Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-06-03
CHAPTER. Y
THE SECRET on rnE GAVE.

For q minute after the disappearance
Charles Brinkley lay as if petrified; and, in
deed, he was altogether lost in wonder What
had happened? Had an earthquake swallowed
the mysterious one, or had he tumbled down
in fit? Brinkley waited and watched; five
minutes had passed, ten minutes, and still the
light did not re-emerge. At last, overcome
by his curiosity, Brinkley rose, and, STOPPING
close to the ground, crept from the rock be-
hind which he had laid concealed, and crawled
across the summit of the sandhill Suddenly
he stopped short and went down on hands
and knees, for he now clearly discerned,
coming out of the solid earth or sand, the
glilnmer of the light.
1t glimmered, then disappeared again. Just
then the moon slipped out of her cloud,
Illuminating the hillocks with vitreous rays:
and he perceived, close by him, dark hole,
opening into the very heart of the hillosk
He crept closer and looked down, but could
see nothing. He held his head over the hole
and listened; all he heard was dull, hollow
moaning, like the sound of the sea. The light
of the moon, however, enabled him to per
ceive that the hole had been covered with o
loose piece of wood, or lid, about four feet
square, and with an iron ring-bolt in the cen
ter, which lid was now lying by the side Of
the opening, ready to be replaced. A num-
Der of large pieces of stone, such as were
strewed everywhere about the sandhills, lay
piled close by.
He lay for some time waiting and listening
All at once, far beneath him, the light gliln-
mered again, Quick as thought he rose and
crept away, only just in time; for he had no
sooner regained the shelter of the rock, and
crouched there watching, than he saw the
light re-emerge, accompanied by a human
fol1 81, 4.
,learly discerned William Jones standing in
the moonlight without the burden he had pre-
viously carried, ard holding in his hand a
lantern.
Setting the lantern down, William busted
himself for several minutes, and finally, hay
ing concluded the work on which he was en-
gagged, extinguished the light. Then, after
glancing suspiciously round him on every
side, he walked rapidly down tho sandhill,
and disappeared in the direction of the sea.
Not until he distinctly heard the plash OF
oars, and saw the black silhouette of the boat
pass out from the shadow of the rock on to
the moonlib sea did BrinlIley again begin to
stir; and even then he did so very cautiously,
lest his figure should be perceived against the
moonlight by the lynx-eyed rover. Creep
ing on hands and knees he again crawled to
the mysterious spot, and found, as he had in
deed anticipated, that the hole was covered
up and the wooden lid or trap door so care
fully covered with stones and loose sand as to
be completely hidden.
His first impulse was to displace the debris
and at once to explore the mysterious place
but rejecting that he was unprovided with
lights of any kind, and that the cavity below
would most certainly be in total darkness, he
determined to postpone his visit of inspection
until daylight. By this time there was no
sight or sound of the boat Rising to his feet,
he unused. It was all very well to talk OF re-
turning another time but how was he to find
the spots The sea Of sandy hiIlocks stretched
on every side, and he knew by experiences
how difficult it was to distinguish one hillock
from another. AS to the cairns of loose
stones, such cairns were nearly as numerous
as the hillocl1s themselves.
At last he thought OF the rock where be had
first concealed himself Such rocks were
numerous, too; but pulling cut his case Of
crayons he marked the base of the rock with
small streak of color. Finally, remember
ing that the drift sand might cover this mark
so made, he drew out his panknife and made
n largo cross in the hard sand. Having taken
these precautions he made the best of his way
down TO the cliffs, and following the open
greersward which fringed the crags, wan
dered back to the caravan.
At daybreak the next day he strolled hack
along the crags, first taking a bird's-eye view
of the village and pcrceiving no sight of
William Jones, who had doubtless no sus-
picion that he would rise SO carly, he soon
found the spot where ho had stood over night
watching the approach of the beat, and, first
( accommodating the neighboThood, struck of
among the sandhills AT first Le was guided
- g. ID -.
these disappeared. At length, after a some
what bewildering search, he found the sand
/ hill he sought, the rock with his mark upon
| it, the crossnarked in tho ground end finally
1 the well-concealed mouth Of the hole
He looked keenly to right and left. No
one was visible. STOPPING down he displaced
/ the stones and loose sand and disclosed the
4 trap-door with its iron ring. A long pull a
strong pull and up came the trap. Open Sc