Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-08

panion, and here he mad solved the prob.
lem of his own accord. Giving him hall
an hours grace to take him well out of the
way, l slipped out through the back door
of the Shamrock Arms and made my way
rapidly down the Morristown road in the
direction of the Clairmont estate.
J My sole doubt and anxiety was as to how
l was to succeed IN obtaining an interview
with the young lady. Should fortune be-
| friend me in that matter the rest appeared
simple enough. / pictured to myself hel
mental condition, the sense of desolatior
which must Cypress her young SOUL
Cooped up away from the world, her heart
must yearn for some manly bosom upon
which to rest her head, some strong arm tC
break her letters. Besides. was a man
with exceptional personal advantages.
Without being conceited, l have a just ap'
probation of my own merits. To eyes &C
customed to nothing but an occasional
glance of Dennis, the lodgekeeper, should
appear an Adonis. By the way. how about
Dennis? Might he not resent my intru'
sion? Pooh he was an old man. l re.
member the landlord saying so. What
would l net risk for the girl whom was
prepared to adore Perhaps he would
have gun, though. These Irishmen are
hot. headed and blood thirsty. l grew
thoughtful and slackened my pace.
By this time l had come TO the place
coping bristling with spikes and pieces Of
broken bottles, ran along by the side OF
the road. This recognized, fiom Keefe's
description, as being the boundary line of
| the Clairmont estate. At the other side OF
the wall there was as far as 1 could see a
thick forest. Should 1 do it or should
not? l thought of the five and twenty
thousand pounds. Besides, what would a
gate keeper be doing with gun? What
sell for Bob Elliott-and for Pendleton,
the shy Pendleton Would not they curse
their want of energy when they saw the
prize which had slipped through their
fingers? How the fellows would talk in
London, TOO, even if l failed? 1t would
make my name as Don Juan l could
imagine Clinker or Waterhouse or some of
the old set coming into the Temple wine
bar and beginning 81 say, you chaps,
have you heard of Vereker's latest? Very
devil among women, is Vereker. He was
in Ireland a few weeks ago"-and so on,
and SO on. "By Jove p l cried, as l ap-
preached the wall in paroxysm of reek-
iessness, "Tll do it if 1 have to skin my
knee u
l did skin my knee in fact, skinned
them both. also removed portions of in.
tegument from my scalp, shoulder, elbow,
hand and ankle, besides splitting my coat
and losing my hat. l was recompensed
for all this, however, as l sat astride upon
the top of the wall and looked down into
the forbidden land beyond. | could have
laughed st the thought of the march
was stealing on my two companions. l
would have done so had it not been for a
spike which was running into the calf of
my leg.
The drop on the other side did not look
very deep. 1 held on to the largest pro-
lection l could see, and lowered myself I'M
til my feet were not more than yard or
so from the ground. Then let go, but
only to find that hung suspended by a
hook which had passed through my waist.
band This impediment, however, gave
way, and fell with crash for about nine
feet into sort of trench, which had been
dug apparently all round the inner side of
the wall, and was so artistically covered
with grass and sticks that it was impossi-
BILE to detect it from the top. All this
discovered after / crawled out of it, for
during the few minutes that lay at the
bottom every idea was shaken out of my
head beyond general impression that
had been struck by lightning.
The trees grew so thickly together that
it was impossible 10 see for any distance
into the wood, and the brushwood was so
dense that it was no easy matter to move
in any direction, After emerging from
the ditch | hesitated for moment as to
my rext step, and then was about to keep
to what appeared to be some sort of path
on the left when my eye was attracted by
small placard attached to the trunk of a
tree. | made my way toward it eagerly,
pushing aside the intervening briers and
brambles. 1t might contain some direc-
tions which would enable me to find my
way, or-romantic Thought might be
that the lonely Beatrice l was in search of
had inscribed her pinings and longings
where they might meet the eye of an ad.
venturous stranger. As l stood before the
inscription and road it felt kind of cold
flush, if the expression be permissible, pass
along my spine and up TO the roots of my
hair, while my knees, or what was left of
them, knocked together like castanets.
Scrawled upon the paper in rough, bold
hand were the three words: Blood
hounds spring gunE-mantraps unpleas-
ant words at any time, but most particu-
larly so amid the gloom of forest with a
ten-foot wall in ones rear. The announce.
ment was a concise one, and yet felt as
re-perused it that it contained more food
for reflection than any volume which had
ever read. Was | to abandon my enter
prise now that the first difficulty had been
successfully overcome? Possibly the no.
tice was mere empty threat. Surely no
one would allow such things to remain in
their strawberries. The combination of
ideas was 30 dreadful. Suppose that was
caught in a man trap, whatever that
might be, and was then attacked By a
bloodhound /! The mere supposition made
me shudder. But then if these frightful
dogs were really roaming about over the
forest, how was it that none of them were
shot by the spring guns or caught in the
traps! This construction revived my
dropping spirits, and pushed on through
the thick underwood.
As l advanced it opened up somewha9,
so that l made better progress. A few
hall. overgroTn paths meandered here and
there, but avoided these and kept under
the concealment of the trees. Never shall
l forget that dreadful walk Every time
twig snapped l sprAng into the air under
the impression that l was shot, No hero
of romance ever underwent such an ordeal
for his lady, and indeed no lady was ever
worth it. Five and twenty thousand
pounds, however, are enough to steal TIE
heart of the most timorous, but even they
would hardly recompense me for the
frights which were in store for me.
l had got to one of the deepest and one
of the most secluded parts of the woods,
when 1 stopped suddenly and crouched
down, trembling in every limb. Was it
the sounds of footsteps which had been
waited toward me on the breeze? list.
ened intently, and then with long sigh
of relief was about to rise, convinced that
l had been mistaken, when the same sound
came to my ears, but much louder than
before. There could be no question that
it was approaching me. l lay down upon
my face among the prickly brambles, hop
ing to escape observation. The footsteps
continued to come nearer and nearer.
They were those of man-but put down
steslthily and softly as if he were also
stunning observation. Could it be that
| aor,a r1{E, ~ baJ oboarved mo and UNA