Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-03-12
"Where's Dick ?"

woman.
"oh, he ain't-Jen, hev yer hurd horse
go by, to-nightH"
"Yes, only a little while ago-a small
man9"
"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 sus-
picious nature. heard him leap from his
horse and strike with jarring plunk up
on the sod. A smouldering FIRE was burn
ing on the stone hearth. I could imagine
Bllps attitude-he had a hand on each
decreasing, his brutal head was thrust in
side the room he was peering al'out the
apartment.
"What in h Is thatH' he questioned;
and my heart stood still, for I knew he
spoke Of my retreat.
"Its Stautfer's coffin. Dick Is a-going
10 carry it 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 bar
rel at the corner of the cabin, and finally
go away with the remark:
"He aint far off; he couldn't stick TO
that blind critter when he begun ter hur-
ry."
"What shall do? what shall / do 2"
gasped the woman "they will be back in
twenty minutes, for believe that your
hnrga IL In et,.lN ho
quarters OF q mile of, and my husband is
Liable 10 come at any moment"
"But with him inside the house we
might"
"With him. - she emphasized in despair
irg tones-"he's Bill VOLTS brother"
/ was out of the coffin In a trice then,
you may we'll believe.
ats death for you any way" she moan
ed, "for hear the rattle OF Dicks axles
already"
'Stop, 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
cask and stealing down into the arid soil,
and was in the barrel, 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, fortu-
pately, opened on the side away from the
moon, when a rattling vehicle drew up at
the door, and l heard hoarse voice raw
ing and swearing at the woman for some
thing done or undone, and then from the
bunghole, the plug having been dislodsed
in the upsetting of the cask, l saw the fu-
rious return of the three renegades.
There was a good deal of loud talking,
and explanations, and oaths, and stirring
up Of hot nectar, and rouRh remarks about
the cistern in the corner; but Dick and the
woman both seemed sore about that mat
ter, 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 dstressingly per-
sonal, made acutely so by Dick asking:
"Is there water enough out there, Jen, to
drink my horseP'
"I'll see," she returned, moving slowly
|
cask she lifled out the tub and tipped my
prison over little so that / could spring
out. 1 was behind the cask when Dick
came to the door, and chirruped his cast
| up to the tub TO drink.
"I'll go with you as far as The fur,is," ht
said, as two of them came out with the
coffin and slid it into the body ofthe wagon
They then stepped back, probably to cal
the others.
| At that moment, a wild and desperat,
plan entered my brain, but feeling for my
knife l found that it was missing, aloni
with the belt to which II was attached. II
the sudden Jostle which the falling stee'
had given me, the girdle had been snapped
and lost without my knowledge. The hors
es of the three renegades-my own, whicl
had been retained by the hostler at the inn
among them-were hitched on the furthe
side of the door where the moonlight
striking by the end of the cabin, reste
fully upon them. 1t was suicide to al
tempt to seize one of them but as the VIC
man with some purpose in her mind san
out 10 the men TO come back and get th
last dipper full of liquor which she ha
mixed, seized the only alternative.
sprang lightly into the wagon, lifted tn
cofin lid, and again crawled into the long
narrow prison.
There was no choice. The flood of moor
light had swept so far toward my hidin
, place that only part of my body was cor
, cealed by the barrel, and knew that dii
covery was inevitable, for the mans horS
: stood In such position that in order TO r,
, cover the reins he must have trodden upo
me and there was no earthly thing as (;
as the eye could reach over the plain, b'
hind which a man could hide. All, bl
what If he should readjust his freight Ca
! you think how my heart jumped away
the thought? You wonder what my pls
: can beH had none, other than the hol
OF having only one man TO deal with, IL l
= went on his way as he calculated. tt
. three ruffians were mounted and all we
0 about to start, when the woman ran o.
r with some sort of a blanket and mutterC
= something about covering the coffin. II
e man yelled out to her to mind her busine
d and let the thing alone. She retreated wi
tue SiO'ht out Sno hau acSohPhsheu IL
4 purpose. In Its folds she had concealed
e bowie knife under Its cover she had raj
ed the lid and dropped the weapon insid
= risking giving me cut as II fell upon m
but in the momentary noise and confusit
n had got the weapon in my hand, and wi
. It's point raised the heavy lid of the roui
r box the fraction of an inch, SO that breat
Ing was easy If my position was crampe
y The three horsemen spread out, remar
y ing to each other: "Beat up the game nc