Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-11

which had been worn narrow path. The
/ high stone walls threw dark shadows like
| those of cloister. Silence and Immobil.
ity guarded the entrance like two invisible
statues.
AS soon as the doors were closed behind
them Olaf and Octave were conscious of
the intensely heated atmosphere, which
reminded the doctor of India, in which
alone he could breathe easily, and which
suffocated those who had not, like him,
torri6edfor thirty years under tropical san.
NJ. Balthazar Cherbonneau led them into
the same room where the first transforms
ton had taken place he turned the glass
disk of the electric battery, arranged the
steel wires, opened all the registers, rails
ing the temperature still higher. read two
or three lines written on papyrus so old
that it resembled dry bark, which at
touch would fall into dust, and, turning to
Octave and the Count, said
:Gentlemen, | an ready shall we be-
gin?'
While the doctor was completing the
preparations the Count was absorbed by
uneasy doubts and fears. while | lie
in this sleep what will be done with my
soul by this old sorcerer, who might be the
devil himself? VIII he really restore it to
my body, or will he take it to hell with
him? Is this new experiment, which nomi-
nally is to re establish my identity, only a
new trap, fiendish combination, the mo-
tive OF which I do not know? At all
events my position cannot be worse than it
now is. Octave has my body, and, as he
himself says, all effort on my part to re-
claim it under the present condition would
simply prove me mailman. If he wished
to put me out OF the way, he had only to
run me through when / was at his mercy.
The Law could not reach him. The duel
had been conducted In the customary man
ner even in the most minute detail. viii
think of Plasco9ie, and that is my only
hope Of retaining her.
Aud, like Octave, he took the steel wire
which Doctor Cherbonneau handed him.
These metal conductors being charged TO
the utmost degree with the magnetic fluid.
the two young men almost Immediately fell
into death ike trance. Tire doctor made
the necessary passes, pronounced the syl-
tables as he had done on the previous occa-
sion, and present.. the two tiny sparks
appeared above the heads of Octave and
the Count with quivering light. Imne-
uldESIy tUE uUCtOI, WIFI du lflpbilUu5 geo
ture, motioned the spirit of the Count
toward its original dwelliDg-place. Like
fash it obeyed, eagerly flying toward its
old home.
Meanwhile the soul of poor Octave foated
very slowly away from the body of Olaf,
and, instead of returning to that of Octave,
rose upward, still upward, as if rejoicing
in it's freedom, and reluctant to re-enter
it's prison house. The doctor was filled
with compassion as he watched this Psyche
with palpitating wings, and questioned
within himself if it were really a
benefit to bring it back to suffer still
more in this life, so full Of grief and dis
appointment. While hesitating it still
flew upward. Rendering himself, M.
| Cherbonneau repeated, emphatically and
imperiously, the irresistible monosyllable,
making at the same time one or two rapid
passes the quivering little spark was al
ready beyond the circle OF attraction, and
in moment had disappeared through the
open window.
Knowing that further efforts were of no
| avail, he aroused the Count, who, on see.
| ing himself in mirror with his own feat
ures, uttered an exclamation of delight,
and, with glance at the motionless body
of Octave, as if to assure himself that he
had done with it forever, darted from the
room, leaving the doctor face to face with
the dead body OF Octave de Saville.
"Heavens and earth, what vexatious
affair this is l have opened the door Of
the cage the bird has flown and is now
far beyond the sphere of this world, SO far
that Brahma Logum himself could not re-
| II - H. I ,.-it lao1 a-1o nm,
my hands. | can easily enough dissolve it
in corrosive bath so that there would not
be left a single particle, or in an hour or SO
make mummy Of it. like those OF Pha-
raoh's time. But search would be made,
| my apartment would be ransacked, my
| boxes and cases opened, and should be
subjected to all sorts of annoying ques-
| tions.
Here brilliant idea flashed across the
mind of Dr. Cherbonneau, and, selling a
pen, he rapidly wrote a few lines on sheet
of paper, which, when finished, he locked
in drawer of his table. 1t contained the
following
Having neither relatives nor connec-
tions, leave my entire property to M.
Octave de Saville, for whom have strong
affection, with the condition of paying a
legacy of one hundred thousand francs to
the Brahminical Hospital for old, worn out,
invalid animals, life annuity of twelve
hundred francs to my Indian servant and
my English servant, each, and delivering to
the Mazarin Library the manuscript con-
tanning the laws of Msnon."
| This bequest from living man to dead
| man is not one of the least extraordinary
things in this most improbable, but never
theless true story this little singularity
will, however, explain itself almost i'm
mediately.
The doctor placed his hand on the body
of Octave, still warm, and turning to the
mirror he gazed long and earnestly at his
brown, wrlnkled face then with an air of
contempt, and using the same gesture with
which one throws off an old coat when the
tailor sends home one that is new, he NUT
tered the formula of Sannyasi Brahma-
Logum. Instantly the body of Doctor
Balthazar Cherbonneau fell to the floor as
if struck by lightning, while that OF Octave
de Saville arose strong, alert, and vIvacious
Octave Cherbonneau stood several minutes
in silence, contemplating the hvid, bony
corpse, which, no longer sustained by the
spirit and will which 80 recently animated
it, exhibited every symptom CT excessive
senility.
Farewell, poor miserable rag of human
isy Through at the elbows, worn in every
seam |! l have dragged you about with
me for seventy years in every quarter
of the world. You have done me
good service, and 1 cannot take leave of
you without feeling of regret. We have
been so long together that we are thorough
" accustomed to each other. Now, with
this young fresh envelope, which my
knowledge will soon render strong and ro-
bust, shall be able to study, to work, to
read yet few more words in the great
book p
Having concluded this funeral Grafton
over his remains, Octave Cherbonneau,
turning on his heel, calnly went out to