The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1886-11-14

twinkle in his eye. "Why, down at Tur-
ner's Point, to be sure p"
81 believe, Mr. Monk said Aunt Tina
again, that you told me many beautiful
stones Of rare value had been found in the
rugged cliffs OF the canon"
Eyes" returns Mr.. Monk" several fine
rubies. sapphires and emeralds have been
picked MP, it is said, though none of late.
| j have never been so fortunate as to find
one my self, /" with smile, but the guides
who were here before me stumbled upon
an Exceedingly fine emerald in the gorge
| below Turner's Point"
Ali the way back to the hotel the words
"Down Turner'S Point, to be sure" kept
beating time, syllable for syllable. through
Swaiu's busy brain. *sOf course it is, he
reasons. Where else could il be? Why,
hasn't he seen it Wi ID his own eyes, resting
against the rugg points of the biggest
bowlder?" He has marked the place
well. There is stunted pine at one side
and great clump Of laurel bushes, rho
dodendrons, Aunt Tina calls them. On
the other there is great rock that shines
10 the moonlight like as if streaked with
silver. with here and there acluster OF
beautiful ferns and moses and tiny cas-
cade tricking down lis sides; Ribbon cas-
cade, Mr. Monk calls it. OF course the
treasure is therei And oh, how he does
want i'll Not so much for himself as for
Aunt Tina-AuDt Tina whom he loves so
dearly in spite of the thought that some
t1nes she is little too hard on him. But
at others how she does pet and humor
him. And oh, they are so happy together.
Happier still, perhaps, because in all the
world they have only each other. And
there is Aunt Tina's book. How hard she
l.. RI hox
much she does want it published But
the hard hearted publishers, to whom
many pages of snowy manuscript have
been submitted, have declared that they
can't touch it until part, at least, of the
money is forthcoming to pay for some sort
of plates Swain wonders what kind of
plates they can be, and what in the world
dishes have to do with printing. He has
ventuIed to ask Aunt Tina once but be-
ing absorbed in her work she has only
ans wered briefly, stereotype plates"
and so he is as much in the dark as
ever
If he could only get that, money for
Aunt Tina, which she has never yet been
able to get herself, for Aunt Tina is only
a poor teacher with meager salary.
At3 o'clock this afternoon, when every
guest of the house is enjoying his or her
siesta shut in the secluslon Of their I, oms,
a slight figure clad, in flannel knicker-
bockers. with sailor waist of the same,
issues, stick in hand, from side en-
trance.
Ten minutes later the same figure
makes its way along the railroad
track to where small footpath turns off
to the left, with stunted pine near at
| hand labeled: ITO Turner's Point"
.TIt Io0jt 1ooIr On unru auful t'
claims Swain, as ne follows the path. He
stands at length beside clump of dwarf
! ed pines, and looks down upon the river,
much more peaceful here than 100 yards
| above, where its fury seems to have been
| finally expended in the last of the greal
| cascades.
But in spite of this peace and quiet the
scene formed by the stupendous masses of
| granite upheaved on every side, with
their bare and frowning lodges and the
sheer precipitous fall of their rocky sides
for nearly 1000 feet. is enough to inspire
even the boldest with fear.
| A strange feeling of awe and dread
81 eals for moment into the child's heart,
| and he partly turns as though he would
go back The next. apparently ashamed
of even this faint show of cowardice, he
grasps his stick firmly and begins to climb
downward.
There is no regular path, but he catches
sight here and there of a trodden tuft of
grass and the shredded twigs of
laurel that show plainly where the foot
and hand IF the daring climber have left
their prints.
Very cautiously Swain picks his way at
first; then, as he finds it easier than he
has thought, he grows bolder, Finally,
when about three hundred feet down,
projecting ledge stops his further pro-
gress. Kneeling down, he crawls to the
edge and looks over.
TIE very placer he cries excitedly,
sand Just know it is down therer'
But the down there, is fully 100 feet
beneath him, and is another projecting
ledge, but much larger, and thickly
covered with ferns and MOSES, over
which thread-like cascade trickles.
AS he leans farther over tiny some
thing that glitters in the suns rays
catches his eye.
1t is imbedded in the soil of the ledge a
foot or SO beneath him,
Reaching down he quickly grasps it,
and then with an exultant little cry
springs to his feet. But the next moment
the cry of exultation is changed to one OF
supplication and terror, for in the sudden
spring his feet have come in contact with
a treacherous tuft that is barely hanging
to the cliffs edge. As they press against
it it gives way, and the next moment he
goes headlong over tue ledge.
Up at the hotel all is confusion and ex-
citement, for he has been missed. and the
mother and aunt, in her agony OF terror.
is beseeching landlord, clerk, guide,
walters, all to go in seorch of her darling
boy.
Only too we'll she surmises that in his
usual fearlessness, and alive with the
desire TO hunt out things for himself, he
is straying along the dizzy edges of the
dangerous chasm.
1t is twenty four hours before they find
him, and at least fourth as many more