The Irish standard., 1909-05-01
,. ~ 0OSSO NERRXZ ECNZ34NY


head lying beside it.
Fumbling the arrow head in my nn.
gers, passed on to log cabin hid
den away in the orchard. approached
warily, remembering that If this were
Holbrook's camp and he had gone
away he had probably left the Italian
to look after the yacht, which could be
seen from the cabin door. 1 made a
circuit of the cabin without seeing any
signs Of habitation. and was about to
enter by the front door. when l heard
the swish OF branches in the under.
brush to the east and dropped into the
grass.
In moment the italian appeared,
carrying pair Of oars over his shout.
der. He had evidently just landed,
as the blades were dripping. He threw
them down by the cabin door, came
round to the western window, drew
out the pin from an iron staple with
which it was fastened, and thrust his
head in. He was greeted with a howl
and loud demand of some sort, to
which he replied in monosyllables, and
after several minutes of this parley
caught a fragment of dialogue which
seemed to be final in the subject under
discussion.
Let me out or it will be the worse
Tor you; let me out, say!"
My boss he sometime come back;
then you get out it, maybe"
With this deliverance, accomplished
with some difficulty, the Italian turned
away, going to the rear of the cabin
Tor pail with which he trudged off
toward the lake. He had not closed
the window and would undoubtedly
return in few minutes; so waited
until he was out of sight, then rose
and crawled through the grass to the
opening.
l looked in upon bare room whose
one door opened inward, and did not
for a moment account for the voice.
Then something stirred in the farther
corner. and I slowly made out the fig
ure of man tied hand and foot, lying
on his back in pile of grass and
leaves.
"You ugly dago! you Internal ri.
rate" he bawled.
There was no mistaking that voice,
and l now saw two, legs clothed in
white duck that belonged, was sure.
to- Gillespie. Ny head and shoulders
Allied the window and so darkened the
room that the prisoner thought his
1ai1er had come back to torment him.
Shut up, Gillespie" muttered.
This is Donovan. That fellow will
be back in minute. What can do
for you?"
What can you do for me?" he splut.
tered. "Oh, nothing, thanks!'
wouldn't have you put yourself out
for anything in the world. It's nice in
here, and If that fellow kills me I'll
miss great deal of the poverty and
hardship of this sinful world. But take
your time. Irishman. Being tied by
the legs like calf is bully when you
get used to it,"
In turning over, the better to level
his ironies at me, he had stirred up
the dust in the straw SO that no
sneezed and coughed in a ridiculous
fashion. As I did not move he added:
You come in here and cut these
strings and I'll tell you something nice
some day."
ran round to the front door, kicked
IL open and passed through a square
room that contained a fireplace, q
camp bed, trunk, and table Uttered
with old newspapers and a few books.
found Gillespie in the adjoining
room, cut his thongs and helped him
to his feet.
Where is your boat!" he demanded.
"On the west side"
Then we're in for a scrap. That
beggar goes down there for water; and
he'll see that there's another man on
the island. I had a gun when came"
he added mournfully.
He stamped his feet and thresbed
himself with his arms to restore circu.
latfon. then we went into the larger
room, where he dug his own revolver
from the trunk and pointed to the shot.
gun In the corner.
You'd better get that. This fellow
has only a knife in his clothes. He'll
be back on the run when he sees your
canoe And we heard on the instant
man running toward the hut. ]
opened the breech Of the shotgun ia
see whether it was loaded.
We'll, how do you want to handle
the situation?" asked.
He had his eye on the window and
threw up his revolver and let 70.
"Your pistol makes bowling noise,
Gillespie. Please don't do that again,
The smoke is disaEreeable.
you are quite right; and sfootine
through glass is always unfortunate!
there's bound to be a certain deflec.
ton before the bullet strikes. You see
II were not fool I should be Z
philosopher"
TT isn't nice here: we'd better bolt"
I'm as hungry as sea-serpent," he
said, watching the window. "And ]
am quite desperate when miss my
tea"
stood before the open door and hs
watched the window. We were both