Show A ILI GEORCE ETHELBERT WALSH SYNOPSIS jerry longwood meets a lost girl in the swamp she tells him she Is searching tor for swamp hollow home ol of the wealthy abner longwood he warns her away but when a storm breaks he carries her to the shelter of 0 the longwood home there they fid the murdered body of abner he introduces himself to the girl who leads him to believe she Is his cousin nancy lee on whose behalf she Is acting while he searches the house bouse the living figure ot of abner longwood appears before her the body in the dining room disappears and she and jerry search the house together for it and the dallas heart 11 CHAPTER VI I 1 gave it one last shuddering glance and followed jerry through a door into another room this had been abner longwoods Long woods bed cham ber for nearly half a century it was a room of generous size like all the others in the house but it had a dead musty odor that was not pleasant I 1 halted on the threshold dreading to enter but jerry crossed to a big desk and opened it rummaging around in the drawers and pigeonholes pigeon holes never can teli tell where uncle abner would keep such a priceless thing as the dallas heart he said but ill ransack everything in here first and then try another room he stopped and glanced at his watch A little after midnight he murmured weve got several hours before morning I 1 had lost interest in the search and im afraid I 1 prove a very helpful confederate but jerry proceeded with systematic swiftness to go through everything and in a short time he be had finished the bedchamber it here he said in a voice of disappointment not unless he has a wall safe he added glancing eagerly around there was apparently no wall safe and he finally gave it up ransacking a big house like swamp hollow was no simple matter for besides the number and size of the rooms it was stored with an immense amount of old truck accumulated through the years and left undisturbed by the owner many times jerry was discouraged and paused to shake his head but a new and likely hiding place would occur to him and he would renew his search with enthusiasm I 1 kept close to his side I 1 let khim him get more than a few feet away the horror of the place frightened me I 1 knew that somewhere uncle abner might be lurking around either dead or alive and I 1 know in which state I 1 dreaded to meet him most I 1 was surprised that jerry had taken the disappearance of the corpse so lightly the mystery had not been explained and at times I 1 sharad at him in wonder how could he go on calmly searching the house when lie he knew that somewhere around the body ot of his dead uncle was concealed once I 1 asked him jerry we must find uncle annerl if he crawl away somebody else must must be in the house he started and stared at me why do you say that have you seen anyone no buti but that face I 1 saw and the eyes I 1 you said they were uncle ab ners yes but I 1 may have been mistaken I 1 was greatly excited guess you were but I 1 dont believe any one else is in the house then where is uncle abner I 1 cried sharply look here nancy he replied taking a seat on a pile ol of stuff he had overhauled dont let your nerves get the better beter of you nothings going to happen see im armed he exhibited a small automatic and held it toward me 1 I can defend myself uncle was stone dead when I 1 examined him im sure of that but when I 1 went back into the dining room he was gone there pool of blood to show hed been killed but that was all now the rest I 1 cant explain either uncle abner dead and crawled away or another helped him or dragged his hii body away or or something like a miracle happened you can take your choice but why dont you look for him I 1 demanded he grinned and nodded his head 1 I am im searching the house for him as much as I 1 arri am for that dallas heart but I 1 like to tell you so I 1 thought it would frighten you it did add to my fear but at the same time it made things plainer and thus easier for me thereafter every time he opened a closet or pulled off a mattress from a bed or looked in a dark corner I 1 hung back in a fever of trepidation expecting to see him find the dead body we had left in the dining room its a big mystery I 1 heard him mutter more than once theres something uncanny about it but ill find the explanation of it I 1 was even less of a help in finding the corpse than in searching for the dallas heart and I 1 hung back more and more finally after going over nearly every part of the house jerry paused in the upper hall to wipe the perspiration from his forehead alone in the dark hallway ive been everywhere except in the cellar and the tower room he said 1 I think IU ill try the latter next there was a short flight of stairs leading up to a huge tower that surmounted the top of the house and when jerry opened the door I 1 felt a sharp blast of cold air strike me I 1 stepped back for with the blast of wind came a dreadful moan and shriek its nothing IV but the wind he assured me the skylights broken and the wind comes through it you stay below I 1 wont be gone long its a small room and its cold and wet up there dont leave me I 1 pleaded its only for a few minutes dont be afraid nancy I 1 stood in a dismal blue funk while he climbed the stairs he was flashing the light ahead of him so that I 1 could see the upper part of the stairway but the part nearest me grew darker and darker as he ascended I 1 want to display my weakness any more than I 1 had already done and I 1 struggled mightily to control myself though I 1 was shivering and gulping and clasping and unclasping my hands once I 1 was impelled by an unreasoning sense of fear to rush after him but I 1 knew that if I 1 gave way to the feeling I 1 would become a gibbering idiot I 1 bit my lip until the blood was drawn to check my panic when jerry reached the top of the stairs and turned a corner to enter the tower I 1 was left in total darkness even the occasional flash of his light was now denied me A cold sweat broke out on my forehead I 1 could not have followed now it if I 1 had wanted to without tumbling stumbling blindly through the darkness ar kness I 1 had been standing a few feet way away from the door and I 1 clutched at t it now for support but in the darkness barkness lar kness my hands missed it I 1 took a step forward but the door yas was not there I 1 had missed it in some ome way and in the darkness I 1 had lad become turned around A new terror seized me I 1 had to md find the door and the stairs I 1 bled ailed forward this way and that but ut my hands touched nothing but empty apty air nothing is so disquieting to the nind mind in the dark as the feeling that you ou have lost your bearings deep 4 S I 1 0 i lk f r 0 it was abner longwood in flesh ind and blood yawning awning pitfalls seem to rise up before afore you and you dare not move for or fear of falling in that was exactly my condition I 1 knew that I 1 was in the upper hall but that was all I 1 had no way of measuring the distance I 1 had traversed and the fear that I 1 might be near the head odthe main stairway and that a false step might carry me over it checked further progress I 1 stood perfectly still hoping and praying that jerry would soon finish his search of the tower room and return to me the oil portrait com comes es to life I 1 was as quiet as a mouse scarcely breathing but with eyes and ears alert to any sound the great sl silence of the hall contrasted eerily with the banging and creaking of outside blinds and clapboards now and then a step would squeak or a beam groan as the whole house vibrated under the force of the wind E each ach time I 1 started and clutched at my heart with both hands would jerry never come how long could I 1 endure the terrible suspense if a mouse had crossed my path at that moment I 1 could not have jumped or shrieked so paralyzed was I 1 with dread of the unknown that is why when the uncanny thing happened that I 1 did not call jerrys name or turn and run I 1 was in a cataleptic state seeing and hearing e everything very thing but bui unable to move a muscle no one struggling in a hideous nightmare could have suffered worse mental and physical torture the terrifying phenomena that had startled me began by the appearance pe arance of a soft subdued light which at first I 1 thought was an optical ff illusion lusion but as it persisted and grew in power I 1 knew it was a reality it was directly in front of me a few feet above my head it if I 1 had reached out I 1 could almost have touched it it was not simply a white light nor entirely a red light it had all the prismatic prism colors of the rainbow but not blended and arranged as in the prism darker lines crossed and crisscrossed criss crossed the lighter shades in the most irregular and haphazard way emerging from the blank wall of darkness it seemed to have a supernatural origin I 1 stared at it fascinated and curious as well as horrified stronger and stronger it grew until its glow reflected on 0 n my mt face and threw the hall in into t 0 partial light it had been vague and formless at first a colored light without meaning but now it began to assume definite shape the darker lines ran into each other leaving the lighter ones merely for the background two circles particularly held my startled gaze these gre grew W larger and stronger until they began to resemble human eyes then memory of the face that had appeared to me in the library emerging from the black surroundings roun dings as if by magic gave me a distinct jolt was that same face coming again to terrify and threaten me I 1 watched the eyes as they appeared then the nose the mouth the forehead the chin and the hair until the face was complete all cast in a dim glow as if a light were shining from behind suddenly the light became sharper and clearer casting a path of light light clear across the hall it revealed to me my surroundings with startling clearness I 1 was standing before the oil portrait of abner longwood gazing up at the hard flinty face and eyes the whole picture stood out in sharp relief to my dazed mind a certain relief came it was not the face I 1 had seen before but that of the oil painting in some strange miraculous manner it had been lighted up either by a reflected light or one from behind it it must have been the latter for there was no other light in the hall every part of it was cast in deep gloom except the spot where the shadows were lifted a little by the reflection from the picture it was a miracle an uncanny demonstration of the supernatural the portrait had lighted up so that every feature was clean clear and distinct the effect on me was to deepen my superstitious fear I 1 could not explain the mystery except that in some amazing way a light had appeared from behind the canvas slowly illumining illum ining the features until they glowed with lifelike clearness the darker lines that had seemed so irregular and haphazard had fallen into shape no longer vague or uncertain the artists paint had resisted or reflected the light at first according to the density of the pigment but now like a picture puzzle the lines had all fallen into position revealing the oil portrait of abner longwood I 1 stood looking up at it with frightened and fascinated fasci hated eyes vaguely wondering how it had happened when suddenly it began to amov the whole portrait was stepping os 01 of the frame toward me I 1 think that then I 1 uttered a muffled cry or at least it seemed so to me but apparently it was like the stifled scream of a cataleptic patient slowly but steadily the portrait moved toward me and instead of funning bunning or calling jerry I 1 stood in helpless silence watching it I 1 knew I 1 ought to scream but for the life of me I 1 could not I 1 had lost au all control of my voice and limbs the huge oil portrait at least six by ten feet came within a foot of my face and then it slowly moved to my left A sharp ray of light c came ame from one side revealing a space between the frame and the wall even to my bewildered senses j swift explanation of the phenous 64 non came to me the picture had i aply swung to one side noiselessly as if its hinges were freshly oiled and not as I 1 first had thought straight toward me the next moment a dazzling ray of light hit me squarely in the face it came from an electric torch which had supplied the light which had come from behind the picture and made it glow with such uncanny beauty I 1 was blinded for a moment and had to close my eyes when I 1 opened them again the light was still there but behind it I 1 began to make out out the dim outlines ut lines of a face and figure abner longwood appears alive was the figure alive or was it another supernatural phenomenon there came a distinct grunt and then I 1 knew that it was not a spirit or ghost it was abner longwood in flesh and blood standing in a hole in the wall that the portrait had cleverly concealed holding in one hand the electric torch and in the other a knife he was staring at me with baleful wicked eyes but there was surprise and fear in them also my appearance had startled him almost as much as the whole thing had amazed and terrified me recognition of him proved the one thing needful to arouse me from my trance I 1 found my voice and screamed jerry jerry I 1 cried and ildr iw forward almost in a swoon swooning would have been a great relief to my highly tortured nerves but no such deliverance came to me I 1 simply fell forward and struck my head on the sharp edge of the huge picture frame and this instead of bringing insensibility irritated and aroused me the acute pain of the tall fall served to banish some of if my fear before I 1 could recover my balance and spring back the menacing figure gave vent to a noise that was more of a snarl than a grunt and with wonderful strength and agility for one so old he snatched at my arms and pulled me upright TO BE CONTINUED |