Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1910-09-16


4.tne~er,l~eye- upon .Ing- thep,--and.h NE.
died this morning! he Is dead, and \
Ethe black medicine killed him! Ai-aiis-s
|aiv' screamed the furious man through
1.-The crack Between The atones,
|: Qsnond placed thesnuzzles Of his re-
volvera to&.the crack and said, lift
this stone or I''will kill your And
when there was no reply save wild
sobbing ,laughs che yEngtshman pulled
the trigger, r 49, Z :
Above the noise. of the explosion the
doctor heard a Shrek of pain that
diminished as the Canton man fed
from the sceneei leavingThim alone In
the underground prison house with
little chance Of escape.
After vain endeavor to lift the
stones; that walled, him In he retraced
his way down the steps and turned the
rays Of his lamp about. the chamber ,lb
The image Of the Goddess Of Mercy,
filing two-thirds of the space, was
propped slantingly against one wall.
revealing furnished splendors Of paint
and gilding; the staring, >supercilious
eyes were 'of painted porcelain; but
nowhere was there trace Of the
precious gems with which tradition
/ had loaded the image. =. 80
There was q. movement on the out
stretched hand Of the Goddess of
Mercy. and Osmond started violently;
a small venomous; snake inched its
way up the arm and disappeared over
the shoulder. He turned the light
rapidly here and there, and then, he
understood the full sweetness Of the
Canton mans revenge. while the. skin
about his temples seemed to shrink
with terror
The rays Of the lamp fell on count
less writhing forms of serpents.
The flashing Of the light seemed to
rouse the reptiles to greater; anger;
they Missed loudly until he snapped it
out, but the horror of total darkness
overcame this other fear. and, he
turned it on again. the tense fixed on
the fallen image. :,a.,, !
If he got out. alive he, would have
rich material for, his book. This under
ground chamber could tell him many
things once, rid Of: Its. occupants, : But
he, would meyer get, out alive, So II
would be. of no use TO- him! He laughed
bitterly, and the sound echoed Weirdly
among the rocks There. was q quick
rustltng-and the !serpents had disap.
peared! -. .,
II he could keep. them. away by
shouting he. would, do So. and at the
same time he might be heard. But that
was absurd, for alll bis, native. servants
were .arrant, cowards. and there was
no foreigner nearer than tho town. An
at once, he Remembered that two: ON
GERS from the British cruiser I'm, the
.har bor. were to spend the, evening with
him :, Might. they swender at bis sab:
gence and lopk, for. him q he, who was
never . praying man, called upon God
70 send hisa friends that way Then
be- lifted bis Xotce sapd shouted their lteea
names again and again, ~. ~ ss2x,..}}
:. By, and by; when, be, waa tired 81.
lence rreigned in the chamber, one by
one the snakes came back and stared
at him with slidlleaa, watching eyes. He
gazed at the, porcelain .orbs ;.of . the
Goddess Of Mercy and, thought how, lit
tie mercy there Was q her d1seiple The n
CAUTION man! - ) -. ~, ~ !, r:ts;s -
/. The segpents were becoming OBJ.
no piE t again i! d. and this time he pulled
ont his revolver and aimed at the tiny
/ Viper in the, outsTetched hand. There
Was the, !sFlh sharp tinkle.. Of :. sheltered
porcelain and when. the smoke; settled
down to the door the Goddess, Of Mercy
sim thrust forth an arm. but the hand
was broken: On the door among the
crushed fingers lay, the, straight slim
body Of the dead viper.
Osmond leaned forward and peered
at the half palm extended toward him
His eyes distended and his breath
came sharply. The hand was hollow
and poised on the broken edge was
something that cleaned strangely in
the lamplight! The emperor had been
no fool who had placed his offering
within the hand of the Goddess OF
Mercy! The doctor stretched forth q
hand and. with unbelieving eyes
touched the sparkling green stone; II
fell into his palm and nestled there
while be gloated over it. Reaction
came when be remembered that. he
was prisoner until death!
He shouted again and again. He
lifted his weapon and shot the porce
lain eyes from the staring image. HI
shot at the other hand and saw that i
was wood. he shot at the, kissing
serpents and drove them away from
the stone steps. and then he, mounted
the steps and tried to, throw a flash .o1
light through the crack of the flag
stones.
At last there was a distant shout
an English shout-and he shouted IL
return; he reloaded his weapon and
fired .,recklessly through the cracks
and he flashed his light repeatedly
The shouts grew nearer, and be recog