Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-02-12

to listen.
But Bill Wolf must have been of sus.
picious nature. l heard him lean from
his horse and strike with jarring plunk
upon the sod. A smoldering Are was
burning on the stone hearth. could
imagine Bills attitude-he had q hand
on each decreasing, his brutal head was
thrust inside the room; he was peering
about the apartment.
"What is thatH" he questioned; and
my heart stood still, for knew he spoke
of my retreat.
"It's Stauffer's coffin. Dick is agolng
to carry 1t over tonight"
Stuff" calculated the desperate;
"as he made his bed, so let him lay
buzzards are the sections for the likes o.
him."
The woman sort of groaned and then
heard Wolf go up and joggle the rain
barrel at the corner of the cabin, and
finally go away with the remark:
He amt far off; he couldn't stick to
that blind critter when he began ter
| hurry"
"What shall l doS what shall doY"
gasped the woman; they will be back in
twenty minutes, for l believe that your
horse is in sight, not more than three
quarters of mile off, and my husband
is liable to come Mt any moment"
But with him inside the house we
might"
with himW she emphasized it In de-
| spairing tones" he's Bill VOLTS broth
er."
was out of the coffin In a trice then,
you may well believe.
1t is death for you any way" she
moaned, for hear the rattle of Dicks
axles already"
"Stay, there's the ram 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 cask and stealing down into tie arid
soil, and was in the barrel. and the
woman dropping tub half filled 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 hoarse voice raving and swear
ing at the woman for something done or
undone, and then from the bung-hole, the
plug having been dislodged in the upset
ting of the cask saw the furious return
of The three renegades.
There was good deal of loud talking
and explanations and oaths, and stirring q
mp of the nectar, and rough remarks
about the coffin in the corner; but both
Dick and the woman seemed sore about
that matter, and the man peremptorily
refused to join 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 acutely so by Dick ask
ing:
Is there water enough out there, Jen,
to drink my horseG"
"l'll see," she returned, moving slowly
over the door-sill, and then leaping to
the cask she lifted out the tub and
tipped my prison over a little so that |
could spring out. | was behind the cask
when Dick came to the door and CHR
ruped his beast up to the tub to drink.
III go with you as far as the forks"
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
I.plan entered my brain, but feeling for
my knife | found that it was missing.
along with the belt to which it was at.
tached. In the sudden joslle which the
falling steed had given me, the girdle
had been snapped and lost without my
kno Wedge. The horses of the three rem
egades-my own, which had been re.
tanned by the hOstler at the inn, among
them-were hitched on the farthest 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 out
to the men to come back and get the last
dipper full of liquor which she had
mixed l seized the only alternative.
sprang lightly into the wagon, lifted the
cofhn-lid, and again crawled into the
long, narrow prison.
There was no choice. The flood of
moonlight had swept so far toward nv
hiding place that only part of my body
was concealed by the barrel, and knew
that discovery was inevitable, for the
mans horse stood in such position that
in order to recover the reins he must
have trodden upon me and there was no
earthly thing as far as the eve could
reach over the plain, behind which a
man could hide. All, but what if he
should readjust his freight? Can you
think how my heart pumped away at the
thought You wonder what my plan
could be? l had none, other than the
| hope of having only one man to deal
| with, II he went on his way as he calcu-
lated. The three ruffians were mounted
and all were about to start, when the
woman ran out with some sort of a
blanket and muttered something about
covering the coffin. The man yelled out
to her to mind her own business and let
the thing alone.
She retreated with the cloth, but she
| had accomplished her purpose. In its
| folds she had concealed . bowie knife; /;
under its cover she had raised the lid
and dropped the weapon inside, risking
| giving me cut as it fell upon me; but
in the momentary noise and confusion
had got the weapon in my hand, and
| with its point raised the heavy lid of the
rough box the fraction of an inch so that
breathing was easy if my position was
cramped
The three horsemen spread out, re.
marking to each other: BEAT up the
game now speedily before, by any mira
Gle, he gets into the wooded belt by Bu-
fords Springs"
They continued to hallOo at each other
for some time, their liberal pUtations
surmounting their discretion.
dick" they called back as they were
driving olf, "a cool twelve hundred
apiece; throw out your old shell and Join
the hunt"
The driver mumbled something, but the
whisky had thickened his speech so that
1t was unintelligible to me.
If he did attempt to move the coffin
was lost.
They kept within hailing distance for
the length of some three or more miles,
Dick smashing the heavy wagon along
at stunning gait; and expected every
moment that my shell would be jostled
out.
BY and by there was shout off to the
right; tally no" as if the huntsmen
had sighted the quarry. Nothing but an
have influenced them to conduct them
selves as they did, for no sooner had they
callnl nnL from IhLl nj rLI Ihnr, nini.