Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-06-14

IHere candies Tor a week, and you
shall have more when they're gone per-
visins you put out that fire at once. and
don't light it no more. It's all for
my poor Ben's sake. I'd never give you
food nor candles nor nothin' else. I'm
doin' of it to please my boy, mind that
But l knew better, ard now saw
through this pretended pa5.rnal sympa
thy. The smoke was not ascending the
we'll, but streaming up through the gap
in the cave over the pit, and he feared
that it would attract the attention of
the coast guard. That also was why
the noise we made in cutting the cliff had
brought him to reason.
CHAPTER NJ.
ITS as clear, my little friend. as the
blessed blue sky up there" said / to
Psyche. Those old rascals have given
US food to cease hammering and candles
to put out the fire for fear we should
succeed in b~etraying our Imprisonment
to the coast guard, who passes probably
once or twice a day along the cliff. 1t
never occurred TO me that we might at
tract attention by those means: but now
it is obvious, the question arises whether,
instead of going, on with cur tunnel,
W .NS~ GhillOly iIpRe ~ Ctilplele Wllll-
out weeks and weeks of patient toll, it
would not be better TO devote all our
energies in this new direction, shouting,
hammering, sending up a cloud of smoke,
and doing anything else that might excite
the curiosity of anybody passing near.
We might even make a rod long enough
to thrust through the hole up there. by
splitting the slaves and binding them to-
upthpr and fvipO my a,Tkorobio f to
the end we might agitate it from morn
ing till night in addition to the means
we already have. The notion is tempt
ing; what are the argument against it?
I'm not more afraid of old Peter than
he is of me. But he might square the
coast guard, and he might find means
of rolling rubbish down to choke up the
hole above us, and he certainly would
stop the supply Of food. We know what
that means. If we did not make our
selves heard in a few days it would be
all up with any chance Of escape, SO
that, on the whole, / doubt If any openly
offensive policy is wise"
Psyche, listening with the greatest at
%tention, shook her head obviously, see
ing me do SO.
Besides" I continued. there is this
to consider. If al investigation should
be made these two old reprobates would
cut and run, and we should never see
them again. At first sight that does not
look like a misfortune. But there's your
future welfare to consider, my poor
Psyche, and that depends very much upon
bringing the wretches to justice who nave
blighted our youth. Revenge can do
us no good. but we must wiring out the
secret Of our captivity; we must find
out your family, and restore you to those
from whom you were taken, that You
may have friends to love and to take care
of you when we two part"
when we two part" she echoed
blankIy. and yet in a tone so full of
mournfur regret that I could almost be-
lieve she understood the meaning of nv
words. The sound alone was language
to her.
.4Iyhen wen make up our minds to
take the slow and safe course, and 20
pegging away at this hole steadily till we
burrpw through to freedom. Gloves,
Psyche"
That word being one that was quite
understandable she dashed off with de-
light and returned with the stockings on
her arms ready for anything 1 might
bid her do. Dropping down into the pit.
I lit a candle. and scraping the sand
away, examined the face o. the cliff.
Near the bottom l discovered an angu-
lar fracture. With the crowbar we hadt
brought away from French Peters cave
l succeeded in wrenching out a large
block of chalk, when to my great delight
I found that there was nothing below but
sand and shingle. showing that we had
come to the bottom of the fallen cliff.
The d~isengaged block / pried into that
portion of the pit which had fallen in
through the action of the water as a be-
ginning to the wall with which we had to
surround the lower part, and then as
there was still water at the bottom l
fetched the bucket from the we'll, and
getting down again into the pit filled it
with the loose sand, and pushed it up
while Psyche hauled from the top where
she emptied it. Working down lower
and lower, the vertical line that marked
the bottom of the chalk became more
and more distinct as the sand dropped
away from its base. In a couple of hours
I had reached a depth that seemed suffi-
Gent to permit of opening the lateral bor-
ing. but as it was necessary to secure
the sides of the pit from falling in with
the next rising tide, we spent the rest
OI EIQG uOIuluk liz SUI LIP - ioaaa "Ata
the barrel slaves, kept in place by Jumps
of chalk, which we rolled in from the
great cave in the empty tubs. This was
hard work, and we had to Jose no time
for fear the water should rise before the
Job was done, but, happily. we got the
sides fairly well protected before the tide
rose, SO that l don't think there was
above a dozen bucketfuls of sand to take
away when it fell again, and the best
part Of this had washed in from under
the cliff in the direction our boring was
to take, which was so much to our adj
vantage.
1 had looked at my watch when the
water disappeared from the bottom OF the
pit. and again when it rose, and found
that the interval between was o little
over four hours, so that we could reckon
on having eight hours uninterrupted work
in the boring out of the twenty-fonr,
which left W sixteen for clenring away
the sand thrown up from the pit, for any
other incidental work, and for rest, And
in this order we worked thenceforth,
ever failing to take advantage of low
wafer, only that as the days went on
we found 1t necessary to change our
hours OF rest, sometimes sleeping in the
day to take advantage of the ebb that
came in the night. But this was of lit
tie consequence to us, for as we burrow-
ed further under the cliff we worked con-
stantly by candle light and could make
| night ir.1.he cave at any moment by sim
| ply blowing out the light.
It must mot be imagined that we had
no difficulties or hardships 10 contend