The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-13
PART VT.

Shortly before eleven o'clock, by ad-
tice of Brunhilda, | took my stand
with the six countesSeS on the porch
nj the castle. facing the open place
in the stone wall: and a few minutes
later l heard, above the rush Of the
torrent. the grating of wheels. and
presently saw u numbering. Old-fash-
oned coach. with embaZoned panels.
drawn by a pair Of heavy, bay horses.
and driven by very fat coachman.
come down out of the forest and draw
up opposite us on the further side of
the river.
Out Of the carriage now stepped
hrskly u tall. strongly built old gen
tlelnan. with high top boots and Il
tiercely waXed mustache: looking 9TH
erwise for all the world like Prince
Bismarck He turned and helped out
u lady. Frau jenkins. Then Jack Jen-
kins got out; and the three waved
their hands to us. as ii was useless
tu try and make themselves heard
above the roaring Of the RAPIDS.
How will they got across said
to Brunhida.
She pressed my hand. which she still
held in hers. as though askin. NE tn
wait: and then she pointed toward the
river. I looked in the direction she in
dicated and at first saw nothing ont
of the ordinary u black. voluminous.
Whirling mass Of water daShing and
Seething against the rocks of the is
land. that was all: hut in a few sec
onds remarkable change appeared
In it. 1t tell away. diminished and
sank as l watched it. just as though
ii were being swallowed up by an
earthquake. or. rather. as If its source
had suddenly been dried uD. It's sur
face went down actually six feet, hr
fore my very eyes and i'm doing so it
exposed and left high and dry - stone
bridge or viaduct some ten feet in
width, reaching from the gateway Of
the wall directly across the now COM
paratively peaceful stream tn the point
where the party of three were stand
ing. | did not wonder at it, nor did
permit myself to be in any way
surprised. This was the bridge which
Ysolde had spoken of. | remembered
the simple mechanism of the car. and
7 had no doubt that this apparent phe-
nomenon would be explained as easily
and as satisfactorily. !, however. made
up my mind that it should be the first
thing about which | would ask the
old graf.
Upon this still dripping causeway.
which but minute before had been
hidden by four or five feet of nadly
rushing torrent. the party now ad-
vanced to meet US.
The Count Won Schreckenstrohm was
first to arrive. Without waiting for an
introduction, he seized me by the hand
with grip of iron, and almost wrung
my arm off at the shoulder. / had al
ways flattered myself that l was rather
strong, but compared with me he had
the strength of a steam engine. ] had
only time to give Jack and his wife Il
few hurried words of greeting, before
70 nnSSaSSinp nf hy fbn
six young women and dragged away to
some remote part of the castle. | was
noW,left alone with the imposing sire
of my fiancee. Without delay. he led
me up the porch and into the chamber.
which have described as being devoted
to trophies of the hunt. There we sat
down together by the open window.
where we could look out upon the gate
way. the forest opposite and the bridge;
or, rather, the place where the bridge
had been: for when / now looked for it
1t had disappeared. The flood of the
Schrecktenstrohm had risen even while
We We're entering the castle. and it had
never existed. Fiercely twirling his
twelve inches of white mustache. the
father of Brunhilda now addressed me
as follows:
My young friend. first of all, | will
set your mind at rest upon a matter.
about which you are dying to ask me.
namely. the sinking or drying up of
the Schreckenstrohm, phenomenon
which you have just witnessed. / al
ways make 1t q point to explain this
occurrence at the beginning. as l hate
to be interrupted. and know that soon
er or later you will ask about it,
Herr Grof' said !. You are mind
reader. but pray proceed
He scowled at me with his bushy
white hrnNyc lrao Il I'm in,