Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-03-26
XII.

A shroud of consuming terror now
possessed me. l Crouched In the dark
corner clutching my sword, listening.
vainly listening, for some sound out or
which to c~onjure up an assassin. A rat
ran across my foot. Screaming out l
bounded erect and beat abou me with
blind desperation. One hand touched
the other and shrank from Its mate.
They were as ice.
oh, God, the horrid silence! How
weightily 1t bore upon me, stripping me
Of voice, Of courage and of hope. How
many, many times l braced myself
against the wall, cold with fear at the
apprehension Of an attack by some
demon Of the night. How many, many
times | sank again into the same
dumb misery when no enemy appeared
to do me hurt.
SO long 1t had been since the n
Of human speech blessed my ears, l
almost hoped the marshal's men might
come, that I might lei his stern COM
mand, Hang him to yonder window
ledge" A rasping thirst roasted my
throat until my tongue gritted and
ground as a rusted clapper In a bell. L
touched it with my hand. 1t was as
dry as BrousSard's.
Broussard! A culver in the musty
air set me all a shudder; in every
rustic 1 felt again the last commissions
Of the dead. Dull lights gathered when
| closed my eyes, and rested upon his
swollen features, their white eye fol-
lowing me in hate.
Coolly and logically as if it con-
cerned some one else, the reason OF IT
all crept into my morbid brain. | was
mad; mad from hunger, thirst and
terror. Yes, mad, and felt not one
whit sorry of it; nay, rejoiced rather,
for IL meant q freedom of the spirit.
So insidiously this knowledge forced
itself upon me, it brought no shock, l
even dimly wondered hat any other
condition ever existed. Verify, men
are happier for n gentle frenzy. Then,
indeed, are all things leveled, all bar
riers removed. ion were all my pig
my troubles, vanished into nothingness.
Engulfed in a common ruin lay all
fragments Of desire; the search foe
reward, the dread of punishment-aIl
petty pigments of the imagination were
powerful now no more. The fall OF
reason crushed every human hope and
dulled the edge of every human fear.
What cared l now for food, for water;
for honor or for shame? My mind,
imperial and free from artificial re-
s~traints, plunged riotously into forbid
den realms. l reVeled in the eXaltation
Of chainless thought, and drank from
the deepest wells Of rebellion delicious
%draughts of secret sin, thanking. yea
thanking, his sweet madness which
gave a glorious independence.
What repugnance had l now for yon
piece of foul and rotting carrion! What
mattered 1T but lately a breathing nan
1t had %strangled in my grip. BY the
gods, a knightly feat and most brave
ly done! And / laughed at my former
fear, not loud, but such as laughed the
fiends Of hell when Lucifer rose
against his prince. Low l chuckled,
then shivered at my own unnatural
voice.
Dead now to every sense of physical
loathing l advanced steadfastly
towards where he lay. Shorn of hui
man companions my wretchedness
sought a lonely comradeship with the
piece OF mortal clay. Turning now and
again to beat back some skinny hand
which snatched my garments, to slap
in the face some evil sprlte which
thrust it's sneer upon me, l walked In
resolution across the floor. I fancied
again l heard the tread Of men in the
passage. Pleased at the babble of
the children of my W Imagination,
l stood to listen. Yes, by the wit Of
a fool, I'll indulge the Jest, a joyous
jibe and n merry.
The low shuttle of cautious feet came
again. The latch clanked ever so soft
ly as If some hand without lifted 1t
gently, oh so gently raised it. "Ha!
there you are, seeking to frighten me
again, but 1 know o well. No, no,
you'll scare me no more; I'll play a
merry game with YOU" So 1 hid my
self in the dark, and thought to play a
prank upon the evil Thing. Held my
breath.
Elated to find I owned 80 %wondrously
fertile a brain 1 saw the door open
little by little without a creak. A cur-
rent Of liberated air brushed by my
cheek. SO real 1t was, I smiled. The
door swung wider and wider yet, in the
dark l saw it. Verify the sight OF a
mailman is sharp. The wind blew more
chill and strong. / saw q CLEAN peep
ing beneath a oalS as from q hid
den %lanthorn; l b~ethought me l would
catch the tiny wanderer from the
floor and hold 1T in my hand. 1t came
crawling and crawling, on and on,
wavering to my feet. So many times
that night had I manned myself vail
antly to fight a shadow, ] only laughed
In silence and contempt at this.
Behold the folly Of a madman's
thought. Yet the creation of it all
gave me exquisite pleasure, as a child
might find delight in some strange toy
from which 1t could call weird shapes
ct will. On 1t moved with a noiseless,
gliding motion: now inside the door,
now coming, coming, coming-nearly
to me. Now 1t let fall q timorous blade
Of light along the DOR. 1t reached
Broussard's body. It's foot struck him.
1t stopped. threw the light full upon
him. Open fell the ~concealing mantle,
showing the barren stones, the corpse,
the CHASTITY upturned face Of the
strangled man.
The woman--for 1t was a woman
dropped to her knees beside him, called
him, felt Of his clammy head, and SUIT.