Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1900-02-01
ON THE HILL.
D~N~~~N~N~A
BY A. 3.


1t was the evening of my arrival
and near midnight; but we sat toast
ing our feet before the CRATE and talk
ing away as if there were not an
other day in the calendar.
Miss Judith Hafiinch had taught me
my A b. Cs good many years pre-
vi0us, and approving me as girl after
her own masculine stamp, had not
only shortened TO Paul the pretty Pau
line by which | was known, but had
likewise retained warm affection for
her Tom-boy pupil, which latter fact
accounts for my travelling number of
miles to pay my old friend a visit.
AS l have said above, we were talk
ing, l had just made remark, and
Miss Judith was about to respond
when the parlor door opened with a
jerk, and Miss Judith's maid-of-all-
work appeared, robed in blue check
ed night gown, her pale face set off by
a night cap ornamented with a friil
which for width and fullness could
not have been excelled.
miss Judith, ma'am," she faltered
shivering with cold and terror, "the
house on the hill-it's got its queer
lights a-hashin an dyin' about the
winders again!"
Miss Judith started to her feet and
uttered an exclamation of vexation
and disdain.
"It's too badr' she cried. Here's
my 60-year-old Nancy gone as mad
over the ghosts in the house on the
hill as the two or three neighbors we
are blessed with-or l might say
cursed with" she added, seeing they
have turned Nancy's sensible head!
If 1 only had somebody as fearless
as myself to bear me company I'd
march up there and see what the
lights mean. l know the ins and outs
OF the house like book and only need
a.
She paused suddenly, looked at me
as il a new idea had penetrated her
brain and then exclaimed:
''To be sure-to be sure! Why, Paul.
you are the very one! Come right
away! I'll equip you suitably, as well
as myself"
And pushing the trembling, plead
ing Nancy aside. she stalked, tall.
gaunt and grenadierlike, from the
room, with my willing feet close at
her heels.
"We couldn't have had n better
night for the work." she said, as we
tod 1,iI1 I, A,
wind and rain. They won't think
about guarding against curious visi-
tors on such night as this, if they
ever do
They" | said, inquiringly.
eyes, they, Paul. l don't believe in
ghosts, neither do you; so I'll tell you
what l do believe and that is that a
pack of villains have awaited them
selves of the ghostly reputation of the
house and are at some nefarious work
UP there, and so I've said to my supfne
neighbors over and over again. But,
dear me, people must believe in ghosts.
It's easier, you know, then routing vii
lains."
Miss Judith was not as young as
when she taught me my A II. C's, and
between her years and the steep hill,
under a storm of wind and rain. she
pulled good deal as she delivered the
foregoing speech. But at last the
summit was attained. AS we set foot
on a large side porch, she whispered.
People that act under cover of
ghosts, depend on the ghosts for pro-
lection, rather than sentinels; never
theless, it's well to be prepared for the
latter. Is the pistol all right?
1 returned satisfactory answer,
and then moved cautiously toward one
of the two doors opening on the porch.
Miss Judith stopped me with an ener-
getic whisper:
"Wait, Paul. Take off your boots!'
adding, as she set me the example:
at will do to tilt against ghosts in
boots, but never scoundrels." 90
laughed softly, and pushing my
boots aside, was starting again, when
she caught the hem of my waterproof,
whispering more energetically than
ever:
paul Paul. what I'm the world are
you thinking Of? Put your boots in
your pocket What IL the scoundrels
should discover us, and give chase
We don't want to lose our boots, you
know, and of course we couldn't stop
to pick them upv'
Miss Judith's foresight was com
mendable; but, unfortunately, I was