Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-01-09

result staggered and confounded US beyond mea
sure; for our two shadows alone stood out in bolt
relief upon the blanket, and peeping behind it. VI
discovered the third still upon the wall, scarcel!
discemible, because of the shadow cast by tn
screen, but evideltly still there.
"Wen," said Frank, throwing the blanket upoI
the bed, and seating himself beside the fire, "what
ever that shadow may be, we are bound to be il
company with it all night. 1t will never do to fal
back now"
"By no MEANS" said, drinking off cup o
cold coffe and sitting beside my comrade. "HoV
shall we arrange the watches9"
"Wen, it is now eleven o'clock, and presume
that it will be daylight about six. Suppose w
divide the night into two watches.
"All right" I replied. (Which do you pre-
fer? -
$40 be candid with you,' replied Frank, 90
prefer the last; but the man that pulls the long
est hair from my head shall have the choice"
I smiled in spite of our dreary surroundings, ant
pulled hair from his head. Having done thu
same, he changed color for moment, for hat
evidently won the choice.
"And which watch shall it be ?" he asked, in I
tone of anxiety that rather surprised me.
'sThe first" I replied, knowing very well, tha
such an answer would gatify him. $50 to bed
Frank; and shall wake you at half past two, un
less circumstances should render your assistance
necessary before that time"
promise me, Claude" said Frank, instantl!
throwing himself across the downy bed, and adjust
ing the pillows under his head, 'that if anything
unusual should occur, you will rouse me up imme
diately. Give me a good shake, old fellow; fo
you know how soundly sleep. Good night
Keep sharp lookout!'
"Good night, Frankp' I replied. "Pleasan
dreams of homel' And throwing my blanke
over my shoulders and laying back in an immenst
leather-bound armchair, prepared to pass my
portion of the watch as comfortable as possible.
Finding it impossible to keep awake in this com
Portable position, arose to my feet and-sentinel
like-paced the room to and fro for nearly two
hours During that time had neither seen MOI
heard anything whatever to give me the slghtes
uneasiness of mind. Even the mysterious shadow
had disappeared and an impressive silence reignec
almost supreme, broken occasionally by the snoring
of my comrade and the conversation of Mr.. Mat
thews and son down stairs Feeling treasured by
this orderly and unexpected condition of things,
lighted my pipe, and, going to the head of the
stairs, requested young Matthews to pour me outa
cup of coffee and bring it up to me- The request
was complied with, and I returned to my post
whistling popular air. feeling perfectly satisfied
in my own mind that I had nothing whatever to
fear. .s. ..s......'.
A moment after was confounded and amazed
by the almost instantaneous Temperance Of the
mysterious shadow. Before, it was vague and in.
distinct; now, it was well defined and palpable
and as hastily put aside my coffee, and gazed up.
on the singular apparition, .......
"The chIld's heart within the mans,
Began to,rnove and uemble."
Had I yielded to the promptings Of nature al
that moment, should certainly have deserted my
post and made precipitate retreat; but selfre
spect, utterly precluded such cowardly step as
this. No, no terrified and awed as was, veri,
ly believe that I would have faced the very devil
himself sooner than abandon my eomrade expose
my fear and terror to the party below.
never believed in ghosts. To my mind it ap.
peared absolutely out of all reason for an invisible
essence to appear in material form. At times, in
the years which are gone, Ihave been vaguely con-
scious of the presence of the departed, and such
manifestations have chilled the blood in my veins
and sent shudder through the whole nervous sys-
tenn. say manifestations, because the departed
one is evidently present to the minds eye. Has
the reader never gone at night into his chamber,
with gladness in his heart and song upon his lips,
and suddenly felt consciousness of another pres
ence Pa consciousness that made him look unea-
silly over his shoulder and then, shuddering, hurry
from the spot? In this way alone believeit pos
sible for the spirits of the departed to make their
presence known.
The shadow on the wall was manifestation to
the senses, and such being the case did not feel
disposed to attribute its appearance to supenatu-
raj causes. And yet, to my mind; there was some
thing terrible in the fact Of there being shadow
without corresponding substance effect with
out cause. What vast? A ghost?
Whatever it might have been, I grew suddenly
nervous, sick at heart and strangely low spirited at
its second appearance. Gloomy apprehensions of
the future forebodings of approaching evil, unac-
,ountable fears of some terrible calamity, took COM
plete possession of my mind and chilled my heart.
Frank had requested ME to awake him if any
thing unusual should occur. Should do so now?
No, I would call young Matthews from below and
direct his attention to the shadow Perhaps, after
III he could satisfactorily solve the mystery.
Accordingly, Charlie was called up; but, to my
utter CONSERVATION, there was no shadow to show
him. 1t had again disappeared; and Charlie
laughed ut me when stated my reasons for cal
ling him.
I was alone again. Never, in all the coming
years. will I forget the mental suffering Of the
next half hour. A feverish consciousness of there
being something beside me something that dog
yed my steps and clouded and chilled my whole
nature o constant dread Of some apparition emer-
,ing from the shadowy corners or rising from the
;rap-doors, made that last half hour of my watch
appear an endless period of time
Then I thought Of poor Chisolm his percep-
ible hight-his scream of terror, as he rushed out
If the room-his tragic death And the secret of
t all was buried with him Oh it was terrible,
,hus
"To let dangerous thought run wild"
However, my allotted time for watching at last
expired, and I hastened to the bedside of my COM
ade to arouse him from his profound slumber.
This was undertaken with no little hesitation, and
by the expenditure of considerable
,ffort on my part. Had consulted inclination a.
one, would have left Frank to the enjoyment of
lis slumbers, and continued the watch alone, du-
ing the remaining hours of the night; but, as
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