The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-03-05

mechanically closed the door behind
me, before | had finished my explana-
ton.
mo, no; there is no place, she gasp
ed, her quick ear nov catching the
sound of the coming horsemen. This
is all the room there is-and there's nei-
ther cellar nor attic"
"But thisg" | exclaimed, rushing for
a dark object in the corner.
''It's coffin, was her quick response;
''but there's no other chance-they are
turning up to the door-get in"
had barely time to place myself in
this receptacle for the dead, when a
hOarse voice-one that | knew by the
description which had had of it, called
out
''Here you, DickF'
The woman threw her apron over her
head and opened the door.
''Where's Dick27
"He hasn't come back yet, ;" returned
the woman.
''Oh, Lee ain't-Jen hev ye hurd hoss
go by to-nightY"
eyes, only little while ago-a small
mani"
"Yes-driving like the devil"
81 guess" she said, and then paused,
''you can hear the horse now," feigning
to listen.
But Bill Wolf must have been of a
suspicious nature. ! heard him leap
from his horse and strike upon the sod.
A smouldering fire was burning on the
stone-hearth. 1 could imagine BilI's at
situde-he had hand on each door
casing, Lis brutal head was thrust inside
the room; he was peering abont the
apartment.
"What in hell is thatY" he questioned,
and my heart stood still, for | knew he
spoke of my retreat.
''It's Stauffer's coffin. Dick is going
to carry it over tonight"
''StuffI as he made his bed, so let him
1ay-buzzards are the sections for the
likes of him."
The woman sort of groaned, and then
heard Wolf go up and ioggle the rain
b lrrel at the corner of the cabin, and
finally go away with the remark:
"He amt fur off; he couldn't stick to
that blind eritter when he began ter
hurry"
"What shall do? what shall | dOl'
gasped tine woman; 'they will be back
in twenty minutes, for | believe that
your horse is in sight, not more than
three quarters of a mile off, and my hus-
band is liable to come at any moment. "
But with him inside the house we
might
''With HIM!" she emphasized it in
despairing tones ''ke's Bill WoIrs
brother"
l was out of the coffin in n triee then;
you may well believe.
cts death for you anyway" she
moaned, "for l hear the rattle of Dicks
axles already"
''Stay, there's the rain barrel, said [.
n 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 cask and stealing down into the arid
soil, and was in the barrel, and the
woman dropping a tub half filed with
water in at the top as cover.
She had barely time to enter the house,
the door of which, fortunately, opened
on the side away from the moon, when
a rattling vehicle drew up at the door,
and heard a hoarse voice raving and
swearing mt the woman for something
done or undone, and then from the
bunghole, the plug having been dis
lodged in the upSetting of the cask, /
saw the furious return of the three rene
gades.
There was n good deal of loud talking,
and explanations, and Oaths, and stir
ring up of hot nectar, and rough re-
marks about the cistern in the corner;
but Dick and the woman both seemed
sore about the matter. and the man per-
emptorily refused to join In the hunt
because of the coffin.
'Well. you're going our way piece, :"
said Wolf, "likely enough you'll have
the fun of seeing us wing the turkey"
The conversation was distressingly
personal, made acutelv so by Dick ash
ing:
SIS there water enough out there.
Jen, to drink his horseP'
''I'll see, she returned, moving slowly
over the door-siIl, and then leaping to
the cask she lifted out the tub and
tipped my prison over little so that
could spring out. Twas behind the cask
when Dick came to she door, and CHR
rupped his beast up to the tub to drink.
''T'll go with you as far as the forks ~
he said, as two of them ca.ne out wit
the coffin and slid it into the body of the
wagon. They then stepped back, prob
ably to call the others.
AT that moment a wild and desperate
plan entered my brain, but feeling for
my knife 1 found that it was missing,
along with the belt to which it was at
tached. In the sudden jostle which the
falling steed had given me, the giTdlt
had teen snapped and lost without my
knowledge. The horses of the three
renegades-my own, which had heen re
tanned by the hostler at the inn, among
them-were hitched on the further side
of the door, where the moonlight, strik
ing by the end of the cabin, rested fully
upon them. 1t was suicide to attempt
seizing one of them; but as the woman
with some purpose in her mind sang ou
to the men to come back and get the las
dipper full of liquor she had mixed;