Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-09-08


ter whence the sound appeared to proceed,
saw light shining from without upon the
window opposite my bed, and presently hu-
man hand, with that terrible knife in it, was
produced from behind a curtain which hung
before the the window
| knew there was broken pane of glass
behind the curtain. The curtain itself was
fastened at each of the four corners, by bits
of tape, to nails driven IN the wall. There
was something unearthly in the look of tha;
bony hand, brandishing the long, glittering
knife, and no visible body connected with it.
With Just light enough thrown upon it to
direct its motions, tho arnless hand Piled the
knife until the two lower tapes were cut; 1t
then proceeded to turn the button, and care
fully and noisclessly to open the sash, which
was fixed upon hinges. Now the whole arm
made It's appearance, then the right shoulder,
then the head, and finally the entire raw -boned
long climbed body.
Though tall and spare, the intruder was
very muscular, and perhaps my superior in
strength. Ny only hope was in my weapons.
Or rather in my pistols. He carried small
dark lantern, ana suffered just light enough
to escape to direct him to his object. His
first act, after he had fairly entered, was to
turn the light first upon my face, and then
upon that of nay companion. This was done
with great deal of care and caution, and as
one of US was sleeping soundly, and the other
pretending TO do so, his scrutiny, no doubt,
terminated in perfectly satisfactory manner.
With the stealthy step of prowling tiger,
the fellow approached my bedside, with the
lantern in one hand and that fearful knife in
the other His gaze vas now fastened upon me,
and my eyelids were open just enough to en-
able ME to see W hat he WAS doing, without
his being aware of 1t
He paused. Slowly and carefully dIsen-
gagged from the beGclothes the muzzle of my
right hand pistol, and lcveled 1t at his heart.
lis next step | was resolved should be his
last His right foot moved forward. pressed
my forefnger upon the trigger, ard gradually
Increased the pressure, so as to make the dis
charge Of the weapon simultaneous with the
next forward movement. He movcd-but 1t
was to turn upon his heel and walk away to-
wards the bed of my companion. The little
one then was to be the victim, after all. As
toushment for an instant almost paralysed
me, but then came the thought, can | lie qui-
city here while that poor fellow is murdered
within few feet of me? Humanity forbid .
should feel like an accomplice in the crime
Still grasping the pistol, raised myself
quietly with my other arm, and beheld-the
young peasant very quietly removing, from a
little pen between the two beds, a rabbit!
There were two of them, big one" and
a little one" and it was the former of course,
that the ''nidnght assassin" was after, with
thc fixed resolution to cut his throat that night,
and have him ready for our early breakfast
next morning., at all hazards.
Yes, dear reader, there was nobody in dan
! ger Of midnight assassination but the rabbit.
| The worthy old couple and their six sons con-
stituted a very respectable family. That uu-
mitigated old scamp Piron quotes that still
atnm,jtigoteoer old scamp Rabelais as saying,
Call me scoundrcl, thief, liar, robber, and
assassin, if you will but call me not reSpccta-
BE" But, ia spite of the wittiest of French
men, VIC must assert that our young peasant
was much too respectable to be the assassin
of anything more GipciaL than rabbit, or al
least chicken.
Poor though they were, these humble pco
pie were resolved to do the best they coult
for ''thc stranger within their gates" VIII,
they agreed was erich, or at least we'll off,
Ca mistake by the way.) aud therefore accus
toned to good living The more frugal moth
er, and one of the soDs, contended that tht
little rabbit would do, but the majority gotet
for the s'big one," and honest Jean Loui
whetted his knife, put off his saGots, and de
clared that it should bleed that night.
Imay here mention that | heard some Oh
of them say: ''V'ta gui est .tiai- allon
manger le gros t,pint" But had often hear,
the word iapin used as about synonymou
with our slang term ''coce;" and manger
daily employed to convey the idea of putin
an end to thing, in any fashion.
have merely to add that as it was consld
cred an important point not to disturb tn
stranger, when Jean Louis found the doc
bo.ted, aud was unable to open it, he procure
a ladder aud got in at the window, taking th
knife along with him merely for the purpos
of cutting the tapes of the window-curtair
and retaining it in his hand afterwards. Ii
was so busily engaged that he saw nothing
my moyement with the pistol.
never made any allasion to ny blundel
and to this day worthy Jean Louis, has Il
idea that he was ever SO near being food ft
gunpowdcr. My room mate. who was di
tant relative, and from a distant part of I'll
country. too, was not disturbed. and, tt
sight of the rabbit having dissipated all II,
misgivings, [ was soon at ease in the arm
of Morpheus
In the morning of course all became Gle;
to me. found that the presence of the youn
man under the window, where | supposed |
had been placed sort of sentinel, was a
together accidental The unusual soberne
of the old people was also easily accounted 70
They had, only the day before, buried b
loved child-a lovely little girl-the hope al
joy of their declining years. This did no
however, prevent them from giving me vel
good breakfast, nor did it prevent me fro
giving them practical illustration Of my +
yised version of the ambiguous phrase-l.a
ger te taHpin, Go eat the rabbit.)
Sixty deaths resulted from yellow fever
New Orleans on the 2Gth ult