The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-17
A Weird and GhaStly PIaCG-A Wager
and Its Results.
Horrible Tale Of the Awful Well at Waterloo
Wherein Living Men and Beasts Were
Hurled During the Battle.
Written for THE SUNDAY CALL


ground, struggling in agonyl The agony
Of one victim is unthinkable; one shudderS
at imagnatiOn's picture, and yet how many
living men and beasts were hurled together
into the awful pit. 1t can never be known.
1t is one of the most horrible scenes of war
in the history of the world. The Black Hole
of Calcutta is frighlful remembrance, but
the hastily filled tomb of Waterloo is more
frightful.
We shudder at the dark castle dungeons
of old England, at the atrocities Of her fierce
civil wars; we are aghast at the barbarous
inhumanity of Siberia; the many horrors Of
Indian warfare fill us with shudderng pity,
a sOmbeT awe at the unTelenting careless
ness OF Providence for poor man; but none
OF them equal lii terror, IN suffering, IN hOr-
rible, unSpeakabe torture the bl0Od-freez-
ing sequel to the bloody field of Waterloo.
Fancy the feeble WalllagS that must have
risen in the pale moonlight from the depths
of that tomb. The grOans of the painfully
wounded, the earnest, heartrendlng suppl
cations of the p0uS 10 an apparently un-
needing, relentless Providence; the curses
of the prOfaue, frantic with pain and hor-
rOr, mingled with the neighing and scream
ing OF horses. Perhaps the despairing cries
and means could never reach the top except
as indistinct wailings-a fTightful discord Of
heaTtTending sounds.
VINO would pass by the accused spot at
midnight. linger by the edge, look down IN
thy pale moonlight and see
THE WHITE BONES OF THE DEAD
Amassed prOmscuouSly, lying as they Ind
lain, some of them, when HE was in the
flesh that covered them. Such a visit must
indeed require stout heart. 1t is of that
visit | tell.
1t was for wager. The better was to
l. -, tn oh -
teen minutes looking down at the water be-
meath which the remains had sunk and were
visible. From afaT his wageTer was, with
others, TO watch and see hlm fulfill the con-
dltlOnS. He was brave man and laughed
at all ideas OF supeTnaturalsm But the
scoffer-the unbeieveT-is the terrified one
when an ineXplicable and apparently spirit
ull incident occurs. The expected does not
terTify as much as that for which we are UNI
prepared.
When the night came-the night of full
mOon-the party stationed themselves some
distance away, far enough to prevent them
selves being company at all to the adven-
turer. He must be alone. Alone! Com
paniOnleSs long enough, and one needs no
presence of the dead or other horror to
bring gloomy fear and trembling if it be
only night. There is something strange in
the sudden augmentation of terror by lone
Illness, even though companions would be
II
walked slowly from the chapel, where he
had left the Stockholders, the moon shone
clearly overhead and a chilly breeze made
him button up. There is an affinity between
cold and fear. 1t was perhaps unucky for
him that the wind sent chill through him
as he started. He thought not of it. With
q cigar between his teeth he walked on. The
field around him had, years before, been
saturated with blood, but what was that !?
What a strange thing it was that his friend
had thought he would be afraid. Afraid
Fear necessarily implies that there is some
thing to be afraid If. In this case what was
there? Ghostsl He laughed aloud as lie
muttered the word to himself.
The laugh broke a silence that he had not
noticed before. IL also seemed TO tell him,
as silence relgned again, that he was alone.
He HAD ARRIVED AT THE WELL.
He looked down. He saw nothing at first
aud then a. his eyes grew accus omed to the
increased darkness lie beheld the surface of
tie tranquil water. Beneath it some white
that he knew were the bones of the dead.
lie was compelled 10 keep his gaze directed
in the well, so he continued 10 stare at the
black walls, the still water and the Sug.
kestiye white beneath. He even tried to
make out palmer the outline Of what ap-
peaEed to be a skull IL srinned As all skulls
do. Why should the deserted, gloomy, rem
nant OF cur faces be always fixed in a grin?
1t is a horrible thing, he thought, that decay
discloses a grin, laugh that is permanent
as no real laugh IS. He looked at his watch.
The time went very slowly. 1t was very
cold, very lonely and quiet. There was not
a sound. He tried to think of something
else other than the we'll and ITS buried ones,
but with their bones before him how was it
possible? A vague dread was stealing over
him. lie telt II already, and strive as he
would he could not Danish il. IF only |
had something 20 do would be all right"
he muttered. Then he set himself to think
about how ne would return and laugh at
the friend who would lose lis wager. He
tried to laugh, and made noise. Better
for him had he kept silent. A horrible echo
answered him from the sOmbeT depths. Ii
sounded as though the grinning skulls had
changed their grin to a laugh, and he heard
a laugh from the tomb. He started invol-
unfairly at the sound and almost lost his
balance and fell over. lie recovered, but
his narrow escape had sent terror, the
first real fear to his heart. Before he had
time TO recover another sound came echOing
up from the gloomy pit He tTembled all
over. Then he remembered that lie had
lOosened some earth and it had fallen. 1t
was only the splash he bad heard, but ter
Tor does not flee in moment and he could
feel his heart thrObbing heavily A vague
doubt filed him as 10 whether he could win
the wager after all. He looked at his watch
again. Only half the time over, He looked
again al tne we'll ana
TOOK OUT HANDKERCHIEF
To wipe the Precipitation that had gathered
in his fear. Then he set himself to think
ing again
For some moments he was still. Then he
took out his watch again. Three minutes
more and it was over. He looked at the bot
tom Of the well. Great God! There was
change tiierel a pie ce of white met his
gaze that was not there before. 1t was
only the handkerchief that he had let fall.
But he did not know II. Horror filled him.
His eyes gazed and opened wide seemed
fastened. He trembled from head to foot
as building trembles in an earthquake.
The Geld went to his very bones as he
gaZed tiXedly with the fascination Of terror
at the piece Of white. In his excited viSi0 n
it took on all sorts Of shapes. Now i, was
skull laughing az him, now spirit NOV
ing, now it seemed to disappear and come
again. He knelt down on his hands aud
knees. The arms that supported his weight
trembltd as he leaned over an d gaZed at the
white object that was not there a few mo-
mentS since.
How came it thereP Some life there
must be down there else how that change?
And what life but ghost life could there be
A cold sweat covered him ali over Sud-
denly the moon went behind a cloud and it
grew darker. He never saw the cloud: with
his gaze fixed on the depths it seemed as If
sumo ueuOU lIOHl UclUW Hdu nlduB III uaTk,
and as the gloom thickened around him his
terror grew. He was going mad. A foam
gathered at his trembling lips. He had be-
come so worked up that he knew naught.
Had he once taken his gaze from that riece
Of white, had he seen that no demon made
it dark around him, but cloud which hid
the moon, he might have recovered. But lie
did not. He could not look away from that
white. He leaned further down TO look at
it, Then suddenly he slipped, the earth
broke and he fell downtown 10 what?
INTO A wELL-A HAUNTED WELL,
The tomb of hundreds. The thought of 1t
drove his senses away and he tainted, but
only for a moment. The cold water revived
him, and he stood at one corner Of the well,
his head and part of his body out of the
water. at his feet were the bOnes-hun-
dreds of them; skulls that stared and
griDned; whole skeletons that seemed to
move and be alive; bones that did move
with the commOtion of the water he caused