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Kansas University Weekly.
on that peculiar time and place, and what could she have to tell me anyway? Three or four times that day I made up my mind not to go, and as many times I changed my mind again. Finally as the appointed time drew near, curiosity and hope got the better of fear and caution, and I determined to go.
I left the house without attracting any attention at half past eight, as it was a little less than a half an hour's walk to the Tower. It was a dismal night. The sky was overcast, and dark lowering clouds were rolling up from the horizon. The wind was rising, and as I reached the open mountain side I began to feel its force. For most of the distance my way lay along the bank of the river, and the dreary splash and gurgle of the water did not tend to make the situation more cheerful. A sense of fear and a presentiment of evil settled over my spirits like a pail. I quickened my pace, and it was almost with a feeling of relief that I at length beheld the dark and gloomy outlines of the Tower rising before me.
This old Tower had once been the residence of a noble family, but it had long since been abandoned and left to decay. Most of the walls had fallen in shapeless ruins, but the old keep still stood firm, its stones covered with moss and its walls draped with ivy. Toward the keep I made my way and had almost reached it when I was startled by a figure which seemed to rise out of the ground beside me. At a second glance, however, I recognized 'Old Nancy.' "Well, you're here on time,"—she said rather slowly,—"now follow me."
She led the way toward the keep, and I followed in silence. We went around the foot of the building until we came to an angle in the wall, and here Nancy stopped. By this time the sky was entirely covered with black clouds. On the horizon lightning was beginning to flash, the rumbling of distant thunder could be heard, and the first big, scattering drops of an imminent thunder-shower were splashing down on the gray stones. Stooping down in the angle of the wall, the old woman worked busily for several minutes with a large rock in the foundation
close to the ground. Suddenly the rock swung back with a harsh creak revealing a dark hole, which, after a number of loose stones had been removed, was large enough for a person to squeeze through. 'Old Nancy' immediately entered the opening, calling on me to follow. I hesitated a moment and then obeyed.
A flash of lightning revealed a flight of stone steps which seemed to lead down under the keep. We followed this down until it led us to a massive door. On this Nancy gave a peculiar tap. Suddenly the door swung open letting a gleam of light out into the darkness, the old woman pushed me inside and the door clanged heavily shut behind me.
For a moment I was so dazzled by the sudden transfer from the darkness into the light, that I could distinguish nothing. Then as my eyes grew accustomed to the glare, I took in the details of my surroundings. I was in a long, low room the sides of which were composed of the bare stones of the building. The light was furnished by a large number of wax candles stuck in holders on the walls. These walls were profusely decorated with mistletoe. In the very center of the room stood a large stone altar, near which was a brazier of hot coals. All these details my eye took in at a glance, and then my attention became fixed on the persons whom I saw in the room.
At the other end of the hall was a group of about twenty old men of venerable appearance. They all had white hair and long white beards and wore flowing white robes. The one who seemed the most venerable of them all sat in a chair on a dais in the midst of the group, and on his head wore a chaplet of mistletoe. On my entrance they all regarded me in silence for some moments, during which interval it suddenly flashed upon me who they were. I was in the presence of the Druids. I had heard since I was a child that there were remnants of that ancient and powerful order scattered through the country, who still preserved the ancient traditions and religion, carried on the old ceremonies at intervals, and cherished the hope of freeing the country from the English yoke. But here I was evidently in their very presence, and a chill of dread crept over me as I realized the fact.
Then the patriarch in the chair, who was un-