Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-08-18

III pledseu you Iuae onouAu 70
dupe! The exception was hattering-pe,.
NIT me to thank you! In truth, Lea, IL
has been for you piquant role to play;
You would have made most excellent
coincidence, you to whom love is but poet
ical aspirations, ethereal dreams, almiess
flights into the azure-you who had the
voice of a siren, the face of an angel, the
heart,-ah, well, we will talk not of your
heart, mon ami, but of your within OF the
moment Behold it reslize-behold your
dream-a page from your own fantasy
We are here, as you so often wished to be,
alone soaring in an eagles fight-alone
in the skieel 1t was your own idea. this
hiring the balloon of the aeronsut, mount
ing it and departing with me thus; ca
price of the season, to finish worthily the
DAYS of the Neapolitsn carnival. l accept
ed tit was my revenge you offered me
I sliced it, say. l learned the art; we
are together; and now it is to vengeance
that deliver ycu.-the vengeance Of the
heavens by your poeticsl 6ctions, your
sacriIe gious lies and ironies. All, but they
will avenge themselves cruelty, those i'm
passsble Judges And know you the pun
ishment they will inflict! Listen while l
tell YOU. One day two adventures of the
air, too bold ventursome like us, experience
ed it. They were found in their aerial era
die, rigid and frozen, the visage tumeted,
the blood running from their ears, their
eyes, their mouths-the end that awaits
you.
"Soou, my dearest red foam will
heigbten the carmine of your smiling lips,
red drops show themselves at the tips OF
your ears ike pendants of coral, and your
beautiful eyes shed tears of blood"
The young woman, wild with horror
threw herself upon her knees, trembling
cOnvulsively.
"You would not do this. Oliver; You
could rot; it is too cruel. For Gods sake
do not make me die this ffightful death!'
Oliver shrugged his shoulders.
81 could not hinder it if l would" he
answered. " l am not able"
"Then," cried Lea, fliDging herself mp
on him and siezing the knife that he still
held in his hand, II will save myself; l
will pierce this wicked webb and she rais-
ed her eyes to the rounded belly ofthe bal
loon so far above them.
TRY it," said Oliver, coldly.
And Lea did, graspiug the cordage with
her delicate fingers, placing her foot upon
the edge of the car, and striving with all
her strength to lift herself within striking
reach. Vertigo siezed her; she fell to her
knees gsspiug for breath; the knife escaped
from her hold and turned in the air. She
remained where she had fallen, half uncon-
scious.
"See," cried Oliver, in his hooking
voice, chow the hot sun Of the south
warns the balloon and dialates the gas!
We shall rise now with re6oubled speedn'
L "a raised her head, contemplating the
clouds about them, the man beside her,
with bewildered air.
''YOu would do this?" she murmured.
'You who loved me-"
All at once, even as she spoke, she start
ed with Joy; the light of hope illuminated
her face. Slowly, softly, she carried her
hand to the folds of her dress and drew
forth an object, small, glitterng, and that
she carefully dissimulated behind the folds
of her handkerchief.
"Reason is lost on a mailman, " said she,
Nevertheless, my dear, you have reckon
ed without your host. A good American
travels not without her revolver"
She raised her arm; two reports followed,
and, traversed from end to end by two
balls, the 'Aerostat" began to decend.
For an instant Oliver paled and leaned
from the basket, bat quickly rose.
80 it be-" he answered; we are in the
middle of the sea-blue for blue. We can
die therein the water-the same as in the
sky"
The balloon growing smaller and smaller
as the gas escaped, went faster and faster;
the speed had become frightfdl-the speed
of the thunderbOltl
Oliver himself bliud, sufficated, his
lungs like fire, knelt upon the floor of the
car awaiting the end Aud in the silence
Of the sunlit heavens the air-ship pursued
its dizzying course.
NAPLES, March 10. 1sS3.-MY DEAR
SIR-I have hut this moment received |
news of you. They assure me that you
are batter-that you will live. | am charm
ed. am better also; you will certainly |
learn this with pleasure. have bestowed |
a roll of bank bills upon the fisherman who
rescued us and brought ne 10 LAND in his
barque-both OF us, it appears, uncon-
scious, aud you half drowned.
Behold our poor devil who will be able
to say without metaphor that fortune fell
upon him from the skies!
Travelling, however, my friend, is de
cidedly too dangerous in your company. l
come to believe that some day or other it
will bring me misfortune. Pardon this
superstition, Matched in my brain in the
classic country of the iettatura, and suffer
that henceforth pursue alone my vOy-
age ito the country OF the blue"
Then, my dear assassin, without too
p,uoh rapoor LEA.