Orange County observer., 1897-10-14
pie from whom we had bought the safe
in st. Louis Indeed, II I stood il for

w-ll, for ny pounding had tllel the
little air | Lad with dust. and II was
nearly su,foeatlng e.e The poun1l!nc
fron the outside increased the dust.
too. and while l could prevent 14vsels
from doing il. and did stop, the very !.
fact II my stopping made those on the
outside pound harder a. If II encour-
are me-, when, as they thought. | was
losing hope
This tho1ght came 70 ne with a
shock 50 great hat I almost collapsed
I caught at the sides OF the vault in
the inkv darkness and for minute
I becaFae deathlv sick Following this
came almost a frenzy 10 yell and howl
and claw at the door and scratch at my
face and tear at my hair / had heard
OF people doing that way and going
mad when lost in caves and such places,
and / felt 1t coming on me III that
dreadful hole. To aid to the horrors
Of my situation, the air was growing
rapidly worse and I could not stand
up IL the vault without a feeling Of
the most profound nausea L was the
nausea of DESPAIR if anybody has ever
analyzed just what that Is. At inter
walls, Notwithstanding the harm OF it.
would erope around for the hammer
and pound on the door. only to choke
more and to hear the lnu.liel thuds or
the responses from the outside
Two feet from light and air and
love and life and utterly shut off from
them all It was horrible 70 think Of.
and | am sure thousand times worse
than if | had been cntouIbellIn mine
ten thousand feet deep or hal been
bared in the sands Of a desert hun
,Ired miles from water and green trees
Slowly | felt my strength going, anl
ii last I could not 50 much a~ respond,
even at long intervals, 70 TIE knocking
! ou the outside, and I sank to the floor
With ny head against the cold steel
wall between the light Of the world
and the darkness Of death As | lay
there painting [ heard the dull thttd Of
the beating Oh the. on side. and i soon
came as beating Of time, or rather
eternity; measure of music TO, soothe
me to sleep. aud sank into semi-con-
sclousness and seemed TO be dreaming.
You know, they say that when a
man IS dying under unnatural or vlo-
lent circumstances all his past life
comes back to him, even N minute de-
tail. II did not quite appear to me
that all my life was. passing IN review
before me In my dungeon, but II did
seem as if the youth Of my life had
come back to me. and [ thought [ was
once again IN that little telegraph sta
ton OH the Missouri River catching
the clickity-click- k-click Of the instru-
ment on my table. and which always
seemed 10 me as important as a ship s
deck is to an admiral. | seemed to
he hearing the calls Of operators Ell
along the line. bnt | gave no response,
aud then the scene changed. rs II does
50 SulflenIy and unaccountably IN
dream. and was III my instrument III
the bank listening with all lovers
eagerness for the first call of Kate
Nernon's over the wire | had pat Up
for her
1t was very faint and far off, and
think | must have smiled as | bent my
| ear closer TO the instrument to catch
, the sound, having in mind my sweet
. heart al the other end Of the wire cs-
savlug her first attempt IN handling
tie lightning For n moment II wa.
yaa1e enough. with It's modest little
clrlzety-c lch-rlick, but all At once il
seemed t. say something 70 me.
cogld not distinguish ii first, bur
+; presently Il took form anl ! coule
: co,ca the cali | hal taught her. I