Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-08
Mutineers

that particulaT place on the opposite side Of
tne room where he was TO prosecute his la
bors.
Then he pretended to go to bed Instead.
ne rohed up the bed-clothes in a fashion of
counterfeit presentment Of his own resum5ent
self, and so disposed it that, should an over
anxious guard advance and cast glance
through the gratings in the door he would
tnink 1t was the prisoner he saw.
Next armed with the eknife, Lofty knelt
Gown on the floor behind the bed, and began
grnDbIng at the joints in the masonry
nc nad detected, in his preliminary exam
ination OF the work, place where an lift
ting brick had left crack wide enough to
ADMIT the knife-blade and here several broken
pieces Of bricks had been used by the masons
ahd oaouy joined. The detached ass of ma
sonry mad also settled a little, listing to one
s'de' and afforded another advantage.
IL proved a much, more difficrlt job than
ne had calculated -upon. however 1t took
MIN an hour to loosen the first BRICK. and he
fully appreciated the value of time. The un.
dertak1ng must be prosecuted to a finish be-
iore another visit of the guard ut breakfast
el'ne or ne would have nothing bu. h;s labor
for bis palms. DD' ''e '"Do'
:. lne An1e made good deal of noise. and
~ alarmed him little at first; but the
guarus We're some distance away. and making
a good deal of noise all the time themselyes'
BESIDES, it had begun to storm outside. and
tne ,soughing of the wind and the pattcrin1
o. the ram on the roof helped to drown the
sound of his labors
After the first brick was removed. the lest
came out comparatively easy. AS fast as
they were removed, he piled them in an order
ly pile on either hand, so as not TO be i'm
peded by the debris
Rv ,,,;dr;~h+ L. L
OF the detached section of brickwork. There
was danger that it might fall in upon him;
ne could feel it give when he put his shnul-
der against it.
He had only to wait now till the change
IN the guards was made at midnight, and then
hef would be busy installing themselves and
the new sentinel outside should begin to
march away from the spot.
Under cover of the confusion that ensued
during the guard mounting. he made bold to
mallet, to drive the blade of his knife into
the crack around the detached .masonary
where it appeared that it adhered to the
solid wall.
When everything quieted down, he ven
tured peep through the window, in order to
| locate the nearest sentinel The sentinel
was nowhere in sight.
Lofty had just returned to his first posi-
ton, and, with his shoulder against the wall,
was iepdIlHB lOr Cne one herculean push
that should send it topping outward, when
he was startled to hear subdued voices.
The sound came from without the guard
house, at point exactly opposite the spot
where he stood.
"a couple of the guards!" he thought, IN
dismay. Then. ITS now or never! 1 may
be discovered here at any minute. I've heard
of people that wouldn't tumble if brick
house fell on them. A part Of a brick house
is about to fall on you, my friends. I hope
it won't kill you, but do hope it will dis
able you, SO that you can't give an alarm
right away"
With this thought in mind, he braced him
self, and pushed with all his might. The
weakened section of wall went over much
easier than he had expected it would.
As it toppled outward, accompanied by
shout of warning from one of the unknown
outside, he vaulted after it, striking the
ground in the midst of the debris. Ihcn.
without .pausing an instant. he ran for the
fence, cleared it SO quickly that he fairly
seemed to have vaulted over it, and plunged
into the pine forest