Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-07

his eyes might fall upon the face of
the dead. The coffin was extremely
large; it was at least six feet in length,
and the clerk thought he could lie
down and roll over in it with ease-it
was so wide
Untilfhe lifting of the lid of the
box Compton had pictured to himself
the cold but beautiful face of young
girl pillowed in the case, but when the
dimensions of the coffin greeted his
his eye, such thoughts vanished, and
he felt inclined to pursue them with a
laugh.
But at last he again fell to the work
of revealing the dead face of his con-
singnment, and he heard the ticking of
his watch while he worked on the sill
ver-headed screws.
The minutes were such that Mark
Compton would not live over again for
the world; and when he put aside the
steel screw-driver, he drew q sigh Of
relief.
Slowly the heavy lid was lifted and
what did he see ?
A white fabric. seemingly very fine,
and underneath the faint contour of
face heavenward turned.
This is a mystery of the dead /"
said the confidential clerk, drawing
back from the concealed face. I've
a mind to shut the thing up again and
get John to cart it back to the Condor.
1t isn't mine, l know it isn't, and the
sheet may haunt me through life |"
But talk and argue as he might,
Mark Compton could not overcome
his curiosity; and unable to restrain
himself, he bent over the coffin aud his
fingers gently touched the shroud.
Slowly he lifted it, and saw face
that seemed to grin at him with all the
facial humor of circus clowns.
Instantly the sheet was dropped. and
the clerk started back with a gasp of
horror.
There was no installing the fact that
the mystery of the grinning dead face
had frightened Mark Compton.
After a long while he crept toward
the coffin again.
The shroud falling from his hands
had left the face partly uncovered, and
while STOPPING 20 remove it altogether,
an exclamation fell from his lips.
Corpse, the dickens !" he cried.
Its some of Colby's doings. I'd for
gotten him
The next moment Mark Compton's
hands seized the laughing face, and had
flung it across the room.
Where it had lain was a letter, lift
ing which the clerk caught sight of the
illuminated ends of several cigar
boxes.
The coffin was filed with the best
brands of Havana cigars.
Luke Colby, III pay you for this
if it takes a century of scheming,"
calculated Compton, calling to mind
the joVial member of the Southern
branch of the house of Gaffey & Co.
Luke Colby.
Undoubtedly at that very moment,
in some rich parlor in New Orleans,
he was laughing over his hoax.
"I'll plan my revenge in the smoke
of his cigars, said Gaffey & Co.'S, con-
fdential clerk. IF they kill me they
can not torture me more than they
have already. This is the ghastilest
Joke on record. Confound you, Luke
Colby May your grandfather unex-
pectedly visit you some day in his
wooden doubletI'
The next morning Gafey & Co.,
discovered the joke, and the counting
room rung with boisterOus merriment.
The laugh was on Compton, and the
poor fellow, putting furiously on a CT
gar, swore revenge on the inveterate
joker who had frightened him almost
out of his boots.
Whether the tables were ever turned
on Colby l do not know; but | have
told, as best | could, the story of the
/ Condor's Manifest.