New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-03-10
THE BLACK CAMEL,
BY THE MARQuIsE DE LAMA.


BY THE MARQUIsE DE LAMA.
On a. certain bleak evening, during
the Winter Of 'S3 was sitting alone
in the room | occupied on the top
floor OF fashionable New York apart
ment house, was just recovering-or
supposed to be recovering-from an
attack Of illness, and I was still very
weak. The doctor, in fact, had left
me but a little while before, assuring
me gravely that must be very care
full if l desired to regain my usual good
health. But, to tell the truth, I was
somewhat self-willed, and not apt to
regard attentively what ! was inclined
to call the doctors motions" AS
soon as he had disappeared, there
fore, sprang recklessly from the
couch where I had been lying, and
drawing a chair up to the fire, took a
book from the table and began to
read. l felt a little chilly as I threw
off the eider-down quilt that covered
me; but | quoted my conscience by
thinking that the heat from the bed Of
Goals before me would soon make me
warm again. I opened my book and
soon found myself SO deeply interested
in what | was reading thatI presently
fell to musing over the chapter
had just finished. The work
was Herbert Spencer's Princi-
pies Of Sociology, and the chapter re-
lated to the ideas Of death and resur-
rection as considered by primitive
man. The subject was one upon which
myself had thought not a little, and
one that had q peculiar fascination
for me. From the time I was a little
boy at school had been in the habit
OF wondering and specializing AS to
what takes place in consciousness when
the soul leaves the body. OF course,
when child, [ did not think of it in
these precise terms, such words being
then unknown to me, but the ideas
themselves were substantially the
same.
On this particular December evening,
as have already said, [ fell into a
brown study, and thought about this
subject until became completely alb
sorbed in it. Now and then I would
rouse myself and draw little closer
to the fire, for the chill had not left
me. And my head seemed oppressed
by some peculiar weight was unable
to shake off. A sensible man would
have gone at once to bed; but in some
respects was the very opposite of
sensible. Presently, however, a queer
ringing sound in my ears warned me
that some change was taking place in
me, yet with mad persistence my only
act was to rise from my seat and
throw some more Goals upon the fire;
then sinking back again, I relapsed
once more into profound meditation.
Very soon paid the penalty OF my
rashness. A deadly faintness all at
once crept over me. The weight de-
scended from my head to my chest: an
icy chill stole into my veins, and [ be-
gan to gasp for breath. My first inn
pulse was to spring up and endeavor
to reach a little cabinet on the wall in
which l kept q bottle OF brandy, but
strange to say, l was powerless to do
so. Again came that sense OF dead
weight pressing heavily upon me, and
with it was a terrible feeling of sltfoca-
ton. | tried to call aloud, although
l recognized the uselessness OF such
proceeding, as no one would be likely
to hear me.
"Alas!" thought, chad [ but fol
lowed the doctors advice! But nowit
is too late. [ can do nothing for my
self, and shall probably die here
alone"
This gloomy thought called up with
in me the small amount of force I pos
sessed. With one desperate effort
caught firmly hold of the arms of my
chair and succeeded in fairly raising
myself. But, to my inexpressible hor
ror, just at this point / felt myself
sinking slowly and gradually, until
finally | fell with a dull thud up
on the heart rug. After that, all
was darkness and oblivion for a
while. Then, little by little, con-
seriousness dawned once moreupon me,
and rose, much to my astonishment
with apparent ease from my recum-
bent position. At first the room APP
peared dark to me. The surrounding
atmosphere was like a black, impene-
trable curtain. But this, no doubt,
came from my extreme weakness and
from the effects of my fall. Presently
the obscurity vanished, and saw my
room as it usually was. The light
burned just as had LEFT. it, and the
fire still glowed brightly on the
hearth.
Nov, at al events, I will go to