St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-10-30
CAPTAIN ROLF,S STORY.
BY THE AUTHOR OF ''rIIE DODGE CLIE."
''CORD AND CREASE" ETC, ETC.

'"iN7' O"P'oii iNoii vi tlc lou hrSu-
lars was generally a grave and silent
man; but one evening, being bard press
ed, he told the following story:
1t was on the close OF sultry evening
in August that | took my way along a
woodland road that led to the town of
W, in the state of Virginia. The
extreme sultriness Of the weather had
wcaried me more than either the length
of the way or the roughness of the road /:
and when at length | came III sight of a
comfortable inn, nesting among trees on
the roadside, felt extreme delight 1t
was a small house, but Il clean one and
the general air of neatness which char
acterlZed it was most attractive to the
weary traveller.
The western part of Virginia had
abou. this time been much troubled by a
gang of desperadoes, whose robberies and
acts of violence had both startled and
mortified the community. All efforts to
catch them had been in vain, and the
road which | was travelling enjoyed the
unenviable notoriety of havinS been the
scene of by far the greater number ct
their crimes. 1t was, therefore, with
teelinGs OF deep satisfaction that | cnte..-
ed the door of this peaceful cottage.
The interior correspondcd with the ex-
terror. Nothing but cleanliness and
neatncss met the eye. | was encounter
cd AZ the door by woman ot very pre-
possessing appearance, vino ceurtcously
invited me into the parlor. ! intormrd
her that | proposed passing the night at
this house, and asked her if she had ac-
commcdatIJns for my horse. She AN
swered in rhc affirmative, and went OH
to call the hostier In Il few minutpS :
tall. ill-looking man came forward, aut
proceeded to lead my horse away, moi
however before had removed the sad.
,llc-hags and taken them under my owr
particular care.
The woman soon came in, and busieC
herself with arrangem ent- about my din
ner. noticed that she had trouble
expression anl frequently cast uneasy
glances at me- This did not motto,
particularly at first, OF rather | attribut.
ed II 10 tie ordinary anxiety which any
careful laudlady might feel about tn,
success OF her dinner.
Dinner passed over very well, and
adjourned TO the chief room OF the inn t,
take my post-prandial smoke. iounc
there several men OF sinister aspect sitlin.
around the Fireplace. The moment
entered they stopped talking and relapseC
into silence.
These men were evidently hGJit"eS o
the house How this modest lookiu.
woman ever came into connection viii
such men | could not imagine. Howcv
er, there it was. These men. who w,r,
nearly Il dozen in number, were certainly
about the widest set of despcradocs il
appearance thai | ever saw. Al'cr som,
minutes of silence they rose one 10y ON
and LETT the room.
had carried my sadile-bass wIli IN,
Us entered the rColn, and noticed tha
my care of them attracted the notice o
these men. soon finished my smoAc
and then, rising, l took my things an'
inquired Coz my bedroom. The woman
took the light, and led the way. As
came TO the door She turned around AN,
faced me. Handing me the light .h
suddenly clutched lny arm: ANA with
pale face, and in thrilling whisper, sh
said
For Gods sake, take care, They'r
uong to Kill and rob you
before | could recover from the star
which her words gave me she was gone.
mechanically entered the room, pu
down the light, and stood like one a;upe
fed.
What words were these! Kill me
rob me-! What did the woman mean
As | thought of these words the belle
forced itself upon Inc that tins house
Notwithstanding its simple neaineSs, wa
somehow connected with these yer
hrigands of whom Ishad heard so much
For moment l felt paTalyzed.
You may well believe that ii was
fearful moment Here was |, alone, i
a lonely part OF the country, completed
IN the power of these villains. As I
,he woman, she had warned me indeed
but why had she not warned me before
thought OF escape, but that was lmpo'
sible. Surprising L could get away !roi
the house, l could not hope to AVOID tn
pursuit oil these ruflians along the road
and to take to the woods was certai
death.
At length the very desperation of m
situation reused me to action. "liere,
thought, Il will wait ard receive IA
doom. / will sell my lie rs dearly {;
possible, l will not fly. | will renal
here, trust in God, and fight till III
last" After this decision felt better
went to the door and barred it as we
as | could, and put all the furniture {
the room against it. L also cramme
some pillows against the window
Then, opening my saddle-bags, l too
out my pistol case, to see how my arm
were
My arms consisted of two OF the mo-
beautiful revolvers that ever were seel
Both were ''seven-shooters," with ii
very latest mprovements-a movab
chamber for the insertion of cartridge
which themselves were of new invel
q ton. l had large supply of these ca
tridges, and never did l feel great,
: revulslon of feeling than when these r
volvers of mine presented themselves b
fore me as my very good friends to pr
tect me at this hour.
5 So great was the reaction that l felt
positive exullatiuu.
My life will be hard to take, L tionsil
J some of these devils, will, perhaps, 10
theirs first. Then my humor gre
somewhat pleasant reflected wi