The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-11-08

| L was bUO reSlleSS W Slb Stlii dllu lOO ucT-
vous to go to bed. Besides, even if | hadn't
been so upset in my mind, it is doubtful
whether could have slept through such a
| storm as that.
To occupy myself about something, re-
| lighted my lantern, went into the freight
room, examined again the bolts and fasten-
! ings of the windows, and returned to the
| room more worried and upset than ever
Just as | was entering my own nest the
| light of the lantern fell squarely on the
| wooden box. Oddly enough, until that
moment had forgotten all about the dead
| young woman. Thig king so much of the
$4,000 had, suppose, driven the box out
of my mind. But can't say it was any
comfort to have it brought back low: for a
corpse is never the most cheerful OF COM
pany. and feeling, as | did then | would a
grea: deal rather have had no company at
all.
1t must have been the imp of the perverse
| SUI pose, that impeled me, after the box
had been brought back to my mind, TO leave
the door open so thatlI could sit and stare
at it with morbid curiosity. As | have al
| ready said. my sleeping apartment was par
tiioned off from the freight room, and was
connected with the latter by a door. The
body had been placed in such position
that when the door was open the head OF
the box was in sight Two or three times
got up to shut the door, but some strange
fatality drove me back to my chair and
caused me to keep in sight the box with lis
SAD IretSnt. All this tlme lhe STORM ragea,
the thunder dlscharged lis mighty batteries,
the llghtnlng hashed ana the mad ravlnss
OF the telesraph continued caught my
neart lfemohhg as tried 10 rellll my pipe.
Nervousness, no doubt; but possibly an OBJ
server might have thought old Billy was
frightt ned
haa Just 'lseh 20 Wlhd me Ittie clock on
me sltii, when suddenly OUT Oh .ne hitherto
ieaiiiiiSiess itching on tne Instrument sharp
y anu olslihctiy caliie W hy ears Cllese
SOUNDS: -. 80. .1,,, =,
=. Whicn III spoken Woras meant, Watch
inc ooA.
l started as II charge u elestrsc!ty na ai
snos through my frame l coa1u IAN ieei
my lace grow Wiiie. l stoou motloiless,
clutching the PACK OF my chaif, ana my eyes
riVetea III very vacant manner Oh the Ia
Die IN the telegraph office: l knew this ", was
no Morh ol ai eAclteu flnaslnalion, Inc
" Moius " ny placticeu ear n mere as pau as
IL sAouIeo III Giallo II Coies' Ineie ni'u colne
no cai .ot heu ha'ine' anu tpI heeoaSe
enueu Mi:1ue sna.''iI ~ ii ~ ~, ~. az
rap'iy' 40 ~ nav oeSun. Nole 1,ali .iils' IL
was no' 'lie e "ii1inS u any opeia'oi oil any
~. III u .nu ,,a Guuao a,@se swoa ~
tat ~. WIN do lfaon Posi.i!1ness as YOU woilu
uiG roieI =, az VIZ Mnieh y1u are
LOU. w. d;n+i Inu GTS ",,I a'au pnoe' we
aus w LII as WIZ 10 naulins .ie
nns dis.ir,r'';sh % 90 o.il-
Nd ti@u ha A . III al ly
clirk off . aoa ike tho. '-o 'o'n''i
Will T stooJ dazad and al,,os. ,,n,l,.os
ffor un,, 49, o,.'a,hn u 4l4 a 1:yi zsu
norvoS 100 str,,n ~ tarriio I'll, ~
niaht9 tba rand 80 ,',,intolI;oht'o H. ,;nt'
nlscl, uas rasfr,ea as if dan,n Ia IN
got hold of he i,e', ." II 1as fnli,, fna So,
Itas hefora nanstarad ea,raaa ro,,e III -
pass into the ticket Office and sit down bv
the table myself. Not once had turned
back to look at the box. Almost at the in
slant of nv sitting down at the table.
the clicking stopped short. as il
had done before. and these verv words were
repeated. swatch the box.n
Every dot. every dash. every word came
with such distinctness that it seemed TO
end a sharp pain tingling through nv
ears. 1t was like the loud Whispering Of
some ehostlv voice Then aoai,, broke ont
tbe iaroon Of sound that tortEred ibo oliol,
ing into a meaningless confusion
/ sprang up from the table. and with the
now STRENGTHENED conviction that If was no
delusion. no fancy. but that the sound had
come mainly over tt,e wires T felt NV conr-
resolved
mysterious warnino. The ROLLING of tho
thunder and the mad roar Of the storm no
longer depressed me. stenned boldly hack
into INV nwn room and rostad nv a,os ~,
finchinolv on tbe mvster;ous how What
was its 9;'sterons fre;aIta WV had t .,.s
nbantom of the storm Sent tbese startli y
verbs ova, tba ,riros5 W.T. ,'ni.,, ~
hand had reacbed ont from tha ,oru iioht
MING itself 70 warn me of rnand;na dan9erp
I felt t5e dread fear d;sannoasi,,, and fnund
mvsel' arowi,'@ strannex csi,,, '"' A0'''o
M so 10 s :.
1iio oiooA soluch ~. tuiiieu 10 the sneli
anu WIN iaiio tiat no longer tremoied
iusei'9a tne hey anu wouiiu ~ coihposedly.
oaia =. oo .no i"ss .li1o .naI snoeiu per
lolih .nat simple TASK NO matter. Han
per thail mos iheh, because content with
10y p,l iol' !. shoula never De sad that
y. ~ Diiiy hilicneu ~ 'ne lace ~ outy. for
Ia. nl5le ~ was my uuty-my one sacred,
laft in NV v' teeuinS "A iaru .ne treasure
~ ~: ~ ~. 10y hoePS' Anu Suaiu III "ouio
"l WE me Ieniaahed.
+ol, n na f,l i il Minuing tne CLOCK,
49, 40" eio oiieii aii olu rusty llstoi
~a,.en .1 1911 ~ iol years unulsturoed. LII
, "a1 noo loaueu, hor nao eitler poWoer or
1 puilets anywhere III ine station. But the
weapon was an usIyelookihg one, ana car
iaaa aoi. VI slienu ioiee III ease oi 100
sressiye aisuiiien'. Al!eI examining me
tu aS iocNl put me Pistol On 5ne 5aoie,
i iisue ~, nie;n siasS 1l s9uuy, drank IL,
ngad iny PIE anaMciosea tne door thaf
o ,os ,t dmou Lhe heisnl iooln NOW thaI !
a @a9 " 1n ei,,,ty msSeh assin, ! louilu IL
o 49, W smu' ou' VIC Sisn' VI 'na' luminous
ooionS ooA.
~, ~ mas nor ~. ut1ii .ne ciosk struck AGAIN
sna' 10 ti Il lhaue up my nln9 10 go 10
neu. AL Iiie tilne tne STORM helu on, al
1nousl Ine tnuiioeI nau ueguh 10 rumble
aIi.. uiStan..y. l ,ni1 Nv. Oh my coat ana
eelppels' pun out Tue iignt III tne tlcKet OF
n NC, anu IoIIe. eliat III my sleepinS-loom
uoWn W low nalne. Ineh 1 drew the
money pachage rom uhder the mattress
anu piiheu IL securely 10 my WOODEN shirt,
unuer my vesti ms done, ana the table
~ pi ss .naS Gouiu reacn oolh the lamp
g. anu ,ne plsIoi, l opened inc door into the
Iieisns Iooili ooiiie tnree Oh lour ihcnes, ana
Snen enfew inysen upon tne ped. AS soon
- my heau touc1ed tne pllloW' the lnstru-
h s ~ Wnlch hao grown quiet! now clicked
on llie Jury Cllue' louuiy, aisllnGtly; SLOWLY
u, NV, w o Oh W. warning: Walcn tne oox!
ms 'llhe Ine waIhing was not needed. l
i"u iio' Soiio " oeo W oleeP, out iof Inc