The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1868-06-12

robes with golden hair all about her
shoulders, who wruDg her hands and cried,
oOh. wake up you are wanted at the
Cross Roads,
This time started ont of bed bathed in
a colusPerspintion. I1rembled ike q leaf.
and had no doubt that / had received q su,
pernatural warning. S. So #
"Ben," Icried, Ben, for the third time
Ihave been told that / am wanted Il the
Gross Roads and l am going
And l began to dress myself az speedily
as possible, listening meanwhile to the
storm, raging madden and wilder than at
any other period since is commencement
Ben demonstrated with me in vain. At
last he also began to huddle on his clothes
w. you have gone mad, lmust go with
you and take care Of sou" he said. but
fancy another man going in storm like
this to the Gross Roads, because night
mare advises MIN to do so, and what would
you think OF him p
said nothing. All l could have an
swered would have been:
Il am impelled to go; i must 60 /
dare not refuse, whatever may be thought
of me.
In ten minutes we were splashing
through mud aud rain along the road. 1t
was perfectly dark ; now and then blaz-
ing red star in the distance told US that a
lamp was cleaning through the rain IN
some cottage window, but otherwise would
not have been conscious of our proximity
to any habtation whatever. AT last near
ing the spot where the road from S.
crosses the road from P, we were, in
deed, in as solitary place as could we'll be
imagined.
The house, which abutted onlthe very
angle Of the roads, called in familiar par
lance the Cross Roads, was the only one for
some distance in either direction, and GER
taiuly on such night we were not likely to
meet many travellers.
| All was silent as the crave. We stood
quite still. Ina moment Ben broke out
with one of his widest laughs.
''Well," he said, how now? Will you
90 home and have another nightmare
But hardly had the words escaped his
lips when a Shrek broke on. the air, and a
woman $ voice, plainly coming from the In
terror Of the cottage, cried:
Help help helpPI
Ben, said l, I'VE we're wanted at the
Cross Roads, and then, understanding
each other without more words We made
our way to a window, through whichAa
| light shone. A muslin curtain draped the
panes, bur through it We saw an awful
sight.
| An old man lay upon the floor, and ovel
him bent ruffian, clutehing his throat
aud holding pistol to his ear, while an.
other man grasped shrieking girl by he
arm--a girl in floating night-dress-with
such long golden hair as belonged to the
woman OF my vision. ....,-.
Not a moment was to be wasted
Ben flung his weight against the slender
lattice and crushed it in, and We had crap
| pied with the ruf6ans before they knew
whence the attack came or how many foes
we're upon them.
do not intend to describe the struggle
| indeed, | could not if I would. But W.
were strong men, and inspired by the cries
of the helpless old man and the terrified
girl, soon had one OF the villains bound auC
the other lying PROSTATE on the floor. u
] Then Ben started for assistance, and be-
fore morning bot h were in Jail, Ben ad
hitting, as We shook each other by the
hand, that We were wanted at the eros:
Roads," HeF ~ ~ .--ar E~s
The old man was not mIser, but he haC
saved some few thousands for his old age
and living more plainly than he need have
done, had given rise to the runor, and ST
brought the burglars to the Cross Roads
in the hope Of booty.
The gml, a beautiful creature of seven
teen, was his granddaughter, and as M
story is acceptable to the lady reader with
out favor Of romance, / will tell then
that she became in after years, not m,
wife, but the wife of my darling brothe
Ben.