Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1896-04-17
THE CAR GHOST.


side cottage Of my friend, Sara Pyne.
She asked me to go there with her when
she opened il to have it set in order for
the summer. She confessed that she felt
a trine nervous at the idea OF entering
It alone. Aud l am always ready for an
excursion. So much blue denim rather
surprised me, b1cause blue is not com
plimentary TO Sarah's complexion-she
always wears some shade Of red, by
preference. She perceived my wonder
she is very no~arsighted, and therefore
sees everything, by some sort Of sixth
sense.
lyon do not like my portieres and
curtains and table covers" said she.
Neither dol. But Ididi it to accommo-
date. And now no rests we'll in his
grave, 1 hope"
''Whose grave, for PHYS saSe?"
"Mr. j. Ellington Prices.
"And who is he? He doesn't sound in
teresting."
''Then 1 will tell you about him."
said Sara, taking n seat directly in front
of one of those curthins. Last autumn
] was leaving this place for New York,
travelling on the fast express train
known as the Flying Yankee. OF course
/ thought of the Flying Dutchman and
Wagner's musical setting of the uncan-
ny legend, and how different things are
in these days of steam, etc. Then l
looked out Of tho window at the land
scape, the horizon that seemed to wheel
in a great curve rs the train sped. Ev-
cry now and then 1 had an impression
at the tail of the eye that a man was
sitting in a chair three or four numbers
in front of me ON the opposite side of
the car. Each time hat l SAW this shape
1 looked at the chair and ascertained
that it was ~unoccupied. But it was an
odd trick Of vision. 1 raised my lor-
gnette, and the chair showed emptier
than before. There was nobody in it
certainly. But the more 1 knew that it
was vacant the more plainly I saw the
man, always with the corner Of my
eye. 1t made me nervous.
"When passengers entered the car, 1
dreaded lest they might take that seat.
What would happen if they should? A
bag was put in the chair-that made
me uncomfortable. The bag was re-
mONGu ut lDt ntAt hAhNAOu. 1ltn a IiD1
was placed in the seat. 1t began to
laugh as though some n had gently
tickled it. There was something odd
about that chair-13 was its number.
When l looked away from it, the i'm
preston was strong upon me that some
person sitting there was watching me.
REALLY, it would not do to humor
such fancies. So l touched the electric
button, asked tho porter to bring me a
table, and taking from my bag IA pack
of cards proceeded to divert myself with
a game OF patience. l was puzzling to
put "a seven of spades. Where can it
go?' l murmurod to myself. A voice be-
hind me prompted, play the four Of
diamonds on the five, and you can do
it, 1 started. Tho only occupants Of
the car besides me were a bridal couple,
q mother with three little children and
a typical preacher Of one of the strait
est sects. Who had spoken? play up
the four, madam repeated tho voice.
l looked fearfully over my shoulder. At
first 1 saw a blush cloud, like cigar
smoke, but inodorous. Then the vision
cleared, and / saw a young man whom
1 knew by a subtle intuition to be the
occupant, seen and not seen, of chair
No. 13. Evidently he was "A travelling
s-alesman-and a ghost. OF course a
drummer's ghost sounds ridiculous
they're so extremely aliyel Or else you
would expect a dead drummer to be
particularly dead and not walk This
was a most commonplace looking ghost,
cordial, pushing, businesslike. At the
same time his face had an expression of
utter despair and horror which made
him still more preposterous. OF course
il is not nice to lot q stranger speak to
one, even ON so impersonal a topic as q
four of diamonds. But a ghost-there
can't be any rule of etiquette about
talking with n ghost My dear, il was
dreadful That forward creature showed
me how to play all the cards and then
begged me to lay them out again, in or
der that he might give me some clever
points. Twas too much amazed and dis.
turbed to 50. ak i could only place the
cards Mt his suggestion. This did so as
not to appear to Boz listening 10 tho emp
ty air aud be supposed to be a crazy
Presently the ghost spoke again
and told me his story.
MADAM, he said, 1 have been nd.
ing back and forth on this car ever since
Feb. 22, 49,, seven months and II
days. All this time l have not exchange
a word with any ono. For a drummel
that is pretty hard, you may believe
You know the story of tho Flying
Dutchnan? Well, that is very nearl,
my case. A curse is upon mo and viii
not be removed until some kind soul
But I'm getting ahead Of my text. Tha'
day there were four Of rs, travelling TO
different houses. Ono Of the boys wa,
in wool, one in baking powder, one il
boots and shoes and myself in cotton
goods. We met ON the road, took seati
together and fell into talking shop
Those fellows told big lies about theil
sales, Washington birthday though il
was. The baking powder man raised th'
amount Of the bills Of goods which II,
had sold better than a whole can OF hi
stun could have done. L admitted th'
straight truth, that / had not yet been
Al ~. -.