The Snowflake herald., 1921-02-18

To the Reader Of this Work:
In submitting Captain Carter's
strange manuscript to you in book
form, / believe that a few words rela-
tive to this remarkable personality
will be of interest.
My first recollection of Captain Car
ter is of the few months he spent at
my fathers home in Virginia, just
prior to the opening of the Civil war.
l was then a child of but five years,
yet l we'll remember the tall, dark,
smooth-faced, athletic man whom /
called Uncle Jack.
He seemed always to be laughing !;
and he entered into the sports of the
children with the same hearty good
fellowship he displayed toward those
pastimes ip which the men and wOm-
en- of his own age indulged; or he
would sit for an hour at time enter
tanning my old grandmother with
stories of his strange. wild life in all
parts of the world. We all loved him,
and our slaves fairly worshiped the
ground he trod.
hood, standing good two inches over
six feet, broad Of shoulder and mar
row of hip. with the carriage of the
trained fighting man. His features
were regular and clear cut, his hair
black and closely cropped. while his
eyes were of steel gray rejecting a
strong and loyal character, filed with
fire and initiative.
When the war broke out he left Us.
nor did see him again for some fif-
teen or sixteen years. When he re-
turned have seen him sit for hours
gazing off into space. his face set in
look of wistful longing and hopeless
misery; and at night he would sit thus
looking up into the heavens. at what
did not know until read his manu-
script years afterward.
He remained with US for about
, year and then went to New York,
where he purchased a little place on
the Hudson. where I visited him.
He told me at This time that if any
thing should happen to him he wished
me to take charge of his estate, and
he gave me key to compartment
i'm the safe which stood in his study,
telling me I would find his will there
and some personal instructions which
he had me pledge myself to carry out
with absolute fidelity
After | had retired for the night
have seen him from my window stand
ing in the moonlight on the brink of
the bluff overlooking the Hudson with
his arms stretched out to the heavens
as though in appeal.
Several months after had returned
home from my last visit, the first of
March. 1886. think, received tele-
gram from him asking me to come to
him at once
arrived at the little station. about
mile from his grounds. and the
livery man told me he had some very
bad news for me the Captain had
been found dead shortly after day
light that very morning by the watch
man attached to an adjoining prop
erty.
For some reason this news did not
surprise me, but I hurried out to his
place as quickly as possible.
The watchman who had discovered
him related the few details connected
with the finding of the body 1t lay,
he said, stretched full length In the
snow with the arms Outstretched
above the head toward the edge of the
bluff, and when he showed me the
spot it flashed upon me that 1t was
the identical one where l had seen
him on those other nights, with his
arms raised in supplication to the
skies.
Left alone In the study. / opened
the safe and withdrew the contents of
the drawer in which he had told me
would find my instructions. He direct
ed that remove his body TO Virginia
without embalming. and that he be
laid in an open coffin within a tomb
which he previously had had con-
structed and which, as / later learned.
was well ventilated. His further in
structions related to this manuscript
which / was to retain sealed and I'M
read, just as ! found it, for eleven
years; nor was l to divulge its con-
tents until twenty-one years after his
death.
strange feature about the tomb,
where his body still lies, is that the
massive door is equipped with a
single. huge goId-plated spring lock
which can be opened only from the In
side.
Yours very sincerely.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS.
CHAPTER !.