The Red Cloud chief., 1877-09-13
TIL DEATH TRAP.
BY G. T,

BY c. t. HAEBAUGH.
The ringing sound that came from a
blackened smithy told that the steel
was smithening steel, and the smith
who swung the ponderous hammer was
a man of no common muscle. He was
young and remarkably handsome; but
there was an evil lurking in his cold,
black eyes which would have repulsed
the close observer. The light of his
forge fire rendered ghOstly the objects
in the remote corners of the shop; but
it fell brightly upon the strange looking
piece of steel he was hammering. 1t
resembled the jaw of some immense
trap, strong enough to hold a bear, and
the wonder was that the strength of
man could prepare it for its prey. If
any MAI in MiddletOwn could control
such a trap, it was the man whose
hands were faShiOning it.
Fol- a long time David Thrall had
been working of nights, with his shop
barred to visitors. and the c~lang-clang
-clang OF his hammer had sounded in
the furthest corner of the growing viii
lage. He was man of strong passions,
the first to resent an insult to a friend,
and the last to give up an argument
when he found logic against him. No
person had bothered him while he
swung the hammer Over the terrible
steel trap which he was making. 1t is
true that a few boys looked in at the
window at the inauguration of his work,
but his maddening threats against them
had kept the prying urchins away.
81 told her that she should never
laugh at my love and live to boast of it
to another mani" David Thrall said
aloud, one night as he paused to wipe
great drops of perspiratiOn from his
brow.
"She laughed then and told me not to
let anger get the best of Inc. and thought
/ would forget it. Forget? Never!'
and the hammer came down vengefully
upon the glowing steel.
Il an making this trap because you
rejected my love, Agnes Temple. But
shall not tear your pretty skin. No
no! 1 would not injure n of your
golden hairs; but l am going to teach
you that there is one in Middletewn
whose heart cannot be trifled with"
Thus he talked to himself, while he
stood over his anvil and swung his
hammer, whose every blow told on his
horrible mechanism. and hurried it to-
ward completion. That night he fin
ished it. He held it in the light of his
coal fire and pronounced it perfect;
smiled upon it with pride. and showed
that he had strength enough to master
its jaws.
Now, my boy, We'll try it."
David Thrall put his trap into a sack,
smothered the fire, and left the smithy.
He walked rapidly toward the outskirts
of the village, seen by nc one, for the
night was dark and the wind high. 1t
was in the fall of the year and the
yellow leaves of the time fell around
him in a golden shower. But he did
not notice them any more than to brush
an occasional one from his long beard,
begrimed like his face with the SCOT of
his shop. He did not come to a halt
until he reached the iron track that ran
over the road which he was traversing.
Middletown had not been honored by
the steam cars. which, as if to taunt the
place. left it half a mile to the west.
David Thrall threw his burden down
and a sigh of relief escaped him. Then
he struck a match and looked at his
watch.
HE passes about nine" he muttered.
The passenger gees by at ten, then the
lightning express"
He spoke with a fiendishness almost
foreign to the human heart, and set to
work fastening the strong chain at
tached to bis internal trap to the iron
rails. He had evidently studied this
mart of his work, for he performed it in
darkness and then rested. But the end
was not yet.
Throwing himself upon the spring.he
set the trap, and the terrible jaws were
raady to close upon their victim. The
.vind threw leaves over the trap, as il
1t on aiding the jealous blacksmith.
sAe clouds scurried westward,