Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-09-19
CHAPTER X.
Continued.

the terror of the following minutes
thrills me now as l look back upon it.
The impenetrable darkness, the silence.
rendered only more intense by contrast
with the perpetual tic-tac, tic-tac, tic
tao, tic-tac of the watch behind me,
were made terrific by the awful uncer-
tainty of my position.
l stood there waiting for the attack,
until, the suspense growing intolera-
BILE, l felt that must end it by shout
ing aloud to Brace, and precipitating
the struggle.
Il will wait five minutes longer and
no more" said TO myself, resolving
to calculate the space fairly, and with
due allowance for false impressions. l
calculated that two minutes had
passed, when fancied that heard the
bed creak behind me. Was this one
of the false impressions had promised
myself to guard against, or was the
sound caused by the man mounting
upon the bed behind me?
The lair bristled upon my head as l
thought, and drew my head down into
my shoulders, for, as surely as if my
eyes had been turned that way, and
the full light of the sun shining i'll the
poom l knew that the man was be.
hind me upon the bed.
I drew a deep inspiration, resolved
10 shout my loudest to Grace, but be-
fore the sound had passed my lips a
towel was drawn tight upon my face,
and my head jerkcd back against the
post behind me. A fold of the towel
gagged me completely; it was with diff
iiculty l breathed. l struggled, but in
vain, to wrench myself away; a quick
and sure hand had knotted the towel.
threw up my hands to tear the thing
off: in an instant they were cnyeloped
IN the thick curtains, and though the
fellow had not sufficient strength TO
tie them down to my side, he at least
baffled my attempts to free my head.
/ drew my feet from the ground. hop
Ing that my weight would drag my
head from the towel: only succeeded
in drawing the knots tighter, and half
strangling myself.
AS l could not release my head I got
py arms down and tried to seize the
rascal'S feet but he kept them beyond
my reach: yet got something by the
attempt. for, in cropping about, l laid
my hand upon the knife which he had
thrust in the bed, to have free use of
his hands, the better to overcome the
resistance of my arms. / should have
had no hesitation in hamstrinGing the
but as could not do that determined,
if possible, to keep the knife out of his
way.
felt by the horn handle that it was
the one Van Hoeck had given me, and
knowing the trick of the blade l shut
1t up and slipped it into my pocket.
"Now," thought |, IF only thews and
sinews are concerned we will see who
yan get the best of it,
And with rcdoubled efforts I strug-
Eled to tear down the bed curtains that
bampered my movements, and, mad.
Lened by the difficulty of respiration I
threw such force into my efforts that
)he pole upon which they hung
rrunched under the rings and finally
rame rafting down about us. Would
that the lamp had been near to be
rmashed by the fall! The noise was
loo slight to be heard at a distance.
My left hand being free, felt again
Ior the knot of the towel that bound
me to the post. A bony hand grasped
my wrist, and dragged it over my
shoulder, and the next moment l felt
,omething pressed under my nose, and
liquid trickling through my mustache
pnto my lips. 1t had a sweet taste
Rnd strong smell of apples, that
mounted at once to my brain.
leemed to be no longer touching th1
around, but whirling round and round
through space; my arms dropped by
my side.
l knew that I was powerless, yet
detained a certain kind Of conscious.
ness. l was sensible that the difficulty
pf breathing no longer troubled me.
Anew that the man was binding my
Erms to the post, and l remember
thinking, in the bemused manner of a
half intoxicated person, what q fool he
must be to bind me when l could 70
longer make resistance. l was perfect.
ly conscious when We began to tie my
feet to the post below, for l had then
sufficiently overcome the effect of the
opiate to think Of resistance. l tried
to Struggle and to scream, but 10 no
purpose; my will had lost all power
over my muscles. And this terrible
impotency reminded me Of Van I+oeck' $
halfuttcred similc: 'Crampcd i'll a
coffin, and the clods falliug-falling!
What astonished me was the surpris.
ing facility with which the man exc
cuted his work in the darkness that
then prevailed. He seemed to have no
difficulty at all in finding the ends of
the sheets With which he bound me,
and knotting them securely. And when
| was safely pinioned he unbuck!cd the
strap that bound the Great Hesper 10
my wrist, without having to seek for
the tongue of the strap, as l myself
might have had to do.
"Well, that's gone," said to myself,
"and, now he has the diamond, he will
go, too"
But he had not yet finished. And af.
ter brief interval, during which he