The weekly Anglo-African., 1859-08-20


was full of Austrian bank-notes.
Having convinced himself THAT his money
was right, he placed both under his pillow.
extinguished the light, and soon fell asleep
thanking God and all the saints for the sue
cess of his journey. He had slept but an
hour or two when he was suddenly awak
ened by the opening of the window, and
Immediately felt the night air blow upon
him.
Startled at this unforeseen circumstance
the traveller raised himself up in bed, and
perceived the head and shoulders of man
who was struggling to get into the room:
at the same time he heard the voices of sew.
eral persons who were standing under the
window
A dreadful terror seized our traveller
who gave himself up for lost; and, scarcely
knowing what he did, crept under the bed
as quickly as possible. A moment after
wards man sprung heavily into the room,
and staggered up to the bed, supporting
himself against the wall.
Confounded as the householder was, he
nevertheless perceived that the intruder
was inebriated; this circumstance, howev-
er, gave him little hope, for he had probably
got intoxicated in order to summon up cour-
age for the contemplated crime; besides
this the traveller had heard the voices of
persons outside, so that the murderer, in
case of resistance, could count upon the
assistance of his comrades.
But how great was his astonishment when
he saw the unknown person throw his coat
upon the floor, and stretch himself upon
the bed which he had just quittedl A few
moments afterwards he heard the intruder
snore, and his terror began gradually to
give way to reflection, although the whole
affair was quite incomprehensible to him.
He was just preparing to quit his hiding
place, in order to awake the inmates of the
house, and ask another bed in place of that
from which he had been SO unceremoni-
ously expelled, when a new incident oc-
Cured
He heard the outer door carefully open
ed, and, on listening, the sound of cautious
footsteps reached his ear. In few mo,
ments, the door of his room opened, and
two figures, those of the landlord and bis
son, stood on the threshold.
"Keep the lamp back" muttered the
father in a suppressed voice.
"What have we to fear 7" said the young
man: "we are two against one; besides,
he has only small knife with him, and is
sleeping soundly; hear how he snores."
"Do what l tell you," said the father,
angrily; do you wish to awake him
Would you have his cries alarm the neigh
borhoodr'
The householder was Mortified with the
spectacle. He remained motionless under
the bed, scarcely daring to breathe. The
son shut the door after him, and the two
wretches approached the bed on tiptoe.
An instant afterwards the bed was shook
by convulsive motion, and stihed cry
Of pain confirmed the foreboding that the
unhappy man in the bed had had his throat
cut After short pause, of awful silence,
the landlord said:
at is over now; look for the money"
~ have found it under the pillow" said
the son; it is in leathern belt and a pock-
ct book"
The murderers disappeared.
Everything being now quiet, the travel
er crept from under the bed, jumped out of
the window, and fastened to the adjoining
town to inform the authorities of what had
happened.
The mayor Immediately assembled the
military, and in less than three-quarters of
an hour the inn was surrounded by soldiers
who had been summoned to arrest the mur-
derers. The whole house seemed buried
in profound silence, but on approaching
the stables they heard noise. The door
was Immediately broken in, and the land
lord and his son were seen busily digging
pit AS soon as the murderers saw the
householder, they uttered a cry of horror,
covered their faces with their hands, and
fell to the ground.
This was neither from repentance nor
the fear of punishment, but they thought
they saw before them the ghost of the
murdered man, notwithstanding they heard
him speak There was some trouble in
convincing them to the contrary. They
were then bound, and led to the clubhouse
where the horrible deed had been commit.
ted, anxious to see how the enigma would
be solved.
The prisoners appeared tolerably col
lected, at least calm and sullen; but when,
ON entering the room, they perceived the
body which lay on the bed, the son fell
senseless to the earth, and the father threw
himself upon it, with loud lamentations,
clasped the bloody corpse, and exclaimed,
"My son! oh my sonl |, thy father, am
thy murderer
The murdered man was, in fact, the
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