Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1897-10-28

!. THAT MYSTERIOUS CLOCK. !
BY q. T. Montague.
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Z
of detected inceudiars. a young ne
gro who had formerly been in my EN-
piny. bur who in latter DAYS hld struck
into the smooth road leading to the gal
7 lows. lie was wanted just now for tae
I burning 81 old PcterGiIiam' gan house.
{ eirrnm~tantial evidence clearly prov
I = him 20 be- the guilty person.
pom riding into the village | re-
ported nav discovery 10 the authorities
and joined a posse OF men who imme-
dInte,y set out for his capture. lie re-
sisted arrest and was shot down and his
body brought back 20 town. One way
or another ! felt ia a meau>re RESPONSE
Die for that mans death. While IL was
evident from his latter day exploits that
BE- would eventually meet with such
fate. II not a more iyuominious one. for
this particular otfense felt that he real
Is did not deserve 20 die in such \ cold
b'ooded fashion. had surely done only
my duty. but I almost wished that it
had fallen 20 the lot Of some body else
the doing Of \.
What added TO my discontinue was
that towards nightfall a disagreeabie
drizzle set in. one Of those hideous rains.
which dampcns the very soul and makes
one an easy prey to every gloomy fore
bodiug
went to my solitary abode in the
ihraii Of black depression / could
rot shake ii of. My beloved books Of
ferrd uo acceptable temptation; even
my pipe was poor comfort. y fellow j.
80 bad way " her he loses faith in his
pipe. Nanifestly bed was the place for
me. so into il I got. after taking good
drink of the blessed Three stars and
very soon tumbled of to sleep.
I slept the sleep of the conscientious,
20 be awakened at last by hearing the
crash Of something which sounded like
"a hrvahab.e thing flung from the cell
iag 10 the tloor and smashed
was considerably startled. got up
hurriedly and struck a match To find
that my small alarm clock had fallen
of the mautelpiece; that the crystal
vas broken. and that the hands pointed
10 3.21 a. m. | 81 he lamp. sat on the
Gle It the bed and wondered how that
clock got OF the mautelpiece- surely a
very singular thing. expended a half
hours thought upon the subject, finally
getting round to the conclusion that.
probably, a mouse had run across the
shelf and thrown il down. rs had to
meet a train at five 4. IN. Il am n rail
road mani | got into my clothes. and
after fooling about space went on
down to the office somehow | could
not get rid of the idea that il really was.
after all, i strange thing how that clock
got or that shelf BY this time had
given over the mouse theory All dav
long the matter was in nv mind, 50
that BY night. when once more went
TO my room. had worked myself into
quite state about it, tried the books
again - dead failure Pipe almost
grown 10 be an enemy Bed regarded
With distrust. Sleep not to be thought
IT. This thing kept mp until about ten
O'Clock. when | came to the conclusion
that was baby; and got up. wound
my clock, set my alarm and went To bed
but not to sleep. was looking out
for that clock. | had a rooted notion
that the last nights performance would
he repeated. | found myself saving:
md If IT comes three times I'll take it
for a syn"
Good heavens. this was getting ride
uious- | would be ashamed to see nv
/ fgre in the glass tomorrow. Having ar.
+ raigued and convicted myself of wom-
/ auiShness, contemplate eowardice,
f hut my eyes and >wore I'd go to sleep
or wake MP my next door neighbor aud
+ re- him to kick me. No good. Twas de-
/ teFmiued to be in at the finish. II
I vas now. however. about IL imaginel
.ue O'Clock I tumbled off to sleep. and
the next thing knew crash came the
/ clock again of the mantelpiecs sho,
( cut the bed aS il a legion of demons
+ lad routed me and III the lamp. les
there was my peaee-disturhing clock
GA the hoar. with the hands pointing u
/ 20 a. IT,.
II the angel Gabriel had that minute
told me Buck Anderson (the dead ne.
grol aud that clock we're not in league
tes ether would have doubted him.
was consumed with a deadly horror OF
t.e supernatural. knew that Buck An
derson was pulling the strings that
I Waltzrd my clock OF the manteIpiece
ard knew he meant me some deadly
/ harm for the hand | took IN his down.
/ fall Good heavens, Was TO be fol
lowed about by n negro ghost for any
/ great length Of time? Cold perspira-
I ton broke out over me-
But why did he select the clock. VIVA,
had the clock TO do with it? Did he
mean 10 hTrl /, nj me aud il fell short
o. what did he mean. anyway? And
Why 5:s0 in the morning. I wished old
Gillian and his whole family had been
burnt AZ the stake before had dabblec
| lie their Clubhouse affair. IL was raining
mistakenly outside and the March wind
was bulging under the doors and rat
ting the window in a CHASTITY fashion
sat shivering upon the side of my
bed. lost in a horrible speculation. Ny
cloak lay upon the floor and the laml
i NJ out pale. uneanuy light which did
| rot quite reach into the corners, so thai
my erstwhiIe coy little sitting-roon
bore to my disordered mind the aspect
OF vault
was plainly Il thoughtl in a super
natural presence. and that presence I
lest soul, an avenging spirit. VIVA
was going TO happen TO me? lam moi
Il cowari-nObody can say that of me
| not ny worst enemy-but this nigh
I was abiectly enthral,ed with horror
WIS afraid of my own breathing. nv
very heart beats. of the moaning wind
outside. | was afraid to move lest tn
very act itself would bring about some
fearful climax
don't know how long might have
sat there, chilled to the marrow. but a
last a faint streak Of dawn cleaning
through the window treasured me in /
measure. got up and into my clothe,
and went out of that house like one in q
dream.
| How ! mana ed to attend TO my work
D Il. 4 y