The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-01-06
THE ATAVIST.
By ]. H. X. ADKiN.
copyrighted. 1902. by Robert Howard

Russell.)
"Atavism?" said Lemercier, resting
his elbow on the mantlepiece. and
speaking with the precision of one who
expresses himself in q foreign tongue
That's reversion to type; isn't it! Of
course. I've met with several partial
n minor instances Of it. When you,
for example, sneer at a man you dis
like. you revert u~nCOnsciOusly to the
habits Of your remote ancestors, who
barred the canine teeth for fight by
contracting h upper lip. / don't sup
pose. however, that that is what you
are driving at. What you mean is,
Have 1 ever seen d case in which the
character of the Individual was ccr.l-
pletely absorbed into that of the type
"A sudden spirit, as it were, of that
devil Of heredity that lies like a VOL
CAM fire hidden in the nature of each
of u.s.? To that l answer Yes AMI il
happened after this fashion,"
Three ear after 1 had left the
V"rsits, on ms return from shooting
big game in Swaziland, I received az
invitation from an old college friend.
Lord ftStmere, to come down for tn.
partridge shooting. 1 accepted at once,
AOl DESlucS llit- TACT indC 1OrO ESlflel9
was one OF my greatest chumS, | had
seen EASTWOOD before, and was more
than Il little DESTROYS to see it again.
1t was an old E~lizabethan manson
standing on n slope Of a little valley,
along the bottom of which ran q
stre"Jn, all that modern drainage and
sanitation had left of the old East
Mere from which the family took It.
name The garden OF the house trend
ed down to this on one side. On tra
other a bluff, brown shoulder of hill,
covered but sparsely with grass and
~sprinkled with gOTSe bushes, ave, fail
upon the great semi-circIe of East
wood forest, stretching for mile upon
mile from the hill top. the East Wood.
that had given its name TO the house
as the Mere had to the family.
In due time the train landed me at
the nearest station, Tnere, to my sur
prise. | was met, not by q groom bat
by Buss"ick, the head keeper, who had
come down about some dogs food Or
other business matter. and had waited
10 give q lift to myself and luggage. l
had greeted him at once recognizing
easily enough the huge -ey-headed,
grey-eyed. g~rey-bearded figure, with
the eyebrows meeting above the nose
and the long arms hanging almost be-
low the knees
His f~urabears had se~ved the Est
neres for generations: since the first
Euiph Bare5ark held 5 IS hides AMI
& m~essause' from Ra'ph Franklin Of
Estncre. IS Is set f. rth at large in
DOmesday PoOk. to { q days when ihH
villagers drowned " oIfe Bussick Ou,y
acquainta1 noes graz" father and name
sake) as q wizard in the forest pool
that now Tears n name, not a huh
dTCd yards from IS own door.
lie had. on thi~ occasion, u shooting
cart outside. for ny luggage, and soon
W. were trottinT -harply do ~ the long
hard road, tow DIS my friends house.
Just as we ] t the little village of
Eastwood and anne in sight Of & grea.
angle of the crest, hat thrust itself
st this pOin' among th@ cultivated
fields. Bdssik jerked the horse up
short. DOu' led across u high stone
stepping-sti =, on it's back. hung the
dead body If n fairly large sheep, it's
throat pitfrIlly torn ana mangIed. The
keeper eli nbed heavily out of the cart
and walk 4 over to the Stile, and get
ling dOvI. l followed him. holding the
reins in my hand.
aye" he said. its been lifted UP
and smashed down on the stile so as
10 break it's back, and then it's throat
has been torn by teeth: you can see the
marks here quit" plainly. It's the sixth
and l wish TO God that sheep were the
worst OF It."
Put" said l. what in the name
lis Tue JEty SIlctlc", Sdlu buS-
sick: and without more words swung
himself into the trap.
And what the Grey Shadow may
Be-" he said. after - or two of
silence. it possible the Lord may
know. but as certain the devil does"
Certainly. by the time he had fin
ished his st, ~. / was more than a lit
tie inclined % agree with him.
About a year ago. It seemed. the visi-
tatiOn had begun with the death of his
own dog, 4 big retriever, and since
then. at irregular intervals. sheep.
dogs. and latterly ever 4 child or two,
had been found. baCk-broken and nor
lbly mangied (some ven absolutely
Iorn to pieCeS). and all with the marks
of teeth plainly visible upon them.
The Doctor said that II was some
numerous iunatiC who lay hidden by
day in Eastwood Forrest; Lord Est
mere thought il 4 wild beast: the cOun-
try folks said simply that it was the
Grey Shadow, and sought for no fur
Their explanation
Some of this information | got from
BusSiCk and some from m when,
after dinner. we discussed the subject
over our cigars IN the smoEing-room.
under the trophies OF pixies n long
halted sC~ythc-bl1des of hOnnouth's re-
belliOn that adorned the walls.
The smOking-rOon looked out over
the garden. scanned with yew-tree
hedges studded with quaint
Clumps of box. There was n faint frost
upon the lawns. n faint fog in the air
and the moon. which looked unnatural
~ small, seemed TO have tUnnelled !
way for It's light through the clouds.
EstTrcrc aid I stood apart from the
Tiers IT the recess of the window.
looking ont The red curtains. SWING
ing 10 behind US. shut off the light and
ahecr OF the room beyond. The quaint
ooE-tTorS. which that mOrnin mad
seemed merely ludiCrouS examples 81
miSdireCted ingenuity. Low, in the
white moonlight and through the thin
veil of the haze. lOOked like blOated and
sinister figures. resembling the grot"S
que horrors of some Teutonic romance
Of Chiyalry.
Estmere. yawning as he did so, 81:
mis- hand to the upper part of the win
dow to pull il down. The pose of mis-
upturned face. with the dropped jaw
and half-shut eyes, together with SOn-t
weird trick of the moonlight that
CinEed his features with a hagga-;
grew recalled To my mind the face nj