The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-03-15
TALMAN'S STRANGE
SENSATIONS.

in the southern wall of the building.
The floor was uncarpeted. There was
a wash stand and common chair near
the head of the bed. He put his hand
grip on the chair and his little japaned
iron strOng-box on the floor. He
wound his watch and hung his vest
upon the bedpost at the head of the
bed. There was no lock upon the door,
but of this Talman did not even think
at the time. His pocketbook he put
under his pillow, not from any sense
of fear, but because it had become
habit. He got into bed, turned his
back to the moonlit window and pro-
ceeded to go to sleep.
He had been asleep perhaps hours,
perhaps only few moments, when he
became suddenly wide awake with
free consciousness of his surroundings.
He did not move a muscle, but lay
upon his back staring at the window
at the foot of the bed. The moon had
gotten around to the south and poured
flood of mellow light upon the bed.
He knew that somebody had come to
murder and rob him; was even then
stealthily opening the door. Talman's
courage had never been brought to a
test, or rather, his life had been one
long test of courage, but of the kind
that enables man with large family
and small salary to meet the world
with smiling face; to smile pleasant
ly when ordered from the door by the
irate farmer whose crops he had called
to insure; and though threatened with
the bulldog and the shotgun, to call
again next week and the next, and at
last write him up policy; not of the
kind that looks unflinching into the
muzzle of a six shooter. And who
shall say which is the better kind
Now as he lay there on his back,
staring foolishly at the moonlight, the
door creaked on its hinges, and he
could hear the whispering voices Just
outside. Creak - creak - creak and
Observation-Disclosures. He knew that
the door was open now, and that the
foremost was in the room. He could
hear his foot fall upon the bare floor.
Crack! crack! went the boards in the
floor, and Talman wondered why they
hadn't cracked when he came in. His
32 calibre Smith and Wesson was in
his grip on the chair within reach of
his hand; but the air of the room
seemed to weight him down like LIQUID
lead. His sense of hearing was pain
fully acute. The noise of those foot
falls upon the floor sounded like the
crack of doom, and the ticking of his
watch something frightfu. He had
vague notion that at the last moment
he would leap suddenly out of bed and
grappel with the foremost robber.
Then he counted the seconds by the
ticking of his watch and wondered how
many he could count before thev
reached him. 1t seemed settled i'm his
mind that they would kill him with a
knife, and he picked out spot down
there just below his left breast where
he had decided the knife would enter.
AS he thought of it, the spot seemed to
burn and the flesh to swivel and
shrink. Then he thought of himself
as dead, and the horror on the faces of
the family when they should have dis
covered his body next morning. In
his mind he could see exactly how the
blood would run down and form a
pool in the depression beneath his body
and there coagulate.
All of these thoughts that took so
long in describing actually occurred in
the very short space of time that it
would take man to tiptoe from the
door to the bed, eight feet away.
Suddenly Talman was conscious of
two forms standing by his bedside and
q voice whispering "Them's not his