Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-11-26

the utter silence, ana The death-iike
cold creeping through my vein So
striving, struggling to nerve myself to
look around and face the thing, what.
ever twas. So
Were you ever locked up in q tomb
at night?' the undertaken suddenly
asked me- / could only shake my
head in response; could not speak.
i II have been,n he said; ''but it
was nothing-nothing to those few
minutes while / sat palsied with
terror with that thing behind me!
AT last in 4 kind Of nerv-
''ous spasm | sprang to my feet and
turned towards the door! The sight
froze me! There is no other word for.
it. was rigid. IL could no more Stir
: than I could arrest the motion of this
train now and instantly My very
heart stopped its beating. ! wonder
I didn't drop dead myself, for there.
not six feet from me-Withs the livid
pallor of death on its face and its CLASSY
eyes glued to mine, stood the corpse!
Then it began to approach me. 1t did
not. seem to walk-!t glidcd, and not
till it reached me did it make q single
apparent movement. Then---just stand
,up, will your I can illustrate better
what occurred. ~ l did so, and he
arose at the same time and we stood
facing each other in the compartment.
was dimly conscious at the moment
that we were crossing Bartersea bridg &c.
The undertaken, as he went on, repeated
upon me the actions he described.
Then tlris dead thing said to
| me, ''slowly lifted it's arms and laid its
icy fingers on my checks and moved
them gently downwards to my Shout
:ders, pressing hard against me all the
time on either side, as | do now on
you, and wherever the hands lay they
seemed to draw the very life out of the
flesh beneath them. Slowly-oh, how
SLOWLY they glided on downward
from my shoulders to my breast, be-
meath my coat like this. Try to con-
ceive it--try, if you can. Wherever
they touched they drew something
! away from me-some virtue seemed to
90 out Of me. And then the frightful
thought CAME to me that was dying
| by plecemeal!-th hat I was parting
with something dear to me as Hfe--bjt
by bit could feel it ebbing, eb5ing-
and at last the horror grew to u con-
vict;on. TIE ghoul was drawing my
! lifo's Flood into its own veins! was
sucking my suhstonce! What I lost he
gained! He enriched himself by max
! ING me poor and it would end
"Victoriar' shouted guard, open
ing the carriage door.
'Bless my soul!'' exclaimed the un.
dertakcr, ''are we in? must hurry tc
catch my train out" He seized his
sa:clAel and was on the step before
could get my breath to say: but tbs
story! want to hear the end Of it. ~
He was Oh the platform now. "Oh
there isn't much more,' he callet
back. 1.-The ghoul succecded-tha
all!' and he was gone before | coulc
say another word.
AS followed L porter to a cab, nnt
all the way home, I tried to conceive
what the undertaken could mean. How
could the dead man have succeeded
Here the undertaken Was, alive ant
well, and telling me the story. 1t wa
very annoying and disappointing to b.
so baked, after being 50 wrought upon
The undertaken had left me no address
so that was apparently, doomed ncy
cr I'd Know Tile SO1uIlOH. On!y ;IppaI
entity" however. When I got out O
the cab at my own door I could find n
loose change to pay the driver; yet
had some when l took the train q
Dover. My well-furnished pocket
book though that, too, I had at Dove
was gone as well, and my watch an
chain had followed suit. 1t is painful
to lose confidence in human nature i
this way Philadelphia Times.