Evening Star Newspaper, December 24, 1922, Page 38

{4 4 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, DECEMBER 24, 1922—PART 4. The Girl Believed in the Homor System and Helped the Bad Mgn Who Had Faced Her in the Storm. table 1wo men a convict—1oo! CROSS the warden and d into each other's eves with- ot a betrayving ilicker of an evelld. Warden Tyrell was sorely perplexed, the conviet sorely troubled. The war -poke first. “‘Just why do Yo ak vou are entitled to be made an Lonor trusty. Forgan?" he as fingering the in- dexed card on which were listed the ebellious acts that had given “Tiger” rgan his name and reputation. “I didn't tell you I am entitled to he made a trusty. I asked to be made ' In neither word nor tone was there any hint of servility, any ‘sug- ion of & man conquered. The warden studied the man before him, seeking in vain for a revealing clue to the thoughts behind the mask- ¥ one like face. Suddenly he turned to the uniformed officer seated behind him. ‘Deputy.” he sald. “just what part did Forgan take in Smiley Connor's break?” The deputy cleared his throat. With *he Intensity of a conscivusly right- cous man wh ngnizes a danger- cus enemy, he hated and distrusted the convict standing with folded arms opposite the warden. Heing « just man, however, he answered with precise truthfulness “He didn't take any direct part in the break himself. wurden. He was ling with Smiley Connors. Con- nors stole dynamite from the quarry, wmuggled it inside the walls and hid in his cell. On the night of the when Connors hid out in the iler room instead of going to his «cil, Forgan made a dummy man of blankets. dressed it in Connors’ «iothes and hat and held !t up inside » cell door, and that way tricked he night watch at the flnal count. torgan didn’t join the break itself— but he did aid Smjley in every i ible way when a word to me would have prevented the break be- tore it began.” {s it true, Forgan™" reak, Warden Ty-ell turned back to the conviet. Tiger Forgan answered | without hesitation: “It is true.”” he said. “You knew Smiley's plans and de- liberately aided him I did.” “Why?" the warden demanded. Tiie i conviet involuntarily squared shoulders as he began to speak “Because I'm not a sneaking, tat- favor-currying snitch.” he re- nlied, his voice rising with deep feel- Why? Because Smiley was a and I'm one. You, warden, | + copper, and the deputy, too. Its vour business to keep us inside the walls, and nobody can blame vou for trying. It's our business to beat vou | if we can. and no one should blame us for trying. either. There is war' hetween your kind and my kind— war, do You get me’—even though you have made this a. better prison €ince You came. A man who deserts his colors in war is shot. That's what <hould happen 1o the deputy if he betrayed you and helped me to es- cape. That's what should happen to me if 1 hadn't kept my mouth shut «nd helped Smiley. Connors was not | a trusty. He gave you no promises | and owed you no lovalty. Neither do | 1. So I'll be right with my kind and you coppers be right with yours. Vou can tear up that trusty applica- tion. warden.” his - x x o IGER FORGAN. understanding that his deflance had ended his faint hope that he might be made a rrusty, turned abruptly on his heel. His hand was on the door when T: roil's voice halted him. “Wait a moment. Forgan. T'm not done with you vet,” the warden said. The convict returned to the table, arms | folded, and once more the two looked | into each other's eves. So vou wouldn't betray a friend to elp vourself. eh?' queried Tvrell, still toying with his pencil. “You've sald it." Forgan answered shortly. N “Wouldn't betray a friend.” the warden mured aloud. “Wouldn't be- tray a friend—not even to be made a | trusty, eh? Well, Forgan War- | den 11 looked up and met the | convict’s puzzled glance with eyes that suddenly lost their steely glint in « just-perceptible twinkle of sat! ion. “Well, Forgan. [ believe helleve You would play square with a triend. And because I believe that T'm going to be your friend. To prove It T'm going to make you a trusty now and send you out to a road camp. That puts it up to you to stick and make good, doesn't it>” “Warden. warden.” cried the deputy. /umping to his feet. “it won't do! You can't let this man outside the walls. He'll—" “That's enough. warden here. | 1 | | i ! deputy. Tm the! Tyrell interrupted with curt flnality. “I'm going to send Tiger Forgan to the road camp. What's more. he's going to make| good. Shake on it. Forgan.” | The warden stuck out a big paw | Warden Tyrell's eves when the war- ! Bet back. quick, quick!” and caught the convict's 1imp hand. ! Tiger Forgan, a human being stripped | «f his mask, strove to master the choking lump that rose in his throat. then turned away. ashamed of the molsture that ayes. The warden, watching. smiled | happily. “That's all. “Here's the order for outfit. Go to the tailor shop and have | them fit you out now. You and the rest of the F ul Gorge bunch will: Forgan.” lhe said. leave on the midnight train. 1t'n! seam good to get away from these walls and out into the open. where | you'll live and work like & free man. | know that clifft well to climb it in the | convicts. iood-bye, Forgan. and remember”— | the warden laid his hand on the con- viet's shoulder—"I'm vour friend and. Y've proved it. Now it's up to you." way from the room, Warden Tyrell | rubbed his hands contentedly and turned to his deputy. “There's an honor “a real one. too." “Oh, yes, there's an hopor man. ail | right—a man who'll stay in the camp | about twenty-four hours. Then he'll | take to the hills. I know him." terjected the deputy. dered this time, warden. That man' 1ud all threngh and a killer. Cut it out! “You've been in the business all your lite, deputy, but you've got a lot to learn. One thing you don't know is that you can make any man just about what you believe him to be by helieving it strong enough and prov- ing that belief by trusting him. That's presuming you're dealing with A man, not ome of these snitching jeliyfish. T believe in Tiger Forgan, and he's going to play square with me.” “You'll ses.” the deputy insisted wrathfully. “He'll escape and man.” he said: | | “olid granite walls through which the {in a gesture half of rebellion, A WOMAN WITHOUT FEAR ably kill & couple of our men before he's killed himself. Just wait—time will tell.” .- xoxox i FHE white tents of the Royal Gorge | road camp covered & grassy glade ! just beyond that great cleft between turbulent, swirling floods of the Ar- kansas have bored an outlet so nar- | row thot transcontinental traius| barely find room to wind tortuously hetween its cliffts. For Afty miles up or down the Arkansas the road camp tents were the only supgestion of | human life. | In this vast solitude, unlike a prison as day is unlike night, a hun-; dred conviets, unguarded except by | two unarmed overseers, were building | 'an auto highway for the pleasure and | comfort of civilization-jaded tourists Among the hundred was Tiger For- gan. life-termer and one-time bad man of the prison many miles awuy. He was not now the pallid, prison- made creature who had faced War- den Tyrell two months before. His muscles, hardened by daily outdoor work and good food. were full and strong. His step was springy und virile, and his face bore the healthy ! tan of sunshine and fresh air. And yet, if one observed closely, it seemed that all was not well with Tiger Forgan. He soldom spoke and never laughed. never sang. never stopped and filled his lungs with free pure air of the great outdoors. At night in camp he slipped away from the singing. card-playing. care-free groups that gathered round the great open fires—slipped away to le alone In his bunk. During the long nights while the men about him slept the deep slumber of healthy. muscle-tired animals. Tiger Forgan lay awake | desperately struggling to crush out the persistent, dominating thought | which, though he banished it & hun- dred times a day, always returned the instant his will relaxed. All of this was noted and appraised the men of the camp—with vary- | ing accuracy. The superintendent, Capt. Goodwin. frowned as he watched Forgan grubbing away in gloomy silence. ‘Keep your eye on that tellow For- gan™ Goodwin said to his assistant. “He's keeping something in his mind he don't share with any one. ~The deputy warned me to watch him the: day T brought him from the prison. 1 wish Forgan were back inside the walls.” * by “He's the best worker in the bunch.” observed the assistant. “Don’t let that fool you,” cautioned the captain. “He's smooth and cun- ning, Is Forgan. He wants to lull suspicion and then—bingo'—over the hill he goes. Never let him out of your sight, Jim.” * ok ok ok IGER FORGAN dropped his pick and started for the water bucket with the sinewy stride of a woods- man. Hans the Dane. with a furtive glance over his shoulder for eaves- droppers. edged closer to a comrade and spoke in a whisper. “Bet yuh a plug he beats it dis week,” he sald. “I seen him meas- urin’ de bluff wid his eye twicet dis mornin"." Ll othin’ dolu’"” answered the other.' T seen ‘im. too. I hopes he makes | {it. He's a lifer. an'—sss-s-s-h! Here | - r earful.” They bent { sudden silence. | Tiger Forgan, returning from the drinking bucket, caught the quick, | involuntary glance of the pair as, they settled to their work. scowled. then raised a trembling hand | and wiped a brow beaded with sweat | T 1 over their picks in |ordered all hands out after supper to {than a little dung Gorge road camp. Tiger Forgan looked up at the teamster with eyes that had narrowed into thin slits of hatred—ey%s from behind which the bad man he had been lookéd hos- ]lllaly on a hostlle world. across the supplies left on & platform by freight trains. A month’s provi- slons had been unloaded by trainmen during the afternoon, and Capt. Goodwin, scenting anow in the air, carry them over the river to the| With upraised hands he advanced storehouse. | toward his captor, passed him and One of the tree stumps to which |turned and looked back. As he looked his eyes grew wide with sudden ex- cltement. “For God's sake, BIll, dou't kill him! He's the camp teamster!” For- gan cried, looking over hix captors shoulder into the gathering darkness The teamster whirled, expecting tn confront a second convict. Forgan sprang at his foe, knocked the gun from his hand and struck him heav- ily on the jaw. The man crumpled the supporting cables were attached suddenly snapped its roots and let cable and bridge drop into the river. Fifty men were catapulted into the icy current. Kifty boxes of grocerie: floated down stream. There were shouts, screams and wile excitement, for the river was swift ands more ous, 1 was i/ the middle of it fell. He struck Tiger Fors the bridge when FORGAN STEPPED CLOSE TO YOU BEG FOR MERCY? KNOW WHO 1 AM?” DO YOU ‘with ridge, was a cabin. Above it & thin column of smoke crept lasily up- ward. Where there was fire there was food. Forgan memorized with painsiaking minuteness each swell, each dip, each gully that lay between him and the habitation that meant food and u new lease on liberty and life. If snow came he meant or without blovdshed, willed. to eat— as fate * ok X X lay storm reached him before jundown. An hour after dark Tiger Forgan ate his flour paste to the last morsel and drank from a rusty can of scalding, muddy coffee as he warmed himself by a crackling to the ground. Forgan) revolver and deftly felt the water and sank. He came up gasping and gurgling a hundred feet and sank seized the was not another. Then he turned| back o the river and swam across. A half-hour later he held up the| to swim—straight down stream. If he really were making an at- tempt now, he thought. he would be He inspected the loads in tucked his extra cart- campfire. his revolver, He | d0Wn stream and began instinctively the unconscious body. to be sure there | ridges into his shirt front, and went out into‘the snowstorm that covered him with a mantle of Invisibility be- fore he had gone three paces. ! caught in the hills as long as he had of despair. He hadn't heard their Sfe from observation when he words, but there was no need for him |Tounded the bend just before him. 10 guess at them—he lknew. They|COUld he make ft? were wondering when he would ‘‘gc He was around the bend. No one e he RiiA \could see him from the camp now. It had been so from the dayv of his He wouldn't be missed for a half- arrival. when big, good-natured Den- | hOUr at least. By that time he would ver Dan linked an arm in his and b€ hidden by more bends. He could observed that no ‘one need ever be ‘land then.and strike straight out into the hills. He'd have to trust to luck food. “De cookee leaves de fresh-baked punk” (bread) “out behind the cbok mandeer food aund civiian clothes, but there would be a full night ahead of him, and as long as he kept away tent to cool at night:" said Din, pointedly. “And a guy can cop all de [rom the phone lines he would have meat he can carry from de table, little to fear even when morning Luck to yuh, pal™ came. By a second morning. of course, the man-hunt would be fully * X o % under way, and the reward for his to find a cabin where he could com- | operator in the railway station at the | An hour later, or three—for no man entrance to the Gorge, stripped him |exposed to that blizzard could reckon of his clothes, took what money was | time—Forgan stumbled against a in the till, ransacked the kitchen for |fence, and, groping with numbed food, and struck into the hills with ;hands, found himself clasping a tele- & week's provisions on his back. phone pole. He had reached the road * x * % | that wound past the cabin he sought. HE deputy warden received the |He climbed the fence, stumbled into news by phone and called War- |a ditch and felt his way on hands den Tyrell from his dinner. “Tiger Forgan made a get-away |Tuts in the roadw Then he turned just before dark.” he reported with a UP the grade toward the crest of the i marked I-told-vou-so air. “He stuck | hill. The cabin must be very close up the operrator at the gorge and |now. Feeling his way step by step, hiked for the hills with a gun and | he rounded a bend in the road. | ammunition. We've got a man-hunt| Faintly etched in the wall-like on our hands now.” {darkness were two dim squares of The warden’s eyes wers @ bit sor- | light—the cabin windows. Above rowful and pitying. Then they grew ; them, now and then, blood-red sparks 1 and knees until he found the wheel in- from the table to the river and the “You've blun- {moment he was unobserved dumped srqwled Tyrell |dark to gispose of it. The third time, A FEW days later Hollingwood. the convict clerk—snaky-eyed, suave- tongued and anxious for a parole— left the captuin’s map of the hills, | as if by accident. on the table beside which Forgan sat reading. The snitch’s disappointment when he re- ! turned and found it untouched was |tion of what he was doing. obvious. ! At first Forgan had been able to smile freely at the unanimity of the verdict that he would attempt an! escape. He knew he would never! betray the confidence he had read in den laid his hand on his shoulder and said: “That puts it up to vou to stick | and make good, Forgan, doesn't it But gradually Tiger Forgan's dimmed his once-hard | sured smile in the face of the unani- | Ban. mous verdict faded. It died forever on the night he found himself lying awake planning how a man so ur road-gang minded could hope to escape from the {I'll kill you sure if you make a | move.” Royal Gorge road camp. He knew absolutely he would not go if he couid, and yet the next day between pick blows he found himself memor- izing the contour of the cliff back of the camp. A man would need to dark. He resolutely banished the un- | bidden thought that plagued his mind | —only to find liimself wondering, an | { hour later, how heavy a sack ef food : yer evenin’ bath, eh? When Tiger Forgan had groped ,his | a man could carry without hamper- | ahead of me an’ march, an’ we'll see |w'at the captain has to say erbout ing his flight irretrievably Thc‘re followed many days in which Tiger Forgan, as he fought the never- ending battle against a self that was hateful to him, found himself craftily wmecreting food in the bosom of his shirt at the evening meal. The first| time this happened Forgan rushed | the packet into the swift current. ‘The next time he waited until after and many times thereafter, he kept the food hidden in his bunk all night. ‘He no longer found it possible to keep himself from planning escapes. Tiger Forgan was clinging desper- ately to his last stronghold—the memory of the friehdly handclasp of ylead through you.” ! capture would bring out every man for twenty miles around. By this time he was a half-mile down stream. * x % % "DDENLY into the mind of Tiger Forgan there flashed full realiza- He felt the warden's hand on his shoulder and heard his words: “I guess that puts it up to you to stick, doesn't it, Forgan?" “They'll say,” he cried in terror, hat I really tried to escape. T must hard as chilled steel. | “Offer one thousand dollars for him | and phone the offer to every farmer | { for fitty miles. Turn out every guard | k“ can spare and arm them with; rifles. Tl get him back if it breaks! the state. The honor system is at| stake in this business.” i By morning 2 hundred riflemen were out in the hills. Every road and trail was guarded, every avenue of escape cut off. The man-hunt was on. From the shelter of an overhanging rock that clung precariously to a promontory at the crest of the ridge Forgan lay watching tiny black hu- man specks miles below him, tramp- ing through the shimmering snow fields that stretched limitléssly in every direction. A week had passed since his escape. In the seven days since he left the road camp he had reverted to the creed of no quarter asked or given. They were seeking his life, and if opportunity offered he | was ready to kill without either com- | punction or regret. An automoblle, faintly distinguish- able as a larger speck on the white waste below, crawled along a far- |away ridge across which twisted the road nearest his refuge. It Was prob- ably the warden's car. Forgan scowled and his eyes grew black and troubled. The thought of Warden Tyrell always troubled him, and he thrust it ffom his_mind angrily, for it recalled the touch of a friendly hand and cheery words born of a faith in him which must now be dead. Resolutely, Forgan turned to the problem befors him—a problem to which a right answer might be life, He turned toward the bank and| swam straight for the shore. As he clambered up to land, dripping and shivering. a man rose from behind a. clump of bushes and confronted For- At his feet lay a fishing pole. In his hand was a revolver. “Stick up your hands, Forgan!" the man commanded. “I know you, and i Tiger Forgan dumbly obeyed. The man who had captured him was a civilian teamster employed at the! camp. There was a standing $50 re- | ward for the return of all escaped “I wasn't making a get-away— honest I wasn't, pal.” Forgan cried. No, 1 suppose you was just takin’, Get up there i ““The bridge dropped into the river, pleaded Forgan desperately. dumped a lot of us into the water. I was swimming ashore to go back. I swear I was, pal. You saw me come ashore.” a wrong one sure death. He was per- “Sure I seen you swim ashore. I!fectly safe in his rocky refuge. But suppose You couldn’t find no place 10 |a man, no matter how well and safe- land afore this. Had to swim a hull |1y he may be hidden, must sooner or half-mile down stream before you |later seek food. could get ashore, eh? Cut it out,{ On the night of Forgan's flight a Forgan. It's l‘trlnel and bread and|heavy snow had fallen. Then came water fer you. Yer goose is done | clear, g weather. If he dared brown, Forgan, an’ I'm in fifty bucks. | leave his Mding place, even at night, Now march, an’ no tricks, or I'll put|the trail behind him at dawn would © |be too plain‘for even a penitentiary The teamster spoke the truth. Even | guard to miss. 53 the warden, in the face of such evi- Toward the middle of the afternoon t the one man who did believe in and trust him—on the evening the camp[tain would give, wouldn't believe him. | misty horizon with bridge across the Arkansas went down. The bridge. swung beneath two steel cables, was stretched across the stream from the camp to the rafi- 'way, and was used -for -brin - CoRST el dence as the teamster and the cap-}he rose to his feet and studied the He was branded irretrievably as a|hope. There was a snowstorm in the pledge violator.. The conviction that|northwest and the wind was brifging ‘Warden Tyrell's faith in him was or|it to him. o would soon de géne hat Neld Forghn rand whittled them apart. shot into view “The cabin!” cried Forgan exult- antly. “Now for a fire and grub— lots of it! And the man who tries to stop me had better be quick with h trigger finger: The convict clrcled the house cau- tiously, llke a prowling jungle crea- ture. Then crept to a window and looked fn. A woman sat before an open fire. At her feet lay a discarded book, and, !leaning forward, she stared Into the leaping flame and glowing coals as if she read there some story more perfect than any ever written. Her face was hidden from Forgan's star- ing ey but every line of her slim form suggested youth. She was alone in the room. Forgan's teeth cut into his cracked lips. For seven years he had not felt the touch of a woman's hand or seen a woman's smile or heard a woman's volce. The girl by the fire seemed alone—utterly unprotected. But he { must know she was alone, not guess. He crept around the house, wiping the snow from each window and in- specting the rooms with cautious but hurried care. None but the center living room was lighted, but the light from it shone through the open doors within. There were two bedrooms, both with empty beds. The kitchen also was deserted. There was no one in the cabin but the girl musing be- fors the fire. Near the girl was a telephone. For- gan felt along the outer wall beneath the eaves till his hand touched the emerging wires. With eager, trem: bling fingers he drew out his knife Having de- stroyed the girl's one chance of sum- moning help, he strode to the door and gave a loud, peremptory knock. Quick footsteps crossed the floor. The door was unbarred at once and thrown open. “Why, Walter!” cried the girl who faced the tattered, snow-covered con- lvict from the threshold. Her first | glimpse of the man who stepped from the darkness into the light streaming from the doorway proved her mis- take. Tiger Forgan was not a reas- suring sight for any woman alone in a mountain cabin at night, but the young girl neither screamed nor at- tempted to bar the door. He saw only she said. “Do come in out of this ter- rible storm. You must be half frozen. | Have you been out in it long?” * ok ox % GUST of wind swept through the room, and the light on the table went out. “Come in quickly and shut out the wind while I relight the lamp.” ‘Without pausing to see whether or not she was obeyed, the girl crossed the room to & mantel and began feel- ing for matches. Forgan stepped inside, slammed the door and dropped the bar across it. Then h® sprang to her aide. “If you're hunting a gun—don't, that's all!” he said. “Hunting & gun?’ she repeated, questioningly. “I wasn't. I was feeling for matches, and here they are.” She lighted the lamp and looked up at the convict without a sugges- tion of fear or aversion. “You are cold and must be hungry, too,” she suggested. “Lay off that wet coat and warm yourself while I make you coffee and something hot to | eat.” Forgan stepped close to her side. “Why don't you scream?’ he said. | “Why don’t you beg for mercy? Why don’t you try to reach somebody on that phone? Aren't you afrald? Do | | you know who I am? | “Of course I know.” she answered, calm and unflinching. “You are the man they call Tiger Forgan. But 1 am rnot afraid. Why should I be?" | “You are alone here—helpless, in my power absolutely. You know who | | | and what I am. Not afraid? Why shouldn’t vou be? “Because 1 know Warden Tyrell.”" the girl answered without hesitation and with the perfect confidence of |absolute belief. “If you were—were the sort of man that a girl alone, as {1 am, should fear, he wouldn't have | made you a trusty. I believe in War- den Tyrell. T believe in his honor | system for men, and so, naturally, I | believe in you. I think I know you —the real You that the warden trust- ed—even better than you do yourself. | And 50 I am not afratd.” | Tiger Forgan red at iamazement. “You belleve in me because I am a jroad camp trusty?” he cried, finding speech at last. “Don't you know 1| am an escaped con? Don’t you know they are hunting me day and night with orders to shoot first and talk later?" “Yes, and T am sorry—very, very sorry.” For the first time the girl's volce faltered. “I dom't know why you left the road camp, and it really doesn’t matter anyway. But since | | her in | |swam down the river. came the hating, hated bad man of the prison. Then came Warden Tom Tyrell and & new regime. But bad men are not made in one day or unmade in many. Scoffing, doubting, spspicious, Forgan had seen the honor system grow and | expand under the gulding hand of a jman who believed in men. The tor- Tiger Forgan had been slow, very alow, to believe the reality of what he saw, even slower in seeking a truce with the world with which he had been at war. But there had come 2 day when even he found himselt signing an application to be made an honor trusty. Iiis faint,'new hope as he signed had been so terrible in its intensity that he had not dared to let it grow, for he had felt himself be- yond the pale of even the new war- den’s trust. o2 % ORGAN faltered in telling of the moment when Warden Tyrell had 1aid a friendly hand on his shoulder and told him he was an honor man, suddenly and inconcelvably freed from the hideousness of prison walls. Then had come the road camp, at first 2 paradise, then a hell worse than the prison itself as the cumulative consclousness of_the unbelief and dis- trust about Mim began thoughts of escape into his unwilling mind and make him doubt his own loyalty to the pledge that had freed was doing that sent him hurrying ashore to return—Forgan told it all to the girl who sat opposite him, leaning across the table, forgetful of the night, the lonely cabin, the storm |and hersel, in the grip of this revela- tion of a man's naked heart. “Here with you it does not seem had let them take me back to the prison. Don’t you think so? But there where no one had either faith or confid in me, 1 could not be- lieve it. don’t understand why 1 I was deter- mined I would not go, and vet in the end T did what they all thought I would do. 1 wonder why? 1 struck nce |down the teamster, took his gun and prison hiked to the hills. That's why I'm here now.” he concluded, “without a chance—without a hope of ever making gond. The girl's eyes were wet. The | muscles of her throat were quivering. | “When are you going back to tell to force | BY JACK BOYLE, Creator of “Boston Blackie” would shoot me down before I could |get within a dozen miles of the prison. 1 wouldn't care—it fan't har¢ to dle, I think. But I wish the war- den could hear the truth first. Bu! how did you know 1 wished mysel back?" - “Because the man you are oouldn? | wish anything else, You do wish ¢ tures of the punishment cells were |go?" abolished; the guards' clubs van-, “Yes, yes, T do. But,” wearily, *ity ished, and men were treated as men. |took late. I'd never get through The girl jumped to her feet. “rll take you back weafely,® xh¢ crted. “Ill drive you down in m» car at daylight. You'll wear my brother's goggles and storm coat. N¢ one will ever dream of hslting o suspecting my auto, Shall I7 Wil you go?” “Yes, T will® he sald, and thes more gently, “I wonder if you realiz what my coming to this cabin to. night has done for me, miss2” “I am %0 glad!” she cried. “Brother !and I both know Warden Tyrell weil | When you have told him what T have |heara tonight he will teil you, as | do, that you kave justified the honoi system more fully than if you had Inever left the road camp.” | Impulsively she held out her haud {to him. Tiger Forgan stooped and sed it reveremtly. Willa Thomas showed him to hes brother's room and left him. The door of her room closed. but no key turned in the lock. Tiger Forg sat in the darkness till he though her asieep. Then he crept softly i the outer door, unbarred it, and wen! him from prison walls. The fallen R bridge, his swim down the river and _‘:' I“’“’ t\‘l" BISBL (Mo “’““dd‘“”_r'.‘_"‘" the sudden realization of what he ~ o0 % e e was @ robe in the tonneau, and be iped =¢lf in i1, The win¢ shricked about him. The snow beal ainst his face ode bless her he whispered softly to himseif, a with the words on ) d he fell asleeg 1ps. * % * % the same,” Forgan said, forlorn and |Yy7ILLA THOMAS sat opposite the regretful. “I might have made lhe:" governor in his private offices warden understand and believe if 1/g5he had just concluded the story of that stormy night, now two year: | past, when Tiger Forgan crept s cretly out into a blizzard to sleeg {because he and she were alone in 3 remote mountain,cabin. | *Tell me, governor.” the girl |manded, her eves bright and eag-: with the fervor of her plea, “does 3 man who could do that belong The governor smiled at her. “You want to- . “Parole him:" she cried. | him tonight. Tomorrow. is Chris | da arcle may T suppose T'll have to. In fact ! [think I want to,” the governor sa you have left and they are hunting you | Warden Tyrell what you have told |signing the papers that made a fres with—with orders to kill—she shud- dered and turned away her head—| “why, 1 hope they don’t get vou. I, want to help vou. I will if I can,' Mr. Tiger Forgan” she concluded, | trving to smile. The convict's chin dropped.to his ' : breast. His revolver fell to the floor | with a thud. | “Girl!” he cried. “You say that to | me?" He covered his face with KYle{ handa. The girl looked down on the | bowed, unkempt head comvnulon-& ately. S “I am going to get you something to eat now. Then we'll talk.” she said gently. “Warm yourself—do— while I make the coffee.” She stirred the fire into a crack- | ling blaze and left the room.. Forgan heard her moving about in the { kitchen. He stared into the fire with mingled hopelessness and hatred— hopelessness for the future. hatred for the man he had been when he peered through the cabin windows and saw the girl. * * % SOFT voice at his elbow rousea him from the bitterest moment of \Seven years of bitterness. | “Here are towels and soap and | hot water,” it sald. “And I know if yowll look just once into this mirror you'll not be angry with me for bringing them.” Tiger Forgan rose and took the j her, but the words wouldn't come. Never mind talking now, Mr. For- |gan.” the girl said, speaking straight from a heart that intuitively guessed {his unspoken thoughts. “I think I | understand, and I am glad—very glad you came.” Forgan looked Into her face dumb- 1y, reverently, worshipfully, and turned away with a sob that revealed the story his lips refused. ‘When he returned minus some of! the grime of seven soapless days he | (found the girl warming a man's i smoking jacket before the fire. “Put this on,” she said. “It's Wal- ter's, and will make you more com- fortable while your own coat is dryin; The table was lald with a snowy cloth and sllver, and even a vase containing hardy mountain snow blossoms. The girl seated her guest, brought in the food, served him and | poured his coffee. Then as he ate— striving Ip vain to subdue his fam- ishing eagerness for food—she sat pposite him, filling his plate again i and were whirled away by the shrieking wind. i nd again she talked. | “It's time I introduced myself,” she sald. “I am Miss Thomas—Willa Thomas. My brother and I live here. We came on account of his health, and we stay because we have grown to love these glorious mountains. He writes a little and I paint a little. and we both ride and walk a great deal. 1 am alone tonight because he drove the wagon into Canyon City for supplies and was cut off while there by the storm.” i Long after the fugitive had finished | eating the girl chatted on lightly, in- j consequentially, in an effort to rouse him from the moody taciturnity of an inner and crucial- conflict. A woman without intuition {s but half a woman. Willa Thomas, who had been studying him with sympathetic and understanding eyes, leaned across the table toward him. “Tell me all about it, Mr. Forgan,” she sald. “I would like to under- stand, for I would like to help.” For the first time Forgan knew why he stayed instead of fleeing out into the night. For the first time his conscious mind perceived the sub- conscious craving that kept him in the cabin—an insistent desire to let this girl know before he went how and why he had come to be Tiger Forgan. He told her. Simply, convincingly. he pictured what seven years of prison mean to a man. He put into burning, vivid words what it means to a map to feel his last flickering hope of’ fellowship with other free men crushed out, told how, stupldly i | things she offered. He tried to thank | | me?" she asked eagerly. | man of a one-time bad man. f **a,fiw-*a"? Anaazazan : - Birthday Once Deeded | . By Robert L. Stevenson | EXT to being born on the 29th of February there isn't any thing quite so bad as having one’s Dbirthday come { Christmas. Perhaps the latter date is jeven worse than the former, for how is one to distinguish between birtl | day presents and Christmas presents 1 And what relative is there who has money enough to give both to the | unfortunate possessor of a Christmas- |day birthday? And doesn’t a birth- day celebration get rather lost in the general jollification that goes on at Christmas time? Questions itke these used to disturb |a youthful friend of Robert Louis on | ditions 1 hereby revoke the dona tion and transfer my rights in the said birthday to the President of the United States for the time be ing; In wit set my nth s whereof 1 have here:. nd and seal this nine of June in the cighteen hundred 1 day ace 1e of ninety -one (Sealy ROBERT (Witness) (Witness) year and LOUIS STEV LLOYD OSBORNE HAROLD WATT * ok % X a subsequent letter to Miss Anni Ide, then in the United States Stevenson, whose name was Annie Stevenson refers to the birthday . Ide. She was the daughter of the | had deeded her. American land commissioner (later v dear Lolisa: 1 had my money, chief justice for a term) in Samoa. | The Ides were family friends of the | Stevensons. and the fact that Annic Ide felt that she had been defrauded out of her natural rights to a private anniversary of her own came to the attention of the author. Sloveneon‘ solved the Jittle girl's problem in a unique way—he deeded his own birth- |day to her. * % % ¥ HE deed, as preserved amoug the as writer's literary works, is | follows: 1. Robert Louis Stevenson, Advo- cate the Scots Bar, author of the Master of Ballantrae and Moral Emblems, civil engineer, sole own- er and patentee of the Palace and Plantation known as Vailimm in the island of Upolu, Samoa, a Brit- ish subject. being in sound mind, and pretty well, I thank you, In body. In consideration that Miss Annie H. Ide, daughter of H. C. Ide, in the town of Saint Johnsbury, in the county of Calendonia. in the state of Vermont, United States of America, was born, out of all rea- son. upon Christmas day, and is therefore out of ail justice denied the consolation and profit of a proper birthday: And considering that I. the said Robert Louis Stevenson, have at- tained an age. when, O. we never mention if. and that T have now no further use for a birthday of any descriptiox And in eonsideration that T have met H. . lde, the father of the said Annie H. Tde, and found him about as white a land commix- sioner as T require: Have transferred, and do hereby transfer, to the said Annie H. Ide, all and whole my rights and privi- leges in the thirteenth day of No- vember, formerly my birthday, now, hereby and henceforth the birthday of the said Annle H. lde, to have, hold, exercise and enjoy the same in the customary man- ner, in the sporting of fine ralment, eating of rich meats and receipt of gifts, compliments and coples of verse, according to the manner of our ancestors; And I direct the sald Annie H. 1de to add to the said name of Annie H. Ide the name of Louisa, st least in private, and I charge her to use my birthday with mod- eration and humanity, et tamquam bona filia familia, the said birth- day not being 8o young as it once was, and having carried me in a very satisfactory manner since 1 can remember: And in case the sald Annle worth for that birthday. 1 am now I must be. one of vour nearest rel« t exactly what we are to eacl other I do not know. T doubt if th case has cver happened before—vou: papa ought to krow. and I don't be lleve he doe but 1 think I ought 1y call You in the meanwhile, and unt we get the advice of counsel learnes in the law, my name-daughter “You are quite wrong as to il effect of the birthday on your &ge From the moment the deed Tex istered (as it was in the public pres with every solemnity), November became vour own and only birthday and vou ceased to have been born 1 Christmas day. Ask vour father. am sure he will tell you this is sou law. You are thus become a montl and twelve days younger than yoi re. but will go on growing olde: the future in the regular an( manner from one Novembe 13 to the next. The effect on me i more doubtful. 1 might, on theothe hand. come to pieces. like the one horse shay, at a moment’s notics | Doubtless the step was risky, but do mot the least regret that whicl !enables me to sign myself your " vered and delightful name-fathe we for Kuman Brazilian Tea. "IN Paraguay, Uruguay. Argentiva the Brazilian states and to a lem extent in Chile a peculiar kind o tes is largely used by the nativi population. It is obtained from t roasted and pulveri leaves of a1 overgreen forest tree, the llex Par agrayensis. The outer branches !the tree are cut off and passed rapid Iy through the flames of a large fliw which wilts the leaves and tende stems, which are afterward dried au throughly smoked over a slow fica Then they ars ground to powder. au: thus prepared for the making of tea The beverage 18 sald to be more gen (ly stimulating than either coffee o ordinary tea, but it has a smok; flavor. disagreeable to the unaccus tomed palate. Twin Suns. THE star Alphu Centauri. one o the nearest to the earth. consisia as the telescope shows, of two suny one of which is five or six time brighter than the other. But observa tions by Roberts at the Cape of Goos Hoope Observatory led to the con cluslon that the two components Alpha Centauri, much as they diffa in brightness, are really twice i heavy as our sun. Tt keems to fol low from these facts that one of thos, twin suns is losing ity light and | the course of ages may become only ; gigantic opaque planet, while its coin panioh will continue to blase wiy -ohr spleador. fesg! 4 ’ ]