Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-05-14

|
Il thing. | could not keep my eyes Off the
! doorway, nor could control my magma
! ton still, so tar from being frighted or
nervous, actually enjoyed the pictur-
! esque sombrcness, not to say weirdness
| of my predcament. Suddenly, for the
merest point of time, saw face in the
doorway, II shadowy, wrinkled, black
face projected upon the blacker back
ground OF the night. | shall never for
| get those eyes, rheumy with age and yet
burning with duh demonac fire. |
! sNatched up my pistol and sat there
watching for a return of the evil visage.
| My hand was quite steady. intended to
fire point-blank at one of those eyes. In
, fact did, Il few moments later, aad the
roar of that shot seemed to fill heaven and
! earth Away rolled the echoes, breaking
! through the night and the storm in Sc
, ries of bounding crashes, dying on the
: fartheSt circle of the horizon. ! laughed
outright, for in an instant | knew had
| fired ut a creature of my own fancy. What
Il fool was to give way to such idle folly.
| Slipped fresh cartrlge into the empty
cylinder of my revolver and began to
spread my blankets | would 90 to sleep
and let the three-edged knife proceed with
lis work. So putting the last piece of fuel
on the suffering little fire, | lay down to
! court sumbpr 1t was not so easy to
dismiss the legend of The Sattilla from my
mind, however. The sad fate of Marie
! La tieur, II story 50 imperfect and yet 50
suggestive, haunted my mind with II
charm so nsistant and yet so namel, IS
that could not resist it, Then, too, al
! ways at the moment when not expected,
| that dull. murderous stabbiliu-soui,dl
| Dermitted NV thonrhts to dwell for a
while on the solitude in whose midst | lay.
| For miles and miles nothing but the nd
/ eOus swamps, the sutlocating cant-brakes,
| the moss hung woods, the tlDwery glades
and the winding, low mulmuring river.
!
7 trailing a irht spray of dpsultorv rain be-
| hind it. heard it grow weaker and weak
err and finally vanish into silence leaving
! the darkness without even n breath to
4 disturb it. Then | fell asleep with my
| pistol living ON my breast
| have no means of knowing how long
my SIMMER lasted. but presently nwoke
| to find that my little fire had burned to
ashes. No phrase is ADEQUATE TO nv need
ns | attemnt IN describe hoy dark il
was-the blackness was heavy. almost
sutfocatinV
Much to my disgust | soon discovered
that "A troop of tlying SQUIRRELS had taken
| possession of the roof and walls of The
cabin and were racing back and forth ON
a stout hewu beam that Law from wall 10
wall overhead nt nbout the middle of tho
room This beam being directly nboy,.
| where Law. the little animals triskinU
upou il ttlinbIrd bits of rotten wood down
! into my face and over my blanket Tney
/ ~ "A scrambled 81
/ hilputian demons Then tn L.In me
| matter. an owl came and sat ON me roof
comb and hontpd dismullv If unv have
| been the bird, mate or the echo of rs
hooting. but "A horrible chucLle or half
suppressed OUTLAW. came now and au,in
from the surrounding wood
went to slcer again. nt lenpth. but
started awake. after n short nan with -
feelinV that some STRANGE sound had dis
! turbed me. The flying squirrels were not
/ so noisy now i'm fact | heard them scraIn
| hIin0 o,,t If tbn cohin Nv 'av,rv nno,i,,,r
| was aware that A pale phoSphorr.crnt
| light had lust faded from the room and
ftlt a vague chill in nv blood and a
| scarcely definite consciousness of fenr a.
| if had come near seeing somethinW su
peruutural. Hay quite sill for some lime
| frnntLin,, in , Chiiio,v unttari,,r ,,.n,.'
/ tIvinrt TO find ONT what had hnnnannd
Suddenly If seemed - 0reut LIIsh Lnd fniIpm
on The woods / comb 6nnr notL iu,r hl,t
tie duh beating of nv henrtn The huL-
hliur Of the little riIgr I listened and
wondered. | could almost understand
what it was had startled my sleep and
/ vet it was Il profound mystery. Present
/ ly ! became aware OF low, regular
! breathing sound and then some infinitely
/ slight movement betrayed the presence of
another person in the room, near the
door way. | tried to grasp my pistol, but
fear had mastered me so completely that
] / !
/ paralyzed. Strangely enough my mind
was all the more active, it seemed, ON
account of my bodily stupor and my
thoughts flashed back over the strange
scraps of the legend and dwelt with fasci-
nation ON the doings of the knife.
All at once Il small fragment of Charred
wood in the ashes on the hearth gave
forth IA mere point of flame which family
lighted the room. ! looked all around
There sat my gun, there lay my leather
portfolio and other pieces of my outfit,
there were the moldy walls, the beam
overhead, the low dark doorway and moth
ing more The breathing had ceased.
Why could | not move? / tried, but
could not bend finger or stir Il lip. 1t
seemed that my eyes saw all over the
room without turning III their sock Is. !
was not dreaming, or struggling with
nightmare, Tor thought of how strange
are dreams sometimes, ana testified the
matter by counting the boards contained
III a row OF the roof: | wondered if it
could be paralysis. The pistol was noun
tain heavy on my breast.