The Death-in-Fear.

Southland Times, Issue 19499, 31 December 1904, Page 5 (Supplement)

The Death-in-Fear.

What is the future of radium, that mysterious substance whose internal fire must have been at work when the earth itself was a sun, and will continue after many bodies, now suns, have grown cold ? Dr. Sheldon put down the popular "Beview"hebad been reading and sat lost in thought, staring straight before him with blank, unseeing eyes. " What future ?" he muttered, « ' A marvelous one, beyond a doubt. The ouring of what we now call incurable diseases, the reStoring of sight to the blind, the power of life and death— all these may lie within reach of this insignifloant looking yellow atom. Soience has as yet done no more tban touch the fringe ot the possibilities of radium. " And I— I," ne continued, a sullen fire burning in his eyes, " might have taken my share in working these miracles but for the curse of poverty. I have given up everything to learn and to know— to watch eaoh new and strange development in the wonder-world of science, and now lam left stranded on the threshold of success. It is not to be borne 1 I have a right go what I have earned." tHe got up, shook himself and went out, walking across Kensington Gardon to Lancaster Gate. His spare, upright figure and measured stride suggested the soldier rather than the soientist, but his pale, intellectual face showed' the man of thought. He stopped at a large honse, nodded to the servant who opened the door and made his way, unannounced, to the library, where an elderly gentleman sat surrounded by books. "Ah, Sheldon," with a look of pleasure, "what brings you out so early? You are generally at work in your laboratory at this hour, and about as easy to get at as a lion in his den." ' «. The laboratory will soon have to be closed for laok of funds," was the abrupt reply. " Soientifio experiments are very oostly, as you know, and I have nearly reached the end of my resources. To stop my investigations now— when any day I may discover a great truth— will be like stopping my life. I know you would help me if you could, and I would take your help — as, indeed," with a harsh laugh, " I would clutoh at even the widow's mite to keep the work going— but, unfortunately, the money is not yours, bnt yonr stepdaughter's." "And she is out of your reach and mine. It is quite hopeless to think of her now. She and young Follett have settled matters between them." ' ' What a blind fool I was to wait so long 1 She would have married me readily, enough six months ago. But my life was so full, I had no thought of a wife until ruin and despair stared me in the face. She would have had good value for her money! I could bestow almost as much as I received. With the help she could give me, in a few months I should win wealth, fame, and honor." >," But she prefers to dance in the sun with other midgets," was the contemptuous reply. " This Follett has changed her completely, she had ceased to take any interest in serious things. She says she bas never been young before, and- she wants to be happy. Such folly 1" > "He is the Btumbling blook. then? He stands between me and aU that I have given my life to win. If he were out of tho way she would return to the old thoughts and wayssi? .- a-la •■'AA... '"'"' "/Possibly^ bnt there's no getting rid of him. She is hopelessly Infatuated: J conld say ;WOuld7 have any .effect; " *'"'-. "But perhaps something I might do would not be without results." Dr. Sheldon said to himself as he left the :hpuser And his face was hard and cold as a-maak. -•>'>. On his way home he passed a bink with a a well-known 7 "name,;: and the Igilt '.;' letters caught hia attention, bearing, as they did, on the aubjeot in Ms mind. '•'-'-* Twenty thousand pounds," he muttered, " that is the amount she has safely looked up there. Twenty thousand pounds 1" His hand opened and closed. " Half of it wonld force the gates of knowledge behind which I stand. 'The greatest good of the greatest number' — that is a wise saying. Why should one life block the way when thousands are waiting to be healed and saved ? If he were removed the rest would be only a question of time." His eyes had the flare of a monomaniac's. Soience was a master to whom he could refuse nothing ; the desire to learn the hidden things on earth and air possessed him like a madness. He must satisfy the craving at all costs.

That night he wrote to 1 Mr. Follett, devising some feasible exeuse for asking him to jail the following evening. He was very busy all the next day, visiting vurious hospitals and medical Mends, and when he entered his laboratory again there was a look of evil triumph on his set face. The house was empty, for he had sent the old woman who waited on him home an hour earlier than usual. " It is an experiment, of course,'? he said, when, his preparations completed, he at last sat down, " but I see no reason why it should not succeed. If lean kill a small animal with a small amount, why should I not be able to kill a larger animal with the considerable quantity I have borrowed to-day ? And what a trustworthy servant it is 1 There .will be nothing to excite anyone's suspicions, paralysis of the cerebral nervous system, followed by complete suspension of all the functions— and death. A perfectly natural death according to all appearances. ' ' \ j"What a devil's workship it looks r" Jroung Follett exclaimed, as he entered the aboratory that evening. " I never saw such 9, lot of evil-looking things—you can't think of them as mere machines, they might be half alive. I '. He laughed as he spoke, but he w&jj-evidently interested and impressed.

«« They are alive to a certain extent," was the reply. • "I believe in the theory that « if spirits, thoughfrwjwes, pr; any other of the so-eahed psyoMc manifes^itions can influence " human beings.-they-can' also influence delineate machines 'in a far greater degree.' These things have been my companions for so long it is only reasonable to suppose that (here is some communion between us." ' « What a ghastly idea 1 One does not like to think that it is possible for such deadlylooking instruments to have any will power of their own. Even as mere machines, they must be hard enough to control." To himself he thought : "The doctor looks deuced queer, he'll go out of his mind if he encourages suoh fancies. I should think he is pretty near the boundary line now." " Then if ybu will sit down a minute, I'll fetch those Indian jewels I was telling you about," Dootor Sheldon said in tbe commonplace tone bf ordinary conversation, as he placed the only chair in the room for his visitor. " I should be glad of your advioe ; fon will understand suoh things better than do," with a pleasant laugh. "Tour flaneee and I are old sriends,?and I should like my gift to her to he something out of the common." As the doctor went out of the laboratory, tie locked the door noiselessly behind him. '. ■■ " How cold it seems to have turned," Mr. Follett thought, as he leant idly back in the chair, waiting,** and'what a long time he is gone 1" He shivered as though with a sudden chill, and was impressed by a curious gonsation of vague discomfort ana fear. " If it were not so • preposterous I might itnagine that there was something antagonistic to me in this room," he muttered; that one of those horrible-looking machines had taken a dislike to me. PBhaw 1 what non* sense I am talking," with an attempt to

Nearly one-half the murderers in this country are unmarried. The most difficult creatures to keep alive in aquarims are the herring and the whale. *$he firemen in Chili are buried in the evening, the torohlight hearers making an impressive ceremony. -..=-*-. s>. .

laugh. "This place isgetting on my nerves."

,llc would have liked to get up — to rouse himself in some way, so ns to throw oft' these disagreeable sensations, but he did not seem to have the energy to move.

Then as he sat, gazing vacantly before him like a man but half awake, he saw a mouse run out into the middle of the floor. It stopped a moment, listening, but evidently reassured by tho silence, it darted about, picking up some crumbs that the doctor had let fall. He would often munch a biscuit to appease his hunger when he was too busy to take his food properly.

Follett idly watched the little creature playing at his feet, but, as he watched, the darting movements suddenly ceased. For a moment it was quite still, its'- bright eyes glancing about uneasily, as though wondering what was wrong. Then it grew stiff and motionless, the eyes glazed, and it fell overdead. The sight of that body, in which the quick life had been quenched so suddenly, Btartled the young man into action. He sprang to his feet, as though roused from a dream, and looked round, alert and suspicious.

" There's something wrong here ; I felt it myself, and that poor little beast lies dead to prove it," he muttered. " There's some deviltry at work ; I'll get out of it while I can."

He -rushed to the door. It was locked. He shook it violently, calling loudly for help, but there was no voice or sound in reply. The deadly torpor was creeping over him again ; he must escape from this baleful influence, whatever it was at any cost. He flung up the window ; it was a dangerous leap, but to remain in that room meant death — he was convinced of it now—a strange, horrible death, from which only a little animal had saved him. r

Fortunately he was a trained athlete, and gathering himself together he jumped clear of obstacles. The next moment he had reached the ground in safety, and was running madly away, as though afraid that the mysterious power might still overtake him.

Dr. Sheldon was discovered lying dead in the laboratory next" day. He must have gone back after Follett's escape, and, whether intentionally, or oblivious of the danger in his rage and disappointment, be had remained within reach of the mysterious metal, whose rays are so potent to kill as to cure. There was radium enough in the room to destroy human life, and lying in wait — more deadly, more silent tban any beast of tbe jungle— when baulked of one victim, it had sought for and found another. — London "Outlook."