Litchfield enquirer., 1849-11-22

l .ICdI tcttTS budJ Tile 1iSCHiCbOAo h1SaS
thing would betray ms; l fully apPre-
hended that as soon rs the maa Ct the
house arose, he would come and make
search in the barn. 1t now being en-
,irely daylight, it was too late TO retreat
from this shelter, even if l could have
ound aAothcr; therefore bedded my
self down into the fodder as best could,
and entered upon the annoyances OF the
| lay, with the frail hope Of safety.
| ut was Thursday morning the clouds
hat had yelled The sky during the latter
part of the previous day, and the piev-
lous night, were gone. 1t was not until
lbout an hour after the sun ruse that |
heard any out door movements about the
house. AS soon as l heard those move
ments, / was satisfied there was but one
man at home, and that he was preparing
go some distance to work for the day.
Mhis was fortunate for me. The busy
movements about the yard. and especial
ly the active preparations in the house
for breakfas silrnced my unwelcome lit,
lie annoyer, The flee, until after the man
had gone, when he Commenced afresh,
and continued with occasional intermis-
sions through the day. He made regu
lar sallies from the house to the barn,
and after smelling about, would fly back
to the house, barking furiously; thus
he SIT owe most skilfully throughout the
entire day. to raise an alarm. There
seemed to be no one about the house but
o re or two bill Ii, n and the mother, after
me IMAM was gone. About 10 o'clock,
my attention was gravely directed to an
! other trial how could pass the day
without food. The reader will remem.
:, Der it is Thursday, and the only regular
,, m al l have taken since Sunday, was yes.
terday; in the midst of great agitation
that since that have performed my ar
duous nights travel. At one moment,
l had nearly concluded to go and present
myself at the door, and ask ID woman
: Of the house to have compassion, and
give me food but then feared the con i.
eq fences might be fatal, and l resolved
10 suffer the day out. The wind sprang
up If. sh and cool; the barn being small
aud the c.evices large. my wet clothes
were dried by it, and chilled me Trough
and through.
| cannot now, with pen or tongue, give
a correct idea of the feeling Of wretched-
ness experienced; every nerve in my
. system quivered, so that not a particle
! Of my flesh was at rest. In this way
passed the day till about the middle O
the afternoon, when there seemed to b.
! ain unusual stir about the public road
: which passed close by the barn. Mer
! seemed TO bepassing in parties on horse
! back, and talking anxiously. From 9
= word which | now and then overheard
8 l had not shadow Of doubt that they
= were on the search for me. One heard
! say, Il ought to catch such fellow
. the only liberty he should have for one
! fortnight, would be ten feet of ropY."-
r Another said, "Who would have thought
i. that rascal was So 'cute?" Another
y said, Il reckon he is in that wood now. >
All this, while the little fee was minglinp
his voice with those OF the horsemen'
and the noise OF the horses feet. IL lis.
tened and trembled. ...
"Just b fore the setting of the sun,
the man OF the house returned. and com.
menced his evening dut;e, about the
house and housekeeping wood, getting
up his cow, feeding his pigs. &C., attends
ed by the little brute which continued
bark g at short intervals. He came
several times into the barn below. While
matters were passing thus, I heard tho
approach OF horses again, and as they
came nearer, | was led to believe that all
had heard pass were returning in one
party. They passed the barn and halted
at the house, when Recognized the voice
Of my old captor; addressing the laborer
he ked, "Have you seen a runaway
niger pass here to-day?" '
Laborer.-" No, | have not been at
home since early this morning. Where
did he come from"
Captor.-"I caught him down below
here yesterday morning. l had him all
day, and just at night he fooled me and
getaway, A party of us have been after
him all day ; we have been up TO the line,
but we can't hear or see anything of him.
heard this mo, ming where he came from.
He is blacksmith, and stiff reward is
out for him, two hundred dollars"
Laborer. Tiles worth looking for"
Captor.--" reckon so. If get my
clutches on him again. I'll moscy him
dow n to ---. before eat or Sleep" .
Reader. you may if you can imagine
what the state Of my mind was at this
moment. / shall make no attempt to
describe it to you. 10 my great relief,
however, the party rode of, and the Ia
borer, after finishing his work, went into
the house. Hope seemed now to dawn
for me once more; darkness was rapidly
approaching, but the moments Of twi
light seemed much longer than they did
the evening before. Atlength the sable
| coverinU had spread itself over the earth.