River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1917-05-03

| nerves ud not Detray him. He lay
like dead man. never f1inching.
| Ho Pin, releasing the eyelid, NUT
| tered something gutturally and stole
| away from the bed as silently as he
had approached it. Silently he stole
from the room and silently closed the
! door,
Soon NJ. Max was conscious of a mo
mentary nervous tremor. for now
! woman stood regarding him. She
/ wore Chinese costume. A huge red
| Dppy was in her hair. Her beauty
| vas magnifcently evil. She had the
grace of a gazelle and the eyes of a
| ;Orceress. He had deceived Ho Pin.
but could he deceive this Eurasian
with the witch eyes wherein burned
ancient wisdom?
/ He felt rather than saw her ap-
| proach. for now he ventured to peep
no more. She touched him lightly
/ upon the mouth with her fingers and
laughed a little, low, ripping laugh.
| the sound of which seemed to trickle
along his sensory nerves Jelly. She
bent over him-lower-lower and low
er yet-until above the nauseating
odOr of the place he could smell the
musk perfume of her hair. Yet lower
she bent With every nerve in his
body he could feel her nearing pres
ence.
She kissed him on the lips.
Again she laughed in that wicked.
eerie glee.
ooh, my beautiful one!" the woman
said softly. and her voice was low and
weirdly sweet MY pretty one"' Again
| she laughed a musical peal. II will
creep to you in the poppy land where
you go, and you shall Irvine your fin
gers in my hair
The witch grooming died away into
murmur, and the Frenchman became
conscious of the withdrawal of that
presence from the room. No sound
came to tell of the reclOsing of the
door. but the obsessiOn was removed.
the spell raised.
Again he inhaled deeply the tainted
air, and again he opened his eyes eau
tiously.
He had no warranty to suppose that
he should remain unmOlested during
the remainder of the night. Could he
be certain that he was secure? N.y;
he could be certain that he was not!
The shaded lamp was swung in sr.ch
a position that most of the light was
directed upon him where he lay. while
the walls Of the room were bathed in
purple shadow. Behind him AMI
above him, directly over the head OF
the bunk. a faint sOund-a sound in
audible except in such a dead silence
as that prevailing of some shut
ter being raised or opened. He had
trained himself to watch beneath low
cred lids without betraying that he
was doing so by the slightest nervous
twitching.
Now. as he covertly watched the
purple shaded lamp above him he OBJ
served that it was swaying and NOV
ing very gently, whereas hitherto it
had f1oated motionless in the still air.
No other sound came to guide him.
and to have glanced upward would
have been to betray all.
For the second time that night he
! became aware of one who watched
him, became conscious of observation
without the guaranty of his physical
senses. And beneath this new surveil-
lance there grew up such a revulsion
of his inner being as he had rarely eX-
perienced. The perfume Of roses be-
came perceptible, and for some occult
reason It's fragrance disguised.
The lamp swung gently to and fro.
turning slowly to the right and then
revolving again to the left, giving life
n it's gyrations to the intermingled
figures on the walls. The atmosphere
Of the room was nauseating. 1t was
beginning to overpower him.
Stealthily watching the lamp, he saw
that the arc described by its gyra-
lions was diminishing with each sue
cesSive swing, and as he watched its
movements grew slighter and slighter
until finally it became quite stationary
again, floating, purple and motionless.
upon the stagnant air.
Very slowly he ventured to change
his position. for his long ordeal was
beginning to induce cramp. The faint
creaking Of the metal bunk seemed, in
the dead stiffness and to his highly
tensed senses, like the rafting of cas-
tanets.
For ten minutes he lay in his new
position, then moved slightly again
and waited for fully three-quarters of
an hour. Nothing happened, and he
now determined to proceed with his in
Quiries.
Sitting upon the edge of the bunk.
he looked about him, first directing his
attention to that portion of the wall
Immediately above. So cunningly was
the trap contrived that he could find
no trace of it's existence. Carefully
balancing himself upon the rails on
either side of the bunk. he stood up
and peered closely about that part of
the wall from which the sound had
seemed to come. He even ran his fin
gers lightly over, the paper up as high
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