The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-23
"GALLOPS"
II SWAMP FREAK
BY LEM w. WELL.

and / noticed NAT lie udu
way of swinging his arms around MS
ho6v He said further that he never
wanted to eat, just ate two or three
times a week to please his mother. L
aseertained from Tom and his wife
that this was true.
Then he informed me that there
we're people all about that no one
could see, that they were so close to
him sometimes that he had spoken
to them, but they would not answer.
7 thought his mind was wandering.
He OWNED my thoughts and smiled as
he said: NO. I am not crazy. me
men and children are up in the air. [
could see them if I had no hands n
feet"
Before I left, Gallops, in order to
amuse me leaped on top Of his ather's
ca bin, a height of about eighteen feet,
and then f1oated gently to the ground.
A few days after I went to Lake
Waccamaw to see an old friend, a
doctor, who had come south from
New Jersey to spend the winter. DR..
Rayfeld was much learned, had been
around the world. and for some rea-
son that l could never explain [ a
associated him with the occult I
told him of my strange find. and
though he listened attentively to my
story relative to the SWamp freak, he
smiled throughout the narrative with
derision depicted on his face: still he
agreed to accompany me to see Gal
lops, and two days after We turned
up at GaIvin's cabin.
The doctor examined the boys
pulse and located them at one nun
dred and thirty. His respiration was
normal, but he seemed puzzled at the
degree Of his temperature. He asked
Tom concerning the medicine the child
had taken when an infant. Tom
h9 ndnH him tha hottie which had not
been filled for a long time. Accord
ing to Toms statement for a period
of Jour years the bottle, an eight
ounce size, had been refilled once
every two weeks from an original
prescription from a Wilmington doc
tor.
DR.. Rayfeld smelled the bottle,
looked at the label and grunted. He
took his pencil and made a hasty cal
culation of the amount of the stuff
the boy had probably taken.
After leaving the cabin l asked the
doctor If he understood the case. He
replied hat the medicine the boy had
taken was a simple iron tonic n
gallons Of it had been poured into the
fevered body of Gallops and a living
hydrogen gas plant was the result
He then launched into a scientific dis
course, first explaining to me how
hydrogen gas was produced by steam
flowing over iron filings and wound
up by showing the relationship Of the
various gases to animal matter. AS
to Gallops' ability as a mind reader,
the doctor was thoroughly convinced,
having given him a test while in his
presence, and was mystified concern
ing his power to ascertain the pres
ence Of unseen spirits. The doctor
concluded his analysis Of the case by
saying that the boy had no traces of
idiocy, and that he was truthful. The
next morning DR.. RayfeLd returned to
traps, but they no longer interested
me. I would sit thinking for hours
without leaving my seat The strange
creature seemed to draw me like a
magnet, and at the end Of another
week I was at Tom Galvin's door.
Toms wife was in tears and Tom,
greatly ag1tated, explained how Gal
lops now only weighed ten pounds and
that he refused to eat Said Tom:
III lint etc nuthin in twelve days
an is all the time ta1kin to pussons
he can't see, an Of cose you know
what that He is goin to die"
n the oor man broke down and
sobbed violently. Gallops stood a few
feet from his father while the latter
was talking. He locke at Tom with
a mixture Of pity and disgust. I
more transparent than usual and I
never saw q form more symmetrical
Any one not knowing would still have
guessed his weight at a hundred
pounds or perhaps a little over. His
large eyes shown with intelligence and
In unusual brilliancy mingled with a
kind of animal cu%nningness thai
caused me to shiver as I walked away.
| had not gone over a hundred
yards when a thought struck me that
made me stop as suddenly as if I had
been hit. l sat down on a log hid
den by a cluster Of thick gall berry
bushes and turned the proposition
over in my mind.
I was poor; had just completed a
ours at college that had Slapped all