The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1906-07-31
THE RESORT.
BY RALPH RECORD.

u,rencbed fercely at the satin lining,
but II nauseated me. | thought of the
dead man that had lain there and 1t
made me sick-sick OF heart and sick
of soul. Then | prayed that | might
die All my life | had dreaded death
now | prayed for It,.
For yesterday | was not TO blame.
Pad company and weakness did it.
Because an old road companion had
asked for shelter in the farmhouse
where | lived, and tried to work hon
estly, and | had let him in and he
had beaten down the good farmer and
his wife and robbed them-was to
blame for that? | knew too we'll that
the avenging neighbors would not be-
lieye that | was not an accomplice
So | had fed-fed to this.
The cold face of the corpse rose be-
fore my vision. | had robbed him OF
his resting place, taken even his body
away from his people Nonsense,
knew, but he haunted me.
| could feel the train stop with q
lurch. Could it be Jackson City? !
tried to cry out, but my tongue would
not obey the command of my brain
Again, the awful faintness crept over
me Again, struggled madly. ooh
God" prayed, give me my senses
give me power to escape from tho
grave. Then my brain seemed to stop
knew no more.
1t may have been minutes, it may
have been hours, before | again awoke
and my almost crazed brain brought
me back to a realization of my situa'
ton The steady whir of car wheels
had ceased, but | seemed to be riding
still Then it came to mel was in
a hearse on my way to some mouse
or church, perhaps to a cemetery. The
motion stopped and heard muffied
voices.
Then-oh, thank God They were
going to open the box; some ore
wanted to see for the last time the
face of Henry Donnelly. For a mo-
ment | doubted Could it be! Yes
they were unscrewing the top. In
sheer JOY almost tainted again.
At last, l heard the box top re-
moved. Then, suddenly, the instinct
of self-preseryation came to me in an
other form. What would they do
when they saw it was not Henry Don
nelly. | should have to explain my
presence there. had committed an
awful crime. was body snatcher
Then | saw the light Oh, it was
grateful! Light! l had thought
never see it again. 1t dazzled me
and l shut my eyes. Then l opened
them full and wide.
Two faces were bending over me,
two faces full of horror. One was
woman's face old wrinkled-the 9TH
er a mans, gaunt, hypocritical. I
opened my mouth to speak, and with
a cry that echoes in my memory even
now, the woman threw up her arms
and fell across the coffin in a swoon
The man, with look of supersititous
terror, turned and fed.
More dead than alive, | crawled out,
somehow and tried to bring the wom-
an back to consciousness. After
awhile her eyes opened partly, and |
saw she was better. Something's do
not know what-impelled me to bend
over and kiss her brow. She loked so
old and careworn.
Slowly and painfully | skunk out
through the rear of the cemetery and
walked till reached some woods.
lay down where the morning sun
shone through the trees, and looked
up at Gods blue sky for hours At
last, hungry, faint and weary, | board
ed freight train and left Jackson
City far behind
| wonder who Henry Donnelly was,
and If that old and wrinkled woman
with the careworn face was his moth
er. Sometimes | start from my sleep,
fighting, pushing back the great in
definable black thing that seems to
shut me from the light.
Copyright, 1906, by Daily Story Pub. Coz