The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-02-25

IIlSHI vi II, ~hdoleE 1 OH. ldWQeQ AIT
why, you belong to their church
Kit; you ought to be one Of them,' ,
(careleSsly peering in the barrel as
he spoke.
"Och, wirasthrue! wud yees say to
me that wuz Ribbonman?" with
a sudden howl of horror.
"Don't bother, Kit, Pick up cloth.
and stop whining. I know you're Or
ange to the backbone. Like me-"
Kit stood by in silence while, his
furtive blue eyes steadily watching
Tom, under the light lashes.
1 suppose yeez couldn't lift one
of the masther's guns, nOw?"
81 can lift any one of them. Come
and see."
Tom hung his pretty silver-m oun-
ted gun over his bed carefully, and
then ran down the steps leading to
his fathers chamber closely follow
ed by Kit. 1t was q large room, with
windows opening to the ground.
Over the fireplace hung a couple of
crossed swords, and fine gun,
which Mr.. Kelsee used in the chase.
From under the pillow Tom drew a
pair of pistols; the bed was bigh
posted, with heavy wooden curtains;
from the tester, or top, he took down
q couple of light guns.
"Is that all?' said Kit, with a
touch Of contempt. Tom hesitated.
An Irish gentleman took as much
Ipride in his weapons as his horses,
land Tom had no mind to hear father
sDeered at; still he remembered that
Kit belonged to the class who we're
FURNISHED with death, if a gun was
found in their houses, and that they
were now in rebellion, burning and
killing, Mr.. Knapp said, all before
them, to gain possession of these
very weapons.
If l show you the others, you'll
never breathe it now, Kit?" he said
lat last. There's danger Of"
Then rascally Ribbonmen. l
know. Och, yeez wouldn't be afeard
of poor Kit, now, Master Tom?"
So Tom pushed back the bed-cur-
tains, touched a spring in the panel,
and showed a secret closet, in which
hung about dozen guns, most of
them finely mounted. "My father
has a better collection than Lord
Roscommon," he said proudly, clos
ing the door.
"Troth it's foine," But Kit turned
away with such a dull, Indifferent
face, that Toms uneasiness was dis
PEELED. He went down to supper
That was a very different meal from
the light dishes Of crackers and oys-
ters and tea, which Tom Waters calls
suppers. There was a table covered
with fine linen, which Mrs. Kelsoe
and her maids had spun (there were
great presses full of it up-stairs) },
and on it were roasted wild ducks,
and a mountain of spiced beef, and
dishes of game and fish, and hare
pasty, besides hot cakes and tea, and
an enormos bowl of punch. and high
Jugs of smoking toddy, with the
roasted apples bobbing up and down.
Some of the neighbors were there,
as they were, indeed, for every meal.
Tom slipped away after supper, and
ran out to the kitchen. There was
as great crowd there, and as heavy
eating, as in the hall. There was no
Icounting the hangers-on about the
Kelsoe kitchen. There were cooks,
and maids, and grooms, and the hen
wife, and the goose-wife, and the
wife who made the BARN yeast,
and dozen more, whe "just held
/ by the family" Yet Mr.. Kelsoe was
not a rich man. He held large dai-
ry-farms Ton peppercon leases for
ninety-nine years., and the many
mouths ate up more than the profits
| from year to year.
Tom liked to go down to the kit
chen to be fattered and jol1ed with,
and to hear stories of fairies or ban
shees. But tonight it was very dull
down there; the men, even Kit, had
all gone to a wake, and the women
were silent. So he went to bed ear
ly, leaving a candle burning, with
frightened look out at the slope of
the hill and the woods beyond.
1t was about midnight when Tom
awoke with the sudden feeling Of ter
rible danger. The room was still as
death; the candle was gone, but the
moonlight lay in a square patch on
the floor. He got up and groped
about. Nothing.
He went to the window. What !
was that dark, compact mass by the
copse yonder, where the fox found
cover on Monday? What were those
moving shadows stealing slowly to
the house, below the trees? Sud
denly wild cry broke through the
air. 1t was his mothers voice. Tom
sprang to the door, dashed it open,
and found himself in the grasp of
vice-like hands, that, struggle as he
might, dealt with him as if he were
nothing but a weak kitten. In a mo-
ment he was gagged, his hands and
feet lied together, and thrown on the
landing.
There were a dozen figures in the
hall below struggling in the moon
light. His father fighting the rob-
bers alone and unaided. Tom kick
! cd and writhed franticly, but to no
purpose. Mr.. Kelsoe was not q
strong man, but he fought like-an
Irishman. 1t was in vain, though;
the dark, silent figures swarmed out
of every door, overpowered him, left
him tied and helpless. Yet Tom,
through all his fury, could not but
notice that they were oddly gentle
with his father; did not return one
of his desperate blows, The women
they had locked, unhafmed, into the
dining-room. When Mr.. Kelsoe was
conquered, there was moments
quiet: then the masked men went
| out and returned, carrying the store
Of weapons which Tom had discover
ed to Kit. One man, who seemed to
be the leader, paused a moment at
the door. and. coming back, laid two
of the most costly guns beside MIR.
Kelsoe, breaking the absolute silence
which they had observed, by a whis-
Iper-'You must not miss the fox