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Show the Undertakers' company that ia, a cocked hat like the first Napoleon's, a black coat trimmed With silver lace, high boots and a black overcoat with a large cape. He was very thin, and his clothes hung about him like a shroud on a skeleton. I shall never forget his face as he turned and looked at me. The skin was like parchment, the cheeks hollow and the eyes luminous and deep set in cavernous cavern-ous orbits. The look he gave me thrilled to the very marrow of my bones, and when he saw the effect it produced he smiled, disclosing a set of yellow teeth, with an expression so sinister, so weird, so fatal, and yet so sad, that I could not help saying to myself, "This is Death! The Cemetery of the Innocents, that of St. Medaro, of St. Laurent and others oth-ers have contributed their quota. Hera the bone of prelate and prince, duke and peer, lay side by side with those of peas-ant peas-ant and proletarian, thief and rag picker. pick-er. Equality and fraternity! These words were fully realized in this gloomy mausoleum. All the Bkulls and bones are of a dark mahogany color, for years and years have passed since they were clothed with flesh. At intervals there are marble tablets, with inscriptions in Latin, French, Greek, Norse and other languages, gathered gath-ered from the works of preachers and poets, speaking of the vanity of human pursuits, the worthlessness of wealth, the certainty of death, the hope of immortality. im-mortality. At one point of our pilgrim- its feeble light ascertained where I was. I was in one of the gallories of the quarries, quar-ries, and just beside me yawned a black abyss of unknown depth, into which a single unwary step might have precipitated precip-itated me. By keeping close to the wall I could avoid this and similar pitfalls. So I groped my way along. The passage pas-sage wound and turned. The hoiTor of darkness was so great that I sacrificed another match; but it would not do to be so lavish. To describo my sensations would be utterly impossible. My brain reeled, and I was on the very verge of madness, if not past it, when I realized the fact that I was lost in the Catacombs. Cat-acombs. ' But a few hours since I was in the full enjoyment of health and life, sharing the gayeties of Paris, anticipating no evil, and now to die of starvation in this hor- the family. Before I died I could open a vein with my knife, and imitate the example of the gallant Paladin. Hut first I would mako a desperate attempt at-tempt to find an outlet. Every match had now been burned, and I had to work iu ntter darkness. Frenzied and desperate, desper-ate, I rushed from gallory to gallery, leaping the chains whore they impeded my progress. At last I thought I enroun-tered enroun-tered a current of fresh air. I seized what I conjectured to be a thigh Ikjuo projecting from a pile of them and gave it a wrench. In an instant a mat of bones and skulls gave way, and rolled down on wo In a thundering avalanche, while a voice exclaimed, "The intruder who invades the sanctuary of the dead shall perish by the dead!" The horror of the catastrophe overwhelmed over-whelmed me, and I lost my conncion-ness. conncion-ness. When I recovered I was lying in ae we came to a chapel, with the altar surrounded by the silent bnt eloquent memorials of humanity. Miles of the dead! How emphatic the lesson this spectacle conveyed! To the right and left Innumerable galleries gal-leries branched off, access being debarred by iron chains drawn across the entrances. en-trances. . , . I had lingered a little behind my party to transcribe an inscription, the man in black keening closo to my side. He seemed to have taken me under his protection pro-tection and patronage. "I can show yon something these hireling hire-ling guides know nothing about," he said, "for I alono know the secrets of the Catacombs." , He lifted one of the chains which crossed the mouth of a side gallery from the staple, and moving down the passage pass-age turned and said, "Follow me! I have said that this mysterious being had magnetized me. I was certain of it now.for though I was anxiously desirons of following my party I could not resist his command. , He led me away down the parage, and thence into other side passages, winding and turning. I lifted my torch to tho ceiling, and saw to my dismay that theie 1 black Unes, no guiding arrows rible cavern! I thought of home and its dear ones, my comfortable house in Bedford Bed-ford square, my peaceful occupation there, my books, my easel, my photographic photo-graphic apparatus. Why did the spirit of adventure teuipt me away from all tho blessings that Providence vouchsafed to me, to wander in foreign lands? Then my whole life paswsd in review before m, with its many vicissitudes, its sins of omitsio;: und commission, and the faces of the loved and lost came to mo with the bu dee and tears of tho olden time. After hours of fruitless wandering I sat down exhausted and hopeless. I was almost surprised to find myself hungry. Then I remembered the bread I had provided pro-vided for the little birds in tho Tuile..v garden. I took one of the small loavas and swallowed a Jew inonthfula. The reader will be surprised to learn that this I felt sleepy. I was astonished my-&-lf to find that 1 was nodding. So I spread my thick cloak on the floor, and wrapping mjself up hi it was soon fast I cannot tc-U how long my dumber lasted. I woke, however, to renew my struggles at ewape. I lit match after match, and called alond for help, till ray voice was utterly exhausted. Huroly I ni: Wn been miffed, and a anarch my bed in the Grand hotel, with the sun shining on the ghtps gallery opposite my window. There was a tap at my door. I sprang up, opened it and admitted admit-ted my traveling companion. "Well, old fellow," said he, "how did you sloop after our visit to the Catacombs Cata-combs yesterday;" "Yestorduy'" I echoed. "Yes. I had the nihtinare." "But how did I earlier 1 atiked. "Escape? w,1f' do J""1 n,,,ttn by " cai.in? You rode home in the carriaxe with me and the ladies." "But th-tt nndiTtaker who thrtuit bim-si!f bim-si!f into our purty?" "'j t -re no nnd"rtaker, my boy. Von iiiu-w lave ln drmuiiii." "Kci at c'.!, uiih'M I was dreaming wifl'1 awale." "Pc-pS WitueiimM do that." "You did not observe anyliiiug queer a'j-.r.t r.e in the (.'atitin.l:" "Xot at ail. I tiiougl't yni were onus on-us tally liv.4 and wide awake." Then I toll him my t'ry as 1 have related re-lated it. He shook bish'jad. "Quer thing'! have hapjK-ried in the CatacxitnliK, sir," ha sid, -U qnfte the word of yonr myst' rioim friend, il.:-lowipher il.:-lowipher ami guide. But I wouldn't advise ad-vise you t let your fimcie run away r,.r Hito in n i!iu' m ar Par, THE CATACOMBS. 3th of November, 1873, must for-main for-main memorable in the record of ? It was the last day on which 's were permitted to descend into itecombs of Paris, and I had with 'lifflculty procured permission from lief engineer for a small party, con- S of three gentlemen and three la- j ill English), a professional guide myself to mako tiJe subterranean aage. To my companions I have 1 word for word what I am about i'e, and thoy are ready, if my nar- is challenged, to verify thoso por-of por-of which they are cognizant by it or otherwise. iill now proceed to relate what hap-without hap-without attempting any embel-nt, embel-nt, letting the plain facts speak -uiselves. And, first, it is neces-! neces-! ) dwell for one moment on a little which has an important bear-j bear-j v.-ill he seen hereafter. A few ;fore I had Been a little old wording wo-rding the English sparrows in the rff s garden. She broke up a loaf ail, threw the crumbs into the air, ;he timid things caught them fly-'3 fly-'3 thoy do insects. Thoy were so they would eat out of the good ;in's hand. She waa very poor, 'd at some place far away to tha 1 of the Tuileries, and lodges far to "uth; yet she never fails to visit the pas, and spare a loaf of her daily 1 to her feathered pets. ,T I had planned a visit to the gar-n gar-n Xov. 8 to try my hand at the asd had provided myself with loaves of bread, for which I ten centimes. I calculated that I 1 have time enough to do this bete be-te carriages came to drive us to ataeombs. Various matters, how- debyed me, and I had to give up "art of the programme, but I kept rad in the pocket of my overcoat, icg to bestow iton some beggar in- I was so overcome that 1 could not challenge his assumed right of joining our party. In a word, he had completely com-pletely magnetized and paralyzed me. What was strange, from time to time a lady of our party turned and chatted with me, apparently unconscious of the black figure and terrible face intruded between us. , And again, when the guide counted us aloud he called out five-tho number of our original party. He, too, was then as unconscious of the presence of the stranger as the lady to whom I liave alluded. Waslmad? In this perturbed state of mind I began the descent of the catacombs. ... The stono staircase was spiral, coiling down like a petrified serpent, along walls Stay and humid. We had lighted our candles, but the change from the glare of daylight to this cavernous gloom prevented pre-vented our seeing anything, and we had L grope our perilous way. Suddenly an cy whisper, wafted on a poisonous breath, entered my ear like a poniard. "Strange things have happened in the catacombs, sir. The dead resent mtru- foTon the last resting place , given them after the world has violated the, r first sanctuary. Sometime, they insist on he living sharing their hard bed with hem Some men who have come down Shave never seen the pleasant light few a tone as I could assume, "that Sgto hrprcautions of the author-ito author-ito no such accidents have occurred of UKrglad you think so." was the re-p,1 re-p,1 flowed by a sneering, Mephirto-phelian Mephirto-phelian laugh-what the French call n- "ali "silence fell pon our party. We wie walking steadily onward on tTnle, walking on loose planKs, our Kto sending up jets of water, 1 rt generally on a dry and solid stone paA- W8The guide held up his flaring torch to the low ceiling. , , , k on the roof. In this crisis my will began to reassert itself. ' "Take mo back to my party instantly. Instead of doing so the stranger snatched my candle from my hand, extinguished ex-tinguished it with a breath-he earned v light himself-and flung me f rom lun with such violence that I stumbled aj I fell. s I rose to my feet I beard his vr:-in vr:-in the distance calling out, "fctrurp ; things have happened in ( sir. Find your way out of tJ'tfn u j -i j caj. Good'-night." tav!" I exclaimed ia agony. "Do not' leave me here to perish! Save me. if you have the heart of a man. "I never listen to prayer or appeal, he replied, with his hideous sneering must be going on for me? Alas! also! no one responded U my cull. No footwU-ps bat my own echoed through those dismal dis-mal galleries. lint now a ntw craving afssailod me fiirsi, morecTit. 1 t'iii hnuKr. of water kill quicker tan ! of feed. I iTmlnnfforthciJL'utof escaping from my living grave. My "nlyry waafor wat-rr, ; water! But this want was nam aop)K4. Tiie sacrifice of a fow more match. revealed re-vealed to mo a lit!!.- Ftram exuding from tho walls. 1 fclnid "y 1P t" f- nd j though the flavor was nanwu, y-rt J never in the beat cf summer had a goblet gob-let of iced champagne be,n more delicious deli-cious to my palate! now long a time I passed in my di- cnlled Charenton load house ail vhen fellow g'.-t too qiMr inhiawj-r,r inhiawj-r,r story hi f rimidn fed obligl U ytu k l,;m ii a ettnit.i.i.-i-?. and "nd lira Crxn there for in" - - ,il trfattmf.t. Ilim't impose the nnjJeaaapt tank on toe. An 1 ri'4--j',me and irtAit" with na at the ( 'e Arigbv." Thin ia the wav in which the etrmg'it orcurrnc' of hfo are tre.it'fl by our rmtter-of-fart trvnU. Fr royiwit I shrill always insi.t that my visit to trie Catacombs was one of tho "Mysterv of Paris." whatever others may say abont my la'ttring iiiid'r an hallucination. I.'ewY'ork World. ;' ot the eparrows. -started at 12:30 from the Grand ': and drove rapidly to the Barriere :er and alighted in a courtyard, r9 we found two or three hundred ns waiting for the opening of the 'rowed door which gives access to catacombs in that quarter of the There are about seventy different "ases for the same purpose scattered JRh Paris. Here each person was ;ded with a candle fixed in the end Pine stick, with a small circle of Joard to serve as a tray and catch 'irops of grease. Each guide formed 1 arty into single file, and enjoined members to keep together, and to be reful of their footing as they c down into the dark depths below, here occurred the first strange 't0' of this memorable dav. A man eioar party wearing the dress of "Observe," ce saiu. aZ XlaUeries through which we mldia b- '?0"1S ; living. lautrh. "I am pitiless as ataiu. And the echoes gave back the awful word-death! till a more dreadful scene f wWafalone in darkness, abandoned to the most horrible fate the imagination CVhStT to be done? What could be done in such atemble cms? My Zrty would nms me. it is true, and a would be made for me; but a reg-t reg-t of men might aeek for day. in to maze of labyrinthine galleries without with-out ssa. I n3 try and helpmy-U helpmy-U Trmembered that I had in my two boxes of waxed matches, eh one of which vaould bum ten or twenty eeconda. I ljghtd ope, and by mal prifon henw it w imrohsjoie w mj . Days, niKhts-who ca-i meaoure tbf:in under such circuriistanr.es? Finally I h.vl exhausted my last vimb, and etarva-tion etarva-tion stared me in rayf-e. Howculd I now sustain lif '2 Oddly enough I jnA thm rememt-rid the legend of the Eeau- manoir arms. Beaumanoir was a gallant French character of t'"? oM n time, who. ningle handed, contend"! with a acte of English En-glish knighbt Coversd with wounds, he asked his squire for water, bnt water was not to be bad. "Drink thy Idood Beatunanoirr was the reply of the squire, and "Boire ton sang, Bearuna- noix,,'tocami sfterward the rcfUo vi |