The spectator., 1921-03-11
By ROBERT ]. C. STEAD
Awthoy of "Ths Cosv Puncher. Etc.

years. It wasn't like as if had been dealing with strangers"
 We will go deeper into that matter after little" said the coroner Its very fortunate Mir Gardiner is here to add what light he can to the mys- tery. We will now adjourn to the room where the younger Mir. Harris lies and hear his evidence. It would be unwise to move him for some days yet"
 'I can't tell you how 1t happened, Doctor" he said, turning his eyes, larger now in his pale face, upon the coroner, but I think I got very home sick-I guess I was pretty tired, too-- and I began thinking of things that had happened long ago, back when l was little child. in little sod shan ty that the old shack in the valley some way seemed to bring to mind And then guess fell asleep, too but suddenly l sat up in great fright. I'm not coward" he said, with a faint smile. When I'm feeling myself 1t takes more than notion or dark night to send the creeps up the back of my neck. But own l sat up there so frightened my teeth chattered. had feeling that I was going to be attacked-I didn't know by what maybe by wild beast-but something was going to rush in through that old blanket hanging in the door and bounce on me"
 The sweat was standing on Allan's face and he sank back weakly into the pillows. Beulah placed a glass to his lips. and the doctor told him to take his time with his story.
 "As the minutes went by Allan continued, after an interval, that ter rible dread grew upon me, and my sense of danger changed from fear to certainty. Something was going to at tack me through that door! l raised my gun and took careful aim. I saw the blanket swing a little; then I saw the fingers of mans hand. Then I fred
 Perhaps l am murderer" he con- tinued, simply, but before God l know no more why I fired that shot than you do.'
 There were deep breathing and shuf- fling of feet as Allan completed this part of his statement. but only the coroner found his voice. Most re- markable evidence" he calculated. Most extraordinary evidence. I have never heard anything so obviously sim cere and at the same time so altogeth- ed unexplainable."
 Perhaps it's not so uneXplainable," said quiet voice; and Mary Harris made her way through the circle of men to the side of the bed. She sat down on the eoverlet and took the boys hand in hers. It mattered not how many were looking on; he was her little boy again.
 You will understand, Doctor. and some of you men are parents she began. Allan will be twenty-five years old this coming winter. A lit tie less than 25 years ago my husband was obliged to leave me alone for a considerable period in our little sod shanty on the homestead where we had located down in Manitoba, There were no near neighborS as we count distance in well-settled districts. and l was altogether alone l stood 1t all right for the first day or two, but my nerves were not what they should have been, and gradually a strange, t,Nar suppose 1t was the immensity of the prairies, the terrible loneliness of it all, and my own state of health, but the dread grew from day to day and from night to night. l tried to busy myself. to keep my mind active, to throw off the specter that haunted me, but day and night I was oppressed with a sense of impending danger We had no wooden door on the house; we hadn't money to buy the boards 10 make one. and all my protection was q blanket hung in the doorway. used to watch that blanket at night I would light the lantern and sit in the corner and watch that blanket. My fear gradually pictured 10 itself m attack through that doorway-l didn't know by what; by white man, or Indian, or wild beast. or ghost, or worse, If that Is possible; my mind could not balance things; nothing seemed too unreasonable or terrible to expect. So took the gun, and sat in the corner, and waited.
 ITO RE CONTINITEDl