U niversity
of
O regon M onthly
29
and now and then a slight rustling. Something snapped like a bro
ken stick and Marion buried herself in the çovèrs. -An efernity
passed and th e n /so to e o n e ^ b r^ m é th in g Sfepped softly upon thè !
lowér porch. W e h ea rd 'th e“footsteps pa$s back and,forth across
it. ;Somebç>dÿ tried thé 'door cautiously and then, horfbrs ! upbn
horfors! the burglar seepièd to be clim bing’the porch poèt.
I am supposed “to be.'strong-minded and have a reputation for
independence bbt the stiddenneSS r f t f i i s danger seemed-ftp paralyze
me c o m p l e t e l y : ,,'f o r "’Marion," she^yrtte^a grovelling idiot by this
’time and was''making her way-toward the 'fbot of the bed beneath
the feofeFS': h
/^T h en the n'oisé' ceased and after a second’s silence was followed^-'
by a subdued thump. The footsteps! died away ‘around thè corner
of the house and our * visitor, fo r the present’ at, least/ Sderned 'to have
taken himself away^as'ihystefionsly;as he cafne. --
/k A white face edged from beneath the coyer.
■ “Has he (g o n e w h isp ^ & ^ t Marion.. I nodded.
“Then lets
.go,” and she hustled fpr the hall. We saw no
more of
burglar and fjball||m ustèred up'^nougtì ,.|6urage to |
go ont again and reseuç tour J^eds., ThiS d'isppsed H mòst{ òf ofir
bleep for that night and the/pe^t jday/Kr^nk, Sewell and'Billy Long
were down and told of /seeing a dark figure stealing away from the
hopse when they were passing along late the night before.
That night sevcraWfiy^te crow d.^ere dpwn .and the talk turned^
lb ghosts. It was n© ¿use for us to o b jectfp -th e ^ubjepVthat only
made -matters h B h
/-feeatly it is-surprising how many blood-curdling retninisçenç^s
àre 'stoW'éd away in the experience or imagination of the average |
person and some.pf our crowd actually attained" heights, pf, genius y >
in their ghastly teçitalék ,
That night a rather m ysfefiou<ihing- happened. We > heard
no unusual s’p unds during the1 night and indeed slept well, consider
ing, but the next morning we found the hall dbor that leads out upon
our terrifying porch bed, room of -the night before, standing wide
open although both Marion and I could have sworn we fastened it
the last thing before retiring.
’ "That night? we tbok special pains'Tp lock i^'s’éèürely and in the
morning by common consent we rose early and investigated. All
was well and the door was tightly shut. Nothing/Occurred for two