TIGERLAND 



" ' Meanwhile the face was still there, and growing rapidly 

 more distinct, till he could see it was that of a European, 

 with the eyes wide open, staring over and behind him, 

 in the direction of the bedstead beyond, and before he 

 had time to realize the full meaning of this extraordinary 

 phenomenon, a sound as of some one sighing deeply was 

 heard close behind him. 



" ' In a moment all the events of the preceding nights 

 flashed across his mind, lending additional terror to the 

 object now before him, and feeling convinced it was some- 

 thing supernatural, he had fled screaming from the room. 

 As he concluded his weird story, told with a clearness 

 and circumstantiality unpleasantly convincing, we resolved 

 to investigate the matter thoroughly next day, meanwhile 

 making up a camp-bed for Morton in my room, for nothing 

 could induce him to go back to his own. 



"'Next morning we searched the house from top to 

 bottom, including the loft, every nook and corner of which 

 was carefully overhauled, with the aid of lanterns, but, 

 as might be supposed, found nothing which would in any 

 way account for the strange events described. 



" ' In the course of the next few days, we questioned 

 several people living in the neighbourhood, but none of 

 them could throw any light upon the subject. Finally, 

 we locked up the spare room, and having our work and 

 other things to interest us, the incident soon passed out 

 of our minds. But it was not so with our visitor, on 

 whom the matter had evidently made a deep impression, 

 as we could see from his constantly recurring to the subject 

 and the marked change in his manner. 



'"At length one morning, some three weeks or so after, 

 much to our surprise, he proposed that we should all sit 

 up one night, in what was now called the haunted room. 

 Then, perhaps, we might discover some solution of the 

 mystery, as he apparently still considered it. 



" ' His proposal met with unanimous approval, not that 

 we imagined anything would come of it, for we had by 

 this time arrived at the conclusion that our friend had 

 been the victim of a nightmare or of some passing fantasy 

 of the brain ; but believing as we did that there was no 

 mystery to be solved, we were confident nothing would 

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