Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-07-11


ooh. yes" grinned the occulist. 9"
know, but l will not tell. Only this
tell: you have seer the man yourself
1t must have been very funny wher
you see him. l tell you what l do. Fine
the nan bring him here and
undo the operation. Yes, find the mar
who bears the picture of your soul OF
his face, and if you can bring hin
} here good! l do as l say. But yor
will kill each other you will never
get him here. Oh! it is very funny.'
And the stone vaulted chamber
echoed with the corrosive merriment
of Abdul.
BY God! I believe you are mad!'
exclaimed Vandraken angrily. "And
what's more, you are about half a ia,
kir! All that talk about planet rays
was fake, just to try to impress me
You're not the only hypnotist on the
platform there are Others
ooh yes, there are Others" laughed
Abdul, "and I'm mad, and a fake. You
have discovered it at last you and
my daughter Elsa. Well, go and dis.
cover the other nan the man with
the picture of your soul on his face,
and then you will be mad" He rams
a bell, and the Hindoo appeared.
Farewell, my %ungrateful young
friend" And he signed to the Hindoo
to conduct Vandraken up the stair.
case.
The young man left Ballyshannon In
such wrath as only one who has been
able to buy anything he wants feels
when a shop is shut in his face. From
a window above the hall Elsa watched
him drive away.
He was not staying at Donoyle Cas-
tie. He had bought an estate on the
opposite side of the river, and moved
into the house. To his surprise and
delight, he found Lord Ancestor, look
Ing lean and brown, waiting for him
on his return that afternoon.
Where have you been all this
timer" Vandraken asked, when they
had finished shaking hands. I'VE were
all beginning to be nor than a trif1e
worried owe not hearing from you IL
so long. Tell us all about it,
Nothing much to tell answered
Lord Ancestor. II was knocking about
the Sahara desert, and got nipped by
a fever had to spend a couple Of
months on a small oasis on my way
back that's what delayed me. But
how about you? l hear you are engag-
ed to marry Lady Kitty, and l don't
like it. You wouldn't either, if you had
a conscience. What have you done
with the Cobra?"
Shipped her off to Zanzibar pres
ent to the Sultan great scheme. She
was going to make trouble, but that's
all right now"
Il wonder" said Lord Ancestor, re-
f1ectively. LOOK here! l oughtn't to
allow this marriage to take place,
knowing what l know; and what's
more, l won't allow it until that damn
ed operation has been cancelled, and
you get unhypnotized and normal.
Are you willing to do that?'
"Oh, Pm willing enough" answered
Vandraken. 81 went to see Abdul
about 1t this afternoon, but the old
devil won't undo the thing. Says it's
more fun watching his invention work
than making any amount of money.
It's no very pleasant to think about,
Ancestor, but I believe that in my
anxiety to get the good of my money
| have put myself in the power Of a
mailman with a mania for experiment.
Ing on human minds. l have paid a
hundred thousand pounds for the priv
ilege of being used as a human guinea
pig by a hypnotic crank. Good joke
on me- what?"
Look here!" said Lord Ancestor,
earnestly. "You are making no mis-.
take, are you. You are certain that
Won Tarsenheim absolutely refuses
to let you out?"
He said that if 1 would find the
other man myself, and bring him to
B~allyshannon, he would unhypnotize
me, but not otherwise"
Does he know where the other
man is?" asked Lord Ancestor.
He says he does. He even claims
that l, myself, have seen him lately
answered V~andraken uneasily. "But
he also asserts that I would never
recognize him. He laughs when he
thinks about it, Ancestor. There is
something devilish about it all. l wish
l was well out of it"
"You shall get out of it, said Lord
Ancestor, between his teeth. 81 start.
ed this ball rolling now I'm going to
stop it. thought we, might have
spared him, but we can't. l let loose
the hounds tomorrow
What are you going to do?-what
can you do against that hooking
fiend?" asked Vandraken eagerly.
"You wait and see,'' answered Lord
Ancestor, lapsing into his tired man,
ner. 81 learnt a little about Won Tar
senheim's game out in the land of
Egypt"
Vandraken had written to Elsa, in.
forming her of her fathers refusal
to end the hypnotic operation until he
found the other man. To his great sur
prise, he received the following let
ter from Elsa a few days later:
Il have found your victim. When
I told my father, he laughed in his
cruel way, and said: very well. |
shall be busy for the next few days,
but If you can get the men to meet
here next Thursday night, aud if, aft
er meeting, they still want me to free
them good! I will do it. But they
must not meet before, or know any
thing of who the other is. That, for