Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-01-13
CHAPTER vI1I-(continued.)

- S0 NaabAAh~ AAAS "AAN 49, >'S
had no horrors for me. Under other
circumstances the fresh bracing air
above the wood, the superb panorama
or land and sea, would have delighted
me. Down yonder to the left lay villa
da Porto. The anchor light of my own
yacht shone brightly across the still
sea, as though telling me that my
freiends were near The Villa San
Jorge itself was just a black shape be
low US, lightless and apparently de-
serted. ! say apparently" for q
second glance at II showed me, as NOV
Ing shadows upon a moonlit path, the
figures Of the sentinels who had been
posted at its doors. These had their
eyes been prepared, must certainly have
discovered US. II may be that they
named us for the guardian of the a
der itself; IL may be that they held
their peace deliberately. That fact does
not concern me. i am but able to record
the circumstance that, after wear
climbing. we reached q gallery Of the
rock and stood together, master and
servant. upon a rude bride path, 30
inches wide, perhaps, and without de-
Tense against the terrible precipice 1t
bordered. Here, as In the wood, Okyada
crept apace, but with infinite caution,
following the path round the mountain
for nearly a quarter OF a mile, and 50
bringing me without warning to an
open plateau with a great orifice, in
shape no more or less thar the entrance
TO a ave within the mountain itself,
/ perceived that we had come to our
journeys end; and falling prone at a
signal from my guide, l lay without
word or movement for many minutes
together.
Now, there were two men keeping
guard at the entrance to the cave, and
we lay, perhaps, within 80 yards OF
them. The light by which we saw the
men was that which escaped from
the orifice itself, a fierce glowing red
light, shining at intervals as though
a furnace door had been opened and
Immediately shut again. The effect
OF his / found weird and menacing be-
yond all e~xperience-for while at one
moment the darkness Of ultimate night
hid all things from our view, at the
next the figures were outstanding in a
fiery %aureole, as clearly silhoutted in
crimson as though ~incarnadined in a
shadowgraph. To these strange sights
he accompaniment OF odd sounds was
~added--the blast as Of wind from a
mighty bellows, the changing Of ham
mers upon anvils of steel, the low,
humming voices of men who sang
bare-armed, as they worked.
Not fifty PAGES from us, the sentries
lounged In talk, revolvers in their
DeltS ana rifles about their shoulders.
One OF them, rousing himself lazily,
entered the cave and became lost to
our view. The other, singing his rifle
about his shoulders. came deliberately
toward us, stoutly, furtively, for all the
world as though he were fully aware OF
our presence and about to make It
known.
The journey he did not complete. The
Jap sprang upon him suddenly at the
wLA-wr -
tread upon US, and he fell, without q
single word, at my feet, as though
stricken by some fell disease which
forbade him to move a limb or utter
q single cry.
Okyada had caught him with one arm
about his throat and a clever hand be-
hind his knees. As he lay prone upon
the rock he was gagged and bound with
q speed and dexterity have never
seen initiated, and no sooner was the
last cord OF the knot tied than Okyada
sprang up and pointed dramatically to
the open door no longer watched by
sentries. 10 gain this was the work of
a moment. / drew my revolver and,
crossing h open space, looked down
deliberately into the pit. The story Of
the Villa San Jorg lay at my feet. Cen
eral Fordibras. / said, had no longer a
secret to conceal from me.
Now the cave OF the mountain, +
judge. had a depth of some third OF q
mile. 1t was In aspect not unlike what
one might have imagined a mighty
s-ubterranean cathedral to have been.
OF vast height, the limestone vault
above showed me stalactites OF such
surprising size and infinite variety
that they surpassed all ideas / had con-
ceived or nature n her wonders. De-
pending In a thousand forms, here as
foliated corbels, there as yaulting shafts
whose walls had fallen and left them
standing, o as quatrefoils and cusps,
sometimes seeming to suggest monster
gargoyles. the beauty. the number and
the magnifcence OF them could scarcely
have been surpassed by any wonders
OF limestone In all the. world. That
there were but few corresponding
etalagmites rising up from the rocky
ground be set down to the use
made of this vast chamber I'M III
work then being undertaken In 81. No
fewer than nine furnaces I counted at
u first glance; glowing furnaces through
whose doors the dazzling Wilderness of
u~nspeakable fires blinded the eyes and
illuminated the scene as though by
unearthly lanterns. And there were
men everywhere. h~alf-naked men,
leather aproned, and shining as though
water had been poured upon their
bodies These fascinated me as no
mere UdtuJdi Deduty Oh the scene OF the
surprise Of 1t had done They were the
servants OF the men to whom / had
thrown down the glove so recklessly.
They were the servants OF those who,
armed and unknown, sailed the high
seas In their flight from cities and from
Justice. This much I had known from
the first. Their numbers remained to
Rstonish me beyond all measure.
And OF what nature was their task
Mt the furnaces? I had assumed at the
first thought that they were workers
In precious metals. In the gold and sill
yer which the cleverest thieves OF
Europe shipped here to their hand. Not
q lftia to my establishment, the facts
did not at the moment bear out my
supposition. Much OF the work seemed
shipwright's business. or such cast
ing as might be done at any Shefield
blast furnace. Forging there was, and
shaping and p~laning-not a sign of N
criminal occupation, or one that would
bear witness against them. The CIR
cumstance, however, did not deceive
me. II fitted perfectly into the plan I
had prepared against my coming to
Santa Maria and General Fordibrasss
discoyery Of my tourney course,
these men would not be working prec-
ious metals-not. at least, tonight.
This 1 had said when recollection or
my own situation came back to me
suddenly, and realizing the folly Of fur
Their espionage. ! turned about to ind
Okyada and quit the spot.