The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1904-12-22

er us greatly. Let's have smoke and
talk it over"
| 1 sat down in the ghostly rocker and
lighted cigar. kept a keen eye on
the candles, resolved to get some clew,
if possible, to the way they were ex-
tinguished. Clarke threw himself on
a sofa at the other side of the room.
Its no use," he said. "I'l get rid
of the house as soon as I can and at
any terms. I'm sorry, because my wife
had set her heart on living here. With
little repair this would be an ideal
home. Except for the ghost. What
are you doing?"
The Ghost.
I had risen to my feet and come to
the middle of the room. The rocker In
which 1 had been sitting was in the
shadow. The candles as we had rear
ranged them were all at the lower end
of the room, near the big mantelpiece.
AS had sat idly listening to Clarke's
complaint my gaze had CHANGED to fall
on old Jan Bartholf's picture. I could
have sworn that I saw the eyes in the
furnished face close and then open.
"Pm just strolling around for exer-
cise," I said, carelessly. ut makes one
so nervous to sit still in here and"
AS got to this point my steps had
carried me, in circuitous route, to the
mantel.
With a sudden motion and exerting
all my strength I seized the big pic
ture and wrenched it from its fasten-
| ings.
It fell to the floor with a crash, and
there, in great hole in the wall which
the canvas had covered, crouched a
human body.
With a second sweep Of the arm
the dark passage behind the opening.
and pulled it into the room, where 1t
tumbled headlong on the floor.
There's your ghost. Clarke" said,
brushing the dust off my clothes and
watching the figure scramble to its
feet. you're clever chap, OGorman.
but you're not clever enough. That's
all the trouble with you. Now, Clarke,
if you'll keep your hands on this
worthy house haunter I'm going on an
exploring expedition"
Clarke had the struggling fellow by
the throat, and lighted an extra can
die and clambered up into the hole
above the mantel. "I'n be back in a
! minute" said. ~,
The aperture led to a passageway
nearly three feet wide that ran the en-
tire length of the house, being de-
pressed to height Of about three feet
at places, where the windows inter-
vened. This explained the unusually
deep window seats I had noted. The
inner walls of the passage Chose near
est the rooms) were honeycombed with
augur holes, whose aspect showed them
to have been bored many years before.
Secret Passages.
Through these apertures it had been
a simple matter for O'Gorman to de-
tect the whereabouts of the candles in
the sconces. and, by a sudden puff, to
blow them out. The threadbare tapes
try did not obstruct the air, and one
could see dimly through 1t. The pas
sage ran clear around the house, be-
tween outer and inner walls, connect
ing by ladders with a similar secret
passage on the floor above. A ladder
descended from the ground floor pas
sage to a space between the drawing
room flooring and the cellar ceiling.
This space was quite large enough to
admit the body of a man. As glanced
into 1t I could see the drawing-room
candle light filtering through the
cracks in the flooring. A slender
bladed knife thrust through the cracks
at the right place would readily &c
count for the rocking of the chair. One
light push of the knife point would set
it in motion.
Old Jan Barthoh must have had odd
theories on the subject Of building.
What may have been the original OBJ
ject of these passages, peep-holes. ETC..
no one can tell. Whether he sought to
spy on his family or guests. or wheth-
er he feared he might one day need
shelter from justice or from Indians, I
don't know. Perhaps to foster the pop
ular belief, in his magic powers.
But the secret chambers were there;
and O'Gorman had made clever use of
them. But for his folly in using the
cut-out eye holes in the portrait in or
der to watch US from a better point of
view, he would assuredly have gained
his point and bought the house of
Clarke for q song.
O'Gorman confessed to US that, while
wandering over the house with a view
to buying it, Just before Clarke had
outbid him, he had blundered on the
secret passage behind Bartholf's pic
ture. The idea of soaring Clarke into
selling cheap had occurred to him soon
after.
On O'Gorman giving US written
confession, Clarke (greatly against my
advice let the fellow 60. He was SO
much relieved to find the house was
not really haunted, he said, that he
hadn't the heart to drag the whole story
into the public prints by prosecuting
the swindler.
Copyright. 1903. By Joseph B. Bowles)
| Nearing the Limit.
DO you know, darling" said the love-
sick young man who was busy planting
microbes, shat I believe 1t makes me a
better man every time I kiss your"
WELL" rejoined the taffy-haired girl
in the parlor scene, cat the pace You are
going now there will soon be NO more