The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-03-07
A DOOMED MAN.
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 He was seated en a chair of rude workmanship, sleeping heavily, and the troubled look he wore, showed that hor- rible thoughts were chasing each other through hiS brain. Suddenly loud clap of thunder, which shook the building, awoke him. He looked around, but notfing save darkness was visible. Fear took possession of him, and he tTembled in every limb. Where was he2 He knew not, and it was not until vivid flash of lightning, for moment, lighted up the impenetrable gloom, that he be- came aware that he was in dungeon. Yes there were the massive stone walls, barred windows, and iron-studded door He was seated in a corner of the dungeon. SO he moved the chair to the center of it, after few more flashes of lightning had made him acquainted with the size and shape of his prison-house. Then the storm subsided, and all was dark and silent. He was thoroughly awake now, and the more conscious he became, the more his terror increased, put he knew the morn would come at last, when he should know his fate: but he could not conceive what crime he had committed to account for his incarceration, yet he bravely determined 10 wait the course of events, What bewildered him most was, that the lightning had shown him walls on only three sides of his cell, and where the fourth should be, there hung a mass of dark-colored drapery. He essayed once or twice to draw 1t aside, to see what mystery was hidden beyond, but after many fruitless attempts, fear pre- vailed, and he returned to his seat, and dozed away again into kind of half slumber. Then he felt the floor beneath him tremble, and the chair that he was seated on gradually descended, and, as he was going down, he saw the mystic veil disappear into the roof, revealing an unfathomable vista of darkness. He was now somewhat reconciled to his position, although he could not divine its cause He felt himself all over to see if he was awake, and he was convinced that he was, but that he was bewitched.
 After what seemed to him lapse of hours, he found that he had been lowered into subterranean vault, the roof of which was supported by massive pillars of wood, but although it was dimly lighted, he could discern uncouth wind lasses; evidently racks, coils of rope, and other instruments of torture, and in far off corner guillotine, with upraised knife gleaming balefully at him. He tried to speak, but his tongue clove to his mouth.
 Suddenly he was approached by a band of halberdiers. habited in the cos tune of Henry the Eighth ; they spoke to him and to each other hurriedly, but, in his terror, he could not tell what they said; then they seized him roughly and conveyed him to another dungeon, thrusting him in and locking the door. on its walls he saw manacles and letters, and ranged in order were strangely shaped spears and other weapons, and, horror of horrors, a headsman's block and axe, and he shuddered at the sight. He heard the tread of busy footsteps above him, and the truth burst upon him with horrible reality he was confined in a chamber beneath the scaffold, on which he was to suffer, and they were making the final preparations, but he re. solved that he would sell his life dearly, so, resting his head on the table, he feigned sleep in order to watch the move ments of his prosecutors; and his worst fears were verified, for the door opened, and two of the soldiers entered and dragged out the block and then the headsman, clothed in black, and a hid eous mask covering his features. shoul- dered the axe and was leaving the room, but he turned back to the doomed man, whose head was still resting on the table, and he unloosed his collar and bared his neck, and the prisoner heard him utter the words, "poor fellow" The heads man had a strong arm but weak heart. Then the bell tolled, and the doomed man fell senseless on the floor.
 The door opened again, and cheery man entered, and raised the prostrate form tenderly, with the words, Why, Dick, my boy, however did you get here% The mystery was soon explained.
 Dick Devereux was friend of MT. kemble Kean, the manager of the Thea ter Royal, Camberwell; Dick had come up to London for the first time, and had been dining with his friend. Now, the managers house adj oined the theater, and Dick, in passing from one room to s>>ASeAsAs "~A~> = 0CSA Wht@A NOul- municated with it, and being quite strange to such place, he lost himself among its labyrinthine passages and at length found himself on the stage, where we discovered him at the commencement of the story; and, doubtless, the good cheer he had partaken of at his friends table accounted for his feeling sleepy, and when he moved the chair into the middle of the stage (which vas set as a prison scene), he had moved it on to trap. The cellar mon, who were prepar- ing for the performance, being unaware of this fact, and having to lower it for some purpose, found him as before de- scribed, and not knowing who he was, locked him up in the property-roon, until the arrival of the manager. The play for the night was Catherine | Howard" hence the block and axe being | brought out; and the headsman took of | Dicks necktie and collar, thinking that he might sleep more comfortably without | them. The funeral toll he heard, was the church clock sfrikin0 six Mr