The Opelousas courier., 1884-09-27

Ouly q 0EeaIn Dorm OF my ne6tlHB
the strange mar in the road, I felt,
had awakened me. / went to bed and
fell asleep again. Again ] was awak-
ened by the same words, this time
shrieked by an 'ncarthly voice.
wake up. wake up. You are want
ed at the crossroads"
/ was on my feet once more, and
caught Ben's hand as he came over to-
ward my bed.
"What ails your he cried.
Nothing" said !. did you hear a
voiee2"
yours said Ben, yelling woke
me up; you fairly frightened me"
"Ben," said ] swat till / get a
lamp; / heard another voice. There
must be some one in t. house or out
side"
So / again lit the lamp; and searched
in vain.
nightmare" said Ben, when I told
him my story.
"Ben," said ], "what is there at the
crossroads"
"a house." said Ben. He had lived
in the neighborhood a long while. and
mot long. Zone little house, beside
two oak trees and a fence. An old
man lives there-a rich man, and a bit
of a miser, they say. His granddaugh-
ter keeps house for him."
"Ben, that fellow may have meant
harm to them. / may be wanted at
the cross-r3ads.'
brother" said Ben, Ego to sleep.
You had O nightmare" and Ben plung-
ed between the blankets and was snor-
ing again.
] also, in ten minutes, slept as sound
ly as before; but the awakening soon
came again.
l opened my eyes % see a girl stand
ing at the foot Of my bed. A girl in
white robes. with golden hair all about
her shoulders. who hung her hands and
cried, "0h, wake up, you are wanted
at the crossroads"
BENZ / cried; "Ben, for the third
time / have been told that I am want
ed at the crossroads, and / am going
And I began to dress myself as
speedily as possible. listening the
while to the storm raging wilder and
wilder than at any other period since
its commencement.
Ben demonstrated with me in vain.
AT last he began to huddle on his
clothes.
IF you have gone mad / must go
with you to take care of you," he said.
"But fancy another man going out in
a storm like this to the crossroads be
cause a nightmare caused him to do
50, and what would you think Of
him."
! said nothing. All could have
answered would have been:
Il am compelled to go; / must go, ]
dare not refuse. whatever may be
thought of me-"
In ten minutes we were splashing
through the mud and rain along the
road. It was perfectly dark; now and
then a blazed red star beaming in the
distance told us that q lamp was burn.
ing in some cottage window, but 9th.
erwise we would not have been con.
cious Of our promixityt to any habita-
ton whatever. AT last, nearing the
spot where the road from S.
crosses P-we were indeed In al
solitary a place as can be imagined.
The house, which was abutted or
the very angle Of the roads called il
familiar parlance the crossroads, wa
the only one for some distance II
either direction, and certainly on sucl
a night we were not likely to NEE
any travellers.
All was quiet as the grave. wv
stood quite still In q moment Bel
broke out in one Of his widest laughs
sWell, how now2 viii you g
home now and have another night
mareS
But hardly had che words escapes
/, his lips when q shrek broke on tn
air, and a wo1nan's voice. plainly com
I ing from the interior Of the cottage
{ cried.
Help helpl helpl'
Ill .Ben,,' said j, awe are wanted at th
j crossroads Z and then, understandin
/ eachother, without more words "
made our way 10 . window. throug
! which Il light shone. A muslin curtai
draped the panes, but through It "
I saw an awful sight.
q An old maj lay on the floor, an
over him bent q rutIian, clutching b
throat and holding q pistol to his ca
s while another MAJ grasped the shrIel
q ing girl BIZ the arm-a girl in foatin
h charlottesville such long golde
hair as belonged to the girl of my wi