The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1903-05-01

at night attended the theater, as
guests of Horace Mum, then after
a quiet little supper went to our ho-
tel.
Shortly after midnight cry Of
alarm from Dulcimer's room brought
i. us there. She stood in the doorway
the embodiment of CONSERVATION,
holding some strange object which
she thrust in my hands, then dropped
in a swoon at our feet.
On bringing her to consciousness,
little by little, we gathered the story
of her dismay. She had abruptly
awakened out of deep sleep to find
| the figure of man standing by her
bedside. Thinking that burglar had
gained entrance to her room, she
screamed, then she remembered that
it was Christmas night, and knew
that her ghostly visitant had once
more appeared.
At the sound of her voice the mys-
terious figure leaned over the bed
and placed some object in her hands,
then seemed to disappear through
the window.
In confirmation of her story, she
showed the ghostly gift as a tangi-
BILE proof. 1t was small flask, wick
er-covered, it's metal top cankered,
it's sides green with mould and salt
encrusted, it's neck covered with a
fringe of dried seaweed and small
clinging shells, as if gathered in a
long voyage over many leagues of
ocean-the flask that Dulcimer had
seen twice before when the ghostly
visitant appeared to her.
AS I examined the article carefully,
the knowledge slowly dawned on me
that it was my very own flask, once
filled with orange wine, which l had
given to David Barrister long months
before in Florida, on the fatal morn
ing he had gone forth, never to re-
turn.
When the cankered stopper was re-
moved, a small roll about the thick
ness of lead pencil fell from the
flask. 1t proved to be a visiting card
rolled in oiled paper, while on it was
written these words, now scarcely
legible:
''The boat has been tampered with
knows ] cannot swim, and has left
me to my fate. Z trust this message
to the waves. My last thoughts, Dull
elmer. are of YOU"
Mechanically, I turned the card
over. On the other side was the en-
graved name-David Barrister
Not until several months later was
the mystery of the strange recovery
of my wicker flask made clear. On
their bridal trip Edward Harrington
told Dulcimer that he had bought it
of a fisherman who had picked it up
off the coast of Hammerfest during
the past fishing season.
Harrington, fully alive to the mean
ing of the recovered flask, and also
suspecting treachery on Munn's part
in his own case, set out to find us,
and only succeeded in locating our
party at Florence on Christmas
night. The room given him was next
to Dulcimer's at the hotel. He had
been somnambulist since early boy
hood, and on this Christmas night,
filled with doubts as to what course
he should pursue in regard to this
silent witness of rivals villainy-
witness that had been strangely
drawn over countless miles by the
forces of mysterious phenomena, to
give testimony within the arctic cir
Gle itself of deed committed long
months before on semi-tropic seas
Harrington had arisen in his sleep,
made his way from one balcony to
another, and finding the window of
Dulcimer's room unfastened. had
gone in and given her the flask, much
to her terror and his own consterna-
ton when he awOke.
As for the Christmas ghost, it was
never seen again.