The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-31

cleared patches of land took the place OF
we.ltilled farms. At last even these
gave way to dense forest of pines which
rose on either side like walls of gloom,
looking dark and dreary in the gather
ing shadows of the twilight. The road,
too, became rough and stony, and our
progress was necessarily slow and I'M
peded. Suddenly heavy roll of ttun-
der was aud bic in the distance.
The storm soon burst upon us IN all
its fury. The rain poured down in tor
rents, wetting us to the skin. The
blazing streams Of the lightning, al
traclcd by the tall pines that stude the
wood, ran hither and thlther like ser
pents of anne on either side of us.
Finally our road emerged upon clear
ing half way up the side of the noun.
tain. BY the quick flicker of the light
ming we d:sccrncd long, low two-story
frame house, standing back from the
wood, and with more than one light
visible in its windows.
"Good!" cried DR.. Max, in tone of
relief; "here is habitation, and pre-
sumablv some human beings to help us
to dry clothes and shelter for the
night"
We drove up to the door, and after
l. knocking for some little time, an inner
bar was withdrawn, and woman, with
a lantern in her hand, presented herself.
"No, we could not come in" she said,
! in answer to our queries. "She was Ill
she had j st sustained terrible be-
rea ement-she wanted no strangers
peekiug about her premises. Not that
theic was anything to hide" And she
was going on, maundering in an imbeci'e
sort OF way. when she was suddenly
thrust aside by short, sharp.looknS
young fellow, who took upon himself the
office OF spokesman.
, "Come iu? Gf course the gentleman
shou d come in 1t was not night to
! keen dog out in. The horse conld he
put under The shed, and would do there
:, cry we'll till morning. And if the gen.
tlemcn wanted any supper, they could
have eggs and ham, and some hot
whisky-aud- d-water to keep off the chill.
; Ion be a fool, mother; stand aside, l
say. aid let the folks in, out of the
wet
We found ourselves, on entering, in a
spacious, low ceilinged kitchen, which
somehow looked desolate. instead OF
eheery and comfortable The woman who
had first accosted us ret"eated to a seat
beside the blackencd hearth, whereon no
fire had apparently been lighted tor
! some time. and there seated herself,
swaying herself to and fro, with her
hands c!asped over her knees and her
eyes fixed on vacancy. She was past
middle age. and was red-haired and
fire. :kled, but with the remains of con-
siderable beauty still apparent in her
regular features, white skin and shapely
form. The man who had insisted upon
our entrance, in spite of his hospitable
action, was anything but genial aud
prepossessing-lo looking parsonage. lie
was thin and sickly looking, with shift
ING, uneasy eyes, and a sallow. unshaven
face. He seemed uneasily and ostenta-
tiously anxious to welcome US, brought
us chairs, and set abodt lighting the fire
. and getting supper, while the woman sat
rocking herself to and fro and noticed
nothing. Her son introduced himself as
Ludwig Schultz, and also You hsafed
the information that his mother had
married twice, her second hasband being
old Jacob Gruber. ''He died of apoplexy
this morning, gentlemen he continued !;
"that's why she's so upset And you'll
not mind things being bit dull, as the
old man died so suddenly only few
hours ago."
We assured him that we would not {;
the idea of the presence of corpse be-
meath the roof that sheltered us being
anything but agreeable or enliveninS,
whilst the presence of that silent woman,
see-sawing herself to and fro with
monotonous aclon, and her eyes fixed
on vacancy, WAS enough in itself to de-
press our spirits. She meal when served
was more appetizing than might have
been expected, and we both did it full
instice. Before we had quite finished, a
door at the end OF the room was pushed
open, and q half drunken, heavy-lo3k-
ing young fellow staggered into the
room. He glared at us with sort OF
stupid feroc:ty mixed with amazement.
"Now what the deuce" he was be-
ginning, roughly, when his brother
seized his arm. and, saying something to
him in German in an undertone, half
dragged, half pushed him ,out of the
room. There was the noise Of sharp
alteration outside for few minutes,
and then the man called Ludwig came
back and offered to show us to our room.
We accepted his offer, and hc led the
way to an upper story, around which
ran a wide porch, supported on rough
hewn pillars. On this porch the win
dows and door of each room opened.
There was no corridor, and the only
access to this upper floor was by flight
of stairs, leading from the kitchen we
had ust left. Cur guide unlocked the
door of one of the rooms, and set down
the candle on the little table.
"Do either of you gentlemen speak
German2" he asked.
Not one word of it," answered DR..
Melfort, much to my surprise, for his
mother had been German lady, and he
spoke the language like a native.
''All right" said Schlltz, with per-
ccptibe air of relief. "0nly. you see,
the old woman speaks German better
than she does English-and l thoug ght-
so, if you want anything. Well, I'll
say good night and a good sleep to
you"
He took his departure, and as soon as
his numbering footsteps had died away
in the distance, the doctor unfastened
the door and stepped out on the porch.
81 am going 10 reconnoitre little" he
said, in whisper. "Come with me, if
you like"
followed at short distance, and saw
n m sndannlu nal1sa with q stifnd nx.