Can Such Things Be?

hose history as it shaped itself in my brain I have endeavored to relate, was living at her home in Oakland, wonde

ng all entertain the most extraordinary illusions. The most valuable feature of the lecture was the disclosure of the methods of the Hindu jugglers in their famous performances, familiar in the mouths of travelers. The professor declares that these thaumaturgists have acquired such skill in the art which he learned at their feet that they perform their

ARTINE

BY A P

- but what does it matter; it is easily bedtime - isn't that near enoug

away, and walking across the room to a shelf of books, began an examination of their backs. His agitation and evident distres

auntered carelessly to the sideboard and took some brandy and water; then, begging his pardon for my thoughtlessness, asked him to have some and wen

ablished order of things to make himself spectacular with a display of emotion, apparently for his own entertainment, I could nowise understand. The more I thought of it, while his brilliant conversational gifts were commending themselves to my inattention, the more curious I gr

go all to pieces when asked the time o' night. I cannot admit that it is proper to experience a mysterious reluctance to look your own watch

ly into the fire. Fearing that I had offended I was about to apologize and beg h

appily I had already decided to tell you what you wish to know, and no manifestation of your unworthiness to he

ng good King George. One day this worthy gentleman had the deep misfortune to perform for his cause a service of capital importance which was not recognized as legitimate by those who suffered its disadvantages. It does not matter what it was, but among its minor consequences was my excellent ancestor's arrest one night in his own house by a party of Mr. Washington's rebe

was not in his words - I hardly kne

of the matter - of

een in a public house dicing with blackguards - "my view of it is that it was a characteristi

d: Bartine was recovering his te

that

ound lying on the porch at the front door of his dwelling. It was wrapped in a sheet of letter

he windows, and almost at the same instant a rattle of rain against the glass, recalled him to a sense of his surroundings. A storm had risen, heralded by a single gust of wind, and in a few moments the steady plash of the water on the paveme

ld to it, the moment my eyes rest upon the dial I am filled with a mysterious apprehension - a sense of imminent calamity. And this is the more insupportable the nearer it is to eleven o'clock - by this watch, no matter what the actual hour may be. After the hands have registered eleven the desire to look is gone; I am entirely indifferent. Then I can consult the thing as often as I

ny evening hereafter you observe me wearing this damnable watch, and you have the thoughtfulnes

sometimes observed in cases of dementia. Perhaps this was my own imagination, but at any rate I was now persuaded that my friend was afflicted with a most singular and interesting monomania. Without, I trust, any abatement of my affectionate solicitude for him as a friend, I began to regard him as a patient, rich in possibilities of profitable s

cordially, "and I'm rather proud of your confidence. It is

raved. After closely examining the dial and observing that it was nearly twelve o'clock, I opened it at the back and was interested to observe an inn

stic delight - "how under the sun did you get that done

ther, the late Bramwell Olcott Bartine, Esquire, of Virginia. He was younger the

ve assumed out of compliment to the art - or for vraisemblance, so to say - and

sional hurried footfalls on the sidewalks; and once a slower, heavier tread seemed to cease at my door - a policeman, I thought, seeking shelter in the doorway. Th

hain and quickly turned back the hands of the watch a full hour; then, closing

of the dial no longer affects you. As it is now nearly twelve" - looking at my own ti

rmit me to forget! His eyes, their blackness strikingly intensified by the pallor of his face, were fixed upon the watch, which he clutched in both

is two minut

such outbreak, and without r

t have misread your watch

nd he thrust them, clenched, into the pockets of his sack-coat. The courageous spirit was manifestly endeavoring to subdue the coward body. The effort was too great; he began to sway from side to side, as from vert

een prepared for burial a faint dark circle was seen to have developed around the neck; at least I was s

that held it, and seek expression in a kindred life, ages removed. Surely, if I were to guess at the fate of Bramwell Olcott Bartine, I sho

or eternity, there is no more to say. He is buried, and his watch with him - I saw to that. May Go

AMNED

ALWAYS EAT WHAT

ose to the flame of the candle to get a stronger light on it. The shadow of the book would then throw into obscurity a half of the room, darkening a number of faces and figures; for besides the reader, eight other men were present. Seven of them sat against th

distant coyote; the stilly pulsing thrill of tireless insects in trees; strange cries of night birds, so different from those of the birds of day; the drone of great blundering beetles, and all that mysterious chorus of small sounds that seem always to have been but half heard when they have suddenly ceased, as if conscious of an

not of urban origin, and the hat that lay by him on the floor (he was the only one uncovered) was such that if one had considered it as an article of mere personal adornment he would have missed its meaning. In countenance the man was rather prepossessing, with just a hint of sternness; thoug

pen and a young man entered. He, clearly, was not of mountain birth and breeding: he was clad as those who dwell i

dded; no one e

coroner. "It is necessary to have

"I went away, not to evade your summons, but to post to my new

roner

paper," he said, "differs, probably, from

I used manifold paper and have a copy of what I sent. It was not written as news, f

ay it is i

ou, sir, if I also sw

of the cabin talked in whispers, but seldom withdrew their gaze from the face of the

their hats. The

name?" the c

iam H

ge

ty-se

e deceased,

es

ith him whe

ar

appen - your pr

se, however, was to study him and his odd, solitary way of life. He see

imes rea

nk y

general -

shows high lights. Soldiers in the intervals of battle laugh

death," said the coroner. "You may use

st pocket he held it near the candle and turning the leave

HAPPEN IN A FI

pointed out, and we crossed it by a trail through the chaparral. On the other side was comparatively level ground, thickly covered with wild oats. As we emerged from the chaparral Morgan was but a

r,' I said. 'I wish w

oth barrels of his gun and was holding it in readiness to aim. I thought him a trifle excited, which surp

e not going to fill up a de

uck by the intensity of his look. Then I understood that we had serious business in hand and my first

sounds had ceased, but Morgan was a

hat the devil i

out turning his head. His voice was hu

xplicable way. I can hardly describe it. It seemed as if stirred by a streak of wind, which not only bent it, but pre

eemed out of harmony with them. It was a mere falsification of the law of aerial perspective, but it startled, almost terrified me. We so rely upon the orderly operation of familiar natural laws that any seeming suspension of them is noted as a menace to our safety, a warning of unthinkable calamity. So now the apparently causeless movement of the herbage and the slow, undeviating approach of the line of disturbance were distinctly disquieting. My companion appeared actually frightened, and I could h

retreat; and may Heaven in mercy spare me from another sight like that! At a distance of less than thirty yards was my friend, down upon one knee, his head thrown back at a frightful angle, hatless, his long hair in disorder and his whole body in violent movement from side to side, backward and forward. His right arm was lifted a

d by superior weight and strength. I saw nothing but him, and him not always distinctly. During the entire incident his shouts and cur

reach his side he was down and quiet. All sounds had ceased, but with a feeling of such terror as even these awful events had not inspired I now saw again the mysterious movement of the wild oats, prolo

HOUGH NAKED M

d and showing in the candle-light a claylike yellow. It had, however, broad maculations of bluish black, obviously caused by extravasated blood from co

ented their curiosity and turned away their faces. Witness Harker went to the open window and leaned out across the sill, faint and sick. Dropping the handkerchief upon the dead man's neck the coroner stepped to an angle of the room and from a pile of clothing produced one garment

k. Your duty has been already explained to you; if there is noth

tall, bearded man of

r. Coroner," he said. "What asylum di

gravely and tranquilly, "from

id nothing, and the seven jurors ros

as soon as he and the officer were left alone wit

es

latch. The habit of his profession was strong in him - strong

iary. You seemed greatly interested in it; you read in it wh

the official, slipping it into his coat pocket; "all t

nder the sheet with sharp definition. The foreman seated himself near the candle, produced from his breast pocket a penc

their death at the hands of a mountain lion, but

LANATION FR

t upon his body the book was not put in evidence; possibly the coroner thought it not worth while to confuse the jury. The date of the

arking furiously. At last he ran away into the brush as fast as he could go. I thought at first that he had gone mad, b

impress some cerebral centre with image

as eclipsed but an instant, and only a few at the same time, but along the entire length of the ridge all that were within a degree or two of the crest were blotted out. It

re missing, three leaves

and, double-charged with buckshot. In the morning the fresh footprints were there, as before. Yet I would have sworn that I did not sleep - indeed

not drive me away. No, this is my hou

Harker to pass a few weeks with me - he has a level

; it came to me last night - suddenly, as by

d all in full song. Suddenly - in a moment - at absolutely the same instant - all spring into the air and fly away. How? They could not all see one another - whole tree-tops intervened. At no point could a leader have been visible to all. There must have been a signal of

ill sometimes dive at the same instant - all gone out of sight in a moment. The signal has been sounded - too grave for the ear of the sailor at the ma

' rays. They represent colors - integral colors in the composition of light - which we are unable to discern. The human eye is an im

the Damned Thing

THE SH

pray at the shrine of Hastur, the god of shepherds, who heard and was pleased. After performance of this pious rite Ha?ta unbarred the gate of the fold and with a cheerful mind drove his flock afield, eating his morning meal of curds

his eye he got accidental glimpses of the minor sylvan deities, leaning forward out of the copse to hear; but if he looked at them directly they vanished. From this - for he must be thinking if he would not turn into one of his own sheep - he drew the solemn inference that happiness may come if not sought, but if looke

he alone might be punished for his sins and the world saved from destruction. Sometimes when there was a great rain, and the stream came out of its banks, compelling him to urge

and my fold that I and my sheep can escape the angry torrents; but the rest of the world

outh who kept his word, spared the cit

head of the valley, a full hour's journey away, from whom he had heard the tale of the great cities where dwelt people - poor souls!

ch he felt sure must some time come to him, as he had seen it come to so many of his flock - as it came to a

ey are by the way in which he was intrusted with them? And what contentment can I have when I know not how long it is going to

ness was full of terrors. His reed pipe when applied to his lips gave out no melody, but a dismal wail; the sylvan and riparian intelligences no longer thronged the thicket-side to listen, but fled from the sound, as he knew by the stirred leaves and bent flowers. He relaxed his vigilance and many o

termined gesture of the right hand exclaimed: "I will no longer be a suppliant for knowledge which the gods withhold.

ood a beautiful maiden. So beautiful she was that the flowers about her feet folded their petals in despair and bent their heads in token of submission; so sweet her look that the humming birds thronged he

nelt before her in adoration, and

of his flock - "come, thou art not to worship me, who am no godd

ey stood and smiled into each other's eyes. He gazed on her with reverence and rapture

ape was darkened by a giant shadow sweeping across the valley with the speed of a vulture. In the obscurity the maiden's figure grew dim and indistinct and her voice seemed to come from a d

ss - ran in circles, calling to her aloud, but all in vain. She was no longer visible, but out of the gloom he heard her

emands of the hour he forgot his disappointment, drove his sheep to the fold and repairing to the place of worship p

beside him, sat the maiden. She smiled upon him with a smile that seemed the visible music of his pipe of

st not forget to thank Hastur for staying the wolves of the nig

?ta. "Oh! never again leave me until - until

no word

rt of my own sex, that we might wrestle and r

her, observed to his astonishment that the rain was falling and the stream in the middle of the valley had come out of its banks. The shee

m the head of the valley, where he had gone with ewe's milk and oat cake and ber

nd bear him on my back to my own dwelling, where I can care for him. Doubtless it is fo

tering garments, met him in the path

t now have me, for none else will. Thou mayest have learned

soul - after Hastur be served - it is thine forever. But, alas! thou art capricious and wayward. Before to-morrow's sun I may l

fiery eyes. The maiden again vanished, and he turned and fled for his life. Nor did he stop until he was in the cot of th

a's hands, "it is not like thee to weep for bears - tell me what sorrow hath befallen th

thrice she had left him forlorn. He related minutely all that

uld not even permit thee to inquire, is Happiness. Thou saidst the truth to her, that she is capricious for she imposeth conditions that man cannot fulfill, and delinquency is punished by desertion. She com

blushing with shame at the confession. "E

hermit, "but for thine indiscretion

ITANT OF

, we say the man is lost, or gone on a long journey - which indeed he hath; but sometimes it hath happened in sight of many, as abundant testimony showeth. In one kind of death the spirit also dieth, and this

ed with astonishment that everything seemed unfamiliar. On every side of me stretched a bleak and desolate expanse of plain, covered with a tall overgrowth of sere grass, which rustled and whistled in the autumn wind with heaven knows what mysterious and disquieting suggestion. Protruded at long intervals above it, stood stran

comfort. Over all the dismal landscape a canopy of low, lead-colored clouds hung like a visible curse. In all this there were a menace and a portent - a hint of evil, an intimation of doom. Bird, beast, or insect

e graves themselves no longer existed as either mounds or depressions; the years had leveled all. Scattered here and there, more massive blocks showed where some pompous tomb or ambitious monument had once flung its feeble defiance at oblivion. So old seemed these relics, th

haracter with which my fancy had invested all that I saw or heard. I was ill. I remembered now that I had been prostrated by a sudden fever, and that my family had told me that in my periods of delirium I had constantly cried out for liberty and air, and had been h

urial-place, with its air of mystery and dread, due to my own disordered brain. Was I not becoming again delirious, there beyond human aid? Was it not indeed all an illusion

If I break down here in the desert - if the fever return and I fail, this beast will be at my throat. I spr

ground of gray cloud. He was half naked, half clad in skins. His hair was unkempt, his beard long and ragged. In one hand he carried a bow and arrow; the other held a blazing torch with a long trail of black smoke. He walked slowly and with caution, as if

d, nor did he

"I am ill and lost. Direct m

rous chant in an unknown t

en rift in the clouds Aldebaran and the Hyades! In all this there was a hint of night - the lynx, the man with the torch, the owl. Yet I

zed a ground of doubt in the conviction. Of fever I had no trace. I had, withal, a sense of exhilaration and vigor altogether unknown to me - a

protected from the weather, though greatly decomposed. Its edges were worn round, its corners eaten away, its surface deeply furrowed and scaled. Glittering particles of mica were visible in the earth ab

stone; I saw the low-relief letters of an inscription and bent to read it. G

ang to my feet in terror. The sun was rising in the rosy east. I stood

oups, on the summits of irregular mounds and tumuli filling a half of my desert prospect and extend

o the medium Bayrolles by the

STRA

little illuminated circle about our faili

t to explore this reg

rattlesnakes and horned toads. In an Arizona desert one does not long coexist with only such creatures as these: one must have pack animals, supplies, arms - "an outfit." And all these imply comrades. It was perhaps a doubt as to what manner of men this unceremonious stranger's comrades might be, together with something in his words interpretable as a cha

y as the configuration of the country permitted. We were prospecting and it was our intention, if we found nothing, to push through to the Gila river at some point

of an unfriendly purpose. His act was rather that of a harmless lunatic than an enemy. We were not so new to the country as not to know that the solitary life of many a plainsman had a tendency to develop eccentricities of conduct and character not always easily distinguishable from mental aberration. A man is like a tree: in a forest of his fellows he wi

, I find myself unable to do so with any degree of confidence, for afterward no two of us agreed as to what he wore and how he looked; and when I try to set down m

en silence the vis

e of the expedition had altered from discovery of wealth to preservation of life. We had gone too far to go back, for what was ahead could be no worse than what was behind; so we pushed on, riding by night to avoid Indians and the intolerable heat, and concealing ourselves by day as best we could. Sometimes, having exhausted our supply of wild

y took none of their usual cowardly precautions, but dashed upon us at a gallop, firing and yelling. Fighting was out of the question: we urged our feeble animals up the gulch as far as there was footing for a hoof, then thr

amiliar with the decent observances of social intercourse. A gesture of disa

d above we took the fire of a dozen rifles; but Apaches shoot badly when in a hurry, and God so willed it that none of us fell. Twenty yards up the slope, beyond the edge of the brush, were vertical cliffs, in which, directly in front of us, was a narrow opening. Into that we ran, finding

ed with ready rifles in the edge of the bush - knew that if we made a sortie not a man of us would live to take three steps into the open. For thr

without religion, and I am not acquaint with that of you. Pardon, senores,

sed his pistol against his temple. 'Madre de Dios,

illiam Shaw, George W.

der: it was fo

is foolish to go mad from thirst and fall by Apache bullets, or

ght,' said W

ght,' said G

a handkerchief over his face. Then William Shaw said

nt said that he f

devils will wait a week. William Sha

and I stood

od, our Fath

our Father,' s

our Father,' sai

us our sin

s our sins,

ceive ou

ceive ou

Am

Am

Ramon Gallegos and c

ite side of the campfire: one of our par

- you dare to be alive? You cowardly hound,

tain was upon him, grasping his wrist.

ranger, who sat motionless and apparently ina

ely a liar - just a plain, every-day liar whom Yountsey has no call to kill. If this man

ars ago four dead bodies of white men, scalped and shamefully mutilated, were found about the mou

the expiring fire, which in our breathless atte

Ramon Gallegos, William Shaw,

of the dead he walked into the

had been on guard, strode in among us

irection taken by the stranger. "I could see them distinctly, for the moon is up, but as they had no guns and I had

m again," said the captain. "The rest of you lie

As we were arranging our blankets the fiery Yountsey said: "I be

William Shaw an

ry Davis? I ought

uldn't have made him an

tno

the late Leigh Bierce. It is printed here with such revision