Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-05-24

Erik! have turned the scorpion"
Oh. the second through which we
passed!
Waiting! Waiting to find ourselves
in fragments, amid the roar and the
ruins!
Feeling something crack beneath
our feet, hearing an appalling hiss
through the open trap-door. hiss like
the first sound OF a rocket!
1t came softly, at first, then louder,
then very loud. But 1t was not the
hiss of fire. 1t was more like the
hiss Of water. And now it became q
gurgling sound: "Guggle! Guggle!'
We rushed to the trap-door. All our
thirst, which vanished when the ter
ror came. now returned with the lap
ping of the water.
The water rose in the cellar, above
the barrels, the Observation-Disclosures
rels! Barrels! Any barrels
to sell?"-and We went down to II
with parched throats. It rose to our
chins, to our mouths. And we drank,
We stood on the floor of the cellar
and drank. And we went up the stairs
again in the dark. step by step, went
up with the water.
The water came out of the cellar
with us and spread over the floor OF
the room. II this went on, the whole
house on the lake would be swamped.
The floor of the torture-chamber had
itself become regular little lake, In
which our feet splashed. Surely there
was water enough now! Erik must
turn of the tap!
Erik! Erik! That ia water enough
for the gunpowder! Turn OF the tap!
Turn Off the scorpion!"
But Erik did not reply. We heard
nothing but the water rising: it was
halfway to our waists!
"Christine!" cried M. de Chagny.
"Christine! The water Is up to our
knees!"
But Christine did not reply. {.
We heard nothing but the water ris-
ing.
No one, no one in the next room,
no one to turn the tap, no one to turn
the scorpion!
We were all alone. in the dark. with
the dark water that seized US and
clasped US and froze US!
Erik! Erik"
"Christine! Christine!"
BY this time, we had lost our foot.
hold and were spinning round in the
water, carried away by an irresistible
whirl, for the water turned with US
and dashed us against the dark mir
ror, which thrust US back again; and
our threats, raised above the whirl-
pool, roared aloud.
Were We to die here, drowned in
the torture-chamber? l had never
seen that. Erik, at the time OF the
rosy hours of Mazenderan, had never
shown me that, through tho little in.
visible window.
Erik! Erik" I cried. II saved
your life! Remember! You
were sentenced to death! But for
me. you would be dead now!
Erik"
We whirled around in the water
like so much wreckage. But, sudden
ly, my straying hands seized the trunk
Of the iron tree! called NJ. de
Chagny, and We both hung to the
branch Of the iron tree.
And the water rose still higher.
"Oh! OIL Can you remember!
20 hntu
the branch OF the tree and the dome
shaped ceiling? Do try to remember!
After all, the water may stop.
1t must find its level! There.
think 1t is stopping! No. no.
oh, horrible! Swim! Swim
for your life!"
Our arms became entangled in the
effort Of swimming; We choked; We
fought in the dark water; already we
could hardly breathe the dark air
above the dark water, the air which
escaped. which we could hear escap-
ing through some vent-hole or other.
"Oh, let US turn and turn and turn
until we find the air hole and then
glue our mouths to it,"
But lost my strength; tried to
lay hold of the walls! oh, how those
glass walls slipped from under my
cropping fingers! We whirled
round again! We began to
sink! One last effort! ..
A last cry:
Erik! Christine!
"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our
ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the
bottom of the dark water. our ears
went. "Guggle! Guggle!"
And, before losing consciousness en-
tirely, seemed to hear. between two
guggles:
BARRELS! Barrels! Any barrels to
seu?"
(To be continued)
Escapes an Awful Fate.