The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-10-14

& ner than 3, ~ 4ek1e
on my mSt = HI - " -
ttSssee II, and have never seen ca
1 Snce. -Ole o. tive queer locking M
have e0qu3red about him, and asked I
H was coming back, aid / said mos
likely he would, and most likely ht
j2RNot at all an interesting story,n
thought sld felt inclined to yawn il
4 Mr.. MOdB ~ ~ ] Itknk0 Nm ~
his INF - fFdI.el 9 e
In; 4rpp8 - - Ii \ Ii 1nefisl
ana making their arrangements for tht
/ prosecution Of nay plans. q szcss stial
At length the eveptfnl day arrived
an4 IstoQd In my own ONCE, with my
name embla1oned on Tie door and PES.
sage wall: fwas waiting for friend
To- eall on nae, (who, by the, way, had
prumised % put me IA the way Of tlo.
Ting some business that very day, and
felt impatient for his arrival in conse-
2 Tho Office was clean and tidy, and
the floor had been well scrubbed.S r :,
Why hadn't they emptied the waste
paper basket Of all that lumberr 9Tl9 &
The oflice-keeper had lighted a fire,
and l took up the basket to perform the
operation myself; but, for some cause
or other, placed it on the table and
began idly to burn the scraps one by
| one. -. g f-,,..-
had nearly disposed of them all
when q scrap attracted my attention,
and ] read it. 1t was torn SO as to
leave few words intact, and it ran
thus .rr.af7r efr. , ',f-1'r ; rrs 8
Louise has given your description,
and you may rely ON our finding you.
Forward the plates ut once, OFT
Then another piece of mysterious
paper, apparently a plan of some place
What did that mean?
But had no time to consider, for
my friend entered, and, putting the
two pieces in the drawer, 1 emptied
the basket in the fire, and went out
with him to do a good days work.
Returning late in the evening, relit
the fire, and addressed myself to the
writing of two important letters to be
posted by n:30 that night, in order to
be In time for the Cunard liner, which
sailed carly in the morning; and then
It was that the black darkness of the
dOorless room opposite me began to
trouble me most. ~.
1t had troubled me before, but on
this night it troubled me tenfold. From
childhood / Id been imaginative, and
knowing this, / stirred the fire, called
myself an ass, and went on with my
letter. But not for long. NY eyes
wandered to the black darkness Of the
doorway, and began to ransack my
memory for statistics of men who could
tell by some occult power if any one
were hidden IN the room they entered;
and laughed aloud when / remem-
bered that l had read of one sensitive
gentleman, who by this same occult
sense had found a surgeons skeleton
was In closet behind him.
l own l dislike being in the dark,
bat I win do myself the justice to say
that l have resolution enough to over
come the dislike. ~ 5a1.
Therefore I proposed to myself to
very quietly walk into the dark room
which troubled me land without a
light, look out of the windows, and
slowly return. = e
1 went-the very first step beyond
the threshold dispelled my fears. /
could see the glimmer of the stars
through the glass, hear the rattle of the
cabs outside. Why, it was quite
cheerful place after all. ~.
Ha! there was shutting noise there
by the closet, and then my fears Nc
turned and overpowered me. / etrove
to walk out like q tragedy hero; but
my pace quickened as / neared the
door, and heard the shufiling noise
close to me, and the next moment .
powerful hand was at my throat, and
helpless on the floor with the cold muz-
zie of q pistol to my head, was bound
and dragged into the outer office, thrust
into my chair, and confronted by two
quiet-l0Oking men, one of whom laid
his revolver OH the table, saying at the
same time, with an ugly sneer :" So,
Brunton, we have caught you at last"
II.
The speaker was mild, intelligent
looking man Of about thirty-five. In
q proper dress he would have looked
like . High Church clergyman. His
companion was evidently a foreigner,
and 1 imagine a German. He was
about fifty years of age, and wore spec
tacles, and the profnsion of hair and
whiskers covered more than half his
face, But he had q winning smile and
good teeth, which he often took an OPP
pOrtunity Of showing. &
We have found you at last"
l am thankful to say that ] am not
nervous when l see danger, and I
MY name is Harker, and not Brun-
ton; Mr.. Moss, the landlord of these
premises, has noticed my resemblance
to his late tenant, and is satisfied that
am not the same. Depend upon 1t,
that shall make you repent this out
rage"
/ tried to rise to call for help from the
street, but the pistol was cooked and
pointed at me, and that was in the
mans face which cautioned me against
rashness In my helpless condition. i
"Iwill sit down. / replied, and hear
what you have to say; but if 1 choose
to do it I shall do my best to raise an
alarm in spite of your revolver"
"Vell spoke, Carl" said the foreign
er; Louise always say he was a
plucky one"
"Now, then, Bruntcn, let us have no
nonsense. We have not met before, it
is true, but Louise has so well described
you, that putting another name on
your door was simply idiotic. Besides, |
one of US has watched for your return,
and we communicated with him direct
ly when you landed. Go free if you
like, but we will have the plates"
"Dat's the matter vid u.s." echoed
the German; Eve will have the plates.n
81 know nothing of any plates,n l
cried, "nor of Louise, nor of you. All /
l know is, that you will see the inside
Of prison very shortly"
'"And you think you can throw us,
throw me over in this way! Do you
think you deal with cllildren%
I" 1 think deal with , burglar. Most
certainly with rascal Of some sort or
other ~ -..-r
Here my two friends held q whisper
edc0nference. Then he of the revolver
turned sharply towards me.
"Wiu you marry Louise? Will you
give up the plates and marry my sis
ter P
"She lote you like old boots" added |
the German; and from which opine |
that he prided himself on knowledge |
of English idiOm.
In spite Of my serious position was |
getting thoroughly amused. The dark |
doorway held unknown terrors to my |
excited imagination bat the two conn |
mopplace fellows who hxd made a mis- |
take, only caused feeling of merri- |
ment, even In spite Of the revolver.
ar am sorry I cannot oblige you," l |
replied. "I am fiattered by the lady's |
,-oR>-n,~o~, I,.,k ho xyiy,n n vxyi6n alrpAdv !