The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1923-06-01

me the impression that he was not at
all surprised at what was happening.
"Then you are absolutely sure 1t is
In his wrlting?' he asked.
Not trusting herself to speak, she
| simply nodded.
At that moment the bell rang, and
the butler passed through the room on
his way to the door. In the second
before his return, l saw Doctor King
steal q look at his slate, and. from
| the startled look on his face. knew
that he, too, had received a message.
Meeting my eyes, he gave me faint,
wondering smile and shook his head
doubtfully.
The man whom the butler ushered
| in was the medium that BARLEY had
secured in New York. He was very
| tall and thin, dressed In black. with
white, unhealthy face shifty eyes, and
hair bit too long.
After he had been introduced. Bart.
| ley told us that we were to begin the
seance at once. The first thing to be
done was to place the medium in a
chair in the corner and tie his hands
and feet firmly. Roche was selected
to draw the rope through the rungs
Of the chair, tie his hands behind his
back, and place a gag in his mouth so
that he could not speak. He performed
his task with the thoroughness of a
police officer trained in the work /;
nya NH hn t1fn ho
medium could neither move nor speak,
believed him.
], At Bartley'S suggestion we seated
ourselves around the table. 1t was a
small one. not very heavy in construc-
| ton. We placed our hands on its
surface as directed, and linked them
together by hooking the thumb and
little finger of each hand around the
| finger of the hand next to it. We
were told that under no circumstance
were we to break this circle.
BARLEY spent some time In making
sure that we were arranged in the
proper manner. / was seated with
Currie on my left, my little finger
clasped around his thumb, and Bart
ley himself on my right. He rose and
turned off the lights, then CROPPED his
way back to my side. and second
later his finger closed around mine.
l confess that felt bit like fool
as / waited there in the pitch dark
ness. What we were doing seemed
childish; yet back of it all there was
such general air of expectancy that
/ was tense with excitement. The
great draperies had been drawn over
the windows, and not even a ray Of
| light penetrated the room. Just what
itN was that we were waiting for
did not know. Something might or
might not take place, the medium
had said. We sat in silence for a
number Of minutes, minutes that
dragged endlessly. must confess
that to me they were not the most
pleasant had ever spent.
Someone drew a deep breath, and
l thought the table had started to
move. Then silence followed, so
! deep that / could not hear even my
neighbor breathing. felt as If
were all alone in the darkness. Only
the reassuring touch of the fingers on
each side of me drew me back to
sanity.
Suddenly, when was least expect
ing it, felt the table under my fin
gers sway back and forth for Sec
ond, then fall back upon the floor with
| a little bang. Currie breathed hard,
as If afraid; and his grasp on my
fingers frightened. Then without
warning came series of ten knocks,
family, as if someone were knocking
at distant door. could not tell
where they came from. They seemed
to be in the air, on the floor. every.
where but on the table. One thing
was sure: they did not come from the
direction in which the medium sat-
Besides. he had been tied too tightly
In his chair to have been able to
make them.
Silence again, then more raps quick
little running raps. never very loud.
that would start ana stop second.
then trip away like little feet run
ming to and fro
Are you thereT Bartley's voice
asked. hesitatingly.
Almost before his words had died
away. there came series of loud
raps, almost falling over each other.
Then Bartley's voice again, cool but
low, "Can you communicate with us?"
/ had expected that the raps would
reply at once. but instead there was
a long silence. Several times BARLEY
repeated the question. and still no
answer.
| At length he asked. "Shall we try
some other methodw
Raps answered. tumbling over each
other in their eagerness, and the table
tipped so violently that expected it
would fall over. It returned to an
upright position with a bang, then
silence again. A deep moan from the
direction of the medium startled me,
then more means interspersed with
signs.
eb~;li chin xyniaa rhns%Ixx cr5 60.