Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-05
III.


looked By row of houses not thirty fee.
from the boundary wall. the prison being
cribbed in the midst of London
It was quite understood that Turkey was
In disgrace, and he understood it himself,
and expressed his contrition.
Bound ter look you up a;s,'h, gents!' he
said.
But before the hours tramp round and
about the yard was ended a fresh charm
had banished his interest in his old asso
GATES An organ, just beyond the walls,
was playing "Annie's Got Her New Cock
Feathers and Turkey, as a matter of
course, added his voice to the whispered
chorus from the ranks; but it was not the
sentiment of a favored air that moved him.
He had seen a face and a form at a win
dew
By and by, when the organ had been
trundled out of hearing, the other prison.
ers became aware that woman at a win
seen her first.
Seems ter me, gents" he said. smooth
Ing his baby chin "a bloke's gotter git in
prisen ter find is gal, tool!
In the hideous monotony of prison, lit
tie nothing makes a monstrous stir, and
it was quickly passed about that Turkey
had sweetheart, and that the girl had
followed him. Turkey helped the legend
all he knew.
He invented a story of interrupted love
now on the point of renewal, gave the lady
weaved in hint about her bit of money.
The tale was the emotional sustenance of
the oakum ward.
A seeming reality kept it throbbing; the
face and the form were always to be seen
at the window while the oakum party
were on parade, and secret questions drew
out the fact that they were not observed
there by any of the prisoners who took ex-
ercise in the yard at later hours Clearly,
the lady was Turkeys. Having expound-
ed her charms and given himself out her
hero, he fell in love with her and wished
he might come to know her.
But his ridiculous story held grain of
truth. The graZioletta at the window-a
plump one. If uncertain seeing could be
trusted-whom Turkey, of course, did not
know from Eve, had real interest in him.
For that matter she had an interest in all
the prison, since she was engaged to be
married to Warder Tollit. But Miss Wal
ker-for the lady also had name, and Mr..
Tollit called her RoSa-had no sooner OBJ
served Turkey among the felonry of the
oakum ward than her heart had gone out
to him. Not that it weakened in any de-
gree where Mr. Tollit was concerned. Miss
Walkers interest in Turkey was of another
kind From where she beheld him, airing
his graces In the walled gray yard, he
looked just the child he was, fair-skinned
and fair-haired, and Miss Walker was,
panied and even indignant .pza 4,
Under the tender smart of love, Turkey
grew into exemplary behavior. He studied
prodigiously in school, for though he@eeuld
and he wanted to send her a letter. He
sought to polish both his manners and his
outward man, and went short OF bread for
few days to buy soap from the outlaw
next door. With soap and a pinch of dust
he rubbed q faint mustache on his lip, de-
voutly hoping she would see 1t, removing
the ornament as he took his last turn round
the yard. He lived solely for the hour OF
exercise. Every day, passing under the
wall at the end of the yard. he cooked his
cap and threw up an eye. and he was GER
tain she saw him and smiled on him. The
oakum party sharing Turkeys ~constitu7
tional enjoyed it hugely ,: -
Then, to his extreme disgust, he caught
cold and the weak-minded doctor con-
fined him for three days to his apartment,
and even threatened him with infrmary.
1t was absurd the way that felon was PAM
pered.
Still worse; when the three days were
spent, the barometer having gone round
distract eddy to fair, mild" the meddlesome
medicine man decreed that Turkey should
be employed for a while in the garden,
retired spot where no drafts entered. 1t
was a place which sensible prisoners petit
toned to be sent to. for the work was light,
and there was little supervision; but to
Turkey in love it was Punishment in
wilderness. No: he wouldn't hoe nor he
wouldn't dig, and he wouldn't shove no
blooming roller about neither. He had his
rights as a criminal, he had and why
didn't they send him back to his own party?
Take his gorspel, he'd never had cold
in all his born days.
Now, Miss Walker had missed the ,des-
perado from the oakum squad, and mad
inquired for him. A mother-like spinster
of two and thirty, plump. handsome and
reveling In a legacy which meant affiuence
for her lover and herself, she was bent on
trying the power of money in the interests
of Turkey. She had wormed from Mr.. Toll
lit (who wished Turkey in Khartoum) that
if burglary failed Turkey was willing to go
down to the sea in a ship; and she had
brother who owned smack. A very little
Of her legacy would buy Turkey in as an
apprentice. She had it all out with Mr..
Tollit, whom she wanted for her accom-
plice in her scheme for Turkeys escape.
Give Turkey into her hands for twenty
four hours and she knew how to arrange
for him. Mr.. Tollit said Turkey had sery-
ed two months of his sentence and would
be out in another month. Miss Walker said
that II he went back to Drury Lane he
would be in prison again in week, and
that he must be out before his time. Mr..
Tollit said it would be as much as his place
was worth-and Turkey began to be the
victim of a plot
Precisely at the same time he began to
revolve a very fine plot of his own. A
craftsman who had just come in on a long
sentence had attempted flight. and ven
ture of that kind is apt to be initiated. Tur-
Key for his part, was in no great hurry to
put prison behind him, but he did desire to
do as 1t pleased him there. and he didn't
want any nonsense of gardening. What
said, by giving them the slip
An escape would make a man of him at
a bound, and set the seal upon his fame.
The daring outlaw had broken prison to
join the woman of his heart! He would
be chased would have to lie in hiding: she
would shelter him, and when the police had
abandoned the pursuit they would fly to-
gether, and perhaps set up as robbers.
With these high thoughts to hearten him,
he saw that the garden was not without ad-
vantages. For instance, he was practically
his own master there. warder occasional
ly went the rounds, but nobody showed any
special interest in Turkey. The chief OBJ
stacle was the man with the cutlass. This
was an officer who patrolled the gravel
walk circumventing the prison, at the foot
of the high, smooth-faced wall, and who
was never absent.
Turkey could not, Of course, be aware
that the guardian Of the path in this par
ticuIar walk was Miss Walkers Mr. Tollit,
and it was equally impossible he should
know how sincerely Mr.. Tollit wished him
on the other side of the prison wall Com
PEELED as he was to regard him as a foe,
Turkey nevertheless felt an instant liking
for Mr.. Tollit, who was of great stature.
and, with his cutlass on his shoulder, rather
terrible to look upon.
Approaching him on the second day of
their acquaintance, he said:
mister Tollft Oh Mister ToIlit if WV,