Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-01-19

"Stopi Stopl' I cried again and again,
but could net make my warning heard
above the terrific blows (which the two
frantic men were battering down the door
of my cell. 1t was horrible to think that
was descending farther and farther into
pit; with every culver Of that door,
farther and farther away from chance
of rescue. 1t was horrible to realize that
each fresh effort which Spence and Archer
made in my behalf drove me closer to
! destruction
The closet in which I was shared did
not move evenly and smoothly like the
cage Of a modern elevator. I suppose
that its peculiar mechanism was another
triumph of those ancient masons, whose
craftsmanship the engineer admired so
much. 1t worked by sharp jerks. Each
blow on the door logged some nicely adj
justed stone In the wall, it seemed to
me, and swung the stone a little out OF
place. Then down went the cell in which
/ stood. 1t dropped a notch and stopped.
AS a chain slips over The cog of a wheel
and catches, so my cell dropped by inches
topped-dropped-u / felt sure l
would go mad with the sheer terror Of
the experience.
remembered with horror that 1t didn't
make ans difference whether the door
was pounded from the inside or the out
side! The quaint mechanism worked ex-
actIy, either way. Obviously, it had been
invented to tantalize the prisoner; by its
slowness and @ureness, it prolonged the
agony of the descent
Even in the midst of my fright !
couldn't help wondering If the thing had
been invented, as ] imagined, for the pun
ishment Of erTing nuns, condemned to
death in that dreadful olden time when
the harsh inquisitors ruled in Mexico.
Surely, the device had been intended for
use, and because 1t actually old exist 1
had to take 1t for granted that other pris-
oners had died-as I myself was about
to die! Other girls had gone mad as
l myself was doing
I would know when 1 was quite mad,
I told myself, because then I, too, would
hammeT-h the door to make it
move faster and faster down-down-to
what?
As one etherized for a surgical opera
tion, I felt myself slipping into black
ness; nevertheless, the comfort of com
plete oblivion was never quite realized.
l remained vaguesly conscious, uncom-
fortably aware that something frightful
was in store for me- 1t was going to
happen the minute Spence and Archer
stopped pounding. Then I would be at
the bottom of the pit. What awaited me
there?
1 hadn't lived a very long life, 1 told
myself, in what I believed to be my last
meditation on earth. 1 had lived through
q short but an awfully crowded existence.
Chapters of it swirled before me and each
chapter flung me off into some succeed
ing chapter Of important adventure.
Life seemed to be just like a game Of
'crack the whip" l saw myself as 4
little child at the end of the "whip.''
I was Cracked off" time after time-and
thrown into different groups of children.
At last I had been cracked OFF, into
nothingnessl That seemed very queer
Nothingness was plainly, death
The idea that l might die suddenly, IN
expectedly, had always been a long way
from my thoughts. Destiny had been
Kind to my clam Not one of my line
had ever come to a violent end by acct
dent or murder.
Was I to be the first Of my family to
perish miserably?
Or would the family luck hold for me !?
It wouldn't unless 1 compelled 1t to
hold, l warned myself. By a mighty eff
fort Of will 1 threw off the enveloping
faintnsss and screamed again.
thought that heard a mans voice
answering from somewhere below me.
I thought it was my husbands voicel
knew that my imagination was decelving
me- I must be mad at last!
Archer and Spence would never stop
battering at the wall until 1t gave way.
How shocked, how Mortified they would
be to find that it opened into pit.
felt sorry for them. 1 felt sorry for
myself because had dreamed that Bob's
voice had answered my shrieks Copy
right, 1920.
ITO BE Continued.)