The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-02-02

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account to himself. He knew the sun
was setting one evening, and almost
Immediately after he saw it rising
again, yet he had not slept, and there
were mornings when at daylight the
shepherd crumbled bread into broth,
and gave it to him for breakfast, as
was his wont before he went to his
work, and made tea in the evening
directly afterward, as it seemed to
Leslie's Imagination. His reason,
| however, warned him that he must
| have lost all consciousness of time in
| the interval During one of his awak-
| enings he found that the shepherd
had brought sick sheep into the hut
| to be nursed, and Leslie was amused
to see the way he divided his atten-
! ton between the two. rather
thought himself the favorite patient,
but it was difficult to decide, for the
uncouth nurse was tenderness itself
/ to both-too tender, in fact, as far as
Leslie was concerned, for the latter
began to be sure that the shepherd
| liked to have him there and was doing
his best to hide him, instead of max
| ing his presence known or doing any
thing to enable him to communicate
with the village. The very first day
he wrote to his wife on a leaf of his
pocketbook, and gave the slip to the
shepherd with some money, making
signs to him to take both. The shep-
herd looked first at one, then at the
other, as he held them in either hand,
smiled and went out. Some hours
later he returned with brandy and
fresh povisions, proving that he had
been to the village and spent the
money. Leslie showed him another
leaf of his pocketbook, trying to find
out what he had done with the first.
The man seemed to understand, for
he made a backward gesture toward
the door with his thumb and nodded
several times significantly; but what
the pantomime signified, except that
he was satisfied with himself, Leslie
could not determine. Eventually,
however, he became sure that the
note had not been delivered, as no
| result followed.
Happily, as it happened, he had
soon hit upon an expedient which
brought some relief to his anxiety
on his wife's account He was good
draughtsman, and he did clever
sketch in his pocketbook of the scene
as he had left her, the railway line
and the surroundings, as well as he
could recollect them, and the slight
girlish figure tied up to the telegraph
post. This he gave to the shepherd
and pointed to the door. The man
looked at the sketch with knitted
brows attentively, then looked at Les
lie The latter took it back and
drew the shepherd himself cutting
the ropes with knife. This the
shepherd evidently understood, for 1e
smiled as soon as he saw it. Then
Leslie clasped his hands imploringly
and made signs for him to go, still
time before he returned, but when
he did appear he brought Leslie a
rope, which the latter was quite sure
he recognized, and showed him where
the two ends had been cut with a
knife. Leslie concluded from that
moment that his wife had been re-
| leased, and he was so overcome with
relief and gratitude that he seized
the monsters hairy hand and kissed
it, whereupon the monster gravely
examined the spot, and went and sat
over the fire for the rest of the day,
keeping it covered with the other
hand, but occasionally uncovering it
and critically examining the spot
again. Leslie also drew picture of
his house and himself being carried
by the monster thither, but this the
latter would not understand; nor
would he show the slightest CLEAN of
interest in two other picturesque
of himself leading Gertrude from the
house and the other of Gertrude in
the hut-though he took possession
of the sketches and boarded them
up.
The sheep recovered and was al
lowed to join the flock; but Leslie
believed that he himself would not
be allowed to go. He therefore deter
mined to effect his escape. He could
not walk, so there was nothing for ii
but to crawl, and, watching his oppor-
tunity, he began the painful process
when the shepherd had gone to work
one morning soon after daylight.
And very painful process it was,
and also humiliating. For man was
not meant to go on all-fours, and a
distinguished London barrister nat
urally knew every argument that
could be urged against such course
The first difficulty was to find the
way; but this was soon settled by the
position of the hills on the outskirts
of the village, and he further deter
mined his route by a track-it was
scarcely a footpath-which led of
past the door of the hut in that di-
| rection. The next trouble was how tt
proceed. The injured ankle was ex-
tremely painful; the slightest touch
or jar to it was unbearable. A
crutch would have made matters
| easier; but he had not even stick, SC
there was nothing for it but his hands
and knees, and another difficulty was
how to work them--whether to move
one hand and one leg at time, OF
both hands and both legs together
resting on the former while he
dragged the latter unto them, and SC
made step. He did both alternately
and in an inconceivably short time
his trousers were worn through. and