Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1906-06-09
for The Term of Ills Natural Life
BY MARCUS CLARKE
CHAPTER xI1.-CContInuedl


BY and by, having eaten Of this mil
aculous provender the poor creature be
gan to understand what had taken place
The coal workings were abandoned; tn
new commandant had probably othe
work for his beasts of burden to exc
cute, and an absconder would be SAT
here for a few hours at least But h
must not stay. For him there was NJ
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 the
rations of six men. Was it not possible
to cross the desert that lay between hin
and freedom on such fare2 The very
supposition made his heart beat faster
Il surely was possible. Twenty miles a
day was very easy walking. Taking a
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! lie must be careful and abstem-
ious.
Having come to this resolution, the
next thing was to dsencumber himself
of his irons. This was more easily done
than he expected He found In the shed
an iron CAD, and with that and stone
he drove out the rivets.
Before dawn the next morning he had
Travelled ten mile1, 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 at last that he was be-
yond pursuit. The next day he ad-
vanced more slowly. The path termin-
ated In glade, and at the bottom Of
this glade was something that huttered.
Rufus Dawes pressed forward, and
stumbled over a corpse!
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 and brake,
torn, bleeding and wild with terror, he
reached a spur of the range, and looked
around him. He raised his eyes, aud
right against him, like long dull sword,
lay the narrow steel-blue reach of the
harbor from which he had escaped. One
darker speck moved on the dark water.
1t was the Osprey making for the
Gates. 1t seemed that he could throw
stone upon her deck. A faint cry of rage
escaped him. During the last three days
in tina bush he must have retraced his
steps, snd returned upon his own track
to the settlement More than half his
allotted time had passed, and he was not
set thirty miles from his prison
For four days ne wandered aimlessly
through the bush. at last, ON the twelfth
day 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
of the harbor. His terrible wandering
had but led him to make comnlete
circuit OF the settlement, and the next
night brought him round the shores of
Birches Inlet to the landing place oppo-
site Sarah Island. His stock of pro-
visions had been exhausted for two DAYS.
and he was savage with hunger. He no
longer thought of suicide. His dom
inant Idea was now to get food. He
would do as many others had done he
fore him-give himself up to he fogred
and fed. When he reached the landing
place, however, the guard house was
empty. He looked across Mt the island
prison, and saw no sign of life. The
settlement was deserted
The shock of this discovery almost do
prlved him of reason. For DAYS. that
had seemed centuries, he had kept 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 a journey
of unparalleled horror, he found II de-
serted. lie struck himself to see If he
was not dreaming. He refused to be-
lieve 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 few PAGES and
then, with horrible cry of furious sas.
pair, stumbled forward toward the adyo
of the little reef that fringed the sbora
Just as he was about to fling bimeelf
for the second time into the dark wafer
his eyes, sweeping in last long lool,
around the bay, caught sight of a strange
appearance on the left horn of the sen
beach. A thin blue streak. uprising
from behind the western arm of the lIttIe
inlet, hung in the still air. 1t was tbe
smoke of a fire.
The dying wretch felt inspired with
new hope. God had sent him a direct
sign from heaven. The tiny column Of
blush vapor seemed to him as glorions
as the pillar of fire that led the Israel.
ties, There were yet human beings near
him! And turning his face from the
hungry sea, he tottered, with the las
etfort of his failing strength. toward tbe
blessed token of their presence.
CHAPTER XIII.
Frere had gone on a brief FISHING ax