WE were a jolly set of fellows, we thirteen who boarded at Mrs. Fondlake's around on Blank Street. There were nine compositors from the "Morning Glory" office, two reporters from the "Old Flag," and Temple and I represented the "Democratic Guide," or the local page thereof. Yes, even Mrs. Fondlake admitted that we were "good boys," which meant with her that we paid our board promptly, came in without undue noise, never got intoxicated, and always ate her tough beefsteak and watery potatoes without murmuring.

      Really, we were fourteen, but we never counted the other man as any part or parcel of our "gang." How he came to the house we never knew, but if he had not been there before us, we should have planned to oust him. He was a tall slim man, Roman nose, black eyes and hair, and there were days at a time when he came and went without exchanging a word. We finally came to ignore his presence altogether, and to look upon him as we did upon the familiar earthern teapot, minus half its handle, but valuable to Mrs. Fondlake because her grandmother had used it fifty years before.

      We were not selfish or disrespectful in adopting this course toward Ellis. He drove us into it, in fact. When a man comes in, sits and thinks until the bell rings, eats his food like a machine, uses the table-cloth to wipe his mouth, mutters to himself about drugs, knives, forceps and surgical operations, never replying to a "good-morning" or a question about the weather, how can one be sociable with him? or how can one treat him like a brother?

      I had been at Mrs. Fondlake's all of two months before I found out about Ellis. He got pinched for funds one day, and selected me out from the rest to do him the favor of advancing an "X" for a week or ten days. He made the request in an absent way, muttering to himself about a new and wonderful table, and was going off without the money when I called him to take it.

      "Now, see here, Ellis," I commenced, holding the bank notes between my fingers, "I'll let you have the money on one condition. I want to know what you are doing in New York, and why in the old Harry you can't answer a civil question? Further, what have you got in your head about medicine or surgery which keeps you muttering about such things all the time?"

      "I don't mind telling you, of course I don't," he replied, in a dreamy way. "I came here from Wisconsin to attend a medical college — to graduate as a physician, surgeon and chemist. I don't get along as I would like to. I study hard, never lose a lecture or take an hour to myself, and yet I don't get along. I have had enough of theory, but not enough practice. I want some subject, some man who is willing to let me experiment on him a little."

      I laughed at the idea, but checked myself as I saw that I was wounding his feelings. I could see that he was not quite right in his mind, and I did not wish to add to his troubles. I gave him the money with a promise that he might experiment on me some day, and he suddenly grew confidential.

      "I'll tell you a secret," he whispered, coming up close to me, a great secret - which you must never divulge to any human being. I have a room on the third floor of No. — Maiden Lane — a room which I have fitted up to experiment there in chemistry, and to study anatomy. I have some wonderful things there, and if you have any interest in such matters, I should like to have you call up some night. It's room number 29."

      I promised that I would do so, and only saw Ellis twice during the next week. He then acted so much like a lunatic that I wondered how he had escaped the attention of the police. He hardly recognized me, muttering about "wonderful invention — painless death — tables — laughing gas," etc. I made up my mind that he would soon be in a lunatic asylum, and that it was a case of too much brain work.

      The third night after, which was Thursday night, Temple and I were sent to a locality near No. 231 to report a case of murder. After having secured all facts, he had to jog along seven or eight blocks to attend a ward caucus or some sort of political meeting, and I was free to return to the office and write up. It struck me all at once that I would pay a visit to Ellis's room. I detailed our conversation to Temple, told him what I intended, and as his own curiosity was somewhat aroused, he agreed to drop in as he came along back, expecting that he should return within an hour at the furthest.

      I had no difficulty in reaching Ellis's room, the door of which was locked. There was a strong smell of drugs and chemicals in the hall, and I wondered how the man could endure the odor. He opened the door a little in answer to my knock, but I had to repeat my name three or four times before he seemed to recognize me.

      "Ah! excuse me?" he exclaimed, opening the door at last. "Walk right in — glad to see you. I've wanted you all the evening, and am a thousand times obliged for the call. I keep the door locked all the time, as there are hundreds of students prowling around nights, and some of them might steal some of my secrets!"

      The room was a large one, a partition having been torn out and two rooms thrown into one. Everything seemed to have been flung into the room and left lying just where it fell. There were large bottles, jugs, jars, phials, dentist's tools, surgeon's tools, and a hundred other things, piled up on shelves, setting on chairs, lying in the corners.

      "You couldn't expect me to have a parlor here," remarked Ellis, noticing how observant I was. "I have to make experiments, deal in acids and other nasty things, and it would be useless to attempt to keep the room in order."

      I lighted my pipe to do away with the smell, and after a few words of conversation the student invited me to the other end of the room, where stood a table about seven feet long and three feet wide. It was stoutly made, and the work was creditable to the mechanic. I saw that several clasps and bands made of wrought iron, and perhaps three inches wide, were fastened to the table, but these I merely noticed. As I stood surveying the table, Ellis said:

      "I wont wait for you to ask me what it is for. Now, every well-posted man knows that surgeons labor under great difficulty while performing delicate operations, because the patient, from pain or nervousness, is always moving a little, even when under the most powerful drug. Now, I have invented this table to obviate these difficulties. The patient once stretched out, these clasps and bands are made fast about his ankles and arms, and he must remain quiet whether or no!"

      The idea was so ridiculous, and Ellis spoke with such warmth, that I could not refrain from laughing. He took offence right away, and when I saw it, I stopped laughing and pretended to believe that he had a fine thing.

      "If I only had some one who would stretch out for a moment and let me see if the clasps were properly adjusted — if — if?"

      "O! as to that, I'll be the patient," I replied, rather anxious to propitiate him, even if he were crazy.

      I took off my coat, removed my boots — he suggested the latter and stretched out with a laugh. There were two gas-burners in the room, making it very light, and I could not help but notice how nervous and excited the man was as he proceeded to fasten me. He fitted the clasps over my ankles — they fitted exactly — and then hauled my arms back until the elbows were on a line with my shoulders, and then fastened them. Stepping back and surveying me he asked:

      "Can you move leg or arm?"

      I attempted to, in vain, and informed him that I was as firmly fast as one could be.

      "That's it! Ha! ha! ha! That's it — that's what I've long wanted!" yelled the man, dancing about and clapping his hands together. "Now I can make my experiments on a human being!"

      That moment I would have given a year's salary to have been off the table. I saw his madness in his eyes and actions, and I feared for my life. But I was determined not to let him get an inkling of my anxiety.

      "O! come Ellis, unfasten the clasps and let me get up," I remarked, in a coaxing tone. "Your table is a very valuable invention, but you ought to provide it with a cushion."

      He was busy at the bottles, and made no reply. He searched about for two or three minutes, and then he exclaimed, "Good" and came over to me with a phial in one hand and a sponge in the other.

      "This," he commenced, as he wet the sponge, "is nitrous oxide gas, or laughing gas. It is a new thing, and is said to be a fine substitute for chloroform, especially in dental operations. I shall now proceed to experiment a little."

      "Get back, you fool!" I shouted, as he came near. "Don't you know that you may kill me with your infernal stuff? Take it away, and release me as quick as you can!"

      "Laughing gas is only fatal when administered in inordinate quantities," he continued, his voice never changing at all. "After through with this, I'll show you how chloroform works."

      I shouted "help! help!" as he came nearer, but then remembered that all the other rooms were deserted, and that there was not one chance in a thousand of my cries being heard on the street. Then I tried to reason with him, but he suddenly pressed the sponge over my mouth, held my head, and in a moment I began to feel the effects of the stuff. I felt my head grow large, had no more care, and soon dropped off in a dream.

      All of a sudden I felt as if some one were tearing my jaws apart, so great was the pain, and the next moment I opened my eyes to see that the madman had jerked out one of my teeth! He held it up before me, laughed as if greatly pleased, and then muttered:

      "Fine — very fine — only I should have kept him under the influence about twenty seconds longer."

      Suffering great pain, and now thoroughly cognizant of my unpleasant situation, I struggled and shouted, but all to no purpose. Then I suddenly remembered that Temple had agreed to stop for me on his way back. As near as I could make out, I had been in the room about half an hour, and Temple might soon be along, if the meeting was as unimportant an affair as he had looked for. But suppose he were detained another hour — two hours — forgot to stop as he went by!

      Ellis again approached me, having a bottle and sponge as before. The smell of chloroform came to my nostrils, and again I begged and entreated him to let me off.

      "Chloroform is a fine thing — a very fine thing!" he muttered, paying no attention to my words. "It takes only a little to produce a death-sleep. But I must not go as far as that. I only want total unconsciousness for five or ten minutes."

      "If you will let me get up, I'll pass this all over as a joke, and give you a hundred dollars!" I exclaimed, as I saw that he was going to put me under the influence of the drug.

      He made no reply, but seized me by the hair with one hand, and with the other held the dampened sponge to my nose. I fought against the influence all I could, but I had to breathe at last, and it was not three minutes before my senses were leaving me. I tried to shout, but my voice died away. I tried to catch the madman's eye, but I saw a dozen men standing over me instead of one, and my eyes closed, and I was unconscious.

      "There! you are all right again, and I'll bet a hundred dollars to one that you never felt the lance at all! Come, now, did you!"

      It was the student who was speaking. My eyes unclosed, but there was a terrible roaring in my head, and it was several minutes before I could make out what he meant. I then ascertained that he had pricked a vein in my arm and was bleeding me! I could feel the blood running away, and felt considerably weakened.

      "That is one of the first lessons which a physician must learn," remarked Ellis, cutting away coat and shirt, and bandaging the arm. "I could weaken him to a baby's strength, if I wished, but I must save him — I have more experiments."

      More experiments!

      My heart sank like a lump of lead. What about Temple? Why didn't he come? He was coming! I heard a step on the stairs, and my heart bounded with hope. It came up one, two, three steps, hesitated, and I saw that Ellis also heard it. His face assumed a crafty expression, and he walked softly to the door, locked it and pocketed the key. Then, as we listened, the unknown retreated down the stairs, and again I was at the mercy of the madman.

      What would he do next?

      I was free to move my head this way and that, and I watched him as he handled the bottles and surgical instruments. He was five or ten minutes fussing around, but last found what he desired.

      "Half the hurts which humanity receive are wounds which require needle and thread," he said to himself, as he threaded a shining needle, stuck it into my clothing, and then went and brought a sharp knife. And then, as he looked me over, holding the knife ready for use, he continued:

      "I only want a small clean cut to practise on — one which will take about four stitches. Where shall I have it?"

      I saw what he intended, but dared not protest, for fear that he would give me something to render me unconscious; perhaps get in a passion and stab me. He at length decided to take the calf of my leg. Rolling up my pants, he made everything ready, and then gave me a cut which made me yell with pain.

      "Splendid! splendid!" he shouted, wiping off the blood. "It ought to be more jagged for one to make a real first-class display of surgery, but then, this will do on this. When I come to amputate the arm, I shall work to make a nice job of it!"

      I shouted as loud as I could, struggled until exhausted, and offered him all the gold in New York if he would set me free. But he made no reply, and did not hesitate for a moment. The needle made me groan at every stitch, but he pushed it through, drew the edges of the cut together, cut off the thread, and then stood back and surveyed his work, as if well satisfied. He then looked all around the room, walked up and down as if puzzled, and finally remarked:

      "Yes, I'll try it! Five drops of Prussic acid is said to be sufficient to kill the strongest man in five minutes. I'll give him five drops."

      I shouted until the room echoed, and yet not one of the pedestrians below made the least halt, nor did Ellis himself seem to realize that I was using my voice. He stood upon an empty carboy, to get down a bottle from the top shelf, and then I watched him as he partly filled a spoon with water, and dropped into it five drops of the deadly poison. He brought bottle and all as he came to me, and set the bottle on the table close to my head.

      The man seemed to have concluded that I would shut my teeth and resist, for he seized me by the hair in a savage way, and then made a dash at my mouth with the spoon. By a quick turn of the head I made him spill the contents of the spoon on my cheek, and the same movement knocked the bottle off and broke it into a hundred pieces. Seeing the ruination of his plans, Ellis struck me four or five times with his fist, and then went off to his bottles again.

      Would Temple come? I judged it had been two hours since I entered the room, and surely my friend could not be detained much longer. His arrival was my only hope. If he did not come, Ellis would experiment me to death in another hour. Temple would find the door locked, but I meant to shout to him, and then depend on him to burst in the door, or run down and get a policeman.

      "Amputation is the main thing in surgery," muttered Ellis, coming forward. "A job well done saves a life; poorly done the patient dies!"

      He came closer, felt of my legs and arms, and finally pushed up my coatsleeve and shirt as far as the iron band which held the arm. He could not get quite to the elbow, and so remarked to himself that he would amputate the arm at the wrist! If he did it I would be a dead man in fifteen minutes. I knew that he had no practical knowledge of surgery, and the pain itself would be more than I could stand.

      "Let's see," mused Ellis, his hand up to his head. "I want the saw, bandages, knife, needle, thread, and a dish of water. I must cut the flesh to the bone, turn back the skin so as to leave a flap, and then saw through the bone."

      It was awful to think of it, and I yelled until faint, and swayed my body until I nearly upset the table. He seemed to fear that help might come, and came running up with his chloroform again, rendering me unconscious in three or four minutes.
 

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      "He's all right — he's coming to; just let him alone."

      I heard the words as if they had been spoken a long way off; there was a terrible pain in my head, my eyelids felt as if weighted, and when I at last lifted them, three or four men were standing around me — Temple, two policemen, and a surgeon. I was carried down stairs, sent home, and no explanations were made until the next day.

      Then Temple told me that the meeting delayed him; that, remembering his promise, he had come back that way, came up stairs, and had just reached the door, when Ellis came out after a dish of water. Temple caught sight of me on the table, and was about to rush in, when the madman locked the door on him. It was only a moment's work to call the officers, who kicked in the door just as Ellis was ready to use his knife. He attacked the officers, and it was only after a hard fight that he was handcuffed and marched off, being sent, after a day or two, to an insane asylum, where he yet remains.