Farmers' champion. (Elgin, Okla.) 1912-1922, 1912-11-28
CHAPTE II.
RIne shcts echo In the Wooes

Rife Shcts echo In the Woots.
OF conveying even a ti'he OF tho hor-
Por ] experienced at Cameron's dis.
closure am nigh hopeless. The more
We discussed the occurrence the less
susceptible II seemed o. explanation
And what is so terrifying as the in
applicable. or so dreadful as the In
tangible? Here. apparently. was an
enemy OF calm and cunning malignity
who chose TO manifest hts power in
manner almost ludicrously puerile--
save as II pointed with significant fin
ger to some dire and inevitable sequel
yet with such crafty secrecy as com
pietely to mystify and dismay.
Cameron showed me the mutilated
portrait. He had taken il down al.
most Immediately, and had hidden
away in closet OF tho hall behind
array Of raincoats. he cutting haL
been done, evidently yith an exceed.
ingly keen blade, and very dexterous-
ly done. But that Il should have been
accomplished in twelve minutes. while
Cameron sat in the room. not fifteen
feet distant. was beyond onr compre-
hension. Absorption in his book was
the nearest we came 10 a solution, and
that was scarcely tenable. For here
was the crowded top OF TO book.
shelves. To cut the canvas, ;he van.
dal must either have stood mon that
or have reared ladder There was
not room for the foot OF n child on the
shelf-top; and as for the ladder, It was
unthinkable. How could ladder have
been carried in and out without Cam
eron being conscious OF &? From
every possible angle we viewed the in
cideDt. making every conceivable con-
cession. and no halfway plaucit'e an
swer to the riddle presented itself
And though our common.scuse 10 ] us
that the time Of miracles was long
past. that no Gyees' ring nor Abe
rich's cloak survived to this day to
make invisible their wearers. there
persisted. nevertheless. chill. urCan-
ny sense of the supernatural, quite
evident to me In Camoron's hushed
voice and furtive manner, and in my
own unwonted nervous disuuiotude.
We sat very late. wished. II pos
sible. to learn II at an! lime in my
friends life he had done aught to en-.
gender an onmity to which these
strange developments could be traced
whether, for instance. In the not
blood OF his youth in SC c,s far land he
had provoked the vongeau Of one
whose humor II is nevt to forget AS
We talked came TO know Cameron
better than had ever known him be.
fore. He barred TO me much OF his
early career. he gave NE a clearer
view OF his temp, ramental qualities /.
and yet could not but feel that he
left The vital point untouched. that be-
meath his seeming frank:ess there lay
hidden, shielded. some one episode,
perhaps. which might let the light in
upon our dark. ess. For my question
was evaded rather than an 'wered
Presently, we went back to the let.
ters and dissected them, colGly and
critically. sentence by sentence, and
while the weird influence which they
had exerted upon me at the first read.
Ing increased stimulated possibly by
the incident Of the portrait, still we
reached a certain practical. conf mon.
sense view as 10 their osigin; for We
came to see IN them what We be.
lieyed TO be the hard OF a religious
fanatic. Certain expressions. We con
cluded. were quotations II they were
not Biblical, they were certainly OF
sacred genesis. And the discovery
was not reassuring. II lent, indeed,
IN added prick 10 the perturbation we
already experienced
Nor did the absence OF a specified
date e the second promised demon
otra ioh Of power tend 10 relieve our
uneasinoss In this silence We found
the acme Of cunning cruelty Any day
al any hour. some other mysiify Ing
soul.torturing incident was liable to
= occur.
tried TO argue that the seventh day