Daily camera., 1897-08-23
THE DAILY CAMERA.

and small; SO faint, as though borne
from great distance; so plain, as
though right at my bedside; bearing no
semblance to human tones, but never
theless undoubtedly voice; for after
time I could distinguish a word now
and then.
If there were in the world weird, mis-
gno1nes, and we could hear their con-
versation, / imagine their voices would
sound like this one to which now | was
listening.
There was no wonder Mrs. Snyder
had been impressed by it, if this were
the voice she had heard.
Strange indeed, and unnatural, as
though not of this world, it seemed to
me. A creeping sensation came over
me, not exactly like chat produced by
fear; there was more of awe, of sol
emnity, about it.
The sound of the voice was inter1nit-
ient. There would be few words,
then pause, and so on. | could make
no sense of the few disjointed sentences.
1t lasted but a few minutes. Indeed, so
brief was the conversation, if that is
what it was there was no time to make
an investigation.
After long period of anxious listen
ing settled down again for sleep. And
when at last slumber came, it was
troubled. Vague, shadowy dreams fit
ted across my consciousness, and
through them all was sort of premo-
milton of future events, which seemed
to have a bearing upon the robbery.
The next morning was awakened by
the sun shining in my face. Hardly
had l got my eyes open and my senses
aroused to my new surroundings, when
loud and long continued humping
on the front door caused me to spring
out of bed Hastily donning few gar
ments, l went to the door and opened
| it,
Mrs. Snyder was standing there, and
over her face when she saw me.
"Ach my. you schleep SO sount vas
afrait somesing de matter!" she said.
"Breafas' vas retty long dime alretty."
"All right. I'll be right over and eat
it," l replied.
While was dressing the recollection
of the strange voice Of the last night
came to me. Now, in the broad glare of
the forenoon, when all mystery takes
flight and the hallucinations of the
darkness become trivial, | wondered if
my imagination had played me trick.
1t seemed as though l had heard the
voice in a dream, so unreal did the cir
cumstance appear now.
I was standing by the huge chimney.
when again, breaking in upon my
thoughts, came the sound of that mys
terious small voice.
AS on the night before, there were no
completed sentences; only word be-
tween pauses of various duration. The
sounds were palmer, however; not loud
er, but more distinct.
Here was a mystery indeed, one which
did not choose only the shades of night
for it's manifestations. but came in the
daytime, as though possessed of such
subtle and unaccountableq qualities that
it might defy research.
After the voice had ceased. and con-
tinued my toilet, the sound of talking.
coming from the walk outside, reached
me.
l glanced out of the window, and saw
Sarah and Mrs. Snyder again in most
earnest conversation
Somewhat surprised to see my old
nurse so early in the day, I called to
her:
Hello, Sarah! What's the trouble?
What brought you here at this time?''
Zach, Nel, bud am glad to see you'll
she exclaimed. 81 couldn't schleep all
night
"Now, that was too bad I said.
what kept you awaken"
81 vas thinkin' of you all alone in dis
olt house, and so much strangeness
aboud it," the good soul replied, with
her honest old face upturned to me.
''That was very foolish. Nothing is
going to happen to me- | said, lightly,
although l was not so sure of it now.
! When | went outside the two women
were still talking, and there was an
/ awe-stricken expression on each face.
what are you two superstitious old
girls doing now?" | asked. "Hatching
up more mysterious tales?'
Mrs. Snyder gravely shook her head,
as though seriously condemning levity
| on supernatural subjects. Sarah rest
ed her hand on my arm, and gazed up
into my face. There was deep concern
in every line of her countenance.
"Nel, you come wiz me-" she said,
leading the way. l followed around
the corner of the house, and she stopped
| before window, the shutters of which
we're closed.
'Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to-
ward the shutters. "Nlrs. Snyder says
dat vas not dere yesterday"
To be Continued
! Had to Get Away.
"My daughter has earned big COM