St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1853-05-12

the rickety door, clam5ered up beam,
emerged through hcle upon the root,
and there remainded perched on the ga
bic. with the frail tenement literally
shaking beneath his weight. Lucky IT
I was for Tim that he had secured this po-
sition. The door of the cabin did not for
a moment withstand the attack of the
| wolves who clambered against it, and
1immediately thronged the interior. They
- now wild with rage. They leaped
a.. 1ey. CRASHED theirtecth, they closed
;=....srsss:9 9lapslnln SO horri-
! bic TO otheears or the fiddler, and he afl'
most fell from his roost in despair but
! ne remembered the effect of his violin.
He had not yet drawn the bow from its
case, but now did so, and struck it
shrieking across the strings, forced all
the while to keep its legs kicking high in
the air to avoid the trap-like fangs that
were only a few inches below. In an
instant the yells ceased, and the negro
went on, drawing forth the most wild,
hysterical, and grating sounds from his
friendly violin.
1t was singular to observe, however,
that this barbarous noise had no other
effect upon the creatures than to astonish
them. Even wolves can not be charmed
by bad music. When the first surprise
was over they renewed their attack.
Presently great gaunt head, lit by two
eyes like globes of green fire, was thrust
up through the roof
Who's dar :" shrieked the negro.
mad with horror. An instinct saved lin.
Just as there seemed no thread of fate to
hold him from being dragged down and
made the prey Of these ravenous brutes.
he once more smote his bow upon the
fiddle, and began playing with desperate
energy " Yankee Doodle" The loud.
animating, inspiring notes, caused instan-
taneous silence among the hungry rout
below. Orpheus piping to the brutes,
was no unmeaning fable. Dick won
kindred triumph. With astonishment
fif.,f he ,ffaM tEesresult of his n.nsicx ,4Agepgd
ever listened to his fddling. But wnemee
ever there was the slightest pause the
wolves sprang forward and commenced
their howl again. Thus the black was
forced to labor away, tiinging his feet into
the air, rcdoubling his vigor. and filling
the whole clearing with this extraordina-
ry harmony. a feeling Of professional
pride gradually stole over him in spite Of
his alarm. Now and then a thought of
the wedding, of the warm lights, Of the
sweetened whiskey, Of the whirling
dance, of the homage and admiration of
the colored people, came regretful into
his mind; but he knew that he was safe so
long as he continued TO play; so on he
went, from Yankee Doodle to Hail Co.
lumbia searching his memory for every
lively strain, to charm away the ferocity of
the strange auditors that crouched around.
But pleasure, and pride, as we'll as pa
tience, come 10 an end. 1t was cold
night Dick had walked far and tasted
long his arms were weary of their ex-
ercise he began to feel benumbed, hun
CRY and exhausted. Nothing, however,
could be done but play on, for at every
pause those fearful growls began again.
There was no contenting that shaggy
group of connoisseurs, fdgeting as they
sat, with lolling tongues and perched
cars, through several hours of the widest
night that Dick had ever known. The
moon went down low in the sky. A
t4~rer- shadow UrePt from under the
arches of the forest. The stars seemed
more pale. the forms of the trees more
bare and gaunt, and the troop of wolves
to multiply instead of diminishing.
At last, however, the negroes at the
wedding feast became alarmed. They
knew that Of all the coiored people Dick
was the very minute-hand Of punctuali-
ty when he failed, it was invariably be-
cause something or somebody had failed
him. Now therefore that he was hours
beyond his time, serious accident must
have occurred. They were all as much
concerned by this fear as by the dread of
losing the pleaSurable excitement of a