The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-15
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, APRIL IS, 1894

| disturbing imps behind, and then descend
and gently larrup them back along the
| stony way from which sorties they ever
returned with faces full ofhappy. roguish
smiles.
Two nights were passed at strange old
| roadside inns, and early on the morning
OF the third day they reached the edge
Of the mountain plateau from which the
| broad lava road descended into the
| famous Vale das Furnas
Here they halted and dismOunted to
| view the glorious scene. They saw 1900
feet below, the extinct crater of some
! olden and lncOnceivably vast volcano,
gradually retrieved by kindly nature
| through the ages from desolatiOn to the
| fairest and most luxurious vale inhabited
| by man, and in its very center, the tiny
| clouds and puHings of steam, where the
! pent-up, limitless cauldron below was still
Kissing and muttering of its latent pres
| enCe and power.
The serrated edges of the surrounding
| mountains, the olden crater's Jagged rim,
! were broken here and there by lesser val
leys Of wondrous symmetry, by natural
| cuttings IN the lava. through which
wound estradas rivalling the Roman
| roads OF old, by PERCEPTIONS gOrges and
| canons, fecked by misty cascades, and
| by pockets and hollows in which they
could catch glImpses OF the gleam-
ing surfaces of silent lakes and shadowy
! tarns.
The nights were purple with heather,
blending into masses of green where the
tirs stood thickly, merging into darker
| green over banks of bays, and shading
into blue. or gold, or puce as the lights or
shadows played upon the matted hchens
of the wilder and sleeper sides; while in
Vulnerable streams, like sinuOus lines Of
| pearls, blended, crossed, separated and
! wound in fanciful ways within and
| through the lower levels
Half an hundred peasant cabins could
| be counted from where they stood. Twice
| that number of goatherd paths, like deli
| cate ribbons Of pink and lanes with blue
| or gray old walls half hidden behind
| masses of pines, interlaced the valley and
| mountain sides; and away down, down
below, they saw the white walls, the red
| roofs, the single church DOME the long,
| struggling streets, and the baths with
| their plume-like vapors issuing from rum
bling and pulsing caldeiras, of the quaint
est old village in all the fair Azores.
| Everywhere on the mountain sides
were tiny herds of milkwhite goats. To
| each animal was tied a bell of different
tone. The tlocks were being driven to
| their daily milking in the village. Bare
| footed goatherds sounded their musical
pipes as they followed behind. From
| copse and hedge blackbirds and canaries,
| as if fired by elated rivalry, gave forth
upon hundreds of silvery bells, scores
upon scores of joyous pipes, thousands
| upon thousands of voices of birds.
Until now the lovely vale had been
asleep, But they saw an instant response
| to this marvellous matin-song. Issuing
| from the shadowy ways of the serene
| hamlet below, appeared scores upon scores
of Furnas maidens, vestal maids to do
Office before the priest of day. Each
| chirped or chanted her own best loved
cantiga, and upon her shapely head was
ever of brilliant red.
Her skirts were blue her bodice white,
| or pink, or yellow. Her feet and arms
and head were bare. Her form was Hell
| lenic. The sun, which swept above hoary
| Plea da Vara, never painted such YER
million as tinged her cheeks, or such
crimson as parted from her flashing
| teeth.
Thus singing back to the herds, the
birds and the morning, these witching
| water carriers threaded the upward
| paths to the fountains, while Manoel,
| Hetty, Bob and Slipson Cogleigh stood
! with barred heads and eager eyes before
/ the enhancing scene, and the remainder
| of the party suffered twings of pain lest
| this Eden-like peace and balm should
| witchingly Danish poor Slipson COgleigh's
| racking agonies and fade and eQualiZe his
| humping dichrotic pulse.
The grim vultures had not long to wait
| the crisis upon which their hopes de-
| pended.
| Slipson Cogleigh had been rubbed.
| soused and chucked,n as kind hearted
| Hetty had enthusiastically promised, I'M
| til the preponderating uric acid in his
! feeble system rose up, as it were, in rag
! ing revolt. He was hastily brought back
| from his seventh bath to his apartment
In Geronimo,s hotel, as described by Mrs.
! Drugget to the other relatives she en-
| couutered on their way 10 his bedside
in the agonies of articular mortice"
His suterlngs must have indeed been
| very great, for the sweat of pain stood
out upon his forehead, and Mr.. and Mrs.
! CLingsly, promptly on hand in the inter
est of the National Board of Heather
Helpers, with reticule before them, were
seated at the table hastily drawing up
his last will and testament.
Upon the balcony were Robert Forsyth
and Hetty, the latter overwhelmed with
| unappeasable grief. and Bob, pale from
| apprehension and affectionate anguish
| distraught between his attentions to his
friend, the meanings of his wife, the We
nahty of those who tiuttered about the
| sick room and his own vigorous though
| unconscious thumpings of his palm with
| his clenched fist, as though it were Slip.
son Cogleighs torturers' heads, all Sc
| cured in convenient chanCery.
Good old ManOel was singularly calm
| and bland for SO serious a calamity. He
| supported his master tenderly in his
| arms, moved him about as though he had
| been child as his unbearable writings
| followed in rapid succession, and gently
ministered to him as best he could. while
| deferentially bowling TO Miss Camper,
Mrs. Drugget and Mrs. Clingsly, as they
| appealed to each other or 10 him, but
never to the sufferer, in their fierce and
| stormy battle over the terms of Slipson
! Cogleigh's will.
These were at last settled upon, and
while Miss Camper and Mrs. Drugget
exchanged expressions of hope that lit
would not last long" that such scenes
were very trying to the nerves" and
that poor Slipson may be prepared for
the great change, - Mr.. and Mrs. Clinesly
rapidly completed the important instru-
| meut.
1t had for many years been settled that
Slipson COgleigh had nothing to do at the
end but TO sign. AS all those present
were beneficiaries. disinterested witnesses
! must instantly be secured. A h2sty con-
| ference followed and the Quartette hur-
| riedly left the room.
They were gone but a moment, but in
that moment Old Manoel had secured the
I haI h