Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-01-11

mind little rain, but the prospect Of
spending the entire night exposed to
it was anything but agreeable, and
grew really violent in denunciation Of
the folly which had led me, an utter
stranger in the country, to attempt to
find anything less than volcano in
active eruption on bald prairie.
The Texans are fine people, in some
in many-respectst they are the most
admirable of hosts, but Individually
and collectively they lack any appre-
citation of distance. This is due OF
course to their having SO much space
around them, but to a stranger igno-
rant of the extent to which the phras-
es "a little piece out" and ''just out
side % town. can be stretched this
cOntemptuOus regard Of miles is a lit
tie misleading. But in the face of that
sad, monotonous moaning Of rain and
wind even my anger at my own folly
could not burn long, and though chill
ed to the bone and tired and hungry [
plodded on duly, grateful that no
night, even the longest, could last for
ever. It was now quite dark, and
very dark at that, though at short in
tervals close to the horizon a faint
CLEAN of lightning showed, too dis
tant to cast brightness on my path
and only sufficient to intensity the
blackness about me.
All at once I saw a man walking
about fifteen feet in front Of me. Yes,
[ said it was intensely dark, but all the
same, [ repeat it, [ saw man walking
in front of me, and furthermore I
could see that he was large man,
dressed in rough but well fitting
clothes; that he wore heavy red
beard, and that he looked back at me
from time to time with an expression
of keen anxiety on his otherwise rath
er fixed features.
''Hallo!" [ cried, but as he did not
halt concluded he did not hear me.
AS second hail produced no result [
spurred my weary horse up to over
take the stranger. But though the
gray responded with an alacrity most
cOmmendable under the circumstance
es, soon found that this strange pc
destrian did not intend to let me
catch up with him. Not that he hur
ried himself. He seemed without any
eXertion to keep a good fifteen feet
between us. Then I began to wonder
how, with intense darkness shutting
me in as four black walls, [ was yet
Oh To u+po
clearly, to take in the details of his
dress, and even the expression Of his
face, and that at a distance of more
than twice my horses length when I
could hardly see his head before me.
I am not given to superstitious fan
cies, and my only feeling was of curl
osity. When after attempt after at
tempt to overtake the stranger had
failed, took mercy on my jaded horse
and resolved to follow my unsociable
guide, as he must have some definite
destination.
We went on in silence for nearly
half an hour, when suddenly he was
gone. [ looked around for him, half
afraid from his instant and complete
disappearance that had been dream
ing, when [ perceived that [ was close
to a small, low building OF some sort.
I refined in and shouted several times,
but not the slightest response could [
hear, and at last I rode boldly up and
tapped on the wall with my riding
whip. Then, as this elected no sign of
life, concluded that [ had stumbled
on some deserted house, or that it was
the abode of my eccentric friend; SO
dismounting and tying the gray re-
solved to spend the rest of the night
under q roof or to find some good rea
son for continuing my journey. l felt
my way along the wall till I reached
door, and trying this and finding
that it yielded to me stepped inside,
striking a match as I did SO. Fortu
nately [ carried my matches in an air
tight case, and as it was dry the one I
struck gave me a light at once. /
found myself in large room, close to
q fireplace, over which a rude shelf
was placed, and on the mantel I saw
an oil lamp, to which [ applied my
match as I looked about me.
On the hearth was heaped quanti
ty Of ashes, and over these crouched
a child, a little girl Of five or six. At
the other end Of the room, which was
plainly and scan5ily furnished, lay a
man across a bed, and as I raised the
lamp I saw that he was the same had
been following, but there was some
thirao in his aft.ifI1dn and face that