The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-02-02
raI BLOOD. STAIN ON THE FLOOR
fconcluded from last week }

heard them moving along tue uoor
and then the scratching Of a match.
It gave a promise Of burning and then
went out, and an impatient voice ex-
claimed; :. - as .....
sD--n the match Give me anoth-
or, Jim, this is gone ont
The voice sounded familiar. Sure
liz I had heard IL since ! had come
20 Wicklow; but where I could not
bring to mind.
The next match did its duty. aud
communicated its blaze to the can
die which one,of the men held, and
a little while il was burning clearly,
diffasiug bright light about the
apartment. IL revealed the faces OF
the Two meu to me and as l gazed
upou one Of them / was no longer
In doubt ns to where I had heard bis
voice before. 1t was the the driver
Of the express wagon who had taken
me from tie depot, and who
bad first given me the history OF the
house in which we now stood 1t
was he who bad addressed his com.
psnion as Jim and now they both
moved along to the spot which had
possessed such fascination in my
oyes until l had solved the, mystery
connected with it.
Jim held the candle above il mov-
ing il to and fro, but taking care to
shade the blaze with his hand, SO
that it might not shine ont toe
brightly through the windows.
DO yon know whether any one
has been here to-day, Sam p asked
the one who had not before spokeu
yes, one sure; that chap I brought
over from the depot the other day
was in here this fjrenoon.
gave start Of surprise. How
did he know this ? Had my nave
ments been watched, aud, if so, die
they know that I was cveh secreted
some here about the house
He here Then he must be .
detective as we thoupht he was il
the first place., said tho other, ir
evident alarm.
No. don't ibinkshe is, returned
my driver. iI've made all sorts d
inqniries, and / bave found that he
is really anNold'fricnd of Tom Jones,
and that prying ais nose into Other
folks affairs amt liz bis line; but il
be makes il 30, he bad better poi
have come to::Wioklow, that's all.
80 say, replied the other, en-
phatically; we've too good q thing
here to be flowed on If we can helT
it.
you are right, there, jim; but le,
us 60 down. The rest OF the boys
will be along SOON
held my breath as the two viii
lians passed along to the cellar door
which ! had left standing open, and
descended the stairs, leaving the ole
kitchen again in total darkness.
What was their errand below i?
asked myself this question, and a
once resolved that would find ou
II possible. Noiselessly l gilded ou
from the closet aud felt my way
along to the cellnr-door, where
paused and listened. A faint ligb
came up from below, aud the hum O
distant voices.
Silently descended the stairs
When I reached the bottom ! found
myself in total darkness. The ligh
had disappeared, and the hum o
voices had ceased.
What had become OF them ! L
seemed as though the earth hat
opened and swallowed them up.
Suddenly 1 heard sound above
my head; others of the gang were
crossing the kitchen floor toward til,
entrance to the cellar, and in a mo-
ment more they would be coming
down upon me-
Hastily / crept in beneath th'
stairs, knocking over the basin o
paint with one hand, and dashing il
contents over my hands and face
Once under the stairs there wa
plenty OF room, aud l drew myssl
mp into as small q compass as pos
sible against the wall, and with m,
hand upon my revolver waited fol
what the next minutes would brins
forth.
Tramp, tramp, about my head
sounded the footsteps, and by then
/ was assured that three more ha,
entered the cellar, and were gropipf
their way about in the darkness