The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1897-06-10
@~THE OTHER BOX.~@

4 been settled with due exactness. TIL
/ Junior Subaltern bld been an uncor
!. sciona Sle ll4-o a work. 1t is probabl
that he was getting very sick Of hi
hoax, end would have been glad enoug
to show 1t up If anyone had given hin
. the lead. After all, he knew that Their
was an ugly side to the farce and a
his first boyish enthusiasm died ava.
he wanted to throw the thing up. Blu
no one helped him out of 1t, and TO
very shame he could scarcely give him
self away. Besides, the two principal
! wouldn't have thanked him.
Nothing more remained to be done
!. There was solemn enough leave-takini
on all sides as the five youngsters flee
out of the room and locked the door
leaving the two men In their corner!
and the box in the center of the room
For moment or two the five stood II
silence out in the passage, the Junior
Subaltern holding the end of the string
and shaking like an aspen leaf will
suppressed excitement. Then he gave
1t sharp tug, and they could hear the
box-lid sliding back until it dropped tC
the floor with slight smack.
1t was a hushed and rather con
science-stricken band that dispersed tc
the various rooms in quarters, and the
hours of that night hung heavily. 1t is
a fact that the five youngsters did not
average an hour of sleep between them
This was proved by the alacrity with
which they all turned out at the first
break of dawn, and assembled, SILVER
Ing and dra wn-looking and haggard,
ready to go and release their voluntary
| prisoners.
They We're, In fact, so disturbed that
they took 10 notice of the Senior Cap
tain, who, for some reason best known
to himself, had turned out, too, and fol
lowed them as they trod softly along to
the door of the disused room. He was
still unnoticed as they reached it, and
there made marked halt; and his
curiosity to see their little game pre-
vented him from announcing himself.
They stood for a moment In breathless
silence, showing a strange, sudden dis
inclination to stir.
Then, as was the case the night be-
fore, the Junior Subaltern took the
lead There was faint murmur as he
turned the key In the lock and stepped
boldly into the room the rest following
in crowd. The Senior Captain stood
for moment outside, wondering and
trying to make out what it all meant.
But sudden, stifled cry caused him to
step quickly after them.
He was man who had been In sew
eral actions. He had seen men killed
under all sorts of CHASTITY circum-
stances. He had commanded burial
parties sent out OTTER the Afghan wo-
men had been at their devilish work.
and had seen sights that, hardened as
he was, had made him feel sick and
full of horror. But those scenes were
IN no way comparable with what met
his eyes as he entered the room behind
his juniors.
Ihe two men were no longer propped
up In the position in which they had
been left. Their swollen, distorted
bodies were huddled on the floor in at
titudes that showed the awful manner
III which they had met their doom. But
the figures, almost grotesque In the
contortions which had attended the
last death agony, were as nothing. In
each case the face was upturned.
livid, with distended cheeks and crack
ed skin, with fiecks of blood oozing
from mouth and nose, and with eyes
WILDLY nd
them past all description. 1t was not
so much the physical agony as the ex-
preston of terror in the fixed faces that
rendered these corpses so dreadful to
contemplate. Yet the two men, while
alive, were as brave, with all their
faults, as any men should be.
AS he looked in, the Captain was
glued to the ground by the nameless
horror of that death-stare. He seemed
forgetful of his companions, of where
he was, all his faculties concentrated
on the two huddled masses on the floor
CHASTITY incident aroused him. The
Junior Subaltern burst into a laugh.
faint at first, and then swelling into
peal after peal of uproarious mlrth.
The others stood and watched him.
"Ha! ha" he shouted, reeling from
foot to foot, and holding his shaking
sides. Look at theml Don't they |
sham well2 Aren't they frst-rate ac-
tors?'
The Senior Captain stepped up to,
him, and laid hand roughly on his
shoulder.
Then the boy turned, and they could
all see In his eyes that he was mad. |
But the touch had quieted him.
''They act beautifully, don't they?"
he whispered confidentially to his
senior officer. 81 wonder when they
irst found out the joke"
What do you meanr asked the
other, soothingly.
"Mean?" the maniac replied. "Why,
1on't you see? l had two boxes lust
like, and put the empty box in here.
The snake is still In my own room.
1T seemed something like grim con-
radlction that almost at the same mo-
nent, fiat, specialized head reared
tself under one of the bodies, and two
'aleful eyes surveyed the awe-struck
Francisco Argonaut.
Bought the Island