Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-20
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CHAPTER H.
IN TIE BAYOU,

low down Oenlnu Cnc Vdll NO''
On the right, ever and anon casting
few slight beams across the o.acK uecH
of small steamboat that was heaoeo
up one of those numerous murky oayous
viii h flooded the southern port on u
the State of Louisiana.
The beat which was q sC~t Oh "co'C'n
lugger,s contained but two assengers-
my companion and myselt-who were
looked upon by the officers ana ueck
hands of the craft as mysterlo person
ages We had come on board after DARK
and were we'll bundled up in great coats,
so undoubtedly looked quite austere anu
grim in the dim lights of the smoky ian
terms hung about. Besides we were eo'
ing to the haunted villa on the ola span
ish plantation up the country, WINCH aS
runor had it, had for years been inhao'
tied by none but ghostly apparitiohS'
and which was supposed to be reStihe
under the ban of a terrible ana heAor-
able curse.
Cur tourney by boat was some twenty
miles, end on our way upwe had stoou vi
the top deck, leaning against the pl on
house, a. sorbcd in thought and speak
ing but seldom d
once the captain came ong ana
touched my arm and that OF my com
panion, and by the aid OF his lantern
looked earnestly into our faces Upoh
being asked why he did this he replieo'
beg y, ur Pa don, misters, Dut some
o. the men doubt as how ye arc Il sn an
blood, We OOk so g um and ghostly ke'
They hearn whar ye're goln, an arc
Jest a little skecry. No live man mas
dared to tackle that ar ha6ltatlon at
midnight afore fur up ards o ten year.
Don't mean to offend yc, misters, but cl
twas me Id wait till sun up aFore L lux
artikee. pa MS t git &C ualnted WI
| the folks at the haunted house"
This said, he walked on.
Flesh and loodl lid / know then
whether it was flesh and blood had Tor
a companion that night, or the shade Oh
one long dead?
Was | flesh and blood that night or
that month, or was the ghost OF my
self accompanying weird fancy aong
the bayous and over the fields OF SOUTH
ern Louisiana?
When was little child, untutored IN
letters or the ways of the rid, l saw
and held mystic communion with the
sp rits of the dead Was l ain, at the
baoinning of manhood, as at the begin
ming of life, to commune with zephyry
companions?
And Burton Aro'd! Why had l ia ken
him as O boon companion-a man VINO
was as the dead come TO life, so uh'
natural were his ways and so super
natural were his thoughts and words?
1t came about In this way l had been
in The swamps of FLORIDA on hunt 1oi
curious insects for q Northern en-
tomologist; and had cntracted the
"break-bone fever" a terrible com
: binatiun of typhoid fever and IN
! 1ammatory rheu atism "a disease
that is very common in the swampI
> regions of the South During the de
Iirium which followed | was taken Y
l Mobile and taken care of in hospital
. was ColiriouS for some weeks, an(
= when | "came to" was surprised at m!
u Surroundings / inquired OF the hrs
= person saw as to where | was and WI.
!, vas thore This person was Barter
Il Aro!d, and he told me how it all cam
y about How he came to find out o
rot know, for none of the hospital peo
y ne had ever seen him until he wa:
found at my bedside and none ba
Is tronbled themselves TO earn his nam
:, or to give him any information concern
y ing me. He seemed to take a great IN
, terest in me, and attended me durln
~ nv whole illness with the constancy an
tenderness of a firm and devoted frien1
ID His so icitous care had the effect upO
~ NV recovering faculties Of winning m
~ unconditional gratitude, for found OF
that the hospital attendants were ike
rs set of machinery, moving here and thei
SIS in nice order managed by master heads
but having little more sympathy Tor
I'd sick oerson than one would commonl
Of have for plaster manikin, 50 accu
S toned were they to scenes OF sickoc
~ and deathbed sufferings.
His conversation also charmed me,
20 ineffably eccentric, buoyant, and Deaut
s, fnl il was. When we were alone In u
n dark. weary watches OF the night, hol
RI after hour, never seeming sleepy' neV'
GO tired. did he hold me in frances OF q
lirht by the ecstasy of his discours
I'd and the wild flights of fancy, the well
d, imaginings with which he would occ
81 sionally burst forth when in convers
n tion with mo, wrought an agreeable a
commandment to the drowsy fervor al
an dreamy ideality that settled dow
m uron me after the delirium OF the feve
to was naturally disposed to be a
nc struse and speculative, and the ga
nd dreams, the ever changing phantaSm
MT coria of imaginative objects that toat
es through my m nd continually during D
er convalescerce, without system or ordt
W. re from day to day made brighter, t
NJ more delightful, the moro pleasantly,
ID fatuating by his fervid. passionate D
bo almost divine genius of eIoQuence a
fe poetical fancy. began to lovc MN
he a brother and to feel considerable
NV miration for him, and he seemed 10
I'm ciprocate the attachment
ar When | became we'll again, ne pr
posed that should accompany him II
he Louisiana on visit to the house I'll
ms had been the homo of his Sweethea
ite who had died some years befor. IL "
,cr a haunted house, he said, but from WI
lie he had heard me say when / was i'll
alf guessed that was not alrald OF nav
zen a friendly visit with spirits that We
ny kindly disposed. Iasked no queSVlo
but promised to go; and thus even
nv ally found myself on board the sm
steamboat with Burton Arold at my
me bow, both of us listening to the souI
be- that came out OF the darkness, ana wa
fc, ing for the boat to carry us to the la
cge ing opposite the haunted villa; ana
the we came around bend in the bayou o
The moon went down below the horiz
asst leaving all in sulen darkness, tic D.
O n SWING against the bank The p