The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-06-30
eYou bean't a-going 10 kin me

ne said.
NO." responded, though You
deserve ii !; 1 am going to tie you To q
tree, gag you and leave you.
THAT will be ten times wuss ~ lac
said, piteously.
How pleasant it is To be cruel j. Is
atemptatiOn that few men, one way
and another, can resist.
As my victim and myself peRetrat-
ed the forest, / begged him sarcastic
ally To select the tree he would like
and when / had secured him and
gagged him, marched off dozen
yards or so, and aimed my Derringer
AZ him it was jolly sight to see
him writhe and make motions for
mercy.
Finally fired the weapon over his
head and he tainted. My pistols were
now both empty. / blaZed the trees
so that his friends would find him
before night, and made the best of
my way back to my horse. What
was my astonishment to fiad my
horse gone l-stOlen without a doubt
"Whew ~ / sOlilOquized, "this Is a
moral neighborhood,n - and immed-
lately thought about loading up.
What was my further astOnisment
to find that / had lost my box of car
/ tridges. So much for being careless.
And there / was in the midst of a
+ township of notorious thieves, with
out 4 weapon, without a horse, and
with over hundred dollars in mon
ey and property in my pOssession.-
The thing did look a little dubious.
! THANK my stars, thought TO my
self, ''there's one highly conscientious
/ Christian in these Notwithstanding
/ to the old man, of course-and at this
house little after sunrise i arrived,
pretty well tired out. The old fellow
was on the lookout for me-.
"Ah," said he, as l entered. 'I
knew the Lord would bless you.
have been praying for you all day."
Thanks" said, "but never mind
about the blessing. All / want is
some mush and blankets and your
horse in the morning to take me to
WatertOwn."
"YOu shall have them" he said,
but shan't read you a chapter ,"
mo"
"The Lord has blessed you?' ne
said inquiringly.
"Yes," l said, che has-I have done
what l wanted, and got rid of my
horse BESIDES" and these were the
last words i said to the old man
till about s O'clock in the morning.
About that time, sir, a. j was
dreaming of having a gay old time,
was awakened by sharp pain in my
check, and loud "thug1 ON the floor
beside me. clapped my hand to my
cheek and felt blood f; between me
and the window was the old mans
form. Why, sir, breaking of light
ming is nothing TO mans nerves at
such a time!
Before you could say "Jack Robin
sOn"-befOre there was time TO form
a single coherent thought found
myself doing the very best thing
eOuld-clutching the old man by the
throat, and pressing the muzzle of
my empty pistol to his temple-he
was shaken like an aspen leaf.
"Oh, don't shoot ~ he screamed,
'Jesus was always merciful."
"Was he ," said /, giving his throat
an awful squeeze.
''Oh, don't kill him." walled the
old woman, "the Lord will bless you
if you don't"
''Get up, you JeZebel, and strike
light, or l will send him and you too,
to the Prince of Darkness growled
/.
The light was struck.
What did | see ? Oh, nothing in |
particular-Only the floor torn up, and
a grave dug to put me in, where the !
wolves would not disturb me. / had |
noticed that the boards were loose |
when | first came in. AS / saw this |
1 couldn't help knocking the old man
down with the barrel of my pistol /
and pitching him into the hole, put |
his Bible into my pocket as memen-
to and in three minutes was on his |
horse, and on the road to Water
town.
Not quite unmOlested, though, for |
as turned the corner of the fence n |
bullet wiZzed spitefully by me. /
turned round. The old she devil was
in the doorway, with rifle
in her hands.
"YOu darsn't come back" she
"You're right, old gal, l darsn't'
thought l, plunging into the dark
ness.
A weary midnight ride that was to
Not that the pain of
my wound was much, for the axe had
but scraped the skin. But the unut-
erable melancholy of night in the al
most virgin forest, the indescribable
sounds, the coyotes yell, the sad
and the mournful rustling of
the leaves, filled me with blueness
that was awful blue-set me to think
ing of things almost forgotten, and
things that were sad to think of then
of days that were different from
these days-well-
When Tom Vincent, like man,
paid me the five hundred dollars |
went into the picture agency business,
md have not touched a card since.