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Show "." "l I..-..M -' HI! gjl fTheStoryThatCuredHisWife By C. A. Stoarns Nl i i P (Copyright by Stiorutory Pub. Co.) The colonel's young wife had Buffered Buf-fered a bereavement that left her In that state of melancholia which ts tho first Btage of Insanity. Nothing could rouso hor from her dull, listless brooding, brood-ing, Tho surgeon of tho post, of course, advised complete change of scene; but that wns out of the question. Whllo pondering deeply on this urgent ur-gent problem, n chnnco word suggested sug-gested to tho colonel a desperate expedient. ex-pedient. Would It succeed? Might not the remedy provo moro dangerous than tho disease? Anything, ho felt, would bo better than that alarming lothnrgy. Seating himself by bis wife's couch, ho wjth difficulty secured hor wandering wan-dering attention, and this 1b tho story ho told: At tho close ot n hot, sultry afternoon, after-noon, threatening a thunderstorm, a young lieutenant of engineers, tn charge of a government surveying party, hnd gono on Bomo distance In advance of his men to select n camping camp-ing place for tho night. Emerging from the forest, ho entorcd a glade ot considerable slzo, bounded on ono side by a perpendicular ledge ot rock, 15 or 20 feet in height Following the ledge, he came upon a decaying log cabin, built against the rock. Startled by the loneliness of this wreck ot n human shelter tn tho dense wilderness, tho lieutenant pushed open tho door, hung on wooden pins, which creaked dismally as It stiffly yielded. Tho earthen floor wns littered with fragments of the broken root and a tow rusty cooking utensils. As tho young engineer stood there gazing around tho mouldering ruin, he wondered vaguely why ho should care to wasto a moment In such a desolate and uninviting spot. Yet ho could not mako up his mind to go. The daylight socmed to fado away, and was replaced re-placed by n strange, dull, yellowish glare Several times ho resolved to leave, but still ho stayed. In a llttlo wHllo ho felt a sensntlon of numbness In his foot. His eyelids grew heavy and drowsiness stolo over him, bringing bring-ing with It tho torrlblo paralysis ot nightmare. He felt that ho could not movo If ho tried and he dnred not try. Just then a distant shout came to his cars. It drow nearer and nearer, and tho surveyors, crossing the glndo In search ot him, reached the open door, hanging on one of Its pegs. With feet as heavy as lead he stepped over Its threshold and almost with effusion greeted Scrgt. Lawson, the hardest-headed hardest-headed man In tho party, who camo up first. Tho sergeant stared at him and Into tho gloomy hut, and lingered, looking curiously after tho nontenant, ns with ever-lightening feet ho led tho men away from tho cabin to a camping camp-ing spot at somo distance. When camp was pitched, tho lieutenant lieuten-ant gave orders that tho men should bo waked and camp broken nt half-past half-past three In tho morning, for a long march boToro breakfast In tho cool of tho day. As thoy sat about tho flro after supper, enjoying a short smoko beforo turning In, tho lieutenant could not keep his thoughts from tho deserted de-serted cabin and his strango experience experi-ence thero. Pointing with his pipe-stem, pipe-stem, ho said to Lawson: "Queer old shnck ovor thero." The sorgeant nodded and continued to look at him steadily with such an expression that tho officer felt impelled to relate what had happened to him. Again Lawson nodded, knocked tho ashes from his own pipe nnd said: "I went In myself nnd hnd exactly tho Bame sensations." Each continued to look steadily Into the other'a face. Thoy wero men of action, not words. At length tho lieu-tenant lieu-tenant said: "Thoro's a moon for nn hour boforo daylight, and on hour's sleep won't bo misted ovon If we can sleep. Whnt do you say to an exploration of the ruined cabin beforo wo march?" It was so ngreed. When they stood again In tho moonlight moon-light before tho old hut, half burled In Its mossy shroud, an unnccountnblo depression crept over them, llko a miasmatic fog. Entorlng silently, thoy sat down on tho bench, and lookod about as their eyes became accustomed accus-tomed to tho darkness. At that moment they woro startled by an awful sight .At the point among tho logs of tho rear wall whero tho lieutenant hod noticed tho charred streaks, a straght, dagger-shaped dart of flarao shot downwnrd toward tho floor ond remained thoro nulvorlnir Then a socoud flashed nivJ wavered bo-Bido bo-Bido the first. They gavo out a lurid, sulphurous light, like flames seen through a dense fog or smoke, ltnp-Idly ltnp-Idly this smoky light, pouring through tho crovlces, shaped Itsolf, until thoro appeared beforo them, nebulous but distinct, a towering form In the Bom-blance Bom-blance ot humanity. It seemed to glow with fiercest heat, yet, far from giving warmth, It only ndded to tho deathly chill. As tho lieutenant saw that fearful fear-ful shapo, solidifying out of tho fiery vapor, ho was assailed by an unreasoning, unreason-ing, overwhelming, unconquerable ear. Ho groped toward his companion, com-panion, who sat rigid us marble, and laid a cold hand upon his arm. At his touch the trooper shrlokod ond dropped to the floor, Icnilng his officer alone with tho Shape. (As tho colonel's low. Impressive tones put vivid ltfo Into this thrilling verbal picture, he noted tho light of concentrated attention In the eyes ol his wife, followed by tho welcome gleam ot returning Interest In human affairs.) Thoro Iho Houtonant sat, continued tho narrator, his caze held by a hor-rlblo hor-rlblo fascination. Ho trlrd to speak, to stir, to movo. Ho could not lift a finger. Not a muscle would answer his will. Even his eyes followed tho quivering, swaying form of fire without with-out hit control. Ills strength was slipping away with his enthralled volition, but he feared no, bodily harm as much as ho dreaded tbo assault and capturo ot his will, for he realized that some more potent psychic force than he possessed was striving to wrest from him bis In dividuality. Physical death wero wel-come, wel-come, compnred with tho unspeakable horror of the annihilation of his soul, ns tho result of Its obsession by demoniac de-moniac powers. Ho struggled to retain his reason. With an effort of will that brought tho dow of agony to his brow, he almost flung hlmsolf upright upon his foot, In nn effort to escape. As ho did so, tho hideous Shape advanced, projected by thof-welrd flames playing through tho gaping chinks of tho rear wall, and crept stealthily forward llko nn nnlmnl seeking Its prey. The lieutenant lieuten-ant could in fancy feel thoso horrible fangs piercing his vory soul. As tho dread Form wns upon him, ho Instinctively In-stinctively threw up his nrm, ns It to ward oft n physical blow, when a shock n searing of tho flesh as ot tho touch of liquid air an etching Jet of llnmo that burned to tho bone, ran through his wrist. Thon ho folt himself him-self caught and dragged over tho ground. When ho lookod nbout with returning return-ing consciousness, ho found hlniBolf surrounded by his men, somo yards from tho crumbling cabin, with Law-son Law-son stretched upon tho grnss, still unconscious. un-conscious. Missing the llontennnt and tho sergeant at tho hour Bet for breaking break-ing camp, tho surveyors, attracted by a bright light In tho ruined shnck. had Bought nnd found them there, Insensible, Insensi-ble, nnd apparently overcomo by mophltlc fumes that filled tho place. Roth wero as weak ns though convalescing con-valescing from a lingering fever, nnd tho early morning march was abandoned. aban-doned. l)y sunrise tho leaders hnd so far recovered as to superintend tho demolition demoli-tion of tho cabin In which they had Buffered such frightful feqr. When tho rotting log walls wero thrown down nnd burnt, an extraordinary sight wns revealed. As tho blazing logs fell nwny from tho face of the cliff, It was seen that tho rear wall-In wall-In which thore had been a movable section on pegs like the entrance door masked a second chamber, a cavern In tho rock. Thero was a rude fireplace fire-place In It, deep with ashes. Ovor it hung. Iron hooks nnd pots; crucibles and various Instruments and utensils wero Bcnttered nbout. lleyond tho fireplace fire-place and a rough workbench sorae-thlng sorae-thlng was vaguely outlined In tho dim light. Approached with a torch, It proved to be a human skeleton of unusual un-usual height, whoso bleached bones were cracked and distorted. It was completp, except tho feet, which wero missing. The stumps of the anklo bones rested In n deep vat, sunk In the floor of the cave. One bony hand, spilt and blackened, grasped a wire that connected with tho great growing treo trunk tn tho cabin wall. It was with feelings of awo that tho little party gazed at this Btrango sight, but tho two leaders woro glad to find themselves entirely free from tho oppressive symptoms which had ovorpowered them when on tho spot before. Was that the last page In tho drond history ot some student of unknown forces somo searcher Into forbidden mysteries trapped to his death amid tho strange devices of his unholy occupation? oc-cupation? It seemed so. Engorly absorbed ab-sorbed In Bomo experiment while a great storm was raging without, his feet by nn awful accident had slipped Into tho vat, containing no ono knows what frightful mixture. To save himself, him-self, he had grasped tho wire attached to tho treo, which nt that moment, by some strange chance or merited fatality, fatal-ity, wns riven by lightning, which fob lowed tho wlro nnd passed through his body. Had the sultry summer air, heavily charged with .electricity, enabled tho restless spirit of tho sorcerer to utlllzo again that fateful circuit, Impregnate the vory ground with a resistless, benumbing be-numbing power, and materlnllzo Itself j electrically Into tho lambent, flaming I -figure thoy had scon7 So they always bellovod, and tho deep scar, an Inch long, In tho lieutenant's wrist, which he will carry to his gravo, confirms him In that belief. Tho colonel's wife stnrtcd up as he concluded his story, nnd following hor gaze, his eyes .also rested on a livid scar on his own right hand, reaching from tho base of tho thumb to the wrist. "O Illchard!" sho crlod, rising, and walking the roont In her excitement "I know at last tho secret of that dreadful burn. It wns you who suf forcd that awful experience. Oh, what It I had lost you too!" Raising his eyes to hers, he saw with Joy tbo wholesome brightness ol snnlty and health. As sho sprang to her feet, tho shackles of hor morbid fancies dropped awny, nnd she stood thore glowing, onco more tho winsome and vivacious bride. Tho story had cured her. |
