Wichita eagle., 1889-10-16

skull of wine. Terrible as all this was to
hear and painful to see, | determined to
watch through the night, and the faithful
| old butler begged to remain also. Indeed, !
felt so nervous and distressed that 1 was
glad OF his company. The doctor was to re-
turn at midnight. When it wanted but two
| hours Of that time, Friedrich, who had grad
ually ceased his raving fell into lethargic
| stupor. l left the bedside and went to sit
by the fire. Old Klaus threw on fresh log
and filed glass with Hungarian wine from
a flask on the table / noticed that the old
fellows hand trembled and that his eyes
were full of tears | spoke few words of
comfort and be sobbed aloud:
"Alasl Herr Hauptmann, my mind mis-
gives me sadly! l fear, every moment, that
/ shall hear the dismal ringing of the ghost
i dead belI"
At this uncanny title l shivered. '"But
what may that ben asked anxiously.
Zach! What an old fool am. l forget
sometimes-but forgive it,"
But, Klaus" said |, what did you
meanr
Klaus bent toward me, his old face drawn
with fear 1.-The bell that rings out the life
of every Won Steingraff," said he, with sup
pressed emotion.
l suppose looked both startled and inter-
ested, and the old servant, glad of sympathy
and attention, continued in hushed voice:
''Mayhap you observed the monastery near
the castle sir, as you came up the driver
"Ay, Klaus, and fine, old ruin it is, with
its bell tower still standingl"
"a ruin now, sir, but it was once a grand
and holy place with its lord abbot, and
| monks and broad. rich lands. Well, sir,
| long time ago-I don't know how many a
hundred years-the Baron Steingraff Of that
day who lived then in the old Schloss higher
| UP in the hills above the krotensee-had
quarrel with the abbot The baron was
fierce and naughty man that cared little for
church and priest, and the abbot was as
naughty in his way, SO the feud grew dead
| lier every day AT last the abbot swore on
the holy relics of St Wolfgang that he
would excommunicate the baron. And the
/ baron swore by the cross upon his sword hllt
! that be would tear the frock off the abbot's
/ back and drive him and his monks out of the
/ monastery. The abbot was good as his
| word, and SO, on the feast of the blessed
! st. Wolfgang, he and all his monks walked
! in procession through the church up to the
/ high altar and the great book was opened
/ and the anathemas read, and then the bell
was tolled and the lighted candles extin-
! guished, and thus the baron was excommuni-
! Gated.
! ''Welll The bell was still tolling, and the
| priests were on their way back down the
aisle when the shouts of the baron and his
wild men-at-arms, his jagers and holzknechts
! rang at the walls and sledges and great pine
! beams were battering at the gates.
Short work they made of it!
! One mad fellow seized splinter Of wood
! and Lit it at the altar, and then he fired the
! panels and the roof and the dry wood was all
soon in blaze. The baron, as if possessed by
an evil spirit, seized the bell rope and rung
out a wild peal Of triumph. But the abbot
walked up to him, dressed in all his robes,
and, holding up his hands, cursed him in the
name of the Blessed Trinity. and said
LAS the evil one peals that bell now
through your hands. so shall he peal it when
he claims the soul as it passes from the Body
of you and of your son and of your sons son,
in secula, sseculorum, amenr
$50 saving the abbot called his monks and
they went their way down to the Lake Of
! Aver But the baron and his followers threw
themselves upon the holy men and tore the
frocks from their backs and threw their
/ books into the lake. The baron then seized
the monastery lands and held them, too, for
might was right in those days, and he built
/ the present castle hard by the ruins of the
monastery, lest the abbot and his retainers
/ should rally and seek to regain their old pos
/ sessions; but they never did, for the abbot
was not overlooked in the country, end the
baron was too powerful to be lightly med
died with. so the monks built them new
monastery where the Church of ST. Wolf
gang now stands.
Time passed on. and the baron had well
nigh forgotten that abbot or monk had ever
dwelt within the old blackened monastery
! wall
lone wild winter IS night the baron sat with
his retainers in the great hall drinking and
revelipg, as was their won't. TIE wind howl
ed in gusts fitfully, and in the pauses a loud
! knocking was heard at the oaken door, the
very door by which you entered this evening,
/ Herr Hauptmann The Thurhuter when he
! opened the door, saw no one, though the
moon was that moment shining through the
( drifts of the clouds, but he felt a cold blast
sweep across his face. So he shut the door
! again, and thought it must have been the
storm that had deceived him.
The next moment those in the hall saw
+ monk in a black habit, with his cowl drawn
! closely over his head, enter and walk up with
! out word to where the baron was sitting
Then the monk threw back his hood and an
/ old withered face, CHASTITY pale but stern and
fierce, gazed undaunted on the baron.
"'Tausend sakermentp shouted the baron,
starting in rage, dog of an abbot, what
brings you heres Trundle ont the shaveling
and set the hounds upon him.
THE abbot raised his skinny arm and said
n a hollow and solemn voice: This night
twenty years you and | met. l am on my
/ way to the abbey, follow me-
/ g The abbot retired as he came, no one
daring to hinder or to harm the holy man
'Zum henker! to the hangman with him.
cried the baron, choking with rage and
springiug after him. That moment the old
bell pealed out with wild clang from the
tower The baron in his haste tripped over
stool and fell to the ground. When they
lifted him up be was dead Twas said he
died of fit. Maybe So But that very
night one of the hoizknechts returning to the
+ village from the Riesen up the hills where he
had been working. declared that as be passsd
the tower he heard the old bell pealing and
saw procession of monks following bier,
+ and disappearing within the ruins Next
1 morning tldings came that the old abbot had
iied the day before at St. Wolfgang's, but
/ where or when he was buried nobody ever
/ knew"
! Old Klaus ceased and sat looking in the
/ fire.
"A strange, wild taller" 1 said. lightly, I'M
/ willing TO confess myself moved by the story
Has the ghost bel ever been heard since
that timer
I Old Elans shudderej "Av Gil ba m