Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-28

stream; successive bends in the canyon
wall had shut off even the faintest echoes
of the bacchanalia on the beach.
The way seemed much longer than by
daylight. Already in my calculation l had
traversed many times the distance. when.
with a jump at the heart, l made out a
glow ahead. and in front Of it the upright
logs of the stockade.
To my surprise the gate was open. i as
cended the gentle slope to the valleys
level-and stumbled over man lying pros
trate, shivering violently. and moaning.
/ bent over to discover whom 1t might
be. AS I did so a brilliant light seemed to
fill the valley. throwing an illumination on
the man at my feet. l saw 1t was the
Niger, and perceived at the same instant
that he was almost beside himself with
terror. His eyes rolled, his teeth chartered,
his frame contracted In a strong convul-
sion, and the black of his complexion had
faded to washed.out dirty gray. revolving
to contemplate He felt my touch and
sprang to his feet, clutShing me by the
shoulder as a man clutching rescue.
MY Gawdv' he s,hivered. Look! Oar
II is again."
He fell to pattering in a tongue unknown
to me-charms. spells, undoubtedly, to ex-
orcise the devils that had hold of him.
followed the direction of his gaze. and my
self cried out.
The doctors laboratory stood In plain
sight between the two columns Of steam
blown straight upward through the stiffness
of the evening. 1t seemed bursting with
light. Every little CRACK leaked IL III gem
erous streams. while the main illumna ton
appeared fairly to bulge the walls out
ward This was in itself nothing extraor-
binary, and indicated only the activity of
those within, but while l looked an irreg
ular patch of incandescence suddenly
splashed the cliff opposite For a single
instant the very substance Of the rock
glowed white hot; then from the spot
shower of Spiteful flakes shot as from a
pryotechnic. and the light was blotted out
as suddenly as 1t came. At the same mo-
ment it appeared at another point, exhibited
the same phenomena, died, flashed out at
still third place. and so was repeated here
and there with bewildering rapidity until
the walls of the valley cracked and spat
sparks. Abruptly the darkness fell. AS alb
ruptly it was broken again by similar ex-
hibition; only this time the fire was blue.
Blue was followed by purple. purple by
red. Then ensued the briefest possible
pause. in which q figure moved across the
bars of light escaping through the chinks of
the laboratory, and then the whole valley
blaZed with patches Of vari-colored fire Ii
was not reflection; it was actual physical
confiag graf of the solid rock. in irregular
areas. Some of the fire shapes were most
fantastic. And with the uneXpectedness of
a bursting shell the surface of the ground
before our feet cracked into CHASTITY blue
flame.
The Niger uttered a cry in his throat
and disappeared. I felt a sharp breath on
my neck, an ejaculation Of surprise at my
very ear. 1t was startling enough to scare
the soul out of a man, but held fast and
was just about to step forward, when my
collar was twisted tight from behind. l
raised both hands, felt steel, and knew that
1 was in the grasp of Handy Solomon's
claw.
The sailor had me foul did my best to
twist around. to unbutton the collar. but in
vain. I felt my wind leaving me, the
CHASTITY blue light was shot with red. Dis
tinctly heard the mans sharp intaken
breath as some new phenomenon met his
eye, and dis great oath as he swore.
by the mother of God!' he cried, its
the devil
Then 1 was jerked off my feet and the
next 1 knew I was lying on my back, very
wet, on the beach; the day was breaking.
and the men, quite sober, were talking We
hemently.
1t was impossible to make out what they
said, but Handy Solomon and the Niger
were the center of discussion. I could mag
inc the subject. l felt very stiff and sore
and hazy in my mind. My neck was lame
from the dragging and my tongue dry from
the choking. For some time l lay in half
torpor watching the lilac of dawn change
to the of sunrise utterly indifferent to
everything. They had thrown me down
across the first rise of the little sand dunes
back of the tide sands, and from it l could
at once look out over the sea full of the