Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1901-06-05
l0oo0o 5000 600 1000 100000
( A MOUNTAIN
| SIREN =
; BY JobD
7 Winthrop Green

600 oooooooooooooo c

& Winthrop Green &
g copyIsht, 1sYl, y 6
Zoo oooooooo oooo oooo ooooH
When man has story to tell, be-
lieye he should be permitted to tell 1t
in his own way and that the reader
should not sheer and criticise because
the teller must use the personal pro-
noun and perhaps refer to his percep-
ton or his prowess. If it is his nd
venture, how can he avoid saying, II
did thus or sol" If his courage pulled
him out Of tight place, why seek to
demean 1t? A man Is what he is. If
things have happened to him which
may be Of interest to others, let him
write them Us they took place, wheth-
er he was hero or n craven.
Your atlas will show you that the
eastern Carpathian mountains form n
portion Of the boundary line between
Servia and Bulgaria. If you cross any
where to the north of Prot, you must
cross the range. In my wanderings
afoot I had planned to cross the range
by the public road between Prot and
Nissa, but for three days was guest
at a poor little wayside inn in the shad-
ow Of the foothills. This inn differed
in no degree from hundred others, be-
ing only awretched apology for q house
of entertainment, but had made q
long tramp and wanted a breathing
spell before the long and rugged as
cent. The landlord was a silent, morose
man, giving me little attention, and his
wife was sloven with face which q
man would look at twice only for its
wickedness. The beds and the fare
were Of the meanest, but as 1 had ex-
pected nothing better was not disap-
pointed.
On the second day Of my arrival us
was walking along the banks Of a
stream half mile from the inn an
English pedestrian came along. That
is, he was pedestrian in the sense
that he was afoot. AS soon rs he
learned who I was he told me that q
cousin Of his had journeyed that way
three months before, but had mysterl-
ously disappeared. The missing man
had been traced as far US Prot. he
was known to have set out for the
mountain road, but he could not be
traced into Bulgaria. Somewhere on
the mountain trail he had vanished
from sight. The story did not interest
me overmuch. American and English
pedestrians abroad have a habit Of dis
appearing from the world now and
then, and 1t Is learned later on that
they were tucked away in some OBJ
scure inn or camped amid some old
ruin. The searcher passed on to my
inn and made inquiries and two hours
later informed me that he had secured
no news.
That evening second searcher ar
rived. he was native Servian, living
at Leskovatz, and had been hired by q
Frenchman to prosecute inquiries re
garding the disappearance Of young
man Of 20 who was making pedestri-
an tour. Indeed I soon recalled the
fact of meeting the young man at Sc
mendria two months previously. he
had headed for the Carpathians and
Bulgaria, and he had also disappeared
on the mountains. Even when the two
disappearance were coupled together
saw nothing alarming. It was not
until the third day that I felt I had
cause for speculation. Then a police
Official who had been sent out from
Novlbazar by the widowed mother Of q
young man who had disappeared as
Imysteriously as the other two reached
the inn. This young man, who simply
set out for two weeks tramp in order
to boast Of having crossed the Carpa-
thians, had been traced to within five
miles Of the inn, but the landlord and
his wife stoutly denied that he had
ever reached 1t. There were roads
by which he could have branched of
and continued his way, but yet the Off.
cial was not satisfied. He frankly told
me that he believed young Hull had
come to the inn and been made away
with for the money he carried. had
seen nothing suspicious, and he had nc
real grounds for an accusation, but he
went away, saying that he would have
the place watched.
| was ready to take my departure OF
the fourth day, when there was sud
den change in the demeanor Of thu
landlord and his wife. All at once they
became obsequious and smiling ant
solicitous. A nice lunch was put up fol
me, and they refused pay for It. was
given the clearest directions and wa.
told that almost as soon rs had begun
the ascent Of the mountain woult
find IN interesting ruin a little of thu
road. It was something ought not t.
miss, and they kept extolling 1t until
promised to turn aside. I set of ii
good spirits, though wondering bit a.
to the sudden and singular change ii
the people Of the inn, and by noon
had covered distance Of IL miles.
passed two inns without stopping ant
likewise three or four peasants huts
and when I sat down to rest 1t was OF
large stone by the roadside and clos
beside one Of the branches Of the Dan
ube. I nibbled at lunch as rested
and had been sitting perhaps 20 min
utes when young woman with a f1sl
pole in her hand suddenly appeared.
gave her good day as a matter o
course and was not much surprise,
when she laid down her pole ana cam
and sat beside me and began to asl
questions. She was peasant girl o
J about "a, better dressed and bette
looking than the average, and in ad
dressing a stranger she broke no rul
Of conventionality according to tn
peasant code. l invited her to shar
my lunch, and presently we were chat
ting away like old acquaintances.
In many instances the peasants o
Servia had displayed more curiosit
than born Yankee, but this girl wen
, deeper than any of them. Some of he