Evening star., 1924-09-07
CHAPTER VII.

Ortho and wany were in Penzance
looking for cows that had been taken
| by the Press gang, when they met
the Pope Of Rome wearing plumed
| hat and Teresa's second best dress.
He had an iron walking stick In ms
hand with a negro head carved at the
| ton and an ivory ferrule, and every
time he tapped the road 1t rang uh-
der him
Hollow, you see" said His Holi-
ness. Eaten away by miners ana
Buccas-scandalous. one more con
vulsion like the Lisbon earthquake OF
'55 and we shall all fall in. Every
thing is hollow, when you come TO
| think of it-cups, kegs. cannon, ships.
churches, crowns and heads-every
thing. We shall not only fall in but
inside out. If you don't believe me,
listen"
Whereupon he gathered his skirts
and ran up Market Jew street laying
about him with the iron stick. hit
ting the ground, the houses and by
ISLANDERS on the head. and every
thing he touched rumbled like a big
or little gong, in proportion to its
size. Finally he hit the Market
House; it exploded and Ortho woke
up.
There was a full gale blowing from
the southwest and the noise of the
roaring waves. The Bosula trees
creaked and strained. A shower Of
| broken twigs hit the window and tho
| wind thudded on the pane like fist.
Ortho turned over on his other side
and was just burying his head under
| the pillow when he heard the eX-
plosion again. It was different
sharper. He had heard some
thing like that before-where'
| Then he remembered the Breton
1 with the cutter in chase
guns! A chair fell over in his
, mothers room. She was up. A door
slammed below. boots thumped up
stairs, Bohemia shouted something
| through his mothers door and
clumped down hurriedly. Ortho could
| not hear all he said, but he caught
two essential words, wreck" and
cove" More noise on the stairs and
again the house door slammed: his
mother had gone. He shook Eli
| awake.
There's a ship ashore down to
| Cove" he said; banging off guns she
was. Mother and Ned's gone. Come
| on
Eli was not anxious to leave his
| bed; he was comfortable and sleepy.
I'VE couldn't do nothing" he pro-
tested.
Might see some foreigners drown
ed" said Ortho optimistically. She
! might be a pirate like was sung in
Newiyn last year, full of blacks and
! Turk"
They'd kill and eat u.s. said Eli.
| Ortho shook his head. They'll be
| drowned first-and if they amt Ned'll
| wrastle EN-"
| In settlement of further argument
he placed his foot in the small of his
| brothers back and projected him onto
the floor. They dressed in the dark.
| fumbled their way downstairs and
| set off down the valley. In the shell
| ter of the Bos ula woods they made
good progress; it was comparatively
| calm there, though the treetops were
a-toss and a rotten bough hurtled to
earth a few feet behind them. Once
| round the elbow and clear of the tim
| ber. the gale bent them double; il
rushed shrieking. up the funnel of
| the hills, pushed them round and
| backward. Walking against it was
| like wading against a strong current
The road was the merest track, not
| four feet at its widest, Uttered with
| rough powders. punctuated with deep
holes. The brothers knew every
| twist and trick of the path, but in
| the dark one can blunder in ones
| own bedroom; moreover the wind was
| distorting everything. They tripped
and stumbled, were slashed across
the face by flying whip thongs of
bramble, torn by lunging thorn
5oughs, pricked by dancing gorse-
bushes. Things suddenly invested
with malignant animation bobbed out
! of the dark. hit or scratched one and
| eobbed back again. The night was
| full Of mad terror.
Halfway to the Cove, Ortho stubbed
4; his toe for the third time. got a slap
| in the eye from a black thorn and fell
| into puddle. He wished he hadn't
| come and proposed that they should
return. But Eli wouldn't hear of it.
He wasn't enjoying himself any more
| than his brother, but he was going
through with it. He made no expla-
! nation, but waddled on. Ortho let
| him get well ahead and then called
| him back. but Eli did not reply.
! ortho wavered. The thought of re-
turning through those creakins
| woods all alone frightened him. He
: thought of all the things-tfa went
by-night, of hell-hounds, horsemen
| and witches. The air was full of
| witches on broomsticks and demons
on black stations stampeding up the
valley on a dreadful hunt He could
| hear their blood-freezing halloos. the
| blare OF horns. the baying of hounds.