The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1898-08-17

| luOSC " uCT Ieet, anu tuen went CurV-
ing down a shining path between two
rows of willows to round the mountain
which lowered against the eastern
sky like great green wall. The rat
tie of wheels lessened and finally grew
still. The shadows deepened along the
river bottoms, and soon behind the end
of Massanutten rising glow foretoId
the moon. 1t grew and frightened un-
til the rim of the golden disk, that
night at the full, had just come into
view. Then, with sudden thought,
Lucy got up and went into the hall.
There hung the battered but powerful
spy-glass that had seen service on this
same mountain in the days when
Stonewall Jackson and Fremont and
Banks and Shields were at their grim
debate. The glass was too heavy to
manage without a support. Lucy
rested it across the front gate, adj
justed it, and put her eye to the eye
piece.
! The moon was coming up behind a
spot on the end of the mountain which
seemed to be bare of trees, and every
rock, every irregularity ofthe surface
stood out in sharpest outlineiagainst
the mellow background of the light.
| The tea bell rang; but the young as
| tronomer was conscious of nothing
but the glorious spectacle before her.
| All too soon for her unsatisfied sight,
| the disk began to draw away and show
a lessening arc of shadow. But now
thing happened at sight of which she
caught her breath in shock of sur
prise. There was some change among
the stones so sharply drawn against
the face of the moon. Something there
had moved; and now the half of hui
man figure uprose, with barred head
and long hair falling about the neck,
stood some moments, thus distinct and
unmistakable, and then sank slowly
down again.
The moon was almost clear of the
mountain. Eagerly, almost breath
lessly, Lucy was watching now. She
saw it again, not so distinctly as be-
fore, but certainly she saw something
move among the shadows. In an in
slant the great golden ball had swung
clear and begun once more it's nightly
journey through the skies.
In the meantime something else had
happened, something of which Lucy
had taken no heed. A belated train
had rumbled into town, and soon after
carriage had driven up the lawn to
the gate. Now she heard the voice of
her hostess calling to her: Lucy, your
father is here"
That days experiences had the
looked-for effect, and Lucy woke the
next morning with one of her nervous
headaches. Her father, who was de-
votedly fond of his motherless girl,
came up at once to see her; but she
could not talk even to him, and by and
by he went off to town to get the morn
ing paper.
The people of Strasburg still cling
to their old village customs, and now
as Lucy lay, hoping that the headache
was passing off, she heard the Presby
terian church bell begin to toll. She
attended that church and knew many
of it's members, and she dimly won
dered who was dead. The voices of the
servants on the back porch came up
through the open window between the
slow strokes of the bell. Lucy
counted II strokes, and the bell began
to ring. Then she heard name spok
en- in the servants talk outside, and at
once got up and went to the window
It was Adela Sisco, lost, drowned in
the Shenandoah, the servants said; and
the bell was calling the people together
to form search parties to drag the
river.
Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Monroe,
the mistress of Locust Hill, was driv-
ing rapidly to town, with Lucy Beach
am by her side "She was the best, the
sweetest girl knew" Mrs. Monroe was
saying, sadly; and her companion
echoed the speech. She, too. had come
to know Adela well, and admired in
tensely the dark young beauty, whose
shy and quiet ways could not conceal
her worth.
The whole community, indeed, was
| moved; but Mrs. Monroe could get but
| little news in town. The track walker
| on the railroad which crossed the river
at the end of the mountain had seen
woman going toward the bridge at
noon the day before. That was the
only news; but that, coupled with the
fruitless night-long search already
made, confirmed the general belief
| that Adela had been drowned A large
party had already started to the river.
Lucy had as yet spoken to no one of
her queer vision. The night before she
had hardly had opportunity, and to-
day the tragic news had driven it out
of her mind. She had accepted, with
out question, the popular verdict as to
Adela's fate. But now as she and her
companion drove slowly home, still
talking sorrowfully of the lost girl,
Lucy's eyes CHANGED to rest moment
on the mountain, and memory and
wild suggestion flashed through her