The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-26

occupied. nervous and lost my appe-
tite NV friends and grew
anxious about my nclsposailon I
dared not hint al the cause Tor fear
a commission OF 1unacy suggested for
me. and vet I suffered all the more
from this secrecy.
AS a bachelor, I had often con-
deuined my teLnerity in sleeping alone
IL such a large house. but having oeen
called out by professional visits at ali
hours OF the night, n in all sorts OF
lonely and haunted places, ! felt that
every sense Of fear had been driven
out Of me-but TO continue our story.
the strange noises, / have tried to
describe to YOU, would sometimes
seem all ever the house at the same
time, and some nights when the fire
in my bed chamber crate burned low,
and there were ftful Pickering lights
upon the ceiling and furniture, ]
thought I could hear the wall OF sup
piication and distress up my chimney,
and On other nights the voice Of a
woman praying in the room below me,
audible yet underlined, and when l
heard that, I would shudder, for it
eemed as if some sorrow or misfor-
tune would invariably come TO me in
a few days.
When my powers Of endurance
would be utterly taxed by this fend-
ish diabolicai thing, I would become
afmost hysterical. Swayed between
fear and emotion / would rise up sud-
cenly in bed, the goose-fiesh would
creep out all over my body, I would
rub my burning eyes and drag out my
hair by the roots, which I noticed
was beginning to silver a little at the
temples, more and more, as each
weary anxious week dragged itself
slowly along, and not until / would
get up and walk to the window, and
press my hot brow against the cool
pane, or battle my throbbing temples
III cold water, could I succeed in
snatching a few hours sleep before
the dawn.
Finally l began to miss several
articles Of clothing from my ward
robe, blankets disappeared and food
was taken some nights from the re-
f~rigerator. / rebuked my and
subsequently discharged them, to find
thai things disappeared just as m
~teriously when the new ones arrived.
| watched closely and / knew thai
they We're not taking them. Stupefied,
bewildered, I felt that some myster-
louS secret human agency was active
in my house, which did not belong to
the neither world. AS soon as / ar
rived at this conclusion / felt better,
ate better and slept some nights with
out waking at all; nevertheless I was
just As far from the solution of the
mystery. One lay when I was quietly
smoking in my garden and thinking
the matter over ia a sane, logical
naanner it occurred to me suddenly to
employ a detective, SO I Immediately
t~elegraphed to New York for two Of
the best. They arrived promptly,
studied, theorized-dazed, confused,
COMPOUNDED. We would meet in my
Office every day after dinner and plan
a campaign for the coming night, to
be again outwitted as before, for the
noise would invariably disappear
long before any Investigation could be
made foe no one could tell exactly
where the noise originated.
Finally it was decided thai we
should all go on watch the same
night, one detective on the lower floor,
one outside behind the big elm. while
I was to remain in my room as
usual.
The moments dragged themselves
anxiously along as / kept that lonely
vigil in my room; every sound in the
house as accentuated. blush lights
flashed before my eyes. AT last the
old hall clock slowly chimed the hour
Of eleven, and it seemed that every
piece Of furniture in the house caught
up the sound and echoed back
Eleyeni Eleven! Eleven! We had
aot long to wait; presently the mys-
terious sound began in the attic as
usual, this time heavily, as If a
murderer was dragging his victim by
/ the throat hurriedly to a place of con-
| cealment-now it was inside the wall
now upon the housetop. My hair
| stood on ends, my breath came quick
ly, my teeth Chartered / felt that a
| crisis was imminent. and yet the
| dread Of having this mystery revealed
| filed me with an indescribab1e horror.
l was faint and sick at heart. In a
moment more three pistol shots were
| fired in rapid succession from the out
side, followed by a violent struggle,
and sharp cries for help. 1 rushed
out of door with all haste-and
Whist do you suppose we found "A
man dressed in my clothes