The Dermott news. (Dermott, Ark.) 1910-1977, 1914-05-07

/
! tie wall he heard the soldiers speak
/ in short deep words; ii was like an
evil dream. and ii slipped past. torch
~ and dark swinging shadows and
! heavy tread OF men and stern voices,
like dream. The heavy door shut,
the lights were gone. everything was
still
! More dead than alive. Francois
| dripped from the waterbutt The
hardest part OF his nights job. the
part that needed all his strength OF
! body and brain. was Immediately be
fore him. and he stood neryeless. with
clicking teeth. as limp as the tradition
al drowned rat. A moment he stood
so, utterly discouraged. without conf
| denCe, without hope. Then with his
trembling lips he framed words, words
familiar to him for years. and with
that. in a shock. he felt strength and
courage rising In him like a slow calm
food. 1t was not less a miracle be
cause there was no sign In the
heavens, no earthquake or lightning,
1t was not less miracle because
many people living now might tell OF
like help in fearful need As it was
once long time ago. the water OF his
/ blood was changed into wine So the
! prisoner stood in the courtyard in the
! blackness OF midnight and found him
/ self ready
He CROPPED his way to the shed he
had seen from the governors window,
with his old boyish agility he scram-
BLEED up It's sloping roof and felt for the
coping he had noticed the coping
/ wide enough for a mans foot; he had
/ found It, he had found water pipe
/ above to help him stand on il, he was
on the coping. face fiat TO the wall
working his way with infinite delicate
/ care to the window OF the governor
| He never knew how long that part
/ took. 1t seemed great while. though
not many feet lay between the shed
and the window. Then he felt the
/ stone sill OF the window. his hand
crept up; 1t was open-wide open.
! With strong pull he had swung him
| self over and stood in the dark. in the
| governors bedroom.
Stood and listened. hardly daring for
4 the first instant to draw the long
/ breath he sorely needed. Then he
smiled No necessity for that caution
At least The governor was snoring a
heavy aggressive snore which would
have drowned most noises. Francois
stood quiet till his eyes had grown &C
+ Customed TO the shadows and then
they searched about quickly. All
there they were. the governors clothes.
On a chair by his bed. With wary
steps he stole across. He lifted of
one or two things and suddenly there
was a jingle.
All" growled the governor and
! flung out his hand. and the snore came
to full stop.
| The hand searched the darkness a
second; all but touched that OF Fran
co.'s. then fell Imply, the head turned
away. with a deep sigh. Like a statue
Francois stood. frozen TO the floor, and
dared not look at the figure stirring in
! the bed. for fear his gaze might awake
the sleeper. For he slept; the sound
OF the keys had only Jared some
chord in his uneasy dream Long min
utes after the snoring was In full prog
ress again Francois waited, and then
! With careful fingers he clasped the on
tire bunch OF keys softly and carried
them into the next room.
There was a low light there on the
writing table Francois slipped the
thin. old, brass key which he knew Of
| from the bunch. he glanced about
quickly and found the flint and steel
on its table and put them in his peck
at: he took down that small saber,
with its we'll polished sCabhard, and
buckled II about himself, then a
thought came to him. \ sheet of pa
per lay on the governors Writing-table
rs il he had been about to write a let
ter. pen and ink were ready. The
prisoner dropped into the governors
chair and wrote:
My dear count. | cannot run away
without leaving Il good by for you and
word OF thanks for the kindness you
have shown me. BE sure | shall not
forget our evenings together and shall
be- glad when | hear OF your promo
ton. as | am sure | shall hear. |
heartily hope | am rot going 10 make
trouble for you. But have TO go-you
will understand that, With a thousand
thanks again | am, count. your CRATE
full prisoner-Francois Beaupre.
Still the count snored Francois,
alert, stood and listened as he folded
the note carefully and laid il under
weight on the table. Then he tempted
Providence no longer He slid the bat
tered. bright. old. brass key softly in
to the lock. let himself into the dark
stairway, relocked the door on the in
side. CROPPED his way painfully down
the steep stairs into the wine-cellar
and when he felt n level floor under
his feet struck light with the gov
eruors flint and steel He lighted one
OF his candle ends The wine-cellar
which he had left only two hours be
fore. seemed almost homelike; it
lacked the governor that was all. He