The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-11-12

its wavelets moved past the bar, an
dashed against the inside Of the boile
"Stop that play, boys,' said l, ,"an
tell James to close up the boiler.''-
They had not seen me before, an
when they heard my voice they Ii
the iron bar fall and scampered ava,
The bar dropped with loud splas
into the water.
"Never mind" thought 1, 9Th
fireman can get it out again whe
they clean the boiler next Sunday.
I was about to leave the boiler-rOor
when James entered.
"Good evening sir, began he, in
. cheerful tone 81 guess the new en-
gineer will arrive tomorrow nigh,
}. and 1 am glad of it. Please steI
into my room and read this letter
8 which Pve received this afternoon
e From it you can see why I'm glad t.
j, get away from here.'
j. He gave me tnefetter. E was to,
2 dark to read it outside, and I enteret
his room. / sat down and read tn
J letter, which was from James moth
r er, urging him to come home instant
ly.
"You thought / was mad at yot
because you made love to Minnie
, But you you were mistaken, old boy
; for look at this letter. said he, hand
. ing me another.
1t was a letter apparently from s
young girl, although the handwriting
looked rather masculine. 1t wa:
dated from the same New England
village in which James mother wa.
living, and its contents breathed
intense love for him. 1t was signed
"Annie''
"Yes,' replied he in answer to my
questioning look, "I'll marry Annie
as soon as / set foot in my native vii
lage."
won't you wait until the bans are
published p asked /, with a laugh
Not minute. I'll go straight to
her house, take her to the next par
son who for mcasy- or gasd words
will soon tie.the knot! Now con.
tinued he, after pause, during
which he took a bottle and two tin
cups from a shelf over his head
''now let's drink to the health of our
intended Brides" And he filled the
cups.
"Hold on, james first let me
know what is in the cups" said 1.
"Your intended fsther-in-law gave
me bottle of Angelica wine. He
said that it was the best that he had
in the cellar" answered James.
liked sweet wine and l took the
cup.
Here is to the health and prosper
ity of Annie :" exclaimed I,emptyipg
the cup.
"Here's to Miss Minnie, who, am
sure will be the best and truest of
wives !" was the toast of James, as
he, too, emptied his cup.
'Now here is q real HAVANA y
said he, taking some cigar. from HE
pocket, and handed me one which |
lighted. Then sernng INTO the'chafr
l listened to detailed account of his
previous life. The narrative seemed
very uninteresting to me, and l was
wishing inwardly that it would soon
end, for 1 had to go to s. that
very night on business connected
with the mill.
Gradually the light became dim,
and the voice OF James sounded hOl-
low. 1 tried to tell him to trim the
lamp and speak q little louder, but
my lips only moved, and not sound
came from my throat. The tobacco
smoke Is choking me, thought 1,
casting my eyes towards my right
hand, which was slowly slipping
from the edge of the table upou
which was lying a half-consumed
cigar. Strange that / felt no pain as
the hand struck the sharp corner of
the chair. l tried to rise, but my
endeavors were in vain. Some heavy
weight seemed to press my shoulders
"a weight which I could not shake
off. 1 lifted my eyes toward James,
who was sitting opposite to me. My
God! Was it q hallucination of my
whirling brain, or was it reality?
] saw, as if through haze, the eyes
of James glaring at me like those of
a wildcat about to spring upon its
prey.
Every line of his features proclaim
ed hate-undylng hate. He rose and
came close to where l sat.
His voice sounded to me like the
roar of thunder, as he said:
"Aha! I've got you now, my fine
fellow; this time l am sure that you
can never, never marry Minnie. Ten
minutes more and you are dead
Oh {! it's no use,' cried he, in voice
that pierced my ears, as he saH that
/ tried to shake off the tolls that
seemed to bind me to the chair. "No
use whatever, old boy. If 1 would
let you go now you would hang me.
True enough, gypsy once said that
l would break my neck, but not upon
the gallows, no! no! Some weeks
ago 1 tried to kill you, but it was
already too dark to take good aim,
and you escaped.
"The letters you have perused are
all nothing but forgeries. NV moth
er has been dead these four years,
and the girl Annie is only creation
of my brain"
His voice seemed to lower to
whisper, as he continued:
"They will say that you have been
a villain, that you fed q few days
before the day set for the wedding.
Minnie will be very unhappy, and /
will do my best to cheer her up. She
would have loved me had you not
crossed my path with your fine talk
and nonsense, which won her affec
tions.
1.-TWO minutes more," said he, after
a pause, during which he looked at
his watch. .'Yes, two minutes more
and your soul will leave its miserable
body. Please give my regards to
His Satanic Majesty. Tell him
sooner or later l will join you in the
fiery regions below. Your eyes are
closing now; your face has the hue
of death your limbs are getting
cold, yes, cold as ice."
felt the touch of his hot hand
upon my face. 1t seemed as if 8
thousand needles were entering every
part of my body; ared blur obscured
my vision and it was becoming dark
er. felt as if something was press
ing upon nv head which now seemed