The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-18
EI NILHELn KAUFF

before him black caverns under sea, with
 the green translucence shimmering
 through the wall of water and'the ghast-
 ly light falling on barnacled masts. spec
 tral poops and battle lanterns, on dead
 mems bones and on goldl
 His slumbers became not sleep but wild successions of adventures. Through them all ran haunting word-a word that he knew to be a key, yet a word that eluded his sense even in the moment that he heard it.
 As soon as he closed his eyes to sleep i the word was uttered in his ear. Some thing whispered it-something that he saw and yet did not see. Every time it was whispered he heard 1t so clearly that 1t seemed to peal through his brain and ring there like an echo. But he could not remember it for even the fraction of an l instant.
 l He did not know what the word could ' mean or what effect it could have on his quest, but everything mysterious had pow i CT over such a spirit as that of Wilm Fake. controlled by one overweening in- fatuation. The ghostly whispers con- hrmed him in the belief that a great for tune was waiting for him and that 1t lay in the bottom of the sea.
 One day furious gale burst on him suddenly while he was dredging on the l beach where he had found the little lump | of gold So nightly did the sea rise and | si vehement was the blast that whistled from the billiard rocks that he had to seek ! refuge. He ran to a cavern near by. l ha as the Cavern of Steenfoll, was really a subterranean sea-passage. The huge vault opened into the open ocean at each end and gave the waves a free though | confined passage. Evermore they poured through the black hole, roaring, and latin ering themselves white against the gleam- ing rock.
 The cavern of Steenfoll could be entered only through Assure in the top. Few dared to try it. In addition to the real dangers of the internal place, there was the fear of unearthly things. for the cav- ern had bad reputation among the su- perstitious fishermen.
 Wilm let himself down by a rope and found a resting place about 12 feet below | on a fiat platform of stone that jutted out from under the overhanging rock. Below his feet the waves whirled and l raced. fantastically white in the darkness. Overhead the gale seemed to shake the | solid land
 Perhaps wilm Fake was the only man 1 in the islands who would have dared to stay in the weird place; but it seemed to | him the very spot for his dreams. For
 getful of the constant shock of the surges
 against the missing rocks at his feet, for
 getful of the raving of the tempest, he
 became entirely oblivious of the great
 darkness around him and fell to thinking
 again of wrecked ships. What ship was
 it that sent me the gold?' he demanded 1 fiercely, as he had demanded it constantly
 ever since the waves had tossed it to him.
 He had sought information from every old man in the islands. He had asked pilots and fishermen. None could remem-
 Der anything of any vessel that had sunk | near that spot.
 How long he sat there he did not know. | He awoke to his senses with a start to ] find that the storm had passed. He | scrambled to his feet. Then suddenly
 from the blackness and the depths below him there sounded a voicei
 l It was only one word that was uttered. The word "Carmilhan."
 1 Affrighted he staggered to the edge Of the stone and peered into the abyss. | Great Godr' he screamed. ''The word! The word that has pursued me through my dreams What does it mean?"
 "Carmilhanr' came a great dying groan from the water.
 Scarcely able to climb for fright, Wilm Fake scrambled up the rope and ran In A. wild panic to the hut.
 l Fear could control his infatuation and
 his avarice only a short while. Then, his lust redoubled by the mysterious ut
 terance of the mysterious word, he re-
 paired again to the shore.
 It was midnight when he threw out his
 dredge opposite one of the entrances to
 the great cavern. The sea was high and
 his boat was being hurled about dizzily,
 but he tugged at his dredge as if he | were fishing on placid lake.
 The forbidding mouth of the cavern
 was illuminated by the moon and Fake
 was looking at it with an involuntary
 shutter when his dredge held fast to the
 bottom. He pulled Wlln all HIS siHc"y
 body. but the implement would not move.
 A wind arose and whipped over the
 sea. A black cloud swept over the moon.
 The boat dipped and careened, threaten
 ing to capsize. wilm Fake set his teeth
 and hauled with desperate fury.
 All at once everything gave way so
 suddenly that he imagined that his line
 he'd broken. But just as the last bit of
 moonlight was disappearing behind the
 fleeing cloud round, black mass ap-
 peared on the tossing surface. He thrust his arm forth to seize it. Through the
 wailing of the wind and over the roaring } of the waves he imagined that he heard the word "Carmilhan' uttered once more. ? The next moment the mass vanished | and black darkness hid the sea. The wind seemed to throw itself on the ocean. Pillows began to spout in all directions, 1 as if Wilm Fakes sacreligiOus hand had ? tinsealed the sea. He barely managed tc , win the shore before the ocean was 8 boiling waste
 He threw himself down among the rocks and slept dreaming again all the
 adventure of the night and tortured by
 the loss of the fortune that had seemed | l,within his hand.
 : When he awoke it was dawn and the light fell on a quiet sea. He launched his boat to begin his dredging at once. when
 he saw something coming toward shore It was a boat and in 1t was a human