Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1898-12-23
CHAPTER XVIII.

increased pains from hungerand thirst.
His lips and throat were dry and
swollen; his face was hot with fever.
Slowly his last talk with Count Ban
tinni came back to him.
II must die here like dog, and
Dorothy will be his next victim," he
groaned. IF only could save her
would not care what became of me-"
But later the realization of his blasted
reputation, the downfall of the name
he had been so proud to bear, struck
him like a blow and he threw himself
back on the stone floor and wept.
After awhile dull sound like the far
off beat of horses hoofs and the hollow
rumble of wheels was transmitted to
him through the rock against which his
head rested. He found when he sat up
that the sound was no longer audible.
Sc he judged that there must be paved
road or street near if not beneath him.
For hours he listened to these sounds,
his sense of hearing becoming so acute
that he could distinguish between the
passing of a two horse vehicle and a
single one. After awhile everything
became quiet and he judged that it was
night.
Long dragging hours elapsed, then
the sounds awoke to life again and he
knew that another day had broken.
Touching the uneven rocks of one of the
walls lac discovered that they were moist,
and crawling to them he licked their
Shiny surfaces with his parched tongue,
but this only seemed to irritate his
himself back on the straw and tried to
practice what he had heard a mental
scientist say about the efficacy of ig-
noring the belief in hunger or thirst to
escape suffering when deprived of food
or water. But he failed in this, and al
lowed visions of cool sparkling streams
in sunlit meadows to pass before his
eyes mind. lie never thought of Doro-
thy now except as seated with him at q
sumptuous table.
Once when he put his head in new
position, to avoid the piercing of the
sharp pointed stones, Che felt tiny
stream of fresh air shooting from the
wall about a foot from the floor. Ex-
aiming the stone in that vicinity, he
found long irregular crack through
which the air entered. Then he began
to beat The stone with his handouts and
noticed, VIXEN he struck it near the
crack, that it gave forth the sound of
broken rather than of solid stone.
Again and again he beat the rock until
he felt more air coming in at the cleft,
and then his heart bounded with ex-
pectation, for he had loosened a piece
of the rock about foot long by two
| inches in width, and when he had
tugged at it for several moments it felIi
to the floor.
Then, joy untold! stream of day
light flashed into his face and for an
instant blinded him. When his eyes
had become accustomed to the unwont-
ed brightness, he saw that there was a
widening crevice through the solid rock
from the interior of the cell to the out
side. And through it, about so feet be-
meath him, he saw paved roadway
bordered by trees and grass.
But owing to the downward ten
dency of the fissure his range of vision
was very limited. In fact, he could see
only little beyond the furthest edge
of the road and barely so feet of its
length. So he could form no idea of the
landscape, or where the spot was sit
uated. Now and then, man, or a
group of men, would walk past, but
the sound Of their footsteps did not rise
to his ears. Carriages and vehicles of
several kinds went by, but they giided
along as noiseless as bicycles, unless
Gielow put his head against the stone.
There was a rustic seat at the side
of the road, and the artist almost forgot
his inward torture in hoping that some
of the passers-by would sit there ts
rest. He had vague idea that if the
people would only stop and look up
he might manage to signal to them.
A young man and a girl came into
view. They were walking slowly hand
in hand, and, as if obeying Gielow's de-
sire elepathically, they sat down on the
rustic seat. The young man put his
arm around his companions waist, their
eyes met, and their faces glowed.
Gielow placed his lips to the crack
and shouted, but he had grown so
hoarse that his voice did not pass
through the crevice in the rock. He
tried again and again and at last gave
up in despair.
Then another thought entered his
brain. Feeling over the floor, he final
ly found a pebble and tried to throw
it through the assure, but this was also
an impossibility. The opening was too
long and irregular for anything to be
thrown through it, and it sloped down
ward so gradually that the pebble
would not roll.
Then Gielow thought of something
else. He took off one of his white
linen cuffs. He coiled it tightly, and
tied it with a thread from the lining of
his cravat. He believed he would be
able to push it through the crack by
certain continuance he had in mind.
Then he paused to reflect, and finally
decided that he would write some mes
sage on the cuff, some appeal to the
world at large for help. But how to
write it was the first thing to be decided,
for, on going through his pockets, he
could find nothing but his penknife.
He believed he could, if his hand were
strong enough, cut the letters into the
linen, but would they be noticed by a
casual observer? Then thought came
to him, which may have been suggested
by an incident in some romantic novel
he had read in his youth. He would
write it in his own blood.
ITo BE Continued