Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1905-06-08
By PROF. WILLIAM PECK.

And now, dear Clarence, see what
dainty breakfast have made ready
for us" said Helen, pointing gaily at
| the viands on the rock table.
81 am happy to see you so cheerful"
replied Clarence, drawing her to his
bosom and kissing her blushing cheek.
But before we eat let me look upon
the sea and sky | wish to see what
time Of day it is. | shall not be gone
long. Here" he added drawing a
leather covered packet from his bosom
and giving it to Helen, this will
amuse you while am away. | took
the liberty to draw it from the coat of
Lord Genlis last night, while he slept.
Know you anything of him, or of his
SOM"
| Nothing"
Very we'll; you may discover some
thing of their affairs by reading the
papers in this packet" said Clarence,
who then entered, upon his knees, the
narrow and winding passage by which
he had on the previous day discovered
| this retreat.
The passage was exceedingly irreg-
ular, winding, and often difficult to
traverse, and though the direct dis
lance from the cave to the small ledge
on the face of the cliff was not more
than hundred feet, the winding pas
sage was four times as great.
! Two or three similar passages cross
| ed this in which Clarence was, but he
did not now turn aside into either Of
them, for he had explored each to it's
end the day before, and discovered by
his sense of touch alone that each e..
| ed in a small and totally dark cave,
with no outlet nor opening save that
by which he had laboriously crawled
into it.
! With the prudent foresight which
strange arrival at Dun Aengus, he had
placed a recognizable stone at each
spot where these side passages cross
ed that which led from the open air to
the cave in which Helen now was, and
so was able to continue his tedious
way to the face of the cliff, with no
more delay than was caused by the
|
| When he reached the cliff end Of
this passage, which terminated in a.
small cave not three times larger than
a barrel, the top ledge and the lower
| edge of the cave jutting out like two
great lips of huge mouth, he sat
down to catch breath and to gaze at
| the sea and sky
| 10 hot
! was near and little past midday,
! for, though he could not see the sun
| from where he sat, the direction of it's
| rays told him that it was near its re
NTH.
| The air was fresh and calm, and the
| surface Of the Atlantic ocean gently
| heaying. There was naught visible in
! sky or on the sea to tell of that fierce
| storm which had cast Clarence ashore
and shattered his boat on the rocks at
| the base of Dun Aengus cliff.
Far in the distance could be seen
| single sail.
Clarence had scarcely had time to
make these observations when he was
| startled by the clatter of loose stones
above, and by seeing several leap off,
| az 1t were, from the jutting rock or
| ledge over his head into the air, and
/ go whirling down to the sea at the
! base of the cliff.
The ledge, or uppeI part Of the
caves mouth, prevented Clarence from
seeing what was going on above, and
to fully explain the cause of these
falling fragments OF rock it is neces-
| sary to return for a short time to the
interior of Dun Aengus barracks.
| Not long before the hour Of noon Of
this day-the 4th Of April, 1665-Neil
| Bashfort was the first of Lord Genlis'
party to awake.
He had slumbered with the expecta-
/ ton that his wife, Martha, would be
astir soon after sunrise, and that she
would arouse him, if he should be still
sleeping at that hour.
| But Martha, locked in that profound
| lethargy caused by the drugged wine,
did not awake to rouse her husband.
| The Osreds had slept with the ex-
pectation that Bashfort would. arouse
| them to breakfast about an hour after
sunrise, or even later. So all three
| had slept on in that deep and long re-
pose which so often follows much ex-
element and great exhaustion; nor
| had the deep drinking in which the
three had INDUCED during the previous
night been without its sporific effect.
! Neil Bashfort awoke at last, and the
first OF all, and stared drowsily about
him for time, with much yawning
and rubbing Of his eyes, until, as he
sat up in his bed on the floor, his gaze
rested upon the tive bullets in the
door
"Oh" he growled, 81 remember now
II am at Dun Aengus! A curse take
the place! wish was aboard my
| lugger off Dover. Had fit last night;
yes, and thought saw the devil, or
4the same thing to me, that phantom
face. There's where shot at what I
thought saw. Bah! Now that it is
daylight, ! fear no ghosts. What's the
| time OF day."