The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-09

J Illuminated target lot every fllle Indt
chose TO sight him. and far worse, he
every shark in the Caribbean. And
sharks swarmed there. His limbs crept
! as he swan with them.
To move fast was to increase the
! phosphorescence; to move slow was to
! linger in that horrible suspense, and l
think it is one of the highest testi-
monials to Kettles indomitable courage
/ when1 can say that not once during
! that ghastly voyage did he either hurry
/ or scurry or splash; he was a prey to
{ the most abominab BILE dread; he eXpend-
/ ed one and a half hours over an hour S
! SWIM and it seemed to him a space OF
Z years; and when he grounded on the
: beach Of the isle de Salut he was al
most fainting from the strain of his
emotions, and for while he lay on the
( sand sobbing like an hysterical school
girl.
But a sound revived him and sent full
energy into his limbs again without a
prelude. From the distance there came
to him the noise of shod feet crunching
with regulation tread along the shingle.
He was lying in the track of a sentry s
beat.
BY instinct his hand dragged the re-
volver from its beckets on his cap, and
then he arose TO his feet and darted
away like some slim, pink ghost across
the beach, into the shelter of the thick
cts. He lay there holding his breath,
and watched the sentry pace up on his
patrol. It was evident that the man
had not seen him; the fellow Meth
er glanced towards the cover or search
ed the beach for foot-tracks; and yet
he carried his rifle in the crook of his
arm ready for a snap shot, and flick
cred his eyes to this side and to that
like a man habitually trained to sud
den alarms and quick-trigger finger
His every movement was eloquent OF
the care with which the Isle de Salut
was Warded.
Kettle waited until the man had gone
off into the dark again and the sound
less distance, and then stepped out
from his ambush, and ran at speed
along the dim starlit beach. The sand
pits sprang backward from his flying
toes. and the birds in the forest rim
moved uneaSily as he passed. The
little man was seabred first and last,
and he had no knowledge of woodcraft;
a silent stalk was a flight far beyond
him; and he raced along his way, re-
volver in hand, confident that he could
shoot any intruding sentry before
rifle could be brought to bear.
OF course, the discharge of weapons
would have walked the isle and brought
the whole wasp,s nest about his ears.
But this was a state of things he could
have faced out brazenly. Throughout
all his stormy life he had never yet
shirked a melee, and perhaps immunity
from serious harm had given him an
over estimate of the percentage of bull
lets which go aStray. AT any rate
the thrill of brisk fighting was pleas
ure he we'll knew, and he never went
far out of his way to avoid 1t. But, as
it was. he sped along his path I'M
noticed. The blunders of chance threat
ened him through the shadows and the
chain of sentries, so that no living soul
picked up the alarm, till at last he
pulled up, painting, at the edge of the
open space which hedged in the grim
convict barrack itself.
And now began a hateful tedium of
waiting. The day he had fixed with
Glare was the right one; the hour of
the rendezvous was vague. He had
said as near midnight as may be- in
his message, but he was only able to
guess at the time himself and he ex-
pected that Clare was in similar
plight Anyway, the man was not
there, and Kettle gnawed his fingers
with impatience as he awaited him.
The night under the winking stars
was full of noise In the forest trees
the jarfiies, and the tree crickets. and
the katydids, kept up their maddening
chorus. The drumming mosquitoes
scented the naked man from afar, and
put every inch of his body to the tor
ment The moist, damp heat of the
place made him pant to get his breath.
The prison itself was full of the I'M
easy ruStling OF men sleeping in dis
comfort, and at regular intervals some
crazy wretch within the walls cried
out, '-Dieu, Dieu, Dieu." as though he
were a human cuckoo clock condemned