The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-11

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besides hams and smoked beef. broiled
shad and roasted chicken; bowls of milk
and cream and the teapot sending up its
incense of steam Tt would take a vol
ume just to mention the substantial deli
cacies which met the ravenous eyes OF
Iehabod as he entered the house and set
to work to fill that Unsuitable and UNTIL
able NAV of his. Verify his lines had
fallen in pleasant placesl
The face of old Baltus Van Tassel, as
he moved about among his guests, was as
round and jolly as a harvest moon, and
now the sound of music from the COM
mon room, or hall, summoned to the
dance Ichabod prided himself upon his
dancing as much as upon his musical
ability, and not St. vitus himself could
have gyrated with more jerks and jumps
! and writings than did the schoolmaster
when he entered the lists of Terpsichore.
| Katrina, the lady of his heart, was Icha-
bod's partner in the dance, and Brom
Bones, sadly smitten by jealousy. sat
brooding by himself in a corner. When
the dance was ended Ichabod stolled over
where a knot Of grave men were dis
| cussing, at one end of the piazza. the
good old times and telling long winded
stories about the late war-that war
waged by King George.
Just enough time had elapsed since the
struggle to enable the narrators to dress
up their tales In comfortable and attrac-
tive garb and as the country where they
now sat in peace and abundance had been
most of the time between the lines and
harried by both sides, there was enough
for them to talk about drawn from funds
of more or less accurate personal remem-
brance. OF course, the legend of the
Headless Horseman Of Sleepy Hollow
came up for discussion, and, embellished
as 1t was with authentic accounts of his
having been encountered by well-known
people only now a short time dead, the
story was received with much faith
as If it had been written in the ordi-
nances of the ssleotmen. Brom Bones.
who had strolled over also and was lis
tening to the story of the Headless
Horseman. declared that he had met him
himself; in fact, had raced with him for
a bowl of punch and won. But he did
not get the punch, for when the Headless
Hessian saw that Daredevil was outstrip-
ping his own steed he bolted at the
church bridge and vanished In a flame
! of fire. Ichadbod, ON his part, told of
many of the marvels set forth by his
favorite author. Cotton Mather, and re-
lated several startling and ghostly ad-
ventures which had happened to himself
In the state of Connecticut.
When the revels finally broke up and
. ba For IN hot, faar
Ichabod mounted his horse, prepared to
see visions and dream dreams all the way
home He only fingered behind the rest
for a moment to have few words with
Katrina, convinced that he was on the
high road to success What the coquette
said to him nobody knows even unto this
day. But as he issued forth from the
interview with rather a desolate and
chop-fallen air probably he had not ad-
vanced as far toward the capture of
the fortress as he had imagined 1t was
at the very witching hour of night that
Ichabod pursued his way toward the
house of Han Van Ripper along the side
of those great hills which here rise above
the Hudson In the dead hush of mid
night he could hear the bark of a watch
dog coming family from the further side
of the river, and now and then some
cock, accidentally awakened, or troubled
in his conscience would emit long
drawn, ghostiy sort of crow from some
farm concealed in the night and the
woods.
,, 1t was not a cheerful time nor a cheer
full place for Ichabod. All the stories OF
ghosts and COLLINS which he had heard
that afternoon came rushing back upon
him and affected his nerves. He had never
felt so lonely and so dismla- Moreover,
he was now approaching the very place
where many of the scenes of the ghost
stories had been laid. To summon up his
vanished courage Ichabod began to
whistle. He thought his whistle was an
swered, and stopped short in terror. A
great tree, guarded and knotted and
lightning riven, stood before him. He
heard what. he thought was a groan and
his teeth chartered in his fear. But the
sound was only that of two limbs rubbed
together by the wind of night. He started
up his steed and passed the tree in
safety, but new terrors lay before him.
ABOUT TWO nuHuTeu ydIuS pcyohu lhc Tue
a small brook crossed the road under a
little bridge. On either side the bridge
was Swallowed by trees so that the pas
sage was wrapped In the deepest gloom.
Calling up all his resolution. Ichabod
gave sundry kicks to his horses sides
and attempted to dash briskly across the
pass of fear. But old Gunpowder SHE'D
to one side and ran into the fence. When
with whip and heel, Ichabod tried to
urge him toward the bridge the perverse
animal bolted to the other side of the
road and plunged into a thicket of BRAN
bles and alders. When the frightened
schoolmaster had finally got the horse
headed for the middle of the bridge Gun
powder stopped short with such a sud
denness as amsot threw Ichabod over
his head At the same minute there
came the sound of plashy tramp in the
marsh at one side of the bridge, and in
the dark shadow Ichabod beheld some
thing huge, misshapen, black and tower
ing. 1t stirred not, but seemed gathered
in the gloom like some giant creature
ready to spring. The hair of the alright
ed pedagogue stood on end with terror
In stammering accents he demanded:
"W-h-oo are your" Though he repeated
/ his demand there was no answer
Shutting his eyes and cudgeling the
| sides of Gunpowder, Ichabod broke forth