Arizona republican., 1891-12-11
AN AVENGING SPIRIT.

mStaklhS tnat llSht step ecnolng through the wide and silent hallway It is the ghost
 Springing up grasp Dalrymple by the arm and give him a raising shake. He starts up with sleepy half frightened look.
 Jack" said | in an awed whisper, .listenl There IS the ghosts step, This house IS haunted sure; he's coming down stairsI
 Dalrymple rubbed his eyes and sprang to his feet Ghosts nor men had no ter TOTS for him, and it was for this reason that had asked him to spend night with me in this house, about which were so many stories of ghosts walking at night and which was so much avoided by the villagers,
 And in truth the houses uncanny repu- tatlon was not without foundation. 1t had not been occupied for thirteen years and was now inhabited by rats and cock reaches; its roof was all moss grown and all approaches to it were grown up in weeds and briars. No one had cared to go near 1t in thirteen years, Its last oc- cupant was rich old man who lived in 1t only during the summer and was all alone For fifteen summers he lived there The people knew but little of him save that his name was Caspar Troup and that he was very wealthy,
 The last seen of him about the village was one day in August just thirteen years before the occurrence of the incl dent narrated at the beginning of this story He was observed walking about the place experimenting some work that be was having done, The next day the house was shut up and he was seen no more It was thought that he had re- turned to the city, and would turn up the next summer A few months later younger brother of his came down and removed the furniture and closed up the house That was the last ever seen of Caspar Treup. and the next summer the house was not opened
 The big, roomy house remained all through the year following closed up, deserted and alone, The villagers who passed by it at night began to ten strange stories of the sounds that they heard in- side and declared that they had often seen a light shining through the blinds and had heard voices moaning as if in pain, These stories gave the house a reputation of being haunted, and 1t was given a wide berth by all at night, just as many other houses are in nearly every village, For thirteen years the house sustained the reputation well and even ,t It tl n. op ( l,. town, and any number of intrepid youths spoke of spending night in the house and solving the mystery But none ever did 80 determined to see if there was anything in the many stories that had been told, and proposed to Jack Dal- rymple that we spend night in the house and meet the ghost face to face.
 And so 1t came to pass that we repair ol t0 the silent house one night just ofter dusk. and opening the creakng door entered the wide hallway. All was dark We lighted wax taper and set II down in the hallway to give us light We spent the first few hours of the night speculating about the appear. ance of his ghostship, and finally, be. coming wearied, we had fallen asleep. had scarcely gotten asleep when heard the footsteps as decribed above
 And after rousing Dalrymple we walk ed into the hallway
 We could hear the footsteps sounding in the hallway just over our heads. 1t was the ghost and it was coming toward the stairway Nearer and nearer the footsteps came, and faster and faster my heart beat Another step
 Great God There it wasi Hideous Horrible! At last l had seen q ghost! In all my most horrible freaks of imagination had never conjured up anything half SC frghtful or hideOus as this It was the figure of an old man, who might have been a thousand years old, so bent, SC feeble and decrepit he seemed. He wal leaning with one hand on a cane, while with the other he steadied himself on tho railing of the stairway But more hor rble than all was the awful gaping cut which extended from one of his ears tC the other and which was dripping with blood His white beard was clotteC with blood, and the long white hail which fell in folds over his shoulder wa! soaked with gore,
 This horrible, unearthly figure caml down the stairway and stood before ui staring at us with his wild, maniacal protruding bloodshot eyes, while hi thin lips were twitching nervously apC the ghastly wound was gaping open showing the severed windpipe. 'Who-who are your asked Dalrym pie in husky voice
 The creature replied in squeakint voice without moving his lips, the voic' coming out of the gaping wound. T." he said, "l am Caspar Troup And was murdered here in this hOus thirteen years ago
 - Troup--- murderedr was all could ejaculate.
 And this was a ghost
 Yes am am ghost he con tnued in the same way as before
 But have no time to spare with you
 am going to call on my murderer T Call on your murdererI What d
 you mean? Explain yourself ' aske Dalrymple excitedly.
 q mean what | say continued th
 ghost ! was murdered Tn here. l al
 ghost and am now going to haun
 the wretch who gave me that, and h
 pointed to the gaping ghastly woun
 across his throat.
 'Who-who killed youy asked Da
 rymple
 His name? tue ghost asked. Al
 don't know that But his fac