The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1873-02-14

"Oh " cried Mr.. Thorneycroft, with an
acute accent of mingled pain and dismay
And in hardly second, as it seemed to
HIM, the solitary piazza was swarming with
life. He was seized round the collar by a
Herculean grasp; two savage dogs hung
at his coat tails, the air was resonant with
shrieks feminine and growls masculine.
Don't let him come in here" cried a
talsetto voice, doubtless proceeding forth
from one of the fair students. II shall die
ifyou do. Oh, if Ferdinand were only at
homer
1--WE got you, you villain!" roared
grutf voice, as Mr.. Thorneycroft felt him
self shaken to and fro, like q hurricane,
while a painful apoplectic sensation took
possession Of throat and brain. you're
the fellow that has been sneak thieving
round the country, the past month are
you? Well, you've got to the end of your
rope at last. Where is Deacon Barley's
overcoat? Where are Mrs. Grimes silver
spoons? Where have you hidden Colo
mel Johnson's sleigh-robes and bells eh?"
with Il separate shake for each interroga-
tory.
Mr.. Thorneycroft, who had been pulled
to his feet through no exertion of his own,
"lt's all q mistake" he croaked, trying
to free himself from the strangling pres
sure on his cravat; sit is"
II dare say; likely story" responded
his captor, q muscular young fellow some.
what taller than himself "There, there,
Nora, don't scream so, I've got him safe
enough"
"Oh, my" calculated a voice from the
crowd Of women servants at the door,
what an Unlocking old villain he is. to
be sure!" I'd known him for a sneak
thief anywheres."
"rm no sneakthief" calculated Mr.
Thorneycroft, 81 am"
"Never mind your genealogical table,
my FRIEND" was the response, "but just
come with me. Good dog, Bose, hold
tight Carlo"
"Where are you going to put the poor
fellow, Harry? chirped a soft voice; the
screaming, by the way, having by this time
subsidized into volley Of signs and long
breaths and 10 goodness gracious"
SIN the chamber over the brick stable.
He'll keep there, I imagine, with good
stout paddock and plenty of champ
but it's so cold there!" with plying
accent.
"Ill risk it."
"WW you hear me?" gasped poor Thor
neycroft. II am-n
"Come along, and no more of your non
sense" was the brusque reioinder
"But came to"
1--WE know quite we'll what you came
after, my worthy FRIEND" answered the
muscular hero. "Any necessary explana-
ton can be made before q magistrate to-
morrow Carlo, old boy, dye mind9" Car
10 wagged his tail meaningly. "Ifhe opens
his mouth, on him, my dog. Now, friend,
you will find that silence is by all odds the
best policy"
And thus Mr.. Thorneycroft was dragged
ANONYMOUSLY acros the lawn, through a
sort ofpaved court, to a sepulchrally SMELL
ing stable, where it was cold as Greenland
and damp as the Bastile, and locked in.
"Is this the way to treat q Christian !"
he Indignantly demanded, the minute six
good inches ofdoor plank were between
him and Carlos double row of cleaning
fangs. "Listen, you fellow! l am"
But the sound of vanishing footsteps
was all the answer he received, and a hoarse
growl told that the dogs had mounted
guard across the Threshold of his prison
house.
The room was quite dark and dismally
cold, but roma rustling underneath his
feet our hapless hero could discover that
there was straw sufficient for bed, upon
which he nestled down, wrapping himself
up with his overcoat with a spasmodic fit
of shivering.
"The scoundrels," he muttered to him
self--"the ill-bred louis, not to know
| ron f1opop W hon thau coo him -
But when he remembered that his en-
emies had really not seen him thus far, and
could but confess to himself that the cir
cumstances did wear rather suspicious
aspect.
1T will be all right tomorrow, when
they give me O chance to explain matters,
thought Mr. Thorneycrott, striving to be
hopeful.
| But in the meantime-Alas, was this to
be the end of his surprise ~
The winter night wore away, and Mr..
Thorneycroft, hudded up in his straw like
convict in prison cell, shivered all through
the long lonely hours. Rheumatic pains
began to dart through his limbs frequent
sneezes shook him from head to foot, aoaat
courierS of hearty attack ofint1uenza; and
he felt his neck growing sitter and sitter.
Poor Thorneycroft if he had been twenty
years younger, he would probably have re-
garded the whole affair u joke, but now it
was too mournfully serious.
"Why couldn't have rung the door bell,
like Christian ?" he asked himselfregret-
fully SCR better still, why didn't tele-
graph that l was coming l never will
undertake to surprise people again
Toward the morning he drifted into II
sort of unquiet slumber, from which he
was aroused by the turning Cfa key in
rusty paddock without.
"Hey whose there ?" he cried aloud,
starting up as we'll as he could for the stiff
ness in all his limbs. "Ferdinand, old fell
| low -
For the light through the eastern window
! was clear and radiant now.
/ "Why it's Thorncycrott y bawlcd cheer
| full voice. How the deuce came Tom
Thorneycroft locked up here like Il bur
glare"
And Mr.. Thorneycroft told his tale, in
terrupte by irrepre' sible bursts of laugh
ter on the part of his friend, who could not
| but see the ridiculous side of the matter.
"But why didn't you tell 'em who you
were?"
elbow could r." snapped Mr.. Thornley,
croft, "when they didn't give me n chance,
1 with their dogs and their revolvers, to
speak word 2"
"Well, it is rather an inhospitable recep-
tion," said Clinton, warmly pressing his
friends hand "and had been at home, it
paver wonl5 have hnnpnne1 Rut comn in