Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-08-29
\ pHANro TOE.

l could not help thinking. directly
had taken Il survey of my chamber.
that l should never quit It without 20.
ins through II strange adventure
Surprising" rumInaicd l, "suppos.
Ing the landlord himself should I've "A
practical robbcr and should have talk,
en- the lock and bolt from OF this
door for the purpose Of entering hero
In the dead of the night, nbstracting
all my property and perhaps murder
Ing me. thought the dog had "A very
cutthroat air about him" Now. Ind
never had any such idea until that
moment. for my host was Il fnt mll
Dutchmcn are fau. stupid looking fell
low. who | don't believe had sense
enough to understand what II robbery
OF murder meant. but somehow or
other whenever we have anything real
~ 10 annoy us mnd II certainly was
not pleasant to 20 to bed in II strange
place without being able to fustcn
ones door We are sure TO aggravntu
il 10y myriads OF chimeras OF our own
BRAIN
So on the present occasion. in tho
midst OF II thousand disagrccnhle rev
cries, some of the most wild nbsurdi-
~ jumped very gloomily Into bed
having first put out my candle. and
soon fcll asleep, perfectly tired out
with my days riding.
How long l lay asleep | don't know,
but suddenly awokc from disagrcc-
able dream of cutthroats, ghosts and
long. winding passages In haunted
mn An Understandable feeling, such ns
never before experienced. hung upon
me. Ii seemed as ii every nerve in INV
body had hundred spirits tickling 1t,
and this was accompanied by SO great
heat that inwardly cursing mine
hosts saucrliraut and wondering how
the Dutchmcn could endure such poi
son, | was forced TO sit up In bed To
cool myself. The whole of the room
was profoundly dark, excepting at ono
place, where the moonlight. falling
through Il crcvlcc In the shutters, threw
II straight line of about an inch or so
thick upon the oor-clcar, sharp and
Intensely brilliant against The darn-
hess. | leave YOU TO conceive my hor-
ror when. upon looking at this said
line of light, saw there naked hu-
man t0e-nothing more.
For the first instant | thought the
vision must he some effect of moon
light, then that l was only half awake
and could not sec distinctly So | rub
bed my eyes two or three times and
looked again. Still there was the ac-
cursed thing plain, distinct. lmmova-
ble-murblclllic in its nXc,iness and
rigidity, but in everything else horri-
bly, human.
l am not an easily frightened man.
No one who has travelled so much and
seen so much and been exposed to So
many dangers MS / have Should be,
but there was something so unusual
In the appearance Of this single toe
that for Il short time | could not thinl,
what To do. so did nothing but stare
ut II In state OF utter bcwilermcnt.
At length. however. MS the toe did
not vanish under my steady gaze.
thought l might as well change my
tactlcs. ana remembering that all mid
night invaders. he they thieves, ghosts
or devils. dislike nothing so much ms n
good noise ! shouted out In II loud
voice.
who's thcrc?'
The toe Immediately disappeared IN
the darkness.
Almost simultaneously with nv
words | leapcd out of he'd and rushed
toward the place where | had behclh
the strange appearance. The next In
slant | ran against something and felt
an iron grip round my body. After
this | have no distinct recollection of
what occurred. excepting that n fear
ful struggle cnsucd between me ana
my unseen opponent; that every now
aud then we were violently hurled to
the floor, from which we always rose
again In an Instant, locked I'm dcnd-
ly embrace; that we tuggcd and strain
cd and pulled and pushed, l In tho
convulsivc and frantic energy of n
fight for life. he Qor by this time l had
discovered TINT the intruder was II hu-
man being actuated by some passion
of which l WAS ignorant; that wo
whirled round and round and round.
check TO cheek and arm TO arm, In
fierce contest, until the room appear
ell to whz round with us, and that ut
last dozen people (my fellow traveller
among them, reused. | suppose, by our
repeated falls. came pouring into the
room with lights and showed mo
struggling with man having nothing
on but shirt. whose long, tangled
hair and wild, unsettled eyes told me
he was insane. And then, for the first
time. became aware that Ind re-
ceivcd In the conflict several gashcs
from a knife. which my opponent still
bntI Ip into hind