Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-12-29

to change the subject, will you be at the
ldler tonight as usual7 lf Mrs. Nc
Gwiginn should happen to take il into
her good old head to ask me to pay or
skip out, I'll have to realize ON some of
my personal property, and a. I don't
know the best places In town. want
you to steer me around. Won't object,
will you?"
''Not in the least. My services are al
ways at your disposal, and I'll be at the
now 1 must tear myself away; so, until
then" and the end of the sentence
was lost in the slight slam of the door as
he went out. The artist listened until
the echo of his friends retreating foot
steps had died into the murmurous
silence Of the great tenement in which
he lived, and then going softly to the
door himself. he turned the key in it.
Coming back to the table, he drew his
chair close UP to il, and cast furtive
glancc about the unhome-likc room and
into the deep shadows that lurked in the
cobwehby corners. Then, with COM
pressed lips and trembling hands, he
drew the palette to him and gently
pressed finger into the little duub Of
mummy brown still upon it.
A cold thrill shot up his arm, shaking
the very nerve centres of his body as it
did so, and making him shudder again
and again, even as he sank back into the
chair half unconscious. In another mo-
ment sudden dusk filled the room, through
which the familiar pieces of furniture
and drapcrics seemed to lose their famil-
iarity aud to take new shapes and colors
unto themselves. With staring eyes he
strove to pierce the mist that half OBJ
scured his vision, and TO shake off the
weird feeling that had seized upon him;
but gradually the lids dropped and
closed; and TO his distcndel nostrils there
came, as he lost consciousness, a faint,
sweet odor which even then he recog-
nizcd-the smell of cedar pitch and
nyrrh. How long the terrible dream
which followed lasted he could not
know; but at last he woke to life again.
and, struggling to his feet, he staggered
to the window, threw it open, and let
the faint breath of air stirring
in the court yard far below
dark room behind. The dusk was just
falling over the city, aud far, far below
him he could hear the tenemcnt's inhab-
itants of the first and second floors pre-
pairing their evening meal, singing and
cursing by turns as the preparation
pleased or displcascd them. The night
air cooled his fevercd face and refreshed
him, however, and the great beads of
perspiration tina. had gathered OH his
forehead were gone, as he turned back to
the room again.
~ am fool!" he exclaimed inn
patiently, land hungry, l dare say. No
wonder ! imagine things J" and catching
up the worn soft hat that lay beside his
tumblcd bed he hurried out into the
hall and down the weary lcngth of stairs
to the street.
But as he closed the door, q small,
heavy -bladcd dirk. upon shelf directly
over the spot where he had hastily showed
the unfinished picture and its easel,
Jared by his haste, whirlcd slowly
around until it rested upon the very edge
of the shelf, where it balanced to and
fro and trenbled in the little breeze that
still putlcd i'll at the open window.
Morgan, the favoritc story-tc.ler of the
Bohemian ldlcr's Club, was talking as
Richardson and the painter came in from
their journey to the pawnshop, and the
usual audience of interested listeners
was collected about him.
''lt may or may not have been hum
bug lie was saying, with u shrug of his
shabby y-genteel shoulders. ''but it was
devilish queer any way you take it. I
saw the man do it five times, too, and he
failed but once"
"What do you call it-hypnotisms"
asked a newcomer.
81 don't know; lie simply says he
sensitizcs the water and lets you call it
what you like. First he puts the tum-
bier of plain hydrant water into one
room, and lie and the subject go into
another. He mases few passcs-that
is where the hypnotism comes in, Isup-
posc-and once the man is under his
control, the professor walks into the
other room and stands with his hands
over that tumblcr of water for perhaps
minute, not uttering sound. Then he
sends some of us into the room with the
sleeping subject, and he stays with the
rest of the witnesses. When everything
is ready, he tells one of them to take his
pcnknife and thrust the blade carefully
into the water. lie does so, and we hear
a muillcd scream from the other room, as
If the hypnotizcd man had felt the stab.
This was repeated three times, and every
time the subject screamed and twisted
about in his chair, as if in agony, while
the knife remained in the water. As
soon as it was removed the pain ap-
parcntly ceased, and he rested quietly
again. l was skeptical, of course" con-
cluded the laxative Morgan, "and said
it was all chicanery; but after seeing
the thing half dozen times, felt diff
fcrcntly, and must say that it is ex-
trcmcly peculiar. if not mysterious"
"What had the subject to say for
himself when he came toe" asked Rich
ardson, who had joined the group.
every little, except that some one had
tried to stab him, and had succeeded three
times in sticking knife into his back,
he thought"
"And did he know of the tumblcr
of water aud it's bearing on his halluci-
nation?"
"No, he had been kept in still