The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-15


of the bridge 1t is now dry and would
burn like tow"
The lady had now brought the water.
which the soldier drank. He thanked
her tremendously, bowed to her hus-
band, and rode away. An hour later,
after nightfau. he repassed the plan
tation, going northward in the direc-
ton from which he had come. He was
a Federal scout.
AS Peyton Farquhar fell straight
downward through the bridge, he lost
consciousness and was as one already
dead. From this state he was awaken
ed-ages later. it seemed to hinl-by
the pain of sharp pressure upon his
throat, followed by a sense of suffo-
cation. Keen, poignant agonies SEEM
ed to shoot from his neck downward
through every fiber of his body and
limbs. These pains appeared to flash
along wen-defined lines of ramification
and to beat with an inconceivably
rapid perfodicity. They seemed like
streams of pulsating fire heating him
to an intolerable temperature. As to
his head, he was conscious of nothing
These sensations We're unaccompanied
by thought. The intellectual part of
his nature was already effaced; he had
power only to feel, and feeling was
torment. He was conscious of motion.
Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of
which he was now merely the fiery
heart. without material substance, he
swung through unthinkable arcs of
a a npn61llnn0
all at once, with terrible suddenness,
the light about him shot upward with
the noise of a loud splash; a fright
full roaring was in his ears, and all was
cold and dark. The power of thought
was restored; he knew that the rope
had broken, and he had fallen into the
stream. There was no additional
strangulation; the moose about his
neck was already suffocating him and
kept the water from his lungs. To die
of hanging at the bottom of a river'-
the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He
opened his eyes in the darkness and
saw above him a CLEAN of light, but
how distant, how inaccessible! He
was still sinking, for the light be-
came fainter and fainter until it was
a mere glimmer. Then it began to
grow and brighten, and he knew that
he was rising toward the surface
knew it with reluctance, for he was
now very comfortable. ITO be hanged
and drowned" he thought, that is
not so bad; but 1 do not wish to be
shot. No; I will not be shot; that is
not fair
He was not conscious of an effort
but sharp pain in his wrists appris-
ed him that he was trying to free his
hands. He gave the struggle his at
tention, as an idler might observe the
feat of a juggler, without interest in
the outcome. What splendid effort.-
what magnificent, what superhuman
strength! All that was fine endeav-
or, E;ravoi The cord fell away; his
arms parted and f1oated upward, the
hands dimly seen on each side in the
growing light. He watched them with
a new interest as first one and then
the other pounced upon the moose at
his neck. They tore it away and
thrust it fercely aside, it's undulations
resembling those of a water-snake.
Put it back, put it back!" He
thought he shouted these words to his
hands, for the undoing of the moose
had been succeeded by the direst pang
which he had yet experienced. His
neck ached horribly: his brain was on
fire; his heart, which had been flutter-
ing family, gave a great leap, trying
to force itself out at his mouth. His
whole body was racked and wrenched
with an inSupportable anguish But
his disobedient hands gave no heed to
the command. They beat the water
vigorously with quick, downward
strokes, forcing him to the surface.
He felt his head emerge; his eyes were
blinded by the sunlight; his chest ex-
banded convulsively, and with a sup
RENE and browning agony his lungs
engulfed a great draft of air which
instantly he expelled in a shrek.
He was now in full possession of his
physical senses They We're, indeed,
preternaturally keen and alert. Some
thing in the awful disturbance of his
organic system had so exalted and re-
fined them that they made record of
things never before perceived. He felt
the ripples upon his face and heard
their separate sounds as they struck.
He looked at the forest on the bank of
the stream, saw the individual trees,
the leaves and the veining of each leaf
saw the very insects upon them the
locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the
gray spiders stretching their webs
from twig TO twig. He noted the pris-
matte colors in all the dewdroos upon
million blades of grass. The hum
ming OF the gnats that danced above
the eddies of the stream, the beating
of the dragon-fiies' wings, the strokes
of the water-spiders legs, like oars
which had lifted their boat-all these
made audible music. A fish slid
along beneath his eyes and he heard
the rush of its body parting the water.