Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-27
CHAPTER v.
THE INVESTIGATORS.

hurried back out of the vaut for it
gas a cold, dismal place, and locking in
my travelling NaliSe thu do, ument in
trusted to me, sought the oLen air just
in time to see posse OF m ride up on
horseback. They were all booted and
spurred, and wore broad slou,h hats,
after the accepted Louisiana fashion.
They were also armed with carbir eS and
pistols, aud were determlned-lo looking
men. They rode dire tly up to the front
door, and seemed greatly abashcd to see
live person upon t ie premis s. The
leader, who introduced himself as tho
shCr # and the lest as al officers Of the
parish, from the parish capital, asked
Inc if | was the man Of the house. |
replied that l was simply visitor at
the villa, and that knew Of no living
head of the establishment They in
Quired as to how long had been there.
and if / had noticed anything 1t of the
way about the place. l answered that /
had arrived but the night before and
thit no hing particularly bad had &C.
Cured as yet.
Then a. long conversation ensucd. in
whi h lea mel that several of the ii
GERS were heavy land owners and that
. they were so un ortunate as to be in
posses ion O. m ny acres ad dining the
Montinni estate, which land could not
be sold for a penny on account of its
ncarless to the villa, which was gener-
ally believed to be a ours d and haunted
place They said that they would like
to search the house to see for themselves
if any supernatura age cies infested it,
and if there were q y noticeable grounds
for the wild reports current throughout
the community, If | would grant them
permission. This | did, as had 10 au.
thority or inclinat on to do otherwise.
We all entered the house together, the
sheriff and myself leading We had
hardly got half way down the hall whe1
the gentleman who bore the distinction
Of being parish clerk felt his carbine
Guiding his 6 asp, and, almost over
whe med with amazement and fear. saw
it leave his shoulder and retire swiftly
10 the door, where il seemed to be held
by an invisible somebody Standing on
guard. AS he waj too frightened. to
speak, and as the others did not notice
the mishap panic WIS ayoideI
On they trud 5ed throu the rooms,
inspecting each c'osely; then throu IN
the cellar vaults, but no trace of ghost
did VIC find, although as one OF the OH
GERS remarked, it was gloomy enough TO
breed ghosts by the hundreds.
Upstairs, On one side OF the hail. the
rooms were all Licked. The sheriff fe t
a curiosity to look into these. Taking q
skeleton key from his pocket he tried the
first one of the doors. The key turned
in the 10 k and he was just pulling the
Goor open when strong light
flashed from within, binding all for a
moment, during which me the door was
cloccd, locked and the key thrust back
into the Sheritf's han1 by, to them, an
invisible agency, bit to me the agency
appeared dist net y in the fair form of
the phantom la1y, who, pointing to the
row of doors, gave u warning lo,k.
Turning to the officers | told them
that the just enacted reve alton was SUI
ticient evidence that those doors were
not to be OF ened at the present time,
and tha. perhaps it wo aid not be well to
persist in the investigat Oh. And they
seemed to agree with me, judging from
their blancEeI faces.
All, human bravery and cOwardice!
how often doSt thou live side by side in
one heartl These seven meh, four of
whom were veterans of two wars and
d stinguished for their bravery in battle,
there in that room where there was no
danger at all, stood pale as the sLecterS
themselves, silent as statues, trem bling,
speechlesS, in abject fear. l watched
them curious V for moment. Pre- emily
fa mt rappir gS sounded on all the locked
DOORS and a dense vapor began to OBJ
G. .ure the hallway. Cne man let his
Carbine drop to a rest upon the fioor
and at the noise thus made every hon
orable officer started as If awakened
from a troub ed sleep, ard in concert as
If inspired wi h sudden madnes. they |
gave wild, crazy yell and fed down the
stairs and down into the outer air as If |
the leg,ons of Tophet had been let loose |
at their heels. Panic stricken, they !
hurriedly mounted and spurred their as
animals 10 their full powers OF |
s osd down the read.
Thus men otherwise brave and per- |
haps hero C are sometimes fright ned |
out Of Their wits by one little super !
natural sign. 1t is natural that tbs !
should be; so you and | are rot sur
priSod, and hold them in no contempt |
for II. :
Soon nothing could be seen of the in
v stgatorS bnt the c'Oud Of dust their
rr,cipitatc flight had stirred up, and
turned into the house ard repaired to
the din'ng-room, where | found a good
lunch spread for me. Having eaten to
my satisfaction, | concluded that |
wou spend the r st of the day saunter-
ing about the fields and looking at the