Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-09

father, don't say that shall marry u
Monte!"
SIS this the way the villain has repaid
me for my generosity2 While I was ex
tending to him the hand ef charity
keeping him, as it were, from starving
he was stealing my daughter--the IN
grateful beggar."
Carrie, who possessed great spirit Of
determination when once roused-a dis.
position she had come honestly by
dashed her dishevelled hair aside from
her face, and said: ssThere is no ne
cessity for weeping. My mind is made
up and decided. aoiu not marry De
Monte ~
"You Wiu not 2 We will seel
have given him my word that you should,
and hell itself cannot prevent its fulfil
ment. l will give you one month upon
which to consider this matter. If at the
expiration of the time specified you are
willing to do as / have requested, twill
be found to be judicious decision. Z"
CHAPTER II.
There is q large portion of Florida
which abounds in caves and singular
caverns. Many of these extend to a
great depth beneath the surface of the
earth. These subterranean apartments
and passages occur mostly in that section
of the country known as the limestone
region.
Throughout this portion of Florida, at
the time of which we write, was pow
erful league of banditti, who inhabited
many of these wild caverns. They were
secreted in the bushy swamps, or high
land thickets, being thus comparatively
safe, defying the combined forces of their
enemies 10 dislodge them. Their reputa-
ton for cruelty and bloodshed extended
over nearly all the northern portion of
the territory.
One feature which constituted the
principal power of these freebrooters.
and which rendered them so successful
against all attempts to their determination
was the fact that their league extended
through nearly every grade of society.
While these apparently well disposed per-
sons were pursuing the ostensible bust
ness of some respectable occupation, they
were in reality leagued with assassins.
The farmer, SIS he titled the soil, would
be plotting the robbery of his neighbor;
the lawyer, as he sat in his Office, would
be devising some means whereby he
could gain access to some bank vault;
the merchant, as he counted his cash at
night, would be calculating upon the adj
ditional sum then in his neighbours
drawer, but which, ere the morning
would be his own; the mechanic, as he
labored on through the day, carefully
listened to the sayings of the people with
whom he might be surrounded, and at
night every plan of their enemies were
carried as by magic to the ears of the
ever-watchful Karl Hassan.
g. condition of affairs like these may
well incite the peaceable portion of a
community TO the most alarming appre-
tensions. A mans property-even life
was in jeopardy everywhere; there was
no assurance against the attack of these
bold and fearless desperadoes. Karl Has
san, their chief, was q shrewd and ex-
perienced manager, under whose skilful
generalship their detection appeared al
most impossible. This artful leader was
known to have been IN the midst of
crowds who were gathered together for
the purpose of denounciDg him, or of en-
tering into schemes for his detection and
arrest. In the church, in the street, In
places of business, or wherever you might
90, this arch fiend of blood would come,
while those who were seeking his des +.
truction were ignorant of his presence.
In those days of which we speak, it
was not an uncommon occurrence to find
the bodies of men who had been assass-
mated, either upon the roads leading out
of the city, or upon the streets in their
very midst. Not unfrequently were per-
sons found dead upon their own door
steps, where they had been stabbed to the
heart as they were about to enter their
residence-the key taken by the assassin,
the house entered and robbed.
Four weeks had intervined since the
incidents of our first chapter, bringing
US to the day previous to the one on
which Carrie, according to her fathers
arrangement, was to be married to De
Monte.
Carrie had just passed from the sitting
room to the parlor, when, on looking
from the window, she discovered the
same tall stranger advancing toward the
house, who, one month previous, had
made the mysterious call of which we
have before spoken. With a quick step
and steady gaze in the direction he was
going, not once looking to the right or
left, the man came directly to the front
door. Without any hesitancy, he opened
the door and walked into the parlor.
Carrie arose from the chair upon which
she had seated herself, when he, motion
ing her to be reseated, turned, closed the
door, passed quick glance around the
apartment, and said:
'sBeware of De Montel He is a wolf
in sleeps clothing. Yield not to
his wish. Gillispie is prisoner in some
of the caves where the bandits coDgre
gate. He was captured the same night
on which he left you, some four weeks
ago. Be not influenced by your father
to marry, until you hear from me again.
l will certainly come. Believe me, wher
say that | have the good of you anG
your lover at heart in all am doing Re
peat to no one the words which l have
spoken TO you, nor tell of my presence
here, not even to your mother" HI
then turned quickly upon his heel anC
walked out of the house.
Carrie was more perplexed this tint
| than before. The man was certainly {
stranger to her, and yet he seemed to un
derstand and know so much of matte
which she had supposed to be a secret t,
all except her own family. He had as
serted that Frank Gilispie was prisone
among the bandits. How should b
know2 Yet Frank had promised to writ
Immediately on his return, but she ha
not received a letter. Twas strange
Perhaps the man had spoken th
truth. All! a new thought enters he
mind-this strange man must be Ka
Hassan. The thought caused her I
shudder.
Her meditations were so absorbing tn,
she had not noticed the arrival of D
Monte, and she was not apprised of hi
presence at the house until he ha
walked through the open doorway int
the parlor and stood before her. 81
gazed up into his face but did not speal
when he remarked:
ga very good day to you, Miss Gui
4 O-1l oy,l In hat