The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-08
.ory power of reading thoughts, you ought

10 DO Ado TO DO so.
The poor follow was quite unconscious
thnt ho had betrayed hins;elf during his
night walks, and In u dull way went on; n
"In tho old days Was mining student
at Pentcastlc, living in lodgings. There
was ono there who WAS my dearest friend,
md us no was my ago and my workmate
wo wcro inscparablo. Together we dream.
cd of tho ambition of all minors-numely,
to find rich lodo of orc. Together wo
mado long excursions and wero called
David and Jonathan. All won't we'll until
wo began to court tho same girl our
cap'ons daughter. Somehow thon wo
driftcd IL little apart, and this WIS u great
griof to me. / would spend hours on tho
heath above tho mine, Whonl Mary Ann
fool that l was!-in trying to mako up
my mind to give up tho girl to him. Ono
Sunday nftornooE, when all work stops Mt
tho mino, went out, hoping to meet
Fuko by tho old Druid stono, rs we often
had dono before. But he was not there
and fot l must decide between friend.
ship and love.
Il left tho stone and struck into tiny
break near the common and idly enough
began digging my stick into tho ground.
To my nstoDishnent my stick sank in,
and tho ground cracked undor my feet.
Down won't, frantically olutching at tho
stopped and found that had slid down
disuscd airshaft, fortunately slipping
ono There WAS no sign Of light except
dimly far above mo whore Ind fallen,
and knew could not gen back that way.
Before mo was inky darkness, which
might hide deep shaft. Striking match,
1 found 1 was in nm old level, which
stretched away far ahead. cautiously
went on, fooling in front of mo with my
stick, until 1 had gone over 300 yards.
Again lit match and saw below mo
another level, about 10 feet down. 1t
was neck or nothing, SO ] lot myself drop
and found. solid bottom again. Feeling
tho sides of this new level, was struck by
their grcasiness. With my heart leaping
in my breast struck match, and there
unworkod no doubt since tho Phonicians'
time, was splendid lodo of silver load orc.
The wall seemed to DO nearly solid ore,
and sat down quito flint with excite
ment.
II still went on until the ground began
to rise again and saw light. Still feeling
cautiously, at length stood in tho bottom
OF what wo youngsters knew as tho Brit
ons' we'll This was disused pit about
Is feet deep and was in Il small copse. Tho
sides were rocky enough to allow mo to
Chamber out, and once moro stood above
ground.
"Thcn I impaired tho secret to my
friend. I thought, boyishly enough, that
wo might DO friends again If once wo wcro
rich. Fuke was oyerjoyed, and we decided
to buy the pioce of ground and start OH
our fortunes. He pressed mo to show him
the spot, and the next night, armed with
lanterns and ropes, we met on tho heath,
and let myself down the hole. He fol-
lowed, and in few minutes we stood
awed by the mineral wealth before us.
After exploring for somo time we came to
a deep looking shaft on our left, and l was
warning Fuko not to go too close when ho
struck mo violent blow on the head md
pushed mo over the edge. Fortunately the
shaft was only go feet deep, with mass
Of soft earth ut tho bottom. Doctor, tho
shock nearly killed me. That my own
familiar friend, to whom had given half
my fortune, should try to murder me mndo
mo mad with rage. l lay perfectly still
and heard FuSe muttcr, SO great was the
silence:
Z" There, poor, weak idiot Now the
money will DO mine and Carries
/ shivered with rage, and as he walked
away got to my feet and felt for tho level
was sure would branch from the shaft.
Creeping softly along for some distance,
noticed that the floor of tho level was ris-
iDH, 50 tnuu Hau great Oll1lCulty In CLIMB
ing up Soon, rs l suspected, was close
to the level from which Fuke had, as he
supposed, hurled me hundreds of feet deep.
Then glimmer of light shono ahead, and
1 heard u sound of u pick being used
Creeping on, with a heavy Stone in my
hand, l came upon my cncmy-my would
be murdcrcr-i:nd came to my full senses
to find him lying on the ground, dead, be-
foro me. As hope for forgiveness, doc
tor, was not conscious that had Killed
him. God knows have suffered enough
from that moment. How l buried his
body and eventually got homo I don't
know, bnt did, and although wealth be-
yond the dreams Of nvarice is mine, still
Fukc's pale face is always before me-"
He paused, and, exhausted by his'cmo-
ton, closed his eyes. To my amazcment,
he slowly got up, with fixed eye, and
stcalthily crept round the room, rehearsing
with his tired brain the dreadful act ho
had committed. AS his wife had describ-
cd, he struck u chair violently, and then,
with II cry, collapsed into u lifelcss henp. Z
Sheer fright kept INC imnovable for
few seconds. Then my courage returned,
and l ran to his assistance, only to find 1t
too late. Earnest Trcnarth had carried
his crushing load Of misery before u higher
and justcr judge than any worldly ono
could ever be- and could not feel it in
my heart to wish him any other fate
Lady.
The Land Of Pagodas.