The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1877-06-20

Hanald mutteringly, plowing up the
the earth with short stick. You
haven't the right kind Of pluck
What kind does it take 2" | asked
with short laugh
"Well. suppose a carriage comes
along. your FIRST job is to wing the
driver. after which you can talk with
the inside passengers at your leisure
la case it's rider or foot passeu-
ger, you can deal with him easily
enough But then you've got To
have a quick hand on the trigger and
you hayen't got the pluck. you
know
Haven't ~ | cried, with kind
of reckless daring. If was armed
I'd show you before tomorrow. |
don't owe the world much gratitude,
aud | had as well do something des
perate and ge, hanged, and done
with it all
oh. as for arms. | could let you
have mine said Ranald not looking
at me at all, bat back towards the
city. But don't like much to do it
You'd never use them.
Il need not go on to tell you boys,
how it came about. but in less than
half an hour Ranald was On bis way
back to the city, while /. with bis
pistols in my pocket was striding
along the green lane that led far
ther and farther cut into the coun-
try | was desperate, of course. aud
q burning fever was bounding in NY
pulses, confusing all that ! did. 1t
must certainly have been that, COM
bined with RanaId's influence. that
set me, Kenneth Lane, behind a
hedge. with a pist ol in nay hand and
& mnrderous intent in my heart,
while the moon shone Whitley over
the broad fields and the long ribbons
ofroad that lay between them.
The first that passed was a man
whose face | could not see. L had
my finger on the trigger. was just
ready TO spring out upon him, when
suddenly-well, Graham, be began
whistling that same little love tune
you used to be always wbistling,
singing aud playing at college. That
made me grow very weak. and /
couldn't move 1t brought back all
you fellows SO distinctly. By the
wav, / wonder ie he will ever know
how near that little love tune saved
his life Talk about the value Of
little things, the stars might all have
fallen from their spheres, and never
affected me as did the few simple
bars whistled by the traveller along
the moonlit road.
81 recovered myself after a little
or rather lost myself again to wonder
at my weakness; aud then, just as [
had Strengthened myself up aud
taken new hold on my resolution to
do something desperate, | heard the
rattle of carriage wheels far away on
the moonlit road. Instantly | was
on the alert, with every faculty
quickened, | raised my pistol and ex
amined the lock, wondering at the
same time whether my sentence
would be hanging or transportation,
or imprisonment for life, with hard
labor. Before | had settled the mat
ter in my own mind, the carriage had
come nearer. The wheels were rat
Ting furiously. Who could it be,
driving at such break-neck speed ?
Then suddenly it came in sight, and
at the same moment | heard the ter
rife screams of women, saw that the
driver was missing from his place,
and that the horses were running
away.
"In al instant, forgetting every
thing else at those cries of distress, |
dropped my pistol and sprang into
the road Just for q moment the
startled horses paused, aud in that
moment | seized the bits. Then
commenced a furious battle with the
frantic, plunging steeds. l was
thrown down, tramoled upon, but |
clung to them with despairiDg ener-
gy. Ten minutes ago, my only
thought had been to take lite, my
only desire was TO save it now So it
was, | clung to the horses and kept
them there until | felt stronger hands
assisting me. and then the wild
struggle, the broad fields, and the
white road all faded away. and left
nothing but darkness and silence.
when l awoke-weIl, boys, /
thought Alsddin's lamp had certain
ly come back upon the earth, and
somebody had been using it for my
benefit. If bad come back to live
in our own room, Ranald's and mine,
| might have concluded that the
whole affair had been a horrible
dream, and so said nothing more
about it. But it certainly was sur
prising to 6nd myself in strange
room, on strange bed, with rosy
old gentleman leaning over me on the
one side, and arosy old lady on the
other, their faces expressing the most
lively solicitude, while grave med
ical gentleman FIRST felt my pulse, and
then rubbed his hands together with
great satisfaction Nor was my as
constituent decreased when the rosy
old gentleman said;
1.-The dear boy has come through.
Allow me to take your hand doctor.
We owe so much to you'
"Whereupon be shook hands very
heartily with the doctor, and then
with the old lady, and they all SEEM
ed extravagantly glad of my recoy-
cry.
''It was astonishing too. in tie day
that followed, while was lying there
too weak to more, to see how ] was
waited upon and made much Of by
the whole family. They told me
after b while how / bad saved the
lives Of the rosy old lady and her
daughter, who were in the carriage
that night, and how | was dragged
Dut from under the horses feet,
bruised and bleeding, and with my
arm broken; how | was brought
here, and never recovered conscious
ness. bu: went of into a raging
lever, and laid next to deaths door
Tor weeks. They told me how | had
talked in my delirium-now arraign-
mo Mr. I,acIede for hase inoratitnde