The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1907-08-24
4 PHANTOM TOE.

had taken a survey OF my chamber.
that should never quit II without go
Inc through a strange adventure.
-Supposing.r ruminated I. ''suppos-
Ing the landlord himself should be a
practical robber and should have tax.
en the lock and bolt from OF this
door for the purpose OF entering here
10 the dead OF the night. abstracting
al my property and perhaps murder
Ing me. I thought the dog had a very
cutthroat air about him" Now. I had
never had any such idea until that
moment for my host was a fat (all
Dutchmen are fat1. stupid looking fell
low, who ] don't believe had sense
enough 70 understand what a robbery
or murder meant. but somehow or
other whenever we have anything real
ly 10 annoy Us tand u certainly was
not pleasant 10 30 to bed in a strange
place without being able 20 fasten
sne's door we are sure TO aggrayate
1t by myriads OF chimeras OF our own
brain
30 on the present occasion, In the
midst OF a thousand disagreeable rev.
cries, some Of the most Wild absurdi-
ty. i jumped very gloomily into bed,
having first put out my candle, and
soon fell asleep. perfectly tired out
with my days riding.
How long | lay asleep don't know,
but suddenly awoke from a disagree
able dream OF cutthroats, ghosts and
long. winding passages In haunted
Inn. An indescribable feeling, such as
| never before experienced, hung upon
me. IL seemed AZ IL every nerve In my
body had a hundred spirits tickling IL,
and this was accompanied by 10 great
heat that, inwardly cursing mine
hosts sauerkraut and wondering how
the Dutchmen could endure such poi
son, / was forced 10 sit up IA bed to
cool myself. The whole OF the room
was profoundly dark, excepting at one
place, where the moonlight, falling
through crev,ce in the shutters, threw
a straight line OF about an inch or 30
thick upon the fioor-clear. sharp and
intensely brilliant against the dark.
ness. leave you 70 conceive my hor-
ror when, upon looking at this said
line of light. | saw there naked bu-
man toe-nothing more.
For the first instant | thought the
vision must be some effect OF moon
light, then that | was only half awake
and could not see distinctly. So rub
bed my eyes two or three times and
looked again. still there was the ac-
cursed thing-plaln. distinct, lmmova-
ble-marblelike In its hxedness and
rigidity, but in everything else horri-
bly, human.
l am not an easily frightened man.
No one who has travelled so much aud
seen SO much and been exposed 10 50
many dangers as | have should be,
but there was something so unusual
In the appearance OF this single toe
that for short time | could not think
what 10 do. so did nothing but stare
ut II in state OF utter bcwilderment.
At length, however, as the toe did
not vanish under my steady gaze,
thought | might as well change my
tactics, and remembering that all mid
night Invaders, be- they thieves, ghosts
or devils, dislike nothing SO much as a
good noise | shouted out In loud
voice.
who's thereg'
The toe Immediately disappeared In
the darkness
Almost simultaneously with my
words | leapSl out OF bed and rushed
toward the place where | had beheld
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 fear
full struggle ensued between me and
my unseen opponent; that every now
and then we were violently hurled to
the floor. from which we always rose
again In an instant. locked In dead
~ embrace; that we tuggcd aud strain
ed and pulled and pushed. I In the
convulsivc and frantic energy OF n
fight for life, he Gor by this time had
discovered that the intruder was hu.
man being actuated by some passion
OF which was ignorant: that we
whirled round and round and round.
cheek TO cheek and arm 10 arm. In
fierce contest. until the room appear
ed 20 whlz round with us. and that at
last dozen people (my fellow traveller
among them. reused. suppose. by our
repeated falls. came pouring into the
room with lights and showed me
struggling with man having nothing
on but shirt. whose long. tangled
hair aud wild. unsettled eyes told me
he was insane. And then. for the first
time. became aware that | had re-
ceived In the conflict several gashes
from n knife. which my opponent still
held in his hand.
To conclude my story In few words
0or dare say all OF you by this time
are getting very tired. II turned out
that my midnight visitor was q mad
man who was being conveyed 10 n lu
matte asylum az The Hngue and that
he and his keeper had been obliged 20
stop nt Delft on their way. The poor
fellow had contriyed during the night
a.. aueupa frar, hfa kaanor uhn had