Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-12-20

'sDid you ever hear,' he replied,s siguif'
cantlv, 'sof Morengo attacking a housed?
'No, never had"
"And let him dare to attack this house, ,
he continued, with considerable spirit
THAT girl of mine and 1 could give them d
Epretty rough deal, reckon s.
i "Why,''sI exclaimed, what could she
fdo?"
i dol he replied, s.well, now, she can
swing a rife just us lively as the next
! bushwhacker."
4 was astunished.
sAnd I never sa v a horse so fast" he
added with apparent pride, "that she
couldn'tslariat On the keen jump"
It is unnace ssary to say was amazed.
A lady, thought 1, " he possessed so many
and such varied &C mpl.hments-w whose
sweet voice / could now hear in the adioin-
| ing roomsas she ihulnmed familiar song
/: while busying herself about her duties
was wendeg indead. .5sssssss ...ss.
The door opsaed, ] and Supper was an
nounced5in readiness. 8.
Afterjsupper| wasloverand the table va
,, Gated l again essayed to leave, when the
father met me with the words:
Son. you must stay over night. Your
party will be along in the morning my
daughter informs me, and you can join
them then.l' -,
It was ju st getting dark, and 1 insisted
on going, a though my heart did not; so
my horse W as ordered, and as 1, took the
proffered hand of the fair creature WHO
had IN such short time filched my heart
from me, I gave it pressure which brought
the crimson dye to her fair cheek; and the
father, Selling my hand with vice-like
grasp, repeated the warm invitation Of his
daughter to- come again, which 1 assured
them should.
The moon was shining brightly, as rode
slowly aN 'ay, and thought 1, what can
equal the hospitality of Californian And
as 1 was about to leave the clearing took
one last look at the house where my divin-
ity dwelt. and was surprised at seeing a
form approaching me. Could it be she?
stopped and waited. Sure enough it was
she. dismounted, and as the fair crea-
ture drew near she said:
II forgot to caution you. It is very
dangerous road you have to travel, and es-
pecially at night
looked into the dark eyes before me.
Could it be possible that had awakened
the same feeling in her heart that she had
In mine!
''Do not give yourself moments alarm
about my welfare" replied. II have
gerous than this trail'''
SON. said she, II do not apprehend any
danger, but, you know, a word of warning
is sometimes better than an ounce of STEEL
And then added archly: 'Look out for
Juo1oita Morengo."
laughed, and told her that had never
yet met woman whom thought could
worst or take me at disadvantage. Witch
a merry little laugh she extended her hand
and at the same time handed me note,
requesting me to take it to C-ville, land
promise me.'' she added, as she looked me
full in the eyes, 'that you will not look at
it till you arrive there think l can
trust ycu." l promised by all that was
holy that l would not violate her trust,
and at the same time deposited the note
in a pocket of my saddlebags. 1 then
raised to my lip the little hand that had
laid so confdingly in mine and imprinted
kiss upon it. and was soon on my way
again.
1 had proceeded thus about two miles,
and as l neared the clearing, which was
now my objective point unwillingly ex-
PEELED the pleasant thoughts from my mind
and became more cautious. entered the
clearing by sharp turn of the trail, and
hearing a slight rustic in the undegerowth
close by stopped my horse and listened.
All was silent. I had proceeded but lit
tie farther when suddenly heard a whiz-
ling sound similar to that made by whip
in cutting through the air, and at the same
instant felt my arms pinioned to my side
as though a rope were wrapped aroundmy
body. Quick as a flash of lightning the
thought struck me; "a lariat-I am las
s0ed," and at the same time made des-
perate struggle to sieze my knife which
carried in my belt to sever the strands of
the lariat that encircled me, but in an in
slant was endorsed and lying PROSTATE
on the ground. I saw masked face above
me. and a white hand pressing something
to my mouth and nostrils which had de-
cided odor of chloroform.
The sun was high when picked myself
up and gazed in wonder around. Slowly.
and one by one, recalled the in cidents of
the preceding day, but could not under
stand how had arrived at this spot for
indeed C-ville was in plain sight, and my
mustang was picketed near by. My arms
panied me little, and that called to mind
the lariat that had been wrapped around
them, and then remembered being pulled
from my horse. My revolvers, and the sew
eral slugs which were in my packet, were
all intact. 1 approached my horse to
mount but, to my surprise and horror, my
saddle bags were gone.
That night as /, Was sitting sorrowsully
in my cabin, there came knock at my
door, and upon opening it, one of the party
entered.
Halo" he exclaimed, "heard you got
lariated last night He then went on and
told me what the party had accomplished,
and to my amazement founp that they
had been to exactly the sagsrraa place had
He described minvtely the trail, the house,
the barn, and everything on the premises,
"but," lie said ''there wasn't soul
there