The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-29

took her hand After moment re-
membered that ny field glasses rested
on the stand, and as l rose up to look
for them they were not to be seen. l
went over to the child, and notwith-
standing the fact that he shrank away
and began to cry. as If scared at me. |
pickel him up and gave him a shake
The glasses fell to the floor from the
folds Of a cloth about his waist, an
with them three spoons which he had
| stolen in the kitchen. lie ran away as |
put him down, and the woman hurried
after him. 1t was a put-up job to
pilfer from Us, and, while The child did
not look more than four years of age,
we aftcrward learned that he was over
ten
In India every body sleeps during the
middle of the day. That Is, everybody
should. About a week after the
occurrence related above, the Captain
c}im3d into hammock under the We
randa about II o'clock one forenoon for
a nap. | should have climbed into
another. but l had some letters to get
off that day, and l removed coat and
vest and sat down to a table in a corner
of our room. The window before me
was up, but Light bam boo shade was
down to keep the sun out. The captain
had had plenty of time to go TO sleep
when I happened to look out through
the Stats of the blind. While | saw
nothing, 1 felt that something was
wrong, and l softly rose up and went
to the door opening out on the veranda.
This door was, of course, wide open.
My feet were in slippers, and I made
not the least noise as [ reached the
door. The verauda was about 90 feet
long, and the Captains hammock was
slung at the cc1tre pcered cautiously
out, and l saw the figure of
the sly old man right under the ham
mock. His back was towards me, but
l determined to see what he would do,
and then capture him if l could. AS
looked he slowly rose up on the
Captains left, cooked his ears to listen,
and then his dcft black fingers began a
search of the sleeping mans pockets.
I braced my elf, took a full breath, and
was on him at a bound. | seized him
firmly by the body, but he sank down,
wriggled two or three times, and next
minute he was gone, up5otting me by
grasping my feet, a1d heaving away as
he went. 1t did not seem that he had
been at work over ten seconds when |
grabbed him, and vet in that time he
had extracted the Captains watch and
wallet, and several other articles. All
were left behind, but the thief had dis
appeared like shadow
Perhaps the best way would have
been to give in and employ a chowkadar
but we were both determined not to be
bulldozcd into it. All portable articles
not in hourly use were put into a strong
wooden chest and kept under lock and
key and both of US were on the watch
for any new movemnt. A couple of
weeks had passed and we were begin
ming to feel safe, when the fellows at
tempted a very bold game. A juggler
came to the veranda and began to per-
form and we both went out While the
room was left alone, the thieves-there
were three of them-came through the
garden alongside the house and cut a
hole through the side exactly back of
the chest. The captail happened to
look in Just as the box was being
moved and with a couple of bounds he
crossed the room and seized one of the
handles. l could not realize the situa-
tion until the thieves had pulled
the chest half way out, and by the time
had got around the bungalow they had
disappeared. How they could have To-
Gated the chest so exactly was mystery
to US, as it had been moved several
feet only the night before. They cut
neither to the right nor the left, but
exactly back of it, and the space was
only an inch wider than the chest.
The next move created a sensation in
Bombay. Opposite our bungalow,
which was on a side street, was one be-
longing to native--a known thief.
The fraternity had somehow got the
idea that we had a great pile of money
hidden in our bungalow, and that the
Captain was making gold nuggets by
the wholesale. He was, as l said, ex-
perimenting with new explosive, and
this probably started the idea. The ex-
plosivc was either dynamite or some
thing very near 1t. One day, after the
Captain had been fu3sing around in the
front yard for half an hour, and while
he was reading on the veranda, there
was a terrible explosion. 1t seemed as
if our house was lifted a foot high, and
everything inside was thrown into con-
fusion as it settled back, 1t was an
explosion which was felt for half mile
around, and when we got out doors we
found a hole in our front yard into
which a couple of bullocks could
have been dumped. That wasn't
all, however. A big ditch
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