The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-07-13
The WRECKER'S DAUGHTER.
BY NJ. CROSSE FARLEY.

"You hear that, do you, MADAME"
asked the old coast guard in a low tone,
as the fitful sound stole over the rolling
water at is an omen of evil, and we
must heed it, we must return at once"
'Sshaw!" / exclaimed carelessly.
"How superstitious you coast people
are. L would not miss this sunset for
anything. 1t is only the simple tolling
of a bell somewhere near us that you
hear"
The old man glanced uneasily off
over the glittering waves. Far away,
small clouds began to pile themselves
up in a long black line against the ho-
rizon, and flock of gulls, that had been
idly floating in the air, now went cir
cling and wheeling and screaming over
the broad expanse of troubled sea
around us.
"For sixty years, madam, " he retort-
ed, with sort of nervous determina-
ton, I've lived on this coast, and L
know by this time that, when the toll of
that bell is heard, there is sure to be
trouble on the sea.
~Nonsensel" said 1, laughing hearth
Iy, I'll risk it if you will.
He shook his head.
No, no. God forbid it !" he said,
turning the boat about and making for
the shore. Terrible things have hap
pened here, and if there was not a
cloud in sight nor the ghost of a sigh
In the breeze, yet if that bell tolled l
should make for a safe haven. 1t means
trouble, storm and shipwreck."
And the obstinate old man shook his
grizzled head with a gravity that i'm
pressed me, in spite of my disappoint-
ment. The wind, which had been grad
ually rising as he spoke, now came in
uneasy gusts upon the waters, piling
the waves up higher and higher and
making our frail boat rock as if it were
bewitched, while above the tremulous
roar of the sea and the shrill scream of
the gulls, as they swept in eddying
circles over our heads, came the meas
ured stroke of the mysterious bell
at is st. Quentyn's," said the old
man, in an awed tone, as if in reply 60
my mute query.
Not st. Quentyn's-on the Point,
exclaimed l, in establishment. why,
man, you're crazy. st. Quentyn's is
only an old ruin. L saw it yesterday,
and nothing much is left of it save the
tower, and even that is crumbling
down. The bell itself is covered with
rust and looks as if it hadn't been rung
In century"
at is the same, however" he per-
sisted, as he sent the boat forward with
long strokes.
ait is that which warns us. No man
pulls the rope, indeed, there is no rope
to pull no one is ever seen about the
ruin, yet, surely as great storm comes
up, you may hear that bell toll. 1t has
been so through my time, and my
fathers time before me, and for years
before that st. Quentyns bell is
haunted, maam, and has been, so the
story goes, since the time of Wolfgang,
the wrecker, hundred years ago."
L laughed at this piece of news.
Haunted things, 1 did not believe in,
much less, reputed haunted bell. "
Still, could not deny, that it was very
singular of the old rust-covered bell at
St Quentyns, which 1 had seen the day
before swinging, high up in the ruined
belfry of what once had been mon
astery, should sound note of warning
TO mariners upon the sea.
you shall tell me the story" / said,
eff we ever reach the shore again. 1t
must be worth hearing, even if / do not
quite believe its genuineness.
AS the frail bark leaped on the crest
of wave to safe landing on the gray
eled beach, a fash of lightning, follow
ed by peal of thunder, told that the
storm was indeed upon us.
A little later, with the thunder of the
sea ringing in my ears, l listened to the
story of st. Quentin 's-on-the-P oint.
It was here, on this coast more than
a hundred years ago, if our dates are
correct, began the old ex-coast guard,
that Wyndert Wolfgang and his band
OF rovers established themselves and
engaged in the wicked business OF
alluring ships to this beach, for the
sake Of plundering them. Many is the
strong vessel that, attracted by the
beacon fires lighted on st. Quentyn's
Point has gone to pieces on the hidden
rocks, and Wolfgans and his free
hooters, grew rich and powerful on tn,
.spoils. Well after time, there came
along Spanish galleon, driven out o
her course by adverse winds, and will
the doubloons and bars of gold, and
chests of silks, with which she was
loaded, was greater treasure to thu
mind Of the wrecker chief, than al
else put together. The daughter of {
rich old Spanish Don, was passengei
on the luckless ship, and fell prey Il
the rapacious freebooter.
For the first time, he felt his bosom
filled with the torturing fires of love
and he conducted his wooing in TIN
bold, tempestuous fashion, natural T.
him.
AT st. Quentyn's, then, lived q piou