tolling the hours of sacred worship, that any one standing on the waters' banks could hear the lost bell answering its mate from the bottom of the sea.1 In the year 1737 the hundred ton bell, "Monarch," at Moscow, did peal forth three of its deafening tones, three days prior to the tempest of flame that consumed the city. In ancient times it was a prevalent belief among superstitious people, that cymbals and hand bells had the power of driving away evil spirits.
Get thee gone, and dig my grave thyself,
And bid thy merry bells ring to thy ear
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
The custom of tolling bells grew out of the belief that it dispersed the evil spirits that were hovering near the death bed to afflict the soul the moment when it escaped from the body. And from a remote antiquity, the tolling of bells has been regarded as a token of a soul passing out of the world. Although none of the incidents we have named may not have any direct bearing toward explaining the mysterious bell heard on the Purgoo Kingdom, but they do sustain the theory of inexplicable events.
On the day we now refer to, only a small white cloud was hovering between the earth and sky. Fallon and his Parisan visitor were sitting on the veranda considering their situation, and comparing the beautiful day with their surrounding adversities. The sincerity of their thoughts and arguments prohibited them from noting the nearness of the hour of noon, but three thousand slaves were aware that the sun stood direct over their heads, and only a few minutes separated them from an hour's rest. The noon hour arrived, the silver whistle was heard, and the solemn tones of "Weeping Mary" went crashing through the air, and all at once, dong, dong, dong, the sound of a bell was heard echoing from the etherial blue sky.
"Why, what is that?" exclaimed Purgoo as he leaped to his feet, pale and trembling and stood by the side of Fallon, who had also arose and was looking toward the heavens. "I will swear by my life," he exclaimed, "That that sound was the echo from "Whistling Dick." The invisible bell was distinctly heard, not only on the plantation, but by many of the inhabitants of Monroe.
The first peal from the invisible bell seemed as though it speeded downward from the clouds and came rushing upon the ear all at once, producing a trembling sound like the bells of a cathedral. The minds of masters and slaves received a new baptism of awe and superstitious dread.
The planter declared he would return to France as soon as possible, and said that he would not remain twenty-four hours on the plantation, not for the whole State of Louisiana, and his companion declared he could manage all the niggers on top of the earth, and did not fear any of them under the earth, but when bells began to toll over head it was more than he could stand, and said that he also would leave the old plantation and let old Joe and "Whistling Dick" run it.
Many theories and explanations were used in attempting to account for the mysterious sound, but all of them were countered with skepticism and universal doubt. But perhaps the most plausible explanation that will ever be given was the one attributing it to a bell bird, which may have wandered from its proper latitude and was returning from one of its aerial voyages to its native land.
The bell bird is found in some of the warmer parts of South America and is remarkable for the metalic resonance of its cry, which distinctly resembles the tolling of a bell. From its forehead protudes a strange tubular appendage or bag, which, when empty, is pendulous, but which can be filled with air by communication from the palate and then it is raised erect to the height of six or eight inches. Its tolling occurs at intervals varying from a minute to several minutes and can be heard to the distance of five miles and resounds through the forest not only at evening and morning, but also at midday, when the blazing sun imposes silence on all other creatures; and many travelers, when lost in the jungles of that tropical clime, have been known to perish by wandering from their proper course, by mistaking the tolling of the bell bird for the sound of a bell from some distant habitation. This is the most plausible explanation that can possibly be given in solving the problem of the tolling of a bell echoing from the sky.
The tolling of the mysterious bell was only another link in the superstitious chain of beliefs that was prevalent among the slaves on the plantation. And, although it was somewhat out of the ordinary channel of their superstitious occurrences, yet to them it was a visible event and easily solved, for many of the leaders in beholding unnatural sights, declared that at the the time the bell was heard tolling in the sky they distinctly saw "Bell Ringing Joe" seated on the edge of a snow white cloud and by his side was "Whistling Dick."
The year was rapidly drawing to a close and Purgoo was very desirous of returning to France, for it has been previously stated in this book, that he had promised to deliver a cargo of cotton to Tuebor & Co. by the first of January, and he had already received a partial payment in advance of its delivery. But it was impossible for him to procure it. The recent destruction caused by the cyclone had necessarily left him in financial straits and bankruptcy seemed inevitable. Furthermore, it was about the time that public sentiment in the North was thoroughly aroused against the slave traffic, and the Northern and Southern States were engaged in hot dispute and frowning at each other, and the financial valuation of slaves was rapidly on the decrease. Even the plantation itself had diminished twenty-two per cent. in the real estate market during the last year.
The effects of the cyclone added a new obstacle for consideration. Eight weeks of diligent work of thousands of slaves and many beasts of burden had only succeeded in the partial erasure of the evidences of destruction wrought by the cyclone.
Purgoo was in a more precarious position than he was aware, for Fallon had not divulged to him the extent of the incumbrances that had accumulated during the last five years. He was yet unaware of the vast sums of gold that had been daily squandered by that maudlin demon and ruler over the Purgoo Kingdom. Neither was he aware of the many enormous bills of credit which must be paid the first of the incoming year.
The planter and his overseer held a long and earnest consultation on the evening of the day the mysterious bell was heard, and the result was the beginning of the end of the Purgoo Kingdom. The predestined struggle that was inevitable between the Northern and Southern States, as well as the many perplexities and adversities hovering over the plantation had been the basis for an agreement to the immediate sale of the place. The inhabitants were startled when the following advertisement appeared in all the morning papers published at Monroe and New Orleans:
NOTICE—FOR SALE—The "Purgoo Kingdom" will be sold at Public Auction December 29th. The purchaser will have the right to retain as many of the present stock of slaves as desired, and the remainder of them will be sold at Public Auction December 31st.
1 It is the largest bell in the world. Weight 386,000 pounds. It fell down during the great fire at Moscow, Russia, and lay buried where it fell until 1837. It was twenty-one feet in height and the same in diameter.
CHAPTER V
A FLASH OF LIGHTNING KILLS FALLON AND WRITES HIS NAME ON STONE
Beyond the starlit paths untrod,
A soul draws nearer to the face of God.
THE life of man, with all of its conjurations and projects, with all of its wealth and pleasure, rears itself like a little tower to which Death adds the finishing stroke. Among all the walks and pursuits of life, the ever alert sentry, Death, challenges the echoes of every approaching foot that steps upon the sinking sands of time. Let man pursue any course he may for a livelihood in life, Death will add the finishing touch, and all his accumulated stock of wealth and pleasures vanishes the moment that Death pronounces its verdict that henceforward, oh "man, thou art clay."
The Purgoo mansion was of gothic design, built of white marble and granite, with a veranda on either side of it, and it was the finest home in Louisiana and the most elaborate dwelling in all the Southern States. The reflection of the sun's rays upon the granite rock gave it a dazzling