Litchfield enquirer., 1879-11-13

slept about two hours; but when I awoke Tom was still sitting working away in almOs the same position. He had fixed the one stick across the top of the other so as to form : rough I, and was now busy in fitting smalle
 stick into the angle between them, by manip ulating which, the cross one could be eithe cooked up or depressed to any extent. lie had cut notches too in the perpendicular sticf so that by the ald of the small prop, the cros one could be kept in any position for any in
 definite time. l 4Hw .4,5..st..- -.., .s.j s.lz .
 Look here, Jack I" he cried, whenever ht saw that I was awake. s'Come, and give mt your opinion. Suppose I put this cross stick pointing straight at a thing, and arranged this small one 80 as to keep it so, and left it, could find that thing again if wanted it don't you think could, Jack-dont you think SO ?" he continued nervously, clutching me by the arm. ~as stGEE e.t7I zfa.E G1-at.'
 ssWell, answered." ''it would depend on how far the thing was, and how accurately il was pointed If it were any distance, I'd cut sights on your cross-stick then a string tied to the end of it, and held in plumb-line for wards, would lead you pretty near what you wanted But surely, Tom, you don't intend to localize the ghdst in that way p
 ssYou'll see tonight, old friend see tonight. I'll carry this to the Sasassa Valley.
 l come with me; but mind you tell no man where you are going, or what you want il for"
 ? All day Tom was walking up and down the room, or working hard at the apparatus. His eyes were gfistening, his cheek hectic and he had all tho symptoms of high fever. "Heaven grant that Dicks diagnosis be not correct!" ] thought, as I returned with the crowbar and yet. as evening drew near, found myself inn perceptibly sharing the excitement.
 About six o'clock Tom sprang to his feet and seized his sticks. Il can stand it no long CT, Jack" he cried; up with your crowbar, and hey for Sasassa Valley To-night's work, my lad, will either make or mar us! Take your six-shooter, in case we meet the Kaffirs. I daren't take mine Jack, " he continued, put ting his hands upon my shoulders-"I daren't take mine; for if my illluck sticks to me to- it," ' ~ ~
 We'll have filled our pockets with provis- ions, off we set, and as wetook our wearsome way towards the Sasassa Valley, I frequently attempted to elicit from my companion some clue as to his intentions. But his only answer was: "Let us hurry on, Jack. Who knows how many have heard of Whartons adven- ture by this time. Let us hurry on, or we may not be first in the field!" ..r ....,.,
 We'll, sir, we struggled on through the hills for matter of ten miles; till at last, after de- scending crag, we saw opening out in front of us a ravine sO-sombre and dark that it mi ght have been the gates of Hades itself; cliffs many hundred feet high shut in on every side the gloomy, boulder studded passage which led through the haunted defle into Kaffirland. The moon, rising above the crags, threw into strong relief the rough irregular pinnacles of hxyy yuhi w oil hn- low was dark as Erebus.. ..t.,
 'sThe Sasassa ?" said l.
 "Yes," said Tom. '# a.,. '-. "' .;.
 looked at him. He was calm now the flush and feverishness had passed away; his actions were deliberate and slow. Yet there was certain rigldity in his face and glitter in his eye which showed that crisis had come ] We entered the pass, stumbling along amid the great boulders. Suddenly heard a short, quick exclamation from Tom.
 ''That's the crag!" he cried pointing to a great mass looming before sin the darkness. Now, Jack, for any favor use your eyes We're about hundred yards from the cliff. take it so you move slowly towards one side, and I'll do the same towards the other. When you see anything stop, and call out. Don't keep yoer-oyo- G..od e.. ttr0 Oiis eho,.t oisl,b feet from the ground. Are you ready p
 ''Yes." I was even more excited than Tom by this time. What his intention or ob- ject was, could not conjecture, beyond that he wanted to examine by daylight the part of the cliff from which the light came. Yet the influence of the romantic situation and of my suppressed excitement was so great, that 1 could feel the blood coursing through my veins and count the pulses throb- ping at my temples.
 ''Start!" cried Tom; and we moved off, he to the right, I to the left each with our eyes fixed intently on the base of the crag. had moved perhaps twenty feet, when in moment it burst upon me. Through the growing dark ness there shone small, ,ruddy glowing point, the light from which waned and increased, lckered and oscillated, each change produc- ng more weird effect than the last The old zaff1r superstition came into my mind, and felt cold shutlder pass over me. In my eX- element stepped pace backwards, when instantly the light went out, leaving utter darkness in it's place; but when 1 advanced again, there was the ruddy glare glowing from he base of the cliff.
 "Tom, Tom !" cried.
 "Ay,, ay!" heard him exclaim, as he hur-
 jed over towards me. ..,.....
 "There it is there, up against the cliff :"
 Tom was at my elbow. II see nothing," aid he.
 "Why,. there, there, man, in front of you!"
 stepped to the right as I spoke, when the fight instantly vanished from my eyes, @. But from Toms ejaculatiens of delight it vas now visible to him also.
 Jack, :" he cried, as he turned and wrung ny hand-"Jack, you can never complain of ,ur luck again. Now, heap@up few stones where we are standing-that's right. Now ve must fix my sgn-post firmly in at the top There! It would take strong wind to blow hat down and we only need it to hold out ill morning. O, Jack, my boy, to think that ,nly yesterday we were talking of becoming Jerks, and you saying that no man knew what was awaiting him, too [, By love, Jack, would make a good story P ...-
 By this time we had firmly fixed the per ,endicular stick in between two large stones; md Tom bent down and peered along the .hls'-~- zontal one. For full quarter -ef all hour he vas alternately raisins and. expressing 1t, un- he prop into the angle, and stood up.
 ssLook along, Jack. "You have as straight m eve to take sight as any man know of. /"
 T looked alone-Tuere, beyond the further ;s-L., was the ruddy scintillating speck, appar- ,ntly at the end of the stick itself, so accurate y had it been adjusted. adi aa e.
 .''And now, my boy, said Tom, '1et's have Ome supper and 8 sleep. There's nothing nore to be done tonight; but we'll need all ,ur wits and strength tomorrow Get some sticks, and kindle fire here, and then we'll ,e able to keep an eye on our signal-post, and zee that nothing happens to it during the llght." ga 3sll !. As4e @sf sS-
 We'll sir, we fkindled fire, and had supper with the Sasassa demons eye rolling and glow ing in front of us the whole night through Not always in the same place though; for after supper, when glanced along the sights to nave another look at it, it was nowhere, to be ,een. The information did not, however, seem to disturb Tom in any way. He merely re- ''It's the moon. not the thing. that nas shifted;" and coiling himself up, went to sleep.
 By early dawn we were both up, and gazing along our pointer at the cliff; but we scould make out nothing save the one dead menoton- ous slaty surface, rougher perhaps at the part we were examining than elsewhere, but other wise presenting nothing remarkable. s5 ss.5
 ''Now for your idea, Jack!" said Tom Donahue, unwinding long thin cord from round his waist. ''You fasten it, and guide me while 1 take the other end" So saying he walked off to the base of the cliff, holding one end of the cord, ,4 while drew the other taut, and wound it round the middle of the horizon