Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-12-18
AWHEELMAN'SS STORY

had had all kinds of predictions of what
might happen in that region, but yet ex-
actly nothing had, although an official of
one reimbursement had detained us two
days. 1 say us, for, although I had start
ed alone from Genoa for the long 800
miles wheel, had come, early along the
Cornice road, on Pierson, little chap
from Manchester, who was deploring
punctured tire, and whom / helped with
my kit He, too, was in search of adven-
ture, and fell easily into my purpose.
indeed don't know what l should have
done without him in the long distances be-
You'd Marseilles, when on the fourth day
we fell into region of peasantry speaking
patois that was about as dense as their
superstition and distrust of strangers. Yet
all went we'll enough until that afternoon,
when in a desolate stretch OF moor we rode
into bowling thunder and rain. The way
fell bit hilly and rutty with mud. Drench-
ed and disheartened, the moor seemed linn
itless. We must have erred at crossroad,
for the inn we hoped for did not appear
not house, nor human being, nor dog,
nor sheep We might have turned back,
but we had come so far that 1t seemed bet
ter to pedal on. The scurrying wet bit
our faces brutishly, and our legs were like
mechanical metal cylinders, had it not
been for their aching, and to add to our
weary dismay the night reached across the
waste, crushing us with fearsome shadows.
We, indeed, were about yielding, when
suddenly burst of vivid lightning showed
q great battlemented house to which the
path led. Directly we were on 1t, and leav-
ing the wheels poked toward it, wondering
why none had given us question and why
there was no CLEAN of light through any
chink. A great outer gate was open, and
we CROPPED to an inner one at the bottom of
the narrowing passage, and then more
penetrating flash. struck a glare over a
broad door, and there looked down great
bronze fox's head, with the knocker ring
hanging listless from It's jaw.
Our impatience left us no discretion.
The blackness was provoking, and I raised
the ring, which struck chill through my
gloved finger. The spot where 1t fell may
have been cushioned, for we were dunn
founded by silence when the door was
opened as of its own Notwithstanding a
certain splendid glow over us-the light
of many candles, and the sight, but
strangely enough not the crackle, of a
burning log In a deep fireplace at long
halls end. The furnishings, elaborate In
the extreme, were of Henri Quatre. Por-
traits and mailed figures lined the walls.
The Pickering light sought the polish Of
the oaken flooring and ceiling, and close at
the door was lackey--a tall, dark fellow,
with dash Of the hired bravo you gather
from old books and old pictures, for he
was dressed in livery fitting the period of
all the decoration of this interior. His
voice surprised us quite as much as this
unexpected splendor of light that no chink
had revealed to us when cropping outside
"a faint sounding, yet distinct, tone in
French that we understood, although 1t
seemed not exactly the French we were
schooled to.
''The Sieur de Bellaire sirs, has been
waiting you, and, despairing of your ap.
pearance, has sat down to dinner. am to
show you there. y
began, and Pierson bore out my dis
claimer that he was mistaken; that we
could not be expected; that we We're sim
ply itinerant bicyclists lost in the blind
ness of the storm on the stretching moor
And we wondered who this gentleman
could be who displayed SO bizarre taste
In furnishing and dress of his lackey in
this forsaken spot, adding this new aberra-
ton Of the eccentricity possible in eccen-
trio millionaires Surprise was doubled
by the mans quick retort, "Ah, gentle
men, no mistake has been made, | assure
you'll"