The Island School — page 165: what you’re looking at

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

138 moment locate it, but turning his eyes towards the windows, he beheld something the sight of which froze the very blood in his veins. CHAPTER LXXII. THE FACE AT THE WINDOW. ¢T was a face at i the window, pressed close to it, and made hideous by the flattening of the OG), : i features against sea 1) a Yt \s Li Whe po So the glass. | Wy. i! | WY PUY Gy iir y/ ey The eyes were wild LLIN iy, 4 OY), and staring, and he \) Ul LM, Md ‘“ could see the mouth = YY YY move as if speaking; G WW but no sound reached ae by his ears. He fancied there was something in the features that was familiar, but could not recall them. Indeed, in his terror, he was hardly capable of thinking clearly at all. still as a figure of stone he stood for a moment, and then he staggered towards the bell-pull, and tugged it with all his might. The next instant he tremulously looked at the window again. The face was gone. With enfeebled step he tottered from the room and vanished in the direction of his bed-chamber, ere Romeo appeared. The darkie entered the room, peered around, and seeing nobody, was about to retire, when he, too, glanced at the window. The face was there again. Now Romeo was not quite so nervous as the school- master, but anything coming like this suddenly upon him fairly petrified him. A perspiration broke out like oil upon his counte- nance, and his quivering wool shimmered in the light of the lamp. In addition to the face, a claw-like hand appeared at the window, and tapped upon it. Romeo stared, unable to move. ‘* Here, you boy !” cried the voice of Macbeth out- side, ‘‘whar am you, Romeo ?” “ Here!” gasped Romeo. | ‘Oh, dere,am you? Am you aweer dat you leab undone some ob you work in——” Macbeth came into the room bristling with wrath, caught sight of that horrible face, and went down flop into a sitting position, THE ISLAND d ¥ (2 “S) \ Eien 4. 4hh 4 pry , ; SCHOOL. Then once again that face vanished ** Romeo !” groaned Macbeth. ‘Yes, gran’dad,” said Romeo. ‘Whar de two sticks to cross ?” “ Under de bed in my room.” “Fetch dem and keep dat sperrit out,” said Macbeth. But Romeo had no faith in his own impostures, and advocated clearing out at once. ‘“ Berrer get way to bed right orf,” he said, “ dat de bess ting to do.” “It not quite time yet,” pleaded Macbeth. dem sticks, I say !” This Romeo plainly declined to do. He said, with some truth, that up to that time he had only under- taken to keep the ghosts out of the bedroom shared by him and his progenitors. “or diffelent places,” he said, “ diffelent tings wanted.” * Get. ‘Den what am wanted on dis ’casion 2” asked Mac= beth, as they hastened down the passage. “Dat me not know,” replied Romeo, and once in a. way he spoke the truth. He did not know. Imaginary ghosts were one thing, real ghosts another matter to deal with. Encountering the boys on the way to bed, they told Jim and Morse what they had seen, and it may be admitted that both were almost as much troubled as the negroes about it. Not that they believed fora moment in anything supernatural, but they feared something more substantial was in the matter. But then came the question, What was the good of anyone getting up a scare by planting his face at the window, and who had felt the necessity of doing it ? | The boys tried to get.a description of the visitor from the niggers, but they could not agree as to details. If a detective had stood in need of a clue, he would not have obtained a shadow of one from, either. | But there was no question about something human having been seen at the window, and the boys, witha sense of uneasiness, went to bed. | 3 Mr, Farrell could not keep the secret of it either. He was too much alarmed to let it go by, and on the morrow he asked Martin to put two additional bars to his study window. Whose face was it ? Morse, remembering the footsteps he had heard at the castle, coupled the two together, and, in his own mind, came to the conclusion that another enemy had appeared in the field. Romeo had also a private opinion about it. He: felt, as he had done once before, that he had outraged the feelings of some supernatural beings by getting up. a sham spell to work against them, and although they had selected the window of the room of the school- aa (@ 900 eS GI @) (@{ @) mn