St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-27
TIE GOLD THIEF.
,tI Fired Four Shots in Quick sic
cesSiOu.''


paused for awhile, 50 L asked him: "CouldhI
Sou tell us a story of your adventures, OF
something that happened to YOU uncle!
s.WelL" he answered, 1--we had so many
adventures, small and great, that IL Is haIu
TO pick out one: but suppose tell you the
first that happened to me-Wlll that SATISFY
you?'' ,.,..,,.o,
We all declared we should be delighted
to hear it: 50, giving the ire POKE anu
all of MS drawing nearer TO the pla%e' io
began the following: A..
You know, when first went to aus
tralia. there was a great excitement about
tine cold that was being found in several
places: and. like a great many people L
was seized with the gold mania and Weht 10
the dicgipus. You know, also. that was
very fortunate there-but of that nave
nothing 10 say now, Us l am going TO teI
You what befell me one night, about 1ort-
night after my arrival at the digglngS.
s.Your Uncle Tom, who was with me,
was up the country for fey DAYS Win an
old scbool-fellow whom he had found III
that remote region, SO L found mysell Oh
this particular night the sole occupant OF
our hut | had retired to my hammock
rather early that night, but / could not 90
to sleep. but kept tossing about Tor Il long
time. At last / opened my eyes wide, with
grasp for that night. and l began looking
around the hut at such objects as the re-
mains of the fire made clear enough to be
seen.
GAS locked round d dark object i'll one
corner arrested my attention: it was in
corner not lighted by the fire, so that took
some moments to make out what II was;
but at last | came to the pleasant conclu-
sion that there was some one else III The hut
besides myself.
Now this was particularly inconyenl-
ent thing. to say the least OF It, for knew
nobody personally that lived about rs; but
knew very well that, as general rule.
they were a low, coarse lot Of ruidans.
great many of thenf conyicts and men who
had had to fly from their countries for va
rious reasons. best known to themselves, so
YOU may perhaps form slight idea Of my
feelings | knew it was not my brother,
for he would not be back for two days; be-
sides why should he come i'll so silently
and stand there so mySteriOuSly? But what
puzzled me most was how any one could
get there. for had most carefully fastened
the door before retiring to rest l thought
my eyes might be deceived, but on looking
more mtently at the dark object | distinctly
saw the outline Of pair of shoulders and
one arm, but ii was impossible to see the
head or face as the shade was so heavy in
the corner.
Now. in this very corner. we had a
chest. in which we brought various clothes
and other necesSarieS and i'll which we
meant to put any gold we might tnd-I say
meant because we had not found any up to
the present time-So | of course concluded
that my visitor was examining this chest
with view to robbery and | thought the
best thing l could do would be to remain
quiet for the present; but | spoiled my plan
BY turning on my side, so as TO watch the
rGbber and in doing so / made what seemed
to be a great deal OF noise.
81 now thought there was no use in con-
reament. so drawing a revolver, which |
always kept under my head at night, l
called our: Come forward at once and
show yourself, or I'll blow your brains out
Il made as much noise as | could in
cooking the revolver, 50 as 10 give my threat.
more weight but the gentleman seemed to
take no notice. for he remained perfectly
uuiet | was undecided what to do till the
thought struck me the rO5ber might at that
moment be meditating shooting me from
where he was. and this thought made my
blood run cold, for | thought of the friends
and relatives | had left at home and of the
state they would be in when they heard |
had been shot in Australia: so / again called
out: Whoever you are. I'll give you but
one chance; I'll count three. and at that
word if YOU don't come forward I'll fire.
Il told YOU | could not see the mans
mead. So | aimed at where | thought it
ought to be. and counted slowly: One,
two. threeH
AT the word three I fred four shots in
quick succession, for | thought that In the
almost total darkness my aim might not be
very good: but they seemed to have taken
effect for when the smoke cleared away
looked in vain for my midnight visitor.
Il could not summon courage to get up
and look for his body: not that | was eN-
acty afraid, but | had a horrible feeling of
having shed human beings blood which |
had never done before. and | firmly believe
1 would almost rather have been shot by the
robber than have the fearful thought on my
mind that l had killed him.
Never did | spend such adreadful night
] could not get rid of the one thought of
having deprived a poor fellow-creature of
life. especially while he was in the act OF
robbing and perhaps intending murder: but
more horrible than all this was the idea that
1 might possibly have been the means of
sending him to a fearful eternity.
''in vain l tried TO persuade myself that
it was to save my own life l had done it;
this seemed to be poor excuse.
Sleep which lasted till morning: but the
moment | awoke the dreadful night REQUIRED
to my mind. although l felt rather more
calm. l thought l had had a horrible
dream, but, on examining my revolver
found four chambers discharged.
81 rose and looked about the room. but In
vain sought the body of the intruder This
however, relieved me greatly, as | thought
he could not have been killed. but only
wounded, and had escaped out of the hut
while l was asleep; but On going to the
door l was more perpleXCd than ever. fol
the door had evidently not been opened, a,
it was securely fastened on the inside.
That day / could not bear to do any
thing but sit by my fire and think over IN,
adventure and try and solve the mystery.
for mystery 1 concluded there certainly was
but ] could come to no satisfactory conclu.
sion with regard to it.
1.-The next day my brother came back. bu
thought it better not to say anything
about my visitor to him-at all events no
until l found out who or what the intrude
was.
THAT evening ! returned to the hut afte
my days work. / had found my first mug
get. which. however. was very small one
and was entering the door. when ] saw M
brother sitting on a stool with a coat across
his knees which seemed to perpleX hin
very much. When he saw me he called mC
and asked me if | could account for two
holes which were in the back OF the coat h
was examining.
''Of course | knew nothing about them
He said ne had LEFT the coat hanging in TIN
corner, and had just found it down behint