The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-08-23
CHAPTER NXVH.
The Pool.

The Pool.
Carl Brandon sat upon the rock a
time that seemed to him like many ages,
believing firmly that he was in hell At
least, it was a place of awful torment,
nor could he bring himself to realize that
he was still in possession of his natural
body. Sometimes he would believe it
was all a nightmare; that he was
asleep. and he would pinch his flesh, bite
his lips, pull his hair to awaken himself.
and finally, resort TO that only way
known by which person in that psy-
Geological condition, called nightmare
can awaken himself, and that is by wink
ing rapidly Doing this he perceived no
change in his consciousness. His reason
seemed as clear as ever. His feet were
still in the water. The splashing he
still heard. He put his hand in the
water and it was natural. Could he
walk? An attempt at which might
pitch him into another and worse place
than the one he now occupied. Looking
up he saw an explosion; all was light,
then all darkness, except a small light
that was burning. At a regular time
there would be another explosion. a
flash of light. a rumbling and things
would resume their former quiet with
a small light burning In the darkness.
This seemed strange The flash Of light
appeared TO be several feet from where
the explosion took place. An investiga>
ton would have proven the presence Of
an inverted bowl-like cavity in the
rock, that filled with a combustible gas,
which being lighter than the atmosphere,
retained it's position in the vessel: when
the vessel was filled the gas crowded
out, run over coming in contact with a
little flame Of the same material would
explode, giving rise TO the rumbling
noise The explosion would eXtnguish
what otherwise would have remained as
a burning jet in the bottom Of the bowl.
The bowl would again fill and run over,
come i'm contact with the flame and eX-
plode, to repeat the same operation con-
tinually.
It was like his own nature. A run
ming over of his spirit, finally iguited,
followed by an explosion, after which
all was dark. In his case, as in the
escape Of the fluid there seemed always
10 be a flame near by TO contribute to the
catastrophe.
Turning his attention to his neighbors
he found them 10 be without eyes.
The body is like the soul, there are
no eyes in darkness.
Examining the crawfishes that came
up on the rock TO pinch his bare feet,
he discovered them TO be SOFT white
and blind, but the sense of touch made
amends for the loss OF sight and like
blind children have eyes in their fingers.
The crawfishes had them In their
plnchers. The little fishes that drifted
about were frail, thin and like the craw-
fishes were eyeless.
The denizens of the world OF night
are always frail and pale. less intelligent
than their kind I'm the light, be they hui
man or brute
lie looked at these, he looked at him
self. he looked at the dark opening
through which he had shot downward TO
his present position. aud he thought
what does IL all mean?" While look
ing at the long, rocky-walled toboggan
slide by which means he had reached
this TO him the Internal region, he saw
a black object with shining eyes dart
down into the water followed by another
and another, coming up from beneath the
water and swimming by him. Next
thing that came tumbling down the
shoot with rattle and a bang that sent
Il clear across the pool falling right at
Carl Brandon's feet. was the skull which
the monkey. by accident or on purpose.
had sent rolling after the intruder. A
skull Is always suggestive and generally
horrible. In the gloom OF a cave under
the glare OF irregular light IL is both.
What should he do2 Must the rest OF
his existence De spent nefeF lie could
not say days, for there were neither
days nor nights, II was one after another
returning glare. crash and returning
darkness. While To contemplate what
course TO pursue. for an escape seemed
impossible. all OF sudden the water
I'm the pool became radiant, and look
ing downward ne saw the pale. phos-
phorescent lights that emanated from the
bodies OF some water creatures. such as
are found I'm the tropical ocean. The
darkness dispelled from the pool the
water proved TO be clear as crystal Ly-
INK within II were not only the strange
looking creatures that belonged there.
but a number OF human skulls and other
bones as well. Doubtless II they could
have spoken. they would have told the
history OF early times and when they
were murdered, which was common In
that locality. The bodies OF the victims
were dragged into the cave and then
thrown into the trough that swept them
into the pool However this last horri-
BILE aspect was more than he could stand
and from the fright he simply started
into the darkness that soon so perfectly
enyeoped him and shut out the light
from the burning gas and the noise
well. He soon found that he was alone
I'm great black. nolseless grave, per-
tending his hands upon either side, ne
felt nothing, could touch nothing; be-
meath his feet was cold damp stone
floor. When standing stlil. the beating
OF his own heart gave forth a musical
sound, suggestive OF his funeral march.
In his great anguish he cried out I'm
loud hnlioo and heard the call as II en-
bodied and rolling away from one side
OF the cavern TO the other. bounding
backward again then dying away Ia
far, faint echo that would always
say lost" No difference what he said.