San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-01-02

liit in the superb eXhllaratlon always felt
by theastral man as his first sensation
of liberty and power upon escaping
from the body.
A natural curiosity as to the producer
of that awful snore impelled me. to peep
behind the curtains it caused to trem-
bic and wave. To my amazement the
offender proved to be pretty. young
girl. She lay upon the fiat of her little
back with her. mouth wide open, and
from that portal of coral and pearl
nufTed, gurgled and snorted with the
unholy vigor of hired man. felt
I that it was not good for bachelor to
know-such a capability existentin wom-
an and fed in haste.
Few persons were still awake other
than the train hands in either of the
cars, but in the smoking compartment
found two who interested me. They
were stout, well dressed. prosperous
looking men, one with indecision and
mental struggle manifest in his face,
the other wearing look of determined
and confident insistence. As L, invisi-
BILE, took seat before them, the former
was saying:
Il don't mind admitting to you, just
between ourselves, would like TO; but
don't know how l can, seeing the fiat
footed way i have already committed
myself against that bill. Why, ] not
only opposed it on the floor, but fought
it before the committee; and now to go
for it would give me dead away. Every
body would know l had got a bone
and it would ruin my chances for re-
election among thefarmers."
My dear sir" replied his companion,
81 don't ask you to vote for it. Simply
cease your opposition, and when it comes
| up for action have an attack of la
grippe and remain in your room at the
hotel until the next day. That is simple
enough, and you know when i promise
j make good every time"
Yes" assented the first speaker dubi-
ously; "but suppose there should ever
be an investigation. If they got me
under oath my conscience would not
me deny the consideration, nor could
you-without perjury"
"Oh, dear, yes. The easiest thing in
the world. See, here is an odd bean; an
African bean. am tired of carrying it
in my pocket. | shall abandon it on
this seat when go away. Of course
will not know what becomes of it. Yet
there are curiosity seekers who would
give good deal to get hold of that par
ticular sort of bean for their cabinets. !
wouldn't at all wonder if some one
would give two thousand dollars for
that bean in Albany tomorrow night"
The man with prudential scruples
looked puzzled for moment. Then a
light of comprehension dawned upon
his face and deepened gradually to
shrewd grin. Il feel certain shall have
an attack of the grip" he said.
The two smiled together and went
away to their respective berths, the man
with the bean carelessly throwing it on
the seat as he passed out. In few sec
onds one returned for a glass of water
at the cooler before retiring, and casu-
ally clutched and pocketed the bean;
then the other also returned for drink,
looked at the seat from which the bean
was gone and grinned complacently.
| continued my ramble through the
train, but found nothing more to inter-
est me, and the discomforts of the excep-
tiOnally unpleasant trip were even accen-
tuated to nv consciousness through their
presentation to my mind as knowledge,
and not as. mere deductions from pos
sibly illusory sensory impressions, dis
tinction M readers familiar with the
phenomena of astralization will per-
fectly comprehend.
But" said to myself, "why should
loiter about these crawling cars, where
every one who can do so is trying to for
pet his Indebtedness in sleep wher
might, with the swiftness of thought,
transport myself anywhere else chosG?
Why not go on to New York and see
Mariana"
For the first time the idea occurred to
me that there might be some special
danger in astralization ON a moving
train-something might happen to my
b41y while / was away. / fitted back
and looked at it. OF course it was just
as had left it. Dubitation about it
weakened the self confidence which. as
everybody knows, is so essential to any
one moving safely, as visitor, upon
the astral plane, and | was not at all
surprised to see about me instantly a
number of malicious sprites, and even a
few malignant "elementals," eager to
take advantage of my deteriorated
strength. But the sight Of them nerved
my resolution--or at least so fancied
at the time, though now know the eff
feet was simply stimulation of my am
tagonism, not a rehabilitation of my
moral force. Hesitating no longer,