The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1909-01-28
When the
Cuckoo Called
By H. D. UMSTAETTR
Copyright, by Shortstory Pub. COZ

heads and hearts over The Girl with
the Guitar" causes Mr.. Seymour Gas
ton to smile as he looks down upon the
world from his Offices on the nine
teenth floor of New York skyscraper.
Mr. Castor is an ingenious, much trav-
eled young bachelor with history and
a fortune He recently invented fold
ing fire-escape, which also has his
tory and in which another fortune is
said to await him. And The Girl with
the Guitar" is one of the two Iiller-
thaler sisters, whose permanent ad-
dress is unknown and who receive 200
guineas night for presenting their
Tyrolean secondsight seance.
When the curtain rises upon their
tenminue act it discloses a typical
Tyrolean scene-dim mountains in the
background, sombef pine forest, a
toy-ike gabled cottage in the distance
The lights are low and the stage is
empty The orchestra begins almost
inaudibly a simple melody in the
minor key. Presently rich voice
that raises doubt in the mind OF the
listener as to whether it is male or
female, Joins in. Then a new sound
steals into the concerted music OF
voice and instruments; there are
strange. bizarre chords and ripping
arpeggos. and then the music is
drowned in the burst of wild applause
that greets the appearance of The
I. cd
estly. the lights 90 up, the rich voice
Is heard again in a joyous yodel, and
the sister, too, appears, dressed in the
picturesque attire of an Alpine hunter.
This artistically conceived prologue
brings the audience into closer sym
pathy with what follows. The Girl
with the Guitar" unheeding the APP
plause and the demonstrations OF the
male portion OF the audience, seats
herself at the extreme right OF the
stage near the footlights. The sister
is led by the manager along narrow
platform projecting into the center OF
the hall where. after being blind
folded, she seats herself with her back
W lHt SldS'. anu lli' lVefi G'i wv llle'iA''
begins, to the muted music OF the or
chestra and the sad fantastic chords
OF the guitar. The second sight Sc
ance progresses in the time-honored
way, except that no word is spoken
save by the blindfOlded sister, who &C
curately names and describes, in
clear, musical voice each article as il
is borrowed from the audience and
held up in silence before the footlights
by The manager some so feet behind
her back
All this wildly recalls to Mr.. Gas.
ton ten-minute drama of life in
which he once played a part.
Four years ago, while he was man
aging the affairs of large American
enterprise in London, a cablegram AN
nounced to him one day that his bust
ness partner in the United States had
robbed him OF all he possessed.
Breeding over his ruined business, to
which he had given ten years OF his
life and sacrificed his health, his peace
of mind fled and he travelled aimlessly
over the continent in search of any
thing that might bring him sleep and
help him to bury the past. The doc
tors sent him to Baden-Baden, but he
soon found that the conventional
watering place, where one reads suffer
ing in almost every face, proved an ir-
ritant to his insomnia The more he
came in contact with humanity the
more he felt drawn toward Nature.
So he started on tour of the Black
forest
In his wanderings and search for
adventure, Castor came one day upon
what seemed like an unused trail that
led higher up the mountain from an
almost impenetrable tumble of rocks
and pines near the waterfall.
The Witches Path, exclaimed his
landlord, when questioned, and who
ever follows il never returns
Sick of chatterns men and women
narrowed day and night by his
troubles, CASTOR reioiced in the pros
pcct of an adventure of any kind.
Life was not joyful possession to
Seymour Castor in those days, and he
cared little whether he lived or died.
So. early the following morning. with
l-provisioned knapsack on his
back and an alpenstOck in his hand he
set out upon the Witches Path. After
ten hours of climbing, crawling, slid
Il Al,
bic rocks and through impossible thick.
cts, the trail led 10 cottage built
upon the very edge of an i'm
mense cleft. From far below echoed
the hoarse booming of noun.
tain stream His knock was an
Swcred by a short, whitc-bcarded
mOuntaineer with piercing gray eyes,
who, upon learning that his visitor
spoke German received him hospita
bly, with the remark that it was sci
dom indeed that visitors came his way
To brighten the lonely lives of himself
and niece, who, he added, lived by
making cuckoo clocks. II required nc
urging on the part of Caspar kollner
the cottager, TO induce his guest to de
.er his return until the following day
and after supper, served by the noun
taneer's attractive young niece, the
tourist was equally willing to join his
host in a pipe and game of cards
while the young lady looked on anl
played weird airs upon her guitar
Whether it was the strange quality o.
| her uudeniable beauty and the somboi
mystery OF her eyes, or her music