Middletown transcript., 1886-09-09

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" l tell yer 1 seen him." the voic
said. He'd q hull fstfull o. billl
wild a fubber band round 'em. d
udder teller, says he: Lawrence yet
better not bring all dat along
Aw,' says he, wat else should ! d
wit it. An den he sticks it in hi
pocket, an dey takes der boat an goe
off"
Polly recognized in the speaker |
rufianly young idler about the boat
house, and became sleepily interested
But with the next words she grew
wide awake, and put her ear to /,
knot-hole in the side of the house ant
listened intently for she knew tn,
answering voice as that of an eminen
river junk man, thief, and what not
who had just moved from forced re
tirement in Sing Sing prison. That
he should feel an interest in Mr.. Law
renee and his money was a matter tt
be looked into. And so, crouching
there in the dark, not daring to mov'
and hardly daring to breath, for feal
of discovery, Polly's ears drank in thu
detail of as neat plan for robbery al
ever favorite writer in The Working
Girls Companion" could have in
vented.
Briefly, these worthless proposed to
row down that night to the little cove
where the Flo usually anchored, te
wait until Lawrence and his friend
slept, and then board the yacht, pos.
sess themselves of their money and
other valuables and escape to shore.
In case the young men should show
fight, why let dem take deir
chances" the veteran said, cheer
fully, "we'll t'ump 'em longside de
head" alss
But he also assured his less ex-
perienced confederate that there was
little likelihood of their having to re-
sort to such extreme measures.
:" Wen a feller wakes up,'' he re-
marked, "a knife at his t'roat, he dom
make no fuss. He JUS says; Take
wat yes want, an git out-an,s don't
yer forget it. Ia ass
/ With which choice bit of wisdom
the talk ended and the pair left the
house.
Polly waited until the sound oftheir
footsteps died away. Then she started
to her feet, trembling. Lawrence
must be warned! Her brother was
away. Her father would probably
bid her mind her own busi siness-
perhaps even keep her indoors, The
police ? That would take too much
time.
As she stood there, hesitatingly, the
bell of distant St. Mary's rang down
II, and q thought struck her. Eleven
O'Clock, and the last Of The apodtide,
She sat down quickly, pulled on her
stockings and shoes. She. too, knew
the cove where the Flo would likely
be found. II, was a good eight miles
away j; but, with the ebb tide In her
favor, and smooth water and . light
boat, what we're eight miles to girl
of her training She would, herself,
be the messenger. Running around
to the front of the house, she shook
the solitary boy who still dozed upon
the open boat. "I'm goin' for a
pull" she said shortly; get out the
Dart for me, Paddy and by thetime
the sleepy youngster had put her
favorite boat into the water she had
changed her dress and stood beside
him again. #h
And a very pretty picture she made
now by the light of the big rejecting
lantern, in her short skirt and sailors
shirt of dark flannel. with sleeves
rolled up high on her round arms, and
woolen cap pulled over her red-gold
hair and her cheeks flushed with ex-
citement., .-'l ss1 =,
= Then she picked her way quietly
through the feet at the anchorage,
avoiding the lights which shown out
here and there from open companion
doors, for she had no wish to be ques-
toned just then, and there was no
boat-keeper but would have wondered
to see old Dowd's pretty daughter
bound OUT at that time Of night. 4
1t was very quiet and very, dark.
Not that she needed daylight to show
her the course--she knew every inch of
that. But the bright star in the light
house on Robins reef, aud the clusters
and lines of yellow points stretching
along the Staten. Island hlls, beyond
the bay, made the intervening miles
of black water look very black indeed
and she was a woman and alone.
But then the next moment she
heard far astern the faint thump,
thump of oars in the rowlocks. 1t
was a common enough sound, even
at that hour, but just then to Polly it
spoke volumes, and she started off
again at d racing stroke.
She was as strong as young horse,