Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1896-02-01
NICHOLAS KLEGG'S WHITE SKIN
4 TALE u Horror.

A Tale OF ftOftot.
Before tell my story wish y as
this question. Can one man to'A
through another mans eyesi bechust,
i saw i thing that no other living SUI
has seen. they have Gagged me behind
the IRON network Of this window ani
have called me mad. What right has
any one 10 call me thts' nai t'N''
/ ask. what rightf
When ii an happened ! was yotlhs.
Now I look down al the dry hAnus ~
my arms and say - mysru N,sn'
las klesg, l. this you OH s1ps.
Shriyelesi. you. who only yesterday wsss
,irm IL flesh aud juicy a. a winter AZ
pleT' Hut the story my MINT Wa
slers now. sliding from every thihg peF
fore II has time 70 grasp. OhFe y vas
dflferent-t hen my brain hah cidWs.
talnns: could not shake myself loose
from ms thoughts Aud my story
was a pesldler Not that started
a.. far from ID, but only after ! had
tried many and worse professions NnF
did / pedale glass Ieweiry and rin1ons !
nv stosk in trade was hides great,
stiff hides ready for tanning. p"hknt
these ~ simon the jew, and q b@aksd
.uiture he was. hs could turn the very
clouds 10 ruppers | would roll up my
bundle. big enough to crush most men,
then sling Ii on my back and maFeh
or tifty Or sixty miles into the eouti
try. and never weary Of my HE
sang so loud that the farm folks could
hear ms coming. and would say
.@rhere il Sich0Ias kegg. the crazy
peddler Even then they cAlsd me
that name: but | only laughed AMI
sang all the louder. till the woods bel
lowed back and the echoes came rat
thing about my carS like l0oss STONES
on. the 10y Of those days when ri
the world was mine, Those long days
spent lying In the grass, so still that
the spiders SWING over nc, tiny shut.
ties threaded with silk, aud this stormy
nights. with tire green lightning grin
ming down ut me from the sky
Ii happened ONE October evening |
had walked twenty miles thar day.
ovef hard roads. with my pack ~
skins. ard | was tired. so | stopped
awhile to rest myself The ledge ~
ruck on which I was sitting ran along
tire crest Of hill: over II the road
hung. bent ami yellow as a broken
straw. bright where had come up
and dark where was w go down
The thought came to me ~ hook again
Mt my bundle ~ skins. | unrolied them
aud spread them out in front of me.
Then saw what | had not noticed be-.
fore. that one Of them was quite
different from the rest, and different
from any | had ever seen II had
been cut here ard there till II had no
particular shape. aud IL was white
dfsgustfngly white and fine to be- mixed
In with that dirty COW leather. OK.
amined II closer and found sticking Il,
II long. light hair | did not like
that still. hairs viii blow lightly hitli.
er and thithcr. but nevertheless wns
uncomfortable.
Az | rose to 90 ] glanced about mo
and saw, hanging opposite each other.
the sun and moon; the sun small and
rnddy. and the great moon white about
the tree-tops. That II n sign Of m.
I luck. and II troubled me. so 1 said h
i myself. For shame. Nicholas Klegg'
/ man six feet tall. and strong 10 boot
afraid Of n bit Of dry skim"
I shOuldered my pack and began Ia
descend the valley road. still scared.
but standing very straight, and whistI.
Ing. The trees by the roadside had
shaken Off the rotten splcndor Of their
autumn covering, and beneath them
the frost glIttered on the ground, saIt
white and brittle. Where | walked
there was not much light. only thr
tips of the trees being plated with
gold. A little shiver Of wind came IN
behind, and with II the sound Of foot
steps. ] turned. there was no one In
sight.
whistle louder, Nicholas Klegg. 4
said !; but my lips were too dry h
pueker.
Again came that sound scrnieh
scratch! scratchi-as II the feet thai
made u were dragging and b0ny. Their
! wheeled around 40 swiftly that moth
ing human could have escaped mo
There lay the road-bare. empty. cx
cept for lapful ~ cOlored sky thai
showed through the trees. Now / wa,
no coward, but my nerves prleke,
with terror. | was afraid 10 20 q,
ana AFRAID to turn tail, so | backed n
wards the woods, thinking to hid,
there until the thing passed mo.
had not moved two steps when / FOL
hot breath on the nap OF INV .,ecL
again | wheeled aud Mother n
Ghrist!-there. behind me, almost nm
on me, stood woman--a woman VII,
hnd no skin from her great. whit,
rolling eyeballs to her red feet
Ana they told me did not SEQ he,
Wnsn even now ] see her. with no
tnlrty-two big teeth naked of Inns n,
tho muscles stringing her body M
punches OF crimson cords. Sbe rsiaa,
her arm and pointed ut me. and thong,
she did not touch me, felt her iiuger
between my brows.
GIVE me my skin, thief" she cried
over and over until the wind ma ~