The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-11
NUMBER 20.

lingering to give a final touch to the
lichen over my left eye. smiled to my
self at the odd position, but even as l
smiled I dropped to sleep again. The
day was irresistibly drowsy, and there was
something delightful in this woodslum
Der, which even in deepest unconscious
ness never lost hold of. The last thing
/ saw, as my eyelids fell, was broad ray
Of sun striking half-open parcel of forks
and spoons which lay in the grass-Mrs.
Pendexter's property these, and careless
enough of the girls to leave them thus.
But what did it signify? No spot on
earth could be safer than these summer
woods under the shadow Of the New
Hampshire hills.
This was my thought as fell asleep. l
was reused by sound of voices which
.teven my locked senses recognized as un-
familiar. l opened my eyes. Two men
were sitting ON the ground close to me,
but half turned away. They were shah
billy Clad one in a velveteen coat and
rough corduroy trousers; the other, whose
clothes were dark, had red handkerchief
tied round his neck. This man had a
thick beard and wild long hair yelling
pair of savage gypsy eyes. But it was the
other face that frightened me most. 1t
was snug, shaven face, but with an
evil, cruel, furtivc look, which | do not
know how to describe. Faint with sudden
fear, lay quite still. 1t seemed the only
thing to do. But, oh, where were the
girls? | thought; and what would happen
if they came back?
| "Give us that there basket off the log"
were the first words | heard. 1t was
the velveteen man who spoke, and the
other reached out his hand and lifted the
basket from its place close to my chin. |
trembled lest its removal had made me
visible; but the girls had arranged too ar
tistically for that, and the men seemed to
suspect nothing.
| 1t took only moment to empty the
basket which kind Mrs. PendeXter had
taken so much time to fill.
"Not bad fnd," said the SNUG man,
turning over the cold mutton and hard
eggs, and speaking with his mouth full.
"Vittle up, partner. Mayn't have anoth-
er chance Lord knows when"
"Partner" accepted the invitation cor
daily Our luncheon disappeared down
his throat in large morsels.
"Hallo! here is a goI' cried the SNUG
man, making a sudden dive at the parcel
of spoons and forks. He bit one of the
spoons with his teeth, rapidly counted and
dropped them into his pocket, the other
man looking on.
"Real?" asked he of the red neckcloth.
"No mistake. Eight of each. That's
twenty apiece. Stow away fast or some
one'll be a-coming."
hadn't supposed that even wolf
could "stow" faster, but at this warning
the motion of the jaws was accelerated.
AS the men ate they talked. Theirvoice
were smothered, but l caught now and
then a sentence.
"Dog? Darn the dog! Easy silence
him."
eyes, but -" Then lost the or n
text.
"You're sure as to the blunt ?"
"Saw it handed Over-seventeen hun
dred and odd in bills. Took it home
with him? Why, of course, you fool.
These farmer fellows don't hang to
banks. l tell you he wants it handy to
lift his mortgage next week. Sure to be
called for. Them Elkinses is always on
time. Very sharp gentlemen, Elkinses
are"
"Stash your gab," said the gypsy.
"Folks coming. Offs's the word"
The men jumped to their feet, listened
a second One of them snatched up the
shawl which lay over the supposed log,
the other crammed the fragments of the
feast into his pocket, ard they were gone,
the gypsy's foot just grazing my head as
they went. l heard the girls voices
drawing nearer, but the long tension OF
fear had left me so faint and powerless
that could not stir, not even when they
came in sight and stood close to me.
my! isn't it warm?" cried Esther
"Alce, you look half-baked. Sit down
|
She caught sight of the empty basket
which the men had flung aside, and
stopped short, with her mouth open.
eyes" said Alice, innocently. Il
fancy we are all ready for luncheon. But
where is the luncheon? And where is
Dolly?"
At this moment 1 saw Marian making
preparations to sit down on me. Self
preservation gave me strength to stir, to
roll over The bark and ferns flew in all
directions. Marian shrieked but her ar
rangements for seating herself had gone
too far to be affected by this sudden phe-
nomenon. She came down heavily, and
F she and | and the shawls and the ferns,
fungi and MOSES, became complicated
into confused and undistinguishable
heap.
This the girls considered the best joke
possible. With shouts of laughter, they
disentangled and picked us up. But al
sight of my face there was exclamation
"Why, Queen Log, what is the matter?
Are you hurt? You are as pale as sheet
You look as if you had seen a ghost
Don't stare so, Dolly. Do speak. What
is itY'
1 tried to speak, but, instead, burst into
a fit of nervous crying. The girls, fright
ened and perplexed, thronged about me
In the midst of their rapid questions an
struck voice was heard, saying:
Where are the spoons? l put them
+ just here. am sure did. And here is
the very napkin they were ill.,"
"Oh," sobbed, " those men took them
away"
"Men What menu
Then it all came out, and the circle Of
pale faces and wide-open eyes which at
tended my somewhat incoherent explana
tion struck me as so funny that went tc
, the other extreme of feeling, and, before
knew it, was laughing as hard as l had
cried.
"And you lay still and never moved y
, gasped Rosa. "How brave! I neve
> could have done that. I should just have
given one scream, and then should have
tainted away"
"That would have been truly judi
q cious," remarked Esther, dryly. "But th'
question now is, what shall we do"
"Do?" walled Rosa; "why, get out o
| these dreadful woods as fast as we can, tt
be sure. Robbers and murderers!
n,