THE WHIRL OF THE WINDLASS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10953, 1 May 1901, Page 3

THE WHIRL OF THE WINDLASS.

A COMEDY OF ERRORS IN A COLLEGE TOWN.

Bt Jlarvis Da>"a. CHAPTER I. " Give mc a pound of your best chocolate creams," I said to the clerk. With the sweets stowed away safely in mj overcoat pocket. I walked out of the shop and up the main street of the small New England town toward the college campus. I was absurdly happy, and, indeed. I had reason to be. I was young: my health and my spirits were perfect. I had jnst entered college, and as a "freshman" I found my studies light and my amusements engrossing:. There were the class feuds, the sports, the social gaieties, and in every one the wonderful sense of liberty that had newly come to intoxicate mc. For the first, time* in my life I was living awaiy from home, and" the institutions of the college placed no restriction on my individual freedom. None in the shape of professor, tutor, proctor, or janitor even; lived within a quarter of a mile from the college buildings. The halls and chapel stood aloof from the town, alone on the dignified expanse of wooded campus. The portals of the dormitories were never barred; the grounds were undefended by walls or gates. Each student had liberty sufficient to satisfy the fondest theories of an anarchist. The only rule of conduct was undergraduate caprice. The college limited its discipline to a system of marks, for absence from chapel or class-room, or for tardiness, and in too great accumulation of these marks lay "suspension' , for a term, or, finally, expulsion. Otherwise, ns to the moral character of the men, there was really little need of official investigation, for the gossip of the village left nothing hidden. This curious absence of formal control, at that time common in American colleges, was offset by the fact that the limited number of students permitted the president and faculty personally to know every undergraduate. The intimacy thus rendered possible gave to the teachers % remarkable power of personal authority over the I youths. But I was meditating on none of these things. Rather, I was thinking of the destined consumer of the sweets I carried. Surely, there was never another girl so beautiful as my cousin Jane. Her skin was whiter than the winter's snow that stretched its radiant purity far as eve could reach over the Vermont Valley. Her cheeks were as daintily rose as the evening clouds that hung over the western mountains. Her eyes were dark and deep as the waters tumbling from their thrall of ice down into the falls of the Otter Creek, just to the right from the bridge I crossed. And her 'step was light as the darting of the snow-birds, bey voice soft as the soughing of the wind among the pines of the campus, to which I had now come. In short, I was desperately in love with my kirswi>m:in, desper.iteJy in love, as every undergraduate is doomed to be with some girl or another. At this very moment I was thrilling with delight at the prospect of an evening in company with Jane. Jane's father lived in the village, and, as the sleighing was now excellent, I had obtained from him permission to take his daughter, and Bobs, his four-year-old colt, auc! t!.e "cutter" sleigh foi a drive that night. It was the anticipation of this sleigh-ride with the girl of my heart that filled, mc with wild joy and caused mc to finger lovingly the packet of sweets I had purchased for her. The short winter twilight faded as I came to the dormitories. I entered my room and lighted the lamp before making any preparations for the trip. Then I threw off my heavy cloth overcoat and put on instead a huge one of buffalo skin, with a collar that, when turned up, reached above my head. In place of the knitted toque I had been wearing I donned a cap of sealskin, unfolded so that it could be> drawn over my forehead, cheeks, and ears. I encased my boots in high arctic overshoes, and drew on a pair of fur mittens, for gloves are cold comfort in a long drive through icy air, and thus equipped I went gaily out of my room and set forth on the mile walk to my cousin's home at the far end of the town. It was bitterly cold, the thermometer marked far below zero, but there was little movement in the dry air, and the oxygen of it was like champagne to the blood. Soon I came to my destination, where I found all in readiness. In five minutes Jane and I were in the cutter, warmly wrapped in a great fur robe, a heated stone at her feet. I shook the reins, the colt bounded forward, his cincture of bells jangled merrily, and we were off! '"'We'll take the Bridport road to the Ledges, then cut across to the West Cornwall road, and come back by it," I said to Jane. "Why, that's ten or twelve she pouted. "I'll be frozen to death." "Nonsense!" I answered. "That stone Trill keep hot all the way." "I'm not at all cold—yet," was her gentle answer It was as well, perhaps, for the colt was lively, and lie required all my attention. Fortunately the track was hard, and I could let him have his pace without any danger of accident. The stinging air rushed by us and smote our faces cruelly in the passing. Jane drew her head lower and turned to my shoulder. The tears froze on my lashes. But the bite of the frost was as nothing compared with the wondrous beauty and charm of the time. To the limit of sight the earth was shrouded in holy white, that shone, dazzling, like sheeted diamonds beneath the moon. In the heavens were no clouds, no mist or smoke tainted the air; it was limpid purity to lung and eye. The baying of a watch-dog at some distant farmhouse was the sole sound that broke the stillness, save those of our flight—chime of the bells and crisp creaking of snow beneath the sleigh's runners. * For an hour we drove swiftly and we had covered about seven miles. The colt now went more quietly, so that I ventured to take thought of courtship. To this end I recalled the chocolate creams. "Confound it! , * I cried angrily., "What?" asked Jane. "Whiy," I replied, disconsolately, "I bought some chocolate,? for you." "Why, I don't know that's anything to be ashamed of," my cousin retorted- "Give them to mc." "I can't," I answered, "I've forgotten them. I left them in my other overcoat." "How stupid of you!" she exclaimed with entire candour. "Then you ought not to have said anything about them. I was contented enough until you mentioned chocolates. Now I'm perfectly wretched, and I shall be until I have "them—or forget about them." "Do forget," I urged. "How can I if you will keep on talking about them?" was the unjust retort. "I have it!" I cried triumphantly. "Oh. I'm so glad! Give " "Not them —it," I i#.errupted. "I know how we'll manage. We Jiave to pass the campus on our way home. I'll leave you to hold Bobs, and I'll run across to my room and get the chocolates." "You're a dear fellow," Jane said tenderly. "But," she added, "you'll have to wad* through the snow, for there's no path across the campus from the road." I only laughed in answer. It seemed to mc a very beautiful thing that I should ecramble through a quarter of a mile of deep drift-3 for the sake of my lady's sweets.

CHAPTEE H

I shall pass over our conversation from this point to the time when I drew up Bobs opposite the south side of the college campus. It is enough to say that the moments flew on golden wrings." Wlen I jumped out of the cutter into three feet of snow, I only wished that it were vastly deeper—a, whirlpool, a pit of lions, anything dreadful, that thus I might display my devotion. Bobs fretted at the pause, and I said to Jane: "Are you sure you can hold him?" "Ye-es," she replied. "But don't be long. I shouldn't be able to do anything with him if I get chilled." "I won't be a moment," I promised, and forthwith I set off wallowing through the snow-drifta. It took mc fifteen minuUe of exbansting

toil to do the distance, and despite my chivalry, I .was • thankful when at last I placed "my feet on the packsd snow of a path. I ran up the two flights of stairs to my room and felt .ibqjit hastily for the cloth overcoat in which were the chocolates. I could not lay ray hand on it in the dark- | boss, so finally I struck a match. By this light 1 -caught sight of the garment* lying on the floor, where it had fallen from a chair. The match burned my fingers, and I Iropped it hastily. Then I moved forwarl to secure the chocolates. At this moment a knock sounded on my door. "Come in," I called, and I continued my search. The door swung open, and a voice greeted mc, that of Beamy, one of my classmates, and a particular chum. 'Hello!" was his exclamation. "What the dickens are you all in the dark for? Sick?" "No," I exclaimed, "I only just ran in to get something, and am going right out ag&n." Beamy had, however, struck a match, and he now set the lamp alight. • "Wait a minute," he said. "I want to show you something." "No*" I objected. "I can't stop. Tve an important engagement." "Engagement be hanged! You can take ' time to look at this squirt-gun." "Not a minute," I persisted. Then I explained the circumstances. "Jane will be frozen to death, or run away with, or' angry, if I'm not right back," I concluded. "It's too bad," was my friend's comment. "I've just finished making this gun out of that laboratory tube. The piston works like a charm. It'll send a stream of water fifty yards. It's a beauty!" I could* not resist a temptation to take the squirt-gun into my hands. "Don't move it," Beamy cried, as I took hold of the piston. "It's loaded with water, and I'm going to try it on Sevance." The scheme enraptured mc. Sevance was in his second-year, and the feud that always rages beween freshmen and sophomores had by him been made an excuse for so many abuses that all my class detested the man. We had recently set about contriving some means of troubling our enemy. Beamy's gun was the first practical result. "Is he in?" I asked. "Oh, yes, 'he's in and hard at work," Beamy answered.'Tve just reconnoitred. He's sitting at the table in his study. I could just see him through the keyhole, he's straight in line with it." - "Why, then, you might hit him through the door," I exclaimed. For the moment I forgot Jane. "It's a sure thing," Beamy replied complacently, while he toyed proudly with the squirt. "Come and see mc draw a bead on him." We left the room stealthily, and went on tip-toes up the stairway. Sevance's study was t'he first on the landing at the top. Beamy stooped and peered through the keyhole. Then he straightened himself and beckoned mc to look. I knelt and put my eye to the opening. "-There was Sevance seated, leaning against the table, hard at work over a book that he read by the lignt of a shaded lamp. I gave up nay place and Beamy softly put the nozzle of the squirt against the keyhole in the door. Then he pushed the piston with all his might. There was a swift hiss, a shout of fear, a crash! For an instant I felt a vague alarm. Then I thrilled with joy. The shot had taken full effect. From the peculiar sound of breaking ,glass I judged that the stream of water from the squirt had hit the lamp and destroyed it. Certainly, all was darkness in the room; there was no longer a yellow bar of light beneath the door. But we were given little time for rejoicing. A sudden movement within the room warned us to seek safety in flight from the outraged sophomore's wrath. Beamy darted down the stairs before mc, whisked" around the corner, and vanished in the gulf of darkness beyond. I followed him with all haste, but as I sprang down the steps I heard the door behind mc open, and I realised that capture threatened mc if I trusted to outrunning the avenger, for my cumbrous coat hampered speed. Chi the impulse of the moment I dodged into my study and bolted the door. This act was" fraught'with dire consequences. Sevance was so close behind that he knew his enemy had sought refuge in my room. Whether his foe was myself or another he neither knew nor cared. Enough for him —his belief that the guilty shatterer of his lamp was beyond that door. Forthwith the sophomore set himself to the task of breaking in the oak. I listened to his desperate assault with much misgiving, for he was a man grown, while I was a mere lad, and I knew that once in his grasp I was not likely to escape without a sound thrashing. The fact that I was not the actual culprit mattered little, since Sevance would listen to no protestations until too late to save mc from punishment. So I stood quaking as the door creaked and groaned and the bolt strained against the catch. In a quick impulse of fear I seized on my heavy desk and pushed it against the door. This reinforcement served its purpose. The oak now rested immobile, despite the blows tie besieger rained against it. Suddenly, I remembered Jane. The adventure had driven her for the moment out of my thoughts. But now her desolate waiting image rose before mc and filled mc, with grief. 'Heavens! She'll freeze!" I. muttered, aghast at this predicament. "I must get back." But this was easier to assert than to accomplish. It was useless to meditate a sortie. To do so would be only to insure aching boneS, and probably a broken head, for Sevance was not gentle in his methods of fighting. Yet there seemed no other way of escape possible, since the windows were forty feet from the ground. "If I only had a rope!" I thought, "I might slide down it." I set about searching, though I knew that the task must be fruitless. I spent five minutes in vain prying here and there, hunting for that which I knew I did not possess. The uproar at the door , ceased at last, but I could hear movements in the hallway, and I was well aware that flight in that direction remained impossible. "At least," I argued, "he can't remain there watching all night. He's sure to go soon. Meantime, however, poor Jane must be fast leiirning to hate mc." "Great Scott!" I cried at last, "I can't stind this any longer. He may break every bone in, my body, .but if he leaves the breath of life in mc, I'll crawl back to Jane!" Without waiting for my desperate courage to cool I pushed the desk away from before the door, drew back the bolt, "turned the knob, and pulled on it. To my amazement the door did not open. I pulled again, harder. The door remained fast. I looked to the bolt, it was free; to the eaten, it was unfastened. Then I took both hands to the knob and strained at it until my muscles quivered like aspens. But is was all of no avail. I could not understand it. Somehow the door had been secured, but in what manner I could not imagine. Afterwards, I learned that Sevance had made use of a mithod common in the college, though a.3 yet unfamiliar to mc. He had screwed two hinges on the door and dxior-post, onehalf of either hinge on the door, the other half on the post. Thus the door Avas fixed rigidly, and no amount of effort from within could open it. Of this fact I soon became convinced, and as I realised my position I was appalled, for Jane's words as I left her had been: "Don't be long."

CHAPTER m.

I was aroused from my stupor of despair by the sound of something striking against the glass of my study window. So distraught was I by evil fortune, my first belief was that this came from a new attack by the sophomore. However, I ventured to reconnoitre, and I was relieved to see a solitary figure standing on the path below-, which "from its slenderoess I knew could not be that of the enemy. I raised the window cautiously and leaned out. "Hullo, there!" came in a guttural whisper from the mysterious person below. In tb« voice I detected the familiar tones

of Beamy. Hopa burned again in m v ' bosom. " * "lhank goodness, it's you," I answered softly. "I can't get out!" "I know," was Beamy's reply, "they've i 'hinged' your door. I scouted in the haJT". - All the sophomores oil. the top floor are on guard and looking for trouble. They ai-, i most caught mc." * \ ' !!- ut ? must Bet8 et aw " a . v '" I exclaimed. ! "That's what I supposed. The girl's j waiting for you?" ! "Yes, and she'll be frozen stiff!" I • groaned. - "Well, old chap, for your sake. I'll go\ and take her home myself." and the fellow chuckled. However, he was duly punished for this untimely mirth. * 1 "You just nelp mc out of here," I said , I by W BJ* °.f answer. "An rig"ht', if you insist." Beamy replied. j "Tve got a rope here. But you must let down something to pull it up with." "I haven't anything that will reach.' , I? objected. * v But Beamy was superior to this difficulty. "Oh, * anything will do." he said airily. "Use the sheets, and the bedspread, and your shirts, and trousers. Buthurry up! It's like the North Pole out-of-doors to-night." I thought of the waiting Jane, and I shuddered. I seized on all that Beamy had suggested, knotted the motley collection together, and lowered it out of the window. It hung a little short, but a tablecloth filled out the distance. The moment that Beamy was able to reach ,my line he called out. "All right!" and, then, to my astonishment, he began to pull off his coat. "What are you doing?" I questioned. "I wound' a rope round my body first and then .put the coat on over it, so that it would not be detected by the enemy if they saw mc," was the cheerful response of this strategist. I held my line and watched impatiently while Beamy, in his shirt-sleeves, stood shivering below, tying the rope fast. Finally, to my joy, he cried: "All ready!" Let her igo!" At that t gave an impetuous pull, and Beamy went sprawling in the snow. He cried out angrily: "Stop it, Ned! Go slow! Give mc time to unwind!" He" struggled to his feet, 2fnd began rapidly twirling about, like a dervish in ecstacy. I now- understood that I could pull up the rope no faster that Beamy could unwind it by turning on his own axis. So I restrained my impatience as best I could, though urging him to hasten. "Burst it! I'm dizzy enough as it is," "he grumbled, "and my arms are frozen. I've a mind to quit!" "Oh, it's halfway up now," I cried; "just be patient a minute." Indeed, very rapidly the distance between mc and the end of the rope shortened, as I pulled on my line above while Beamy rotated below. Soon I came to the first of the two sheets on my line, and I rejoiced, for the next sheet would bring the rope. There was a sudden sharp sound above my head. Then there came a rush of icy water that drenched my face and neck. A yell of rage came from below, echoed by riotous mirth from the window above. Evidently the enemy had discovered us, and had rushed to the assault. The jug of water they had emptied out of the window above mine had splashed me—it had found its victim in Beamy; him it had drenched to the skin. A violent tug on the line nearly pulled it from my grasp. In return I clutched it fiercely and pulled with all my strength. I knew well that the shivering wretch below mc was struggling to flee from the wrath to come. But I thought of Jane waiting, and I was pitiless. "Let ,go! Let go!" roared Beamy. I made no answer, only set my teeth and pulled. I prayed that "the knots in the sheets might hold. And they did! There was no escape for Beamy. Raging and spluttering and shaking he was forced to unwind himself. Thus the rope came nearer. The mirth overhead waxed. Then the ■orrent began. Down poured the icy tide on the devoted head of Beamy. That unfortunate ally howled with wrath and spun about to the tune of eophomoric jeers like a teetotum gone mad. Suddenly, I fell flat on my back. The lower end of the rope was free. I jumped up and looked out of the window. Beamy had vanished. Above mc the laughter continued, but I paid no heed! to it. I was determined on escape, whatever the cost. To this end I dragged in all the length of rope, and carried it into my bed-chamber. There I fastened one ..end of it to a- leg of the bedstead. Then I opened the chamber window and let the rope down. This done I prepared for the descent. I took off my mittens and thrust them in my pocket. Next, 1 climbed upon the window ledge. Then, taking a firm hold on the rope, I let myself slide over. Instantly a joyful whoop sounded above mc, and I heard a rush of feet to the overlooking window. However, I let myself down carefully, resolved not to be dismayed by the threatened attack, or even by the terrible swinging hazard of my position as I held desperately to the rope with chilling- fingers. I was about half-way down when the deluge fell upon mc. Despite all my resolves the douche startled mc, and I lost my grip on the rope. At once I began slipping. The clutch of my cold fingers served only to retard my fall. The friction of the rope on the palms of my hands burned them intolerably. When the second flood poured upon mc I gave one loud cry and shot straight downward Jike a stone. The distance I fell was hardly more than ten feet, but I struck on the solid path, and the shock stunned mc for a moment. The occasion was improved, by the sophomores, who emptied their jugs on mc yet once again. This treatment speedily revived mc to new energy. I scrambled to my feet and set off running across the south campus toward Jane—Jane who was waiting for mc. }

The water had frozen on my hair, and ir.y hands were so numb with cold that I had much ado to thrust them into my mittens. But my coat had saved me* from any serious wetting, and the fall had given mc no worse harm than a severe shaking:. So at the end of the path I plunged into the deep snow and followed my own track toward the road without great difficulty. The moon was dimmed by a cloud now, and in the faint light I could not make out the horse and sleigh. But as I came near to the road I shouted: ''Coming, Jane! Coming! ,, I listened for an answer, but there was none, and it occurred to mc the doubtless the poor, cold darling had turned sulky at my delay—small wonder, too! In a.foment- more I Bad the I road, and now, to my horror, I saw *&*£& was empty. There was not a sign of cut- [ ter, or Bobs—or Jane! I looked up the road, I looked down it, equally to no purpose. There was no living thing in sight! Then there fell on, mc a great fear. In a flash I had a vision of the restive colt taking the bit in his teeth and botting. Jane, chilled by iher long sitting in the freezing air, must have been powerless against his strength. I groaned aloud. Then T started running down the road toward Jane's home. As I went I kept a sharp look-out for traces of the tragedy I feared. Yet I found nothing, and so at last I came, choking and gasping to the door. I ran up the §teps and rang the bell violently. Then I knocked loudly and contiuouslv, for I was distraught with alarms. Finally the door opened' a little way, and Jane's face appeared. "What is it?" she said. "You! You! And you're alive!" I cried, and'my voice was a sob of relief. "Certainly, I'm . alive," she replied tartly, "and no thanks to you, either! I might have been a frozen' corpse for all you cared." "Oh, Jane!" I remonstrated. "But how did) you get home?" "I drove home, of course." "And Bobs?" "Bobs is in the stable. But what on earth were you doing all the time?" "Well," I answered eagerly, "you know I went to get the chocolate creams for you." "Yes; I know. Give them to mc,"" Jane interrupted. A subtle horror moved in my breast. "Merciful powers!" I cried. "I've forgotten them again!" The door, shut swiftly, with a slam. I heard it bolted and barred. I turned away and trudged drearily toward the. campus, and as I went I reviled fate. It was through this adventure that Beamy won his nickname of the Windlass, by which ever after he was known among the collegians.

PILI-VLI.

So they had nicknamed himj probably because he was small, and slight, and round of face, limb, and character; so much so the latter that there was not a corner or rugged edge anywhere, round which one could explore, or by which one could hang on to intimacy with him. He had arrived in the township from "Home," an indefinite source, with diplomas—indefinite also; so said the public. He practised as doctor to a wide district, success his one advertisement— and failure—it was then that those indefinite diplomas troubled people, who could draw from the casual all-roundness no satisfying assurance. One there was who had inspected his bonai fides, Drusie the chemist's only daughter; free of tongue and temper, I handsome, and standing five feet eleven upon her bare soles. Pilli-uli worshipped her, but pleaded vainly for love - in return. The town said he wanted her money; she knew better. • From her superior height she looked down into his round pale-grey eyes. "I like you ever so much," she said, "and with my size I'm certainly destined for a small man—but—he shall not be a little man. Now, if you could only do something really great, she cast out her large, wellformed hand, "take just one flight above the commonplace—l'd marry you?" Her plain speech was more fatal than coquetry. "Great deeds?" he replied bitterly, "what chance have I for achievement—life in a hole like this—l am merely a chrysalis." "Then—until your wings emerge—friends. Are we?" For months he avoided her; at Christmas time came the fire. It began a.\ early evening, and after midnight, had swept the street of wooden buildings, but without loss of; life ;' finally attacking the overflowing timber-yard at its extremity. Beyond the yard rcise the two-storeyed blank wall of the 'furniture factory. Salvage efforts were concentrated upon its contents, but before one half had been removed a cry arose that the caretaker was still within the building, the back premises and* north wall of which were ablaze. The crowd stampeded to the rear, •where firemen sought entrance, but were driven back by the, flames. No water supply was available, bucket-brigades having exhausted local tanks. Round again to the main street the population surged, and Wad Kitchener, steam-latheman of the factory, volunteered to search, making his way inwards from the front door, through which dense volumes of smoke were belching. Five minutes passed—every face was turned to the door by which Wad Kitchener had ep'tered, but none saw him emerge. A rumbling within the building—the thump of a hastily raised window-sash; and Wad's voice froni above was heard: "Stand from under—l'm going to jump—the stairway's goae." His words were lost in a terrific cj-asb with which the blank north wall collapsed onwards, carrying with it the northern corner of the upper-storey front. With the temporarily smothered flames the light subsided ; out of the murky shadow about the frontage Wad Kitchener's voice came again, distinct, heavy with dreadful certainty. "I'm done for boys—pinned by the dam beams—couldn't find the old man ."

The last sentence was drowned in the skurry of feet, as the crowd rolled to the right and obtained a view of the interior from the aspect of the fallen wall. The frontage remained intact so far, and Wad Kitchener's body could be seen dangling below the great square timber which lay across its shoulders. A glance was sufficient; the crowd flowed back to where the head and hands of the imprisoned man were thrust forward from between the windowsill and the beam. Into the ominous silence Wad spoke again. "Will somebody fetch a bullet and finish mc off quick?" A shout went up. "Axes. We'll chop you out!" And men ran wildly every way in search of tools. "No use," Wad called above the clamour, "you catr't reach—besides it'd take hours—> and—and" there's only minutes; she'll be full steam ahead again," he coughed, as a wisp of smoke settled across his face. Pilli-uli pushed through the packed mob, and leaned upon the sill of the window immediately beneath that to which Wad was hanging.* Moments of aching suspense—a long clear shaft of light shot up from behind the doomed man, who hurled forth the frenzied prayer. "God, men?—are you going to see mc roasted alive before your very eyes?" Someone growled, "How can we help it?" "Hasn't one of you courage to shoot?" "Wβ ain't bloomin' murderers." "You are—so help mc you are—every one of you," a second fiery 'tongue licked* past him. "Fm alight already," he groaned. "Hold on old man—l'll help you directly," Pilli-uli said, as he climbed upon the ledge of the lower window. "Here! Someone set up_ a board or a ladder?" In three minutes the ladder was in place; but even as Pilli-uli mounted, the agonised cry "Be cjuick —be quick?" rang above the crackle of reviving flames. Free from deterring haste Pilli-uli folded his handkerchief into a pad and poured upon it part of the contents of a bottle he held. Wad's '"God bless you!" was smothered by pressure of the p*ad over his mouth and nostrils. For a space the crowd waited—while the fire worked. With a scraping sound the butt of the ladder slid a couple of feet outwards upon the puddled-clay pavement. Drusie Boyce stepped forward to steady it; the musicaJ tinkle- of breaking glass about her feet was followed by a ciy from Pilli-uli, "I've dropped the bottle—run—more chloroform —at once?" "Hold the ladder," Drusie Boyce ordered; a man obeyed and the girl disappeared. The smoke issuing from the main doorway two yards to the left patted to emit a stream of fire. The lurid glow flooded the whole frontage, revealing the face of the burning man; silhouetting the fomi of Pilli-uli in full relief against the whitepainted wall. "Water," lie gasped. Then with awakening sensibility to pain, "Chloroform—chloroform!" he yelled. "In a moment—soon." Pilli-uli's words were unheeded—shriek after shriek rent the night; the crowd recoiled; Pilli-uli waited—the fire came on; it burst from the lower window driving the man from the ladder's foot. Wad Kitchener's eyes started/ from their sockets, his distorted face worked spasmodically—the sihrieks dwindled to moans—other, and tragic sounds mingled with the nauseating odour of s6orching flesh. Flames curled about Pilli-uli's feet, as a voice rose from the pavement "Here!" Hβ turned to find Drusie Boyce upon the ladder below him, one hand up-lifted. Stooping, he reached the bottle; it was wet and ruddy in the glare. ' Fire and thorror liad not shaken him, bub now, unnerved, he faltered, "Your blood?? "Yes—l had to smash the glass to reach it—my hand—hurry—the wall sways." He turned unsteadily—the movement shifted the ladder yet another foot outwards. The . throng below urged them—"Come down—the wall ia falling—you'll be buried I" Wad' Eatchen'eir's face waa purple-ihued— from the gaping mouth blood trickled— over it* Pilli-uli pressed the handkerchief-— the mqana died into silence. Soon Drusie Boyoe implored "Oh, can't you come now?" "I ftot-»yet." The watchers moaned audibly, as dense smoke * blotted " the' tragedy from before, them. Fire climbed Pilli-uli'a limbs, but Drusie Boyoe, further out from the wall, as yet escaped! its clutch. Her continuous wail, '-'Come down—come down J" forced his attention; he choked, reeling upon his perch, and painfully spat out the answei "When my duty is done." Again he swayed; Drusie Boyce reached up and grasped him by the ankles. "Then I will iwldi on tool" she sobbed under her breath. The light breeze preceding summer daylight wafted the smoke aside; for an instant lier arms, could) be seen also ablaze; then the frontage fell—inwards —earthly hell swallowed Wad Kitchener, while the ladder, with ita double freight, subsided acrosa the baking- pavement. When Pilli-uli opened his eyes, he saw Drusie Boyce, and tried to turn towards her; but swathing bandages held limbs and body rigid. The effort brought pain—and recollection. His dry tongue flickered within a parched mouth. "Truly a chrysalis—and for always," he moaned. Drusie Boyce stooped over him; her arms, too, were bound—but her lips were free. "What matter?" she said, "people have seen that you could fly—and that was all I wanted I" MABEL HOLMES.

LAMPS 1901 LAMPS.

Minson and Co. are no-w showing their new stock of lamps just received from the beat English and American makers; a grand assortment to chose from, and at the prices. Call and see.—22o Colombo street."