The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1885-12-17

Cdiicu Ouo. WHO dTe you! w naC afe
you doing there, you scoundrel?' No
reply. who are you? Answer, or I'll
shoot Still there was silence. My
pistol was pointed q little above the
centre OF the figure, and again / cried:
Answer or I'll shoot No answer
came, and pulled the trigger. was
sure OF my aim, and yet the bullet
seemed to bury itself harmlessly into
the wall beyond. Lowering my aim l
sent another ball somewhat lower,
and then a third, almost to the ground
Still the figure neither moved or spoke.
There it stood, white, CHASTITY and un-
injured by lead. AS the third shot
lett my pistol leaped from the bed
and rushed upon the shadow form.
A box of cartridges lay upon the table
and these l thrust into the breast
pocket OF my night dress. Cooking
my revolver as | ran, tried to seize
the intruder with my left hand, tlinging
myself with all force upon him.
Horrors! An instant later l WAS
thrown down, down. knew not how
far or where. The floor seemed to
have opened and swallowed me up.
With a crash came to the bottom Of
the pit, bruised, bleeding and in utter
darkness.
Confused; hall unconscious, l strug-
gled to my feet, and once more there
came, first that moaning cry, and then
the dreadful scream which had reused
me from my sleep.'
"You know how little superstition
hn,n IN
deed, too little, for it is difficult for me
to believe in anything not patent to
my senses; but at that moment there
crept into my soul grisly fear of
something not of this world. A shud-
der ran through my frame. l could
feel my eyes dilate and open, to their
utmost and a sweat, cold as ice, min
gled from my brow with the blood
trickling from my wounds. All was
still as death. tried to shout; my
throat, dry, parched and contracted,
refused its Office. No sound came to
break that horrid silence. l strained
my eyes into the black obscurity
which encompassed them-a darkness
which pressed upon me which seemed
to hold me, GREATNESS, in its Internal
embrace. Nothing. A void, vast as
the universe, narrow as a tomb. My
shuddering feet stood upon a some
thing dark, dark and cold, as if they
rested on a nest of serpents; above,
around, silent pail Of unutterable
obscurity. My elbow touched the
wall. / started as if stung by scor-
pion or as if ghostly hands had sliced
me from the nameless mystery which
lay around. My heart stopped and
then sent the blood whirling to the
brain in sickening force. Was | mad?
Was this a fever-born dream?"
"Some dreadful thing, cold Shiny, as
was everything in this hideous place,
crawled or wiscled from under and be-
side my feet. Spots red and green be-
gan to dance like demons eyes in the
distance-formed probably by pres.
sure of the blood upon the brain and
nerves."
II have twice or thrice since then
faced what seemed like probable death;
without much feeling about the mat
ter, but the foe was visible. tangible;
not hideous void like that l faced
that November night"
again | tried to call out, and this
time faint, hoarse sound, which
seemed to be the voice of another, is
sued from my lips"
II had struck my head violently in
the rapid descent, but gradually my
senses returned and drove off the
nameless dread, only to replaceit with
feeling of helplessness, almost OF des-
pair. The air was bitterly cold, cold
with vault-like chill which stiffened
my limbs (clad as / was in a single
linen garmentl to the bone. But, with
the return Of thought came the better
feeling OF wish to at least struggle
for existence | tried to collect my
ideas, to in some manner explain how
the strange thing could possibly have
happened. 1t was all alike reasoning
around a circle"
:sWhat had been in my room? How
came it there? What had it done to
me? How could I possibly have gone
through the floor? Where had l gone?
Through what agency? So, back
again to who had been in my room?
How came it there? and so on through
the round again. The more Thought
the more inexplicable became the whole
affair, but at least could now think
not shiver in nameless terror"
II knew not where l was, but / felt
sure that no sound / could make
would reach the men, all OF whom
were outside the fort. Even from the
ground-foor room it was quite GER
tain that, especially on such a night
with the waves beating against the
sides OF the islet, no mere report of a
pistol could be heard distance
"Where could l be? Was this some
trick of the thieves who had held the
deserted fort so long? 1t was dark as
only windowless vault can be even
at night. Not one ray to show me if
the place were large or small-a cellar
or well. By what possible agency
could / have been thus hurled into
this pit? ] had paced over the whole
room and there certainly was no
opening in the floor unless it had been
most carefully masked. Besides this,
felt sure that my fall had been much
greater than the distance from the
room had slept in to the cellar. My
brain was still somewhat clouded by
the blow my head had received, and
which l thought had been struck just
before my fall, or rather, before my
being violently thrown downward.
aFortHnately my pistol was still in
my hand and the box of cartridges in
my pocket. l felt carefully for the
wall, placed my back against it, and,
determining to sell my life dearly fiat
tackled, waited moment in silence.
All was still. Taking the box as noise
lessly as possible from the pocket Of
my night shirt | reloaded my pistol.
Still nothing, But ] was freezing. The
Shiny stones beneath my bare feet
were rapidly chilling my blood. II l
fire my pistol, / thought, may see
where am. fired twice"
at was the cellar which had al
ready visited! l had only, then, fallen
10 or - feet. at once remembered
that TO this CELLAR there was door
leading, by an external flight Of stone
steps leading to the groul in front of
the room in which / haa slept. An
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