Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1872-10-31

tel-Shelf, and, Iln'ing 1t firmly over the
thumb piece Of the latch on one side
and over the clumsy catch on the 9th
er, | improvised a door chain that
would at least act as a momentary
check in case the door was forced from
without. Lastly, by means Of some
halfchaTed sp'inters from the hearth,
| contrived to wedge up the bottom Of
the door in such u manner, that the
more it was pushed inwards, the more
firmly fixed it must become.
SO far, my work had been noiseless
but now the time was come when it
could be so no longer. The house
door must be secured at all costs and
| knew beforehand that | could not
move those heavy fastenings unheard
Nor dil |. The key, despite all my
efforts, grated loudly in the lock, and
he bolt resisted the rusty staples, |
got it in, however, and the next mo-
mcnt heard rapid tootsteaps overhead.
knew now that the crisis was COM
ing, and from this moment prepared for
open resistance.
Regardless of noise, | dragged out
fist one heavy oaken settle and then
the other-placed them against tle in
ner door piled them with chairs, stools,
frewood and everything could lay
my hands upon-raked the Slumbering
embers, and threw more wood upon
the hearth, so as to bar that avenue, if
any attempt was made by way of the
chimney-and hastily ransacked every
drawer in the dresser, in the hope Of
finding something in lhe shape OF am
munition.
Meanwhile, the brothers had taken
alarm, and having tried the inner door,
had now gone round to the front, where
/ heard them try first the house-door
and then the windows.
Open! open, | say :" shouted the
elder-Q knew him by his yoice.)
''What is the matter within p
"The matter is, that | choose tospend
the nigh in this ROOM" I shouted in re
ply.
1T is public room you have no
RIGHT to shut the doors!' he said, with
a laundering blow upon the lock.
"Right or not right" | answered, 81
shoot dead the first man who forces his
way in!'
There was momcntary silence, and
| heard them mutteling together out
side.
had by this time found, at the back
of one of the drawers, a handfal Of
small shot screwed up in bit Of news
paper, and battered old powder-hask
containing about three charges ofpow-
der. Little as it was, it helped to give
me confidence.
Then the parleying began Gtresh.
"Onre more, accursea EngliShman,
will You open the door"
No"
A torrent of savage oaths-then a
pau,e.
"Force us to break it open, and it
will be worse Tor You"
cry"
All this time, had been wrcnchlng
out the hooks from the dresser, and
the nails, wherever could find any,
from the walls. Already had enough
to reload the blunderbuss three times,
with my three charges of powder If
only Bergheim were himself again!
| still heard the mumuring of the
brothers voices outside then the
solnd Of their retrcating footsteps
then an outburst of barking and yep
inc at the back, which showed they
had let loose the dogs Then all was
silent
Where were they gone? How would
they begin the attack? In wnat way
would it all end? ] glanced at my
watch. 1t was just twenty minutes
past one. In two hours and half, or
three hours, it would be dawn. Three
hours! Great Heavens what an etcm
ily.
looked around to see if there was
anything | cou d still do for defense ;
but it seemed to me that had already |
done what little it was possible to do
with the material at hand | could
only wait.
All at once, | heard their footsteps |
in the house again. They were going
rapidly to and fro overhead; then up |
and down the stairs then overhead
again; and presently | heard couple
Oh bolts shot, and apparently a heavy
wooden bar put up, on the other side Of
the inner kitchen door which | had
inst been at so much pains to balricade.
This done, they seemed to go away.
A distant door banged heavily; and
again there was silence.
Five minutes, ten minutes, went by.
Berghein still slept heavily; but his
breathing, fancied, was now less
and his countenance less
rigid than when first discovered his
condition. ! had no water with which
to bathe his head; but rubbed his
forehead and the palms of his hands
with beer, and did what could to keep
his body upright
Then / heard the enemy coming back
to the front, slowly, and with footballs
They paused for a moment at the front
door, seemed to set something down,
and then retreated quickly. After an
interval Of about three minutes, they
returned in the same way; stopped at
the same place; and hurried off as be-
fore. This they did several times in