The San Francisco call., 1895-12-15
THE STRANGE EXPERIENCES
OF A NIGHT OF BURGLAR|ES,
BY w. Q. MORROW.

paused on the threshold, listened in silence
a moment and then started upstairs. In
that moment suffered such a reasonless
agony of terror as cannot be explained on
ordinary grounds. l held my breath till
was nearly suffocated, and when the man
turned to leave I was cold to the marrow.
He reascended the stairs, tied up his
bundle, passed through the window and
closed it, dropped the parcel over the rail,
clambered down the lattice and went away
as he had come, shutting the gate behind
him.
felt intensely relieved when he had
gone, and a reaction set in that composed
my nerves for slumber. Drowsiness was
already approaching when / was startled
by the soft clicking of the gate-larch. 1t
was very unlikely that the same burglar
had returned and would have been extra
ordinary if another had come. And yet,
try as hard as l might to reason out some
other possibility, there came the stealthy
footstep of thief on the boards of the
outer passage. I studied this step so
intently and analytically that was certain
the intruder was not the same as the first.
Then l began to wonder what he would do.
was not surprised to hear him try the
door of the lower porch and find it strongly
barred within, nor greatly to hear him
climb the lattice as the other had done. I
was curious to know whether he would
attack the door or the window after he had
landed on the porch. By singular
coincidence he chose the window. l heard
him try it, and imagined that he started
upon discovering hat the latch had been
broken. 1t was evident that upon entering
the room he was surprised and confused
to see its disorder. But he drew a sheet
from the bed, spread it on the floor and
proceeded to ransack the room. Evidently
his bewilderment increased, and he must
have been discouraged to find so little
worth taking.
He was not long in completing the loot
ing of the room, and then he went to the
door and stood moment in the passage,
listening intently. After that he began
carefully to descend the stairs. His con-
duct thenceforward was exactly a repeti-
ton of his predecessors. He passed my
door, tinkled the plated silverware in the
dining-room. left it alone, returned to the
vestibule, stood moment listening at my
open door, cautiously retraced his steps
upstairs, passed through the window,
closed it, dropped his parcel to the ground,
clambered down the lattice and passed out,
closing the gate behind him.
1t may be supposed that the condolences
amazed me beyond measure. This, more
than anything else, seemed to unnerve me
all the more. All this time I realized that
I had been acting the part of coward.
Merely to have lighted the gas in my room
would have cleared the house OF the second
burglar, but I had not the courage to do
that.
My alarm and nervousness became so
great that 1 arose from bed and was Just
about to strike match with which to
light the gas in the chandelier when I
heard the gate-latch click for the third
time. My match remained innsbruck and
I listened with fascinated intentness to
this last invasion. In all particulars it
was identical with the second, down to the
point when the burglar descended the
stairs and passed my open door on his way
to the dining-room. To light the gas then
would have been to place the man in a
corner and compel him to fight. real
lied not only that it is taking ones life in
ones hands to cut off burglars retreat
before attacking him Gas knowledge of
chance to escape diverts his attention from
the necessity for self-defense ana renders
him easier to overcome), but that was
now in condition in which 1 lacked both
the courage and the strength to make the
attempt.
The position which I now occupied in
the room was half way between the bed
and the window. AS / was so much nearer
the window than before I could hear
sounds from without with much more dis
tinctness. While I stood there listening
to the third burglar tinkle the plated
| ware / was startled to hear the gate-latch
click again and the football of the fourth
burglar on the board-paved passage. AS
he was clim bing the lattice fifth burglar
entered the gate, then sixth, then others,
| until burglars in an endless procession
were entering my premises and rifing my
| house on one common and unvarying
| plan.
1t is useless to say that an intelligent
man should not have entertained such an
idea for a moment. We know / might
have reasoned that perhaps there had
been only one, or at most two, burglars
after all, and that the fright which they
gave me caused me to conjure up the
others from fear-deranged Imagination.
It might be profitable to indulge in great
many other speculations on this subject,
but the truth remains that could not
reason at all.
In simple desperation, perhaps moved
by sort of fascination, crept to the
window in order 70 observe with idle Curl
osity the procession of burglars entering
the gate. 1 turned the Stats of lower
blind and looked out. Not soul was
visible, and yet burglars we're still pouring
! through the gate!
| The explanation came like shocking
revelation. The wind was playing with
some loose blind-slats Immediately above
my head as stood there, and out of that
slight and varying sound my Imagination
had constructed the phantasy from begin
ming to end. No burglar at all had in.
vaded my house. l amused and teased
myself for some time afterward by COM
pelling my attention to leave the rafting
Stats at intervals and fill my house with
burglars.