Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-02-11
ROY Cardenhe."

uidSoH-HieS OH lHe STONE, tneSe HSneS
and shells and butterflies you see."
You! They are wonderfully deli
cate-but those are not American
dragon-fies."
"No-they are more beautiful See,
| have my hammer and chisel with
me-"
She drew from a queer pouch at her
held them toward me.
you are very talented" I said;
where did you study?"
Il? | never studded knew how
I saw things and cut them out of
stone. Do you like them? Some time
| will show you other things that I
have done. If I had great lump of
bronze l could make your dog, beauti-
full as he is"
Her hammer fell into the fountain
and leaned over and plunged my arm
into the water to find it.
ut is there, shining on the sand"
she said, leaning over the pool with
me.
Where" said I, looking at our re-
fiected faces in the water. For it was
only in the water that I had dared
as yet, to look her long in the face.
The pool mirrored the exquisite
oval of her head. the heavy hair, the
eyes. | heard the silken rustic of her
girdle. | caught the flash of white
arm, and the hammer was drawn up
dripping with spray.
The troubled surface of the pool
grew calm and again I saw her eyes
reflected.
Listen" she said in a low voice,
do you think you will come again
to my fountain?"
Il will come" I said. My voice
was dull; the noise of water filled my
ears.
Then swift shadow sped across the
pool; | rubbed my eyes. Where her
reflected face had bent beside mine
there was nothing mirrored but the
rosy evening sky with one pale star
glimmering. I drew myself up and
turned. She was gone. saw the faint
star twinkling above me in the after
glow. | saw the tall trees motionless
i'll the still evening air. I saw my dog
slumbering at my feet.
The sweet scent in the air had
faded leaving in my nostrils the
heavy odor of fern and forest mold.
A blind fear seized me, and I caught
up my gun and sprang into the dark
ening woods, The dog followed me,
crashing through the underground at
my side. Duller and duller grew the
light, but | strobe on, the sweat pour
Ing from my face and hair, my mind
chaos. How I reached the spinney
| can hardly tell. AS I turned up the
path | caught a glimpse of a human
face peering at me from the darkening
thicket-a horrible human face, yel-
low and drawn with high -boned cheeks
and narrow eyes.
lnvoluntarily | halted; the dog at
my heels snarled. Then I sprang
straight at it, foundering blindly
through the thicket, but the night had
fallen swiftly and l found myself pant
ing and struggling in maze of twist
ed shrubbery and twining vines. un-
able to see the very underground that
ensnared me.
1t was pale face, and a scratched
one that | carried to late dinner that
night. Hewlett served me, dumb re-
proach in his eyes, for the soup had
been standing and the grouse was
iuiceless.
David brought the dogs in after they
had had their supper, and | drew my
chair before the blaze and set my ale
on table beside me. The dogs
curled up at my feet, blinking gravely
at the sparks that snapped and flew
in eddying showers from the heavy
logs.
David" said I, did you say you
saw Chinaman to-day?"
Il did, sir"
What do you think about it now?"
Il may have been mistaken, sir
"But you think not What sort of
whisky did you put in my flask to-
day."
THE usual, sir"
rs there much gomez"
About three swallows, sir, as
usual"
1ou don suppose there could nave
been any mistake about that whisky
no medicine could have gotten into
it, for instance?"
David smiled and said: mo, SIR"
Well" said l, Il have had an ex-
traordinary dream"
When l said dream" I felt COM
forted and reassured. I had scarcely
dared to say 1t before, even to my
self.
An extraordinary dream" 1 re-
peated; Il fell asleep in the woods
about five o'clock, in that pretty glade
where the fountain-I mean the pool
is. You know the placer"
II do not, SIR"
| described it minutely, twice, but
David shook his head.
No xyNI i.