Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1890-07-10
MY SONS STORY.
A Strange Visitor and How He
Was Captured.

w DIS OdpJuTou.
When | received my sons letter re.
counting the narrow escape he had had
from horrible death, it made me shud-
der and ! thanked God fervently for
his preservation. At first | thought
would simply repeat his story in his
own words. but somehow / dislike toe
much personal narrative. Itsounds con
ceited, and the perpetually recurring
Il, /, l." the interminable mes, =
''mines'' and ''mys' grow tiresome, and
look as IL the narrator was trying to
make himself out hero, and was say
ing: ''What fine fellow l ami and you
will see that | am by what l am going
to tell you" So l shall only use few
of Bob's sentences when they fit in bet
ter than any others.
Last summer he went to play in a
cricket match in the neighborhood OF
Henley, and some friends living in a
charming riverside villa invited him TO
stay few days with them. The house,
however, was full OF guests, and he was
asked If he would mind sleeping in a
room over a large summer-h house at the
end of the lawn. 1t was often used for
bachelors under similar circumstances.
1t was plainly, but comfortably fur
nished, and of course Bob had not the
slightest objections; in fact, he preferred
it. he said, for the weather was blazing
hot and he would be able to do more as
he liked, and get his early swim of a
morning, etc, without disturbing any
body. He seems to have had a fine,
jolly time of it--all sorts Of fun were
going on beside the cricket, boating,
tennis and dancing of an evening A
large Lar, too, was being held at 'Read-
ing, and this afforded the youngsters an
other form of entertainment-s'th study
of mankind" as Bob grandiloquently
expressed 1t.
Well, the last night of his visit ar
rived The days were at their longest
the weather was hotter than ever, and
when he retired to his solitary nest he
congratulated himself more than usual
on having so cool an apartment Ii was
approached by long fight of wooden
stairs; and as he entered it by the half
open door at their top, and was about to
light his candle, he was struck by a
strange, unpleasant smell that he had
never noticed before. The window,
large French one, on the opposite side
to the neat little iron beistead. was
wide open 10 the floor, aud he fingered
at its narrow balcony, while slowly un-
dressing, for long while, enjoying the
sweet country scents of the summer
night air. As he withdrew from IL at
length, the contrast with the odor in
side the room struck him again as
strange; but he was very tired and flung
himself on his bed still in his thin flan-
nels. Somehow, he says, he felt sort
of oppression creeping over him. not
nervous oppression, for his nerves, like
his sinews and muscles are OF steel and
iron, but a curious sense OF uncertainty
and anxiety to which he was quite a
stranger. This it was which prevented
his completely undressing and tumbling
into bed in the usual way, and also from
putting his candle out Fatigued as
he was, one might have expected he
would have fallen asleep directly, but
he only dozed and kept on starting up
again and again, always with the odd,
depressing sensation growing stronger
and stronger upon him. At one OF his
awal1enings he heard a distant clock
strike twelve, but otherwise not the
faintest sound broke the deep silence
of the summer night
Yet stay; is he quite sure there is no
other sound? What is that half drowsy
murmur that in his semi sleepy state
he now and again fancies he hears? 1t
must be the gentle flowing of the
neighboring river. Yes, that is it; and
he does not trouble himself further
about it, for he is beginning to grow
really sleepy now, The candle has gone
out and the room is left in the dim,
mysterious obscurity OF a twilight,
which the calendar describes as no real
night
81 must have been dreaming" writes
Bob, dreaming / was at sea- for have
a distinct recollection of feeling the lift
OF the boat as il rose and fell on the
heaving waves with me stretched out
in the bottom; but presently l became
conscious that | was actually being
slightly forced up and down on the bed
The the mattress was heaving, net the
waves. For moment or two ere | was
4
my senses, and even when | became
thoroughly master of them, appeared
quite incapable Of exertion. / remem-
Der lying there, glaring in wonderment
into the cleaning OF the rooni, and with
my left arm supine across the bed, my
hand just hanging over the edge. l can
not tell you how long remained like
this, but at last | was induced to draw
in my hand, from feeling something
cold and wet touching It. Still fully
another minute or two elapsed before ]
sat upright on the bed. and beheld,
very dimly, of course-what? Why, a
large dark form, gliding. as it seemed, |
toward the window. A huge, long. lew,
stealthy shape, impossible at first to
say whether that of a crawling human |
being or some mighty animal. A
veritable horror overcame me; / fell |
back and shrank into a heap, involun- |
tarily lying perfectly still, and it was
we'll / did so; keeping my eyes |
however, riveted on this dreadful |
presence, whatever it might be, for |
! seemed incapable OF coherent thought |
about il, SO great and overwhelming |
was my distress Keeping my eyes upon |
IL. I say. I watched it 60 toward the |
window, stretch partly forward through |
il. then raise its head, as # smiling the /
air. Then, turning aside. it passed |
round by the door tnow closedl, which IL
also shifted at and fingered by, and again
came toward the bed from out OF the /
deeper gloom Of the room As it APP
preached, my terrOr-I am ashamed to
write The word. but 1t is the only one
grew intenser. for I beheld. then, two
bright eyes. like red lights in the dark
ness; and these told me that l was with
in arms length Of some fierce Wild ami
mai The truth came to me in a fash.
as it were, and, an happy to say, with
it a distinct recognition Of what to do
BY only chance Of safety lay in remain