Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-06-26

In the absence of the wayside inn for
which my soul yearned. l stopped under
protest at hotel. However, it was de-
Gghtfully old, perhaps not quite so
clean as the efieminacy of our latter
day civilization demands, but by way
of recompense offered as many low
projections against which it was easy
TO knock ones head as the most an
cient of taverns could possibly have
done.
retired to my room and my past life
came back and haunted me- 1t had
been an exemplary life, one long, pure,
innocent, childlike existence. spent for
the most part on the Stock Exchange.
Toward midnight | wandered forth in
search Of the romantic. As l passed
through the office the clerk eyed me.
The great, projecting clock which was
now Illuminated. not from the inside
but the outside. showed me that it want
ed but fifteen minutes to midnight. The
High street was entirely deserted. save
by three drunken sailors who were roll
ing and pitching along the sidewalk as
if a stiff breeze were blowing and the
good ship Rochester was heeling to
leeward dreadfully. Having run foul
of a lamp-post, they struck up that ev-
erlasting tune of =. Nancy Lee" ! fled
up stone archway that was almost
opposite the clock. The drunken
chorus died sudden death. and found
myself in stiffness that, from its in
tensity. was almost startling. Through
the archway caught my first glimpse
nf tho nth aIra1 4 in tho for
ground and proceeded to investigate.
1t was churchyard. and an old one,
so full of tombstones that the sexton
might, with proprieiy-no. not proprie-
ty, with truthfulness-paint upon the
gate, - Standing room only" Sudden
ly the moon came out from behind a
cloud. 1t was like a transformation
scene. The cathedral-but i paid no
attention to the cathedral. for all at
once the tombstones became unpleas-
antly distinct and white. | admit that
ran. l even doubted. for moment.
the expediency of railings-they pre-
vented anything like short cut. Now
found myself under the shadow of the
castle. 1t is vast pile of ivy, with
here and there an irregular gap and
now and then glimpse of rough hewn
stone, but for the most part ivy. A
crooked street led up to it. with the
churchyard on one side and houses on
the other. Prim little houses, in which
none but good old-fashioned folk could
live and thrive.
wandered up to the ruin in order to
pluck some of the dark green ivy leaves
x.-al1, Tho tfav
stiffness was unbroken even by the note
of a bird; the trees were mOtionless. 1t
was as though all mankind lay buried
in the old churchyard, anc remained
''the last man." l stretched out my
hand, reached the ivy and broke off
some leaves. Turning to go something
glistened in the grass at my feet. 1t
was gold bracelet. elegant and of fine
workmanship. Like much else that l
had discovered since my coming. it was
undeniably new. But it was bracelet,
and had found it at the dead of night
under the shadow of an UNCOVERED ruin.
fastened back to the hotel. Every
body was in bed and the house dark.
In fact, it took the united efforts of my
self and a solitary policeman. who. con-
trary to tradition, turned up when re-
quired, to so excite the hotel bell that
the clerk with the suspicious eye was at
length led, through n merciful PrOyi-
dence, to believe that the place was on
fire, and in effecting an escape by the
front door offered me chance to enter,
of which availed myself without vast
ing time in vain explanations. l
stumbled into wrong bedrooms and
upset numerous walls of wrath upon my
head before 1 found my own. BY the
light of a candle l re-examined my
treasure and made fresh discovery.
At the back of the center device. aname
was engraved:
s.GYPsY GOLDEN"
For safety's sake placed the brace