The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-07-03

the master. i llt siSSIStdlt 81 pSi 4AISii
dent hurried forward, partly dressed,
and said to his chief:
Anything wrong, Sir:
Yes
Any one escaped"
YES.
WHO is it. sirI"
johnson.
Not Sunshine::" said the assistant
in amaZement.
Flint turned on him savagely.
i said johnson. What other j Ohm
son is there here. = And he glared
with clenched fists at his subordinate.
The other did not answer for mo-
ment: then he said:
Shall turn out the guard and
search for him."
No: 90 to bed.
Little Dorothy, silent and frighten-
ed atthe firing clung gasping to the
paling. Her mother came out and
ran toward her, bending over and try
ing to calm her fright, satisfying her
self that the child was not hurt. With
the little girl in her arms she approach
ed her husband.
WHO was it, she inquired in
tremulous tones.
Take that child in" thundered the
master OF the penitentiary. What is
she doing out at this hour. And get
inside yourself.
Mrs. Flint turned without a word.
for she knew her husband in this mood
had better be left alone. lie strobe up
and down the platform Of the veranda,
muttering to himself:
He is sure to be caught, and then
Flint ground his teeth; and there
was no question but it would go hard
with the trusted convict when he was
caught.
The bitterness of it all was that the
whole camp-convicts and guards
knew how he had trusted Sunshine
johnson. and then he had fired at him
and missed him.
After an hours walking back and
forth, Flint sat down again IN his
chair and covered his face his hands,
thinkinging over the startling events
of the night. Suddenly a very soft
and low voice made him spring from
the chair to his feet.
"Massa Flint said the voice.
Sunshine, with the lantern in his
hand, stood before him in a very de-
jected and crestfallen manner, his
clothes torn by the bushes and BRAN
bles through which he had run.
You scoundrel." cried Flint,
''what did you do that forl"
well, you see, massa, said the
negro, apologetically, you didn't
hear it did you?"
Like a flash Flint understood, and
the hard eyes of the master filled with
tears as he placed both hands on the
shoulders Of the convict, who, like a
culprit, gazed on the ground. Flint
struggled with his agitation for mo-
ment, but seemed quite unable to say
just what he wanted to say. Finally
he spoke commonplacely enough.
''Then you saved the express, did
you, Sunshine?"
1.-The convict looked up. The mas
ter had always called him Johnson.
eyes, massa; and de conductor he's
coming. We,need a shovelling gang
out dar at onct.
''All right, Sunshine" said Flint.
''You go and tellthe superintendent to
come here at once, and tell him rout
out gang to clear away the dirt.
Say, what's the matter with your
ARM:
Sunshine's left arm hung limp by
his side, and now that the lantern
flashed upon it Flint saw blood trlck K
ling down his hand Sunshine looked
sheepish and guilty and scratched his
ankle with his bare toe.
"Well, you see, sab, got hit a little
on dat arm when dey fired de shotguns.
Don't expect they fred at me, you see,
sab; guess dey wouldn't hit me if
dey had, dey sort of fired promiscuous
like" he added, as if it were necessary
to make an excuse for the men who
had shot him. Cant expect very
good shooting, you know, for thirteen
dollars month, can you1"
go in the house." said Flint; Il
will root out the gang, myself, and I'll
send the doctor to you at once.
1T this moment the conductor, with
lantern hanging from his elbow,
and a brakeman, clamberek up from
the track into the convict camp. The
conductor was a jovial fellew who
knew Flint.
Hello" he said whats this
you've been doing to us? Been trying
to smash up the night express? Say,
the whole side Of mountain seems to
have come down over the track.
Yes, l know that, " said the other,
who did not know, however, the risk
the convict had run in order to save
the train But say, how soon can
we get this cleared away: We've got
the Governor on board, and he's mad
as the mischief at the delay
Flint pricked up his ears at the men
ton of the official.
"Oh, he's on board, is he? Well, |
am glad of it. Iwant him to pardon
lifer.
We'll" said the conductor, scratch
ing his head. Il wouldn't ask him
just now if l were you, because he's
not in the besto humor.
II don't think he'll ever be in better
humor to dowhat I want him to than
now, because if it hadn't been for my
lifer his private car mig ht be lying at
the bottom Of the ravlne with him
smashed up in it.
"Oh, that how the matter stands,
said the conductor. We'll, | guess
the Governor will do it.
And the Governor did.-New York
Journal
Too Late.
Il is not uncommon for girls en-