The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-06-26

speed, but we who had, as 1 could
not doubt, now increased our own
and were consequently moving more
or less collateral with the darkened
and empty carriages.
had heard of these optical illu-
sions before and ascribed it to my
overwrought imagination. Finally,
satisfied with these discoveries. |
turned my attention to the stranger.
His gaze had become fixed and in
tense. l was sure it was no sleeping
state in which he was plunged.
Some mysterious power held him
charmed.
Suddenly I released my hold of
the mans hands, and in an instant
the illusion vanished. l was dunn
founded. Again I seized his hands
and held them, one in each of my
own. Gradually, as a dream grows
into life, Twas conscious of innumer-
able things passing swiftly before
me, unintelligible and with sense
of infinite woe.
By the workings of the man S face
1 was sure that, by some morbid
sympathy, the mirage was visible
in both, for perceived that might,
by the mere lifting of his hands,
conjure the scene or dispense it by
releasing them. 1t struck me like
forcible recollection of De Quin-
cey's opium dreams, especially that
last related terrible vision.
/ experienced a sickening nausea
and was forced to again relax my
hold. The empty train was still
travelling alongside us, thus form
ing a magic mirror where furtive
lights played. l crossed to the other
window of the carriage and looked
out. All was blackness, impenetra-
bly, dark. / came back and once
more seized the man s hands.
Some terrible drama, I felt con-
scious, was about to be enacted.
Whence came this strange PRESENT.
ment9 saw face distinctly mir
rored on the dark pane. Yet not
one face alone. Others there were,
familiar and recognizable. Iglanced
instantly at the face of the stranger.
The face, that terrible first face,
was his own. Then, whether sleep
ing or waking, in act or in fancy or
whether in that mystic interspace
between the real and the unreal, it
faded through the gloom and be-
came suddenly transported to
room filled on all sides with books.
/ understood it to be library. A
man sat reading alone, with lamp
beside him.
So sudden had been the removal
that l knew not when or how it
came. The man at the table rose a.
he entered and beckoned him to
seat opposite. He made some mute
request, which / neither heard nor
comprehended. 1 knew only that
the man was obdurate. Meekly he
urged his petition, and still he ap-
peared to refuse him. There was
anger on both their faces. In a min
ute the stranger raised his hand and
dealt the other blow across the ta-
BILE. He struck him to the floor. The
blood streamed from his face, yet
once more he gained his feet and
stood confronting him. The blood
ragged in his own veins, and he struck
out with all the force of great
strength. This time the man did not
rise, and he stopped to look into his
face.
I struggled to break away from
the sickening nightmare Of blood,
but was powerless. looked again,
now only upon the face of the van
quished, and it was not the same.
knew that it was the face of the
man beside me which l now beheld
Pale and distorted it looked, the eyes
bursting from their sockets and the
lips foaming in the final throes.
About his neck was rope, tighten
ed so that he could not breathe. /
knew all this and more The sensa-
ton grew upon me. He choked, he
gasped. The lights went out.
No; it was I that choked. The
blood surged through my brain like
an Atlantic current. Ten thousand
whirlpools burst wildly around me,
bearing me down, down to unutter-
able depths, while the weight of
fathomless oceans lay upon me.
Cries and lamentations rose upon
every hand-utter, heartending cries
from the uttermost abysses. Weird
faces Knocked at me and called me
name at which strong men grow
pale and the legions of hell tremble.
Darkling I lay, oppressed and ut
terly confounded, it seemed, for long
ages of immeasurable time. At
length light broke in, the tumult
subsidized, the voices became gradual
ly less. Suddenly the phantasma
faded from the darkened pane, Civ
ing place to fierce, lurid light, and,
with start, broke away as the
train snorted into the great termi-
nus.
The train came to a stop. l rose
and looked at the opposite seat. The
man had already alighted, for the
carriage door stood open. Not
word had passed. made only dim