Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1880-01-17

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thieves in that part of the country,
the people being poor. He then
left me with small piece Of can
die. The bed did not look very
inviting but | was tired and tho't
I could sleep anywhere.
Shortly after heard the man
tell Rose, as he called her, to go TO
bed and he would call her in the
the morning, and said he would
go out and see if Jack had got
home, and look after the horses
| heard him tramping OF, and
very soon l heard rap upon my
door, | had not undressed, so |
opened the door at once. | was sur
prised to see my hosts daughter
standing there. She spoke in
hurried accents.
"Oh, sir, do not undress this
night You are in nest of rob-
GERS and murderers. They mean
to kill you before morning. Have
you arms?" l answered,
Yes, my girl; but is this man
not your father?'
81 cannot tell you now. But
prepare to leave the house as soon
as | can make arrangements for
you. There is shutter closed
outside with bar. | will I'M
close it for you, and you be ready
to descend as soon as you hear mo
there Try to feign sleep when
they come in.'
She said no more, but quickly
descended, and heard her shut
ting her own door soon after. Not
long after / heard the man come
in accompanied by Jack. They
conversed in low tones for some
time. Soon they were joined by
another, whom they called Nat.
/ could not distinguish what they
said, as they spoke low. But soon
they grew louder in their tones,
and / Leered through the crack to
get a sight of them. They were
two younger men than my host,
but more desperate looking.
Thief and murderer was plainly
stamped upon their ugly faces.
/ thought if / only had a chance
how we'll | should like to pepper
the rascals with brace or two of
bullets. But / remembered in
time that discretion was the better
part of valor, so lay down upon
the bed and breathed loud and
heavily. There was an instant
hush, and heard one whisper
gtIn ctonnc c0nnd nnnrnh J,
Said another
"Now. boys, would be good
time to take him unawares."
mo-" said my host, whom they
called Bat. "It's too soon; an
hour from now will be time
enough No use to hurry about
such things. And by the way,
good pull at the whiskey bottle
will make our nerves steadier, l
am more nervous than l used to
be. The time was when could
slip windpipe with as little fool
ing as I'd light my pipe now.
That was in the time of Dan Bax-
ter. He was a hard 'un. He
would shoot a man as coolly as he
would partridge. But poor old
Dan has gone up-or down-it
puzzles me to know which. If it
| hadn't been for me he would have
finished little Rose" Said Nat
s'How did you come by the
girl, anyhow? l would like to
hear that story"
Eyes," said Jack, "while we
are waiting tell us about that. |
am going to have her for wife
one of these days, and | would
like to hear about her,
"Ha! hat" said Nat. "How
60 you know you'll get her. l
have just as good a right to her as
you have. L tell you / wont stand
tip
They spoke louder, and Bat
stopped their wrangling by tell
| ing them that the first one that
| gave him five hundred dollars
should have the girl. They did
not demur at this, but urged Bat
on to tell the story.
"Well,' said Bat, land he took
another pull at the whiskey) cit is
just thirteen years last month
since Dan Baxter brought man
and wife and little child to his
house. They came from France
to the States, and hearing of a re-
lation in Montreal, they came on
this way. Dan run a kind of
privtte stage just as do now.
They were mica looking folks, and
just worshiped each other. They
were wealthy people, too, and it
ALWAYS was mystery to me why
we did not find more money. One
thousand dollars was all we could
find. They had good clothes and
some jewelry. but we were disap-
pointed at the small amount of
money, and US taking so much