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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1933-01-05, Page 6PAGE SIX. THE SEAFORTH NEWS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, ice, THE HAVE Johnson. i (Continued from last week.) Sparrow touched my arm and pointed down :a glade 'at'right ,angles with the path my lord was pursuing. Up this•glade there was coming tow- ard us another figure,—,a: small black (figure 'that moved swiftly, looking neither to the right nor to the left. (Black Lamot+al stood like a stone;. the brown mare, ton, had learned what meant a certain touch upon her shoulder. Sparrow and I, with small shame for our eavesdropping," bent to our saddlebows and •lookedsideways through tiny gaps in. the crimsb'n fol- iage. My lord descended one side of the hollow, his heavy foot bringing down the dead leaves and loose earth; the foreigner glided down the apposite side, disturbing the economy of the forest as little as a snake would have done. "I thought I should never meet you," growled my lord, "I thought I had lost you and ehr and myself.; had lost you and her and myself.. haze are enough to"-1He broke off with an oath, "I came as fast as I could," said the other. His voice was strange, thin and dreamy, snatching his filmy eyes and his eternal, very faint smile. "Your poor physician congratulates your lordship upon the success that still attends you. Yours is a fortunate star, my lord." "Then you have her safe?" cried my lord, "Three miles from here, on the riv- er bank, is a ring of pines, in ,which the trees grow so thick that it is always twilight. Ten years ago a man was murdered there, and Sir Thomas Dale chained the murderer to the tree beneath which his victim was buried, and left him to perish of hunger and thirst, That is the tale they tell at Jamestown. The wood is said to be haunted 'by murdered and murderer,• and no one enters it or comes nearer to it than he can avoid: which makes it an excellent resort for those whom the dead cannot scare. The lady is there, my lord, with your four knaves to guard her. They do not know that the gloom and quiet of the place are due to more than nature." My lord began to laugh, Either he had been drinking, or the success of. his villainy had served for wine, "You are a man in a thousand, Nicola! he said. "How' far above or below the ship is this fortunate wood?" 'Just opposite, my 1otee." "Can a boat land easily?" "A creek runs through the wood to the river. There needs but the ap- pointed signal from the bank, and a boat from the ,Santa Teresa can be rowed up the stream to the very tree beneath which the lady sits." -My lord's laughter rang out again. "You're a man in ten th'o'usand, Ni- cole! Nicole, the bridegroo'm's in town," 'Rack so soon?" said the foreign- er, "Then we must change your lord- ship's plan. With him on the ground, you can nn longer, wait until .night- fall to row downstream to the lady and the Santa Teresa. He'll come to look for her," "Ay, :he'll come to look for her, curse him!" echoed my lord, "Do you think the dead ,will scare him?" continued the foreigner. "No, I don't!" answered my lord, with an oath. "I wo'ul'd he were a- m'ong them. An I could have killed hem before I went"— "I had devised a way to do it long ago, had not your lordship's ' con- science been so tender, And yet, be - 'fore now, our enemies your and mine, my lord --,have met with sud- den and mysterious' death. Men star- ed, but they ended by calling it a dis- pensation of .Providence." He broke (off to laugh with silent, hateful laugh- ter, as rmintheel as the grin of a death's-head. "I kn'o'w, I 'know l" said rny, lord im- then stood in my,way there 'h'ad pass- ed no challenge: This is my mantel foe, through whose heart I would drive my sword. I would give my ruby to know w'hether tie's in the town or in, the forest." "He's in the forest," I 'said. Bieck La'moral and the (brown mare were •beside them ; 'before either mov- ed 'hand or lfoolt,.or did aught but stare 'and stare, as 'though men ' 'and Ihoeies had risen from the 'dead. All the color was gonee from my 'lord's 'face,—it'looked White, drawn, ,odd pinched; as for his comtpan'ilon, his countenance did not .change, never changed, ,I believe,—but the 'trembl- in'g of the feather in his hat was not caused by ,the ,wind, Jeremy Sparrow ;bent down from his s'add'le, seized the foreigner under the armpits, and 'swung (him clean from the ground up to the brawn mare's neck. "Div'in'ity and me'dicine," he said genially, "soul healer and body poisoner, we'll ride double for a time," and proceeded to bind the doctor's hands 'with his own scarf. iT'he creature of venom .'before him writhed and struggled, ,but the min- ister's strength Was a's the strength of ten, and .the minister's 'hand 'held hint down, By this S was 'off !Black ILam'oral and facing my :lard. The color 'had conte back to his lip and cheek, and the flash to his :eye. His hand went to his sword 'hilt, "I shall not 'draw 'mine, my lord," a told him. "I keep troth." He stared at me with a 'frown that suddenly changed into a laugh and unnatural enough, "Then go thy ways, and let met go .mine!" 'he cried. "Be complaisant, ,worthy captain of trainibands •and !Burgess from a dozen huts! The King andII will make it worth your while," "I will not draw my sword .upon you," tI replied, "but !I ;will try a -fall with you, and '•I seized him by the wrist. He was a good 'wnestler as he was a good swordsman, but, with 'bitter an- ger in my 'heart and 'a vision of the haunted •wood 'before my eyes, I. think I could have 'wrestled with Hercules and won. (Presently S 'threw him, and, 'pinning him down with my knee upon his 'breast, cried to !Spar- row 'to cut the bridle reins from IBlack ILanroral and thio'w them to ire. Though 'he had the foreigner up- on 'his hands,he managed to obey. With my free hand 'an'd my teeth 1 drew a thong about my lord's arms and 'hound 'them to this sides; then took my knee from his chest and my hand from his throalt, and rase to my feet. He rose too with one .spring. IHe was very white, and there was foam on his lips. "What next, captain?" he demand- ed thickly. "Your 'scone is mounting up rapidly. What next?" ."This," 'I replied, and with 'the ether thong 'fastened him, despite his struggles, to the young maple 'ben'ea'th which we had wrestled. When the task' was done, II 'first .drew this sword from its jewele'd scabbard and laid it on .the. ground at this feet, and then cut the leather whioh •restrained his arms, leaving him only tied to the tree. "I am not Sir ,T'hom'as :Dale," I said, "and therefore (a s'h'all not gag you and leave you 'bound for an in- definite length af time, to ,contemp- late a grave thlat you thought to dig, One haunted wood is enough 'for one county. Your lord'sh'ip will -o'bser've that II have kn'o'tted your 'bends in easy reach of your hands, the use of which I have just restored! to you.: The knot is a peculiar one; an In- dian taught it to me. 'Iif you set to work 'at once, you will get it un- tied 'befone'nightfal'l. !Mat you may not t'h•in'kit the 'Gordian knot :and Ipasently. We are not, overnice, Ni- honor to wish your, lords'h'ip a colo. But between Inc and those who good day," treat it a'e such,' I have put your. sword where you can .got it only when 'you have (worked for it. Your familiar, my lord, may prove of use to ` us; therefore 'we, will take him with ea to, the 'haunted wood. I havle 'the cry I (bowed low, swung myself into l ny saddle, and 'turned my 'back upon his glaring eyes and bared teeth. Sparrow, his'•pitize flung across his saddlebow, •tuhnrne'd (with me, A minute more s'aw us out of the 'Hollow, and entered ,upon the glade up which had come the foreigner. When we had gone a shoot distance, I :turned in my saddle and looked back. The tiny hollow 'had vanished; all the forest looked level, dreamy and ',still, bar- ren of !humanity, given over to its own shy c'hild'ren, nothing m'o'ving save the slow-fa'll'iin(g leaves. But from beyond a great clump of sunra'c'h, set like a tenet in the vaporous (blue,, came a steady stream of words, 'hap- pily rendered indistinguis'h'a'b:le ,by distance, and I knew that the King's minion was loaning the foreigner, the gov'e'rnor, the Santa Teresa, t'he Due (Return, the m'inis'ter, the forest wrood', his sword, the 'knot that •I had tied, and anysel'f. I admit that the sound was music in my ears. CHAPTER XIV IIn Which We Find The 'H'aunted Wood On The outskirts -of The haunted wood •we dismounted, ` (fastening the horses to two pines. The foreigner we gagged and Ibo.unid across the 'brawn mare's s'ed,ctle. Then, as noise- lessly as I'nd'ians, we entered the wood. • Once within it, it was as though the sun had suddenly sunk from the hea- vens. The pines, of 'magnilficent height and girth, were ,soclosely set that far overhead, where the .br'anche's began, Was a heavy radf of 'foliage, imperv- ious to 'the ,sunshine, brooding, dark and sullen as a thundercloud, over the cavernous :world beneath. There was no undergrowth, on 'clinging . vines, no bloom, no color; only the dark, innumerable tree trunks and the pur plishebrown, scented, and slippery earth. The air was 'heavy, cold,' end still, like cave air; the silence as blank and awful as the silence be- neath the earth. The minister and ,I stole through the dusk, and .fora long time 'heard nothing -'but our-own-'brea'thing and the beating our our hearts. But com- ing to a sluggish stream, as quiet as the wood through which it crept, and following its slow windings, we at last heard a voice, and in the d'is- eance made out dark forms sitting on the earth 'beside that sombre water. We went on with caution, gliding from tree to tree and making no noise. In the cheerless silence of that place any sound would have shattered the stillness like a pistol shot. Presently we came to a halt, and, ourselves hidden -by a plant .trunk, looked out on stealers , and stolen, They were gathered on the 'bank of the stream, waiting for the boat from the Santa 'Teresa. The lady whom we sought lay like a 'fallen flower on ,the dark ground beneath a pine.'S'he did not move, end her eyes were shut. At her head crouched the negress, her white garments .showing ghostlike through the gloom, ;Beneath the next tree sat Diccon, his. hands tied be- hind 'him, and ano'und him my Lord Cannal's 'four' knaves. I(t was Die - con's -voice that we heard. ,He was still speaking, and now we could distin- guish the words. "So Sir Thomas chains him there," he said,— "right there to that -1 tree under which you are sitting,. Jacky B•onhomme." Jacques- incontinently shifted his position. "He chains him there, with one chain around his ,neck, one around his waist, and one around his ankles. r1''hen he sticks a bodkin through his 'tongue." 'A groan of •ad- miration from his audience, "Then they dig, before .his very eyes, a grave, comes- into this wood, nothing hum- an, that is. Neither white man nor Indian ounces, that's •_ certain. Then why ain't there chains around that tree, and why are there no bone's be- neath it, on the ground 'there ? 'Be- cause, Jackies all, the man that did that murder walks 1 Ilt is not always deadly still 'here; sometimes there's a clanking of chains 1 And a bodkin through the tongue can't keep the dead' f'rorn wailing! And the murder- ed'i)ian w'aliks, too; in 'his shroud he follows the other --(Isn't that some- thing r white' in the distance yonder?" 'My l'ord's four ,knaves looked down the arcade of tree's, and saw some- thing white as (plainly as if it bad been verily there. Each moment the weed grew darker, --a thing in nat- ure, since the sun outside wasswift- ly sinking to the (horizon. But to those to whom that tale had been told it was a 'd'arken'ing unearthly and port- enitous, 'bringing with it a colder air and a deepened silence. "0,h, Sir 'Thomas Dale, 'S'ir !Thomas Dale!" The voice seemed to come from the distance, and bore in its _dismal cadence the, melanieoly'of the dam- ned. For a 'mb:men't my heart stood still, and the hair of my teak] com- menced to rise; the next, a knew that Diccon., had found an ally,' not in the dead, but in the living. The minister, standing+beside me, opened his month again, and again that - dismal voice rang 'through the wood, and, again i4 seemed, by I know not wlhak art, 'to come from any spot rather .than from that pa'rticlar tree behind whose trunk st000d 'Minster Jeremy Sparrow. "Oh, ,the 'bodkin through my ton- gue! Oh, the bodkin, through my +ton- gue!" 'Two of the guard sat with hang- ing lip 'and lack -lustre eyes, turned 'to stone; one, at full length upon the ground, bruised his face against the pine needles and ,called on the Vir- gin; the fourth, panic-stricken, leap- ed to his feet and dashed Off into the darkness, to trouble us no more that day.. "Oh, the ,heavy chains!" cried the unseen spectre. "Olt, the dead man in his grave 1" without adventure. We rode in silence, The 'man on his face dug his nails the lady behind me' •too weary for into the earth and 'howled; his fel- speech, the minister revolving in 'his mind the escape of the !1talian, and I1 with my owl( thoaghts to occupy me, was dusk 'when we crossed the neck of land, and es me 'rode down the street torches were being lit ie the 'houses. The upper room in the guest house -was brightly ',illuminated, and the window was :open. B'eaok ,L'ambral and the brown mare made a trampl- ing with their ho'o'fs, and II began to whistle a gay old tune s had learnt in the wars.',A ifigure in scarlet and black came to 'the window, end stood there looking down upon us. The lady rid- ing with me straightened -herself and raised her weary head. "The next time we go 'to the 'forest, IRal'plh," she said in a clear, high voice, " th'ou'lt show ane' a certain tree." and ,:she 'broke into silvery laughter. She laughed until we had left 'behind the guesthouse and the vgure in the upper •w'indo'w, and then the laughter •changed:do some lives in the direction of the Pamun- thing like . a sob. I'f there :were pain and anger in her heart, pain and anger' key. They went like 'frightened deer, were in mine also. She had never'call- their one goal in life escape from the ed me by my name before. She had wood. "Did you meet the foreigner?" I turned 'to find my wife at my. side. 'The King's ward had a kingly At fast ' we reached the minister's spirit; 'slue was not one'titat the dead' house, and dismounted 'before the. or the living could daunt. To. her, as door. ID'iccon led the horses away, and to me, danger was a trumlpet call to I :handed my wife into 'the great room.` nerve heart and strengthen soul. She The •minister tarried but for a efew, had been in,;peril of that which she words anent some''precautions that I. most feared, but the light in her eye meant to ,take, and thenbetook him- self to his own chamber. ,As he went, out of the door 'Diccon entered the room. "Oh, S . am weary!" sighed Mistress Jocelyn Percy, "What was the mighty business, :'Captain Percy, that made you break tryst, with a lady? You should ,go to court, sir, to be .taught gallantry," 'Where should a wife go to ` be taught obedience?" I demanded. "You know wihere !I Went and why I could. conjured up her strained nerves .,gave nett ,ktryst; Why did'you not `obey: why, and she .,broke into laughter as my ordapers?'" cruel as it was sweet. Peal atter peal !Ste opened wide her eyes. "Your i rang through the haunted wood, and orders? I never received .any, not. increased the eerine's:s'of (the place. that II should have obeyed them if S? "The knot that iI tied he wi11 untie had. Know where directly," u said., ""Df, we would.reach you went? II know; Jamestown ;ere we had 'best' he, going„ neither 'why' nor where you went! 'Night is upon us, too," slaid the (Continued Next Week). minislter, "and this Iplia.ce hats ,the look of the very valley of the shad'o'w of death. If the ,spirits walk; ft is•'hard upon their time—and ;I prefer to walkc elsewhere." "Cease ; your laughter, madam," I, Said. "Should `'a boat the cornin'g up this stream, you would (betray us." I, went over to Diccon, and in sil- ence as grim as his own cut the rope which bound ,his '.lands, -which done we ,a'llmoved through, the deepening PROFESSIONAL CARDS Medical gloom to where we had left the (horses' Jeremy 'Sparrow. ',going on. ahead .!to have 'them in readinnes, !Presently'he envie hurrying 'black. °"The .Italian is gonel" 'he cried,'. "Glomal" d excla'imed. "I told you to tie him 'faslt to ibhe sadd'l'ed°' "Why, ,so I did," the replied. "I drew the thongs so tight that 'theycut into 'his .flesh. He .could not have en- dured to pull ,against 'them." ` "Then how .did he gest 'away?" r1W1hy, inc answered, with a rueful countenance,n`I :did 'bind (him, -as 1 have said; but 'when S had done 'so, I 'bethought 'me of how the leather must out, and•aof Ihlow'pain is 'dreadful 'even to a snake, and o4 the inju'n'ction' to do as you. would be done by, ,and so e'en loosened his bonds. 'But, se I am •a christened man(, 1 thought that they (would Yet hold him fast!" II 'began to swear, but ended en vexes ed laughter. "The milk's spilt. 'There's no use in crying 'over it. After all, we. must have loosed -him 'before we mei- er•ed 'the 'town." 'Will you not' bring the matter be- fore +the Governor?" he asked. 1 shook my head. "If'Y'eard•ley ,did nee right, he would':put in jeopardy 'his office and his (person. This is my private quarrel, .and 11 will draw no man into if against•ihis will. Here are the horses, and we had 'best 'be gone for by this time my lord and his phys- ician may 'have their 'heads together ;again." 1 mounted Black 1Lamoral,- and lift- ed Mistress ,Percy do a seat behind me. The brown mare bore the minis- ter and the negress, and Diccon, dogg- edly 'silent, (trudged beside us. • We had passed'' through the haunted. wood and the p'ain'ted forest beyond lows were too 'frightened 'fo rsound or motion. Diccon, a .hardy, rogue, with little fear of God or man, gave no sign of perturbation beyond a de- sperate tugging at the rope about his wrists. He was ever quick to. ,'take suggestion, and he had 'probably be- gun to question the nature of the ghost who wars doing ,him such yeo- m"an service. "D'ye think they've had enough?" said Sparrow in my ear. "My inven- tion flags." 1 nodded, too choked with laugh- ter for speech, and drew my sword. The next moment we were upon the men like wolves upon the fold, They made no resistance: Amazed and shaken as they were, we' might have dispatched them with all ehse, to join the dead whose lamentations yet rang in their rears; but we con- tented- ourselveswith disarming them and bidding them begone for their only used it now as a dagger with Which to stab at 'that fierce heart above us. was no't quenched, and the 'hand with —shallow enough they "make it, too,' which she touched' imine, though cold, —and they put into it, uncoffined, ws.,s'teady. with: only a long white shroud upon "Is he dead?" she asked, "At court him, the man murdered. Then hethey they called him the Black Death. cover t'he grave. You're sitting on it They said"-- now, aid"—now, you other Tacky." "I did not kill hint," 1 answered, "Gad( cried the ra'scal addressed, "but.rI will if you desire it." and removed with expedition to a less "And his master?" she demanded.. storied piece of ground, "What have you done with his mas- 'Then they go 'away,",continued ter?" Diccon in graveyard tones. "They all r.I told her. At the vision my words go 'away together,—;Sir Thomas and Captain Alrgall, Captain West,' Lieu- tenant 'George Percy and his cousin, my master, and Sir 'Tho'mas's men; they go out of the wood a sthough it ,were accursed, though indeed it was not half so gloomy teh'n as it is now., The •sun ' shone 'into it then, sometimes, and the 'birds sang. You wouldn't think it !from, the looks of things now, 'would you? As the dead man rotted in his grave, and the liv- ing man died by i'nc'hes, above him, they say the wood grew darker, and darker, and darker. How dark : it's getting now, and cold, --cold as the 'dread h+ His auditors drew closer together; and shivered. Sparrow and I were so near that'' we ,could see, the h'and's of the ingenious story -teller, bound 'be- hind his be-hind'his back, working as he 'talked. Now "they strained this way, and now that, at the •piece of rope that 'bound them. "That was ten years ago," he said, his voice becoming more and more impressive. "Since ,that ,'day nothing A DOLLAR'S WORTH Clip this coupon and mail ft with $1 for a six weeks' trial subscription to THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR Published by TeS OHOIOTreN Serowe PostrmHaea Soor&rr Boston, Massachusetts, to. B. A. 1n 1t •sou will find the daily good news of the world from Its bag special ,writer', as well u departments devoted towomen's, and children's Interests, sports, music, finance, edocatton, radio, etc You will be glad to welcome Into your home eo l fearless an advocate of peace gad prohibition And don't. miss Snubs, Our Dog,. cad the auntlfa1 nue the other factures. Tim OHIt0TISN' SCISNOs Mormon, Back Bay Station; Boston, Mass. Please send mea six weeks' trial subscription. I enclose ono dollar (e1). urs o, y4:4' --_ ..(Town) (State) 411. (Nome, plea,, print). (Address) - R. H. H'UG'H ROSS, Physicfw and Surgeon. Late of London. ileo- pital, London, • Englan-d. Special; attention to diseases of the eye, t nose and throat. Office and mo - deuce behind Dominion Bank. Office Phone No. 5; Residence' Phone t04. DR. F. J. BURROWS, Sea/octet. Office and residence, Godericit stank east of the United Church. Oariasoe for the County of Huron. Telephasss No. 46: DR. C. MIAOICIA'Y.-C. Mackey'z, honor graduate of Trinity Univereitg and gold medallist of Trinity Medina College; member of the College od PhysiciansendSurgeons of Ontario. DR. F. J. R. FOORSTER—Eye, E'a'u Nose and Th'roat. Graduate in Mesti- cine, University of Toronto . I691. Late Assistant New York Optsthal- mic and Aural Institute, Moorefeeere Eye, and Giolden Square throat hospi- tals, London, England. At Comm- ercial Hotel, Seaforth, 3rd Monday is each month, from 11 a.m. to 3 Qat: DIR. W. C. SIPIROAT.--Graduate of Faculty • of Medicine, University .d. Western Ontario, London. Ifeashar of College of Physicians and :Sur- geons of Ontario. Office in tear at Aberhart's drug store, Seafastli. Phone 90. Hours 1.30-4 p. m., 7.11 -9 p.m. Other hours by agpoimtramlC ,Dental DIR. J. A. M'LUNN, Successde to Dr. R. R. Ross, graduate of North- western University, Chicago, fit L centiate Royal College of Dental Sur- geons, Toronto. Office over SSW hardware, Main St., Seaforth. Phone 151. DR. F. J. BIECI3ELY, grOnate Royal College of Dental $,a�l:weeua, Toronto. Office over W. ,R.. Smith's grocery, Main. St., Seafouth. Monet, office 185W, residence 1853. Auctioneer. GEORGE ELLIIOTT, Licensed! ;Auctioneer for the. County of Duron.. !Arrangements can be made for Sick Date at The Seaforth News. Charm Moderate and satisfaction gauntest WATSON AND RrEW REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE AGENCY (Succssors to James 'Watson) •MADN ST., SEAFORTH, All kinds of Insurance risks drum - ed at lowest rates in First -Masa Companies. THE McKII,LO'P Mutual Fire Insurance 'C ft (its FARM AND IISOLAT'.ED 'G'OW'N PROPERTY, O'iN'L Y, INSUR1I'JiiIo Officers — John 'Be'nnewies, Brod,.. hagen, President; las. -Connolly, GOtt- erich, Vice -Tres.; iD. F. M'cIGeegp' Seaforth No. 4, Sec.-Treas. !Directors—!Geo, R, 5fcCartney, Sea - forth No. 3; Alex. Broadfoof Seas - forth No. 3; James Evans, Seaferlit No. J5; IRobt, ,Ferris,-'B'lyth INe.' le )'aa. SIh'oldice, Walton No. 4; John Pepper,,. iBrucefield; William 'Knox, Suclfese- borough. Agents--J'as. Watt, Blyth No. e; W. E. IHin'ch'ley, Seaforth; J. A. Murray, Seaforth IN'o. 3; W. J. Yeo, Clinton No. .3; R. G. Iparmuth, Bornholm. 'Auditors — las. Herr, Sea ectitc Thos. Moylan, Seaforth No. 5. Parties desirous to effect insurance or transact other business, wlIl b's promptly attended to by applications to any of the above named officers ad • dressed to their respective gear" offices. 'Th'e Man With Asthma, aduroaF longs for death to end ,tris, suffering. He sees 'ahead only years of endless torment with intervals ,of rest which are themselves ,f naught with never ceasing fear of renewed attadks Lee him turn to Dr. J. D. ,Kellogg's As- t'hma Remedy and "knonw ,what oculi_• plete relief it can, .gime. Let limit Emit use it faithfully and he will Caul title.' asth'ma a thing -of the past., Want and For Sale Ads, 3 'times, eek