Can Such Things Be [74]
thing that was new to them being Harker's testimony. 'Gentlemen,' the coroner said, 'we have no more evidence, I think. Your duty has been already ex- plained to you; if there is nothing you wish to ask you may go outside and consider your verdict.' The foreman rose--a tall, bearded man of sixty, coarsely clad. 'I should like to ask one question, Mr. Coroner,' he said. 'What asylum did this yer last witness escape from?' 'Mr. Harker,' said the coroner gravely and tran- quilly, 'from what asylum did you last escape? ' Harker flushed crimson again, but said nothing, and the seven jurors rose and solemnly filed out of the cabin. 'If you have done insulting me, sir,' said Harker, as soon as he and the officer were left alone with the dead man, 'I suppose I am at liberty to go?' 'Yes.' Harker started to leave, but paused, with his hand on the door latch. The habit of his profession was strong in him--stronger than his sense of personal dignity. He turned about and said: 'The book that you have there--I recognize it as Morgan's diary. You seemed greatly interested in it; you read in it while I was testifying. May I see it? The public would like--' 'The book will cut no figure in this matter,' re- plied the official, slipping it into his coat pocket; 'all the entries in it were made before the writer's death.' As Harker passed out of the house the jury re- entered and stood about the table, on which the now covered corpse showed under the sheet with sharp definition. The foreman seated himself near the can- dle, produced from his breast pocket a pencil and scrap of paper and wrote rather laboriously the following verdict, which with various degrees of effort all signed: 'We, the jury, do find that the remains come to their death at the hands of a mountain lion, but some of us thinks, all the same, they had fits.'
4: An Explanation from the Tomb
In the diary of the late Hugh Morgan are certain interesting entries having, possibly, a scientific value as suggestions. At the inquest upon his body the book was not put in evidence; possibly the coroner thought it not worth while to confuse the jury. The date of the first of the entries mentioned cannot be ascertained; the upper part of the leaf is torn away; the part of the entry remaining follows: '. . . would run in a half-circle, keeping his head turned always toward the centre, and again he would stand still, barking furiously. At last he ran away into the brush as fast as he could go. I thought at first that he had gone mad, but on returning to the house found no other alteration in his manner than what was obviously due to fear of punishment. 'Can a dog see with his nose? Do odours impress some cerebral centre with images of the thing that emitted them? . . . 'Sept. 2.--Looking at the stars last night as they rose above the crest of the ridge east of the house, I observed them successively disappear--from left to right. Each was eclipsed but an instant, and only a few at the same time, but along the entire length of the ridge all that were within a degree or two of the crest were blotted out. It was as if something had passed along between me and them; but I could not see it, and the stars were not thick enough to define its outline. Ugh! don't like this.' . . . Several weeks' entries are missing, three leaves being torn from the book. 'Sept. 27.--It has been about here again--I find evidences of its presence every day. I watched again all last night in the same cover, gun in hand, double-charged with buckshot. In the morning the fresh footprints were there, as before. Yet I would have sworn that I did not sleep--indeed, I hardly sleep at all. It is terrible, insupportable! If these amazing experiences are real I shall go mad; if they are fanciful I am mad already. 'Oct. 3.--I shall not go--it shall not drive me away. No, this is my house, my land. God hates a coward.... 'Oct. 5.--I can stand it no longer; I have invited Harker to pass a few weeks with me--he has a level head. I can judge from his manner if he thinks me mad.
4: An Explanation from the Tomb
In the diary of the late Hugh Morgan are certain interesting entries having, possibly, a scientific value as suggestions. At the inquest upon his body the book was not put in evidence; possibly the coroner thought it not worth while to confuse the jury. The date of the first of the entries mentioned cannot be ascertained; the upper part of the leaf is torn away; the part of the entry remaining follows: '. . . would run in a half-circle, keeping his head turned always toward the centre, and again he would stand still, barking furiously. At last he ran away into the brush as fast as he could go. I thought at first that he had gone mad, but on returning to the house found no other alteration in his manner than what was obviously due to fear of punishment. 'Can a dog see with his nose? Do odours impress some cerebral centre with images of the thing that emitted them? . . . 'Sept. 2.--Looking at the stars last night as they rose above the crest of the ridge east of the house, I observed them successively disappear--from left to right. Each was eclipsed but an instant, and only a few at the same time, but along the entire length of the ridge all that were within a degree or two of the crest were blotted out. It was as if something had passed along between me and them; but I could not see it, and the stars were not thick enough to define its outline. Ugh! don't like this.' . . . Several weeks' entries are missing, three leaves being torn from the book. 'Sept. 27.--It has been about here again--I find evidences of its presence every day. I watched again all last night in the same cover, gun in hand, double-charged with buckshot. In the morning the fresh footprints were there, as before. Yet I would have sworn that I did not sleep--indeed, I hardly sleep at all. It is terrible, insupportable! If these amazing experiences are real I shall go mad; if they are fanciful I am mad already. 'Oct. 3.--I shall not go--it shall not drive me away. No, this is my house, my land. God hates a coward.... 'Oct. 5.--I can stand it no longer; I have invited Harker to pass a few weeks with me--he has a level head. I can judge from his manner if he thinks me mad.