, 1892-02-11


and knew that he also had sought the
arms of Morpheus.
l heard the clock in the hall strike one,
but l was still as wide awake as / was
an noun before. My nerves, instead of
becoming reposed, became more and
more susceptible to the least jar. The
cracking OF an ember in the fireplace in
the next room caused my heart to leap
into my mouth n almost stop beating.
The creaking of a board sent the cold
perspiration to my face. / lay still and
scarcely dared to breathe until my body
panied in every joint from lying in one
position SO long.
1heard the colonels breathing in the
next room. Then 1 heard a door slam
on the fight below, and with difficulty
suppressed a shrek.
And all the time / cursed myself for my
cowardice; cursed myself for being such
a child, and vowed that if / were allowed
to live until morning l would stop drink
ing hot gins and smoking strong cigars.
Iheard the clock strike two, and then
must have fallen into a troubled sleep.
l dreamed-oh, God, what did l not
dream? Would that all hat happened
that i'll fated night had been but q
dream!
For one thing, l dreamed that the last
day had come, and that 1 with countless
others had hurried toward a large, snow
capped mountain. There were pillows
of fire behind us and mountains of fire
above us, yet we hurried on-on-on-
never stopping, never turning. Clouds
of smoke and flame rolled about us, yet
through it all could be seen that noun
tain top, cold and serene in the midst of
all that heat and woe, and its snow
decked top seemed ever to beckon us on
-on-on.
Thousands and millions died at my
side, before and behind me. But cared
not. l grew gaunt with hunger and
faint with fatigue, but still / hurried on.
l crossed rivers of ice and valleys of fire,
but they stopped me not.
At last i reached it. l started toward
the top. YEARLY, night and day, /
travelled, and those who with me reached
the bottom of the hoar capped giant fell
off one by one, Inc at last / alone was
left.
And alone l reached the top. And a
feeling of indescribable ease and peace
came over me, and / laid myself down in
the cold, white snow and fell asleep.
How long l slept in the crystal snow
know not. For there, too, l had q dream.
l saw two forms approach. One all
white and pure, with peace and good
will beaming from his eyes; the other
black as night, and from his eyes
CLEANED forth the fires of hell.
The fair m looked at me sleeping,
with a world of agony and sorrow in
his eyes; then turned his head toward
the sky and looked up in supplication,
while great tears fell from his eyes and
onto the cold snow. And wherever a
tear fell sweet flowers sprang up, and
the fragrance that was waited from
them was not of earth.
But the other form approached me
until it stood at my very side, looking
down at me with burning eyes. l strove
to move, to shrek, to pray, but all in
vain.
Then 1 saw him stoop and stretch out
his hand. 1t hung over my face an in
slant, then fell upon my forehead.
Then a great pain racked all my body
and spirit, and at the instant / heard
countless voices give a cry that doomed
out from the mountain top and was
heard over all the earth. And this was
what they said, and the words still ring
in my ears inc never leave me while
life lasts:
"And this is death!'
And 1 awoke. And, horrors of hell,
that clammy, burning hand still rested
upon my face, and those burning orbs
still peered into minel
l did not faint. If / had, / would not
now be alive to tell the tale. For that
clammy, burning hand had moved down
my face until it reached my throat,
and the cleaning eyes shifted and turned
and moved with the hand.
Then with an all powerful effort, with
a strength that was not mine, 1 clutched
the hand and flung it from me and
leaped out of the bed.
To reach the door and dart into the
sitting room was the work of an in
slant. l turned even as l ran and saw
those burning eyes follow.
"Colonelr I cried hoarsely and scarce
louder than a child. And as the dread
thing approached 1 ran to his room.
But, oh, Godl the door was open, the
room empty. And turning again, with
the despair of death upon my brow, 1
saw those burning eyes again. They
were the eyes of a mailman, and the
face approached until the hot breath
Missed into my ears.
And the face was that of Colonel
Montfort.
What happened then 1 do not know.
1t is a year and over since that dread
night, and / am still an invalid. They
say / am mad at times, but what Won
derl My nerves are shattered, my life
ruined. Never can 1 efface one incident
of that night from my scared memory,
and eyen at night it haunts me in
dreams.
That morning, SO they say, they found
the colonel and myself lying on the floor
in his bedroom, the colonel with a knii
in his heart and l lying by his side will
my hand still clutching the handle of
the knife. / was delirious for months,
and from my rawlings they gathered the
story. / suppose now that in that mo-
ment of supreme agony and despair /
grasped a knife which the colonel al
ways had in his room, and to ave my
self killed him.
And in the colonel's will it WAS found