The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-11-03

h0d n0 pOtcer to act On tt. I could see, and hear, and feel; these sensa-
 tions were rejected on me, so to speak;
 but was not conscious of breathing, or of anything that involved muscular effort. An awful feeling of uneasiness
 began to take possession of me, when,
 it must have been two minutes or more after finding myself in this ex-
 traordinary state, heard the counts
 voice asking:
 "W1ll you be much longer, Brown?"
 Of course did not answer. There was silence for a few seconds, and then he turned round q could see him, as my sight took in nearly the whole of the room opposite to where was).
 He looked at me second or two, and then repeated his question.
 There was, of course, no answer.
 "What is the matter2" he exclaimed, looking at me with an expression of apprehension.
 "Brown, Brown, why don't you an- swer?"
 He came over to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and drew me from the attitude in which I was stooping over the table until was almost up- right with my shoulders against the back of the chair. Then he lit a can- de and held it before my eyes, gazing anxiously into them as he did so. For few seconds he continued the scruti- ny, after which he blew out the can- dle and restored it to it's place on the mantel- piece, muttering to himself:
 "He's all right. Now for it."
 He took up from the table the trans- lation had made of the telegram, and read 1t carefully. When he had fin ished, he seemed as though he were in deep thought for few seconds. Then he took up the key of the cipher and tegraph form, and sat down opposite me at the table. First, after a little consideration, he wrote 8 message. What was he writing? wondered. The remark he made when putting out the candle had puzzled me very much and made me very uneasy. Was awake, or was I dreaming? What could he be writing, and why did he lay the key of the cipher by his side? ! tried to make out what he was in- diting so carefully, but, though Il could see the pen and paper distinctly, and see even the characters he was tracing, could not guess what the words were, partly on account of dis tance and partly because, from my position, they were presented to me upside down. When he had finished the telegram, to my astonishment. he took another telegraph form, snd hay ing opened the key of the cipher pro- ceeded to compare the words he had written with the words in the cypher, evidently with the object of soritinq e message tn the cipher. Merciful heav- ems! Why did he want to write a message in the cipher. A sickening sense of dread fell upon me. watched .I had, of course, no alternative, in one sense, but to watch-for there I had to sit with my eyes open. Il watched, however, in an agony of ter- TOT. From my knowledge of the cipher, and from the way he slowly wrote out the words which he selected from it, I found myself able to follow the message he was writing. I had begun to fear that I was dead that death after all might be this frightful entombment in 8 living body. The idea was horrible, but the horror was and lost in the awful ter | TOT which seized upon me when I be- gan to comprehend the message he was writing, He was writing a tele- gram to our ambassador in St. Peters. burg, directing him to declare war with Russia; and the telegram would be obeyed, sent as it was in the cipher of which was the appoint ed guardianl
 l do not think it possible to de- scribe or imagine what my emotions were when the dreadful truth flashed. IS it suddenly did, upon me, I had been drugged, perhaps poisoned. I had no right ever to have given this man the opportunity of which he was now availing himself. And while I at before him, motionless and help less, he was bringing about a war for which l would be responsible, for which I would be forever execrated. md which would make me, morally 'peaking, the murderer of thousands )f innocent men.
 Having written the message, he put t in an envelope addressed to the am- oassador at St. Petersburg, and rang or an attendant, to whom he delivered he envelope, saying that it was to be ent of at once. should have men, toned that, before the attendant came nto the room, he bent my body for ward again 90 that I seemed to be read ng a book. Ishall never forget my feel ngs when heard the man leaving the 'oom with that envelope. Iknew too yell what the consequence would be. l9r ambassador, as knew from the elegram l had deciphered, was at the