Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-05-30
A Dagger Roughly Painted I'm Red.

A Dagger Roughly Painted I'm Red,
For a time | believe | was indeed
mad: the echoes rams with the pierre
ing shrieks l could not restrain. 81
lent at last through sheer exhaustion
/ glared about me. The moonbeam
had vanished; in it's place lay a shaft
of pale gray light. by which l could
easily distinguish the whole interior OF
the staircase and the closed gateway
at it's summit. l rushed up the ascent
with the feyerish haste of a mailman.
| grasped the iron grating with both
hands and shook il fiercely. IL was
firm as a rock. locked fast. i called
for help. Utter silence answered me.
I peered through the closely-twisted
bars. ! saw the grass, the dropping
boughs of trees, n straight before
my line OF vision, a little piece of the
blessed sky, opal-tinted and family
bluShing with the consciousness of its
approaching sunrise. l drank in the
sweet fresh air; a long trailing branch
of the wild grape vine hung near me;
it's leaves We're covered thickly with
dew. | squeezed n hand through
the grating and gathered a few OF
these green morselS Of GOODNESS; | ate
them greedily. They seemed to me
more delicious. than anything / had
eve tasted; they relieved the burning
fever of my parched throat and
tongue. The glimpse of the trees and
the sky soOthed and Gained me. There
was a gentle twittering of awakening
birds; my nightingale had ceased sing
ing.
| began to recover slowly from my
nervous terrOrs. and leaning against
the gloomy arch of my charnel- house
| took courage 10 glance backward
down the steep stairway up which |
had sprung with such furious prcC
tatiOn. Something white lay in a cor
ner on the seventh step from the top.
Curious to see what IL was, / descend
ed cautiously, and with some reluct-
ance: ii was the half of a thick waxen
taper, such as are used in the Catholic
ritual at the burial of the dead. No
doubt 1t had been thrown down there
by some careless acolyte, to save HIM
self the trouble of carrying it after h
service had ended. / looked at il med
itatively. If | only had a light! 1
plunged my hands half abstractedly
into the pockets of my trousers; ONE
thing jingled, Truly they had buried
me in haste. My purse, a small bunch
of keys, my card case-one by n l
drew them out and examined them
supposedly: they looked so familiar,
and withal so strange. / searched
again; and this time found something
of real value to one in my condition
a small box of wax vestas. Now had
they left me my cigar case? No, that
was gone. 1t was a valuable silver
one: no doubt the monk, who attend
ed my supposed last moments, had
taken it, together with my watch and
chain, to my wife. Well, / could not
smoke, but / could strike a light. And
there was the funeral taper ready for
use. The sun had not yet risen. 1
must certainly wait till broad day be-
fore / could hope to attract by my
shouts any stray person who might
pass through the cemetery. Mean
while. a fantastic idea suggested it.
self. 1 would go and look at my own
coffin! 1t would be a Dsvel expert
ence. The sense of fear mad entirely
deserted me; the possession of that
box of matches was sufficient to en-
dow me with absolute hardihood. I
picked up the church candle and Ii, II:
IL gave at first a feeble flicker. hnt
afterward burnt with a clear and
steady flame. Shading il with one
hand from the draught. I gave a part
ing glance at the fair daylight that
peeped smilingly in through my pris-
on door. and then went downtown
again into the dismal place where I
had passed the night i'm such indie
scribable agony.
Ito Be Continually