The weekly examiner., 1901-06-29

walked brisk1y away. So he crossed to
 store where fireworks were sold and
 invested the whole amount in fire
 crackers, a few matches and one good sized Roman candle. With his treas
 ures clasped closely in his arms and
 his heart wildly beating he hastened i toward home. It was after 10 o'clock. and he congratulated himself on mak- 1 ing his purchase before the store closed for the night.
 The night seemed to grow hotter, the atmosphere more dense and suffocat- ing. The old woman slept a little fit fully and dreamed bad dreams. Some times she turned and tossed and fan cied that she saw pale, beautiful wo- mans face, sharp with anguish at the loss of her only child.
 The bells tolled 12. At the signal there was an uprising of sounds from the great city. Voices rose up in wild cries, gunshots snapped and cracked, and cannon reverberated heavily through the night. But these were without. They interested the people generally. They made no impression on the old woman individually She slept on, until crash! rush! bang! roar! crash! and she awoke to find that the end of the world had come and that she was already in pandemonium. The place was filled with the smoke of pow der. The cracking and crashing were terrific. The fearful noises came from everywhere-below, above, all about her. The smoke grew dense and envel- oped her. It suffocated and choked her.
 A demoniac shriek, derisive, mock ing, mingled with her own startled criesi She sprang to the floor, but her bare feet touched fire and were blis- tered. Evidently the gates of hades were opened and the devil already had possession of her. Yes, there was one of his captured souls now, ghostly and spectral wrapped in a winding sheet, dancing madly back and forth, to and fro, across that narrow shaft of light.
 It turned and twisted and writhed. Sparks of fire seemed to emanate from it at every moment and explosive sounds to come from its presence. Ever and anon great blotches of fire shot upward from the waving hands and struck the low ceiling with a crash like the crack of doom. Horrors, the great creature came nearer!
 Confess! Confessv' it hissed. It glided to the door and swung 1t wide. GO forth and confessv' And it laugh ed again, swinging its spectral wind ing sheet to and fro in awful glee. The old woman gave one high pitched scream and rushed and stumbled out into the black hallway.
 The explosion in her room had called out nearly every tenant in the build ing, lights flashed here and there as pale faces peered from their doorways, and the place was rapidly filled with swarm of witnesses. Into the presence of these the frightened old woman rushed, the phantom close at her heels.
 T do confess! I confess everything!' she shrieked. 1Yes, yes, Laura is the child of Mary Marsden! stole her. am Harriet Carey! It's all true! Oh, good ghost, save me, oh, save mev'
 ''The paper'' hissed the ghost, clutching at the old woman's arm with clawlike fingers. '"The birth paper"
 She shrieked in new terror. "In the little tin boxv' she gasped. Laura knows-the one keep locked!' Then she fell fainting to the floor. In the midst of the confusion that followed the ghost slipped quietly back into her room and vanished. Only the narrow shaft of light revealed the escape of the sheet wrapped form out through the window; only the walls heard the muttered words, "A cyclone or an earthquake might do the businessr' as the phantom figure crept in at another window and was again swallowed up by the gloom.
 When the gray light of the early July morning crept stealthily into the old tenement house, it rested very softly on Spook fast asleep in his wretched bed. The old sheet which covered him was burned in places and more soiled than ever, if that were possible His fingers were blackened with powder, and his thin face looked very white in the gray light. But there fingered on it no traces of a midnight revel. On the contrary, it was unusually peaceful and oyerspread with a shadow of con- tent. Poor Spook! Faithful Spook! He smiles in his dreams. Happy Spook!
 Already some bright foreshadowing of the future is shedding it's golden f7ETTlTqTFFHl7IlI|lF. I x VI77g E|EE' ISF7EENK