The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-11-02

three raps, good. wake up at once,
and, springing out of bed, put on my
clothes. l am prepared for action, as it
were. Then, should your fears con-
tinue, you keep on rapping. under
stand at once that the danger is immi-
nent. Then seize my revolver, cock
it, rush down stairs, bound over the
fence, and my presence at once discon-
certs the robbers. They endeavor to
escape; shoot two or three of them,
and you and your charming grand
daughter are saved"
ats very dreadful, but quite kind
and thoughtful of you, and soingenious.
l do believe that if / knew that some
one was watching for my safety half my
fears would be dissipated. The old
woman really looked quite grateful
80 you think you could hear meP" she
asked
sOf course l could sleep on one
ear" / replied. 1T is true the idea is
perfectly my own, but as introduced by
me it is quite practicable. for it has been
put on trial. In fact, by means of the
hammer system we might dispense with
the police entirely. Once, when lived
in quite a deserted neighborhood-a
long row of houses in a suburban por-
ton of the city, organized hammer
alarm. had to do it for self-protec-
ton. There had been robbery after
robbery in the row, and the police were
afraid to interfere. Everybody in that
row went regularly to bed with ham,
mer. 1t was very hard luck on the
thieves, for, as bad luck would have
it for those rascals, they tried to break
into one house, just at the end of the
row. In six seconds every inmate in
the row had been informed that bur-
glarious attempt was being made. You
might have heard the three taps work
ing along from house to house in the
stiffness cf the night. Every body
turned out under my lead. We made a
Gordon, swept the street, and captured
six or seven of the robbers. l don't re-
member the number of them exactly,
only that they were the most blood
thirsty rascals known in the annals of
crime"
The old lady, whose hair fairly stood
up by this time-or would have stood
UP if she had had any-was profuse in
her thanks just what l wanted took
place l was invited next evening to
take tea, and the old lady in person
showed me her garden. so that | might
understand the lay of the land.
Now / had reconnoitered the prem
ises before, not that l thought any thing
ever would happen, but really out Of
consideration for the young woman.
The fence was not very high one,
though adorned with spikes. To facili-
tate my climbing, rolled big barrel
near it. 1 could step on that, and then
with slight effort could scale the
fence. l showed my plans of succor
and the old lady approved of them. l
bought tack hammer, presented it to
her, and explained to her in detail the
method of signaling.
The tea was very pleasant one,
and the young lady agreeable. went
to bed that night quite happy, and quite
forgot all about the signals. In fact, a
week or SO elapsed, and nothing occur
rcd 10 break the quiet of that really
peaceful neighborhood.
l am a sound sleeper generally, but
on certain night not long afterward
there was such terrible storm of wind
and rain, with rattling of windows, that
my usual rest would not come. At last
l went off into half-dreamy doze, when
suddenly close to my ear was awaken
ed with start heard the three omi-
nous taps on the wall! never listened
to anything so dreadful in my life. Was
l awake? / waited while. 1t was the
precautionary signal, but not the posi-
tive alarm. Rat-tat-tat went that devils
tattoo on the wall; then l knew that
danger was imminent. l looked out of
the window and it was raining cats and
dogs. l shuddered! Still the cursed
rapping of the hammer reverberated
through the room. l hustled On my
clothes. / never had revolver in my
life, and, had l owned one, would not
have known how to shoot it off. wish
ed | had not lied so, but l always was
romantic. The rapping continued like
mad. Suppose there were real, true for
true robbers next door! What could a
single, poor, inoffensive, unarmed young
man like me do against a whole gang of
bloodthirsty house breakersp [ knew
that they would murder me for inter-
fering with their legitimate business. 1
thought once would open the window
and yell, Murder! thievesr' but my
window looked on the yard, and the
wind was bowling so that had there
been whole squad of police below not
one of them would have heard me. 1t
was dreadful to be walked up that way,
to walk to sudden death, and so unpre-
pared as knew | was. l cursed my
officiousness. was dressed somehow,
at least, and went slowly shivering
down the stairs, making all the noise l
could. but it was just one of those selfish
boarding houses where the inmates
never take notice of anything. 1 opened
the back door which led to the garden.
/ was wet to the skin before | found
the barrel, and what was mysterious
about it was that the barrel had been
moved away from the fence. In a
minute it flashed across my mind that l
did once venture into the adjacent
garden my retreat would be cut off, and
that, as the victim of some villanous
trap, next morning | would be found
dead-dead-my skull beaten in with
jimmy.
At last, however, at the expense of
several severe excoriations, was over
the fence. 1 gazed at the back of the
house. All was still-still as death
there was lull in the storm. l waited
to hear the agonized scream of the VIC
Tins, but there was nothing save an ap-
palling stiffness. Then something rus
tied, and | covered my face with my
hanf.s. was awaiting some crushing
blow on nv head, when stray cat
bounded past me. No lights were visi-
BILE. waited ten minutes, exposed to
the drenching of the pitiless storm, for
it rained now harder than ever; then
feeling that if the worst had come it was
all over now, and / could do nothing,
retreated quietly, deliberately climbed
the fence, and st last regained my bed.
/ was miserable, chilled to the marrow,
and so nervous and excited that l never
went to sleep any more during the