The Forrest City times., 1913-05-09

!
 l would have risen. but my strength
 was not equal to the test. My muscles
 refused to obey my will and I lay su-
 pine. inert, powerless. I would have
 learned the time, but to seek my
 watch. which I fondly fancied was
 still in my pocket, seemed such an
 enormous exertion that I reluctantly
 gave over the idea. To breathe, to
 draw air into my lungs and expel it.
 was prodigious labor, wearying me. 1t
 appeared. to exhaustion: though with
 every inhalation lucidity of thought
 and. l suppose. physical force as well. were being imperceptibly augmented.
 After a time I found myself listen 1 ing intently for sounds that might ] prove informatory. while with head slightly turned made scrupulous in
 Ventory of the room in which l was cr1bbed. IL was a cramped. confined
 place, upholstered, and furnished with four rough board hunks, one of which l occupied. The other three were empty; but in the scant passageway between my resting place and that op- posite was stool, and upon the stool the pipe and other paraphernalia pe- culiar to opium smoking
 Then, very slowly, there came to me ] realization of the vulpine cunning of | these orientals into whose hands had fallen. l was to be found here, dead, not from inhalation of foul air in an ill-ventilated cellar. which might ex- cite suspicion and provoke inquiry, but sfrom over-indulgence in opium. to which l had probably been addicted for years. unknown even to my closest friends. For the hop fend" there Is small sympathy. no matter what his position, and my family would hesi- tate, therefore, to prosecute, prefer ring to avoid unpleasant publicity.
 Yes; 1t was very clear they had thought me dead, and so had left me here unwatched and unattended with the evidence of my mode of passing theatrically displayed beside me. It only remained now for some employe or visitor to discover me and give the alarm.
 l had about reached this conclusion. after long and desperately trying effort at logical reasoning. when my straining ears detected the sound of footsteps in the passage. The door of the den was slightly ajar and lay well in sight of any passer-by who should glance through the narrow opening.
 Whether to feign death, or boldly
 make known my recovered conscious Eess. was for just moment ques- ton. But before my sluggish brain could decide, choice was snatched from me. The footsteps paused. and simultaneously, 1t seemed, the door swung farther inward. disclosing, not the pig-tailed, greasy-bloused Mongol- ian I had expected, but a white wom- an, tall and shapely. with hair of iron gray and the very kindliest eyes that ever I looked into.
 I made as If to speak, but my swol-
 len tongue refused to perform it's office, and something that may best l be described as gurgle was the re- suit. With that she came to my side, | and for a little regarded me silently. felt that seeing the pipe and the | little peanut-oil lamp. she must draw the natural inference. and. though | there was no reproach in her look, I
 wished, If possible. to correct that false impression. l therefore made 1 effort to gesture denial. employing a | glance to indicate the objects and a very feeble side movement of the l head to express repudiation.
 It is possible that she understood 1 but I question that she believed. | have no recollection that she spoke a
 single word to me, and yet, when she was gone, felt that she would sure 1 ly return to my rescue. And l was
 not misled. l suppose this partial re l lief to my anxiety resulted in a slack
 ening of mental effort on my part. for l I must confess that what followed Is very vague in my memory. l know only that she was accompanied by two men, one white and one yellow who carried me down narrow flight l of stairs, out onto the street and into 1 a waiting cab, l cannot recall that
 spoke. but I learned afterward that 1 had mumbled the word "Loyalton, and thither she accompanied me.
 There a physician came. one whom
 had never seen before and I was dosed with aromatic spirits of am
 monla and made to breathe oxygen through a funnel, by 6 white-clad
 nurse, who also. at intervals, painted
 my ankle with iodine, and. whenever
 I attempted to speak, domineered me
 in a gentle and perfectly ladylike ] manner to silence.
 With regard to sending word to
 Evelyn Grayson, however was in.
 slstent; and though she had refused
 absolutely to gratify my curiosity in other respects, she set my mind at rest on this point by informing me
 that Miss Grayson had called up the Loyalton by telephone several times and had been informed of my condi
 ton five minutes after my arrival at
 my chambers.
 ,