Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-22

town, It's nomenclator. in fact. The old
Greeks would have raised a statue and an
altar to him in their market place. and
have worshiped him as their hero epony-
nous. And here he lies neglected and for
gotten!
Shade of the mighty! Can It be
That this is all remains of thees
SIS this wasted bone the high arm
spoken of on the runic ring? Where be
now its feats of strength? And where is
the wealth won by his ashen spear? the
riches that conferred upon him the epithet
of Golden? the treasure placed within the
lofty tomb by his wife, Hilda, the Morse
prophecies? Vanished! WHITTIER? Removed
by whom? and whenY Did Magnus of
Deira really receive the runic ring dis
patched to him by his mother? Did he
come here in ancient days to remove his
heritage. or has the treasure been taken
by other, perhaps modern, hands? If 500
by whose? BY the masked man Of Qui-
laix's? BY Captain lRochefort's or by
my N.Y., fath the. Have they left any trace of
His eyes rowing around the chamber were
attracted by a fabric lying at the foot Of
one of the walls.
What have we here?" he said. stepping
forward and picking 1t up. "a piece of
cloth! VIII this give us clue to the men
who were here last?"
For better inspection he carried the cloth
to the light of the fire. When unrolled the
fabric proved to be obiong in shape, six
feet by four, its edges very much frayed,
and it's surface SO defaced by clay that 1t
was impossible at first to discover It's tex
ture, color or use.
II see what 1t is" he remarked at last.
Look at that triangular shred of cloth
hanging from the metallic rod; Its shape
tallies with the triangular rent in this
fabric. This has been torn from that rail;
it is part Of the tapestry that once decked
the walls of this chamber. am disappoint-
ed again; thought to find modern ves-
ture. and am put off with ancient tapestry
He began to scrape the fabric with his
Denknife,
II can detect some colored threads" he
went ut is figured arras; but 1t Is
impossible at present to make out
what the flures are. Here are some
letters, too 1 can detect n. and T. We
must keep this. When cleaned it
may prove to be an interesting find
of a more ancient date, unless my chronicle
gy be at fault. than the famous BayeuX
tapestry. What puzzles me is. why the
man who carried off the rest of the tap
estry should leave this behind him.
Probably because 1t Is d torn remnant"
But it would be a very simple matter to
sew 1t to the main piece again. Do you
notice how the rail is bent where the three
eornered bit is?' -
Godfrey looked and saw that the rod was
bent downward. esu .,s
What inference do You draw from that?"
Idris asked. ,:s
THAT somebody must have been Juggling
curvature" s.,,..
Exactly. But why should any one.
wrench SO violently at the tapestry, tapes
try that was evidently regarded as valu-
able. otherwise it would not have been
carried Off" Sa.,sr:
Godfrey shrugged his shoulders at the
apparent irrelevancy Of Idris' remarks.
Your question is not susceptible of an
answer. s -.
.'True-at present !: But an Investigator
should take note of every circumstance.
may fail to discern its true Significance
But seeing that the tapestry may have
been carried off centuries ago. it is difficult
to discover .,f the present saaplieation OF your
'on the other hand. 1t may MAJ 'Sh have va been
carried OF only recently: 1t is these recent
traces that I wish to tind Somehow, this
bent rod attracts me. Ahr
Whilst speaking thus he suddenly recalled
an incident that had occurred during his
previous exploration In the dark. f.
Godfrey, your divinius rod. am half
a-believer in Its powers. At any rate 1 am
going to try an experiment. -.sl.. =.
Taking the hazel stick he walked to that
part Of the wall where The shred of tapestry
Either I am dreaming" he said, cor
singular experience befeii me at this spot
| Standing In the same position as before
he extended the stick horizontally. explain
Ing to Godfrey the reason for his act.
But Solomon's saying, The thing that
hath been 1t Is that which shall be-" was
not verified on the present occasion. Though
Idris waited patiently for several minutes
the rod manifested none of the downward
tendency that 1T had previously shown.
Godfrey himself took the stick and tried
the experiment, but with no better re-
suit. He expressed his opinion that 1dris
must have been the victim Of an Illusion:
but to this Idris would not assent
The rod does not turn now, that's clear.
But that 1t did turn am confident. 1t was
no fancy Of NINE"
Let US dig" said Godfrey. "and see
whether there Is anything beneath the
soil that could have caused it,
With these words he took up the spade
and began digging. Idris followed his ex-
ample. welding the pickax. but found,
after few strokes, that some hard sub
stance prevented the point Of the imple-
ment from penetrating to a greater depth
than three or four inches
This earth Is mere superficial deposit,
percolations from the roof said Idris.
There is stone flooring beneath"
In few moments they had cleared
away the terrene deposit. discovering
nothing, however. except block of
smooth masonry. at which Idris dealt
few strokes by way of experiment.
Hump seems solid enough. The dull
sound given forth is hardly suggestive Of
a cavity. What made the rod curve, /
wonder?"
Finding no answer to this question. he
turned reluctantly away, and began to ex-
-plore other parts of the chamber. He made
a careful examination of it's flooring al
lowing no part of 1t to escape him. With
the spade he swept aside. the black water
he probed the ground at various points.
discovering everywhere stone pavement be-
meath the superficial covering of earth
The object that he was hoping to find
a match box. or a button bearing the
makers name the dated sheet Of a news
paper, a scrap of handwriting, a handker-
chief marked with the owners initials,
or some article Of like character-existed
only in his fancy. A thorough search on
the part OF the two friends failed to bring
anything to light. eitherso on the surface
of the floor or embedded within the clay.
There was nothing to indicate the date
at which the tumulus Had been last en-
tered; whether ten, twenty or a hundred
years before. For all they could tell to
the contrary many centuries might have
passed since Its interior had been trodden
by human footsteps ! -, ]
RelinQuishfng at last his fruttless la
bors Idris seated himself on the edge Of |
the Vikings tomb with disappointment |
written on his features !
Il have SO long chung to the hope that |
this place would affofd q clue to the find |
ing OF my father that cannot give up |
the notion even now, when It's futility |
seems most apparent. YOU may think me !
fancifui. Godfrey. but something seems to |
whisper that there are traces OF him here, |
IL did but know where to look for them. |
And yet. suppose. we have done all that |
1t Is possible to do?"