The end wall, extending from Tower Number Three to Tower Number Four, had been torn down and the stones moved two hundred feet farther south to be used on the new wall. A temporary barbed-wire fence had been erected about the area in which the convicts worked on the new wall. Extra armed guards were stationed at intervals of fifty feet outside the inclosure to guard the working convicts.
Malcolm Hulsey had successfully feigned illness one day and was allowed to remain in his cell. Cell house guards had seen him lying in his bunk, only the top of his head showing above the blankets. At lock-up time the cell house guards making the count, saw a foot protruding from under the blankets in Hulsey's bunk and what they believed to be the top of his head showing at the head of the bed.
At ten-fifteen that night the eagle-eyed Asa Shores, on Tower Number Three, saw a dark figure slip under the lower wire of the temporary fence and run. Asa fired once and saw the man fall.
Then Asa, to comply with the prison rules, yelled "halt!" The command, of course, was needless, Hulsey having halted abruptly when a thirty-thirty rifle ball plowed through his shoulder.
After the convict had been carried to the hospital, his cell was opened by the curious guards. A cleverly carved wooden foot protruded from under the blankets at the foot of the bed, several bags of old clothing reposed under the blankets and a thatch of black horsehair showed at the head of the bed.
Before Hulsey left the hospital the new wall was completed. Tower Number Four, across from Tower Number Three, had been torn down and a new tower Number Four built on the new corner of the wall, two hundred feet farther south. On the other corner, across from New Tower Number Four, was New Tower Number Three. Old Tower Number Three was left standing until further orders. Asa Shores remained on the graveyard shift on Old Tower Number Three.
While off duty one day Asa, prowling about inside the walls, met Malcolm Hulsey. The "lifer" was still a bit pale and wear from the gunshot wound.
"One thing I'd like to have you explain, Mr. Shores," said Hulsey. "You plugged me in the shoulder, then yelled 'halt!' Why didn't you command me to stop before firing?"
"Well, it was this way, Hulsey," Asa replied, unsmiling and looking the convict squarely in the eye. "I aimed at the spot where I calculated your heart ought to be, but the light was poor and I had to shoot quick. I naturally supposed you were dead when I commanded you to halt, and, believing you dead, I could see no reason for being in a hurry with the command. Sorry I bungled the job that way, but my intentions were good."
"But," the scouling "lifer" persisted, "you haven't told me yet why you shot before commanding me to halt."
"Oh, that?" Asa drawled with a deprecatory shrug of his massive shoulders. "That is merely a matter of form with me. I very often, after shooting a convict, yell 'halt' some time the next day—or week. Besides, if you had a nice chance to bump me off, you wouldn't say, 'Beware, Mr. Shores, I'm about to kill you.'"
For a half minute convict and keeper gazed into each others eyes.
"I get yuh," Hulsey finally said. "And I guess you're right. I have an idear though that my turn comes next, Mr. Shores; and there'll be no preliminary command or argument."
"Fair enough, Hulsey," Asa replied as he turned away.
AT LAST the big new cell house was completed.
Asa wondered whether he would be left on Old Tower Number Three. It had been decided, he knew, that the old tower would be left on the wall but perhaps not used.
To celebrate the completion of the new building, the warden declared a holiday and issued orders that all the inmates be given the privilege of the yard that day. There was to be wrestling, boxing, foot-racing and other sports.
Asa Shores' sleeping quarters was a
