Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-09-04

"Will you hold your tongue, you wicked
spirit?"
"Or just say that you'll make ME present
of your frst-born child, and III bear you away
as softly as if you were Aoating on down"
"Avaunt, Satan! I'll have nothing to DO
with gentlemen who wear horns and tail -
cried Gabriel manfully.
The clock tolled again, and the gardener,
aroused by the sound and vibration, perceived
that he had been asleep. Yes, he had actual
ly slumbcred, standing on that dizzy point,
suspended over that fearful abyss.
"Am 1 really here2" he asked himself, as
he awoke; cor is it all frightful dream that
have had while lying in my bed?"
A cold shudder passed through his frame,
followed by a burning heat, and he graspetd
the pinnacle with convulsive tightness. A
voice seemed to whisper in his ear
Fool this is DEATH that unknown anguish
which no man shall escape. Anticipate the
moment, and throw tlyself down."
"Must l, then, die?" murmured Gabriel,
while the cold sweat started from his brow.
"Must | die while life is so pleasant? o,
Annie, Annie pray for me; the world is SO
beautiful, and life is 80 sweet"
Then it seemed as if soft white wings foated
above and around him, while gentle voice
whispered:
awake Awake!! The night is far spent,
the day is at hand. Look up and be COM
forted."
Wrapped in the banner, whose weight
helped to preserve his equilibrium, Gabriel
still held on with his numbed arm, and with
a sensation almost of joy, watched the first
dawn lighting up the roofs of the city.
Far below, in the sacristans dwelling, the
old man sat, fondly clasping the hand Of a
handsome, sunburned youth, his long lost son,
Arnold, who had sat by his side the lvelong
night, recounting the adventures which had
befallen him in foreign lands, without either
father or son feeling the want Of sleep.
At length Arnold said:
"I am longing to see Annie, father. | dare
say she has grown fine girl. How is my
friend Gabriel, who used to be SO fond of her
when we were all children together?"
The sacristan sprang from his seat.
Gabriel Holy Virgin l had quite
forgotten him"
A rapid explanation followed. Master
Joss and his son hastened toward the cathedral
and met Albert on the way.
"Where is Gabriel ?" cried the sacristan.
"I don't know I have not seen him since
he climbed through the trap.door."
"But who helped him DOWN.
"Why, you, yourself, of course" replied
Albert, with look of astonishment. "Law.
renee told me, when we came down, that you
had undertaken to do it."
20, the villains, the double-dyed scoundrels.
Now 1 understand it ALL" groaned the old
man. "Quick! Arnold Albert Come,
for the love of God look up, look up to the
spire!"
Arnold rushed toward the square, and his
keen eye, accustomed to look out at great dis
tances at sea, discerned through the gray, un-
certain morning twilight, something huttering
on the spire.
"Tis he! 1t must be he, still living"
80, God !' cried Master joss, "where are
my keys? O, that we may not be too late !"
The keys were found in the old mans pock-
at -.,-Ao -....AAi-, .h anush thA.'+''o-
dral-gate, darted up the stairs, the sacristan,
in the dread excitement of the moment, NOV
ing as swiftly as his young companions.
Albert, knowing the trick of the trap.door,
went through it first.
"Call out to him, lad r' exclaimed Master
joss.
A breathless pause.
81 hear nothing stirring" said Albert, "nor
can see anything from this. I'll climb over
the rose"
Bravely did he surmount the perilous pro-
lection and after few moments of intense
anxiety, he reappeared at the trap.door.
"There certainly is figure standing on the
rose, but it isn't Gabriel It's ghost!'
"a ghost! you dreaming dunderhead," )"
shouted Arnold. "Eet me up!" And he be-
gan to climb with the agility ola cat
Presently he called out: "Come on, come
on as far as you can. [ have him, thank
God! But quick time is precious"
Speedily and deftly they gave him aid and
at length halfunconscious figure, still wrap
ped in the banner, was brought down in safety.
They bore him into the "Adam and Eve"
laid him in a warm bed, and poured by de-
grees little wine down his throat Under
this treatment he soon recovered his conscious
ness, and began to thank his deliverers. Sud-
denly his eye fell on mirror hanging on the
wall opposite the bed, and he exclaimed:
"Wipe the hoar-frost off my hair, and that
yellow dust from off my cheeks%
In truth, his cured locks were white, his
rosy cheeks yellow and wrinkled, and his
brig ght eyes dim and sunken but neither dust
nor hoar-frost was there to wi pc away-that
one night of horror had added forty years to
his age
In the course of that day numbers who had
heard Of Gabriel's adventure crowded to the
inn and sought to see him but none were ad-
mitted save the three who sat continually by
his bedsde-his weeping young sister, the
brave Arnold, and Master Joss, the most un-
happy of all for his conscience ceased not to
say, in voice that apould be heard: "You
alone are the cause of all this" By way of
little selfcomfort, the sacristan used to ex-
claim at intervals: eff only had hold Of
that Lawrence! If I once had that Ottker
by the throatl" But both worthless kept care
fully out of sight nor were they ever again
seen in the fair city of Vienna.
"Ah r' said Gabriel, toward evening, its
all over between me and Annie. She would
shudder at the sight of an old, wrinkled,
gray-haired fellow like me-"
No one answered. His sister hid her face
on the pillow, while her bright ringlets min
gled with his poor gray locks; and Arnold's
handsome face grew very sad as he thought,
"The poor fellow is right; there are few things
that young girls dislike more than gray hairs
and yellow wrinkles"
ii have one request to make of you all,
dear friends, said Gabriel, painfully raising
himself on his couch ; "do not let Annie know
word of this. Write to her that l am dead,
and she'll mind it less, l think then I'll 60
into the forest and let the wolves eat me if