The Carlisle independent., 1917-07-26

1t was at the bow or at the stern end.
 Let her gon
 He had horrible sense of falling he heard the splash of the coffin against the waves. felt the stream about him, and, with the thought of Leontine in his mind, reused him. self with a mighty effort and burst off the lid.
 .
 The falling coffin spilled him into the depths of the ocean. He felt him self falling as the plummet falls. Down, down he went then his prog ress was arrested, and he struck mad ly upward, to seek the air of night. and to die under the stars if need be.
 With a leap like that of the mulIet he gained the surface of the water. He drew in a breath of air till his lungs seemed to crack. The great bulk of the convict craft was just ahead of him.
 The whole incident had occupied no longer than was required for the slow going vessel to traverse her own length of distance. The coffin had been swung clear from the bow.
 It was, in fact, jest of the coarse minded sailors to heave the coffin in the track the ship was to make, in the hope that her own bow would catch it and cleave it in the descent.
 Jerry had been swung from the bow, but the ships stern was pass ing him. Hand over hand he tried to catch her-the most hopeless task ever essayed by any man.
 But he caught sight of rope that hung from the stern, trailing in the water. It was, in fact the log rope. Jerry seized it and clung, exhausted. while the ship dragged him through the water.
 He looked up in despair. It might be possible to gain the deck, but how could he lower the little boat he had prepared and make his escape?
 As If in answer to his question, he saw that the east was lighting. The last chance of darkness had aban- doned him. There was no hope. At best, he could return to that life which he had escaped.
 Then, as he watched, he saw the dawn mist begin to creep across the waters. It would shroud everything until the sun came up. And instantly he began to swarm up the log rope. Battered by waves that flung him against the side of the ship, bruised and aching, at last he stood upon the deck.
 The fog was closing in; the sea was invisible, but the deck was clear from end to end
 He rushed to the davits and hauled alternately on both ropes. The little boat began to descend, first by the stern, then by the bow The creak- ing sound was heard upon the bridge. Jerry heard the man at the wheel shout, and then another. He worked wildly. At last he got the bow into the water. The boat swung through the waves grotesquely. He got the stern down. The boat began . fill
 He had no knife, and there was no way to cut the ropes, no means except to let them run out, which meant un- tying the knots. There was no time for this.
 No time, for a seaman was already rushing toward him, and, seeing the convict clothes, he doubled his fists and dashed at him with curses on his lips.
 Jerry's fist shot out and floored him. AS the seaman toppled Jerry stopped down and, seizing his clasp knife from his pocket, cut the ropes.
 Half a dozen seaman were upon him now. One, the first mate, was flour ishing revolver. He fired, and the bullet sung past Jerry's head.
 Jerry did not hesitate to fight, but plunged toward the boat, already a good distance away. As he plunged he heard second shot strike the water.
 Then he was mercifully hidden in the shrouding fog and the ship glided like phantom thing into the dis tance.
 He struck out in the direction of the boat, and, by miracle, he found it. It was floating upon its keel, and,