Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-03-18

| ed their lngger and awaited the safe advent OF
! the rest to- cheer off But it was too late
George Gilbert, with four or five men, was
| running to the scene Of action, the Smuggers
on the background were Intercepted, aud af-
| ter short conflict were worsted and by
Browns order red, leaving one of their
number shot through the body on the grass,
and Brown himself prisoner though not be-
| fore he had sent bullet through the hat of
one and the leg of another of his assalantS
He was dragged to the Preventive station,
and there detained in safe custody till morning,
when he could he taken before q magistrate
During that night he bitterly reproached Gil
bert with his treachery in turning his hand
against his former shipmates, and tax ing ad-
vantage of the knowledge he had acquired on
board of the Petrol, to capture her captain
lie then went on to ask his old schoOl-fellow
if he thought that mere foolish quarrel juSti-
fed such hatred as his. For few moments,
Gilbert looked at him with smile of hate,
blended strangely with contempt, ere he re-
piled.
"Thnk you, Brown, that petty squabble
like that would have really turned the old
friend Of twenty years standing into a lifelong
foe or that few blacEgurd words followed by
well directed bullet from a wrong headed
idiot like you, could have made NE what
am Not needed something more to do :"
And that something more was ?" asked
Brown, eagerly, in spite of himself
Listen, and you shall know a secret" said
the other.
a year Or two ago loved deeply, purely
and truly, a village gfl. Ayc-you may
Smile-but men like me can love as well-or
far better than people of your kind-your love
may have been plaything for your vanity
mine was the hope of life. loved-was re-
jected after having been cOolly deceved-and
loved on still | could have borne that. Aye
i loved and was fool for my pains. She
| loved might have been a girl with no more
heart than head-a jilt-but though thus driy
en- from the only hope whereby my soul then
seemed to anchor-my trusting love flung in
my facc-l forgaye that, and would have car
red my secret forgivingly to my grave. She
loved another and | was to furnish mrth-
for nv rival Well-One evening while | was
walking ont over yonder cliff saw her sit
ting beside of him she loyed-who could not
love her with half the intensity | had done
| heard words Of endearment-words | shall
never hear or speak in this world now-thcn |
heard my name mentioned with many heartlesS
icSts by her, for whom | had suffered so much
lnrepnngly. heard enough to tell me that
in their eyes Twas tit to be mOCked and sneCred
at by false coquctte-to be the topic Of the
coarse jgSts of an empty headed boor. My
blood was turned to gall-that night | Swore
bitter oath-I have kept the first part al
ready-for that girl was Kate Furnss, and
that man was--yourself aye-you-John
Brown-the prisoner Of the Coast Guard to-
nght-the committed for trial tomorrow
the tranSported-if there be justice in the land
at the next aSsizes. And | will keep that
oath still further"
SO saying, he walked out and left his
prisoner to his refectionS-which were not of
a very pleasant nature Not tnat the stout
heart of Brown feared for himself, but for his
wife, who was hourly expecting her coniine
ment He knew that If he was to be trans
ported, she could be at the mercy of Gilbert
in some measure !; and he knew enough Of the
ingenuity of his captOr to feel sure that he
would allow nothing to balk him Of his re-
yGngc.
L" Sc0undrel ~ shouted he in despair, =" if
| hear that my wife and and the child yet un-
born suffer anght at your dcviliSh hands will
come back, if it he three thousand miles and
twenty years hence, to take such revenge as
a man shall never forget"
These words we're FIearl-not by the ear for
which they were intenaed-but by one Of the
coast guard uutside the prisoners door, who re-
membcrcd them long after the prisoner was
wearing his heart out in a foreign land.
Brown was tred-found gully of smuggling
and firing, with intent to kill, at two Of His
Majesty'S revenue officers, &c, and sentenced
to death-which was COMMITTED to " tranSpor
tation beyond the seas for term of his natu-
raj life" There was what the local newspapers
of the day called " an affecting scene in court"
when his grayhcadcd father entreated the
mercy of the stern Judge for the prisoner for
the sake of his poor wife and his unborn child.
There was yell of eXcration from the assem-
bled mob outside the sessions house as Gil
bert passed cut to which that amable person
age yOnehsafed contemptHOHS Sneer as sole re-
ply And in IA few months the captysre of the
Eetrci by the eyer-Vigiamt Gilbert who broke
up Browns gang, and the story Of the trial
n d the sentence were speedily forgotten, save
by the convicts and few a sympathizing
smuggler", who over their pipes and grog,
would often avOuch their opinion that Brown
would yet come back to keep his oath, Of
which-thanks to that loquacious member Of
the coast guard, who originally overheard it
they were aware. With one Of these men
Brown kept up a correspondence, and thus
knew everything that took rlace in his absence.
But Gilbert appeared to have forgotten bis
old grudge against Kate, and so Browns heart
grew light on that score. The revenue officer
only bided his time till he could wreak his ven
genee most terribly through her son.
Twenty years had passed away from the
night when Jack Brown was taken 10y the
Coast Guard, and Mrs. Brown, who had been
established by her relatives in shop in the
town adjoining her girlhood's home was, with
r. 4 e I.