The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-12-17
"Do you think so 2.
aI'm sure of it.

Tive tne DOA 10 ne uSu puo 'hO
box to his ear. He tapped. at sounds
to me like the echoing tick, tick of some
great beetle; like the sort of noise which
death watch makes, you know"
Trust Pugh to find a remarkable ex-
planation for simple fact if the explain
alton leans towards the supernatural, so
much the more satisfactory to Pugh. |
knew better
'sThe sound which you hear is merely
the throbbing, or the trembling, of the
mechanism with which it is Intended that
the box should be opened The mechan-
ism is placed just where you are tapping
it with the hammer. Every tap causes it
to jar.
at sounds to me ike the ticking of a
death watch However, on such subjects.
Tress, | know what you are
''My dear Pugh, give it an extra hard
tap, and you will see
He gave it an extra hard tap. The
moment he had done so, he started
I've done it now.
What have you done ~
Broken something, fancy He lis
tened intently, with his ear to the box.
''No-it seems all right And yet | could
have sworn / had damaged something |
heard it smash.
GIVE me the box He gave it to me.
In my turn | listened. 1 shook the box.
Pugh must have been mistaken. Nothing
ratified there was not sound the box
was as empty as before. | gave smart
tap with the hammer. as Pugh had done.
Then there certainly was curious sound.
To my ear, it sounded like the smashing of
glass. Il wonder if there is anything
fragile inside your precious puzzle, Pugh,
and, if so, if We are shivering it By de
gress
CHAPTER IL.
What is that noise?
| Law in bed in that curious condition
which is between sleep and waking. When
at last. | knew that ] was awake, | asked
myself what it was that had woke me-
Suddenly became conscious that some
thing was making itself audible in the 81
lence of the night. For some seconds |
lay and listened. Then ! sat up in bed.
'What is that noise?
1t was like the tick, tick, tick of some
large and nnusally clear-toned clock. 1t
might have been a clock, had it not been
that the sound was varied, every half
dozen ticks or SO, by sort Of stifed
screeeh, such as might have been uttered
by some small creature in an extremity of
anguish | got out of bed it was ridicu-
lous to think of sleep during the continu-
alton of that uneaGny shrieking. | struck
light. The sound seemed to come from
the neighborhood of my dressing table, |
went to the dressing-table, the lighted
match in my hand, and, as | did so, my
eyes fell on Pugh's mysterious box. That
same instant there issued, from the bowels
of the box, a more uncomfortable screech
than any | had previously heard. 1t took
me so completely by surprise that let the
match fall from my hand to the floor. The
room was in darkness. l stood, | will not
say trembling, listening considering their
volume-to the eerieSt shrieks | ever
heard. All at once they ceased Then
came the tick, tick, tick again. | struck
another match, and lit the gas.
Pugh had left his puzzle box behind
him. We had done alive could, together,
to solve the puzzle He had left it behind
to see what | could do with it alone. SO
much had it engrossed my attention that
| had even brought it into my bedroom,
in order that I might before retiring to
rest, make final attempt at the solution
of the myste-;s Now what possessed the
thing?
As | stood, and looked, and listened,
one thing began to be clear to me, that
some sort of machinery had been set in
motion inside the box. How it had been
set in motion was another matter. But
the box had been subjected to so much
handling, to such pressing and such ham
mering, that it was not strange if, after
all, Pugh or had unconsciously hit upon
the spring which set the whole thing 60
ing Possibly the mechanism had got so
rusty that it had refused to act at once.
1t had hung fire, and only after some
hours had something or other set the i'm
prisoned motive power free.
But what about the screeching? Could
there be some living creature concealed
within the box ? Was | listening to the
cries of some small animal in agony? Mo
mentary reflection suggested that the ex-
PLANTATION Of the one thing was the explain
alton of the other. Rust there was the
mystery. The same rust which had pre-
vented the mechanism from acting at once
was causing the screechipg now The un-
canny sounds were caHsed by nothing
more nor less than the want of drop OF
two of oil. Such an explanation would
not have satisfied Pugh ; it satisfied me.
Picking up the box, | placed it to my
ear.
- wonder how long this little perform
ance is going to continue. And what is
going TO happen when it is good enough |
to cease? hope uncomfortable !
thought occurred to me" hope Pugh /
hasn't picked up some pleasant little nov
city in the way of an internal machine. 1t
would be first-rate joke if he and had
been endeavoring to solve the puzzle of
how to set it going.
| don't mind owning that as this refec-
ton crossed my mind | replaced Pugh's
puzzle on the dressing-table. The box
evidently contained some curious mechan-
ism. 1t might be more curious than COM
Portable. Possibly some agreeable little /
device in clockwork The tick, tick, tick
clockwork which had been
planned to go certain time, and then
then, for all | knew, ignite an explosive,
and-blow up. 1t would be a charming
solution to the puzzle if it were to explode
while | stood there, in my nightshirt, look
ing on. 1t is true that the box weighed
very little. Probably, as | have said, the
whole affair would not have turned the
scale at a couple Of ounces. But then its
very lightness might have been part of the
ingenious inventors little game. There
are explosives with which one can work