FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49  
50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   >>   >|  
r crime, and turned, and beckoned, and pointed to me, and whispered 'Come.' As my imagination wrought within me I grew silent; not even Mordaunt could rouse me. But he guessed what was happening, and would often come to me and say, 'Don't get down-hearted. Whatever Spurling does, I still hold to my promise. You and I are partners with a common fund. We have eleven thousand dollars already, so cheer up.' "But it wasn't envy of your wealth had driven me mad; it was fear lest you should go off and leave me behind, and should get to Guiana and to El Dorado first. I couldn't shake off my hallucination however much I tried--which wasn't much; always and everywhere I could see you dead. You know that the Klondike with its few hours of winter daylight, its interminable nights, its pale-green moon which seems to shine forever in a steely cloudless sky, and its three long months when men rarely see the sun, is not a much better place than Keewatin in which to heal a crippled mind. So, with the passage of time, there was worse to come. "One morning as I came to the shaft, I found a stranger waiting there. It was dark, I could not see his face; since he said nothing, I passed him and, descending to the bed-rock, commenced to scatter the last night's burning that I might get at the thawed-out muck. Presently I heard the sound of someone following, and the creak of the rope as he let himself down in the bucket. I thought it was you, so I did not turn, but sulkily went on with my work. The footsteps came after me wherever I went, standing behind me. At last I swung round in anger, supposing that you had come to torment me; at that moment I had it in my heart to strike you dead. In the light of the scattered fire, I discovered that it was not you, but instead a man of about my height and breadth. 'What d'you want?' I asked him. He did not answer. 'Who sent you here?' I said. He was silent. Then I grew frightened; seizing a smouldering brand, having puffed it to a blaze, I thrust it before his face--and saw _myself_. "I was down there all alone and underground; no one could have heard me had I cried for help. In my terror I grew foolish and laughed aloud; _it seemed to me so odd that I should have such fear of myself_. When I had grown quiet, 'Who sent you here?' I asked again. "At last he answered, 'You called me.' "'What have you come for?' I questioned. "'To murder Spurling,' he replied. "Then in a choking whisper I m
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49  
50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Spurling

 

silent

 

bucket

 

thought

 

footsteps

 

sulkily

 
replied
 

scatter

 
murder
 
choking

commenced

 
whisper
 
burning
 

answered

 
standing
 

Presently

 
thawed
 

called

 
questioned
 

descending


underground

 
answer
 

height

 

breadth

 

puffed

 

seizing

 

smouldering

 

frightened

 

thrust

 

moment


strike

 

torment

 

supposing

 
terror
 
discovered
 

scattered

 

laughed

 

foolish

 

crippled

 

dollars


thousand

 

eleven

 
promise
 

partners

 
common
 
Guiana
 

Dorado

 
couldn
 
wealth
 

driven