The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1878-10-15

upon immense wings through the air.
each shaping its escentric fight to
wards the open grave where I had
fallen through fear, and Was now ex.
tended motionless aud SPECIFICS.
Que by one the serpents reached the
chamber in which l lay. They enter
ed it and twined themselves thick
around me. Anon, felt the earth
begin 10 trembIe beneath me. Grad.
ually it sunk. and l descended for IN
indefinite space of time tn the centre
Of the globe.
CHATTER II.
Nov toward. tl,. ;s,.- oi l,. ia. snil.hurcus ~sy
exia"r~.
In the centre Of the globe WAS 3
boundless ocean If liquid sulphur
whose waves. huge. pon.ierous ana
turbid, were tossed BY the Widest
commotirn. The roar of this mighty
sea could he accurately compared to
nothing hut a continuous peal upon peal
Of the loudest thunder. Eternailv II
lifted up its giant voice. and its noise
seemed to ill the universe. being "a
imagination nothing but the funeral
of the ruined souls Of death. Rocks
Of the most gigantic size and terrible
aspect frow0ed ON the borders Of lone
islands that were interpreted on
the bosom Of the omniPotent flood.
The islands themselves were barren ;
they bore not = single flower or trace
Of vegetation. They gave signs Of
life, but only signs. In short they
appeared to be inhabited by shadows
forms without substance, whose exist
ence however, was indi-putable. Here
truly were
..Biack >pIii's tut Eo white
Black spirits, hat %" crsy.
Tie character Of these shadows was
that Of enormous dark-winged ser
pen,s, or dragons. with webbed feet
and lalons Of prodigious dimensions,
Their eyes were fiery and penetrating
to the utmost, and they never closed,
but continually rolled widely in their
orbits rs If the entire horrors If eter.
nal despair were fully exposed "a
view. The temperature Of the place
was that of hell and when | was
borne off ON the pinions of one Of these
visible but unnatural creatures,
across the dark sea for many leagues,
and placed ON l,oar,l ii an extensive
giant vessel under full sail up"n this
mysterious main. felt something Of
relief, from the prospect. however
Obscure. that the vessel would un-
timately land amid other scenes.
had no sOcner arrived upon the
deck Of this spacious barque lwhere !
encountered the cuIprit whose corpse
had escaped me. and Others with
whom | was once intimately than a
serpent of the most glossy black color.
and superlaiive elasticity, twined itself
around my limbs and bound me i'm.
movably. The vessel itself Was con.
siructed of a material With which I
was wholly unacquainte,i. but its
color vas black rs midnight, and
every object within was similar in
appearance. except a thousand fires
which shot up from ~ many points If
the ship. and we're white As driven
snow. threatening in the end to con-
sumo the vessel. massive and unwieh-
" as it was. The associations pro-
duced in the mind by the phenomenon
of these strange fires gave ten fold
intensity to the heat which emsnaied
from their foci. One was surrounded
by what appeared to he stainless
snow," but felt ut the same time a
heat which the burning of eternal fire
could not possibly surpass. Not only
was the sensation Of feeling thus tor
tured to the last extremity. but every
sense proportionalIy punished. In
addition to the heat of the circumam-
bient atmosphere. il was also loaded
with the most offensive effluvis. The
vision was shocked by ghastliest sights.
The hearing was unspeakably tor
menied; amid the hoarse bellowings
Of the angry ocean. the noise If the
ships crew, (who were invisibIe)
might he heard to reverberate along
the decks fesrfullv. The tempestuous
thunder Of the stormy sea on which
We were sailing was not to he compared
to the tuInultrous sounds within the
vessel. The invisible crew it seemed
trOd up"n some heavy crutches. fr
the noise Of their progress through
the ship was 80 conspicuous and
peculiar, being a kind Of a dull.
notary sound. At various
intervals the rude falling Of heavy
chains upon the decks met the ear.
followed, or not nv wild shrieks
sufficient to pierce the most oblurate
heart. Sometimes when We would he
riding along comparatively tranquil,
an immense weight would fall with a
laundering noise. rs though from
heaven upon the upper deck. and this
would be succeeded by the terrific
tramping Of the crew from one apart
ment If the ship to another. Any
interim that occurred was filled up by
the incessant lashing Of the great oc-an
against the -pars Of our ALating
prison house. The spray If the ocean
was unlike that Of other oceans. it vas
hot. and the idea Of being
shipwrecked in this boiling abyss I
could not tolerate. A shipwreck |
had always contemplated a. most
formidable disaster. hut to he lost on
the oceans Of earth and eo down.
among the green caves and coral
world, If romance, would have been
heaven to my perturbed feelings in
'tead Of Plunging in this ocean Of
burning reality. Nevertheless from