The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1914-03-07

prison six months ago and had seen
Francois among the others Francois
with his body bent out, and fat wad-
die, and an improvised eye-glass and a
pursy short-breathed manner, spoke of
the governor severely, putting at him
between sentences, reproving him,
among other things, for having pris-
oners dine with him.
And the governor roared with de.
light, for this man was his rival and it
did his soul good to see him made
ridiculous. He roared, and drank to
the imitation, and the imitation re-
buked his levity throatily, till the gov
ernor Toared and drank again and
shouted for more. And Francois, ex-
| cited, exhilarated, did more; and still
| the governor drank as he acted. And
the vaudeville went on. So that when
the guard came at eleven the count
was lying across the sofa, too tipsy to
| get to bed alone, and Francois had to
wait, pretending to be heavy with wine
| himself, while the two soldiers put the
| governor to bed.
At last he was taken upstairs be-
| tween them, leaning on them Imply;
at last his door changed shut; he lis
| tened to the footsteps of the two dying
away down the stone hall, down the
staircase; then swiftly he drew out
| the file and the letters from his mat
| tress; he hid the papers, wrapped
| tight in their oilskin cover, in his coat
| lining; he set to work with the file to
finish iron bars already three-quarters
filed through. That was done and
with fingers that seemed to work as
fast, as intelligently as his brain, he
tore the bedclothes into stout strips
and tied them together with square
knots which would not slip, and tied
knots in the line at intervals of a few
feet which might keep a mans fingers
from slipping. He had to guess how
long the rope must be, but the bed
clothes were all used and the rope was
many yards-it must serve He put
the file, with two candle ends which
he had saved, in his pocket; he made
one end of the strip fast to an un-
touched iron bar of his window; he
weighted the other end, then he looked
about a moment, half to see il all of
his small resources had been remem-
bered. half in a glance of farewell to
place where he had passed hours
never to be forgotten.
With that he vaulted to the window.
ledge and took the first knot in firm
grip and let himself out into the dark
still night. His feet hung in the air,
his hand slid fast-fast-down that
poor ladder of torn stuff; the die was
cast; he was going to things unknown;
he had taken a desperate chance and
might not go back. And he slipped
down, down, from knot to knot. Sud-
denly he came to the last knot; he had
fastened a bit of wood there so that
he might know when he got to the
end. What was this? 1t certainly was
the last knot; the bit OF wood scraped
his hand as he held 1t; but his feet did
not touch ground.
There he hung, swaying in black
ness, not knowing how far he might |
be above the earth, not knowing what |
to do. Only a moment, for instantly |
he knew that in any case he could not |
go back, if he would, up that slight |
swinging rope; he must drop, what |
ever happened. He bent his knees |
ready for the fall and let go. With a
shock he landed and rolled, bruised |
and out of breath, but not injured; he |
looked up and in the dimness saw the |
last knot with its bit of wood swing
ing in air twelve feet or so from the
ground.
But he had no time given him to
consider this point, for at that sec.
ond, at the far END of the closed yard
a door opened, blaze of light poured
out, and squad of six soldiers stepped
from the castle, torches in the hands
of the foremost. Francois dropped,
crouching into the shadows against
the wall, but his heart grew sick as he
realized the futility of this. The sol
diers were coming straight toward
him.
With that, CLEAN on brighter sur
face than the ground met his sight, be-
low the level of the ground. His eyes,
searching the darkness, made out a
great butt of water, sunken by the
castle wall. Instantly he slid into it,
up to his neck. 1t was not quite full
and his head did not show in the
shadows of the inside. The blaze of
the torches swept close, brighter, as
Francois, shivering in the cold water
glued himself to the dark side; the
blaze of the torches waved, shadowy,
gigantic, across the water and the cas-
tie WALL he heard the soldiers speak
In short deep words; it was like an
evil dream, and 1t slipped past, torch.
es and dark-swinging shadows and
heavy tread of men and stern voices,
like n dream. The heavy door shut,
the lights were gone, everything was
still.
More dead than alive. Francois
1ripped from the water-butt.. 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 nerveless, with
clicking teeth, as limp as the tradition
al drowned rat. A moment he stood
so. utterly discouraged, without conf.
1ence, without hope Thea with his
lips he framed words, words
familiar to him for years, and with
hat, in a shock, he felt strength and
rising In him like slow calm
Hood. H. was not less a miracle be-
cause there was no sign In the
1aayans no aarthnuaka or lightning. |