| Show THE AUT N T it d IT colliedge BY WILLS GIDLEY 1903 by the authors ming company this is the tale told me by hal burton soldier bohemian globe globetrot trot ter and good fellow generally one gloomy winter night when we sat inui and warm by the blazing hearth of a roadside inn sipping our ale puffing our pipes and listening to the howling of the fierce blasts without it was during the franco prussian war thirty years ago began burton that the strange adventure which I 1 am about to relate took place when that memorable struggle be can the united states was in a state of profound peace both at home and abroad after the campaigns we had passed through life in the arav was insufferably dull tiring of enforced idleness I 1 and boing soing som half dozen others ef of the younger officers threw up our commissions and set out together for europe in search of adventure we offered our services to the french they were immediately ac cepter and we were sent to join the army at the front we were encamped in a lonely spot in alsace within our lines near the camp was situated a large build ing formerly used as a medical col lege at the opening of the war the services sen ices of the students had been brought into requisition either as sol diers or surgeons and the forsaken building had been left to care tor for it self being 0 o near the french camp it seemed st ange that the chief officers did not use the deserted college for their headquarters but the place had a gloomy to bidding look and I 1 pre sume none of them cared to occupy it I 1 belonged to the skeptical ma bority one night when it was rain ing and the ground was soaking wet I 1 proposed to my tent mate a 3 oung american officer like myself that we should move into the college for the night to shelter ourselves from the storm no thank you he replied id I 1 d ather tather sleep on the wet ground under ft X leaky tent than in a building ten anted by ghosts ghosts fiddlesticks I 1 ex claimed do you mean to say you believe lieve that nonsense 7 why t I 1 ia he demanded quickly I 1 have heard say that all the medical students who have been killed in the war come back there at midnight to hold high revel and I 1 fully believe it why I 1 came past there late the other night and the building fairly shook with their ghost ty ly carousals shook with the wind more like ay 1 iy 9 all right I 1 ive ve told you what I 1 heard it if you think you can sleep there go ahead I 1 prefer the tent so saying he rolled over on the damp ground and was soon snoring like one of the fabled seven sleep ers the rain was streaming into the tent and was standing in pools on the wrapped myself in my blankets blanket 3 ground and I 1 waa was bent on finding a dryer and more comfortable couch it possible I 1 gathered up my blankets wrapping them closely around me to keep out the driving rain and set out for the old building determined to pass the rest ot of the night there groping my way carefully in the darkness I 1 came to a stairway as bonding which and passing through I 1 an open doore doorway ay I 1 found myself in a large oblong shaped room with an unusually high ceiling fitted with sev eral large skylights evidently intend ed to supplement the light afforded by the somewhat narrow windows lo 10 bated at regular intervals along two sides of the room in the center of the room stood a long table with a marble slab for a top and ranged about it were a num ber of straight b eked chairs and benches from which I 1 judged that turned his eyeless sockets in my direction the apartment had been used as a dis seating room by the medical students all this I 1 discerned by the lurid flashes of lightning which occasion ally lighted up the room from over head after a hasty survey I 1 wrapped myself in my blankets keeping on my uniform and sword and lying down on the floor was soon in the land of dreams I 1 had looked at my watch just before lying down it was then exact ly eleven 0 clock how long I 1 sa s1 slept ept I 1 know not I 1 suddenly awoke with a strange feeling of dread my heart was thumping violently and I 1 could feel my hair standing on end from fright raising myself on my elbow I 1 glanced searchingly around the room the air was filled with a peculiar phosphorescent light by which I 1 was enabled to clearly discern even the smallest objects presently at the further end of the apartment a door which I 1 had not before seen swung open and tour four uniformed men entered carrying a nude body on a stretcher followed by a procession of about thirty three times they marched sol rol emaly and slowly around the room As they passed me I 1 perceived that the corpse was stained and bloody as it if recently slain in battle I 1 also discovered to my horror that the forms which at first I 1 had mistaken for men were skeletons they were dressed in the rt regular gular french uni form but beneath each visor instead of the bronzed face ot of a soldier there was a grinning skull after the third circle of the room had been completed they deposited their gha aly burlen bur jen on the table previously mentioned then one of the ghostly throng un rolled a uniform which was strapped to his knapsack and with the as si stanco stance of bis his companions dressed the bo be ly in it when this operation was ed the leader of the spectral crew stepped to the table and bending over it he made a number of mystic signs then whirling slowly around three times he stamped his right foot and turned away immediately the form arose from the table gravely saluted his leader then ther passed slowly down tile line of his comrades and tool a place at the foot of the ranks the shadowy throng took up the line of march toward the open door by which they had entered the room at the threshold the leader paused and turned his eyeless sockets in my direction and from them seemed to emanate a baleful gleam that froze my very marrow silently he motioned to his followers and in obedience to the signal the tu rel cej and faced me a a A shudder crept over oter me and the tho blood rushed back on my heart as I 1 r arvar them reach for their scalpels TA lAwing them simultaneously they raised the gleaming blades aloft and bore swiftly down on me like c ayo net charge springing to my feet fett I 1 drew my sword and swinging it in a circle around my head I 1 rushed among the skelton warriors and forced a passage though when I 1 reached it I 1 held in my right hand nothing but the hilt of my trusty weapon with a flying leap I 1 cleared the stairs and hurried from the building hastening fo to the camp I 1 awoke my tent mate and related my harrowing experience but he calmly remarked that it served me right tor for not listen ing to his advice and then rolled over and resumed his interrupted slumbers however there was no further sleep for me that night and I 1 sat up shivering from cold and from the horrible experience I 1 had been through until morning As soon as daylight appeared a party of us visited the deserted col lege and found the broken blade of my ray sword near a badly dented beat seat in the room where the strange events had ta en place my blankets were found on the floor where I 1 had aban boned them in my hurried flight from the building but when we me examined the door through which I 1 had seen the skeleton band enter much to my surprise tt it was found locked and bolted furthermore there was no key in the rusty lock and after careful scrutiny we found no visible evidence that the door had been recently op ened neither had the accumulated dust of weeks on the heavy marble topped table been disturbed yet noth ing on earth can ever convince me that the scenes which I 1 saw were not real |
