The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-07-14
A CRUISE IN the DARK.

old Press.
A CRUISE IN the DARK.
At last all sleepiness forsook me.
1 recognized the fact that l was
hopelessly and permanently wide
awake. Wide awake, and feverish
and thirsty. When l had lain toss
ing there as long as l could endure
it, it occurred to me that it would
be good idea to dress and go out
in the great square and take re-
freshing wash in the fountain, and
smoke and reflect there until the
remnant of the night was gone.
l believed l could dress in the
dark without waking Harris. l
had banished my shoes after the
mouse, but my slippers would do
for a summer night. So l rose
softly, and gradually got on every
thing-down to one sock. couldn't
seem to get on the track of that
sock, anyway l could fix it. But l
had to have it; so went down on
my hands and knees, with one
slipper on and the other in my
hand, and began to paw gently
around and rake the floor, but with
no success. l enlarged my circle,
and went on paving and rak-
ing. With every pressure of my
knee, how the floor creaked! and
every time chanced to rake against
any article, it seemed to give out
thirty-fve or thirty-six times more
noise than it would have done in
the day time. In those cases l al
ways stopped and held my breath
till / was sure Harris had
not awakened-then l crept along
again. Imoved on, but l could not
find the sock; l could not seem to
find anything but furniture. l
could not remember that there was
much furniture IN the room when l
went to bed, but the place was alive
with it now-especially chairs
chairs everywhere-had 4 couple of
families moved in, in the meantime?
And l never could seem to glance
on one of those chairs, but always
struck it full and square with my
head. My temper rose by steady
and sure degrees, and as l paved
on an6 on, l fell to making vicious
comments under my breath.
Finally, with a yenomous access
of irritation, 1 said / would leave
without the sock; so l rose up and
made straight for the door-as |
supposed-and suddenly confronted
nv dim spectral image in the un-
broken mirror. 1t startled the
breath out of me, for an instant; it
also showed me that was lost, and
had no sort of idea where l was.
When I realized this, was so an
erv that I had to sit down on the
floor and take hold of something to
keep from lifting the roof off with
an explosion of opinion, If there
had been only one mirror, it might
possibly have helped to locate me;
but there were two, and two were
as bad as a thousand; besides these
were on opposite sides OF the room.
T could see the dim blur of the WIN
dows, but in my turned-around con-
dition they were exactly where they
ought not to be, and so they only
confused me instead of helping me.
I started to get up, and knocked
down an umbrella, it made a noise
like a pistol-shot when it struck
that hard, slick carpetless floor; l
grated my teeth and held my
breath-Harris did not stir. l set
the umbrella slowly and carefully
on end against the wall, but as soon
as 1 took my hand away, it's heel
slipped from under it, and down it
came again with another bang. !
shrunk together and listened a mo,
ment in silent fury-no harm done,
everything quiet. With the most
painstaking care and nicely l stood
the umbrella up once more, took my
hand away, and down it came again.
have been strictly reared, but il
It had not been SO dark and solemn
and awful there in that lonely vast
room, 1 do believe I should have
said something then which could
not be put into a Sunday school
book without injuring the sale Of it
If nv reasoning powers had not al
ready been sapped dry by harrass
ments, 1 would have known better
than to try to set an umbrella or
end on one of those CLASSY German
f,oors in the dark; it can't be done
in the daytime without four failures
IN one success. I had one comfort
thouqh-Harris was yet still and 81
lentehe had not stirred.
The umbrella could not locate m,
there were four standing arouni
the room, and all alike. though
/ would feel along the wall and fint
the door in that way. l rose vi
| and began this operation, but rak-
| ed down a picture. 1t was not
Large one, but it made noise enough
,ororoma Harris pava on