Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1886-09-23

held the night telescope who seemed TO have
command over the entire party.
"A barrel of liquor was rolled out and the
bung taken from il, and each man produced q
tin pannikn. AS yet no words, save the brief
command TO the captives TO seat themselves,
had been uttered; but now the leader said in q
tone Of voice which, harsh and grating as it
was, had strange, unearthly sound
Are you ready TO swearY
1--WE swear was tho reply. And each man
raised his right hand and pointed with the fore
finger upward
Srhe light from the lantern now shone full
upon their faces, and though all, like their
leader, wore luxuriant, untrimmed boards and
whiskers, to my indoscribable horror l per-
ceived that the features beneath were those of
corpses. Their skins were Of blush white,
their lips parted, their eyes staring wide open,
but without particle Of expression in them.
1 glanced toward the captives-their faces
wore the like cadaverous hue!
Mark Davenportl' shouted the leader.
"A stout, low-sized man, with red beard
descending to his chest, stepped forward
Is it doney' cried the leader.
at is'
@"Tis we'll Did he make confession?'
The gag was in his mouth. He made q
sign; took 1t out He pleaded hard for his
life, said he would swear to keep our secret
That he was the only son of a widow; that he
was on Twenty-Five years old, and that he was
engaged to be married to the Lady Dorothy in
a week.
@Ths was uttered sententiously, by Jerks,
as ii were, and in detached sentences.
sand your said the leader
Tiled a sack over his head and threw him
overheard He sank like lead
"The young lady uttered piercing shrek,
which, however, was almost drowned in the
sioud. gruff 'Ha, ha, hap which burst from
the ent re party at this description of their
comrade's.
@Drink TO the success of our enterprise, and
OoOftI ainn and 6aa th n anamiaaD ahnuta1
the leader as soon as the uproar ceased
"A lad stepped forward with an oddly
shaped pitcher, which he filled from the cask,
and afterward filled the tin cups the men held
in their hands. Each raised the cup to his
grinning, parted lips, and shouting, Death and
confusion to our enemies!' drained the liquor
to the dregs.
@Now count the gold, sal the leader.
%Half a dozen small kegs were brought for
ward, the heads knocked in, and the next
moment a heap of Spanish doubloons and
moidores covered the floor of the cavern The
lady, whether corpse or not, still lay like one
in a swoon; but the old gentleman, who ap-
peared TO have been endeavoring, without sue
cess, TO bring her to, now arose from his seat
and advancing toward tho leader, his hands
still bound beside him, said:
"Wretchl Wretches that ye all are! blood
hounds and murderers! though for time you
may escape, vengeance is on your track. and
death and hell await youp
hn! ooy st tnou 80, iiuOeit mboiuepJ'
cried the leader his voice trembling with rage
and lurid light cleaning CHASTITY from his
fixed, CLASSY eyes; go thou first to tell Satan
we are coming
sHe drew forth one of his pistols, and point
ing close to the old mans forehead pulled the
trigger. / saw the flash, and the report
sounded in the vaultel cavern as loud as that
of a cannon, and was echoed and re-echoel
among the rocks until it gradually died away
saw the old man fall, his forehead shattered
to atoms. while his gray hair dabbled in the
pool of blood which escaped him. A peal of
fiendish laughter resounded throughout the
and silence.
"Per ecty Mortified, groped my way out of
the cavern into the open air. 1t was still dark,
but the storm had ceased, and q faint dawn of
light was visible in the cast Recklessly heed
less Of the danger, and not daring TO look be-
hind me, l essayed the perilous descent