The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-09-01

4 When | staggered down tho dead
mans beat with my limbs as terror
stricken as my heart wondered how
/ would be received at headquarters
| / dared not go thither when thought
it over. An order had forbidden any
one TO spread the story OF the phan-
tom strangers and Colonel Wagner
was strict martinez and would not
hesitate to shoot a soldier or viola
ton Of his commands, All could do
was to creep to my bunk in the bar
rack and keep the secret Of the MUIR
der at the wall
resolved to do this and tried my
best. The next day was thrown
back into the fever and they carried
me to the same bed had filed before.
/ Weeks elapsed before came out Of
the hospital a skeleton of my former
self. l had told my secret a dozen
times in my delirium.
The colonel had ordered the walls
demolished and the rajah's gardens
ransacked for secret doors. But the
palace still stood where it had de-
lighted the natives. He could not
demolish it without a permit which
the governor general had hesitated to
grant and the regiment was again on
the eve Of mutiny.
We went down into the ruined
garden one night and crept through
the shadows Of the trees into tho pal
ace itself There were secret under-
| ground rooms in that old pile which
we felt would give us some insight in.
to the mystery, and nerved to go to
the end OF the puzzle. we actually
swore never to come out until we had
| solved all.
The raiah's palace was as silent as
the tomb. Here and there snake,
sometimes a cobra, showed himself
in the pale moonbeams and now and
then a lizard ran before us for a sec.
ond, showing us it's chameleon hues
in the light. 49,:
All at once Danford. our leader
picked up bit OF cord which he de-
clared was the property of someone
of the present hour We gathered
round the finder and examined the
girdle end with suppressed emotions
We were in a long room which was
said to have been the execution cham
Der of the dead ra.. an. Suddenly Dan
ford stopped and picked up COIN
The next moment he fell back and
pointed at the floor.
"A door," he said. Here is a
trapaoor: Look! 1t has been opened
recently
1t was true. What we had not seen
hof Io;r
light stealing into the chamber showed
; us the cracks in the floor. A short
consultation took place. Danford. who
was the Ajax of the regiment lifted
the door, dark, cavernous opening.
from one side of which hung rope
which was lost in utter darkness
He lowered himself over the edge of
the pit and we saw him descend. and
one after one no matter how uncanny
landed one by one in dark corridor
many feet below the top. of thu pit
and stood for some time in dense
darkness. Instead of smelling like a
charmed house or like a subterranean
pit a. strange odor. almost overpower-
ing though not disgusting, pervaded
the gloomy place as we advanced.
Danford led the way
For sometime we saw and heard
nothing but as Danford moved on
again I caught low sound suggest
i've Of the whine of fawning tiger.
There is door in the wall here"
whispered Danford. 1T leads or
seems to, to place beneath us. NV
! hand is on the button which seems to
operate it. Let no man utter a crv.
no matter what he might see. Our
lives depend on our silence. :" -..'-
heard slight noise. which I
thought was made when Danford
opened the door, Sure enough. we
looked down into. chamber which
seemed forty feet beneath us. D..
shall not attempt to describe this
chamber. though every detail is as
fresh in my mind to-day as then.
will only tell what saw living there.
The room. which was large was
occupied by three men and a tiger.
The men wore the slight garments of
the native and all were tall, white
bearded and terrible of aspect They
looked to me like the old priests of
the Indian temples. and the tiger
lolling at the feet of one of the trio
was uttering the singular cries had
heard.
In an instant thought of the ap-
partition along the raJah's wall. /
seized Danford's arm and whispered
''Yonder is the man who, strangled
Sanders, and that is the same tiger!"
Danford said nothing. I could see
by the light that came up to us that
he was actually pinching himself to
see whether he was awake.
Finally he said:
'The mystery is solved. No matter
what Sergeant Casey saw, those are
living men down there. The old
= rajah and his companions did not die,
but have inhabited this place ever
since its apparent desertion. We
dare not march those men above
ground and attempt to try them in
the present state of the country. We
must kill them where they are!''
} That we had found the strangers
! OF the soldiers there was no doubt
and when we leaned forward and
covered the as yet unsuspecting thugs