The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1889-08-02
A MYSTERIOUS SOUND.

II III u LiLlOUD DOONDs
Two children-a boy about 10 years old
and girl somewhat youngeT-weTe play
ing hide-and-seek among broken pillars
and heaps of fallen stones down in the
dark cellars Of o ruined house in the
Hindoo fort Of Fati-Ghur, In Northern
India
1t was q gloomy place-black, lone,
some, dreary-and just the spot where
you might expect wild cat or poison,
GUS snake TO pop out upon you at any mo-
ment; but Harry and Nellie did not seem
to mind it e bit, and went scampering
and laughing through the dim arChways
and dark, ghostly vaults as merrily as II
they had been in a kindergarten.
1t was certainly a very strange place
to choose for playground, and it was
stranger still that they should be playing
and laughing at all, with the shadow Of
death deepening day by day over them
selves, their fathers and the whole gar.
rison of the fort,
War was raging throughout the entire
district, and all around Fati-GhuT lay
encamped great host Of fierce Hindoo
warriors (mOTe than twenty times aa
many as the handful Of brave men who
held the foTtressJ, vowing never to leave
the place till they had taken it and killed
every living thing within its walls
Three times had the besiegers made a
furious attack on the fort, but each time
they had been beaten Oft with heavy loss
and dld not seem inclined to try itagain.
But all day lORg-and sometimes all
night, too-they kept banging away al
the wall with their cannon and muskets
till no one could l0ok over the battle
mcnts for fear Of being shot dead, and
tile sick and wounded men of the garTi.
son were quite worn out with the cease
less din
Worse still, food was beginning to run
short, and they wOuId soon be forced tu
surrender or be all starved to death, un-
less some one came To the rescue, and
there seemed 10 be little hope of that,
for it would have taken a large army.
aS well as a brave one, to cut through
the forest of white tuTbans and c0lored
robes and dark, fierce faces and glitter,
ing weapons that hemmed in the doomed
fortress on every side.
And we've helped to defend the fort,
too," said Harry to Nellie, as they paused
TO rest, after running themselves quite
out Of breath, II heard Capt. Markham
say SO myself, while was helping
mamma to sCTape lint for those soldiers
that were wounded last night
"Ald I've torn up a whole lot of rags
for bapdages, /" cried Nellie, proudly "and
I'm going TO tear up lot more this after,
noon, | do wish, though, they'd give
over fighting. I'm SO tired of those guns
banging away all night long, and its SC
horrid seeing the poor soldiers brought
in all cut and bleeding, There's poor
Sergt Bennet, who made all those pretty
toys for me, has got such q terrible place
all along one side Of his head, where {
bullet hurt him the other day; and it's so
sore that he can't sleep Bit"
Never mind answered Harry, as
sumiug quite fatherly air, in virtue Of
his being six months the older Of the
two; Just you wait two or three days
more, and then you'll see Gen. Rose and
his men come up from the other side Of
the river and send all these black fellows
AyiRg,"
"3ut ! heard papa say yesterday" OBJ
jecred Nellie, with q rather grave look
on her round, rosy little face, "that Gen.
Rose has only few hundred men with
him just now; and surely they can't
fight whole army at onceT
Cant they2' cried Harry, disdain-
fully Didn't Lord Give thrash sixty
thousand Of them at Plassey with orly
three thousand men Of his own? and
didn't the Duke of Wellington serd
the rajah's whole army scamperiRg with
only two regiplents3 Just you wait and
see, that's all. ! say, let's have another
game. You go and hide, and III hunt
for you"
Away went Nellie instantly, right into
the gloonliest and lopeliest part OF Che
ruins, bent upon discovering some place
where even Harry himself would NOT be
able to find her
Fearlessly she picked her way In al
most total darkness through one black
and dismal vault after another-for the
roughesG soldier IN the garrison was not
brayer than our little golden haired
Nellie--aRd at length she came to q spot
where two great masses Of masonry had
fallen i4 such Q way as 10 lean against
each other, forming q kind of low arch
very much Ike Che mouth OK q cavern
Harry win never find me here, said
she W herself, triumphaptly, as she
cFept into the hole; and finding II not
Large enough 70 let her stand upright,
she lay right down upon the ground and
remained as quiet as q mouse, ehuching
inwardly 70 think how puzzled Harry
would be when he came 10 look for her
But scarcely had her ear touched the
earth when she became aware Of q
strange, dun sound deep down below
her, Ike the measured beat of ears or
the noise which would be made by some
one thpnpipg bard against padded
door
Wlat could it be2 Il was certainly not
Harry, and there was no one else down
there except herself but the sound could
not be merely her fancy-she was quite
sure that she did hear 4, and, what was
more. 4 seemed 70 be growing louder
ana coming nearer
Then for the Grst time. little Neilie
began 70 feel Frightened Even a tbe
course ef her short ne she bad seen in