Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-20

III ohc HuIStEy, deul WITH lib 6WOEu anu "
volyer, and all of us with very white faces.
Mana sat with baby Arthur tightly clasped
In her arms the picture of fright , :.
What shall do" asked Godfrey. Shall
we go over the house and see if we can find
any one?" s.s
"No, Mars Geof," cried Mana, vehemently.
'You amt gwine to do no sech thing. l amt
gwine to let you. Fur you can't fight against
ghosts. Use allus heared dis yer house was
ha'nted, an now Use dead shure of it. What
is | to tell you NANNY ef dey kerry you off?
Doan' CO. honey. Take ole Nana's advice.
An besides, de noise amt in de house. 1t
come from der cellar. Pears like de evil
one hab got in dere-"
cry out The noise distinctly came from the
| cellar, and. as that could only be entered from
the road, Geof was very willing to give up the
idea OF investigating the matter until day
over Arty, who lay quite still, frightened al.
most out of her wits. Even the children cried
in subdued manner.
Another and another shock. louder and
louder, occurred, and we sat in deadly fear
through the remainder of the night. Toward
morning the noises ceased, and we lay down
on sofas and improvised beds for little sleep.
When daylight had rather restored our cour-
age, Geof discovered that the key of the cell
lar was missing, and Henry, our old colored
Better wait till Mars. Murray come home"
he said, gravely. "Den he kin open de doah
hissef. amt gwine bruk open no doah
while de massa done gorne "way from de
house"
So Geof was forced to give it up, and we
waited longingly for the dear ones to come.
We kept close lookout on the main road
and our drive through papa's big spy-glass.
and our hearts beat joyfully when, about
three o'clock, carriage turned into our ave-
nue.
/ could scarcely keep the little ones from
rushing down the road, and, before papa could
well step out of the carriage. Frank and
mothered dear. mamma, in our delight at see.
ing her again. How changed everything was
Immediately! Our fears vanished. The doors
and windows, which had been carefully fas.
tened, even in the daytime, flew open as if
by magic Mana beamed and hustled about
in high state of delight.
Papa looked very serious when he heard Of
Blly,s disappearance and and Of our unhappy
ed to the cellar-door. AS the key was still
missing, Henry was obliged to force the door.
AS they stepped over Che. threshold. loud
noise from the extreme end Of the cellar star.
US children few back into the sunlight, with
such hurry that we pushed and hustled and
almost fell over each. other;
| Papa remained standing where he was, in
spite 9f old Henry's repeated MARS Muir
You dunno wha' may be dere!" Shading his
ewes with his hand, he looked steadily into
the darkness; then walked forward, and dis.
appeared from our sight. We. all cried out.
In few, minutes papa and Henry reap
peared, and there. walking quietly between
them his horns broken, his coat torn and
quite white with dust and with a generally
detected hang-dog air about him. was our
lost Billy.
SHere, children" said papa, laughing, "let
me introduce to you your ghost the breaker
OF your rest, the originator of all the hideous
noises you heard last night. Billy must have
strayed in here yesterday morning, when the
being noticed, was shut up The noise you
heard was evidently caused by his pulling
down bundles of shingles and planks, as we
find everything in great confusion, even
heavy pieces of furniture upset, and, as you
see. poor Billy has also suffered considerably.