The Ely miner., 1912-03-08

prison from the outside l was constantly and
closely guarded. All day long was vigorously
constrained to keep my room save that from
10 a. m. till noon and from 2:15 till AIS was
suffered to walk about the interior of the fort
ress and talk to my fellow-prisoners, while for
an hour morning and evening an officer took
me for walk on the rampant to enjoy the
fresh air blowing on the height.
WELL l was bored, and l wrote to this ef-
feet to my people who communicated with my
excellent friends. Never shall / forget the
warm thrill I had when got the first COM
munication telling me that my friends were
busy on my behalf.
The surveillance was very strict. All my
letters were opened and read, those received
as we'll as those wrote. My books and news
papers were likewise opened and anything OF
a seditious nature was taken away. Often
when my luncheon dinner arrived I found
the rolls had been cut into slices in case they
might contain a file, and on some occasions
even the fruit was sectioned by way of pre-
caution.
"My friends had therefore to communicate
with me in secret, and this they accomplished
by the old trick of invisible ink. used to
have my letters handed to me with the seal Of
the envelope open, and the letters themselves
contained nothing calculated to arouse alarm.
But soon my warden had left me
used to ungum carefully the flaps Of the en-.
velope and hold the inner side to the bars of
the great whitetiled stove standing in the
room. Then as the paper cracked and con.
tracted a line or two of writing would appear
telling me how the plan progressed and what
my part was to be.
81, too, was able to communicate with my
friends in this way, but how I managed It is
still secret let them know that what
must have above all things else was money
and some tools for removing certain obstacles
had noted as being likely to impede my prog
ress when the moment Of my escape arrived
Once out of my CELL should have to open two
locked doors and then get through window
protected by stout iron bar solidly wedged
In masonry.
From the window there was drop which
was not too dangerous to jump, perhaps, but
the noise should have made In alighting on
the tagged courtyard beneath would certainly
have been heard by the sentries, so had to
have material to make a rope ladder.
"Al these observations I passed to my
devoted friends. very discreetly and at rare
intervals
Every day I received from Paris a large
parcel of newspapers and magazines. These
were opened in the governors quarters and
then sent in to me after they had been rough
ty tied up again with the cord fastening them.
It was this cord which attracted my attention.
It was not the ordinary scrap or end Of string
with which such rolls of newspapers are gen.
orally fastened. but nice new string, evidently
taken off fresh ball. / examined 1t carefully
and my heart gave a great leap. The cord
was waxed!
Every day brought its packet of papers or
reviews wound up with the same strong twine,
md one day found under the flap Of an en-
velope bill just line to this effect, Gardez
acelle!' (Keep string)
THE next indication I had was the word
rReliure' (binding) which had been written in
invisible ink in the envelope Of a letter from
home. Ever since my arrival at Glatz I had
received parcels of books from Paris once or
twice week. and this single word at once
suggested to me what was meant. My books
were to bring me something, too
"One, two, three Gays passed. and on the
fourth my warder brought me box OF books.
There were several mathematical treatises, for
being in the engineers. mathematics have al
ways been a strong point with me, some yellow
paper-bound novels and two or three ponderous
tones of history.
They were Frederic Massons works
the great Napoleon, favorite hobby Of mine.
There Josephine Imperatrice ct Refine
and Josephine Repudee' and one or two 9TH
ers With my penknife slit open the backs
of the paperbound novels-nothfng! Then
the mathematical books-same result! Mas