The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-08-24
now / CAPTURED THE BURGLARS.

~ "
had said that 1 did not believe q
any danger from burglars, but artel
Inc worry of the day and the fatigue
3f my unwonted vigil, i myself bcsal
TO feel little dull and out OF sorts
and found my mind dwelling on tin
possibilities Of our house being al.
empled. We were q family OF women
exclusively u gardener came daily
rom the village, and did not sleep on
.se premises, although, in asy case, an
Did mar would have been q poor hair
N danger. The gamekeepcr and Lis
on were our nearest protectors, and
aust own that i rather wished their
cottage was nearer.
Il am getting as silly as Maggie"
aid to myself, as / resoiuteiy drcy
he bedclothes over my ears 20 stop
myself listening for imaginary yoic.a
Il do think fancies are in~fcctiouas
And 40 mofalizing l fell asleep.
1 suppose l had slept sorns hour
rhen l was awakened by terrified
whisper at my ear, "Aflss Jane, Mis-
Jane, they're . trying our back door.."
started up and beheld the nura
md nursery maid In . strange and
rondrous desha6sHe. standing BY my
bed.
aIi,s Gospel truth what Maria ava
hiss,' gasped the nurse . portly wo-
nan, who looked white With terror,
you can zee them with your ow syus
tut Of the day nursery Window-xve
lorrld-lookirE rrmAns ~ sver am u
murder poor, Innocent women. UGH
agh"
Don't wake your mistra, " emAn!-
cried. "ln her delicate state u might
Yearly kill her."
"That's what 1 said, miss" struck in
Maria. 81 says, come to Miss Jane,
she amt afraid of anything"
This estimate of my courage was
very fattering, but at the present mo-
ment hardly true, for / did feel terri
bly, afraid. My only hope was that
the woman was mistaken.
"Come and see for yourself, miss
sobbed nurse. 81 had got up to give
baby his bottle, and went into the day
nursery 10 fetch the matches, which
Marin had forgot, and there under the
window / heard voices"
"Men's voices, miss put in Maria,
who seemed to act the part of a chorus.
"And nurse she comes back and wakes
and both of us look out of the
front window, and there we see two
men trying the Kitchen door,"
BY this time / had made a hasty
toilet and was ready 10 Investigate for
myself. 1t was with a quaking heart
that / crept noiselcssly 10 the nursery
window and peepcd behind the bin Z.
Alas! the terrible news was too true /;
two men whose faces / could not dis
tinguish in the dim light, but,who
certainly looked disrepnlable enough
to my alarmed eyes, were cautiously
trying the kitchen door. Atthcir feet
lay a long dark object, apparently a
sack, doubtless designed 10 carry oil
any. plumber they could obtain.
1t was all very well TO talk OF not
being afraid of burglars, but such al,
apparition at five O'Clock iii the morn
ing was enough to slartlc the strouges.
minded person. All the horrible. s;c-
ries | had ever heard of robbcries and
murders rushed across my excited
brain. There was not much worth
taking in the house; would the bur.
glars kill us in their disappointment.
was it wise to let them in %pcaccably,
and give them everything we had Oh
condition they did not modest us9 or
could we give an alarm?
At this moment 1 remembered the
gamekeeper's cottage. II we could
only summon him to our aid! But
how escape TO do SO? All the doors
were in front of the house and it was
impossible to get out that way with
out being seen by the burglars. /
pceped outagain ; evidently the kitch-
en- door was too strongly fastened TO
give way readily, for the men seemed
bafled in their efforts to open 1t. And
as l listened l heard n say in . gru1
voice-exactly the tones of an ortho-
dox rufiian-"Tain't no good, Jcn
better wait half an hour.",
"Till the rest of your gang come up
and you have more tools to work WITH"
1 thought to myself. "Now, ii we
could only let the gamekecper know
-
returned to my room with q pro-
iect in my head. There was o stair
case-wiudow at the back of the house,
not very high from the ground, and !
thought IL l could only get out there
l might manage 10 give the alarm,
Luckily the road to the gamekeepcr',
cottagcilay behind the house. NURSE
was too stupefied with terror to be OF
any use, but Maria entered into til,
scheme at once.
Maggie still slept, and I trusted Il
return with help before she awoke.
don't know how / got out Of tina
window and alighted on Q bed Of we
garden mold. L have often heard tina
one never knows what ono q do till
one tries. l certainly had no idea tina
l or any one else could run so fast as
did as soon as l got on my feet. In
very short time l was drumming o
the samekeeper's door.
Hound both the men up and dressed
they were just starting on one Of these
nocturnal expeditions for the detec.
ton of possible poachers in which
conscientious gainekeepers delight
They were rather startled at my APP
pearance in q toilet that was certainly
peculiar, and not improved by aquan'
tity Of mud it had gathered during
my run. But they soon comprchendet
my breathless tale.
(. "A-trying your back door, miss 7
mid tho father, a fine stalwRrt man
who looked 1T to engage . couple Of
burglars in Q single conflict; "bles
you, wen soon settle them gentry
Hand along the guns, Bill, and lool
alive. Pm mistaken If thcm men dom
slecp in Settlebourne jail tonight"