Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1848-08-12

1.-The soldier then, with convulsive effort,
staggered to the host, clutched from him the
fright boot, and mentioning that he might do
what he pleased with the left, reeled to the
bed provided for him, and making pillow
lof the boot thus selected, fell into the sleep
Tor stupor of exhaustation.
/ The boot excited the most profound inter
est in the breasts Of both host and host
ess. They retired a little while from
! the chamber to talk of the boot-they a
greed in their surmises, that in that boot
there was more than met the eye.
They returned to the bedside of the SOL
ldier, he seemed still asleep; the hostess
Itickled his ear, the soldier moved his head,
and the host gave gentle tug at the boot:
the soldier started, his brows met, and tho
without opening his eyes or waking, he
seemed to feel aware that the boot was in
danger--he threw his right arm thighty a
round il, and dropped his heal again upon
the boot, with oil that weight and solldity
which are the characteristics of head OBJ
stinately in earnest.
"Thousand deviIs!" quoth the host
"But after all the man can't live; he seems
at deaths door, and then we shall know
what there is in the boot"
A cIamor of voices below summoned the
landlord to a bevy of guests just arrived
The hostess remained TO watch the stranger.
A few hours afterwards the soldier woke
I'D. He had recovered his sense, but he
was extremely feeble and exhausted. The
kind hostess bent over him with a cordial,
in which Sic :scc had put full pint of the new
est and heaviest wine which the marqulsate
of Brandeburg afforded to lis inhabitants.
The soldier was much moved 10y her atten-
ton, and somewhat revived by the draught.
What with his gratitude, and what with the
wine, the poor man became pathetic. He
forgot the caution proverbially habitual in
military veteran, and sickness unpreceded
by gun-wounds being thing extremely
new to his experience, he really had strong
presentiment that he should never rise to
any trump but the last. With these tho'ts
he faltered out
"Ah dear and charitable frau, it is com
, fort to have woman near ones bedside at
the hour of death. woman, you see, feels
for little one about to become an orphan.
You have children, dear .frau?'
81 haze onc--a boy" said the hostess, lift
J ing up her eyes, as much as to say, he IL
in heaven! And indeed his last act had
been in a heavenward direction, seeing that
he had been hanged on tree as spy, by
; murderous old Bohemian general.
"Well," SAID the soldier, whining, q have
poor little ghl at home in Heilbronn,
where | was going to spend the rest of my
, DAYS. ] had been saving and scraping for
nv old age, but God is pleased to cut me
off. The money will go to- her, and find
! her husband. Wherefore, ] pray you, as
YOU value your soul, to take care of this
boot, and as soon as the breath is out of my
body, rip open the inner leather and you
will find it well lined with gold coin. Pay
|; yourself, charitable frau; pay for my burial,
and seven messes for my soul and convey
the rest to my little girl, Bettinc karnerach,
at the forge, opposite the convent at He'll
bronn.'
.sGod be with you, friend!" answered the
hostess, wiping her eyes, 'and I hope you
will live this many year. But iii be 9TH
erwise, make your mind easy. Not stiv-
err will touch of your hoard. And the
boot shall 30 without need of cobbler to
your little girl, Bettine Karnerach, at the
forge opposite the convent AT Heilbronn."
The soldier wrung the bostess'hand with his
dry hot palm; s. The good woman continued:
"Bnt in case of the worst, seeing how
the priests and leeches get round man
when he is supposed to he dying--seeing,
too, that in public inn all sorts of charac-
tiers, good and bad, must bound and that
cannot always he ut your bedside-consid-
ering all this, soldier friend, think you not
il might he wisest To give me the boot at
once to take charge of! should never get
over it if the tinker, who lodges next
room to you, and who has not the best of
regulations for honesty, should slip the boot
from under your head while YOU are asleep.
And indeed such pillow tells its own tale
of the stufiingi'
"Right," quOih the soldier, deiectedly.-
I"Poor companion, who has trudged with
me so long, farewell! perhaps for ever
Take it, dear frau, have not the heart 10
give it thee"
The hostess seized the boot with one
hand-with the other she tucked the cover
let round the sick man; aud the wine begin
ming to work, he fell into a heavy doze, as
she stole from the room to her husband.
As soon as this wicked couple had thus
got hold of the boot, unripped the leather
and locked up the coin, deuce bit more
cared they for the soldier. They had not
the courage TO murder him for fear Of de-
lection; but by letting him alone, without
doctor or nurse, drink or food, they took il
for granted that he would Of himself soon
depart from this lie. The room in which
he was placed was in a remote corner Of
the house, neither tinker nor other living
soul slept at hand, to hear his means or
come To his caIl-so they left him to die as
soon as he pleased. All the next day, the
poor soldier, abandoned and deserted,
wrested hard with his malahy He could
not make his pIteous voice heard much be-
yond the threshold; the hostess now and
then crepi to the door to listen if he still
breathed, though his signs and broken ex-
CARNATIONS might have melted heart Of
stone, that accursed boot stopped up her
ears to all humanity and nature.
| Confident, at least, that he would not get
over the night, the miserable pair retold
| their treasure, aud composed themselves