THE ESCAPED PRISONER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 28 January 1909, Page 3

THE ESCAPED PRISONER.

When the prisoner, drenched with

rain, crept under the lady's bed on Saturday night, he did shiver with r.p-. J prehension that his pursuers might soon bS on hM trail, saya the "Post." He gave jiG rttore thaoght, apparently, to -. To-cap'tuVe' tftaS W rheumatios. He hung'ered for a smoke, atfdl Ke did not care i'f all the world smelt the fuitfefl. - H« made himself as comfortable as poe- * siL'lJ oil the floor, and then' siruggled' with damp iotacco. ..Jfhe lady has ;_ confessed to one chronicler that, she 2 was wont to strictly observe tn« feminine rule of looking under the bed, lest a man should be secreted tnere, . but tills time she neglected the precaution. Placidly she was reading — and possibly fjer plesaur© in the print -t was mscOunteS by a, yatg'ue presentment J of danger,' a splvth'ou_ght that ,she j, should have gMriced under the 1 bS3. . Then came the frag'rsince of, a pipe-Non-smoking woman is quick t» oe-i tcct the near presence of a pipe, and 1 -| probably the pri.<oner had a well-mel- J lowed article. hen things began to e , "transpire," and the smoker had to w •nake a sudden exit into the storm, g u the cold comfort of sodden shirt and j rousers. The criminal had a cheeress run for his smoke; the price for hs fsw draws was heavy, but perhaps he believed it was not excessive. Vnd if he Was a student of Khayyam " lie might have murmured as he swept across country : They say that wine ha3 played the infidel, And robbed mo of my robe of honour. Weil, I often wonder if the vintners buy One half so precious sis the goods they " soil. What brand of tobacco proved so ir- l ' resistible to the hunted' felon? What lively leaf led him to endanger his liardly-gained liberty aritl risk goinp *j '^•ick to an indeterminate sentence? It *' ■• a new argument for husbands to use v "hen their wives make war upon to- ° •ioco. "See how Archibald John MeXcil loved his pipe," they may reply. •'His pipe %t-t:S fits life and it was his life for the pijre; if. fc even eo with us." -~\