The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-09-04

down upon him and observing his pro-
oeedings; or it might be that he
had detected me by the light of my
cigar. For a moment it seemed to me
there cleaned upon me the strange
glare of his prominent scintillating green
eyes. Then all was darkness. He had
turned off the gas. could see nothing
more. In some trepidation, l retreated
to my bed chamber.
slept very i'll that night, ! remem-
Der; not merely because OF the oppres-
sive heat of the weather, and lack of
freshness in the air; but ] was greatly
distressed in mind. Moreover, my
forehead burned, my heart beat dis
tressingly T; was in a state OF feverish
restlessness. When sleep at last came
to me, my dreams were terrible. l un-
derwent an agonizing nightmare, the
brothers Reklam haunted me.
could never lose sight of their pallid
faces. In all kinds of strange situa-
tions, their cleaning, menacing eyes
seemed to follow me, and find me out,
to scorch me up, and pierce me
through and through, to bring to bear
upon me all kinds of pain and fortunes.
1 became convinced that they were bent
upon my destruction, now by this
means, now by that. Their only hest
tation was as to the kind of death they
should infict upon me. They were at
q loss to decide upon one sufficiently
painful. At length, as thought, they
had resolved upon my assassination, by
a varied system of intense and horrible
cruelty, to be gradually applied, with a
view to my greater suffering.
1 awoke in a dreadful panic. 1t
seemed to me that rope circled my
neck. and that my landlords by slow
degrees were tightening it more and
more. 1 experienced an agonizlng
sense of suffocation. In my alarm, L
know, leapt from my bed, and stood
for a moment swaying to and fro upon
the floor like drunken man. What
had happened? Iasked myself. Some
thing dreadful, ! know.
There was a strange crimson light
throbbing and Pickering in the room.
The air was thick with smoke. and the
sitting fumes of some drug or spirits of
extraordinary pungency. L could hear,
too, wild cries in the street without,
loud knocking at the outer door of the
house, and the roaring, cracking sounds
of burning wood, and the licking and
writhing of mounting flames. The
house of Messrs. Reklam Brothers was
on fire
There was not a minute to lose. /
hastily gathered about me few articles
of dress. My alarm and agitation were
extreme, but L had the sense to per-
ceive | could only hope to escape with
life-if even that was still possible. 1
at once abandoned all thought of rescu-
ing aught else from the flames. Yet it
was, even in that moment of panic, with
a sigh L turned my back upon all my
household treasures and possessions.
One glance of farewell, and then L hur-
ried from them to the door of my front
room, leading to the staircase.
1t aOaS locked on the outside. So
also were the two other doors that per-
mitted egress from my apartments.
The possibility of my escape had been
foreseen and provided against. was
a prisoner, and the fire was drawing
every moment nearer and nearer to me.
Already the smoke was so dense, blind
ing and Supplying, that was crouch
ing on my knees, to avoid it as much as
possible.
Much valuable time L wasted in la
boring to prise the locks of my doors,
and in convincing myself that they had
really been made secure against me
from without. Then, with desperate
violence, and with all the strength l
could muster, l dashed heavy chair
against the door of the front room.
The paneling was completely
smashed, and through the opening thus
made, thick volume of poisonous
smoke poured into the room. But still
the lock held fast, and still my escape
was prevented, even had the staircase
without remained passable, which
seemed most doubtful, for already it
was burning furiously.
The window was now my sole chance.
1 looked out. There was sea of up
turned faces-orange.hued, from the
reflection of the flames. The police
had driven back the crowd, SO as to
form a semi circle of spectators, with
sufficient space in front for the fire.
engines to be worked freely. The
roadway was flooded with water, which
mirrored brightly the red sky and the
leaping fire. Every neighboring win
dow was crowded with scared lockers
on. 1t was a strange and most exciting
scene. The uproar when the dense
throng below caught sight of me at the
window was indeed alarming. | was
cheered and applauded, as though 1
had been a popular candidate for cleo
ton upon the hustings. But above all
these cries | could plainly hear the me.
chanical pulsing of the engines in full
work the rush and gurgle, the hiss
and splash of falling water-and the
screaming of the flames, which seemed
to issue chiefly from the floors above
me, and from the built-out shop at the
back of the house.
Trembling all over, / stepped from
the window-sill on to the projecting
cornice of the shop-front below. 1 then
let myself down gradually, and, after
to the ledge for moment,
dropped several feet on to the pavement.
L was saved from falling by the sturdy
arms of policeman. 1 was half suffo-
Gated, and my eyes smarted terribly
my hands were bleeding, and both
ankles seemed badly sprained other
wise, was uninjured.
In right, l suppose, of my narrow es-
FL