Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-10-18

wished to stay at thefort to attend to
| household affairs. Ibid not often en-
terrain Prince, ann was somewhat
! anxious about the dinner which was
being prepared by ny inexperienced
soldier cook.
"You will not? You are wrong.
You should walk mFe. 1t is excellent
exercise. find tbs benefit, and need
it much always, as now. But l see
you will not be persuaded. Au recoir,
then, till-?"
DINNER at half-last six. That will
give us nice long evening""
Eyes; nice long evening"" he re-
peated after me in :strange, hooking
tone. If he had nt been Prince |
might have considered his conduct
rude.
We parted. He walked on at very
brisk pace; returned slowly to the
fort. :,
For the next fewhours / was busy
experimenting the operations in the
kitchen, assisting 10 lay the table,
drawing wine, and making ready for
the feast. About DIX p. m. dressed
in mess uniform to do honor to my
foreign guest, and walked down the
road to meet him Oh his return.
He had had three hours to do the
journey there and back, but half-past
six came, and withit no Prince. Sew
en-still he did notappear.
What had happered lie must have
lost his way. 1t was quite dark, and
rather cold. At haf-past seven | sent
off two non-commssioned officers in
search of him at eight | went myself,
and. growing moe and more con-
cerned, walked on tc Silverburn.
Yes; person answering to the de-
scription of the Prince had been seen
there. He had taken the train to Var
chester, An extraordinary proceed
ing; still it accounted for his absence;
SO, somewhat relieved, went home,
dined by myself and went to bed.
l slept late next morning. 1t was
close on ten when l was reused by a
familiar voice in the outer room.
"What, Randall! Still in bod?"
1t was Bob Finch brother Lieu
tenant from headquarters.
You are to return at once to the
regiment, he said. - have come to
relieve YOU"
Hurrahr'
"Steady, boy, steady. Read this.
Don't sing out too SOON"
1t was an official letter from the Ad-
jutant, desiring nae to hand over my
detachment, and report myself forth
with at acknowledgements arrest.
"Bless me. What's upp"
1.-THE COlonePs furious. He de-
clares he'll prefer charges, and have
you tried by court-martial.
but why, man, whyy"
"What on earth induced you to give
that sharper letters of introduction to
the regiment? Where, in heavens
name, did you pick him up?'
1.-THE Prince"
"Of Darkness. He made nice fools
of us ALL"
told Bob Finch the story of the
raft, at which he laughed little, add
ing soon:
"But it's no joke, Randall. Hewas
asked to mess on the strength of your
letter to Greycliffe."
u gave him none"
"He produced one-on paper with
your monogram, and in your writing"
"A forgery"
"But how could he have done it2'
81 left him alone here for an hour
or more to write letters. There was
one for Messrs. Coutts, and another
for somebody 'offski. and one
for Seven Dials, Of course, but would
not confess to this.
"Well, he dined at mess, en- bottr-
geois. He was travelling, and had left
his mails at another stage; after din
ner he got us to baccarat, which he
played to a nicely. We were cleaned
out, every one of us. The Prince,
however, promised us our revenge,
Only the same night-it could have
been no one else-he broke into the
mess-house, stole three dozen silver
forks heap Of teaspoons, several
snuff boxes, one or two racing, cups
in fact, all the light portable articles
ON which he could lay his hands"
l was utterly ashamed OF HySel1 Tor
being SO easily imposed upon, and was
preparing, in pain and humiliation, to
proceed to headquarters, when my
Sergeant came in and said two Ward
ers had arrived from Talkham Convict
Prison; would l see them?
might | make so bold as to claim
your assistance, sir? We have been in
pursuit of a convict who escaped from
our establishment the day before yes
terday."
He produced a large placard headed
with the ROYAL arms. Under them, in
flaming capitals, were the words
"Convict Just Escaped! Five
Pounds Reward
Then followed the description: