Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-11-08

| peared to be happiest when in trouble,
and for the next two years Alec and
continued to live in state of intermit-
tent rebellion with those in authority.
We both hankered after excitement,
and the pursuit of it continually led US
into hot water. Now it would be q
scuffle with his lordship's men for snar-
ing his lordship's grouse, now a brawl
in tavern and now, again. a threat Of
severe punishment for soaring half the
town with turnip lantern on a dark
| winters night. Once we went off for
a whole week and lived like comics
among the hills. and on another occa-
sion we hid ourselves in a ships hold
! and sailed down to Scarboro in her
and then tramped the whole way back
over the moors on foot.
| Adventures like these cemented our
| friendship and taught us to be quick
and ready in emergencies. but they did
| not tend to increase our popularity
| with those in authority. and to such an
| extent did our i'll repute spread that
| when anything went wrong or any evil
| was committed of which the perpetra-
| tors were not AZ once discovered every
| finger pointed to Alexander Ireland
and John Topp as the culprits. And,
| truth to tell. these judicial digits did
| not often point askew.
Alec. indeed. pursued his studies
| with some amount of diligence; but as
| for me the perpetual war which
| waged with the schoolmaster was far
| too bitter to admit of my profiting by
| his efforts TO instruct me. increased,
| therefore. in very little except stature,
but in that bid fair to be pre-eminent
in Whitby.
My eventual sudden departure from
ed boiling over of pan of water. and
this is how IT came about:
! had gone to see my sweetheart
Inez and Alec had, as usual, accom-
panied me. He still took great pleas
ure in the sea songs she used to sing
to us, and. besides, his presence was a
help to our lovemaking, as he was al
ways willing to converse with Dame
CARAT and so divert her attention
from Inez to me when we happened to
wish to speak of anything of an espe-
cially private nature. We had a pre-
arranged system of signals by which /
could always let him know when /
wanted him to talk louder than usual,
and. to tell the truth. our knowledge Of
the code was In no danger of growing
rusty from want of use.
On this particular night, however.
the conversation had been of other
nd t1lo
had been discussing the marvellous
wealth of the new world. and Alec and
| had fought wordy battle about the
relative merits of glory and gold. He
was all for glory, and was for gold
first and glory only as an afterthought
when the gold was safe below matches.
Jack" said Inez to me when Alec
and had, in our despair Of converting
one another, come to a controversial
deadlock, there are other ways of
making gold than by fighting for It."
eyes, sweetheart, / know there are"
/ answered, "but you would not have
me to become SNUG faced merchantT
mo, but there are other ways STILL
"The devils work. cried.
my fathers work, Jack" replied
Inez gravely.
Eyes, sweetheart and / wish 1t were
not" l began when Alec interrupted
me.
Jack, my boy, you're fool. How
can the devil have anything to do with
1t? The trades respectable enough,
though II doesn't seem to be very prof
table to its professors-a sure sign, by
the way, that it's an honest one."
Jack" said Inez, will you see for
yourselfT"
"Visit Don Miguel at his work"
"Yes"
"Not Iv' I said, with n shudder. 81
should expect to be enchanted.
Alec, however, chaffed me for my
superstitious fears and said that moth
ing would please him better than to
see how the work was done. Now, to
be called a coward In the hearing OF
my sweetheart was naturally more
than / could stand, so l told Alec /
would go with him.
Inez said there was window In the
pantry from which we could see Don
MiguePs laboratory without his know-
ing that any one was watching him, so
we stationed ourselves there. Alec was
all curiosity to see what was going on;
but, though tried to conceal my fears,
was horribly afraid that some unholy
sight would meet my eyes. From my
cradle l have been taught that 1t is al
ways safest to shun the devil and his
works, and l believe 1t to be a thor
oughly good rule.
Don MiguePs laboratory was fear
some place. There were rows upon
rows OF retorts and TASKS OF various
quaint shapes, shelves with big, dusty,
learned looking books on them, cases
of bottles containing tinctures OF vari-
Gus colors, both dull and bright; char
coal furnaces, and steaming watts or
bubbling liquids. The floor was mark
ed out into arcs, circles. triangles and
every sort of uncanny geometrical hg-
ure, and one corner of the room was
entirely filed by a large blast furnace,
over which Don Miguel was leaning,
intently watching some substance that
was kissing and gurgling In an earth
enware crucIble.
There was no light in the room ex-
cept that which the glow OF the fur
mace gave, and as at each blast II burn
ed up brightly and shone for n moment
on the pale, eager face OF the alchemist
and then died away in n gloom again
which by contrast was almost dark
ness | thought | had never gazed upon
such an unholy scene.
AS we watched we saw that crit
ical point In the process had evidently
been reached. The Spaniard was trem-
bling and mutterlng as he peered into
the crucible whenever the Dragons
breath OF the furnace gave him light,
and, though we could not hear what he
said. II was perfectly clear that he was
wildly exclted--unless, perhaps, 1t was
the working of madness that we saw.
BY and by he seemed 70 see the sign
for which he was looking. With low
cry OF delight, more like the yapping or
n dog than anything else, he stopped
the furnace blast and lit rushlight
candle. Then he took the crucible
from the flames and poured the con-
tents into another vessel.
For four or five minutes he held 1t
up to the light. and during all that
time, ns he watched the silent work
ings OF his hell broth in the vessel, !
/ never once saw his eyelids blink Then