The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1898-03-10

on the part of the hazel wand. They
entered cave where goats had their
dwelling, and, as they passed over the
damp, sounding floor, Beppo stopped
suddenly, and, with great effort, ap
peared to restrain the bending twig,
which turned over in spite of him,
however, until its inverted segment
pointed to the earth.
"The treasure is here" said Beppo,
''but the difficulty is to move these
immense masses of stone. 1t won't
do to get assistance, and thus impart
our secret. Look, now, Marano, /
know of but one way by which We can
work it. While at the convent of
Cartagirone I learned much of the
occult sciences. and, among other
things, an incarnation by which rocks
can be moved. The process is expen
sive, however. You are wealthy; ao
vance me sixty ounces of gold. and l
will do the rest We will divide the
hidden treasure between u.s."
Cupid1ty overcame whatever eau
ton the old goldsmith mi ght have
been gifted with. Believing fully in
the supernatural power of Beppo Nal
detto, whispers of which had already
gone out through the community, he
agreed to advance the requisite gold,
and to meet him with it at the cave
on the following night.
Beppo was waiting for him. near
the entrance of the cavern, as he ap-
preached it stealthily in the gloom of
midnight carrying in leathern bag
the precious metal which was a ne
cessary ingredient for the incantations
by which the hidden treasure was to
be unearthed. Taking the bag from
the tremulous old goldsmith, Beppo
led him into the cave, and, standing
over the spot indicated by the magic
twig, began to work the charm by
drawing circle round it and chalk
ing strange figures On the rock, by
the dim light of dark lantern. Pre-
sently perfumed, unctuous smoke
began to fill the cave. Lurid lights
appeared here and there in the dark
recesses of it. Unearthly voices jib
bered frightfully amid the hollow
cloisters, and, just as Beppo had com
menced to arrange the golden ingots
within the charmed circle, the cavern
was lighted up with blue fire, and
seven frightful demons rushed upon
the luckless goldsmith and dubbed
him until he lay for dead upon the
ground. When he came to himself
all was dark and silent. The demons
mad vanished-so had Beppo, and
likewise the gold; and Marano wend-
ed his way homeward wiser as well
as a poorer man. And the worst of
all was that Beppo added insult to
injury, brazenly attributing the ca
tastrophe in the cavern to the spuri-
Gus quality of the gold, which, as he
asserted, had conjured up the wrong
kind of spirits.
With the funds thus realized by
him, Beppo fastened to take his de-
parture from his native city, which
was now beginning to wake up to
full sense of his proclivities. While
at Malta he fell in with another i'm
poster calling himself Althotas, with
whom he proceeded to the East. This
Althotas was coDjuror, who profess
ed the science of demonology and al
chemy, into the tricks of which he in-
itiated the facile Beppo, who soon
outstripped his master IN the practice
of the "black art" They took up
their position in Alexandria, in Egypt
where they obtained great influence
even over the better classes by their
extraordinary feats in witchcraft and
their astrological predictions. But
their most successful enterprise here
was pretended alchemical process
for converting hemp into silk. We
have all seen conjuror place cab
bage under tin cover, upon remov-
ing which, after certain display of
cabalistic flourish, the humble vege-
table was found to have taken upon
itself the improved form of rose in
full blow. 1t was by some such
sleight of hand that these sharpers
wrought to such great an extent upon
the credulity of certain wealthy mer-
chants of Alexandria, that stock was
subscribed by the latter to a large
amount, for carrying on tie manufac-
ture of silk from hemp. The hons
share of these funds fell into the
hands of Beppo, who absconded with
them, Immediately, for parts unknown.
After this Beppo seems to haye
been lost sight of for some time, until
he turned up at Rome, where, out at
elbows and out of pocket, he occu-
pied a small garret now at the sign
of the Sun in the Rotunda." Here
he enacted the part of the young ar
tist in difficulties. Entering into ar
rangements with tricky printseller,
be this time raised the wind, though
in small way, by the sale of origin
al pen sketches"
"These are clever pen-drawings I
see in your window" said al English
amateur, one day, entering the shop.
They are very rare, milord," re-
piled the printseller. II have one
here by Andrea del Sarto, for which L
have refused fifty crowns. Observe
the mastery firmness of the pen here.
Who but del Sarto could have dash
ed off such an effect as that with
nothing but a goose-ouill sDd bottle
of inkr'
The English amateur thought he
had fallen upon a hidden treasure
He expended a thousand crowns or so
upon mastery drawings" by del
Sarto, Rembrandt and others of great
name. lie took them with him to
Paris, where he exhibited them with
pride to a friend; but how utterly
blighted he felt when that friend, who
was practiced connoisseur, demon
strated to him that he had been ex-
pending his money upon defective
copies of well-known prints, touched
up with brown ink by the rascally
Beppo.
While at Rome, Beppo, on the score
of some small capital raised by him
out of this and similar swindles, made
arrangements for fitting himself out
as an astrologer and mountebank of
tirSt-claSS DratantiOnS Whila anooo