The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-02-12

ITO be provided with paper. He tool
several from q drawer, but none o.
them would yit her case. II must be 6
document written in English, in plair
hand and spelled correctly, and there
was hitch. As near as 1 could make
out old Jezel did not write the begging
papers himself. nor did he just theI
know where to get one written. a,',,
"Does he speak English?" asked
the woman as she pointed to me. =.
Eyes" GivL - ~
"Ask him to write the paper"
eyes, ask him" repeated the hus
Old Jezel looked at me long and
keenly. He didn't want to take any
chances, but he wanted = begging pa,
per. Finally he said:
"My trent, dis poor womans has lost
her husband and four childers ~ a fire
! in St. Louis. She wants honey to gl
back to Italy,"
I sat down at the table, he brought
pen ana paper, and 1 wrote out some.
thing like the above paragraph, and
"Remember that it Is more blessed to give
than to receive: Cast your bread upon the
waters and 1t shall return. Charity covers
multitude OF sins. Be kind to the poor. She
If you want your taxes reduced"
b.. Old Jezel took the paper, studied over
every word, and after ten minutes he
thanked me for my work and handed il
to the woman and took the pair into
the hall for parting word. - 't1is
s.Poor womans! Poor womans!'' he
said, as he returned to his chair and
pipe:
Yes II is a sad, sad. ease, ~ added.
We looked at each other. If he didn't
want to grin I did.
Two men, each having a sack on his
back. entered the place. I was Just
beginning to feel sleepy. Old Jeze1
had filled his pipe several times, and
the smoke affected me curiously. As
looked across the table at him he would
have two heads and two pipes. Then
he would seem long way off. Things
around the room looked big to me, and
4 greatlK Nondsred why tobacco-smQke
1hd 6ld a Fect:me ii that manner. IS
9ooGea1hings, sshentlemens," he 81
luteA aStwo. men Suffered "a q
Y First thou6 hssthere were four me6,
but after rubbing my eyes two of them
faded away. AS they came forward the
old man asked me to be seated against
the wall in the old place. 1 walked
over to the chair, bit there were two
chairs there, and l Had 70 reashout NV
hand before the false one vanished.
l was as top-heavy as man who had
taken more than enough. 1 asked my
self if l had drank anything. No, not
even water, nor had tasted food.
Then whatwas it? AS tried to study
it out i felt like laughing. In a few
minutes got the idea that my right
arm WAS longer than. my left one, II /
put. them both out to measure, and 10!
it was fact! How could that beeo All
of a sudden my vision cleared up, my
mind came back, and I saw old Jezel
and the two men going into another
room. l sat looking at the door through
which they had passed, when my head
gave great nod.
"Don't youtlareEote sleep in this
den'' I said to myself, as 1 half rose,
but l had scarcely fallen back when
did 60 to sleep. I went to sleep with
my eyes open. l saw the table, lamp,
chairs, etc. as plain as could be, and
yet T said to myself that I was asleep.
l said that could awaken in an Instant,
and that it would be nh right t01get,a
few winks of sleep while the old man
was gone.
The bed on which "Heaven bless
you'' was lying was opposite me on the
other side of the room. had not
given him a thought before-indeed,
had forgotten he was there. I now
saw him rise up on his elbow and look
at me. He seemed satisfied that was
asleep. He looked toward the door
through which old Jezel had disppear-
ed, seemed to listen, and then began
crawling toward me.
"What is the rogue up top l
mtsed, as he came slowly forward, and
felt amused to see how cautiously he
crept across the floor.
And yet another strange thing. There
were two men lying on the other bed.
When did they come in? How did
they get there without my seeing them?
l had been awake all the time, and yet
they had come in and gone to bed. 1t
could be no vision, for / could count the
buttons on their coats and distinguish
the color of their hair.
Creep creep creep! The little
Italian was softly advancing. 1 could
see his black eyes sparkle as he looked
at my watc6-chain. Creep halt
listen-cresp! He thought ] was asleep,
and he meant to rob me!
"Pll show that rogue trickr' said
to myself, as I watched him. "He
thi1|ss am fast asleep, but when he
getS nearenongh, I'll hit him between
theEves a. hard as can and thenshout
forseld Jezelr'
Creep-creep-creep! The room was
still as death. No step on the sidewalk
below-no noise of wheels on the cob
blestones I could hear, the Italian
breathe as he wormed himself forward
Indeed, it struck me all at once that
could hear his heart beat. 1 counted
One-three-seven-t and so on, a
Iod1nt fer each beat Of his heart, and, l
Reasoned that he must be greatly ex-
cited. 1 saw all this as plain as I see
the paper on which I am writing.
Nearer-nearer, and at last the Ital-
ian was beside me. He must have seen
that my eyes were wide open. Aye! he
Looked ftlit me. ard his eyes had, a
greedy twinkle asa he reached out his
hand. Now I would hit him! Now
-! But didn't. AL at once got
the idea that Il Imoved we should both
60 through the floor. I felt that the
floor had already bent down under our
weight. His right hand reached out,
wavered around, and then his fingers
touched my vest, and his breath burned
my cheek. He carefully worked the
bur the chain ont of the button-hole,
and I felt the chain when it fell down.
.Nowhe weseld seize it and lift out. the
watch :. 81 AZ
Avthat Instant steps were heard md
the Italian rose with hiss and gained
his bed at hound A second later old
Jezel appeared at the door with the
two men. They looked at me. said
something in a low voice, and the two
men went down stairs. The old man
went to his table, made some figures,
looked at his watch, and then came
over and called out as he shook my