The Osceola times., 1886-09-25

l
bonnet ruined, however" said |; ether,
are no milliners' shops on Olympns Il
lurhlsh h me another. You, sir, as you
90 not seem afraid of storms and have
no nat to spoil, had better 20 on "a
| town" "
=. and leave you to face the periIs N,
the tempest alone?n cried he, gallant,
never! We will face them tooclbrr
no matter how dreadful they NAV ba y
And he Immediately began sinci,g i-
.he same loud voice -unnaturally ioud'
II seemed TO me-the old-fasbioned
song; ''''o'ied
| aWo viii live and love together
inro"sh AL Mes changing years"
waving Doth hands in time to the music.
now grew seriously alarmed. II
,hiS We're not midsummer madness n
looked very much like it; and walked
as rapidly as possible toward the bouse
hophg to find there not only sbeIto,.
rom the weather, but protection from
my unfortunate companion. who Sill
hep' close at my side. But. as an
preached, | was struck with the lonely
;,.. anu deSolate appearance of the demesnc.
ne yard gate was half open, hanpino
rom one hinge, the walk weed-prSwn
lhe gallery steps broken and dpcavoh
SUN pressed on, however, hopino
against hope TO find some one within too
"nom J. could appeal. but the deserted
e"PlS iook 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 staircas.
ieaaihg rom the hail to tho upper story
was broken in many places. and looked
ABOUT TO iaH. | guessed at once il 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 2 strange man of whose in
sanity became more convinced every
moment. For now the roar and the
Hash of the thunder and lightning were
almost ncessant, the rain poured down
IN torrents, strong wind swept through
the empty room. 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 deyoutly thankful, rs
sat on the bottom step of the disman-
tied stairs with my heart in my mouth.
fP IL.
lest | should attract his notice Each
time he approached me | shrank into as
small compass as possible, and
watched him with dilated eyes and flut-
tcring heart until the length of the hall
again separated us.
Oh now | prayed that somebody |
W"dld 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 mcP Had my fearful companion |
no one to look after him? He certainly
needed a keeper. Then | remembered |
with a feeling Of blank despair that |
had told no ono where was going, and |
rs 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 |
away unobserved under cover
Of the night, which was now fast APP |
proaching
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 gos- |
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- |
mcnts of plays intcrmiXed with numer- |
Gus classical illusions.
Hear the bolts Of Jove how they |
rattle! but they can not strike me. |
wear the triple brcastplate 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 Neptdne has ousted Jupiter
from his dUminiUns and turned the |
ornament 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 a moment ago
A flash of intolcrable light filled the |
hall, and 20 my utter horror | bchcld |
the madman' eyes glaring full upon |
me where ! crouchcd on the stsirstep. |
With bound he was beside me, and !
seized my arm in his hot grasp.
Come, come with me, Diana, chastc |
GOODIES, of Night, You and | have TO |
climb the heights of Olympus before |
morning. Great Joye is calling US,
don't YOU hear him? Wewill 60 by 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 | clung desper-
ately, and dragged me toward the door.
Now. | had always heard that the best
way TO paciiy lunaticS is TO hnmor them
and pretend to fall in with their peculiar
fantasies. All very well in theory, but
alone, at night, in a deserted house, far
from all possible help, in the actual
grasp of a powerful maniac, think any
one would lind il rather difficult to re-
ducc theory to practice. Moreover. my
friends especial craze seemed TO be the
classics, and every scrap OF ancient
mythology | ever learned had gone
clean out OF my head at that moment
NV only thought was to get away from
him. and | drew back with all my
strength as he dragged me forward.
Resistance only infamed his frenzy. In
the dim l.-ht could discern his rolling
ewes. clensred teeth and foaming mouth;
his powerful hands clutched furiously at
my shoulder and throat as he hurled me
through the open door.
"You will not come with me You