Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-10-16
Part One.


lentlcssly on the backs OF toillng'
sweating men who were repairing the
railroad bridge which stretched across
the river like a huge centipedc. Even
the great piers, which were the cent?
pede's legs, had soaked in the heat un-
til they were scorching to the touch
and dazzling little waves seemed to
culver al the atmosphere around them.
Beyond the river and the bridge the
hot shining lines of rail stretched away
past burntout fields, fiat and blank and
uninteresting, and on one side thin
strip of woodland crept down to the
rivers edge to relieve the tired eye with
a bit of cool green and restful shadow.
Titled fields were in the far distance,
and near to these, the heavy, solid bulk
of great buildings, gray and somber and
square. Little black dots, which on
nearer view would have been windows,
peppered the massive walls from end to
end, but there was nothing else to re-
lieve the huge, forbidding blankness OF
heavy masonry. There was wall all
around these buildings, too, and on 1t
tiny watch towers, posted at regular in
tervals.
Richard Everard, c. E., mopped his
brow and turned his aching eyes from
the river to fields, from fields back to
his toiling gang of workmen. The work
was important, and it was behind, for
he was short handed, two Of his men
having been overcome by the heat ear
" in the afternoon. Everard and his
assistant had rolled up their own
sleeves to piece out the work Of the
two sick men, and were toiling with
the rest. collarless, coatless, and none
too clean. The assistant was unused
to work of this kind, but he was plucky,
and plodded doggedly away with lit
tie blue line creeping around his lips.
Everard himself was dizzy and tired.
"Whew!" he whistled warmly.
Rest bit, Willis, We'll get through
now. II we have many more days like
this, I'm going to chuck civil engineer
ing and get job washing Dishes"
The big. coppery sun dropped lower
in the sky, 6 o'clock came and the wea-
~ gang gathered up its tools and piled
on a hand-car for home. Everard, his
assistant, and his foreman, a great,
strong animal to whom fatigue seemed
an unknown quantity stayed to go
over the work accomplished and test
every inch of it. There was another
hand car on the siding awaiting their
use.
From far out over the un-baked
fields an echoing boom" came to the
three men who stayed. They straight
ened up, looked at one another inquir-
ingly, and then at the distant bulk Of
gray buildings. The heavy sound came
again.
Another convict escaped" comment
ed Everard, "and they've just missed
him. Poor devils they may be un-
mitigated blackguards, and a menace
to the community, but I always feel
rather sorry for them when they es-
cape and get caught again. 1t must be
a horrible sort of sensation to feel that
you're being hunted down"
Would you give one Of them over,
IL he came your way?" inquired the
assistant.
Hanged if 1 know what I'd do. 1t
would be the right thing, Of course, but
it seems rather a sneaky thing to tell
on anybody"
Out from the sheltering fringe Of
woods on the left, a pallid, close crop
ped head peered at them unseen. The
watching eyes were desperate, and eau
tiously alert, the bleached pallor OF
prison was on the face, fear and dog
ged determination curiously blended in
every line, and every nerve in the
crouching figure seemed to culver, as
the watcher hesitated whether to spring
or to turn about and creep softly back
on his track The first boom Of the
prison bell came to him, and he started
and shivered.
Which should he do? The alarm was
out for him. and already men were on
his track. On the bridge by which he
had meant to flee swiftly beyond the
reach of these, stood three men, strong,
steady eyed, and little likely to have
anything in common with an escaping
criminal. Before him lay the river,
where if he swan they would see his
first stroke, and besides, the trembling
weakness of his body told him that he
could not reach the other side. He had
been discharged from the prison hospi-
tai but the day before, and when this
afternoon he had taken advantage OF
an unexpected and miraculously unno-
ticed chance for escape, the feverish
haste Of his exertions had left him
dizzy and weak. The warning boom
from the prison came again, inexora-
BILE. insistent. The law was behind
him. warning all law-abiding citizens
that a criminal was abroad. and that
their duty was to apprehend and deliv-
e" him UP to justice.
Three men on the bridge entrance
started as the crouching, gliding figure
came swiftly toward them, unmistak-
able with it's shaven head and betray-
ing stripes. and the shifting watchful-
ness Of the eyes. By subtle recogni-
ton Of master and men, the convict
went straight to Everard.
Il have just escaped from the prison
and the alarm is out for me now. It's
for you to give me up or to let me
go on. And if don't get some clothes
to cover up these stripes. I'm gone
man anyway.
Willis and the foreman watched theil
young chief with curious and excited
eyes. Everard hesitated, looking the
convict over with half -disgusted half
plying intentness, angry with himself
and with criminals in general.
There's a pair Of overalls on the
bank. Get into them and cut" sait
Everard. shortly. and turned his bacl
and started out at the river as the maj
ran for them. 1t was the wrong thing
To do; he knew that. but rejoiced II
his heart that he had done it. Will!