The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-10-11

tho morning, aud would make him repent it.
i heard presently n iissss:g sound-it cuntin
red presently fsmeiled gas. shonld never
sae the morning. Ishoud he stiffed with the
| gase~thu plan was clear before me now. An
/ accidant--no cllc knew / helped him with tie
I bpchs--he did not know : was in the cafe, and
| he shut the door. It wis purely one Of those
accidents that will happen.
Gasil the gas hIssed like a serpent before 1T
| fatal spring. must stop that. felt round
| the walls for the bari.sr, and soon found it,
There was no tap l reLtsn.beged now the
| tap was in the outer safe, and shE gas was
lighted in the inner one by long stick se.
tween the bars of the gate. Ny fingers stop
ped it iii q rsc.sent bnt could not keep my
finger there always tried, and the arm be-
came so tired Of the coDtracfea rcsition above
my head that could not keep my finger over
/ it 10 save my life. ! Thought of some othet
plan. To light ik--alas did not smoke. /
had no means to do it, and if l had, it would
cnly have consumed the air, every ineh of
which was precious rs life itself At last l
thought of something that would do. i tore
some corners of the leaves of u book, chewed
them itto pulp, and put it over the hoies in
Che tube, pressing it in hard. Tne kissing
ceased. [ climbed the shelves and snselIed
| round the burner-f had one foe the less. I
then began to think seriously as to the chances
of the air lasting me till released n'the morn
ing In the morning! This was, O God!
Saturday! Saturday Sunday, Monday-two
nights and a whole day There was no hope
| might have lived till the morning, but ON
Sunday there was no business done, and my
.sbsence would be eassiiIt taecaunted for by that
Horrible mistake ii, fny~Sookrs
Two nights and q day-how MANY hours
70 Sunday night at five, twenty four. To Mon
day morning at ten, seventeen. Forty one
long hours. Forty-oiie hours. There was not
air enough to last me ten. l felt round the
door; 1t was all but air proof. Ii could make
them hear 1t was impossible the house was
! t3e other side OF a noisy courtyard; must
die And Victorile! No. no ten thousand
| times no. l must live; will live.
bethoHght me of my old store of know
ledge. How long could live without fresh
air How many hours had | in which to
reach it paced the length and breadth OF
the rooms l measured its height and found
that by breathing only twenty times a Minute
might live fer thirteen hours that would be
| TIL O'Clock on Sunday morning. and after
that must have affair was life | must
bore through the walls; the lock was impreg-
nabe. The walls of brick would Weld 10
tools. Tools! mockery! | had but ii pen
knife; d toy and bad thirteen hours TO get
through Il wafat least two feet thick. Ii was
work Of years not hours. Tools. \ long
pointed bar and a hammer. | remembered to
have seen mason boring through wall at
my father with such tools My penknife was
two inches long. The gas burner | tried IT,
1t was soft brass; my knife cut it readily. Ii
| might work through beside the gas pipe The
man surely bored Il larger hole than Tie pipe
would ill. felt the pipe where it Went round
the wall, and then pricked the Nali with my
knife-the cement with which the hoi, had
been tillad round the pipe was harder than the
wall itself
In tracing my way round the room my hand
| touched the gaze. 1 was saved, | never felt
such ii sensation it9 when my hand touched that
gate II was rapture bliss! HAD dcspaired--
l was now full OF hope. | passed my hand
carefully over the gate; felt one OF the bars,
they were OF round iron. about three, quarters
! of stn INCH iii thickness, and after running
through the frame work of the gate were
/ pointed AZ The eud But to yet them ont Of
| that franne- work i pulled one. it Welded IL
| little, and then nvcaed al my efforts. must
| have a hammer. felt CA eiully round the
| walls again. Tie shelves We're all let into the
Walis-there was nolIlmgi felt again, and
| close to the gate the shelf had been cut away
| 20 allow the gate to roll back, and the shelves
We're supported Oh brackets. If those brackets
were wrought-iIon | was eipless-cast-iron
might save me yet felt them carefully and
compared tilem II they were wrought. they
would be unlike in some peints--if cast. alike
III all. L knew now what the touch OF the
blind must be, SO fail ot instruction TO the mind
lucy were CilSt-Hoi. Uol Il trace OF UtifSl-
ence could be found. One more sign and was
certain; if cast they would be cast in Il mould,
and there would be Il slight roughness in the
casting where the halves of the mould had
been Joined. l felt again. There was the
roughness-the same in both. And now to
break them off 4 blow, a heavy blow. alone
could do It, / remembered to have noticed
when putting away the books, small chest OF
apparently solid IRON on one of the shelves.
sought for it and found it; it was heavy, near
ly the fourth OF a hGndredweight, | thought;
poised 1t carefully, and felt had strength
enough to throw it with an aim. cleared
away the books from the slate shelf which
rested on one of these brackets, and then
measuring carefully the distance, threw the
chest on to it, II fell short and crashed Oh the
floor.
Once more tried, andth time successfully.
The missile smashed the shelf into pieces
kicked and beat away the smaller fragments
|. TIL the bracket stood out from the wall by it.
self. Aud now came. tie test of my skill! II
threw once at the bracket in that. black dark
| ness threw twenty times or more at last,
one fortunately directed blow, and had the
JOY OF hearing it ring on the pavement of the
room.
had now a hammer--5w kward it is true
still a tool that would give Il blow with Ger
| tam force.
| struck again and again at the bars of the
| gate, they yielded as the other had done and
| then were fast. l sank down exhausted with
my useless efforts. Why did they not yield !
| ! could give 80 more force to the blow--to
| throw the chest at them would be useless
| the size would spread the blow over two or
shree OF the bars, and the force would be lost
| must cut through one Of the bars in the mid
| de and thus wrench ont the half | needed -
How had l seen men cut through iron2 With
| files-I could not hope for these. | remem.
bered to have heard of prisoners who cut
through iron bars with Il watch spring-by
what horrible fatality was my watch at that
moment Ill the case my dressing-tahle.
a watch spring-a thin piece of steel Would
| iron do ? 1t might. In almost less time than
it takes to tell l bad broken up one of the
sleet-iron deed boxes, aud by carefully bend
| ing Il piece of it backward aud forward on the
sharp edge of the chest had used as missile
| 1 obtained Il strip about the length of my hand
and two fingers broad ,.tnd with this co,nuienc-
ed saving one of the bars. Half an hour s
hard work produced no impression on the bar,
and had turned up the edge of the soft sheet
| iron on both sides.
| If it had been a question of saws, could
| have tUrned ten deed boxes inte u hundred
saws to cut through that one bar Alas ii
| was no such thing, the SAW woGld not cut
! and then sprung up before NE the vision of !.
large yard with blocks of stone and the motion
To and fro Of the suspended saw Of the stone
| sawver aud his little trickling water barrel
and heap of sand. Once more | went To work
| I broke oil the corner of one of the stone
shelves (ihc lower ones reof stone. the
! upper of slate pounded it fine with my ha.n-
| mer, and then wettins the edge OF the saw
with saliva / stfewed the pounded stoue upon
1t felt the saw become slesadier and Seadcr