Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-11-18

Was In the east. and a. this road ran
nearly west l should shave light
enough. | had entered the wood and
had gone, perhaps. half q mile. when
my wagon wheels settled, with bump
and jerk, into a deep hole. / ut.
tered an exclamation of astonishment;
but that was not all. l heard another
exclamation from another source
"What could il be? I looked
quickly around. but could see moth.
Ing. and yet ] knew that the sound
had heard was very close to me. AS
the hind wheels came up l felt some.
thing besides the jerk of the hole.
heard something roll or tumble from
one side to the other of my wagon,
and | could also feel the jar occasion.
ed by the movement. 1t was simply
a man ir my can't l knew this on
the instant. You may have noticed
my cart as came up this evening.
The main part Of it opens behind,
and there is room enough within for
quite party providing they'd stow
themselves close enough. OF course
felt puzzled. At last wondered il
some poor fellow had not taken this
method to obtain a ride. But l soon
gave this up, for | knew that any de-
cent man would have asked me for a
ride and taken it comfortably. My
next idea was that somebody had got
in there to sleep. But this passed
away as quickly as it came, for no
man would have broken into my cart
for that purpose. And that thought,
gentlemen opened my eyes. Who
ever was in there had broken in.
MY next thoughts were Of Mr..
Dick IAIIAeaI. lie had heard me
say that my load was all sold out and, !,
OF course, he supposed that | had
some money with me. And in this
he was right. for l had over $1,000.
| also thought that he meant to leave
the cart, when he supposed | had
reached a safe place, and then either
creep over and shoot me or knock me
down. or Ps-h~rs al,p on. end AsL for
tide, or something Of that sort. All
this passed through my mind by the
time | had got rod from the hole.
Now | never make it a point to
brag of myself. but yet have seen
great deal Of the world and | am pret.
ty cool and clear.headed under diff.
Guilty. In very few moments my
resolution was formed. My horse was
now knee deep in the mud and
knew could slip off without any
noise. So | drew my revolver-I
never travel in that country without
tit is six-shot one and sure FIRE.
drew this and having twined the
rains about the whipstock l carefully
slipped down into the mud, and as
the cart passed on I went behind it
and examined the hasp. The door of
, the cart let's down and is fastened by
hasp which slips over staple and is
then secured by paddock. The pad
lock was gone and the hasp was Sc.
cured in It's place by a bit of pine
stick, SO that slight push from with
in could break it. Ny wheel wrench
hung iii a leather bucket on the side
OF the cart and quickly took it out
and slipped it into the staple the iron
handle just sliding down.
Now / had him. NV cart was
almost new, with a stout frame Of
white oak, and made on purpose for
hard usage, heavy loads and service.
| did not believe that any ordinary
man could break out. got on to my
cart as noiselessly as | got of, and
then urged my horse on, still keeping
my pistol handy. l knew that at the
distance Of half mile further should
come to a good hard road. and | al
lowed my horse to pick his own way
through this mud. 1t was about ten
minutes after this that heard a mo-
tiou in the cart, followed by a grind
ing noise, as though some heavy force
were being applied to the door. This
continued some moments, and then
came a heavy thump, as though the
sole of boot were applied to the
door said nothing, but the idea
struck me that the william might try
to judge about where | sat, and shoot
up through the top Of the cart at me,
so | sat down on the footboard.
Ofcourse, ! knew now that my un-
expected passenger was a villain, iol
he must have been awake ever since
| started. and nothing else in the
world but absolute villainy would
have caused him to remain quiet SC
long in this particular place. The
humping and pushing grew louder
and louder. and pretty soon heard a
human voice: