St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-18

tions. The whole valley. the gully.
| the bar, the very hillside they
| had just left, were blotted out by
| creeping, sitting smoke-fog, that
| scarcely rose breast high. but was beaten
down or cut OF clearly by the violent
wind that swept the higher level OF the
forest. At times this gale became a
| sirocco In temperature, concentrating
| its heat In whitening blasts which they
could not face or focusing its intensity
| upon some mass of foliage that seemed
| to shrink at Its touch and open scathed
| and gu vering aisle to its approach. The
| enormous skeleton of dead and rotten
| redwood, not hundred yards to their
| right, broke suddenly like a gigantic
| fireWOrk into sparks and flame.
The sheriff had grasped the full
meaning of their situation. In spite OF
his first error-the very carelessness OF
familiarity-his knowledge of wood
craft was greater than his companions
and he saw their danger.
| Come" he said, quickly. 1--WE must
make for an opening or we shall be
| caught.'
The major smiled in misapprehen.
sion.
"Who could catch us here?"
| The sheriff pointed to the blazing
| tree. THAT" he said. I'm five min
utes it will have posse that will wipe
us out"
He caught the major by the arm and
rushed him into the smoke, and appar.
emily in the direction of the greatest
mass of flame. The heat was suffocat-
ing, but it struck the major that the
more they approached the actual scene
OF confagrati0n the heat and smoke be-
came less, until he saw that the fire was
1etreating before them and the follow
| ing wind. In a few moments their
haven of safetY-the expanse already
| burned over-came in sight. Here and
there, seen dimly through the drifting
smoke, the scattered embers that still
strewed the forest floor glowed in weird,
nebulonS spots like will o the wisps.
| For an instant the major hesitated; the
| sheriff cast significant glance behind
! them.
''Go on; it's our only chance" he said
| imperatively.
| enad or smOuldering surface Which at
times struck out spark and flame from
their heavier footprints as they passed.
Their boots cracked and scorched be-
| meath them; their shreds of clothing
were on fire; their breathing became
| more difficult, until, providentlally, they
fell upon an abrupt, fssure-like de-
preston of the soil, which the fire had
leaped, and into which they blindly
plunged and rolled together. A moment
of relief and GOODNESS followed as they
crept along the assure filled with damp
and rotting leaves.
why not stay here?' said the eX-
hausted prisoner.
And be roasted like sweet potatoes
when these trees CATCH" returned the
sheriff, grimly. mo" Even as he
spoke dropping rain of fire spattered
through the leaves from spliutered
redwood, before overlooked, that was
now blazing tiercely in the upper wind.
A vague and undefinable terror was in
the air. The conflagration no longer
seemed to obey any rule of direction.
The incendiary torch had passed invis-
IDLY everything. They scrambled out
of the hollow and again dashed desper-
ateIy forward. u
Beaten, bruised, blackened, and
smOke-grimed, looking less human than
the animals who had long since deserted
the crest, they at last limped into a
wind opening" in the woods that the
fire had skirted. The major sank ex-
baustediy to the ground; the sheriff
threw himself beside him. Their
strange relations to each other seemed
to have been forgotten; they looked and
acted as if they no longer thought of
anything beyond the present. Aud
when the sheriff finally arose. and. dis
appearing for several minutes, brought
his hat full Of water for the prisoner
from distant spring that they had
passed in their flight, he found him
where he had left him, unchanged and
unmoved.
He took the water gratefully, and
| after pause fixed his eyes earnestly
upon his captor. 81 want you to do a
favor to me-" he said slowly. '.Tm not
| going to offer you a bride to do it either.
| nor ask you anything that isn't in a
line with your duty. l think l under
stand you now, if didn't before. Do
you know Briggs restaurant in Sacra-
mento?"
| The sheriff nodded.
| swell, over the restaurant are my
| private rooms-the finest in Sacramento.
| Nobody knows it but Briggs, and he
has never told. They've been locked
ever since left; Pve got the key still
in my pocket. Now when we get to
| Sacramento, instead of taking me
straight to jail want you to hold me
| there as your prisoner for a day and
night. l don't want to get away; you
can take what precautions you like
surround the house with policemen and
sleep yourself in the anteroom l don't
want to destroy any papers or evidence;
| you can go through the rooms and
| examine everything before and after;
only want to stay there day and night;
| L want TO be in my old rooms; have my
| meals from the restaurant as 1 used to,
! and sleep in my own bed once more.
| want to live for one day like a gentle
man, as l used to live before l came
here. That's all. 1t isn't much, Tom 4;
| you can do it and say you require to do
| it to get evidence against me, or that
| you want to search the rooms"
The expression of wonder which had
come into the sheritf's face at the be-
ginning of this speech deepened into
| his old look of surly dissatisfaction.
And that's all you want" he said
gloomlly. Eye don't want no friends-no
lawyer? For L tell you straight out,
| major, there amt no hope for we when
| the law once gets hold of we In Sacra-
mento."
That's all. viii you do it?"
The Sherltf's face grew still darker.
| After a pause he said: II don't say
no. and L don't say yes But" he
| added grimly, lit strikes me we'd better
wait till we get clear o. these woods
before you think o. your Sacramento
| lodgings"
he HdJor ulu nOI reply. Inc day
had worn OH, but the fire now COM
| pletely encircling them opposed any
| passage i'll Or out of that fateful barrier.
The smoke OF the burning underbrusii
hung low around them in bank equally
impenetrable to vision. They were as
| alone as ShipWrecked sailors in an island
| girdled by horizon of clouds.
Ppm going To try to Sleep" said the
major; IF your men come, you can
| waken me-"
And if your men Gomez" said the
| sheriff dryy.
| ''Shoot me-"
He laid down. closed his eyes, and. to
the sheritf'S establishment, presently
fell asleep. The sheriff, with his chin
i'll his gri,ny hands, sat and watched him
as the day slowly darkened around
| them. and the distant fires came out in
more lurid intensity. The face OF the
captive and outlawed murderer was
singularly peaceful; that OF the captor