Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-06-06

into the raIm Of the jailer's hand.
whose fingers clutched II as eagerly as
II he were In st. Petersburg
Il think candle can be managed.
excellency Shall bring cupg
= wish you would. z
The door was again locked and bolt
ed, but before Lermontoff had finished
his soup and bread and cheese It was
opened again. The jailer placed tin
basin similar to the former one on the
ledge, put candle and candlestick
on the table and a tin cup beside them.
Il thought there was no part Of Rus
STA where bribery was extinct" said
the prince to himself as the door closed
again for the night
After supper Lermontoff again shift
ed his table, stood upon it, lit his can
die and resumed his tunneling, work
ing hard until after midnight His
progress was depIorably slow, and the
spraying of the rock proved about as
firing task as ever he had undertake
an His second basinful Of solution
was made little stronger, but with
put perceptible Improvement In its eff
feet On ceasing operations for the
night he found himself In situation
common to few prisoners that of be-
ing embarrassed with riches. He pos
sessed two basins, and one of them
must be concealed. OF course he
might leave his working basin in the
upper tunnel where it had rested when
the jailer had brought in his supper,
but he realized that at any moment the
lanterns rays might strike its shining
surface and so bring on an inYestiga-
ton of the upper tunnel, certain to
prove the destruction of his whole
scheme A few minutes thought, how
ever, solved the problem admirably.
He placed the basin face downward in
the rapid stream, which swept it to
the iron bars between the two cells.
and there it lay quite concealed with
the swift water ripping over it. This
done, he flung off his clothes and got
into bed, not awakening until the jail
er and his assistant brought In bread,
cheese and coffee for breakfast.
The next day he began to feel the
inconveniences of the governors friend
ship and wished he were safely back
to the time when one loaf lasted four
days, for If such were now the case he
would be free Of the constant state Of
tension which the ever recurring visits
of the jailer caused He feared that
some day he might become SO absorbed
in his occupation that he would not
hear the Withdrawing Of the bolt, and
thus, as it were, be caught in the act.
Shortly after lunch the governor sent
for him and asked many questions per-
tanning to the running of the dynamo.
Lermontoff concealed his impatience
and set about his instructions with ex-
emplary earnestness. Russian text
books on electricity at hand were Of
the most rudimentary description, and.
although the governor could speak Ger
man, he could not read 1t. so the two
volumes he possessed in that language
were closed to him. Therefore John
was compelled to begin at the very A
B g of the science.
The governor, however, became so
deeply interested that he momentarily
forgot his caution, unlocked a door
and took Lermontoff into room which
he saw was the armory and ammuni-
ton storehouse of the prison. On the
floor of this chamber the governor
pointed out large battery Of accumu-
lators and asked what they were for.
Lermontoff explained the purposes OF
the battery. meanwhile examining it
thoroughly and finding that many Of
the cells had been all but ruined in
transit through the falling away of
the composition in the grids. Some
thing like half of the accumulators,
however, were intact and workable.
These he uncoupled and brought into
the dynamo room, where he showed
the governor the process of charging.
He saw in the storeroom box con-
tanning incandescent lamps, coils of
silk covered wire and other material
that made his eyes glisten with de-
light He spoke in German.
"If you will give me coil of this
wire. one or two of the lamps and an
accumulation, or, indeed. half a dozen
of them. l will trouble you no more
for candles.D
The governor did not reply at the
moment but short time after asked
Lermontof in Russian how long
would be before the accumulators were
charged. Lermontoff stated the time.
and the governor told the jailer to
bring the prisoner from the cell at that
hour, and so dismissed his instructor.
One feature of this interview which
pleased Lermontoff was that, however
much the governor became absorbed
in these lessons, he never allowed him
self to remain alone with bis prisoner.
1t was evident that in his cooler mo-
ments the governor had Instructed the
jailer and his assistant to keep ever at
the heels Of the prince and always on
the alert, Two huge revolvers were
IL. - II. A..sf