The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-12-07
went INTO the hall led Dim shut nly

hasuIy opening the closet, stood and
listened in breath ess suspense. vi h
q bold, heavy step he descended into
the hal, and although had recog-
nized him as UGH, L now firmly be-
lieved him to be no o her than our
gardener, for he seemed to be aware
that 1 was the only occupant IF the
house, and to believe tina he lad me
securely To- ked in my room; bat,
strange to say, ! e had frrg item the
door leading into the balcony. and step
ping ut, 1 again o ked about me for
some means of cape.
l tried the front ball door, and to my
delight found it unfastened. From it
little fight OF stairs led up into a room
in the roof, where there were two
dormer windows.
fastening up these steps, l raised
one of the windows and stepped out up
on the roof. lowering the sash after me.
The Moon was shining brilliantly, and
1 looked up and down the road to see if
any OBJ ect was in sight; but not a NOV
ing object could l discern from among
the clustering shadows and bushes.
Once more [ listened, and heard the
intruder coming up the first stair
way, and knew he was coming to break
into the closet. / had been thoughtful
enough to lock it when / came out, in
order to keep him employed as long as
possible, hoping aid might arrive be-
fore he was gone.
He completed his task at the lock
with remarkable quickness for | heard
him come into the hall with a distinct
oath and start to come up the second
fight of stairs
Dear mel Would he suspect what l
had done, and come out on the roof to
look for me? Perhaps he had heard me
raise the window.
Running to the far end of the house.
l saw the limb of a tree extending out
quite near the edge of the roof, and
thought perhaps 1 might swing down
by it. 1t was very small and weak, an
/ was almost afraid to risk it; but ner-
haps it would sustain my weight until l
could reach another limo. But suppose
that it should break? The fall would be
quite sure to kill me.
l was almost ready to abandon the
idea and make myself contented upon
the roof until my brother came. allow
the rObber to carry away every thing in
the house if he chose, when a loud rat
tie upon the dormer window aroused
me. and without even TIA hiking further
of what might be the -equences, l
took hold OF the limb and stepped off
the roof, swinging far out over the
yard.
AS l looked down I grew faint and
came near letting go my hold. There
| was hanging high up in the air, sus-
pende by a rail limb, and to Iall
would be certain death
Climbing hand over hand, I soon
reached the trunk of the tree, where
/ Ia L. 1 ]
limb. Lowering myself from one
branch to another until I reached the
lowest limb. | stood for moment, and
looking back up at the roof, listened.
to ascertain whether or not | was being
pursued.
l could hear nothing, however, and
climbing care ullv to the smallest end
of the limb, bent it down, and swing
ing off by my hands, reached the
ground in safety.
The next thought was to seek as
sistance, so that the rUbber might be
captured and our valuables recovered.
/ ran hastily to the house of our gar
dener, and finding the door slightly
aiar, pushed it oNen and looked in at
the bel. By the light of the moon fall
ing upon it, l saw that it was unoccu-
pied and had not even been disturbed.
l had hoped that he was innocent. and
that l should find him in his bed asleep;
but | saw plainly now that my hopes
were in vain.
[ then went to our cook room and
called her. She sprang out of bed with
n frightened exclamation and ran to the
door to know what l wanted. / told
her in as few words as possible, asking
her to 90 for our nearest neighbOr, who
4 al I11 l.
Of course she would. and while she
drew on her clothes l took up an old
gun from q corner of the room. and
finding that it was loaded, fastened
back to the house.
| stationed myself at the end of the
porch, behind a clump of vines, AMI
stood with my gun ready to shoot at the
shortest notice. | could hear the in
tru1er in the house going up and down
stairs turning over chairs and keeping
up a general racket. At last he ap-
peared at the window, and stepping out
upon the porch, stool looking up the
road.
.. Guess I'd better be gittin' way from
here, cause that Young miss has got
out, an ! first thing | know somebody Il
be comm in here to eat me up skin and
bone. Pve got the money, anyway. and
that's all | wanted, 'cept missus' watch
and chain; but I'll git it some day"
He turned as if to leave, and l let him
have a load from my gun in one of his
legs. He fell to the floor with terrible
yell. and kept quiet. l thought if l
could keep him there until help came
without taking his life, [ should be sat
isfed
Raising himself on his elbow with a
hn oil, Il
'Oh, l am shot! I'm killed! Please
don't shoot me any more, and I'll give
the money al back every cent?
| did not show myself. but prepared
the other barrel to shoot, if it should
become necessary. 1t did not, however,
for it was not long before the cook re
turned, accompanied by our neighbor
and his two sons, who took possession
of the gentleman, and relieved me of
my watching.
A few moments later my brother and
his wife arrived, and | discovered that
it had been exactly one hour since |
was aroused from my slumber in my
room.
The rObber was none other than the
old gardener, and he alterward con
fessed he knew father was not at home,
and saw mother when she went away
with my brother He was very much
in need of the mO9ey, he said, and de
termined to take ADVANTAGE of the op-
portunity to go into the house and
search for some. He also said that he
meant to force me to tell him the
whereabouts of fathers money, but he
said nothing about intending to take
my money.
When l saw him come through the
garden into the yard, he had been OF
to borrow the hat and cloak from his
brother, with whom he promised to di-
vide the proceeds of the n ght.
The mask he formed himself of a
piece of black cloth, and, indeed, had 1
not seen him enter his own house, /