The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-23

set off frecrackers and have a balloon
ascension, with fireworks in the even
ing. Quite the contrary, for the
Fourth of July in the past had always
been the greatest day of the year.
Griggsville had thought it all over, re-
Numbering that crops were bad, thatthe
times were hard and that taxes were
high, and had come to the conclusion
that it would need all the money it
could get for winter fuel and buck
wheat -four and bacon.
All of the older folks agreed with
this decision; not without many mourn
full shakes of the head, but the boys of
Griggsville were much displeased.
cts what I call a burning shame"
shifted Jack Morris when he heard the
news.
eyes," chimed in Rudy Wilson,
"Alden's Mills and Norcross and
Simpsons Landing and nearly every
town in the county is going to have a
celebration, and now Griggsville has
backed out"
"Course all of our games are off"
remarked Dick Lansing, disconsolate-
ly; ''no team will come here to play IN
less there is something going on"
Dick was the manager of the Griggs-
vile Baseball Club and he felt the dis
appointment deeply.
For a moment all the boys were ST.
lent, as if the weight of the affection
was too Creator expression. Presently
Will Spencer blurted out:
"Let's have q celebration anyway.
I've got a few dollars I'll put into it
and we can get enough more among
the boys to make something of a show
at least-and we'll leave the old folks
out of it, too"
"That's all very well," returned
Dick, "but it's easier said than done"
and there the matter dropped.
The next day when the boys met at
the ball field Will came rushing up the
street, evidently much excited. As
soon as he was within hearing he
shouted:
GIVE got it, fellows, I've got it,"
"Well, out with it, old man; don't
keep us in suspense" replied Dick,
who didn't think much of Wills many
plans. For Will had only lived in
Griggsville a short time and Dick was
a little jealous of his popularity.
As soon as Will recovered his breath
he unfolded his scheme. 1t was to go
down to Sullinger's Hole and find the
cannon and muskets that were sup
posed to lie hidden in its depths. Dur
ing the war the part of Missouri in
which Griggsville is located had been
overrun by rowing bands of marauders
belonging to both the Confederate and
Union armies, and it was on one of
these raids that the Southerners had
bounced down upon a quantity of
stores and ammunition held at Griggs-
vile, and, being unable to get entirely
sway with their plumber, they had
dropped it into ~Sullinger's Hole. All
this had been long known to the boys
of GriHsville,4 whose fathers and
mothers often told of the wild day of
the raid, and pointed out the bullet
IuTTOHS III tueu uOuueS. auo Icy
knew, too, all about Sullinger's Hole.
It lay at the end of a tangled path
among the hazel brush and prickly ash
at the bottom of the bluff which shell
tered Griggsville. 1t was a quiet,
CLASSY pool with a harmless little
stream trickling into it, but no outlet
that any one knew about. Grass and
weeds and a few yellow water lilies
grew close around its edges, but at its
centre, it was said. no one had ever
found bottom, although more than one
of the men of Griggsville had sounded
the pool. The earliest settlers in the
county had called it the ''haunted
pool" but ever since old man Sullin-
ger had scoffed at the idea and had
gone bathing in its waters, never to
return, it had been known as Sullin-
gers Hole. All these things the boys
knew and they avoided the dark pool.
They neither skated on it in winter nor
swan in it in summer, although a few
of the drawer ones had fshed around
its edges and caught big, lazy, old bass
and pickerel. It was, therefore, not
81. al surprising that BUDDY Wilson