The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-06-24

Following close upOn Inc STIRLING OF ina
clock came the distant rumble of a cab or
msit- cafi, TGstling over the paved streets
there was a pleasant senso OF companion
ship in the sound that spoke warmly TO my
heart, and brought with it an intense long
ing to escsPe.
10 escaped wss such q thiug Possible2-
NV heart thrObbed, and the blood rushed
to my face when l first asked myself the
a~hsstion so that when 1 looked up, and
saw the Old msn's suspicious eyes fEed in
tently on me, l felt SIS il my hidden thoughts
were discovered. But I sat very still, an
strOYe to look IS ~uncoIcerned as possible;
and when the old man was again busy with
his Cruel, l set to work TO evolve quietly
out Of my brain some plln of deliverance.
The door, as l have already said, was
locked on the outsidei and even had it
been otherwise, 10 venture down through
the lower part of the house would have
been 3 most dangerous proceeding. The
windov, then ,wss the point to be considered.
This was secured inside BY sto1t shutters,
but there would ba no difficulty in 5pens
ing them tie only real obstacle lay in
the fact Of the window being so high above
the grOuud-fsr too high for me to drop
from. Then there wss The old man to dis
pose of; thst, indeed, was the FIRST thing TO
do, for once let him give the alarm, and all
my efforts were f~ruiLless.
I sat breeding i~ntently for about half an
hour, at The end of which 1 had thought
out a plan which seemed to me to be the
only one Ct ell feasible. There were some
small pieces of wood lying upon the hearth,
fragments LETT after the fire had been
lighted. 1 picked up one of these, and in
the course Of q few minutes had fashioned
it with my pocket knife into q sort of rude
spstuls, round which L tied 6 piece of stout
string that 1 found in one Of my pockels.
The old men sat Wstching my movements
attertiVely, apparently unconscious of
what ] Was shout to do.
Everything was low ready for ny at
tempt. Occasionally 1 heard the faint
murmUrs Of voices below stairs. showing
that there were other inmates of the house
still awake; andnoW and then the opening
and shutting OF q distant door sounded
preternsturslly loud at that quiet aour. 1
confess that now the finsl moment was
come my heart failed me for a minute or
two, and l began to doubt my ability to
carry out my plan TO q successful issue.
| But this ft of weakness wSs Of short du-
ration, and gave place to au unfaltering
resolution to do and dare everything to
effect my escape.
Irose suddenly from my chair, stepped
across the hearth in two strides, and seized
the hcary rascal by the throat. "Spesk, or
make q noizo, and III murder your 1
whispered sternly ia his ear, and l passed
the bright blade Of my knife close before
his eyes. Then, before he had time to re-
cover from the shock of an attack so sud-
den and unexpected, ] had twisted the
bell.rope into s large loop. far out of his
reach as no sat there. "Open your mouth"
1 said to him, "but do not speak or
you die" He was shiVering with fright,
and had hardly sense enough left 20 IN
derstsnd what sid. nBiercyl mercy
good young man. he gasped, and then the
piece Of wood wac inserted between his
teeth, and tied securely in its place, and he
| could say no more. l next fastened his
hands behind him with my handkerchief,
then drew O sheet off the bed, end cutting
it with my knife into loES striFs, twisted
these, and proceeded to tie hin securely in
his chair. When 1 had satisfied myself
that he was SO fastened that il would be
impossible for him to release himself, and
further, that he was in no danger of being
choked by the gag, 1 turned my attention
&c the window and having taken of my
bccss, SO rs TO mako s5 litt!e noise as posi- |
bio in crossing the floor, I proceed d to try |
tho shutters, and after five minutes patient
labor succeeded in opening them almost in
silence.
The next point was the window; but I
found to my dismsy, when l eamo to ex-
anime it, that it was composed Of small
diamond panes get in lead, and opened by
means of q easement onlz, far to small to
permit any hope of egress that way. Ny
whole scheme seemed to collapse as l
looked, for my intention had been to escape
through the window, aud reach the ground
by means OF & rope mode out Of the bed
clothes. What TO DO row, I knew not, and
as 1 turned despairingly away, the old mans
eyes met mine with q malignant glance
OF mingled rage and triumph. Suddenly
= guUughT S5rECE EJ. GTEuoCBU guO svOGs
man, on leaving the room, had locked the
door behind him, was it not prObabl, that
the cd man had n his possession another
key that would open it? This was 3 cues
ton that l solved at once by searching him,
and in one Of his pockets l found 8 pecu-
liar key-a Master key, l imagined it TO
have been, which probably fitted every
door in the house; at all events it opened
the door of my prison, IS 1 was not long il
discovering. Although this was only the
first step towards my escape, ! could not
repress the joyous bounding Of my heart
when the door turned on It's hinges, and l
stepped cautiously out upon the landing,
and then stood listening 10 the murmur Of
the voices below stairs. But the most diff
GnP1F ,.vf af my nufrrn-Isa ruaC rfIll h1fNrn |
me; this was to Dsss without discovery the
open door of the room below, and then go
down the second flight Of stairs to the
ground-floor, and so out By the first door l
could find. Tho attempt, TO succeed at all,
must be made at once, before the stout
man came up s%isirs, which he would pro-
badly do ere long, TO look af.er the safety
Of his prisoner.
Before venturing down in the direction
of the voices, / gave one last look rOuud
my prison, and examined once more the
bonds of tho old man; then l blew out the
candle and locked the door, and having 70.
moved the key, began to feel my way
down the stairs, ons at q time, pausing to
listen between every step. Fortunately
the house was n Of the old-fashioned
kind, aud strongly built, and not the faint
est crezking OF Q star betrayed my pre-
sence. at length l reached q large land
Ing, giving access TO four rooms. The door
Of one OF those rooms was only partially
closed, and through the opening shone a
faint stream Of light, while How and then
a muttered word or two, whose tones l
recognized, told me that there sat my cap
tor and his friend. Their conversation
was nearly over by the time 1 reached the
landing, bat they still seemed to be silently
busy over something. What was the
nsfarious business that occupied them st
such an unhOly hOur2
Noiseless as & shadow I moved forward till
l stood On the mat at the entrance TO the
room. The door was too far closed for me
20 see the occupants of the room, or for
them to see me but from where 1 stood,
1 could sec the chimney piece, and the
large pier-glsss which stood on it; and in
this glass l could see the reflection of the
stesst man and his friend-cnuld see. too.
what they were doing which kept them 60
silent and busy.
They had got the brown leather port
manteau open between them, and were
intently examining It's contents, which
consisted of watches, chains, rings and