Well, it seemed as though the reality far exceeded the many descriptions which they had picked up from various sources; and both boys stood there for several minutes, hardly breathing, so stunned had they been by this outburst of wonderful melody.
Then all at once it burst upon the mind of Adrian that there was something familiar about the music; just as though he may have heard it before while asleep and dreaming.
He gripped his hands in an endeavor to remember where it could have been; and trying to unravel the thread of memory.
“Ad!” came in a whisper, close to his ear; and he suddenly remembered that he had a chum alongside, who must be thrilled just as much as he was by these fairly ravishing strains.
“Yes, what is it, Donald?” he asked, reaching out so as to come in contact with the arm of the other, which he immediately pressed reassuringly.
“Sounds for all the world to me like a violin!” continued the other.
Then a great light suddenly burst upon Adrian, just as a clap of thunder during a summer shower will startle one.
“It is a violin, or as the boys call it out here, a fiddle!” he said, quickly; “and I remember hearing
that same tune played some years ago when I was East. Yes, it’s the same melody, and I’d know it among a thousand. Listen to that, would you, Donald? Could anybody beat such skill, and wonderful handling of the bow?”
“But Adrian, however in the wide world would such an old heathen as the medicine man manage to master the fiddle, so as to play like that? I never heard its equal in all my life!”