CHAPTER II.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8003, 5 May 1904, Page 4

CHAPTER 11.

At sundown a body of (horsemen roiled Into Fort MacSteele, and Constable Jimmy - »i«gs repeated with a prisoner at the guard room. Presently he was paraded! up by the • Orderly Corporal into the presence of the Father of Many Children, his commanding effio«r. . . • "Well, what's the matter -with you?" "Hare to report, sir— met up with Xit — don't know his other name, sir— Bedeye Kit-- He says he killed the foreman of the -" Bar Zee— «o I brought him in, and the gun, and seven witnesses, and sent a- rider to the Bar Zee camp, to fetch the body." "Good boy!" said the Father of Many Children.. /" So Jimmy was in favour with the Gods, noted for possible promotion, and envied • "by<tb* duty men in barracks, who ached for •nc& a ehanoe of rendsring service. He was < miserable. ■ ■* 1j; Jrrom the Frontiersman's misguided point \. t/t view the killing of a man is rather a anisfortmae th*n a feult. The shooting may 'I .arise from ill-considered' gaiety when drunk; « It may be required 'by the etiquette of an •fined community which does not tolerate v iadcnes«: it is the occasional accident which pttends the practice of real duelling— it may Jappen to anybody. But under the iron lawt of our Empire, laws which' are actually tarried out, to kill a man is always a dreadfol misfortune. If Jimmy cared for Sit he frad need to grieve. Redeye Kit wa« a cheery old soul. After |b» kiUing, which he regretted, and the disapproval of the Bar Zee riders, which he Afplaced, followed: -by the pang of surrender |p the Law, he felt that the worst was over. - Tie inqwet, committal and trial he took .in good port, tiie: sentence of death he met mftb a brave jest, and in the days which JbQowed of preparation for the end he seem- • «d to be quite resigned. "It can't be jir«ne," he explained-, "90 my luck is bound *» ton." . ■.<■■■ : •:.. this proposition the boys on guard ■need most heartily. Kit was behaving as * wbite man should, and nobody in the IVoop felt righteous enough to cast stones ef rwroacib at a sinner: They would rather. Vay aim oans of tomato on creditj or bor- '" tow novels and magazines to keep hian tmami. They could not allow him a knife #sr fear of suicide, so out the plug tobacco md passed in a .lighted pipe. If the cell apt amoky the Provost Sergeant,- rather ftw take notice of the forbidden smell, ' vooM claim to 'have a cold. The 'hospital

sergeant came daily to dress the slight wound on Kit's arm and provide a medicine for internal application, the very scent of which caused envious excitement in the guard-room. The padie from the village spent long hours in conversation with this man whose feet were on the threshold of Immortality. They would .talk about hunting 'possums and the best bait for catfish, with intervals for prayer. And then catoe the Tuesday night, the last but one before the date set for« execution. At 9^30 p.m. the Provost Sergeant 'turned t!he prisoner into the passage, searched his cell as usual, and found everything correct. ; " Say, Serjeant," said Kit, "my ears get cold at night. May I •have a fur ca<p ?" "I'll lend' you one if you like." Kit stooped and picked up a regimental fur cap from 'between the water buckets. "One of the boys," he said, "lent me this." ■■•'■■ "All right," said the .sergeant,- and Kit was locked up for the night, with ihis borrowed cap. '■'.'-■■■■' At 2,.30 a.m. the prisoner called aloud for help> and the man on duty came running. He was a recruit, and left fhe passage door wide open to the guard-room. "Hello, Kit," ihe called, "what's the trouble?? .' . " My wound," Kit moaned v^ry dolefully. "I tore the bandage off, and I'nt'bleeddng to death ! Open the door !". The recruit, obeyed. "Now throw up your hands,'.' said Kit, and with a cold revolver pressed to 'his forehead, the recruit complied. Lithe as a wild cat now, the prisoner grabbed the man's revolver from its holster, felled him' with the butt, rushed the passage, jumped' over the sleeping men on file guard bed, gained the parade ground, and vanished into the darkness of the Plains. '■: / ' ■.-! Three minutes later the bugle called: " Boot and Saddle !"