The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-09-08

had passed more quickly, and despite the
gale which the ship was encountering, far
more comfortably than the three hours that
had elapsed between my capture and the
commencement of our voyage was think
ing some what wofully Of the long hours of
darkness waich now lay before me- when
noiselessly a food OF silvery light filed the
cabin Startled by its sudden appearance,
looked up, only 20 discover that an electric
light was shining above my head in its pear
shaped glass 1t was onIy when this hap
pened AMI when / felt all the comfort OF be
ing at last abe to survey my abode at case
for tae artificial light was far brighter than
the natural one had been-that | realized the
striking APP rehcnson with which | had re-
garded ha prospect of a night spent in al,
soute darkness IA such place.
"if / only had book now | said 20 my
sell, ~ana-why ye>, / should really enjoy a
cup Of tea surely the millionaire would
| not hegru ge me that If he knew how much
shou 4 relish IL!
Hardy ila,, the words passed my lips than
[ heard the click of key and then / saw
that the lite trap in the door had been
opened and That Flinter was ,egarding me
with d sardonc smile upon his ugly iac>
to the surprising effect which solitary con
duemeut has i'll tanning mans spirits J
found nos that the authoritie, were righa.
Instead OF making a uilI dash at the spot
where the i'll nened countenance Of my
raptor was visible, l sal still and nlesely in
lulged myself with a silent stare of dislain
in return Ior mis- grin of derisio1.
He smiled audIoly, .nhaling the fumes of
tobacco WITH which my little room was
| Hlled
Enjoying yourself pretty well, it seems
to me You do right No sool in kicking
when you can only hur5 yourself by it. b
civil and ques and you wont be kept 50
long perhaps you suppose whore you are
now / came to SEQ ii you would Ike some
dinner"
''Dinner!h l said 81 thought the meat
you left for me was intended Tor my dinner;
and really found it very god Seeing
that l had given up for the present the
thought OF trying VIC euce 1 felt it better 10
keep up in lis presence The air Of ph.losophic
co lness which / had adopted Tor my own
comfort
No; lunch, he replied, sententiously
You'll have goOi yictuals here if you only
behave yourself II YOU give me your prom.
ise to keep quiet, I bring You your dinner
as soon as it IS ready"
hesitate1 for moment troubled by the
thought Of keeping any terms with such
ufllnn, but the somewhat sullenly gave
him the promise he asked He Immediately
disappeared.
In about half an hour he returned, and,
throwing open the door, entered with tray,
which he balanced the ship rolled as
L, II or.I
liner could have DONE In a surprisingly
short space Of time he had cleared away the
remains of my mornn meal, and had laid
upon the table a dinner such as few captives,
I venture to say, are lnIulged with,
"Ship's rolling too much tor me to bring
you am soup; but there's fish and outlets and
partridg cheese ard celery, an a pint of
champagne. It's a. good dinner, bet as
you would have gos in Scarborough"
VERY COOL, indeed, I am sure It is Of
no use, suppose asking you, Mr.. Flinter,
why am here lie hook his head; but at
least you might tell Ise where I am going"
'So use asking questions. he responded,
shortly. Because why: I never answer
EN-. So that's plain But if you keep quiet,
as I've told you already, you shall be as well
served with fool and drink as if you were
the old man himself Now is there anything
more You wantF
Il should like book to read. ,
"a book! Oh yes; if that is all, you shall
soon have book Bless me, III bring you
an armful the next time come if only it
will keep you quiet
He left me TO p rtake of my dinner in soli-
tude did justice to it, and despite my un-
pleasant situation and my dislike, not TO say
dread, of the ruff IN who was responsible for
my imprisonment, | felt almost cheerful
when he presently returned, carrying nearly
q dozen volumes in his arms, in addition to
some blanket for my use during the night.
"There's books for youl" he said, tumblng
them in a pile on the chest Of drawers.
snake what you can of them; they're nothing
in my line"
And right eagerly did I avail myself of his
Invitation to do so when I was once more
left alone 1t was true that | was disap-
pointe with Mr. Fiipter's choice in literary
matters. One Of hi%volumes was a list of
the Royal Yacht Squadron, two more were
works relating to the art Of navigation,
fourth was nothing more than series of
table, o. logarithms, fifth was an old vol
ume of that venerable work, "RusselPs His
tory of Modern Europa;7 then there was
well-thumbed copy of "Buchan's Domestic
Medicine, Va dictionary IA copy Of Thomas
Moore's poems, and last Of all in the pile,
Guy and Ferrier's "Forensic Medicine"
It was this book which, though it was at
the bottom of th heap, attracted me first.
It did so partly because it was the only work
which had modern appearance in the col
lection, an partly because my own medical
studies had given me an interest in it The
rest Of the books were old and battered.
could not imagine how they had been intro
duced into such palace as the Golden
Hawk TIE copy of Forensic Medicine"
was in COOL preservation, and was evidently
the latest edition of that standard work
took it into my hands and turned to the
title page It was the edition, | saw, of
1875 The binding was quite new and the
pages were clean The book apparently had
hardly been opened. J was holding it lightly
in my hand while | speculatel to how
such a volume chanced TO have come here,
when found that it had opened, almost, as
it seemed me, of its own accord, at par
Hcuar page knew in moment what had
happened When the volume was first
bought it had evidently heen ened at this
page, and the reader, whoever he night be,
wishing to keep it open there. had bent the
siif new back in such way 10 make
something like spring of it-a spring
which, when the volume was held in cer-
tain wnv caused it always to open at one
parlica ar rlace. ANY of my readers who
cares to destroy the outward appearance of
a new book may by a simple experiment
satisfy himself of the possibility of doing
this
What was the subject which the person,
who had apparently looked at no other part
Of the volume, had been studyings
I glanced carelessly down at the printed
page, and the first wori saw was "Strych-
aia Strychnia poisonl Wild thoughts