The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-09-03

after morning daWnGd; a feaf-a ner-
yous dread An indefinable sense of
dangef threatening me alert and
awake
The first consequence of which was
that was intolerably sleepy all next
day, and IN the early hours of the af-
ternoon stole away to my own room to
take a nap; Just as / reached my own
door, who should see upon the stair
case, the upper staircase, as if coming
down from the top of the house, but
Jake-the gardeners boy-carrying an
oDen knife
stopped in sheer surprise. Certain
ly he had no business in the house that
could take him beyond the kitchens.
''What are you doing here?n I demand
ed promptly. He gave me a furtive
glance out of his round black eyes, as
he shuf1led past, slipping the knife into
his pocket, but no word of answer.
watched him down the stairs and
out of sight, and then went into my
room, full of a strange uneasiness.
Falling asleep at last, as lay wonder
ing what could have been his errand
there, the second of my two dreams
came to me.
A horrible, terrifying dream. 1t was
night, and there were robbers in the
room-nen with lanterns and long
knives, and Grape masks upon their
faces, through which their fierce eyes
glared hideously. 1t seemed to me
that, looking from my bed, saw moth
er on her knees before them, and heard
her beseeching them, in low tones of
terror, to work their wicked will as
quietly as might be, for poor Mima's
sake. Nina was still sleeping, i thought,
in an inner room, and chill of horror
crept through me as / realized how IA
tai, in her weak and nervous state, the
shock of this midnight alarm might
prove to my poor sister.
At the same instant realized some
thing else-namely, that no one seemed
to take note of me, or be aware of my
presence. Taking advantage of this,
Slipped from the bed and the room I'M
seen, and away, swiftly and silently,
upstairs.
was going to the beethoven to ring
the bell and summon help. In this
vivid dream I seemed to fly up the
dark staircase on the wings of fear;
and 10! L was in the bell-tower. /
stretched forth my hand to grasp the
rope, but l grasped a hand instead-a
hand ao5h q knife IN 1t!
With wild shrek of terror sprang
from the bed to the floor, and awoke.
Almost my first waking thought was of
Jake, as / had seen him coming down
the upper stairs just now, carrying an
open knifei
/ stood quite still for y few minutes,
trembling, but with a certain resolution
growing in my mind. 1 had never
been up into the bell-tower, and had,
sd - hn
place; but | was going there now, and
alone, to see if the rope was in order.
[ looked out of my window first. The
afternoon had wore away while l slept,
to Judge by the sun on the lawn. If
help were needed from the five miles
distant town, it could not reach us be-
fore niGhtfall, [ thought, and who was
to summon it? Out on the lawn stood
Jake aud his father. talking together
and casting side-glances toward the
house. l felt an instructive distrust of
them; yet now, while l could be sure
they were not spying on me, now was
the time to investigate the condition of
the bell.
Away I went, up the seldom-used
stairs, almost as swiftly as in my dream.
Being aftern DON, the little belfry was,
of course, from its open sides. better
lighted than my own room. There was
no need to do more than look in. The
rope ac0S 99e10ly cut-one short end
hanging high above my reach, the rest
lying in great useless coil on the floor
underneath the silent bell.
Even mother was not disposed to
laugh at my dreams when I told
her that. She was brave and sensible
woman, fortunatelyI don't know
what the fate of towards might not
have been-and we took counsel to-
gether quietly, without letting Nina
hear a word
/ had to go and bring help from the
village, there was no other way, and it
was six O'Clock when we had finished
our consultations; and I must walk
half mile or more through the woods
to the highway, and then take my
chance Of conveyance to town, in Or
der that the men might not even sus-
pect my departure.
Mother called them both to the back
of the house while / slipped away
through the garden. We found that
Jake had said something to the girls
about sleeping inside the house that
night for their protection. Fortunate
ly, mother was quite equal to the task
she knew that he had formed it.
She did it admirably. Walking into
the kitchen at ten O'Clock, and finding
him seated with the girls, she pretend
ed to hear my father calling at the
gate, and sent Jake out to see; as soon
as he was fairly out of doors she kept
him there, by locking the doors against
him.
That very act, however, showed her
suspicious, and aroused theirs, SO that
they commenced operations earlier
than they had at first probably intend
ed. When | and the police arrived at
little after twelve o'clock, the house
was in state of siege. There were
five rufhanly fellows, inclusive of our
gardener, and they had the masks,
knives and lanterns of my dream. AS
the police came upon them from be-
hind, without their even suspecting that
help had been sent for, they were cap
tured with scarcely blow.
While I found myself, quite sudden
", heroine. / had walked almost all
the way to town, when gentleman
came along in dog-cart, and to him l
appealed for help. 1t happened TO be
Fred Liston, rich neighbor of ours, as
we afterwards learned, and together
we set about and accomplished the
rescue.
We accomplished more than that to-
gether, with success too. We dated
from that night mutual affection and
a courtship which eliminated in
wedding = year later, when l WIS sweet
seventeen.
Nina went ahead of me though
Papa brought home the blue locket