SHORT STORIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2855, 2 December 1908, Page 89

SHORT STORIES.

THE HYPNOTISED RUNNER. By A. J. Heighwat. There was Jack Reed, lieutenant in the British army in North India, over in Australia on leave. There was Fred Huntingdon, a smart young journalist from London. Fred's father was in a big way in the newspaper world at Home, and believed travelling would be the one thing to polish Fred off and set him on his feet with an invaluable experience. Ho Fred travelled — and travelled well. Further, there was Cornelius Z. Schumaker, an American Rhodes scholar, also completing his education on his father's money. Cornelius was a lean, gaunt Yankee, tough and springy as steel wire ; had been a great runner at college and later at Oxford, and was the one man in the world -to 'be afraid of when you rounded the top turn in the " 440 " and raced for the tape. The remainder of the half dozen of us on the broad, cool verandah enjoying the night air after the glare of the Australian summer sun were John (Jack) Charterhouse, a planter in. the Islands down for a trip ; Will Watersford, from his up-country station ; and myself. Old friends, cigars, yarns, and experiences ! How often are these linked ! The conversation was reminiscent, conjured up old recollections, and passed on to new experiences. It veered round at length to hj'pnotism. Fred, who had been through India and Africa, told some weird yarns about fakirs and medicine men, and, by virtue of journalistic experience, contrasted these with some Spiritualistic happenings in London. Then Jack Charterhouse added one or two tales of Island devils and spirits in vein reminiscent of R.L.S. ; and, lastly, I had related a little incident rather curious in detail of what had happened to myself a couple of montlis previously. Presently Cornelius, who had sat silent, blew a ring of blue smoks against the speckled sky and said : " Say, chaps, ever hear of a runner being hypnotised — and win and smash records?" '•'Tisn't in the record book," ejaculated Fred. " No," chuckled Cornelius Z. ; " the authorities rather bucked when they smelt it out. But it was a clear record all the same. Like the yarn? Well," in response to our chorused "Rathers," "you know I am not the slowest man on earth, and could once run a decent ' quarter, 1 but perhaps the only time I was beaten over that distance was by about 15yds. And my time was tne even 48sec ; so, you s£e, he varf a flyer." "Gee whiz!" muttered Charterhouse from the Islands, as he looked with increased interest at the long, slim Yank. Jack had been a runner himself. Cornelius resumed. " I was at college at Yale. There was quite a' little set of us used to make ourselves at home in on© another's rooms. A pretty diversified crowd, too, now I *>me to think of it : all sorts and sections of bejieis and theories being held among them. Two or three 'divines,' at least two Spiritualists, a Christian Scientist, an Atheist, acd several more on the psycholoioy racket, all more or less interested in mind experience, representation, sensation, telepathy, and so forth. We often had great arguments at nights, each man supporting his especial pet hobby. There ■was one chap who ha-d gone pretty deeply into hypnotism, working along the Xancy doctrine, and he would tell us a lot of wonderful things — they seemed veiv wonderful then, but are becoming explained nowadays. He worked experiments sometimes, but I don't know that he juadfmany converts. Perhaps the sarcasm anJ disbelief in some of us prevented a successful exhibition, for they fay if there be any doubt or cynicism present the 6ubjectire mind of the medium goes off coloux* and refuses communication ! "That term ended, and the next our company was a iittle bit altered. There was one chap, who must have been a curious mixture of nationalities, particularly noticeable among the freshmen. He was a little dark man from South America. His name was French, but you could see traces of Spanish ancestry in his physiognomy as well. Further,* he had always lived d-ovm south, and you have heaid perhaps of what curious mixtures you drop across there. He could talk all sorts of patois, was really accomplished in Spanish and French, and of course knew English. His name was de Renais. There j was a peculiar atmosphere — a something I— a magnetism — about him ; you recoiled instinctively from him. and yet you could not but edmit a certain power and attraction he possessed. You'd look at j him ; you'd want to study him: and, when 'opportunity offered,' in spite of your repulsion, you would try and learn something of himself from himself. You'd find him a brilliant conversationalist, with a quick and versatile mind. He never monopolised the conversation ; you would drift into close talk, and presently realise that in place of your drawing him out it was he was doing the drawing out, and you who were undergoing it, and revealing things you -would hardly dream of mentioning to even a familiar friend. And after ttiat you'd be careful of your language when Fate threw you in his "way. , " There was another new chum — a man from the Western States — who comes into my yarn. This man was almost a physical curiosity. Over 6ft high, and thin — very, very thin. He weighed hardly more thaii 9st. He was simple and impressionable, and yet, like some of these back-block men, had an intuitive quickness about him, and as events proved pos>ei£ed some degree of smartness. " Our hypnotic experimenter and chief exponent of the spiritualistic doctrine had not left us, and we speedily found ourselves back into the old ways of discus- ! sious ami arguments. Aiid heie de

Renais, the French-Spanish-South Ameri- T can, came to light, and proved himself most expert aDd a veritable marvel It appeared he had made a special study of hypnotism. Our original experimenter found in him an ally and a leader. With the increased force discussion -waxed stronger. Together this pair adduced some very elaborate and plausible arguments, and almost h?d the ' divines ' in extremis on metaphysical questions time and again. One night when they were going hammer and tongs Sandy, from .Boston way (Sacdy is in the navy now, i and a great electrical expert), growled out to de Kenais : ' Why don't you prove what you say? Give us a real show.' " De Renais and his ally looked quickly at each other, and then said simultaneously, 'Agreed.' An evening was fixed for the demonstration. It was to be in the same room, the same company with a j few friends, and the sama time. ' " The night came. The room was full. Curiosity in varying degrees was mani- ' fest. "Soms were eager and nervous; others talked in subdued expectancy, and others again were restrained and collected, and watched 'to tee nahat they would j see,' as they said. : "At the upper end of the room there, was a email table, and near it were a couple of chairs. On one of the chairs de Renais sat looking pert and confident. He , had an inscrutable smile on his face. It ■ wa:- plain he was to be the high priest for the occasion, his companion being quite in eclipse. " He v rose and spoke. I had- never , realised till then what a wondrous voice he ' had. It thrilled down among the students sitting go still and expectant as a living sensitive thing. It was of a fluent vibrant tone. It carried passion in it. At once ths air grew uncanny. He explained the occasion of the gathering and the desire which had been expressed during the con- , troversy ; then, without going into the , subject any further, simply asked for a | volunteer to become his ' subject.' A j couple of chaps, I knew, were willing. One j of these roise and went to the table. We all watched lynx-eyed. He (de Renais) afked him to surrender his will and allow himself to be hypnotised. De Renais seated the subject in a chair, stood in front of him, and looked him firmly and fixedly between the eyes. While he did so he appeared to be concentrating every portion of his will into the one strenuous desire. ' " One minute the man was there wide : awake : the next, his eytG were closed, his body was in repose, his breath rose aod fell | like a little child's in slumber! De Re- | nais flitted softly to the table, picked up ! a book -lying there, opened it, and coni- ! manded, slowly and impressively, ' Read.' I " Now, I just told you the eyes of the man were shut, and he appeared to be , asleep. Yet, for all that, at the command ' he took the b»ok, opened his eyes, and i | wilhout hesitation read. [ " That etudent was taking a commercial j course, and hard never given a moment's | study to ancient languages. Yet he read from the book — Moses's Law in the original Hebrew text — with apparently as much fluency as I would read the newspaper. I I don't knew Hebrew, but in discussing the ' I thing later on, one of the divinity students told me that his idiomatic expression was perfect, his phrasing without blemish, and hi/; rhythmic flow beautifully resonant — just as a master of the old classic -would i have uttered it. But most of us there, of I course, knew nothing* as to that. All vre I could hear was a strange mixture of -consoi nants and vowels : but it was perfectly plain that it was a language. We stared, I tell you. We knew the fellow, and knew he only t>poka his- mother tongue. Yet here were we, wide awake and keenly alert, listening amazed to his reading of a foreign language, and an ancient one at that. But strar-zer things were to come. De Renais again spoke, nr.d cominandied j him to intf*rpi»>fc the Hebrew law into i • English. And the fellow did. Without l*esitancy or slightest pause he explained to us the Mosaic law from the original text. He expounded it in proper and fitting tcrnie, eloquent and unre- , strained. As lie proceeded our mystification grew deeper aud deeper. There could be no fraud he.c. Xo one could have • acted a3 he had acted. His/voice -.vai; perfectly natural acd orieinal ; if anything, purer and more delicate than in ordinaiy conversation. " ' Stop.' presently said de Renais, as the subject, came to a pause in his flow ot oratorr. He went foricar-d and took tbe book from the man, an-d with a quick ] movement placed it on the table. Then. ; pointing to the empty corner of the room, j in said, in a subdued but thrilling tone, 'There is Moses himself, the great, the beneficent, come that you may receive wisdom from a master mind.' " Instantly an air of great awe and leverenoe w«'i> apparent in the attitude of the .subject. With faltering steps and bowed mien ha wont humbly towai-ds the indicated po.-ition of the patriarch. Hecitatingly and almost stammcringly he asked a question — and asked it in Hebrew. And more wonderful still, he replied to his own query in a voice different from his own, rich and mellow und j fluent, with a peculiar na°al intonation. , It was still in Hebrew. Then began a ! conversation the strangeness of which has j impressed it deeply upon my mind. Though the language was unknown to us. save the divinity Ptud3iit, we could tell from the inflexion of the voice and the manner of the query and reply that a conversation of interest was in progress. You can quite l>elieve the air became a trifle peculiar. I distinctly felt my hair grow clammy. The man next to me on the right was shaking like a leaf. If a chair had set aped unexpectedly I believe half of il» would have iumped to our fiet with a y-.-H. so utteily strained and •eager and engrossed were we. The air wat; simply vibrating with suppressed excitement. Our bodies were tensed and keyed : we were so many strings to an instrument each vibrating above concert pitch ! " De Ronais was up by the little table, his dark faoe f otitively glowing with con-

centrated energy. His lips twitched ; his . eyes sparkled ; his nostrils dilated and quivered. Yet he seemed cool and contiolled, as though overborne by some power acting in harmony with his consciousness. But his coolness rendered him the more loathsome and terrible. There were those who shuddered at the sight of him. The whole thing was unnatural ; it ■was. abnormal, a thing apart from custom. It was not of us ; we knew it not, and, not knowing, feared. " How long they talked I cannot tell. It i could not have been long — our nerves would not have stood it for a great length of time. ' At last de Renais stepped forward, touched his subject's arm, turned his face towards him, and looked steadily at his eyes. , " Instantly that man sank upon his i haunches Indian fashion, and, swaying his 1 body, moaned into a melancholy wailing. Oh i what an awful thing it wae ! It was absolutely nerve racking. That voice commenced in a low key and thrilled along the room like a dying ©oul seeking exit and cessation from tlie torhires of Hades. 1 That voice was as different from the pre- ! vious one as the sun is from, the moon. It conveyed horror and gloom inexpressible. It was tbe voice of an untamed savage. It cried for the soul of the dead. | It gloated ravagingly over the imnameable I tortures the singer, the avenger, had exacted at the death of the departed. It threatened vengeance more direful and more dreadful than the mind could con- ; ceive. It boasted and gloated. Its appetite had been whetted and desire — the desire of blood and life and eouls — living souls — welled and grew. And it expressed everything witjiout the utterance of a single intelligible word. It was the voice of primal passion, and as such needed no' interpretation. It stirred among those j students as a loathsome thing. They | shuddered. They huddled on their chairs. j That single awful voice put the fear of ! savagery into them. It was demonaical. j My nerves were simply shrieking in an I agony. All mv being cried out to fly, to flee from the horror," but I could not stir. " All at once Baby Padgett, near the dtK>r, rose with a sob of a terror-stricken mortal, wrenched the door open, and fled sobbing with hands over his ears away down the corridor. At the first 'stir the spell seemed broken. The men rose. Some ' rushed after Padgett to oee that he did no harm, and some fled willingly from the scene of that ghastly vibrating voice. A i few remained clustered toother. When Padgett bolted de Renais stepped to the subject and lifted him to the chair. In a few minutes he woke him. He had not the slightest recollection of a single thing since he had walked to the end of the room and met. de Renais ! That was absolntelv genuine ! j " The few remaining fellows melted j away. They went to their rooms I shaken, -perturbed, disquietened. Many j did nob sleep that night. I don't wonder. That awful, vibrant, virile, and threatening voice rang in my ears for days. Even in my sleep I awoke and heard it rising from the deeps of passion into the high cadence of dire thr-eatenings. " Hypnotism wsb dropped after that. There was a reductance to discuss it. Amongst only a few intimate friends at a time was it briefly referred to. "Summer drew on, and summer sports became the engrossing interest. The preliminary trials for the training team were approaching, and most of our spare time was spent on the track or in. the hall. Our long evenings in the rooms necessarily ceased. I was among those training keenly. In the previous yeai I had won the college championship for both the 220 and the 440, and meant to defend the title, i more especially as this year the interj college sports were to be of an important character. " There was a big team in training, and an especially keen lot in the sprinting division. That big thin Freshman I mentioned before was out. He had been present, by the -way, that night when the hypnotic experiments were tried. He I proved to be very badly bitten by the i •running fevci-,' and trained very hard, although .goo(}i£Gs knows there was little enough for him to come and go on already. Once or twice we trotted round together during our slow work, suad I must say he had a nice clean action, despite his peculiar length and thinness of limb. " I remember one day particularly, prin- ; cipally because of the light of future events j upon it. We (the thin man and I) were walking back from the track to our rooms, cl-atting on the way, when suddenly he blurted out, 'By Jove, I wonder if a chap 1-yp ," and then he pauped and shut up tight, looking slightly confused. 'What?' I said. 'Oh, it's nothing,' he laughed, rather unea.-ily and awkwardly, it's true. 'I only hod on idea.' Then he changed the subject, and, of course, I did not

press him. But I discovered later what «is idea was.

"Traini«ig went along steadily. I was going better than ever, and my trainer was thoroughly satisfied, but still he kept me at it. Not that I wanted muck keying up, for I was keen not only on the championship, but on the record for the college for both distances. The figures at that time had stood for over ten years, hut the year prior to these sports I had gone fairly close to each o f them, And felt confident of doing better still. "The thin chap — Johansen, was his .-lame — ceased training with the team very •oon after that day he had maSe the remark to me. But we shortly discovered he was doing his work on the quiet, and, what was more peculiar still, had place! himself under the athletic care of de Renais. They trained early in the day, for one morning I 'chanced to glance out of my window, and saw the pair returning across the ' campus ' with Johansen carrytag his ' spikes ' in his hands. " The great day come at last. And what a day it was. The glorious sky, the springy, bouncing turf, the' long track, dead true and in the best of condition, the crowd, the cheering, — I can picture them. now. "My events were the quarter and the naif-distance, the 220. I didn't Tun 1 hundreds ' then. Some of the field .events, the hurdles, .and ihe mile, were run off first. Then came the, 220. There .were, four in the first heat, four in the secondhand five in the third. I was in the second beat. Smithers won the first heat ; but I knew T- could give Smither® three yards and a beating. The second heat I won by a couple of ieet. saving myself as much as possible. Jackson won the last heat. The final of the hurdles was run, and then came the final of tl»e furlong. Only the three of us. " I won by a yard from Jack«on, who led Smithers by a trifle more. *xlie time equalled the college record. A - few more races-M.he half and two miles, — nnd then came the great " quarter." The heats for tliis had been run the previous day. and had left in the final Jackson, Walters, Titchford, Johan&en, and myself. "We went over to the starting post, de Rt-nais walking with Johansen, who never Fpoke a word. You know the tension' at the start and how liUle attention you can frive to other things, but it struck me even then that Johanscn didn't look exactly hime3lf. "I had drawn the outside position, Johansen being second to the inside. "At the wo'fd we got down on our marks. Being on the outside, my aim was to break right ahead and get to the irs-ide Tunning. We crouched on our marks : the pistol went. We were away ! "I was the quickest to move. At 20 yards Johansen was vith me. He was on to> inside shoulder. We were ahead of the others. Now I Viiew the track thoroughly. and knew the way to ruh my own race. The track was not circular, being more of an oblong, with rounded corners. There were only two turns on the ' quarter,' one sharp and the other gradual. The sharp turn came first. Now; the man on the inside on that curve had an advantage, for an opponent desiring to pa.«s would be forced to travel wide. Accordingly I had always tried to race away the first stretch and establish my position on that curve. Thence, with reasonable luck, the race was yours. In pursuance of this policy, I went away fast, and tried to play my own game. But Johansen was on my inside shoulder. ■It became a race between us for the corner. At fifty yards he was the breadth of his body ahead, and I was travelling all I knew. At 100 yards he had a yard and a-half. The curve was only another 75 yards away. "Of course, when he drew ahead I Blipped directly behind on to the tapes in f.rder to save distance. I still bad a slight 'chance on the curve. At the pace we were 'travelling, he would be forced to run a trifle wide to negotiate the tape. If he "went the slightest fraction too wide and I could manage to get there in just that second I would force him out. Certainly that's against the rule to pass on the outside of the leader. * But it was my only fchanoe, * and I decided to make the effort. Every pound I knew I put into that burst for the corner to be on hand for the twible chance. I knew it was madness to ma myself out so oarly in the distance. but what else could I do? I was hound to Sght for my chance. Yet with all my effort, it was hopeless. I could make no ii < JCfn>ession on him — indeed, could not hold a»y own, for on the curve he was three xtjxJs to the good. Round he flew, travelling wide as I had known he must. But I ccuHd do nothing. Even vet, however, & did not give up hope. There was still the chance he would kill himself by his own pace. "'Surely,' I thought, 'he will break. He can* last 440 at hundred's pace,' Wtioh we had been going. The halfway ««C " Tas ou that first sharp curve. From ih«re a short straight led on to the larger esrre, and then came the final 80-yard strotoh to the- tape. Johansen simply sailed away ."rom me from the half-dis-tance. Round the bi£ curve he drew away like a piece of machinery, and left •me yards and yards in the rear. The rrje was over if only he could last it cut. I had not the 'slightest chance of ijfcfcohing him. But I gritted my teeth and still put every ounce I knew into Eny runr.iiig. I could tell there were »eoor<Ss going somewhere, and I determintd X woaVJ be as handy as I could. Why, the T»ce had been ■terrific. Every yard had oeen done at top speed. And I began to fear for myself. Could I last it out, even grained as I was? As I entered the jtraight I felt myself 150 groggy. The t>ace had been a killer. StHl I'd see it ihrough iomehow, I thought, and made * desperate pull on myself. I continued ihat hopeless, stern chase. My lesjs grew £iumb ; there wa.s absolutely no feeling iv them. Tile muscles of the thigh became j&onstricted, and I feared the cramp. Then tay throat began to burn, my eyes blurred, *nd. a great Boi6e rolled and roared in iJny ears. But the desire for ' Pace ! ! ' - dominated everything. The only wiag that mattered was pace, and my last

effort — my only effort — my very effort was the 'one pulsating desire for ' Pace ! Pace ! ' 1 could feel the breath struggling in my almost-bursting lungs. I could not get enough air, and what there was was choking me. The crowd I was baTely conscious of. At the corner a half-glimpse of staring, white faces, a barn-like grand stand, and on top of it a waving fla^ endured a moment. In the straight a fleeing figure, a long vista of green sward, , a small group of men, and — the tape ! If only I miight reach that tape. That became r;he one absorbing passion — the goal of desire. Nearer and nearer the tape came — weaker and weaker grew my spurt. I felt my strength ebbing, but still I spurred myself. I saw Johansen carry the tape away — and then everything went dark — I ceased to be conscious. I have no recollection of reaching the judges, but I certainly did, for when I came to I was lying on the grass beyond them with my head soaking with water. Dimly ard confusedly I could hear a fellow bawling raucously through the megaphone : 'World's — quarter — mile — record. — Johan — sen. — -Time — forty — five — and — four — fifths.' Then I went into unoon- ! soiousness aigain. Later I learned that in the last 15yd» I had reeled and staggered, but^had' managed to drop across the tape [ before 1 became prostrate. My time was j given a* 48sec. "The rest of the yarn I will have to 1 tell from a later point of view. De -Renais was by the tape ready to take chaTg-e of Johansen when he finished, and . at once took him away to the dressing room. The judges, as you may iguess, were astonished at the wonderful time, . and carefully compared their watches. ! Two of them made it 45 4-5, while the ! third made it a fraction of a second | faster. The rule, of course, is to take the i majority and the higher figures. Furmmger, one of the stewards and a friend of mine, out of curiosity followed Johansen and ds Renais across to the rooms. 1 Just as he got inside the door he heard Johansen say in a rather weak voice, ' Did j 1 win?' That struck him .all of a heap, i and he stood still a minute out of sheer I surprise. 'Yes, j'es,' replied de Renais, and then Furminiger blurted out from near the door : 'Of course you did.' De Renais slewed round and glared at him for his pains, and then commenced to assidu- ; ously rub down his man as a pretty broad hint to Furminjg<?r that he was not 'wanted there. " Still, the way Johansen had asked that question, and why he had asked it, struck j Furminger as rather funny," and, smelling j a rat, Be Secidtd to stay a while. He | examined tha runner as closeTy as he I could. He saw that he was distressed lin his body, but lacked that peculiar j look of exhaustion and excitement i about the eyes and face which a runner ! usually has after a hard race, and which betoken the consciousness of the preceding struggle. He lacked Thai look". His eyes appeared only semi-conscious. Furaim- ! ger's suspicions were strengthened, and jhe resolvel to play a part. He went up i to them and commenced, in the banracker's ) adulatory style : 'By Jove ! A world's record How did you train for it? ' and .continued in similar fashion, barely ceasing ! for a moment from his stream of queries I and conjectures. No sort of talk is more irritating than that. It igets on your nerves. De Renais stood it for a time, i though he was plainly fuming ; but at ■ length, as Furminger's inquiries became more personal as to training, he growled ' out something or other in a foreign tongue, j and then literally swept Furminger out of the room while his eyes glared his wrath. " Furminger kept his own counsel for a day or two, thinking the matter over. He had been present when those experiments were performed. IT© was a 'cute 1 chap, and could put two and two together j fairly well. He came round' to me in a ; few days and mentioned his theory to me. j And when he did that I remembered" how i Joliansen had blurted out : ' I wonder if , a chap hyp ' Then it was plain as daylight. With his own consent and desire de Renais had hypnotised him. That marvellous speed had been produced by reason of the two subjective minds working together in some peculiar psychological process and reacting upon the highly -trained bodj of th« athlete. Of I course, as his subjective mind controlled him during the race, his objective mind would have no recollection of *£he events j of the race, thus accounting for his question overheard T>y Furminger. " No ; when the authorities heard tliis they didn't put the lecord through."