The San Francisco call., 1896-02-23

knowing it." said one. "We may have
mistaken our course at the start, and been
going the wrong way all along" said
another.
Whichever of these opinions was correct
it was clear that we were lost The stu
dents began to swear and the girls to
whimper. Suddenly Sienor Valml spoke.
"Fools that we are" he cried, Ito grope
our way in darkness when we have with
US the greatest light known to mantle
supreme light of sclence-the marvellous
ray which ourselves have perfected" His
voice vibrated with confidence. and we all
frightened up and began railing at one
another for so stupidity forgetting the very
thing we had come to the tombs to try.
We were all very joyous then as | lifted
from my shoulders the strap that upheld
the box containing the apparatus-we
were all very gay and chatted mer-ily, but
if we had foreseen what was going to hap
pen when l pressed the key and started
that internal raw we would have smashed
the instrument there and then and
chosen all the agony of prolonged suffer
ing and death in the darkness rather than
face the horror that was to come upon US.
there leaped forth light that was not as
other lights are. 1t beat upon the eye
balls like flashes OF fierce lightning fol-
lowing one another with lnconcelvable
rapidlty. The roof, the walls, the floor,
seemed penetrated By 1t, and as l glared
around in amazement | appeared to be in
the midst of an illimitable space whose
atmosphere was agitated by incessant
shocks of electricity and whose light was
rendered terrible by shifting shadows of
an awful and terrifying bIackness.
Before | could recover from the amaze
ment caused by this astounding glare,
heard from behind me the most appalling
shrieks. l turned quickly and beheld a
sight that shall be with me as terror by
day and by night until death takes me.
saw before me eight skeletons that started
back from one another with uplifted
hands of horror. l heard from four of
these skeletons, one after another, groans
of that fearful kind which come from
human lips only when hideous fear dom
mates every fiber OF the heart and brain,
and saw those skeletons fall prone upon
the ground. l saw four other trembling
skeletons stoop to lift up those that fell.
Then l heard the voice of Signor Valmi,
but oh how different wss it from the con-
tident voice that had spoken but mo-
ment ago.
Friends" he said and faltered, for his
voice was husky and hoarse as raven S
croak, friends" he repeated. "do not be
alarmed. The skeletons we see are our
selves. 1t is in the light of the cathode
ray that we behold one another. Let US
be firm. The light is W ith US. Science is
with US and we are SAFE"
There was enough of confidence in
these words to encourage the students and
I saw them set about reviving the girls
from the swoon in which they had fallen
at the first shock of the terror. l cannot
say that my courage came back, though
my mind was clear enough to understand
the meaning of what had happened.
crouched low on the floor and watched
what was going on with eyes that burned
in nv head. l saw the fallen skeletons
rise up. 1 heard the hasty frightened
words that were whispered for encourage
ment by those who, themselves, had
little courage. Suddenly the strain be-
came too great. Men and girls alike went
mad. They began to shout, to dance, to
leap, to scream. l saw them even as
saw the skeletons OF the tombs around