Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 12, 1927 — page 104: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

93 was of stained glass—and set the camera on its sill. Cronk adjusted the range, opened the lens, and then descended the stepladder by which he had mounted to it. He then suggested that we remove the stepladder and leave everything as it had been before we set this “trap” for the ghost. The suggestion struck me as rather child- ish, but very much in keeping with Cronk’s gullible, ingenuous nature. He said that the spirits resent being tricked. The whole process reminded me of setting a trap for some wild animal in the jungle. But it is surprising, as I look back on it now, how the doctor and I joined in heartily with all the arrangements. To tell the truth, I had a sort of under- handed reason in lending my moral support to this nonsense. It had occurred to me that those rappings might have been caused by some one whose intent was to trick us all into believing the ghost theory. In that case it would be very convenient to have a photograph of just who it was. My ignorance of photography, you may ob- serve, was boundless. A human being mov- ing around in that room during the night would not be photographed upon the film without a very strong light. The doctor expected results, despite the fact that he had a scientifically trained mind. Miss Shirley had expressed great interest in the experiment. I myself ex- pected that something might happen, even if the camera failed to record it. We all believed that the judge would come to the old manse again that night. And we were more or less reasonable in our guess that he would revisit his own room, where he had died. For my part, I might add, I had a grave misgiving concerning the safety of those of us who were to spend the night in the house. The judge—or whatever agent of the devil had taken Deputy Marteau’s life —was going to claim another victim. And every one in the house, from Miss Shirley down to the frightened, whimpering Mexican hostler, entertained the same fear. Cronk was especially apprehensive. When ae came fos = Sa soe ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, pened. Had he seen “rs beyond the sill of that skylight? No; it was pitch dark. He could not have seen anything, and he confessed he did not dare to look. But he felt a peculiar breath coming from the room. Purely im- agination, the doctor said—and I was of that opinion. Cronk was terribly unnerved. His pathological imagination made him particu- larly susceptible. He would feel breaths, and see shadows, and hear sounds that no healthy man would have experienced. He explained his ashen face. “ I’ve been having a peculiar sort of headache. It is here—” He pointed to back of his cranium. “ An ache as if my skull were cracked.” The doctor suggested taking a powder, but Cronk refused. Above all else he want- ed to remain in the right mood; drugs were inimical to the functioning of mediumistic powers. “T am going to sit here in a chair, near this door,” he said, “ and wait.’’ The doctor advised strongly against this. “In your condition, my young man, you need sleep,” he said. He then suggested that we three take turns sitting there and keeping watch all night. Cronk agreed to this. It was during my watch—one o’clock, f think it was—that the thing happened. My first sense impression was one of sound. I thought I heard whisperings. They were like echoes of some one at a great distance speaking softly, but with a voice that was carried along on a steady wind and augmented by vast, smooth, cav- emous walls. Of course, my imagination was in such a fever that I swore by all the gods that that whispering came from above the tran- som of the judge’s door. 1 looked up to the transom, and the hair of my head prickled. I thought I saw a faint wavering light in there. For a long time I sat gazing upward, my heart thumping, my hair prickling, and my forehead turning cold. Then something else happened. {f heard ‘the Gok of sees, very soft, as Se p . were 1g out nar eOmiebeo ker com