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


at the edge of the stream
On all tours he reached the margin
OF the rivulet and felt his way along
the brink till his head struck the OPP
posite wall. He turned round, took up
position that he guessed was three
feet nearer the door and again ira
versed the room, becoming SO eager in
the search that he forgot for the mo-
ment the horror of his situation. Just
as when engaged in a chemical expert
ment everything else vanished from
his mind. and thus after several jour
neys back and forth he was again re-
minded of the existence of the stone
bench by butting against it when he
knew be was several feet from the
WALL Rubbing his head, be muttered
some unfayorable phrases regarding
the immovable bench, then crawled
round it twice and resumed his trans
verse excursions At last he reached
the wall that held the door and now
with breathless eagerness rubbed his
shoulder against it till he came to the
opposite corner. He knew he had
touched with knees and hands prac-
tically every square inch of space in
the floor, and yet-no bread.
.'Now, that's disaster" cried he,
getting up on his feet and stretching
himself. ''Still, a man doesn't starve
in four days. I've cast my bread on
the waters. It has evidently gone
down the stream. Now, what's to him
der a man escaping by means Of that
water course? Still, IL he did, what
would be the use2 He'd float out into
the Baltic sea and If able to swim
round the rock would merely be COM
PEELED to knock at the front door and
beg admission again. No, by Jovei
There's the boat, but they probably
guard it night and day, and man in
the water would have no chance
against one in the boat. Perhaps
there's gratings between the cells. Of
course there's bound to be. No one
would leave the bed of stream clear
for any one to navigate Prisoners
would visit each other in their cells,
and that's not allowed in any respect
able prison. I wonder if there's any
one next door on either side of me.
An iron grid won't keep out the
sound. I'll try" And, going again to
the margin Of the watercourse, he
shouted several times as loudly as he
could, but only sepulchral echo, as
IL from vault, replied to him.
Il imagine the adjoining cells are
empty. No enjoyable companionship
to be expected here. I wonder if
they've got the other poor devils up
from the steamer yet. I'll sit down on
the bench and listen
He could have found the bench and
shelf almost Immediately by cropping
round the. wall, but he determined to
exercise his sense of direction, to pit
himself against the darkness
II need not hurry" he said, II may
be long time here"
In his mind he had picture of the
cell, but now that he listened to the
water it seemed to have changed It's
direction, and he found he had to rear
range this mental picture and make a
different set of calculations to fit the
new position Then he shufiled slowly
forward with hands outstretched, but
he came to the wall and not to the
bench. Again he mapped out his route,
again endeaYored and again failed.
..This is bewildering," he muttered
"How the darkness battles a man! For
the first time in my life appreciate to
the full the benediction Of Gods COM
mand, Let there be light "
He stood perplexed for few mo-
ments, and, deeply thinking, his hands
automatically performed an operation
as the servants Of habit. They took
from his pocket his cigarette case, Sc
lected a tube of tobacco, placed it be-
tween his lips, searched another peck
ct, brought out matchbox and struck
a light The striking of the match
startled Lermontoff as II it had been
an explosion; then he laughed, holding
the match above his head. and there at
his feet saw the loaf of black bread
1t seemed as if somebody had twisted
the room end for end. The door was
where he thought the stream was,
and thus he learned that sound gives
no indication OF direction to a man
blindfolded. The match began to
wane, and feverishly he lit his cigar
cite.
ssWhy didn't / think of the matches,
and, oh, what a pity failed to fill my
pockets with them that night of the