Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1906-06-09
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CHApTER xII.-1Contlnuedl


BY and by. having eaten Of this mi
aculous provender. the poor creature b
gan TO understand what had taken plac
The coal workings were abandoned; III
new commandant had probably othe
work for his beasts Of burden to ex'
cute. and an absconder would be SAT
here for a few hours at least. But b
must not stay. For him there was n
rest If he thought TO escape, 1t be
hooved him to commence his journey a
once. Here was provision for his needs
The food before him represented th
rations of six men. Was it not possibl
to cross the desert that lay between hin
and freedom on such fare? The verl
supposition made his heart beat faster
Il surely was possible Twenty miles {
day was very easy walking. Taking {
piece of stick from the ground, he made
the calculation In the sand. Eighteen
days, and twenty miles a day-three
hundred and sixty miles. More than
enough to take him to freedom. 1t could
be done! With prudence, it could be
done! He must be careful and abstem-
ious.
Having come to this resolution, the
next thing was to disencumber himself
of his irons. This was more easily done
than he expected. He found in the shed
an iron CAD, and with that and a stone
he drove out the rivets.
Before dawn the next morning he had
travelled ten miles, and by outstanding
his food he succeeded, by the night of
the fourth day, in accomplishing forty
more. Foot-sore and weary, he lay in a
thicket, and felt Mt last that he was be-
yend pursuit. The next day he adj
vanced more slowly. The path termin-
ated in n glade, and at the bottom Of
this glade was something that futtered.
Rufus Dawes pressed forward, and
stumbled over a corpsel
He recognized the number imprinted
on the coarse cloth at that which had
designated the younger of the two men
who had escaped with Gabbett. He was
standing on the place where murder
had been committed! A murder!-and
what else? Thank God, the food he
carried was not yet exhausted! He
turned and fed, looking back fearfully
as he went.
Crashing through scrub aud brake
torn, bleeding and wild with terror. he
reached spur of the range and looked
around him. He raised his eyes, and
light against him. like long dull sword,
ay the narrow steel-blue reach of the
larbor from which he had escaped. One
iarker speck moved on the dark water.
was the Osprey making for the
iates 1t seemed that he could throw
tone upon her deck A faint cry of rage
seaped him. During the last three days
tina bush he must have retraced his
teps, Pnd returned upon his own track
0 the settlement! More than half his
dotted time had passed. and he was not
ct thirty miles from his prison.
For four days he wandered aimlessly
through the bush. At last, on the twelfth
lay from his departure from the Coal
Head, he found himself at the foot of
Mount Direction, at the head of the
peninsula which makes the western side
IF the harbor. His terrible wandering
had but led him to make complete
circuit OF the settlement and the next
llght brought him round the shores of
birches Inlet to the landing place oppo-
ste Sarah Island. His stock of pro-
visions had been exhausted for two davs
and he was savage with hunger. He no
longer thought of suicide. His DOM
lnant idea was now to get food. He
would do as many others had done he
fore him-give himself up to be logged
md ted. When he reached the landing
place, however, the guard house was
empty. He looked across at the island
prison, and saw no sign of life. The
settlement was deserted!
The shock of this discovery almost de-
priysd him of reason. For DAYS. that
had seemed centuries, he had kent life
In his Jaded and lacerated body solely
by the strength of his fierce determine
ton to reach the settlement; and now
that he had reached 1t, after n journey
OF unparalleled horror, he found It de-
serted. He struck himself to see IL he
was not dreaming. He refused to be-
lieye his eye-sight. He shouted, screamed
and waved his tattered garments in the
air.
AT last the dreadful truth forced itself
upon him, he retired a few PAGES. and
then, with horrible cry of furious des-
pair, stumbled forward toward the edge
OF the little reef that fringed the shore
Just as he was about to fling himself
for the second time into the dark wafer
his eyes, sweeping in a last long look
around the bay, caught sight of strange
appearance on the left horn of the seo
beach. A thin blue streak. uprising
from behind the western arm of the little
inlet hung in the still air. 1t was the
smoke of fire.
The dying wretch felt inspired with
new hope. God had sent him diraa,
sign from heaven. The tiny column 81
blush vapor seemed to him as gloriou.
as the pillar of fire that led the Israel
ties There were yet human beings naa,
him! And turning his face from N,
hungry sea. he tottered, with tba las
eifort of his failing strength, toward tn,
blessed token of their presence.
CHAPTER XIII.
Frere had gone on a brief fishing av
pedidon. At last a peremptory signa
Swarned him. 1t was the sound of n mr..