The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-01-17
The VITO and thu Burglar.

Tom was to be gone several DAYS, and ]
did not like to stay alone, and got Susie to
come and stay with me. There had been
several burglares attempted and successful,
and felt little more nervous than usual.
| Besides, u man who owed Tom quite a
large sum Of money had come to pay him,
and had taken tho money, and had not
been able to get to the bank and deposit it..
| had often heard that burglars kept track
of all these things, and talked the matter
over with Susie, rs way of fortifying
ourselves.
| We grew moro and more nervous every
minute, and when bed time came we could
hardly get courage enough to goxand lock
the doors. We finally did it, however, and
then the cnnsoling thought came to nS that
We should have done il several hours sooner
that it there were any burglars about,
they had had glorious time TO yet in and
secrctc themselves. 1t was not comforting,
| but could not be helped; and we tried to
pluck up courage enough to search the
house. We finally did it, and found no
one, though Susie thought she had when
she put her hand on Toms ovcrcoat in the
closet, and drew back with scream thut
| frightened us both half out Of our wits
| We talked a little after we went TO bed, but
| fell asleep quite soon, in spite Of our anxi-
ETY..
| In the middle of the night we were
awakened by a terrific crash in our bed
room. | think never experienced feeling
of more perfect terror than did as lay
there, brcathless, with the thoughts of our
| evenings conversation rushing over me,
and the confused consciousness Of that
crash, which had awakened Inc from Il
sound sleep. ! was sure some one was in
the room. The blinds were closed; it was
perfectly dark, aud utterly impossible to see
anyone if Il person were there. imagined
he had knocked over something in his at
tcmpts to go abolt In the complete dark
ness. reached over and touched Susie,
| cautiously.
'Arc you awake ?" whispered, as near
noiselesslly as possible.
eyes"
"Did you hear any,hing?" This trmc
with my head under the clothes, to shut
| out the sound.
eyes"
"What do you suppose it is7'
81 don't know"
Then we lay perfectly motionlcss, and
fairly shivcring with terror. After what
seemed an hour, but suppose was not
|
you suppose there Is any one hcrc7"
eyes. Don't whisper"
| Then we lay still again; SO perfectly
still that felt as if pctricd. and iL'scomctl
as if we should never be able to breathe
free again. At the end of another seeming
ly indefinite, or infinite, period of time,
Susie whispered to nc: "What shall We
do? DO you dare strike light ?"
''No," very decidedly.
Another long time Of perfect stiffness and
utter rigidity Of muscle, in our attempts tc
breathe quietly. Then Susie whispered
again: 81 don't see how any one could
keep still so long. 1t must be a mistake ~
inst thon there came report like that
Of pistol, but not rs loud, though we felt
sure that was what it was; and it seemed
| rs if it were in the kitchen or down the
cellar, we could not tell which. We be-
came bIcathlcss with terror then. What
could it be2 Whom could they he shoot
| ing? Then remembered tic dog. ] had
| not heard him bark, but il must be they
had shot him. We did not dare move af-
ter that, and lay there perfectly still until
it began to grow daylight. Such time as
it sccmcd-judgeng by our feelings, we
should havc been old and toothless when
| that faint streak of dawn crcpt in through
| the blinds. What do you think 1t disclosed
| to our terrified eycs2 A set of hanging
shelves, loaded with books, in an ignomin-
ious heap on the floor, with the cord broken
where IL had been worn by the piclurc-nal
which supported it, and so not leaving us
the chance to believe that some one had
knocked it down. And when we went to
the head of the cellar-slars and found a
can of tomatoes popped open, on the broad
| shelf, we knew what had been shooting.
Tom said: 'Just like couple of wo-
men, to scare themselves to death: Why
didn't you load my revolver at night, and
have it rcady2"