Semi-weekly south Kentuckian., 1886-07-06
A NARROW ESCAPE.
How n Humorlst Was Saved From tho At
tack of q Midnight burglar,


tack of Midnight Burglar.
l had very thrilling experience the
other evening. I had just filled an en-
gagcment in strange city and retired
to my cosy room at the hotel.
The thunders of applause had died
away, and the opera house had been
locked up to await the arrival of an
Uncle Toms Cabin company. The last
loitcrer had returned to his home, and
the lights in the palace of the pork
packer were extinguished.
No sound was heard save the low,
tremulous swash of the sleet outside,
or the death rattle in the throat of the
bath tub. Then all was still as the
bosom of fried chicken when the
spirit has departed,
The swallow-tail coat hung limp and
weary in the wardrobe, and the gross
receipts for the evening were under
my pillow. | needed sleep, for l was
worn out with travel and anxiety, but
the fear of being robbed kept me from
repose. l know how desperate man
becomes when he yearns for another's
gold. l know how cupidity drives
wicked man to mangle his victim that
he may win precarious prosperity, and
how he will often take a short cut to
wealth by means of murder, when, if
he would enter politics, he might ac-
complish his purpose as surely and
much more safely.
Anon, however, tired nature sue
cumbed. know l had succumbed,
for the bell-boy afterward testified that
he heard me do so.
The gentle warmth of the steam-heat-
ed room and the comforting assurance
of duty well done and the approval of
friends, at last lulled me into gentle
repose.
Any one who might have looked
upon me as | lay there in that innocent
slumber with the winsome mouth
slightly ajar, and the playful limbs
cast wildly about, while a merry smile
now and then fitted across the regular
features, would have said that no heart
could be so hard as to harbor i'll for
one so guileless and simple.
| do not know what it was that
caused me to wake. Some slight sound
or other no doubt broke my slumbcr,
and opened my eyes wildly. The
room was in semi-darkness.
Hark
A slight movement in the corner,
and the low, regular breathing of
human being! l was now wide awake.
Possibly / could have opened my
eyes wider, but not without pulling
them out of their sockets.
Regularly came that soft, low breath
ing. Bach time it seemed like sigh
of relief, but it did not relieve me.
Evidently it was not done for that pur-
pose, 1t sounded like sigh of blessed
elief, such as woman might heave
after she has returned from church and
transferred herself from the embrace of
her new Russia iron, black silk dress
into friendly wrapper.
Regularly, like the rise and fall of a
wave on the summer sea, it rose and fell,
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