The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-01-15

"Who were theygn
elbow Julius know" he retorted
sharply. "Him no talk to Julius. Him
say, Get up, you Indian brutel Him
give Julius five cents-fve cents!" with
scornful accents.)
And Julius swung his hatchet in a saw
age circle round his head, before he set
to work.
After his usual fashion, it took him
nearly all the afternoon to split ludic-
rously small pile of wood; and when, at
five o'clock, came back from gathering
up the linen which was bleaching on the
grass beside the brook, he was gone, and
little Mat had wakened the baby with
shrill blasts on his beloved willow whis-
| tie.
"Mother," said Mat, "Julius lost his
pocket knife. He looked all over the
house to find it., and it was under the
bureau in your room all the time. 1 was
glad he found it, because it had only one
broken blade, and Julius thought great
| deal of it.
/ stopped short, with the baby in my
arms.
"Under the bureau in my roomw
repeated; and then it came over me what
fool / had been thus to disregard my
husbands injunctions. The field indeed
had been quite clear for operations. Old
Julius had doubtless reaped a rich har-
vest. went hurriedly to my bureau.
The key was still under the embroidered
cover, as had left it.
/ opened the upper drawer with trem-
bling hands. II was as l had supposed
the diamond ring that had been my
mothers before me, and which scarcely
ever wore, in this wild Western home,
was gone; so also was a small leathern
wallet, containing seventy dollars in bills
and papers of no little importance. A
chamois- leather bag of silver-table ware
spoons, forks, butter knives, etc, had
also been distracted.
l was still standing, stricken dumb
with dismay and anger, when the sound
of horses heels rang on the road outside.
rushed out, as l supposed, to meet
my husband, and put him on the track
of the wretched old red-skinned thief.
But it was not Matthew. 1t was the
three equestrians, returning from Gnlrs
Station, or from somewhere else.
MADAME, do not be alarmed" said
the big one, with ostentatious courtesy,
''We do not intend to hurt you or the
, children, but it is essential that you allow
us to tie your hands"
"To tie my handsr' gasped. "What
forY"
He shrugged his shoulders.
$50 that you will not interfere with
u.s." he said, quickly seizing both my
hands and skillfully winding one of my
own kitchen towels bandagewise over
them.
The baby set up piteous wall. One
of the brigands took her, not unkindly,
from me, and laid her in her wooden
cradle.
"Let her cry!" said he. "She'll soon
stop. Crying is good for the lungs"
And in less time than it takes to de-
scribe this strange scene we were tied
hand and foot, little Mat and 1, and
locked into the sitting-room, whence we
could hear the steps of our unwelcome
visitors as they Systematically went
through the house.
Little Mat looked at me with wide
open eyes of terror.
"Mother," said he, ''are they going to
kill u.s."
"No, Mat" / nswered-"not if we
keep still. And it would do no good il
we hallooed our throats out. No one
could hear us but the birds and the
squirrels.
Little Mat uttered choking sob.
''Oh, if father was only here with his
revolver!" said he. ''Oh, if | was only
grown up"
And my heart echoed every one of his
words.
The baby, sensible little lass, had left
off crying, and now lay cooling in heI
cradle, trying to catch western sun
beam which lay, like a thread of gold,
across herpatchwork quilt
Mat and l were eagerly listening, when
once more the beat of horses hoofs
sounded on the road, and from the win
dow we saw the three men ride swiftly
away.
Once more we eyed each other in
mutual apprehension.
"And they've left us here, tied n
gasped the little fellow. "Oh, mother,
mother!" remembering some story OF
hideous guerilla warfare that he had re-
Gently overheard, "do you suppose that
they have fired the house3"
mo, Nativity should theyl They
have taken what they wanted and gone.
We must wait here until somebody
passes, and then make them hear, if we
cam
"But the windows and doors are all
shut, and no one ever passes here after
sundown. Oh, mother, if could only
get these strings untledw
And he guawed fruitlessly at them
with his small, white teeth.
My heart sank as l recognized the
truth of his words, but l struggled
bravely to keep back the tears and sobs.
At that moment the bolt in the outside
staples was slid cautiously back, a
coarse, black mat of hair was thrust
into the room.
''Oh, cried little Mat, with gasp of
delight, "it's Indian Julius Oh, Julius,
come and unite us I"
'White squaw and pappose tied up"
grunted Julius. ''Me unite him Me
/ ont knots with me- LrnIfp Old Iulius