St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-02

me where l crOuched on the St2lrStep.
With bound he was beside me, and
seized my arm in his hot grasp
Come, come with me, DIAM, chaste
goddess of Night, you and | have to
climb the heights of Olympus before
morning. Great Jove is calling us,
don't you hear him? evil go by the
hill where Endymion sleeps and awaken
him: Come, hurry, hurry; the gods are
getting impatient"
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 a powerful maniac, think any
one would find it rather difficult to re.
duce theory to practice Moreover. my
friends especial craze seemed to be the
classics, and every scrap of ancient
mythology | ever laarned had gone
clean out OF my head at that moment.
My 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 light | could discern his rolling
eyes, clenched 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
do not wish to see Endymion nor to
scale olympus! Then you are not
| Diana no, and / am not Apollo; you
are Iphigenia, and | sum Agamemnon.
The ships wait in the harbor they can
not sail in such weather. Only hear
what tempest Neptune has raised to
detain them The gods must be pro-
pitiated they demand sacrifice. The
victim is ready, but where is the sacri-
| fetal knife? Ha! | see it [ see it!'
With a wild, exulting cry he loosed
his hold on me, and ran down the steps
to seize on a rusty bayonet lying in the
yard, dropped there possibly by some
careless or perhaps wounded soldier.
But the victim was by no means
ready, and the moment | felt his fierce
grip relax | turned and fled for life
down the long hall and up the ruined
| staircase. Why chose that, instead of
| escaping through the back door, can
not tell my first impulse led me to it,
and l rushed up the broken steps. spring
ing over chasms where the planks were
gone, and catching desperately at the
| remaining baulsters to save me from
falling. With no light to guide me on
my dangerous way but the titful glare
of the lightning, ii was miracle that |
| did not break my neck, but death was
| behind me and my only alternative was
to face it in another and less fearful
shape. l could hear the madman's
wild shrieks and EXPLANATIONS when he
| perceived my flight, and as | reached
the top of the stairs l cast a terrified
look behind, and beheld him rushing
down the hall with the bayonet in his
hand. Just then another lurid flash lit
up every corner of the desolate house
with binding light, then vanished into
redoubled darkness. My pursuer dashed
headlong up the steps-a stumble-a
| heavy fall-a deep groan-and all was
silence save the weird voices of the
storm.
Slowly the hours of that terrible night
dragged by. Remained crouched on
the landing l had reached, afraid to
move lest I should fall through some
unknown opening into the story below.
shrinking in terror from the frightful
violence of the storm, dreading far more
another attack from the maniac, ard
praying as we only pray when in bodily
peril. At dawn | heard steps and
voices in the hall and saw men with Ian
terms apparently searching for some
one. Presently, I heard one of them
say:
'.He amt in none O the rooms: I've
searched 'em every one, an there amt
no sign of a living thing about EN-"
whats that?" said another, who
was standing near the stairs, 81 heard
something move and sorter groan I'M
der the stair-steps. Open that closet
there
ats locked"
s.Then burst it open. He may have
fell through above there, and hurt him
self"
A single shove from a strong shout
! der, and the frail planks gave way.
Yes, he was there, lying as he had
fallen, and with deep cash in his side,
from the bayonet with which he had in
| tended to immediate me. He was not
dead, poor wretch! 1t would have been
better for him if he were-but insensi-
BILE from loss of blood. The men raised
him, and carried him back to the asy-
| lum in J., from which he had es-
capped the day before. l waited till they
| were gone, and then clambered down
from my perch, a feat which in daylight
did not find difficult.
I afterward heard the sad story of the
| escaped lunatic. He was young man