The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-07-23
! A PHANTOM TOE.

shoAid never quit IL without going through
q strange adventure. There was something
IN It's immense size, hcaviness and gloom
chat seemed to annihilatc at ono blow all
my resolute skcptioisn as regards super
natural yisitations. II appeared TO mo TO-
tally impossible to go into that room and
disbelieve In ghosts.
The fact Ii, I had incautiously partaken
st supper of that favorito Dutch dish,
sauerkraut, and suppose II had disagreed
with ms and put strange faDcics into my
head. BE this as 10 may, only know that
after parting with my friend for the night |
! gradually worked myself up into such
state of fldgctiness that ut last / wasn't |
sure whether hadn't become ghost my
self
"Supposing," ruminated ], "supposing |
the landlord himself should be IA practical
robbcr and should have taken the lock and
bolt from of this door for the purpose OF
entering here In the deau Of the night, alb
stracting all my property, and perhaps
numbering mel thought the dog had
very cutthroat air about him." Now, 1
had never had any such idea until that
moment, for my host was n fat (all Dutch
men are fat), stupid looking fellow, who !
| don't believe had sense enough to under
stand what robbery or murder meant,
but somehow or other, whenever we have
anything really to annoy us land II GER
| tainly was not pleasant To go to bed In
strange place without being able To fasten
| ones door,, We are sure To aggravate IL ny
myriads Of chimeras of our own brain.
So, on tho present occasion, In the midst
of "A thousand disagreeable reveries, some
of the most wild absurdity, l jumped very
gloomily into bed, having first put out my
candle (for total darkness was far prefer
able to its Pickering, ghostly light, which
transformed rather than revealed objects),
and soon fell asleep, perfectly tired out
with my days riding.
How long I lay asleep don't know,
but suddenly awoke from disagreeable
dream of cutthroats, ghosts and long,
winding passages In haunted Inn. An
indescribable feeling, such as I never be-
fore experienced, hung upon me. 1t SEEM
ed as II every nerve In my body had hun
dred spirits tickling 1t, and this was ac-
companied by so great a heat that, In
wardly cursipg mine hosts sauerkraut
and wondering how the Dutchmen could
endure such poison, was forced to sit up
in bed to cool myself. The whole OF the
room was profoundly dark, excepting at
, one place, where the moonlight, falling
through O crevice in the shutters, threw
straight line of about an inch or so thick
. upon the floor-clear, sharp and intensely
brilliant against the darkness. l leave
you to conceive my horror when, upon
looking at this said line of light, saw
there q naked human toe-nothing more
For the first instant thought the vision
must be some effect of moonlight, thef
that was only half awake and could no
see distinctly. So rubbed my eyes twt
or three times and looked again. Stil
there was the accursed thing-plain. dis
tinct, immovable-m -marblelike In its liked
\ ness and rigidity, but In everything els
horribly human. -
s am not an easily frightened man. N
3. one who has travelled SO much and seen s.
l. much and been exposed to so many dan
N gers as can be- but there was somethfn
e so mysterious and unusual in the appear
e, ance of this single toe that for short tim
II could not think what to be at, so di'
y pothipg but stare at 1t In state OF ute
Ie bewilderment
II At length, however, as the toe did no
i vanish under my steady gaze, / thought
;. might as well change my tactics, ana re
,s membering that all midnight invaders, b
}, they thieves, ghosts or devils, dislike moth
=, ing SO much as a good noise shouted ou
,, in loud voice.
"Whos there?"
The toe immediately disappeared in tn
darkness
N Almost simultaneously with my words
ID leaned out of bed and rushed toward th
m place where had beheld the strange al
IN pearance. The next instant ran agains
y something and feb an iron grip round m
al body After this have no distant reco
ye lection of what occurred, excepting that
lie fearful struggle ensued between me an
I'd my unseen opponent; that every now an
D. then we were violently hurled to the floor
m from which we always rose again in a
n instant, locked in a deadly embrace; tha
,e we tugged and strained and pulled an
to pushed, in the convulsive and franti
N energy of fight for life, he Qor by tbi
,e time had discovered that the intrude
J. was human being)' aotuated by som
70 passion of which I was ignorant; that W
=. whirled round and round and round, chez
N to check and arm to arm, In fiercs confess
20 until the room appeared to wbN roun
4. with us, and that at last dozen peopl
= (my fellow traveller among them, rousct
70 1 suppose, by our repeated falls, cam
IA pouring into tho room with lights an
showed me struggling with a man havin
nothing on but shirt, whose long, tar
gled hair and wild, unsettled eyes told III
1t he was insane. And then, for the 1rs
g time, became aware that ! had receive
he In the conflict several gashes from knife
al which my opponent still held in his hant
Y. To conclude my story In a few word
" (for dare say all Of you by this time al
r getting very tired) 1t turned out that IN
e. midnight visitor was madman who wa
m being conveyed to n lunatic asylum ut Th
e. Hague, and that he and his keeper ha
ut been obliged to stop mt Delft on their way
re The poor fellow had contrived during th
,s night to escape from his keeper, who ha
,e carelessly forgotten to lock tho door Of hi
ID chamber, and with that Irresistible desir
10 to shed blood peculiar to many insane pee
10 plo had possessed himself of pookotknii
10 belonging to tho man who had charge {
him. entered my room, which was mos
likely the only one In the house unfa'
tened, and was probably meditating oh
I. fatal stroke when / saw his toe I'm tli
n moonlight, tho rest Of his body being hit
a L. o IL.