The Louisiana populist., 1897-03-26
twitching, And the chief Of it was q

twitching. And the chief Of it was a
pallid dread Of something unspeakably
uncouth 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 a touch or close meeting with
the body Of the repulsye creature.
| craWled into the corner nearest the
door and waited with strained ear.
| Presently | heard low shuf!lilg and
then patting along the wall and q
scraping along the floor He Of the
! black hand was feeling for me; of that
was certain. My ear is good. and,
| judging by the location Of the patting
and scraping, as well as OF another
sound, like the dragging Of some small,
soft body upon the floor, moved with
out noise around the edge, away from
my pursuer. Though shaken and fever.
ed. l kept out of that dread clutch.
1t was nerve-straining work anu the
tension was something frightful. but
kept it up until l fell over a box and
went sprawlins right into the arms OF
the creature. My head fe!l upon its
clammy shoulder, from Which Oozed the
| noisome moisture, and its wet and i'll.
smelling arms closed upon me, bringing
| to bear such force that thought. they
would crush my breast-bone. At the
same time there came out low,
throaty lausha laugh so uncouth and
lacking in levity as to be positively har'
rowing.
There was fight in me yet. shaken and
crushed as I was. and, getting one arm
loose, hammered with all my force
upon the creature, striking where ]
judged its head should be. My blows
slid off because Of the slime that envel
| oped the face. but once l struck full
hard upon a solid jaw, and before ]
could pull my hand back my thumb wa.
bitten nearly in two. And then the
hand of the creature-that great black
hand that had seen in the low rec
lght--stOle up to my throat. and, clutch.
ing it in mighty grasp shut Off my
breath and made me grow dizzy and
faint there in the darkroom. My own
hands, flying about wildly, now struck
an iron hat hook in the wall. Wrench.
ing this hook off, 1 drove it so deeply
into the hand at my throat that, breath.
ing very hard, almost gasping In pain,
the creature suddenly let go It's hold
upon me. and was free.
/ Now was furious-frenzied. | dart.
ed at my assailant with the hook in my
hand, and presently ! dealt a vicious
blow full in the face.
The creature butted forward with
head 80 hard that when it struck me in
the breast l thought my breath was
gone. fell over and it came upon me
again, its blood falling on my face and
its breath hot on my forehead
OF a sudden there was shock as of
the solid earth bursting asunder, and l
sped off into space and oblivion.
When next knew the world the door
of my darkroom was open and the
morning sun was shining in upon the
floor where l lay, with aching head and
q soaring of pain in my throat. while
my bitten thumb fairly throbbed My
face, hands and clothes were nearly
covered with blood, green slime and
muddy ooze. and all about the studio the
walls and floors were streaked and
daubed with the same offensive mix
ture. In one place there was the plain
imprint of five long fingers. doubted
not that it had been made by the great
black hand that had clutched my throat
in the darkness.
/ Icrawled to the sink ard washed my
self and took good drink, after which
/ made my way out Of the darkroom
into the house, where | changed my
clothes and bandaged my thumb.
At my gate l saw two men on horse.
back.
Seen anything of a big buck niger
going by here?" asked one of them.
Hes got big hands and feet and is per-
fectly dumb. We tracked him down
to the slough, where he probably wad-
ed across"
| stared hard at the men.
"Yes," replied, "I've seen him, or at
least Eve seen his hand. Where is he
from?"
"Napa insane asylum Broke loose
yesterday morning. Francisco
Argonaut.