Show I 1 D v FAMOUS HEADLINE HUNT it the thing in the dark by FLOYD GIBBONS I 1 A ARE RE you all set for the housewarming party well let m me e warn you in advance that this is going to be about the loneso house warming party you ever saw As a matter of fact its a one man house warming or maybe I 1 should hould say a one boy housewarming house warming the boy was arland L gray ot of trenton N J I 1 say was because arland has grown up in the meantime mean tinie this one boy party im going to tell you about was thrown on the night ot of january 19 1912 As a house warming it was a terrible flop it not only warm the house any but it cooled the boy off considerably by the chills up and down the spine system As an adventure though it was a whooping success and well worth that check for ten bucks that im sending arland right now in the spring of 1910 arlands mother and dad moved from catskill N Y to orlando Ori ando fla that was in the days before the florida bo boom and orlando orianno was just a sleepy little country town arland decides to do a solo house warming act arlands dad bought a piece of partly cleared ground about three miles out of town and started to build a house on it th ats where the housewarming part of it came in arland was just eight years old then and you know how kids sometimes get funny ideas arland somehow or other at her got it into his head bead that he wanted to be the first one to sleep in the new home the house finished yet the sides were up and the root roof was on but there were no sashes in the windows and none of the floors had been laid but just the same young arland began pestering his folks to let him go out there and spend the night his ma like the idea she said an eight year old boy had no business sleeping in an unfinished house half a mile away from the nearest neighbor but his dad said it hurt him to spend a night alone and finally his mother gave her consent too arland took a blanket his 22 rifle and his dog and off he went headed for the house 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 walking carefully on the uncovered beams of the ground floor he I 1 Z 4 01 ile he realized that some sort of animal was standing over him gathered together some loose boards and lay them across the beams amder a low window then he spread Ws his blanket and lay down with his rifle beside him the bare boards were hard arlands makeshift bed was uncomfortable it was a long time before he managed to get to sleep and when he did he slept fitfully he awoke again hours later with the strange feeling that something was wrong wron g the moon had risen but it was behind a cloud bank but what was that queer crunching noise that sounded so close to his ear As he came wi wider awake he realized with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that some sort of an animal was standing over him dog whines with terror over strange visitation arland lay still he dare move if hed wanted t to 0 for or 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 far as he could was cowering on the far side of the room whining with a terror that was as great as arlands own 1 I have no idea how long I 1 lay there arland says it seemed like hours but it might might have been only a few minutes the beast the thing whatever it was seemed to be standing right over me I 1 could feet feel its hot fetid breath on my face hear the regular crunch crunch crunch of its moving jaws every E very now and then a splotch of slimy froth would fall on me I 1 had ha d a wild impulse to get up to run out of that house as fast as I 1 could go ithen I 1 remembered that I 1 run that it if I 1 moved at all I 1 would have to go slowly picking my way over the bare joists foists I 1 even have a floor under me intruder turns out to be broken down nag thought of the uncovered floor gave arland another idea it he could roll from the boards on which he was lying he could fall through between the joists foists and land safely on the ground only a couple feet below he had just about decided on that course of action when he 71 remembered something else his 22 rifle he began moving his hand cautiously toward it inch by inch his hand crept toward that rifle his groping fingers found it at last with his thumb he cocked the hammer it gave out a resounding click and that startled the beast in the dim light he could see its huge blurry head raise stay poised motionless as it if it were listening arland moved the gun around silently at length he had its muzzle pointed at the beasts head bead 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 thrust through the window above him the pointed ears and the long narrow head of an old horse the rifle was never fired the moon had come out just in time to save that poor old nags life and just in time too says arland to save me from heart failure I 1 spent the rest of the night in the middle of the floor far from any window and it was a very sleepy and very chastened chasteney chast ened little boy who trailed along home the next morning as soon as it was light B service |