Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-08-31

than him, and was ugly as sin.
However, she managed to get up a
tOlerable good supper, which Harry and
l ate with a relish, as we had not time
TO finish our supper under the tree.
was rendered rather uneaTsy during sup
per by observing the man and woman
cOnveTsing together in whispers, and
every once in a while casting glanees at
us.
tried to whisper to Harry, and bid
him be on his guard against any danger,
but he was blind to all my signs, and at
last gave it up i'm despair. Harry, inn
mediately after supper, began to yawn
fearfully, which the old woman Observ-
ing, asked him If he wanted to 90 to
bed.
'If you can give me a bed l wouldn't
mind answered Harry.
'We have only three rooms said the
man, speaking aloud for the first time
in a gruff voice, 'and if that gentleman,
and he looked at me, will sleep up
stairs, we can make you up bed in
the next rOOm.'
/ didn't like the arrangement, but
Harry agreed instantly, and said:
Call me at five i'm the morning its
Sleep
And he looked at his watch, massive
gold hunting case.
l noticed the old man cast a greedy
look at il, and then the old woman led
the way up the ladder 10 the room
above, and Harry bid me good night,
and went into the other room.
When I was left alone looked around
the garret, but failed to find anything
to feed my suspicion on, and at last / sat
down on the bed.
There was but one Window in the
room, and that had heavy shutters to it,
which were closed. l tried to push them
open, as I could not perceive any bolt
to them, but, to my CONSERVATION, they
were immOvable
The only exit from the room was by
way of the ladder, and through the
room below
In fact was in a trap,
/ Without arms or ammunition of any
kind, with no chance of escaping, no
fastening to the door, l was completely
at the mercy of any Tuftian or ruftians
who might choose to attack me.
This thought almost crazed me; but
! then thought might not be mistaken;
! they might be honest folks in spite of
their looks, and perhaps I had been
/ frightened at shadows Of my own con-
! juring.
Somewhat assured by the continued
silence down stairs, 1 laid down on my
/ bed, a mere truss of hay in the middle
of the floor.
| The floor was merely rough planks,
with cracks between them about half an
inch wide, through which the light from
the fire shown up.
| As I laid myself down I fancied I
! heard a nOis in the room below, and on
applying myself to one Of the cracks,
! looked down, and this is what I saw:
! On the table was lighted candle, and
| near it stood the misunderstanding man
sharpening a mUrderOus-lOOking knife.
The woman seemed to be laying to dis
suade him from the purpose he had in
view, too well my heart told me that
| that purpose was to murder my friend
first, and then me.
Il tell you it won't pay, said the wo-
man, earnestly.
Yes it WILL replied the man, with a
laugh that made me Shudder. 1T will
pay. Didn't you notice that gold watch?
A fellow that can sport must have plen-
! ty of money, and we'll see if he won't
leave some Of it here
Before I could well realize the dread
full purport Of his words, he gave the
knife a finishing touch and disappeared
into the room where Harry lay sleeping,
quietly sleeping, unconscious Of the
dreadful fate hanging over him. I list
ened intently, and presently I heard a
sort of struggling noise, and then all
was still. A few minutes passed, when
the murderer came out with the knife
in his hand dripping with blood rose
to my feet; 1 had seen enough. would
probably be the next victim but de-
termi1ed that would not be murdered
without a struggle. The only articles of
furniture in the room were a table and
Chair-bOth heavy, clumsy things. I
moved these, without making the least
noise, against the door, and then looked
around in the room for some WeaDOD.-l
To my great joy espied in one corner
of the room heavy club or bludgeOn-l
just the thing. Taxing my station be-
side the door, so that 1 could not be
seen, waited.
l was impatient to avenge my murd-
cred friend-the only sOm of a widowed
mother and [ shuddered to think that if
l escaped alive, mine would be the task
to inform her of her sons fate.
1 look back on that night now with |
horror to think how I passed it. Stand !
ing on the defensive, listening acutely, |
but hearing nothing; seeing nothing, for |
the light below had been eXtinguished, !
and my candle had burned out verv |
quickly, passed eight mortal hours
What could this continued silence mean? /
Could they have discovered, by some !
means, that I was on my guard, and /
were they waiting until descended the
ladder to sprlng'On me?
] struck match and looked at my
watch and fou1nnH fIe ~ T,1- Il
near sunrise at that time of the wear.
had hardly returned my watch to its
fob when / heard a movement in the
room below. Looking down through
the floor l saw the old woman busily en-
gagged in cooking breakfast, while the
man was sitting beside the fire calmly L
smoking his pipe as cOOlly as possible. Ii
AS / was looking at him the old Wo-
man spoke something to him. He arose,
and coming to the foot of the ladder he
cried out, Stranger, breakfast is ready y
while the old woman went into the 9TH
er room. d
l arose, and removing the furniture !
from the door l seized the club I'm nv 4
hand and prepared to descend. I had
formed the desperate resolution that I q,
would spring down and kill both the men {
and woman, and l had placed nv foot
.
door of the inner room opened, and Har-
ry MOTeland cOOlly walked out.
I could hardly believe my eyes, and l =
descended the ladder, and took my seat {
at. the table in a daZed condition, from |
which 1 was aroused by the old woman. {
Have some beef, Sir {" she asked 1
It's fresh-veTy.' II
Yes pnt Ia the man, Il had calf in {
the shed, and thinking as how gentle t
men like you might want something {
good for breakfast, killed it last night l
I never said world couldn't; and {
and after our meal, paying the man lib {
Oerally, we left that poor but honest '
roof, and after 2 short search found our t
guns again, t
And all the way back to Waynes- c
Jurgh, though / spoke of many things, 2
carefully refrained from mentioning t
anything to Harry about the midnight t
murder of which had been the horror ?
struck witness. Il
CurIOgItIes Of Eating.
An old beau, formerly well known in a
City, was accustomed to s.
sat but one meal in twenty-fOur hours; b
after this he had to go To a marty and ri