, 1873-02-16
!; .but shall be able to return it before he has

I; shut ahall be able to return it before he ha
fired second But alone with two men, VIII
are doubtless armed, shall have poor chance.
I cannot tell you the rapidity with which til,
EN- unahsolved; strangely intermingled witl
I others Of calm, Implying hate towards my enc
| my. hut remained silent. Once more shar1
click: nearly frad--thank God, did not
and then, again: click. click, click, in quick sue
cesaion. 'Ah.. my FRIEND thought /, II SET
yer round, in order to place tho caps
on the nipples" And again, click. click,
could not help it. strung myself up to
the task, and asked with cold calmness which
makes me almost shudder to think of it: 'What
! the devil is that noiae:"
am only soindi7g up my tcatch ~
what an idiot am !. and doubtless you will all
concur in the statement. Very well; wait a lit
tie: immediateiy wound up my own watch,
to sleep. What is the use Of ali these absuTd
suspicious 2" l reasoned.
At last, with my hand on my revolver, went
to sleep; slept well, but awoke suddenly. No!
;c Yes! J. There as M plain as possible, stood Doug
raised within hair's-breadth Of the point at
which it would fall and strike the cap. Should
fro or not2
In the dead Of night, to be roused suddenly
from ones sleep is startling, but to See man
stepping over yo1 when you do awake, ia de-
eidedly very startling indeed, especially if you
/, and now, with my finger pressed firm
r. upon the trigger, but without any
at stt'pR R9st to tooa5t ssp to q ny s had
him. He looked hard at me- did not move,
and then saw him take out something which
gllttered in the moonlight; it 1cas key. And
then he leaned over me-. Then said with feel
ing Of fage IL in my heart; "What on earth are
He was 80 startled, that he almost fell back
wards The sudden movement nearly made ms
hre and then he answered: '' I am only going
to take something out of my Bag
This 6ag, "a told You, was IN the netting over
my head; hence he was obliged to lean over me-
to reachit. said, very bad-tempered1y: STAKE 1t
down, them" He muttered to himself. and cot
the bag down. He little thought that there was
only hair irs-breadth between him and death. II
he could havo looked through my rug, lie would
have seen the muzzle Of rJ revolver pointed to
his heart.
He turned aside, keeping an eye on me all the
while, and took something frQm his bag. What 1t
vas, could not see. Then be went back and lay
taken from big bag?. I could not sleep; + dared
not turn my back to them both. They lay 80
quietly, without sound of breathins, that I
was sure they we're not asleep, At length, by way
Of hasten1ng matters, pretended to sleep;
not give snore. However, nothing happened.
grew more and more sleepy; WAS worn out, i'll
as Was, with tho fatigues Of my long journey.
Soon, however, the train stopped. This was tie !
only station at which ne should pause for the !
next siS or seven hours. got strong cup Of |
coffee, and returned. I WIS determined not to |
change into another carriage; was determined |
to conquer these foolish feelings, no doubt cre- J
ated BY the wretched state Of my nerves.
,,t,.o L opened the door Of my compartment, and |
Douglas was lying. That moment as I aftor-
wards found, nearly cost me my life With a /
solce like thunder, Douglas leaped to his feet !
and asksd me- what was doing.
had been iuto the station: I wondered # be
wished to pick quarrel with me-
ne old not reply. except by q surly grunble. |
went and lay down as before; could not Keep
a~ake; At last, giving myself up to my fate, I
turned my face to the wall Of the carriage, and.
NTH my revolver in my hand, went OF into a
sound sleep. Tho next morning came. Went /
nto tho station and performed our scanty abIu- |
ions together. And then, looking very tired,
'nu 7, very thanEfrl that day had come, We gradu-
Douglass asked ms what kind Of a night bad
,assed
! laughed and said "Not a very good one"
For my part, ~ said he, "1didnot aleep wink
he whole night"
At last, the whole reason Of these alarms came
mt: The night before, when We we're getting
esdy for bed, he had noticed the butt OF my re-
Oliver sticking ont Of my pocket This aroused
la suspicious. He began, "a I had done, to
nnk over what might happen. He thought Of
10 st Baden-Baden with his bank-notes, and OF
i1nself lying out in tho woods, and Of the affoc-
on those wolves would have for full-sized |
mer1can; and SO his nerves were shaky, just as ]
'lne Ind been. His suspicious were also aroused
; the way in which had asked what the noise
as when he was winding up his watch. q
At last he could not rest, and, going very gent.
and With great caution. lest be should arouse !
70 slumbering lion With the revolver, he unlock
his bag, and drew out Of it q formidable six-t
,ooter also. He knew Of the plan Of firing I
lthout exposing onea weapon to sight, and
lpected, he said, to feel my bullet ! {
'ery moment az ho stood exposed with
3 arms raised to the netting over 8
y head. Then, when I came in from the sta- /
N, he was suddenly aroused from doze and | q
at he refrained from firing. Had either Of "a t
ven way to our first impulse, We should prob t
" have gone on firing our six barrels at one q
other, until one OF uB could fire no longer. +
q then the other would have had to popSthe =
dy through the window, and say no b
'co about it, and, whether confessing 7
TACT or not, have good chance of being IL
re questions being asked. After mutual t,
p4oslon OF laughter, wa became excellent b
onds, and travelled together in. much harmony t
The moral draw from this adventure is. 3 ii
I'd and blow, but the word first Chambers 81
urnal. I,
mARAH. il
Only little piece Of silver chain IN 81
ron think 1t worthlese, and with wonder eee | ri
ly face grow white rs from some hidden painu
WINE sudden tears are yelling it from me- "
lush, hush! Not even you nay rndc1y tze.d