o penetrate into mysteries, as I have known you before?"

"I am, Mr. Ward."

"Good, Strock; then listen."

Mr. Ward, a man of about fifty years, of great power and intellect,
was fully master of the important position he filled. He had several
times entrusted to me difficult missions which I had accomplished
successfully, and which had won me his confidence. For several months
past, however, he had found no occasion for my services. Therefore I
awaited with impatience what he had to say. I did not doubt that his
questioning implied a serious and important task for me.

"Doubtless you know," said he, "what has happened down in the
Blueridge Mountains near Morganton."

"Surely, Mr. Ward, the phenomena reported from there have been
singular enough to arouse anyone's curiosity."

"They are singular, even remarkable, Strock. No doubt about that. But
there is also reason to ask, if these phenomena about the Great Eyrie
are not a source of continued danger to the people there, if they are
not forerunners of some disaster as terrible as it is mysterious."

"It is to be feared, sir."

"So we must know, Strock, what is inside of that mountain. If we are
helpless in the face of some great force of nature, people must be
warned in time of the danger which threatens them."

"It is clearly the duty of the authorities, Mr. Ward," responded I,
"to learn what is going on within there."

"True, Strock; but that presents great difficulties. Everyone reports
that it is impossible to scale the precipices of the Great Eyrie and
reach its interior. But has anyone ever attempted it with scientific
appliances and under the best conditions? I doubt it, and believe a
resolute attempt may bring success."

"Nothing is impossible, Mr. Ward; what we face here is merely a
question of expense."

"We must not regard expense when we are seeking to reassure an entire
population, or to preserve it from a catastrophe. There is another
suggestion I would make to you. Perhaps this Great Eyrie is not so
inaccessible as is supposed. Perhaps a band of malefactors have
secreted themselves there, gaining access by ways known only to
themselves."

"What! You suspect that robbers--"

"Perhaps I am wrong, Strock; and these strange sights and sounds have
all had natural causes. Well, that is what we have to settle, and as
quickly as possible."

"I have one question to ask."

"Go ahead, Strock."

"When the Great Eyrie has been visited, when we kn