le, a water-pitcher, glasses, and a dice-box, with the
dice lying before the elder man as he had thrown them last. One of the
detectives covered the elder man with a revolver and commanded,--

"Throw up your hands!"

But the dice-thrower paid no attention. The detectives exchanged
startled glances. They looked closer into the faces of the two men, and
then they discovered that both were dead.

The Inmate of the Dungeon

After the Board of State Prison Directors, sitting in session at the
prison, had heard and disposed of the complaints and petitions of a
number of convicts, the warden announced that all who wished to appear
had been heard. Thereupon a certain uneasy and apprehensive expression,
which all along had sat upon the faces of the directors, became visibly
deeper. The chairman--a nervous, energetic, abrupt, incisive
man--glanced at a slip of paper in his hand, and said to the warden,--

"Send a guard for convict No. 14,208."

The warden started and became slightly pale. Somewhat confused, he
haltingly replied, "Why, he has expressed no desire to appear before
you."

"Nevertheless, you will send for him at once," responded the chairman.

The warden bowed stiffly and directed a guard to produce the convict.
Then, turning to the chairman, he said,--

"I am ignorant of your purpose in summoning this man, but of course I
have no objection. I desire, however, to make a statement concerning
him before he appears."

"When we shall have called for a statement from you," coldly responded
the chairman, "you may make one."

The warden sank back into his seat. He was a tall, fine-looking man,
well-bred and intelligent, and had a kindly face. Though ordinarily
cool, courageous, and self-possessed, he was unable to conceal a strong
emotion, which looked much like fear. A heavy silence fell upon the
room, disturbed only by the official stenographer, who was sharpening
his pencils. A stray beam of light from the westering sun slipped into
the room between the edge of the window-shade and the sash, and fell
across the chair reserved for the convict. The uneasy eyes of the
warden finally fell upon this beam and there his glance rested. The
chairman, without addressing any one particularly, remarked,--

"There are ways of learning what occurs in a prison without the
assistance of either the warden or the convicts."

Just then the guard appeared with the convict, who shambled in
painfully and laboriously, as