The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-06-28
For The Term of Ills Natural Life

By MARCUS CLARKE

Gaping, and had brought al the powers
Of his acute and INSCRIPTIONS intellect
to the consideration of the best method
of achieving his purpose. His pretended
piety had accomplished the end he had
assumed il for. He had won the conf
dence ofy Meekin: and into that worldly
creatures ear he poured a strange and
sad history. He was the son. he said,
of clergyman of the Church OF Eng
land, whose real name, such was his
reverence for the cloth, should never
pass his lips. lie was transported fer
q forgery which he did not commit
Sarah Purfoy WIS his wife. She, an
innocent and trusting girl. had determin-
ed to follow her husband to his place
of doom. and had hired herself as lady's
maid to Mrs. vickers. my great sor-
row is for t/poer woman She Is In
Sydney, / have heard. a1d my heart
bleeds for her." Here Rex heaved
sigh that would have made his fortune
On the boards.
"You might write to her."
"You know the orders, sir-the COM
mandant reads all the letters sent. Could
] write to my poor Sarah what other
eyes were to read?" and he watched
the parson slyly.
40. you could not" said Meekin,
at last
The next day Meekin, blushing with
the consciousness that what he was
about to do was wrong. said to his peni-
tent, IF you will promise to write moth
ing that tie commandant might not see'
Rex, I win send your letter to your
wife,
Heaven bless you. sir1' said Rex,
and took two days to compose an epis-
tie which should tell Sarah Purfoy how
to act. The letter was a model or COM
position in one way 1t stated every
thing clearly and succinctly- Not de-
tail that could ac5ist was omitted, not
a line that could embarrass was suffered
to remain. John Rex's scheme of six
months elaboration was set down in the
clearest possible manner. He brought
his letter unsealed to Meekin- Meekin
looked at it with an interest that was
baf suspicious "Have / your word
thst there is nothing in this that might
not be read by the commandanty
John Rex was a bold man, but at the
sight of the deadly thing duttering open
in the clergyman's hand his knees knock
ed together. Strong in his knowledge
of human nature, however. he pursued
his desperate plan Read it, sir he
said. turning away his face reproachT
fully. You are gentleman / can
trust you"
..No. Rex said Meekin, walking loft
lily into the pitfall; Il do not read Pr
vate letters" 1t was sealed, and John
Rex felt as if somebody had withdrawn
a match from powder barrel
u, a month Mr. Meekin received let
ter, beautifully written, from sarah
Rex" stating briefly that she had heard
of his goodness; that the inclosed letter
was for her husband, and that, 1t II was
against the rules to give it him, she beg
god IL might be returned to her unread
OF course. Neekin gave 1t to Rex. who
rex, morning handed to Meekin a most
toucbinx and pious production. begging
hin to read II. Meekin did so, and any
suspicions he may have had were at
once disarmed- He was ignorant OF the
fact that the pious letter contained
urivate one. intended for John Rex only,
which letter John Rex thought so high
" Of that, having read II twice through
most aftenfively, he ate It
The plan of escape was. after all. a
s;mp1e one. Sarah Purfoy was to keep
: vessel towering round the southern
enact of Van Diemen's Land without ex-
c;t;nv suspicion. The escape was to be
made in the winter months, II possible.
in June or July. Tie watchfui vessel
was to be commanded by some trust
worthy person, who was to frequently
land on the southeastern side, and keep
= lookout for any extraordinary appear
ance along the coast Rex himself must
be left to run the gauntlet OF the dogs
and guards unaided. 'This seems a
desnerfte scheme wrote Rex, but II
"a NOT 40 Wild as it looks. / have thought
over q dozen others. and rejected them
all This is the only way. Consider il
we'll I have my own plan for escape
which L easy If rescue be at hand. All
depeads upon placing a trustworthy man
in charge of the vessel. You ought to
know a dozen such. will wait e;gh,
feen months TO give you time to make
All arrangements.v The eighteen months
had now nearly passed over. and the
time for the desperate attempt drew
near. Faithful to his cruel philosophy
Iobn Rex had provided scapegoats who
hv their v;earious agonies. should assis,
him to his salvation.
n h.a d;scovered that NJ The txvantx
~ ..rs e;gbt had .,-a.dw A..
t nen - '' on an effort for freedom tn.
r.,nas ~ those eight were Cahbatt
Wa.sL posanbam Cornsi;,,s c-ea,,h;,,
sander, 1called the @Moocber;o' Cox ana
T.ass- We wonld urpe tb.ss mon =. =
go f.&a s,d take aslvartsga 80 ~,
s~c;tsment attendant on their absenc.
- $50 his own escane "Vb;,. al ~,
;s,.nd l. hooking for these eight boobies
~ n have a good chance m sim awa,
,nr;ssadv He wished how eyer :,
heve = companion. some strong man
Who II pressed hard. would turn anf
teen the nursuers at bay. would he use
fnI without doubt: and this comrade
victim he sought in Rufus Dawes.
Rag;nn;ne from a purely selfish mot;v.
tn uree his fellow-prisoner to absconf
with him. Josh Rex gradually fouuf
himself attracted into sometbir1 lik.
friendIiness by the sternness with which