Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-10-26
THE SHADOW IN THE MOONLIGHT.


Tho Este Of Man Who Bl.sph.asd
God.
You couldn't stop a man from stalking
out claim if the ground was not already
covered, and so, though none of rs liked
the looks OF this new chap who came in on
us at Strawberry hill. we couldn't gainsay
his stalking out and putting up a rude
shanty. We soon discovered that his looks
did not belle him. You'd expect to find
some bad men in the mines, but this man,
whom we soon nicknamed Satan" wa
worse than any dozen of them put together.
The way he would curse God and man wa
something awful to hear, and we some
times wondered why the wrath of heaven
was not visited upon him. We ostracized
and outlawed him, but he would not 60
away. Only the fear that we would string
him up kept him from doing murder for
he had a temper like n wild beast.
One day, after dinner and after a spell at
cursing and reviling, he went down into
his claim and fired blast, which blinded
him forever. Then he became worse than
before. His cursing and raving became sc
constant that we built him shanty on the
rocks half mile away and led him to it.
Three times a day n man was sent up with
his meals and this continued for weeks
and weeks. For long time there was M
change. either in his health or disposition.
Then he began to grow thin and wan and
to cease cursing, and one evening he asked
of the man who brought his meal:
Jim, is thar trail leadin up here from
camp?'
No" WAS the reply.
IF anybody was comm down the trail
from Top Notch how would they hit me,''
Why, strike across about forty rods
above camp"
"A nd the door faces that ways"
Yes"
''How's the nights now, Jimp'
Full moon and bright rs day"
That was about all that was said. but
wish TO tell you here that when Satan" was
blinded his eyelids were closed fast He
could never open them after that, except he
used his fingers There was an injury to
the muscles controlling them as well TO
his vision. Day and night were alike to
him. On that very night, about half an
hour after midnight. n prowling wolf dis
turbed our camp and routed out three or
four men. They were driving the beast
away, when they looked mp and saw
shadow on the Top Notch trail. Ii was as
light as day, and there was no question in
their minds. 1t was queer shadow. 1t
had the shape of a little old woman bent
over with age, and it floated about in an
uncertain way. The three or four men
passed from tent to tent, and before long
eyes fastened on the queer thing. BY and
by it foated over the rocks and shrubs to-
ward ''Satan'S" Shanty, and every man of
us followed it to the door and beyond with
his eyes
IT'S a woman-an old woman" whis-
pered n score of men.
But what can woman be doing heres"
One or two suggested that somebody go
up to the shanty, but no one volunteered
There was something so queer and IN
canny that nobody felt like making a
closer investigation. 1t was perhaps ten
minutes after the figure entered the shanty
before it reaPpeared. 1t passed over the
same ground, in the same peculiar way,
and as it reached the trail it halted
for a moment as IL looking back. Our
eyes followed it up the plain, broad trail
until it grew fainter and fainter and final
ly dissolved.
What did it look like to you?" asked one
man of another.
"A little old woman, bent and feeble"
was the reply.
All had seen alike You may ask why
some one didn't pursue. No man had ever
seen living woman on that trail, or ex-
pectcd TO- This was a woman. and yet il
was not. Its presence cast an awe upon
everybody. Some Of the men returned to
bed, and others gathered in groups and
talked in whispers until daylight came.
lhere We're my men VINO went up IN q
crowd TO 'sSaran's' shanty. They found
him fully dressed and seated in the door,
and he had been dead for hours. Perhaps |
you expected that, but let me tell YOU his |
eyes were wide open, his vision seemed to
have returned, and he was looking across
to Top Notch trail just As a living man
looking and looking, and his
face had sofGened and smile had crept
over it and been held there by the fingers
of death.
1T was the spirit of his motheri'' whis-
pered the men as they stood and looked
into the face of the dead man, and so we