A STRANGE ADVENTURE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 43, 18 February 1887, Page 5

A STRANGE ADVENTURE.

(From the Shamrock.} (Concluth d.~)

Then an idea occurred to my mind which brought with it a gleam of hope. I thought it possible that by applying niy strength to the weight itself. I miirht bo able to iruptrt to it by Mow d.'k'i'ms a swinging motion, hketh.it of a pendulum ; and this being c lUtinued, might at lennth biing the pondeious mass m contact wit'i the eloor, and so burst it open. Raising myself from the flooi of the roll, u| on which I had agnm sunk down, I applied my •-•ri'iigth to the weight, and by exerting all my energy m a on of rhythmic.il impulses I gradually fucci eded in imparting to v an almost imp< ie\ ptible movement. Gradually this mcie;wil ; and, but )oi an unforeseen circumstance, the scheme might ha\e be< n succe^ful. But I presently found that the weight diel not h?ng exactly 1,1 the centre of the snafu The consequence was thut i. s ruck the wall opposite the door b.foie it reached the door itself. The extent of its swing being thus checked. my utmost < fforts failed to hi ing ii into contact with the door. '1 he attempt had, theiefore, to be abandoned, and hope again died within me.

Hope died within me And now my sensations wen 1 those oi extreme horror and dismay. I for the first t'rne felt the coitainty o my fate. A deadly sickness seized me. In a par >xyisrn of despair '. tlung mys If again upon the floor ot my prison, and lay there withou 1 motion.

I will not dwell upon the long hours tint fo'l< w d — those hours (f more than moital nL'onv of min'*. It happened that I hul lately been reading an account of a traveller wt o h id jvii-hrd mr\ quicksand. The time of the acoi'lcnt was on a -summer > veninsj, when the sun was sinking, and the lonely Mime was btthed in the rosy light. The spot where it occurred was well-known to me— and after leaeimg iho account I had endeavoured, in that unre. zoning spirit which someiimes leads the mine! to dwell on bor rr->, to reah c in fancy the sersntions of the victim, as ii.eh by inch and foot by foot , in full sight of the free ocean and glonous mn, tho troacheious qu cksand drew him downward — downward — to his d' om.

What the sensations amending guch a death ni'ist be I could then but feebly realise. I know ihuru now.

I know tt em row. The een ( -auoris of tho^o wno have face to face with de..th for houis, watnr,in<7 wiih >-t.titiiiv r e\ > s his approach, "are to toe no mj st- ry. But tlv mm 1< f man hts mercifully been su trdeied th.it atr* ny prolonged b yond a cviwun pout en>!s m bi numbing the pusver (if Je'(lin<. r . Thus it is tl at ci mi i.nls condemned to execution ofti n s eep soundly and cat with appetite : a fact which seems amazing to those who consider how comparatively 9hght a degree of mental dibtiess has power to rob the mght of rest and to turn the daintiest food to poison. They do not reflect that mental

agony in its extremity ceases to be felt. But thus it is— and thus it was with me. I believe also that the air of the shaft must have acted upon me with simp stupefying or bewildering influence, like that of the vapour which often gathers at the bottom of old wells. The agitation of my mind gradually gave place to a strange feeling of indifference. The peril under which I lay ceased to trouble me, and at last no longer occupied my thoughts. I began instead to be curiously disturbed by another circumstance, very trivial in itself ; by a sound which reached my senses from somewhere in the stillness; a sound low, muffled, throbbing, and mysterious, like the beating of my own blood. Had my mind been clear I could not long have failed to recognise it for what it was. The sound seemed in my ears ; but this was m "rely owing to my position in the shaft. In reality, it was the ticking of the great clock, far above my head. -^ For hours I sat there listening mechanically, half- unconsciously, to this monotonous sound, broken at intervals by the notes of the deep-toned bell. At length, probabfy owing in great measure to the heavy effect of the air upon me, T mu«t have passed into a Bort of stupor, which lasted very long. "When 1 came to myself I was conscious of a very singular sensation. The pitchy darkness was upon me, and of course I conld see nothing. But, in some unaccountable manner, of which I fear it is impossible for me to convey a notion, I was aware that during my trance the weight hal descended a great way, and was now close above my body. I could feel, though nothing touched me, the huge and threatening mass brooding over me in the darkness. With a mighty effort — for, like a per'on in a nightmare, I seemed to have lost my power of motion — I raised my hand. My expectation was a correct one. My h^nd struck against the under surface of the weight, at an elevation of less than three inches from my face I At last — after an eternity of unutterable suspense — at last — it touched me. It touched me. At first lightly ; then with a perceptible pressure ; then with a pressure which grew distressing. In vain I sought relief ; in vain I strove to writhe my body into the narrow compass. Slowly, steadily, the mass desended, crushing me against the floor. Tue last minutes of my life seemed come. I breathed a prayer to heaven and resigned myself to die. Still a space the weight descended ; my brain swam ;my breathing became difficult ; I believe, that for some brief seconds I bore upon my fainting form the wholt burden of the ponderous mass. The blood rushed in torrents to my head, I felt that my senses were leaving me. Very suddenly tue ptesnure eeaseii. I was conscious of a welcomn relief. I drew in a deep bieath, freely. I moved my limbs, and found their libeity no dream. The weight was gone ! I raised my h\ud ami it encountered spice. I staggered, gasping, to my feet. The Wiigbt was alnaly above my head, and rising rapidly upward id the darkness of 'the shaft. A sound of moving mechanism reached me fiom pbove. I thought I heard the murmur of voices ; men were moving in the tower above me. The purp jse which had brought them iheie was evident ; they were winding up the clock. It was not until af tt rwards that I learned what really had occurred. The clock should have been wound up the day before ; but the men whose duty it was to do the winding had overlooked tbeii' work, and the oversight wis not discovered till late at night. Afr.»id that the clock wou d run down, and that they should be blamed, they had come to the cathedral eaiher than usual to rectify the error. Had it not been for their neglect of duty the weight would not have descended ii( aily so far as it did to^-ard the bctom of the shaft ; while, bad their vwt been delayed but a little longer, th >y would assuredly have found the clock already stopped — stopped by a cause which now I shudder to think of. 1 hen -at that mom, Tit of relief— l thought of nothing clearly. Giddy, bewildered, reeling with a wild sei.se of deliverance, the prolong d oppression ot my soul found vent in a loud, long, and imging cry. 1 renumber little m^re, and that confusedly. I have some dim memory of an interval of silence, broken by voices outside my prisoa; of the sudden opening of the door ; of a blinding iig )t ; of a group of several form- without. I seem to remember also tnat there were cries of wonder as I s triggered fr<>iii my nanow lodging and fell fainting into the arms of my deliverers. But these things aie to me as the •-hadows of n drei'Ti. The rushing darkness leturned upon me, and for many hours I knew no more. Such is the ston- of my s'range adventure. I greatly doubt whether in all the chapter of accidents in history asiranger one can be found. I have already stated that its truth is known t> several persons, and ti at the stnet accuracy of my account cau be verified by simple lcquiiy.