The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1920-09-16

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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 q car
for the man and his helper.
The day was pleasant. and for the
sake Of the drive l went with the
driver. The plumber was a fat man
Of the comic type. I thought he must
be the embodiment of all the plumbers
jokes. They seemed to have created
him he was the product of the comics.
I eve asked him if he were sure he
had all his tools. I thought he would
be sure to send us back for a 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 zane to the pool, and the
plumber-named Harkins-chuckled.
Thus far, whenever he or something
else amused him, he 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 he remem-
bered by me-" he said. II have been
out here only once since the night I
made a bet l 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.
1 don't do it steady, but once in a while
l 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.
1--WE 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 e. was within a
hundred miles of Hartley. That's
where I made a fool of myself. I've
got to admit that's where l made q
fool of myself.
n bet five dollars 1 would sit an
hour on the bank at this place. I for
got all about the dogs, or I'd not have
made the bet. Anyway, they didn't
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
it. l 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. Il had a couple of bottles and
some cheese and crackers.
Il wasn't afraid of that place. I'm
not afraid Of any place unless I get
to thinking about this one. It was
along in October. A hoot-owl was
somewhere back of me. and there was
a w~hippoorwill up toward the house.
I'm used to hoot-owls and whip
poorwills, but I 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 that
things were reaching for you out of
the dark. I'd have given ten dollars to
quit, but I got so that I didn't want to
move. I felt safer sitting still.
"Then I began to hear things that I
don't suppose were making q 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
hear that. I guess a ferret had got a
rabbit. You know how a rabbit cries
like a baby.
II was sitting in the open, and l
thought I'd feel better If I got my back
up against something; So I crawled
owe to some bushes and sat down be-
hind them.
Maybe 1 had been there a half an
hour, feeling scary and uncomfortable,
when l heard a regular yell. There
wasn't any fooling about that. 1t
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
tlieli HNIT SlduuluS On enu. l never
knew what it really meant before, but
my hair just stood right up. I felt
like some n was trying to scalp me,
and l was goosefesh all over.
ut 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 a man. He looked
like one. but you had a feeling that he
wasn't one.
II don't want ever to be so scared
again. I didn't know who had yelled,
but I thought this man had, and I
didn't think he was a man. I thought
he was a ghost. I'm not saying what
I think now, but if 1 had to, I'd say
that l saw the ghost of this place
and anybody that wants to laugh can
laugh. He can come down here at
night and get cured of laughing.
II couldn't o for a while. The
man ctrO1 stiN Ionpipr n ~ b;o o.-.