Part 55 (2/2)

July 6

TONY:

It's terrible It's all over Couldn'tpile of stone and brick right on top of the spot I near there I was seen at the wall--am now strictly forbidden to leave the cell-house But my friend has been there a dozen times since--the hole can't be reached: a mountain of stone hides it It won't be discovered for a little while

Telegraph at once to New York for more money You must continue to the shed I can force my way there, if need be It's the only hope Don't lose a minute

A

July 13

TONY:

A hundred dollars was sent to the office for me fro the money to you Have work continued at once There is still hope Nothing suspected But the wire that you pushed through the grass to indicate the spot, was not found by my friend Too much stone over it Go to shed at once

A

July 16

Tunnel discovered Lose no time Leave the city immediately I am locked up on suspicion

A

CHAPTER xxxVII

ANXIOUS DAYS

The discovery of the tunnel overwhelmsthe work, the tre hope of escape, of liberty, life--all is suddenly terminated My nerves, tense with the months of suspense and anxiety, relax abruptly With torpid brain I wonder, ”Is it possible, is it really possible?”

An air of uneasiness, as of lurking danger, fills the prison Vague rumors are afloat: a wholesale jail delivery had been planned, the walls were to be dynauards killed An escape has actually taken place, it is whispered about The Warden wears a look of bewilderment and fear; the officers are alert with suspicion The inmates manifest disappointment and nervous impatience The routine is violently disturbed: the shops are closed, the men locked in the cells

The discovery of the tunnel mystifies the prison and the city authorities Some children, at play on the street, had accidentally wandered into the yard of the deserted house opposite the prison gates

The piles of freshly dug soil attracted their attention; a boy, stuht of the deep cavern; his ent of the house, who, by a peculiar coincidence, proved to be an officer of the penitentiary But in vain are the efforts of the prison authorities to discover any sign of the tunnel within the walls Days pass in the fruitless investigation of the yard--the outlet of the tunnel within the prison cannot be found

Perhaps the underground passage does not extend to the penitentiary? The Warden voices his firm conviction that the walls have not been penetrated Evidently it was not the prison, he argues, which was the objective point of the diggers The authorities of the City of Allegheny decide to investigate the passage fro Street But the h the narrow tunnel are forced to abandon their ested that the unknown diggers, whatever their purpose, have been trapped in the abandoned gas well and perished before the arrival of aid The fearful stench no doubt indicates the decomposition of human bodies; the terrible accident has forced the in Street to suspend their efforts before co the work The condition of the house--the half-eatenscattered about the rooeneral disorder--all seeht

The persistence of the assertion of a fatal accident disquiets e to the contrary Yet, perhaps the reckless Tony, in his endeavor to force the wire signal through the upper crust, perished in the well The thought unnerves ro, whoth of the tunnel, brought positive assurance that no life was sacrificed in the underground work Still the prison authorities are unable to find the objective point, and it is finally decided to tear up the streets beneath which the tunnel winds its mysterious way

The under discovered after a week of digging at various points in the yard, the Warden reluctantly admits the apparent purpose of the tunnel, at the san was the liberation of the Anarchist prisoner He corroborates his view by the circumstance that I had been reported for unperravel for my birds assistant Deputy Warden Hopkins further asserts having seen and talked with Carl Nold near the ”criminal” house, a short tiht with danger to reatly alarm me Fortunately, no clew can be found in the house, save a note in cipher which apparently defies the skill of experts The Warden, on his Sunday rounds, passes”Here, Berk a paper, ”the press is offering a considerable reward to any one ill decipher the note found in the Sterling Street house It's reproduced here See if you can'tTony's directions forthe paper, I rees, Captain, but this is beyond me”

The police and detective bureaus of the twin cities ation conclusively demonstrates that the tunnel was intended for Willia forgeries His ”pals” had succeeded in clearing fifty thousand dollars on forged bonds, and it is they who did the wonderful feat underground, to secure the liberty of the valuable penheny and the ement of the prison is full of animosity and bitterness Wardens of prisons, chiefs of police, and detective departments of various cities are consulted upon the ers, and the discussion in the press waxes warheny suffers a change of heart, and sides with the Warden, as against his personal eneh detective bureau The confusion of published views, and my persistent denial of complicity in the tunnel, cause the much-worried Warden to fluctuate A number ofmy exile into solitary, Pat McGraw is locked up as a possible beneficiary of the planned escape In 1890 he had slipped through the roof of the prison, the Warden argues, and it is therefore reasonable to assu another delivery Jack Robinson, Cronin, ”Nan,” and a score of others, are in turn suspected by Captain Wright, and ordered locked up during the preliation But because of absolute lack of clews the prisoners are presently returned to work, and the number of ”suspects” is reduced todiscovered that the latter had recentlyan entry into the cupola of the shop he was employed in, only to find the place useless for his purpose

A process of eliradually center exclusive suspicion uponRussell has been cited before the Captain The fear of indiscretion on the part of the boy startles me from my torpor I must employ every device to confound the authorities and save my friends Fortunately none of the tunnelers have yet been arrested, the controversy between the city officials and the prisonfavored inaction My comrades cannot be jeopardized by Russell His infore of the specific person for whom the tunnel was intended; the naoes out to the young prisoner, as I reflect that never once had hethe men at the secret work Desperate with confineh he was, he had yet offered to sacrifice his longings to aid enerous youth when I resolved to share iven faithful service in atte to locate the tunnel entrance; the poor boy had been quite distracted at our failure to find the spot I feel confident Russell will not betray the secret in his keeping Yet the persistent questioning by the Warden and Inspectors is perceptibly working on the boy'sand inexperienced--barely nineteen; a slip of the tongue, an inadvertent reht convert suspicion into conviction