The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-02-27

me upstairs to a small room, which
| appeared to be in the centre of the
| building, as there were no windows
! opening from it, light being furnished
| by means of single gas jet, which
was kept burning at all times.
This is my laboratory" said my
host, with pride This is where my
| idea first came to me, and where l
| have worked out all The details. See
here is the Destroyer itself. That's
| the name l have given my invention.
| have perfected it. so that it only
requires the addition of the contents
Of this bottle to start it, he explain
ed. at the same time taking bottle
| filled with some liquid from shelf.
Three minues after this is added
nothing can stop an explosion, which
would have force enough to totally
demolish this entire building
But, professor" l said, you have
| not given me the names of the ingre-
dents which go to make up the ex-
plosive"
and you could hardly expect me
to do that-yet. I must first protect
my patent right and in the meantime
must keep my secret" replied the
professor.
AS he spoke, he walked toward the
machine, which appeared similar to
a large clock, and was constructed OF
/ heavy iron. He still held the bottle
in his hand. Suddenly, his foot
catching in a torn place in the car
! pet, he was thrown violently; the
| bottle fell from his hand and was
| dashed to pieces against the top OF
the machine.
He arose, pale as death, and ap'
peared to be terribly excited.
60! Get out of here!" he cried.
'The contents of that bottle have
gone in with the rest. Come! No
time to explain now-run for your
life! This building will be wreck
in three minutes!" And without
waiting to see whether followed or
| not, he dashed from the room, slam
ming the door after him.
l started to follow, but found to
| my horror that the door on which
| was a spring lock was fast. 1t was
of solid oak-I could not force it. l
| was locked into the room with an
! explosive about to go off. and had no
power to hinder the catastrophe.
l turned to the machine. 1t was
| iron covered and resisted my every
| effort to reach the inside. If the pro-
lessor spoke the truth, had less than
two minutes to live.
| The old farmhouse, the meadows,
the brock where used to fish. the
schoolhouse, all came back to me in
| that short time l thought of my
parents and my sister, waiting, look.
ing forward to the holiday, and the
! family reunited. Would they ever
hear what had become of me? The
newspapers would, no doubt, have an
| account of fatal explosion, but with
out the details.
| Oh, why had l been foolish enough
to let my curiosity lead me into such
trap? Had I said good-by to the
| professor when we left the train, l
would not now be facing death in a
little eight by ten foot room.
l noticed that the machine seemed
to vibrate; a dull. clicking sound
| came from the inside, followed by
| sound like escaping steam. l crowd
| ed myself into the furthest corner OF
the room. Suddenly the machine
seemed to rise and rend itself asun-
der. l was conscious of dull glare,
grinding sort of roar; the walls
seemed to collapse all at once, and
| then
| Worcester, Worcester"
woke with start and picked my
self up from the floor of the car,
| where l had slid from my seat while
asleep. The train glided into a large
covered station. We had arrived at
Worcester. Boston was still little
over one hours ride distant.
did you notice a passenger in TIE
seat opposite me?" asked of man
| in the seat ahead. "A tall gentle
man wearing glasses"
eyes," he answered. HE left the
train, I think, at Hartford. "-Wav-
erly Magazine.