Bridgeton pioneer., 1884-01-17
BY THE GATE OF THE SEA.
A NOVEL.
aypAv1D CHRISTIE MURRAY.
CONTINUED


bare for winter storms to rave at, and in
the rougher months Of the year it had con-
stantly to be provisioned for a siege of
stormy weather, since for weeks at time
it was dangerous, If not impossible, to an
proach the island. The one harbor faced
the mainland with two prodigious walls of
rock, and a narrow belt of smooth sand be-
tween, which ran upward toward hardy
grasses, and was directly overlooked by the
mansion. Those vast walls of rock and tho
narrow space between them were known ia
the local folk as the Gate of the Sea. So
old house as that of the Tregarthens could
scarcely fail to have been shot at by the
local bards and soothsayers: shoot bolts
enough and some Of them are sure to stick
and one Of many prophecies and notices
clung. Itset forth that whatsoever good or
evil the Tregarthens endured should come
to them by the Gate Of the Sea-a conclu-
sion somewhat obvious, since, unless by bal
loon or earthquake, their was no other way
Of approaching their dwelling place. If the
Cornish couplet be faithfully translated, it
prophesies as much for character as for
fortune
"What evil or good ye have or be
Shall come to you all by the Gate of the Sea-"
Now, in the days when a full cellar, a
hard knocks and ieot could tempe adventur-
GUS souls to follow freebooting gentleman,
Tregarthens house might have been pleas
urable place tohve in for those whose fancy
lay that way. But for an almost compan-
ionless youngster, who had just learned one
Of the worlds bitterest lessons, it was as
unwholesome residence as might anywhere
have been found. Tregarthen needed home
influences and cheerful companionship; but
he had long been an orphan, and he had
neither brother nor sister. He was not ab-
solutcly wealthy, but he had more money
than he wanted, and there were few things
which could have been of more use to him
than the spur Of poverty.
1t is easy in the hot days of youth for the
mind to persuade itself to anything. Ire
garthen persuaded himself that he was done
with the world for good and all, that it
should occupy him no more, and that he
would live for his studies and no other
earthly thing. His studies began to lead
him in direction which it was somewhat
odd that young gentleman of the nine
teenth century should take. Some ancestor
of his had collected all the works of that
crowd of imposters, quacks, self-deceivers,
enthusiasts, and martyrs to science who
have written on the transmutation of met
ais, the divining- rod, the elixir vitae, the
powers and properties of the stars, and so
forth-all the works, that is to say, that he
could in one short lifetime lay hands on.
Tregarthen began to grope among the dark
sayings Of these gentry, at first with an
amused interest and then with a singular
growth of doubt. There might be some
thing in the doctrine of transmutatiou after
all.
When a man begins even to doubt on a
question like that he is pretty far gone on a
road which has led oftener than not to mere
madness Tregarthen saw the danger, but
the study drew him, and absorbed him more
and more, until he began to find in it
compensation for all things. If man
could find the philosophers stone! Let any
man his sane and sober senses surrender
himself to the fancy for a moment, and
where are the glories Of the cave into which
the magician dropped Aladdin, or the valley
into which the roc carried Sinbada They
are no more than billiard-b ball in compari-
son with Saturn. But be touched with
doubt as to the bare possibility of its actual
discovery, and the poor mind is dazzled,
staggered, overawed by the magnifioence Of
its own fancies. Tregarthen began to dream
these dreams
He lived almost alone through the wild
winter and the clustering spring. Early
summer found him more and more ready to
surrender himself to. the intoxication of this
singular madness. Perhaps it needs that
certain strain of greatness shall lie in a
mans nature before he can go mad in that
particular way. The compact small crea-
ture whose faculties are all of size is as
sale as the compact great creature whose
powers are equally well-balanced
H9Dnl1V of tba l.. boz
much with us to allow us to develop to COM
plete fullness of eccentricity. Transplanted
to Jupiter, the human race might find ell
bow-room enough to grow into huge asy-
lum of crazy humorists; but our crowded
civilization acts upon us as close shelter acts
ON the trees in plantation-the outer lines
grow little twisted, perhaps, but in the
middle of the wood the stems are STRAIGHT
and uniform. Tregarthen, in his island
castle off the Cornish coast, was still little
sheltered By-and-by a shelter he had not
hoped for began to grow about him.
The clustering spring had passed, and
here was lovely day in mid-June, with a
sky of sapphire, a sea of sapphire and pearl,
and breeze of warm spice and balm. Ire
garthen wandered, smoking and lost in idle
meditation, to the cliffs on the right side
OF the sea-gate, and there cast himself full
length on the warm and scented herbage.
The splendor of the day was nothing to him
just then; and though his bodily eyes took
cognizance of one of the finest reaches of
rock-bound coast England can show, he had
no conscious pleasure in it. He pulled his
soft hat over his eyes and surrendered him
self to his pipe and his dreams. Everything
was wonderfully still He could hear the
plash of the waves on the rocks below.
though he gave no heed to it, and the in
tricate murmurs of many insects mingled
drowsily with the voice of the sea, as though
they were of equal volume with it. Ire
garthen's dreams, under these conditions.
grew more and more dreamy; his fancies,
like the sounds about him, became dim and
confused. Anything was welcome to the
domination of his mind at such moment,
and certain idle rhythm in the fall and
rise OF the waters down below did well
enough to think about.
He was certainly not quite wide awake.
and he was just as certainly not quite asleep
when vision dawned upon him. Two or
three vilely- painted trees fiuttered on a
ragged canvass and ibeled the forest of
Arden. A dowdy female and a melancholy
in a FOOLS Coyconb xyallral l,og.-z -