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IIP-- THE LAKE SHORE NEWS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1918 ■mj.m n$4 The Empty House Penrod Encounters All Kinds of Hair-Raising Experiences By BOOTH TARKINGTON (Copyright, 1S17, Wheeler Syndicate, Inc.) ONE July afternoon, when the world outdoors was empty of everything except hot sun- shine, Penxod Schofield. in the sawdust box of his father's stable, was as silently busy as a diligent young worm in the heart of a nut. Favoring this comparison, the saw- dust box was naturally almost as dark as the inside of a nut is believed to be; but Penrod worked by the light of a lantern, which raised the temperature of the box to a degree that would have frightened a stoker, but subtracted nothing from the fever of composition. Penrod was writing. He was writing CHAPiTER TENTH of his secret novel, HARold RAMO- REZ THE ROAD-AGENT oR WILD LIFE AMONG THE ROCKY MTS. 'Soon it was Mr. Wilson's turn to be scared and he started begging to be let off and said it was not his fa jit and how he had never done anything. Oh no, sneered Harold, yon did not do anything to this poor old man. Oh no, but I guess the time has come now when you will have to be exposed so just look here a min- ute. I have the papers to prove you committed the foregy your own self 16 long years ago that this poor old man got put in the penitenatriy for and been 16 long years in a dirty cell with nothing but bread and water and a little rice. "Yes said our hero and I have papers that prove he murdered your : children and little baby daughter also. "I didn't either and you better look out how you talk said Mr. Wilson and pujered his soul before his Maker. No sir cried he it was some irishman that murdered the old man's children and little baby daughter also. "Soon they attempted to put some hankuffs on Mr. Wilson but he pulled out his ottomatick and reached over Harold's soldher where they were struglling and began shooting away at the old man but Harold reched up and caught hold of his hand with his hand and took the ottomatick away and held him until the old man could get the hankuffs on him. "There sneered the old man when he was all tied up tight 1 guess you are in a nice fix now just like the way T used to be for 16 long years. Ha Ha Ho do you like it and went on tanting him with his hepless con- dition. Yes sneered the old man 1 think you are one of the worst peo- ple I ever knew in my whole life and I am going to tell that you were the real foger that put everything off on me and then he got so mad he began steping on Mr. Wilson where he was lying on the Moor. "Soon Mr. Wilson started crying at this and our hero and the old man tanted him some more for a wile then went on out with a smile. Mr. Wilson quit crying because it did not hurt any more where the old man had kept steping on him and soon managed to shake off his bonds with his teeth. Yon Harold Ramorez sneered he now 1 will hunt you down like dog and he hunted around until he found his whistle on the floor some where and soon sutnoned his detectives again and began reviln them you are nice ones you are sneered he leaving me here alone with those two men it was Harold Ramorez and he has turned the old man lose and we will have to hurry up or we will probly not catch them. I wonder where they have gone. "1 bet I know said the detectives he has gone to his lair on the steep- est clift in the Rocky Mts and takin the old man with him we can easly catch up with them because it is dark outside and probly it is going to rain too so after talking some more they soon went on out and started after our hero and the old man. "Soon a storm came up and Mr. Wilson and the detectives got close on the trail of the fugitives in the storm because # they could see him by the light of the flashes of lightning first would come a flash of lightning and then would come some thunder. "CHAPiTER ELEVENTH. '"This kept up for a long wile for it was a terrible night and the light- ing would scared anybody it kept lighting and thundering all the time and the old man could not run fast and Mr. Wilson and the detectives the lighting and the lighting would strike rocks that would fall off the clifts and almost hit them and the wind blowing trees down too and it got frezing cold and the old man got hit with one of the rocks and broke his leg so our hero had to carry him on his back and more rocks began falling because an earthquake had started now besides the lighting and thunder and our hero could not find his way among the clifts and then it started raining too. "litng bing went the ottomatick bullets bing bing bing bing bing bing become more and bing bing bing. h cried the old man I am wonded again and probly I will die unless we can find some place to get under. Bing Bing Bing bing Bing bing Mr, Wilson and the detectives kept on bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing bing. Oh cried the old man because Mr. Wilson and the detec- tives got close up and the ottomatick bullets hit the old man every time. "Everything kept getting worse but soon Harold saw a terrible looking cavren and went inside of it and put the old man down from earring him. The cavren was all black and it sinelled terrible. Well said the old man this is the worst looking place I have ever been and I bet there is something terrible in here and then some animal jumped out from back in there and bit him where the otto- matick bullets had wonded him and he said Oh some animal is bitting me erous are the processes of the al- chemy. The fact that wordds are fixed symbols of things concerned Penrod little; he thought that the words he set upon the paper meant all the things he heard and felt and saw, in his min's eye, as he wrote— things which so stireed and thrilled him that his hand had begun to tremble as it sped, faster and faster, across the pages. He shook with horror of the awful refuge discovered by Harold Ra- morez ; he saw a green vapor—shim- mering in its sinister hollows; He heard the shrieking of the canon wind across the cavern's mouth saw it lifting and tossing the white hair and beard of a dreadful figure which lay there, naked, torn and drenched. He fled toward the green vapor in the depths, only to turn back, shuddering with ghastly suspicions, while out of the darkness hundreds of eyes—eyes without bodies, eyes without faces— looked at him and began to come closer, and closer, and closer. When such a situation is thus con- ceived and developed in such an au» thor, it seldom proceeds toward con- valescence ; but rather the symptoms more malignant indefinitely, relief being obtained only after the author has had a night's sleep. So it was but natural that Harold Ramorez's suspicions con- cerning the green vapor turned out to be well founded. ' The vapor proved, indeed, to be the ghost of the unfortunate Old Man who had suffered so greatly after arriving at the cavern, and on the journey there- to, and also, owing to the machina- tions of Mr, Wilson, for sixteen long, previous years. And, with the typical inconsistency of all ghosts, this one had undergone a complete change of character since passing. Forgetting every former tie ind all gratitude, it seemed wholly nimical to its former benefactor, and assuming the position of terror-in- :hief of a place upon which, in life, t had pronounced an unfavorable opinion and for which it had shown nothing save by reminiscent odor; but there was a dim light in the din- ing room. Thither he proceeded, his unnerved condition being at once im- proved by the sight of viands and vegetables, for there was a plate upon the table at his accustomed place, and food plenteous, though grown cold. A conjunction of suggestions, oc- curring as he ate, recalled something like an echo of Delia's voice; gradu- ally he became susceptible to an im- pression that his father and mother and sister had not dined at home. Then abruptly it struck him that he might be alone in the house. (Continued next week.) Scott Jord»a, Cad? M. Jwtfaa, Wllatot Wkltaker C. H. JORDAN & CO. FUNERAL DIRECTORS Efttabllaked ISM Phea* 449 «1S Davla Street, Rvaaataa MM N. 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For Real Estate Bargains Splendid List of Bargains in Modern and New Homes Some unusual bargains in lots-Get our rent list Phone 484 415 Linden Ave. Wilmette mmmmmmumuwmwwuwuwuumumwmmwmmmmwum JOHN BOOMER WILMETTE REALTY CO. A* 513 FOURTH STREET JUST NORTH OF"L" TERMINAL WOODCOCK jg PHONE 1304 WILMETTE C SALES LIST YOUR PROPERTY WITH US AT ONCE If we have your House o. Vac m .ooff.r it might suit one of our customers. m WE HAVE MONEY TO LOAN ON WILMETTE REAL ESTATE LOANS we make INSURANCE if, back in there and he was afraid probly it was the old rnans irohst and lie saw something that loo'ced like some eyes looking right at him—" "Musther Penrod!" This was a hail from the house. Delia, the cook, emerged from the kitchen door and stood upon the back-porch in the sunset light. She addressed the silent stable. "Musther Penrod! V'rout there sinvwhercs. why can't y'answer me? Yer father an' mother's away fer din- ner an* so's Miss Marg'rnt an' I'm not groin' to wait alii night, so if ye want annything teat ye better c'niin an' eat it. *Ts the last I'll cahl ye!" However, she came to the door five times during the gradual dusk to shout "Musther Penrod" and various warnings ; but the stable remained stolidly unresponsive. Finally she delivered a real ultimatum, and when it proved ineffectual, retired per- manently. Certainly her voice had reached the physical ear of Penrod, but it conveyed no meaning: his mind had not heard it. Penrod's self was in a horrible cavern in the Rocky moun- tains with Harold Ramorez. Like many another good soul n-.oved to attempt the transmutation of vision into manuscript, this author his way to the kitchen door. would shoot at them by the tight of was not aware how £rail and treach nulged frarsomely as he wrote. And that very instant the flame of his depleted lantern died absolutely. Harold Ramorez himself was not left in more complete eclipse. Instinct brought Penrod to his feet at a bound; and, as he looked out over the side of the sawdust box toward the open door, his state of mind was one that needed the immediate re- assurance of sunshine. And bright, warm, July afternoon sunshine was what Penrod fully expected to see. Instead, lie looked into Egyptian night. Therefore it is not surprising that when Penrod emerged from* the stable, a very lew seconds later, breathing somewhat disconcertedly. he bore in both hands, ready for all emergencies, an overweighty but cer- tainly formidable weapon, which hac come to his hand as he slid down from the sawdust box. It was an ax. There was no moon; there were no stars; there was no light in heaven; there was no light in a neighbor's house. 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