The daily Alaskan., 1905-10-06
A CASE OF GHOSTS


 coast of France.
 The house was only one story high and was divided into sitting room, bed room and kitchen. Doors and win dows had long been removed, and the floors had routed away, but room and walls were all right, and a few days work enabled the heir to move In. The usual gossip about haunted houses was not lacking in this case, and some Of the stories told would have made the plasterer's hair curl had he not been firm minded.
 Du Bols had been settled month be- fore the ghosts came. He had busied himself breaking up and carting away the stones and hauling dirt In their place so as to have ground for q gar den at least. One night he was nwHk- ened by q curious sound coming from the kitchen. He slept with both Inside doors open, and there was no cover Of any sort on the floors. The noise ha heard was that of soft footsteps. TLey seemed to enter the kitchen door and cross to a corner and return to the Coor again. He knew the outside door to be locked, but he lighted candle and got up to see what the noises could mean. They ceased as soon as he was out of bed, and, naturally enough, the nan believed that he had been half dre...n- ing, and he went back to bed and was soon asleep again. The incident had no weight with him next day; but, much to his surprise, 1t was repeated on the second night. He was awakened at the same hour by the clock, and for ten minutes he lay listening At the end Of that time the footsteps ceased, and Du BOls got up and struck light, to ind everything as usual
 The Inside walls had been roughly plastered when the house was built and here and there 1t had fallen oh in patches, and he determined to give the walls a close inspection and see If any thing could be found. He meant to do this next day, but found that be haC to go to q village for supplies and post poned It. That night, at the same hour again, the noises were renewed, and on the third morning after breakfast a search was begun. The outside of the house was taken first and was gone over foot by foot. Nothing was discov- cred to solve the mystery.
 When Du Bols came to search the h. terior of the house he made discovery almost at once. The ghostly footsteps had led from the outside kitchen door to the northwest corner of the room, a distance of about nine feet. About third of the plaster had fallen or that wall, and as the man inspected he soon came upon a stone differing from the others by being better dressed. It was plastered in as firmly as any of the others, but It seemed to have been set In after the wall had been built.
 It took Du Bols an hour to loosen and lift out the stone, but never was a man more lIberally rewarded for an hours work. The stone was the door to a cavity a foot wide and four feet long, and in that cavity rested a treas ure amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. It was In gold, silver and jew els, and there was not so much as the scrap of a pen to say who had con cealed It.
 As near as could be ascertained by the legal records of the province the house had been erected about forty-fye years. It had been built and inhabited by nn old man and his wife, both of whom had died within a few years. The place had then been tenantless for some time and had then been taken possession of by fisherman. He had vacated, and another man had come, but for a score of years before Du BOis took possession no one had occupied the place.
 Du Bois did not herald his good for tune over the country. Like a wise man he said nothing and secretly re- moved his find to Paris. The stone was reset In the wall and the plaster re paired, and he had hardly made the re- pairs when he was waited on by an of fcer of the law, who informed him that a queer mistake had been made. The property had been left to another by his name, and the new heir would shortly be on to make good his claim.
 The plasterer did not wait for the rightful heir to turn up. He had never been satisfied as to how he came to in- herit, though he had gone on the idea that the law could make no mistakes. He hied himself back to Paris, sold his jewelry and exchanged his coins and then did prudent thing by setting sail for America. He had not been gone from Paris four weeks before he was being looked after.
 Tn spite of the repairs the new heir had discovered the stone and the hid ing place. Perhaps ghostly footsteps had also sounded for him, though they had ceased for Du Bois as soon as he discovered the treasure At any rate, be wanted information and an account ing. He reasoned very naturally that the cavity had been made to hold a treasure and that 1t would not have been so carefully concealed again if nothing had been taken from 1t.
 Du Bois was out of France and liY-