The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-08-15
The Yellow Caravan
ey BARRY PAIN.

The conversation having now taken .
mystical turn, stories Of the familiar
type naturally began TO be told. There
was. Of course, the story of the singu'
larly cool headed man who wakes one
night and sees distinctly before him the
appartion of his brother in Australia;
the appar!tion vanishes, and the pro.
prietor of the cool head makes note
Of the time. BY the very next mail he
receives the sad news that at the very
moment when he saw the apparition
his brother-IBut why 20 on? You know
how those stories always end. Then
there was the dear old narrative In
which it Is a dog that sees the ghost.
The man sees nothing, but the dog sud-
denly files in bowling terror. The usu.
al family ghosts. whose appearances
bctOken death. had their innings. And
after each stale and Improbable lie the
narrator made the regulation remark:
81 merely give you the facts. l do not
profess to explain them" This u its
turn produced the absolutely inevitable
response, the Shakespearean misQuOta.
tioA with reference to the contents Of
heaven and earth and philosophy.
And all the time the melancholy little
man in the corner had sat silent, listen.
ing attentvcly and without comment.
But at last when lull came In the
mystical and imaginative output he
Strengthened himself up in his chair.
cleared his throat and told the story
which Is here given in his own words.
/ wonder now-perhaps some OF you
have heard the story of the yellow car.
avian of Torley dale. No2 had rather
an interesting personal experience In
connection with that. Certainly If you
wish to hear it have no objection at
all.
p l was stopping with an uncle OF mine
who lives near Belham, village in the
dale, and 1t was there that heard the
tale first. A rond runs through the bot.
tom of the dale, and along this road
one winter night many years ago came
yellow painted caravan drawn by
white horse With the caravan was one
man only. an old gypsy, tinker by
trade. According to all accounts. he
was ain evil old man and bard drink
er. 1t was a terribly cold night. biz
zard was blowing, and the roads were
in a bad state. AT public house where
he had been drinking he had been
warned not to go farther. 1.-THE devil
himself couldn't stop me from getting
into Belham," he answered in II surly
way. He got on his box and went of.
Early next morning the caravan came
quietly into the village street and stop.
ped. The driver sat mOtionless, but his
hands still held the reins, and II was
thought ut first that he was asleep. He
was dead--had been dead for some
hours.
Since then. from time to time and al.
ways on winter night, travellers from
Belham have met yellow caravan
drawn by white horse. The driver is
an old man, who sits huddled up. with
his bead dropped forward as If he were
asleep. Sometimes it goes crcaking on
its way. sometimes it disappears sud.
denly. Once shepherd who met it
walked right through 1t and described
his sensations aftcrward. He said 10
was like passing through cold mist.
Every one in the neghbOrhood believes
in the apparitlon. and in winter they
shirk being on the road to Belham
alone at night. | have heard children
frightened by the threat that If they
were not good the yellow caravan
would come for them.
Well, the story, which was told to me
with much more detail than ! have
given you, made good deal Of impress.
sion on me.
One afternoon while ] was on that
visit to my uncle walked out some
miles to call on an old antiquarian, In
whose work took great interest. He
would not let me 60, but persuaded me
TO stay to dinner. When ! hcsitated,
he chaffed me about being afraid Of
meeting the yellow caravan on my way
home at night As matter Of fact.
was afraid; but. like most towards,
was most afraid of being thought
coward. After dinner the conyersa-
tion turned on ghostly subjects. He
told me Of several similar apparitions
TO the yellow caravan to be seen in diff.
ferent parts of the country. BY the
time left was perfectly certain that
SHOULD meet the caravan and had
quite made Up my mind what TO do.
had gone couple Of miles on my
road home without meeting any one
when came to point where the road
turned sharply. There ] heard the
sound of wheels coming very slowly
along toward me. My first instinct
was to run back as hard as could 60.
But | managed TO stand my ground,
and with my stick firmly grasped
waited
Round the corner came the white
horse, its head down. Behind 1t. clear
in the moonlight, was the yellow cara.
van, with the driver hnddled up as II
he were asleep, but still holding the
rcns. The CHASTITY thing came Stealth.
ly toward me. As it passed made o
cut at the horse with my stick.
And the stick die not pass through It
as had expected. The horse flung
up his heels and started off as hard as
he could. The man sat up, swore at
me and lugged at the reins. A dog
fastened under the caravan began to
kurk In n fpw wards tho 6riVpr