Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-01-31

HAS i4uo uoiSo, Y tilu 1tiVisslt sttt,SW
"Him buy horse. NE, Sidc TO ,Ggilts.
Him put horse on trains q 3
"Who were theyfp ~ v
"How Julius know3, he retorsed
sharply. "Him no talk to Julius. Him
say, Get up, you Indian brutel, Him.
give Julius five cents-fyc cents ~ with
scornful accents.) s:
And Julius swung his hatchet in d says
age circle round his head, before he set
to work. * s., q
After his usual fashion, il took ,llnl
nearly all the afternoon to split q ludic-
rously small pile of wood !. and when, nj
five o'clock, came back from gathering
up the linen which was bleqching on the
grass beside the brook, he Was gone, sand
little Mat had wakcucd the baby with
shrill blasts on his beloved willow whis-
tie. sstsss3
"AIother,' said Mai, "Julius lost his
pockct-knifc. He lookedyall fvorSthe
house to find it, and it was undcr,$the,
bureau in your room all thestime. ;. I Was
glad he found it, because il had only one
broken blade, and Julius Thought a groat'
deal of it."
l stopped short, with the baby in my
arms. 49,
"Undcr the bureau in my roomp /
repeated; and then it came over me-what
a fool l had been thus to disregard nv
husbands injunctions The field indcetl-
had been quite clear for operations. Old
Julius had doubtless reaped a rich harrs
vest. went hurricdly to my bureaifs
The key was still under the embroidered
cover, rs had left it.
l opened the upper drawer with trcni2
bling hands. 1t was rs 1 had supposed
the diamond ring that had been my
mothers before me, and which I scarcely
ever wore, i'll this wild Western home,
was gone; SO also was q small leathern,
wallet, containing seventy dollars in bills
and papers Of no little Importance. A
chamois.lcather bag of slver-tablo ware,
spoons, forks, butter knives, etc., had.
also been distracted. ~. ~.
1 was still standing, stricken dumb
with dismay and anger, when the sound
of horses heels rang on the road outside.
Irushcd out, MS 1 supposed, to meet
my husband, and put him on the track
OF the wretchcd old red-skinned thief
But it was not Matthew. It was the
three equestrians, returning from Glill's
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 tho
children, but it is essential that you allow
us to tic your hands"
"To tic my handsl" / gasped. "What
for2"
He shrugged his shoulders.
$50 that you will not interfere with
us" he said, quickly seizing both my
hands and skillfully winding one of my
own kitchen towels bandagewisc over
them. F
The baby set UP pitcous wall. One
of the brigands took her, not unkindly,
from me, and laid her in her wooden
cradle. e;
"Let her cry!" said he. "Shc'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 l, and
locked into the sitting room, whence we
could hear the steps of our unwclcomc
visitors as they Systematically went
through the house.
Little Mat looked at me with wide
open eyes of terror.
Mother" said he, ''aro they going to
kill us?"
''No, Mat" answered if we
keep still. And it would do no good if
we hallooed our throats out. No one
could hcar us but the birds and the
squirrels.
Little Mat uttered chE.:ing sob.
ooh, if father was only hers with his
revolver" said he. "Oh, if 1 was only
grown up!"
And my heart echoed every one Of his
words.
The baby, sensible little lass, hal left
off crying, and now lay cooling il her
cradle, trying to catch western sun |
beam which lay, like n thread of hold |
across herpatchwork quilt
Mat and were eagerly listening ,Then
once more the beat of horses loofs
sounded on the road, and from thdvin-
dow we saw the three men ride sSftly
away.
Once more we eyed each othc in
mutual apprehension. ,
"And they've left us here, til p, I,
gasped the little fellow. "Oh, mother,
mother!" remembering some story of
hideous guerilla warfare that he had re-
Gently overheard, edo you suppose that
they have fired the housea"
"No, Nativity should they2 They
have taken what they wanted and gone
We must wait here until somebody
passes, and then make them hear, if we
can."
"But the windows and doors are all
shut, and no one ever passes here after
sundown. Oh, mother, if could only.
get these strings untied!"
And he gDawed fruitlessly at them
with his small, white teeth.
My heart sank as 1 recognized the
truth of his words, but 1 struggled
bravely to keep back the tears and sobs.
At that moment the bolt in the outside