The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1903-12-05
The Footstep of Fear.
BY L. II. HAMMOND.

| know she was liar? She shrank fur
ther down under the bedclothes. Chris
tine said they wouldn't hurt her If she
kept still; but Christine didn't know
1t would not mind anybody; and 1t
was the tigers friend, too! She dared
not open her eyes, but she knew that
in the dark 1t was bending down, and
that the tiger had crawled to the edge
Of the bed to lick It's hand. The ape
peered out of the closet grinning a
welcome to 1t, and the man in the
mask stood just behind. They were
all It's friends, and It hated her. But
1t was SO dark; perhaps they could not
see her-though she knew in the
depths of her covering little soul that
they did Perhaps she could spring
out Of bed on the other side, and reach
the hall door before 1t or the tiger
could catch her. But the closet! she
would have to pass that. She felt the
apes skinny fingers, and the mans
sword at her throat. 1t bent closer
over the bed; did 1t know what she
had been about to do?
Time dragged by. The door-bell
rang. and company came in. Laughter
floated up the stairs, and 1t grinned
kideously at the thought OF the COM
pany in the nursery. Once her moth
er sang, and that comIorted her. Ages
afterward her mother came upstairs
The man and the ape drew back into
the depths OF the closet; the tiger
crawled to the exac. middle of the
space under the bed and curled his
tail up carefully; 1t passed noiselessly
to the other side OF the room and hid
in the shadows as the door opened, and
her mother-her dearest mother-came
in and bent down to kiss her cheek.
She dared not stir, but she knew that
1t was gone. Her mother touched her
forehead gently. The child Is in a
perspiration," she said to herself; but
there doesn't seem to be too much COW
er; Christine Is SO careful. How fast
asleep she Isl" and with another kiss
she went through into her own room,
leaving the connecting door open.
When she put out her light 1t slipped
back, but the door was open, and It
did not dare to come very close to
the bed. The tiger had gone to sleep
and the ape and the man knew her
mother was there: they were afraid
Ohio! The little body. relaxed. the
breath came freely. and out on the full
tide Of sleep she drifted beyond It's
reach.
This happened many nights, through
many years. At first 1t never dared to
come in tho daytime; but at dusk she
knew the stealthy football was coming
steadily to meet her. and that in the
dark 1t would stand by her bed, with
its horrible unseen leer. She had, as
she grew older, tried the effect of leav-
ing the gas burning; but In the lone
liness and silence Of the night 1t was
and could shroud itself
In darkness and light alike. Every
night her mother came to give her
last goodnight kiss, but the child nev-
er told her that she was awake; she
was afraid to speak Of 1t at night, and
in the daytime she was ashamed.
She no longer believed in the tiger or
the ape, though she looked for them
under the bed and in the closet every
night to make sure, and took off her
slippers in the middle Of the room to
leap into the bed from a distance, feel
ing cold, sharp claws on her ankles as
she did so and tucking the covers
about her with feverish haste. The
man was no longer in the closet, and
had lost his mask and his sword. He
carried q knife now, and came with
It. The two crept up the stairs to-
gether night after night. Sometimes
they paused at her mothers door, or
her brothers, instead OF at her own,
and she would spring out Of bed to call
them before it should be too late. But
she was ashamed to give false alarm.
20 she always lit the gas in the hall
first, shaking with cold, her teeth chat
tering: and always, as she turned with
wide eyes to face them, they were
gone. She would rush to the head of
the stairs after them, but they could
not be seen, though the stairs creaked,
one by one, under their invisible tread.
She could never understand why the
sound did not rouse the world. Some
times In q frenzy Of terror to which
anything was better than uncertainty,
she fed after them. barefooted and
silent. It mat;orcl little at such times
hat the man might turn in the dark
ness and plunge his knife ints her
her heart. II only she could seize II By
the threat and turn Il to the light and