Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1880-07-24

considerably as found myself hurried
along through the silent darkness by n
man whose death-bed was about to at
tend. He was grimlv silent; but, as his
hand touched mine, in spite of the frost,
| ii felt like burning coal.
On we went-tramp, tramp, through
the snOw-On, on, till even l grew
weary, and at length on my appalled, ear
struck the chimes Of n church-clock.
while close at hand l distinguished the
snow hillocks of churchyard. Heav.
ems ! was this awful scene of which
was to he the witness to take place verit-
ably among the dead?
| ELEVEN groaned the doomed mar
"Graclous God but two hours more,
and that ghostly messenger will bring
the summons. Come. come for mer-
cy's sake let us hasten"
There was but short road separating
us now from wall which surrounded a
large mansion, and along this we hast
ened until we reached small door.
Passing through this, in few minutes
We were stealthily ascending the private
staircase to splendidly-furnished apart
lnent. which left no doubt of the wealth
of its owner. Ali was intensely silent,
however, through the house and about
this room in particular there was still
ness that, as | gazed around, struck me
almost ghastly.
My companion glanced at the clock on
the mantel-shelf and sank into large
chair by the side of the fire with a shud-
der. "Only an hour and half longer"
he muttered. "Great Heaven l
thought had more fortitude. This hor-
ror unmans me-" Then, in q fiercer
tone, and clutching my arm, he added,
"Ha! you mock me-you think ME
mad: but wait till you see-wait till you
see"
put my hand on his wrist; for there
was now q fever In his sunken eyes
which checked the superstitious chill
which had been gathering over me, and
made me hope that, after all, my first
suspicion was correct, and that my pa
tient was but the victim of some fearful
hallucination.
"Mock yOu!" answered soothingly.
Ear from it; I sympathizs intensely
with you, and would do much TO aid you.
You require sleep. Lie down, and leave
me to watch"
He groaned, but rose, and began
throwing off his clothes, and, watching
my opportunity, I slipped sleeping
powder, which had managed to put in
my pocket before leaving the surgery,
into the tumbler Of claret that stood be-
side him.
The more I saw, the more I felt con-
vinced that it was the nervous system of
my patient which required my atten-
ton; and it was with sincere satisfac-
ton I saw him drink the wine, and
then stretch himself on the luxurious
bed.
"Ha," thought as the clock struck
II, and, instead of groan, the deep
breathing of the sleeper sounded through
the room; "you won't receive any sum-
mons tonight. and 1 may make myself
comfortable"
Noiselessly, therefore, I replenished
the fire, poured myself out a glass of
wine, and, drawing the curtain so that
the freight should not disturb the
sleeper, put myself in position to
follow his example.
How long slept know not, but sud-
denly I aroused with start and as
ghostly thrill of horror as ever re-
membered to have felt in my life. Some
Ming-what, knew nOt-seemed near
something nameless, but unutterably
awful.
I gazed round. The fire emitted a
faint blue glow, just sufficient to enable
me to see that the room was exactly the
same as when I fell asleep, but that the
long hand of the clock wanted but five
minutes of the mysterious hour which
was to be the death-moment of the
summoned" mani
Was there anything in it, then ?-any
truth in the strange story he had told?
The silence was intense. / could not
even hear breath from the bed and
was about to rise and approach, when
again that awful horror seized me, and
at the same moment my eye fell upon
the mirror opposite the door, and /
saw
Great Heaven! that awful Shape
that ghastly mockery of what had been
humanity-was it really messenger
from the buried, quiet dead? 1t stood
there in visible death-clothes but the
awful face was gbastly with corruption.
and the sunken eyes cleaned forth
green, CLASSY glare, which seemed YER
table blast from the Internal fires be-
low. To move or utter sound in that
hideous presence was impossible; and
like n statue 1 sat and saw that horrld
Shape move slowly toward the bed.
What was the awful scene enacted
there know not. 1 heard nothing, cx-
cept low, stiAed, agonized groan, and |
saw the shadow of that ghastly messen-
ger bending over the bed. Whether it
was some dreadful but wordless sentence
it's breathless lips conveyed, rs 1t stood
there, 1 know not but for an instant
the shadow of claw-like hand, from
which the third finger was missing, ap-
peared extended over the doomed mans
head and then, rs the clock struck one
clear silvery stroke, it fell, and wild
shrek rang through the room-a death
shrek.
1 am not given to fainting, but l cer-
tainly confess that the next ten minutes
of nv existence WAS a cold blank and,
when I did manage to stagger to my
feet, I gazed round, vainly endeavoring
u Il. Il