The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-09-24

high Olympus war not on weak mortal
like ourselves. but on each other"
Il don't care about getting my bes
bonnet ruined, however, said 1; ''ther
are no milliners' shops on Olympus t
furnish me another. You. sir, as yo'
do not seem afraid of storms and hav
no hat to spoil, had better 60 on t
town."
"Anf leave you to face the perils q
the tempest alone?" cried he, gallant,
"Never! We will face them together
no matter how dreadful they may be.
And he immediately began singing il
the same loud voice-unnaturally l0nd
it seemed to me-the old-fashionet
song:
I'VE will live and love together
Through oil life's changing years"
waving both hands in time to the music
now grew seriously alarmed. I
this were not midsummer madness" j
looked very much like it and walked
as rapidly rs possible toward the house
hoping to find there not only shelter
from the weather, but protection from
my unfortunate companion, who still
kept close at my side. But, as l ap
preached, was struck with the lonely
and desolate appearance of the dcmesne
The yard gate was half open, hanging
from one hinge, the walk weed-grown
the gallery steps broken and decayed
1 still pressed on, however. hoping
against hope to find some one within t6
whom / could appeal. But the deserted.
empty look of everything around soon
convinced me my hopes were vain. The
rooms were all open, some of the doors
had been torn from their hinges and
lay on the dusty floors, and the staircase
leading from the hall to the upper story
was broken in many places. and looked
about to fall. l guessed at once it was
dwelling that had been sacked and
partially destroyed during the war, and
had since remained untenanted.
But what a situation was mine!
Alone in a deserted house. far from all
help, with strange man of whose in
sanity became more convinced every
moment. For now the roar and the
flash of the thunder and lightning were
almost incessant. the rain poured down
in torrents. a strong wind swept through
the empty rooms and ratified the broken
windows, and the more noisy and vio-
lent the war of the elements became,
the more restless and excited grew the
stranger. He walked up and down the
long hall, tossing his arms, talking to
himself. and gesticulating violently,
apparently taking no notice of me, for
which / was devoutly thankful. as I
sat on the bottom step of the disman-
tied stairs with my heart in my mouth.
afraid to move and almost to breathe
lest l should attract his notice. Each
time he approached me shrank into as
small n compass as possible, and
watched him with dilated eyes and flut-
tcring heart until the length of the hall
again separated us.
Oh, how l prayed that somebody
would come, some storm-stayed wan
derer like myself, some field hand
seeking shelter from the rain, any body
to deliver me from my fearful position.
Would no one come from the college to
seek me? Had my fearful companion
no one to look after him? He certainly
needed keeper. Then l remembered
with feeling of blank despair that l
had told no one where was going, and
as for him, what did know of his re-
lations or antecedents? So could only
sit perfectly still, try to keep my terror
down. and hope for some chance of
slipping away unObserved under cover
of the night, which was now fast APP
In the meanwhile his excitement con-
tinued to increase in proportion to the
violence of the tempest. His pace be-
came constantly more rapid, his ges-
lures more vehement, his voice louder,
until finally he rushed up and down the
hall, waving his arms frantically over
his head, and shouting out what seemed
to me stray scraps of verse and frag-
ments of plays intermixed with numer-
Gus classical illusions.
'.Hear the bolts of Jove how they
rattle! but they can not strike me. 1
wear the triple breastplate of Hercules,
and am crowned with the oak leaves of
Dodona. Why, surely all the fountains
of Castaly are falling from the clouds;
or else Neptune has ousted Jupiter
from his dominions and turned the
into an ocean. But they
can not drown me; am Apollo, god of
the sun. And my sister Diana, what
has become of her? She was with me
but moment ago."
A flash of intolerable light filled the
hall. and to my utter horror 1 beheld
the madman's eyes glazing full upon
me where l crouched on the stairstep.
With a bound he was beside me, and
seized my arm in his hot grasp.
"Come, come with me, Diana, chaste
goddess of Night. you and l have to
climb the heights of Olympus before
Great Jove is calling us,
don't you hear him? We will 90 Dy the
hill where Endymion sleeps and awaken
him. Come, hurry. hurry; the gods are
getting inpatient"
As he spoke he pulled me away from
the balusters to which chung desper-
ately, and dragged me toward the door.
Now, had always heard that the best
way to pacity lunatics is to humor them
and pretend to fall in with their peculiar
fantasies. All very well in theory, but
alone, at night, in deserted house. far
from all possible help, in the actual
grasp of powerful maniac, l think any
one would find it rather difficult to re-
luce theory to practice. Moreover. my
friends especial craze seemed to be the
and every scrap of ancient
l ever learned had gone
clean out OF my head at that moment.
My only thought was to get away from
him, and l drew back with all nv
strength as he dragged me forward.
Resistance only inflamed his frenzy. In
he dim light could discern his rolling
Eyes, clenched teeth and foaming mouth;
lis powerful hands clutched furiously at