The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-02-27

bookfD8 az uh9 tray IN vague dlstreRsJ 1
sow great black hand steal silently into
the oirole Of the dim red light, grasp the
Venue negative, and as silently dart back
into the thick, impepetrable gloom Of the
dark room, you'd have jumped up II I
could, but the ugly circumstance weighed
me down. Then I heard the negative
strike the floor and shiyer into little bits
This started me up. l grasped the cover Of
| the red light and was about to lift 1t when
the whole continuance was wrenohed from
the table and the ruby glow was turned full
upon my face. Behind 1t could sec moth
ing, but the handle at the bottom was
| clutohed by that same blaok hand. The
lamp was raised high, and then down 1t
came, crashing against the floor, the light
!, blotting out in the heavy blackness.
sprang for the door, and, missing IL,
| grasped something soft and slippery that
slid from my hand. 1t was like a clothed
arm, but 1t was so cold and Shiny that 1t
seemed hardly human. At the same time b
form full of burly strength knocked harsh
~ against me, whether accidentally or not
could not tell A slight mass of cold
slime that rocked horribly came off the
form and adhered to my face and the side
Of my neck. This was more than could
stand. My clogged throat opened, and
yelled like a demon:
"Out of thisl Out Of this, whatever you
arep'
Then was forced upon my mazed mind
popularity of the creature that I had not
noted before. 1t did not speak, nor growl,
nor utter any sound. 1t would have been
relief even to have heard 1t hiss. Its ST.
lenoe was more awful than any sort Of ut
terance. ...... -
Flattening my quick moving hands
along the side Of the wan, touched the
door at last, and, feeling for the knob. I
turned 1t and tugged at it like young
giant But the door did not move, and the
key was gone. OF course that was what l
had heard when beginning my work-that
dropping out of the key. So down drop
ped to feel for 1t all about the floor near
the door, but to feel in vain. .g.
l was locked up in the dark with q
nameless creature sinister and powerful,
from whom there was no flight, for. the
dark room had but ono exit-the door.
There was no window nor any hole save
the small ventilation traps, through which
not even go much as hand might be
thrust.
While there was any hope by way Of the
door had not been more than commonly
fearsome, but now my fright wns more
than mere alarm. 1t was a steady growth
of terror--the kind of terror that makes
the scalp feel prickly and the breath come
hard 1t was chill, palpitating fear of tho
kind that makes you turn sick and sets
your shoulders twitohing. And the chief
of it was pallid dread Of something I'M
speakably uncouth and loathsome--actual
contact with the thing in the dark room.
l believe could have borne Il stroke from
any weapon 1t might have in hand better
than touch or close meeting with the
body Of the repulsive creature.
l crawled into tho corner nearest tho
door and waited with strained ear. Pres
emily heard low shutting, and thon q
patting along tho wall and scraping
along the floor. Ho of the black hand was
feeling for me; of that was certain My
ear is good, and, Judging the location Of
the patting and scraping, as well as of an
othe, sound, like the dragging Of some
small, soft body upon the floor, l moved
without noise around the edge, away from
my pursuer. Though shaken and feyered,
kept out of that dread clutch.
tension was something frightful, but I
kept it up until fell over box and went
sprawling right into the arms of the crea-
ture. My head fell upon It's clammy shout
der, from which oo2ed the noisome mois-
tnro, and its wet and i'll smelling arms
closed upon me, bringing to bear such
force that thought they would crush my
very breastbone At the same time there
came out n low, throaty laugh-a laugh
so uncouth and lacking in levity as to be
positively narrowing.
There was fight in me yet, shaken and
crushed as / was, and, getting one arm
loose, ] hammered with all my force upon
the creature, striking where l judged its
head should be- My blows slid off because
of the slime that enveloped the face, but
once l struck full hard upon a solid jaw,
and before l could pull my hand back my
thumb was bitten nearly in two. And then
tho hand of the creature--that great black
hand that had seen in the low red light
stole up to my throat and, clutching 1t
in mighty grasp, shut off my breath and
made mo grow dizzy and faint there in the
dark room. My own hands, flying about
wildly, now struck an iron hat hook In
the wall. Wronching this hook off, drove
1t so deeply into the hand at my throat
that, breathing very hard, almost gasping
In pain, the creature suddenly let 20 its
hold upon me, and was free.
Now | was furious-frenzied. darted
at my assailant with the hook in my hand
and presently dealt vicious blow full
In the face.
The creature butted forward with head
so hard that when it struck me In the |
breast 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 sudden there was shock as of the |
solid earth bursting asunder, and sped
of into space and oblivion.
When next I knew the world, the door
of my dark room was open and the morn
ing sun was shining in upon the floor
where l lay, with aching head and scar.
ing sense 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,
Rnd all about the studio the walls and
floors were streaked and daubed with the
tame offensive mixture. In one place there
was INC pain imprint OF I'VE long fingers.
doubted not that 1t had been made by
the great black hand that had cutched my
throat in the darkness.
crawled to the sink and washed myself
and took good drink, after which made
my way out of the dark room into the
house, where changed my clothes and
my thumb
AT my gate saw two men on horseback.
Seen anything of a big buck Niger
soing by here2" asked one of them. Hes
got big hands and feet and is perfectly
lumb. We tracked him down to the
Tough, where he probably waded across"
stared hard at the men.
YES" replied, 1--WE seen him, or at
east I've seen his hand. Where is he
romP'
"Napa Insane asylum; broke loose yes.