Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-14

"Pm thinking that ri have to make 1t two"
"rhe deuce you are! Here. Pugh, lend me .
| pound"
"rm afraid I've left my purse behind"
Then lend me ~ shfllings-AnahiasV'
II doubt if have more than nve."
Then give me the five. And, Brasher, lend
| me the other fifteen"
Brasher lent him the fifteen. doubt IL we
Shall either of us ever see our money again. He
handed the pound to Bob.
Here's the brandy, drink it upp' Bob drank
| II without word, draining the glass OF every
| drop. And here's the pipe"
rs 1t poisoned, sir?'
Poisoned, you villain! What do you meanr'
at isn't the first time I've seen your tricks.
| sir-is it, now? And you're not the one to give
pound for nothing at all. II 1t kills me you'll
send my body TO my mother-she'd like TO know
that was dead"
"Send your body to your grandmother! You
idiot, sit down and smoker
Bob sat down. Tress had filled the pipe, and
handed il, with lighted match, TO Bob: The
fellow declined the match. He handled the
pipe very gingerly, turning it over and over.
eyeing it with all his eyes,
THANK you, sr-rll light up myself If it's the
same to you. carry matches of my own. It's
beautiful pipe. entirely. l never see the like
OF 1t for ugliness. And what's the slimv-lonk-
ing varinint that looks as though it would like
to have my lifei Is it living. or is it dead?"
Come, we don'twant to sit here all day, my
manr'
We'll, sir, the look of this here pipe has quite
upset my stomach. I'd like. another drop of
hquor, II It's the same to you"
Another drop! Why, you've had tumblerful
alreadyl Here's another tumblerful to put on
top of that You won swaat the pipe to kill
you-you'll be killed before you get to it,"
And isn't it better to die a natural deathr
Bob emptied the second tumber of brandy as
though it were water. believe he would empty
hogshead without turning a hairl Then he
gave another look at the pipe. Then, taking
match from his waistcoat pocket he drew
long breath, as though he were resigning him.
self to fate. Striking the match on the seat of
his trousers, while. shaded by his hand, the
fame was gathering strength, he looked at each
one of us in turn. When he looked at Tress l
distinctly saw him wink his eye. What my
feelings would have beenif servant of mine
had winked his eye at me / am unable to i'm
agine! The match was applied to the tobacco,
puff of smoke came through his lips-the pipe
was allght!
During this process of lighting the pipe we
had sat- do not wish to use exaggerated
language. but we had sat and watched
as though we were witnessing
an action which would leave its mark upon the
age When we saw that the pine was lighted
we gave a simultaneous start. Brasher put his
hands under his coat-tails and gave kind OF
hop. l raised myself a good six inches from
my chair. and Tress rubbed his palms together
with 4 chuckle. Bob alone was calm.
Now" cried 1ress, you'll see the devil NOV
ing"
Bob took the pipe from between his lips.
"See what?" lie said.
'BoD, You rascal, put tnat pipe pack into your
mouth, and smoke it for your lifer'
Bob was eyeing the pipe askance.
II dare say, but what l want to know is
whether this here varmints dead or whether
lie isn't l don't want to have him flying at my
nose-and he looks vicious enough for any
thing"
Give me back that pound, you thief. and get
out of my house, and bundle"
81 amt going to give you back no pound"
Then smoke that piper
"l am smoking it, amt 1f'
With the utmost deliberation Bob returned
the pipe to his mouth. He emitted another
Whit or two of smoke.
'Now-nowI' cried Tress. all excitement, and
wagging his hand in the all.
We gathered round. AS we did so Bob again
withdrew the pipe
What is the meaning of all this heref
amt going to have you playing none of your
larks on me. know there's something up. but
l amt going to throw nv life away for 20
shiilings-nOt quite l amt"
TreSs, whose temper is not at any time one
of the best, was seized with quite spasm of
rage.
taking that pipe from between your lips until
tell you you leave this room that instant, never
again to be a servant OF mine"
presume the fellow knew from long expert
ence when his master meant what he said, and
when he didn't Without an attempt at re- |
monstrance he replaced the pipe. He con-
tnued stoldly TO puff away. Tress caught me
what did l tell your There-therei That
tentacle is moving"
The uplfted tentacle was moving. |
1t was doing what had seen |
it DO, as I supposed, in my distorted imag- |
ination-it was reaching forward Undoubi- |
edly Bob saw what 1t was doing; but whether |
In obedience to his masters commands, or
whether because the drug was already begin |
ming TO take effect, lie made no movement TO |
withdraw the pipe. He watched the slowly |
advancing tentacle. coming closer and closer |
toward his nose, with an expression of such in |
tense horro: on his countenance that it became |
quite shocking. Further anG further the Great |
ure reached forward, until on a sudden, with |
sort of Jerk, the movement assumed down. |
ward direction, and the tentacle was slowly |
lowered until the tip rested on tbs stem of the |
pipe. For moment the creature renamed |
iuotIopless. l was quoting my nerves with |
the reflection that this thing was but some |
trick of til; carver's art, and that |
whar we had seen we had seen IN 4 |
sort of nightmare. when the whole hideous rep:
tile was seized with what seemed to be fit of |
convulsve shudderIng. 1t seemed to be in |
agony. 1t trembled SO violently that expected |
to see it loosen its hold of the stem and fall to
the ground. l was sufficiently master of my |
self 10 steal glance at Bob. We had had an |
inklng of what might happen. He was wholly |
As lie saw that dreadful, in |
looking creature, coming to life, as it |
seemed, within an inch or two of his nose. his |
ewes dilated 10 twice their usual size. hoped, |
for his sake, that Inconsistencies would SUPER |
vene through the action of the drug before. |
through sheer fright, his senses lett him. Per- |
haps mechanically, he pulled steadily on.
The creatures shuddering became more vio- |
lent 1t appeared to swell before our eyes. |
Then Just as suddenly as it began, the shud- /
dering ceased. There was another instant of
Quiescence. Then-the creature began to crawl |
along the stem of the pipe! 1t moved with
marvellous caution, the rerest fraction of an |
inch at time But still it moved Our eyes |
were rveted on it with fascination which was |
absolutely nauseous. l am unpleasantly at |
fected even as l think of it now. My dreams
of tne night before had been nothing TO thi<.
Slowly, slowly, it went nearer and nearer to |
the smokers nose. Its mode of progression |
was in the highest degree unsghtly. 1t glided, |
ing its tertacles from tho stem of |
the pipe. 1t slipped its hindmost |
feelers onward. until they came up to those |
which were in advance. Then. in their turn it |
advanced those which werein 'front.' II seemed, |
too TO move with the utmost labor, shudderIng
as though II were In pain.
We were all. for our parts. speeches.. 1
was momentarv hoping that the drug would
take effect on Bob. Either his constitution
enabled him to offer strong resistance to mar
cotics, or else the large quantity of neat spirit
which he had drunk acted-as Tress had maley.
olently intended that it should do-Is an anti
dote. 1t seemed to me that he would never sue
sumb On went the creature-on, and on, in its
infinitesImal progression. was spellbound.
l would have given the world to scream, TO
have been able to utter a sound. l could do
nothing else but watch.
The creature had reached the end of the
stem. 1t had gained the amber mouth
piece. 1t was within all inch of the smokers
nose. Still on it went. 1t seemed 10 move with
greater freedom on the amber. 1t lncreasedits
rate of progress. 1t was actually touching the
foremost feature on the smokers countenance.
/ expected to see it grip the wretched Bob,
when it began to oscilIaie from side to side. Its
oscillations increased in violence 1t fell TO the
floor. That same instant the narcotic pre-
vailed. Bob slipped sideways from the chair
the pipe still held tightly between his rigid
jaws.
We were silent. There lay Bob. Close be-
side him lay the creature. A few more inches
TO the left, and he would have fallen on and