Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-01-05

the sack upon his shoulders, without know
ing the change that had been made in il
contents, and all three disappeared
Now it happened that the city Of Rouer
was at that time infested by three street rob
bers, who walked in darkness like the pest
lence, and always carried the plunder o
their midnight marauding to the Tete.de
Bout, little tavern in one of the darkest
and narrowest lanes of the city. The hos
of the Tete-de-BDuf was privy TO all theii
schemes, and had an equal share in the prof
its Of their nightly excursions. He gave
helping hand, too, by the length of his bills
and by plundering the pockets of any chance
traveller that was luckless enough to sleep un
der his roof
On the night of the disastrous adventure oil
Friar Gui, this little marauding party had
been prowling about the city until late
hour, without finding anything to reward
their labors. At length, however, they
chanced to spy hog, hanging under a shed
in butchers yard, in readiness for the nexl
days market and As they were not very fas.
tidious in selecting their plunder, but, on the
contrary, rather addicted to taking whatever
they could lay their hands on, the hog was
straightway purloined, thrust into a large
sack, and sent to the te.de- Boeuf on the
shoulders of one Of the party, while the 9th.
er two continued their nocturnal excursion.
II was this person who had been so terrified
at the appearance of Martin Franc and the
dead monk and as this encounter had inter.
rupted any further operations of the party,
the dawn of day being now near at hand,
they all repaired to their gloomy den in the
Tete-d Bout. The host was impatiently
waiting their return and asking what plum.
der they had brought with them, proceeded
ryfll 1.la -, Al L
The first thing that presented itself on un-
tying the string, was the monks hood.
The devil take the devil ~ cried the host
as he opened the neck Of the sack whats
thisI Your hog wears cowl!"
The poor devil has become disgusted with
the world and turned monk" said he who
held the light, little surprised at seeing the
head covered with a coarse gray cloth
Sure enough, he has :" exclaimed anoth-
er, starting back in dismay, as the shaven
crown and ghastly face of the friar appeared.
Holy st. Benedict be with US It is a monk
stark dead !'
"a dead monk, indeed !" said third,
with an incredulous shake Of the head "how
could dead monk get into this sack No,
no, there is some sorcery in this. have
heard it said that Satan can take any shape
he pleases, and you may rely upon it this is
Satan himself, who has taken the shape of a
monk to get us all hanged"
Then we had better kill the devil than
have the devil kill us !" replied the host,
crossing himself; 'and the sooner we do it
the better, for it is now daylight, and the
people will soon be passing in the street"
80 say !, rejoined the man of magic ;
"and my advice is to take him to the butch
er's yard and hang him up in the place where
we found the hog
This proposition so pleased the others that
it was executed without delay. They carried
the friar to the butchers house. and passing
a strong cord round his neck, suspended him
to beam in the shed and there left him
When the night was at length past and
daylight began to peep into the eastern win
dows of the city, the butcher arose and pre-
pared himself for market He was casing
up in his mind what the hog would bring at
his stall, when, looking upward, 10 in its
place he recognized the dead body of Friar
Gui
by st. Denis!" quoth the butcher. II
always feared that this frar would not die
quietly in his cell but l never thought
should find him hanging under my own roof.
This must not be it will be said that muir
dered him. and l shall pay for it with my
life. must contriye some way TO get rid OF
him"
So saying he called his man, and showing
him what had been done, asked him how he
should dispose of the body so that he might
not be accused Of murder The man, who
was Of a ready wit, reflected a moment, and
then answered
This is indeed difficult matter but there
is no evil without its remedy. We will place
the friar ON horseback-"
"What a dead man on horseback ?-im-
possible! :" interrupted the butcher. 'Who
ever heard of dead man on horseback"
Hear me out, and then Judge. We must
place the body on horseback as we'll as we
may, and bind it fast with cords and then
set the horse loose in the street, and pursue
him, crying out that the monk has stolen the
horse. Thus all who meet him will strike
him with their slaves as he passes, and it
will be thought that he came to his death in
that way"
Though this seemed to the butcher a rather
mad project yet as no better one offered it.
self at the moment, and there was no time
for reflection, mad as the project was, they
determined to put it into execution Accord
ingly the butchers horse was brought out
and the friar was bound upon his back, and
with much difficulty fixed in an upright posi-
ton. The butcher then gave the horse a
blow upon the crupper with his staff, which
set him into O smart gallop down the street.
and he and his men joined in the pursuit,
crying:
"stop thief Stop thief The friar has
stolen my horse %
At it was now sunrise, the streets were full
Of people-peasants driving their goods to
market, and citizens going to their daily av-
ocatOns When they saw the friar das hing
at full speed down the street, they joined in
the cry of stop thief Stop thief" and
many who endeavored TO seize the bride, as
the frisr passed them at full speed, were
thrown upon the pavement and trampled un-
der foot others joined in the hslloo and the
pursuit but this only served to quicken the
gallop of the frightened steed, which dashed
down one street aud up another like the wind,
with two or three mounted citizens clatteniug
at his heels. At length they reached the
market-place. The people scattered right
and left in dismay and the steed and rider
dashed onward, overthrowing in their course
men and women, and stalls and piles of mer-
chandise, and sweeping away like a whirl-
wind. Iramp-tramp-tram they clat-
tered on they had distanced all pursuit
They reached the quay the wide pavement
was cleared at bound-one more wild leap
and splash both horse and rider sank in
to the rapid current of the river-swept
down the stream-Rnd were seen no more