Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-06-15
CHAPTER Xv.-tContinued.)

Kill Nanny! Oh, Mr.. Dawes! What
forY
81 am going to make boat for you,"
he said, 'and want hides and thread
and tallow."
A few weeks back Maurice Frere
would have laughed at such a sentence;
but he had begun now to comprehend
that this escaped convict was not man
ITO be laughed at, and though he detested
him for his superiority, he could not but
admit that he was superior.
You can't get more than one hide off
a goat, MANI" he said, with an inquiring
tone in his voice-as enough it were
just possible that such a marvellous being
as Dawes could get a second hide by
virtue of some secret process known only
to himself.
81 am going to catch other goats at
the pilot station
but how are you going to get there
Float across. Come, there is no time
for questioning. Go and cut down some
saplings, and let us begin"
The lieutenant master looked at the
convict prisoner with astOnishment, and
then gave way to the power of knowl-
edge, and did as he was ordered. Be-
fore sundown that evening, the carcass
of poor Nanny, broken into various most
unbutchery fragments, was hanging on
the nearest tree; and Frere, returning
with as many young saplings as he could
drag together, found Rufus Dawes en-
gagged in a curious occupation. He had
killed the goat, and, having cut off its
head close under the jaws, and its legs
at the knee joint, had extracted the
carcass through a slit, which slit he had
now sewed together with strings. This
proceeding gave him a rough bag, and
he was busily engaged in filling this bag
with such coarse grass as he could col
lect. Frere observed, also, that the fat
of the animal was carefully preserved,
and the intestines had been placed in a
pool of water to soak.
The convict, however, declined to give
information as to what he intended to
do. Its my own notion" he said. Let
me alone. l may make a failure of it."
Frere, on being pressed by Sylvia, af-
fected to know all about the scheme. He
was CALLED to think that a convict brain
should contain mystery which he could
not share.
On the next day, by Rufus Dawes
directions, Frere cut down some rushes
that grew about a mile from the camp
ing ground, and brought them in on his
back This took him nearly half a day
to accomplish. Short rations were be-
ginning to tell upon his physical pow
-t.% &hn oil nd
trained by a woful experience in the
boats to endurance of hardship, was
slowly recovering h's original strength.
what are they forf' asked Frere
as he flung the bundles down.
"To make a float. You are very dull,
Mr. Frere. l am going to swim over to
the pilot station and catch some of those
goats. l can get across on the stuffed
skin, but l must float them back on the
reeds"
Frere saw that his companion was
cleaning the intestines of the goat. The
outer membrane having been peeled off,
Rufus Dawes was turning them inside
out. This he did by turning up a short
piece of it, as though it were a coat
sleeve, and dipping the ,turned-up cuff
into a pool of water. The weight of the
water, pressing between the cuff and
the rest of it, bore down a further por-
ton; and so, by repeated dippings, the
whole length was turned inside out. The
inner membrane having been scraped
away, there remained a fine transparent
tube, which was tightly twisted and set
to dry in the sun.
'"There is the catgut for the moose, "
said Dawes. 81 learned that trick at
the settlement Now, come here"
Frere, following, saw that fire had
been made between two stones, and that
the kettle was partly sunk in the ground
near it. On approaching the kettle, he
found it full of smooth pebbles.
Take out those stones," said Dawes,
Frere obeyed, and saw at the bottom of
the kettle a quantity of sparkling white
powder, and the sides of the vessel
crusted with the same material.
whats that?" he asked.
salt"
"How did you get II"
81 filled the kettle with sea water, and
then heating those pebbles red hot in the
fire, dropped them into it. We could
have caught the steam In cloth and
wrung out fresh water, had we wished
to do So"
Frere burst out In sudden, fretfu
admiration "What a fellow you are
Dawes! What are you-I mean, what
have you beenT"
A triumphant light came into the 9th
er's face, and for the instant he seemed
about to reply by some startling revela
ton. But the light faded, and he check
ed himself with a gesture of pain.
II am a convict. Never mind whar
! have been. A sailor, shipbuilder, prod
igal, vagabond-what does 1t matter
1t won't alter my fate, will itT'
"If we get safely back" says Frere
"pll ask for free pardon for you. Yol
deserve it."
IL don't want favor at your hands