The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1858-11-10

tltlon, andthenr followed some cCnverSa-
tion in suppressed tones. rs-
Fortune had thrown me upon the track
now sure. That Ralph Norwood was in
the next room l was certain, and | was
equally certain that this was one of his
regular posts. Presently / heard the
the old woman say that she knew I was
asleep, and then Norwood replied that
he would convince himself of it before he
trusted me-. saw, from the motion of
the light, that he had taken up the can
die, and as quickly as possible | sank
down, and pretended to be in sound
sleep. He came into my room, and hav-
| ing gazed upon me few moments, he
held the cardle close to nay face, and pass
cd it to and fro. But made no move
ment. Then sthe light was Withdrawn,
and the fellow muttered- lT1 -as
| n"I'll kill him while he sleeps, and there'll
be no more trouble! This knife'll find his
heart before he crn knowihe is hurt!"
For single instant there was thought
of self-preservation flashing through my
mind, but before ] had made any move
ment with hsthat design, remembered that
this might be only another test, and l
pretended to sleep on heard him draw
| his knife, and knew that he was bending
over, me: but he soon went away, aud
softly closed my door after him, after
which ] heard him in conversation with
his companions. ain aio --- tt"'~
| q Irsgot upon my hands and knees, and
crept softly to where had seen the widest
crack, through which / easily gained a
| view of the occupants Of the other room.
There !were three of them-stout, hard,
rough looking fellows-and the old wo
man was with nthem. 1t would be use
less to note all the conversation heard;
fbut 4 heard all could have desired. !
learned that the. smugglers had a secret
place, close at hand, where they stored
such Of their contraband goods as they
were forced to land before they were sold;
t and also that they had a cargo on the
coast which they must bring up as soon
as possible, and they had come up now to
make arrangements for that purpose.
! ave shall be ready to commence al
twelve O'Clock Tomorrow night said
tRalph Norwood, "sand you, must see Soul
friends in the morning, and be sure that
they will be on hand,", a4gbrai7ay .
These friends" learned, were peas
ats who lived in the n.ighborhood, ant
who lent their assistanceyin landing goods
/ when required The Oh woman promised
that everything should be attcuded to il
/ season, and furtherm ore remarked tha
4 she would see that the coast was was KEEP
] clear, - y,;..iacr aya ,.,j,ieaagni
\ Norwood came into my room again t,
+ try me, but | stood the test, and ahorti,.
afterwards he aud his companions left tn
cot ollr 10 xssifyssEh jio1iaI adT :.
J tvo In the morning got up, and cat, t,break
fast with, my hostess9 nShe lwasfYeryipar
81 ueular to, kuowsifI had slept vel, and
assured her7that / was never better salts
!, fled With a,night's rest in mylife. ] gav
\ her half a scroWn.l and tlren. slung m
:, trunks over my shoulders, and took m.
Leave. The distance TO Lancaster wa
only fifteen miles, and reached that cit
i,hy the middle Of the, forenoon i ifoun
! Windham at his tavern and before moo
$, tall my men had been notified, = II wa
i arranged that we should meet, atTeigt
J., o'clock that evening, in q small wood bt
$ tween there, and Cprnford, when we xoul
!, proceed upon our mission, ra,;l8gaaI -
7 II :. AT, the time appointed we. were all te
: gether in the wood, aud ] then related
! my men what l. had seen and heard.
y described to them the location of the &C
t where had spent the night, and ordere
e them toifolEow me- and halt at my furtht
e5difectionss Il was to go ahead, and the
b Fwereste drop along, singly or'in couple
ns sooasanot to- excite the suspicion Of or
n of the peasants who might chance to ST
h us. BY eleven O'Clock We we're togeth'
: again, close blythe smuggler's cot. " "
o found a good hiding place in the WOO
e where We could observe any one wi
D. might approach the dwelling, and the
e4 we lay in wait About half an hour aft
y midnight weaheard the tramp CT men cor
g ing up through the wood from the Sc
'e and ere lorg we saw dnsky forms a.
p preaching the cot. We could not di
nj tinguish much by the dim starlight b
d we could sec that there were large nur
.Ha Der Of them, and that they stopped
le one Of the small out buildings. In fe
L, moments more, we heard the squealing
at q pig, and shortly after that the fello'
= seemed to be very busily at work, paiy
Now was the time, thought, and
~ " passed the word for my men to be read
y. ~ and as soon as they had their weapons
Az hand, I gave the order, for starting. "
y took our way carefully down, under GOV
~ ~ of the wood, and when we came to t
ID point where we must show ourselves
gave a loud shout and dashed forwal
~ with. my menlclose al my heels. 7
smaggIers were taken SO completely
surprise that we had score of th'
es eHs down and kandcufed ere they knew WI
q had happened, The remainder show
~ some fight but we easily and quicl
,1overcame them; aud when we had
OF more fighting to do, we looked around