The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-06-05
By JOHN H. RAFTERY.

OLD Dr. herman SnuuaCe
and his son, Maurice, was the old
mans old-country idea5 about money.
He was already a millionaire, but he
refused to extend to Maurice the
slightest financial aid or the least en-
couragement to hope for a rich in
heritence. He made two provisos,
without the ful6llment Of which his
! son. he said, was to have not a penny
/ of his wealth. First, the boy must
marry. The father didn't care who
she was provided Maurice married
her in the orthodox way, but a wife
he must get. Then he must earn, &C
quire or at least prove the ownership
of at least a thousand dollars in his
own right before he could expect
either countenance or help from his
father.
These were harsh requirements
for a young man of Maurice Shu-
mates temperament, for he was born
in New York, reared among well-to-
do young Americans, and utterly de-
void of those cautious, economical,
old-fashioned qualities which made
his father a harsh master in spite of
his natural amiability.
Having degrees from half a dozen
European universities, Herman Shu-
mate was entitled to the doctor"
epithet, though he had never prac-
ticed medicine. An expert chemist
and poison specialist, master of the
materia medica and inventor of two
successful processes Of emblaming,
he had achieved his greatest success
and most of his millions as manager
and stakeholder of a rich chemical
mandatory. The boy, Maurice, was
a rake at twenty-one and a harum-
scarum, popular, utterly irresponsible
man-about-town at twenty-five. Then
he was stricken with pneumonia and
,empyema, and his creditors began to
harry his father. When he was
strong enough to walk Che weighed
only 100 pounds) his fatheg gave him
500 and said:
You'll get we'll If you so to a
good climate and sleep nine hours a
day. You can come back or not as
you choose. But I will pay no more
of your bills. I will feed and house
you no longer. II you get married
and make your first thousand dollars,
all right. 7 will see"
1t was a harsh sentence, ind it
hurt Maurice, but he was very weak,
and only smiled wanly as he said:
al don't blame you, dad. But
where would you go?'
go. to the devil, if you like"
growled the doctor, who had seen
that smile before. Here's your hun
,dred dollars
when Maurice was gone, old Dr..
Shumate began to fret. ILe became
more active than ever, more interest
ed in scientific research, mor penu-
rious, and more solitary in his habits
than before. When winter came on
:. he decided to go into the Southwest
to examine some of the mummies of
the cliff jewellers, with an idea of dis
covering some Of the secrets Of their
embalming processes. He explored
Mancos and other remote carons in
Colorado and Mexico, and then be-
came absorbed in the prcservative
cerements enWrapping the monks
buried beneath the old Spanish mis-
sions Of southern California, Texas
and Mexico. 1t was at San Pietro
that he stumbled across a bit of in
formation that set his scientific soul
afire. He had tried in vain to induce
Herr Knauss. the German keeper of
the old mission, to open the long
sealed tombs that lay beneath the al
tar stones of the chapel. He had be-
come very friendly with the old Gus
todian, who vas from Nuremburg,
and he had been almost generous
with his fees. But no, the property
belonged to the Franciscans and he,
Knauss, being only a renter, was
pledged to protect every part and
parcel of the antique buildings and
historic grounds.
"But there is another ruins whis-
pered Knauss. Il think it is an old
burial vault, in an adjoining farm.
If you will risk a few hundred dol
lars perhaps"
"Try it, try it, my friend" ex-
claimed the enthusiast. when can
you, begin?"
The old German insisted hat the
matter must be kept secret, but he
would let his patron know the result
of the excavation. 1t was a very
much delapidated structure, mostly
under ground, filled with earth,
stones and the debris of more than
two centuries. 1t would take time.
But Dr.. Shumate had been in Mont
Grey only I week when he got a Ger
man letter from Herr Knauss. The
digger, toiling alone at night and
aided by his daughter, had unearthed
many bones, but-most ~extraordi-
nary Of ala perfectly preserved
corpse, probably that Of an abbot.
Post haste back hurried Dr.. Shu-
mate TO San Pietro, full of his secret
and eager to investigate, hoping
against hope that he might become
the possessor Of the mummy. 1t was
a seven-mile drive to the mission
home of Knauss, but the doctor was
there before 8 o'clock in the morning
after his arrival at the railroad sta
ton. Knauss was from home. Frau
lein Matilda, the daughter, who was
very pretty and spoke English per-
fectly, didn't know. The women
stared at DR.. Shumate. He decided
to keep secret the purpose of his visit
and was driving off, when Matilda