The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-30

than vapor, and the temerarious, {. ex CITE
mert of his first essay was shot with rear;
For he perceived, at first indtst1nctly anu
then suddenly very clearly, that ne Wa S
coll of the seeming cloud stuff was i io;t
And such faces! Faces of thin shaq q
faces of gaseous tenuity. Faces like those
faces that glare with intolerabie Stranses
ness upon the sleeper in the evil hours o.
his dreams. Evil, greedy eyes that WeI ts
full of covetous curiosity, races racer. W YyIei
knit brows and snarling. smiling Ups;
their vague hands clutched at Mr.. BesseI
as he passed and the rest OF their Doul6S
were but vague, elusive streak OF tr aId
ing darkness. Never a word they SAID,
never sound from the mouths that
seemed to gibber. All about him they
pressed in that dreamy silence, passing
freely through the dim mistiness that was
his body, gathering ever more numerously
about him. And the shadowy Mr. Besse!.
now suddenly fear-stricken, drove mlstlly
through the silent, active multituoe Oh
eyes and clutchtng hands.
So inhuman were these faces, so ma
lignant their staring eyes, and shadow
clawing gestures, that it did not occur 70
Mr. Bessel to attempt intercourse with
these drifting creatures Idiot phantoIIh ms
ings unborn and forbidden the boon OF
being whose only expression and ges-
lures told of the envy ana craving LoI
life that was their one link with exist
It says much for his resolution that
amid the swarming cloud OF tnese h9lse
Mr. Vincent. He made violent etIort OF
will and found himself, he knew not now,
STOPPING toward Staple Inn, saw Vincent
sitting attentive ana aIeI1 III his oil III
And clustering also about him, as they
clustered ever about all that hves anu
breathes was another multitude OF tnese
vain voiceless shadows, longing, desiring,
seeking some loophole into life oe..
For n space Mr.. BeSSel sought fnenect-
ualy to attract his friends attention He
tried TO get in front of his eyes, TO move
the objects in his room, to touch him.
But Mr. Vincent remained unmoVed, lg-
norant of the being that was SO close to
his own. The strange something that
Mr. Bessel has compared TO a sheet OF
glass separated them impermeably-
And at last Mr.. Bessel did desperate
thing. I have told how that in some
strange way he could see not only the
| outside of a man, as we see him, but
within. He extended his shadowy hand
and thrust his vague black fingers, as it
seemed, through the needless BRAIN
a man who recalls his attention from
wandering thoughts, and 1t seemed to
Mr.. Bessel that a little. dark-red body
brain, swelled and glowed as he did so.
| Since that experience he has been shown
anatomical figures of the brain, and he
knows now that this is that useless struc-
ture, as doctors call It, the pineal eye
| For, strange as it will seem to many
we have deep in our brains, where 1t can
! not possibly see any earthly light, an
| eye. AT the time this. with the rest of the
internal anatomy of the brain, was
quite new to him. At the sight OF its
| forth his finger, and, rather fearful still
| of the consequences, touched this little
| spot. And instantly Mr. Vincent started,
and Mr.. Bessel knew that he was seen.
And at that instant it came TO Mr.. Bes-
sci that evil had happened to his body,
and behold! a great wind blew through
all that world of shadows and tore him
| away. So strong was this persuasion
| that he thought no more of Mr.. Vincent,
but turned about forthwith, and all the
countless faces drove back with him like
! leaves before gale. But he returned
too late. In an instant he saw the body
that he had left inert and collapsed-ly-
dead-had arisen, had arisen by virtue
of some strength and will beyond his own.
1t stood with staring eyes, stretching it's
limbs in dubious fashion.
For a moment he watched it in wild dis
may, and then he stopped toward 1t.
aganst the him again and he W Rag oe
He beat himself passionately against
this, and all about him the spirits OF
gave way to furious anger. He com:
pares himself to bird that has f1uttered
into a room and is beating at the win
dow pane that holds it back from free
And behold! the little body that had
once been his was dancing with delight
He saw it shouting, though he could not
hear its shouts, he saw the violence of its
movements grow. He watched 1t fiinE
his cherished furniture about in the mad
delight of existence, rend his books apart
smash bottles, drink heedlessly from the
jagged fragments, leap and smite, in a
passionate acceptance of living. He
watched these actions in paralyZed as
toishment. Then once more he hurled
himself against the impossible barrier
and then with all that crew of knocking
ghosts about him, hurried back in dire
confusion to Vincent to tell him of the
outrage that had come upon him.
But the brain of Vincent was now
closed against apparitions, and the dis
embodied Mr.. Bessel pursued him in vain
as he hurried out into Holborn to call a
cab. Fooled and +error-strcken, Mr.
Bessel swept back again to find his desc
Grated body whooping in glorious frenzy
down the Burlington Arcade
And now the attentive reader begins tc
understand Mr.. Bessels Interpretation OF
the first part of this strange story. The
being whose frantic rush through Lon
don had inflicted so much injury and dis
aster had indeed been Mr.. Bessel's BODY
but it was not Mr.. BesSel. 1t was an eVi
spirit out of that strange world beyond
! existence, into which Mr.. Bessel had 81
rashly ventured. For twenty hours II
held possession of him, and for all those
: twenty hours the diSpossessed spirit bod,
of Mr.. Bessel was going to and fro IL
that unheard Of middle world of shadows
: seeking help in vain.
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