The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1879-05-21

with out stretched hands and eyes
full Of wild, anxious tender
ness.
sprang to my feet and rushed
toward her but rs reached
the window the fair arparltion
seemed to vanish into the stormy
darkness, and | was left alone.
At the seIf:same instant the report
of a pistol sounded; could'sec
the Jagged stream Of fire above
the pillow, straight through the
very spot where, ten seconds
since, my head had lam
With an instantaneous rcallza'
ton of my danger, | swung myself
over the edge Of the window, jump.
ing some eight or ten feet into tan
gled bushes below; and as crouch.
ed there, recovering my breath, /
heard tho tramp of footsteps into
my room.
-. is he dead p cried a voice up
the laddcr-the smooth, decelttA'
voice of the woman with the
half:closed eyes.
'Ofcourse he is,' growIed a voice
back that charge would have
killed ten men. A light there,
ouick ? and tell Tom to be ready
A cold, agonizing shudder ran
through me. What den of mid
night murderors had / fallen IN
to! And how fearfully narrow
had been my escapcl
With the speed that only NOR
tai terror can give, ! rushed
through the wood, now illumlna-
ted by faint gllmmer OF star
light. I know not what impulse
guided my footsteps. l never
shall know how many tlmos |
crossed my own track, or how
olnse 7 stood to the raVine !;
but a merciful Providence en-
compassed me with a guiding
and protecting care, for when the
morning dawned, with faint, red
bars of orient light against the
stormy eastern sky, | was close
to the high road, some seven
miles from e..
Once at the town, | told my
story to the police, and o detach-
ment was sent with me to the
spot.
After much searching and many
false alarms, we succeeded in find
ing the ruinous old house, but it
was empty-our birds had flown !;
nor did | recover my vallse and
watch and chain, which latter l
had left under my pillow.
Its Drew's gang said the
leader oi the police, 'and they've
troubled US these two years. |
don't think though, they'll come
back here just at present.
Nor did they.
But the strangest part OF my
story is yet to come. Some three
weeks subsequently I received a
letter from my sister, who was
with Alice in her English home
letter whose intelligence filed
me with surprise.
Il must tell yoa something worry
STRANGE wrote my sister, that
happened on the night of the 18th
of October. Alice had not been
we'll for some time in fact, she
had been confined to her bed for
nearly a week, and was sitting
beside her reading. It was late !;
the clock had struck one, when all
at once she seemed to faint away,
growing white and rigid as a
corpse. ! hastened to call assls-
tance; but all our efforts to re-
store animation were in vain. l
was just about sending for the
doctor, when her senses returned
as suddenly as they had left her,
and she sat up in bed, pushing up
her hair and looking wildly around
her. :.
s:Alice,' / exclaimed, how you
have terrified US all I Are you
ILL?
MOT ILL., she answered, 'but |
feel so strange. Oracle, [ have
been with my husband !"
And all of our reasonings failed
to convince her Of the impossibili.
ty of her assertions. She persists
to this moment that she saw you
and was with you on the morn
ing Of the 18th ofOctober. Where
al AZ JIJn