776 WEST J
place with shifting shadows, and half concealing, half
revealing the gaunt outline of my silent, uncanny
host. So I soon let the fire die out, but in its brief
glow I had discovered a rude emblem carved upon the
stone that closed the doorway. I failed to make it
out distinctly, but it appeared to be a huge Indian ar
row, pointing downward, only the feathered ends be
ing visible, and tho rest buried out of sight beneath
the gravel. Attaching no importance to my discov
ery, I retreated to a corner, crouched down and pro
pared to wear out tho long hours of tho night. Pres
ently it became so densely dark that I could see al
most anything that chanced to suggest itself to my
imagination. You can imagine that in my excited
state of mind I had a lively time of it. My fancy
was rifo with speculations about the dead man over in
tho other corner. Who was he? How long had he
lain there? Had ho been all alone when the supreme
summons came? It would seem so, I argued, from
tho fact of tho entranco having been closed from the
inside. Had anyone gone out since his death the
stone would have been displaced. He must have
closed it himself and then illness must have followed
and prevented his liberating himself.
" I conjured up the lonely death scene, and shud
dered at tho thought that if I should fail to move the
stone mine must be a similar fate. Tho reflection
was disturbing, to Bay tho least, and I longed for the
light of day that I might begin my task.
" Finally, after what seemed hours of torture, I
fell into a troubled sleep and dreamed things that
were a fitting sequel to my waking visions.
" I saw two unearthly eyes flaming at me through
tho darkness, and that lleshlees form advanced, re
ceded, advanced again, and finally pausing, pointed at
tho closed doorway and said, in a hollow, far-away
voice
" 'At tho arrow's point I '
" Then a horrid nightmare laid hold of me, and I
struggled in a vain endeavor to lift tho stone that
stood iK-tween mo and liberty. Tons of weight seemed
to hold it down, and strive as I might I could not
move it so much as the breadth of a single hair. In
that moment I think I suffered the condensed agony
of a lifetime.
" Ilut it was of short duration. Something struck
mo in tho face something hard and cutting and in
an instant I was broad awake.
" The darkness was absolutely impenetrable, but
after listening a few seconds I found that fragments of
gravel were falling around me, and a familiar sniffing
sound from above introduced a new source of peril.
Pedro, in his wanderings, hud drawn near the hole in
the top of tho dug-out, and, unaware of danger, was
nibbling grass around its edge. His weight was likely
at any moment to bring down the remainder of the
roof, himself with it, and then where would I be !
" This new and very tangible danger frightened
some of the superstitious nonsense out of me, and in
a remarkably short period of time I was at the oppo
site end of the room making grim overtures to the
skeleton. Breathlessly I awaited the crash that I
thought must come, but, to my great relief, the sound
of Pedro's grazing operations grew gradually fainter
with distance, and I knew that for the time being that
danger was averted. Thus relieved, drowsiness soon
returned and I slept again, only to dream once more
that same ghostly dream. Again the dead man trans
fixed me with a pair of burning eyes, and advanced
upon me with arm extended, while from his grinning,
lipless mouth came those seemingly senseless words
" ' At the arrow's point ! '
" The tone was one of almost heart-rending en
treaty, and, obeying his gesture, I seemed to struggle
again with the stone by the doorway. But, as before,
I failed to move it, and in the frenzied despair of the
moment I once more awoke.
" My frame was convulsed with a nervous chill,
and clammy drops of perspiration clung to my face.
The storm was evidently over, for a shaft of moonlight
was streaming down from above, casting a pale, cold
glow around and revealing the skeleton once more at
rest in its favorite attitude. I resolved that I would
sleep no more, as to do so would probably be to invite
a return of that ghastly vision. So, from time to
time I aroso and stumbled about in the semi-darkness
to keep awake, and at last the welcome light of a new
day crept in upon the scene of my unrest.
" Urged by hunger, thirst and anxiety for the
safety of the provisions that had lain in the pack all
night at the mercy of marauding animals, I seized a
rusty old frying pan that lay near and made it do
duty as a scoop in my onslaught on the gravel pile.
" Gradually, as I worked and bared the face of the
stone, tho emblem rudely carved upon its surface was
brought wholly into view. It was an Indian arrow
pointing directly downward, the spear terminating ab
ruptly at the lower edge of the stone as if its point
were broken off or buried in the earth beneath. Near
it was a device consisting of three uncouth-looking
letters that might, or might not, be of tho English al
phabet. I was not just then in a mood favorable to
tho deciphering of hieroglyphics, and lost the least
possible time in dragging the stone aside and squeez
ing myself through the small aperture it revealed.
My exit had to be made with caution, as outside there
was barely standing room on a narrow ledge of rock
overhanging the stream, and it was all I could do to
stand erect while I inhaled a full breath of the eweet
morning air, and sent up something into space very