The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1886-11-11

revolver, aud had the courage to
defend myself. Had met him out
on The prairie, or had we teeu jog
ging together along some lonely
highway, | should have prepared to
pull my pistol at the Grst movement
Dinner was announced soou af~
ter II o'clock. / took my pack with
mo into the dinniug-room, whero |
found tho table set for one. There
were tbroe rooms in the house. Tho
front room was n general sitting
room aud Office combinod. Bsu1ot
kept sort of tavern, you know. aud
travellers had this front room. The
scxt room back was the diuuing,
room aud family room combined.
There was bedroom lcadug of.
On the walls of this family room
were few old fashioned frames, u
shelf on which stood clock, aud a
few scant evidences of women's
presence. Tho back room was the
kitchen.
Il had my eyes wi . open when
entered that dinniug.room, nud the
very first thing noticed was that
the table was set leugthwise in the
room aud that my chair and plate
bad beed SO placed that my buck
would be toward the kitchen door.
which was not over five or six feet
away. Had it been at the other end
my back would havo been toward
the Office door. Tho first move /
made was To turn tho chair around
to the side aud sit d1wn. | now
faced tho bedroom door, anl had
the other doors to my right aud left.
while there was no window behind
ne. The younger wonan was in
the ro I'm and she looked at mo in Il
queer. strange way aud upset the
arrangements sho had perfected
Bender did not look into ths room
for two or three minutes, and then
retired without speaking A min =
ute later he passed around the
house and entered the kitchen by
the back door. While | could not
see him. | hoard him aud tho woman
whispering together, aud caught
the words as spoken by her:
81 tell yon no did it himself =
IL conld not catch a word from
him aud directly he went ont aud
she came in with the rest of tue
eaiables. Her face was flushed and
her manner very nervous. She put
on n plate of bread and platter of
meat, aud then went out for the cof-
fee. A she set the cup and saucer
on the board she partly upset the
cup and spilled half the contents on
the table.
- Excuse me-Im sorry she
said AZ l showed back TO keep the
hot liquid from dripping on my legs,
Never miud-no harm done |
replied.
1T was so careless Of ma. You
had better change your scat to the
end while sop it up
"'Oh, don't mind I'm not hun
cry aud shall cat but few mouths
fuls any way. forgot to tell you
that preferred water to coffee
"'But-yod-you'-
Tn all right.
'She gave me one of tho queerest
looks l ever got, frst flushing up
and then tdrnod pale. SpiIling that
coffee was n put-up Job to get my
back to the kitchen door. 1 sus,
pected it then few months later
l had plenty of horrible proofs. Be-
fore the meal was finished old Ben.
der looked in from the kitchen door
aud drew back, AMI when l showed
away aud entered the office ho was
not there and did not show up for
five minutes. When l went to din-
ner doublesbarreled shotgun
stood in corner of the office. When
l came out it was gone. The old
man came in after while, aud il
was easy to see that he had 10 force
himself to converse. | paid. him for
the meal aud was ready to 60, IL
was lonely road l had to travel.
with no other house for miles, and
it suddenly struck me that the youn-
ger man had gone to lie in ambush
aud shoot me in case | escaped as
sassination at the house. For q
minute or two | qnite lost my sand,
and you can judge what a relief it
was to me to see a team drive up
with three men in the vehicle and