The Washington times., 1905-11-19
THE TRAIL OF THE DEAD ?.

We drove in silence. Gradsn sat in &
huddled mass. his chin buried in the
~reat woolen comforter he wore. star
ing out over the plain with fixed. intro
spective eyes. For myself, I sat
among the rugs beside him in vague
speculation. What could be this dan
ger that threatened the scientist from
st. Petersburg IN his home at Castle
Oster2 After all, might not our whole
journey be a folly born OF Graden's i'm
aginings. blind guess that had
dragged US half across Europe? / shiv-
cred, and shivering, muttered anathe-
mas on the climate.
We entered the forest. On every
hand stood the pines, stretching away
Ia long melancholy avenues foored
with drifted snow. The laden
branches bowed before us. now and
again, at the whfri of a passing gust.
fiinging their burdens from them.
Once a willow grouse, white as the
snow beneath it. swept on steady wing
through the trees Once from the far.
Tar distance, borne upon the eastern
breeze, there came a cry. a weird. hope
less echo in the air, that set the horses
snorting I knew what it must be-a
wolf who felt the first pangs OF the
winters hunger gathering round him.
But there was no sign Of man nor
marks of sleigh tracks on the newly
fallen snow.
We did not travel fast, though our
driver did his best. The snow had not
hardened and settled inlo that en-
chanting surface on which the runners
speed so swiftly. Midday was past
before we saw, through a sudden gap
in the forest. a rising mound crowned
with a low. gray building. Castle
nc4a Hrfxrar turning in his
seat to claim our attention In ten
minutes more we had halted at a gate
set in a high stone wall.
Before we were clear of the rugs the
driver had slipped froms his perch and
tugged at a rusty iron bell-puIl. We
waited without an answer. Again he
rang; but Graden did not wait the re-
suit The door was not bolted; it
opened to his vigorous arm, and we fol
lowed him into the broad courtyard of
the castle.
Before US sprawled the main building
fianked by little towers, like the pepper
box turrets of an old Scotch mansion.
The windows were shuttered; the Chin
news were smokeless save for one above
the central porch. from which a dark
plume rose ana trailed away to the west
ward-the solitary sign of habitation.
To our right We're ranged Outbuildings,
stables, coach-houses, and the like; but
all in a condition OF ruinous decay.
Patches fallen from the roofs laid bare
the rafters; from the broken cutters
trailed along pendants of ice. Against
the old doors the snow had piled itself
in heavy drifts. No sound broke the
brooding stiffness. 1t was a picture dis
tressingly forlOrn.
ssI4aS Prof Mecherstzv then no ser
vants?" asked Graden OF our driver. I
noticed that he hushed his voice in
speaking; he. too, felt the uncanny in
fuence of the place
Two, mein Herr-a man and wom-
an. 1 cannot think where they can be. -
Il had understood he was a man of
means. Why does he allow this disre-
pair?"
II do not think the professor cares.
He shuts himself up with his expert
ments when he is here-which is not
often now His rooms look TO the south
on the other side. For the rest, the
house IS not furnished.
'sWeII. suppose there is a servant
who will-Heavensi what is thaty''
From somewhere within the house
there came a shrek, a cry of supreme
terror Again and yet egain it was re-
peated before it shrank away into
silence. Graden ran across the court to
the main door, and I was hard upon his
, heels He pulled the bell and hammered
fierceiy upon the heavy cak panels; but
. no one answered
II don't believe the thing is bolted,
! said he. Keep the handle turned, anS
let me try what l can do