The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-05-12


t himself yielding 20 a spirit OF fear.
I He could not but admire the unconcern
\ OF his companion. who STROBE galIantly
forward humming the chorus of hunting
song.
"Confound yon bright mooni'' muttered
i Idrss. IF any OF the coast guard should
stroll this way. we are certain 70 be seen.
/ Arriving at the northernmost point of the
/ tumulus. he flung down the sack that ne
had carried containing the implements nee
I essary for excavation and turning MS
eyes upon the side Of the hillock began TO
/ look about for the white-howering man
drake that betokened the point OF ingress
He glanced quickly from right 10 left
but. To his surprise, the plant was no.
I where to be seen.
Here's a mystery What has become of
the mandrake? No matter: there's the pile
Of pebbles set up on the spot where the
shadow Of the stone fell. | have but to
| repeat my former experiment.
Making his way 10 the little heap ldrls
/ faced about and began TO walk towards
the hillOck. keeping in a direct line with
the stone upon its apex.
On reaching the base of the turnulus he
I paused and remained stationary, with his
back 10 Godfrey, and his gaze riveted on
the side OF the mound There was some
thing peculiar in the rigidity of his at
titude, and in his long-continued silence,
that Godfrey's heart quickened with an
unknown fear, fear that deepeaed. when
Idris with a scared face turned slowly
round. and. as II the power of speech had
left him, beckoned with his finger for the
surgeon TO come forward
Look therei' he said in hoarse voice:
clutching Godfrey with one hand, and
pointing with the other. Tell me whether
l see Alright. What's that?'
And there. protruding from the side of
the hillock in the place where the man
drake had grown. was-a human hand!
A human hand. rising from the earth,
motionless and rigid. the crooked fingers
seeming TO tell of the agony of death by
Suffocation.
Some one since the morning had been
trying to force n way through the soil
at the entrance Of the passage. and had
lost his life in the attempt.
Such was Idriss first thought, closer
inspection, however showed that the event
had not happened that day. The nails had
fallen from the fingers. and there was, be-
sides, a decayed, vegetable aspect pre-
scented by the skin OF the newly dead. How
Idris came to overlook It during his morn
ing visit was a mystery, since the hand
must have been in it's present position for
several days, if not for several weeks. Its
sudden exposure was perhaps due to the
afternoon storm, which had washed away
portion Of the soil.
To endeavor to ascertain the identity
Of the victim by pulling at the withered
hand and thus bringing the decayed form
10 view, was an act that not only Idris
shrank from, but even Godfrey the sur
geon. familiar with the disjecta membra
Of the diSSecting room.
Then Idris. bending forward to examine
the hand more closely, gave vent to a peal
, OF laughter.
Brave heroes we are to be frightened
by a plant 1t is nothing but the root Of
! the mandrake"
Godfrey drew a breath of relief. as he
assured himself by a nearer view that
what he had taken for a human hand was
, indeed the withered root of the mandrake,
so apt TO assume strange and unaccounta-
, bic shapes.
Yet TO save his life, he burst not put
, forth his hand to touch 1t.
} If such were the terrors guarding the ex-
terror OF the tomb, what might ne not
expect to find in the interior?
; Now. Godfrey. our silly fright being
over. 10 work. l will dig while you watch.
Fol aaf &c hoy ar her. and
you should see anybody coming. give the
word and / will suspend operations for
= while; There cannot be more than five
. or six feet of earth to knock away, and
! then the passage will be open TO our view.
The work ought not TO take long"
Godfrey did as desired. and Idris flung
: off ulster, coat, and vest. Rolling his shirt
!, sleeves above the elbow he drew the tools
from the sack and selected a spade.
Now TO disturb the repose of old Orm
: the Goldenl'' he cried excitement spark
ling from his eyes. Now TO evoke the
fires OF the Asasi'
The scky. withered mandrake root, with
its resemblance to human hand, fronted
him, and as if I'm contempt of his former
' fears. he drove the edge of the spade clean
seemed TO culver and writhe in a manner
extremely suggestive of animal life
Z thrill of terror shot through his frame.
. and, spade in hand, he paused, staring at
the root; for. simultaneously with its dis
section, there came sound. bearing re-
semblance to a plaintive human cry.
q 1t not the creation of his fancy,
since Godfrey, too, had heard it.
I'm the name OF all that's holy what
was that" ne asked starting up from the
= stone upon which he had been sitting.
2 THAT is what 1 should like to know. .
said Idris, trying 10 look unconcerned. 1T
= came-or seemed 10 come-from this plant
= here. The poet speaks Of
n Shrieks like mandrakes torn from the
ground!
: He toyed idly with the spade. desirous
a yet almost afraid, of making second
= stroke.
c In all his life Godfrey had never been SC
much alarmed as he was at that moment
: "Idris. let us leave this business-at least
i His words acted as stimulus to the
: others courage
= Leave il? Never, till I have forced my
!, way 10 the heart OF this hillock. and
- wrested the secret from il. On the very
r point of discovery must we turn back
II frightened by a sound, the cry, probably
" of some night bird? We are not the first tC
- break into a Morse barrow at midnight
4 Shall We be outdone in enterprise by
= others? No.; though the dead Viking rise
h up. sword in hand. to repel me. yet will
! go on:
- attacked the side of the hillock. savagely
= cutting the mandrake root to fragments
u half expecting to hear the weird cry again
a But the sound. whatever its origin. wa.
- not repeated
% Finding the earth to be hard conglomer
n ate, and not easily susceptible 10 impress
SlOnS from the SPADE, lurlS ldlO tnat too
? aside and. fitting the wooden shaft of
~ pickaxe into its iron head, proceeded L
. reduce the conglOmerate 10 a crumble
which he then tossed aside with the spade
laboring alternately with the two nipple
ments.
No word escaped him: he was too mucl
interested in the work TO waste his breath
=. | in words. His efforts soon uneaTthed tw,
D. large unhewn blocks of stone standing
little distance apart.
. Fired TO fresh energy by this sight,
- proof that he working in the RICH
direction, he continued his excavations be
. tween the two blocks. After the lapse o
:, a few minutes he paused. and thrust hi
. arm up TO the shoulder through an aper
- ture appearing in the conglomerate.
- 10 triumphei" he exclaimed 'Empt,
=. space behind this. little more labor
- and We shall be able TO crawl into the pas
=, sage beyond"
III Declining Gcdfrey's repeated offers O
assistance. ldTiS resumed his work en-
- Enthusiastically. dealing stroke after strok
:, upon the wall earth that barred his way
Down came the black soil with a rush
- as II glad 10 meet free air after an i'm
: prisonment of centuries. Wider and wide
!. grew the aperture. revealing open spac
= beyond: and, at last fnging down hi
- tools IdTs declared that the way was nov
= open TO the interior.
where's the lantern. Godfrey"
The surgeon was already fumbling abou
I'm the sack. With exclamation of dis
may he rose his feet and gave il
shake but nothing came forth.
NJ by heaven Godfrey, don't say we hav
l..Fs ~