The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1902-05-02

Shpbeu out at Tue DICK Oh tne mouse
and made across the fields at an angle
that would bring me out, thought,
well up the glen and in time to inter-
cept my laird If he wandered that far.
When l had got into the glen, sat
down behind fallen tree and looked
down through the rocky chasm, and
there was my laird toiling up toward
me on the opposite bank.
l got up from my concealment and
began again TO ascend the glen, which
grew wilder and more fearsome in it's
solitude rs climbed higher. Far away
among the ruins of natures conflict I
could see at last the figure of the laird,
his form coming in sight for moment
Of time and lost again for longer space.
What brought him here was the ques-
ton on my mind, and like riddle I
was repeating 1t, searching for an an
swer, but the more l puzzled over 1t
the more unaccountable it all was and
the more there was growing upon me
the awful conviction that around us all
there was some unholy mystery hover
ing and that not only my masters rea-
son was inthrallcd with some strange
spell, but that my own spirit was feel
ing the influence of unnatural and awe
great din and confused rumble Of
sounds about me, yeti was somehow
only conscious of silence deep and
overwhelming, and when a stick broke
under my foot with n snap or stone
looscncd from the path fell rafting
from Il ledge the sound gave me a
shock like that Of terror, so solitary
and deadly lone was the place.
I was crouching near st. Cuthbert's
cairn, which could see dimly rearing
its vine grown pile of stones to the
stature Of n man. Under this monu-
ment long years since the bones Of st.
Cuthbert, borne by his pious brethren
In cloak and cowl, had been buried,
and there the waters below had sung
ever since n wild requiem for his souls
repoSc.
The place of the cairn was ever n
GrcwSomc one, and now in the shad-
ows of approaching night, stealing out
from bush and tree and lurking be-
hind the deep, tangled clumps of forest
growth, it seemed throne where
;olemnity might sit brooding undisturb-
cd for eternal years. | could see the
laird, who had come out upon Il piece
of shelving rock and was standing look
Ing down into the gorge as though
musing. All, but it was strange to see
him there! There in solitude, en-
shrouded in this Deep lonely glade
amid the gurgle of falling waters and
the roar and tumble Of the torrents,
was my master, his soul troubled with
wild emotions, wandered from his own
frcSide, to stand there filled with such
strange thoughts and mad fancies as
God only knew and which l could but
imagine were neither human nor whole.
some.
1t was growing dark now, and as the
shadows grew thicker my lnird's form
was dim and uncertain against the
black background of the wild growth
behind him, but l saw him turn toward
the head of the glen again and come on
Soon lost him entirely for Il time but
when next caught sight of his moving
figure he was almost opposite to me, SO
that might have called to him, but In
the roar OF the water / could not have
pNN'' hNs'iu Wy LUZ lHueeu IO SOunu
of human voice could have been heard
there, and, though l listened with an
overstrained sense, could not hear his
step nor the rattling Of the loose stones
which l knew his feet set a-rolling
Not three rods from me did he pass on
the opposite side of the glen. 1 could
sec his features dimly, and there was
thought, nothing uncommon in them
He seemed as one in deep thought and
yet as one alive to his surroundings
and listening to the sounds about him
Upward he went, and saw him pass
the cairn and Stand moment on @
ledge of rock. l saw him pause there
with his face toward me, and then
down he sat on the edge of the rock
and leaned his head on his hands.
For long space, it seemed to me, !
saw him sit, never moving OF changing
his position, as though charmed with
the spell Of this dread sanctuary of
solitude, removed from men and mems
ways, fit spot for spirits to dwell.
Here amid the strange voices OF ma.
ture, whispering and moaning, he sat
alone, and so he was still sitting when
the darkness Of night came down, as it
were, all in moment upon the glen,
black and impenetrable, burying him
and all other things in the thick murk
Of midnight.
My mind had been in no state Of
comfort before, and now it was fast
bringing Inc to the verge OF terror, for
as looked about me, trying to pene
trate the darkness, shapes were begin.
ming to loom before me, and at length