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railroad station of Morganton.

Morganton is but a small town, built upon strata of the jurassic
period, particularly rich in coal. Its mines give it some prosperity.
It also has numerous unpleasant mineral waters, so that the season
there attracts many visitors. Around Morganton is a rich farming
country, with broad fields of grain. It lies in the midst of swamps,
covered with mosses and reeds. Evergreen forests rise high up the
mountain slopes. All that the region lacks is the wells of natural
gas, that invaluable natural source of power, light, and warmth, so
abundant in most of the Alleghany valleys. Villages and farms are
numerous up to the very borders of the mountain forests. Thus there
were many thousands of people threatened, if the Great Eyrie proved
indeed a volcano, if the convulsions of nature extended to Pleasant
Garden and to Morganton.

The mayor of Morganton, Mr. Elias Smith, was a tall man, vigorous and
enterprising, forty years old or more, and of a health to defy all
the doctors of the two Americas. He was a great hunter of bears and
panthers, beasts which may still be found in the wild gorges and
mighty forests of the Alleghanies.

Mr. Smith was himself a rich land-owner, possessing several farms in
the neighborhood. Even his most distant tenants received frequent
visits from him. Indeed, whenever his official duties did not keep
him in his so-called home at Morganton, he was exploring the
surrounding country, irresistibly drawn by the instincts of the
hunter.

I went at once to the house of Mr. Smith. He was expecting me, having
been warned by telegram. He received me very frankly, without any
formality, his pipe in his mouth, a glass of brandy on the table. A
second glass was brought in by a servant, and I had to drink to my
host before beginning our interview.

"Mr. Ward sent you," said he to me in a jovial tone. "Good; let us
drink to Mr. Ward's health."

I clinked glasses with him, and drank in honor of the chief of police.

"And now," demanded Elias Smith, "what is worrying him?"

At this I made known to the mayor of Morganton the cause and the
purpose of my mission in North Carolina. I assured him that my chief
had given me full power, and would render me every assistance,
financial and otherwise, to solve the riddle and relieve the
neighborhood of its anxiety relative to the Great Eyrie.

Elias Smith listened to me without uttering a word, but not without
several times refilli