The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1918-11-14
the expression on your SWANS
mobile features! -.

the expression on your swain S
mobile featurest!".
He broke off, seized with a fit
of laughter hat shook his out
stretched arm, impaired the most
savage look to his face, and set
his legs jerking under his body
like the legs of a dancing doll.
His enemy was growing weak
er before his eyes. Don Luis's
fingers, which had first gripped
the roots of the grass, were now
vainly clutching the stones of the
wall. And his shoulders were
sinking lower and lower into the
well.
"We We done it!' spluttered
villain, in the midst Of his convul-
sions of merriment. Lord, how
good it is to laugh! Especially
when n so seldom does. Yes.
I'm a wet blanket, | am a first
rate man at a funeral! You've
never seen me laugh, Florence,
have your But this time it S real
~ too amusing. Lupin in his hole
and Florence in her grotto; one
dancing a jig above the abyss and
the other at her last gasp under
her mountain. What a sight!
Come, Lupin, don't tire your
self! What's the use of those
grlmaces? You're not afraid of
eternity, I you? A good nan
like you, the Don Quixote of
modern times! Come, let your
self go. There's not even any
water i'll the well to splash about
in. No, it's just a nice little slide
into infinity. You cam so much
as hear the sound of a pebble
when you drop it in; and just
now | threw a piece Of lighted pa
per down and lost sight Of it in
the dark. Brrrr! 1t sent a cold
shlver down my back!
Come, be a man. It'll only
take a moment and you've been
through worse than that!
Good, you nearly did it then.
You're making up your mind to
1t. | say, Lupin +!
Lupin! Aren't
you going to say good-byeY Not
a smile, not a word of thanks?
Au reyoir, Lupin, au revoir--"
He ceased. He watched, for the
appalling end which he had so
cleverly prepared and of which
all the incidents were following
close on one another in accord,
ance with his inflexible will.
It did not 9 take long. The
shoulders had gone down; the
chain; and then the mouth conf
vulsed with the death grin; and
then the yes, drunk with terror
and then the forehead and the
hair: the whole head, in short,
had disappeared.
The cripple sat gazing wildly,
as though in ecstasy, motionless,
with an expression Of fierce de-
light, and without a word that
could trouble the silence and in
terrupt his hatred.
At the edge of the abyss moth
ing remained but the hands, the
obstinate, stubborn, desperate.
heroic hands, the poor, helpless
hands which alone still lived, and
which gradually. retreating to-
ward death, yielded and fell back
and let go.
The hands had slipped. For a
moment the fingers held on like
claws. So natural was the effort
which they made that it looked
as if they did not even yet des-
pair, unaided, of resuscitatipg
and bringing back to the light Of
day the corpse already entombed
in the darkness. And then they
in their turn gave way. And
then-and then, suddenly, there
was nothing more to be seen and
nothing more to be heard.
The cripple started to his feet.
as though released by a spring,
and yelled with delight:
"Oof! That's done it! Lupin
in the bottomless pit! One more
adventure finished! Oof!"
Turning in Forence's direction
he once more danced his dance Of
death. He raised himself to his
full height and then suddenly
crouched down again, throwing
about his legs like the grotesque,
ragged limbs of a scarecrow. And
he sang and whistled and belched
forth insults and hideous bias
phemies.
Then he came to the yawning
mouth Of tho rrnll and Ma4an