The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-05-11

and stafesin The window az i hotel IA
thrill passed over me- W Afy fecent escape
had greatly shaken nay nervous System;
and the apparition Of the man whom I
feltI oughtto suspect sent chill through
myblood. AS peasant, which he was
not expressed only in dress, but in his
hands, which were dirty, rough and
horny-what did he do in first.class
carriage? I would have given something
to have exchanged carriages. But there
was no communication with the guard.
Moreover, the train, as I have told you,
was On express, and did not stop until o
run of sixty six miles had been accom-
plished. We were now bowling away
with great rapidity. The man sat, screw
ed up in a corner away from me, in,mov.
able. Heappeared to be looking through
the window ut the country as it whirled
by; but there was an abstracted express
sion in his gaze which indicated that he
SAW nothing. His arms were folded
upon his breast. Though he must have
been conscious of my scrutiny, he never
turned his eyes upon me. His lips,
saw. were tightly compressed and he
breathed slowly, but deeply, through his
nose, the nostrils Of which dilated to the
steady respiration.
began after little to regain my COM
posure. | struggled to laugh down my
fears. What, I thought, had to fear
from n man had never seen-who had
never seen me? The thing was prepos-
ferrous. I extracted paper from my
pocket and commenced to read. I might
have spoken to him, only imagined
been embarrassed at my French, which
7 NJ d.
sides, there was something that repelled
all approach in his immobility. Half an
hour passed away. All at once, over the
his hand out of the window, as if to
open the door. had no time to conjec-
ture his intentions, when, with n wild,
screaming whistle. We were hurled into
the night of long tunnel. The rapid
disappearance of daylight made the oil
lamp suspended in the carriage emit but
the dulleet light for some minutes I laid
the newspaper down with all my old
fears revived in me. had scarcely done
30, when saw the outline of man rise
in the carriage. He leaped over to me
where was seated. I saw the CLEAN of
q knife in tho air. Mad with passion
and surprise. 1 grasped the descending
arm. A furious determination to pre-
serve my life, inspired me with the
strength of giant. The ferocity with
which seized the wrist, forced the hand
open. Tho knife fell, and then com
menced silent, furious struggle. He
seized me by the collar and clung with
the tenacity of tiger. I heard him
swapping his teeth, rs if he wero endea-
voring to bite. We swayed from one
end of the carriage to the other. T felt
how weak i'll health had left me, and
prayed to pass out into the light, that I
might the better encounter the ruffian
Suddenly, felt myself swung around
with tremendous energy. bounded
against door which opened, and we
fell on the lines in the very centre of the
tunnel. The fall seemed to have stunned
him, for he fell under me and remained
there for time motionless. For myself,
received an indescribable shock, such
as is experienced in a collision; but re-
tanned my senses. I heard the roar of
the train dying away in the distance.
saw tho red CLEAN fading like the eye of
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