Hunter College High School - Argus Yearbook (New York, NY)

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THE ARGUS and went up the old, rickety, creaking stairs, and found our- selves on the second floor hall, with four closed doors staring us in the face. We stood still for a moment, and listened--no sound.-Each one of us simultaneously breathed a sigh of re- lief and then burst out laugihing. But instantly, we stood ter- rified-what was that awful sound? Our grasps tightened and we looked at eadh' other, three frozen statues, but then as the sound died away, we giggled, for it was just the echo of our laugh, ringing through the desolate place. We moved toward the nearest door, and tried to open it, but it was locked, we tried the second and third doors, but they were likewise unmovablwe. Our spirits rose, however, when the fourth door yielding to our efforts moved squeakingly on its hinges. VVe saw no ghost, no chains, no pistols lying about but just an empty room, with four blank +walls. This is where we'll stay said Delia, see, we'll spread our blankets on thze floor-here. We were all tired and excited, and glad of an opportunity' to rest, so we spread out our blankets, opened our baskets and ate a hearty meal. It was rapidly growing dark, and by the time we were through e.ating we could see the other side of the room only indistinctly. We had planned to go upstairs, to explore that floor too, but we gave that idea up, because we were beginning to feel uncomfortable, although none of us would admit it. Wie bolted the door from the inside, and then cuddled close together near the window, where a few rays of light streamed through the cracks in the wood. VVe talked cheerfully, laughing at everything we could, to keep from feel- ing frightened. We decided to divide the night into three watches, one from nine to twelve, the other from twelve to three, and the tlhfird from three to six. Then we drew lots. Delia was to watch Hrst, I next and Marge third. The time dragged along very slowly until nine, 'when We slettled down in our blankets andptried to go to sleep, but although we were tired, it wfas quite useless, and we could see that Delia wanted' us to stay awake. It was about eleven, when I lin-ally dozed off int-0 a light sleep. Promptly at twelve, Delia woke me., and for half an hour or so, we talked in low tones. She had heard nothing, but the Ihowling of the wind and a few soundsa that were probably imagined. Finally, both Delia and Marge. fell asleep. I huddled up close to them, and shut my eyes 38

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THE ARGUS and usually said something like, when it begins to get dark, you'll think better of it, but that only made us all the more determined and we all felt as Delia did, when she said defiantly, we'll just show them that we mean what we say. So, with suppressed excitement we waited for the, five o'clock whistle, and at length it blew. We didn't waste much time after that, but hurriedly bade our anxious parents good-bye, and before many minutes more, we were pushing our boat off tihe shone, and starting toward the haunted isle. We took turns at rowing, and in about fifteen minutes we had reached our destination. The island was small and bleak. It had no grass or trees growing upon it, only the thre.e-storied, weather- beaten, gray, desolate old house. We found a little sandy spot, and pulling our boat up on the sand, scrambled over the rocks as well 35 we could with our arms laden as they were with blankets and food. VVe had visited this island again and again, and had investi- gated every nook and corner of it, although we had never ventured inside the house. But we knew that it was all boarded up, save one little window near the ground, and it was through this that we now climbed, and found ourselves in a rather small room. It was completely furnished, and we could plainly see that the last occupants had made no prepar- ations for departure, for many things lay carelessly about the room, just as thougih- there were someone living in it at that moment. Only, the spiders and dust had taken full possession of the place, for the.re wasn't an inch of surface anywhere, that was not covered 'with about two inches of dust, nor was thene any corner or piece of furniture, which had no web to boast of. Consequently, it was not long before all three of us were similarly covered from head to foot. After investigating everything carefully, and finding no foot-prints or linger-prints, as we had lhoped, we pushed the door open, and found ourselves in a hall. There were two other doors on that Hoor, one of which was locked, while the other led into a small kitchen, where some dishes stood on the table. Everything suggested a.hasty departure. Come, said Marge let's go up-stairs. No sooner said than done.-We took each other's hands, not because we were afraid, oh no! but just to feel that we were close together- 37

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THE ARGUS tightly, because when I opened them, I imagine.d that I saw all kinds of weird figures dancing about, so I preferred to keep them closed. 5The wind whistled and howled dismally around the old house, and I lhleard all kinds of queer, unearthly sounds. After what seemed like hours, I suddenly heard a door slam- bang! I jumped, and Marge and Delia stirred uneasily, but did not wake up. My heart was pounding violently, and I tried to calm myself by reasoning that it was probably the wind slamming the kitchen door shut. Most likely, we had left both the window and the door- open. Butewhen- I heard a second door slam, I was perplexed, and decided to wake the girls. Delia, Marge I whispered, as I shook them both, wake up, I've heard two doors slam, listen, I've heard two doors- but by that time, they were wide alwake, and I had no sooner told them about it, when a third door slammed, this one louder than the other two. We were frightened stiff. Delia had the presence of mind to light a lantern that we had brought with us, and the shadows of the flames, Hickerinlgj around the walls, were enough to send chill after chill down our backs. For once, I believe, we were having excitement enough, even to satisfy our adventurous souls. We sat that way, with our arms entwined for hours-it seemed like years,-until finally at about five, some gray streaks of lighft came slowly through the cracks in the window. Things began to look brighter, and we wvekre all in the best of spirits when suddenly-we were turned to stone, terrified--for through the whole house, the report of a. pistol resounded, and then came a loud crash, followed by another. We jumped to our feet, and stood petrified. The crash was very near, it couldn't have been further away than the next room, and sure enough, there, from 'beneath a door which we had not noticed, but which evidently led into one of the rooms, which were locked from 'dhe hall, a stream of blood came trick- ling into our room. We screamed, and then with one accord turned and fled. Not a word was spoken until we were out upon the water, at a safe distance from the shore. Then Delia said gracious! and We all laughed hysterically. The sun was just rising, and a light mist was lifting from the water. Every minute we could see, Stony Creek more dis- tinctly with its church steeple rising majestically above the lined roofs. We neached shore after ten minutes of furious rowing, and 'dhen without much more ado, betook ourselves to 39