The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1897-01-01

4
among the leaves outside. So. poured
the developer upon the light yellow
plate and began to rock the tray gently.
Nowhere, except probably on your
| wedding morning or on getting wrap
ped copy of your first book, does the
charm Of expectancy get such hold
| upon you as it does on watching for the
image Of an exposed object to appear
upon a Photographic plate. :
| On the yellow blank before me now
came, softly and silently, the figure of
the smooth-limbed Ariadne, sitting her
panther with the majesty had seen in
! the marble. But she was coming on
rather too quickly because of overtim-
| ing, and l rapidly reached back for the
bottle of bromide. AS I measured off
| four crystal drops that fell splashing
into the developer heard a slight graf
| ing sound, as of a key being taken from
lock. Surely the charm of Ariadne
must have been strong upon me, for the
| incident did not excite so much alarm
as it did mere annoyance.
"Must have been in rather loose and
just dropped out" was my Illogical
| thought, but who can be logical con-
corning things external when snug In
his own tight world Of photography?
Ariadne came on beautifully and
laid her in the water near my right
hand to gain detail before fixing. Then
l took out Venus and began to develop
her. She came on well enough, and
dipped her into the water, too. Every
thing was going well, and should have
fine set IL this kept on. Being my.
first trial with such a hard lot of sub
jects, was rather proud of myself.
Then my fingers groped for Ariadne,
But though l felt all about in the water
my finger tips never touched the glass.
1t was a hard situation to sense, but
Ariadne was gone.
leaned back in my chair in state
bordering on utter collapse. Water
doesn't melt solid glass, and an Sx10
negative doesn't get up and walk out
of a tray. What in the name of the
great Daguerre did this thing mean?
Looking at the trap in vague distress
1 saw a great black hand steal silently
into the circle of the dim red light,
grasp the Venus negative and as silent
ly dart back into the thick, impenetra-
BILE gloom Of the darkroom. I would
have jumped up If could, but the ugly
circumstance weighed me down. Then
1 heard the negative strike the floor and
shiver into little bits. This started me
up. grasped the cover of the red light
and was about to lift it when the whole
contrivance was wrenched from the
table and the ruby glow was turned full
upon my face. Behind it could see
nothing, but the handle at the bottom
was clutched by that same black hand
The lamp was raised high and then it
came, crashing against the floor, the
light blotting out in the heavy dark
ness.
sprang for the door, and, missing it,
grasped something soft and slippery
that slid from my grasp. It was like
a clothed arm, but 1t was so cold and
Shiny that it seemed hardly. human AT
the same time form full Of burly
strength knocked harshly against me,
whether accidentally or not could not
tell A slight mass Of cold slime that
reeked horribly came of the form and
adhered to my face and the side of my
neck. This was more than I could
stand My elogged throat opened and
1 yelled like demon.
"Out of this! Out of this! whatever
you are?' i
Then was forced upon my mazed |
mind popularity of the creature that
had not noted before 1t did not |
speak, nor growl, nor utter any sound. |
1t would have been a relief even to |
have heard it hiss; its silence was more |
awful than any sort of utterance
Flattening my quick-moving hands |
along the side Of the wall, touched |
the door at last, and, feeling for the
knob, l turned 1t and tugged at it like
q young giant. But the door did not |
move and the key was gone. OF course
that was what had heard when begin
ming my work-that dropping out of the
key. So down l dropped to feel for it
all about the floor near the door, but /
to feel In vain.
I was locked up in the dark with a |
nameless creature, sinister and power
full, from whom there was no flight, for
the darkroom had but one exitrthe
door. There was mo- window nor any
hole, save the small ventilation traps,
through which not even SO much as a
hand might be thrust.
While there was any hope by way of
the door, / had been more than com
monty fearsome, but now my fright
was more than mere alarm. 1t was
steady growth of terror-the kind of
terror that makes the scalp feel prickly
and the breath come hard. 1t was chill,
fear of the kind that makes
you turn sick and sets your shoulders
twitching. And the chief Of it was a
pallid dread of something unspeakably
and loathsome-actual contact
with the thing in the darkroom. be-
lieve could have borne a stroke from
any weapon it might have in hand bet
ter than touch or close meeting with
the body of the repulsive creature.
crawled into the corner nearest the
loor and waited with strained ear.
Presently l heard low shuf1ing and
hen patting along the wall and
'craping along the floor. He of the
black hand was feeling for me; of that
was certain. Ny ear is good, and,
Judging by the location of the patting
Ind scraping, as well as Of another I
'ound, like the dragging of some small,
'oft body upon the floor, moved with
,ut noise around the edge, away from
ny pursuer. Though shaken and fever
ID, kept out of that dread clutch.
1t was nerve-straining work and the
ension was something frightful; but
rapt If nm until I fell over a hox ond