Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-01-03

doing. those ninety eight men! Mont
gommery determined TO go up himself
to find out, but his page (who, one le-
gend says, was no page at ALL Du6
noble damsel who had followed him 10
the wars) ran ahead Of him, seized the
rope, and was lifted TO the top OF the
rock before be could be stopped. de
saw in the dim light group OF herce-
eyed, blood-stained mercenaries and the
bodies of the ninety-eight Huguenots
piled one on another. Crying '"Treach-
ery! Treachery" he sprang over the
precipice and fell lifeless at the feet Oh
Montgommery. They were caught In
their own snare. Their supposed con-
federates had BETRAYED them. Bafned
and saddened the Huguenots turned
back over the sands to their Tombeaine
and this was the last serious attempt on
the fortress.
The old life came to an end with the
Revolution, and for nearly hundred
years the monastery was used as
Government prison-not entirely new
use either, for in the time OF Louis Al.
cachots were dug out Of the rock UNI
der the church, and prisoners OF State
were from time to time confined In
them. Horrible cells they were, deep
down in the heart OF the mountain,
without a ray of light or breath OF
fresh air. Worse still were the oubliet-
tes, called with lugubrious pleasantly
In pace, deep wells, into which men
were dropped, but out Of which they
never came. During recent repairs a
number OF them have been found, and
at the bottom skeletons ready TO crum-
BILE at the touch. Who were these
men entombed alive with rats and rep
tiles and crawling things? Monks who
had broken their vows? Royal favor
ties who had ceased to please my Lord
the King? Heirs to estates who stood
in the way Of the next In succession?
The oubliettes are true to their name.
They keep their ugly secrets well, and
the records OF the monastery are silent
Mont st. Michel, too, had its mysteri-
Gus Man of the Iron Mask, and 1t had
an iron cage where, so late as the mid
die of the last century, the unfortunate
Dubourg was chained ana left to starve
TO death. He was Dutch journalist,
who, having dared to criticise Louis
XIV, was kidnapped by French agents
on the free soil Of Holland and hurried
across the border TO die In French
prison. An, there were tragedies
enough and crimes enough deep down
in the bowels of the rock under the
feet of the godly friaFs, so far down
that the groans OF the victims never
disturbed their heaven-winged anthems
or their clustered meditations!
The prison history Of the abbey has
come to an end, too. The government
now takes charge of the ruins as a "his-
toric monument" and a Uniformed
guide shows visitors through church
and cloister and dormitory, points out
the slender pillars of the refectory and
the exquisite vaulting of the hall OF the
knights, leads you through the crypt
where the abbots stored their rare, rich
Bordeaux wines made from the grapes
on their feudal estates ashore, and
lights a candle to let you peer into the
cachots and oubliettes.
l mentioned Tombelaine little while
aQo-a barren rock that lies about a
mile to the northeast. The bookmen
say that the Romans called the Mount
of Jove Mons Tumba, and that Tomoe-
laine is diminutive thereof. But tho
peasants give different derivation for
the name, and connect it with such
pretty legend that | cannot resist re-
pesting it. In the iar-away indefinite
past, in a chateau in the forest Of Fou-
ceres, lived Count Hoel and his daught-
err Helene. She had golden hair that
shone about her head like halo, and
she dressed always in white, and was as
good and beautiful as al angel, and in
truth some of the simple peasant folk
crossed themselves when they met her,
as though she were not of this earth.
Whenshe was sixteen she was betrothed
to brave young knight, and perhaps
when the good people saw the new
flush in her cheeks and the new light
in her eyes, they lost little Of their
awe and smiled instead of crossing
themselves. But this happy time was
not to last.
A Norman pirate. Harteweck the
Cruel, caught sight Of the exquisite
girl and was filed with fierce desire
for her. The habits of the time being
direct, he lay in wait with some OF his
men and carried her of. Her father
and lover pursued in hot haste. They
came to the shore. A boat was ready
to receive the pirates and take them to
their hiding place, on lonely rock In
the bay. As they reached the island
Helene sprang ashore and fled, Harte-
week close behind her. She climbed
oreathless from crag to crag Till she
reached the summit of the rock. She
could see her fathers bark and the men
straining at the oars, but they were too
far away to aid her. There was only
one way Of escape from the hated Nor
man. She threw herself from the rock
into the sea below, and as the waves
closed over her head white gull rose
from the spot where she had disap-
.peared, new over TO the boat lof Count
Hoel. huttered around the shoulders II
vonnr Arthur, then spread y
wings anM few heavenward ;
Tba ngull is stlIl heI
Igzu11. ., 49, and the n
d'HeIene