The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-01-04
"The devils work." | cried.

Lie UGNliS WOIh. l. CllSus
"My fathers work, jack" replied
Inez gravely.
eyes, sweetheart, and 1 wish it were
rot" | began when Alec interrupted
me.
Jack. my boy, you're fool. How
can the devil have anything to do with
it? The trades respectable enough
though it doesn't seem to be very prof
table to it's professors-a sure sign. by
the way, that it's an honest one"
Jack" said Inez, will you see for
yourself?"
"visit Don Miguel at his work?"
eyes"
t'Not III said, with a shudder. II
should expect to be enchanted.
| Alec, however, chaffed me for my
superstitious fears and said that moth
ing would please him better than to
see how the work was done. Now, to
be called a coward in the hearing of
my sweetheart was naturally more
i than / could stand, so l told Alec |
would go with him.
1 Inez said there was window in the,
pantry from which we could see Don
I Miguel's laboratory without his know
4 ing that any, one was watching him, so
4 we stationed ourselves there. Alec was
4 all curiosity to see what was going on;
but, though tried to conceal my fears,
l was horribly afraid that some unholy
sight would meet my eyes. From my
A cradle have been taught that 1t is al
ways safest to shun the devil and his
works, and believe it to be a thor
oughly good rule.
\ Don Miguel's laboratory was a fear
some place. There were rows upon
3 rows of retorts and TASKS of various
quaint shapes, shelves with big. dusty,
learned looking books on them, cases
of bottles containing tinctures Of vari-
Gus colors both dull and bright; char
coal furnaces, and steaming watts of
bubbling liquids. The floor was mark
ed out into arcs, circles, triangles and
every sort of uncanny geometrical fig
ure, and one corner of the room was
entirely filled by q large blast furnace.
over which Don Miguel was leaning.
,, intently watching some substance that
. was kissing and gtIrgling in an earth
enware crucble.
There was no light in the room eX-
!, cept that which the glow of the fur
mace gave, and as at each blast it burn
ed up brightly and shone for a moment
: son the pale. eager faee-of the alchemist
and then died away in a gloom again
which by contrast was almost dark
ness | thought had never gazed upon
" Al
!. AS we watched we saw that crit
ical point in the process had evidently
been reached The Spaniard was trem
= bling and muttering as he peered into
= the crucible whenever the dragons
breath of the furnace gave him light
: and, though we could not hear what HI
= said, it was perfectly clear that he wa:
!. wildly excited-unless, perhaps, it wa'
, the working of madness that we saw.
= BY and by he seemed to see the sigl
) for which he was looking. With low
: cry of delight, more like the yapping Q
{ dog than anything else, he stoppe'
- the furnace blast and lit a rushligh
!. candle. Then he took the crucibl
= from the flames and poured the cor
,, tents into another vessel
% For four or five minutes he held
- up to the light. and during all tina
!, time, as he watched the silent work
-, ings of his hell broth in the vessel,
80 never once saw his eyelids blink. The
:. he gave a wild, unearthly yell of de
Il light. which made my very marrol
or run cold. as though tub of water h;f
IL been thrown over me-, and as his e.
cited utteralce became louder we coul
,r now heat. what he said:
-. SIT turns, 1t turns. The color--tf
ia lovely blood red color! See how
~ rises red showing through the greer
an Success has come to me at last. and t
a. morrow.I shall have gold! Ha, ha, h
III ha, ha! Gold, gold, goid!'
80 At this moment one of the fiaSl
nv that had been gurglng and splutteri1
"a in another corner suddenly boiled owe
a and the liquid fell, Kissing, on to tt
lid charcoal embers. A cloud of stea
rose into the air, and at the sight II
loo overstrained nerves could bear the tie
&c sion no longer, and | uttered a sha
cry The Spaniard heard it, and
,or made him start involuntarily. Some
hr the decoction in the vessel he was hol
"a ing spashed over and burned his han
ro With a yell of pain he let the vess
,nt fall, and the precious essence was spi
ed on the floor, over which it ran in
~, oily stream, burning with a blue, S
a. phurous flame. He looked up at t
nd window saw our white. scared fac
peering at him. and with another y
or+ (of rage this time) he snatched up
mn. sword that was lying on table a
% g made rush for the door.
mo ely, Jack, fly! He'll murder yo'
: q cried Inez as she pushed me aw
oIl from the window.
me- snatched hurried kiss from
ion and fed, and Alec with me.
TO Down the lane we ran with all
me. speed that fear gave us and Don
,re- guel hard on our heels. We gained
h I him slightly and, taking advantage
/ the darkness. doubled and croucl
nal down under the side of haystack.