The Shasta courier., 1865-05-20
THE BLEEDING CAVE.

1orate the ellis at PenGine. and form one of
the natural defenses against the inroads of
the blue waters of Carmarthen bay, the
visitor is somewhat startled by finding huge
drops OF what has the appearance of clotted
blood. Looking upward. he sees the crimson
mud oozlng out of the stone roof, sometimes
| trlckling down the sides of the cave, some
times dropping, bespattering the stones with
an ugly stain. OF course there is legend
connected with it, sad enough one, too,
and not much to the credit of the inhabit-
ants in the days of old. The story runs
| thus
During the days Of the Commonwealth. and
! just when the Protector had begun to breathe
after his fight for the liberty Of his country,
a strange old man made his appearance at
! Pendine, and established himself in a vacant
cottage up on one side of the hill This cot
tage he repaired, and finally furnished, on
@ scale of grandeur utterly unknown to the
primitive inhabitants The garden began to
bud and tloom in manner unheard of in
these parts. and by the time autumn came
| had become such a marvel of beauty, that
the country folks came from far and near,
just to get q peep at the blooming mass of
flowers. More than peep they seldom had,
as the inner garden was completely hidden
by the hedges of creepers; but although
curiosity is strong characteristic of the
| Welch character. it is restrained and modified
by an innate courtesy and deference so the
gazers were fain to content themselves, and
only talked that you may be sure they did
las all Welch do) with WILL filing up the
gaps in the story by drawing largely upon
their remarkably fertile imaginations.
No one could say any harm Of the old man,
simply because nobody really knew him: and
yet he was not liked. The only servant that
was admitted was an old woman, who went
to clean, scrub and cook, and, being deaf and
dumb, she could give her neighbors no salts,
faction on the score of curiosity.
Nothing could be quieter or more inoffen-
sive than the life led by the mysterious old
gentleman and he rarely showed himself
beyond the wall of his garden, until Septem-
Der came, when he erected flagstaff upon
what was called the " Beacon" lie passed
almost every hour of daylight at the place,
now hosting one co!ored flag, now another,
all the while watching the distant horizon
(where lay the Devon COAST with teles-
cope.
One night 4 party of fishermen noticed a
boat lying of Morvybachen bay; but dark
ness coming on, nothing more CT it was seen
until the next morning, when it was found
| lying upon the sands, left. as it was said, by
the tide. Where it had come from was a
mystery and served the people to talk of for
many day.
About q month went by, and then young
anG sad looking woman was seen III tie cot
tage garden. LITER time she extended her
walks to the beach and morning or evening
sometimes even at midnight, she might be
seen pacing slowly along. never looking at or
speaking to any one, but keeping her beau
tiful face, so hopeless in its misery, turned
toward the sea.
At first the little children, with that in
stinCt Of pity inherent in their hearts. would
creep up to her; but when they heard their
mothers talking mysteriously Of the ''lady,"
they began to look at her with shy, wonder
ing eyes, and keep far away, grouping to
gether fer protection as she walked by; yet,
in spite of this, the green hill below the cot
tage garden was the favorite play ground,
and continued so, until the day tney all
rushed shrieking down, wild and pale with
affright-some Of the older ones positively
affirming that they had seen and heard the
devil himself in the cottage garden, and that
he was killing the "lady," a fact strongly
corroborated by the unearthy and terrible
cries that were to be heard proceeding from
the garden.
1t was not difficult in those days to rouse
the superstitions of the Welch, and the
country around soon echoed with the chill
dren's adventure; the story being propor-
tonately increased, according to the narra-
tors feelings or passions. So the villagers
sent their children far away from the cottage
to play, and nothing would have tempted the
bravest man among them to approach it after
nightfall. At length an old hag fell i'll, and
in her delirium made sundry raving asser-
tions that she had seen the 9 lady" dancing
with the witches round the flagstaff on the
Beacon hill, and changing into black cat,
scale the steepest cliffs, and moreover, that
the old man had sold himself to the devil for
the love Of the lady"
The consequences of these wild rawlings,
working as they did upon minds darkened by
superstition and ignorance, were likely to be
serious enough; when matters were brought
to crisis. A young, weak headed girl,
frightened by the woman's words, went off
in fit, and therein denounced the stranger.
as having bewitched her for selling him
butter with cross upon it.
This news spread like wildfre, and the
credit of every illness or misfortune that had
occurred in the neighborhood during the
year. was laid at the strangers door. The
people gathered in crowds, exciting each
other by their mutual superstition. They
rushed up the green hill to the cottage, a
mad. infnriated mob, thirsting for ven
geauce. and demanding Of the old man to
come out and heal those ne had stricken.
The door, however, resisted their efforts,
and they were surging wildly about, seeking
another entrance, when the owner himself
appeared, and pointing to the trampled flow
er beds, asked what they meant by it. The
| answer was yell of derision and rage; and
some of the boldest seized the old man,
swearing that they would find out whether
the devil was his master or not. Up the cliff
they scrambled, scarcely knowing what the
| end was to be, or how the test was to DE
given; but ere they had gone far, very
spirit of hell must have broken out among
them; they pressed round upon the old man,
and one wretch made a blow at him with a
stone and knocked him down; then like wild
beasts at the sight of blood, they grew drunk
with it, and literally stoned and beat the
helpless old man to atoms, bathing and
strewing the elf with his blood and flesh.
The deed was barely over-a few were
lookinp male and shtfdderiup at the red stains