The Minneapolis journal., 1905-11-26

derstood it; 80 tried to get you to
own up in the night. let you see that
we didn't mind whether you knew us
or not, and yet you persisted in your
lie. So then I smelt something deeper.
But we had gone out Of our way to
save iyour life. It never struck me that
you might go out Of your way to take
oursl -
stingaree paused, smoking his pipe
"But it did mel" cried Howie.
~ never meant taking your lives"
muttered Vanheimert. II meant TAX
ing you-as you deserved" /"
We scarcely deserved it Of you; but
that is matter Of opinion. AS for
taking us alive, no doubt you would
have preferred to do so it had seemed
equally safe and easy; you had not the
pluck to run a single risk. You were
given every chance. I sent Howie into
the scrub, took the powder out Of six
cartridges, and put what anybody
would have taken for loaded revolver
all but into your hands. sat at your
mercy, quite looking forward to the
sensation Of being stuck up for a
change. If you had stuck me up like
man, said Stingaree, refectively ex-
amining his pipe, ".you might have
lived to tell the tale.'
There was an interval Of the faint,
persistent rustling Of branch and leaf,
varied by the screech of a distant
cockatoo and the nearer cry Of crow,
as the dusk deepened into night as
expeditiously as on the stage. Van
heimert was not awed by the quiet
voice to which he had been listening. IT
lacked the note Of violence which he
understood; it even lulled him into a
belief that he would still live; to tell
the tale. But in the dying light he
looked up, and in the fierce unrelentine
face, made the more sinister by it's
foppish furniture, he read his doom.
''You tried to shoot me IN my Sleep
said Stingaree, speaking slowly, with
intense articulation. 7sThat's your
} gratitude! You will live just long
} enough to wish that you had shot your.
self instead!' II.
Stingaree rose. .4...
| "You may as well shoot me now! D
, cried Vanheimert, with husky effort
"Shoot youa I'm not going to shoot
; you at all; shooting's too good fol
scum like you. But you are to die
, make no mistake about that. And soon
but not tonight. That would not bt
2 fair on you, for reasons which I leave
: to your imag gination. You will lie wher,
you are tonight; and you will b.
: watched and fed like your superiors il
the condemned cell. The only differ
ence is that I can't tell you when i
will be. It might be tomorrow don >
think it will-but you may numbe:
! your days on the fingers Of boil
I hands, -... ..r-
So saying, stingaree turned on hi
= heel, and was lost to sight in the shade
7 Of evening before he reached his tent
But Howie remained on duty with tn
: condemned man. .. .-....
:, AS such Vanheimert was treated fro1
l., the first hour Of his captivity. Not
), rough word was said to him; and hi
9 own unbridled outbursts were receive
t with as much Indifference as the abjec
D prayers and supplications which wer
their regular reaction. The ebbing lif
+ was ordered on that principle Of hig
n humanity which might be the last refine
d ment Of calculated cruelty. The pris
d oner was so tethered to such tree tha
g is was no longer necessary for him t
Q spend a moment in the red eye Of tn
sun. He could follow a sufficient shad
" from dawn to dusk. His boots wer
= restored to him; blanket was permi
= = ted him day and night; but night an
" " day he was sedulously watched, an
y neither knife nor fork was provide
~ with meals. His fare was relatively M
. inferior to that of the legally Col
,t demned, whose notorious privileges an
- restrictions served the bushrangers fc
: a model. -, .-a .-. ...-..
:. =, And Vanheimert clung to the hope {
~ ~ a reprieve with all the sanguine tenacit
- Of his ill-starred class, tho it did see
% with more encouragement on the Who'll
ID For the days went on, and each {
IT. IT many mornings brought its own respit
~ ~ till the next. The welcome announc
~ ~ ment was invariably made by How
:. after coloquy with his chief, whie
20 Vanheimert watched with breathless i
ID terest for a day or two, but theaeaft
~ ~. with increasing coolness. They we