The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-08-16

II seemed as If hours passed before he
again heard the sliding noise on the
wall. Some one was coming to him.
The sound grew louder and nearer
till firm hand was laid on his arm. 1t
felt as cold as ice through his clothing
Come" a voice whispered, and the
Englishman was led forward. Present.
ly another door opened, a door that
closed after them without any sound.
Here the silence was more intensified,
the darkness thicker, as il compressed
like air. m
Hands were placed On the shoulders
Of Thorndyke, and he was gently forced
into chair. As soon as he was seated
two metal clamps grasped like wise
his arms between the elbows and the
shoulders, and two more fastened round
his ankles. i
There was a faint puff Of air from the
door, and the prisoner felt that he was
alone.
Terror held him in bondage. He tried
to think of Bernardino, but in vain. Did
they intend to drive him to madness?
He began to suspect that the king had
discovered his natural superstition and
had decided to put it to test. What he
had undergone SO far he felt was but
the introduction to greatest terrors in
store for him.
There was sigh far away in the
darkness, then q groan that seemed to
fit about in space, as if seeking to es-
cape the dark, and then died away in a
low moan Of despair. Before him the
blaokness seemed to hang like dark
curtain about ten yards in front Of him,
and In it shone tiny speck of light no
larger than the head Of pin and which
was so bright that he could not look at
It steadily. " increased to the size Of a
pea, and then he discovered that at
times 1t would seem miles away In
space and then again to draw quite
near to hand. CHANGING down, he no.
ticed that it cast bright round spot
about an inch in diameter on the floor,
and that the spot was slowly revolving
in circle SO small that its motion was
hardly observable. Surely the mind Of
superstitious man was never SO pun
ished. When Thorndyke looked steadily
at the spot, the black floor seemed to
recede and the spot to sink far down
into the empty darkness below like a
solitary star. So realistic was this that
tho Englishman could not keep from
fancying that his chair was poised in
some way over fathomless space. Pres
emily he noticed that the spot had ceased
its circular movement and was slowly
almost as slowly as the movement Of
the hand Of clock-advancing in a
straight line toward him.
No such terror had ever before pos
sessed the stout heart of the English
man. As the uncanny spot, ever grow
ing brighter, advanced toward him, he
thought his heart had stopped beating.
His brain was in whirl. After long
while the spot reached his feet and be-
gan to climb up his legs. With shud-
der and smothered cry, he tried to
draw his feet away, but they were too
firmly manacled.
"It is searching for my heart"
thought Thorndyke. "My God, when it
reaches it, shall dep As the strange
spot, cleaning like a burning diamond
in whose heart leaped thousand differ
ent colored flames, and which seemed
possessed of some strange hellish pur-
pose, crossed his thighs and began to
climb up his body, the brain of the pris-
oner seemed on fire. He tried to close
bis eyes; but, horrors of horrors, his
eyelids were paralyzed. 1t was almost
over his heart, and Thorndyke was faint
ing through sheer mental exhaustion
when it stopped, began to descend slow.
ly, and then, with rapid, wavering
motion, it fell to the floor, flashed about
in the darkness and vanished.
An hour dragged slowly by. What
would happen next? The Englishman
felt that his frightful ordeal was not
over. To his surprise the darkness began
to tighten till he could see dimly the
outlines of the chamber. 1t was bare
save for the chair he occupied against
tho wall and couch on the opposite
side of the room. The couch held some.
thing which looked like human body
covered with a white cloth. He could
see where the sheet rounded over the
head and rose sharply at the feet,
u Something told him that it was q
corpse and new terror possessed him.
For several minutes he gazed at the
couch in dreadful SUSPENSE; then his
heart stopped pulsing as the figure on
the couch began to move. Slowly the
sheet fell from the head and tho figure
sat up stiffly. There was faint hum Of
hidden machinery at the couch, and a
flashing blue and green line running
from the couch to the wall betrayed the
presence Of an electric wire.
Slowly the figure rose aid with creak-
ing, rafting joints stood erect. Pale
lights shone in the orbits of the eyes and
tho sound Of harsh automatic breathing
came from the mouth and nostrils. Slow.
ly and haltingly the figure advanced to-
ward Thorndyke. The poor fellow tried
to wrench himself free from the chair,
but he could not stir an inch. On came
tho figure, its long arms swinging me-
and its feet slurring over the
stone pavement.
When within ten feet Of the English
man, it stopped, nodded its head three or
'our times aud slowly opened its mouth.
There was sharp, whirring noise, such
IS comes from monograph, and
voice spoke:
my voice shall sound on earth for a
million years after my spirit has left
ny body, and shall wander about my
lark dungeon as a warning to men not
o do as I have done"
The voice ceased, but the whirring
sound in the creatures breast went on.
The figure shambled nearer to Thorn.
lyke, and the voice began again:
II disobeyed the laws of great Alpha
md her imperial king and am to die.
Beware of the temptation to search in.
o the royal motives or attempt to ss.
ape. The fate of all the inhabitants of |
Alpha, the wonderful Land of the
Hanging Sun, is in the hands Of its
uler Bewarel Ny death torture is to
N lin ooripp au5 borr;b1a c;pI, ;e<o