Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-13

weather is badges, it's raining aoa;,
suppose we enjoy the banquet rich
"DlnS with you-heree Ccnfound Il
slr, l don't wish to dine with you. am
TINS room is not a restaurant" / re
piled angrily.
GIVE brought the dinner with me-.
ne continued calmly. there's q loyel,
brace of woodcock-"
Ielt my temper give way.
viii you be good enough to hav
,"In my hat" he interrupted. com
pleting his sentence, "besides the sou,
and-well, see for yourself.n wv
ne drew another package from tn,
interior OF his extraordinary head.coy
erlngg' and opening it displayed som
dozen or two of white pills. These he
carefully divided into two heaps. abou
an equal number of pills in each.
"Ihere," he said in u satisfied wav
"a dinner-a feast for two-of twelyy,
coursesm
L had heard Of lunatics assaultin,
people with deadly weapons, but neve
OF their forcing their victims to swallow
poison in the shape of pills. Would
that policeman never come? 1 soundet
the signal again.
Meanwhile my eccentric visitor hat
possessed himself of a pitcher of waite
and had filled two glasses. Then re
turning to the table, he proceeded K
unwind his roll of wire, which he sep
arated into four lengths. To one enc
OF each of two pieces he attached /.
little button of bright silvery metal b,
q short scrap of gold wire of exceeding
tineness. To the ends of the othej
pieces he affixed what appeared to b.
light metal rings OF bracelets.
Somehow mis- performance Just ther
began to arouse an unaccountable inter
estlin me, and I found myself almosr
inyoluntarily closely watching him.
Now from his inner coat pocket hi
produced a case, such a one as homeo
pathic physicians use for carrying theil
medicines, and also, like theirs, thi.
case contained row upon row Of minute
walls, each one neatly labeled in some
unreliable hieroglyphics. could MOI
discern the contents of the bottles, ex
cept to see that some contained DOW
ders and some liquids. Lastly, he un
wrapped the newspaper from the boz
which he had taken from his hat. About
this box there was nothing peculiar in
its external appearance, but its owner
evidently attached some extraordinary
Importance to it, for he carefully placed
it on the table as far from me as pos.
sible, and then, after fastening the free
ends of his wires to it, covered it UP
with his hat.
"Ihe apparatus-ahem! the ap.
paratus which l am about to exhibit
he began, with al explanatory wave Of
his hand, sis not so perfectly arranged
as it might be. In fact, I have and al
ways expect to have many improve.
ments in contemplation. Still, I think
we may obtain favorable results. Will
you approach the festive board?"
I listened anxiously for the expected
heavy tread on the stairs, but in vain.
think l involuntarily sounded the signal
once more. One of the oldest things
about the whole affair was-now that ]
look back on it-that I never thought Of
leaving the room. The door was un-
locked and the road to it was clear, but
yet to attempt escape never occurred to
Without waiting for me to respond to
his invitation, he had appropriated the
most comfortable easy chair in the
room, which he had drawn up to my
table,. A glass of water was before
him, and 7 noticed that one Of
the bracelets with its wire was
attached to one Of his wrists, while
from the corner of his mouth trailed
the fine gold filament, showing that the
little button had been put inside. Loll-
ing luxuriously back, he scrutinized his
collection of walls musingly.
".Shall it be Clos-de-bougeot," he said
to himself thoughtfully, erich, fiery,
blood of Burgundy, Or shall it be the
sunshine of fair ClicquotP BY the
way, that reminds me-" he exclaimed.
animatedly looking up. "Did you ever
taste the real Aurum Potavile-that
grand old stuff, which some poet or
other says .gilds yourlife where it wears
Or what do you say to .
cup
"sOf the wine benign
That sparkles warm in Saneovlne'F
Eh?"
gave that signal a vicious jerk this
time.
..Oh, why don't you let that thing
alone and sit DOWN." he asked, petu-
"Sit down; here. sit down right
He pushed a chair over to me
with his foot. l thought it best to
humor him. and obeyed.
Meanwhile he had selected a vial from
his case and was holding it up for my
1t contained IL powder re-
cigar-ashes.
apo You see that?" he demanded.
..Well, that came from Pompeii; POM
neil. buried under the lava of Vesuvius
/. 500 years ago.. When they dug into
the ruins of the old city they found am
closely sealed. They
lots Of them, expecting 20 lind
tie rare old Roman wine still in them.
they found none; nothing but these
ashes. The fools threw the ashes away.
I don't know why. Because they taste
like soap, perhaps. Dolts, they don't
know how to use the precious dust; the
chrysalis of the trrc Falernain, dormant
but no: dead. do, see?' -