Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-14
The Grave


pie told had happened like this. aud he
felt the cords cutting like thin fire into
his wrists and ankles as h" lay wait -
ing for the end that something seemed
to tell him was purposed and inrv
liable and not likely to be long delayed.
A thought came to him of Esme wait
ing in the village where ne had left
her, waiting for his return who would
never come again. He found himself
wondering what she would think. Would
she preserve her~trust IN him. or would
doubts aud suspicious grow in her mind
till she came to believe that he had de
serted her? Would she ever learn the
z truth? lie thought not he had an idea
that whatever was going to be done
would be well hidden.
Even as he lay helpless in his bonds
he writhed to think how easily he had
been duped, how childIshly he had
walked into the trap laid for him. II
had been easy enough to learn his name
though apparently Keith had been
taken for his surname. not for his first
name and the mere whispering it
through the trees in the dark had been
enough to lure him to the spot where
his unknown and hideous enemy lurkcd
in hiding-waitiug. literally. to fall
upon him unawares. Why. he had
come as simply and easily as to the
nursery rhyme of "Dilly. dilly. duck.
come and be killed" Why had no sus-
In ln
let his nerves be so easily played on:
Why had he yielded so foolishly to a
babyish awe and sense of wonder that
a ten year old child ought to have been
proof against:
Madly, furiously. wildly. he writhed
and struggled as he lay upon the
ground, striving to free himself from
the tightly drawn cords that held him
so securely. But his efforts were use
less, and as he struggled there came
to his ears faint. new sound that
was like nothing he had ever heard be-
fore, but that he knew somehow was
a horrid and disgusting laughter.
''Who are you?' he said, loudly and
abruptly.
There was no answer. but beam OF
from an electric torch or from a dark
lantern of which the slide had been
drawn back suddenly. 1t showed him
nothing. for it shone upon him from
behind but he understood that his cap
Tor was watching him, gloating over his
helplessness, and it seemed to him a
fearful thing that he had to lie there
in that bright beam of light while his
enemy remained hidden in the gloom
and darkness around.
''who are you?' he said again.
There was still no answer. but he
heard fresh sounds, sounds that for
some time he could not identify. His
captor was certainly working hard. and
presently it dawned on Keith that he
was digging, digging very hard and fast
in the soft mold near by. He asked
himself curiously what reason his cap
tor could be digging at such an hour in
such a place? Why or what:
and the answer came into his mind very
suddenly that what was being dug at
this time and place was a grave.
He had still been struggling, more
quietly but very strenuOusly. to free
himself from his bonds that all his eff
forts seemed only to draw tighter. but
now he ceased all at once and lay still,
and he felt cold sweat come upon his
body from his head to his feet
For he was afraid, desperately afraid.
with sensuous and shrinking fear such
as little child may know in presence of
vague but awful terrors.
He tried to beat this terror down,
tn Oh
doubt now, it was the sound of digging
chat he heard and he called out sharply:
"You you there.
No answer came, nor was there any
pause in the digging that went on very
vigorously and quickly. He lay and lis
tened and from behind him the ray Of
light still shone upon him and picked
him out so that he made the center Of
a brilliant patch of light in the midst
of that dark wood, and yet could see
nothing himself save shadows around
and the stars shining dimly overhead.
At last the sound of the digging
ceased, and he supposed that the work
was complete. His thoughts were be
ginning to wander little, and he felt
somewhat dazed, and still the thought
worried him whether the other people
who were said to have vanished in this
j wood had been through the same ex
perience and died in the same way. If
so, he thought. he was sorry for them.
There was faint click aud the light
In which he lay vanished suddenly, so
that again all was very dark. lie be
came aware OF slow shuffling sound
ms though some one or something that
did not walk with ease was coming
near. He heard a scream. very loud
and terrible aud shrilI, and he did not
know who had uttered that dreadful cry
till he felt an enormous hand, re-
pufsive and hairy, press hard upon his
mouth.
THAT wns me, screaming like a
girl. he thought II must buck up; a
fellow oughtn't to be a coward
The enormous hand that had pressed
upen his mouth was withdrawn aud be
gan 10 grope aud feel about .ajm as he
lay. and when II touched his throat
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