River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-07-02
CHAPTER VII.
Help From the Dead.

part OF the bog in which he had sought
shelter from the hounds at his heels.
Moving cautiously and always fearful
or a pit of q~uicksand, he sought one
of the high and dry hummocks Bill
had told him of.
He needed sleep and rest, for he had
worn out his feet and legs in the race
from Sing Sing to North Tarrytown
and his arms in the swimming of the
river. Clinging under a freight car for
the rest Of the fight had racked every
nerve and muscle in him
Montgomery came to a little estuary
OF the bay piercing the marsh grass.
On the other side be could see as he
peered through the rent be made in
the green wall a rise in the marsh lev
ell and. topping it, a cluster Of wild
lowers. He recognized it as his ref
uge against high tide and a place
where he could lie down and sleep
No bed ever felt so soft and aIluring
to a worn creature.
The Il at meridian beat down in a
straight shaft upon the sleeping man.,
and gnats and mosquitoes fed upon
him, but still he slept. Only semi
conscious of the act. he pulled his gray
blouse over his head and face and
stuck his hands under it when the tor
ture became too great.
In the afternoon the breeze from the
sea increased to a gale as the tide
reached the food and the skies be-
came overcast. A great clap Of thun-
der awakened the sleeping fugitive.
The water was tapping at his feet.
The wind had sent mosquitoes and
gnats to cover He stripped and wash
ed himself clean A glance at the
heavens told him that soon the rain
would fall. He had been twenty-four
hours without a drink of water or a
particle of food. Bill had warned him
about the tortures of thirst He placed
the felt hat given him by the burglar
so that it would catch the rain He
followed Bills advice and of his blouse
made a little cloth reservoir supported
on sticks of driftwood. The fall OF
the rain on his naked body and up
turned face would reduce the fever set
UP by the stings Of the pests, and he
would hoard as best he could what
rainwater he could catch in blouse and
hat.
The rain began to fall, and the first
splashing of it against his body was as
b flow of ointment to the sores of Job
after a flood of stale words from his
comforter Bildad, the Shuttle.
Up from the distant ocean the. clouds
rolled in great black folds, ripped rag
gedly in white streaks as the lightning
played and as the thunderOus voices
proclaimed that a hot sky and a smil-
ing sea had brought forth a summers
storm.
The gale increased as the afternoon
waned. and as his cloth reservoir filed
he sQuatted beside it, making fast the
sticks that held the n and care
fully guarding it. Twice he leaned
over and drank thirstily when it filed
and began to overflow.
He was cropping for more sticks of
driftwood to strengthen his reservoir
supports when a white object in the
marsh grass struck his eye.
In the cleaning of a stormy twilight
he could not make out just what the
object was, and he parted the grass
and leaned nearer. He recoiled with
a little cry of horror. He had looked
upon the face of a drowned man!
For several minutes he stood naked
and shivering, awed but not frightened.
Then he parted the grass again, reach
ed down and dragged to his little is
land the abandoned tenement of a
mans soul.
James Montgomery knelt beside the
body and prayed. And as he prayed
there came to his mind the thought
that none other than his merciful Fa-
Their in heaven had sent to him this
Cutcast of life. He had brought with
him an Offering of a suit of clothes.
In the pitch black of a night of storm
the fugitive put upon the dead man the
blouse with the white disk and white
star Of honor and the baggy trousers.
In the soaked and muddied suit or
working clothes he took in exchange
Montgomery knelt for a final prayer
in parting with the dead and then dis
appeared in the marsh grass toward
the nearest shore lights.
y = 4
AS the men directing the bands of
hunters reported by telephone from
hour to hour that no trace of the es-
capped convict had been found the
warden of Sing Sing extended his zone
of search. Inspector Ranscombe was
reached by telephone at his New YORK
home. He gave orders for a search OF
all railroad yards, and the Oak street
police station was instructed over the
telephone to send a man to the little
fat in Oliver street and rout out Mike
Kearney.
At headquarters the lieutenant in
charge of the detective bureau inform
ed K~earney that there was no reason
for haste.
'The inspector just telephoned for
you to wait here until he comes he
i -nsI SETs-- L. o1-p unr1