The Republican journal., 1898-07-14

ness, as he said, after a brief pause, and
with an accent of reproach which some
how filled her with a momentary pang of
shame:
Il sha' MT make no sech promise, now
or never. You can't keep me here for
ever. Where's my clothes, Liza?'
'1ou haven't got any"
Haven got any" gasped the aston
ished Billy.
mo. I've burnt EN-, every stitch you
owned. Look out of your window and
you Il see the ashes of EN- in the back
yard
1t was true. The prisoner gave one
startled glance at the smouldering
heap under the apple trees, and then
gazed down at his scantily clad per-
son in sudden despair. Was there any
sense in opposing an enemy who could
plan such brilliant strategic mannuvre
as this. Even his weakened intellect per-
ceived at once that a man Who presented
himself at a recruiting office in his pres
emit array would stand very little chance
OF being accepted.
''Ain' t-ain't there anything left,
Liza?" he ventured, beseechingly, and
the last CLEAN of hope went out at her 1e-
ply:
any new ones till that pesky regiment has
marched out Of the village.
"What am | g0n' to do, mother? Set
round in a bianket2"
II guess You set round in rags and dirt
that a blankets heaven TO, when you was
soldering. | haint forgotten it. if you
have. You 90 way from the door and
III slide in your breakfast on tray. /
ain goin to starve you. But you can't
come out TIL you'y We give me your word
We can nave war right here at home, so
long as you re hankering after it.
'War2"
Eyes. William. 'Twon't 90 SO fur as
hand to- hand tightin' mebbe, but I'll see
that you get all the blockade you can
tend to without goin' to Cuba,
The key turned in tie look, and tin
tray, set forth with corn bread and coffee,
was thrust in. Billy listened as he ate to
the sound of her brisk coming and going
about her household duties downstairs,
with curious idea working in his shall
low brain
No prisoner Of state ever accepted his
situation with a more noble spirit, and as
the day wore on, Billy sat at the window
scanning the road towards the village as
if expecting a squad of cavalry to come
peltng onward in cloud of dust to his
rescue Alas. none appeared, Mrs. Bar
low provided a frugal dinner, a still light
er supper. Size was rather surprised at
the obduracy with which her captive held
out against her, and yet she went to bed
in her own room on the opposite side of
the landing with a smile playing round
her lips as she said to herself:
''Another day OF it will fix him. Hell
have to give in
But at the end OF another day he was
still unconquered. 1t had grown very dun
and wealisome in the low ceiled room
which had not SO much as a picture on the
wall to relieve its dreariness. Billy took
exercise by pacing up and down in his
blanket, after the fashion he had learned
too well in the long weeks Of his stay in
Libby Prison,
1t seemed to him more dignitied not to
handy volds with his wife. SO he main
tanned a stately silence when she demand
ed, as She brought in his meals. Aim
you about tired O. being fool William?''
which alarmed and then uettlcd her. The
heroine who cried "Scissors"' with her
last breath was woman after Eliza Bar
lows own heart. She never had aban-
doned position when she once had taken
it up, and this time serious question
was involved, for with his suddenly devel-
oped strength OF mind and purpose she
did not doubt that if he escaped he would
carry ont his object Of enlistlng. That he
might be rejected because he was what the
neighbors called "a little fetched" neve
occurred to her and it seemed to her that
her only chance of saving him and herself
from repetition of those terrible expe-
riences of the sixties was to keep him I'M
der lock and key until the company had
hlled its ranks and departed to Join the
distant army. Mrs. Barlow shook her
cray head when she took away the scarcely
tasted supper tray on the evening OF the
third day.
Poor old Billy was sitting listlessly on
the side of the bed little later, when he
heard a wagon drive into the yard. Then
the CHEEKY voice of his brother in-law
tioated in through the open window, in
quiring for him.
He amt been able to get about these
few days. Been confined to his room, -
explained his wife, with grim regard for
the exact truth.
Il want to know, Guess I'll run in
and see him. Rheumatic. is it?' said the
sympathetic inquirer.
Mrs. Barlow's reply was inandible.
Then Billy's quickened ears caught a
charmed word, and he listened breath
lesslv.
Il thought he'd get excited over the
war. Didn't know but he's set out to CO.
The company's about full. They've got
their orders and are expecting to march
to- morrow morning. Well, | must be off
The wheels ratified away leaving the
prisoner in the square room in desperation.
The time had come when he must make
bold dash for liberty if he intended to fol-
low the stars and stripes to the front, and
the fog chat hung over his brain seemed
to lift and clear away for moment, leav-
ing him to consider a plan as coolly and
calmly as he had ever done in his life.
That he could drop from the window
without being more than bruised was
probable, for the turf underneath was soft
and spongy. But the possibility of max
ing his way along the road and down the
village street in the blanket, or even the
fringed blue and white counterpart of the
best bed, without being observed and ar
rested as an escaped lunatic, was dis
missed at once. He looked round the
room. A dungeon cell could not have been
barer. There was closet-empty, for he
had explored it carefully in the tedious
hours of his captivity. Oh no, not wholly
empty, for laid away in drawer with
sprigs of lavender were his wife's Sunday
things.