The record-union., 1896-02-29

ciety for Physical Research:
I'VE were riding along in silence, al
most at the summit of the peak. Emerg-
ing from clump of evergreens, we
came in plain view of a deserted log
house about fifty yards in advance.
when Mr.. Burkhold cried. Here we are
again, Fairfield How soon do you
suppose Roget and Brown will get in?'
With these words he had sprung
from the saddle and begun to tie his
horse to tree. This action saved me
the necessity of an immediate reply.
and gave me time to recover from the
startled surprise into which his strange
words had thrown me. A moments re-
Election convinced me that he was labor
ing under some mental disorder, and
furthermore that this might have some
] instantly resolved to make no effort to
break up his hallucination, but to adapt
myself to it as thoroughly as possible
and await the result. I sprang to the
ground and tied my horse without say
ing anything, and as l turned toward
him he asked again how soon we might
look for Roget and Brown. Who Roget
and Brown were was of course mys-
terry to me, but 1 suggested at venture
that they might not get back until the
next day, and he seemed satisfied.
I'VE had brought some lunch from the
hotel, and 1 proposed that we sit down
on the grass and eat it. He readily as
sented, and after we had finished, said
that he intended to have nap under
the shade of a tree near by. He was
soon asleep, and 1 took advantage of
the fact to walk around and reconnoi-
ter, keeping him constantly in sight,
however. From a little knoll, a hum
dred yards distant, 1 could see a house
about quarter of mile away, and the
smoke from the chimney assured me
that it was inhabited This was an i'm
portant discovery. 1t offered possible
solution of the food problem, which was
weighing upon my mind, for I did not
wish to leave the place until he himself
should propose 1T, and we must have
something to eat. l looked into the old
cabin before mentioned and found sew
eral good strong frames which had evil
IDENTIFY been fitted up for beds of pine
branches. If he had been here before,
under a similar state Of hallucination,
as all indications suggested, this was
probably where he mad slept. With the
large knife which l carried, I immedi-
ately cut branches from some pine trees
near by and filled up the frames, that he
might not be surprised at finding them
empty Then I sat down near him and
waited for him TO waken.
after an hours sleep, he opened his
eyes and Immediately asked again for
ID Etoi7 io1H
as before. When told that I had seen
nothing of them, and thought it useless
to look for them before the next day, he
wondered what we should do for some
thing to eat without Brown. This gave
me chance, and I told him had seen
a house in the distance where we might
find something. He consented readily
to the plan expressing surprise that he
had not seen the house before.
He then began to talk about his
plans for a novel dealing with life
among the Tennessee mountaineers, as
suming in all he said that we had been
discussing the various features of his
plot during the days Immediately pre-
ceding. Of course I was prepared to
keep up my part of the conversation, as
he had outlined the plot to me when
telling of the unavailing efforts made
to put it in literary form. l was now
practically certain that the missing
week had been spent upon this mount
ain under mental hallucination
brought on by his intense efforts to
work out his story, and it seemed highly
probable that he had fallen in with
party of three, Roget, Brown and Fair
field by name, who had taken him into
their company without detecting any
thing wrong in his mental condition,
but could as yet see, no light on the
French romance.
Towards evening we went to the
house above mentioned, found it occu-
pied by a respectable looking mount
aineer, with his wife and a younger
brother and had no trouble in bargain
ing for supper and breakfast and any
further meals we might want while in
the vicinity I had hoped to get some
valuable information from the family,
but found, when l had an oportunity
to question one of them aside, that they
had been in the vicinity only two years
and knew nothing that had happened
there before their arrival
"a detailed account of the next three
DAYS WOQlQ aQQ 0OluIHS VI VALUE "
this report. 1t is enough to say that
Mr. Burkhold's main theme of CONVEX
sation was the plot of his novel, and
that L succeeded for that length of time
in quieting his anxiety about the alb
sence of Roget and Brown In the
meantime / had found the inscription
81. F.. Charleston, S. c. carved in one
Of the logs of the cabin, the only possi-
BILE clew l had been able to discover as
to the identity of any of the party with
whom 1 felt sure that he had been there
before.
"On the fourth morning he awoke
with a fixed determination that we
should go Immediately in search of the
missing men, and | at once complied
Fortunately, he had no definite plans
as to direction, and / had no difficulty
in turning our course towards the hotel
For the first hour he was quite talka-
tive, and the hallucination was evil
IDENTIFY as strong as ever, but after that,
as the day was hot and the riding tire
some, he gradually became quiet and /
did the same, in the hope that, if left
entirely to himself. the return to the
familiar environment of the hotel might