Putnam patriot., 1911-09-29
What ilnl- .....s itf

The coyote was 10 be fired at 2 o'clock. l. was when he left bis cabin. How bong had he been uuCon sciouS? Was it time now-nowg W6> Macponald'S finger already reaehIus out te that little white button which would send hin into eteruiyf
 He struggled again. gnashing furious. ly at the thing which covered his mouth. tearing the flesh of his wrists as he twisted at the ropes which bound him. choking himself with his efforts to loosen the thong about his neck Exhausted again. he sank back. pant ing. half dead As he lay with closed eyes a little of his reason asserted it. self. After all was he such a coward as to go mad?
 Tick. tick, tickl
 His watch was beating at a furious rate. Was something wrong with itf Was it going too fast? He tried to count the seconds. but they raced away from him. When he looked again his gaze fell on the little yellow tongue of flame in the lantern globe. IL was not the steady. unwinking eye of a few minutes before There was sputter- ing weakness about it now, and as he watched the light grew fainter and fainter The flame was going out. X few minutes more and he would be in darkness. At first the significance of 1t did not come to him. Then he straightened himself with jerk that ts al Ha his M til it choked him. Hours must have passed since the lantern had been plac- cd on that rock, else the oil would not be burned out of it now.
 For the first time Rowland realized that it was becoming more and more difficult for him to get breath. The thing about his neck was tightening slowly. inexorahly, like hot band of steel, and suddenly. because of this tightening. he found that he bad re covered his voice.
 This rawhide Is pinching my Ad ans apple
 Whatever had been about his mouth had slipped down. and his words sound ed hollow and choking in the rock bound chamber. He tried to raise his voice in shout. though he knew how futile his laudeSt shrieks would be. The effort ehoked him more. His suf- fering was becoming exerueiating. sharp pains darted like redhot needles through his limbs, his back tortured him. and his head ached as thought knife had cleft the base of his skull. | The strength of his limbs was leav- ing him. He no longer felt any sensa tion in his eramped feet. He meas l ured the paralysis creeping up his legs inch by inch. driving the sharp pains before 1t, aud then a groan of horror | rose to his lips,
 The light had gone out
 As if that dying of the little yellow l flame were the signal for his death. | there came to his ears a sharp hissing sound; spark leaped up into the | blackness before his eyes. and a slow. creeping glow came toward him over the rock at his feet.
 The hour. the minute, the second, had come. and Macdonald had press | IDt tlltlo W ultC puAtOh thut NhS tS send him into eternity. He did not | Try out now. He knew that the end was | very near, and in its nearness he found new strength once he had seen a | man walk to his death on the scaffold. | and as the condemned had spoken his last farewell. with the moose about his l neck. he had marveied at the clearness | of his voice. at the feariessness of this | creature in his last moment on earth. | Now he understood Inch by incl | the fuse burned toward him-a fifth l of the distance. a quarter. now q third | At last it reached half-was almost | under his feet. Two minutes more Of | life He put his whole strength oncs | again in an attempt to free his hands | This time his attempt was cool. steady | masterful. with death 100 seconds l away. His heart gave sudden burst ing leap into his throat when he fell 1 something give. Another effort, ant | in the powder choked vault there rant
 out a thrilling cry of triumph. Hi
 hands were free. He reac he'd forwar
 to the fuse, and this time a moaning 
 worthless sob fell from him, faint tel
 rifying, with all the horror that migh
 fill a human soul in it's inartieulat
 note. He could not reach the fuse be
 cause of the thong about his neck.
 EHectino a Cure.
 Docs your wife often grieve be | rause she threw over wealthy mar
 n order to marry you?'
 She started to once. but l cured he
 1f 1t the first rattle out of the box"
 'I wish you would tell me how"
 q started right in to grieving witt
 1er. And l grieved harder and longe
 than she did" ."-Houston Post.