Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-02-03
THREE BURGLARS.
BY FRANK r. STOCKTON.
lCopY2;GEr, 1881

haunted by invisible animals; had read
the story Of the maiden whose comings
her lover perceived by the parting of the
tall grain in the field of ripe wheat
through which she passed, but whose
form, although it might be folded in his
arms, was yet as invisible to his sight
as the summer air. l did not doubt for
/. moment that the animal that had come
TO me was one of those strange beings.
| lifted his head; it was heavy. I took
hold of paw which he readily gave
me; he had every attribute of real
dog, except that he could not be seem"
Il call that perfectly horrible" said
Aunt Martha, with sort of gasp.
''Perhaps,' said the young man, ''you
would prefer that should notcontinue."
At this both my wife and Aunt Martha
declared that he must go on and even
did not object to hearing the rest of the
story.
''Nell." said tho young man, "Ajax
never came back. 1t is generally be-
lleved that dogs can SEQ things which
are invisible to US, and I am afraid that
my faithful hound was frightened, per-
haps to death, when he found that tho
animal whose entrance into the court
yard he had perceived was a supernat-
ural and uncanny thing.
But if L needed canine companion
had one, for by day or night this in
visible dog never left me. When slept
he lay on the floor by the side of my
bed; if | put down my hand I could
always feel his head, and often he would
stand up and press his nose against me,
as If to assure me that he was there.
This No ~
for several days, and 1 became really
attached to the invisible animal. His
constant companionship seemed 10 in
dictate that he had come to guard me,
and that he was determined to do it
thoroughly. l felt so much confidence
i'll his protection, although knew not
how it could be exerted, that one morn
ing decided to take walk, and with
my hand on the head of the dog, to
mako sure that he was with me, l
strolled into the open country.
Il had walked about mile and was
approaching group of large trees, when
suddenly from behind one of them the
tall figure of man appeared. In an in
slant l knew it to be Colonel Ka1Ihein:
his was a face which could not easily be
forgotten. Without word he raised
~ piSlot w l1Cu uc uelu III MS mana ana
fired at me. The ball whistled over my
head.
Il stopped short, startled, and fright
ened almost out of my senses. 1 was
unarmed and there was no place of
refuge to which 1 could fly. 1t was
plain that the man was determined to
kill me.
Quickly recocking his pistol, Kald-
ny linn o i1vy
shrank back, expecting death, but be-
fore he could fire his arm suddenly
dropped and the pistol was discharged
into the ground. Then began strange
scene. The man shouted, kicked and
beat up and down with has arms, his
pistol fell from his hand, he sprang from
side to side, he turned around, he strug-
gled and yelled.
Il stood astounded. For an instant
the man had been overtaken
by some sort of fit: but in flash the
truth came to me. Kaldhein was being
attacked by my protector, the invisible
dog.
Mortified by this conviction, my first
impulse was to save the man, and, with
out knowing what I was going to do,
stepped quickly toward him, but STUN
bling over something l did not see,
fell sprawling. Before I could regain
my feet 1 saw Kaldhein fall backward
to the ground, where scene took place
so terrible that | shall not attempt to
describe it. When, with trembling steps,
l approached, the man was dead. The
invisible dog had almost torn him to
pieces.
Il could do nothing. I did not re-
main upon the spot another minute, but
hurried home to the castle. AS l rapid
ly walked on ! felt the dog beside me,
and, putting my hand upon him, felt
that he was painting terribly, and for
three days l did not leave the house.
about the end of this time was sit
ting in an upper room of the castle, re-
fccting upon the recent dreadful event,
when the thought struck me that the in
visible dog, who was by my side, appar-
entity asleep, was of an unusually pow
erful build to overcome so easily such
strong man as kaldhein. felt desire
to know how large the creature really
was, and as l had never touched any
portion of his body back of his Shout
ders, now passed my hand along his
back. I was amazed at his length, and
when 1 had moved my hand at least
seven feet from his head it still rested
upon his body; then the form of that
body began to change in a manner which
terrified me; but, impelle1 by horrible
but irresistible curiosity, my hand
moved on.
but no longer touched the body of
dog; the form beneath my hand was
cylindrical, apparently about foot in
diameter. AS my hand moved on the
diameter diminish ed, and the skin of the
creature became cold and clammy.
was feeling the body of a snake!
Il now hau reached the open door of
the room. The body of the snake ex-
tended through it. 1t went on to the
top of the stairs: these l began to de-
scend, my heart beating fast with ter
ror, my face blanched, I am sure, but
my hand still moving along the body of
the awful creature. / had studied
zoology, giving q good deal of attention