The west shore., August 01, 1884, Page 248, Image 22

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rence which hnd left an eternal stain on our family name,
would find every one of us in the grave. Evidently,
Uiou, Ilia five figure of the symbol indicated the live years
that had elapsed before the death of the murderer, and
the ten years thut should pass away before the whole
family would le annihilated.
"Arriving at this conclusion, I resolved to destroy
completely the infernal machine, with a hope of averting
the catastrophe, but fearing the wrath of my brothers, I
decided finally oidy to disable it, so that it could not be
set in motion again without great dilliculty. With this
intention I stole into the room where it stood Having
some mechanical dexterity, and remembering the con
struction of the clock from the time when I had watched
the man examine it, I determined to injure the peculiar
escapement so that the injury would be barely percepti
ble, and yet would effectually prevent the ratchet wheel
from performing its revolutions. To make doubly sure I
meant also to remove some minute pinion, so that any
but the most thorough attempts at repair would be
baffled. I confess that a nervous thrill passed over me
when I found myself alone and face to face with the
mysterious machine which I now considered the cause of
all our ill-fortune. I paused to regard it for a moment,
and I plainly heard the regular ticking of the huge
pendulum, which seemed to mo be repeating Bolemnly
the words five ten five-ten five ten. Suddenly
there was a swift buzzing of wheels and the clock began
striking. Instinctively I counted, though with an inde
scribable sensation of dread one two three four
five six seven -eight nine-ten! I glanced at the
dial. The hands jointed to half-past six, yet I had
counted ten strokes of the bell. Was it premonition?'
asked myself. At first I thought it must be a mistake
on my part, but some further consideration showed mn
that it was indeed a repetition of the teu figure of the
symbol. lining the youngest son, my . hour, as affairs
were going, would come lost, or, according to my inter
pretetiou ot the symlxri, in the tenth year after the
murder. It was n warning to mo in jxiraon that my days
were exactly numlered. As I fully realized this, the
angry uhxxt Hew to my temples, and I lost all self-control.
Lnragod mid desjwrate, I forgot everything but the
inlernal machine, More me. I grasped a heavy oaken
chair, and concentrating all my fury into one tremendous
crushing blow, I shattered the clock into a thousand
fragments. At the same instant I received a Doculinr nn.1
violent shook as from hu el.vtric current of intense
jK.wer. The chair was stricken from my hold, ami a
strange, tingling sensation, first ieroeptihle at the ends
of my fingers, spread almost iiiKtentnn.ymsly over my
entire person. 1 fell bark and sank, as it seemed to me
into a twj of the softest down, with an indescribable
sense i.f comfort and delicious languor. My body
npivirl to have lost all weight, and was wafted gently
off into ethereal space. A delightful feeling of eternal
rst and tranquillity pervaded the whole universe as I
drifted airily on and on. My will-,H,wer had forsake,,
me, but after a time I succeeded in concentrating iny
thoughts enough to wonder what had befallen me.
Whither was I drifting? Was I dead, and was this tt
spirit only that was thus drifting drifting? Would I
could I remain forever in this blissful condition, drifting
without time, without care, through all eternity? Sud
denly a sweet voice whispered in my ear: 'Prepare thy
soul; ten minutes past five is the hour, and the year ig
not far hence.' The voice died away, and darkness fell in
place of the glorious light A cold, chilling Bensation
swept over me, and I strained my eyes into the deep
gloom. I found myself on earth, and recognized the
outlines of my father's old chamber, with the fragments
of the clock scattered about me. The tomb-like stillnfiSa
frightened me. I sprang to my feet and rushed in terror
to my own apartment My brothers soon discovered thnt
I had ruined the clock, and they were very angry. When
I attempted an explanation they said I was a fool, and
refused to listen. At this I lost my temper and we had a
great quarrel, the result of which was that I decided to
take my share of the estate, or rather its equivalent in
money, and depart from the wretched place altogether.
breathed easier, however, because the clock was in a
condition beyond the possibility of repair, and I had a
faint hope that with the destruction of the odious thing
the remainder of our family might escape the fate which
I firmly believed had been marked out for them. I went
to Paris, and tried to forget the whole of our unfortunate
history and lose sight of the hateful symbol in a mad
whirl of pleasure. But to no purpose. I had been there
only a few months when I received news of the sudden
and peculiar death of the eldest of my remaining broth
ers. I made a calculation, and found that he had died
just two years after my father, and therefore seven after
the day of the murder. I was now sure that I was not
the victim of an absurd superstition or a diseased imagin
ation. Indeed, I was positive that my solution of the
clock-symbol was the correct one, however Btrange it
might seem. Accordingly I knew I had but three more
years of this life left to me, and I again warned my
remaining brothers that they had respectively one year
and two years more to live. For my own part I was
driven half mad by the vision of the old clock, which
was constantly before me, the hands fixed at ten minutes
past five, and the dial sometimes presenting the outlines
of ghastly heads. Every clock I saw intensified this
hideous vision, and I soon grew to hate the very sight of
one. I longed for some desert land or mountain fastness,
away out of the world, where there should be no clocks.
At last in my despair I resolved to flee to America, and
somewhere in the vast Bolitudes of the Great West find
some lonely vale where I could live secluded and alone.
I would spend the remainder of my days there, regardless
of time, in reckless adventure and careless ease.
"Having learned to speak English from my mother,
when a child, I found no difficulty with the language on
my nrrivul. I made no haste to reach' the mountains, for
I tried to banish entirely nil thoughts of time. I strove
to consider myself still in that outer world thnt had
appeared to me in my vision, where time and distance