Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-07-02

signed bringing Morrison there that
she might have greater advantages
than were to be expected while he was
In solitary confinement. Her intention
was to send him some Wand medicat-
ed to make him i'll, that he might be
transferred to the hospital and fall
under her care.
But since it was best that Morrison
should know her intention, for he must
be sure to eat what she would send
him, she wished to communicate her
plan to him. She asked the chemist
IL he could not suggest some better
device than the first one. The only
improvement he could make was to
give her an invisible ink made of rice
water, which, being heated, would APP
pear pink, but which moisture would
render permanently illegible.
Alice wrote Morrison a letter in ordi-
nary ink, as before, and ON the same
paper wrote in invisible ink that the
day after the sending of the letter
she would send him some eatables, In
Guiding some apples. He was to eat
one apple, and If it did not make him
sufficiently i'll to secure his being sent
to the hospital he was to eat enough
Of the others to effect the purpose. In
the letter written for inspection she
said that NJ. Chaud was trying to Sc
cure a pardon for the prisoner, Chaud
being the French for heat.
Now, it happened that there was an
Englishwoman who took care Of the
building In which Morrison was con-
fined whose sympathies were with the
British. When Morrison received Al
ices letter, not understanding the
mention of M. Chaud, he laid it aside
while he thought of the matter. The
next morning the woman was admit
ted to the room to put it to rights, and
the circulation of air she made In dust
ing landed the letter on the hearth on
which q fire was burning. Turning
toward it, she saw pink letters writ
ten on the paper. They caught the
prisoners eye at the same time, and
he took up the letter from the hearth,
hastily reading the secret message.
The woman, suspecting that some
thing was wrong, told the officer in
charge what she had seen. Meanwhile
Morrison, who was nearsighted, hold
ing the letter close to his face, breath
ed on it and noticed a slight diminu-
ton of the strength of the pink letters.
It occurred to him that moisture might
efface. them, and, dampening a cloth, he
laid it on the paper. They at once be-
came Invisible.
Later the officer In charge came in
and asked to see the letter. Morrison
handed it to him. He looked 1t over
and called to the woman who had re-
ported it to come to him. On her en-
trance he showed her the letter and
asked If it was the one on which she
had seen pink letters. She said that it
looked like the one she had seen, but
it could not have been since the pink
letters were not on 1t. The officer rec
ognized it as the one he had the even
ing before turned over to the prisoner
and told the woman that she must
have been mistaken In thinking there
was anything on the paper except
what appeared. This ended the Incl
dent, and Morrison drew a long breath
of relief at the narrow escape.
When the apples arrived he ate one
Of them, and, the expected result not
coming as soon as he anticipated, he
ate all of the others. The result was
that when next visited by the guard
he was in collapse. He vas uncOn-
scious for a time, and when a glimmer-
ing of consciousness returned soldiers
were moving about him and a surgeon
was listening for his heartbeat. Then
Morrison heard the surgeon say that
he thought he was dead, but was not
certain. Leaving orders that he was
to be watched, the surgeon withdrew.
Morrison recovered slowly, but it oc-
CURED to him to pretend to be still
unconscious. Persons came and went,
and since the prisoner was supposed to
be dead or dying M pains were taken
for his security. The guard was with
drawn, and he was placed In charge of
a nurse.
/. Night came on, and Morrison con-
tinued to feign Inconsistencies. The
nurse finally fell asleep. Morrison
looked at the man between closed lash
eS ana Wnen the Fellow began to snOre
slid off the cot on which he was lying.
His clothes had not been taken off him,
nor had his shoes been removed. The
latter he unlaced and carried them in
his hands. In his stockings he began
a slow movement past the slumbering
nurse toward the door, which stood
ajar.
That was the longest journey Of a
dozen feet that Morrison aver Travelled.
He feared that the slightest creaking
would awaken the nurse and used the
utmost care, after trying a board on
which he trod before bearing his
weight On 1t. One board creaked in
spite of his caution, and the nurse
stirred. But he did not awaken.
Three steps, two steps, one step more
and the door was reached. Neverthe-