Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-04-24
"Doit, Hans! DO it," cried all the

Hans thought it pretty bold plan;
but the advantages to be gained by all
the BOYS and Schlessburg were so great,
he would try it. Some day, while his
father was at dinner, he would steal up
in the castle-tOwer and lower the bob.
Just little; not enough to be noticed.
So the meeting broke up in great glee.
Hans promised to regulate the clock;
and they all crossed thumbs, and said
they would never, never tell any body.
This was Saturday afternoon; and on
the following Monday, as luck would
have it, Hans went up to the castle with
his fathers dinner, and found him sit
ting in the sun at the castle-gate.
Hans, lad, thee must wind the clock
to-day. My rheumatism is bad, and l
can't climb those steep stairs to the
tower. There is nothing to be done but
to put on the crank and turn it round
fourteen times, as thee has seen me do
it."
Hans climbed up the dark and wind
ing stairs of the tower. At every step
he heard the tick of the clock growing
louder and louder. He passed narrow
wooden door, and shuddered. In that
room was the great pendulum swinging
in the dark. He went on up more
stairs, and came at last to the small
room in the belfry where the clock
works stood. How very loud they
licked! His heart seemed to tick too.
He picked up the crank, put it on the
works, and turned it slowly round four
teen times; for it was pretty hard work
for boy. Then he went to q narrow
window, and looked out on the beauti-
full Rhine, the woods, the vineyards
rising in stone terraces up the steep hill
sides, and the red roofs of little SchlOss-
burg, SO far below. 1t was a lovely
sight; but he saw nothing. He was think
ing of that pendulum.
Fifteen minutes later Hans appeared
at the castle-porch, looking very red in
the face.
"Thee has been long time about it,
my son. III do it myself next time"
Hans was terribly frightened; but he
said not a word and hoped that nothing
serious would come of it.
For a week nothing in particular
happened. The Schlossburgers regu-
lated every thing by the castle clock;
and lion Saturday night the sun did
90 down a trifle early it was not no.
ticed. The next week the people began
to wonder why they slept so late in the
morning. They rose with the clock,
and vet the sun seemed to be ahead of
them. Every body begun to be hungry
before dinner was ready, and the sun
popped down behind the hills in the
most alarming manner. Next week it
grew worse. The week after still
worse. The sun rose whole hour be-
fore the time set for it by the clock. 1t
was noon at eleven O'Clock and dark at
five. Perhaps the sun was getting out
of order. Some of the people who
were out late at night said that even
the stars were behind time, and the
moon had plainly lost her way in the
sky.
The next week it was still worse.
The sun rose in the night and set in the
middle of the afternoon. The maids
got up too late to milk the cows, and
the children sat up long after dark, be-
cause it was not yet eight O'Clock !;
though every one knew that the chick
ems had gone to bed long ago. Day by
day things grew worse, and the people
were alarmed, and went in body to
the village priest, to see if he knew
what had happened in Heaven, for
the Solar System was evidently quite
upset. .-
The priest gravely said that undoubt-
edly some one had done something very
wicked, and perhaps the end OF the
/ world was near When Hans heard
this, he nearly had fit, and his mother
put him to bed, with bottle of hot
water at his feet. Poor boy! The bot
tie was bad; but thinking about the So
lar System was worse. His father
wound up the clock through all this,
and insisted it was all right. Baron