Snap—splutter—flare!
A match was lighted. It flared up, and then burned steadily.
Frank immediately looked for the object which he had touched, and there it was before him—a human skeleton.
The bones were stripped clean of flesh, and the skull grinned up at him in a ghastly manner. The light of the burning match glistened on the white spots, and showed a dank, green mold that was forming in places on the skeleton.
It was a most ghastly and nerve-shaking spectacle.
All at once, as Frank stood there, turned to stone, staring at the uncanny object, the skull began to rock from side to side! It was no hallucination—it actually moved!
To the staring, astounded and horrified lad it seemed that the thing was about to speak. Indeed, Frank found himself listening, with hushed breath and stilled heart, for the hollow-sounding words that should issue from that fleshless head.
The boy was spellbound—hypnotized with horror.
And then, just as the flame of the match burned his fingers, a half-grown rat darted out of the skull and scampered away.
The match fell and lay, a dying spark, on the damp ground.