Beadle's Dime Library No. 801 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

ae ‘ oe & \v ” > 74h »~%, 2? ~~ _ yi . ‘43 7 4 - - oo ° -..* * ’ * te 4 é eh A ie 4 é “ The Pointing Finger. -yotedly cared for the cc nel, who seemed never Ware ae ay “sh Hui ts : ‘a ee No an. Ly . : d , _. 7 , Ne he ~~ Le 5 om « [ ‘ j ** > Pa -) " ies # t PLE ES PA Ses SS NE a eee) REE SS Ss eS EG » SS Be Ee BI RRO wr + : y . ** How strangely near it came to pointing to | to rally from the hurts received on the burning o, The Water Wolves etactive my grave, for there I would have rested, had I | steamer. ; ’ been killed. ‘* He lived just five months after it, sir, and i | “*Now to go on to the dear old home, ever | before he died Miss Ruth married Mr. Glyndon i? OR, | pen a me ey my wanderings, and see . the bedside of her ayn, who never spoke sk. | what welcome will be mine. after the ceremony was ended. RY | TR APPING the GR AVE GHOULS. | As he spoke he took up his valise and walked ‘* Immediately after his death the colonel was i / on aia ty little High hin ap for the path led | buried, bart and Mr, Glyndon and Miss Ruth de- ) | around 1¢ and across the fields to the mansion in | parted from Cedar Hall, Patsey being left in 3 A Romance of the Pointing Finger- | the timber beyond. chasre of the mansion. : - Ee | A branch, riven from the tree above, and ‘* But two nights did Patsey sleep in the man- by BY COL, PRENTISS INGRAHAM. stripped of its bark and leaves, bad been driven | sion, Master Lionel, for, as he did not appear in ‘a tena | a fuot deep into the grave, and there remained, | the morning, | went to waken him, thinking he 3 | Some three feet of it being above ground. had overslept himself. a CHAPTER I. ‘Strange, very strange, for no other grave ‘“Tll never forget it, Master Lionel, for I § we. THE reid Sulphate Sek ie has been marred. I cannot understand this at | found Patsey seated in your father’s big chair, ‘LOW strange! How perfect! ; | all. laughing and talking to himself, for he had AZ Che speakér stopped suddenly, and his eyes | “*And, whose grave is this, the only one un- | gone clean mad.” es were riveted upon a group of trees before him. | marked by a head-stone of all that are here?” ** Mad?” Baia. There, strikingly revealed, asthough cut with | He stood a moment musing, and then said ‘* Yes, sir, and he is now in the Lunatic Asy- ag shears out of the foliage, was a perfect hand, | again: lum.” a the index Anger pointing downward, | “There lies my poor mother, and this one is ‘Good God! that man had a giant frame and 5 It wasa freak of nature, tt seemed, and yet | near her side. Great God! can it be that it is | strong brain, so what could have driven him is one that was perfect, the wrist, the hand, the my father? Has he died and does not know all, | mad?’ Tig inting finger, being relieved against the sky | does not know what Ialone can tell him, No!\| “ Something he saw, sir, that night in the old om eyond as though painted there. “Yate no! no! it cannot be, it cannot be!” mansion, | am sure; but when we asked him Be A mass of dark clouds were gathering in the So saying he hastened on toward the mansion | about it he would tell us to hush, adding in a ‘ae heay ser and their inky blackness was riven | just as the big, pattering rain-drops began to | whisper: ‘Oey now aud then with darts of lightning, while the | ¢a)). “*T saw the dead walking, you know, and ~e air was oppressive before the coming of a storm, Going over the stile at the fence, he hastened | dead men walking about at night is enough to OS nota breath of wind stirring tomar the sym- | on to the mansion, which, as he approached, he | madden any brain.’ ae metry of that pointing finger. saw wore an air of desolation and neglect. ‘This is all we could get from him, sir, and aie The one who gazed thereon was a manof; ‘Jt must be my father that is dead, for the | Mr, Glyndon came up and had him put in an fit, twenty-eight, with a strong face, resolute, fear-| old home seems deserted. But my dear little | asylum, where be is well cared for.” ee Jess, every feature cast in a perfect mold. sister, Ruth? What of her?” ‘« And Glyndon does not live here now at all?” Se is eyes were large, shaded by long lashes, Hastening up the broad steps, he raised the *€ Oh, no, sir; he has not passed a night in the Bie. and in repose had a dreamy look; but now, heavy brass knocker and let it fall several | mansion since the colonel’s death, and Polly and ae when lighted up by the discovery of the hand, | times, myself have charge, but we keep the old place Reh with the pointing finger, they seemed to blaze} The sound seemed like the knocking upon a | closed up and never enter it, living here in our wie with intense interest. , tomb, for it gave back only echo. cottage, as you see.” Bee. 4 He was dressed in a sailor suit, yet wore nota | Going around the broad piazza hesawthat the | ‘‘ And where is your wife now, Thurber?” hr? tarpaulin but a slouch hat, and carried a leather | mansion was indeed deserted, but an outer cot- ‘‘ She drove to the village, sir, but will return a - sachel or valise in his hand, which he had drop- | tage was occupied, for an old man stood in the | as soon as the rain is over; and she'll be awful aay at his feet as he stood gazing upon the hand | doorway regarding him. | glad to see you, Master Lionel, as I am, for we fate - in the foliage of the thicket, while he saidin an | + Tt ig old Thurber, and now I will know all.” | always liked you, sir, as you know.” a impressive way: So saying he hastened through the drivin ‘“ Yes, Thurber, you were always faithful to aie ‘A startling freak of nature, surely, and yet | rain to the little cottage, saying as he ad- | me; but I will pass to-nightin the old mansion, ee that hand, that finger, points directly down | vanced: | in my own room, and to-morrow I will go my ee upon a grave ! ‘“* Ho, Thurber, bless your old soul, this is a | way ,for I have no right here now, having been ‘Tae _ Inthe edge of the little clump of timber wasa | poor welcome the Prodigal Son gets upon his re- | disinherited.” oe! small burying-ground, doubtless the last rest- | turn home.” ‘‘T am sorry, sir, very sorry; but after you he ing-place of some family that had passed away,| ‘Master Lionel! is this you or your ghost?” | ran away, sir, master never spoke your name; ie for only half a score of graves were there, the | cried the old man, grasping him by both hands, | but, Master Lionel, you do not intend to sleep in - Tag monuments moss-covered by age. The graves *‘I¢ is not my ghost, Thurber, | assure you, | the old mansion, sir?” ou _ were close-clustered with one exception, and | though the old home seems now a fit abiding-| ‘1 do, unless you forbid it, Thurber, asI sup- “Bay that grave a little off to one side, under a spread- place for ghosts and goblins; but, tell me: what | pose you have the right to do?” aes ing tree. ae does it all mean?” ‘God forbid, sir; but it isa desolate place to | cay. _ Directly down upon this isolated grave was ‘‘Your father is dead, Master Lionel,” was | pass the night, and we can give you a room in shies the foliage finger pointing !” the low reply. 3 the cottage.” SSS Uumindful of the gathering storm, the man| ‘Dead? it is as I feared,” and the man sunk} ‘No, I will sleep in the mansion.” wae. stood gazing at the strange sight, the muttering | down into a chair and buried his face in his ‘* But remember, sir, what Patsey saw there * das thunder increasing in power as the storm swept | hands. turned his brain.” sae ct nearer, and the lightning becoming more and| The old servant stood regarding him in si-| ‘‘ Nothing that I may see there, Thurbér, can x ey more vivid, though still that breathless calm, | Jence, until he raised his head, aud then he | turn mine,” was the resolute response. that apprehensive lull, rested upon all. said: ‘‘ Well, sir, when Polly gets back we will go in VU ia Behind hira, a quarter of a mile distant,and | + You wish me to tell you all, Master Lionel?’ | and make up your room and let in some fresh ss several hundred teet below the spot where he| ‘Yes, from the time when, ten years ago, I | air— Ah, there she comes now.” tie stood, was the Hudson, its bosom unruffled, yet | left this home under a cloud,” eagerly said the And a covered wagon, drawn by an old horse, Sra Nit, broken here and there by a vessel thathadstrip- | wanderer. - | came along the winding drive toward the cot- ae ped te bare poles and anchored to meet thefury | — ‘Jt is soon told, Master Lionel, for your going | tage, a woman of fifty holding the reins, bay, _of the coming storm. hurt your father deeply, and Miss Ruth mi .s she drew up at the cottage her éyes fell up- ane ‘Before him stretched fields and woodland, and | you so she was sent away to boarding-school in | on the stranger, and after a close scrutiny a his way led along a path, but little trod, taat the city, and the colonel dwelt here all alone | flash of recognition came over her face as she __——., wound on toward a mansion a quarter of a mile | with Polly and niyself only to look after his | cried: | et nt, surrounded by m e trees which | comfort, and Patsey had charge in the stables.” | ‘‘ Master Lionel! Though you have changed _—s Shut it nearly out from view. ‘* My father believed all that was said of me, | from boy to man I know you! I cannot forget ss A steamer was plowing ayant along over |! Thurber?” came the low query. those eyes,” the mirror-like waters, and from it, at a small ‘Yes, Master Lionel, I suppose so, though he 2 A er, the man had just landed, taking his way | never mentioned your name even to me, sir. CHAPTER III. — SARS ras the hillside with the manner of one wlio} ‘ Miss Ruth came back in vacation days, and THE MIDNIGHT VISION, eS ew hissurroundings. used to ride about the country alone, and row | CoLonget DAvip LONSDALE was a man of re- . -.- His face bad worn a smile, his look had been | and sail upon the river; but, when she gradu- | finement and wealth, and his home, Cedar Hall, | ss one of pleased satistaction, until, as he walked | ated, a year ago, master went down to fetch her | was one of the grandest of the old-time mansions ask eae per eehy See he had suddenly come upon the home, and on the way back the steamer caught | upon the Hudson River. _ - view that met his eyes—the sight vf that point- | fire, master was injured, and, but for the cour- He had inherited a vast fortune, and, reared + | a ing finger. ee age of a young man who was on board both he | in the army, had married a Mexican maiden aa , ‘* And whose grave is it?” he muttered. and your sister would have lost their lives: but | while stationed at a fort upon the Rio Grande. “SR ‘* Here lie the ashes of my race, for five gen- | hesaved them at the imminent risk of hisown| After distinguishing himself in the war with is erations, and that new grave tells me that some | Jife, and from that day became a welcome guest | Mexico he had resigned his commission and set- ER one I left at home ten years ago has gone. — at Cedar Hall,” | tled down to a life of ease at his home of Cedar eee ‘““Is it my father? Is it my little sister, ‘* Who was the noble fellow, Thurber?” Hall. — op, Ruth? F . : ‘* His name is Grayson Glyndon, sir, and Miss Always austere and a silent man, he bad 2.7 ‘There is no head-board to tell the story, and ; Ruth is now his wife.” : become more so after the death of his wife, —---—s-:« Tmust hasten on and know who that bears my | ‘His wife? G God! I have thought of | who left him two children, Lionel Lons- | | es name has passed away. my dear little sister as only a child; but tell me | dale, whom the reader has met, and Ruth, the » ee agg his sachel he started onward, but, | more, Thurber, tell me who itis that my sister | latter being some seven years the junior of her | Bras, as he did so a fiery bolt from the black | has married, and where she now is?” | brother. 43 a“ : ss ¢louds above descended upon hi of trees;| ‘*He is a handsome man, Master Lionel,a | A handsome youth, Lionel had begun early ean. Nogiae pd branches were riven and scattered, and the | very handsome man, and yet, somehow, I do | to lead a somewhat wild life, and for some man dropped in his tracks like one dead. not like bim; but master seemed to regard him | scrape he had been dismissed from the Naval al of ee Oe most highly, and when he died left bis riches, | Academy where his father had succeeded in plac- Ne ats. CHAPTER II. | estate and all to him or that is, sir, your share | ing him. i aa a THE WANDERER’S RETURN. | | —Miss Ruth getting hers.” | ving been allowed money most freely he _. GRE the crashing peal of thunder, following | ‘‘ Ha! I am then disinherited?” said the young | became extravagant, for one of his years, un- td es the lightning’s stroke, had died away, the man | man, bitterly. | til his father was forced to refuse to pay another ss arose to his feet, stagnering like one foolish with | ‘‘ Yes, sir, he did not leaye you a dollar, it is | of his debts, and brought him away from col- ~~ -wine, and pressing his hands over his face, as id.” | | | lege to remain at home under a tutor’s care, though to shut out the glare that hadnearly , ‘'So beit; but I regret more that my father he day after the arrival of the tutor, Colonel - ae winded him, =~ _ | should have died in anger with me than that he | Lonsdale was called from home, and took his | | wie ile seemed for a Moment dazed, but gradual- | should have disinherited me. daughter Ruth with him, expecting to be absent ve eae ly reason resumed its sway, bis strength came | ‘‘ But tell me of his death, teil me all, Thur- | a week. The tutor went away also the same bck and he stood gazing upon the scene about | ber.” _ ina day, being summoned to the bedside of his dying + rece BQ), ‘There is little to tell, sir, only that Mr. | mother. : | , - * _ “®hat pointing hand is gone, the foliage and ; Glyndon, after his rescue of your father and | Thus was Lionel, a youth of seota fa left Peet Biks, branches having been shattered by the light- s Ruth, came often to Cedar “Hall, and de- | alone in the mansion, with only the o d fan ly 2 \ . ‘ wo F wee) ed y a ——~ wy ‘a -=com