Going Back to Gaol.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 78

Going Back to Gaol.

As I .was resting at the top of a long bill I was overtaken by a man on horse- ' back, and after salutations had been exchanged he observed that he was in no hurry i and would get doyen and -smoke a pipe with me. After a while .he announced that he was the county sheriff, and was then on his ' way to recapture a prisoner who had -broken I out of gaol at Smithville the night before. The prisoner lived in a cabin a -short distance down the road, and as we finished our pipes and jogged along, the officer suggested that I call with him and witneHS the performance. '!But is the fugitive a dangerous man?" I asked. "That's according to how .you .take him," was the answer. . "And how do you mean to take him?" j "Oh, I'll bo sort of soft and gentle -with him, and if there's going to be any you'll have warning in time to "get out." It was summer time, and 'when we reached j the cabin the -escaped prisoner sat -on the doorstep vvfth a, shotgun across his knees -| and a .pipe between his lips. His wife, I "who -was also smoking, Eat on a log near j by, having the family axe close by. and the pair never even looked up when the sheriff was dismounting and hitching 'his hor3e to a tree. I got the wink to await develop- I ments, and we took seats on a -stump within 20ft of the -door, and filled ,our pipes | for another sirvske. Neither the man nor[] his wife paid the -slightest attention to us, , nor we to them, and thus stood the situation for a quarter of an. hour. Then the fugitive began to grow uneasy, and after a. bit he said : "Tom, I reckon yo' hey come fur me?" ; , , "Skassly, Bill, skassly," replied the sheriff, . as he looked up in seeming surprise. ; "If yo' hey, I'll never be 'toolcen back to 4 'that gaol alive," growled the fugitive. ; "And I'm ready to die fighting beside him," added the wife as she reached for the axe. "Don't get joneasy," advised the sheriff, and he .turned to me and began telling sx, story. He had talked .for 10 minutes when the fugitive broke in with : " See here, Tom Batchford, what's all this fussin' about?" "Thar' ain't no fussin' as I knows on," replied the officer. "But I broke outer gaol last night." "Ye 3, I reckon -yo' did, and I was ;powerful glad on it. Yea, Bill, when. I rknowed yo' -was gone I thanked the .Lawd." i "What did yo' thank the Larvvd fur?" \ sharply demanded the woman. j The sheriff ignored the question and talked j to me, but in five minutes the man repeated it, and was answered : "Wall, I take a heap o' pride in that gaol o' mine, and when 'I git a man in thar' ; who ain't properly right I feel that it's agin me." "Ain't I pronerly right?" asked Bill. I "No. eah. Yo' was allus findin' fault .

with the bed and the grub and the rules, and I was allus ashamed of yo'. I was ridin' past, and I jest stopped to tell yo' that yo' needn't cum back. I don't want no ornery folk' in my gaol." j "He's as good as any man yo've got • thar !" exclaimed the woman as she flung ! the axe away from her. I "Yo' bet I ar' !" added the man as he laid away his gun. \ "But I don't want you, Bill," said the sheriff. "But yoU hey to hey me, Tom ! I 'lows no man to call me ornery and low down and a kicker. I'm gwine right back , to that gaol, I am !" "Better stay out." "He'un shall go back !" shouted the woman as she arose. "We ain't rich nor eddicated, but we has got names, and Bill 1 will go bae'e and make yo' feel proud of him, ! or break 1113 neck a-tryin' !" j "That's me, and I'm ready this minit !" ! added Bill ; and as I turned to go my way he was walking along beside the officer's ' horse with a determination to recover his j lost prestige at any hazard.— New York 1 Herald.