Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-12-19

case was there as in other times. In
three minutes he would be Eear the
hoardi The steps cracked under his
treadl Wooden headp said he to
himself, you are too heavyr He lis
tened while. The house was quiet
from below came the snorting of little
Pierre. Still two steps to go, and he
was on the landing; then at the broom
closet; then at the door behind which
were the Berlots and their goldl
If only they would sleep like
Pierre he would content himself with
thievingl Pardleu? twas useless to
think of 1.-THE old man had keen
ear-he slept with an eye open. He
| lifted the lantern and pushed the doorl
at the grinding of the hinges, rather
| than at the stream of light suddenly
| entering his room, Father Berlot sat
up in bed-to fall again instantly with.
out time to utter an 'Ohl'-the iron
sank deep into his SKULL Mute, motion
| less. her eyes wide open, the paralytic
regarded the frightful deed, but only
for a second-once, twice, thrlce-the
pick had entered her head!
All this passed quickly, Pierre
Lurier had only 10 empty the armorIe.
y turn of the knife in the lock and the
door opened-one, two, three sacks,
! anu d lOul III SNlAl SlAldAlGl. AAlo AhlAl-
magIng fingers found franc in the three
first, louis in the other. 1t was enough.
No use to turn out the armOrie. He
must fly with the four sacks buried in
the muZZle. 1t was heavy about his
neck. And the pick? He must take
it too. should the child sleep no mOrel
He turned to go; for a second only, the
second that 1t had taken him TO open
the cupboard lock, had his eyes left his
victims. At that instant a cold chill
had racked his body. He moved hur-
riedly now, feverIsh, the light of the
lantern, always upon the bed. He was
nearly at the door that by its own
weight had closed behind him. He
raised the light to find the knob, TO
fly from the room, he wrenched his
gaze from those sJiffenlng corpses; a
cry of horror escaped his throat; he
moaned with terror;a man stood before
himl
without stopping, without rejecting,
without looking, without seeing, even,
that this man was like himself. naked,
with a lantern in one hand, with pick
in the other, with sack hung about
his neck-Pierre Lurier had but one
idea-to slay the apparitlon. He threw
himself forward with uplifted weapon
to encounter a sheet of glass; his body
carried by its own impetus, his head
bowed under the weight of the gold,
lie staggered and plunged face down
ward; there vas a splinteung crash.
The child, wakened by the noise, and
believing, perhaps. that Mother BerlOt
was i'll and they needed his assistance,
ran with a candle. AT the landing he
stopped with a shrek OF terror; he fell
TO his knees.
Twenty-tour hours later, when the
people OF the neighborhOOd, puzzled 10y
the shut-up appearance of the house
and the crying animals, entered 70
solve the mystery they found:
The door that led to the BerlOts
sleeping room with gaping hole in the
panel OF glass that had formed the
upper half OF 1t. Through that hole
they saw the pillows of the bed a mass
! of blood and brains that had run from
, two opened heads In that hole rested
a naked man, his body rayed with cut:
from the broken glass, a pick in hi:
hand, his legs in the air, his stomach
upon the wood of the door. About
his neck, and that kept his body II
position, a heavy bag with gold piece
} and clotted blood that had run from th'
arteries severed in the struggle. The
wall was bespattered from side to side
the floor soaked, and IN the corner o
the closet on the stairs child wa
crouching, a child with distended eyes,
: with hair on end, and who Responded
i to the questions put 10 him with fright
full laughter.
a Little Pierre was an idiot.