Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-01-08
CHAPTER ".

What was to be done? When | again
lowered a light the sound ceased, and
nothing was visible. An athlete could
have slipped down the bucket rope and
possibly have come up again hand over
hand. But that was beyond my power,
even if | had found courage to make the
attempt and face the unknown Certain
~ l must go down there and find out the
Becret of the villainous old Smuggler, my
great-grandfather. ! felt sure that my
grandfather, always under the domina-
ton of his father. was playing but an
accessory part in this dramatic business.
and | saw the necessity for acting with
caution to accomplish an investigation
successfully.
l closed the well, left the bucket hang
ing as ! had found it, and quilted ;ne
cottage. 1t had struck me in taking a
last glance at the washhouse that it was q
queer place for well to be sunk, for
the house stood within hundred yards of
the cliffs edge. To be sure great mass
of the cliff had fallen away, and at one
time it might have tapped a reservoir for
a stream percolating through the chalk.
But nov / accounted for it's existence
there 10y more satisfactory conclusion.
1t was the secret way that was said to
have been used for communicating with
the caves on the shore. 1t was quite
possible that, invisible from the top, an
outlet at the bottom led laterally into the
choked caverns. That hypothesis ac-
counted for my seeing no one at the bot
tom of the shaft when / let down the
light.
said nothing about the pitcher, or
the strange sounds, or my suspicious, to
my grandfather when | returned, bur
feigned to be prodigiously curious with
respect to the bear.
Young 'uns don't oughter ask cues
tions," replied the old man, very well
pleased with my pretended simplicity.
"All they're got to do is 70 mind what's
said to EN-; that's what father has been
hammering into me these last seventy
years. Now you're got TO go over TO
Bonport and find father, dye see? You're
got to go and leave word everywhere thet
his son wants him-being took queer.
And if he amt TO be found at Bonport
you can go over to Stringham and Shore
by and PuntnesS, and you might ike
wise run over to Towerbridge. When
you're found him tell him you want a
hundred pounds. l daresay he'll bully vol
at fust. but IL he sees you going of TO
old Fenwick. the land agent, he'll come
down with the money l warrant. Then
when you're got the money you can slip
your cable and run fur fureign parts at
once, because il amt right fol young
'uns to be hanging about doing nothing.
Send father on to me. but you needn't
come back yourself. You clap 30 all sa L
while the winds fair. Now tins is Mat
you're got to do. But look here, if you
do not hnd father by tomorrow morning.
you're got to come back here by noon. De-
cause there amt no one else 20 feed that
gallus bear, dye see?"
As soon as l had finished my dinner l
went to ships chandler. and bought a
coil of sixty fathoms OF stout hemp ccrd.
with the aid of lad l carried Il to the
cottage on the cliff. paid the boy. and
waited until he was we'll out of sight be-
fore beginning my work.
] had TO break into the house, for. as
Ii NAV well be imagined, my grandfather
had taken the keys from me on my re-
turn and slipped them under his pillow.
The simplest way was TO get through
window; SO having broken a psna o.
glass with a stone. | uRfastsued me
catch and lifted the sash: this done.
entrance was simple enough. l hauled
the cord into the washhouSe. and, find
Ing q Ratchet. with q few vigorous strokes
/ split the cover of the well where it
was attached to the hinge and threw il
open. Then l unhitehed the rope from
the cleat in the wall, setting the bucket
on the edge of the well, and firmly knot
ted the end to the cord | had brought
with me. This done. | put the Ratchet
and stout jackknife that found on the
shelf into the bucket for my protection.
for it seemed TO me not unlikely that the
captive. whoever he might be. ignorant
of my intentions might attempt to wreak
upon me the vengeance he owed his cap
tors. A couple of csndles ana box OF
matches completed my equipment and
then getting upon the low wall l stepped
into the bucket. slipped the end of the
cord through the handle. and. pulling
myself up an inch. swing over the shaft
Ny heart stuck in my throat as | swung
there. realizing my perilous position anC
the possibly greater risk l was about tC
encounter: then, my courage returning.
began slowly TO pay out the rope. Wher
the knot tina. joined the two .o3es hitch
ed under the handle of the bucket paus
Ell again. | was now halt way down