Year: 1868

from the carriage.


Not a sound was to be heard. All the
great solitude was echoless and void. ut
tered a long, piercing cry as he flung me on
the frozen earth and bade me deliver my
nurse A desire to make myself known
overcame me. / repeated my shrieks, which
he tried to sthe bv placing his hand over
nv mouth This inspired me with new
strength and arose to my teetand lied from
him The door of the cemetery was open,
and rushed in closely pursued by my foe.


The moon had been disappearing behind
a heavy heap Of what appeared to be snow
clouds and now she utterly deserted me at
this critical moment, for | stumbled every
moment against mound or a tombstone. /
traversed with preternatural celebrity these
habitations Of the dead.


But soon his heavy hand again seized me
by the shoulder, and drew me back. My
despair lent me strength. We closed and
Struggled ! forgot his superior power and
resolved TO resist death On his breast he
wore a small peice Of gold, oD which was
engraved many familiar devices In Greek, in
addition to his name Without any object
in view but that of avenging myself, seized
firmly hold Of it, and in the struggle | tore
it off This circumstance he did not at the
time notice In spite of my resistance, he
nuttered between his teeth successful is
sue to the combat. And, as | sank almost
exhausted on the ground, | heard my antag
Onist clasp his knife.


With a startled bound was again on my
feet, and extricated myself from mis- hands
then followed a race for life | few, rather
than ran, with the piece of gold in my hand
had no scruples where | trod now went
straight before him; now eyading his grasp
by passing in and out Of the graves heard
his curses as / ran The darkness was
deepenIng aud all the horrors of my posi-
tion seemed to increase.


Nothing was left t. me but to succumb to
my fate, and suffer the pursuing villain to
take the life he sought. felt my knees
failing, my steps slackened in speed diz-
ziness came over me and the cOnsciousness
that he was close behind me became a GER
tainty, when suddenly a false step on my
part precipitated me iutO a newly dug grave
Of great depth.


l experienced a shock, and the pain l suf-
fered was. acute believed myself injured
to such an extent that my life was despaired
of but | held my peace.


In the midst Of this terrible torture of
mind and body, | listened with a kind Of
savage joy mingled with fear, to the Oaths OF
my seeker, a., stumbling at every step, he
went about from spot to spot, calling me to
leave my proVidential covert for he intended
no harm.


The sound of his receding footsteps be-
came fainter and fniEter and rejoiced
that tired Of the chase, he had left me.


In few moments | heard the sound Of
wheels proceeding rapidly in the direction
we had come, and with feelings akin to hap
piness, ! felt myself alone How long /
continued listening to the retreating wheels
| know not, but ut length the sound ceased


All was as still as death. Then, amid the
hushed silence, arose a sound like that of a
mans feet among the grass. / felt that he
was near. He searching low on the
ground. I even heard breathing above me.
was then impressed that he was seeking
the piece of GOLD which had severed from
him, and listened with exulting triumph to
his fruitless search


At length he likewise became victim to
despair. 1e rose erect and stood quite still,
to detect, if possible, the slightest move
ment in that deathIy enclosure. Then, at
first, slowly and unhesitatingly, he spoke.
Ii alternately made use of threats, now Of
persuasion Sometimes, with tremulous
voice, he would beseech me to discover my
| self but heard even his sObs with relent
| less stoicism.


As | crouched there what unbidden
| thoughts of eternity filed my soul Never
| did the future present itself with such force
to nay half crazed mind, as when hiding
! from the revenge of Il man uninjuTed by me,
| in that little place. Death was, apparently,
my companion. | felt his icy presence ali
around. Within few yards, perhaps "a few
feet Of me, the marrowless bones ana decay
| ing forms of cOrpses were mOuldering away
ut every stroke of time, until, in the process
| they become blended utterly with the moth
er earth,


pictured to myself every horror attend
II
body first touches the primitive element t.
| the last, when all traces, save few bleached
bones, is lost of the image once moving
among men, made giorinus by the immortal
soul, but now shrunken to an atom by the
| withdrawal of the peryading and sustaining
essences of life


The benumbing cold of the air, the dark
| atmosphere, the offensive efiluvia and the
mold did not cOnspire to raise my spirits
! A pang of acute pain sent a thrill through
my frame. At length heard the retreatng
footsteps Of my pursuer, as he groped abOu
the cemetery in search of his concealed vic
tim, become fainter and more faint until
lost them in the distance. ] suspected ht


was lying in wait for me somewhere, hOpin,


to lull me into security by his absence. Bu


a strange sensation that never before ex


perienced possessed me. confusion O


thought rushed simultaneously over ny


brain. My past career swan before me il


uneasy motion. At one moment a certain


event reappeared as another etfaced it. ant
iJ sank in the great ocean of remembrance


My lather, mother and sisters, stood arounC


me. / guzed up into heaven, and fancied j


brightly Illuminated Then a mist bedim
med my sight, and knew no more wha
/ happened thereafter


Il When I awoke to conciousness, I saw
, myself borne along as dead 10y several pei
sons, who were carrying me up what aI
! Epeared the avenue leading to a mansion.


was conscious Of intense pain, which result


ed, as was afterwards pro, ed, from a severe
p " sprained ankle, and ! Immediately san