Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-06-08
For The Term of Ills Natural Life
BY MARCUS CLARKE
01N"N~'~~~~(~N~N~-~~~ N~N~~~~N~O~-~N~~~~
CHAPTER xII-(Continuedl


aoulous prOvender, the poor creature be-
gan to understand what had taken place
The coal workings were abandoned; the
jew commandment had probably other
work for his beasts Of burden to exc
suts, and an absconder would be safe
here for a few hours at least. But he
must not stay. For him there was no
rest. II he thought to escape, it be-
hooved him to commence his Journey at
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 him
and freedom on such fare? The very
suppositlon made his heart beat faster.
It 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
Gays, and twenty miles a day-three
hundred and sixty miles. More than
enough to take him to freedom 1t could
be doneI 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
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 at last that he was be-
yond pursuit. The next day he adj
vanced more slowly. The path termin-
ated in glade, and at the bottom Of
this glade was something that huttared
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 a murder
had been commlttedl A murder!-and
what elseP 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, and
right against him, like a 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 a
stone upon her deck. A faint cry Of rage
escaped him. During the last three days
IN the bush he must have retraced his
steps, and returned upon his own track
to the settlement More than half his
allotted time had passed, and he was not
ret thirty miles from his prison.
For four days he 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 a complete
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 be-
Tore him-glvs himself up to be logged
and fed. 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 d.
prived him Of reason. For days, that
had seemed centuries, he had kept life
In his faded 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 Il de-
serted. He struck himself to see Il he
was not dreaming. He refused to be-
liov0 his eye-sight. He shouted, screamed
and waved his tattered garments in the
aiE.
At last the dreadful truth forced itself
upon him. He retired a few PAGES, and
then, with q 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 water.
his eyes, sweeping in a last long look
around the bay, caught sight Of a strange
appearance on the left horn of the sea
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 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 glorious
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 last |
effort Of his failing strength, toward the |
blessed token Of their presence.
CHAPTER XIII.