The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-11-03
CHAPTER XXI.
Brothers,.

The sun had set now The quick
dusk had fallen over grassland and
gray plain. The moon was climbing
up slowly into the upper heaven, de-
liverately, calmly, as if she scorned
haste. In the hut by the farther de-
fences, where the sentry kept up his
steady pacing to and fro, man was
looking at the patch of silver light as
it crept higher and higher up the wall
of his prison-the last moonlight he
should ever see.
He was not sleepy. One does not
want to sleep for-=tosmurrow' refresh
ment when it's first hours shall end for
evermore all fatigues. He had so much
to think of as he Sat there, his head
between his hands, his eyes staring at
the dim wall. He had written his two
letters-heaven knew if they would
ever find the hands he had addressed
them to. There was one to his uncle
the old man who had so i'll borne his
disgrace which he grasped but family;
the other to Ursula. There had not
been much to say in either So much
crowds to ones lips when it is ones
last chance of utterance that most
must remain unsaid.
He was not afraid of death; he was
soldier. This chance had been plain
before him when he undertook the at
tempt. He had nothing to complain
Oft was wars fortune. Life had
grown SO unkind to him, in his unde-
served disgrace and misfortune, that
he need not cling to it. And yet-and
vet-its sweetness breathed on him
with a passionate yearning as he sat
there, seeing his last hours slip away
from him. Oh, for a moment with his
back to wall, to fall tghting-not to
die like helpless animal!
Some one was talking outside the
omen window-some one whom the
sentry answered in tones as low. 1t
had taken the latter by surprise that
was like amazement when the man
stepped out from the shadow and
asked to speak with the prisoner.
There is no one allowed near him;
he is under sentence of death. He will
be shot tomorrow at daybreak: You
cannot see him. It is impossible to al
low" f.
And then the other had drawn a pa
per from his pocket and held it out to
him. Read that; you know the name
Of Cronje This is my permit" The
sentry strained his eyes, but the light
only let him see the writing-he could
not decipher it. The man in the rid
ing boots gave an exclamation of i'm
patience and struck MATCH; he held
it SO that the sentry could see the
words on it,: pass the bearer" and
the signature. :, . ..
He dropped it: respectfully. A pass
from such .. quarter was an open
sesame. AS he turned to hand the
paper back he started, and. gave
faint exclamation in his turn The
light Of the match: had fallen, full upon
the strangers face: as it flickered out
whats the row?"
''1t's because you are the image OF
the prisoner His brother, OF course?"
Yes" answered ,Baverstock, with
out hesitation. II re}a attonsh1p would
admit him more readily:"to the, other,
he would avow himself7t to be his whole
family. ..,<s ~
"Step inside,' then But do not stay
too long. I will go a little farther that
may not hear what YOU have, to: say
to each. other. It is pity that one 50
true to our cause as YOU must be
should have a brother on the other
side. But it is. so with too many off lis
for our happiness in this 5.z;S
=: He drew back when he had uni ocked
the hut door. and stepped = fexI PAGES