Strong High School - Mussul Unsquit Yearbook (Strong, ME)

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18 THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT fire on the hearth. He put on his dressing gown and sat down before the fire. After a short time he got up and locked the door, then went to bed. Several times during the night he thought he heard noises but nothing came of it. All of a sudden something wakened him with a start and he found the lights burning brightly, as was the fire, also. He looked toward the door and saw that it was open and the same hand was beckoning him. He followed it down into the dining room and he started to open a door that led into the kitchen, when he did so there was a terrible noise and A-- became so frightened that he turned and fled to his room. After quieting his nerves he re- turned to bed. Again he awoke and found the hand beckoning him. This time he went into the kitchen. There was a fire in the stove, and a kettle was singing merrily. Beside the stove there was a door that was bolted. This door unbolted itself and then opened a little way, and the hand appeared and beck- oned A- to go down cellar, but A- was terrified and returned quickly to his room as before. He decided to sit up the remainder of the night. He heard the door creak and saw the hand motioning again, although very weary of that hand, he seemed powerless to resist following where it led. This time it led him to the attic and something pushed him into a room, and a voice that seemed to come from everywhere, and which was very hollow and ghostly, said, Stay there until you can do what the hand bids you. A-- was now almost beside himself with terror. He leaped to the door and tried to force it open, but it was fast and could not be opened so he turned and went back to a little cot, that was in the room, and sat down upon it. What could this mean? was the question that was before A--- to solve. It must mean that I am being punished for not go- ing down cellar as the hand wished, thought A- to himself. After a few hours the same voice was heard to say, Now, let us try againf' and Ai- was led back down the attic stairs to his bed room. After being there a while, he heard a noise and turned, only to see the hand beckoning him to follow it. He arose and followed it, hardly realizing what he was doing. It took him down the stairs into the parlor and then disappeared. Ai seated himself and took up a paper from the table, intending to read it. As he glanced through the pages he saw that the date was October 3, 1892. After gazing over the pages, he saw an account of the murder of C. N. Wilson. This must have been the same man, thought A- to him- self. As he had become interested in it he heard the voice again, Better dress, it 's cold down there. Mystified and terrified, A-L returned to the second floor and dressed himself slowly, because he was wondering what was going to happen next. After dressing he sat down to see the hand beckoning him, so he got up and followed the hand down the stairs. Again he heard the voice, Put on your coat, it's cold down there. Not realizing what he was doing, A- went into the cloak room and put on his coat. Upon returning to the hall expecting to be called into the kitchen, he found nothing. Listening, he heard a num- ber of strange noises, which seemed to come from the cellar. Then he thought he heard voices, which of course seemed to come from the cellar. After a time he became tired of waiting for the reappearance of the hand and wan- dered into the parlor and sat down to read the paper again. He had hardly picked it up when the hand appeared and beckoned him to follow. He followed it out through the hall, into the dining room, and then into the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen, Ai turned to the cellar door, and as he looked it unbolted and opened a little way and the voice said, Come! Come! A- hesitated, but the voice repeated the words, and, unable to resist any longer, he advanced to the door, and although he was

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THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT 17 by the next winter a new camp was stand- ing where the old one once stood. A dif- ferent crew of men worked there, the same by name but different in spirit, due to the wonderful work of Joe Blake. D. M. D., '22, THE MYSTERIOUS HAND Representative Short Story of the Super- natural N the city of Chicago there was a man by the name of G--, who owned an old, brick house on the outskirts of the city. For five years the house had been deserted by all human beings. It was said to be furnished, and that whenever anyone went in a hand beckoned him about the house, and always to the dining room where a large dinner was always on the table. One day during the month of June, 1397, a young man came to the city. At the young menls club, he heard some of the men talking about the haunted house. They said that no one ever went farther than the dining room. Al was not a believer in ghosts and told the young men that he would go to that house and would find out what the hand was. The next week A-- went to see Mr. Gi about staying at the house. They talked thus: No one has ever stayed in the house longer than half an hour since September 28, 1891 said G-. I am going to stay all night, anyway, and maybe longer, for I a1n going to find out what haunts the house. VVhy, a man was murdered in the cellar of the house and no one, that is to my knowledge, has ever been in the cellar since. It is said that the police found, when they searched the house after the murder, the murdered man's hand beside the cellar door. So whenever one goes there that hand beckons him through the housef, XXVell, I'm going to go to that house and Hnd out the mystery. I may get frightened out of the house, but I inte11d to try, anyway. All right, go ahead, but whatever hap- pens, don't ever blame me. So long, I'll see you later if nothing happens. You say the door is unlocked? Yes. Well, that may account for a lot of the mysteryg so far so good. A- reached the house and stood in the street looking at it. It was an old- fashioned, brick house covered with green vines. The large piazza that extended all around the house had been screened in once, but the screening was torn and full of holes now. In front of the house were some large maple trees. The board walk that led to the house was torn up and rot- ten. The fence about the yard had fallen down in many places and the gate was off the hinges. He walked through the yard and stepped onto the piazza. As he took hold of the door knob, the door opened a little way and a hand beckoned to him. He went in and found himself in a large hall. He heard a noise and turned around: he saw a door that was partly open and the hand was beckoning him to come. IIC went through the door into a large dining room where there was a large, steaming hot supper on the table. AL sat down and forced him- self to eat, although he was almost too frightened to do much of anything. VVhile he was eating he looked about the room. It was a large room with a high ceiling and it had only one window, which looked out toward a side street. After a time he got up from the table and went back into the hall. Another door opened a crack and the hand beckoned him in. He went in and found himself in a large parlor. There was a bright tire burn- ing in the fireplace. He sat down in a large easy chair, picked up a book and tried to read, but was 11C1'VOLlS so he got up and paced the Floor for a while. Then he turned to go and saw the hand motioning him into the hall. He followed the hand and it led him out through the hall, up the stairs, and into a large bed room. Here, also, there was a

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THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT 19 trembling, he opened the door to gaze down into the cellar. As he looked he became stiff and seemed glued to the spot. Then he turned and fied, and didu't stop until he reached his hotel, where he threw himself on the bed, remaining there too frightened to move, until late in the forenoon. The next evening he went to tl1e club, where the fellows asked him to tell his story. I-Ie told them, but when he came to the part where he looked down into the cellar, he hesitated. They urged him to go on, but he said, HI can never tell what I saw in the cellar, and to this day no one can get Mr. :Xi to tell what he saw in the cellar of the haunted house. J. V. S., 24. EAGLE MOUNTAIN CAVE CEnglish IIIJ T was one day in the summer of 1851 that I received a letter from a college chum, John Daven, who was much inter- ested in miueralogy. The letter stated that he was about to explore for minerals and desired me to accompany him. That night I showed my father the letter and the de- sired permission was given me. Three days after receiving the letter I was speeding toward Dayton, where my friend was going to join me. I passed through rich farming lands, and large cit- ies, and at last arrived at Dayton. Imme- diately on getting off the train, I found john, whom I was very glad to see. We then boarded the train for the backwoods. John told me that it was on Eagle Moun- tain where he intended to search for min- erals. I learned that this mountain was lo- cated far back in a wild, sparsely settled country, and that we should have to leave tl1e train fifty miles this side and hike the remaining distance. We rode all that night and exactly at noon of the next day we arrived in a small lumber town, which certainly lived up to its name of Shack Center . There was no street in the villageg the shacks just seemed to be dumped in a cluster. On waking up a near-by lounger and asking him where we could obtain some- thing eatable, that worthy, slowly shifting his plug from one side of his mouth to the other, at his leisure, replied, Reckon old man Kimpton up at the saloon will give you enough to keep you from starving and also a dose of good manners. After we had eaten our sumptuous meal of canned pork and beans, sourdough bis- cuit, dried apple pie, a11d black coffee, we bought some supplies, made up our packs, and set off in the direction of Eagle Moun- tain. The next night we camped at the foot of the,mountain in a wild and desolate place. About nine in the evening we crawled into our blankets and soon fell asleep on our beds of spicy spruce boughs, but being rather nervous, we slept with one eye open, expecting any minute to be a meal for some wild beast. About midnight, I was awakened by s11arls and growls near-by. Lifting my head, I could see a row of green eyes all around the camp fire. Cold sweat stood out on my forehead, but gathering my courage I gripped my rifle and was about to shoot, when John, who possessed a keener presence of mind than I, fired a volley of shots in the direction of those weird, green eyes. With snarls and shrieks of anguish and rage they disap- peared into the depth of gloom surrounding the camp Ere. We slept no more that night but remained on guard expecting a return of our savage visitors. In the morning we set out up the slope of the mountain, eager to leave our wild camping place behind. At noon we reached our destination, the summit of Eagle Mountain, which was more strange and much wilder than the foot, and we be- gan to think that minerals would have to be very plenty to keep us long on this weird mountain. Nevertheless, we made