The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-07-08


oblige me by giving hand 20 this
skinned thing. want 1t out of my
road for time =
Certainly. Phil. Where shall we
cart it?' was the reply, n Jack sur.
veyed the grewsome body of flayed al,
igator, upon which the elder Dantin
had been operating.
The passage is just the place for IL.
I'll find the key"
The key was found; the heavy stone
door was swung open; they carried
their disgusting burden into the dark
corridor; and then Philip. who was
nearest the room. slipped back, banged
the door, and locked il, and had sped
upstairs and into the park in q re-
markably short space of time. He
threw the key into one of the ponds
and then fell TO congratulating himself
upon his diabolical conduct.
Since then. he had not visited his
museum The doors were all fast
locked. No one could get access to
them. II Jack Dantin shouted till his
lungs burst, no one would hear him.
1t may be imagined what a wrctched
yet fearfully glad time this interval
before the wedding to-day was for
Philip Dantin. He PROGRESSED to be en-.
tirely ignorant of his brothers where
abouts. but limited at having seen him
striding across the country towards a
certain large town whence there was
constant train connection with London.
The elder Dantin and the servants
had every confidence in Jack S rcappear
ance in time for the wedding. and that
until the eve of the day itself. Philip,
too, expressed his agreement with this
view of the matter.
In fact, however, poor Jack, when he
realized what had befallen him, gave
himself up for lost II was terrible to
remember where he was. under such
woeful circumstances; and stunning
to recall that it was his own brother
who had incarcerated him. As the
hours sped by. he saw clearly that he
was destined to die, and that Philip
meant TO profit by his death. Like
most habitual smokers, he carried
matches with him. For time he was
lavish with them; then he husbanded
them The hours passed His watch
told him that it was night He wound
it up. slept, reawakened. and struck
more matches
| In the meantime he had thought OF
many things, but in one thing only did
he take an interest. The passion of
self preservation was strong in him. for
his own sake and for Eva's. He re-
solved to try the passages to see il
happy he might prove the truth of the
old legend which made their a sort Of
arterial connection between the church
and the Great house. The first day way
spent in these grim groupings, which
seemed likely to be only too futile.
Their only result was to make him lose
himself in the sitting maze. That
night he slept he knew not where. with
block of chiseled stone for pillow.
A match-ligbt had shown him that he
was in sort of cul-de-sac-apile OF
stone fragments, earth. and bits of iron
barring the way. as il seemed, to future
progress in that direction
This second night was sorrowful
one indeed. There were times when
the poor fellow felt he should lose his
senses. At last. however, he slept: and
when he awoke he struck one more
match. and then. as Providence willed
il, espied On the ground morsel OF
colored glass. as il ii had fallen at some
time from a window. The sight in
stantly made him forget his maddening
hunger and despair, and he set to work
upon the barrier that was before him.
How he toiled at his task. At first
L - 1.,,r 81 err In L..
he used sharp-edged piece Of stone
shaped like achisel. All day he worked.
The wall diminished in thickness. A
sudden breath of air in his face told
him he had made clean breach some
where, though he could not feel where.
He worked on through the night. His
wedding day dawned above. and he was
still boring in this noisome hole for
dear life and his bride.
Gradually the current Of air increased
in volume. and at length he had made
worm his way. lie looked at his watch
by the light of his last match but one;
it was nine o'clock of his wedding
morning.
Though ready to faint from fatignc
and exposure he went on in this new
passage. cropping like mole. 1t seemed
to him that he had lived all his days in
darkness. Ten o'clock! half-past ten.
a quarter 10 eleven. At a quarter TO
eleven he was suddenly dazzled by a
faint streak of blessed daylight 1t was
far in front of him, or seemed so. lie
ran towards it on hands and knees,
touched wooden door with his fingers.
uttered cry Of joy, pushed the door,
which yielded. and saw before him
a thick red curtain. which he recog-
nized in a moment as belonging to the
vestry Of Tong church.
Three minutes to eleven, and still no
bridegroom. A second later, however,
Jack Dantin staggered from the YES
try door into the church, and saw and
was seen by the wedding party, a sorry
spectacle of mud and mire, bruised and
bleeding and with his clothes torn in
all directions.
II am not too late after all, he cried,
and then down he fell by the altar rail-
ingS
Some one also fell at the same instant.
philip Dantin went pale as a CORPSE