The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-10-17

she would be afraid to tell lies. be-
cause liars were put In the IRE and
burned UP. Her brother told her that
the day she promised to let him play
with her best doll in his own way, and
then snatched her away and ran to
Christine with her. She was liar;
She shivered as she thought of the lake
Of hre. hut he was digging Miss
Homer's eyes out of her head-her
beautiful eyes--to see why they didn't
shut faster. God would burn her up;
but 1t wasn't fair when other people
made you tell lies; perhaps God did
something to them, too. But He
wouldn't do anything to Christine; she
was always good. That was why the
tiger loved her. and the man, and the
ape; they hated bad people-oh, did
they know she was liar? She shranl
further down under the bedclothes.
Christine said they wouldn't hurt her
II she kept still; but Christine didn't
know about It. It would not mind
Christine; 1t would not mind anybody;
and It 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 grin
ming welcome to 1t, and the man In
the mask stood just behind. They
we're all It's friends. and 1t 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 II grinned
hideously at the thought Of the COM
pany in the nursery. Once her mother
sang, and that comforted her. Ages
afterward her mother came upstairs.
The man and the ape drew back into
the depths of the closet; the tiger
crawled 10 the exact middle of the
space under the bed and curled its
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 II was gone. Her mother
touched her forehead gently. The
child is in perspiration," she said to
herself; but there doesn't seem to be
too much cover; Christine Is so care
full. 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 II 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
-oho! 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 the daytime; but at dusk she
knew the stealthy football was coming
steadily 10 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 her gas burning; but in the lone
illness and silence of the night 1t was
all-powerful, and could shroud itself
in darkness and light alike. Every
night her mother came to give her
last goodnight kiss, but the child
never told her that she was awake;
she was afraid to speak of II 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,
feeling cold, sharp claws on her ankles
90 DIG uiu cO, anu tuChiuS tue CONcTB
about her with feverish haste. The
man was no longer in the closet, and
had lost his mask and his sword He
carried knife now, and came with 1t.
The two crept up the stairs together
night after night. Sometimes they
paused at her mothers door, or her
brothers, instead of 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,
so 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 |
lines. in frenzy of terror to which |
anything was better than uncertainty,
The fled after them, barefooted and |
silent. 1t mattered little at such times
hat the man might turn in the dark
less and plunge his knife into her
ieart, II only she could seize II by the
hroat and turn It to the light and look