The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1892-05-05
THE GREAT HESPER.
TALE OF A BIG DIAMOND.
How an Immense Gem Was Lost,
Recovered, and Lost Again,
CHAPTER X.-CoNTINUEp.

My force expended in the spring, he
would have me at his mercy, and
short death was the only kind of
mercy had to expect. Again, what
feeble light there was must TALL upon
me, as | faced it,-an advantage for
him, terrible peril for me.
resolved to back toward the wall
at the upper end of the room, and,
guided still by the ticking of my
watch, / drew back with the stealthy
caution of cat.
Suddenly saw the gray seam of
light again. Had he gone to the right
or left? l knew not. Quickly l
stretched my loot out behind me; l
felt something, and for the instant
thought l had touched the fellow;
but, as turning about l groped
my hand forward, encountered the
cold woodwork of the bedstead. 1t
was one of the carved pillars. |
drew myself up, and got my back
against it. Now, at least, that dread
ed stab in the back was less probable.
am not q coward; yet | own that
the terror of the following minutes
thrills me now as look back upon it.
Tho impenetrable darkness, the 81
lence, rendered only more intense by
contrast with the perpetual tic-tac,
tic-tac, tic-tac, tic-tac, tic-tac of the
watch behind me, were made terrific
by the awful uncertainty OF my posi-
ton.
stood there waiting for the attack,
until, growing intolerable,
felt that | must end it by shouting
aloud to Brace, and precipitating the
final struggle.
II will wait five minutes longer, and
no more" | said to myself, resolving
to calculate the space fairly, and with
due allowance for false impressions.
l calculated that two minutes had
passed, when fancied heard the bed
creak behind me. Was this one of the
false impressions l had promised my
self to guard against? or was the
sound caused by the man mounting
upon the bed behind ME.
The hair bristled upon my head as
thought heard the creak repeated;
yet stood there, and counted anoth-
er minute, with every nerve and fibre
prepared to spring away.
"Now, surely, four minutes are up,"
thought, and drew my head
down into my shoulders, for,
as surely as if my eyes had been
turned that way, and the full light of
the SIN shining in the room, l knew
that the man was behind me upon the
bed.
I drew q deepinspiration, resolved to
shout my loudest to Brace; but before
the sound had passed my lips towI
was drawn tight upon my face and
my head jerked back against the post
behind mo. A fold of the towl gagged
me completely; it was with difficulty l
breathed. l struggled, but in vain, to
wrench myself away; oquick and sure
hand had knotted the towel.
threw up my hands to tear
the thing off; in an instant they
were enveIoped in the thick curtains,
and though thefelIow had not sufficient
strength to tie them down to my
side, he at least baffled my attempts
to free my head. threw my feet from
the ground, hoping that my weight
would drag my head from the towel;
/ only succeeded in drawing the knots
tighter, and half strangling myself.
AS l could not release my head,
got my arms down, and tried to sieze
the rascal's feet; but he kept them be-
yond my reach; yet I got something
by the attempt, for, in cropping about,
laid my hand upon the knife, which
he had thrust in the bed, to have free
use of his hands, the better to over
come the resistance of my arms. l
should have had no hesitation in
hoY M OF hn
have got at his legs; but as could
not do that, | determined, if possible,
to keep the knife out OF his way.
felt, by the horn handle, that it
was the one Van Hoeck had given
me; and, knowing the trick OF the
blade, | shut it up, and slipped it into
my pocket.
"Now," thought I, 'if only thews
and sinews are concerned, we will see
who can get the best OF it,"
And, with redoubled efforts, l
struggled to tear .down the bed
curtains that hampered my move.
ments; and, maddened by the diff
Guilty Of respiration, threw such force
into my efforts that the pole upon
which they hung crunched under the
rings, and finally came rattling down
about us. Would that the lamp had
been near, to be smashed by the fall
The noise was too slight to be heard
at a. distance.
My left hand being free, felt again
for the knot of the towel that bound
me to the post. A bony hand grasped
my wrist, and dragged it over my
shoulder, and the next moment / felt
something pressed under my nose, and
liquid trickling through my moustache
onto my lips. 1t had a sweet taste,
and strong smell of apples, that
mounted at once to my brain. I
seemed to be no longer touching the
ground, but whirIing round and round
through space; my arms dropped by
my side.
| knew that was powerless, yet I
retained certain kind of conscious
ness. was sensible that the difficult
ty of breathing no longer troubled me.
| | knew that the man was binding my
arms to the post, and remember think
| ingin the bemused manner of half-in-
| toxicated person, what fool he must
be to bind me when 1 could no longer
make resistance. | was perfectly con-
| 5ClOuS Nllch nO D6Sttu W Tic NY I5SO W
the post below, for had then suffi-
GENTLY overcome the effect of the
opiate to think of resistance. I tried
to struggle and to scream, but to no
purpose: my will had lost all power
over my muscle. And this terrible
impotency reminded me of Van
Hoeck's halt-uttered simile: "Cramped
in coffin, and the clods falling-fall-
ing!.'
What astonished me was the sur
prising facility with which the man
executed his work in the darkness
that then prevailed. He seemed
to have no difficulty at all
in finding the ends of the sheets
with which he bound me, and knot
ting them securely. And when was
safely pinioned, he unbuckled the
strap that bound the Great Hesper to
| my wrist with ont having TO seek for