The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-12-28
TWOSHOES TRIES TT ON.

VERY ingenious had been the method
by which $1,000, Thomas Twoshoes,
had escaped from the convict prison at
Talkham. 1t was while he was at
work with a gang of four and-twenty
others wheeling bricks from the kiln
to Il far-otf stack-a long procession,
barrow following barrow, and one end
of the line of men almost beyond the
vision of the warder at the other.
TWoshoes' notion was that he himself
should be built into the SIX. Thus :
temporarily entOmbed he ght elude !
the searcherS till nightame and
brought with it a quieohance of :.
stealing away.
Pluck and inventive geIs are es-
teemed even by convicts, ditt his COM
panions readily promised him their
help. Selling a favorable opportunity
TWOshOeS left his barrow and bestowed
himself full length on top of the stack
Il friend placed two planks over him
to save him from being crushed by the
weight Of the bricks which nimble fin
gers quickly built above him. More
and yet more; the barrows came and
went, and the bricks flowed in a
stream that seemed perennial. Long
before he was missed, Twoshoes was
effectually concealed from sight.
But now Mr.. Tightlock realizes the
terrible truth. He is ga man short. 3"
Twenty-three, twenty-four. twen-
ty-i-"
No, not twenty-five, my friend.
Count them as often as you please,
you cannot make the number up. The
tWenty-iifth is Thomas TwoshCes, and
he has undoubtedly disappeared.
Then followed shrill whistles of
alarm, shot after shot, the changing of
Il distant bell, hurrying footsteps rae
ing to and fro, anxious voices, as the
pursuers in hot search draw every
covert for the missing man. All about
the brickleld they range; in among
the brick "hacks," through the long
rank grass that grows up the clay
heaps; in dry holes and pits knee-deep
with stagnant mud; round about the
very brickstack itself wherein their
quarry lay hid. They are like hounds
at fault, these pursuers; casting here
and there, hunting high and low; and
yet unable to come upon the scent,
although, in truth, it was under their
noses, close at hand.
Meanwhile, Twoshoes lay close,
and i'll spite of his constrained posi-
tion-he might have been a big brick
himself, as still and motionless as his
millions Of neighbors -chuckled at the
trick he had played his keepers. He
was uncomfortable, of course; but he
had only to bide his time. Patiently
he waited through the long hours
waited and listened to the prison-bell
which tolled the passing hours; it
rang out the "recall from labor" the
time for the evening meal, the time for
taking down hammocks and setting the
night guard.
This was his time; it had come with
the last bell. Everything was quiet
now and snug for the night. Now
with infinite caution he prepared to
set himself free. No easy task. At
first he could not move, not a finger;
he had been too securely hidden; the
superintendent weight of brick re-
fused to stir. Was he doomed, then,
to suff0cation within a living grave
just when escape seemed near at hand
With one supreme effort he succeeded
in loosening the plank above; the
bricks ratified down noisily, and he was
free. Free, but afraid to emerge as
yet. The stack might be watched the
noise would betray him. No. The
coast was clear, he was stiff in every
limb, torn and bleeding; but he ran
swiftly, in spite of fatigue, to spot
where, weeks before, he had hidden a
ragged pair of blanket trousers, made
on purpose for such chance as this.
Then in all haste to the rivers edge;
he swan across; Invested himself of
his convict clothes, and made his way
fast as his failing strength would suf-
fer him down to the sea-coast, whence