Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-02-17

As he came down the stairs with the
empty cup, he saw dark figure standing
in the dimly lighted hall. He stopped,
with q thrill Of terror: the man was
masked. He had heard of cases where,
desperate from hunger, the rebels had left
their hiding places, and gone into farm
houses, both to rob and murder. Whether
these stories were true or not, it is no
came close to him. But he only held out
letter and when Tom took it, disap.
peared. 1t was square, dirty paper, sealed,
with the mark of thumb upon the wax.
Inside were these words:
" Let no one leauc this house tonight. On
pain Of death.
(Signed) "By order Of
"THE SHAN VAN VoGHT."
And underneath were scrawled these lines
"For ould Ireland shall be free,
From the centre 10 the sea,
Says the Shan Van Voght."
What the Shan Van Voght might be-
Tom did not clearly know. A mysterious
power which the rebels obeyed, he had
heard, no mattel what deed of wickedness
it dictated to them. He sat down on the
stairs. They viii carry off all the stock
and leave us to starve," he said desperate.
". They will burn the house, and U.S.
like rats in tv If it comes to that,
I'll tell mo 4 but not otherwise u
and he we 6he great hall stove,
ana !. . ansn che letter, watched a,1
mother" he "A d again. She has SO
much to beafNHe would take all this
terrible weig fhimself But his heart
thumped har al, the sickness of fear,
under his lit buttony jacket, and his
knees shook. He knew that only some
desperate ur0 ertaking would bring the
croppies her within mile of the village,
where regiment of royal troops were
quartered; and for the same reason they
would come, if at all, in great numbers.
There was no resistance to be made.
What he could do, he did; locked and
barred the doors--the first time they had
ever been so maltreated in the memory of
man. The house was nearly vacant. The
crowd of retainers had dropped away, un-
til only two or three of the maids were
left, who were busted with his mother
But lest some accident might occur to
tempt them fufm the house, Tom set
himself to keS watch, patrolling the
long halls, do1 Einto the kitchen, then to
the parlor, a hack again, the night long.
When To4 WAS man he kept guard
many night on the battlefield, and felt
it was child's pky compared to those slow,
creeping hourcYs Yhich he tramped to
s sus h i h ss to with stand sirr ss
tween his fath Ind mother and their
horde of enemi The moonlight fell in
level beams her nd there across the long
stone hall; at end the fire smouldered
low in the sto% overhead he heard at
intervals his md er's soft step in the sick
chamber; from tsdc came at times an
OWLS boot, or baying of the watch
dog at the moon That ceased presently.
Had they poison Lion?
At that Toms ke grew hot, and, taking
sudden heart, III hurried boldly to the
front door andfH it open. The moon
was behind aVbnd The court yard was
dark but close Ia [e him he heard the
clang OF musk LII the stones, and, the
moment after, 4uick, sharp click. He
drew back 9f1 Mt the door; but, climb.
ing up, log 3D. through the transom.
When the he, chilly moonlight shone
out again er the fields, he saw that the
dark and masked figures which he had
seen ONO before stood sentries around
the houst, vile large bodies Of armed
men passe noiselessly as ghosts across
the slope b tween him and the woods.
The Share Van Voght did their work
OF murder (if rder it was) in silence.
All night By! He did not look out
again but Id hever rested for moment.
Now he fanci he heard stealthy steps
above or bek now he was sure it was
the cracking a fire kindled in one of
the cellars UNI erneath relieved OF one
fear, another h greater followed con-
tinually. TIL heep Of the night had pass
ed. The mod had set, and the fire gone
out. Tom Greg up and down, TO and fro, his
limbs stiff with cold and damp, through the
pitchy darkness. A sickly light began to
struggle through the windows far off he
heard the cocks crow. The sound reached
him, poor Tom as in dream. He drag
ged himself to the door Of his mother 8
room, and heard her voice within, and his
fathers.
Morning had come, and they were safe!
He turned to 60 down and resume his
weary march but, on the way, the poor
little head reeled, the brave heart stopped
beating, and Tom lay stretched on the
cold stone floor, over which he had kept
his long vigils so well.
He was reused by warm cordial at his
lips and the doctors breezy voice calling
. s's :e $ ns From, se,' Good news
Somebody had him in their arms. 1t
was Captain Duncan his mother, half
sobbing and half laughing, was kneeling
before him, chafing his icy feet, and hold
ing them TO her breast But when Tom
tried feebly to rise, there was his father !!
Sitting up in the bed, his eyes bright, and
his cheeks full Of rudy color, as they had
not been for months.
"You're safe, father" Tom chung to his
hand.
''Safe, my boy r. cried the doctor "The
crisis is past, thanks TO God"
But Toms brain went back to the old
thought: "Whom did they murder?
Father, father, to call them Gods crea
tures!" a15fe
No one spoke. But the captain led Tom
to the window, and threw 1t open. The
red flush Of the early day lay soft and
bright on the green slopes, and the dewy
woods, and glancing river; and there, as
far a. the eye could see, was the cut grain,
in long, even, golden heaps, shining in
the sun
Tom tried TO speak. but great lump in