The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-04-08

thlcE Eness you have access Ito all my books
now. ..z --t>1- s.lst gaHzs,l- 9
/ I heard the heavy clash of the door of the
outer safe, and then silence, as deep as death,
was round mo. 1 did not swoonl or faint I
felt was the victim of most horrible trick :;
it was nothing more; should be released, and
/ would make him repent it, I heard pres-.
emily kissing sound; it continued; presently
i snelled gas. / should neversee the morning.
| should be stifed with the gas-the plan was
clear before now. An accident-no one knew
Fl helped him with the books; he did not know
was in the safe, and he shut the door. 1t
was purely one of those accidents that will:
happen. 49,. So ~ T.s.s, s. lfe4.1.s
Still the gas Missed like serpent before its
fatal spring. must stop that. felt round
| the walls for tho fatal burner, and soon found
it.. There was no tap! I remembered now
| the tap was in the outer safe, and the gas was
lighted in the inner one by long stick be-
tween thebar of the gate. My fingers stop
! ped 1t In moment, but could not keep my
fingers there always. tried, and the arm
became so tired of the contracted position
| above my head, that 1 could not keep my fin
| ger over it to save my life. thought of some
other plan. To light it-alas! did not smoke:
+ had no means to do it, and if had, it would
| only consume the air, every inch of which was
precious as life itself. At last I thought of
something that would do. tore some cor
ners off the leaves of book, chewed them into
a pulp, and put it over the holes in the tube,
pressing it in hard-the kissing ceased
climed the shelves and smclled round the bur
ner. had one foe the less. ] then began to
think seriously as to the chances of the air
lasting me till released in the morning. In the
morning? Tais was, o God! Saturday! Satur-
day! Sunday, Monday! Two nights and
whole day! There was no hope. I might
have lived till the morning, but on Sunday
there was no business doze, and my absence
might be EASILY accounted for by that horrible
mistake III my books.
Two nights and day-how many hours?-
To Sunday night at five, twenty-four. To
Monday morning at ter, seventeen Forty
one long hours. There was not air enough to
last me ten! I felt round the door; it was all
but air-proof. IF could make them hear?-
1t was impossible7 The house was the ether
side of a noisy court-yard-L must diel And
Vietorint! Nc, Io-ten thousand times nc!
I must live-I will live.
[ bethought 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
room. 1 measured its height, and found that
by breathing only twenty times minute |
might thirteen hours; that would be tillssix /
o'clock Sunday morning, and after that must /
have affair wasilife. Imust bore through the |
walls; the lock was impergnable. The walls |
of brick would yield to tools. Tools! mockeryl |
[ had but a pen-knife-a toy-and I had
thirteen hours to get through a swall at |
least two feet thick. 1t was work of years,
not hours. zToclst A long pointed bar and |
hammer I remembered to have seen q ma
son boring through wall at my fathers with |
such tools. My pen-knife was two inches |
long. The gas-burner-I tried it, it was soft |
brass, my knife cut it readily. 1t might work
through beside the gasp pipe. The man surely
bored larger hole than the pipe would, fill.z- |
I felt the pipe where it went round the wall,
and then pricked the wall with my knife
The cement with which the hole was filled
round the pipe was kardcr than the wall
itself ,--.F--ssslis> ..io. .5.17
In tracing my way round the room my
hand touched the gate I was saved! I new
er felt such sensation as when my hand
touched that gate. 1t was rapturs! bliss! 1
had despaired-I was now full of hope. /
passed my hand carefully over the gate. ]
felt of the bars; they were of round iron, about
three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and af-
ter running the frame work of the gate, were
pointed at the end. But to get them cut of
the frame work /! I pulled one it yielded
little, and then Knocked at my efforts. must
have hammer I felt cerefully rondd the
walls again. The shelves were all set into the
walls; there was nothing. I felt again aud colose
to the gate the shelf had been cut away to al
low the cato to roll back, and the shelves were
on brackets. If these brackets we're
wrought iron I was helpless-cast iron might
save me yet. felt them carefully and COM
pared them. IF they were wrought iron Il sy
would be unlike m some points-if cast, they
would be alike in ALL I knew what the touch
of the blind must be, so full of ofinstruction to
the mind. t.f,.u
They were cast iron, not a trace of defer
ence could be found. One more sign and /
was certain. If cast, they would be cast in a
mould, and there would be slight. .rouehness
in the casting where the halves of the mould
had been joined. l felt again. There was the
same in both. And now to
break them off. blow, a heavy, blow alone
could do it. 1 remembered to have noticed
when putting away the books, q small chest
Of apparently solid iron on one of the shelves.
sought for it and found it. 1t was heavy,
nearly the fourth OF hundred weight ,
thought. poised it carefully, and felt l 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 I
hen measuring carefully the distance. threw
he chest on to it. 1t fell short, and crashed /
IN the floor. rf '
Once more 1 tried, and this time successful. $
~ The missile smashed the chest nto pieces. i
kicked and beat away the smaller fragments
i'll the bracket stood ont from the wall by it I
elf And now came the test of my skill. If
threw once at tho bracket in that black t
darkness threw twenty times or more. At t
ast one fortunately directed blow, and had |
he JOY of Learing it ring on the pavement of
he room. ~ i
1 had how hammcr-awkward it is true q
still tool that would give blow with T
ertain force. GH s@F9 Ia v
I struck again and again at the bars of the n
ate. They yielded as the other had done, b
nd then were fast. sank down exhausted, f
nth my useless efforts. Why did they not r
ield 1 could give no more force to the blow b
Ito throw the chest at them would be useless; a
he size would spread the blow over two or /
rec of the hars md the forcn nf tha hIom 1 y