Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-05-31
THE GRAVES DOOR.

chairs on the veranda one evening afte,
dinner, Stanfield and 1, when my friend
sent the glowing stump of his cheroot
pirouetting down the steps, and, turn
ing in his chair, said abruptly:
"Do you know, Dick, a man was shot
once just where you're sitting?"
Naturally I was startled, and, instead
Of replying to Stanfield's remark,
glanced uneasily down the long, ghost
ly veranda, of which the outer edge lay
in bright moonlight, while the inner
portion was wrapped in the dense
shadow of the partly drawn bamboo
jalousies.
81 know the feeling" said Stanfield,
noting my uneasiness. 81 never sit here
of an evening without getting a creepy
sensation all over me. The servants say
the old bungalow is haunted, and
shouldn't wonder if they are right.
Anyhow, if it isn't, it ought to be, for
the story connected with it is an uncan.
ny one altogether. See that hole in the
jalousies there on your right"
"Do you mean that oblong slit just
above the balustrade? Pom my word,
against the moonlight, it looks for all
the world like a malignant eye!'
$50 it u.s." said Stanfield, with a
slight SILVER. "It was through that
hole Judge Robertson, my predecessor,
was shot,"
"Ah, I've heard there was a strange
story connected with his death, but
know nome Of the particulars. Suppose
you light another weed and talk me out
Of this creepy fit"
"TaIk you into a worse one, more
like" retorted Stanfield, striking a
fusee. "I'll wager you never heard a
weirder story. But you shall have the
facts and then judge for yourself"
With that he settled himself in his
chair, and after putting reflectively at
his oheroot for some seconds went on to
tell me the story of the shot through
the jalousies:
Robertson, you must know, was an
Elton boy, like myself. We were chums.
in fact, in the old days, and that is how
/ came to know Of peculiar tradition,
If I may SO name it, that is said to have
been in his family for centuries.
II don't know whether you believe
in death warnings, Dick. but it seems
that for hundreds Of years no Robertson
has ever died without first having a dis
tinct %premonition OF his approaching
end, and, what is more remarkable still,
the warning always comes in the form
Of an odor, an earthly smell-the smell
Of a new dug grave.
swell, about q week before his death,
when he was on his way to take up his
appointment here, in fact, Robertson
passed through Malariabad, where I
was at that time stationed as collector,
and Of course I put him up for the night.
After dinner we we're sitting smoking,
just as you and I are new, when pres
emily he says:
"'Stanfield, says he, there's a dew
ilish queer smell about. Been having
any digging done on the premises?'
"'No,' said I. I haven't, and for the
life Of me I can't smell anything ex-
cept these Dindiguls we're smoking
"'Perhaps that's what it is, then,'
said he doubtfully, and for half an
hour or SO the subject was dropped.
"Just as we were making a move for
bed, however, he suddenly grips my
hand, and, 'Stanfield, says he hoarse-
~, for Gods sake tell me that your
people have been digging somewhere
near or that there's been a shower. !
can't get that earthly smell out Of my
nostrils. It's like standing over a new
made grave
"Just a week later. to a day, I was
at work in my Office one morning when
a peon brought in a telegram. Dick,
that telegram brought the news that
Robertson had been shot dead by his
own butler at 8 O'Clock the evening be.
fore
by his own butlerr' l exclaimed
mortified; for while Stanfield was relat-
ing this tragic tale / had heard the
voice Of his butler giving orders to the
table boys in the dining room at our
back.
eyes, by his own butler, resumed
Stanfield, land on the very spot where
you sit. Indeed, consulting his watch,
cit happened just at this time, for it's
now s O'Clock to the minute"
But cried, glanoing apprehen-
sively at the eyelike aperture In the
jalousies, why by his butler? For
heavens sake, explainr"
II will" continued Stanfeld, "but
first I must bark back q bit and tell you
that the telegram ordered me to proceed
at mot to this station az Robertson
successor. Well, l did 60, and almost
my first duty as a judge was to try the
poor fellows murderer.
1.-THE butler?"
1.-The butler, and that brings me to
the explanation you asked for q moment
ago. Robertson, 1t appears, had had a
case before him in which a native was
charged with ~maltreating his wife, a
mere child barely IL years Of age, In
auoh q brutal manner az to cause her
daath Cnsaa AZ that kind ara far Prom