wife walked beside her doomed lover back to the jail. As they went
through the narrow passage to his cell, the tall, rough-looking prison
guard who accompanied them brushed close, caught her hand and pressed
it.

His eyes met hers in a quick look that said more plainly than words:

"I must see you alone."

She waited outside the jail until he reappeared.

He approached her boldly and spoke as if he were delivering a casual
message.

"Keep your courage, young woman. And don't you be surprised at anything
I'm going to say to you. There's people lookin' at us now. I'm just
tellin' you a message your husband's told me--you understand."

"Yes--yes--go on--I understand," she answered quickly.

"I'm from Kansas. I'm a friend of John Cook's. I come all the way here
to help him. I joined these guards to get to him. I'm goin' to get him
out of here if I can."

"Thank God--thank God," she murmured.

"Keep a stiff upper lip and get your hand on some money to follow us."

"I will."

Another guard approached.

"Leave me now. My name's Charles Lenhart. Don't try to talk to me again.
Just watch and wait."

She nodded, brushed the tears from her eyes and left quickly.

He was on the job without delay. Cook and Edwin Coppoc, condemned to die
on the same day, occupied the same room in jail. They borrowed a knife
from Lenhart as soon as he came on duty and "forgot" to return it. With
this knife they worked at night for a week cutting a hole through the
brick wall. Under their clothes in a corner they concealed the fragments
of bricks.

When the opening had been completed, they cut teeth in the knife blade
and made a small saw strong and keen enough to eat through a link in
their shackles.

On the night fixed, Lenhart was on guard waiting in breathless suspense
for the men to drop the few feet into the prison yard. A brick wall
fifteen feet high could he scaled from his shoulders and the last man up
could give him a lift.

Through the long, chill hours he paced his beat on the wall and waited
to hear the crunching of the bodies slipping through the walls.

What had happened?

Something had gone wrong in the impulsive mind of the blue-eyed
adventurer inside. The hole was open, the saw in his hand to cut the
manacles, when he suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter?" Coppoc asked.

"We can't do this to-night."

"For God's sake, why?"

"My sister's in town with Governor Willard to tell me goodbye. They
will put th