The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-04-03

silence was otherwise unbroken. He
advanced his foot again, and brought it
down with louder stamp. This time
the rustling was distinctly audible: il
sounded as if something were trying to
pass him by the wall on the right.
A horrible susricion crossed his
mind, and filled him for an instant
with panic. He remembered Nicholas
words-"rats and other scratching
company" What if he had been shut
up with some wild beast!
Abominable cruelties were practiced
on prisoners in those days. To incar-
cerate man with leopard or a tiger
was not considered too barbarous a
method of taking revenge on a hated
enemy. Such things were done.
Ralph Hardelot had heard of them, and
the suspicion that this might be his
fate filled him with momentary horror
and dismay.
But it was only for moment that
his heart seemed to stop. Another mo-
ment and he hurled himself with fierce
resolution at the spot from which the
rustling had proceeded.
He encountered nothing but the
wall. He impinged on this with his
shoulder, having instinctively turned
his right side to the unknown danger.
He could no longer doubt that there
was some living thing in the cell with
him. AS it rushed swiftly out of his
way he had almost touched it, and he
could hear it taking refuge at the other
end of the cell. But having only the
sound to guide his judgment, he was
utterly at loss to divine what it was
that fled from him.
"My God! my Cod" he cried,
"would that my hands were free;" and
saying this, and trying with all his
might to break the cords, or wrench
his hands out of them, he advanced
again upon the mysterious companion
of his Imprisonment.
The few rays of light that struggled
through the crooked aperture revealed
no outline in the darkness of the dun
geon. But the creature had now sta
toned itself at the far end directly OPP
posite the light, and as Ralph adj
vanced. straining his vision to pene-
trate the gloom, he became aware of a
faint CLEAN from two eyes in the dis.
lance.
He was now able to interpret the
rustling.
eff you are human" he cried, in a
voice strangely unlike his own, "if you
are human, speak,
No answer was returned.
"Speak" he cried again, advancing.
81 will know what you are"
1t was woman's voice that. answer
ed, but the tones were deep and menac-
ing. "You dare not 1 am not
human!"
"Then what are you? will know"
He advanced another step.
81 am a fiend! If you dare to come
nearer will tear you in pieces! Yes,
will tear you in pieces!"
There was a touch of frenzied terror in
the voice, which belied the ferocity of
the words; and there was telltale
rustling too, as if the speaker were
shifting ground and preparing again to
rush past.
eff you are poor prisoner like my
SELF" said Ralph, in voice now re-
lieved from the distortion produced by
the darkness and exciting mystery of
the situation, "have no fear, will not
harm you. But tell me who it is that
speaks to me? There is something in
that voice that should know. But it
cannot be! Oh, God, it can never be-"
"Ralph!" gasped the voice out of the
darkness in an agony OF establishment.
SIS it your"
The answer was a groan. - he stag
gered heavily against the wall.
"Oh, Ralph? Is it you? Is it you?
Oh, the horror of this place! Speak
again. Is it you? Let me hear you
again! Where are you? Let me come
to you, Ralph!''
"Clara, my darling" he half sobbed
in reply. "Has heaven no pity? 1t
cannot be that she is in his power. 1t
is not possible. 1t is some hideous
mockery of her voice, sent here to tor
ture me. Cruelty of hell! how can
God suffer it?
"Ralph, Ralph" the voice anwsered,
81 am here, alas! in very truth. 1t is
no mockery. My love, where are you?
/ cannot see you in this horrible dark
ness! Oh, let me come near you !!
Ralph, speak again, where are your"
"Here," he answered, in a calmer
voice. making an effort to master the
oppresson of the despair forced upon
him by the frightful discovery that
Clara was his companion in captivity.
The shock of the discovery, joined with
his knowledge of his own utter helpless
ness, was overwhelming at first. His
i l1,.,x x.-itl =xa.-i1xx,.a