Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-01-12

preservation predominant over all other
thoughts, he became conscious or huge
black mass surging upon him out q the
darkness. An instant's buffet with the
current, an Intellectual attempt to dive
beneath it, a horrible sense that the
weight 1T his feet was dragging him
down-and the huge log, loosened from
the raft, was upon him, crushing him be-
meath its rough and ragged sides. The
log passed completely over him, thrust
ing him beneath the water, but his hand,
scraping along the splintered side, came
in contact with the loop of hide rope
that yet hung round the mass, and ne
clutched it with the tenacity Of death
grip. In another instant he got his head
above water, and, making good his hold,
twisted himself, by a violeat effort,
across the log.
For a moment he saw the lights from
the stern windows of the anchored YES
sells low in the distance; Grummet ROCK
disappeared on his left; then, exhausted,
breathless, and bruised, he closed his
eyes, and the drifting log bore him swift
ly and silently away into the darkness.
At daylight the next morning, Mr..
Troke, landing on the prison rock, found
it deserted. The prisoners cap was
lying on the edge of the little cliff, but
the prisoner himself had disappeared.
Pulling back to the Lady-bird, the intel
ligent Troke pondered on the circum-
stance, and in delivering his report to
Vickers mentioned the strange cry he
had heard the night before. Its my
belief, sir, that he was trying to swim
the bay" he said. "He must ha' gone
to the bottom anyhow, for he couldn't
swim five yards with them irons
Vickers, busily engaged in getting I'M
der way, accepted this very natural sup
position without question. The prisoner
had met his death either by his own act
or by accident. It was either suicide
or attempt to escape, and the former
conduct of Rufus Dawes rendered the
latter explanation a more probable one.
In any case, he was dead. AS Mr.. Troke
| rightly surmised, no man could swim the
| bay in irons; and when the Lady-bird,
an hour later, passed the Grummet
Rock, all on board her believed that the
corpse of its late occupant was lying
beneath the waves that seethed at Its
base.
The drifting log that had so strangely
served as a means of saving Rufus
la CS SWAIN Will Tic Cullen IAAuS 'NS
| running out Of the bay. For some time
| the burden that it bore was an insen-
| sible one Exhausted with his desper-
| ate struggle for life, the convict lay
| along the rough bark of this heaven
| sent raft without motion, almost without
| breath. At length VIOLENT shock awoke
| him to consciousness, and he perceived
| that the log had become stranded on
sandy point the extremity of which was
| lost in darkness Painfully raising him
| self from his uncomfortable posture, he
staggered to his feet, and, crawling
| few PAGES up the beach, flung himself
| upon the ground and slept.
| When he woke up it was past mid
| day, and the sun poured it's full rays
| upon him. His clothes were dry in all
| places, save the side on which he had
| been lying, and he rose to his feet re-
| freshed by his long sleep. He scarcely
| comprehended, as yet, his true position.
| He had escaped, it was true, but not
| for long. He was versed in the history
| of escapes, and knew that man alone
| on that barren coast was face to face
| with starvation or recapture CHANGING
I'D at the sum- he wondered, indeed, how
| it was that he had been free so long.
| Then the coal sheds caught his eye, and
| he understood that they were untenant-
| ed. This astonished him. and he began
| to tremble with vague apprehension. En-
| tering, he looked around, expecting ev-
| cry moment to see some lurking consta-
| BILE or armed soldier. Suddenly his
| glance fell upon the loaves which lay
| in the corner where the departing con-
| victs had flung them the night before.
| At such a moment, this discovery seem
| ed like a direct revelation from heaven.
| He would not have been surprised had
| they disappeared. Had he lived in. an
other age, he would have looked round
| for the angel who had brought them.
TTo be continued.)