The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1890-01-04

and drank until the bar-keeper re-
fused to let me have any more liquor.
There were other places, though, where
the condition of the customers was
not so tenderly considered, and !
had no difficulty in finding them and
getting all tho vile poison asked for.
remember staggering down to the
| water front, and then all was blank
until opened my eyes and found myself
with bandaged head and slashed
shoulder in the surgical ward Of the city
and county hospital. l had to lie on my
left side because of the cut, and, SO
lying, could see that in the bed next
to mine there was propped up boy with
the bed-clothes raised over frame.
work about his legs learned after
ward that the framework covered where
his legs should have been, for the little
chap had had them both cut of. He
was news-boy, he told me, and had
tried to get on car to sell his papers,
when he missed his footing and fell be-
meath the wheels. He did not know
what he was going to do without his
legs, he said, but he guessed things
would turn out all right, especially as
he had survived the shock of the opera
ton. He was very pale, but very pa
tient; very helpless, but very hopeful;
and the doctor, in making his rounds in
the afternoon, said there was no reason
why he should not be using a go-cart in
another week or two. / swear to you,
sir, that heard the doctor say so with
unalloyed pleasure and with the belief
that he spoke the truth, yet that very
night the boy died, and was instru-
mental in his death.
at must have been about three o'clock
in the morning when awoke all in q
SILVER. The little fellow was sitting up
and crying. / asked him the matter,
and he said he did not know, but that
he was miserably afraid of something
and asked me to take his hand. As
reached out to do this, / felt the old
awfulness come over me, and, knowing
what this meant, drew back my hand
with . cry, and prepared to leap out of
bed and run-anywhere. With my first
movement, however, there glided into
view from behind me the pallid-faced
Angel of Death. Coming between the
beds with no sound in the sweep of its
shroud-like garments, and with no re-
lenting in its marble eyes, it seized my
hand and laid it in that of the wonder
ing boy. Even as took the poor, thin
hand in mine, it grew numb, but the
weeping ceased, and with faint cry of
sMother!' the little fellow smiled and
passed"
Again he was silent, and was silent,
too. What, 1 thought, does the fellow
mean? Is he taking me for credulous
old man; is he in earnest, or is he muir
dering lunatic? The latter idea was inn
pressively persistent, and 1 concluded
that it was wise to be as quiet as I.could
and to get rid of him as speedily as pos
sible. So l got up, threw the end of my
cigar awayand yawned, as / said: every
remarkable story, but"
Then he rose, too Don't say any
thing further, sir" he said; 81 under
stand exactly your sentiments, or, rather,
1 should say, your doubts. You doubt
my truthfulness, perhaps my innocence,
and possibly my sanity"
Now this was getting too close to
mind-reading to be comfortable, so
tried another tack.
''Now, look here" fsaid, plainly, do
you mean to tell me that your story is a
true one?'
II began by telling you that, SIR" he
said; lit is as sadly and unaffectedly
true as that nature is mans bitterest
enemy; or, If that is too argumentative
protest, then let me say that it is as true
as that we stand here. lam miserable
man, possessed of the Angel of Death"
''Then, for Heavens sake" / ex-
claimed, with some excitement, "why
do you tell me your story when, at the
same time, you know the dangers that
hang to the relation? Are you expert
menting in some devilish way on me-?
With that strange thing occurred.
He leaped in peculiar way backwards
and then to the top of the piazza railing
steadying himself there by grasping
one Of the uprights. Waving the dis
engaged hand toward my open window,
he called aloud in his great booming
voice: Get in, sir, and bolt your window,
and lock your door, too. Go quick, and
remember this: When mart you zee me,
shun me as goa would the rider Of tie pale |
horse himself"
may as we'll tell the truth; / got into |
my room in very short order, and Itook |
pains to secure every means of |
ingress. The fact of the matter is had |
a bad case of nervous Reorganization
funk we used to call it when was boy. |
! did not even go to bed that night, but |
sat up with the lights burning, waiting |
for did not know exactly what. / do |
know, though, that when the morning |
came had my things packed, and went
quaking down the stairs and took the |
early train for San Francisco.
BY the time we had reached Los An
geles, had measurably recovered my
and was busily trying to |
myself that had business up
North which required my presence there.
The train was by no means crowded and
I had q section to myself, with no one to
~ 49, ~