The Washington herald., 1914-04-26


while Edwin holly took up his defense
Look here. Hare-Lip, you'believe in
Hare-Lip shook his head.
You believe in dead men walking
about. You never seen one dead man
walk about"
Il tell yor see 'em, last winter, when
| was wolf hunting with dad"
We'll. you always spit when you cross
running water Edwin challenged.
, That's to keep off bad luck" was
Hare-Lip's defense.
You believe in bad luck"
Sure"
An you amt never seen bad luck"
Edwin concluded triun1phantlv. You're
Just as bad as Granser and his germs
You believe in what you don't see. Go
on, GranSer"
Ha.e-Llp. crushed by this metaphysi-
cal defeat. remained silent. and the old
man went on. Often and often. though
ms narrative must not be clogged by
the details. was Granser's tale interrupt
ed while the BOYS suuabbled among
themselves. Also. among themselves
they kept up a constant. low-voiced ex-
change OF explanation and conjecture,
as they strove TO follow the old man
into his unknown and vanished world.
The Scarlet Death broke out in San
Francisco. The first death came on A
Monday morning. BY Thursday thcv
were dying like flies in Oakland and
San Francisco. They died everywhcre-
IN their beds. at their work. walking
along the street. 1t was on TUESDAY
that ! saw my fiRt death-NIiss Coll
bran, one of my students. sitting right
there before my eyes. in my lecture
room. noticed her face while talk
ing. 1t had suddenly turned scarlet.
ceased speaking and could only look
at her. Tor the first fear of the plague
was already on all OF us and we knew
that II had come The Young women
screamed and ran out OF the room. So
DID the young men run out. all but two.
Miss Collbran's commissions were very
mild and lasted less than a minute. One
OF the young men fetched her a glass OF
water She drank only little of il. and
cried out:
them. ''' ''''
Alter a minute she said, 4 have No
ieet. l am unaware that have any feet
And Sly knees are cold. | can scarcely
feel that | have knees.
She lay on the floor. a bundle OF
notebooks under her head. And We
could do nothing. The GOODNESS and the
nuinDneSs crept up past her hips to her
heart. and when 1t reached her heart
she was dead. In fifteen minutes. by the
clock-l timed It-she was dead, there.
IN my own classroom, dead And she
was very beautiful. strong. healthy
Young woman. And from the first sign
OF the plague to her death only fifteen
minutes elapsed. That will show Won
how swift was the Scarlet Death.
Yet IN those few minutes | remained
with the dying woman in NV classroom
the alarm had spread over the uniyer-
Slty: and the students. by thousands all
OF them. had deserted the lecture rooms
and laboratories. When | emerged ON
my way to make report to the presi-
dent OF the faculty. | found the uniyer-
slty deserted. Across the campus were
several stragglers hurrying for their
homes. Two Of them were running
President Hoag | found in his Office
all alone, looking very old and very gray
with multitude OF wrinkles in his face
that l had never seen before. Al The
SIGHT OF me. he pulled himself to his Zee.
and tottered away to the inner Office
banging the door after him and locking
IT, You see. he knew | had been en-
posed, and he was afraid He shouted
TO me through the door to 90 away.
shall never forget NV feelings as 7
walked down the silent corridors and
out across that deserted campus. I was
not afraid. | had been exposed, and
looked upon myself as already dead I,
was not that. but a feeling OF awful de-
preston that impressed me Evervr7inr
had stopped. 1t was like the end OF the
world to f1e-ny world. had beeD
born within sight and souno OF the uni
verSIty. 1t had been nv predestincd
career. My father had been nrofeS-
SOr there before me. and his father he
fore him For century and half had
this university. like a splendid machine.
been running steadily on. And now. in
an instant. ii had stopped Il was like
seeing the sacred flame die down on
some thrice sacred altar ! was shocked.
unutterably shocked.
When ] arrived home. nv housekeen-
er screamed as | entered and fled away.
And when ! rang. I found the house
maid had likewise fed. ! investigated.
In the kitchen | found the cook on the
point OF departure. But she screamed.
too. and in her haste dropped suitcase
OF her personal belongings and ran out
OF the house and across the grounds,
still screaming ! can hear her scream
TO this day. You see. we did not act in
this way when ordinary diseases smotc
MS. We were always calm over such
things. and sent for the doctors and
nurses. who knew Just what to do But
this was different. 1t struck so sudden
ly. and killed 50 swiftly. and never
missed stroke. When the scarlet rash
on persons face. that per-
son was marked by death. There was
never known case OF recovery.
Il was alone in my big house. As
] have told you often before. in those
days we could talk with one another
over wires or through the air The telc-
phone bell rang. and found my broth
er talking TO me. He told me that he
was not coming home for fear OF catch
ing the plague from me- and that he had
taken our two sisters to stop at Prof.
BacOnS home. He advised me 10 re-
main where | was. and wait to find ont
whether or not | had caught the plague
ITO all OF this agreed. staying in my
house and for the first time in in nv
life attempting to cook. And the plague
lid not come out on me. BY means Of
he telephone ! could talk with whomso-
ever | pleased and get the news. Also.
here were the warehouses. Murder and