The morning call., 1893-04-18

y - III 1bSnu0J Id0T bOFR4
resources had made upon the poor brigadier,
who had probably never seen so much
money at ne time in his life before, Bopper
deigned to produce our railway return tick
cts from Paris to London. Dupont ad-
! mitted this as evidence. But his next ques-
tion startled us.
''Can YOU speak Spanish ?"
This finished our examination. He would
give no explanation. On the sounding OF a
little bell Il gendarme entered and saluted.
He was not our keeper, whom Wa saw grmly
keeping guard al the door. The Brigade
handed his big report to the man, who with
drew.
Bopper returned to the charge that the
police had no right 10 stop us on the high
way. The brgadier admitted that papers
were no longer necessary, but
Il am instructed to arrest you Oh a
specific charge"
What charger" we demanded together.
He only smiled slyly, and told us that an
old hand like him was not so easily caught
as all that The only hint he would give
| us was that it would be twenty years at the
hulks If proved against us. We felt secretly
pleased at the obvious enormity of our
English spies, Of course" sneered
Bupper.
English piekpockets more probably"
retorted the brigadier, who certainly scored
there; but no, gentleman, it is neither.
may be aple 10 tell you when l get reply
to my telegram"
DO you mean to say you telegraphed all
that sheet about us p asked Bopper, with a
pride he could hardly conceal.
But yes. perfectly; its the rule"
Where did you telegraph TOP"
"Ah! gentlemen make questions? Par
don me-"
Our conceit in our own Importance was
seriously damaged by the interim reply:
"Commandant at breakfast. Keep pris-
oner till further orders"
Dupont was annoyed. B0pper was furi-
Gus. / am philosopher. Ihe bell rang
again. We were conducted to a sort of cell
where we had form TO sit on. We were
locked in. We both felt secretly aggrieved
at not being put into irons. Even the cell
was fraud. The window was very high
up, it is true; but there was only one IRON
bar across it-a vertical one. We had no
pallet of straw, or any of tile regulation cell
furniture. Instead, there was quite a COL
lection of riding boots and spurs and belts
hanging round the walls. On a shelf there
were several brown paper bundles. Stand
Ing upon our bench we could reach the
shelf, but self-respect forbade.
The pleasant feeling soon wore off. It was
intOerably not. We were not in the least
hungry, but we were very thirsty. 1 vent
ured to kick at the door. a man at once
asked what was the matter. Our petition
was immed dately granted in the form OF a
pitcher of Peau de vigne.
Two hours afterward Dupont came him
self TO take US out Our examination seemed
perfectly satisfactory. Besides, the police
at Glen had clew. Only we were to be
kept till 3 o'clock in case of accidents If
no word TO the contrary came before then
We were to be set free. Meanwhile, we
were kept in a very mild state of bondage.
in fact our cell was the kitchen. Nine
IunODt Wdutpn n with ha tar
bic Englishmen.
Dupont had again put on his apron, and
was busy dangling little girl of4 Madame
was preparing the beans for dinner. Bopper
soon made his way into the parental hearts
by und0lng bandage round the ears of the
eldest-a boy of about 9-and after exami-
nation prescribing some specific. His home
experience gave him an immense advan-
tage over me in tie good graces Of the
family.
Soon he began to worm out of the father
the charge upon which we were detained.
1t was no less than Aiding a Spanish prs-
oner to escape from the State prison at
Glen"
The reasoning was conclusive lie had
escaped during the very night we had been
at Glen. We were foreigners. He was a
foreigner. Therefore we aided him to
escape. The thing was as plain as pike
staH. Dupont, however, put it in some
what better light for the authorities.
We had been making careful inquiries
about the prison. $50 that miserable chateau
we so much admired was the State prison.
Little wonder the gendarmes smiled at our
desire TO get into IT'D We had sat for an
hour on the bridge carefully examining IT,
In our hotel we continued our nves tiga-
ti0ns so as to arouse the suspicious of our
landlady. We had started at an unearthly
hour in the morning. What would you
have?
Put that way we had to admit that our
case did not look quite SO well.
After ludiclously submitting to little in
structi0n from madame in the art of preserY-
Ing beans. BOpper veniured TO pump Dupont
again.
"Whatwas the Spanish prisoners crime ?"
My opinion now is that Dupont did not
know. lie asserted that duty forbade him
to tell.
only l may let you know that he had
only'been in prison for fortnight (hs term
was fourteen years.. and that he escaped
during the night in his shirt"
We were getting along splendidly. Bopper
and | were quite sure we were going to be
asked 10 share the dinner we were helping
TO prepare, when hey, presto. another tele-
gram from the commandaut spoiled every
thing.
That wire must have contained a snub of
some kind TO Dupont, for lie at once stlffened
up In the most dsagreeable style, and
snapped out to us-he did not even put in
the "Messieurs"-
You may put yourselves en- route"
We took him at his word, and were soon
swinging along the highway. As we passed
the big stone marking the boundary be-
tween the Loiret and the Nlevre, we heaved
a united sigh at being out OF the COM
mandants beat.
We began quite to understand the easy
descent into the criminal classes. For DAYS
after our arrest we honestly preferred to
keep out Of the way of gcndarmes, and not
frequently we made little detOurs to miss
the iron flag and the signb0ard "Gendar-
merle"
/ know this sketch is Incomplete. AS
soon as we got home Bopper and tried to
get the details filed in. We wrote to the
brigadieT. inclosing a stamped and directed
envelope. asking what was the Spanard's s
crime, and whether he was caught again.
No answer ever came. Either the briga-
der never got over that final wire, or police
regulations made It dangerous 10 answer
such letters as ours.
For myself / would be quite willing TO
stake all The untold wealth l possess that
| the prisoner was retaken. The Spaniard
VINO Is able to escape in his shirt from a
| State prison In the middle of France and get
clean away will give st. Peter his own work
| 10 prevent him escaping the r0llcall after
the last trump.-Cornhll Magazine.
|