Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-05
CHAPTER xvI-Coneinued.

] AT the first faint SOUND OF the Key Hc
sprang with a bound straight to his feet,
| wide awake. He had learned to be AFRAID
now.
| something to two men who were now with
| him. They went away up narrow starr
way into room above.
He gave final glance at the directions
! under Day " on the silken scroll. and with
| studious brow ran over the points on MS
\ fingers This was the fifth scroll of the
| Kind all covering space OF six days,
| which Sin-wan had studied.
| Having satisfied himself that all was
| ready, and hts instructions well in his
| head, Sln-wan entered the chamber ana
| closed the door behind him.
The sight of that face had become d
! pans and a sickness to the soul of Hardy.
| To all his tortures it was an added torture
| 1t grinned in his nightmares. 1t was the
| devil of mis- he'll.
He sark back in a corner, pale as death.
Sin-wan never brought him his food; SO
| that Sin-wan's face was associated IN ms
| mind only with agony. Yen HOW, VINO
| knew the mind and Its secrets, had Wiiieu
f, it so.
The room was not very small. but it was
| of stone and damp. However, in one cor
ner was bed which was nothing less tnan
| luxurious, the coverings being OF hne' paa a
ded silk. Hardy had not suffered from coio
still less from hunger or thirst.
These were tortures far and away TOO
elementary and obvious to occur to such
mind as that OF Yen How. Inc poay' 10y 10y
itself is capable of intense pangs; put
never is torture exquisite when IL Is wholly
divorced from the mind
Yen Hows profound knowledge OF thls
fact was proved when he said to hlmseiI:
"One of his tortures shall consist In the
daily sight Ola Face.
Beside the quilted bed there were In the
chamber table on which was water ana
4 cd
STOOL made OF a hard, greenish-coioreu
wood provided with a straight uprlgnt
back and cross pieces IN the legs IL couid
not be moved 1t was cramped by roir
rivets to the flooring.
The room was lighted by three Chinese
lanterns which hung above Hardy
reach, let down through holes in the ceiling
a short way.
went out, through some careleSsneSS OF the
attendants; and even when they all burned
there was not much light But Haroy
eyes, long accustomed, saw everything.
One OF the ingenuities OF pain to which
he had been subjected consisted in the
mere appearance of Sn-wan. Once Sin
wan had entered. leered round and retired
The next day he entered, leered round anC
retired. was the ordeal over then? A
heavenly hope leapt in Hardy. The next
day Sin-wan appeared with a PRAYER
| crowded with white-hot wires
Several times lately Sin-wan had entered.
leered round and retired. With every new
entrance now John hoped that on this day
no new sword would pierce MIN. FOR to-
morrow he cared not-only for this day his
spirit cried to heaven But on many day
heaven turned her ear from him.
He breathed in an agony of hope, in an
arctic hell of fear.
In the course of weeks his great mind
had quite collapsed. He was now utterly
demoraliZed and craven.
He knew neither morning nor night. He
had lost count of the days and the weeks.
81 ia Haao
first the means were not ready at his
hand. 1t was not an easy matter for a
man to Dash his brains against the
wall. Later. when he looked round for the
means to Kill himself, an intense cowardice
seized him. He chung to life-only to life.
| Just one little spark. too. of his innate
stubbornness fingered After a torture he
| would pray aloud that heaven would send
its SWIFT messenger upon him. but his OBJ
| stinate will TO live returned II a day Oh
peace was granted to him.
Now, as Sin-wan showed his face, he
| cringed against the wall with staring eyes
| of expectancy.
was this a day of torture or a day or
grace?
| What added touch of Interest horror to
| the relation between this boy and this man
was the fact that they had never ex-
| changed word. They Wee as remote
| and divided two creatures of different
| planets. Sn-wan did not know word oil
| English, nor John of Chinese.
A day of torture or of grace? He had
| ceased to care for the morrow, but to-
day
| wild hope stabbed his heart. Sin-wan
| had no sort of implement about him. He
! could not torture without an implement.
4 1t was ddy of-grace. then?
| No. The Chnaman walked to the cabi-
| net in a corner, where lay some cords.
| And he lifted them on his forearm, and he
| came to where John, half standing, hall
| falling, covered.
John had long ceased to make any re-
| Cict 70 he tndf
! During the operation this time he tainted.
| But terror woke him. He was placed on
| the high-backed stool. his arms bound be-
| hind the back and his chest high up to the
| neck, upon it. Underneath his shoeless
| feet were bound to the cross-pieces
| He could not move his head backward,
! for the chair prevented him; forward he
| could move 1t about fifteen degrees, and
| from side to side about thirty.
What was in store for him? He was
| wide awake now. With starting eyebails
| he waited.
| Five minutes passed.
| Then Sin-wan produced something
| 1t was a leather strap, four and hall
inches broad, sixteen long. AT the ends
| were clasps.
| He put it round Hardy's neck and cIasped
| It, And now Hardy could move his mead
neither backward. forward nor sideward.
| He sat with elevated chin. staring-a gaze
OF horror into vacancy. Yet he felt nc
| pain.
| He waited five more minutes, and the
| dim thought that reeled within his BRAN
| in a vertigo of woe was THIS How long
| how long, oh, LordT
Five minutes. ana then nVe more; anc
| then he feit-something.
| Yet 1t gave him pain.
| 1t was drop of fiuid-water, in fact
| which had fallen upon his head from above
! He waited half minute. and II cams
| again and half a minute, and 1t came
| again. And so, regularly, every half min
ute 1t came for some ten minutes.
| This, of itself, to an ordinary person
would be a misery. But by this time Johr
| HARDY was SO familiarized with agony thai
to him it was simply nothing The slowly
dropping water collected on his head, anc
was trickiing down his face, when he be
| gan to wonder, with a species of glad in
| credulity, whether this could be meant a.
| a new torture.
He could have borne it all the night, and
all the day and thank God for HIS ciem
ency.
| Suddenly he lanced a horrid Shrek
| drop of something else had fallen upor
his head, and eaten into his scalp. 1t was
drop of strong oil Of vitriol.
Would the falling of the vitriol continue
or the failing of the water?
The next was drop of water.