The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1917-02-22

| iSll SURF lhul cSNupC was lCuoiDAS
anywhere.
IF we could lower that boat, for
instance" he suggested, indicating a
little craft swung out near the stern.
"If you could escape the bullets
of the guards, you'd die of thirst" said
the other.
There's a water cask inside" said
Jerry.
"How about food2" sneered his COM
panion.
During succeeding days Jerry saved
scraps of the coarse food that was
flung to the prisoners. During the
course Of their walks on deck he man
aged TO slip these scraps inside the
craft.
On the third morning after Jerry
had spoken about the boat the old
man, attempting to rise, fell back with
a groan. Jerry laid his hand upon his
forehead and found that he was in a
burning fever.
Half dozen similar cases had de-
veloped among the cOnvicts. The ships
doctor knew at once what the trouble
was. 1t wasethe dreaded prison fever,
or typhus.
The epidemic ran riot. Weakened
by their hardships and privations, the
sick men were unable to resist the raw
ages of the disease.
Two more men died that day. To-
ward nightfall it was evident to Jerry
that his friend was sinking fast. The
old man called him to his side
"Bend over me, lad" he said. 'Pm
gone. Thanks be to God, I'm going to
better place than the world has
BEEN"
Thirty years ago" whispered the
old man, II killed a man. That's
what l have suffered for. a man who
insulted my daughter. If he hadn't
been a government employee I'd have
gone free. Curse himl
Lad, don't know what you've done,
but 1t can't have been worse than me.
The time will come when you'll grow
resigned, too, as ! did. The time will
come when it'll have scared your heart
numb like mine. I'm going now. You'll
stay by me till it's over"
Jerry promised. And suddenly there
came into his brain a hope, so weird
and so grotesque, that at first he flung
it from him as the dream of a mad
man.
II returned with renewed force. 1t
was the most desperate scheme that
had ever entered human brain.
Toward midnight the old man, who
had been muttering in his delirium
ceaselessly since sunset, sat up sud-
denly, shouted, and pointed into the
darkness.
Maria Angela !" he cried exultantly.
Next moment he fell back dead into
Jerrys arms.
The body would be buried at night,
after 1t had been placed in the rough
hewn coffin.
All Jerry's schemes depended on
whether the coffin was flung from the
bow or from the stern. The former
event meant life; the latter death.
He raised the hardly yet cold body
of the old man in his arms and laid
it on the bench where the dead were
placed. None of the guards would
penetrate more than q few feet beyond
the door, and then they drove back
the prisoners with whips and curses.
About half an hour later the door
was opened, and two men appeared,
carrying the coffin, mere shell Of
wood. They took the old mans body
and thrust it within, afterward fasten-
ing down the lid with nails.
1t was fortunate for Jerry's scheme
that some interval occurred between
the mailing down of the coffin and the
burial. This was due to the fact that
the two functions were performed by
different men; the first by the guards,
the second by the seamen, who had re-
fused to enter the plague-hOle.
AS soon as the guards had with
drawn Jerry set to work to remove
the lid with a fiat piece of wood which
he had found in the hold. 1t was not
difficult task, for the mailing had
been a task hurriedly performed, and
the wood was flimsy. Within a short
space of time, working in the dark,
he had managed to open the coffin.
Gently he took out the body of his
friend and deposited it in a corner of
the hold. Then he entered the coffin
and pulled on the lid again.
To fasten IL In any way was a diff
ficult task, but by inserting his fingers
into the rough edges of the under part
of the lid, he contrived, after much
effort, TO secure it in some degree.
And he lay there, choking in the mar
row space, with his mouth against a
crack between the lid and the casket.
Then he saw the glimmer of a Ian
tern near him and heard the voices
of the guards.
Get hold of your end !"
"Say, this lid amt on. Where's the
| hammer?"
Hurry up Do you want us to die
Of the plagueT yelled one Of the two
sailors at the door.
The guards raised the coffin and,
painting under their efforts, carried II
I