The daily Alaskan., 1915-08-13
ls''s- fI''5 'Iltl' EdmOndS' Patient
A Tale of a Haunted
 House.
By CLARISSA MAcKIR

Dr EumOnuS' man, SoSlAn, rOuseQ himself from slumbeF on the office sofa and reached apprehensively for the receiver.
 'T don't like techin' telephones no ways when de lIghtnIng's kyooting around" muttered Josiah Hello, dar!" he called tlmidlT, @Ya-aS. Bah, dis am de doctOr's-ya-as. sah. Hen come right away"
 Josiah hung up the receiver and went up to the doctors bedroom on the sec ond floor. The doctor came out-a tall. 1.-the, red bearded man, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
 What is 1t, JosiahT' he yawned "Nfr. Dixon got another bad spenY'
 Joslah's eyes rolled affrightedly.
 ''No, sah; 1t was a call from de Ged- ney place."
 "Gedney place! You've made a mis- take. It's been unoccupled for years"
 Oats what he said Tell de doctor he's needed at once at de Gedney place on de Hollow road"
 "Humphg' muttered the physician. Well, you better go out and harness Daisy and get out my raincoat"
 It was q dreary ride to the Gedney place.
 Josiah, huddled in one corner of the buggy, was shaking with fear of the approaching ordeal pr. Edmonds was puzzllng over the strange summons. To his knowledge the Gedney place had been unoccupled for the past ten years. AS a family the Gedneys had died out, all save one son, the black sheep of his generation William Ged- ney was serving q life sentence in pris- on, convicted of killing a man in a quarrel. The plea was self defense, and Gedney had escaped with his life.
 The village people had gossiped ever since the last funeral at the place ten years ago. It was said that the spirit of the murdered man, Tom Collinsr haunted the rooms of the fine old man. sion on the Hollow road. Lights had flckered there at midnight, and men struggling home between midnight and dawn had declared that a mans dim form restlessly paced the pine grove that was growing up around the neg lected house. But little credence was given to such tales.
 "Here we am, doctor" quayered Jo- siah I'll jest git out and open de gate"
 The long unused gate creaked open, and the doctcr turned into 1t, trusting more to Daisy's instinct than to any thing he could sec. Josiah did not re- turn to the buggy. He tramped be- side the doctor, mutterlng charms un' der his breath.
 They were in the protection of the front porch now. Dr. Edmonds brought out his electric torch and found the doorbelL He pulled It viz orously, and a resonant peal rang through the house.
 There was no answer
 Again and again the doctor rang, and at last he impatIently turned the door knob. To his amazement 1t responded to his pressure.
 The door was unlocked!
 They entered complete darkness.
 "Hello, therep' shouted the doctor, standing at the foot of the great stair case that wound up into darkness. Anybody here?'
 In the silence that followed they dis tinctly heard the distant striking of the town clock in the valley below.
 It struck the hour of midnight, and on the heels of the last stroke there came a sound in the Gedney house
 It was a cry, q moaning cry, that sent a shudder through the doctors strong frame.
 Josiah almost sank to the hooE
 "De ghos'w he gibbered.
 Dr. Edmonds recovered his nerve, poked Josiah in the ribs with the au- tomatic pistol he always carried at night and brought the darky to his senses.
 Some one is upstairs" he said stern ly. Some one who is hurt and needs me. Understand Take my bag and follow me. If you try to run away, re- member, I'm a dead shotr'
 Josiah mutely fell into step behind the doctor as they mounted the stairs. He would have been more terrified than ever if he had remotely guessed why the doctor had handed him the medicine case. It was that both his own hands might be free to grapple with any danger that menaced them in the deserted house.
 The cry had come down from the upper regions of the house. They searched the second floor and found It untenanted save by spiders and scut- ting mice. Here, as in the lower rooms, tho furniture was covered with dust.
 Now the moaning cry was repeated. It came from the third story under the mansard roof.
 They reached the narrow upper hallr went down its carpeted length to the southwest chamber. The door was ajar. The doctor pushed it open and raked 1t with the light of his torch.