CHAPTER X. UNKNOW

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 271, 9 June 1888, Page 6

CHAPTER X. UNKNOW

Ml> J\Mls I\>U,VM> Wa- Nl(e!\ ill "iiol. ijllt In hul no idea ot slaving then. 1 not tin* sholucM. In the ioiiih' oi hi- bnet but eventful hie lie had been in yaol -o\oial tnnu-, (luit> u . i^ In lie in Ljaol lift tli.it h 1 did hot know all about. lie h.al not bei n in-nli. theuiaU^ .1 il.i\ till he e-tahh-bed a uooil umKi-t.viulin'j, with a man who wa> •roitux out lit a few da>^, and t'nou-jh Inni lie kid -mi a let! ei Id M.u> Elm'), in iiounemu, In- wheieibouK Then tlnhiond, ioi .1 euii-nMatiou, ui'_a<_:ed tn eon \eytoMi I'oll.ntl eeitira implement*, t hat, he\li>MK<{, and to pel hum cci (am - m \ h <•«, ont->de, w hieb lie ton-idoied di -liable A s\>tnn vi M»M iK «.b autcod ii[mii, -n rh.it M; I'oll.ud, behind the bats rliou-di Ik h,'i->, \a-~Mllin « omaiunieation with the uutei wot Id Tii"M lie _ r ot o'hei help The dotc<ti\o who fou.iil him wi- di-yu-lod with Mt Ca*.-ld\ He li.id dont no end ot lahoui (o ,iiio«.| I'ollatd. an I expended no cud of money, and all toi (\i-Md\ s Uuetit ( ,iss U !} had in th.« aiie-t ot l'o'laul, leaped all'the benefit of in- time And moiie\ . aiul utteih ie>u-ed to comedo an\ tiling that would (.liable ti« dctoliw to auv ad vantage whaU\ei And t'a^idv tieated him cotdialh and -upcicihou-h. He kne\\ nothing noi can d nothing toi thu detet'the's übjee'-and o.e>ue—ln" had I'ollaul -ate, and that wa- all lie cued foi. \ou ditt.'.li\e-> aie a u-ofiil ela— of nieti, but. ihc> '^ n< r.ill\ ta 1 o cue oHht'mH'ho Taking Caie ot thorns l\e- mean- .hat th'>v will eaieli a riiminal toi pa\ , and (lit y will let him i. r o toi moiepax. Thw deteeti\e wa- emiiitnt's a man who took caw ot liiM-dt. U^ iiidn't eaic a straw abotif Cu— -id\' m.ittei.and, m the mo-! nai.iial w ty lie oiieißil m yi'U iiion, w ith i'ollaid. The bai^.un wae i-ih made I'oH.ud a^ieeu to piot i.ie lor bun the inhumation he de--indin the mattu of thu loi^eis, and the detect ne Web to -i— \;-t him m bre>iki!.<; <Xaol. The c 4 !l in a Inch he w.i^ eonhned wa- in the ouUi tu.. A -mall window, hea\ ily killed, looked out into a Mii.ill }>"d, winch ua- Mtiiouiided ui(h a hi^\i nail. Thiwindow wa- jvi-l undei the ceilin<i, at lea-t. ei'^ht feet iiom the llooi. IVllaid had a map of tho giol, and lie know !>i- i.eminu-. l-^eape horn thi 1 - window would ha\e -eemed to be l lpi.ict iea!ile to a neopliUe, but it w,i*- the * .i-h -I matcei m tliewoikl to .m old hand who Uad biokcn £aol- b<--He jound that h\ plaeini; iii- -tool on hieut In could reach the hai.-. of the <,natltv ■" hu h w.i- the mam point Theexpeifc (j.io 1 I'itakci only want- to reach thebulo 'j< t thiouiili I!m m Tin n a htil- - ny, mail oi ,i w ati h-oi in'_ n.i-bi mub' ink) lerjti. itio'i Tbo lai- w > h -a.\'"l oil one |,>, (, i, ai- the hoiloin and iut - > i ' v ail\ tlnou,h at the top ih it tin \ co-.k! be biokm >n an in-tan' The cutsweit Idled will- moi-lened bicad, eaielulU c^eicd with uo.i ni^(, -'• 'hat <m .n tu.i) c ,1111,11at! in h\ \ci\ him e\e- in a y;ood 'i^ht, uouUl ha\o bedi i" 't--ai\ to n \ jal then COlldltlOli Tin- w i-, ot ( ai'-e. w\\, iilow woi k. It lcquucd oi culi many houi- of patient laboai, and the houi- it which ho could work w cm limu-'d And lie wa- wondei - full> anviou- to irit out So t.u a- he wa^ indi\i('ually concerned, hi caied \ m y little about it, but he knew that he had be< n tiaj)}Kcl by (\c--id> tn keep him out of the way'till he could' woik his will with tho Hl-o/-, and it w a-> tv '-.•v. 1 them a "id llnvait thcii pciMicutoi that lv -o aidently de-ned hih libeity. lloiece'ned lettoii reuulail\ tiom Hrowuhelm. conveyed to him b^ hi- iiiend oui-f-idc. \lai> iil^iv wiole to liim oi the death of Paul Hutch, "and < ncli^ed to him a lcttoi from Col. Mackintosh, staling In- su-pieion that, ho had been shot by a man in hi-> ie^iment named 3.1 os- ' Mo^ !' said Pollrn-d to bim-elf, as he reacl the note. ' Moss : I know John Moss. Ke was with me in a dozen oueratioiib, and he was with John Cassidy in as many nioic. Paul Bates killed by John Moss, and i hero in goal ?' It was plain enough to him. It was John Cassidy \s han i that had .struck down tho suif^con — John Moss was simply the instrument. In the next letter ho received from her, she said that, weary of tho htni^le, hopeless as to the result, unwilling co plunge her father and mother aciain into the poverty they had emerged from, and unwilling to deprive her brothers and sisters of the advancement in life which they now had fair hopes of, she had more than half determined to fiist seeuio them in the possession of a competency, then many tho man she detested, and kill herself the moment after. ' Mairy him ! Kill herself !' thought. Pollard, as he read the letter; 'that would leave Ca.s.sidy with tho farm, and with the consciousness of tiiumph. She may marry him, but she shall not kill herself. I know a trick v, orth two of that Somebody may be killed, but it will not be Mary Elsey.' And he wrote a letter, begging hor to keep him informed as to every moment, promptly, and giving her directions as to the course she should take. And this done, he renewed his work at the bars with more vigour than ever. Ho had a double stimulus to work-lovo, genuine, unselfish and hopeless, and revenge. Finally, the bars were all cut,, and tho plan of escape was arranged. lie was compelled to wait several days for the moon to absent hcraelt from the skied, for light is an

enemy for gentlemen in Mr Pollard's position. At last the clay arrived. Tho signal was displayed, and tliooutsido holpors were warned to bo in readiness that night. At pieuuscly 12 o clock, a whisdc informed Pol laid that his friends woio ready. Mounting his stool, ono slight pull took out the bars, cleanly, leaving nothing but the glazed sash. A moment's vigorous work tuie oui the casings, and thoie was a clean hole, nothing moro. It was nothing for a vig >roub man to climb to that holo, nor did it take a miuuto to lasLen a small but very strong eoul, which ho wound round his body, to tho cot. Forcing hinibolt through tho window, ho lot himself carefully down tho side of the wall into the yard, liore a now danger awaited him. Notaveiy strict or caietul watch was kept in that gaol, but a watchman did walk tlnough the court se/seial times during the night, and this night he was making his rounds at a mobt uiilorluniilo time for Mr Pollard. , Jnsi/ a his loot touched the paved yard, the gleam ot his lantern shone around the corner ot , tlie building. If he came through the yard Ito this point, diseovciy was inevitable. Pollard bptang into tho shadow of a projecting buttress, and, with palpitating heait, awaited the c\enl ISiumteung along ylowly, turning the light of his 'bull's eye on the wall- and on the windows, he passed Pollard without discovering him. But he did discover the coid that was still hanging out ot tho window , and, stai lied at tho bight, .stopped up quickly to examine it. L'ollaid 1 - comae of action was determined upon in an infant. Ho h.ul usked too much to bo thv.avted now — time was too pucioi.s toi him to go back into the coll. 1U made one -pi ing upon the watchman, and -tuirk him down. The blow Mould I h,i\o tolled an o\, and he dropped insensi- | ble ' I haxo not killed him,l hope,' muttered ! Poll.ud to hniu-elf, % but he will give me no * double.' Then !ie ,4a\o a signal whistle, and in an , instant, a lope wastlnown ovei the wall, h w.i- no double t.>r him to tun up this lope (o the top ot the wall. Then doUer-ou-k t i-ifinnu it to .1 -.pike in the wall, he let hnn-eli down to the gtound outside, and wa- oiu'o moie a hee man. i I'oll.ud hnind -heU»rinthe tiicndlywoodh on ihe iH'iiihliouuuu mountains, sate horn pin-mi. The ne\t qucsti'in with him was, what iouUllk .'.o .' lled.uednol show himselt, foi. m do that, was to be put back into hi- old tji.ui lei-, and, without making linn m.H \iMble, Mo object ot his c-< ape wa- 10-t. He could on]\ w ail and act as eireumstanecs should diet.it \ So he made ten him-cH a pleasant ictieat in the mountains wheic he < onld h\i , 'md b\ mean- ot his fiiends who liul i-sivud in \,i> e^ape, kept up ie'<ulai e<;intnuiiß.ition with Mai\ Kl-.o^ , holding hnn-eit in u idiuensto mo\e a- occasion ictjuned. in the meantime, .John Cas-idy was am thing but c iunknlable. One lohn Mo--. h.uUnad" In- apncai.'uieo m l'itt-l)uig a tew week- .dU'i the (leatli ot Pan! JJari-, mthegaib ot a eiwhnn. and, obedient to his calT, Mi ("a— uly had gone then- and disbm-ed a I.v ge sum of money, w lu< h Moss took, giumbhug tliatit was not h.ili enouuh. JUil Mr Slo-s accepted it, and Ca-sidy lefi him. TheVissuhs ol thus woi hi make a git.it mi-take in enipkniny nan to do then wotk. The man who conceives a muidtr (iitirht to have tho physical coinage, the .;ei\t, to do it lum-olt, 101 the tool he employs always cuts him. He is handling a blade without a handle to it. It tool. M^s diilj nliout i month to get tin ough with the mone> Cassid ( \ g.i\ehnn. Wine (or ialhi r whisk \ ), women and cuds aic not cheap amusement, and it it- a pecuhanty ot such men that when they act money thin "pond it. When a leu thousand dolku ■■ can bo had for shook ig a mm, nh> should Ihey be piudeut m> long as (lii-ie are men to be siiot '' That man lan Ihiough \\v* money lapidly, anil w lion it was all<iv»ne lie wassomew hat nonplus-cd. Th.ie did not happen, .it that tune, an v \ moie men to be shot, and he was at a lo^r. to know how to continue in tin lite he delighted in. Xatuia.ll), ho betlioutrht hunscH of (.'a.s^idy. He did not like to uo to r>ionnhelm, tor he might .-tumble upon some of the comrades whom he had deserted but he took thechuces. He had siuiu-d his beaid, and was in civilian's die-s, ,\m\. with piopei caio, the chances loi <'c oot">n mmi; -.hunt So he appeased one day to Ca-sidy, much to the disc.. „st ( .t that, woithj. ()! umi-c A li Mo-s wanted mono) , and, of ioui-c, Mi Cassuij objected to giving luiji :ii)\. !ii,i Mo-s was mexoi.ibJo. Uu did not iiMMiii with Cas-idy — not did he allow Ci— id\ toicason withlifn, W'iien Ca-Md\ uiuUiiook to tell him what was light in (he mailer, Mr Mos, Miggo->tcd that In-, d< inand was ptobably as 'right' as the killing ot a man. He also made it in.unte.st to Mi C'as-idy that, should he (Mo-s) inf.)im Col. Mackintosh of tho paituvdais ot the shoot ing of burgeon Hates, lliounhelm would be no good place for Mi (.'assids' 4 i evidence. ' \ ou know, Cascidy,' continued Mo.ss in a most cheerful niannci , ' 1 can move easily. 1 can gi\o thi- inlonnation and fid out of the way. lam a cosmopolitan. I am not doubled with any partieulai aiuount of lc^pectabilit} to keep up and it v.'ouldn't Inn (/ in* it bit. ' And the cool Mi Mosb wound up with a peiemptory demand foL money without an) more nonsense about it, which Mr C'.issidy reluctantly and grudgingly ga\c, foi he saw the forco of Moss s reasoning, and that gentleman di&appe.ired. lie was Imidly icliexed of tho piosence of 3.10t-s, when another and moro serious tumble .stiuek him. Ho received a telegram announcing the escape of Pollaid trom the gaol at V — . 'The devil moans to worry me yet,' said Cabbidy to him -.elf. ' Ho is now thoroughly desperate, and what 1 do must bo done at once.' He was, for the h'rst time since ho commenced his eru-ade, alarmed. Moss he knew to be an unpiineipled, tieachcrous dog, and he wa«- at largo. Pollaid w-is out ot gaol, and, to stay out, must necessarily be in the piccise places that Moss frequented. They had been together before, and what, was moie likely than that the\ should come togothci again. And then should the two join hands ! Ho had no time to lose, lie determined to bring the matter to a head. He would compel Mary Klsey to marry him at once. Possession of her, i-ocurcd him possession of Eksey Earm, and that accomplished, ho could sell the i(ivm for enough to buy a principality in Europe— ho could escape from Pollard, Moss, and all (he otheus who were worrying him. Ho needed rest, for there had been a strain on him for months that was tolling on him. He sighed for a respite— he wanted to bring tho trouble to an end, that he might leave behind him his troubles, and live as he desiied to. Mary Elscy was tho pivot upon which all this turned, and marry her he must. Ho took his measures promptly. lie telegraphed the shorill at V to offer a very large reward for tho capture of Pollaid, to prevent him fiom showing him&olf, and then went directly to tho hou&o of tho Elseys. Ho found Mary at home and culled for her in a peremptory manner.

' Tell Miss Blsey,' said he to the sorvant, ' that Mr Gassidy must see her at once.' She came to meot him, for she dared not refuse. In this man's hands was not only her future, but that of. her family. For horself, she cared but little. With the doafch of. Paul Bates hor hope ot happiness was gone, and gone for ever. The accession ot wealth was valuable to her, as ifc enabled hor to marry him, and, in congenial comuanionship, live the life she had dreamed of so long ; and without him, that wealth, so far as sho was concerned, was valueless. She had lived without it— she could livo without it again, or sho could die, which was hotter. But her father and mother ! her sisters and brothers ! To them it was everything. She felt that she could not see them sent back to whoto they had been; she could not see thorn reduced to the hard, grinding; poverty of the old days, when, by a sacrifice of herself, she could sa\o thorn. What had her lito been but a ; sacrifice? She had had, the day before, a long talk -with her father. Tho old man could not boar the thought of losing the farm, I nor could ho bear the thought of ! going back to his old life. Two | weak of purpose and will to fight John | Ca^bidy for his own— with too little refinement of feeling to appreciate Maiy's. refusal to many Ca.ssidy, he complained in a j querulous way to her of her stubbornno&s. Ho could not'undcr&taud why, for so groat a prize, she should not mai ry any num. i ( You would turn your old lather and ! mother out inio the moaned he. ' You, who hey allu/. wanted eddica^hun, | wood lake tho ohildiun out uv school yoo wood room' us all, beco/ you don't like .John Cassidy. .John didn't use me well, but we kin git all buck, ef vou'l only act icasonable.' Man could lelurn no answer to thi". But as she left him, vision-. ro*e befoie her ot the old life of the iunnly, .mil she determined that, hi "ome way, t ho least objectionable, the sucnfice must !>e made. So w hen C'as^idy came that morning, she came into his presence prcpaicd to yield to him. I 'llmccomc for your iunhoi, 1 sail I lit, ha><hly She looked at him, and hei lesolnfcion vanKlud. Could she y>nt hei^clj in the hand-, of that man 1 ' His cold eye gli tiding with tiiumph his fate cold, ci uel /md roleutlo'--' — hi-«powoi o\ei hci obtained by a criminal ti uk. Could she mai r> him? | l l!i\LMiir moie time.' said "he imploringly ' lla\e meiey on me tor a time at I le.t^t You know how voiely 1 have been tiled- how unlit I am tin*, time to decide an\thinu. Let me lunc ton day-, nioic m which to siy yc-. or no. 1 ' You hope in that time to lhnl -oivi way to escape UK. w.is hi" ai)"Wei " \ es' wa-> het icply. l Though I »te no way. 1 tun Hank with \ou, foi I win ne\er lovi' you, and it I con-cut at all, it is because 1 must." 'Theieis no way of escape. 1 know, without jour Mipn» so, that, you do not love mo, but still, I shall make jou mv uit. ; yon will hue me in time. Hut I piefer thai thcie -Jiall boas littic cocirion a> possible: thar it be at \our mn fi'fewilla" ne.ulyasmay be I will gnc ym still mo c lime to biiny \oui>clf to the |)omt ot accepting me. vithle^^ot tcoling than thoie i" now against ni". \\ my method ot w inning \ .hi appeal- hai-h, iomunbor it is lo\e foi you that, piompts ifc It there is any thing ot stiatagom oi tiick, remember that 1 was playing for what, to nu\ was a £ieat pi i/e, and that my lo\o f"i you compelled me to iho all the mean> within nn ic.ich. Tnkeihe ten dd t >\*. you de^ne, and think of me ii" leniently a" }ou can/ And with the^e woids he let t hei.