The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-06
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tify this little oversight, and he must make
the best or matters His first step was TO
take train and put a score or SO Of miles be-
tween him and the scene Of bis spirited ex>
plot, and then he proceeded to enioV him
self That is to say, he got 50 exceedingly
drunk that, had it not been for peculiarly
] favoring circumstances and which were un-
( known to him, he would probably have
been rearrested that same night
By easy stages he made his way by road
! toward London, but in less than week his
purse contained but solitary balf-sover-
eign, and he had dined at a modest little
hotel and arranged to sleep there, and the
sum mentioned was all he had to defray ex-
| penses, which would leave him next to moth
| ing for the morrow.
, Under such conditions it was necessary
for him TO devise means for replenishinq
| his pocket, and he was not the man to bt
over scrupulous in such matter.
Staying at the Crown and Dolphin was ar
| elderly gentleman, who had dined at the
same table with Wimble. The latter had
been tolerably well educated, aud was
gifted with some amount of conversational
ability, and the result was that the two got
on quite friendly terms. The old gentleman
| informed Mr.. Wimble that he was on his
way to inspect small farm that was for
sale, and which his son had seen and had a
fancy for, and ii it pleased him he, the
father, had come prepared to make a quick
bargain, and pay the money down there and
then.
You mean by check, of courser Mr..
Wimble remarked, lightly.
mo. DON'T" returned the old gentle>
man, with knowing wink. when a man
is pressed for means, sir, and has anythin &
TO sell, there is nothing like showing him
ready money. A check rendered by a sound
man amounts, Of course, to the same thing
but as a business man ! know that it makes
all the difference in making a deal. l tell
you what, you say, we won't hsggle over
the matter. l will give you so mucn, down
There is the money" and as he spoke the
old gentleman took from an old leather
pocketbook little parcel of bank notes and
clapped them down on the table by wav OF
| illustration). Here's the money!, say
you. Say the word, and I'll pay it over
| now.'n
They had dined, and were sharing bottle
/ of wine, and Mr.. Wimble, recliaing in al
easy chair, was enjoying a cigar.
! THAT may be all very we'll" he re-
! marked. But there must always be some
risk In carrying large amounts of money |
never do 50 myself IL is safe enough while
| one has his wits about him and his eyes
open. But when he is staying at a strange
hotel, where is he to put his money when he
goes TO bedF'
why, under the pillow, to be sure,n re-
turned the olu gentleman. "Pocketbook.
purse, watch, everything valuable, sir: put
EN- under your pillow, and who the deuce
can rob you thenf'
ITO be sure, didn't think of that said
Mr.. Wimberly, negligently, and then pro-
ceeded TO turn the conversation from sub
jeot that had ceased to be interesting to
him.
As already stated, be had no money where
with to pay for it, but when the bottle was
empty he rang for another, of which he
pressed the old gentleman to partake. And
so they sat chatting affably till bedtime, ex-
cepting for brief few minutes when Mr..
Wimble was absent, ostensibly TO wash his
hands in his bedroom. He had previously
ascertained, however, that the old gentle
man was to sleep in the chamber adjoining.
and it was into that he slipped and not into
his own. 1t is not customary to wash ones
hands with clasp knife, nevertheless il
was with such weapon-he had bought il.
stiff -bladed, spring one, the day
before-that Mr.. Wimble proceeded to
busy himself, not at the wash stand but at
the lock of the bedroom door. lie I'M
screwed the hasp and having filed the
worms OF the screws with soap pushed them
back In the holes again. Then he returned
TO his companion, and as already stated, the
two sat over the second bottle of prime old
port until it was time TO retire.
1t was very quiet little hotel, quite q
mile from the nearest town, and standing
back from the highway, surrounded by
orchard and garden ground. An old-fash-
Toned two-storied building with ceilings so
low that the bedroom widows We're not
more than twelve feet from the ground,
There were at the time only two guests stay
ing there, Mr. Wimble and the old gentle
man. and at dead of night, or rather at a
small hour OF the morning, the landlord
and landladY's chambermnids and
mattresses were startled to wakefulness by
q shrtl cry of "thievesp "thievesln fol-
lowed instantly by the bang of firearms, on
which immediately ensued the sound of
hastily raised window.
In very few seconds the house was In
CONJUNCTION and hurrying toward the guests
bedroom there on the outer landing stood the
old gentleman with nothing but his trousers
and his night cap on, in a terrible state of
mind.
He had fallen asleep, he said, almost as
soon as he laid his head on the pillow hav-
ing taken rather more wine than he was &C.
customed to indulge In and slept on until he
was disturbed by hearing some slight noise
In the room, and presently opened his eyes
in alright to find man by the bedside and
stealthily sliding his hand beneath the pill
low.
my money was there" said the old gem
tleman, land something else as weil-a
small pistol which / never travel without
The robber, seeing it in my hand, as sup
pose, skunk away as l fired at him, but
whether hit him or no l am unable to say,
for he flung open the window and Jumped
for 1t; and though sprang out of bed and
looked it was too dark to make out any
thing.
''IU was providential, sir" remarked the
landlady, That you are not such sound
sleeper as your next room neighbor, 1t
seems that the noise has not wakenei him."
''Ill rouse him ami tell him about il, how
ever" said her husband.
But when, after rapping several times at
the door and eliciting no response, he turned
the handle of the door-lock and peeping in.
discovered not only that the bed was unoc-
cupied but that it had never been slept in
He had vanished, leaving nothing behind
excepting card case, which was on the
door and probably had fallen there by acct
dent, containing few cards on which was
inscribed the name "Mr. S. Widgery.r
CHAPTER ".
Let us return to Miss Daisy Dimpleton
and Mr.. Joseph Flincher.
As the reader may remember when last
seen the gentleman last mentioned was not