The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1899-10-26
Down and down through the dark.

with mere n stumble anQ tnere stufn
ble-to the basement. warm and odor-
ferrous with kitchen odors tainted with
gas. Verify l. and only l, was In the
house. Suddenly the dog ceased to
howl and heard the dripping of
water tap-drip. drip. drip. And with
the fall of the water came to me
measure of time and | thought again:
"What does 1t mean, this empty, black
house? Why is this sitting gas seeth-
ing around me. and only met All,
there is a foul evil in the night. Away,
and out, out of the house"
With a rush | fought my way up
step by step to the hall above and
CROPPED toward the dim light shining
pallidly through narrow glass win
dow above the door. will 1t be lock-
edY' thought fearfully to myself. SIS
there not something following on my
trackT" l turned the handle and pull
ed 1t fercely toward me. The door
yielded. and rushed into the open.
Anything wrong. sir?" And with
the words came a broad fash of light
which, settling momentarily on my
face dropped as quickly to my bare
feet and back again. Anything
wrong. sir?" And the voice drew clos
er. the light dashing past me into the
dark hall behind. Then the outline of
helmet and cloak doomed darkly upon
me. and found my voice in the pres
ence of a constable of the law.
yes; the house is full of gas, and
they've gone. might have been suf
located Perhaps they wanted to suf
focate me. don't know-I"-
"Who've gone? What's their Manner
the constable interrupted abruptly.
THE landlady-the landlord-the
daughter. l don't know their names,
but look here. constable" and | pro-
ceeded to give my late experience" to
him in a wool of words.
The man evidently did not know
what Interpretation to place upon Ell
Their me or my story, and small won
der. hardly knew myself, but extin-
gushing his lantern proposed that we
research the house together. This we
did carefully and cautiously. At the
initial stage of our exploration we,
or rather he, discovered that the hall
gas burner was turned on full and the
gas issuing from it at high pressure.
might have been blown out by the
draft suggested the constable as he
turned into sitting room, which
had already searched, and threw open
its windows to sweeten the atmos-
phere. Yes, it might" l assented
especially if it was left lighted. by
the hall door, which, by the by. was
unbolted when | came down stairs
But to make a long story short one
there was nobody in the house. Not a
living thing. with the exception of a
dog chained up in the back yard. which
was surrounded, so far as We could
see, by high walls. This was the poor
brute whose mournful bowling had first
aroused me and that now seemed fran
tic with joy at the delusive prospects
of social termination to his gloomy
reflections. With the discovery of the
dog and the yard our search ended.
and the constable intimated to me that
he should summon additional assist
ance. A shrill call on his whistle from
the hall door translated the decision
into action. and with the arrival of
another constable upon the scene
was called upon for a fresh explana-
ton. The second official head threw
no more light upon the case than the
first. but offered suggestion. Lets
knock up the neighbors, p'r'aps they
know summat about it,"
To the right and back and then to
the left went that constable. Rata
tat. tat-a-tat went the knockers. Up
went windows; out came heads
"Who's there?' What dye want?"
what dye say-who's my neighbor?
What eighbor-what dye meanT'
And then doors opened. and other
opened. In short, there was a pretty
ito do" and half dressed crowd soon
shyered around the steps of No. 113
| was quite harried with their ques
lions. | had no sooner arrived at the
end of one series than | was plunged
one individuals desire for knowledge
than was called upon to feed some
one else. Whether my brain and my
temper would have stood the strain for
very long | can't say, but | may add
that this is a difficult question to pro-
pound even to myself. Happily was
extricated from the unpleasant situa-
tion by being led off to the nearest po-
lice station, to be detained there pend
ing further inquiries, as the result of
those just made showed the existence
of local caste feeling which took no
of No. 113. and it appeared well to the
force" under these circumstances to
hold me fast for the present.
At the station | told the inspector
on duty all about myself quite like a
little boy. But he did not appear sat
istied and muttered some word to him
self that sounded-to me like "sus-
picious" and which resulted in my Sc
clusion. 1t was but temporary. as the
result of the further inquiries proved
satisfactory me, that Is TO say.
This was what they proved: That my
landlady. my landlord and their daugh
ter had left the house No. 10 and had
left it in the night; that they had left
it in the night because they were in
debt for their furniture (Which was
hiredl and for their rent and because.
presumably and by the evidence of GER
tain tradesmen, they possessed no