The times., 1897-03-20

back to Ine. 1t might be only a fancy.
With the thought came the effort to prove
1t correct, and i threw myself forward
once more to grasp the falling gold.
Again found myself held back, and now
l knew that the grasp was on my shoul.
der. Surely it was hand The weight
with which had thrown myself forward
resisted as it was, swung me partly
round, and in the dim twilight my eyes
caught sight of thin, dark line that
stretched out of the darkness rigid and
strong.
Was it the skeleton arm had dreamed Of?
Involuntariy my hand went up and caught
it. No, il was no bOny substance on which
my gauntlet closed SO convulsiyely, for it
bent as l :. pressed against it-bent like a
piece of highly tempered steel. With a
sudden wrench / tried to loosen its held
and l almost succeeded Then, with q
kind OF shudder that communicated itself
to my hand, it suddenly swelled and grew
rigid again, and / felt as If Lad been
drawn closer to the spot in the darkness
out of which it came. Attic same moment
something else sprang out of the shadow,
trembled for an instant as if in doubt, and
then darted suddenly at my other shoulder
Then | knew what it was that had 70
deal with-a devilfish
Strange as it may seem-strange as it
even seems to myself nOw-the conviction
was a positive relief. | had never seen a
devilfish, 1t is true, but / had heard and
read of them, and their appearance was
familiar to ME from pictures. Terrible as
the creature was, he was notinvested with
the terrors of the unknown, and felt as If
! could face him on very different TERMS
from the bony skeleton / had imagined to
myself in my first moment of dread. Like
flash t passed through my mind as felt
the new arm of the animal touch and cling
to my breast. There was something about
that touch that was unlike any other eX-
perience had ever had. 1t was not blow;
it was not a grasp it wasn't even push
yet the sensation / felt was a little Ike
all three. ! staggered for moment, but
held fast by the long, thin arm which
had gripped so tightly with my hand, and
it seemed TO steady me. 1t was something
to feel even so much that was real and
tangible; but for these two slender bands
that reached out OF the darkness was OPP
posed to the unseen.
felt that L was face to face with the
enemy, ana even GnaU was SOinetHlnS.
The arms had sprung out of the shadow,
and knew that there were more behind
When would they, too spring upon me?
Where would they fix their hold? / stood
expectant OF what was to come next; my
eyes searched in the darkness for the face
OF my enemy | think the silence was the
worst of it. A roar, q triumphant scream,
even hiss would have been relief. 1t
was the utter silence that was terrible. IT
could only have been for minute or two
at the most, for when cast my eyes down
/ could see that the little river of yellow
coins was still trickling down and losing
itself in the shadows. / didn't try to
reach 1T now.
Somehow my interest, which had been
so keen and overpowering only few min
utes before, seemed 10 have ceased |
looked at it vaguely, but / scarcely bad
more than faint curiosity about the
coins, and they no longer connected them
selves with my future. As / looked l
moved my foot. and something that rest ed
against ii fell off the tomaha wk. The
accident brought me back from the half
state into which / was falling.
/ was not quite defenseless, then, after
all | stopped to seize it, and at the
same moment another slender hand darted