Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-12-11
CHATTER XIII.


Of q belated traveller who, approaching
the village through the woods, saw the
Hillary cabin surrounded by unholY
light, and also saw in the light a wall of
demons dancing around it. They were
Of fantastic shape, and yet here and there
were voluptuous limbs which would have
been temptation for st. Anthony. Ap-
pearing here and there like an oft-recur-
ring thread in loom, appeared round
ed arm or q delicately curved leg, the
shadow Of the outline of a woman's
breast and above in the darkness a
woman's face. These would pass in a
circle around the cabin, and in their
place would appear the shriVeled forms
OF hays, and the fiendish faces Of demons
| All wore themselves into a supple dance
In which voluptuous forms and deVilish
shapes were curiously intermingled. It
was a veritable dance of the evil one
and his victims The sight struck the
traveller with awe, and he stopped be-
| meath an elm tree which grew by the
| brook to watch it. For q full minute
| the light lasted and then the stranger
continued his journey.
Just as he approached the cabin he
heard roll of thunder and saw a flash
| Of lightning. AS he emerged from the
forest and Wended his way down the
| village street he saw that house at the
other end was ablaze with fire. With
| cry Of fire" he sprang forward and ran
with all speed to the burning house. The
villagers, awakened by the cry, left their
| comfortable beds and followed. The
house TO which their steps were directed
/ was the parsonage, and it had been
| struck by lightning.
| When the stranger arrived he found
| that the minister and his family had
rushed from their burning home, and
| that the former was already busy saving
IL - III IL
The wife with her two children stood
| shivering beneath a tree, from which
| great drops Of water fell now and then,
| gazing with agoniZing looks upon their
| home, but seemingly unable to lend
helping hand
Even in his haste to reach and assist
| the minister, who was making quick
visits to the house, the stranger noticed
| that the mother pressed one child more
closely to her side than the other. 1t
| was Achsah, who had been torn from
1 her bed where she had been suffering
| from her nervousness, but now not a
| trace Of her disorder appeared. She
looked like one just brought back to life.
There were traces Of ill-health in her
face, but her countenance had under
| gone q change. The old Querulous look
had disappeared and in its place look
| Of returning health had come. Her
recent illness had been cured in an in
| slant, and she stood beneath the dripping
tree stronger than she had been for
| years
Either by the flash of lightning or By
| the tragedy in the cabin in the woods,
she had been cured, and, strange as 1t
was, her attacks never occurred again.
For an hour the pioneers worked
dragging out the minister's furniture,
| and then stood around while the last
beams of the unhappy home fell into the
Goals below and were consumed. Day
had not yet begun to break when the
| homeless family was taken to neighbor-
ing houses and the village returned to
their beds. In the confusion the strang-
er was not noticed, and none missed him
when he disappeared from the crowd.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FINGER OF GOD.
When the first rays of morning light
broke through the forest, which circled
around Sagnauck, the next morning,
they sent dim lines of light between the
trunks Of trees along the water-soaked
ground. Little grass grew in those dark
depths; only here and there a fringe
about tree or a cluster midway be-
tween, where the sun shone. But the
dark earth was rich, and here and there
a sky-tinted flower grew, with deeper
colors and more delicate tints than those
which bloomed beneath the sun.
The rays of light which were grad
ually penetrating the forest from the
eastward, and casting faint shadows on
each side, were here and there INSTRUCTED
by fallen trees which broke the light
and cast shapeless shadows in its path
way. At first, and this was not long
after Dorothea had strangled her
babe, the rays Of light which were going
straight upward for the sun beneath the
eastern horizon merely made gray the
trees. Gradually the light increased and
gray paths grew between the trees, Dor
dered by shadows on either side. The
sun rose higher and the brook was en-
livened by its rays, and danced in morn
ing glee. How gayly the water dashed
over an obtruding stone and how mer-
rily it rushed around an obstructing
bank. The birds, too, were waking up
and rendering distant chirps through the
woods. For, was not the whole world
merry again? The sun had risen, and
the brook and the birds were free.
The light shining through the woods
was broad at the entrance, but gradually
tapered to point like a great white fin
ger stretching along the ground. 1t was
like the finger of God pointing from the
line between heaven and earth, through
the woods to Sagnauck.
In Hillary's cabin there was finger OF
light, too. The baby fingers were still
and stiff, and the cruel hand which had
stilled them was at rest in sleep. Egg
bert, too, was still sleeping in his chair
by the table when the rising sun sent its
) rays through the forest
Whose finger was 1t that was pointing?
Through the cabin window came the
first faint rays OF the morning. A light
the breadth of the window fell upon the
sill and cast faint CLEAN upon the floor.
The sleepers slept on. Slowly the light
: grew stronger and crept across the floor.
Inch by inch it moved, until it had
reached the floor beneath the bed upon
which Dorothea and the dead babe lay.
| A pause. Then faint light touched the
bed. Good GOdl What does it mean?
Gradnallv hnt snralv the light grew