Litchfield enquirer., 1875-07-08

@~-@ca& eA->SAAS~A the fact that:
 'Sa rah did not fl inch but gras ped the heat ed ron in her un in iur ed hand and AMhen the Fa bid ani nal a proach ed she thr nst the 1ur i'd DO ker in his" My conSciencer' said l to Euphemia, .fcan't that girl be stopped?" 's4ou wouldn't have her sit here and do nothing. would you?" said she. 'No; but she needn't read out that way -
 'sShe can't read any other way" said EEuphemia, drowsiiy.
 'sYeH af ter yell res.oun ded as he vii diy spr rang-"
 ''I can't stand that, and I wont. said I. "WhY don't she go into the ktehen?-the dining-room's no place for her."
 She can sit there" said Euphemia. s'There's window-pane out Can't you cover up Youe head?'
 .1 can't breath if do; but I suppose that's no matter, replied.
 The reading continued.
 "Ha, hal Lord Mar mount thun der ed thou too shalt sui fer all that this poor" Isprang out of bed. Euphemia thought was going for my pistol, and. she gave one bound and stuck her head out of the door.
 "Pomona, fy!" she cried.
 "Yes sma' am, said Pomona; and she got up and hew-not very fast, I imagine Where she flew to.I don't know, but she took the lamp with her, and I could hear distant sylables of agony and blood. until the boarder came home and Pomona went to bed.
 T think that this made an impression upon Euphemia, for, although she did not speak to me upon the subject tor any other) that night, the next time heard Pomona reading, the words ran somewhat thus:
 'sThe as ton ish ing che ap ness of land is ac count ed for by the want of home mar kets, of good TO ads and che ap me ans of trans DOT ta ti on in many sec ti ons of the State
 have spoken of my pistol During the early part of our residence at Rudder Grange never thought of such thing as owning pistol
 But it was different now. I kept Colt S revolver loaded in the bureau drawer in our bedroom.
 The cause of this change was burglars. Not that any of these unpleasant persons had visited us, but we much feared they would. Several houses in the vicinity had been entered during the past month, and Eve could never tell when our turn would come.
 To be sure, our boarder suggested that if we were to anchor out little further at night no burglar would risk catching his death of cold by swimming out to us; but Euphemia having replied that 1t would be rather difficult to move a canal-boat every night without paddle-wheels. or sails, or mules, especially if it were aground, this plan was considered to be effectually dis posed of.
 So we made up our minds that we must fasten up everything very securely, and I bought pistol and two burglar alarms. One of these affixed to the most exposed window, and the other to the door which opened on the deck. These alarms were very simple affairs, but they were good enough. When they were properly at tached to window or door, and it was opened, little gong sounded like vio- kntly deranged clock, striking all the minutes of the day at once.
 The window did not trouble us much, but it was rather irksome to have to make the attachment to the door every night and to take it off every morning. Howev- CT, as Euphemia said, 1t was better to take little trouble than to have the house full of burglars, which was true enough.
 We made all the necessary arrangements in case burglars should make an. inroad upon us. At the first sound of the alarm Euphemia and the girl were to lie fiat on the floor or get under their beds. Then the boarder and were to stand up, back to back. each with pistol in hand, and fire away, revolving on common center the while. In this way, by aiming horizon tally at about four feet from the floor, we could rake the premises, and run no risk of shooting each other, or the women of the family.
 To be sure, there were some slight ob- lections to this plan. The boarders room was at some distance from ours, and he would probably not hear the alarm, and the burglars might not be willing to wait while 1 went forward and reused him up, and brought him to our part of the house. But this was minor difficulty. had no doubt but that, if 1t should be necessary. could manage to get oar boarder into position in plenty of time.
 It was not very long before there was on opportunity of testing the plan.
 About twelve o'clock one night one of the alarms, Chat on the kitchen windowl went off with wlirr and a wild success sion of clangs. For a moment thought the morning train had arrived, and then 1 woke up. Euphemia was already under the bed.
 hurried on few clothes, and then I tried to find the bureau in the dark. This was not easy. as lost my bearings entire ly. But found it at last, got the top drawer open and took out my pistol. Then slipped out of the room, hurried up the stairs, opened the door fsetting off the alarm there, by the way), and ran along the deck (there was a cold night wind), and hastily descended the steep steps that led into the boarder's room. The door that was at the bottom of the steps was not fastened, and, as opened it, a little stray moonlight illumined the room. I hastily stepped to the bed and shook the boarder by the shoulder. He kept has pistol under his pillow. In an instant he was on his feet. his hand grasped my throat, and the cold muzale of his Der-inger pistol was at my forehead. It was an awfully big muzzle, like the mouth of bottle. don't know when lived so long as during the first minute that he held me thus.
 '.Rascali" he said. '.Do so much as breathe, and I'll pull the trigger didn't breathe. 1 had an accident insurance on my life Would it hold good in 8 case like this? Or would Euphemia have to go back to her father?
 He pushed me back into the little patch of moonlight. ~ 54a
 sOh! is it you?' he said, relaxing his grasp. ''What do you want? A mustard plaster?' He had package of patent plasters in his room. You took one and dipped it in hot water. and it was all ready.
 No, said l. gasping a little. seBur- glars. 7aaa
 s'Ohis he said, and he put down his pistol and put on his clothes. aeal
 Come along he said, and away we went over the deck. sza I When we reached the stairs all was dark and quiet below. es It was a matter of hesitancy as to going down. = - started to go down first, but the bOarder held me back. f ekz