Sunday morning globe., 1901-11-10

leaped forward, and cleared the barrel
AS he did 80 the barrel suddenly as
sumed an upright position, and as
gave a hurried look over my shoulder
saw the form Of poor Hal Gordon, as
It lay half in and half out Of the mys-
terious barrel, with the throat cut from
ear to ear. Another instant and the
vision had vanished, and ! VISA spur
ring madly towards faint light that
appeared to be something like an
eighth OF a mile ahead.
AS / drew near to this comforting
beacon / saw that IL issued from
small adobe building that | had often
passed while chasing cattle along the
ranges. IL was tumbled-down affair,
and to my knowledge it had never been
occupied consequently ] was greatly
surprise to find evidence Of it now
Alighting from my horse / was with
in an ace OF pushing open the door,
and entering when something caused
me to hesitate. RelinQuishing my
grasp upon the handle Of the door,
stepped up to the window and peered
in. The first object that greeted my
startled eyes was a huge barrel, stand
ing in the center Of the room. About
this was grouped the figures of four
men who were busily engaged in trying
to force something into the barrel. AS
/ strained my eyes in my endeavor to
discover what task the men were en-
gagged in, one Of them stepepd aside
for a moment, and. as he did so, / saw
the figure of Hal Gordon, as II lay
with its throat cut, half in and half
out of the barrel
l remember nothing more, except in
a dreamy incoherent fashion, until
! found myself the center Of a group
of cowboys, belonging to the Wilson
outfit, who had come across me gal
Looping wildly about on the prairie
while they were on their way home
from the celebration at Thompson rs
Cut. about nine o'clock in the morning
made them understand what / had
lust passed through, and a party Of
them Immediately set off for the abode
hut, leaving two of their number to
accompany me to my camp.
Arriving at my headquarters I was
greeted effusively by Engels Kendrick
and Miller. they having arrived there
safely the night before. After we had
separated on that night, the three Of
them ran across the same trail almost
simultaneously. but at three different
points. They had discharged their re-
voIvers at given intervals in the hope
that they might attract the attention
of Gordon and myself. They had even
made several det0urs i'm the hope Of com
ing across us, and had only abandoned
the search when their ammunition had
been exhausted and when they We're
pretty nearly so themselves
While we were talking, the party Of
cowboys 1 had first met, entered the
room with an imprOvised stretcher, on
which lay the mortal remains OF poor
Gordon. and although they had made a
careful search Of the premises and they
surrounding country, they had failed
to find the slightest trace Of his murd-
erers: the rain which had fallen so
closely after the snow had completely
obliterated all traces of the assasslns.
But now comes what I consider the
most singular fact i'm the whole occur
renee. Sometime in the night Ken
drick, Engels and Miller dreamed that
they saw me riding along in a bleak
and lonely country. Presently they
saw a large barrel loom up in front of
my horse, and as I urged the steed for
ward I'm an attempt to pass the obstruc-
tion. they wer conscious Of a scared
feeling i'm the region Of their hearts,
But at every attempt / made and failed,
they each and every one claimed to
have experienced a decided feeling of
relief at my failure.
To further clinch this curious phe-
nomena, my three friends described ac-
curately the curious position maintain
etd by the barrel Yes, even to the
color Of the barrels bottom. But they
could 20 no further, and it was evil
dent that they had not seen the figure
that was in the barrel / wish / had
not.
have tried to tell this story in
telIigently. and while l do not claim
to believe in. the supernatural, | GER
tainly feel that my life, for some un-
! known reason to myself, was saved
! through the intervention Of some un-
recognized power that we mortals here
do not understands; for had I not been
delayed by reason Of that spectral OBJ
! struction, I should certainly have ar
rived at the hut before Gordon, and
should no doubt have met the fate that
he did. Anyway I sincerely wish that
the adventure had befallen anyone else
besides myself 1 am living in the
East now, but I never see snow storm
without experiencing a feeling Of awe
REVERE RODGERS.