Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-01-08
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
The Knock at the Door.

| dark roofs OF the city OuIllneu III soul-
Der silhouette against the star lit sky.
sickly smile lowered over his pale
visage, and his lips were set as In the
suppression of an inward curse. His
hands lay folded pensively across his
thin legs, and he looked out over the
shadowy housetOps with a dull sugges-
ton of hatred i'm his bloodshot eyes.
Suddenly there came n low tapping
at the door behind him. He arose with
muttered curse ut thus having his
thoughts interrupted and approached
tine door laziIy.
What do you want?" he demanded
in n sharp voice.
But there was no reply. He opened
the door cautiously, and only Il cold
gust of midnigh. air entered the dark
apartment. He glanced out into the
silent hallway and saw again the same
! familiar darkness that lie had seen
| when lie entered his room. confused.
| startled, he drew his hand thoughtful
| ly across his brow, then closed the
door carefully and locked ii. y mo-
ment later he seated himself i'm the
chair by the open easement and stared
out through the nocturnal shadows.
| 1t was quite cold. and Il few patches
Of snow were cleaning brightly on
many of the housetops. but the pessi-
mist was unconscious of the cold.
"Why do | live?" he asked himself.
! And the echo OF his own voice came
back to his ears from beyond the hall.
way.
There is an object in every life."
| the voice said to him. I'VE all have
mission to fulfill"
Yes he answered the voice, with
something of a sepulchral tone in his
own. land the object of mine is to
ascertain the limit of mans endurance.
the capacity of human beings for pain.
| Some day / will reach the limit. Some
| day my capacity will be exceeded"
While he was speaking there came to
his ears the sound of human voice in
the alley below his window. 1t seemed
like a low groan. ending in q sharp,
| mournful cry, as of an infant In
stantly his gloomy meditatiOns We're
dispelled, and he leaned forward
| through the window in the hope OF
| again hearing the strange sound.
Again the long groan was borne 10
/ him from out of the darkness, but
when he looked down in the direction
| from which it came he could see only
a deep wall of darkness and midnight
shadows. Suddenly:
God. please help me"'
1t was the voice of n child lying at
the base of the building among the
half dozen ash barrels in the aileyway.
He arose and went down upon the
street. A moment later he passed down
the alley along the row of ash barrels.
Lying beside one of these he discover
ed the cuddlinS body of child. baby
boy. scarcely more than six years OF
| age. 1t was half frozen, and. judging
| from the pinched face. it had not
tasted food for many hours or days. 1t
was clad only in dirty cloth of tat
tiers, and the childish lips were parted
in a repeated cry, God. please help
mer' He lifted the child boy in his
long. bony arms and bore it into the
house and up the long flight of stairs
to his chamber. There lie undressed it
and revived it. He procured food and
sustenance and placed it tenderly in
his own soft bed. Then he took from
his pocket n roll Of greenbacks and
placed it carefully in the ragged pocket
| -
he was not able to say. butt was an
impulse which he could not resist. He
/ said to himself:
This is another of earth's poor crea-
lures who has been depending on the
Lord Christ
And he resumed his seat by the win
dow
Thrice as he sat there he heard the
mysterious knock at the door; thrice
he arose and looked out into the hall
way and thrice returned again to his
seat. bewildered and mystified; thrice
had the midnight air entered in a cold
gust through the chamber door, and
thrice he had answered the low tap
ping to discover only the midnight
darkness. But at last his head fell for
ward on his breast, and he slept soft
~; then, when his breathing had be-
come heavier and harder. the door,
which he had securely locked. opened
slowly, and the white visage of grin
ming skull looked in upon him. \ mo-
ment later the cleaning, phoSphores-
cent skeleton entered the dark cham
Der and moved nimbly to his side. 1t
placed it's bony hand over the sleep
ing mans lips and held it there until
the heavy breathing became inaudible.
When the last short breath had escap-
ed the slumberer's lips. it sprang back
ward with a silent bound and passed
out through the open door.
The cold hand of death had complet-
ed its work.
In the morning the child awoke and
found the dead body of it's benefactor
sitting rigidly in the leather chair by
the open window. In its ragged pock-
cts the child discovered the money
which the dead man had placed there
as it lay asleep in the big, soft bed.
and when the crowd surged into the
deathroom the child told them in it's
own way how the dead man had saved
its young life. Then the arab of the