, 1874-08-23

/ bed-cbamber.
I slept very, i'll that night, T. remember; not
! weather, aud iack OF freshness in tile BIT; but
| was greatly disturbed in ,niud- Moreover, my
forehead burned, my heart best distressinelY;I
| was in = state OF feycrish rcstlesguess- When
! sleep 1T las. camo to 1ue, nly dreams were ter
| rlbe. underwent an agonzing nightmare
| the Brothers 1:ecklam haunted me. I could
never lose eight Of their pallid faces In all
kinds of strange. eitnationa, their, cleaning,
| menacing eFe5 seemed to follow mp, and tind me
out, to ecosch me up, and pierce me through ansl
! through. to bring to bear upon mo oil kinds Of
! pangs and tortures. became Convinced that
they were bent upon mr dcstruc:iop now by this
as to the kind OF death they should inflict upon
INC. They were at a loss to decide upon one suf-
ticentlT painful At length, as thought, tLey
had resolved upon my assassination, BY varied
system OF Intense and horrible cruelty, to be
gradually applied, with Wow to my. greater
| suffering
| awoke in dreadful panic. It seemed to me-
that rope circled my Eeck, and that my land
| and more. I experienced all agonEinS sense OF
| suTocation. III my alarm, / know, leapt from
| my bed. and stood for q moment swayIns to md
| fro upon the floor liie druoken man. What
| had happened? ! nsked myself Something
dreadful knew.
| The was Z strange crimson light throbbine aud
| 1lckc1ing in the room. Tho air WAS thick with
smoke. and the stitling fumes Of same drug or
| EtA4k y! tAk!dp1ulIhTf puuSCuCfs 1 Euuil l1EAI.
too. wild cries in the street Without loud knock
ing at the outer door Of tho house, and the roar
| ing. cEack1lng sounds Of burning wood and tho
| licking and writhing Of mounting flames. The
house OF Mcssrs. Reklum Brothers WAS on fire
| There wns nos min,lse to 1oso- hastily
| gathered about mo O few articles OF dress. t1y
| alarm and agitation were extreme, but had the
sonse TO perceive could only hope to escape
with nfe-lf even that was still possible I at
once abandoned all thought of re=cuiDg auebt
| else from the tlames- Yec it was, even in that
moment Of panic, with sigh Of deep anguish
| turned my back upon all my household treasures
and possess'ons Quo glance OF farewell, aud
| then l hurried from them to tlle dooe Of my
| front rooln leading to the staircase.
II ,rdS lechrt1 on the outside. So also we're the
! two other doors that permitted eGress from my
been forescen snd provided against. waa
| prisoner, and the tlro was drawing every moment
nearer and nearer to NO. Already the smoke
was dense, binding. and stupefYlng tha1
| was cronchiuS Oh my knees, to avoid ii AZ much
! as possible.
! Much valuable time wasted in laborfug to
I prise tie locks OF my doors. and IN convincing
! myself that they had really bean made secure
against me from without. Theh, with desperate
| violence, and with all the Strength T could
muster, dashed heavy chair against tue door
OF tle front ROOM
The panellipg was completely smashed. md
through the opening thus made, . thick volume
OF poisonous smoke poured into the room. but
still the lock held fast and still my escape waa
prevented. even had the staircase without re-
NAMED passab1e, which seemod most doubtful
for already it was burning furiolsly.
The window was nov my sole chance. I
looked out There waa sea Of upturned faces
orange hucd, from the reflection Of the
flames. The police had driven back the crowd,
80 as to form semi-ci1clo OF Spectators with
sufficient space in front for the 6re-enSines to
be worked freely. The roadway was flooded
with water, which 1nirtored brightly the red sky
and the leapiog fire. Every neiShborins window
was crowded With scared lookers-on- It Was q
strange and most exciting scene. The uproar
when the dense throng below caught sight of
mo at the window was indeed alarming. was
cheered and applauded, AZ though had been 4
popular candidate for election upon tie hustings-
But above all these cries could plainly hear the
mechanical pulsug sound Of the engines in full
vork-the rush and gurgle, the hiss and splash
OF falling wate--and tho screaming Of this
flames, which seemed to lsHuo chiefly from the
floors above mo, md from the buIls-Out shop ut
the back of tho house.
Trembling all o4cr stepped from the win
dow-sll OIL to the projecting cornlce OF the shnp-
front below. theu let myself down gradually,
aud, after clingins to tho ledge for . mdncnt,
saved from falling by the sturdy arms of police
man + was half f-suhocatcd, and my eyes
snlarted terribly; my hands were torn and
bleeding, and both ankles seemed badly
sprained otherwise. I was uninjured.
In right, suppose, of my Harrow escape, and
my lawful interest in the catastrophe, 7 Vas per-
mitted to remain near the fre-englnes and to
watch the progress OF the condayration. was
not conscious for some time that my dress waa
most incomplete, and that WAS up to u1y instepa
in water.
Suddenly, I found Aaron Eeklam close beside
me- IIc started back when he observed me-
no: merely With surprise, but also, as Judged,
with alarm and aversion He was in state Of
extreme agitation.
"Ipcrer dressed go quickly IN my 1ifo.'' bo
said. in tremulons voice. aud be rubbed his
hand Fla h,ro 1o1
r conld note by the light of the flames his par
tial baldncss; bit his attire VAS comDleIe in
other respects, even to the neat adjustment OF
Ills shirt-coar aud neckerchief. could not
doubt that he had never undressed at ALL
Ho turned His cleaning eyes full upon me
bis gaze snemed to me more banefui aud male
fice.it than ever. Fur tnu,urnt almost dread
ed personal violence at his hands.
"Youye had narrow escape" he said.
"Very narrow" He looked aB though he
grndccd INC my life most bitterly.
j" It was an accident, though it broke out in
two or three places at once. can't think how
it happened" And again be g1ared at me.
.siou can't either suppose ?" ne asked
II cannot te1l," said family.
It will be the ruin Of me-of the frm-the
complete ruin."
'Ies, we're insured. bnt not for ~the full
amount.-nor nea!lY-oniy for q triffe."
'Aua your brother, Mr.. 1;ashan,-is be
eafe?'
He was, a moment ago. But he went back:
told lin there was plenty OF time to sayesome
documents Of value"
"And he's not been seen aince?"
"No, not since- Gut it was only d moment
aso. He's all tight, Nathan knows what he's
abouttr n
The horrid truth then burst upon nc Tic
place had been sos on fire for the sake of the in
sarance money, and I had been decoyed to be
lodSer, and destroyed. in orier to give color
to the proceeding. While this passed through
my mind Nathan EeAla.n mado his appearance
at tho open private door. With q wild cry,
Aaron rushed towards him, and shut the door.
lIe wished to bu tue soIo beneficiary. The oon-
fusion was great that few took heed Of tho
brothers. Tuck clouds Of dust now mingled
with the SMOKE. The crowd ras driven farther
back BY yards. Even the h1eraen ,rare
forced to retreat,
Tho outer vail al tio house had fallen.
I remember nothing mo.c. was found,
as I afterwards learned, stretched .enee-
less upon the wet roadway, a0d was
carried upon tue shoulders OF friendly by.
ISLANDERS. to ncishboriug tavern- There re-
fnnnn3 faya in mn, all ri