The Opelousas courier., 1901-06-29

L LSdIu d Slight SOuHu. L klSLeleu, DuI
it was not repeated. 'Only magma
ton or something outside" I muir
INJURED to myself, and getting into bed
was asleep in a very few minutes.
l must have been in bed a couple Of
hours, I should think, when 1 awoke
with a start and that horrid feeling of
having been awakened by a vague
something without knowing what.
/ sat up in bed and peered across the
room. The fire had burnt so low that
only the mere outlines Of the furniture
were visible; whilst all the corners
were in absolute darkness. 1 listened
intently for some minutes, but not a
sound broke the silence except a faint
tapping, caused, I knew, by the ivy
being blown against the window-pane.
I lay down again and was just doing
off when-that sound Was repeated.
Yes, there was no doubt about it this
time. A peculiar scuff1ing noise, and a
painting sort Of breathing like that Of
some large Misunderstanding, it seemed
to me, from under the bed!
A horrible sickening fear seized me.
All the stories of the evening before
flooded back on my memory. How alb
surd my own words seemed to be o
Il should not be frightened" Not
be frightened, indeed, when I was
auaking SO with fear that I could hard
ly breathe! The noise had been gradu-
ally increasing, and suddenly some
frightful thing rushed out from under
my bed, scufaed across the room and
flung itself down in front of the fire.
It appeared, SO far as l could make
out In the dim light, to be a shaggy
sort of animal, rather bigger than a
large dog. OF course, | guessed at once
what it was. Some wild beast had es-
capped from a travelling menagerie and,
wandering into the grounds, had ar
rived at the open door. Going in, it
had found a comfortable spot under
the bed and had gone to sleep there.
Such was my theory formed in a mo-
ment of utter terror.
I lay specializing Is to whether 1t
would be possible for me to reach the
door and escape before the creature
noticed me. Then ! suddenly remem-
hered that even II ! reached the door
IL, safety I should be unable to get out!
Horror Of horrors; ! was obliged then
to spend the wAole night locked In
with q wild beast!
What I endured no words can tell.
My forehead and hands turned cold
and clammy, and I trembled so with
fear that I expected every moment the
creature would hear the bed shaking
and thus become aware Of my pres
ence. Half an hour, or perhaps an
hour Gt seemed ten to me at the time),
passed without anything occurring,
and then the beast suddenly arose,
and, bounding across the intervening
space, sprang on to the foot Of my
bed. I should have screamed IL | had
been able. Thank God. fear had de-
prived me Of the power. Still the
creature did not seem to have noticed
me, for 1t Only made a queer sort of
clucking noise, and then curled itself
up, and in a few minutes I heard 1t
commence to snore.
All through the long, long, weary
hours Of the night I lay there, not dar-
ing to close my eyes for an instant,
and in mortal terror lest any minute
the brute might wake up and tear me
to pieces. Never before or since have
hours seemed to pass SO slowly. The
fire burned itself out in q very short
time, and I was left with my horrible
companion in the pitch darkness, and
dread and agony. I hardly dared even
to breathe as I listened to the deep
snoring of the dreadful thing, and
whenever the sound grew softer my
heart almost ceased to beat with the
appalling belief that my last hour had
come at last.
HRw ardently l longed for dawn
heaYgl- only<knows. l really felt at
last that lie it did not come soon 1
could not bear the strain of this terri
BILE expectancy any longer and must
60 out Of my mind. To add to my
misery / was beginning to suffer from
most dreadful cramp, brought on
through lying still for so long in the
same attitude. And / hardly dared to
move in any way to ease myself for
fear Of waking the loathsome creature.
At length a pale line of light appeared
on the wall opposite to me, and as it
gradually increased in brilliancy and
dimensions I was able to distinguish
first various objects about the room,
and then the hideous thing on the beu.
At first, Of course, it was only an in
distinct mass, but as the light grew
and it became more clearly visible the
horrible truth was forced upon me. I
had been attempting to steel myself
for the revelation. and was expecting
a bear, but in my widest imaginings I
had never dreamed of the possibility
OF this! Merciful heavens! what should
could I 90?
The shock of the awful discovery
overcame me completely. I was per-
fectly paralyzed with fear, and every
other sense was numbed for the time
being. I lay thus in a half-fainting
condition, until the sound oh, how
unspeakably welcomei!-of the key in
the lock reused me to action. I sprang
from the bed, and, rushing from the
rpesai ainaoBt knocking eveE the maid