Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-27
THE MYSTERY
OF 3 GHOSTS
IN The WOODS
Lonely Tourist Victim Of
Cruel Horse Play By
Dame Nature

It was dusk as lone motorist
drew to the side of the road in pine
wood hill section of southern state,
unpacked his camping outfit and
gathered wood for his camp fire. He
was veteran at the game of camp
ing out; in fact, his zest for the
open air alone saved it from heing
business instead of n game. Alone,
he had slept soundly beside his car,
rolled in blankets and tarpauliu,
for so long that it had become mat
ter of course. The sounds of tho
night for him were no longer voices,
the dim outlines of his surroundings
had ceased to be shapes for him
they were merely noises and shad-
ows.
: Working quickly, he built his fire,
made what simple preparations wero
necessary, cooked his solitary supper,
and sank back easily against a pinc
trunk 10 light his pipe and smokd for
an hour before turning in. As the
last rays of sunlight faded out. the
afterglow of the camp fire faded in.
Then, because it was summer time,
and he needed no fire to keep him
warm until morning. the Nmotorist
scutfed out the cmbers with his
boots, knocked the ashes from his
pipe, and rolled into his blankets.
He lay still for haitian hour, and
finally dozed. A sudden threshing of
the underbrush near his camp
wakened him, and he sat up, reaching
for his gun. AS the sound continued,
n lad of IL or Ia years emerged, and
ran painting toward him.
What's the matter, son ~ asked
the man.
"Quick, come quick, Pap's dead
nanny saw your fire an sent Inc TO
fetch you''
When he had finished lacinc his
boots, the motorist followed the lad
thru the underbrush to clearing
some hundreds of feet from the road
At the little hill cabin the pair
found the father of the lad lvin-
dead on his bunk. The mother had
left TO seek aid, and returned soon
afterward with neighbors. The mo-
torist did what he could for the FAM
lily, helped in Strengthening the dead
mans limbs, and when lie saw he
could be of no further service, be
started to return to his camp at the
side of the road.
There was a moon that nirht. and
its rays struck down into the clear
ing unobstructcd On his way back,
the man had to pass thru an open
pasture. Farther on were the pines.
A sudden movement at the edge of
the clearing brought his eyes to focus
on a point directly ahead of him.
There, standing side by side. ver.
three CHASTITY white shapes. The one
in the center seemed to stand quite
still, but the two on either side of il.
moved and shuddered in the moon
light. The man rubbed his ewes and
looked again. The experience of tho
past hour had set his nerves on edge.
"Ghosts!' he whispered, his
knees shaking in spite of all efforts
to control them. He could feel the
hair brlstling beneath his hat.
He stopped in his tracks, and stood
watching the three white things in
front of him. Reason took the upper
hand, and he determined to 60 ahead
and investigate. He walked on.
warily, and was Mortified TO find that
the white things moved away at his
approach
With that substitute for bravery
akin to fear that prompts all fight
ing animals, ho-legged or other-
wise, to give chase at the retreat of
an adversary, the motorist started to
run. Keeping his eyes f;cd ON the
white things ahead of him, he dashed
INTO the thicket, and stopped himself
barely in time TO avoid head-on
collision with the huge black trunk
of pine tree. Close beside it, and
twin to 1t, was another trunk.
The sound of tramping hoofs
reached him. Peering closely he
could make out the dim form of an
old white horse trotting away thru
the woods. This horse. standing
where the moonlight struck him. had
been grazing directly behind the two
black pine trunks. Blending with
the blackness of the forest, these