Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-08-11

foot than upon the right. though
should have said that he was scarcely
lame enough to have ii noticed in his
ordinary walking.
You must understand that | am a
lifelong student OF poise. Every muscle
of my body has a brain of its own.
am not the greatest equilihrIst and
prestidigitator Of the worid oy training
alone. but by study AS certain scien-
lists can reconstruct an animal from
a single bone, so / can determine the
pose of a mans whole frame from the
sound Of his step.
In the present instance it required
some hours of patient work to make
this invisible creature visible to the
eye of the mind. 1t was long after
midnight when | said to myself that
could trace every movement that he
had made, beginning with the first au-
dible football. This. by the way. was
quite sharp and clear: it was the right
foot that had touched the floor. The
man had stepped out of the closet with
considerable stride. his body partly
supported upon the left side, obviously
by his hand upon the knob of the out
swinging door.
The next three steps were quicker
than any of the others and rather
short; then an almost imperceptible
pause, in which the man seemed TO
have erouched down: then on again,
four steps, the last OF them very sharp
and hard, the left foot coming down
with vigor and a grinding sound, as II
the man had swung upon it,
All this | heard. over my shoulder as
it were. while pacing slowly there in
the night, and at the last, after l be-
came quite sure what deed was regis
tered in these family echolng steps. |
began to feel a slight disquietude re-
garding the closet from which my in
visible friend always STEPPED out. This
illusion, by the way. was so perfect
that fifty times | turned. expecting to
see the door swinging into the room,
the hand upon the knob. the mans face,
pale. contorted, against the background
of darkness.
No such spectacle presented itself,
however. but when | lighted a candle
at the CRATE and walked toward the
closet with definite purpose | beheld
the semblance of a dull gray eye look
ing out through what had been key
hole. but was now somewhat enlarged.
the lock having been wrenched away
The candles rays struck fairly into this
aperture, revealing the eye, which van
ished instantly.
The natural reluctance of the body
not fear. but the mere instinct of self
preservation-held me for some sec
onds Then | opened the door and saw
the closet bare, as it was in the after
noon. 1t had once been the half of a
passage communicating with the next
room, but was now closed of by par
tition of heavy and firm planks. Ger
tainly there was no mortal creature ~
it,
| returned to my seat by the fire and
arranged the facts definitely In my
mind 1t appeared that at some date
not to be determined a man with dull
,,fo and flIfnCV
frame. the more awkward because OF
a slight lameness of the right leg, had
crept out of that closet. He had held
his right hand clinched close to his
breast, his left arm somewhat extended,
as if for balance. He had taken seven
steps and then had swung upon his left
foot with considerable force, obviously
striking sweeping blow with the right
hand-a blow rather high, the plung-
ing of a knife into mans neck,
would have wagered.
Taking up the candle again. | exam
ined the place from which | had re-
moved that small rug. The new var
nish on the floor in that spot was like
a patch. What had made it necessary?
The answer was clear enough. and
returned to my place by the fire to med
itate upon it. While sitting there, my
senses unnaturally acute | perceived a
popularity of the flooring beside the
chimneypiece, and upon close search
discovered a movable bit of plank, be-
meath which was a box-like hiding
place empty.
Returning to the spot where the rug
had lain. | succeeded, after many at
tempts. in tracing the footsteps from
that point to the side of the chimney
piece.
BY that time it was near dawn, and
I was so weary that | lay down upon
my bed without removing my clothes
and slept three hours, heavily as the
dead. | was Weakened by the noise OF
some one in the next room, and, rising
hastily, | looked in. The janitor was
there with coal to replenish the fire, as
was his custom doubtless in the morn
ing. But when my eyes lighted on him