An Indian -had silently followed them for a long distance, to gather up any -unconsidered trifles that might be left in their bivouacs, and he marked -the route by blazes on the trees; but if he saw the burial of this novel -treasury it meant nothing to him, and the knowledge of the hiding-place -was lost. For years the populace kept watch of all strangers that came to -town, and shadowed them if they went to the woods, but without result. In -about the year 1800 the supposed hiding-place was examined closely and -excavations were made, but, as before, nothing rewarded the search. - -A tree of unknown age--the Old Elm--stood on Boston Common until within a -few years. This veteran, torn and broken by many a gale and -lightning-stroke, was a gallows in the last century, and Goody Glover had -swung from it in witch-times. On tempestuous nights, when the boughs -creaked together, it was said that dark shapes might be seen writhing on -the branches and capering about the sward below in hellish glee. On a -gusty autumn evening in 1776 a muffled form presented itself, -unannounced, at the chamber of Mike Wild, and, after that notorious miser -had enough recovered from the fear created by the presence to understand -what it said to him, he realized that it was telling him of something -that in life it had buried at the foot of the Old Elm. After much -hesitancy Mike set forth with his ghostly guide, for he would have risked -his soul for money, but on arriving at his destination he was startled to -find himself alone. Nothing daunted, he set down his lantern and began to -dig. Though he turned up many a rood of soil and sounded with his spade -for bags and chests of gold, he found nothing. Strange noises -overhead--for the wind was high and the twigs seemed to snicker eerily as -they crossed each other-sent thrills along his back from time to time, -and he was about to return, half in anger, half in fear, when his spirit -visitor emerged from behind the tree and stood before him. The mien was -threatening, the nose had reddened and extended, the hair was rumpled, -and the brow was scowling. The frown of the gold monster grew more awful, -the stare of his eye in the starlight more unbearable, and he was -crouching and creeping as if for a spring. Mike could endure no more. He -fainted, and awakened in the morning in his own chamber, where, to a -neighbor who made an early call, he told--with embellishments--the story -of the encounter; but before he had come to the end of the narrative the -visitor burst into a roar of laughter and confessed that he had -personated the supernatural visitant, having wagered a dozen bottles of -wine with the landlord of the Boar's Head that he could get the better of -Mike Wild. For all this the old tree bore, for many years, an evil -reputation. - -A Spanish galleon, the Saints Joseph and Helena, making from Havana to -Cadiz in 1753 was carried from her course by adverse winds and tossed -against a reef, near New London, Connecticut, receiving injuries that -compelled her to run into that port for repairs. To reach her broken ribs -more easily her freight was put on shore in charge of the collector of -the port, but when it was desired to ship the cargo again, behold! the -quarter part of it had disappeared, none could say how. New London got a -bad name from this robbery, and the governor, though besought by the -assembly to make good the shortage, failed to do so, and lost his place -at the next election. It was reputed that some of the treasure was buried -on the shore by the robbers. In 1827 a woman who was understood to have -the power of seership published a vision to a couple of young blades, who -had paid for it, to the effect that hidden under one of the grass-grown -wharves was a box of dollars. By the aid of a crystal pebble she received -this really valuable information, but the pebble was not clear enough to -reveal the exact place of the box. She could see, however, that the -dollars were packed edgewise. When New London was sound asleep the young -men stole out and by lantern-light began their work. They had dug to -water-level when they reached an iron chest, and they stooped to lift -it-but, to their amazement, the iron was too hot to handle! Now they -heard deep growls, and a giant dog peered at them from the pit-mouth; red -eyes flashed at them from the darkness; a wild-goose, with eyes of -blazing green, hovered and screamed above them. Though the witch had -promised them safety, nothing appeared to ward off the fantastic shapes -that began to crowd about them. Too terrified to work longer they sprang -out and made away, and when-taking courage from the sunshine--they -renewed the search, next day, the iron chest had vanished. - -On Crown Point, Lake Champlain, is the ruin of a fort erected by Lord -Amherst above the site of a French work that had been thrown up in 1731 -to guard a now vanished capital of fifteen hundred people. It was -declared that when the French evacuated the region they buried money and -bullion in a well, in the northwest corner of the bastion, ninety feet -deep, in the full expectancy of regaining it, and half a century ago this -belief had grown to such proportions that fifty men undertook to clear -the well, pushing their investigations into various parts of the -enclosure and over surrounding fields. They found quantities of lead and -iron and no gold. - -Follingsby's Pond, in the Adirondacks, was named for a recluse, who, in -the early part of this century, occupied a lonely but strongly guarded -cabin there. It was believed afterward that he was an English army -officer, of noble birth, who had left his own country in disgust at -having discovered an attachment between his wife and one of his -fellow-officers. He died in a fever, and while raving in a delirium spoke -of a concealed chest. A trapper, who was his only attendant in his last -moments, dug over the ground floor of the hut and found a box containing -a jewelled sword, costly trinkets, and letters that bore out the -presumption of Follingsby's aristocratic origin. What became of these -valuables after their exhumation is not known, and the existence of more -has been suspected. - -Coney Island is declared to have been used by a band of pirates as the -first national sand bank, and, as these rascals were caught and swung off -with short shrift, they do say that the plunder is still to be had--by -the man who finds it. But the hotel-keepers and three-card-monte men are -not waiting for that discovery to grow rich. - -In Shandaken Valley, in the Catskills, it was affirmed that a party of -British officers buried money somewhere, when they were beset by the -farmers and hunters of that region, and never got it out of the earth -again. - -On Tea Island, Lake George, the buried treasures of Lord Abercrombie have -remained successfully hidden until this day. - -The oldest house at Fort Neck, Long Island, was known for years as the -haunted house, and the grave of its owner--Captain Jones--was called the -pirate's grave, for, in the last century, Jones was accused of piracy and -smuggling, and there have been those who suspected worse. A hope of -finding gold and silver about the premises has been yearly growing -fainter. Just before the death of Jones, which occurred here in an -orderly manner, a crow, so big that everybody believed it to be a demon, -flew in at the window and hovered over the bed of the dying man until he -had drawn his last breath, when, with a triumphant cry, it flew through -the west end of the house. The hole that it broke through the masonry -could never be stopped, for, no matter how often it was repaired, the -stone and cement fell out again, and the wind came through with such a -chill and such shriekings that the house had to be abandoned. - -The owner of an estate on Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, had more wealth than -he thought it was safe or easy to transport when he found the colonies -rising against Britain in 1775, and flight was imperative, for he was -known by his neighbors to be a Tory. Massing his plate, coin, and other -movables into three barrels, he caused his three slaves to bury them in -pits that they had dug beneath his house. Then, as they were shovelling -back the earth, he shot them dead, all three, and buried them, one on -each barrel. His motive for the crime may have been a fear that the -slaves would aid the Americans in the approaching struggle, or that they -might return and dig up the wealth or reveal the hiding-place to the -enemies of the king. Then he made his escape to Nova Scotia, though he -might as well have stayed at home, for the British possessed themselves -of Long Island, and his house became a place of resort for red-coats and -loyalists. It was after the turn of the century when a boat put in, one -evening, at Cold Spring Bay, and next morning the inhabitants found -footprints leading to and from a spot where some children had discovered -a knotted rope projecting from the soil. Something had been removed, for -the mould of a large box was visible at the bottom of a pit. Acres of the -neighborhood were then dug over by treasure hunters, who found a box of -cob dollars and a number of casks. The contents of the latter, though -rich and old, were not solid, and when diffused through the systems of -several Long Islanders imparted to them a spirituous and patriotic -glow--for in thus destroying the secreted stores of a royalist were they -not asserting the triumph of democratic principles? - -The clay bluffs at Pottery Beach, Brooklyn, were pierced with artificial -caves where lawless men found shelter in the unsettled first years of the -republic. A wreck lay rotting here for many years, and it was said to be -the skeleton of a ship that these fellows had beached by false beacons. -She had costly freight aboard, and on the morning after she went ashore -crew and freight had vanished. It was believed that much of the plunder -was buried in the clay near the water's edge. In the early colonial days, -Grand Island, in Niagara River, was the home of a Frenchman, Clairieux, -an exile or refugee who was attended by a negro servant. During one -summer a sloop visited the island frequently, laden on each trip with -chests that never were taken away in the sight of men, and that are now -supposed to be buried near the site of the Frenchman's cabin. Report had -it that these boxes were filled with money, but if well or ill procured -none could say, unless it were the Frenchman, and he had no remarks to -offer on the subject. In the fall, after these visits of the sloop, -Clairieux disappeared, and when some hunters landed on the island they -found that his cabin had been burned and that a large skeleton, evidently -that of the negro, was chained to the earth in the centre of the place -where the house had stood. The slave had been killed, it was surmised, -that his spirit might watch the hoard and drive away intruders; but the -Frenchman met his fate elsewhere, and his secret, like that of many -another miser, perished with him. In 1888, when a northeast gale had -blown back the water of the river, a farmer living on the island -discovered, just under the surface, a stone foundation built in circular -form, as if it had once supported a tower. In the mud within this circle -he found a number of French gold and silver coins, one of them minted in -1537. Close by, other coins of later date were found, and a systematic -examination of the whole channel has been proposed, as it was also said -that two French frigates, scuttled to keep them out of the hands of the -English, lie bedded in sand below the island, one of them with a naval -paymaster's chest on board. - -On the shore of Oneida Lake is an Indian's grave, where a ball of light -is wont to swing and dance. A farmer named Belknap dreamed several times -of a buried treasure at this point, and he was told, in his vision, that -if he would dig there at midnight he could make it his own. He made the -attempt, and his pick struck a crock that gave a chink, as of gold. He -should, at that moment, have turned around three times, as his dream -directed, but he was so excited that he forgot to. A flash of lightning -rent the air and stretched him senseless on the grass. When he recovered -the crock was gone, the hole filled in, and ever since then the light has -hovered about the place. Some say that this is but the will-o'-the-wisp: -the soul of a bad fellow who is doomed to wander in desolate regions -because, after dying, Peter would not allow him to enter heaven, and the -devil would not let him go into the other place, lest he should make the -little devils unmanageable; but he is allowed to carry a light in his -wanderings. - -In Indian Gap, near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, the Doane band of Tories -and terrorists hid a chest of gold, the proceeds of many robberies. It is -guarded by witches, and, although it has been seen, no one has been able -to lay hands on it. The seekers are always blinded by blue flame, and -frightened away by roaring noises. The Dutch farmers of the vicinity are -going to dig for it, all the same, for it is said that the watch of evil -spirits will be given over at midnight, but they do not know of what -date. They will be on hand at the spot revealed to them through the -vision of a "hex layer" (a vision that cost them fifty cents), until the -night arrives when there are no blue flames. - -In the southern part of Chester County, Pennsylvania, is money, too, but -just where nobody knows. A lonely, crabbed man, who died there in a poor -hut after the Revolution, owned that he had served the British as a spy, -but said that he had spent none of the gold that he had taken from them. -He was either too sorry for his deeds, or too mean to do so. He had put -it in a crock and buried it, and, on his death-bed, where he made his -statement, he asked that it might be exhumed and spent for some good -purpose. He was about to tell where it was when the death-rattle choked -his words. - -The Isle of the Yellow Sands, in Lake Superior, was supposed by Indians -to be made of the dust of gold, but it was protected by vultures that -beat back those who approached, or tore them to pieces if they insisted -on landing. An Indian girl who stole away from her camp to procure a -quantity of this treasure was pursued by her lover, who, frightened at -the risk she was about to run from the vultures, stopped her flight by -staving in the side of her canoe, so that she was compelled to take -refuge in his, and he rowed home with her before the birds had come to -the attack. - -Old Francois Fontenoy, an Indian trader, buried a brass kettle full of -gold at Presque Isle, near Detroit, that is still in the earth. - -On the banks of the Cumberland, in Tennessee, is a height where a -searcher for gold was seized by invisible defenders and hurled to the -bottom of the cliff, receiving a mortal hurt. - -The Spaniards were said to have entombed three hundred thousand dollars -in gold near Natchez. A man to whom the secret had descended offered to -reveal it, but, as he was a prisoner, his offer was laughed at. Afterward -an empty vault was found where he said it would be. Somebody had -accidentally opened it and had removed the treasure. - -Caverns have frequently been used as hiding-places for things of more or -less value--generally less. Saltpetre Cave, in Georgia, for instance, was -a factory and magazine for saltpetre, gunpowder, and other military -stores during the Civil War. The Northern soldiers wrecked the potash -works and broke away tons of rock, so as to make it dangerous to return. -Human bones have been found here, too, but they are thought to be those -of soldiers that entered the cave in pursuit of an Indian chief who had -defied the State in the '40's. He escaped through a hole in the roof, -doubled on his pursuers, fired a pile of dead leaves and wood at the -mouth, and suffocated the white men with the smoke. - -Spaniards worked the mines in the Ozark Hills of Missouri two hundred -years ago. One of the mines containing lead and silver, eighteen miles -southwest of Galena, was worked by seven men, who could not agree as to a -division of the yield. One by one they were killed in quarrels until but -a single man was left, and he, in turn, was set upon by the resurrected -victims and choked to death by their cold fingers. In 1873 a Vermonter -named Johnson went there and said he would find what it was the Spaniards -had been hiding, in spite of the devil and his imps. He did work there -for one day, and was then found dead at the mouth of the old shaft with -marks of bony fingers on his throat. - -The seven cities of Cibola, that Coronado and other Spanish adventurers -sought in the vast deserts of the Southwest, were pueblos. A treacherous -guide who had hoped to take Coronado into the waterless plain and lose -him, but who first lost his own head, had told him a tale of the Quivira, -a tribe that had much gold. So far from having gold these Indians did not -know the stuff, but the myth that they had hoarded quantities of it has -survived to this day and has caused waste of lives and money. Towns in -New Mexico that have lain in ruins since 1670, when the Apaches butchered -their people--towns that were well built and were lorded by solid old -churches and monasteries erected by the Spanish missionaries--these towns -have often been dug over, and the ruinous state of Abo, Curari, and -Tabira is due, in part, to their foolish tunnelling and blasting. - -A Spanish bark, one day in 1841, put in for water off the spot where -Columbia City, Oregon, now stands. She had a rough crew on board, and it -had been necessary for her officers to watch the men closely from the -time the latter discovered that she was carrying a costly cargo. Hardly -had the anchorchains run out before the sailors fell upon the captain, -killed him, seized all of value that they could gather, and took it to -the shore. What happened after is not clear, but it is probable that in a -quarrel, arising over the demands of each man to have most of the -plunder, several of the claimants were slain. Indians were troublesome, -likewise, so that it was thought best to put most of the goods into the -ground, and this was done on the tract known as Hez Copier's farm. Hardly -was the task completed before the Indians appeared in large numbers and -set up their tepees, showing that they meant to remain. The mutineers -rowed back to the ship, and, after vainly waiting for several days for a -chance to go on shore again, they sailed away. Two years of wandering, -fighting, and carousal ensued before the remnant of the crew returned to -Oregon. The Indians were gone, and an earnest search was made for the -money--but in vain. It was as if the ground had never been disturbed. The -man who had supervised its burial was present until the mutineers went -back to their boats, when it was discovered that he was mysteriously -missing. - -More than forty years after these events a meeting of Spiritualists was -held in Columbia City, and a "medium" announced that she had received a -revelation of the exact spot where the goods had been concealed. A -company went to the place, and, after a search of several days, found, -under a foot of soil, a quantity of broken stone. While throwing out -these fragments one of the party fell dead. The spirit of the defrauded -and murdered captain had claimed him, the medium explained. So great was -the fright caused by this accident that the search was again abandoned -until March, 1890, when another party resumed the digging, and after -taking out the remainder of the stone they came on a number of human -skeletons. During the examination of these relics--possibly the bones of -mutineers who had been killed in the fight on shore--a man fell into a -fit of raving madness, and again the search was abandoned, for it is now -said that an immutable curse rests on the treasure. - - - - -STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS - - - - -MONSTERS AND SEA-SERPENTS - -It is hardly to be wondered at that two prominent scientists should have -declared on behalf of the sea-serpent, for that remarkable creature has -been reported at so many points, and by so many witnesses not addicted to -fish tales nor liquor, that there ought to be some reason for him. He has -been especially numerous off the New England coast. He was sighted off -Cape Ann in 1817, and several times off Nahant. Though alarming in -appearance--for he has a hundred feet of body, a shaggy head, and goggle -eyes--he is of lamb-like disposition, and has never justified the -attempts that have been made to kill or capture him. Rewards were at one -time offered to the seafaring men who might catch him, and revenue -cutters cruising about Massachusetts Bay were ordered to keep a lookout -for him and have a gun double shotted for action. One fisherman emptied -the contents of a ducking gun into the serpent's head, as he supposed, -but the creature playfully wriggled a few fathoms of its tail and made -off. John Josselyn, gentleman, reports that when he stirred about this -neighborhood in 1638 an enormous reptile was seen "quoiled up on a rock -at Cape Ann." He would have fired at him but for the earnest dissuasion -of his Indian guide, who declared that ill luck would come of the -attempt. The sea-serpent sometimes shows amphibious tendencies and -occasionally leaves the sea for fresh water. Two of him were seen in -Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, in 1892, by four men. They confess, however, -that they were fishing at the time. The snakes had fins and were a matter -of fifty feet long. - -When one of these reptiles found the other in his vicinage he raised his -head six feet above water and fell upon him tooth and nail--if he had -nails. In their struggles these unpleasant neighbors made such waves that -the fishermen's boat was nearly upset. - -Even the humble Wabash has its terror, for at Huntington, Indiana, three -truthful damsels of the town saw its waters churned by a tail that -splashed from side to side, while far ahead was the prow of the animal--a -leonine skull, with whiskers, and as large as the head of a boy of a -dozen years. As if realizing what kind of a report was going to be made -about him, the monster was overcome with bashfulness at the sight of the -maidens and sank from view. - -In April, 1890, a water-snake was reported in one of the Twin Lakes, in -the Berkshire Hills, but the eye-witnesses of his sports let him off with -a length of twenty-five feet. - -Sysladobosis Lake, in Maine, has a snake with a head like a dog's, but it -is hardly worth mentioning because it is only eight feet long-hardly -longer than the name of the lake. More enterprise is shown across the -border, for Skiff Lake, New Brunswick, has a similar snake thirty feet -long. - -In Cotton Mather's time a double-headed snake was found at Newbury, -Massachusetts,--it had a head at each end,--and before it was killed it -showed its evil disposition by chasing and striking at the lad who first -met it. - -A snake haunts Wolf Pond, Pennsylvania, that is an alleged relic of the -Silurian age. It was last seen in September, 1887, when it unrolled -thirty feet of itself before the eyes of an alarmed spectator--again a -fisherman. The beholder struck him with a pole, and in revenge the -serpent capsized his boat; but he forbore to eat his enemy, and, diving -to the bottom, disappeared. The creature had a black body, about six -inches thick, ringed with dingy-yellow bands, and a mottled-green head, -long and pointed, like a pike's. - -Silver Lake, near Gainesville, New York, was in 1855 reported to be the -lair of a great serpent, and old settlers declare that he still comes to -the surface now and then. - -A tradition among the poor whites of the South Jruns to the effect that -the sea-monster that swallowed Jonah--not a whale, because the throat of -that animal is hardly large enough to admit a herring--crossed the -Atlantic and brought up at the Carolinas. His passenger was supplied with -tobacco and beguiled the tedium of the voyage by smoking a pipe. The -monster, being unused to that sort of thing, suffered as all beginners in -nicotine poisoning do, and expelled the unhappy man with emphasis. On -being safely landed, Jonah attached himself to one of the tribes that -peopled the barrens, and left a white progeny which antedated Columbus's -arrival by several centuries. God pitied the helplessness of these -ignorant and uncourageous whites and led them to Looking-Glass Mountain, -North Carolina, where He caused corn and game to be created, and while -this race endured it lived in plenty. - -Santa Barbara Island, off the California coast, was, for a long time, the -supposed head-quarters of swimming and flying monsters and sirens, and no -Mexican would pass in hearing of the yells and screams and strange songs -without crossing himself and begging the captain to give the rock a wide -berth. But the noise is all the noise of cats. A shipwrecked tabby -peopled the place many years ago, and her numerous progeny live there on -dead fish and on the eggs and chicks of sea-fowl. - -Spirit Canon, a rocky gorge that extends for three miles along Big Sioux -River, Iowa, was hewn through the stone by a spirit that took the form of -a dragon. Such were its size and ferocity that the Indians avoided the -place, lest they should fall victims to its ire. - -The Hurons believed in a monster serpent--Okniont--who wore a horn on his -head that could pierce trees, rocks, and hills. A piece of this horn was -an amulet of great value, for it insured good luck. - -The Zunis tell of a plumed serpent that lives in the water of sacred -springs, and they dare not destroy the venomous creatures that infest the -plains of Arizona because, to them, the killing of a snake means a -reduction in their slender water-supply. The gods were not so kind to the -snakes as men were, for the agatized trees of Chalcedony Park, in -Arizona, are held to be arrows shot by the angry deities at the monsters -who vexed this region. - -Indians living on the shore of Canandaigua Lake, New York, tamed a pretty -spotted snake, and fed and petted it until it took a deer at a meal. It -grew so large that it eventually encircled the camp and began to prey on -its keepers. Vainly they tried to kill the creature, until a small boy -took an arrow of red willow, anointed it with the blood of a young woman, -and shot it from a basswood bow at the creature's heart. It did not enter -at once; it merely stuck to the scales. But presently it began to bore -and twist its way into the serpent's body. The serpent rolled into the -lake and made it foam in its agony. It swallowed water and vomited it up -again, with men dead and alive, before it died. - -The monster Amhuluk, whose home is a lake near Forked Mountain, Oregon, -had but one passion-to catch and drown all things; and when you look into -the lake you see that he has even drowned the sky in it, and has made the -trees stand upside down in the water. Wherever he set his feet the ground -would soften. As three children were digging roots at the edge of the -water he fell on them and impaled two of them on his horns, the eldest -only contriving to escape. When this boy reached home his body was full -of blotches, and the father suspected how it was, yet he went to the lake -at once. The bodies of the children came out of the mud at his feet to -meet him, but went down again and emerged later across the water. They -led him on in this way until he came to the place where they were -drowned. A fog now began to steam up from the water, but through it he -could see the little ones lifted on the monster's horns, and hear them -cry, "We have changed our bodies." Five times they came up and spoke to -him, and five times he raised a dismal cry and begged them to return, but -they could not. Next morning he saw them rise through the fog again, and, -building a camp, he stayed there and mourned for several days. For five -days they showed themselves, but after that they went down and he saw and -heard no more of them. Ambuluk had taken the children and they would live -with him for ever after. - -Crater Lake, Oregon, was a haunt of water-devils who dragged into it and -drowned all who ventured near. Only within a few years could Indians be -persuaded to go to it as guides. Its discoverers saw in it the work of -the Great Spirit, but could not guess its meaning. All but one of these -Klamaths stole away after they had looked into its circular basin and -sheer walls. He fancied that if it was a home of gods they might have -some message for men, so camping on the brink of the lofty cliffs he -waited. In his sleep a vision came to him, and he heard voices, but could -neither make out appearances nor distinguish a word. Every night this -dream was repeated. He finally went down to the lake and bathed, and -instantly found his strength increased and saw that the people of his -dreams were the genii of the waters--whether good or bad he could not -guess. One day he caught a fish for food. A thousand water-devils came to -the surface, on the instant, and seized him. They carried him to a rock -on the north side of the lake, that stands two thousand feet above the -water, and from that they dashed him down, gathering the remains of his -shattered body below and devouring them. Since that taste they have been -eager for men's blood. The rock on the south side of the lake, called the -Phantom Ship, is believed by the Indians to be a destructive monster, -innocent as it looks in the daytime. - -So with Rock Lake, in Washington. A hideous reptile sports about its -waters and gulps down everything that it finds in or on them. Only in -1853 a band of Indians, who had fled hither for security against the -soldiers, were overtaken by this creature, lashed to death, and eaten. - -The Indians of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas believed that the King -Snake, or God Snake, lived in the Gulf of Mexico. It slept in a cavern of -pure crystal at the bottom, and its head, being shaped from a solid -emerald, lighted the ocean for leagues when it arose near the surface. - -Similar to this is the belief of the Cherokees in the kings of -rattlesnakes, "bright old inhabitants" of the mountains that grew to a -mighty size, and drew to themselves every creature that they looked upon. -Each wore a crown of carbuncle of dazzling brightness. - -The Indians avoided Klamath Lake because it was haunted by a monster that -was half dragon, half hippopotamus. - -Hutton Lake, Wyoming, is the home of a serpent queen, whose breathing may -be seen in the bubbles that well up in the centre. She is constantly -watching for her lover, but takes all men who come in her way to her -grotto beneath the water, when she finds that they are not the one she -has expected, and there they become her slaves. To lure victims into the -lake she sets there a decoy of a beautiful red swan, and should the -hunter kill this bird he will become possessed of divine power. Should he -see "the woman," as the serpent queen is called, he will never live to -tell of it, unless he has seen her from a hiding-place near the -shore--for so surely as he is noticed by this Diana of the depths, so -surely will her spies, the land snakes, sting him to death. In appearance -she is a lovely girl in all but her face, and that is shaped like the -head of a monster snake. Her name is never spoken by the Indians, for -fear that it will cost them their lives. - -Michael Pauw, brave fisherman of Paterson, New Jersey, hero of the fight -with the biggest snapping-turtle in Dover Slank, wearer of a scar on his -seat of honor as memento of the conflict, member of the Kersey Reds--he -whose presence of mind was shown in holding out a chip of St. Nicholas's -staff when he met the nine witches of the rocks capering in the mists of -Passaic Falls--gave battle from a boat to a monster that had ascended to -the cataract. One of the Kersey Reds, leaning out too far, fell astride -of the horny beast, and was carried at express speed, roaring with -fright, until unhorsed by a projecting rock, up which he scrambled to -safety. Falling to work with bayonets and staves, the company despatched -the creature and dragged it to shore. One Dutchman--who was quite a -traveller, having been as far from home as Albany--said that the thing -was what the Van Rensselaers cut up for beef, and that he believed they -called it a sturgeon. - - - - -STONE-THROWING DEVILS - -There is an odd recurrence among American legends of tales relating to -assaults of people or their houses by imps of darkness. The shadowy -leaguers of Gloucester, Massachusetts, kept the garrison of that place in -a state of fright until they were expelled from the neighborhood by a -silver bullet and a chaplain's prayers. Witchcraft was sometimes -manifested in Salem by the hurling of missiles from unseen hands. The -"stone-throwing devil" of Portsmouth is the subject of a tradition more -than two centuries of age, but, as the stone-thrower appears rather as an -avenger than as a gratuitously malignant spirit, he is ill treated in -having the name of devil applied to him. In this New Hampshire port lived -a widow who had a cabin and a bit of land of her own. George Walton, a -neighbor, wanted her land, for its situation pleased him, and as the old -woman had neither money nor influential friends he charged her with -witchcraft, and, whether by legal chicanery or mere force is not -recorded, he got his hands upon her property. - -The charge of witchcraft was not pressed, because the man had obtained -what he wanted, but the poor, houseless creature laid a ban on the place -and told the thief that he would never have pleasure nor profit out of -it. Walton laughed at her, bade her go her way, and moved his family into -the widow's house. It was Sunday night, and the family had gone to bed, -when at ten o'clock there came a fierce shock of stones against the roof -and doors. All were awake in a moment. A first thought was that Indians -were making an assault, but when the occupants peered cautiously into the -moonlight the fields were seen to be deserted. Yet, even as they looked, -a gate was lifted from its hinges and thrown through the air. - -Walton ventured out, but a volley of stones, seemingly from a hundred -hands, was delivered at his head, and he ran back to shelter. Doors and -windows were barred and shuttered, but it made no difference. Stones, too -hot to hold a hand upon, were hurled through glass and down the chimney, -objects in the rooms themselves were picked up and flung at Walton, -candles were blown out, a hand without a body tapped at the window, locks -and bars and keys were bent as if by hammer-blows, a cheese-press was -smashed against the wall and the cheese spoiled, hay-stacks in the field -were broken up and the hay tossed into branches of trees. For a long time -Walton could not go out at night without being assailed with stones. -Bell, book, candle, and witch-broth availed nothing, and it was many a -day before peace came to the Walton household. - -In 1802 an epidemic of assault went through the Berkshire Hills. The -performance began in a tailor's shop in Salisbury, Connecticut, at eleven -of the clock on the night of November 2, when a stick and lumps of stone, -charcoal, and mortar were flung through a window. The moon was up, but -nothing could be seen, and the bombardment was continued until after -daylight. After doing some damage here the assailants went to the house -of Ezekiel Landon and rapped away there for a week. Persons were struck -by the missiles, and quantities of glass were destroyed. Nothing could be -seen coming toward the windows until the glass broke, and it was seldom -that anything passed far into a room. No matter how hard it was thrown, -it dropped softly and surely on the sill, inside, as if a hand had put it -there. Windows were broken on both sides of buildings at the same time, -and many sticks and stones came through the same holes in the panes, as -if aimed carefully by a gunner. - -A hamlet that stood in Sage's ravine, on the east side of the Dome of the -Taconics, was assailed in the same way after nightfall. One house was -considerably injured. No causes for the performance were ever discovered, -and nobody in the place was known to have an enemy--at least, a malicious -one. - -At Whitmire Hill, Georgia, the spot where two murders were committed -before the war, is a headless phantom that comes thundering down on the -wayfarer on the back of a giant horse and vanishes at the moment when the -heart of his prospective victim is bumping against his palate. At times, -however, this spook prefers to remain invisible, and then it is a little -worse, for it showers stones and sods on the pedestrian until his legs -have carried him well beyond the phantom's jurisdiction. - -The legends of buried treasure, instanced in another place, frequently -include assaults by the ghosts of pirates and misers on the daring ones -who try to resurrect their wealth. - -Forty-seven years ago, in the township of St. Mary's, Illinois, two lads -named Groves and a companion named Kirk were pelted with snowballs while -on their way home from a barn where they had been to care for the stock -for the night. The evening had shut in dark, and the accuracy of the -thrower's aim was the more remarkable because it was hardly possible to -see more than a rod away. The snowballs were packed so tightly that they -did not break on striking, though they were thrown with force, and Kirk -was considerably bruised by them. Mr. Groves went out with a lantern, but -its rays lit up a field of untrodden snow, and there was no sound except -that made by the wind as it whistled past the barn and fences. Toward -dawn another inspection was made, and in the dim light the snowballs were -seen rising from the middle of a field that had not a footprint on it, -and flying toward the spectators like bullets. They ran into the field -and laid about them with pitchforks, but nothing came of that, and not -until the sun arose was the pelting stopped. Young Kirk, who was badly -hurt, died within a year. - -The men of Sharon, Connecticut, having wheedled their town-site from the -Indians in 1754, were plagued thereafter by whoops and whistlings and the -throwing of stones. Men were seen in the starlight and were fired upon, -but without effect, and the disturbances were not ended until the Indians -had received a sum of money. - -Without presuming to doubt the veracity of tradition in these matters, an -incident from the writer's boyhood in New England may be instanced. The -house of an unpopular gentleman was assailed--not in the ostentatious -manner just described, yet in a way that gave him a good deal of trouble. -Dead cats appeared mysteriously in his neighborhood; weird noises arose -under his windows; he tried to pick up letters from his doorstep that -became mere chalk-marks at his touch, so that he took up only splinters -under his nails. One night, as a seance was about beginning in his yard, -he emerged from a clump of bushes, flew in the direction of the -disturbance, laid violent hands on the writer's collar, and bumped his -nose on a paving-stone. Then the manifestations were discontinued, for -several nights, for repairs. - - - - -STORIED SPRINGS - -Like the Greeks, the red men endowed the woods and waters with tutelary -sprites, and many of the springs that are now resorted to as fountains of -healing were known long before the settlement of Europeans here, the -gains from drinking of them being ascribed to the beneficence of spirit -guardians. The earliest comers to these shores--or, rather, the earliest -of those who entertained such beliefs--fancied that the fabled fountain -of eternal youth would be found among the other blessings of the land. To -the Spaniards Florida was a land of promise and mystery. Somewhere in its -interior was fabled to stand a golden city ruled by a king whose robes -sparkled with precious dust, and this city was named for the -adventurer--El Dorado, or the Place of the Gilded One. Here, they said, -would be found the elixir of life. The beautiful Silver Spring, near the -head of the Ocklawaha, with its sandy bottom plainly visible at the depth -of eighty feet, was thought to be the source of the life-giving waters, -but, though Ponce de Leon heard of this, he never succeeded in fighting -his way to it through the jungle. - -In Georgia, in the reputed land of Chicora, were a sacred stream that -made all young again who bathed there, and a spring so delectable that a -band of red men, chancing on it in a journey, could not leave it, and are -there forever. - -In the island of "Bimini," one of the Lucayos (Bahamas), was another such -a fountain. - -Between the Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers the Creeks declared was a spring of -life, on an island in a marsh, defended from approach by almost -impenetrable labyrinths,--a heaven where the women were fairer than any -other on earth. - -The romantic and superstitious Spaniards believed these legends, and -spent years and treasure in searching for these springs. And, surely, if -the new and striking scenes of this Western world caused Columbus to -"boast that he had found the seat of paradise, it will not appear strange -that Ponce de Leon should dream of discovering the fountain of youth." - -The Yuma Apaches had been warned by one of their oracles never to enter a -certain canon in Castle Dome range, Arizona, but a company of them forgot -this caution while in chase of deer, and found themselves between walls -of pink and white fluorite with a spring bubbling at the head of the -ravine. Tired and heated, they fell on their faces to drink, when they -found that the crumbling quartz that formed the basin of the spring was -filled with golden nuggets. Eagerly gathering up this precious substance, -for they knew what treasure of beads, knives, arrows, and blankets the -Mexicans would exchange for it, they attempted to make their way out of -the canon; but a cloudburst came, and on the swiftly rising tide all were -swept away but one, who survived to tell the story. White men have -frequently but vainly tried to find that spring. - -In Southwestern Kansas, on a hill a quarter-mile from Solomon River, is -the Sacred Water, pooled in a basin thirty feet across. When many stand -about the brink it slowly rises. Here two Panis stopped on their return -from a buffalo hunt, and one of them unwittingly stepped on a turtle a -yard long. Instantly he felt his feet glued to the monster's back, for, -try as he might, he could not disengage himself, and the creature -lumbered away to the pool, where it sank with him. There the turtle god -remains, and beads, arrows, ear-rings, and pipes that are dropped in, it -swallows greedily. The Indians use the water to mix their paint with, but -never for drinking. - -The mail rider, crossing the hot desert of Arizona, through the cacti and -over holes where scorpions hide, makes for Devil's Well, under El -Diablo--a dark pool surrounded with gaunt rocks. Here, coming when the -night is on, he lies down, and the wind swishing in the sage--brush puts -him to sleep. At dawn he wakens with the frightened whinny of his horse -in his ears and, all awake, looks about him. A stranger, wrapped in a -tattered blanket, is huddled in a recess of the stones, arrived there, -like himself, at night, perhaps. Poising his rifle on his knee, the rider -challenges him, but never a sign the other makes. Then, striding over to -him, he pulls away the blanket and sees a shrivelled corpse with a face -that he knows--his brother. Hardly is this meeting made when a hail of -arrows falls around. His horse is gone. The Apaches, who know no -gentleness and have no mercy, have manned every gap and sheltering rock. -With his rifle he picks them off, as they rise in sight with arrows at -the string, and sends them tumbling into the dust; but, when his last -bullet has sped into a red man's heart, they rise in a body and with -knives and hatchets hew him to death. And that is why the Devil's Well -still tastes of blood. - -Among the Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina is a large spring -that promises refreshment, but, directly that the wayfarer bends over the -water, a grinning face appears at the bottom and as he stoops it rises to -meet his. So hideous is this demon that few of the mountaineers have -courage to drink here, and they refuse to believe that the apparition is -caused by the shape of the basin, or aberrated reflection of their own -faces. They say it is the visage of a "haunt," for a Cherokee girl, who -had uncommon beauty, once lived hard by, and took delight in luring -lovers from less favored maidens. The braves were jealous of each other, -and the women were jealous of her, while she--the flirt!--rejoiced in the -trouble that she made. A day fell for a wedding--that of a hunter with a -damsel of his tribe, but at the hour appointed the man was missing. -Mortified and hurt, the bride stole away from the village and began a -search of the wood, and she carried bow and arrows in her hand. Presently -she came on the hunter, lying at the feet of the coquette, who was -listening to his words with encouraging smiles. Without warning the -deserted girl drew an arrow to the head and shot her lover through the -heart--then, beside his lifeless body, she begged Manitou to make her -rival's face so hideous that all would be frightened who looked at it. At -the words the beautiful creature felt her face convulse and shrivel, and, -rushing to the mirror of the spring, she looked in, only to start back in -loathing. When she realized that the frightful visage that glared up at -her was her own, she uttered a cry of despair and flung herself into the -water, where she drowned. - -It is her face--so altered as to disclose the evil once hid behind -it--that peers up at the hardy one who passes there and knows it as the -Haunted Spring. - -The medicinal properties of the mineral springs at Ballston and Saratoga -were familiar to the Indians, and High Rock Spring, to which Sir William -Johnson was carried by the Mohawks in 1767 to be cured of a wound, was -called "the medicine spring of the Great Spirit," for it was believed -that the leaping and bubbling of the water came from its agitation by -hands not human, and red men regarded it with reverence. - -The springs at Manitou, Colorado (see "Division of Two Tribes"), were -always approached with gifts for the manitou that lived in them. - -The lithia springs of Londonderry, New Hampshire, used to be visited by -Indians from the Merrimack region, who performed incantations and dances -to ingratiate themselves with the healing spirit that lived in the water. -Their stone implements and arrow-heads are often found in adjacent -fields. - -The curative properties of Milford Springs, New Hampshire, were revealed -in the dream of a dying boy. - -A miracle spring flowed in the old days near the statue of the Virgin at -White Marsh, Maryland. - -Biddeford Pool, Maine, was a miracle pond once a year, for whoso bathed -there on the 26th of June would be restored to health if he were ill, -because that day was the joint festival of Saints Anthelm and Maxentius. - -There was a wise and peaceable chief of the Ute tribe who always -counselled his people to refrain from war, but when he grew old the fiery -spirits deposed him and went down to the plains to give battle to the -Arapahoe. News came that they had been defeated in consequence of their -rashness. Then the old man's sorrow was so keen that his heart broke. But -even in death he was beneficent, for his spirit entered the earth and -forthwith came a gush of water that has never ceased to flow--the Hot -Sulphur Springs of Colorado. The Utes often used to go to those springs -to bathe--and be cured of rheumatism--before they were driven away. - -Spring River, Arkansas, is nearly as large at its source as at its mouth, -for Mammoth Spring, in the Ozark Mountains, where it has its rise, has a -yield of ninety thousand gallons a minute, so that it is, perhaps, the -largest in the world. Here, three hundred years ago, the Indians -had gathered for a month's feast, for chief Wampahseesah's -daughter--Nitilita--was to wed a brave of many ponies, a hundred of which -he had given in earnest of his love. For weeks no rain had fallen, and, -while the revel was at its height, news came that all the rivers had gone -dry. Several young men set off with jars, to fill them at the -Mississippi, and, confident that relief would come, the song and dance -went on until the men and women faltered from exhaustion. At last, -Nitilita died, and, in the wildness of his grief, the husband smote his -head upon a rock and perished too. Next day the hunters came with water, -but, incensed by their delay, the chief ordered them to be slain in -sacrifice to the manes of the dead. A large grave was dug and the last -solemnities were begun when there was a roaring and a shaking in the -earth--it parted, and the corpses disappeared in the abyss. Then from the -pit arose a flood of water that went foaming down the valley. Crazed with -grief, remorse, and fear, Wampahseesah flung himself into the torrent and -was borne to his death. The red men built a dam there later, and often -used to sit before it in the twilight, watching, as they declared, the -faces of the dead peering at them through the foam. - -During the rush for the California gold-fields in the '50's a party took -the route by Gila River, and set across the desert. The noon temperature -was 120, the way was strewn with skeletons of wagons, horses, and men, -and on the second night after crossing the Colorado the water had given -out. The party had gathered on the sands below Yuma, the men discussing -the advisability of returning, the women full of apprehension, the young -ones crying, the horses panting; but presently the talk fell low, for in -one of the wagons a child's voice was heard in prayer: "Oh, good heavenly -Father, I know I have been a naughty girl, but I am so thirsty, and mamma -and papa and baby all want a drink so much! Do, good God, give us water, -and I never will be naughty again." One of the men said, earnestly, "May -God grant it!" In a few moments the child cried, "Mother, get me water. -Get some for baby and me. I can hear it running." The horses and mules -nearly broke from the traces, for almost at their feet a spring had burst -from the sand-warm, but pure. Their sufferings were over. The water -continued to flow, running north for twenty miles, and at one point -spreading into a lake two miles wide and twenty feet deep. When -emigration was diverted, two years later, to the northern route and to -the isthmus, New River Spring dried up. Its mission was over. - - - - -LOVERS' LEAPS - -So few States in this country--and so few countries, if it comes to -that--are without a lover's leap that the very name has come to be a -by-word. In most of these places the disappointed ones seem to have gone -to elaborate and unusual pains to commit suicide, neglecting many easy -and equally appropriate methods. But while in some cases the legend has -been made to fit the place, there is no doubt that in many instances the -story antedated the arrival of the white men. The best known lovers' -leaps are those on the upper Mississippi, on the French Broad, Jump -Mountain, in Virginia, Jenny Jump Mountain, New Jersey, Mackinac, -Michigan, Monument Mountain, Massachusetts, on the Wissahickon, near -Philadelphia, Muscatine, Iowa, and Lefferts Height. There are many other -declivities,--also, that are scenes of leaps and adventures, such as the -Fawn's Leap, in Kaaterskill Clove; Rogers's Rock, on Lake George; the -rocks in Long Narrows, on the Juniata, where the ghost of Captain Jack, -"the wild hunter" of colonial days, still ranges; Campbell's Ledge, -Pittston, Pennsylvania, where its name-giver jumped off to escape -Indians; and Peabody's leap, of thirty feet, on Lake Champlain, where Tim -Peabody, a scout, escaped after killing a number of savages. - -At Jump Mountain, near Lexington, Virginia, an Indian couple sprang off -because there were insuperable bars to their marriage. - -At the rock on the Wissahickon a girl sought death because her lover was -untrue to her. - -At Muscatine the cause of a maid's demise and that of her lover was the -severity of her father, who forbade the match because there was no war in -which the young man could prove his courage. - -At Lefferts Height a girl stopped her recreant lover as he was on his way -to see her rival, and urging his horse to the edge of the bluff she -leaped with him into the air. - -Monument Mountain, a picturesque height in the Berkshires, is faced on -its western side by a tall precipice, from which a girl flung herself -because the laws of her tribe forbade her marriage with a cousin to whom -she had plighted troth. She was buried where her body was found, and each -Indian as he passed the spot laid a stone on her grave--thus, in time, -forming a monument. - -"Purgatory," the chasm at Newport, Rhode Island, through which the sea -booms loudly after a storm, was a scene of self-sacrifice to a hopeless -love on the part of an Indian pair in a later century, though there is an -older tradition of the seizure of a guilty squaw, by no less a person -than the devil himself, who flung her from the cliff and dragged her soul -away as it left her body. His hoof-marks were formerly visible on the -rocks. - -At Hot Springs, North Carolina, two conspicuous cliffs are pointed out on -the right bank of the French Broad River: Paint Rock--where the -aborigines used to get ochre to smear their faces, and which they -decorated with hieroglyphics--and Lover's Leap. It is claimed that the -latter is the first in this country known to bear this sentimental and -tragically suggestive title. There are two traditions concerning it, one -being that an Indian girl was discovered at its top by hostiles who drove -her into the gulf below, the other relating to the wish of an Indian to -marry a girl of a tribe with which his own had been immemorially at war. -The match was opposed on both sides, so, instead of doing as most Indians -and some white men would do nowadays--marry the girl and let -reconciliation come in time,--he scaled the rock in her company and -leaped with her into the stream. They awoke as man and wife in the happy -hunting-ground. - -In 1700 there lived in the village of Keoxa, below Frontenac, Minnesota, -on the Mississippi River, a Dakota girl named Winona (the First Born), -who was loved by a hunter in her tribe, and loved him in return. Her -friends commended to her affections a young chief who had valiantly -defended the village against an attack of hostiles, but Juliet would none -of this dusky Count de Paris, adhering faithfully to her Romeo. Unable to -move her by argument, her family at length drove her lover away, and used -other harsh measures to force her into a repugnant union, but she -replied, "You are driving me to despair. I do not love this chief, and -cannot live with him. You are my father, my brothers, my relatives, yet -you drive from me the only man with whom I wish to be united. Alone he -ranges through the forest, with no one to build his lodge, none to spread -his blanket, none to wait on him. Soon you will have neither daughter, -sister, nor relative to torment with false professions." Blazing with -anger at this unsubmissive speech, her father declared that she should -marry the chief on that very day, but while the festival was in -preparation she stole to the top of the crag that has since been known as -Maiden's Rock, and there, four hundred feet above the heads of the -people, upbraided those who had formerly professed regard for her. Then -she began her death-song. Some of the men tried to scale the cliff and -avert the tragedy that it was evident would shortly be enacted, and her -father, his displeasure forgotten in an agony of apprehension, called to -her that he would no longer oppose her choice. She gave no heed to their -appeals, but, when the song was finished, walked to the edge of the rock, -leaped out, and rolled lifeless at the feet of her people. - -When we say that the real name of Lover's Leap in Mackinac is -Mechenemockenungoqua, we trust that it will not be repeated. It has its -legend, however, as well as its name, for an Ojibway girl stood on this -spire of rock, watching for her lover after a battle had been fought and -her people were returning. Eagerly she scanned the faces of the braves as -their war-canoes swept by, but the face she looked for was not among -them. Her lover was at that moment tied to a tree, with an arrow in his -heart. As she looked at the boats a vision of his fate revealed itself, -and the dead man, floating toward her, beckoned. Her death-song sounded -in the ears of the men, but before they could reach her she had gone -swiftly to the verge, her hands extended, her eyes on vacancy, and her -spirit had met her lover's. - -From this very rock, in olden time, leaped the red Eve when the red Adam -had been driven away by a devil who had fallen in love with her. Adam, -who was paddling by the shore, saw she was about to fall, rushed forward, -caught her, and saved her life. The law of gravitation in those days did -not act with such distressing promptitude as now. Manitou, hearing of -these doings, restored them to the island and banished the devil, who -fell to a world of evil spirits underground, where he became the father -of the white race, and has ever since persecuted the Indians by proxy. - -On the same island of Mackinac the English had a fort, the garrison of -which was massacred in 1763. A sole survivor--a young officer named -Robinson--owed his life to a pretty half-breed who gave him hiding in a -secluded wigwam. As the spot assured him of safety, and the girl was his -only companion, they lived together as man and wife, rather happily, for -several years. When the fort had been built again, Robinson re-entered -the service, and appeared at head-quarters with a wife of his own color. -His Indian consort showed no jealousy. On the contrary, she consented to -live apart in a little house belonging to the station, on the cliff, -called Robinson's Folly. She did ask her lover to go there and sit with -her for an hour before they separated forever, and he granted this -request. While they stood at the edge of the rock she embraced him; then, -stepping back, with her arms still around his neck, she fell from the -cliff, dragging him with her, and both were killed. The edge of the rock -fell shortly after, carrying the house with it. - -Matiwana, daughter of the chief of the Omahas, whose village was near the -mouth of Omaha Creek, married a faithless trader from St. Louis, who had -one wife already, and who returned to her, after an absence among his own -people, with a third, a woman of his own color. He coldly repelled the -Indian woman, though he promised to send her boy--and his--to the -settlements to be educated. She turned away with only a look, and a few -days later was found dead at the foot of a bluff near her home. - -White Rocks, one hundred and fifty feet above Cheat River, in Fayette -County, Pennsylvania, were the favorite tryst of a handsome girl, the -daughter of a well-to-do farmer of that region, and a dashing fellow who -had gone into that country to hunt. They had many happy days there on the -hill together, but after making arrangements for the wedding they -quarrelled, nobody knew for what. One evening they met by accident on the -rocks, and appeared to be in formal talk when night came on and they -could no longer be seen. The girl did not return, and her father set off -with a search party to look for her. They found her, dead and mangled, at -the foot of the rocks. Her lover, in a fit of impatience, had pushed her -and she had staggered and fallen over. He fled at once, and, under a -changed name and changed appearance, eluded pursuit. When the War of the -Rebellion broke out, he entered the army and fought recklessly, for by -that time he had tired of life and hoped to die. But it was of no use. He -was only made captain for a bravery that he was not conscious of showing, -and the old remorse still preyed on him. It was after the war that -something took him back to Fayette County, and on a pleasant day he -climbed the rocks to take a last look at the scenes that had been -brightened by love and saddened by regret. He had not been long on its -summit when an irresistible impulse came upon him to leap down where the -girl had fallen, and atone with his own blood for the shedding of hers. -He gave way to this prompting, and the fall was fatal. - -Some years before the outbreak of the Civil War a man with his wife and -daughter took up their residence in a log cabin at the foot of Sunrise -Rock, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. It seemed probable that they had known -better days, for the head of the household was notoriously useless in the -eyes of his neighbors, and was believed to get his living through -"writin' or book-larnin'," but he was so quiet and gentle that they never -upbraided him, and would sometimes, after making a call, wander into his -garden and casually weed it for him for an hour or so. The girl, Stella, -was a well-schooled, quick-witted, rosy-cheeked lass, whom all the -shaggy, big-jointed farmer lads of the neighborhood regarded with -hopeless admiration. A year or two after the settlement of the family it -began to be noticed that she was losing color and had an anxious look, -and when a friendly old farmer saw her talking in the lane with a lawyer -from Chattanooga, who wore broadcloth and had a gold watch, he was -puzzled that the "city chap" did not go home with her, but kissed his -hand to her as he turned away. Afterward the farmer met the pair again, -and while the girl smiled and said, "Howdy, Uncle Joe?" the lawyer turned -away and looked down the river. It was the last time that a smile was -seen on Stella's face. A few evenings later she was seen standing on -Sunrise Rock, with her look bent on Chattanooga. The shadow of night -crept up the cliff until only her figure stood in sunlight, with her hair -like a golden halo about her face. At that moment came on the wind the -sound of bells-wedding-bells. Pressing her hands to her ears, the girl -walked to the edge of the rock, and a few seconds later her lifeless form -rolled through the bushes at its foot into the road. At her funeral the -people came from far and near to offer sympathy to the mother, garbed in -black, and the father, with his hair turned white, but the lawyer from -Chattanooga was not there. - -The name of Indian Maiden's Cliff--applied to a precipice that hangs -above the wild ravine of Stony Clove, in the Catskills--commemorates the -sequel to an elopement from her tribe of an Indian girl and her lover. -The parents and relatives had opposed the match with that fatal fatuity -that appears to be characteristic of story-book Indians, and as soon as -word of her flight came to the village they set off in chase. While -hurrying through the tangled wood the young couple were separated and the -girl found herself on the edge of the cliff. Farther advance was -impossible. Her pursuers were close behind. She must yield or die. She -chose not to yield, and, with a despairing cry, flung herself into the -shadows. - -Similar to this is the tale of Lover's Leap in the dells of the Sioux, -among the Black Hills of South Dakota. - -At New Milford, Connecticut, they show you Falls Mountain, with the cairn -erected by his tribe in 1735 to chief Waramaug, who wished to be buried -there, so that, when he was cold and lonely in the other life, he could -return to his body and muse on the lovely landscape that he so enjoyed. -The will-o'-the-wisp flickered on the mountain's edge at night, and -flecks of dew-vapor that floated from the wood by day were sometimes -thought to be the spirit of the chief. He had a daughter, Lillinonah, -whose story is related to Lover's Leap, on the riverward side of the -mountain. She had led to the camp a white man, who had been wandering -beside the Housatonic, ill and weak, vainly seeking a way out of the -wilderness, and, in spite of the dark looks that were cast at him and -her, she succeeded in making him, for that summer, a member of the tribe. -As the man grew strong with her care he grew happy and he fell in love. -In the autumn he said to her, "I wish to see my people, and when I have -done so I will come back to you and we shall be man and wife." They -parted regretfully and the winter passed for the girl on leaden feet. -With spring came hope. The trails were open, and daily she watched for -her white lover. The summer came and went, and the autumn was there -again. She had grown pale and sad, and old Waramaug said to young Eagle -Feather, who had looked softly on her for many years, "The girl sickens -in loneliness. You shall wed her." This is repeated to her, and that -evening she slips away to the river, enters a canoe, casts away the -paddle, and drifts down the stream. Slowly, at first, but faster and -faster, as the rapids begin to draw it, skims the boat, but above the -hoarse brawling of the waters she hears a song in a voice that she -knows--the merry troll of a light heart. The branches part at Lover's -Leap and her lover looks down upon her. The joyous glance of recognition -changes to a look of horror, for the boat is caught. The girl rises and -holds her arms toward him in agonized appeal. Life, at any cost! He, with -a cry, leaps into the flood as the canoe is passing. It lurches against a -rock and Lillinonah is thrown out. He reaches her. The falls bellow in -their ears. They take a last embrace, and two lives go out in the growing -darkness. - - - - -GOD ON THE MOUNTAINS - -From the oldest time men have associated the mountains with visitations -of God. Their height, their vastness, their majesty made them seem worthy -to be stairs by which the Deity might descend to earth, and they stand in -religious and poetic literature to this day as symbols of the largest -mental conceptions. Scriptural history is intimately associated with -them, and the giving of the law on Sinai, amid thunder and darkness, is -one of the most tremendous pictures that imagination can paint. Ararat, -Hermon, Horeb, Pisgah, Calvary, Adam's Peak, Parnassus, Olympus! How full -of suggestion are these names! And poetic figures in sacred writings are -full of allusion to the beauty, nobility, and endurance of the hills. - -It is little known that many of our own mountains are associated with -aboriginal legends of the Great Spirit. According to the Indians of -California, Mount Shasta was the first part of the earth to be made. The -Great Spirit broke a hole through the floor of heaven with a rock, and on -the spot where this rock had stopped he flung down more rocks, with earth -and snow and ice, until the mass had gained such a height that he could -step from the sky to its summit. Running his hands over its sides he -caused forests to spring up. The leaves that he plucked he breathed upon, -tossed into the air, and, lo! they were birds. Out of his own staff he -made beasts and fishes, to live on the hills and in the streams, that -began to appear as the work of worldbuilding went on. The earth became so -joyous and so fair that he resolved at last to live on it, and he -hollowed Shasta into a wigwam, where he dwelt for centuries, the smoke of -his lodge-fire (Shasta is a volcano) being often seen pouring from the -cone before the white man came. - -According to the Oregon Indians the first man was created at the base of -the Cascade Range, near Wood River, by Kmukamtchiksh, "the old man of the -ancients," who had already made the world. The Klamaths believe -Kmukamtchiksh a treacherous spirit, "a typical beast god," yet that he -punishes the wicked by turning them into rocks on the mountain-sides or -by putting them into volcanic fires. - -Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin, was the home of strange beings who occupied -caverns that few dared to enter. Enchanted rivers flowed through these -caves to heaven. The Catskills and Adirondacks were abodes of powerful -beings, and the Highlands of the Hudson were a wall within which Manitou -confined a host of rebellious spirits. When the river burst through this -bulwark and poured into the sea, fifty miles below, these spirits took -flight, and many succeeded in escaping. But others still haunt the -ravines and bristling woods, and when Manitou careers through the Hudson -canon on his car of cloud, crying with thunder voice, and hurling his -lightnings to right and left as he passes, the demons scream and howl in -rage and fear lest they be recaptured and shut up forever beneath the -earth. - -The White Mountains were held in awe by Indians, to whom they were homes -of great and blessed spirits. Mount Washington was their Olympus and -Ararat in one, for there dwelt God, and there, when the earth was covered -with a flood, lived the chief and his wife, whom God had saved, sending -forth a hare, after the waters had subsided, to learn if it were safe to -descend. From them the whole country was peopled with red men. Yet woe -betide the intruder on this high and holy ground, for an angered deity -condemned him to wander for ages over the desolate peaks and through the -shadowy chasms rifted down their sides. The despairing cries of these -condemned ones, in winter storms, even frightened the early white -settlers in this region, and in 1784 the women of Conway petitioned three -clergymen "to lay the spirits." - -Other ark and deluge legends relate to the Superstition Mountains, in -Arizona, Caddoes village, on Red River, Cerro Naztarny, on the Rio -Grande, the peak of Old Zuni, in Mexico, Colhuacan, on the Pacific coast, -Mount Apaola, in upper Mixteca, and Mount Neba, in Guaymi. The -Northwestern Indians tell of a flood in which all perished save one man, -who fled to Mount Tacoma. To prevent him from being swept away a spirit -turned him into stone. When the flood had fallen the deity took one of -his ribs and made a woman of it. Then he touched the stone man back to -life. - -There were descendants of Manitou on the mountains, too, of North -Carolina, but the Cherokees believe that those heights are bare because -the devil strode over them on his way to the Devil's Court House -(Transylvania County, North Carolina), where he sat in judgment and -claimed his own. Monsters were found in the White Mountains. Devil's Den, -on the face of Mount Willard, was the lair of one of them--a strange, -winged creature that strewed the floor of its cave with brute and human -skeletons, after preying on their flesh. - -The ideas of supernatural occurrences in these New Hampshire hills -obtained until a recent date, and Sunday Mountain is a monument to the -dire effects of Sabbath-breaking that was pointed out to several -generations of New Hampshire youth for their moral betterment. The story -goes that a man of the adjacent town of Oxford took a walk one Sunday, -when he should have taken himself to church; and, straying into the woods -here, he was delivered into the claws and maws of an assemblage of bears -that made an immediate and exemplary conclusion of him. - -The grand portrait in rock in Profile Notch was regarded with reverence -by the few red men who ventured into that lonely defile. When white men -saw it they said it resembled Washington, and a Yankee orator is quoted -as saying, "Men put out signs representing their different trades. -Jewellers hang out a monster watch, shoemakers a huge boot, and, up in -Franconia, God Almighty has hung out a sign that in New England He makes -men." - -To Echo Lake, close by, the deity was wont to repair that he might -contemplate the beauties of nature, and the clear, repeated echoes were -his voice, speaking in gentleness or anger. Moosilauke--meaning a bald -place, and wrongly called Moose Hillock--was declared by Waternomee, -chief of the Pemigewassets, to be the home of the Great Spirit, and the -first time that red men tried to gain the summit they returned in fear, -crying that Gitche Manitou was riding home in anger on a storm--which -presently, indeed, burst over the whole country. Few Indians dared to -climb the mountain after that, and the first fruits of the harvest and -first victims of the chase were offered in propitiation to the deity. At -Seven Cascades, on its eastern slope, one of Rogers's Rangers, retreating -after the Canadian foray, fell to the ground, too tired for further -motion, when a distant music of harps mingled with the cascade's plash, -and directly the waters were peopled with forms glowing with silver-white, -like the moonstone, that rose and circled, hand in hand, singing gayly as -they did so. The air then seemed to be flooded with rosy light and -thousands of sylvan genii ascended altars of rock, by steps of rainbow, -to offer incense and greet the sun with song. A dark cloud passed, -daylight faded, and a vision arose of the massacre at St. Francis, a -retreat through untried wilderness, a feast on human heads, torture, and -death; then his senses left the worn and starving man. But a trapper who -had seen his trail soon reached him and led him to a friendly settlement, -where he was told that only to those who were about to take their leave -of earth was it given to know those spirits of fountain and forest that -offered their voices, on behalf of nature, in praise of the Great Spirit. -To those of grosser sense, on whom the weight of worldliness still -rested, this halcyon was never revealed. - -It was to Mount Washington that the Great Spirit summoned Passaconaway, -when his work was done, and there was his apotheosis. - -The Indians account in this manner for the birth of the White Mountains: -A red hunter who had wandered for days through the forest without finding -game dropped exhausted on the snow, one night, and awaited death. But he -fell asleep and dreamed. In his vision he saw a beautiful mountain -country where birds and beasts and fruits were plenty, and, awaking from -his sleep, he found that day had come. Looking about the frozen -wilderness in despair, he cried, "Great Master of Life, where is this -country that I have seen?" And even as he spoke the Master appeared and -gave to him a spear and a coal. The hunter dropped the coal on the -ground, when a fire spread from it, the rocks burning with dense smoke, -out of which came the Master's voice, in thunder tones, bidding the -mountains rise. The earth heaved and through the reek the terrified man -saw hills and crags lifting--lifting--until their tops reached above the -clouds, and from the far summits sounded the promise, "Here shall the -Great Spirit live and watch over his children." Water now burst from the -rocks and came laughing down the hollows in a thousand brooks and rills, -the valleys unfolded in leaf and bloom, birds sang in the branches, -butterflies-like winged flowers flitted to and fro, the faint and -cheerful noise of insect life came from the herbage, the smoke rolled -away, a genial sun blazed out, and, as the hunter looked in rapture on -the mighty peaks of the Agiochooks, God stood upon their crest. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, -Complete, by Charles M. 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