The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1848-02-12

received was whistle and mocking laugh
which gradually died upon my ear as he de-
scended the staircase.
Re urning to my seat by the fire. lighted
my pipe, and endeayored to calm by its soda
tive influence the excited state of imagination
produced by my hopeless imprisonment
Whit after Whit rolled from my lips. but il
was of no use. 1t was impossible for me,
either by reflection or by any mechanical pro-
cess, to divert my thoughts, and every few
minutes, as if by fascination beyond my
| control, my eye would steal round TO the Ia
lie behind me, and its CHASTITY occupants
Every fresh gush of wind, every new noise in
the street below, would cause me to start with
instructive terror under the fear of supernatu-
raj apparition. AT length, when all sounds
had died away, except the monononous patting
of the rain upon the skylight above, and the
throbbings Of my own heart and arteries,
which could distinctly hear in the silence
around me, mastered my feelings sufficiently
to rake the ashes over the fire, wrap myself in
my cloak, blow out the candle, and throw my
self in front of the hearth to sleep. @
1t was long before I could compose myself
sufficiently even to doze; and when at lsst
was able to do so, it was at best but sort of
feverish nightmare, in which confusions of
vampires, wehr- wolves and Frankensteins re-
volved through my brain in intricate confu-
sion.
had been in this intermediate state between
sleep and wakefulness / know not how long,
when was suddenly called to consciousness
by severe blow on the forehead. Instinct
lively raising my hand to my head, few drops
of blood trickled on my fingers. Still under
the influence of the horrible visions with
which my Imagination had been teeming,
sprang to my feet perfectly frantic with ter
ror. l rushed to the door it was locked
there was no other door to the room mo 9TH
err egress of any kind Almost sinking under
the intensity of my emotion, CROPPED along
the wall to the side of the room opposite the
fire. brilliant flash of lightning, succeeded
almost instantaneously by roar of thunder,
which broke over the building as if the ele-
ments were being shattered passed over the
skylght, and illuminated the room for mo-
ment, sufficiently long for me to observe that
there were but four bodies left upon the table,
Had one of the bodies come to life to murder
me for sacrilegious intentienss or had II never
been dead, and was my murder equally inevi-
table: A host of dreadful conjectures over
whelmed me, and involuntary sinking upon
my knees, my consciousness for few minutes
was suspended.
When came to myself all was quiet. The
crisis was over. Beginning to reflect, thought
if the spirit, ghost Terminated body, or what
ever it might be, had had any terrible inten.
tons towards me, it had had ample time to
execute them. began to feel ashamed of my
panic, and to admit the possibility of the agen-
cy of natural causes. My blood began to flow
little more freely, and gradually grew suf-
ficiently master of myself to crawl back to the
fire, uncovered tie ashes. and endeavor to
light my candle, which, after considerable
waste of spermaceti, was enabled to accom-
plish
The first object which caught my eye was
grim corpse stretched on the floor between the
fire and the table. The trunk alone touched
the floor. The legs at one end, and the shout
ders and head at the other, were elevated at a
considerable angle.
The explanation rushed upon my mind like
fash. After l had covered the fire, the room
growing colder, the bodies had gradually stiff
fened. The table was an ordinary dissecting
table, intended for single body. The equi-
librium of the five placed together on it was
at least of very doubtful stability. AS they
had gradually stiffened. the lower corpse on
the side towards the fire had been gradually
pressed upon, and SO forced out of its place,
and in falling, an arm or a leg struck me on
the forehead! This explanation was as rea-
sonable as it was satisfactory.
Taking hold of the innocent cause of my
terror, dragged it under the table from which
it had been SO violently elected; and reinstal-
ling myself in my chair, again lighted my
pipe, and determined to pass the remainder of
the night without again endeavoring to sleep.
Many were the whifs which puffed from
my meerschaum before the gray lightof morn
ing lifted the "blanket of the dark" And
have still the confession to make, that more
than once stole furtive glance to the table.
and under the table, although the intensity of
the fright l had endured, and the simplicity
of its explanation, prevented me from again
relapsing into state of spasasodic eScitabili-
ty.-1heseus.