of it."

"Come and go as you like, Wagg. I'll lend you a key to the small door
beside the wagon entrance in case you don't want to ring in through the
guardroom."

Mr. Wagg expressed his gratitude in proper terms and allowed that he
would go and lie down for a time in order to calm himself. Again he
urged the warden to break the news gently to Vaniman's mother and
respectfully requested that Guard Wagg's sympathy be included in the
condolence in the official letter.

The newspapers of that afternoon contained an account of the tragic
happening at the state prison.

That night, too, Vona Harnden kept vigil, her door locked against her
mother, whose fatuous commonplaces of commiseration were like files
against the raw surface of the girl's agony.

The front parlor of the Harndens had been converted into a sleeping room
for Tasper Britt. Vona's room was over the parlor. She could hear the
rasping diapason of his snoring. He appeared to be sleeping with the
calm relaxation of a man who had been able to eliminate some especial
worries from his mind.

Furthermore, that night, the chairman of the prison commissioners had a
talk with the warden over the telephone. The warden made a guess as
to how many thousands of tons of rock were piled above the body of the
unfortunate victim.

"The taxpayers will never indorse the project of digging out that pit
to recover the body of a convict, no matter who he is," declared the
commissioner. "I don't mean to sound brutal, but we must let it stand
as it is. Enter the reports of witnesses and declare the man officially
dead. Here is one case, at least, Mr. Warden, when there's no doubt
about a man being dead."

However, shortly after twelve o'clock that night--and the night being
particularly black with an overcast sky--Bartley Wagg opened the iron
door of the big chimney and called forth Frank Vaniman and led him out
through the little door at the side of the carriage entrance.

There was a conveyance waiting there, a good-sized van, drawn by a
solid-looking horse. Mr. Wagg lifted the flap of the van's cover.

"Crawl in!" he commanded. "You'll find plenty of room along with the
rest of the camping kit. Roll yourself up in the tent and take it easy.
My nerves have been shocked by the terrible affair and I'm going into
the mountains to recuperate. Doctor's orders!" He was grimly serious.

He mounted the seat of the van and drove away with his passenger and the
outfit.

C