The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-01-05
sAT
CHAPTER VIII-(Continued,)

circumstances the fresh bracing air
above the wood, the superb panorama
of 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, llghtless II apparently de-
serted. l say, apparently" for a
second glance at it 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. 1t may be that they
named us for the guardian of the lad
der Itself; it may be that they ileid
their peace deliberately. That fact does
not concern me. l am but able to record
the circumstance that, after weary
climbing, we C a gallery of the
rock stood together, master and
servant, upon a rude bride path, 80
inches WIDE, perhaps, and without de-
Tense against the terrible precipice it
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 so
bringing me without warning to an
open plateau with a great oritice, in
shape no more or less than the entrance
to a cave within the mountain itself.
| perceived that we had come to our
journeys end; and falling prone at a
signal from my guide. / 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 SO yards of
them. The light by which we saw the
men was that which escaped from
the orifice itself, a fierce glowing red
| 1jpht SHINING of ipyn r,r, l., p- Sl~,,,y,
G furnace door had been opened and
Immediately shut again. The effect
OF this | found weird and menacing be-
You'd all apprehension while at one
moment the darkness of ultimate night
hid all things from our view, at the
next the figures We're outstanding in a
fiery aureole, as clearly silhoutted in
crimson as though incarnadined in a
shadowgraph. To these strange sights
the accompaniment of odd sounds was
added-the blast as of wind from a
mighty bellows, the changing of ham
mers upo anvils OF steel, the low,
humrning voices Of men who san
bare-armed, as they worked.
Not fifty PAGES from us, the sentries
lounged in talk, revolvers in their
belts and rifles about their shoulders.
One OF them, rousing himself lazily.
entered the ave n became lost to
u view. The other, Singing his rifle
about his shoulders, came deliberately
toward us, stoutly, furtively, for all the
world as though he We're fully aware OF
our presence and about to make ii
known.
The Journey he did not complete. Thu
Jap sprang upon him suddenly at the
very moment he threatened almost tc
tread upon us, and he fell, withcN g
single word, at my feet. as though
stricken by some fell disease which
forbade him to move a limb or utter
a single cry.
Okyada had caught him with one arm
about his throat and a clever hand be-
hind his knees. AS he lay prone upor
the rock he was gagged n bound with
a speed and dexterity. / have neve
seen initiated, and no sooner was the
last cord of the knot tied thar Okyada
sprang up and pointed dramatically tc
the open door no longer watched by
sentries. To gain this was the work OF
q momen l drew my revolver and
crossing the open space, looked dowr
deliberately into the pit. The story d
the Villa San Jorg lay at my feet. Gen
eral Fordibras. I said. had no longer g
secret to conceal from me.
Now the cave of the mountain,
judge. had a depth of some third Of 6
mile. 1t was in aspect not unlike what
one might have imagined a mighty
subterranean cathedral to have been
OF vast height, the limestone vaul,
above showed me stalactites OF such
SURPRISING size IN infinite variety
that they surpassed all ideas I had con.
ceived OF nature and her wonders. De
pending in q thousand forms, here az
foliated corbels. there as vaulting shafts
whose walls had fallen n left then
standing. now as quatrefoils and cusps
sometimes seeming to suggest monster
| ~ergsosrles The heallty the number and
the magnifcence Of them could s~carcel,
AVE been surpassed by any wonder.
of limestone in all the world. Tina
there were but few corresponding
stalagmites rising UP from the rocky
ground must be set down to the use
made of this vast chamber and tn,
work then being undertaken In 1t. M
fewer than nine furnaces / counted q
q first glance: glowing furnaces through
whose doors the dazzling whiteness o
unspeakable fires blinded the eyes ant
illuminated the scene as though b.
u,iearthly lanterns. And there wer'
leather aproned, and shining as though
water had been poured upon theii
bodies. These fascinated me as n,
mere natural beauty of the scene or tn,
surprise Of it had done. They were tn,
servants OF the men to whom hat
thrown down the glove so recklessly
They were the servants of those who
armed and unknown. sailed the higl
seas In their flight from cities nj from
Justice. This much I had known from
the first. Their numbers remained Il
astonish me beyond all measure.
And of what nature wal their tasi
at the furnaces? I1had assumed at th,
frst thought hat they Were worker
In precious metals. In the gold and sill
yer which the cleverest thieves o
Europe shipped here to their hand. No
q little to my establishment, the fact
did not at the moment bear out IN,
supposition. Much OF the work SCENE,
~shtpwright.s business. or such cast