The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-08

bit of bone and the grim. ghoulsh spectator
Of our game. Piece after piece was taken
from the board and dropped on the sand at
our feet; the ranks of pawns grew thinner
and thinner, but still that one black knight,
now the only piece lett TO my antagonist,
sprang over the board, eyadiBg my deep
laid plans for his capture. The opening was
long passed, the wavering fortune OF the
middle game bad waned with the long
hours OF the end game. The memorable
moment which must decide my fate was
close upon me.
81 turned for moment from the board
TO ease the throbbing fever of my brain. A
black veil OF formless mist hid the stars and
gave back the earth's heat, till / gasped for
breath, and drops OF nervous sweat ran
down my forehead. There was a sitting
oppression in the still air, as in the minutes
before the fret lightning flash darts from
the charged thunder-cloud. The chief
moved, and l spGrred my tagging energies
once more 10 the study Of the game. Sud-
denly | seemed 10 be gifted with extraor-
binary powers of calculation. / shut my
eyes, and saw mentally the position change
through every possible variation Ike the
moving pattern of kaleidoscope l could
have announced a mate. | knew, to the
exclusion OF any doubt, that must
win. made my move. and. then,
hatred and loathing with which the
diaboical priest had inspired ME into
one flashing look of defiance, / tried to
hurl from me the cursed influence OF his
malignant spirit and to crush it into subjee-
lion TO mine. His face changed with a
hdeous cOntortion OF defeated evil purpose,
and then the whole devil in him rose TO one
supreme effort in answer to mine. he passed
his hand lightly across his eyes, and leaning
over his chief, scored his forehead with
malevOlent frown, the glare of his glittering
eyes seeming to pierce TO the brain OF the
head they nearly touched. The new spell
began to work on the chief. An uneasy,
puzzled look came into his face, and this
time 1t was with an uncertain vacillating
movement that he raised his hand to play.
Again / looked at the priest. His express
sion was more bitterly hooking and mere
exultingly fiendish than ever as he directed
my glance by movement OF his own TO the
hand which lowered over the board. His
treacherous design was transmitted in a
fash to my mind by some unexplained in
teraction of our brains. An illegal move
with the black knight, In defiance Of the
rules OF the game, was to snatch the nearly
won victory from my grasp. l saw the
fatal square on which the piece would be
placed, and | felt that if it reached it l
was lost. There were no spectators to
whom | could appeal against the glaring
illegality, unconscious, no doubt, on the
part of the hypnotized chief, and [ should
never be able to convince him afterward Of
having won unfairly. l must prevent the
move
1.-The struggle entered on the final phase.
/ had shaken off the priests mesmeric in
huence over my own will; now / must wrest
the chiefs will from the same thralldom by
the exertion of counter influence. IL was
the critical moment, the eliminating point
of conflict which must at least be decisive.
The chiefs hand raised the black knight
slowly from the board, and as 1t began more
slowly to descend / exerted all my power Of
will in one burst OF straining endeavor to
compel another move than the false one the
priest Intended Every nerve in my body
seemed strung to cracking. The wonderful
sensation of my individuality. of the in
tangible essence which constitutes self,
wrestling grimly for life with the demon
possessed priest, became intensified till my
brain reeled. The chiefs hand came slowly,
slowly down; wavered as though uncertain
on which square to place the piece. One
final effort OF the will exhausted my facul-
ties OF brain and volition.
THE ordeal was over; light had tri-
umphed over darkness, as day had risen on
plight. / knew tho priests influence had
been overcome, his spell cast off, without
the evidence of the chessbUard. | saw him
fall backward on the ground, every muscle
Of his body twisted in horrible contorti0n,
as though some invisible power of the air
were wrcaking its vengeance on his CHASTITY,
spaSm-shaken form. The grewsome sight
ended quickly; the violence of the seizure
was Tesistless; the muscles relaxed, the
limbs stretched out, and he lay corpse.
How l parted from my strange enter
tainers / can't tell you. / only know that
the chief honorably fulfilled his pledge, and
that, as / galloped away with a guide for
the English camp over the fair, green earth,
the woods and fields dancing to the breeze
in the su might, the bright clouds carrying
my thoughts to the depths OF the blue ex-
panse they sailed in, / experienced new
sensation Of keen, ecstatc enjoyment Of
life for its own sake. All nature seemed to
have fuller, better meaning to me than
ever before, to be the physical expression
Oh boundless power ana happiness moTing
with all-inclusiye purpose toward some
eternal end, and j myself was filed with
thrilling vitality in the consciousness OF
being part Of the joyous WHOLE"
The colonel made long pause, and then,
with reluctant sigh, as lie dismissed the
wide expanse OF glorious landscape which
lay stretched out before his minds eye, to
return to the commonplace Of his immediate
surroundings, 10 picked up the paper weight
from the board, and, replacing 1t on the
writing-table, concluded:
Later in the day, and after my return 10
the English camp, found this little fellow
in pocket Of my coat. Whether had put
1t there myself or how it got there / don't
know, and to what extent the. incidents OF
the night were colored by my own excited
Imagination is a chess problem ] must leave
to yonr own acknowledgement Allen in
The Strand Magazine