Show FAMOUS HEADLINE HUNTER 1 W l E c L t Y lei 1 The Thing in the Dark By FLOYD GIBBONS A ARE RE you all set for the housewarming party Vell Well let me warn varn you in advance that this is going to be bc about the house warming party you ever saw t tAs tAs rAs t- t As a matter of fact its it's a one-man one house warming or maybe I II I should say a one-boy one house The boy was Arland L L. L Gray of Trenton N N. J. J I say was because Arland has grown up in the fit meantime This one-boy one party Im I'm going to tell you about was thrown on the night of January 19 1912 e k As a house warming b it was a terrible flop It not nut only didn't ii warm the house any but it cooled the boy off ofT considerably by bythe bythe the As adventure up the system an Di though it was a whooping success success and and well worth that check for form forten forten m ten bucks that Im I'm sending Arland right now s' s In the spring of 1910 Arlands Arland's mother and dad moved from Catskill Catskill Cats- Cats 1 kill N. N Y to Orlando Fla That was in the days before the Florida I b boom and Orlando was just a sleepy little country town 11 bel el Arland Decides to Do a Solo House Warming Act e Arlands Arland's dad bought a piece of partly cleared ground about three miles out of town and started to build a house on it That's where the housewarming part of it came in 1 Arland was just eight years old then then and and you know how s kids sometimes get funny ideas Arland somehow or other got it into his head that he wanted to be the first one to sleep in the new home The house wasn't finished yet The sides were up and the roof was on but there were no sashes in hi the windows and none of the floors had been laid But just the same young Arland Arland Arland Ar Ar- land began pestering his folks to let him go out there and spend the night His didn't like the idea She said had ma an year old boy no business sleeping in an unfinished house half a mile away from the nearest neighbor But his dad said it wouldn't hurt him to spend a night alone alone and finally his mother gave her consent too Arland took a blanket his 22 rifle and his dog and off ofT he went headed for the house i Ion on on the outskirts of the town Strange Animal Terrifies Lonesome Boy Darkness had fallen before he got there It was a warm tropical night and the late moon had not yet risen Arland crept into the building building building build- build ing ing walking carefully on the uncovered beams of the ground floor He w j r He Realized That Some Sort of or Animal Was Vas Standing Over Him gathered together some loose boards and lay them across the beams under a low window Then he spread his blanket and lay down with his rifle beside him I IThe The bare boards were hard Arlands Arland's makeshift bed was un un- un comfortable It was a long time before he managed to get to sleep and when he lie did he slept fitfully He awoke again hours later with ith the strange feeling that something was wrong I The moon had risen but it was behind a cloud bank But what was wasi i iI i that queer crunching noise that sounded so close to his ear As he came wider awake he realized with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach stomach ach that some sort of an animal was standing over him I Dog Whines With Terror Over Strange Visitation Arland lay still He didn't dare move move move-couldn't couldn't if hed he'd wanted to i for his whole body had gone stiff with fear Over in a corner he could hear his dog growling and whimpering The dog had crawled away as asfar asfar asfar far far as he could was could was cowering on the far side of the room whining with witha a terror that was as great as Arlands Arland's own I HI have no idea how long I lay there Arland says It uIt Iti i seemed like hours but it might have been only a few minutes 1 The beast the beast the tiling whatever thing whatever it was was seemed seemed to be standing right over me I could feel its hot fetid breath on my face hear face hear the regular crunch crunch crunch-crunch-crunch crunch crunch of its moving jaws Every now and then a splotch of slimy froth would fall on me I had hada a wild impulse t to o get up up-to up to run out of that house as fast as I could goThen go I Then I remembered that I couldn't run that run that if I moved at all I would have to go slowly picking my way over the bare joists I didn't even I have a floor under me Intruder Turns Out to Be Down Broken-Down Nag Thought of the uncovered floor gave Arland another idea If he could roll from the boards on which he was lying he could fall through between the joists and land safely on the ground only a couple feet below He had just about decided on that course of action when he I remembered something else His 22 rifle 1 He began moving his hand cautiously toward it Inch by inch his hand hand crept toward that rifle His groping fingers found it at last With Will his thumb he cocked I the hammer It n gave out a resounding click and that startled the beast In the dim light he could see its huge blurry head raise stay raise stay poised motionless as motionless as if it were listening Arland moved the gun around silently At length he had its muzzle pointed at the beasts beast's head Ills His finger tightened on the trigger And then suddenly the moon came out from behind the clouds Bright yellow light streamed into the house and in its glow Arland saw I thrust through the window above him the pointed ears and the long I narrow head of of-an of an old horse I IThe The rifle rille was never fired The moon had come out just in time to save that poor old nags nag's life And HAnd just in time too says Arland to uto save me from heart failure I spent the rest of the night in the middle of the floor far from any window and it was wasa a very sleepy and amI very chastened little boy who trailed along home the next morning as soon as it was light Q Service |