Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1907-09-26

az the steel chains mingled with the
sspurr-purr" OF the electric fan in the
roof.
By a tremendous effort Of will Rath.
bone c1utched at his thoughts again
He wrenched his mind back from the
memory of his dreadful plight to the
solving Of the mystery. Till he had
some glimmering of the meaning Of
what was being done to him, he was
entirely hopeless and helpless. He be-
gan to murmur to himself again.
I'm the first place Gouldesbrough
has got me out OF the way successful.
ly. have disappeared from the world
of men, the field is clear for him. But
he has not killed me. For some rea-
son or other dangerous though 1t may
be for him, he is keeping me alive. It
surely would have been safer for him
to have murdered me in this secret
place, and buried me beneath the
stone flags here? am forced to con-
clude that he is keeping me for an
even worse revenge than that of i'm
mediate extinction. It is torture
enough to imprison me like this, of
course. But, ii the man Is what feel
he ts-not man, but fend-would he
not have tortured me In another way
before now? There are dreadtll pains
that flends can make the body suffer.
One has read CT unbearable agontes in
old books, in the classics. Yet moth
ing Of the sort has been done to me
yet, and have been long In this pris-
on. My food has been plentiful and
Of good quality, even definitely stimu-
lating, have thought at times.
1T is obvious, then, that am not to
be subjected to any of the horrors one
has read of. What is being done to
me? When, each day. am fixed rig
idly upon that couch and the brass
helm1t is put upon my head. what is
going on? I cannot feel any sensation
out of the ordinary when am tied
down there. l am no weaker in body,
my faculties are Just as unimpaired
when am released as they were be-
fore. At least, 1t seems so to me.
can discover no change In myself, eth
or mental or physical.
Something is being done by means
of electricity. The coils of wire that
lead from the helmet to the plug in
the wall show that. The way in which
the couch is insulated, the vulcanite
collar, the rubber pillow, all lead to
the same conclusion At first thought
that torturing current of electricity
was to be directed into the brain
that my faculties, my very soul itself.
were to be dissolved and destroyed by
some subtle means. But it is not SO.
There is no current coming to me
through the wire. Nowhere does my
head touch metal; the cap is lined
throughout with rubber. But yester-
day. as my jailer held up the helmet
to examine it before putting it on my
head, had an opportunity of seeing
the whole interior for the first time.
t'There was very little to see. At
the top was a circular orifice which
seemed to be closed by a thin disc of
some shining material. That was all.
It looked just like the part of tele-
phone into which one speaks. My
brain, my body, are not being acted
upon. Nothing Is being slowly in.
stalled into my being. Can it be that
anything is being taken away?"
He bent his head upon his hands
and groaned in agony. All was dark
and impenetrable; there was no solu-
ton, no help. He was in the grip Of
merciless men. in the clutch of the
unknown.
The electric light in the cell went
out suddenly.
Ito Be continued.)