IN AND OUT THE SHADOW It is strange I remember so little from that instant when my tortured hands released their frantic grasp on the stone slab of the floor.

I recall the sharp pain, as that fair-faced fiend stamped upon my clutching fingers; I heard the echo of sneering laughter with which she mocked my last upward look of agony, but, with the plunge downward into that black, unknown abyss, all clear recollection ceased--I even retain no memory of the severe shock which must have occurred as my fall ended.

Whether excess of fear paralyzed the brain, or what may have been the cause for such a phenomenon, I know not.

I merely state the fact.
I awoke--how much later God alone knows--lying upon the rough stone bottom of an awful well, huddled in its blackness.

When I finally made attempt at straightening my cramped limbs it seemed as if each separate muscle had been beaten and bruised, and it required no little manipulation before I even recovered sufficient strength to stand upright and endeavor to ascertain the nature of my grewsome prison-house.