The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-21
Gle bot1le Reading Circle
Author of "The Track of a Storm"
BY OWEN HALL.
Copyright, 1895, by the Bachelor Syndicate

| oriental features of the landscape,
which had not yet had time to lose
| their charm since l had landed a
! month before at Bombay. We made
| good progress, and by the time we
| reached the spot that had been chos-
en- for our midday half and meal we
! began to feel that we had diminished
! a good deal Of the eighteen hundred
| feet that represented the difference in
I elevation of the temples at Murishabad
| and the Cantonments at Koondewalla.
The stately teakwood trees, the most
| striking feature Of the vegetation Of
| the higher level, were rapidly giving
| way to masses of tropical looking foli-
age and shrubs. There was still great
| trees, indeed, but the wide-spreading
| banyans with their many stems and
| fig-like foliage, the wool tree, with it's
vast leaves, and the stately tobacco
plants were becoming more and more
mingled with the palms and the hun
| dred other vegetable forms that tell
so unmistakably of a tropical forest.
| The spot chosen for our halt was a
| romantic one, and it was rendered still
| more so by the close neighborhood of
| an old hill fort, said to have dark
! history In the old Mahratta wars, and
! even to have been used as a robber
| stronghold in much more modern
| times. The preparations for lunch
were not yet complete, and it was pro-
| posed that we should spend the time of
| waiting in exploring the old fort. 1t
! stood but a short distance perhaps
! two hundred yards to one side of the
| road on which we were--and the idea
was hailed as a good one and acted upon
at once, at least by the younger mem
! bers of the party. Most of us dis
| mounted and sought one or the other
! of the forest paths which appeared to
| promise short cut to the fort the top
! of which, dark and threatening look
| ing, could be seen rising out of the
| masses of tropical jungle that lay be-
| tween us and the higher ground on
which the old robber fastness had been
| built.
| Perhaps it was a little spice of ma
| tive obstinacy that led me to cling to
my bicycle instead of joining one of
| the parties on foot. whose laughing
/ voices made the echoes of the jungle
| ring with the unaccustomed sounds of
| pleasure and amusement. Reasons are
| nearly always mixed and l didn't take
| the trouble to analyZe my own as
| once more mounted and pursued the
| road we had been travelling a little
| farther, in search Of the place where
| it must be Joined by the path leading
! up to the fort. In a minute or two
| had reached it. The old fort builders
! had made no attempt to conceal the
| approach to their stronghold, and
| paused for a moment to admire the
| unstinted use of patient labor that had
| been spent in hewing away the beetl-
| ing granite crag, round the foot of
| which it swept to join the main road.
! The sounds of laughter higher up the
| hill, however made me face the steep
| ascent, and it was only after five min
| utes Of rather harder work than was
| pleasant that~I found myself on the
| level of the fort. Even here | was at
the actual level of the entrance, for
the ground dipped once more into a
hollow rising suddenly to the ruined
! gateway.
glanced round and saw that as yet
none of the others had arrived. The
hollow before me was not deep, and
| letting my bicycle go, the impetus of
| the descent carried me with a rush up
| to the very entrance. 1 was in the
very act, and within a few yards of
| the gateway, when my eyes met a
mans face looking out at me through
| the shadow of the arch. 1t was the
face again-the very same face which
had fascinated me with the malign-
ant gaze it had fixed on our last nights s
| encampment from the hillside some
| hours before. The thought flashed
| through my mind with an irresistible
! conviction. The face was the same
! the same marked features, the same
eager cleaning eyes, the very same
| deadly fierce expression which had
! startled me in the morning. 1t flashed
out upon me from the shadows cast
| by the crumbling gateway for an in
| stant, and in the same instant it was
| gone.
! More startled now than I should
have cared to own,I leaped from my
machine and shouted a welcome to the
others of our party who We're now be-
ginning to straggle by twos and threes
! from the jungle. My victory was ac-
! kuowledged by the rest. and we pro-
ceeded to explore the old building. To
my surprise there was not q sign of the
man whose face I had just seen--he
had utterly disappeared. The fort
seemed to afford no place where he
! could lie concealed, and it was with a
sense of uneasy astonishment that
! failed TO find him. The rest of the par
~ were disposed to laugh at what they
called my apparition, and even identi-
fled it with the old Mahratta chief who
had built the fort couldn't laugh
myself out of the idea, however, nor
shake off the uneasiness which 1t
! caused me, and, after spending a few
minutes in convincing myself that the
man was really gone, remounted and
returned by the way had come.
Col. Maitland had stayed, with the
more matured portion of our party, at
the spot selected for the luncheon, and
there / found him seated on q camp
stool and watching, with all the in
terest of a well-seasoned East Indian,
the preparations for the meal.
Back first, Hall?" he exclaimed, as
! rode up TO where he sat under the
ample shadow of the wide-spreading
tree. "You made short work of the
fort, then" 1 had already decided to
tell the colonel my adventure, so | at
once explained to him what had seen.
mention the apparent identity Of the
men / had noticed.
You think he was the same man.
Mr. Hall, do you?" he said.
"Well, sir, hardly like to say so,
IL seems so unlikely, but confess l do
think So"
The colonel looked thoughtfully
around for a moment: well" he said
at last, most likely it's a mere coin
cidence. but / have just been hearing
that the neighborhood has been get