The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-10-14

tanoe by Sam, who was hobbling on
three legs.
1t was in the afternoon when they
arrived at SchwarenDach. No one was
there. The young man built a fire,
tok some food and fell asleep, so worn
out that he could think OF nothing,
For long, long time he slept but
suddenly a voice. a cry, n name, "Ul-
rich!" aroused him from the deep
slumber. Had he dreamed? Was 1t
one Of those sinister appeals that trav-
erse the dreams of restive souls? No,
he heard II still, this vibrating cry
which had entered the ear and pene-
trated the flesh to the tips of his
nervous fingers. Assuredly some one
had cried had called "UlriCh!" Some
one was there, near the house. There
could be no doubt about it. He, there
fore, opened the door and shouted,
rs that you, Gaspard?" at the top Of
his voice. There was no response, not
sound, not a murmur, not stir--ab-
solute silence. 1t was night. The snow
bore uallid hue.
The wind now stirred the icy wind
that penetrates stones and deals death
to every living thing upon these ab9n-
doned heights. 1t passed in sudden
gusts, more blighting and far more
deadly than the frey blasts of the
desert. Ulrich again shouted: Gas
pard! Gaspard! Gaspard"
He listened. All was silent upon the
mountain. Then he was seized with an
| Overpowerng terror. He re-entered
| the inn in bound, closed and barred
| the door Then he fell into a chair,
| trembling like an aspen leaf, certain
of having been called at the moment
| his comrades spirit had severed from
| the flesh. OF this he was as sure as
one is sure of existing. Old Gaspard
| HaH had been agony somewhere for
| two days and three nights, in hole,
| i'm one Of those deep, white ravines
whose whiteness is more sinister than
| the gloom of caves. He had been in
| agony for two days and three nights
| and he had just died with his COM
| paniOn in his thoughts. His soul, as
| it became liberated, flew toward the
| inn, where Ulrich slept and it had
called him by virtue of that mysterious
and awful prerogative which the souls
of the dead who haunt the living pos
sess. 1t had called, this soul without
voice, to the soul of the sleeping noun.
taineer; it had uttered it's final fare
well, or its reproach or, perhaps, its
maledlction upon the man who had not
searched sufficiently, conscientiousy.
Ulrich felt it to be there, near very
near, behind the wall, behind the door
which he had just locked. 1t hovered
about like a nocturnal bird that grazes
an illuminated window with its wings.
And the young man, lost terrified,
| tO in, a Ia
wanted to fly from the tavern but he
dared not cross the threshold. No, ne
did not dare, and would never dare
since the phantom would remain night
and day around the inn so long as the
terrestrial remains of the old guide
were not found and inferred in the
sacred earth of the cemetery.
The day dawned and Kunsi gained
some composure when the sun ap-
peared. He prepared a repast, made
soup for his dog and then remained
seated in a chair motionless, his heart
lacerated at the thought of the old
man lying in the snow.
When the night shrouded the noun
tain in darkness he was assailed by
new terrors He now walked in the
dark kitchen. which was but family
| 81
from one end of the room to the other.
with long strides, listening, expecting
to hear the terrible cry of the other
day to again pierce the nournful si-
lence. And he felt that he was alto
gether alone-the pitiful fellow-alone,
as no man had ever been before. He
was alone in this great desert of snow,
Alone, 1000 meters above the inhabN
| nIa n "a
above stirring, noisome, palpitating
life. Alone amid the frozen SUBMITS!
He was goaded with mad desire to
fly, no matter where, no matter how.
He would if necessary, throw himself
into the abyss to get to Loeche. But he
dared not open the door even, positive
that the other (the deceased would
stop him so that he Cthe departed)
would not remain alone up there,
either,
Toward midnight, exhausted with
walking, detected by anguish and fear
he finally fell into T stupor upon a
chair-he feared the bed as one fears
a haunted spot.
And. suddenly the strdent cry of the
other evening pierced his ears cry
so piercing that Ulrich threw out his
arms to ward eff the spirit. He fell
to the floor upon his back, overturn-
ing the chair.
Sam, aroused by the noise began to
howl as dogs howl when they are
frightened, running about the house
trying to locate the danger, He sniff
fed under the door, snarling, his hairs
bristling, his tail distended
Kunsi, crazed, jumped to his feet
and grasping the chair by one of It's
legs he yelled: "I<cep out. Keep out.
Keep out, or I'll kill you!" And the
dog, excited by this threat, barked
furiously at the unseen enemy, who
dafp1 bis r,oaStpr