"To you, Junius Cobb, is ordained the task of freeing from a living tomb a woman of rare beauty and angelic disposition of heart. Lose not a moment! A delay of a day will cost you a year of sorrow! Hasten to your duty, and God be with you! On the island of Guadalupe, in the Pacific Ocean, in latitude 29 degrees 15 minutes north, and longitude 41 degrees 16 minutes west, is entombed a woman whose return to life may gladden your heart, or be a curse to your existence. Listen, and heed well these instructions: From the town of Noniva, on the island, travel southwest, nineteen miles, to the deep canyons of the dry fork of the Ninta River; pass up this fork until you come to a tall and slender rock which the superstitious natives have named the 'Finger of God.' Set your chronometer with the exact time of the meridian, and when your time shall indicate the hour of four o'clock in the afternoon of January 6th, note carefully the spot where the shadow of the 'Finger of God' rests on the gray, steep rock of the eastern side of Ninta Creek. Along a shelving ledge on the face of the cliff, pass to the spot and look for the two letters 'J. C.,' cut in the wall. Into the lower point of the letter J, which will show a small hole, drive a steel rod until twenty inches have passed into the rock. A door of solid granite will open, and you will be at the mouth of a cavern. Enter, and learn the rest." A feeling of awe came over the hearts of the two girls, as they read this weird communication. Again and again they read the letter, and pondered long over its contents. "What does it mean?" gasped Marie. But Mollie was of a more practical turn of mind. She saw it to be an order for the deliverance of a human being--a woman. Casting aside her feelings of superstition which the reading of the letter had at first inspired, she commenced to debate in her mind what was the true meaning of the instructions so minutely given. Taking the letter again in her hand, she carefully read it over. "Ah! this letter is very old!" she exclaimed; then pointing her delicate finger to a line, she cried: "Do you see that? 'four o'clock in the afternoon,' it says. It has been years and years since the time of day has been designated as 'o'clock.' This paper must be very old!" "Yes; it must be very old," agreed Marie, in a low voice, reverently looking at the letter. "And here! this must be important! The shadow must be seen on January 6th of any year," and she again read the letter. "Junius must go at once, or another year will have to be passed before a trial can be made." Then, musing a moment, she exclaimed: "It is even less time than I thought, for if this paper is as ancient as we believe, then January 6th is really January 5th, for in old times, New-Year's-Day was January 1st." "Yes?" from Marie.