Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1919-11-11
The Horror in
the Car


leaned against the wall or the car ana
sighed contentedly. / pinched myself
to see II 1t was meme In car OF
bananas. It was me, and there were
the bananas. sack upon sack Of them,
piled three-fourths Of the way to the
ceiling.
1t was kind OF close quarters for
solid comfort, but as long as / could
eat-eat beautifully, luxuriously, I'M
stintedly. / sure didn't have any kick
coming. Then / thought of the seal
clerk with the spectacles. and laughed
as reflected how I'd crawled under
the car from the of side, with him not
ten feet away. Well. had beat him
to 1t. / was sealed In. and hoboing
had Its soft spots after all.
Everything was so comfortable that
/ began to cast around for objections.
found one. 1t was cold In that car,
darned cold. and / proceeded to turn
up my coat collar and snuggle cozily
between two sacks. ] must have laid
there at least three minutes before 1t
occurred to me that was hungry.
Think Of 1t, three whole minutes In
car of bananas, and not realize
you're hungry Well. anyhow, l got
my knife to work and ripped open a
sack in fifty. was pirate all right.
Who wouldn't have been a pirate?
1t was hours later. and I'd trans
ferred my attention to another bunch.
No, hadn't finished the first sack
it was mostly green, but I'd made a
pretty good-sized aperture In the sec
ond when my knife slipped from my
fingers.
/ fished around In my pockets and
dug up match. 1t was the last match
/ had. lit 1t with some reluctance and
held 1t far down, but the knife had
clean vanished.
AS / was transferring the burnt end
to my left hand to ,prolong it's life.
happened to glance at the rent had
made in the gunny sack. and, as I did
so, / sat bolt upright. nearly butting
hole through the roof. There-not two
feet from my face was big, hideous,
hairy creature, about the size of a sill
yer dollar.
For second sat staring at It,
transfxed. The match scared my fin
gers, flickered, and went out, and then
suddenly ! came to my senses and be-
gan to crawl. fed, terror-stricken.
to the doors and threw my weight
against them. beat and pounded them
frantically. ! bumped and tore around
over those sacks like a man bereft of
reason, and then. as the full realiza-
ton of my position forced itself upon
me, screamed at the top of my voice
l thought Of all the stories / had
heard and read of tarantulas, and as
they stood out wildly, every miserable,
soul-racking detail of them, was wild
with horror. / didn't have a chance
against that thing there in the dark. It
might even now be making its way
stealthily toward me.
pulled myself together and rolled
over into corner, weak and SILVER
ing. Then the thought that there might
be others-others right where / was
lying, brought me to my knees again
with a groan Of despair. There must
be others There were others! A cold
sweat stood out on my body, and l
knelt there bereft Of every atom Of
manhood, quaking and covering In the.
dark.
Through the vortex of my emotions
there came suddenly a new impression
the sensation as Of something crawl
ing. 1t was nothing definite, but 1t
was intensely real Something was
crawling Crawling slowly and me-
thodically up my left leg No, it was
my right leg! Again it was my left
leg! l started to reach for 1t, then
suddenly stopped, my arm poised rig
idly. II / did reach-it! touched it, it
would sting-sting Quickerl
sat there in an agony of suspense,
waiting for it to strike. Waiting
waiting-waiting. for an eternity. but
1t didn't strike! 1t had even ceased
crawling.
chuckled softly, then l laughed. l
was going insane. reached down sud
denly and clapped my hand over the
spot where the crawling had ceased,
but there was nothing. / ran my hand
over my entire body, still there was
nothing.
l felt sick and faint and leaned
YEARLY against the car wall. AS l did
so, my face touched something cold
cold and clammy and soft. started
back screaming, then | laughed again
4 was insane-I had leaned against
my own hand.
To assure myself of this. for was
sure Of nothing, l ran my palm SLOWLY
along the splintered surface of the
wall and then with a howl of terror |
rolled over on the sacks.
| had touched something hairy
something soft-something- / sat up
with an impelling desire to reach out
again. could stand the torture no
longer. l wanted to know where |
stood. I wanted fighting chance.
had suddenly lost all sense of fear.
My nerves were strung to the snap
ping point. / CROPPED my hand along
the wall, up and down and sideways.
There was nothing-nothing
1t was another prank Of the magma
tion-it was My fingers frightened !
My blood seemed TO congeall l felt
it had hold of it 1t gave easily
under my fingers! Why didn't it
sting? Why didn't it even hissg l
couldn't let go-I was riyeted to the
spot