St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-09-15

their living on the dreadful sea and
can hear nothing, attend To nothing, bu
the hpwlin" of the storm. - it was no
wonder that the pot-man Knocked two OF
three times when hc brought Mr.. Lewis,
beer before Lcard him; and when
opened the door, It was almost blown
out OF my hand by the force of the wind
at is Il very terrible night, Robert,
| saId, tor he was a very civil young
man, and had been at the White Lion
! for years.
1T is indeed, maam," he said.
''Thcrc's sea on tonight that's a-hyina
over the Chcsil Bank like yeast. The'vc
been firing artillery on the island but,
except now and then in Il lull, You
couldn't hear the guns"
Firing" :" said firing! What Is
that for, Robert !'
"Morc convictS is of, ma'am," was
his answer "and | hear there is some
fellow of consequence among en- Poor
chap. Hes sure 10 he caught such a
night as this, if he hasn't tumbIrd over
the face of Il cliil Already
badc him goodnight, and closed the
dor, still salder in my mind than had
pre-, iou-ly been. 1t always made me
sorrowlul when | heard of the poor CON
victS trying 10 escape. Whatever their
faults may have been, liberty is sweet TO
all of u, and very few of them ever sue
ceeded in getting away-har,lly any, al
ti,a,,,,I L.. |. 4.
trying. took the beer up to Mr.. Lew
IS'S room, and tapping at his door, sail.
as generally dill, ''lIcrc is your beer,
Mr.. Lewis :" and, as usual, the door
was opened, and he took it from me.
Instead OF having his lamp burning, a>
was his custom, his room was in com-
plctc darkness, 81 that could hardly
sec him tu give h;m the iU", and in the
gloom hc seemed to look -tOmtcr and
taller than usual. lie did not speak,
whereas lie generally had little joke
but now he took the .jug in silence. i
fingered for "A moment, but finding thai
he did not speak, | WAS going down
stairs. when thought of his wife. Mr.
Lewis had almost closed the door. when
| said how anxious | tclI about her act-
ting safely in through the storm, when,
10 my amaI"ment. hc replied, without
upenn" the door more than Il few inchr-.
Il am much OBLIGED Tor your kindness.
Mrs. ('crran, but my wife has been in
for this hour past" never was 80 as
toni>hed in my lie. had made two or
three little preparations 10 comfort her,
and iclt hurt that | should not have been
informed OF beg arrival ..IrS." he
continued, "-hc clma " hen the wind
was roaring 81 l"udIy that you did not
hear her knock. let her in: and Us
She was tired and wet thought the best
thing She could do WIS - lie down at
once Well, perhaps it was; but
could Lot hrl iancyin@ shat. Tor all that,
they mi2ht have treated mr with Il little
more consideration. However, could |
say nothing and 50 went to bed, and, |
as soon ~ the stu!m would allow. Ia
sleep.
The first thing I.rard in the morn |
IN, from my miikman. was that only |
one of the cpnIici> h:.d tried 10 escape. |
and that for the present hr was sill at
lar"r. 1t WAS rum"rcd in the town that
it wa- Colonel l., rruu'lr who had "ot
away, hut the government people would
not say much about il. The whole
place Was ;,>tir, he >aid All day lone
| heard the same kind Il lidina< repeat
cd and, IN fact. | SAW cnuInh to con |
vince me that extraordinary rN,rlium~
were being made To capture the runa-
way. The White Lion w;i- searched hv |
Il party "i officers, and - was house
III the s;nc street ~ my own. " here 4 |
Ct y"nn% men oder, were TAX
cn. l,ald, too, That the railways were
watched, not ,nly al our station, hul
that the trtIu~ were cla:ninrd at places |
twenty IL thirty miIr, on;, in case the
convict should ha>c got in at some little
station, 1t was supposed, mcvrr,
that, although the" precautions were
taken, he WAS still in the island, as, from
his wearing the prison dr,>~, it would nr
- difficult for him t" escape hu,irc
| did moi see Mr.. Lewis all day, nur
his wife ; but Just at twilight was
startled 10y the latter comm" quietly into
my little kitchen, and asking ME for the
milk. She WAS prctty-louking yonn@
woman, wearing her hair in short curls.
1t was fair Lair, and shc WAS fair too.
quiet and Shy in her manner, speaking in
a voice 50 low that | couIl scarcely hear
her. She cNplaincd that her husband
had, unfortunately, taken Il severe cold,
and would he obliged to keep his bed for
a day or 50. o. course | offered any as
si>tance III my power, She thanked rnc,
and went up stars. When she was
cone could do nothing for the lie Of
me, Tor many minutes, but sit and IT, ink
"l he. Here was an unaccuuntablc
feeling, quite Il certainty, it seemed, Of
havin" known her before, although when
or where could not say. 50 strong
and strange was this impression tIat it
was almost terrible to me, and, rs
saId, | could think of nothing else for Il
long time However, shook the feel
inc Oft at last, aud went about my work,
seeing no more Of my lnd.cr or his wife
that night
Robert at the White Lion told me.
when he brought the supper beer, that,
it was hushcd up as much as
possible, yet it certainly was the Fenian
who had escaped, and that it was one
Of the most desperate and ingenious cs-
rapcs ever heard OF. Not, ma'am," he
said, Gas believe in any OF your inge-
NOUS escapes. don't believe in man
loing with a rusty nail, or two prongs
Of dinncriork, or some such thing, in
four or five hours, what it would take n
l., IL