Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-09-15

under our feet in a dance so rapid, or we should have been buried. The Familiar,as II bewitched, still moved his lantern around in circle, and there stood every brave motion less while the spade clinked and the dirt fell in. n . brief time we stood on level earth, still tramping earth where the hole had been. But then the lantern was flung against a tree. the Indians seized us ana we were tied to saplings before l could realize any thing except deer-hide throng which cut palpably into my wrist.
 "The elder Indians stood Tn group,wnlle Timber, young ones collected chunks, twigs, whole stumps, to wall us in for burning Instead of preparing my mind for death, found myself ruminating on the Famlnar's immense capacity for combustion, and won dering if he would not burn up richly like barrel of tar.
 "As our fires mounted so did the spirits of our captors, who were so determined to keep from the white man the secrets of their ancient land They danced and threw tomahawks awhile; then they paused and stared; then they fell upon their knees in | two circles and all blew the flames. l can still see those aquiline noses bent to earth, those leathern cheeks distending and collapsing as they blew. But that ghostly ] fire of the past, rubbed in the beginning out of two hard sticks, would not take hold of the breathing present. It failed even | to warm us. And when those wretched be- | ings became convinced of that fact, they rose with one accord and tomahawlfed each other and threw each other into the fire in true Indian fashion, until the Famii jar and were walled about by their charred | figures and not one brave was left.' ''I don't believe there's word e truth in it." commented Nose. "How can you be so incredulousl" re- monstrated Gurlcy.
 ] "Why. it don't stand to reason," argued Nose.
 "Imagii.atioa,' said McArdle, spreading his hands arily, ''is fine thing, Noses"
 .'Oh, isn't itr' murmured Phoebe, watch ing the fire. Its kind of wonder palace | that you can step into out of any thing. May be Lazarus had his head in such pal 1 ace. Whatever your self lacks you will | find in a perfect self in that wonder palace. So that it seems us if God gave us a sixth sense with which we can enjoy things we | don't possess"
 ''What on earth is the girl talkin' about" said Randy Thompson. l ''She is tuning her imagination for the story about the North" volunteered Gurley.
 ''l thought one out a long while ago." said | Phoebe, 'whep was reading Scandinavian things about Thor and Sif and Wodin-but this is about hill Troll" "Now. what's q hill Trolli" complained Randy.
 "He was little spirit fellow, sometimes good and sometimes bad, who lived inside a | hill'
 'There ain't none of them things" said Nose, with conviction.
 "There was this one Troll" insisted Phoebe, ''and he quarried rock. And one night when he put up his quarrying tools l Il wripliled dwarf came and offered to show him away down ip the heart of the earth diamond finer than any the sun ever saw. He did not hesitate to follow the dwarf. And if find that diamond, I'll put up my quarrying tools for hundred years," said | the Troll.
 'They went down and went down until tue Troll began to distrust his guide and called halt. They were under the very ribs of the earth I'll go no further,' says the Troll.
 '"The dwarf laughed. Don't you hear a booming soundr says he. 1 "s9es.'
 "Well, that's the sound made by people on the other side of the earth trying to pick this diamond out'
 "The Troll hurried on again until he felt smothered, and stopped again, saving:
 "'rll go no further
 "'Don't you hear the tapping of waterf | cries tho dwarf.
 "sYes'
 "'well, that's the wash of the open sea, contending with men for this priceless thing
 ''The Troll thought, if this way leads to the open sea, I can easily rise through that to the surface.' So on he went.
 But presently they came under rock dome hung with stony icicles, and at their feet Tapped a reservoir of water full of human fragments and pieces of ships.
 "'Here's the end of the search, grinned the dwarf. The diamond brought you to seek is that whirling Maelstrom which cuts it's planes of waters on this coast The way is closed up behind you; now get out if you can through the Maelstromr
 ''Then the dwarf disappeared just as if there never had been dwarf, and the Troll stood under the roar of the Maelstrom, his knees shaking; he felt himself Q dead Troll For in those days the Maelstrom was boil ing whirlpool miles in circumference. When sailors became suddenly aware of gliding across q field of water depressed toward some unknown center, they knew the Mael- strom had them First she described huge | circle, as if swinging them around her vtcN tim's head. Then they felt her fury. She whirled and beat them, she rolled them over and crunched them in her awful jaws, out
 of which no ship or man ever rose again.
 ''Pretty soon a voice near the Troll said
 'Who knows, Troll, but you may conquer
 this Maelstrom and quiet its rage for the
 remainder of the centuries.
 ''He looked around and saw white child.
 You have worked in the quarries and knit
 your strength says the child, and can
 show you the way to the ore-dwarfs, and in their furnace you will find a hammer and anvil ready for any body who wants to use ) them. Never mind what any dwarf does
 but take your heart, your brain, your hands ) and feet one after the other, and beat and temper them on the anvil "'They are all fesh,' objected the Troll
 A nice temper should beat into them on metal
 "'The hammer and anvil are not metals,
 says the child. You make yourself able to rise through the Maelstrom.' : ''So the Troll went to the furnace of the
 ore-dwarfs. He saw them fuse and force into upper rock and soil the metals for whict men dig. The black fellows would seize jet.
 of fiery liquid, and leaping like meteors
 fling them to force their way upward. TheJ l looked curiously at the Troll and made faces. But without speaking to them, h'