Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1874-02-21

bic roof afforded.
10 add to our complacency, the boautl-
ful vision that had delighted our eyes in
the open air passed In and out several
times, LAYING the cloth for supper, and
engaged In variety Of sufficiently mum
dane occupations TO convince that she
belonged essentially to this lower sphere
u was difficult TO form any opinion as to
the relation In which abe stood to the
wretches who surrounded her, as she
scarcely spoke or raised her eyes in reply
TO remarks that they made her, and took
no more notice Of their muttered oaths
and lmprecations than she did of my
friend Alston's insinusting efforts to at.
tract her attention. As she was the only
female TO be seen about the place, how
ever, l concluded that she was well
paid for her services, and would only re-
main while treated with consideration
and respect. | also decided in my own
mind that she probably belonged to some
gipsy tribe, and had gentle blood In her
veins-perhaps English or Scotch-which
would account for her long fair hair,
combined as II was with all Oriental rich.
ness of complexion, and eyes that had
the darkness and softness of the gazelle.
She seemed to have come unexplained
purpose In delaying as long as possible
her arrangements for supper, which called
forth more than one impatient 'Caramba'
from the ruiiian who called himself our
host. There were three men besides my.
self In the posada, every one Of whom,
was ready to swear, had been guilty of
deeds of blood. | watched them, as
sat with half-closed eyes beside the are,
and made up my mind that, IL ever weary
travellers were In danger of their lives we
were that night. Then ] racked my brain
to recall the last sign Of human habita-
tion that | had seen that day, and, after
satisfying myself that 1t was too far off to
be of any use to us, began to
calculate our chances Of resistance in
case of an attack. We were well armed,
and three to four, supposlng our guide
would help us; but glance into distant
corner Of the stable department, where
he lay sleeping, or, at least felgning
sleep, convinced me that no assistance
could be counted upon from that quarter.
Well, the situation was not a cheerful
one, certainly; but Charlie and had
youth and strength and British pluck,
and hugged up the belief that had been
instllled into me from my childhood, that
those qualities were more than q match
for foreign perfldy and cunning.
30, after few words to Charlie (whose
whole soul seemed to be absorbed in the
movements OF the gypsy girl, } eautionlng
him against any drink that might be
offered to us as liable to be drugged,
possessed my soul with patience and
again turned toward the FIRE. ! suppose
l fell into a doze, so weary was | with
nearly eighteen hours In the saddle and
when | opened my eyes IL was to see the
Andaluslon standing with me and the
table at which the rest of the company
we're seated, and TO hear "Supper is
ready senOr |" pronounced aloud In Span.
leh and "Sleep not an instant under this
roof" from the same lips In fairly good
English, but In low Kissing voice, lnau.
diblc to all but myself. Between sleeping
and waking as was, shall never forget
how like heavenly Visltant she looked,
as she stood in that low den, with the
light from behind Illuminating her golden
tresses, and her finger on her scarlet liz
enjolniDg silence. twas but for a second,
but understood the danger and warning
as well as il II had been written in letters
of FIRE onthe wall and cprbiDg, by 0
mighty effort, my desire to hear more, ol
even to give glance of responsive graft.
tude to the girl, rose and seated myself
at the filthy, unlnviting board. There was
little to eat besides the usual provision al
a Spanish inn, "olio," which | verify be.
lieVe to have been made after the nursery
recipe for the manufacture of naughty
boys of "stioks and snails aud puppy
dogs tailF," so indescribably revolving
was II to our English palatesl and at
both Charlie and myself were firm In oul
refusal of the sour wine which was re-
peatedly pressed upon ue, our host soor
rose from the table, and with movement
of his thumb, indicated the ladder which
would conduct us 10 our sleeping roomi
above.
We were TO start sgain In an hour be
fore dsybrcak, and Charlie would,
think, have much preferred passing the
night in the kitchen; with a chaIce oi
getting an occasional glimpse of the fail
Audalusian, but, knowing the danger in
which we stood, | was quite firm In my
determination to see what could be done
in the way of fortifying and barricading
the apartment appropriated to us above.
30 to prevent all chances of escape on
his part, | placed Charlie before Inc on
our upward march, and after nearly
breaking my neck and his own in his
! lIhHhlI W AAANh u AAhN Ab0h ~ ~
lnamorata, finally succeeded in getting
him to the top OF the ladder, and sem
him bounding, like a shot out of q shell
into the middle Of the room,
Then closing the door, and percciving
as quite expected, that IL had neither
lock nor bolt, | proceeded TO scrutiniz'
our position. The room was large ant
not very low, with the naked rafteri
above and the roof sloping down on eithel
side, one window directly opposite thu
door, in front of which stood two low
beds, and very large and heavy piec'
of furniture, half secretary and half bu
reau, on the right-hand side.
"What the deuce has come over you
sdneyF" were the first words that Alstol
uttered after he had recovered from hi
surprise at being SO unceTemOniously pro
/ PEELED intc the room. care you gong Il
elope with the Zingara, or to dare al
those devils down stairs to single combat
: There's the fire of determination in you
ewes, as we used at Baliol. What's tn
matter, old fellow ~
, "Nothing but that we are going to b
murdered tonight, and those devils dow
stairs are preparing at this moment to d
it,"
"Whetting their knives, ell, Sidney
/ and sharpening their axes to chop us ul
! with Z Well, you'll make pretty goo
kindling wood, old fellow-your bone
\ must be dry enough by this time, the
l won't find me so useful"
A brandy flask aimed at his head pu
a an end tol further chafliug, and we SO
i down gravely, on one bide of the bed, I
speculate upon the meaning of the Zin
, gara's warning, and to form our plan
! for the night. After some discussion "
decided, as we were both worn out Wit
1 fatigue, to watch by turns an hour at
r time each, one waking the other at th
: expiration of the sixty minutes. A
Charlie was younger than myself, an
/. less used to rOughing II, insisted upo
giving him the hrst chance, and, lookin
T at my watch as he threw himself on tn
i bed, perceived that IL wanted few mir
i utes 10 ten O'Clock. Previously to thi
! however, we, had, by the exertion OF ou
4 united strength, succeeded in moving tn
/ pouderous bureau in front of the dooi
! where, by entirely blocking up the en-
trance, It seemed TO me to form an etiet
A tual barrlcade in that quarter. A yer
4 few seconds suiliced to throw Charlie int
: an audible slumber, and then silence th
a most profound settled down over th
] hnuaa