The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-03-12


I M Hcn,e ne Sack door vas srnaiief than
| the frort but itlnAd tobs aaylntaSe In the way
| Of s,rength=-it was made Of two solid oak
boards joined lenethwise, and strengthened
like the from door, but WA fastened BY 4 BAR
Of iron ruc mag across II In . slant ting diTec-
ton. aud Autne At either end into The wall.
/ They musth have the whole cottage down
thought to myself. Aud they soon fourd out
as much for themselves. After FIVE minutes
| Of banging 1T the back door they gave up any
farther attack in that direction, ana cas-. 'nu..
heavy stones down with curses OF Jury aw'
ful to hear.
went Into the kitchen and dropped on the
| window seat to rest for moment. Suspeas VIZ,
and excitement together were beginning 70 teh
| uuon me The perspiration broke out thick
| on INV forehead, and began 10 ieei me bruises
| l had inflicted on my hands In making the
| barricade against the front door. ! had not
| Iost a nsrticle of my resolution, but was be-
| ginning to lose strength. There was bottle
| of ram In the cupboard, which my brother the
! sailor had left with us the last time ne was
| ashore drank drop of IL. Never before
| or since have put anything down my throat
! that did me half much good as that pre-
| cious mouthfnl Of rum!
| l was still sitting in the window seat drying
my face, when l suddenly heard their voices
close behind me.
They were feeling the outside of the window
against v hich | was sitting. II was protect
ed like all the other windows in the cottage,
by iron bars. listened in dreadful suspense
for the sound OF filing, but nothing of the sort
| was audible. They had eviden fly reckoned on
frightening me easily into letting them in, and
had come Unprovided with house breaking
tools of any kind. A fresh burst of oaths in
formed me that they had recognized the obsta-
| Gle of the iron bars. l listened oreathlessly
| for some warning OF what they were going TO
do next, but their voices seemed to die away in
the dis lance. They were retreating from the
window. Were they also retreating from the
house altogether! Had they given up the idea
CT efiec ting an entrance in despair!
A long silence followed-a silence which
tried my courage even more severely than the
tumult of their first attack on the cottage.
| Dreadful suspicious now beset me of their
| being able to accomplish by treachery what
| they had failed to effect by force. Well as l
knew the cottage, began to doubt whether
| there might not he ways of cunnirgiy and 81
lentiy entering it against which was not pro-
| vit:ed. The ticking of the clock annoyed me;
| the cracking Of the fire startled me l looked
| out twenty times in 4 minute into the dark
| corners of the passage. s;raining my eyes,
| holding my breath, anuSipailng the most I'M
Had they really gone, or were thay still
prowling about ihe house! On, what a sum
| Of money would have given only to have
known what they We're about in that interval
o; silence!
was startled at last out of my suspense in
the most awful manner. shout from one OF
them reached my ears on sudden down the
kitchen chimney. 1t was so unexpected and
So horrible in the Stiffness that screamed for
the first time since the attack on the house.
lily worst torebodings had never suggested to
me that the two villains nigh mount upon the
roof
ssLet us in, you she devil.'' roared a voice
down the chimney.
There was another pause. The smoke from
the wood fire, thin and light as it was in the
red state Of the embers at that moment had
evidently Obliged the man to take his face from
the mouth of the chimney. counted the Sec
onds while he was, rs l conjectured, getting
il Lru0 n Ir,1 nSS han hq mil TO
there came another shout:
Let us in, or Well burn the place down
over your beadn
Burn it! Burn what! There was nothing
easily combustibie but the thatch on the roof;
and that had been well soaked by the heavy
rain which had now fallen necessarily for
more than six hours. Burn the place over my
head How!
While was still casting about wildly in my
mind to discover what possible danger there
could be of fire, one of the heavy stones placed
on the thatch to keep it from being torn up 10y
high winds came Numbering down the Chin
ney. 1t scattered the live EN- bers on the hearth
all over the room. A richly furnished place,
with nick nacks and fine muslin about it,
would have been set on fire Immediately. Even
our bare floor aud rough furniture gave out
smell of burning at the first shower Of embers
which the first stone scattered.
For an instant stood quite horror-struck
before this new proof of the devilish ingen uity
of the villains outside. But the dreadful dan
ger was now in recalled me to my senses i'm
mediatety There was large canful Of water
in my bedroom, and l ran In at once TO fetch
1t. Before l could get back to the kitchen Il
second stone had been thro wn do wn the CHM
uey, and the floor was smouldering N several
places.
had wit enough to let II e smouldering 60
on for 4 moment or two more, and to pour the
whole Of my canful of water over the fire be-
fore the third stone came down the chimney.
The live embers on the floor easily disposed
ot fter that. The man the roof must have
heard the Kissing of the fire as l put it out,
and felt The change produced in the all at the
mou Tia of the chimney, for after the third stone
had dc scended no more followed it. As for
either of the ruffians themselves dropping
down by the same road along which the ST tones
had C me- that not TO be dreaded. The
chimney, as l we'll knew by our experience in
cleaning it, was too narrow TO give passage to
any one above the size OF a small boy.
fro BE CONCLUDED TO-HORROw.l