The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-02-06
JULES VRRNE'S LATEST FANTASY.

l
Between the dances.
JULES vERNE'S LATEST FANTASY.
The lkidnight Witt o. Dr. 9fifsilssA.
The rising gale whistles. The fair
comes down in torrents. Low sway the
trees under the blast that sweeps tn.
Volsinian shore, and dashes its fury
against the slopes of the mountains Of
Crimma. The rock-bound coast is rent
and riven by the tempestuous billows
that surge and foam along the vast Me:
galocrida Sea.
In the depth of the bay nestles the
little seaport town of Luktrop. II
boasts q few hundred houses with green.
ish miradors sheltering them from the
winds of the main, and four or five steer
streets that look more like the beds oi
. mountain torrent than public thor:
oughfares. Not for off smokes the Van:
glor, an active volcano, which by day
blcnclles forth thick volumes Of sulphur.
GUS vapor, and bv night fi:ful foods oi
flame. The crater, seen fully one hun.
drcd and fifty kertses out at sea, answers
tie purpose of a beacon and guides home
to Luktrop tho coasters--fel.;anes, yer.
liches, or balanzes-that plow the
troubled waters OF the Mcgalocrida:
On the other side Of the town are
hcaped up ruins of the Crimmerian era
while the suburb, of Moorish aspect,
like n casbah or Algerian fortress. with
its white walls, round roofs, and ter.
races calcined by the sun, seems huge
pile of square stones thrown together
at hap-hazard. The whole mass look.
like cluster of dice, the dots OF which
have been worn away with age.
Among other peculiar structures may
be seen an odd-looking building called
the Six-Four from the number of its
windows, SIX in front and four behind.
A steeple rises above the town, the
square steeple of Saint Philflene,
with its bells visible through the open
stone-work, and when these are swung
as they arc at times) by the violence oi
the storm, it is accounted bad sign
and the COOL people of the place are
filed with fear at the omen. Such is
Luktop, with few stray houses on the
heath beyond, scattered amid the broom
and furze, as in Brittany. Luktrop,
however, is not in Brittany, Is it in
France?-I can not say. In Europc?-
I do not know,
Atany rate it were useless to look for
the place on the map.
Tap, tapi A discreet rap is heard at
the narrow door of the Six. Four, on the
left-hand corner of Messagliere Street.
A comfortable house this, if such word
is known at Luktrop, and one of the
thriftiest of the place, if to earn on an
average few thousand fretzers year
be sign of thrift.
A ferocious yelp, something between
bark and howl, IS from q wolf, has
answered the rap, whereupon a win
dow above the door of the Six Four is
thrown open, and an angry voice balls
out:
ITO the devil with oil intruders!"
A young girl, shivering in the rain,
with q sorry cape thrown over her
shoulders, inquiries If DIR. Trifulgas is
ct home.
He is OF isn't-all depends"
II come for my father, who is dying. ("
"And where is he dying?"
"By the Val-Karniou, four kertses
from here"
"And what's his name?"
"Vort Kartif."
wort Kartif-the cracknel- maker ?"
eyes; and If DIR. Trifulgas would
only"
Doctor Trifulgas isn't at homew
And the window is brutally closed in
the girls face, whilo t;,c wind and the
rain outside mix their voices in deafen-
ing din.
A hard man he, DIR. Trifulgas, with
but little feeling for fellow crea-
ture, and one who attends patient on
ly if well paid in advance for his servi-
ces. His old dog, Aurzof-a cross be-
tween bull and spaniel-would have
more heart than he. The door of the
Slx-Four remains invariably closed to
the poor, and open only to the rich.
He has. moreover, his scale of prices:
typhoid fever, SO much; brain fever,
so much; so much for q pericarditis,
and for as many more diseases as doc
tors choose to invent by the dozen.
And Wort kartif, the cracknel- maker,
is poor man, with q pcnniless brood.
Why. then, should Doctor Trifulgas
ltdevil himself, and on such q night?
"Tle rousing me from my sleep" snuff
fled lie, as he went to his bed again. "is
alone worth ten fretzcrs!" Twenty
minutes had scarce gone by than the
iron knocker again woke the echoes of
the Six -Four. Grumbling, the doctor
got ont of bed, and from the window
growled:
"Who il there?"
II am Wort Kartifs wife,"
"Thc cracknel-maker from Val-Kar.
niou?"
''Yes; and if you don't come he'll
die"
"Well, then, you'll be widow?"
"Here are twenty fretzcrs"-
What! twenty fretzcrs to go to Val
Karniou, four kertses hence!"
'For Gods sake, come!"
"Go to the devil!" And, with an
oath, the window was again slammed.
Twenty fretzers!" muttered he; "what
III idea! Run the risk of catching cold
OK Il alnmbago for such a sum, when one