Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1867-02-14
NUMBER 81.

seemed creeping over my llmDS. Il
weight was falling gradually on my
stifened eyelids. prayed, in an
agony of terror, that I might not be
killed asleep,-that might, at least,
have fight for my life.
Suddenly Lori raised her head and
listened. The sound to which she
listened whistle, 80 low that |
could scarcely hear twas repeated.
She crept stealthily across the gard
en-, and raised the latch of the post
ern, which evidently did not open
from the outside. A man came in,
hurly thickset fellow, and the door
was closed again. The three stood
together for moment i'll the moon
light. Lori and the man looked up
atmy window | took care they should
not see me), while Gretchen turned
her head away and wrung her hands.
Then all three came slowly and noise
lessly towards the house.
Now or never was my moment for
escape There was one chance for
me. | had seen how the door open
ed -. if | could manage to reach
it ! -. But if l hesitated, a few
minutes hence the drugged beer
might complete its work, and l be
unable to move hand or foot. | open
ed the window softly, and looked out
There was drop of about twenty
feet into the garden (Which, it will
be remembered, was some feet below
the kitchen again. If jumped this
the noise must attract attention and
might sprain or break my leg into
the bargain. An expedient occurred
to me. l had not replaced the floor
ing which | had removed. The
board, which ran the full length of
the room, measured nearly sixteen
feet. Leaning, as far as l could
stretch, out of the window, l man
aged to rest one end of this board
upon the ground, the other against
the house wall some four or five feet
below me-
had scarcely accomplished this,
when heard the sound of feet out
side my door, a bolt withdrawn, the
handle turned. My barricade would
obstruct the doorway for some few
minutes but for some few minutes
only. | had just time to swing my
self from the window-sill by my
hands, to get both feet round the
plank, to slide to the ground, to fly
like the wind, to raise the postern
latch, when the crash of falling table
and chairs reached my ears. | ran
| know not in which direction-up
one street, and down another, on, on
fancying | heard the sound of feet
behind me no soul visible, to right
or left At last, breathless and ex-
hausted, down by the rivers side, l
came to a soldiers guard house. A
sentry was at the door there was a
ruddy light of the mems pipes and of
lantern within. No haven was ev-
er more grateful to shipwrecked mar
iner. | fell down upon the step the
sergeant and his men came and star
ed, demanded with oaths what |
wanted, and, as ! could not speak at
first, declared was drunk. Then,
as in half-articulate phrase | poured
out my strange tale, they changed
their minds, and declared l was mad.
But as | was an amusing rather than
a dangerous lunatic, and served to
beguile the tedious hours of the
night, they let me remain among
them ; asked the same stupid ques-
tions over and over again laughed
their horse-laughs and spat and spat
all around me, until daybreak. Then
they directed me to the cathedral
and left them. One of the .sacris-
tans was unlocking the doors as
got there. found my knapsack IN,
touched, in the dusky corner of the
confessional there, utterly worn out,
at last, with the excitement of that
eventful night, leaned back, in the
gray morning light, and fell asleep.
The sun was high when | awoke :;
the feet of the devout were shuffling
IN to their morning prisons. | shoul-
dered my knapsack and crept away.
My head ached my limbs felt chill
and numb. Had | been dreaming
Were they no more than mere sha-
dows of the brain which had left be-
hind them so deep and terrible an i'm
preston ? | met a sacristan-not
the one whom | remembered the night
before-as | was going out stop
ped to question him Did he know
anything of two fair haired women
who bad been at vespers last even
ing | described them. He stared
at me and shook his head. II the
crowds who came there daily how
could he tell whom | meant / left
him, and entered humble little gas
thaus hard by, where, for few gros-
chen, broke my fast. Here l made
the same inquiries. l even essayed
to tell my story ; but | saw that, like
the soldiers, the people thought me
wandering in my wits. They told
me, rather derisively, that | had bet
ter tell my story to the police. But
how could l hope to be believed, I'M
supported as my extraordinary state
ment was by any proof whatsoever ?
If could not test the reality of these
events to my own absolute satisfe C,
ton, was it likely that others would
regard them as anything but the ere,
ations of an excited Imagination? ?
l wandered for couple hours
through the city, trying to find my
way to the house, the exterior of
which | felt certain l should recog-
niZe. | could not even trace the road
| had taken, and at last l gave it up.
The conviction slowly and reluctant
ly grew up in me that | was suffering
| from the effects of a vivid nightmare