The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-03

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I SAW IT FALL. GLIsTENING IN
THE MOONBEAMS.
fiuence. I could not, however, oppose
young Budthorne's wish, nor could I
drag him bodily from the place. But |
could bring Philip. and the two of us
could compel him to come away.
l went to the door thinking Of get
ting Philip. of my cOwardice in leaving
'udthorne there and of escape from the
place. all in mental tumble, for the
sensation that l was about to suffer
death in some horrible form, as de-
scribed by Abner. had come upon me.
l thought swiftly of many ways in
which men had come to their end, but
none OF them seemed so full of terror as
death brought on by this causeless fear.
l felt that the young man could not
stand this dreadful test. and from the
sill ! looked back. fully expecting to
find him escaping with me. But he was
standing near the hail. erect. deter
mined and pointing to the door. | fled
through the hall flung open the front
door and ran out upon the porch.
| was instantly relieved of the super
natural fright. | turned at once to go
back and plead with Budthorne to come
out, but he had followed and shut the
door. ! heard him lock it inside then
came noise as of some small metal
object falling upon the bare floor far
back in the long. dark hall. He had
thrown away the key so that he could
not quickly escape. | called to him,
urging him TO give I'M his mad expert
ment, but he did not answer me-
| lnn mad from, a ,.t ,r
the way to Phillips home.
The company was sitting before the
fire, and my excited entrance broke up
an animated discussion. When | had
| told Of the trial Budthorne was making
! Ahner sprang up and exclaimed:
He cannot live an hour in that place
! Philip. you and Mr.. Richards must use
force if he will not come out willingly"
Il came to ask Philip to go with me. Z"
! I said. II could not persuade him to
abandon this dangerous experiment."
Philip and l We're soon hurrying to-
ward the house. Armstrong hailed us
as we Were passing his home.
Isn't that young fellow in the old
house tonight? 2" he asked
Yes" Philip answered, and hurried
| ly explained our mission.
! "I'll go with you
When we arrived at the porch of the
, house l called BudthOrne, but he did
not answer. called again as loudly as
| | could. but the silence inside was un-
broken. With a sickening apprehen-
! sion of what had occurred | threw my
weight against the door. but it resisted
Philip and Armstrong helped me. the
bolt snapped with loud noise and the
door crashed inward. / sprang into the
| hall. but stopped in astOnishment. The
ain was still foul and close, but 1t had
been relieved of the element of fear.
The quietness of the side room, howev
er gave me foreboding entirely diff
ferent from the unnatural dread of
dea th. This room was almost dark, the
candle having burned into the stick
during the hour of my absence, and
shedding them only a circle of light up
on the grimy ceiling. We stopped up
on tine sill and strained our eyes into
| the shadows 1t required but an in
slant to see what had happened, and we
| sprang forward.
! I!udthorne lay upon the floor with his
right hand resting Imply upon the ball,
the lid of which was tightly closed. l
bent over him and called. but he did
| not move. Armstrong caught up the
candle, raised the tallow end higher in
| the stick. while Philip and turned the
! DTbStEulc man u.iDIl his Ddth.
| light showed his CHASTITY face. set with
desperate determine tiOn. and his eyes
open and staring, with vacancy that
| filed us with natural dread. 7 put
my hand over his heart and cried:
lie is alive. We must get him out
of this at once
We carried him out upon the porch.
and Armstrong hurried away to bring
team. When he arrived with it, and
Budthorne. still insensible. had been
carefully placed in the straw bed. ]
asked Philip to take him home as rap
idly as possible and secure medical at
tention, adding that / would remain.
What crazy experiment are you bent
on?" he asked.
None" answered. 81 intend to put
that fendish ball where it will do no
more harm"
Make it sure" he commended, as
they drove away.
/ walked back into the hall Of the
house with some nervousness, ] freely
confess. But / quickly discovered that
it was groundleSs. BudthOrne had
driven out the demon of fear beyond
all doubt. l went into the side room
and the expiring flame of the candle
dimly revealed the bone ball upon the
floor | put my hands upon 1t to lift
1t, and could not help springing erect
in amazement. The wonderful weight
Abner Letterby had spoken of had
come back to it. With much fear that
it might fall and break and the spell
escape again I picked it up with great
care, then blew out the candle and
walked out upon the porch
At the foot of the hill on which the
house stands the creek has cut its way
through many Strata of rocks, thus
forming a. narrow gorge, at the bot
tom of which the water Is very deep.
1 decided to drop the ball into the
stream there and hastened to the place.
In order that 1t might not strike any
of the jagged rocks and be broken, /
lay fiat upon the ground and stretched
my arms far out over the chasm.
Whether the contact of my hands re-
newed the spell or my excited nerves
reproduced the sensation SO recently
experienced, 1 do not know, but an
unnatural fear seemed to come out of
the moonlighted air and death in
frightful forms seemed to throng the
quiet night. ] released the sphere.
and, with deep sense Of relief. saw
1t fall, glistening in the moonbeams;
there was q splash and an echoing
gurgle in the gorge, and all was still.