San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-11
PART TWO-TREASURE.
CHAPTER vi.
TWO DESPERADOES.

TWO DESPERADOES.
1t will be remembered that the Jury
adjudged Keppel Darke guilty of murder
in the second degree-perhaps to fortify
their consciences against the phantom of
that small man with the hair on his face.
The public-so far as the newspapers rep
resented it-professed itself satisfied with
the sentence of Imprisonment for life in
Sing Sing. The prisoner himself, how
ever, was ungrateful enough to declare
himself highly discontinued; and Olym-
pia Raven, who contrived, in spite of her
mothers protestations, to gain access to
the prison before he left New York, said
to him words which he never forgot, and
which made him resolve never to give
up the hope of freedom. ''Keppel," she
said, 81 know you are Innocent. prom
Use to love you always and never to marry
any man but you
The authorities We're very proud of the
CELEBRITY which had characterized their
conduct of the case from the beginning.
instead OF lingering along for two or
three years they had their man convicted
i'm three or four months. It was a lovely
day in summer when sentence was pro-
nounced, and in order to maintain their
good record they arranged to dispatch
the prisoner to Sing Sing that night.
At sunset heavy thunderstorm sprang
up, and instead of clearing away after
an hour or two fresh battalions of clouds
gathered as darkness fell, and the cleo
trical flashes and detonations shivered
and resounded through the heavens. The
train with Keppel on board started from
the station in the midst of drenching
rain.
Keppel sat in the car next the baggage
car. Frank Monroe, the detective who
had arrested him, sat in the seat by his
side. His left wrist was fastened to the
right wrist of the officer by the hand
cuffs. Another officer sat in the seat in
front of him. There were about twenty
other passengers in the car; but few or
none of them were aware that Keppel
was prisoner-still less that he was the
famous murderer of Harry Trent.
Most of them began to be sleepy after
half an hour or 80 and disposed them
selves as comfortably as they could for a
nap. Even the detectives eyes were
heavy, and he kept himself awake only
by vigorous chewing of tobacco. But
Keppel was not sleepy in the least. He
felt as if he should never sleep again.
He reviewed in his mind all the Incl
dents of the last three months. A silent
passion of rage and rebellion seized upon
him. He felt that to gain liberty he
would do murder hundred times over.
He was at deadly war with the world; it
had taken from him without justifica-
ton everything that he held dear. No
imaginable retaliation on his part could
be too great. But he was absolutely
helpless. He was chained to his captor,
and in little more than an hour he would
be between walls that he could never
scale. The rain dashed against the win
dows; the lightning glared through the
darkness. Oh, if heaven would but send
bolt to shatter his letters and set him
free! s... .-....r.. ... .... ..~
His eyes, wandering about the Car, be-
came fixed upon young man who was
seated in the next seat forward, on the
other side of the aisle 1t struck him
that this young tnan bore considerable
resemblance to himself He was tall
and rather slender, and had long dark
hair that hung down ON the back of his
neck. His hands were slender. with long
pointed fingers. The face was scarcely
like his; the nose was different. and
there was slight mustache on the up
per lip. His coat, too, instead of being
black, like Keppel's, was gray summer
tweed. He sat in the corner of the seat
by the window, with his head thrown
back. asleep. How careless and secure
he looked. he had a happy life before
him. There were no letters round his
wrists; no gloomy Jail to shut out for
ever the smile of the world and the COM
partnership of men. But for the accursed
blind fate that makes the innocent suffer
for the guilty, so might Keppel have
been sitting at that moment. He ground
his teeth together and a sweat broke out
D ON his forehead .....
NJ ...se( 4