San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1877-11-24

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81 tell you, Mars Ralph, dem white
trash amt Aarter no good-now you
heard me, persisted Bose. a.
1had begun to think so myself; but
what was to be doneP The situation
was full of embarrassment, and 1 felt
that nothing could be done save to wait
and watch, and, by being on the alert,
defeat their plans by a determined re-
slstance. "o t''H "i' :.
found that from the barred window,
in which there was broken pane of
glass, good view of the stable could
be had. Then for the other window.
I crossed the room, drew aside the
heavy curtain, and, raising the sash,
looked out. A single glance was suf-
ficient to cause me thrill of surprise,
and l gave low exclamation that in
stantly brought Bose to my side.4 3 Far
below, I could see the faint glimmer of
water, the low murmur of which came
indistinctly up from the depths, while,
on a level with what should have been
the ground, dimly saw the waving
tree-tops, as they gently swayed before
the fresh night breeze, and knew that
the window overlooked chasm, the
soundings of which I could only guess
at. In other words, the house, or that
portion of it, was built upon the very
verge of cliff, the solid rock forming
q foundation more lasting than any that
could be made by the hands of man. I
leaned far out, and saw that there was
not an inch of space left between the
heavy log on which the structure rest
ed and the edge of the precipice; and
then turned away with full convic-
ton that if escape must be made, it GER
tainly would not be in that direction.
There was nothing especially strange in
this; there were many houses so con-
structed-I had seen one or
two myself-and yet when 1 drew
back into the room, and saw the look in
Bosses dusky face, I felt that danger,
quick and deadly, was lowering in the
air. Without speaking, I went to my
saddle-bags and got out my pistols-a
superb pair of long double rifles, that I
knew to be accurate anywhere under
half a hundred yards.
"Dar! denis what I like to sect"
exclaimed Bose, as he dived down into
his own bag, and fished out the old
horse-pistol that had belonged to my
grandfather, and which I knew was
loaded to the muzzle with No. buck
shot. 1t was a terrible weapon at close
quarters.
The stables in which our horses were
feeding could be watched, and by events
transpiring in that locality we would
shape our actions. I found the door
could be locked from the inside, and,
in addition to this, improvised bar
by means of chair leg wrenched off,
and thrust through heavy iron staple
that had been driven into the wall. Its
fellow on the opposite side was missing.
We then lifted the clothes-press before
the window, leaving just room enough
on one side to clearly see, and, if neces-
sary, fire through; dragged the bureau
against the door with as little noise as
possible, and felt that every thing that
was possible had been done.
A death-like silence reigned over the
place, broken only once by the voice of
the colored girl singing as she crossed
the stable yard.
Ihad fallen into half doze, seated in
chair near the window facing the sta
BILE where Bose was on watch, when sud-
denly I felt light touch upon my arm,
and the voice of the faithful sentinel in
my ear:
"Wake up, Mars Ralph; dey's fool
in bout de stable doo' arter de horses,
shuah," brought me wide awake to my
feet.
Cautiously peeping out, I saw at a
glance that Bose was right in his conjec-
ture. There were too of them-one,
standing out in the clear moonlight, evil
IDENTIFY watching my window, while the
other-and / fancied it was the land
lord-was in the shadow near the door,
which at that moment slowly swung
open. As the man disappeared within
the building, low, keen whistle cut the
air, and at the same instant | heard the
knob of my door cautiously tried.
The thing was now plain. While those
below were securing the horses those