Show IN THE DARKROOM when you go into your darkroom to develop plates always lock the door behind you von to avoid in interruptions terru ili ions so the learned writer of instructions to amateur photographers riad and it Is a rule that has savoil saved many negatives of course it never occurred to the I 1 instructor n tor of amateurs to add and always take a good look about you before shutting the door and sitting down lu in front of your ruby light that admonition mOult lOll would be looked upon as outside the book and no do amateur would see lu lit it sense or relevancy yet I 1 never go into my darkroom now without it blotting in a flood of light that searches out every corner when I 1 bought my carnera camera ant and began to turn out foggy negatives front from IN which bach sickly spectral prints came off I 1 had no decently appointed darkroom using a small closet in ili my lily house for the purpose now not being a socialist or i 1 shoemaker I 1 like c good air and to sit in that stuffy hule hole lit in the wall tor for the he better part of ill an hour at a time had the result of cating up some of my enthusiasm for dabbling in solutions of elko doell carb carbonate orinte of soda and stinking other ether my lly lamp seemed to ech exhaust aust as much oxygen as my lily wood good pair of lungs and I 1 sometimes bor bore my negative out of the closet with such a pale face that in ili spite of my triumphant air in exhibiting I 1 it to my wife sl she e declared I 1 was surely ill and that she had always heard that pit photographers lito raphers were short blied she did not like the smell of my che chemicals micala either cither still and di declared they were a nuisance of tile the first 0 older d e r thit that was why I 1 had my lily new and carefully ventilated darkroom built for tile me it was a house all by itself all nud stood town down in a little hollow a good stones throw front our dwelling we were ih lining ing in the ja country then in ili it a very pretty bit of woodland land that had a ss of brown plain all about it my new dark darkroom w was is quite a sp spacious affair and I 1 gloried in its completeness eness noss of detail and handiness handin of fit the appointments I 1 used to spend it good leal of time in ili there mid and as I 1 learned how much bromide to use and to hit upon the happy moment of taking a plate out of the developing bath my progress was swift dad and sweet it ho bo happe happened tied in the autumn that we went to the city for a month to live leaving our country place shut up I 1 took my lily camera to town and exposed a 1 dozen ur or so dry plates on a lot of marble statuary whenever at odd times I 1 it thought of these I 1 became feverish to know whether ariadne had bad ever ov over timed or NN whether hether venus had been light struck my ily wife smiled llod nhen lien I 1 told her I 1 intended to run down dovin to the ranch to look after things a bit it was too diaphanous when she saw tile me packing my plates she laughed lauglin d but she WAS indulgent and sald said goodby with her own little pleasantry about my lily not being so no ery cry deep after all walking up tip to the house fiam the station stathin I 1 saw that the alie autumn winds hall had I 1 been making ery tree free with the trees while abie we ne hall had been away and the brown broNn leaves strewed the gravel walk and were nere scurrying ing along on their thin edges like little hoops driven by children A smoky haze layover lay over tilt the wool wood and along tile the plain and the hills beyond were iero deep in it the low lying sun still was blood red and sent a sickly I 1 yellow glow over the place driving rather keenly tile wind set me a shiv cring ilind never known the ranch when it showed so bleak and forbidding I 1 a face not caring to enter the vacant house I 1 strode quickly down the path into the hollow which lay darkly in the shadow and hurrying on to my little I 1 pulled out my keys before the door not finding the be right key it came to me of a udden sudden S that I 1 had bad loft left it n the lock inside on oil going to town and turning the handle ot of the door I 1 saw it hail not been looked locked nt at all this was really of little consequence as the ranch was not near the road and I 1 had often boasted that a lock meant nothing there anyway though in the darkroom it had probably saved a negative or ano I 1 on occasion I 1 went lu and front from pure force of habit turned the key leaving it in the lock then I 1 struck a match found my lamp lighted it and poured my chemicals out into my graduate and tray then with the lamp covered and only the thlu thin stream of red light coming dully forth I 1 opened a double back and pulled out a plate it was vas Ar ariadne ladne and the panther for which illich I 1 hoped great things As I 1 put the plate nto the developing tray and picked up my graduate to pour forth the developer I 1 was startled by a rustling that seemed to come front from the corner where I 1 kept my printing stuff it sounded like a moie movement went of the stiff curtain that hung there but it occurred to me that the strange sound could have come from a wind puff among the ic leaves aves outside so I 1 poured the developer upon the light yellow plate and began to rock the tray gently nowhere except probably on your wedding ved dirig morril morning ng or on getting a ni wrapped rap copy of your first book toes does the charm charin of expectancy get such a hold upon you as it does on watching tor for the image of an exposed object to appear upon a photographic plate on the yellow blank before me now came softly and silently the ficare of the smooth limbed Ar Arlid ladrie no sitting her panther with the majesty I 1 had seen in the marble lint but she was coming on oil rather too quickly because of ing and I 1 rapidly reached back for the batile bottle of bromide A As I 1 inea measured off four crystal drops that fell splashing into the developer I 1 heard beard a slight grating sound as of a key being taken from froin a lock surely the charm of ariadne must have been strong upon mo me for the incident did not excite so much alarm as it did mere annoyance must have been in rather loose and just dropped out was my illogical thought but who can be logical concerning things external when lien snug in his ov n tight world of photography ariadne areadne cattle came on beautifully anti and I 1 laid lid her in tile the water near my illy right hand to gain detail before fixing then I 1 took out venus and began to develop her she carne came on well enough and tilt I 1 dipped her ter into the water too everything thin was going well and I 1 should have a fine set if this kept on being my lily first farst trial with such a hard lot of subjects I 1 was rather proud of myself then my fingers groped tor for ariadne w who it 0 IN was as now really ready for the fixing bath lint but though I 1 felt all about in the water my illy finger tips never touched the glass it was a hard situation to ouse but ariadne was gone I 1 loaned leaned back in my chair in a state bordering on utter collapse water melt solid glass and ill an alc negative arlve get up and walk out of a tray what lit in the name naine of the groat great daguerre Daguer rc lid did this thing ille mean looking at the trap in vague cli distress stress I 1 saw a groat great black hand steal silently into the circle of the dim rod red light grasp the venus negative and as silently dart back into tile tho thick impenetrable gloom of the dark darkroom I 1 would have jumped up if I 1 could but the ugly weighed tile down then I 1 lioard heard the negative strike tile the floor ant anil shiver into little bits this started tile mi up I 1 grasped the cover of the to icil light and was about to lift it when jhc n tile the whole contrivance was wren wrenched elied froni from tile the table and the ruby glow was turned full upon my face behind it I 1 could see no nothing but the handle at the bot bottom toll was clutched by that same blick black baell the lamp was ivas raised high all and then it came crashing against the floor the light blotting out in tile the heavy darkness ness I 1 sprang for the door and mining it grasped something soft and slippery that still slid front from my grasp it was like a clothed arm but it iva was so cold and slimy that it seemed hardly buin human in at ti t tho the same time a form full of oc burly streng strength th knocked harshly against tile 1110 whether accidentally or not I 1 could not toll tell A slight lit mass of colt cold slime th tint thit it reeked horribly cattle came off tile form and adhered to my illy fact face and the side of my neck tills this was more than I 1 could stand my ily clogged throat opened an aud d I 1 yelled like a denion demon out of this out or of this whatever you are aie then was forced upon my illy mazed mind ft a peculiarity of the cr creature Lature that I 1 had bad not notel noted before it did not speak nor growl nor attl illy any sound it would have buon been a relief elen to have heard it hiss its silence was more awful than any sort of utterance flattening my lily quick moving hands along tile the hide of the wall I 1 touch touched the door at last and feeling for or the k knob I 1 turned it lint and tu tugged ed at it like a young giant but the door lid did not move more and the key was gone of course that was what I 1 had board beard when beginning my lily work that dropping out of the key so down I 1 dropped to feel for it all about the floor near the door but to feel in vain I 1 was locked up in the dark with a nameless creature siti sinister lster and powerful front from whom there was no flight for the dark darkroom had but one exit the door there was as no window nor any hole save the small ventilation traps through which not even so much as it 11 hind band might bo be thrust while there was auy any hope by way of the door I 1 had been more than commonly tea fea lhome mome but now my lily fright was more than mere alarm it nas as it a steady growth of terror the L lind kind ind of terror that makes the scalp fool feel prickly and the breath come hard it was ebil chill 1 palpitating tating tear ot of the kind that makes you turn sick and sets your shoulders twitching and the cht chi t f ot of it was ft I 1 I 1 pallid dread of sor something nothing unspeakably uncouth and loathsome actual contact with the thing in the darkroom I 1 believe I 1 could zave have borne a stroke bioni any weapon it might have in hand botter better than a touch or clo cloo nicotine with the body of tile the repulsive creature I 1 crawled into the corner nearest the door and waited with strained car presently I 1 heard a low shuffling and then a patting along the wall and a scraping along the floor lie ot of the black hand was feeling for me of V that bat I 1 was certain my ear Is good and judging by the location of the patting and scraping as Is well as of another sound like the dragging of some small soft body upon the floor I 1 moved without noise around the edge away front from my illy pursuer though shaken and fevered I 1 kept out of that dread lutch dutch it was nerve straining work and the tension was something frightful but I 1 kept it up until I 1 fell over a boy bos and went sprawling right into tile the aruis army of tile the creature my head fell upon its clammy shoulder front from which oozed the no isonio moisture and its wet and ill smelling arnis arms closed upon rue me brin bringing ing to hear boar such force ali it I 1 thought would crush my breastbone breast bone bono at the aline tinie time there theio came out a ta low throaty laugh a laugh so uncouth nuil and lacking in levity as to be positively liar har rowing there was fight in too me yet shaken and crushed ns as I 1 was and rotting getting one arm arin loose I 1 hammered with all my force upon the creature striking where I 1 judged its head should be my blows sit slid off because lic cause of the slime that enveloped the face but once I 1 struck full hartl hard upon a solid jaw and before I 1 could pull my hand back my thumb wai bitten nearly in two arid and then tile the hand band of the creature that great black hand that I 1 hall had seen in the low red light ight stole up tip to my throat and clutching it in mighty grasp shut olt off my breath and made me grow dizzy and faint there in the darkroom my own hands flying about wildly now struck an iron iroil hat hook in the lie wall wrenching tills this look off I 1 drove it so deeply into the hand at my throat that breathing very hard almost gasping in pilu th the creature suddenly lot let go its hold upon me nut and I 1 was free now I 1 was furious frenzied I 1 darted at my assailant with the hook book in ili tily my hand and presently I 1 dealt a vicious blow full in the face the creature butted forward with a head so no hard that when ihen lt it struck me in ili the breast I 1 thought my lily breith breath was nas gone I 1 tell fell over tall and it carric upon me again its blood filling falling on my face and its breath lot hot on my lily forehead of a sudden there was nias a shock as of the solid earth bursting asunder and I 1 sped off into space and oblivion when next I 1 knew the alie world the door of my dart darkroom room was open and the morning sun suit was shining in upon tile the floor where I 1 lay with aching head and a so searing iring of pain in ili my throat while my bitten thumb chunil fairly throbbed my ay iy face fiands ila ads and clothes clot lies wore were nearly covered d with blood green slime and muddy ooze and all about the studio the alie walls and floors were nvere streaked and daubed with the same saine offensive mixture in one place there was the plain imprint of five ton long airi lingers ers I 1 doubted doubled not cot that it had been made by the great black hand band that had clutched my throat lit in the I 1 crave crawled led to the ani and washed myself and took a good drink after which I 1 made my iny way out of the darkroom into the house where I 1 changed my clothes clot lies and bandaged my lily thumb at my lily sate gate I 1 saw two men on oil horseback seen reon anything of a big buck buch nag er going by here asked one of them iles hes got big hands and feet and Is perfectly dumb unit we tracked him lm down 10 iva to tile slough where he probably i waded ad across I 1 stared hard at tile the men inen yes I 1 replied ive seen illin him or at least last ive seen his hand where is lie he front from napa insane asylum isyl tim broke loose yo morning sail an francisco argonaut |