Once， he superinduced lockjaw； but the agony of dyingwas so great that I positively refused to undergo similarexperiments. The easiest deaths were by asphyxiation，such as drowning， strangling， and suffocation by gas； whilethose by morphine， opium， cocaine and chloroform， werenot at all hard.
Another time， after being suffocated， he kept me in coldstorage for three months， not permitting me to freezeor decay. This was without my knowledge， and I was ina great fright on discovering the lapse of time. I becameafraid of what he might do with me when I lay dead， myalarm being increased by the predilection he was beginningto betray towards vivisection. The last time I wasresurrected， I discovered that he had been tampering withmy breast. Though he had carefully dressed and sewed theincisions up， they were so severe that I had to take to mybed for some time. It was during this convalescence that Ievolved the plan by which I ultimately escaped.
While feigning unbounded enthusiasm in the work， Iasked and received a vacation from my moribund occupation.
During this period I devoted myself to laboratory work，while he was too deep in the vivisection of the manyanimals captured by the blacks to take notice of my work.
It was on these two propositions that I constructedmy theory： First， electrolysis， or the decomposition ofwater into its constituent gases by means of electricity；and， second， by the hypothetical existence of a force， theconverse of gravitation， which Astor has named “apergy”.
Terrestrial attraction， for instance， merely draws objectstogether but does not combine them； hence， apergy ismerely repulsion. Now， atomic or molecular attractionnot only draws objects together but integrates them；and it was the converse of this， or a disintegrative force，which I wished to not only discover and produce， but todirect at will. Thus， the molecules of hydrogen and oxygenreacting on each other， separate and create new molecules，containing both elements and forming water. Electrolysiscauses these molecules to split up and resume theiroriginal condition， producing the two gases separately.
The force I wished to find must not only do this with two，but with all elements， no matter in what compounds theyexist. If I could then entice my father within its radius， hewould be instantly disintegrated and sent flying to the fourquarters， a mass of isolated elements.
It must not be understood that this force， which Ifinally came to control， annihilated matter； it merelyannihilated form. Nor， as I soon discovered， had it anyeffect on inorganic structure； but to all organic form it wasabsolutely fatal. This partiality puzzled me at first， thoughhad I stopped to think deeper I would have seen throughit. Since the number of atoms in organic molecules isfar greater than in the most complex mineral molecules，organic compounds are characterised by their instabilityand the ease with which they are split up by physicalforces and chemical reagents.
By two powerful batteries， connected with magnetsconstructed specially for this purpose， two tremendousforces were projected. Considered apart from each other，they were perfectly harmless； but they accomplished theirpurpose by focusing at an invisible point in mid-air. Afterpractically demonstrating its success， besides narrowlyescaping being blown into nothingness， I laid my trap.
Concealing the magnets， so that their force made thewhole space of my chamber doorway a field of death， andplacing by my couch a button by which I could throw onthe current from the storage batteries， I climbed into bed.
The blackies still guarded my sleeping quarters， onerelieving the other at midnight. I turned on the currentas soon as the first man arrived. Hardly had I begun todoze， when I was aroused by a sharp， metallic tinkle.
There， on the mid-threshold， lay the collar of Dan， myfather’s St. Bernard. My keeper ran to pick it up. Hedisappeared like a gust of wind， his clothes falling to thefloor in a heap. There was a slight wiff of ozone in the air，but since the principal gaseous components of his bodywere hydrogen， oxygen and nitrogen， which are equallycolourless and odourless， there was no other manifestationof his departure. Yet when I shut off the current andremoved the garments， I found a deposit of carbon in theform of animal charcoal； also other powders， the isolated，solid elements of his organism， such as sulphur， potassiumand iron. Resetting the trap， I crawled back to bed. Atmidnight I got up and removed the remains of the secondblack， and then slept peacefully till morning.
I was awakened by the strident voice of my father， whowas calling to me from across the laboratory. I laughedto myself. There had been no one to call him and he hadoverslept. I could hear him as he approached my roomwith the intention of rousing me， and so I sat up in bed，the better to observe his translation—perhaps apotheosiswere a better term. He paused a moment at the threshold，then took the fatal step. Puff ！ It was like the windsighing among the pines. He was gone. His clothes fellin a fantastic heap on the floor. Besides ozone， I noticedthe faint， garlic-like odour of phosphorus. A little pile ofelementary solids lay among his garments. That was all.
The wide world lay before me. My captors were no more.
