The daily gazette., 1880-03-22
A Night watohman's Adventure.
BY MAUD MERRILL.


alert; and II was very evident that strok-
ing his hair would produce the same,
sound as rubbing cats fur in the wrong
direction.
The building under his nightly charge
skirts of New York, and within stones
throw of a large field, on which, at the
period embraced in my story, travelling
menagerie had pitched Its tent. As such
exhibitions often brought bad characters
into the neighborbood. Martin was even
more vigilant than usual and, fearing
that he might fall asleep, he took along
a small bulldog to act as deputy.
The night which Martin had such ter
rible cause to remember was very gusty
one in the latter part of the Autumn
and the old tree in front of the ware.
house was showeTiDg down its crimson
foliage, as II the red snow that is some
times seen In the Polar regions were fail
ing in huge fakes.
He was strict teetotaler; and as
every night-watchman requires some
stimulant, he was In the habit Of taking
a pint of coffee with him and warming il
up during the night. H
Between twelve and one o'clock he
went upstairs for that purpose ,as the only
fireplace In the building was in q small
front room OH the second floor. After
splitting up some old boxes, he made a
blazing fire on the fieartb, which light
ed upthe little roomso resplendetly that
his lanterns became more superfuity.
The warmth was SO grateful to his
rheumatic limbs that he kept pntting on
fuel long after he had drank his allow
ance of hot coffee. II was his custom to
Inspect the doors and windows on the
ground-foor of the building at regular
intervals so at two O'Clock he went
down stairs for that purpose, leaving the
dog in comfortable doze by the fire.
He had completed his round of inspec-
tion, and was on his way up stairs again,
when he heard tremendous crash of
glass followed by howl from the dog, a
sculfiiing sound and all was still again.
Martin cooked his Colts revolver and
rushed into the room, only to find the
window-sashsh shattered to fragments and
the dog gone.
Howwas that tate oftbings be account
ed for? The dog couldn't have jumped
through the window, because the scuf-
fling sound succeeded the crash; and fur
thermore, all the glass broken from the
window was strewn upon the floor of
the room, showing conclusively that the
window must have been broken from
the outside.
Martin was puzzled for once, and the
more he revolved the matter in his
mind the more 1t seemed that some sup
ernatural agency had been at work. A
glance from the window satisfied hi m
that no human being could reach it ex-
cept by means of a ladder; for, although
the tree we have mentioned stood
directly in front of it, the intervening
distance was too great for any one to
use the tree as q means of access to the
window. as.
Martin then resolved to examine the
ground Immediately under the window
for traces left by the feet of a ladder,
or by those of robbers. He was aware
of the risk attached to such course,
but that could not deter him from seek
ing a clew to the disappearance of his
favorite dog. He was on the point of
going out, when it occurred to him
that his duty to his employer, which
was always paramount consideration
in his mind, forbade that he should
take SO rash step, and that he had al
ready been guilty of gross negligence
in leaving the broken window for an
instant. So he hurried back to the
room from which the dog had disap-
peared, and prepared to watch there
until morning. The fate of the dog
had warned him of the danger of hav-
ing light in the room, and thus max
ing himself conspicuous target to any
one or anything ouside SO he extin-
guished the fire, coveredup his lantern
in one corner of the apartment, and sat
in the dark, with his finger on the
trigger of his pistol, awaiting further
developments.
At this juncture there was lull in
the gale, which had raved with mania
cal fury for several hours; and Martins
acute ear heard an indistinct sound
below that was evidently caused by
some one creeping on his hands and
knees, Martin had often heard hunters
crawling in that manner to surprise
their game.
A momentary silence ensued, and
then he heard the tree violently agi-
tated, as if some giant were ascending
it for there was no wind blowing at |
the time. A moment afterward what |
appeared to be the leg of a burglar was
thrust through the window, and he
fired one barrel of his revolver at it,
but was unable to fire second as the |
exploded percussion cap had got wedg-
ed in behind the chamber of the pistol |
so as to prevent it from revolving.
But Martin meant business so he
threw the revolver at the mysterious |
object, and then followed up with his
But it soon dropped |
from his paralyzed hand, as he was
jerked through the window, and
found himself in the coils of boa-con-
strictor.
The menagerie tent had blown down,
the pole of it falling upon the serpent's
cage, and SO bending the iron rods as
to let out its inmates.
Some hours afterward the menagerie
men were engaged in repairing dam
ages, when they were Mortified to see
the enormous boa returning to its cage
with the insensible watchman in
its powerful folds.
If Martin had offered the least re-
sstance the constructor would have
crushed every bone in his body; but as
he tainted Immediately, it supposed he
was dead, and was conveying him
back to it's cage to perform the process
of deglutton at its leisure; for it was
&, ,I,aady surfeited nv the doc which IL