150 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



broad galleries of the house that contained the object 

 of so much curiosity. The doors and windows were 

 closed, and a suspicious look was on every thing. 



" Do they always keep a house closed up this way 

 that has a piano in it ? " asked Cash, mysteriously. 



" Certainly," replied Mercer ; " the damp would de- 

 stroy its tones." 



Repeated knocks at the doors, and finally at the 

 windows, satisfied both Cash and Mercer that nobody 

 was at home. In the midst of their disappointment, 

 Cash discovered a singular machine at the end of the 

 gallery, crossed by bars and rollers, and surmounted 

 with an enormous crank. Cash approached it on tip- 

 toe ; he had a presentiment that he beheld the object of 

 his curiosity, and as its intricate character unfolded it- 

 self, he gazed with distended eyes, and asked Mercer, 

 with breathless anxiety, " What that strange and in- 

 comprehensible box was ? " 



Mercer turned to the thing as coolly as a north wind 

 to an icicle, and said " that was ?/." 



" That IT ! ! " exclaimed Cash, opening his eyes still 

 wider ; and then recovering himself, ■ he asked to see 

 " the tones." 



Mercer pointed to the cross-bars and rollers. With 

 trembling hands, with a resolution that would enable a 

 man to be scalped without winking. Cash reached out 

 his hand, and seized the handle of the crank (Cash, at 

 heart, was a brave and fearless man) ; he gave it a turn, 



