The Semi-weekly Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 1923-19??, 1933-04-11

the ardent young man VINO wanted 10
marry his daughter, so, Anthony, you
are asking for my Ann?"
Yes, sir" said Anthony, looking
very proud and straight as he stood
and l want to marry her."
"Well, then, there are three things
you must do before | will say yes"
to your question" said James Farna-
ham gravely.
"Will you spend night in the
haunted house? Then, win you find
out who is smuggling liquor inr6 the
town, and lastly, will you pay up every
debt that you owe before you are mar
ried:"
Right" said young Anthony firmly,
II will do all of those things in proper
order and report to you. May l speak
to Ann before I go?"
"Of course" said Mr.. Farnaham, ex-
tending his hand. please stay and
have supper with US and spend the
evening, too, Anthony"
''Thank you, sir. But l must get to
bed early for / have much to do if ]
am going to spend the night at the
haunted house"
"Three things to do" thought An
thony later on that night, as he
slipped out of his window, slid down
the rainwater pipe to the ground, and
shook himself. "Pve certainly had my
a.. @F nll nj fov
the identity of the rum runners, why
/ believe that the two matters are con-
nected-and if l guess those two rid
dies, and win the large reward, / can
finish paying up my few debts, and
Ann and 7 can start with money in
the bank and not a debt to our
names ~
The old haunted house, as it was
called, occupied a quiet back street
not far from the little creek that en-
tered the sound when the tide was 60
Ing out.
Anthony Ware thought of all of
these things as he went up on the
broken front porch of the old house.
The tide was coming in and Anthony
really expected something might hap
pen thar night when the tide was
high. So he tiptoed through the old
house on rubber-soled shoes, not hear
ing sound until after he had been
sitting in darkness for an hour.
Brave as he was, Anthony felt the
hair lift on his head, when those limp
ing footballs began away off some
where in the kitchen, and came near
er, nearer. He had slipped into tiny
cupboard in what was known as the
sitting-room, and it was all that he
could do to stuff himself in there and
close the door before the footballs
came very close-they seemed to cir
Gle the room and then went off again
and after awhile he heard them up
stairs prowling into every room, and
then, at last, they came down again
and went out of the back door.
''He has gone to the creek to meet
someone" said Anthony, and he went
TO the kitchen loft and hid himself in
a dark corner by the window where
light of a waning moon. He remem-
bered stories that he had heard of
how the village constable and some of
his men had hidden near the creek
and all they discovered was old Oscar
Johnson bringing home load of lob
ster pots filed with crawling black
shapes. And now, old Oscar was COM
ing up the creek, his fiat-bottomed
boat piled high, with lobster pots. The
old man stopped at the old place and
unloaded his pots into a two-wheeled
car that was behind the house, and
trundled it out of the yard and down
the street to his own house and fish
shop. After that, it was quiet again
for a long time, and then came the
sound of oars and paddles and an
other boat, loaded with square, deep
boxes, wrapped in newspapers. There
were four men working there.
From his window in the kitchen loft,
Anthony Ware watched the unloading
of the boxes until all Of it had been
transferred to the cellar and all the
men disappeared down there. Then
Anthony, slipping from place to place
like a ghost, locked the trapdoor in
the kitchen, and locked the outside
door, and fled noiselessly down the
street to the constable's house and
reused him. Then they went and ar
rested the guilty men who were sort
ing out the bottles In the cellar of
the haunted house.
In the morning, when James Farna-
ham opened his kitchen door to come
outside he found Anthony sitting there
waiting for him.
"Well?' said Mr.. Farnaham.
II came to receive my answer to last
nights question:" said Anthony.
did you spend the night in the
haunted house?"
"Just came from there"
What about the smugglingT'
Anthony told him that the guilty
men were in Jail. ~
sand | suppose the reward you
will get will pay your debts" said
Mr.. Farnaham with a twinkle.
"But you see, Mr.. Farnaham, / haven't
any debts at all-instead of that, I've
got a thousand dollars in the bank.
How about Ann?"
"She seems to be in the window over
your head" chuckled his future IA