Rocky Ford enterprise., 1904-01-08

There was nothing like indigestion
for making one see everything in a
bad light
Then he slept. and as he slept he
dreamed dream.
lie thought he was lying on the
edge of n precipice-a prccipice which
went sheer down many hundreds OF
feet But although he occupied sucl
n dangerous position he felt no uneasl'
ness at first. only little gentle sur
prise as to what he was doing there.
and IA little wonder as to what was
going to happen.
Then n hand came up and out OF tho
abyss and Srasped him, drawing him
nearer and nearer to the giddy verge
OF III. precipicc. and he felt himself
dragged slowly but surely tn dcstruc-
tIon. In vain he clutched at the grass
and stones and projections OF tho
clIn: he was still drawn on. until. at
last. he was poised upon the very
edge and could look down into tao
depths OF the chnsm beneath. For
few sccondB-during which he seemed
to experience lifetime Of agony-ho
remained In that awful position. Then
no felt himself Inlling-fallins from
an immcasurabic heisht-and woke'
What hideous dream" ho
thought. How wcIrd-how awful
how real: would rather lie awake
the whole nigh, through than dream
just such another. I wonder what tho
timc iS:''
matches, and struck a light. Just half
past ihrcc-no more. As he restored
the articles asaln to their places. hr
thought he heard faint sounds os
movement In tn. next room.
"Eyiicntiy I am not the only resi-
less person." he said 10 himself m b"
iay down again. i have n companion
in misfortune. Tomorrow morning
NC shall he abb" To compare expert
cnccs. SuppoS. ! were To knock hs
the vail and speak To him Hut thea
I uiIsht disturb someone els" ani
alarm them. That would never do. I
expect IL must have been the cucutn'
b-r that gave mo the nightmare.
hope sha'n't hay. another such
dream: II I do. III never touch cticutr
brr any mar- as long as ! live" HtS
eyes closed. and in a few moments his
deep and regular breathing showed
that he had again fallen asleep.
And asain h" druaMi. aud TIC
dream Nas a. follows:
lie was iying in his bed. az at least.
80 he thought. and. after while. u
seemed tn him tha, II became SUfy
hard and narrow. sa that he had mn
room to move In IL. Il vas ai.o s"fr
DARK. lie tried ,o turn over upon his
side. hu, found. as in the other dream
that he could stir neither hand MT
foot. And what appeared To him
long time. he began to hear sounas
over his head. Sometimes in on'
place. sometimes in another. and At
the same time he began to experience
a difficulty in breathing. And still TIE.
sound went on-thc sound of son"
on- hammrFinE-of some one hama
mcriuE nails
The sound Of some ono hafnmcrits
nails into a enIin'
And with that. all at once. the awful
truth broke upon him. lie was dead.
and they were mailing him up in his
cofiin-dcad'
grasprd the full horror uf the siiua'
iiun.
They we're buryins him aiivc' Oh.
horFiblc'-horriblc'
In vain he tried to burst the bonds
Of the Ins-nsibili,y in which he was
held. In vain he made frcngicd Of
forts to cry aloud. The most frantic
cndcavurs were unavailinE. lie vas
unable to utter a sound or produce tho
smallest movement. Then II seemed
as though some one were trying to
raise the lid of the conn. There was
a faint. crcakinE sound-a faint Elims
msr of light was percep;iblc overhead.
II increased aud videnrd' oh. joy'
lie was saycd-savcti' The coffin.iii
was raised little by littlc-highcr and
hiEher-in another moment he should
he frcc'
II vas done He saw n face bend.
Ing over him-a familiar facc-thc
face of an old friend. Already he hail.
cd him in his heart as his bcncfactor.
his dcliyergr. Then-whst were those
words he hcard7 Words he had heard
bpfore-whcn was i'll
You can ruin me whenever you
please. but now you arc in my pow
cr,''
The lid was cIapped down again.
leaving him in utter darkness. This
hammcrins began again. He made
one last tremendous effort and woke
Woke to fnd himself sitting bolt
upright. with the pcrspiration stream
ing from him. Woke to find the man.
whose voice even now seemed to ring
in his ears as he bent over the open
coffin. standing beside his bed. in tn,
faint. grey light Of morning.
What brings you herc7" Easped
/ Mr. Burritt. as soon as he had rcalizcu
the fact that the terrible ordeal he
had just passed through was only q
dream.