River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-07-03

| dertone, as the light caught the brl-
| liant on her finger when she raised her
coffee-eup.
] happened to glance out of the win
| dow at that instant, and to my horror,
saw a man with evil black eyes and
| grizzled hair staring intently at Nab
/ and me with wicked look about him
| which / could not forget. As | caught
his eye he skunk away in the darkness,
| and presently the railway porter came
| to escort us to the waiting room.
Its against the rules of the road to
4 allow the waiting room to be occupied
| at night" he began, "but if you will
| be content without light, and with
both doors locked on the outside, have
no objection to your waiting there for
yourtrain."
This was appalling, to be locked up
| for five hours in a shabby little Italian
waitlng groom in total darkness. BY fee
| ing the man we prevailed upon him to
allow 'us to bolt the outer door on the
inside, so that we should feel little
less like prisoners.
The guard walks up and down the
platform till daylight, so you can feel
| quite safe" said the porter, consoling
| ", as he wished lis goodnight and shut
| the door of the dark little den upon us.
/ fortunately bethought me of some
| wax matches in the valise, and lighting
one for moment, We took in the sit
uation- mean little room, with door
on two sides hard benches round the
walls and long table. Surely not an
inviting apartment for repose. We
made ourselves as comfortable as the
circumstances would permit, and tried
to forget our position in sleep. But !
became preternatmally wakeful. Here
we were, two unprotected women,
! dropped down at this little wayside
station for all the long night hours.
| Suspicious characters were lurking
about, and we might be robbed and
murdered without our friends ever
| knowing of our fate. In the midst of
my cheerful reflections it consoled me
little to see the guard pass by slowly
outside at intervals, with his lantern
| cleaning on the red band of his cap.
Suddenly, my ears sharpened by the
silence, / heard a stealthy step APP
proach the inner door of our prison,
and the quiet grating of a key in the
| lock was distinctly audible. My heart
seemed to stop beating with fright, and
then, to my unspeakable horror, the
door softly opened and the evil-looking
man, with the grizzled hair, whom l
had seen through the window OF the
coffee-room, crept in with dim lam
| tern in his hand.
Listen" he said in a hoarse whisper,
| fixing me with his wicked eyes. eff
you are quiet | will do you no harm, but
if YOU scream or make the least distur
bance / know how to silence you. l
want the ring your friends pretty fin
! ger wears, and whatever money and
other valuables you have about you.
Make no resistance, as you value your
life!"
| suppose l grew very white and
trembled, for Mabel said, in a surpris-
! ingly firm voice:
Don't faint, Effie, but give the man
the valise to search ourselves are worth
more than the trumpery it contains. :"
The robber set his lantern on the ia
bic and commenced undoing the straps
of our yalise, placing it on the floor be-
fore the door at which he had entered.
Where was the guard outside that his
light did not shine through our window?
He might have rescued us; but he did
not come.
"Ef1ie," said Nab, in whisper to me
she need not have whispered, for the
robber could not understand our Ian
guage 81 am not going to give up my
ring without struggle. This man evi .
IDENTIFY thinks the other door locked on
the outside and safe against our opening
it; Otherwise he would not let us stand
so close to it. | have my hand on the
bolt now; there have slipped it |
am going to dash the robbers lantern
from the table with this bundle of
shawls; in the darkness we can rush out
upon the platform and call the guard.
Don't lose your head or try to detain
me, for | am quite resolved. Be ready
to fly when | give the signal
Before I could recover from my as
constituent at this bold plan, there was
a crash of glass upon the floor, dark
ness. a volley of Italian oaths and my
sister and | were tearing madly down
the deserted platform.
Guard guard I" we shrieked, with
all the energy of despair, but from some
inexplicable cause he could not or would
not hear us, though we saw his form
quite plainly in the distance.
Steps were heard in pursuit of us and
the angry curses of the burglar reached
our terror stricken cars, when an inspi-
ration seized Mabel. She put her little
silver whistle to her lips and blew till its
peculiar note rang out like clarion on
the still air.
The sound of hasty footsteps approach
ing from another direction became audi
ble whether they were for good or Ill
we could not tell. Nab had lost her
courage and was leaning on me, half
fainting, when voice calling in English
"Hallo! What is the matter? What are
you rascals doing?" seemed to put new
life into her.
Two men ran towards us, one OF
whom, to our amazement and delight,
we recognized as Sidney Weir, our
travelling companion.
We chung to him, and lowered over
him, with tears, historical laughter and
incoherent thanks and did not notice
that during our explanations both rob
Der and guard disappeared. Mr.. Weir
said that he had felt uneasy at leaving
us alone in the little station, and, find
ing another belated traveller, they had
whiled away the night smoking and
walking up and down the road near at
hand He bad not told us of change
of plans, thinking it might annoy us.
When he saw the rough lot of men who
collected about the coffee room, he was
very glad he had waited, for he thought
we might be subjected to annoyance, If
nothing worse. The sound of Mabels
whistle had reached his ears as "a signal
of distress, and he would never feel
sufficiently thankful that he had given
her the little toy.
what / fail to understand is this
rascally guard deserving his post so
shamefully," said our rescuer, ringing a
huge bell which hung near.
Presently an anstonished group OF
walters and porters gathered round Us
with lights and began asking IA thousand
questions. One of the new corners
stumbled over something lying in dark
corner
"What is this ?" he cried; "Moser,
the gaurd, in drunken sleepl He
will lose his place for this, and deserves
1t, too"
1t was afterwards discovered that An
ton Moser, the real guard, had been
drueged by two ruffians, one of whom
had stolen his lantern and cap, while the
other made his daring attempt upon Ma.
! Bile and me-