Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1903-06-25
Phantorn's Warning

About the broad hearth in its Gus
tomary manner the family had assem-
bled after the evening meal, and Hen
~ Carroll, the city cousin, come to the
country to restore failing health, found
his first visit into a Kentucky home
not so dull as he had anticipated.
The conversation lulled. Silence was
broken only by the ticking of the
clock. Suddenly Carroll heard the
faint pit-a-pat of galloping horse on
the frozen turnpike He walked to
the window overlooking the road, and
the sharp air bore the sound more
clearly to him.
81 wonder who that can be, riding SO
wildly at this time of night?" he
asked.
Some drunken fellow going home, l
suppose" said Mr.. Rankin, Indifferent
ly, but with significant look at his
wife.
He rides like a wild mani" ex.
claimed Carroll. Come here. Look
at him! One would think both man
and beast were hunted-were fleeing
from the devil himself"
Martha ran to the window and
gazed for moment at the fast-disap-
pearing horseman. Papa, maybe it's
our ghost-'Rob the rider'-and Aunt
Dinah once met"
The mournful bay of foxhounds dis
| turbed by the hoof beats and the sug-
| gestion of a chase gave her remark a
tinge CT color. Both Mr.. and Mrs.
Rankin had kept their seats while the
/ rider passed, and now tried in vain to
lift the gloom his appearance had left
in passing. Carroll noticed this and
half laughingly inquired if Martha's
| ghost was a reality.
mot at all; simply a stupid old
story of the negroes" said Mr. Ran
kin. He spoke in an unconvincing
manner, however, and the fireside
group relapsed into a moody silence.
Carroll slept little that night in the
great room assigned to him. Among
the old pictures on the walls, which
he casually looked over as he I'M
| dressed, he was struck by furnished
! portrait of girl who closely resem-
bled Martha. No name was written on
the worn gilt frame, but on the dust
covered back he found scrawled,
| Martha Rankin, 1890" Even when
Carroll put out the light that face
stood between him and sleep. Those
| eyes haunted his brain. So, too, did
the flying horseman and the troubled
face of his host and the remark of the
young Martha.
The brilliant, fitful sunlight of a
spring day strayed into winter was
| streaming into his room ere Carroll
awakened. The refreshing bath and
the wholesome smell of the country
cleared his head, and he smiled at the
foolish fancies of the night Careless
ly he ran down the broad stairs of the
stately mansion in a manner calculat-
ed to startle into life the sweet-faced
danes and the starched-collared sol
diers of the revolution whose portraits
smiled from their gilded frames stud
| ding the hallway.
Martha's remark about Aunt Dinah's
ghost remained in Carrolls head,
however, and having nothing to do, he
strolled out to the cabin to hear her
story. 1t was Aunt Dinah's favorite
yarn, and she unbent with right good
will, proud of having the stranger
| cousin for listener.
Good Lawd, honey, an you ach-
shally amt heahed dat tale? Miss
Martha wuz her name, an she loved
Mars Rob Gregory, what had heap
O. fine horses. He KEEP comm an
comm heah ter see Miss Martha twell
everybody said dey sho' would marry.
Den dey had a fallin' out an he didn't
ocme no noah. Miss Martha didn't
let on, but she sartinly did love Mars
Rob, an KEEP pinin' an pinin' away
twell she wuz nigh ded. One Sunday
dey all went to church at de Cross
Roads, 'cepen' her. When dey come