Evening star., 1908-01-19

William Brown
fairly inundated the floor and shouted with excite
ment we saw it ebb almost swiftly poured.
Mere absorption was impossible; the rock was
not porous. There must be tunnel be-
low. The man hunt growing hotter now. Re
lentlessly we traced the ebbing streams to dark
and distant corner, where had to get down on all
fours to crawl under massive rock shelf Hero
the last trckle disappeared
Like flash our crowbars were at work; and
k 10! big block was PRED up revealing dark gsa
l cried sternly, it's all upl We've got your
There was no reply. My chief warder poked
pole down, and found depth of eight feet; He
seized lanterns, and swung themselves n,-as tick
lish a job as routing cut wounded tiger from his
lair: We above waited long and breathessly Sud
denly faint shout travelled up to us, followed by
sounds of desperate struggle in the cavern By
and by back they came, with Realf securely hand
cufed Lowering ropes, we hauled him up, bat
He faced his disappointment with rare pluck.
flashed a smile on me- and said, Better luck next
time, Colonel
That was the end of four long and patient yean
of endeavor. think he discovered the pit shortly
after he first put in the shed. And he had not
only enlarged with scrap OF iron and the patlence
it lateraly; no doubt hoping for ultimate escape
to the by the subterranean passage.
But even this in any event was only the first
stage. Realf's provision went much farther He
had actually built himself boat out of nondescript
scraps of canvas, old sacks, and odds and ends Of
timber. It marvel of constructive skill; yet
surely but desperate would think OF
committing himself to the Mediterranean or Atlantic
in such crazy skiff,- tiny corace, barely
capable of keeping man afoat. OF course, he felt
that once launched he would soon be picked up
by some passing craft in the crowded Straits OF
Gibraltar; and he had story ready for his saviors,
we'll provisions for himself. Of these last he
had abundance,-chiefy biscuit and salt pork
laid by bit by bit from his rations, and carried out
daily from the prison in such small quantities as to
elude the search made at every parade.
But that the man was able to labor in his cave
and build and provision his boat in the teeth of
constant and systematic supervision, seems to mo
little short of marvellous.
Strange Cases in French Prisons
DROBABLY the French penal establishments yield
the most interesting and romantic cases The SEN
tences more severe and the prisoners are left
more to their own devices particularly at the famous
prison of Noumea in New Caledonia, lonely island
in tropic Severe punishments in store
at this convict station for men who attempt to
escape They Loaded with chains and thrown
into a black hole, where many man has lost his
reason Moreover, recapture after the alarm gun
tence 1t is eloquent of the life in New Caledonia.
however, that in spite of this will find young
prisoners who have made dozen attempts to
escape, and in consequence have cumulative SEN
tences hanging over them amounting to fifty or
even hundred years.
was one where two had patiently cut their
chains and made their bed clothes into petticoats
by night. White caps and curls skilfully
fashioned out of picked oakum; and they dyed the
Gsl.