The Pulaskian., 1920-09-16
ingly. MS charm of manner never
seemed more positive and active.
"Hello, doctorl" he said. 81 needed
company and just your company. If
you weul;s only drink wine |"

f1SfiO. UOCLOTt lie Sdlu. i Ueeue1
company and just your company. If
you weula only drink winel"
a broken pipe in the laundry made
1t necessary to call a plumber from
Hartley, and to get quick service. it
was agreed that we should send car
for the man and mis- helper.
The day was pleasant and for the
sake of the drive I went with the
driver The plumber was n fat Elan
of the comic type. | thought he must
be the embodiment of all the plumbers
Jokes. They seemed to have created
him he was the product of tine comics.
/ even asked him if he were sure he
had all his tools. thought he would
be sure to send us back for Il wrench.
He was amiable. laughed at anything
/. or nothing and was saved from being
a nuisance only by an Astounding ami
NAL optimism which was infectious.
Driving through the Hartley house
grounds, we came to the pool and the
| plumber-named Harkins-ehuckled
! Thus far, whenever he or something
else amused him, ne had laughed. Now
he chuckled as If in recollection of an
/ experience richer or deeper than any
he had been talking of.
'That place is going TO be remem-
! bered by me-" he said. 81 have been
| out here only once since the night
made bet I was not afraid to sit on
the bank here for an hour They've
got a good many stories of this place
in town. l had been drinking a little.
I don't do it steady. but once in a while
Il get out. You've got to do it to keep
the house going happy Give the wife
something to talk about. My wife
would rather scold me than eat, and
She loves her food
I'VE were at the White Pigeon. hav-
ing a good time but thinking of going
home, when some one started on this
Hartley house story. Everybody had
something to say, and I said that there
was no ghost that could scare me, at
least no ghost that ever was within a
hundred miles of Hartley. That's
where I made fool of myself I've
got to admit that's where l made a
fool of myself.
ST bet five dollars I would sit an
hour on the bank at this place. ! for
got all about the dogs. or I'd not have
made the bet. Anyway, they didn't
i bother me. We got an automobile and
drove out here. The fellows left me
/ at the pool and went a mile back.
They were going to take my word for
1T. I was to stay an hour and then
start walking back. At the end of an
hour they would start toward me and
pick me up. They had beer and sand
witches. had a couple of bottles and
some cheese and crackers.
II wasn't afraid of that place. I'm
not afraid of any place unless / get
TO thanking about this one. It was
along in October. A hoot-owl was
Somewhere back of me, and there was
whippoorwill up toward the house.
I'm used to hoot-owls and whip
poorwii1s. but hadn't drunk more
than half a bottle of beer before even
| these things began to sound different.
1.-THE current of the river kept knock
ing at the big rock at the up end of
the pool, and you began to think thar
things were reaching for you out of
the dark. I'd have given ten dollars to
| quit, but got so that didn't want to
move. l felt safer sitting still.
'"Then l began TO hear things that /
don't suppose We're making a noise at
/ all 1t may be it was rabbits in the
bush. I nearly died when 1 heard a
cry about fifty feet back of me- I did
he8r that. guess a ferret had got
rabbit You know how rabbit cries
-liEe baby.
81 was sitting in the open, and ]
thought I'd feel better if / got my back
up against something. So I crawled
over to some bushes and SAT down be-
hind theRa
Maybe / had been there a half an
hour feeling scary and uncomfortable.
when I heard regular yell. There
wasn't any fooling about that. It
sounded like some one being hurt but
Yelling not SO much because of the
hurt as because he was mad
you've heard fellows talking about
their hair standing on end. never
knew what it really meant before, but
my hair just stood right up. l felt
like some one was trying TO scalp me,
and was goosefesh all over.
"It had been dark on account of
clouds. but just then the moon came
out and lighted up the place. There
was a man standing on the edge of the
pool just about where I had been sit
ting. He was leaning with both hands
on a cane and standing perfectly still.
He didn't seem like man. He looked
like one, but you had feeling that he
wasn't one.
81 don't want ever to be so scared
again. / didn't know who had yelled,
but | thought this man had, and
didn't think he was a man. thought
he was a ghost. I'm not saying what
7 tbinly now h11t If 7 had m I'd COW