The Marietta journal and courier., 1918-02-15

beaclothes and TO cover himself COM
pletely, as far as the top of his head,
for the old man was but one OF the
monsters that threatened.
Burglars
Burglars were creeping through the
halls upstairs and downstairs; the
air of the whole house became MUIR
murous with the whispers and rust
lings.
Penrod, still not moving his head,
pulled the AK and the camphor bottle
beneath the sheet; slid the gun off the
covepIet, and pushed it as far under
the bed as he could. Burglars might
be more merciful If they believed him
but little lonely sleeping child In
tending no resistance.
He gulped lamentably, and a poig-
nant bitterness began to form no in
considerable part of his condition.
What kind of parents were they Che
asked himself) who could go blithely
off and leave little lonely child TO
be found by burglars-and other
things-in a great, horrible, hollow,
empty house? Probably his father and
mother were somewhere with whole
crowd of people. in brightly lighted
! rooms: no doubt at this very mo-
ment they were both talking and
laughing.
Laughing!
His indignation extended to cover
the cases of his nineteen-year-old
sister Margaret, and of Della, the
| cook, and Katie, the housemaid Most
| likely all three of these marble hearts
were also somewhere, talking and
laughing
Big, strong, old grown people
eyery one of them--well, maybe they
would be sorry tomorrow ! Besides,
he would get even with them-if he
lived.
He was making up his mind in what
manner a general revenge should be
accomplished upon the household
when the handle Of his door clicked
family, and yet distinctly; was softly
turned, and the door opened a little
way.
Penrod's heart did not stop, but his
breath did. He lay motionless.
The door was closed again, gently.
Then heart and breath both bound
ed, There was no doubt about 1T;
something had certainly opened his
door-and had looked at him. He had
felt It.
It was too much for closed eyes
Penrose lifted himself on his elbow
and stared whirlngly about him until
! his gaze became fixed in utter hor-
ror upon the threshold of the door. A
thread of light gimmered wanly along
| that threshold.
Shaking to the verge of spasms Pen
rod gathered his weapons again.
Then the light disappeared, and
there was darkness-and silence, and
silence and silence!
And whatever the color of the CLEAN
| beneath the door, the thread that re-
mained upon the fixed retina of Pen
rods eve, after the actual light had
gone, was green.
Now. indeed, out of the darkness
over the .frenzied boy did Chimera
peer and monster hover! The green
thread broke and twisted into shapes,
bodiless. faceless eyes came closer and
closer and closer, while animals
breathed hot upon his cheek.
The silence grew tenser with noises
lust about to burst forth; the DARK
ness became charged with unthinkaDle
visions just ready to make themselves
visible; raw heads and bloody bones,
blenching phantasm and ravening
vampire, bugbear, bugaboo, mummy
and nightmare, CHASTITY thing that had
ever got into Penrod's head was issued
forth and now hung over him.
And outside the door were the DUR
glars. There were burglars rampaglng
all through the house by this time, In
~~.e~~N>~-"~o-"-N"o-N-
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