Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-07-08

more wretched still. But how far
apart, / unused. About right to keep
in a man, / thought, but would they
keep in a boy:
In an instant the window was up
and my head thrust between them. 1
knew that where my head would 30
my body could. 1 saw at u glance
that the distance to the ground was
too great for a leap except as o last
/! resort.
But hope is a wonderful inspirer.
A moment later the sheets had been
pulled from the bed and converted
into a rope by tying them together.
One end of my safety line was hur-
riedly made fast to the bedstead and
the other lowered from the window.
Dropping my carpet bag and hat
to the ground, l crawled through the
bars, grasped the sheet and swung off.
l was we'll used to tree climbing, hut
descending hand over hand a sheet
rope, when safcncss is moro than
doubtful, and with a rough brick
wall to rasp against, is a worse job
than l should care to take every day.
Fortunately the rope did not break
till L was too low to receive serious
injury; though l landed with too
sharp Il thump to be pleasant. After
some little fumhling in the dark. L
found my hat and carpet bag and put
out.
The street had been safely gained
and perhaps half a mile covered when
a new thought came to me. l had
left the sheet used i'm my escape on
the ground where they fell. Suppose
they were stole before morning; |
would be charged with the theft.
That would never do.
Turning around l made my way
with some difficulty back to the spot.
Finding that one of the sheets had
been badly torn when the rope broke.
and thinking that the owner should
be compensated for the damage, 1
tore my tiny wad of fractional cur
rcncy from where it was stitched in
my pocket: wrapped it in a bundle
made of the sheets, and set to work
to throw it back up into the window.
1t was harder work than l expected.
The bundle persisted IN striking the
bars and %rebounding to my feet. A
dog began to bark. Approaching
footsteps became audible. Scared
half to death l made one more and
the last desperate effort.
The white bundle curved upward.
struck the bars, paused, and then
tumblcd in the window. S%natching
my carpet bag I fled like a frightened
hare.
Knowing not what the next day
might have in store for me-, my sole
aim in life just then was to get back
home. Twas certain that that longcd-
for haven lay to the north of Raleigh,
and guiding my movements by the
stars l put out.
When after Il while I struck the
railroad track l felt sure of my where
abouts. Fearful of getting lost l de-
termined to follow it. despite the
tiresomencss of stepping from cross
tie to cross-tie, for in those times the
road beds were not solid and smooth
as they are now.
1t was dreary, e%xhausting work,
stepping from sill to sill with my
carpet bag swung on a stick carried
on my shoulder like a gun, and the
carpet bag seemed to grow heavier
every minute, but l plodded doggedly
forward, past the white cleaning
mile posts: yawning cuts; over the
high embankmcnts and trcstlcs; evcr
on the alert lest l should stumble
into a cattle-guard or between the
open timbers of a bridge.
Resolution cOnquers all things. by
sunrise the twenty-five miles and
more were behind me, and home was
in sight. The place did not look as
bright as when l left. To my eyes
sadness had thrown Il haze over the
scene. But it was u haze that trans
figures and endcars.
l felt an affection for every tree.
bush, and ever every stone and fence
rail on the farm. / could have Rugged
the old mull-headed COW that stood in
the pen placidly chewing her cud as 1
dragged my feet YEARLY past her on
my way to the house.
1 met mother and the younger chill.
drcn with as much warmth as if years
instead of hours had passed since last
we met. Great was the astonish-
ment at my sudden and strange re
! turn.
My mother heard my story to the
last word, and explained it all from
beginning to end. Then l saw that
my supposed policemen were hack
drivers; my prison a hotel; my burn.
ing iron rod a gas jet; and well to
put it mildly 1 was a grcenhorn.
But silly escapade as it was, 1t
proved the turning point in my life.
Cured Of a longing for life in a city, 1
turned to farming with a will, work.
ing hard during the camping season
and reading such books as / could
borrow in winter.
Fortune smiled on us. Little by
little the family estate was rebought;
and o for many a year we have
been back in the old homestead. the
leaving of which gave us all such a
pang.
Many times since then 1 have re.
visited the scene of my youthful blum
lo- No. III.