The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-01-13
The Creeping: Mon


rushing water she was afraid of
something. She had screamed and
tried to jump. It didn't seem as if
she jumped, though, because she
couldn' t remember the water. Why
hadn't she jumped into the water?
Somebody wouldn't let her
somebody had grasped her arms so
tightly that they hurt very badly.
Somebody =. e.. with dreadful face
and blazing eyes had looked at her
and laughed. And Michael couldn't
find her, she had thought. She had
been afraid. He wouldn't know
where to look. So she had broken
the cord of her coral beads and
dropped them.
She could hear that awful laugh
yet Dc. even if it had been only a
dream. She shivered and put her
hand over eyes. 1t was almost as
if that face were still looking down
at her. Someone took hold of her
wrist :. She must wake up. She
tried to rub her eyes. Her hands
wouldn't move.
That laugh again. Her eyes
opened themselves suddenly. That
face! That dreadful, sneering,
hooking smile again. She stared at
it.
"You are awake" the voice was
saying. "Come now, revive your
self. Take deep breath of air. The
air here is quite fresh and pure. /
assure you."
She couldn't believe what she
saw. 1t must be still the dream >.
if only it would stop! Her throat
hurt and she couldn't swallow, She
stared up at the face. 1t was the
face of the man who should have
been Donovan and wasn't. He was
bending over her and holding her
two wrists tightly together. She
struggled. He smiled again.
"You are not quite strong yet, !
am afraid" he said kindly enough.
II don't want you to use your
hands, do you see, so | am just
binding them down to the table,
like this. You would spoil every
thing if you could use your hands.
You might knock my hand the
merest fraction of an inch. and
spoil everything. That has hap
pened before, of course. 1t is most
unfortunate"
"What do you mean?" her voice
was only whisper.
"Ah, so you are yourself again?
Do you know, for a moment was
afraid I had given you too heavy
an anaeSthetic."
No One Suspects
"IXIHERE am II" she muttered.
w He stood up. Her hands were
bound down to her sides now. He
pursed his lips.
Does it matter? You are safe.
Quite safe, / am certain of that.
You see. your husband was not at
home when we left, nor your
friend, Miss Temple. They will not
discover that you have gone, and
when they do, they will not know
where you have gone"
He turned away and went lei
surely across the room to great
cabinet standing against the wall,
a great cabinet with glass doors be-
hind them, rows and rows of shin
ing things like silver knives and
forks. perhaps. Beside the cabinet
was a square iron stove upon
which stood a copper cauldron.
The man looked down at it reflec-
lively.
I'm afraid | hadn't better use
it." he said with regret. "Tha
sparks might possibly betray us,
and that would never do. | have
worried about the fire at times,
you know" he said, turning back
to her. 1.-THE smoke would be so
clearly visible to an observant eye.
But of course, do you know, I
have been using this place for over
a year now, and no one has even
suspected that it exists. The blind
ness of humanity is remarkable.
There have been one or two unfor-
tunate episodes in connection with
it, too" he said unhappily. my
subjects nave not peen IN the pest
of health, of course, and that ex-
plains it. am sure of success to-
night"
What are you going to do with
me?" Tuck's throat was so dry.
He lifted something from the
cabinet before he answered. 1t was
little alcohol stove, she saw, and
he lit it, and put a rectangular
basin of water over it to heat.
"Do with your" he asked smil-
ing. You know, I don't believe I'll
bother explaining it to you. | have
explained it to one or two of them
and believe it really interferes
with the success of the experiment.
1t is, of course, a very delicate one;
and perhaps the state of mind of
the patient really has something to
do with it. In fact ] am sure it has"
He was working, now, as he talked.
his hands moving quickly over a
strengthening thing he took from
the cabinet, a thing of bright, shin
ing metal and long rubber tubes
with metal caps.
There was a door down at the
end of the room opposite her, a
door set into the dingy gray &C.
ment of the walls. She did not hear
anything, but suddenly the man
turned and stared at it. He walked
swiftly across and through it, and
she could see him looking down at
something below him in there.
Lifting her head as far as she could,
and straining her eyes into the
darkness, she could make out the