The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1875-03-18

| IA OH hhihS, pdic anu COWcIluS NUl1dI
opened it.
"What is it," was her first question
noticing my breathless haste.
Had | stopped for moments refec
ton upon the strangely isolated position
of the cabin, / should not have passed in
by her with the explanation:
"ls there any chance to hide here-my
horse has thrown me and [ believe a
party of desperadoes are close up to me. y
| noticed that the moon was coming UP
dry and red in the east, when she me-
chanically closed the door behind me, be-
fore | had finished my explanation.
"No, no; there's no place." she gasped,
her quick car catching the sound of the
coming horsemen. "This is all the
room there is-and there is neither cellar
nor attic"
"But this" exclaimed, rushing for a
dark object in the corner.
"lt's a coffin" was her quick response :;
''but there is no other chance-they are
turning up to the door-get in."
l had barely time to place myself in
this receptacle for the dead, when a
hoarse voice--one which | knew by the
description which | had Of it-called
out:
"Here you, Dick!"
The woman threw her apron over her
head and opened the door.
"Where's Dick?'
"He hasn't come back yet" returned
the woman.
"Oh, he arn't-Jen, hev yer hurd Il
horse go by tonight"
"Yes, only little while ago-a small
man."
"Yes, driving like the devil"
81 guess" she said, and then paused,
''you can here the horse now," feigning to
listen.
But Bill Wolfe must have been of
suspicious nature. [ heard him leap
from his horse and strike with jarring
plunk upon the sod. A smoldering fire
was burning on the stone hearth. |
could imagine Bills attitude-he had
hand on either door casing, his brutal
head thrust inside the room; he was peer
ing about the ROOM
"What in HI is that?" he ques-
toned; and my heart stood still, for
knew he spoke of my retreat.
dts Stauffer's coffin Dick is going to
carry it over tonight"
"Stuffl" calculated the desperate, "as
he made his bed, SO let him lay; buzzards
are the sections for the likes o him."
The woman sort groaned, and then /
heard Wolfe 60 up and shake the rain
barrel, at the corner of the cabin, and fin
ally go away with the remark:
"He arn't fer off he couldn't stick to
that blind critter when he began ter hur-
ry her."
"What shall l do? what shall | do?"
gasped the woman: 'they will be back in
twenty minutes, for | believe that your
horse is in sight, not more than three
quarters of mile off, and my husband is
liable to come at any minute"
"But with him inside the house we
might"
"With him!" she emphasized in de-
spairing tones, "he is Bill Wolfe's
brother"
l was out of the coffin in trice then,
you may well believe.
at is death for you any way" she
moaned, "for [ hear the rattle of Dicks
axles already.
"Stay, there's the rain barrel" said | in
desperation, "they've tried that once, they
may not again"
And before you would be able to speak
a sentence, the water was dashed out of
the barrel and stealing down into the arid
soil, and | was into it, and the woman
dropping tub half filled with water in
at the top as a cover
She had barely time to enter the house
the door of which, fortunately, opened on
the side away from the moon, when rat
Ting vehicle drew up at the door, and l
heard hoarse voice raving and swearing
at the woman for something done, or un-
! done, and then from the bung-hole the
plug having been dislodged in the upset
ting of the cask, l saw the furious return
| OF the three renegades.
There was a good deal of loud talking,
and explanations, and oaths, and stirring
up of hot nectar, and rough remarks
about the cistern in the corner; but both
Dick and the woman seemed sore about
that matter, and the man premptorily re-
| fused to join in the hunt because of the
coffin.
"Well, you're going our way piece, y
said Wolfe, land likely you'll have the
fun of seeing us wing the turkey"
| The conversation was distressingly
personal, and made acutely so by Dick
asking:
"Is there water enough out there to
drink my horses, Jen?"
"Tll see" she replied, moving slowly
over the door-sill, and then, leaping to the
cask, she lifted out the tub, and tipped
my prison over little so that l could
spring out l was behind the cask when
Dick came to the door, and chirruped his
beast up to the tub to drink.
"Ill 60 with you as far as the forks, y
he said, as two Of them came out with
the coffin, and slid it into the body of the
wagon. They then stepped back, proba-
bly, to call the others.
At that moment wild and desperate
plan entered my brain, but feeling for my
knife, [ found that it was missing, along
with the belt to which it was attached.
In the sudden jostle which the falling
steed had given me, the girdle had been
snapped and lost without my knowledge
The horses of the three renegades-
own, which had been retained by the host
ler at the inn, among them-were hitched
on the farther side of the door, where the
moonlight, striking by the end of the cab
in, rested fully upon them 1t was sui
eide to attempt to seize one of them; but
as the woman with some purpose in her
mind, sang out to the men to come back
and get the last dipper-full of liquor
which she had mixed, | seized upon the
only alternative. l sprang lightly into
the wagon, lifted the cofin-lid, and again
crawled into the long, narrow prison.
There was no choice. The food of the
moonlight had swept so far toward my
hiding place that only part of my body
was concealed by the barrel, and l knew
that discovery was inevitable, for the
mans horse stood in such a position that
to recover the reins he must have trodden