United States or Tunisia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


Again he urged the warden to break the news gently to Vaniman's mother and respectfully requested that Guard Wagg's sympathy be included in the condolence in the official letter. The newspapers of that afternoon contained an account of the tragic happening at the state prison.

"Good God!" he shouted. "God is good!" said Vaniman. He threw the weapons into a far corner of the basement. "Squire Hexter, take charge of this thing. Here are plenty of witnesses." The Squire went forward slowly. His lips moved without the sound of spoken word. He set the clutch of his hands on Vaniman's arms. He stared long and earnestly into the young man's eyes.

The supper was waiting, as the Squire had predicted; but he took no chances on sitting at table at once and having her keen woman's eyes survey Vaniman's somber face; he feared that her solicitude would open up a dangerous topic. "Leave your biscuits in for a few minutes, Mother," the Squire urged. "Let's have some literature for an appetizer."

There were no houses no sign of a human being. Wagg's cheerfulness increased. And he said something which put a glimmer of cheer into Vaniman's dark ponderings. "There's no call to hurry the thing overmuch. If I recuperate too sudden and show up back home it might look funny, after the way I bellowed about my condition. There's plenty of flour, bacon, and canned stuff in that van.

Vaniman's first impulse was to overtake the fugitive. He wanted to have Britt in his grip, holding to him, forcing him to confess and restore. But when Britt reached the highway and started in the direction of the village, saner second thought controlled the pursuer.

Squire Hexter arranged for Vaniman's bail, volunteering for that service, frankly admitting that he "had seen it coming all along"! But the Squire was not as ready to serve as Frank's counsel and withstood that young man's urging for some time. The Squire's solicitude in behalf of the accused was the reason for this reluctance. "You ought to have the smartest city lawyer you can hire.

He immediately discovered that the man was tied up hand and foot with torn cloth, strips of sheets or something of the kind. The man's only apparel was a nightshirt. Around his neck, so Vaniman's touch told him, was a leather cord to which keys were attached.

He whistled for a time. Then he sang, over and over, to a tune of his own, "Up above the world so high, like a di'mond in the sky." This display of Wagg's hopeful belief that the fifty-fifty settlement was near at hand served to increase Vaniman's despondency.

Vaniman's presence on the scene added to the terrifying illusion produced by Britt. This pursuer had been officially proclaimed dead. They who beheld believed they saw a dead man. The face was smutched with blood. The eyes were wide and were set straight ahead. Vaniman was taking no chances on losing the man whom he was chasing.

But in this crisis all of Vaniman's courage broke from the thralls in which prison intimidation and a fugitive's caution and despair had bound it during the months of his disgrace. No matter how long the others had been on their way!