The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-09-10

!.
sts' ..5ryA, q over the chimney
) s<J~~N1S3 piece, they've hung
Ri ~ here all my time
FIX /g.~ST1A and most OF my
a.S5t/&saSA fathers. Tho women
MN NSksa Won't touch chi
EiESsgS.s.)Z5SI they're afraid Of the
q LT1o7$yia7s story. SO here they'll
e SS:z:31z5jH d dust and i s,nSks lii
CZ~N another tenant comes
and 8tusses ,cm out O. doors for rubbish
Whcw! ',ris coarse weather, surely Il f3.
He went 10 the door, opened ~ q g, and
stood studying the gale that beat upon
his cottage front. straight from the MIN 'l!fHIf
ilcle Reef. The rain drove past him into
the Kitchen IKE threads OF gold silk
4 slantcd In the shine OF the wreck wood
fire. Meanwhile. by the same flrelight,.I
Z examined the relics on my Knee. Inc
metal Of each was furnished out Of All
recognition. But the trumpet was evil
IDENTIFY IN old cavalry trumpet. and the
threads OF Its parti-colorcd sling. though
y frayed and dusty, still hung together
Around tho side-drum, beneath It's
cracked brown yarnish. 4 could hardly
trace II royal cOat-of-arms and a3leBc1id
5runnlnglP Per Mare, Per 'Tcrrnm--the motto
OF the Marines. Its parchment though
black and smelling pungentiy OF wood
smoke, was limp snnd mlldcwed. ana 1
began to tighten up the straps. under
which tho drumsticks had been loosely
tnruSt,S WIN *l inc Jule puTpuSc VI VI Sll'6
III some music might be got out of the
old drum yet. II
But as / turned 1t on my knee L found
tho drum attached to the trumpet sling
by n curious, barrel shaped paddock and
paused TO examine this. Tie body, OF the
4 lock- was composcd OF half Il dozen brass
rings. set accurately edge to edge. and
rubbing the brass with my thumb, / saw
that each OF the six had a series OF
letters engraved around It.
al / knew the trick Of It, thought. Here
was one OF those word padlocks., once 80
common, onlyito be opened by gettinfl tho
rings TO spell a certain word which the
tr dealer. coniides to you'll was mistaken.
My host shut and barred the door and
came back to the hearth. 5shs
III Twas Just such Il wind-east By. south,
that, brought In what you've got be-.
tween your hnnds. Back in tic year
nine. It was; my father has told me
the tale a score O. times. You're twist
Ing round the rings. see. But you'll
never guess tho word. Parson Kendall,
K he made the word and locked down a
couple o ghosts in their graves with It,
and when his time came he went to his
own grave and took the word with him"
Whose ghosts. Matthew" 5
a"You want the story, ! see, sir. My
father could tell 1t better than ! can.
He was young man In the year nine,
! unmarried 1T the time, and living in this
n very cottage. Just as ! be. That's how
he came to get mixed up With the tale
X He took q chair, lit a short pipe and
went on, with his eyes fixed on the dane
Ing violet flames.
Yes, he'd hu' been about thirty year
old In January. eighteen mine. The storm
got UP In the night o. tho twenty-first
- that month. My father was dressed
aud out long before daylight: he never
was one&to bide in bed, let be that the
gale by this time was pretty near lifting
the thatch over his Head Besides which,
he'd fenced a small ,taty-pa tch that win
ter. down by Lowland Point and he
wanted to see IL II stood the nights work.
He took the path across Gunner's
Meadow-where5 they buried most of the
z bodies aftcrward The wind was right
in his teeth at the time, and once on
a the way (hcs told me this often) a great
y strip of orc-weed came flying through the
darkness and fetched him n slap on the
q cheek like a cold hanj. But he made
shift pretty well till he got to Lowland.
and then had to drop upon hands and
knees and crawl, Igging his fingers every
\ now and then into the single to hold
on, for he declared to me that the stones.
some OF them ms big as mans head.
kept rolling and driving past till 1t seem
ed the whole foreshore was moving vest
ward under him. The fence was gone,
q OF course; not a stick left to show where
It stood, so that, when first he came to
tho Mace. he thought he must have miss
cd his bearings. My father sir was .
very religious man; and u he reckoned
~. cnd Of the world was at hand-there
in the great wind and night, among tho
moving stones-you may believe De "as
" certain OF 1t when he heard gunrfireu 30
and. with tho same, saw TUNE sl'soe
IN ont of the darkness to- wlndWard'
3
nioce5 about. All he could find to think
~ sav was, ,grhe Second Cominng-Tlhe
n.cond Coming! The bridegroom cpmee IN,
IVA rhe wicked He will toss Ike " u
& into far Iand!" and being already upon
hia knees. he Just bowed his head ana
h;ded saying this over and aver
s,.Rut. by'm-by between two squalls, ne
m,da hold TO lift his head and look ana
then BY tho light-a blush color twas-ho
saw all the coast clear away 70 Mtliihtie
Point, and off tho Manacles, IN the thlch
of the weather, n sloop-ot-Wat VIII Up
roIiants housed driving stern fore
most toward the reef. 1t was
she. OF course, that was purh-
4 I'M the nare. MY father could see the
white streak and the ports OF her qulte
Main as she rose TO 1t, a little outside the
hreakers, and he guessed easy enough
that her captain had Just managed 10
wear ship, and was trying to force her
nose 20 the sea with the helR Of her
small bower anchor, and me scrap or
two of canvas that hadn't yet been blown
out OF her. But while he looked sl'e f ,.ll
off, giving her hrondssde to u, 1901 ny
foot, and drifting back on the preak NJ
around earn du and the Narses me
rocks lie SO thick thereabonts, that twas
n toss-up which she struck first ! at my
rate, my father couldn't tell at tho time,
for just then tho flare died down ana
went out,
We'll, sir, he turned thon In the dark
and started back for Coverack to cry inc
dismal tidings- though well knowing ship
I,S and crew to be past any hopc;iand ms he
< turned, the wind lifted him ahd tossed
y him forward like a ball. as he'd been
Y saying, and 1lonleward along the fore-
shore. AS YOU know, tbs ugly work,
oven by daylight picking your way
on,onp fhe stones there and nv IA ther