The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-24

stood unwashed, and the flags stretching from
her feet to the gate were unscrubbed. But
the voice of the woods spoke to her again,
and with resol1,te closing of her lips she
snatched up her pail and broom and fed to
the house.
There she hastily packed frugal lunch,
picked up a troWel and an old-fashioned egg
basket and went her way rejoicing not how
ever, without carefully drawing every shade
ana locking every door lest some inouisitve
caller might learn her secret and tell the tale
OF base desertion of the household gods.
Once In the heart Of fuckers woods she
forgot all else It was "woodsy, Z" sweet.
moist, earthly. Close to some of the rotten
tree trunks snow still fingered and she
brushed it aside with eager hands, searching
for the rare and delicate arbutus blooms
When she had filled her basket with speci-
mems of moss, delicate lichens and quantities
OF arbutus, she sighed happily and looked
across the creek She remembered a hollow
to which she had stolen many springs before
where jack-in- the pulpits reared their digni-
fed heads and modest anemones bloomed.
She wondered if that fallen tree trunk would
not be very pleasant place on which to
spread her lunch. With all the whimsicality
of child living out fairy tale. she fairly
skipped across the stream and plunged
through the underground into the sunlit
glade.
Yes; there lay the old log, all moss grown,
with fern stalks clustered around it. She
spread out her inviting lunch; then, with a
laugh almost grlish, she piled some arbutuS
il the center as if to grace her woodland
feast She was biting into a tasty sand
witch when a sound in the brush behind her
made her whirl round. She gave a slight
scream and turned white to her lips. Some
thing long and sinuous and striped, something
with gittering blue eyes seemed to be crawl
Ing straight toward her. Now the bushes
parted, and the awful thing rose to its fee,
man in prison GARD. Paralyzed with fright,
Miss Jane. chung to the tree trunk, and then
a musical voice, though pitched to nervous
key, broke the woodland silence.
Don't be afraid ma'am. 1 don't want to
hurt you. But, oh, am hungry, and you
looked kind and thought
Gracious exclaimed Miss Jane in spite
of herself you're nothing but boy! What
are you doing in jail?''
''Pm not in Jail now, but will be il
you don't help me. Oh, it was all mistake
He struck me first. I had to do it to save
my own life, but they said it was my awful
temper. You will"
do you mean to say you killed man."
inquired Miss Jane, with a shudder.
Il didn't mean to- he exclaimed wildly.
God knows, I've suffered for the blow His
face follows me everywhere. And now they're
after me. Won't you help me? They'll take
me back there for life-think of it'll die!
And / am strong! I can't die soon! Think
of it, to be shut up there for years, day and
night, and never to see this sunlight, never
to feel free air, but always the air of the
prison yard! And you, everybody else, will
be out here in the beautiful world, free
free!'
Long fasting and the horror Of being hunted
like wild animal had made him hystericai.
and after all he was not more than a boy,
just turned p. He chung to her skirts, his
eyes fixed imploringly on her face. Nervously
she pulled her dress from his hands. She
remembered they were stained with blood,
but her lips were echoing involuntarily,
Never to feel free air, but always the air
of the prison yard
Suddenly she rose. Something bright gilt
tered in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
81 know it's wrong I'm breaking the law.
but I've been a prisoner, too, all my life
The man gaped at her. but she did not heed
him.. You eat this lunch and I'll be back
directly
He cutched at the food like wild creature.
but without looking at him again she ordered
him back into the underground and hurried
away.
That night a fragile looking man, who
walked with slight limp, boarded the Phila-
delphia accommodation at Dobbinsville Un-
der loose cape she wore black poplin waist
trimmed with beaded gimp that refused to
meet. A thick veil shrouded bonnet that
wabbled trife uncertainty, and it any one
had examined the skirt carefully he would
have noticed a hastily sewed tuck near the
waist line. When most Of the passengers
had fallen asleep, the woman's figure squared
itself around if to screen something in her
lap. Two workworn hands spread out roll
of bills. Two quivering lips counted them.
Then a voice, in which rang a half sob, MUIR
INJURED RI, ...... ..--
Z "Ill send for her some day when it's safe
and show her was worth saving. So help
me God, III do the right thing down there
in South America for that old lady's sake.
She's On the square. But wonder what she
meant when she said, I've been prisoner
all my life bet she never saw the inside
of jail. Perhaps they had her in 'sy-
lum. But I'm going to do what's right, on
the level. old lady, for what you've done
for me-"
And in Jane Prentices kitchen at that very
moment there rose from the stove an odor
of burning wool and leather that made her
wonder If the neighbors noticed it.