The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-03-07

thick roof Of thatoh. Two little win.
adows on either side or the narrow door
had their shutters up, and through the
Jagged chinks the rays Of strong illu-
mination within shone brightly.
go right in and make yourselves at
home, while take my horse to stable, {"
said our mysterious guide as he turned
of to the rear Of the hut.
We pushed open the door. The apart
ment we entered was large one, much
larger than the outside of the hut would
lead us to believe, but what astonished
US the most was the luxurious manner
in which it was furnished. Heavy tap
estries covered the four walls, a thick
Turkish carpet was spread upon the
floor, four chairs of solid mahogany,
two lounges Of the same material, all
upholstered in the richest velvet, huge
bureau Of polished pine and a mahog-
any table were situated in various parts
of the room, the lounges standing tempt
ingly before the wood fire that cracked
up the chimney unrestrained by any
CRATE. A hanging lamp suspended from
the cross beam, whose shade seemed
studded, if not with actual jewels,
with wonderful limitations thereof, cast
brilliant, almost dazzling, light over
all.
"Well," said Hugh as soon as he
could realize the situation. "This seems
like fairy tale, but then in fairy tale
this would be an enchanted castle and
not an enchanted hut. All, but those
lounges look tempting, however, This
must be some great mans shooting box,
though it looked very unlike one from
the outside as we'll as could see. That
man you took for a ghost must be the
owner. His invitation for US to make
ourselves at home sounded as If he was.
Well, would not mind meeting such
a ghost again under like circumstances,
from which circumstances, however,
may heaven forefendl''
We were 50 tired and wet, and this
apartment being evidently the only one
in the house, we proceeded to undress
and hang up our garments to dry. Un-
der one of the sofas Hugh had discover
ed two dressing gowns of superb finish,
which we calmly appropriated, and
our host delayed SO long about rejoining
Us We lay down on the lounges and
were soon sleeping as worn and weary
wayfarers alone can sleep.
What sounded like the clash of a
mighty cymbal brought me erect on my
feet and wide awake after enjoying a
much needed and refreshing sleep. l
looked about. The lamp had gone out.
So, too. had the fire. But in the center
of the room a pillar Of light seemed to
descend from the roof to the floor In
the midst of the pillar was the upright
form of venerable old man. His head
was thrown back, his long, white hair
falling in mass over his shoulders
His great beard covered his entire chest
He was clad in an ox's skin, fastened
by hempen girdle. His bare arms,
powerful and sinewy, were bound be-
hind him to a shadowy stake, and his
naked feet-merciful heavens were
resting upon live Goals of fire. On look
ing closer at the face I saw look of
hopeless, unspeakable anguish thereon,
but not moan escaped from the with
ing lips. AS stood horror stricken, a
sweet female voice rose and swelled in
a weird wild chant of heart piercing
sadness The words were Gallo, but
the tones in which they floated through
the silence of the room were the tones
of a soul to whom hope is lost forever
AS it ended, a hooking laugh rang loud
outside the window and was followed
by horses neigh. We knew from the
cold blast that rushed in that some one
had opened the door. simultaneously
the specter disappeared. I felt an awe
some presence not of earth approaching.
Hugh S voice gasped in my ear, "For
Gods sake, let US fy!'
Dressed only in the gowns we had dis
covered, we rushed madly to the door,
AS we passed it's threshold, we heard
behind US yell of disappointed rage
that made the blood run cold in our
veins.
We dashed on blindly, panic stricken.
At length toward morning we met
party of hunters, who at first very nat
urally took us for pair of escaped lu-
natics roaming aimlessly on the moor
and clad in two old battered, widowed
dressing gowns that had seemed such
handsome dresses when we first saw
them in the hut. On our relating our
adventures their voices rose in mu-
tual cry of establishment
"Aweel! Aweelp' exclaimed the eld-
est Of the hunters, grizzled veteran,
with the SHOWS of some 60 winters on
his head. Eye air tn first men that ev-
er slep' in the laird's hut and lived to
tell the tale
We begged him to explain, for sick
and scared as we were we were an xious
to know what we had escaped from.
''The hut, said the old hunter, twas
occupied Ger 81 years agone by the laird
of Knockeranie, the eighth of the name.
On his young wife dying he betook
himself and his infant daughter to it.
He furnished it from the castle. Then
he shut himself out from the world.
No one ever saw him, but when his
daughter got to be a guild pert girl she
used to be heard singing, tho few e'er
cast eyes on her. It was said that the
laird had mickle gowd hid in the hut,
and one night robbers broke in, killed
the daughter and her father after almost
burning his feet off trying to make him
tell where his money was hid. A horse
and his rider were found drowned in
the marsh next morning, and they do
say he was one of the murderers, for
blood stains the water could not remove
were on his clothes. He is said to haunt
the marsh yet, SOS to bring lost folks
to the hut whar the murder was, and