Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-10-13

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The first tUord / sa,u ,Uas "Strychnia."
cool, refreshing water OF which there was
apparently an unlimited supply. Then l
came back to my seat and carefully tried an
experiment which had occurred to me.
Laying the closed book on its back on tho
palm Of my hand I allowed it again to fall
open at its own will Once more it opened
at pags 5s8, and again read that first SELL
tence of the page, which describes how "The
patient complains Of choking sensation,
and Of thirst and dryness Of the throat; but
the effort to drink often occasions rigid
spasms Of the muscles Of the jaw. Some
times there is foaming at the mouth, and the
froth may be tinged with blood" ETC., etc.
repeated the experiment in another man.
ner; the result was the same. Itried it again
and again, and always the volume opened at
the same page Yes, it was quite Gear to me
now that the owner of this book had bought
it for the simple purpose Of studying the
subject of poisoning by means of strychnia-
All the pages of this volume, it is true, were
cut open. but it was only at this part OF 1t
signs which showed that it had been read
and studied with care again and again.
read the whole chapter through with at
tention, and it says something, think, for my
command over my own nerves that did not
forthwith fancy that was myself suffering
from that "feeling of suffocation" which is
described as the earliest symptom after tho
poison has been swallowed For 1 could not
drive out of my mind the possibility that this
accidental discovery might have the deepest
personal interest for myself. II had fallen
into the hands of murderer, what assurance
had I that he might not try his frightful
arts upon me2 The thought was one that 1t
was difficult to face with composure. l be-
gan to realize what is the lot Of the captive
who lies in peril Of his life, and who is power
less to defend himself against the unknown
doom which may be hanging over him
Terribl, was the long night through
which I now passed. TIE gale had evil
IDENTIFY risen to great height; and the mo-
tion Of The vessel was such as to be distress
ing even to the most experienced of sailors
In place Of the dead silence Of the morning
my prison cell was now filled with that in
describlble tumult Of sound thai marks the
progress of battle between a good vessel
and raj ging sea. could hear the shrek
Of the wind and the roar Of the waves, while,
even above these sounds rose that constant
groaning and creaking Of the straining tim
bers which showed how hardly the ship was
beset by the storm. I could feel too the
fury of the blows which each successive
wave delivered against tie side OF the yacht.
A storm at sea is an awful thing to the
landsman at the best OF times. Let my
reader try if he can conceive what this
storm was to me-held like rat in trap in
the middle Of the laboring vessel
Yet despite my fears and the tumult all
around me, 1 slept. and my s.eep was
strangely free from those hideous dreams of
which I had been apprehensive. When l
awoke at last the bright light Of the electric
lamp had disappeare |, and some faint rays
from the outer sky were entering my cabin
through the funnel which served the pur-
pose of q window. / looked at my watch
and discovered that it was nine o'clock. To
my great joy too, found that the sea had
fallen, and that the yacht was making conf
paratively steady progress through the
waters.
1t is no part of my purpose to inf1ict the
whole story of my Imprisonment upon the
reader. Nothing, indeed. could be more
monotono:' OR more terrible In its monot-
ony-than the manner in which my days
were passed. Thrice during this second day
was visited by Flinter, bringing food I
hardly spoke to him, and he made no at
tempt to open a conversation with me. l
sLaI tn a{t ,,~f 70 To
gether the various pieces Of that strange
puzzle, the first bit of which that had been
put into my hands was my meeting with
Daisy and Gregson at the York railway sta
tion. and the last the discovery Of the pas
sage on strychnia in the work on forensic
medicine That there was some strange
unity of significance in all that had hap
pened to me since | first saw my darling was
a conviction thai was slowly forcing itself
upon my mind Never before in my peaceful
life had been even remotely associated with
anything in the nature OF mystery, but now
for some weeks had been literally dwelling
in the midst OF mysteries. Hour after hour
passed while tried to hit upon some key
which should make the whole strange and
jumbled story plain. But l labored in vain.
There was only one point Of which in my
heart of hearts was as certain as Of my
own existence That was that, come what
might, nothing could ever be revealed which
would cast shadow Of shame upon the
name of the girl whom loved.
Day after day went by in the same pain
full and hopeless round, and l began to
despair of ever again being released from
nv hateful prison house. 1t Was more than
q week since we had left Scarborough.
Where we now were l could not form the
faintest conception. l knew that we had
once stopped for an hour or more, and
guessed from the perfect stiffness Of the ves-
sci that we had entered some harbor. 1 was
conscious, too, of the fact that it was now
much colder than it had been when we left
England and had been thankful for the
additional rugs with which my jailer had
supplied ME. But Flinter evaded all nv at
tempts to elicit from him any information
as to our whereabouts. Nor would he give
me the faintest hint of when might hope to
be released from my captivity.
Ten days of an imprisonment so close as
mine was, began to tell not merely upon my
spirits but upon my physical health. My
appetite failed utterly, and hardly touched
the delcacies with which Flinter to do him
Justice, kept my table abundantly supplied.
1 found myself daily growing weaker, and
the victim Of an apathy which was alto
gether alien to my nature. In plain Eng
lish, was cowed and broken by thu treat
ment to which had been subjected l no
longer even spoke to F.inter on his periodical
visits to my cell.
1t was when was in the midst of one Of
nv worst fits of detection that the event
which 1 had so ardently longed for took
place l was aroused one morning, shortly
before noon, by the noisy opening of the
great iron door which barred the entrance
10 the passage leading to my place of con-
finement, and for the fret time since l had
entered tho accursed hole heard the sound
of voices outside. They were speaking in
quick, excited and even angry tones.
Before | had time to realize what was
coming, the door of my room was thrown
open, and, to my intense amazement, saw
DR.. Branksome standing before me.
fro BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.