Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-04-13

my hands to tear the thing Off; in or
instant they were enveloped in the
thick curtains, and though the fell
low had not sufficient strength to tic
them down to my side, no at least
baflled my attempts to free my head.
l drew my feet from the ground,
hoping that my weight would drag
my head from the towel; only sue
ceeded in drawing the knots tighter,
and half strangling myself.
AS / could not release my head,
got my arms down, and tried to seize
the rascal's feet, but he kept them
beyond my reach; yet got some
thing by the attempt. for. in cropping
aboat, l laid my hand upon tho
knife which he had thrust in tho bed,
TO have free use of his hands, the
better to overcome the resistance of
my arms 1 should have had no hest
tation in ham-stringing the rascal il
| could have got at his legs. but
could not do that, / determined, If
possible, to keep the knife out OF his
way.
felt, by tho horn handle. that It
was the one that 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, VIC will
see who can get the best of itr'' And,
with redOUbled efforts, l struggled
to tear down the bed-curtains that
hampered my movements; and, mad
dened by the difficulty OF respiration,
throw such force into my efforts,
that the pole upon which they hung
crunched under the rings, and finally
came rafting down about us. Would
that the lamp had been near, to be
smashed by the fall! The noise was
too slight to DO heard at @ distance.
My left hand being free, l felt
again for the knot of the towel that
bound me to the post. A bouy
hand grasped my wrist, and
dragged 1t over my shoulder,
and the next moment / felt some
thing pressed under my nose, and a
! liquid trickling through my NOUS
tache on TO my lips. II had sweet
| taste, and a strong smell of apples,
that mounted ut once to my brain. l
seemed to be no longer touching the
| ground, but whirling round and
round through space my arms
dropped by my side.
l knew that / was powerless, yet /
retained a certain kind of conscious
ness. was sensible that the diff
Guilty of breathing no longer troubled
! me. | knew that the man was bind
ing my arms to the post, and / re-
menbered thinking, in tho amused
manner OF a Northumberland person,
what q fool he must be to bind me
when | could no longer make resist
ance. l was perfectly conscious
when he began to tie my feet TO the
post below, for had then sufficient
ly overcome the effect of the opiate
to think Of resistance. l 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 half-uttered smile:
"Cramped in n coffin, and the
clods falling-falllngm
What astOnished me was the sur
prising facility with which the man
executed his work in the darkness
that then prevailed. lie seemed to
have no difficulty at all in finding
the ends of the sheets with which he
bound me, and knotting them Sc
curely. And when / was safely
pinioned, he unbuckled the strap that
bound the Great Hesper to my wrist,
without having TO seek for the
tongue of the strap, as l myself
might have had to do.
well, that's gone" 1 said to my
self, land now he has the diam ond,
he will go too"
But he had not yet finished. And.
after brief interval, during which
he might have been buckling the
Great Hesper upon his own wrist,
heard q sound that knew only too
well.
Click!
1t was the spring that locked the
long blade OF my clasp knife whe 1t
was opened.