The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-09-21

BILE dilemma-two helpless men linz
prisoned in boiler with such warder
standing guard over them.
Luckily they had good supply OF
candles, even If the oil in the lamp
gave out; but the question was how to
escape and give the alarm, and this
consideration the brave fellows at once
thought OF. They were comparatively
secure. as it was impossible for the
lion to get through the man-hole, even
II it attempted to do so, which was UNI
likely. And the consideration for
others came nearer home to them,
though both forebore for while to
speak of It; but presently Fitton said:
''Mate. suppose the missus should
COON after me?" Rogers said nothing.
''Or one Of the childer." he added.
The speaker looked at his watch; it
was quarter to eleven; his house was
just by the gates.
Its all rect" said Dick Rogers,
with CHEEKY smile, they're both asleep
at whoam, tired out wi the days fair
acute they could hear the great beast
crunching the bones in the corner. in
the farthest corner, for after the mans
sudden appearance and exit, it had.
with coarse growl and dragging its
booty along, reiterated as far as it could
60.
The two men knew the Waterman
was somewhere on the premises. proba-
bly, in the counting house room near
the entrance, where, If he was no. al
ready asleep, he would in all likeli-
hood await their return before going
his rounds.
The prisoners lit two of the candles
and prepared to devise means of es-
cape; several methods were proposed
between them, but none seemed FEAST
BILE. Their first idea had been to create
q sudden noise with their hammers
on the reverberating boiler, and
brighten the brute away; this they
abandoned and determined upon ex-
cessive quietness. In the midst of the
silence sounded girls sweet voice
"Dick."
During the terrible seconds of time
that followed two men with blanched
faces rose with one brave impulse and
rushed to the man-hole-too late. Too
late to arrest the rush of hurrying
feet along the fatal plank, too late to
warn the woman who had begun to
make the hard working life of Dick
Rogers q thing worth striving for,
worth living for, AYE, worth dying
for" he cried within himself. as he
clambered out-a life he would have
exchanged with no one on earth since
he had grown to hope for Jenny's love.
With the fatal knowledge of what
must happen, what they almost
strangely waited for, the men had
hastily armed themselves. Rogers,
with crowbar was first up. and then
IA dull roar. one wild, heart-rending
cry, and after that the deep silence
again.
| With calm deliberation, but UNI
daunted courage, Rogers paused min
ute, while Fitton fixed the lantern on
the safety valve.
i The lion was stapding over the body
Of the PROSTATE girl, where she had
fallen, in the hollow formed where the
top OF the boilers met.
| And then both men confronted the
animal.
"Now! Tom" cried Rogers, ''te-
gither!''
| With their crowbars uplifted they
sprang together, one at each side of
the brute's head. What would have
happened with forest-bred lion may
be readily conjectured-this was but
cage reared beast prone to terror and
accustomed to quail before the resolute
action OF man. The sudden onslaught.
the light that dazzled its vision, the
fury and cries Of the men as they en-
couraged each other, and the rapidity
of the blows all served to beat the
brute on, and though it swerved and
struck an angry paw at Fitton that
tore the sleeve from his jacket, never
theless it turned, and regained the
corner where the carcass lay. over
which it crouched, half angry. hall
terrified, but apparently wholly pre-
pared to defend its spoil. Jenny's eyes
were open when Rogers lifted her up.
"God love thee, lass!' cried the
man, with sob in his voice. keep
thy courage up yet awhile"
'Into the boiler. quickr" said Elton.
standing before them.
| But it was no easy matter to get a
nearly helpless woman through the
small aperture. The lion stood snarling
and crushing itself against the wall.
Just as it was accustomed to do in the